A/N: wha-hoah! So close to finishing it's scary. Maya found Holden... aren't you happy? *cackle* *cackle* we were all hoping she would fall into his arms and they'd have a happy love scene. Pity, pity.
Very close now. I'm still musing on how to end it all.

The Trial Games.

Once Adelaide explained the situation to me, I was exhausted from crying. Holden said nothing, but he would wearily open his eyes every now and again before slipping back into his painful slumber.

"I didn't know that he h-had... given all his portions to me... he h-hasn't eaten since we entered the arena..." Adelaide was having trouble speaking; the explosion from the start seemed to have permanently damaged her lungs. "-Boxen and Cisqua said t-they would get the medicine..."

I was so glad she didn't know the medicine came in the little white bag I was holding. While she had been explaining and through my tears, I had ransacked the little bag- and had been horrified to find that I hadn't picked the bottle up after I drank half of its contents. It probably still lay on the ground where I had attacked Sin.

"-I have food..." I push my survival pack towards her. "-and water... won't that help...?"

"We have water... but maybe some food will help him..." Adelaide struggled to tear a sandwich into smaller portions. She looked so tired and weak herself. "...I can't believe... there are only f-five of us left..."

I nod. I'd told her about Cisqua and Boxen's deaths, but I neglected to tell her that Cisqua had been the one to kill Boxen in a weak attempt to gain Crux's favour. Apparently the performance hall didn't receive the midnight transmissions of the dead. Boxen had been tallying the deaths by scratching them into the floorboard- about a metre away from where Holden lay. Seeing the scratches there reminded me that aside from his corpse, they were all there was left of Boxen.

I watch as Adelaide pushes a small piece of bread to Holden's lips. My heart aches as he weakly opens his mouth, barely chews- and swallows. He's never looked so pale as long as I've known him as he does now. I wish he would open his eyes. If it weren't for his chest moving, I'd wear he was dead.

"No one's come in here, a-aside from Cisqua..." Adelaide seems desperate to fill the silence. "...is there a-anyone who'll follow you here?"

"I don't know." I mumble, still staring as Holden's stomach loudly gurgles. "I don't know..."

But I do know. Neither Sin nor Crux would like me at this stage in the game. I had left Sin with a wound that certainly didn't tickle- and Crux was a complicated mess I didn't want to delve into. The fact that he harboured feelings for me still shocked and terrified me more than anything else I'd seen in the past few days. So instead of thinking about it, I just tell myself he hates me. It makes things easier.

"...you're so brave M-Miss Maya..." the young girl smiles at me and the corners of my mouth twitch. "-to struggle so hard to find my brother and I... thank you..."

"...Adelaide..."

Adelaide and I hadn't really spoken much back home in District 13. Whenever I visited Holden she would busy herself with other things to leave us alone. Crux used to call her 'mini-Maya'. Apparently I used to do that too whenever people visited my parents. He used to berate me with the story when he first visited with his father- I had apparently gone to such lengths to evade him he said it was like chasing a rabbit...

"-I'm sure if H-Holden gets better... we'll get out of here somehow..." Adelaide's voice is so hushed, I can hardly hear her. "...Cisqua said... maybe beyond the hall... there's an exit..."

These words were like lightning, flooding through my veins. My body snaps to attention and I suddenly wish that Cisqua were still alive so I could question this theory further.

"...there must be... there has to be an exit..."

"-what?" Adelaide looks at me in surprise. "M-Miss Maya-?"

I can barely contain my excitement; I'm trembling from just thinking about it. Cisqua really was a genius! I hadn't even considered running to the point of leaving the arena behind! Of course there's an end to the arena- there's no way this arena could go on forever.

Together, with Adelaide and Holden- we could escape. Sin and Crux could battle it out alone- but we could run, we could find freedom. And- and then...
...I could find my happy ending. Holden and I... we could be together, forever.

'...but first...'

"-Adelaide, I'm going back out there."

Her sharp intake is enough of a response for me. I stand to my feet and carefully examine the two siblings I'm preparing to risk my life to salvage. With an eager smile that feels so extraordinary for this situation- I nod.

"-Holden's medicine is out there, I just have to go back and get it- I'll be back before even an hour passes." I shake out the stakes in my pocket and leave them beside Adelaide. "You can use them to cut up the sandwiches or the curtains to make blankets- just don't make any noise."

"-but M-Miss Maya-"

"-just Maya." I correct her. "Don't worry about me, I have my cleaver... and I'm doing this to protect you two... you're all I need."

She says nothing, but I can tell- behind those sad eyes, she understands me. Without any more words of protest from Adelaide, I jump off the stage and into the aisle, but not before giving her the most comforting smile I can muster.

"Be safe"

As I step into the cold night air, I can notice that not even the moon is shining tonight- everything is just barely visible. The world that stretches out before me is pitch black in texture- and I can hear nothing. Not even a leaf of a blade of grass rustles as I take off my shoes before climbing back into the quadrangle.
The last thing I need is for my footsteps to give me away. My socks will silence the echo; at least enough so no one will hear me. As my feet touch the cool, concrete ground- I gently breathe in and smile as the voice whispers-

'You can't fail. You haven't failed yet, you're not going to now-'

-And I run. I feel like one of the crossbow's silver stakes, cutting through the air as it flies towards its ill fated target. This is one of the few times I've ever felt so sure about a choice, a decision. I was going to save Holden. No other cause could be more worthy than him. The medicine will cure him, and then we can run for the end, the end of this arena.

