The next day, we see smoke coming around the side of the mountain. It's only a wisp, and I can't even smell what's burning, but it's still enough to cement an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Athena and Robin navigate in that direction for a little while, but they don't find anything alarming. The smoke is probably from a single, small fire. Campfire small.

Hugh crosses his legs with a serious look. "Aura."

"Yeah." Athena hops between her feet in some nervous version of jogging in place. "We didn't get close enough to check, but that's probably it."

"So she's not that far, huh?" Trucy exhales. "At least she didn't find us last night."

After I screamed enough to shake the mountain, you mean? Yeah. I... really shouldn't have done that. But I didn't have a grip on myself. I'm doing a little better today. The pain still hasn't come back completely, so that's not enough to drive me crazy. Everything else... I'm just trying not to worry about it too much. Logical or not, the conclusions I reached last night keep bouncing around my head if I think about the subject at all. I don't want to be suspicious. I have to trust these people... Especially now that I can't do as much on my own.

I guess Trucy and I could always split off, but what about the trio? If Athena's really a threat, that would be making them more vulnerable, and it wouldn't even protect my district partner and me in the end.

I don't know what I'm supposed to do... I haven't figured out enough to come to any solid conclusions, but there's just not much to go on. I wish there were a few honest-to-goodness jabberjays flitting around...

For lunch, we finish off our fruit and some roots. Juniper keeps a few of the latter in reserve, but it won't be enough to feed the lot of us one meal. We have to find something else. But with Aura around, we have to keep a low profile, and we won't be able to cook game nearby. But our sponsors are probably still bankrupt after sending me medicine. I can't imagine we'll be getting anything from them.

"So, what are we supposed to do about food?" I idly rub a piece of orange peel between my fingers. "This is all but the last of it, right?"

Juniper nods, looking ill. "But we're a bit farther down now, so the vegetation won't be quite as sparse. I'm sure we can pick enough things out."

"That'll be our mission for the day, huh?" Robin responds. "Since we'll be running around, anyway, do you think we should keep going down?"

"I don't see why not." Hugh's eyes move to the side as he gazes at the smoke. "It's a bit of a shame. We clearly outnumber her. This would be a good chance to sneak up on her and finish off one part of the opposition... if we were different people." With a smirk, he adjusts his glasses. "As it is, my skills are better spent hunting game. Let's see what we can find."

"Okay." Juniper coughs. "Good luck."

"What do you mean, good luck?!" Robin requires a dark look from Athena to keep her voice down. "You have to come with us, or we'll miss a bunch of the plants!"

Juniper's hands fly to her mouth. "Oh! I... I guess you're right." She gets to her feet but stops, glancing at me.

"I can keep an eye on Apollo for you, Junie." Putting on a smile, Athena sidesteps towards me. "Go get us some grub."

Trucy's face scrunches a little in concern as she watches me. "Um..." She turns to Athena. "Actually, I'll stay. You'll feel better getting some exercise with them, right?"

"Yeah, but..." She puts her hands on her hips. "Are you sure?"

Trucy smiles. "It's fine. Go ahead; I'll keep watch here."

"Thanks, Trucy. All right, guys! Let's head out!"

She charges into the lead, the trio following her after a moment's hesitation. Trucy sits down next to me, watches the smoke for a while, and then faces me with a frown. "Okay, Polly. I know something's wrong. Why didn't you want Athena to stay with you?"

...! How could she...? Then again, she's the one who told me how to perceive people. I guess I can't expect any less.

"It's nothing," I pant. "I just... Aagh!" My hand suddenly cups my eye as it throbs in pain.

"A-Apollo?!"

I groan for a few more moments before lowering my hand. "Sorry... My eye's really been hurting today."

She frowns, hands close together. "Do you want me to check it out?"

A trickle of sweat goes down the back of my neck. "I'm sure it's fine. It's just because the medication has worn off."

"I'm... going to check, anyway." She shuffles through my backpack to get the ointment out. I guess there aren't any more bandages.

Taking a deep breath, she slips her fingertips under the eye patch and starts to take it off. It's sticking somewhere around my eyelid, so that's unpleasant for me, but she finishes up without it stinging too much. I watch her eyes widen as she sees the damage. Looking unwell, she shakes it off and leans in a little closer.

"Well? Is it about the same?" Apparently I don't expect it to be because my heart is racing. I can't see out of that eye any more than light and darkness, but I'm not an ophthalmologist. I don't know what kind of injury that sort of thing requires or if it can heal.

She covers her mouth with one hand, squinting. "It's... almost the same, I think."

"What's the 'almost' for?"

"Um..." She brings her hands together.

I set my shoulders. "If it's infected, tell me."

"I don't know if it is. It's just... weird."

"Let me see." My shoulders are already aching, so I try to let them relax. "I know we have a mirror somewhere."

"Yes, but I don't know if it'd be any good for you to see it. It has to look especially bad knowing it's your own eye..."

I certainly believe her. I'm scared to look at it, honestly. But... the suspense is killing me, for one.

"Come on, Trucy. Get the mirror. I need to see it. I... I need to know what's going on! Just this once... I have to know what's happening."

She sighs, going for the bag that was left behind. "Okay. Let me find the mirror."

After a little shuffling, she retrieves it and positions the handle in my palm. I grip it tightly, staring at the shaky reflection of the sky before tilting the mirror down towards my face.

Red. That's the first thing I notice. Not only is the chunk taken out of my eye and the skin around it a bright red, the white of the eye itself is too bloodshot to qualify as pink. Some of it sort of looks like... it's oozing past my lower eyelid. The side of my face seems a little off, too. Was part of the orbit fractured?

