I mess up my left shoulder in my haste, but I still make it back to the false summit before the hovercraft has completely disappeared. It's a little hard to gauge the distance, but it looks like the claw was another few yards up and ahead. I'm going to assume that's where the others are.

Pausing briefly to catch my breath isn't doing any good, so I charge onward. I hear some bits of conversation—not calm by any means. What happened? What happened? Did Athena—? Is it over, or is the big battle just starting?

I finally throw myself over another row of rocks and land on the same level as the others. They're still a few feet in front of me, but I... I've collapsed a little, and I don't think I can drag myself over there. I can barely even stay on knees and elbows with my shoulder throbbing. Agh...

It doesn't look like I'm needed urgently, anyway.

Craning my neck up a little more, I gasp for breath and scan the alliance. The only blood is on the rocks. Can't... see any on anyone's hands. Wildly looking for every member, I forget to breathe for a minute.

"Wh..." My panting comes back full force, and I almost gag on the mucus in my throat. "Wh...?"

They start to come towards as I tremble—I don't think that's entirely from the strain of keeping myself from collapsing.

"Where..." My arms shake so hard they give out, but I'm helped back into a seated position. "Where's Robin?"

I don't realize I'm hyperventilating until I've confirmed everyone else is here. "What happened?"

Athena shuts her eyes, hand clamped on her arm. "We... We were—"

"What happened?!"

She cuts off, startled, as Hugh blinks and meets my gaze.

"W-we were caught in a trap. A tunnel formed around us, and... the walls immediately started rushing towards one another, with all of us in the middle. Robin..." He looks to the side a bit, a glare covering the lenses of his glasses. "...was the farthest inside when it happened."

I just stare at the minute spray of blood for a while. I guess... her plan didn't work...

"It's okay." Athena lowers herself to sit next to me and tries her hardest to catch my eye. "We're all here for each other. I'm... glad you're back." She glances at Juniper, who's currently sobbing into Hugh's chest, before watching me again. "You can talk to me about it if you want."

"I don't want to talk to you."

She flinches back, eyebrows lifting and scrunching in dismayed surprise. "O-okay? I'll give you some space."

Does she really care, or is she putting on a front? Did she hear the trap coming into action and make sure someone else was deeper in than her?

Or maybe she's just worried about me because she's my friend...!

"Uuuuugh..." I grip the inner edges of Clay's jacket hard enough I'd probably tear it if I were in better condition.

"Are you hurt?" Trucy scans the bandages on my arms.

"My shoulder, a little bit," I mumble. "Uh, left one..."

She nods and scoots around to look it over.

Robin's still not here. She's not going to be. She's dead. Robin is dead.

No matter how many times I say it, it doesn't make any impact. It's just a bunch of random syllables strung together. Nothing I can make sense of.

I don't understand... I don't understand any of this... It's all... nonsense...

Robin and Aura both get a night in the sky before the alliance is back to some sort of normal. Juniper and Hugh are quieter than usual, and Widget still hasn't changed from dark blue for an appreciable amount of time, but we've calmed down.

Actually, "calm" probably isn't the best word. Maybe "numb."

As for me, my elbow seems to have healed up pretty completely. My arms and back are doing a little better, but I must have strained something in my shoulder, and my eye hurts more than ever. I haven't gotten any more medicine. I doubt I ever will.

Or, not in the middle of the Games. I could still make it out. I'd have plenty of money for treatment then. I would just have to watch the rest of my friends die first...

Is it even worth winning? Of course I don't want to up and die, but... the cost of becoming a victor is more than I had ever imagined. Is it really right to fight for my life at the cost of my friends'? Phoenix was ready to sacrifice himself for Maya. Shouldn't I be prepared to do the same? I hardly deserve his badge otherwise, right?

But... maybe those aren't my only options. Even if Robin is gone, her plan with Juniper and Hugh can still stand with different tributes, right? It wouldn't quite be the same, and for all I know the Capitol was sending us a message by killing her, but that seems unlikely. I mean, the whole plan seems a little unlikely, too, but what have I got to lose? I'm probably going to die otherwise, and the same goes for most of my friends. I don't see any reason I shouldn't at least try to defend them all.

But from what? That's the problem. Mutts we can fight. Traps we can flee. But what else? No one else is left, so any other conflict would have to come from within this group. And even if we don't know each other all that well, we're all friends. None of us would turn on each other, especially if we believe more than one can be victors.

I look over the group before my eyes lock on Athena. I avert my gaze once she starts to turn this way.

We're all friends... None of us would turn on each other... That's not true, is it? I've pushed it out of my mind because I didn't want to deal with it, because I wanted to get a little sleep, but Athena could easily turn on all of us, couldn't she? And if she just waited until her night watch, she could kill every last one of us. I wouldn't have to watch them die, I guess, but that hardly changes the fact that they would.

I've spent enough time sitting around. I have to do something about this. But what? Warn the others? I can't get away with that when Athena's listening in, and we still couldn't keep all of our guards up all of the time. I could lead her away and tie her up or something, but to leave her like that in the middle of the arena? I might as well just kill her myself.

...

I... I mean... in this situation, the only way to eliminate her as a threat... is to kill her. But I... don't have to do it myself. I can leave it to the Gamemakers. But is it really any different if I'm the one that set her out there to die? Maybe a little, but...

Can I even be sure the Gamemakers would kill her for me? What if she makes it back to the alliance when we don't expect it? Every route of action is too dangerous... And I can't let any more of my friends die. I have to do something. I...

I have to kill Athena.

I-if she killed her mother or Clay, she deserves it... And I have to defend my friends...

But I'm also supposed to trust my friends, aren't I?! Even when it doesn't seem like there's a chance in the world that they're innocent? That's what Phoenix would do, right? But... But what if they're really not innocent? What if they're really not your friend? Then what am I supposed to do, Mr. Wright?

Waiting a moment and brushing the dust off my badge, unsurprisingly, gets me nothing. Instead, I watch my fist clench.

I... I'm going to save all of my friends. Whatever it takes.