Princess of the Sea

By: CyanideMuffins7

Chapter 22: No Rest for the Wicked

A/N: Hello everyone. Judging by the reviews all of you gave me, I really turned the tables this time. So here it is, the beginning of Part III-where more twist and turns will take place. I hope you will enjoy this chapter and continue reading.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of the Hunger Games, the trilogy or any of the characters Suzanne Collins has created. I only take credit for the characters I have created and the plot I have made.

My fingers begin to slowly curl up, now that my hands are empty. They are all gone. Canon, Wren and Coda, they're just gone aren't they. It feels like I should be in mourning but it seems like I never met them. They aren't with me anymore, and it just feels like they ceased to exist.

Everyone is gone, except for Bachus.

I slowly look up hoping to see Bachus is still leaned up against the tree. I let out a sigh of relief when I saw his body in the same place as last night. I take my time getting up while my injuries in my abdomen feel like a dozen daggers are stabbing me from the inside.

Once I'm on my feet, I slowly trudge my way towards Bachus. I just need to make sure he's alive. He needs to stay alive. I don't want to be left alone. I kneel down beside Bachus and carefully look at his injuries. The blood looks darker like it's dry, but it's still fresh. His side seems to stop bleeding but it still looks pretty bad. His knee is beginning to look enflamed. It's starting to become infected.

A silver parachute lands right beside me. My hands tighten into fists and I glare at the parachute. Why would they send me something now? Where the hell were they when I needed them!? I violently open the box to see a smaller box which contains one pill. I recognize the medicine. I don't remember what its proper name is, but everyone in District 4 calls it, "The Magic Pill" or as the people from the wharf calls it, "TMP". If you have a severe injury either inside or outside of the body, the pill would fix it up in about twenty four hours, it's like magic. Its effects don't settle in for a few minutes until you don't feel the pain anymore. TMP can become addicting, like morphling in District 5. So the doctors only sell TMP if the case is severe, mostly the people who work at the wharf or on the boats.

I never took TMP before, but Ian had to once because there was an accident on Dad's boat and he got crushed by fifty pounds of fish. It wasn't pretty but the next day Ian was fine, although he complained about the side-effects a lot. The side effects worry me if I give it to Bachus, which includes loss of appetite, dehydration and headaches. It might affect Bachus's survival.

If I give it to myself, I'll have the strength to find something else for Bachus. But Bachus has taken more damage than I did. With his wounded knee, he probably can't walk without limping.

I study the container. This might have helped Wren with her disease. It could have repaired her nerves and she could have been fine. I tighten my grip on the container, why would they send it to me now? My hatred for the Games just keeps expanding.

Bachus groans as he begins to become conscious. I keep my eyes at the container, avoiding his haunting look. I know he's going to wonder what happened to them, and he's going to ask me. But if Bachus knows me well enough, he would know my eyes say more than I ever could.

"What happened…?" Bachus groaned as he moves his sitting position.

I remain silent, while keeping my eyes down. I feel Bachus just staring at me for a moment until I look at the corner of my eye to see Bachus lazily letting the back of his head hit the trunk of the tree. He begins to mumble things to himself that was too quiet for me to hear. But I could make out few vulgar words.

I finally look at him, and his eyes are closed, and he looks upset. I take off my pack and dig around for my canteen. I swish it around to feel how much is left, which is not a lot. It's probably enough for Bachus to take the pill. I open the container and take out TMP and hand the canteen and the pill to Bachus, "Take it. It's supposed to heal your injuries." I say hoarsely. My throat feels very dry, like I've been screaming for hours. But I know I haven't.

Bachus looks down at the pill for a moment before taking it with the canteen. He pops the pill and drowns it down with water. He cringes but he swallows the pill. It must have a horrific taste to it. I think when Ian took it, he took it with honey.

He hands me the empty canteen after he swallowed. I should go fill this up, now that I have the chance. But if I leave, something might happen to Bachus. He might get ambushed by a Career or by a creature. I don't want to part with Bachus if he's in this state.

