I apologize for the delay, everyone! My laptop's charging cord broke and I just now got my new one. So, let us continue with the story!

Lystra's POV

Getting to the burial grounds was no problem. I was beginning to learn that people didn't see intruders unless they were looking – and why would Lystra Fay Gull, victor of the 24th Hunger Games, be sneaking around District 4 at midnight when she could be at a party?

At the burial ground, there were a few people gazing down into the depths of the waters. Whether they were friends of Peter and Rayne, I didn't know. Maybe they were mourning someone else. I didn't particularly care, as long as they didn't see me. I crouched behind a rock and waited.

It took 15 minutes, but the final guy finally decided that he should get some sleep, and walked away. I took a deep breath, and looked down the cliff.

Immediately, I wished I hadn't. My head began to spin, and I stumbled back, afraid of falling. I fell to the ground and curled into a ball, shaking. It took several moments for me to calm down, and when I looked down again, I was a bit more prepared.

The drop was at least 500 feet. At the bottom, it was almost completely dark, but I could clearly see the glass coffins, some cracked and open, others just laying there. Some bodies were floating about, and I shuddered. The waves crashed into the cliff loudly, and there were plenty of sharp rocks. I had to force myself to look away.

I found a rock that looked sturdy, and tied a length of rope around it. Then, carefully, I threw the other end of the rope into the water. It took a moment, but I heard the splash below. Gulping, I closed my eyes and focused on a picture of Rayne in my head. Was she alive? So many, many things could go wrong. . . Could I really risk my life for her – whom I had only known for less than a few weeks? It would be so easy to save myself and walk away . . .

But I couldn't do it. I could save Rayne's life . . . if she wasn't already dead . . . I pushed that thought out of my head. She couldn't be dead. I had already gone too far to find her head. I shook my head angrily for thinking such thoughts, and stood at the edge of the cliff.

I took a deep breath, focusing on Rayne's picture once more. Then I lowered myself off the side of the cliff, grabbing the rope. Slowly, I began to climb down.

Rayne's POV

I never wanted to wake from the peace. I had never had a luxury as this. Ah . . . sweet, sweet peace . . .

Lystra's POV

I found the climb to be extremely treacherous, and I nearly fell several times. I thought very carefully about the climb, testing each ledge before I put my foot down. I was nearly to the bottom when I thought, I'm never, ever, ever doing this again. EVER.

Rayne's POV

Peace . . .

Lystra's POV

The shallow water was only two yards away. All I had to do was jump . . . I gulped, and closed my eyes, gripping the rope with a death grip. It wasn't until that moment that I realized that I was terrified, with sweat all over my trembling body.

A cold wave crashed over me, making my colder, and the sharp taste of salt onto my lips. I shuddered and pictured a boat. Rayne had surely dived into the water from farther deeps before . . . I could do it too. I had to get down there! I squeezed my eyes shut more, and blindly jumped.

Rayne's POV

I wish I could say that I heard Lystra splashing into the water to save me, but I didn't. I was still basking in the darkness, the calm, and the peace that was my endless sleep.

Lystra's POV

My jump wasn't too successful. I landed on a sharp rock that pierced my shoulder/neck area pretty badly. I'm pretty sure that I blacked out, and if it wasn't for the salt water that I tried to inhale, I might have been out a while.

Instead, I bolted up, coughing up salt water and crying out in pain at the sharp throbs of pain in my neck. A wave came over me, slamming me into a coffin, and making my neck throb more. Somewhere in my head, I knew that the salt water would only help the wound, but right now it only made it worse. Once the wave was gone, I looked at the coffin behind me.

There was only bones, stacked in the bottom.

I shuddered and struggled away from the coffin, through the water, unable to take my eyes from it. The remains of a human being were in there . . . I forced myself to turn away, banishing the thoughts of the dead tributes, and the wonder if Rayne was still alive away. More than anything else, at this moment, I feared that I would find Rayne in her casket, dead. But I put those thoughts from my head and gazed around. Where was Rayne? She could be anywhere . . . I sighed, preparing myself for the gruesome sights I was about to see, and began gazing quickly into the glass coffins, gazing out as quickly as possible.

Most of the caskets were filled with bones, but a few still held the recently deceased, a body in once piece with glazed eyes. These were the caskets that I hated most. I quickly waded around the watery graveyard, searching for Rayne.

Slowly, I tired. I wasn't a strong swimmer, and the current was strong here. With a sinking heart, I realized that I might never find Rayne amongst the coffins here. Sighing, I felt for the vial in my pocket, to make sure that it was still there, and sure enough, I felt the vial through the folds of the cloth. I gazed with sinking eyes at the seemingly endless piles of caskets. This was fruitless. There was no way that I'd find Rayne.

But still . . . I couldn't very well leave an innocent person to die, could I? No, I wouldn't leave until I couldn't do any more.

I was pretty close there already, I thought, as I stood, swaying slightly as the current came in. I took a deep, slow, calming breath, and continued my search for a little longer, until the current pushed me over, sending me tumbling towards the cliff. I came up sputtering and gasping, my nose and mouth stinging, and full of salt water. I sat there, wiping my nose and spitting out water for a moment, dazed. Then I glanced around at the coffins around me. None had Rayne in them. Sighing, I walked back towards the sea, checking more coffins.

It wasn't long until the water continued to toss me – once even dragging me frightfully close to the sea. I always got up afterwards, wiping the salt from myself, and moving on. I was tiring quickly, but I wasn't about to give up that easily. I was the stinking winner of the Hunger Games!

