A/N: I am really excited for you guys to read this chapter. That might be a bad thing though :)

Chapter 17

We fell asleep near the opening of the cave. He cradled me in his arms, and the warmth of his bare chest lulled me to sleep. Before I knew it he was gently waking me.

"Esmerelda," he whispers, "It's past sun up, should we relocate?"

I stretch and roll off of his chest, "I don't know. Why don't we sleep in? I hate making decisions, anyway." I snuggle up inside my jacket that we laid on the ground.

"You're so lazy," he laughs as he turns towards me and kisses me on the forehead.

"So we're officially a thing now, right?" I ask.

"You're worried about that?"

"I am sorry," I reply, with some attitude, "I am a teenage girl who hasn't been able to act teenage lately."

He laughs again. Then he gets up and puts his shirt on. He grabs his bow and arrows, slings them over his back, and says, "I'm gonna go check outside, see if anything happened."

I nod, and watch him walk out of the cave. I wait a few seconds, sigh and realize I'm gonna have to get up anyway. So I put my jacket on, and stretch again.

"Esmerelda?" I hear him call.

"Coming," I reply.

I get up and trudge out of the cave. When I get there, I see our supplies are gone.

"Where's all our stuff?" I ask.

"I don't know, probably stolen by someone," Mercury answers.

"Well, who's left?" I ask.

"I'm not sure, I know Damien Ferrly's still alive, I haven't seen his name yet."

"And Balthazar Millea and Agatha Crane," I add.

"Maybe one more," he says, trying to deny the fact that we should probably split up now.

Then a cannon goes off.

"Or not," he says.

"So what are we gonna do about supplies?" I ask.

"We could go see who has them, and take them back, or I could go hunting."

I nod, and think of other ways to survive.

Then I hear a jingling of bells, the bells that signify a parachute. I see it floating down a short way away from the cave.

"I'll go see if that's for us," I suggest.

I walk towards the place where it landed. It's hanging on a tree branch. No one's around so I go up to it. I open the package, and I find two loaves of bread.

"Nice one, bakery boy," I whisper to Peeta, loud enough so he can possibly hear it.

But that's not all, there's a little note on the bottom. I pick it up and read it:

There are only 2 left, excluding you. Split up before you have to

kill each other. -Peeta

I should do it. I know I have to do it. But I absolutely don't want to do it. I want to stay with Mercury forever, but the sensible part of me reasons that that's not possible. But I can't leave him. Not after last night. I hesitate before I crumple up the paper, and leave it in the basket. "Sorry, Peeta."

I walk back to Mercury. "Look what Peeta left us," I say as I hold up the bread loaves.

"Cool," he says.

He takes the loaves and puts them in the back pack that the thief left behind.

"Since I'm up," I say, "Why don't we relocate?"

"Sure," Mercury smiles at me as he laces his fingers with mine.

We walk for a while, swinging our hands back and forth. I can't stop thinking that Mercury is perfect. I want to be with him forever. We walk until we see the edge of the lava river.

"We've gone far," he says. I nod, while he continues, "We should probably turn right."

I smile, and turn on my heel. After a few minutes, I hear a rustling.

"What was that?" I ask.

Mercury begins to draw his bow, "I'm not sure." He raises his voice, "Who's out there?" A pause. "There's no need to hide… we're probably the only ones left."

"You're right," a gruff voice replies.

"And we would know," a girl's voice adds.

They both laugh as they hop down from their hiding places among the trees. It's Agatha and Balthazar. Agatha has thick jet black hair that has been pulled back into a braid. Her muscled frame is complimented by the tank top we were forced to wear. She has a big sword clutched in her fist. Balthazar has buzz-cut, brown hair that has traces of dirt and maybe blood in it. He has no official weapons, but I have a feeling he could use those big hands to an advantage. They start circling us. Mercury and I go back to back; I keep my eyes on Agatha, while he keeps his eyes on Balthazar.

"Oh, look, it's Snow's little granddaughter," Agatha teases. "You look about as weak as he did." She makes a pouty face, like she's looking at a sick dog on the street. I'd understand why she'd have a small grudge on me, since my grandfather executed her dad.

I clench my fist, but don't answer back; I don't want to give her that satisfaction.

"Why don't you come after me, your highness? Or are you too scared?" she tries to get in my head, but I force her words out, trying not to let them get the best of me.

Then I hear a thump and a grunt behind me. I spin around and see Mercury and Balthazar wrestling on the ground. Balthazar is on top of Mercury, and Mercury's trying to push him off. Mercury sees me, and tries to call out my name, but Balthazar thrusts his hand in Mercury's face.

I turn around to see Agatha charging at me with her sword pointed forward. I lift mine and deflect her blow. The swords make and ear piercing sound and sparks fly around my face. I spin around and duck another swing. She swings again and I duck and kick her feet from underneath her. She starts to fall, but regains her balance as I spring up. Our swords clash again as I start thinking. As we battle, I begin to notice that her moves are all offensive; maybe I could use that to my advantage, if I survive that long. She runs forward, and practically knocks my sword out of my hand. She keeps advancing and backs me into a tree. She tries to put her sword at my throat, but I grab onto the hilt and push as hard as I can. She tries to push me off guard with her free hand. I hold her hand away from my face. We're suspended for a moment, and I can smell her breath, and I think, this is why we need tooth brushes. Suddenly she decides to force herself away from me, letting me let go. She swings her sword at me as I duck and roll toward my own sword. I pick it up and run until I run into Balthazar. He turns around menacingly and my hands involuntarily start to tremble. He swings his fist at me, and I duck and crawl to a different spot. Mercury distracts Balthazar from coming at me again. Agatha pops out of nowhere. She stabs near my face and I bend backwards just in time. I take a swing at her and she blocks my blow. She kicks my stomach backwards. I look up to see her preparing to charge. She stabs forward, and I turn so my back is to her. I thrust my arms forward and spin my sword so it's pointing to her. I kick backward, and kind of feel like a ballerina, as my foot come into contact with her stomach. My back is still to her as she stumbles backward. I turn my head ever so slightly so I can see her. She gets up and starts charging at me. Her sword is aimed at my head. I wait until the last second, brace my sword at the side of my stomach pointing backwards, and when she arrives I swing my head to the side and let my sword go through her stomach. She stumbles backward, and I turn around. She's holding her stomach, and sputters out, "D-dad." She looks relieved and falls to the ground, dead.