"Go…" Bachus mumbled. With Bachus's confirmation, I cautiously leave him and head to the stream. I let the water fill the canteen to the brim, drank half of it, and fill it up again. I hurry back to Bachus, while trying to not strain myself too much. When I return, Bachus is already on his feet with his axe in hand, facing the tree. I slow down once I approach him. The pill must have kicked in sooner than I thought.

Bachus turns to me, but remains silent. We need to head out now that our camp has been compromised. It's our best bet to probably hang around in the bayou until I can think of a plan to sort everything out. I just hope Bachus honors our agreement by then, if we haven't reached the final eight yet.

Now that Wren, Canon, Coda and the District 2 girl is dead, that leaves eleven Tributes left in this arena. If three more tributes are killed, our agreement will be fulfilled. Bachus and I will be forced to go our own ways, where we will eventually be killed by each other.

"Let's try and make our way to the bayou and hide out there." I say as I make my way to Bachus's side.

He doesn't say anything. He just lets me lead while he follows by my side. I want to talk, but what can I say? There's nothing I can say. Silence is better.

We travel a little ways up for a while until a cave came into my sight. We could camp out there for the night or until a Mugaku would ambush us.

I point to the cave and Bachus stops. He slowly turns around and is attacked by a Mugaku. It thrashes its arms at him, but Bachus blocks it with his axe. I try to grab my throwing axe on my belt, but my hand grabs at air. I used one of them on the Diomede and I used my last one to kill the District 2 girl.

But what I do remember is that I saved a part of a spear before I toss all the weapons out.

I quickly dig through my pack for the spear, but by the time I do, Bachus has already killed the Mugaku and is fighting another one. I turn around to see two more Mugakus waddling their way towards me. I try to swiftly get a few slashes, but the Mugaku's arm smacks me against the tree. With my injuries, the contact with the tree makes a ripple of piercing pain throughout my body. Once I hit the ground, it just makes it worse. I hear the moans of the Mugakus and their gurgles as they fall. I have to fight the pain, I need to stay strong. I don't have a lot of Sponsors, maybe because I relied on my friends too much for their own courage and intelligence. I need to prove that I can be strong, even if I have been crippled myself.

I force myself off the ground, while ignoring the pain. I'm on my feet but as I look at Bachus, he was standing over all of the Mugaku corpses. His head is hung low and he's panting. I slowly walk towards him but before I could fully approach him, he pants heavier with a few growls inbetween before he lets out a low shout as he runs up to the tree with his axe. He then punches the trunk of the tree hard enough where he's able to make a huge puncture in the tree.

Bachus is taking their deaths hard. I don't want to express it, but Bachus doesn't seem to care. He's just taking his anger out on everything. He doesn't even shed a single tear, but Bachus is the type of boy to only express anger when he's sad.

I slowly approach Bachus, "It's okay." I say to try and calm him down.

Bachus keeps his eyes on the tree while I watch his back slowly move as he breathes, "It's all of their fault." Bachus mumbles as he slowly punches the tree again, "I knew we should have killed the Careers at the camp while we had the chance." He said as he twists his fist into the puncture he made in the tree.

"Bachus?" I say as I walk closer.

Bachus sharply turns to me, "I wanted to kill them all, but Wren said that it would be like if you shoot at a crowd of animals you will end up killing one animal while the others flee. If she would have just taken my idea, they would still be alive!"

"But she's not to blame." He continued as he calms down. I place my hand on Bachus's shoulder, hoping to comfort him. He doesn't move, he just keeps looking down, "Pandora?" Bachus muttered as he doesn't look up at me. I respond back by rubbing his shoulder a bit, "Every Career in this arena must die. I will kill them all for what they've done." Bachus said darkly as he looks up at me.

I just look at Bachus with a blank stare. It isn't a surprise to hear Bachus want to kill something, but what surprised me is that he wants vengeance. He wants to avenge the three people that he had come close to. He doesn't want to let their deaths to be in vain. I know what he wants to do because that's what I want to do too. But I know that I can't rush into things. I know that it's something I want to do, but I know I just can't.

