Day 15 - Top 3

It's still dark when I wake up, but the sky is already changing colors. Automatically my hand darts up to my neck. Something has landed there, something soft and light - that's why I woke.

Trying not to move too much I glance over at Cyo who's still soundly sleeping, then I hold up the item to look. It's a parachute, another gift.

Confused I fumble with the thing and get the 'gift' off. It's only a rolled-up piece of paper, a small knife attached to it. Carefully I unroll it and look at it. It's already dawning so I can easily read the letter.

Vallie,

I can't believe I have to write this! You were supposed to be stronger, be a career... After you utterly disappointed everyone before that flood, it is the bare minimum to stop this stupid love story right now and kill the boy. If you want to be a victor, there's no way around it! So better do it now and focus on Rex. You were trained for this - so do it!

Enobaria

Reading this almost makes me physically sick. I let my hands sink and look over at Cyo again. He looks peaceful. In no way I can kill him! Before that could happen, I'd let him kill me.

I thought Enobaria has already given up on me, that she no longer cares. Now I see her still trying to reach me. How much did she have to pay to send me that pointless and insulting letter? I let out a sigh. She doesn't understand.

Or maybe I don't understand... I don't really know. Clove finds her way back into my thoughts. The night she has told me she would volunteer - it broke my heart and it would have broken Cato's if he had known.

She was sneaky about it, never told him. He found out the moment she volunteered at the reaping, then he had already volunteered himself.

I begged her to not go, I begged her to wait for Cato's return. She just smiled and shook her head.

'I need to be there to make sure he's okay... that he lives. If he doesn't come back, I'd never forgive myself.'

Clove knew she had to lose Cato or he had to lose her eventually. And now I know how she felt. Like there was no life for her without Cato, there is no life for me anymore without Cyo. He's everything I have left, my first real silver lining after last year.

I suddenly feel like I need to touch him, need something to assure me he's still there and alive. So I lean over and brush his cheek with my hand before running my fingers through his hair.

Cyo shifts and mumbles something in his sleep before his stunning green eyes flutter open. He looks confused at first but then he smiles and pulls me down on top of him. "Good morning..."

I chuckle and kiss him lightly. "Good morning."

He returns the kiss before saying, "Are you okay?"

I hesitate, then I sit up. "Kind of... there is something I need to show you."

Now the confusion is back in his eyes and he sits up too. "Show me?"

I nod and pick up the letter again. It has rolled back up by itself. I know he needs to see it, even if it's horrible. I can't hide a thing like that. "It woke me earlier this morning. It came as a gift."

Reluctantly, he reaches for the piece of paper. He unrolls it and starts reading in silence. I don't dare look at him so I nervously stare down on the ground. Maybe, if he reads this, he'll realize that I'm one of them. He'll realize that he doesn't want to trust me any longer.

But I needed to show him. He needs to know that I don't want to have secrets and that I won't be a danger to him, that we truly are allies.

My train of thought comes to a crashing halt when I feel Cyo's hand on my chin, lifting it up so I have to face him. I don't know what exactly to expect now, but I feel lost, worried.

Finally, I lock eyes with him, but I only see kindness. I have worried over nothing. The next thing I know is our lips meeting in a kiss, the warm feeling of sharing a moment, sharing everything we have without saying a single word.

When we part again Cyo smiles at me and says, in a voice that is so soothing and beautiful, I can't even comprehend it, "I love you, Valeria..."

Did he really just say that? I can't help but gasp. Then I shake my head and whisper, "How can you say that after what you just read?"

"Nothing that I just read makes you look bad... if you hadn't shown me and thought about it - that would have been bad."

Shyly I can muster a smile again. "I could never kill you... you know it."

Now Cyo pulls me closer again and closes his arms around me. It gives me butterflies. "I know. Nothing our mentors write could convince me otherwise."

What does he mean by that? Did Katniss and Peeta send him notes to tell him to kill me? A little unsettled I quietly ask, "Our mentors?"

"Yes... the night we ran into each other on the roof, the night before the Games, I wasn't sure if I should go and look for you. But I eventually just went back to my floor. Peeta was still awake. I told him what just happened, that I felt this connection between us.

"I thought he would understand, but he told me that I should let it go. That I should not trust a career and that we couldn't both survive. He said I should focus on not being killed in the bloodbath and to not trust anyone."

I glance up to look at him. "That's reasonable... I mean, Katniss probably told him about me and her, so he had even more reason to not think highly of me."

Cyo smiles. "Yeah... you're probably right. He wanted to help me."

Then we stay silent and watch the sunrise together. We can't both survive, Peeta was right. And Cyo knows that just as well as I do. But for now, we are not the last ones left in the arena. Now we are still 4 and it's not the time to think about that.

And that's when I say, "Let me look at your wound."

Cyo lets go of me and says, "Okay, yes... it doesn't hurt anymore so it should be alright."

Quickly I turn around and open up his jacket. The gauze bandage is easy to remove and to my surprise, the compress just falls off with it. The wound has completely healed. Only a scar is left where it has been.

I smile and internally thank whatever God might be out there. I brush my fingers over it to make sure and say, "It's even better than I hoped it would be."

Cyo nods. "It's completely healed."

I let my hand fall away and look at him. Now that he is fit again, we need to set the plan we discussed that night in motion. "We should go and find Ayla soon. If we wait too long she might go somewhere else."

