... You all read my little reminiscing rant last time so I'll just leave you to it then :)

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[Updated the chapter 9/20/16]

And for the final time: I do not own Hunger Games, SADLY :(

-Miche

Chapter 20: Day 12, The Final Battle

"Rain! Lets go!" Grey yelled at me and knocked me out of my trans. I was afraid of failing them and failing myself. I was most afraid of failing my family. What would they think when they realized I wasn't strong enough? What would Finnick think knowing he didn't do his job and failed his tribute's training? Finnick... He'd be free from the Capitol, right?

The rocks met the forest closer than we thought, and soon we were running through the trees once more. Running for our lives faster because there was no escape this time. There wasn't any terror of another tribute passing us by, the lava would consume everything and anything in it path before their would be a victor.

I kept Willow close as we ran, I wasn't losing her.

We kept going, our eyes forward, mind thinking of what to do once we made it. If it were Grey left as Victor, I know he would never live it down that he let us die. If Willow, she would forever be broken by the fact she had seen everyone who cared for her in these games die. Coal, she would act and be strong. She would show herself weeping for our deaths as her allies, but she would put on a brave face and act as though nothing happened. She'd pretend as though the games made her stronger.

Her district hadn't won a game since the second Quarter Quell. Haymitch Abernathy won them by means of the force field boundary doing the final work for him. Only after he witnessed the death of his district partner did he turn to being a drunken fool, drowning out the worries of the world with liquor.

I was sure if Grey and I fell, Coal and Willow would stand for the other and stay alive as long as they could.

The younger girl ran next to me, her hair sticking to her forehead from sweat and snow. Throughout the games Coal had kept her braid in. She had let it out only to do it again every other day, but kept the idea of it so she could keep it from her face. It was still left tarnished by dirt and blood, however. Grey lead the group with nothing but slightly flushed cheeks and a sweaty forehead. He held Coal's hand to keep her close to himself.

I didn't want to know what I looked like. My hair had fallen out when fighting Ginger, and from what I did see of it, there were a few knots here and there, with dirt, leaves and blood. My face would have a few cuts here and there, bruises were likely, and also being flushed from the heat and running.

Finally, we all were able to have the beach in sight through the tree line. It was illuminated by the glow of the lava erupting from the volcano. The sun had been down almost five hours now, and the snow that normally came only fell at frozen rain, the air warm. Hope filled my core and gave me a peaceful warmth I hadn't felt since these games began twelve days ago. It was so close now, the lava and the end of all of this.

"Come on! We can make it!" Grey cheered leading us. Willow's hand left mine swiftly, she must have tripped. It was easy to do so because of the large tree roots, ivies, and other decaying logs or plants. There had been a crack as well, so it was a branch she tripped and broke falling over. I turned to help pick her up, checking to see if she had a twisted ankle or any other injury.

"You okay-?" A loud boom rang in my ears sending ice into my chest. Willow hadn't just tripped and fell from my grasp. She was taken from me, by Zyre. He held her now limp body in his arms, dropping her. Snapped her neck, instant death. She wouldn't suffer from it, she wasn't in any more pain... But I let her go. It was all my fault she was dead. I hadn't kept her in my hand, kept her safe, alive, away from him, I didn't give her the chance to go home.

My lungs only gasped for air as I realized what had happened in only a few seconds. Zyre smiled when seeing me so surprised. My rage took control. I held my trident ready and saw nothing but redness. He whipped out of my way when I hastily charged and sent me stumbling over more roots.

'Please, I don't want this.' I just wished I hadn't seen that. I'd had my own experience with that but not full on watching someone's life end in a split second. A burst of pain I assumed and things would be over, no more suffering. I only hoped she was happier now that she wasn't in this suffrage like the rest of us were condemned to.

"How could you do this..." I yelled trying to get up after him. Grey and Coal had sprinted for shore upon hearing the cannon. Good, they were safe. Zyre ran in their direction. I wasn't letting them go that easily. My ankle had been twisted on my fall, but it felt nothing as I ran towards the darker, blonde boy.

Just as I made it to the beach I saw him going after Coal, my trident was aligned with his head, ready to strike with the movement and motion Finnick had taught me.

I opened my eyes with a gasp, noticed my breath was gone, and I saw sand parallel with my face. Someone had tackled me just before I threw everything I had into the almost hit. My breath was knocked out of me as was my sense of balance. Who ever it was they fell too and struggled as I did to get themselves up.

"YOU'RE suppose to be dead!" I growled out, my throat filled with sand from falling. The rock choked out of my mouth as Solar pushed me down once more. I fell, but kept my grip on the trident. The shaft of it hitting him as well after he pushed me. My legs refused to move but stood anyways to face him.