But then what my mother told me rang in my head, what I told Bachus before all of this happened. Do I want to die knowing I could do something I couldn't?

"You're not going to do this alone." I say looking straight into Bachus's hazel eyes.

Bachus stares back at me and slowly brings me into him. He holds me while laying his chin on my shoulder. When I was held within Bachus's arms, I didn't feel the safe warmth like I did when Canon hugged me. I feel like I'm something special to Bachus. He holds me like I'm the only thing that he has left, and he doesn't want to let me go, even if I'm being pried from his arms.

Bachus doesn't say anything but for a moment, I thought I heard him say, "Not again."

I don't push him away. Bachus is the only thing I have left as well. I don't want him die as much as he doesn't want me to die. He's holding onto me like I'm the only thing that anything hasn't tainted by the atrocity of the world we live in and he doesn't want anything happening to me. It's like when Hei was chosen and his parents were with him, just hugging him and crying because they know that their only son, their only pure thing in their life, will be tainted by the evil of the Games and the Capitol. I hug him back the same way as he's hugging me, like I don't give a damn and I don't want to lose you.

"I don't want you getting hurt Pandora. You freaking scared me when the Keiner was there." Bachus said with a shaken voice, "I just don't want to lose you like everyone around me."

I dig my face in his shoulder because I could feel my face getting hot. I didn't know Bachus cared so much about me. I am the only thing he has left. Wren, Canon, Coda and I were like family to him.

Bachus pulls away while looking at me. He holds my uninjured hand within his own hand. Then a chill goes throughout my body along with my temperature going up at a new and alarming rate as he brushes my bangs aside and places a cold kiss on my forehead. Bachus then leans in and rests his forehead on mine. Our faces are close where I could feel the slow breaths from his nose.

"I won't let go." He muttered quietly to himself, but I'm able to hear.

Maybe, Bachus doesn't think of me as just family.

My ears perk up to a distant sound. It's not the sound of a Mugaku or a Truman, but of running, and it was coming closer. Bachus must have heard it too since he lifts his head from mine and turns around. I'm able to see a few distant blobs of light coming closer to us. I look to Bachus and say the only thing I can think of doing, "Run!"

We turn around and run away from the Tributes chasing us. I still have a grip on Bachus's hand. He isn't planning on letting go, and I'm not planning on letting go. We just keep running and running. I can't even feel the pain anymore. I'm just focused on losing the people chasing us.

I begin to hear distant commands but I'm only able to make out the names like Hei and Fitz. It's the Careers. They found us, and they want pay back.

I run faster, while dodging trees hand in hand. Along with the sound of commands, I begin to hear the sound of splashes like there's water nearby. Suddenly when we pass a group of trees, I abruptly stop to see the bayou stretching far with a large body of water in front of us. I quickly look to our sides and all around us. We need to find another way to the other side without going into the water, but there's nothing. There's no other option. I look over to Bachus who's frozen where he is, looking at me.

I then look back to the water, then to him again, "I won't let go." I pant.

Bachus's grip on my hand tightens and he nods. I jump into the water while pulling Bachus with me. Once I'm submerged into water I begin to slowly swim while Bachus stays calm as he lets me lead him.

I'm a pretty decent swimmer, not the greatest, but decent. I'm the only one in the family—besides my Dad—who could hold their breath the longest. I could be underwater for probably a good ten minutes before I need air. Dad said I probably came from the ocean and not from my mother. But being able to hold my breath really has proven that it can be useful.

I hear muffled sounds behind us. Now I can't understand what the voice is saying, but it sounds like the commands are growing distant. I just keep swimming. We're almost there. Just a few more feet.

I look over to Bachus to make sure he's ok, and I can tell he's struggling to hold in his breath. I then feel someone grab onto me from behind. One arm wrapping my torso and the other wrapped around my neck. The person pulls me back, slipping my hand out of Bachus.

