Standing in the middle of the hot and humid jungle I was transported back to my frozen arena eight years ago as the person threw their hood back and cold, black eyes bored into me.

Lupa.

She was the only tribute that had driven fear into my heart in the 67th Games. Lupa gave me just enough time to recognize her face – my eyed widened in fear – and then an animalistic cry ripped through the air as she lunged.

As I fell back, I was seventeen again, screaming and swiping out at her wildly with the knife that was still clutched in my hand. The blade passed right through her body, not even leaving a scratch, but when her hands clutched at my throat they felt very real. I tried to scream but her iron grip was cutting the air to my lungs. Her face snarled above me in triumph my fingers scrabbled at the ground frantically but unlike last time, there was no rock within reach for me to bring down on her skull. I kicked out at her but just like the knife, they passed right through her body. Her fingers were tightening, my lungs were burning, and black spots were flashing across my vision. I was going to be killed by a ghost.

She vanished as suddenly as she had appeared. My lungs burst open, screaming for air which I dragged painfully into my chest with great gasps. I sat up, looking frantically around for Lupa. She was nowhere to be seen.

Spinning wildly, I was lost in a memory of panic and powerlessness. Behind me, a twig cracked and I span, leaping and bringing my knife down in an unaimed slash, striking flesh and bone. I was thrown backwards as someone jerked violently to my attack. On the ground I rolled over, spitting leaves and moss from my mouth but already springing to my feet to face my enemy.

Lupa was not looking back at me. A pair of shining, golden eyes were already fading as Raziel clutched at the long slash I had made from his throat to his chest. Blood sputtered passed his lips and his knees buckled. He reached out a hand as he thudded to the ground.

"I…helped…you," he gasped, confused and betrayed like a child. He lifted his hand away from the deep wound in his chest, staring in amazement at the crimson that soaked his hand. He coughed, splattering blood across the space between us. I flinched away and stared in frozen horror as he gasped and panted for breath on his side, his wound bleeding freely as his hand fell to the ground.

His amber eyes connected with mine and I was compelled forwards. I dropped to my knees beside him and touched his hand, soaked in blood; his fingers curled inwards at my touch. There were tears thick in the back of my throat: tears of shame and guilt over what I had done. Accusation burned in his dying eyes, just as it had in my dreams for years.

I saved your life and you let me die.

"But I didn't kill you," I muttered weakly, not even believing my own, pathetic excuse. It had never mattered whether or not it had been my hand that drove the killing blade into his throat. It would perhaps have been better if it had; I would have repaid his kindness by making his death quick and painless. Instead, I had watched silently as he was tortured to death by Luxor and Allure, watched while they laughed in pleasure.

It was obvious that he was dying yet I still lunged forward and pressed my hands against the wound. I couldn't even cover half its length with my hands, pressing while blood flowed freely around my fingers and trickled over my hands. Within seconds I was coated to the elbows in a slipper layer of Raziel's lifeblood. My hands were pressed so hard against his cheat that I felt the moment his heart spasmed. His body jerked and under my hands his chest was still.

"No!" I shouted in frustration. "I didn't kill you!"

I slammed my fist into his chest and felt his ribs crack. It didn't matter. His eyes, dull and glazed, stared vacantly up at me, his lips slightly parted, blood staining them crimson.

I threw myself away, struggling for breath passed the tears that clogged my throat. My chest heaved as I stared at my hands, bright red. Raziel's blood had always been on my hands.

Backing up, I scurried until my back hit a tree with a painful thud. I curled there, clutching my knees to my chest, my hands shaking wildly as I stared at them.

Raziel's body was slumped on the jungle floor; blood continued to trickle down his skin and seep into the rich dirt. Figures began to materialize from the jungle around him. Lupa dropped to her knees near his head and dipped her fingers into the blood, inspecting it with interest. Cora walked to the front of the crowed, the slash I had made in her throat dripped blood down her font. Manius wandered forward and silently took a seat on the ground beside me. I could feel coldness radiating from where he sat and when I turned to look at him, shaking with fearful anticipation, a grey-skinned, hollow-eyed frozen corpse smiled. I couldn't stop the scream that bubbled up inside me and I threw my head into my hands like a frightened child, curling up and hiding from my nightmares. Fear itself coursed through my veins where minutes ago blood and courage had fueled me. Adrenalin spiked painfully in my stomach and my chest contracted as hands descended, touching, pulling, stroking, hitting.