"Yeah a little mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate, otherwise known as gunpowder. Nice, huh? Did Ginger run into you?"

"Yeah," I threw a hit, but missed. "I killed her." His face changed. Looking at Zyre, we both saw him realize this. His anger at Grey intensified as he threw harder and more prominent punches and jabs. I wanted to help when I saw Coal run out of arrows. The two she had left were in Zyre's back, not taking any effect on his performance or attitude.

Zyre turned to look at her, after sending Grey into the sand with a blow to the head. she was terrified and tried running but was only stopped by a sand snare set by him, specifically to catch someone there. The rope holding her down was sharp and fine, a type of fishing line, and cut into her skin while not allowing her to find a grip to untie herself. Zyre was on her in seconds, taking his sweet time and smiling at her pain.

I tried helping, but was tripped by Solar, who regained his dual swords and came at me. "I never should have let you go, you bitch."

"I've been called that a lot lately. So, thanks-." He tried hitting me, only to skin my arm a bit. I brought my leg around to hit him, but was blocked when he grabbed it. His sword made contact with my face, slicing my chin, nose and eyebrow as I foolishly allowed him that close. Breaking free from that was easier, but seeing what the others were up to hindered me more.

"Grey, help! GREY!" Coal yelled struggling in the sand. I jumped in her direction, but in my was stood Solar.

Zyre pulled her up to his chest level with a fistfull of her hair and braid. I tried running over to help, but Solar saw me falter at this, grabbing me with both his arms around my waist and arms, making me basically immobile. Grey had regained his thoughts as I tried kicking and fighting Solar's hold on me. She screamed for Grey as he called for her, senses off and confused.

"GREY!" Her eyes pleaded. Oh god. She loved him didn't she?

"COAL!" and he loved her. He gained his surrounding and saw what was about to happen. "NO-!" But he was useless to the next events. One would think it was a flash of silver light, but zyres shining sickle sword curved with her neck and slid across it in one fluid motion. As easy as butter, it sliced through her throat, emitting pints of blood everywhere at once. Her voice was choked and silenced with a cannon fire.

Something changed in Grey then. He went from seeking the life of others to wanting revenge and to end the life of Zyre's. I knew somehow he had liked her more than just allies. It wasn't fair he only just found someone who understood him in that way only for them to be taken so easily. He would have done everything in his power to let her live if not me. Love was strange, but always made sense in revealing where your priorities stood.

"One step closer..." the murderer spoke with a smirk. From knowing how we each process plans and thoughts, I knew that if anyone was making it out alive, Grey would see to the fact it would be me. He rose, body completely tense and flexed.

"Over my dead body." Grey grimace.

"Deal." He ran at Zyre, who dropped Coal from his bloodied grasp, tackling him to the ground. Solar threw me in the opposite direction before keeping his arms completely around me and pinned down. He had something planned.

He kept me in that hold all the way up a large nearby stone that inclined out onto the ocean. All it had been this time now was a cooling and layering pool of lava and boiling water). I thought back to when Finnick held me in a similar position to teach me how to break from it.

Finn had told me if there were about to attack, to aim for the groin or face. If I didn't have time and they already had me, then I could try dropping to the ground as to use my own weight against them. Because of his strength and my own weight ratio to his own, Finnick was easily able to hold me in the air when we practiced. I'd bring my knees to my chest while he held me like that hoping to set him off balance and falling down with me, but he kept me stationary in the air. After he'd done that I fell to my legs, him releasing me to try again. 'Don't be predictable and don't just jump. You need to literally just drop dead weight to the ground.' his voice echoed.

I followed those instructions, kicking his left leg, and letting gravity take my weight to keep my legs close to my core. It worked and Solar tumbled over me, losing his tight grasp he once had. I rolled away from him and searched for any way to defend myself. My trident was still on the beach alongside his sword after he grabbed me, and there weren't any rocks or sticks to throw. He was now five feet from me, my own feet inches from the highest point edge.

"Do you think I liked killing people, Rainey?" Venom in his tone told me I had wronged him beyond my knowledge. Solar hated me for tricking him into thinking I was falling for him. He hated the fact I was so good at it and how easily he let me toy with his emotions like I had. It all came out in his monologue.

"I don't like killing, I never have. I only did what I had to survive in these games. My original plan was simple. In fact, it was just like yours! I was going to stay with the careers, using their resources and protection as long as I could. And then when it was down to me and them, I'd run away to wait it out. Either they'd kill each other, be killed by the island, or I'd kill them myself when timed correctly."