True as that may be, I soon found myself tumbling with the waves again. When my head slammed into a coffin, I didn't move for a long moment, just staying where I was, too exhausted to move; too stubborn to give up. Then I rubbed my head and moaned. That was going to leave a bruise. Slowly, I lifted my head. I was in the center of the watery graveyard once more. Slowly, I gazed into the coffin that I had hit my head on, quickly looking away.

But then I looked back. Was I so tired that I was imagining . . . ? But, no, there was Rayne, peaceful as ever in her coffin. I stared for a long moment, and then let out an quiet, excited whoop. Then I stared at it a bit longer. Suddenly, I wondered something : How was I going to open the coffin?

My stomach dropped out of my body. So close. I was so close, and . . . I couldn't open the coffin. I looked around for a rock of some kind to break it, but there were none. Just sand. And random floating body parts. And coffins.

Sighing, I realized that I had no choice. Preparing myself to pain, I punched the glass coffin.

Glass went everywhere – into the air, Rayne's body, but mostly my fist. It was a bloody mess, and it stung and pulsed. Water splashed onto it, and the pain magnified. I flinched and buried my hand in my shirt. Shaking slightly, my mind numbing from pain, I used the other hand to grab the vial, which shook it my hand. I brought the cork to my mouth, and tugged it out, and then, bent down to Rayne's glass-covered form. Her lips were barely open. Carefully, I poured the purple contents of the vial into her mouth. I didn't move. I didn't breath. My hand throbbed painfully, and I waited . . .

And nothing happened.

I stared at Rayne. Had she already died – from lack of food or water, or perhaps air in the coffin? I shivered. This could not be. She had to be alive. But if she was alive, why wasn't the vial's contents working?

And then, miraculously, Rayne's s form jutted up from laying down into a sitting position. Her eyes looked around, unfocused, and she too had bleeding cuts from the glass, but she was alive! I couldn't believe it, and I'll admit to having tears in my eyes as Rayne looked at me.

"L-Lystra?" her voice wasn't stable "Where am I? Ar – ar – are you dead, too?"

I laughed slightly, and leaned forward to give her a hug. "No, Rayne. We're both alive. And . . . you're in District 4's graveyard."

Rayne looked around. "How? Lystra, I – I thought I was dead. Why . . . why?"

I looked at her seriously. "Not now, Rayne. First we have to get out of here. Can you walk around? Some of those cuts look pretty bad."

Rayne was coming to, and her expression was sharper. "No, I'll be fine. How did the glass break?"

I showed her my fist. "I . . . um . . . punched the glass to break it."

Rayne stared at my fist. "Why would you do that?"

"I had to get you out of there," I shrugged "and I didn't have anything else to use."

Rayne's stomach rumbled loudly. "I am so hungry right now," she muttered. Then she looked to me. "You said we had to get out of here. But where are we going?"

"To the train," I answered. "it will take us to my home – after all the stops for the funerals."

"Th – the other's?" Rayne asked. I nodded. It was still painful to say it. "Who won?"

"Me." I said quietly. Rayne shakily reached out and patted me on the back. "Let's go," I said, using my good hand to grab one of her hands and helping her up. She was shaking, she was so hungry. "There's food back at the train," I quickly promised.

She only nodded, gazing around. "How'd you get down here?"

"A rope," I pointed to the cliff, not far off. Rayne only nodded, and we began trudging to the cliffs. I immediately spotted the rope – it shone like a beacon against the rock. Rayne made her way through the water like she had been doing this her whole life – which, of course, she had. I, however, had a harder time. The salt water made my hand hurt more, and not having a hand only made moving around harder. But eventually we made our way to the rope, where we stopped.

"Are you going to be able to climb that thing?"

I realized that, with my injured hand, I wouldn't be able to. "But I have to get out of here," I pointed out.

"And you will," Rayne was just as clever as I had remembered. "I'll climb up, and then pull you up."

"Can you do that?" I asked, well aware that Rayne was extremely weak right now.

"If I have to, and I do," she answered. I nodded, and she began to climb, quickly out of sight. Only a few moments later, she tugged on the rope twice, and I carefully tied the end of the rope around my hips, and grabbed the rope tightly with my one good hand. This was about to get interesting. I tugged the rope twice, and Rayne began to hull me up.

Slowly I rose up the cliff. Many times, I bumped into the cliff, against my hand, and I gritted my teeth against the pain. I could get it fixed later. Now, I just had to get back to the train. I spun around as I gained height, and, before I knew it, I was struggling over the side. I gazed before me, to see Rayne gazing at the nearby houses.

"What is it, Rayne?" I asked

"My family," she said quietly, pointing to a house. "lives there. They . . ." she trailed off, turning back to me. "They think I'm dead, don't they?"

"Yes," I said quietly. "But you can't go see them, Rayne. Your life is in the balance. It's best that they think you're dead."

Rayne looked extremely saddened by this, but she only nodded slightly. "I trust you, Lystra," she said. "Know that if I didn't, I wouldn't be leaving right now."

"I'm glad you understand," I told her, and led her into the shadows towards the train. But I couldn't help but notice that she lagged behind slightly as she gazed at her childhood world that I was making her leave, without even saying good-bye. I felt bad, but I didn't have a choice here. To keep Rayne safe and living, she would have to come with me.