"Stop!" I gasped as I tried in vain to shrink away from the decaying, skeletal hands that reached for me. Writhing in my curled up ball, arms flailing, I lost the war against the ghosts.

A jolt of pain across my cheek brought me to awareness. Someone had slapped me out of my shock, but it wasn't a cold, reaching hard. It was warm and alive. I blinked, my head spinning and tried to focus on the person standing above me, silhouetted against the jungle roof. Cashmere crouched in front of me, scowling. Gloss stood behind her where Raziel's blood had been draining away. The body was gone; they were all gone. I forced air into my aching lungs.

"Finished?" Cashmere snapped unsympathetically. Her eyes were hard on me.

I blinked again, processing that I was curled into a ball at the base of a large tree. Uncurling myself quickly I straightened my back against the comforting solidness of the wood.

"What's going on?" I demanded, looking from Cashmere to Gloss, who looked as shaken as I felt. He was twitchy; his eyes darted around the trees and his knuckles were white where he clutched his sword hilt.

"We stayed here to long," Cashmere replied curtly, and stood up. She didn't offer me a hand, not that I would have taken it anyway, and just watched me critically as I struggled to my feet. I glanced down at my hands, half expecting to see them still covered in blood. Instead, there were scratches on my wrists and up my arms. There was blood under my nails. I had done this to myself.

"Let's find Brutus," Cashmere said in the same tight, cold voice. She moved stiffly, turning and walking away without a word. I looked to Gloss.

"I guess we know what's in this section then," he said with a nervous half smile. His eyes skimmed over me.

I looked down at my hands again. "Do we?"

"Something in the air." Cashmere had come back when we hadn't followed her. She leaned against a tree, looking drawn and weary. She passed a hand over her eyes and I noticed it shook. "A hallucinogen or something. It makes you see…things…"

"What did you see?" I demanded sharply. She snapped her eyes to mine, emotionless.

"I'm going to find Brutus," she said simply and walked away again.

"What's the perfect way to torment an Arena full of Victors?" Gloss said quietly as we both began to follow a distance behind Cashmere. "Show them what they did to survive."

I swallowed, my throat dry. "You saw your kills then?" I asked lightly.

He nodded. "Cash and I were both back in our Arenas. I'm guessing you were too?"

I didn't answer him but I didn't need to. I shivered as the image of Manius' frozen corpse flashed before my eyes. "Why did it stop?" I asked instead.

He shrugged and swiped at a sapling with his sword. "Hour's up I guess. Time for the next terror."

Suddenly he stopped and pulled me back with a hand on my arm. I stiffened and looked at him with narrowed eyes. He looked nervous. "I have to ask," he said, his eyes darting after Cashmere who was out of sight and well out of hearing. "Did you see my sister? Did you see Allure?"

I shook off his hand but I didn't move away. I didn't want to recall anything I had just seen but I didn't have a choice, the images flashed in my mind rapidfire. I swallowed again. She was there, standing beside Lupa over Raziel's body, her glistening eyes staring straight at me, still that unusual colour. The ice-pick that I had killed her with wasn't in her throat but there was a gory, open wound where it had been. I closed my eyes but it didn't get rid of the image.

"I'll take that as a yes then," Gloss said softly. I didn't know why he wanted to know. There was pain on his face as he took a step away from me. I didn't reply, I couldn't think of anything to say.

We turned in unison and walked in the direction Cashmere had gone, an uncomfortable silence and distance between us.

I kept an eye on the jungle, trying to gauge the time from the noises within. A few hours after our return there was a high pitch scream from the far side of the Cornucopia. We all sprinted around the side in time to see an enormous wave of water crashing down through the jungle towards the beach. It flattened everything in its path and met the calm turquoise water with a great crash and explosion of white foam. We ducked behind the Cornucopia as a wash of water reared up and flooded the sand, receding again to leave the island wet and glistening and our fire out.

The canon fired.

"We should be hunting," Brutus said, shifting restlessly. We were all one edge. Nature, killers and monsters we could handle, but our past had made us all jumpy. The nightmares in our heads were things we never wanted to encounter again.

I agreed with him by sliding a hunting knife into my belt.

A/N: I sincerely hope you all enjoy reading the Arena as much as I enjoyed writing it! These Games were very emotional to write.

Melliemoo- thanks for the heads up. I went back and re-edited that chapter. Sometimes I have extremely sleep deprived when I'm editing my chapters so mistakes get through more than they shoulder.