I have no time to feel guilt as I turn to see Mercury and Balthazar wrestling extremely close to the volcanic river. Not wanting to feel helpless, I charge at Balthazar and land on his back, trying to knock him over. He grunts a little bit. I barely made a dent. So I muster up all the strength I can get, wrap my arms around his neck and pull backwards. I somehow manage to pull him backwards, off of Mercury. Mercury snakes out from under Balthazar and runs to his bow. Balthazar finally takes notice of me, grabs me, and pins me down so my head is just hovering over the lava.

"Mercury!" I cry.

Balthazar holds one of my arms down, and braces his other arms against my neck. I can feel the heat of the lava on the back of my head.

"Better hurry up hero!" Balthazar calls. "Your little girlfriend doesn't have long."

I struggle as much as I can, I try to push him off me, but it's no use. He's too strong for me. I feel like a cliché. And I want to punch this guy so hard.

"Looks like your hero's not coming," Balthazar growls.

I take a shaky breath and whimper, "Mercury."

Then Balthazar starts to push me off the edge. He grabs my neck and shoves my upper body over the river, my legs still on solid ground. I try to scream, but Balthazar is cutting off my voice. He pulls me upward, and hangs me over the lava. I'm still trying to scream, hoping I might let some noise out, to be heard. Then I see him. He has his bow drawn and is staring at me.

"Esmerelda!" he cries.

Balthazar's head snaps toward Mercury's direction. He aims his bow at Balthazar's head.

"You shoot me, and I'll drop her," he yells.

I want to struggle against his grip, but getting myself free means dying. So I let out a barely audible whimper. Mercury lowers his bow and steps forward slowly. Balthazar threatens to drop me in again. Mercury stops abruptly and put his hands up.

"Just let her go," he says.

"I'll let her go," Balthazar snarls, "I'll drop her into the lava, so you can watch her burn, and sink into nothing."

Nothing, I can't be nothing.

I start to look around, for somthing that might be of use. I notice a branch just above my head. That is just too convenient, I think. I grab it and hope Balthazar doesn't notice my sudden shift. He keeps staring at Mercury, who's staring at me. I see the faintest trace of a smile disappear, as he realizes I'm trying to be inconspicuous. I grab the branch with my other hand.

"Why don't you drop her?" Mercury asks.

"What?" Balthazar is puzzled still holding onto my neck.

"Drop her."

"O- Okay," Balthazar releases his grip on my neck. After not hearing anything, he looks at me, and starts to say, "You son of a-"

I kick him in the head. He stumbles backward. Mercury rushes forward. I pull myself up a little, as Mercury rams into Balthazar. Mercury stops and Balthazar keeps rushing forward, unable to stop momentum. He trips into the lava. I'm holding myself up as I hear him scream in pain. I shut my eyes, and wait for it to be over. When I hear a soft thunk. I look down and see an arrow sticking out of something that used to resemble Balthazar. He sinks into the lava.

I struggle to keep hold of the branch, and I hear a loud crack sound.

"Mercury!" I cry.

He looks at me and starts running at me as soon as the branch breaks. I'm falling, and I feel the air getting hotter as I fall towards the lava. All of a sudden, I'm hit by something and I'm jerked sideways. I tumble onto the rocks entangled with something. As the tumbling stops, I open my eyes to see Mercury on top of me.

"Mercury," I whisper, "you saved me."

"What do you think I'd do?" he asks. He kisses me and I'm so, so happy. Until I remember.

"Wait," I say, getting up. "They were the only two left besides us."

"What?" Mercury sounds surprised.

"We're the only ones left."

"No," he barely whispers.

"We could just wait it out," It being death.

"What's the use?" he asks. "We'd just loose each other." He steps toward me and grabs a knife from my belt. He puts it in my hand, "Kill me."

"No. Never. I wouldn't-"

He adjusts my hand so it's pointed at his stomach, "One of us has to die."

I turn the knife around, so it's pointing to me, "Kill me then."

"You are too precious to me and the world for me to kill you," as he says that, he places his hand on my stomach.

I kiss him. I take my hands off the knife and run them through his hair. I drink in every moment of this. He leans into my ear, and whispers, "Goodbye."

Then I realize my mistake. I took my hands off the knife.

Mercury goes slack in my arms. A bloody knife falls from his hand. I gasp and try to hold him up. Try to undo the past few seconds, but he falls to the ground. I cradle his head in my arms. I want life to come back into the beautiful, cold, pale cheeks. But it's never going to happen. I sob as a hovercraft appears above me. But I won't let go of him I won't. Before I know it, someone is tearing me away from the body that used to be Mercury. I'm screaming and crying and kicking and thrashing around until everything is dark.

A/N: And the games are over! One or two more chapters to come. And please feel free to review.