Hot, scorching air flew and whipped around us both. We were exposed to the elements, to put it simply. The beginning light of morning shown pink and orange in the west sky, sending similar beams of colour on everyone and everything in its way, including us and other other two.

"Beautiful, isn't it? I saw every sunset and always thought of you when you'd watch them go down." My own eyes filled with guilt and fear as they met his. It wasn't just a little crush he'd had on me, but more. I wasn't being purposeful in tricking him as such, but clearly he thought so as he backed me up even more that I was. What awaited me was either a cannon from the two boys in the sand, or Solar attacking me. The lava reached the border of sand and forest, Solar and the boys taking no notice.

"You made me think differently about the games. Made me not want to kill you. I wanted the two of us to make it in the end that way we could both win and be together." He clenched his teeth remembering what I did to soil that dream. "And you just had to leave us didn't you..." an angered tear fell from his cold eyes. His face was reddened and tight shown I had truly hurt him.

"I'm sorry!" and I truly was, but he didn't seem to change or take notice of it in any significant or life saving way. No, he was set on getting blood. He didn't care anymore.

"You let me be tormented by that pathetic couple. Murderers! That's all they were." The murderers who are to be murdered themselves... "I found Maple for you. She got me thinking you had headed back to the beach with them, the 'Underdogs.' It's too bad I killed her before we found out you weren't at the beach. After I tortured her." He smiled vindictively. "Oops. Didn't tell you?" His mannerisms reminded me of a unstable psychopath bent on a childhood story of cruelty and bullying, Similar to one you would see in a horror movie.

"You dont have to. We were there. Hidden, but there."

"We split up with Di and Lock after she died. One group would continue the path you were actually on, and the others, us, would go to the beach to see if you really were there. Of course you weren't, so Di and Lock died. We knew they would, that or we'd kill them after; Never stood a chance. They did, however promised to save you last for me. Looks like they were just arrogant idiots, thinking they could win these things by killing everyone. They were only cleaning the way for us to make it."

"Solar, I know you're mad at me. I didn't mean to make you think I had any feelings other than friendship and alliance, I never meant to hurt you like I did-"

"How can I believe you?! After everything you have put me through! We were all going to die any-" The ground shook beneath all four of us left and across the entire island. I fell where I stood, keeping away from the edge, but Solar went to the left, right over. His foot almost had a grip on the smooth rock, but it slipped at the last second, snapping it and sending him over. It wasn't me that killed him, he fell. My eyes closed as I waited for his canon. Nothing sounded.

Still in shock he was dead, I peered over the glowing ocean, and saw him clinging to the side, only staying from a two inch hand hold and one foot hold that only his toes fit on. Other than that it was a vertical wall of rock down.

"NO!" He begged, either to me or the gamemaker to save him. I had never heard anyone like him beg for their life before. Would I show him the mercy he would have denied me? Why should I when all of these days has has been bent on hunting me down and killing game out of revenge.

If I let him die, I'd only become exactly what the capitol has made all the Victor's out to be: puppets who only became who they were through murder. I would be killing him out of cold blood, he never really did anything to me personally. Defenseless and injured he clung, waiting the last potential seconds of his life for me to decide. He was in no position to harm me.

"Please..." He shuddered in his groveling. All this might happen because they made me. Think of your sister... Do you want her to remember you as a cold blooded murderer? I didn't want my family remembering me as someone who killed for no reason. It had been to survive, but to them, this would be cruel. I waited, thinking it moreover.

Listening to him, I realized by letting him perish, the Capitol won. They'd create another heartless killer, and show how the districts of Panem act when cornered. It would only demonstrate their idea of the people only destroying themselves. I'd be playing for the enemy. Finnick would want me to let him die, but Finnick would have sent himself in as a sponsor gift if he could have. I didn't want him to suffer anymore from seeing my death, but at the same time I didn't want Solar to suffer in his.

"I won't let you die like this." I dropped my arm over the edge, my hand reaching for his. Eyes with gratefulness yet hesitation gazed up at mine. "I promise." he stretched as far as he could, our fingers brushing, but he almost lost where his foot stood.

Both our hands had enough blood, sweat and dirt on them to create a no-friction surface. Resettling, he wiped off his hand and reached again, closer this time, and grasped each other. Our eyes met and I saw the overwhelming fear and unknown Maple's had before she died. The rock was brittle under the heat of the lava, and the one holding him up finally gave out and broke.

I flung my other arm over in a last second attempt to get him, and got a hold of his forearm, but it wasn't enough. He was too heavy and I wasn't strong enough.

