willow Pov

That night I couldn't sleep, so I decided to stay watch

we all took shelter in the ruins of a house. I got out my sleeping bag and stood up, I was feeling so much better.. when I stood up I smiled as I looked around happy that I finally found my family.

Rye and Thorn were cosy in a sleeping bag in one of the corners, Gabi and Robbie sharing another, Cara was sound asleep next to Noah who was looking over Sophie in his sleeping bag, laura was reading a book on fish that we found in 4 and I looked down at Mahic who was smiling right at me

"sorry I thought you were asleep" I whisper

he stands up and smiles at me "here I want to show you something"

he takes my hand and we go outside and we go to the outskirts of 11

we sit down and I look out to the many trees and the hills in the distant with the sun rising above it

it reminds me of the time I used to go out hunting early before school with my mum when I was young and how much I miss them.

I put my hands in my coat pocket and I feel something cold, I take it out and I'm shocked. its the ring Musit gave me at the start of the games

I can feel tears at the back of my throat

"I thought they took this after the games" I say to Mahic but I keep looking at the ring

"what is it" he says and I pass it over to him

"they must of put it in my pocket to keep"

"together we fight, together we fall" he whispers swiping his thumb over the writing and he hands it back

"he gave it to me so I wouldn't forget" I say quietly

"forget what?" mahic puts an arm around me an gives me back the ring

"so I wouldn't forget about the people I love, the people who helped me in the games, the people who I need to help and most of all I wouldn't forget myself and who I really am"

"thorn gave me something before the games too" Mahic says reaching for his necklace around his neck, he shows me a silver necklace with a flower charm at the end

"its beautiful" I say looking at the very fine detail that had been put in to it

"it used to be my sisters"

"thorns?"

"no" he pauses "dandy, she disappeared 3 years ago"

I didn't say anything as I had no clue what to say

"she was 5" he carries on "we were In the woods, me and her, and she fell over a tree root and what I thought was a broken ankle. there was no one else with us so I had to leave her to get help" he takes a deep breath and I hold his hand and he squeezes it. "when I got back to the spot where she fell with my dad and thorn, she was gone, there was no trace of anyone being there"

I look at him and his eyes were red, by this time the sun was almost fully in the sky

I lean forward and kiss his lips and put my hands on his cheeks and I can feel his tears run on to my hand

I pull away "it will get better, everything has to end at some point" I whisper and wipe away his tears from underneath his eyes

I feel his hands wrap round my waist and he presses his lips against mine, I put his cheeks in my hands and I can feel the warm sun on the back of my neck

I hear Gabi telling everyone to get up with her shouting from a distance

we break the kiss and I pull him into a hug

"I love you" he whispers into my ear

I break the hug and look into his eyes

"I love you too"

I stand up and start heading back and mahic follows

Noahs pov

when i see willow and mahic leave with willow smiling it makes me smile, its by time she found someone that makes her happy. i look back at sophie and she is fast asleep. She reminds me so much of my wee sister. aw god i miss her so much, she is only 4 and she wont know what is happening and why I'm not coming home.

i must have fallen asleep cause i get waken up by gabi's loud shouting telling everyone to get up. the sun has risen and everyone is packing

i go over to cara realising i havnt introduced myself

"hey cara, I'm Noah" i put my hand out

"hi Noah, heard a lot about you" and she shakes my hand

we had a chat with odd awkward silent pauses

"Noah" i hear a little voice from beside me

i bend down to sophies level

"Hiya sophs, this is cara" i say and look up to cara

"hello there and what might your name be" Cara says politely crouching to out level

"sophie" she says quietly

"well its nice to meet you sophie"

Gabi Pov

we got to get a move on

its nice that we all found each other but we got to find people and fast

"is it okay we use the van" i ask laura

"of course, you don't need to ask" she smiles "it might be a tight squeeze but we will manage"

i smile back of course

she seems so lovely, i wonder how they all met

"right come on guys lets get a move on" i say gathering the water and putting it in the back of the truck

sophie and what i think is noah gets on first

Its so confusing i don't know who the hell anyone is, I know willow cause she is the only girl that changed. But Noah, Robbie and Mahic, i cant tell who is who. i just sorta guess

"Robbie" i say loudly looking around at who reacts, the person who is getting in the drivers seat looks at me, i take a long look at his face so i remember it

"you okay gabs" he says walking over

" oh yeh, I mean I'm just looking so i don't forget its you, like everything has changed about you"

I look at his face and he looks heart broken that I don't recognize him

"I'm sorry" i whisper

"nah nah its fine" he says shaking it off "here let me help you with the food" he picks up a bag and walks back to the van and i follow silently

In the back of the van it is very quiet for a good hour before anyone speaks up

"so what happened to you guys after the you know.. the whipping" i say looking over to Mahic and Willow

willow sits up from resting on mahics shoulder

"well as you guys know i was left on the ground in 12 and Robbie and noah came and helped me" willow says, she carries on the story about what happened and how she was in the lonely holes which are above ground and how they met laura

Mahic then tells his side of the story as does noah and Robbie. its almost like we go round in a circle and we told everyone how we got here

Willow Pov

after we share our stories we all go silent again like we have nothing else to talk about. its almost like we are all strangers meeting and i guess we are. as cheesy as it sounds the games changed all of us and I don't think anyone is the same person.

i look over to rye who is looking at a picture in his hands

"whats that i whisper" as a lot of people have fallen asleep

rye looks up and hands me the photo and at the first glance i take i know exactly what it is. its the picture of rye, kyle, Robbie, gabi, noah and i

"oh my" i say and smile

i stroke my fingers over the photo looking at how we used to look like and a load of memories flooded back

"i miss you" rye suddenly says

i look up

"i miss me too" i say back

"whats that" gabi says putting out her hand

when she looks at the picture its like she forgot about everything that's happening right now and she was remembering the old times

"time flies eh?" Noah buts it

all 3 of our heads look towards noah

"sure does" gabi smiles and hands the photo back to rye

we stop at 10 when the sun is setting

myself, Noah, Gabi and Robbie all went to the top of a house just to look around

when we reach the top, i feel the sun glowing on my face and the wind flowing through my hair

"I'm so happy we are together again" i say with my eyes closed

"i mean it has been one crazy journey" Robbie laughs

there was a pause

"i thought i would never see any of you again" gabi says walking closer to the rest of us, we all look at her "i thought after the games when i saw you all die, that, that was the end and i would have no one no one that would understand me" she sighs "when i realised you were in 12 but a different person i thought it was a chance to have you back, at least you had the heart of willow" she looks at me and all i want her to do is hug her but i let her finish "i needed someone, that's why i never gave up believing it was you. why it was my fault you got whipped. and when you left again. its like my heart broke again into a million shards" tears were running down her face at this point and so do i "i had you back, and then you were gone. and i had no body again, no one. i thought that at least you guys had each other you know, in your world but i was alone. and even though i might not be able to tell you apart" she looks at Robbie and noah and we laugh "at least i have you all back and I'm so fucking grateful"

i run and give her hug and say nothing

soon enough i feel noah and Robbie joinig the hug

"god i missed you guys" i hear Robbie with a relieved sigh

we all laugh and watch then watch the day turn to night