But I turn my focus back to my eye. The iris is intact, at least, and the pupil seems like it's a pretty normal size. But Trucy was right. There's something weird about the iris. Just under the pupil, a line cuts across all of the brown, and everything below is instead a hazy yellow.

What... What on earth...? Is that what an infection looks like? Is that... pus?

I choke a little, putting the mirror down before I start gagging. What's going on? Even after seeing it, I barely know. Just another thing to add to the list...

Trucy quickly takes the mirror back, making it vanish before she scoots back towards me. I've clamped my hand over my eye again. It looked terrible... I'm never going to see out of it again, am I?

"I'll try some of the antibiotic ointment, okay?" Trucy nudges my wrist until I move my hand off my face.

"Be careful." My voice is strained. "It hurts enough now."

She nods, and I brace myself.

Is it really infected? If it's inside the eye, how is ointment going to help anything? Can it spread beyond my eye? Am I—Am I going to have to... t-take it out?

I'm not throwing up, I'm not throwing up, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm Apollo Justice and I'm fine...!

Trucy rearranges the bandages to get a cleaner section over my eye before I lean back again. I didn't even realize I was sitting up so straight... And now my back's throbbing from it...

"Ugh..."

The others come back with a few berries and a bird they cooked while they were out. I try to keep up casual conversation with them so I don't spend too much time thinking. This becomes my routine for the next three meals. Just wait, try to heal, don't refuse the unfairly large ration Juniper is offering, chat with your friends. They're all your friends.

They're all my friends. So what, then? That means more than eating together. We look out for each other. And I haven't been doing much of that. I'm sure I've healed a little—at least, some of the gashes are gone and the pain isn't outright crippling while the painkiller tablets are in action—so I should be able to do something. But I'm not the best at hunting, and there's no way I'm going to make a habit of climbing back and forth for some food. And I can't even skin any game while I'm over here since we're preparing and cooking it where we find it. The best I can do is put iodine tablets in the water they get and try to time it.

Is this it? Is this what the rest of the Games are going to be like? Struggling to support our alliance when I'm not even sure if all our members deserve to be in it? But what else can I do? What can I protect them from? No one and nothing has tried to attack us lately, so my sword hasn't seen much action, and I doubt it would otherwise with Hugh and Trucy taking care of attackers from a distance. Do the Gamemakers expect the conflict to come from within the group?

As much as I try to look at Athena as a friend, as much as I look at her with pity for the close friend she lost, that's not all I see. She reacted to the knife. She may not be innocent. She may even be involved somehow in her mother's murder. How am I supposed to react to that? Kick her out? If she's dangerous, not keeping an eye on her would be even worse. And what would the others think? Could I even explain my ideas properly to them?

I can't even explain them to myself properly. I'm missing too much information, too much proof. And there's no way to find any more. No prints on the knife, none of the crime scene left intact after all this time—not to mention the hovercraft claw surely digging up the ground around where Clay was. And I've already asked everyone about the bloodbath. There's nothing more that I can get from them.

I'm spinning a blackberry stem in my fingers when I freeze.

I've asked everyone in my alliance, yes.

But there is one more person in this arena who could know every last answer I need.

And I know just about where she is. I've only seen the smoke twice, but it doesn't seem like she's moved. It's probably a little far if she hasn't heard us over here, but I've recovered some. I'm sure I can make it that far and back.

And back. Would I make it back? I'm talking about approaching a trained killer! Even if I have a sword, I'm probably no match for her. And what reason could she possibly have to let me live?

I... I could bring the others with me. But then she'd be so overpowered she'd either flee or attack us in desperation. I could just bring one other person to watch my back, but then I'd still be putting them in danger. And for what? My own suspicions? Nobody else seems to think Athena is suspicious, not even Trucy. This isn't their battle. I'd be dragging them into mine.

So... if I can't take anyone with me...

I've lost my mind. This is way too dangerous! I can't just walk up to a Career, interrogate her, and walk away. What if she's the one who killed Clay? Then what? Would I lose control and try to attack her for justice's sake? She'd kill me for sure. She'll probably kill me regardless.

But... Do I really have a chance of making it out alive at this point? Even if Juniper's, Hugh's and Robin's plan works and we can have more than one victor, will I last that long? I'm sure the Gamemakers have things to throw at us yet. I may have recovered some, but I'm still far from fast and strong. I'll be easy pickings for any obstacle—tribute or trap. And for all I know, my eye infection will kill me before I even get that far.

So that's it, huh? I can go ahead and do this since I'll probably die anyway? That's... That's a wonderful thought...

But what other conclusion can I draw? Everyone has to face it at some point in the Games. Even Phoenix Wright didn't make it out alive. I'll... probably follow him. That's just how the Games work.

And if I'm going to die, it's going to be for my friends, not for the Capitol's amusement.

"Everyone." I stand up, striking as strong of a stance as I can. "I'm going to leave."

They all watch me for a moment before it clicks.

"Wait! What do you mean by 'leave'?" Athena exclaims.

"I mean, leave the alliance, just for a little while."

Hugh narrows his eyes. "Do you have some sort of reason for this?"

I drop my gaze. "I can only say that this is something I must settle on my own."

The others fall into a perplexed silence—even Trucy just watches me with a look of distress—and I take the chance to stride to the edge of the false summit.

"A-Apollo, stop!"

A hand grips my arm above the elbow so weakly it does less to stop me than the words. I turn my head enough to see Juniper.

She coughs twice before looking up at me. "You're still hurt! I-it's too dangerous—" cough, cough—"for you to go out alone..."

I take a deep breath. "I really need to do this, and it'll only be for a little while." If I do make it back. I've already accepted that I'm probably going to die, though.

I give her a wide smile. "I'll be fine."

Even though she lets go, she doesn't really move her hand away. I duck through the trees, anyway, and keep walking.