"N-nooo! SOLAR!" I screamed as he fell to his death. Him yelling in fear, a splash and glow of basalt, and the sound similar to sizzling meat was all that happened within the two seconds. "No! No! NOO! I'M SORRY! I'm sorry!"

No! I almost had him! NO! I ALMOST HAD HIM! I almost had him...

I couldn't feel anything but sorrow and regret. If I had helped him sooner, if I hadn't thought so much over it if I had just acted on my first gut to help him... The cannon brought me back to reality and I looked to where Grey and Zyre were at, forgetting that it had signaled Solar's death.

Zyre was close to death. Either Grey beating his face and chest in would do it, or the lava would over take him, merely three feet away and moving fast. I felt like everything happened in slow motion. Zyre inched toward his sickle and grasped it. He pulled it close to himself.

We had been so close to living through this. We could have made it through and possibly both been declared. It has never happened that two victors of the same district had lived. No two members of the same district ever made it to the final two. Maybe if we both were alive, they'd let us live!

I ran down the rock, jumping over some plasma material to get my burning trident and defend Grey. Zyre had blood pooling around him and coming out his eyes, nose and mouth. His whole face was blue and purple, some areas crooked and broken from Grey's fists. Eye's looked to my right, forcing me to look as well.

A flash of silver was shot through Grey's back where his stomach would be. He had froze to rise up to see what happened. Seeing the approaching scorcia, Grey stumbled with his hands and knees closer to the beach and past the cornucopia. He made it two feet before collapsing.

A maniacal laugh erupted through the silence I heard. Lungs refused to work and a heart came up in my throat. This was impossible. No, no the silver I saw merely missed him and he only backed off to allows Zyre to die. This cannot be.

My entire body pulsed from the blood pumping. It's all I physically felt. When Solar, Coal, Willow, Pann, Maple, and Barey all died, I could still sense things around me. I was still able to fight and understand the circumstances. This was different. This honed out everything but the purest agony. My heart now beat painfully and rapidly in my chest.

Numb to it all I didn't hear myself scream, but felt the air rush out my lungs. Nor did I feel it return and leave as suddenly. The world around me didn't exist as all of it was blurred. I was crying. My head was pounding so hard I thought it would explode.

"A heart... for a heart." Zyre choked through his broken mouth. He couldn't continue breathing, his lungs filled with his own vomit and blood. I silenced his laughing with my trident to his neck, the eyes staying on me and a canon booming when they grayed.

Grey. That's all I thought about. No the fact the lava was approaching us, taking Zyre's body, not the fact everyone else was dead, but the fact my best friend was lying in my arms having only a few minutes or seconds left of life.

This wasn't supposed to happen. We had to live. I hadn't thought of it but we both had in my mind. I wasn't suppose to be alive if he weren't. It should have been Willow or Coal or Maple or Barley. I didn't deserve this. I didn't want this.

My next instinct was to bring him away from the fire. I was only able to drag him a few more feet away, before collapsing myself in emotional instability. Grey winced a smile as the water met us, flooding around in pools of coolness against the heat. Because the lava was now in the water, apparently there wasn't room in the arena for all of it, so rose around us on shore.

"O-oh my god... Oh my god-d..." I whispered holding his wet head in my hands. Habit made me brush away the grime and sand sticking to his cheek and brow. It was all I could manage. He coughed blood up and gasped. This told me one of his lungs was collapsing. His eyes filled with tears and fear, and I knew he didn't want to leave me.

"I-"

"No. No last words! We're going to survive this!"

We had minutes left. The heat was almost unbearable and it stung my skin while we sat. And the water was up to his temples to where I had to hold his head out of it or it would catch up to his mouth and nose. Grey could only mutter his words, body failing him, and brain losing oxygen, yet he still smiled in attempt to make me feel better. He'd always done that.

"You need-d.. *gasp*.. to go!" now only a foot and a half of time. "The lava-"

"Can take me, I'm not leaving you!" I shouted. We contrasted. I wasn't ready to let him go so easily, and he was ready to force me to live. "Grey, please-"

"GO!" my heart throbbed. This was my closest friend, the one who knew more about me than my own brothers. He basically was family since he met them. They'd miss him like they'd miss me, if our placed were traded.

"Grey-y. Please don't do this. don't-t..." I felt my face scrunch in anger and sorrow.

"Rain!" he yelled at me, but just got some water in his mouth. I kept his head above the water with my strength as I tried swimming us both out. I got less than a foot with him. Why couldn't I just save him why was I so weak?! his eyes had tried telling me his last goodbye. He loved his mother, sisters, and grandmother. He was sorry for wronging anyone, and wanted them to know. He loved me as blood. In my mind we were.