He looks at me before saying, "Right, we should start."

I can feel that he's a bit tense. I also don't like the idea of something not playing out the way I imagined it, but you can never know.

We unpack Cyo's backpack completely and then only pack the stuff he had with him before meeting me. The blanket and a knife. I also put in a loaf of bread from the feast.

Then we leave the hideout. This time I triple-check if my knives are there. When we are close to the trap Ayla has set I stop and Cyo does too. There is no sign of Ayla anywhere yet so I quietly explain.

"See that little clearing over there? Next to the tallest tree, Ayla has set a trap. If it works, it will pull you up by your feet and you'll be hanging upside down."

Cyo eyes the spot that I have just described before looking back at me, eyes uncertain. "Okay... so my job is to trigger the trap and make some noise, so Ayla will come here?"

I nod and say, "Yes... it's the best distraction I can think of. I'm sorry."

He smiles, pressing his lips together. "It's okay. I trust you to stop her from killing me."

I swallow hard. Then I pull him closer and kiss him. I feel him relax just the tiniest bit against me. Then I look into his green eyes and say, "I love you too..."

With that, we part. Now it has some kind of seriousness to it, now that I've said it too. But I felt like I needed to - just so he knows, just in case...

I quickly stop myself from thinking that. No, I'm good at this. Just as Enobaria wrote, I trained for this and I can do it.

Cyo and I walk over to the next tree together. I look at him once again, then I start climbing. I choose a spot midway up the tree, only a few feet high, one where I can't be seen immediately.

Looking down, I see Cyo walk out onto the clearing. He looks around briefly then he takes a deep breath and walks directly into the trap.

It triggers immediately, pulling his feet together and him up into the air upside down. The force of it makes his bag fall off his shoulders and the spear out of his hand. Purposefully he lets out a scream as if surprised.

I twist the knife in my hand. There's a strong urge to abort the mission and cut him down immediately, but I know this is our best chance.

Cyo struggles and reaches for his weapon, making the tree branch shake, but the rope doesn't give in. Ayla must have made constructions such as this one a lot. Otherwise, it would probably not work that well. She's from the Lumber-District after all, she knows ways around the trees.

Footsteps make me focus again. Ayla runs onto the clearing, stopping near her trap, ax in hand. She grins before turning her back on me, facing Cyo. "Look who made it back to me..."

Cyo stares from her face to the ax in her hand. "Ayla please... let's at least make this a fair fight. Cut me down."

I hear her chuckle. "In your dreams, Cyo... That's what you get for sympathizing with little careers."

He reaches for his spear again, but Ayla raises up her ax and says, "You don't need that anymore, because you die now."

I can't watch this any longer. I grab my knife tighter briefly and then throw it, hitting Ayla in the back of the neck. I see her drop the ax in shock and spin around.

Quickly I jump from the tree branch to face her. "Get away from him!"

Still in shock, she manages to stammer, "Y...you..."

I grab another knife from my belt and, before Ayla can do anything about it, I throw it, aiming for the throat.

I watch her collapse and seconds later, the cannon announces her death. Immediately I run past her and stop in front of Cyo. "Are you alright?"

He smiles at me for a moment, clearly relieved, but also unsettled by what just happened. "Now I am..."

Reaching for another knife I walk over to the tree where the rope is attached and cut it. Cyo falls to the ground but quickly gets up again, collecting his things.

Now we both look down on Ayla. I hear Cyo mumble, "I feel a bit bad... she had a real chance."

He's right. It would have been beneficial for District 7 to have another victor so soon after Johanna Mason and Pliny Arausio - and Ayla could have made it. She was strong and clearly skilled. I sigh. "She did, yes. But I guess, everyone who is left now, does. She made it far."

Cyo stares down at her a bit longer, then turns to face me. "Can we at least remove the knives? Make her look peaceful?"

Now I look up too. Cyo was once Ayla's ally, knew her a bit better. I understand him, so I nod. "Of course..."

Then we step closer to the body. Carefully I remove the knife in her neck before turning her over and pulling the second one out of her throat. Cyo kneels down on her other side and softly closes her eyes with his hand.

Then he straightens her legs and crosses her hands on her stomach. I look at her. She really does look peaceful, can return to her district and the friends who love her. It makes it easier to know that, but it also makes me think about the poor kids I killed at the bloodbath. They for sure didn't look peaceful.

I swallow, then stand up again. It's too late for that now anyway. Cyo still kneels so I say, "Do you want to say anything before we go?"

He briefly touches Ayla's hands. Then he stands up too. "No... She knows."

I try a small smile and nod. "Okay... then we should go."

Cyo looks at Ayla one last time, then he walks over to me and we leave the clearing. We walk in silence, the sounds of the hovercraft, that picks Ayla's body up, in the background - then those are gone as well.

We are almost back at our hideout when Claudius Templesmith's voice fills the arena. I stop dead in my tracks when he starts the announcement, "Attention tributes! Congratulations, you've made it to the top 3! That means, there will be no more sponsors' gifts allowed from this point forward. May the odds be ever in your favor!"

I look up again and find Cyo looking at me. We don't say a word, but I stretch my hand out towards him. He takes my hand in his, our fingers entwining. This is it. No more mistakes from now on.