Bachus struggles around without my hand, and I can't help him. I thrash around hoping to get out of this person's grip, but he's holding onto me tightly. I feel a sharp pain on my left side now like a blade had punctured through my flesh. Bachus lets out his breath and the water enters his body. He kept struggling until, he stops moving.

I struggle harder until I jam my elbow into his hard abs, and he doesn't move. I try and knock him in the face and he lets go. I swim to Bachus and bring the two of us to the surface of the water. I gasp for air and drag Bachus out of the water and back to the surface.

I lay him down on the grass and immediately place my hand other the other and weaved my fingers together. I then press my hands into his chest at a fast rate. I place my ear over his chest, for that infamous heartbeat. It's slow.

"C'mon Bachus." I say as my voice quivers as I attempt to do it again. I place my ear over his chest again, and his beat had decreased even slower.

I grab onto his hand, "I'm not letting go Bachus, and I know you're not going to either!" I choke, as I tighten my grip on Bachus's hand.

I'm not going to lose him! Bachus is strong, and he won't leave me.

I wait for him to choke and cough out the water he swallowed. But all he does is let his hand go limp and slip from my grasp.

A cannon fire was shot.

"No…" I mumble as my hand stays in its place. No…No…Not, Bachus.

I hear the commands closer and louder, and I have to run. So I run, and leave Bachus there. I have to stay strong. I can't let myself succumb to emotions now. This is not the time.

I cringe at the pain my torso, with my broken rib and my new flesh wound. I use my uninjured hand to cover the side and keep running. I have let my legs lead my way, but the constant running had made me lose track of time. I didn't know how long I was running, but my head became light and I became a little disoriented.

I stop running before I could bump into a tree and hurt myself. I stagger into a tree and slowly sink down so that I was sitting while leaning against the tree. I heavily panted. I'm just so tired. I want to be strong, but I'm just so tired. I'm tired of running from what's happened. I'm running from the past, but that means I'm just going into the future faster.

"Here she is." Said a voice coming close by, I think it's Fitz.

Three figures appear into my vision. Magnus stands right in front of me while Fitz is to my left and Hei to my right. I notice Hei is drenched like I am with blood trailing from his nose. He was the one that caught me underwater. I know what they're here about. The District 5 girl saw Bachus and I that night, and told Jadalis. Now, she sent Magnus and the remaining Careers to get rid of us.

I feel the pain beat me from the inside. It's painful, especially with the Careers around. Magnus looks down at me with stern eyes, "You think you were clever to steal from us again?" He threatens with a hard and even tone.

"You can't do anything without receiving a payment, and your payment is high." Fitz said with a low and intimidating voice.

They're just trying to act threatening and intimidating just to break me. It's pathetic. They don't have any weapons while I have the advantage of a knife against them. But I'm too weak to pull it out, so I'm just as useless as them.

Magnus inhales deeply and exhales to release all of his anger, and he looks at me, "Tell us where the weapons are." He said sternly like his eyes were.

I'm not going to say anything, just to piss Magnus off. What makes him think I'm just going to tell him? He's just trying to prove he can lead like Jadalis when he's just a pathetic cook for the alliance.

My lips don't move, and Fitz already began to lose his patience. He grabs me and shoves me into the tree, "Tell me before I leave you to the Keiner." Fitz hissed as he looks at me straight into my mint green eyes.

I remain silent. Magnus just glares at me, "Let go of her Fitz." He ordered. Fitz obeys and lets go of me. I drop back to the ground while each of them stares at me.

"I imagine after you and your friend stole our weapons, you left in a haste. But you didn't leave from where you came because you it was filled with danger. And you didn't head to the dry part of the swamp because you only stole weapons and not supplies. So you must have left through the entrance to the bog." Magnus calmly said as he keeps his eyes on me.

A chill crawls on my skin like a dozen of spiders were crawling on the surface. How does he know that? How could he deduct like that?