The ocean level had risen to my waist if I stood, but I kept myself at Grey's level in the water as he floated. "I love you, okay?" I held his hand, feeling it tightened around mine.

"I love you, too." my head nodded and I held him one last time. I could barely breath holding him and myself in the waves and heat. Taking in every scent, feeling, muscle, sound, and memory he was, I willed myself to never forget.

Stormy blue. My favorite colour, and the mood captured by his eyes. It was the reason we had become friends when I remarked on them and we spoke as kids. My thumb ran over his forehead as I kissed it, and he smiled at the thoughtful gesture.

"Y-you won... You're go-ing home. Tell Finnick he better-" and his lungs choked on water. He seized beneath my hold of him as he struggled for air. Blue and purple faded on his face. I thought the convulsions wouldn't end until he gasped. Colour returned with more blood from his mouth.

"It's okay, it's okay, it will be okay." I chanted to sooth him of his fear. And me of mine.

Lava was only a few feet from me even in the water as the final canon failed to echo in my ears. I turned my eyes, face, and skin being so close to the heat and escaping gases. The cornucopia was ablaze like my dream. Similarly in a way I was dead. Everyone else was by the textbook deceased, but mentally and emotionally, I was gone with them. This is what death was: losing everything you held dear and being left alone to suffer for letting it happen.

Volcanic scorca shied closer to us, bubbling next to me over the boulders that were near us. Smoke clouded around me as the entire island was on fire and burning, more explosions and eruptions breaking out all sides and directions. Some of the basaltic rock bubbled and blew on my face. There wasn't anything I could do to save him. My arms were failing me and my legs were barely able to lift myself up as I sank to my knees in the ocean. The water was up to my chest in this position, and put more pressure on my breathing.

The sun was minutes from rising. The bright blue, purple and orange sky casting a coral color on everything around me. A beautiful place to die and a beautiful yet tragic place to remember living from. I didn't want to die, to say goodbye.

Did they want me to beg? No sign of rescue and only more danger followed me to water I tread over. I wasn't paying attention as I called to the only person listening and caring for me who had any significant effect towards my survival.

"Finnick." He probably couldn't hear that. "Finnick, please! I'm sorry!" he would miss me, but he would be free. Next person who would be listening: "Don't save me!" I screamed and looked at Grey floating next to me, his blood tainting all the water surrounding us both. Oh god it was a lot of blood. "Don't save me..." Openly I found myself crying. It was rare I let others see me do so, but this was an extreme situation and turmoil I was in. He was the only one who would listen.

"R-Rain, what are you..." He tried whispering having no choice but to look up at the painted sky. A bright light flashed on my face for a few seconds as I fulfilled my last attempt at saving him. The Sun was peaking over the far off ocean. Few clouds show the beams of light dance over the water and through the smoke. I knew what I was going to do, before Grey could stop me. He wasn't going to die. He would live for the both of us. "Don't-" he stopped breathing when I removed Zyre's knife from him.

"Dammit No!" I searched for any earth that wasn't molten when I spotted a few feet from us was uncovered. Either the adrenaline or fear in me gave me the strength to move him there and pick him out of the water. I wasn't letting him die!

My hand went to his chest and pumped 30 times before I attempted a breath in his mouth. Nothing. Again, I had to keep trying. I had to bring him back before that cannon went off. He wasn't going to die before I was. Gasps of panic racked my body and inhibited catching my breath. My head spun. I couldn't take a second thought.

The knife glided so effortlessly into my own chest. Piercing my lungs and heart in a second or less. I didn't feel the pain, just a cold pressure followed by a cramping sensation. Instinctively I gasped one last time before falling face first. I fell as a wave took us both, feeling the mix of cool and warm waters swirl around me. It was dark, but I opened my eyes to find the water's supposed salt didn't hurt my eyes. The water had cushioned my fall before flipping me around to face the sky as Grey was next to me. It rippled and danced above so beautifully I thought I was dreaming.

No cannon, Grey was still alive. I felt his hand brush mine. He must still be alive...

'Finnick-' My last thought was of him before I inhaled instinctively for air. My lungs burned and were on fire. I choked on both my blood and the hot water, unable to tell the difference between them. The world darkened-blurred-hurt...

Everything went into freefall and a white light blinded me.

*Boom*...

..

.

The End

So I hope you lovely reader reading this story enjoyed it! Three years (Hiatus for one of them and taking it down to edit and re-post) in the making, I'm proud of it.

And who knows, maybe in a few months I'll go back and fix a few things I've caught reading it again...

Thank you and Love you all!

-Miche