"..And... I can have my happy ending..."

Climbing back out of the quadrangle is difficult one handed, but somehow I manage to pull myself up onto the grass. I'm behind the block where I first met Cisqua, and the block where I slumped alongside and dropped the medicine is just beyond there.

My socks are drenched with the wet, muddy grass. I'm thankful, as I would rather risk the hypothermia than the tell tale crunch beneath my weight. I run my hand alongside the block's edge as I draw nearer and nearer to the spot I was looking for.

It's there. Glinting in the dullest, faintest way possible- I can just see the bottle. I practically dive for it- and hearing the soothing sound of liquid swilling about inside makes me laugh breathlessly in relief. Thank god! Thank god I found it!
-I take no more time to dwell in my happiness, and I start running back, trying my best not to slip and spill the liquid. I want to dance, but instead my eyes brim with tears of joy.

Everything's finally working out. All the deaths that took place around me won't have been in vain. If Holden, Adelaide and I can make it out of here alive- at least we can live on and tell the world of their sacrifice. We were all part of a monstrous game that would have become a yearly event had it not been for our efforts... we'll be heroes... no, legends.

The quadrangle feels pleasantly warm in comparison to the grass. I'm skipping, and yet, not even realising it. We can leave all this behind. All of this horror and bloodshed. I can achieve my happy ending after all.

"-so why'd you let me live?"

-and I freeze. The voice is husky, like a dying animal... but I know who it is. Sin. I just manage to maintain a grip on the open bottle as someone speaks again- and I realise that I'm not the one being addressed here.

"You're the only real competition I have in this stupid arena... I'm saving you for... maybe third last."

There's laughter. Sin somehow found Crux's dark comment amusing. In the dark, I can only make out one figure, and their back is turned on me. Judging from the tall but muscular build- it's certainly Crux.

"-who are you saving for last Cruxie?" Sin taunts. "Your buddy Holden? He'd sure like that; he hasn't showed this entire game-"

"He's second last." Crux answers sharply. "His sister can die whenever, I don't care one way or the other about her... she should've been killed by that damn explosion anyway."

I edge away from the two, and I manage to get three metres away before I realise I need to start moving forwards again. If I stay still and stakes fly- I'm going to become an accidental target.

"...then it's Maya... you want to kill Maya last."

"...perhaps, but I have better plans for Maya."

-I want to move. My legs tremble as I will them to go further, but my head and my heart aches as I wonder what on earth Crux is talking about. Fear fills me as my subconscious makes the decision to listen this conversation out.

"So what is it?" Sin asks in a drawl-like tone. "Going to rape her before you finish her off lover boy?"

The inner of my legs ache slightly just thinking of that night again. I can hear Crux breathe in deeply before a strange, daydream-ish like tone escapes him that I've never heard before.

"She's already mine... she just... doesn't know it yet..."

"Haa?" Sin sounds beside himself with amusement. "-so you've already done that huh? Should've known, after all the killing- you're bound to get something done."

"I didn't mean to force her into it," Crux mutters. "-she just made me so pissed off, acting all timid... I lost it..."

I begin to tiptoe again. They're really wrapped up in this conversation- and I can't risk such an opportunity to get away. Hopefully they'll remain here in their little boys club until daybreak.

"-what's the deal with her anyway? Why her?"

"...I've loved her since I was six..."

-and I stop. My eyes are wide in the dark as I can hear Crux, stifling soft chuckles as he seems to affectionately recall our first meeting. I had never known he loved me... and I'd never known it'd been for so long...

"-she had been hiding behind her Dad's legs the whole time, and every time I caught her eye she looked away. It was kind of amusing- but I got sick of it really quickly." I can't believe it. His voice is so close to how it normally is. "So when she scuttled out of the room- I took off after her. She didn't hear me coming, so I dived on her- and she screamed so loud that I couldn't stop laughing."

I remember that. I remember feeling his little hands grab me from behind- covering my eyes and his surprisingly shrill voice screaming in my ears. I'd never been so terrified in my entire life... until this game...

"-but then she kept crying, and I couldn't make her stop. I apologised over and over, but she just kept on wailing and wailing- and finally I got really upset so I cried too. But the moment I did- she stopped, and then she started apologising! ...I've never been able to forget that..."

...oh my god... how can he remember all this? Has he been nurturing that moment his entire life... cradling his feelings... like I do with mine...?

"Heh, that's cute. Pity she's pretty much dead."

"-If you even try to take her life- I'll kill you on the spot."

"Why don't you just do so now?" Sin taunts. "I'm an easy target, I've got no stakes, and you've got 'em all."

"-it seems boring." Crux sighs. "I've killed enough people in the dark, and you're asking for it... I'd rather see your eye sockets bleeding down your face in the sunlight when I take your life..."

"Fair enough." Sin laughs, almost merrily.

-I'm not listening anymore. Tears creep down my face as I slowly continue to make my way, unnoticed to the Performance Hall. All my feelings of excitement from before have vanished- and in their wake, a new guilt weighs down my chest.

When Crux was talking, I felt as if- maybe, if I had known sooner... maybe the two of us together could've worked... his love was so much purer than mine. If we were back home, we'd probably get married as soon as we left school, he'd work in the reactor and I'd stay at home... Yet somehow this arena with its venomous grip on us all tainted that possible future.

My heart aches. I've had enough of all this. I have another future... one that actually has a chance.

I need to reach it.