"It's pretty foggy in the bog. You can't go that far with heavy weapons in the fog. So you must have dropped it someplace where it was familiar to you…" Magnus drawled as his eyes are still on me. This isn't possible, how can he guess things like this?

Magnus's lips then curl upwards, "I know where you hid them." He said before looking over to Fitz and Hei.

Fitz begins to chuckle as well as Magnus, but Hei remains oddly silent. I cringe as my wound on my side stung, my cracked rib stabbing through my skin, and my wounded wrist beginning to itch.

Magnus's eyes then lay on me while his smile fades and his chuckle ceases. He kneels down in front of me and said, "Jadalis wanted me to tell you that her offer still stands. But in my opinion, you have no other option."

Even after all that's happened, Jadalis wants me to be on the Careers? Who does she think I am? Just because all this crap happened to me, doesn't mean I'll turn to them for survival. I have just as a chance surviving outside of the Careers than being one. Personally, Jadalis can suck it.

I manage to grin a bit, "I'm still too good for the Careers." I say, then spitting right into Magnus's face for good measure.

Magnus stands up and wipes his face, "Let's finish her." He growls. He then kicks me in the side and punches me on my head.

Fitz takes his turn and begins to throw in all the kicks and punches he could manage. Saying what I said and spitting at Magnus was worth this beating. After this beating, my cannon will be shot and I'll join my friends in death. It's only a part of our plan, but I want to fulfill it.

After Fitz pulls back, I forget who is next this entire time. Hei picks me up by my jacket collar and pulls me up from the ground. This is it. After all these years, Hei will finally get what he had always wanted, to kill me. This will be long and painful. But it's probably not going to be too much pain than the pain I'm feeling now. His hair is covering his eyes, but I could see past a few strands to see his eyes staring back at me. The last thing I will see before I die is the eyes of my enemy.

I'm then taken by surprise as Hei leans his face into my face and forces his lips on mine. A shock goes through my body and I could feel like my face is just in shock with my wide eyes. Hei forces his tongue into my mouth and I feel completely invaded. It rings around bit until I feel something bitter go down my throat along with liquid which I'm pretty sure is his saliva and I end up swallowing it. His tongue lingers until he pulls me away from him and shoves me into a tree. He rubs his mouth of any trailing saliva and I slide to the ground, disgusted.

"What a psycho." Fitz mumbled to himself before Magnus nods over his shoulder and they depart from my sight, leaving me to die.

I feel horrified. It's my worst nightmares. My enemy is truly psychotic. I want to vomit but I just can't, whatever I swallowed is stuck in my stomach. It occurs to me that my worst enemy is my first kiss. It's hard to imagine what my Dad is doing right now. He's probably regretting never being stricter on the whole, "The Talk" thing now.

My mind begins to feel cloudy and my vision is beginning to become faded. My eyelids grow heavy and they close and my mind is encompassed in complete darkness.

I'm dead, I just know it. Hei kissed me, so I must be dead. It's weird how it's just dark though. They said there was always a light, but I don't see anything. Everything is in darkness. It feels like I'm the only person here.

My eyes begin to slowly open to the darkness around me. Nope, not dead yet. I feel like my body is completely numb, yet everything seemed normal. I should check how the damage is before I passed out. I slowly lift my hand off of my side to see the dried blood, but the wound gone. All that is left is a small tan smear where the wound was. I feel my face, and it's not throbbing with pain from the beating. I move my torso, and it's fine. I unwind the bandana around the hand the Diomede had almost bitten off to see the wound was gone. My hand is as good as new with scars where the teeth marks had dug into.

How is this possible? Was I sprinkled with magic to be revived? Can Sponsors do that?

Then something clicks into my mind, it has to be the work of TMP. That thought, triggers everything to fit together in my mind.

When Bachus said there was a Tribute leaving soup at a niche in a tree, the twitch Hei made indicated that he was conscious, and what he had slipped into my throat was TMP and that liquid was sleep syrup.

It dawned on me. Hei is helping me.