Chapter Sixteen

A/N: Thank you to Lya200, angelazzarello94 and Athenachild101 for reviewing.

Another night had finally fallen, and once again, the anthem had blared across the Arena, the images of those who had died illuminating the cave in which the rebels had once again taken refuge. Abby raised her head to the sky, as did Belle, Costa and Harry. All of them had only expected for one name to appear in the sky, as there was only one non-Career Tribute remaining in the competition, and she had done very well for herself, considering she came from a District that was more accustomed to herding sheep than fighting attackers. And there was only one name, to begin with.

Gazelle Kastor, District Ten

But then, just as the lights began to fade away, a cannon boomed in the distance. Hesitantly, as if the Gamemakers were deliberating on what to do, they returned to their full brightness, and another image appeared in the sky, one that the rebels had hoped for, though they had not expected to see it, not in the least.

Sapphire Heartcore, District One

Abby froze with shock. Of all the Career Tributes that year, or the female ones, at least, Sapphire had been the one that everyone had had their money on to win. In fact, this was so true that her odds had been 3-1 to do so. But now she was dead.

Hearing a slight movement behind her, the dark haired girl turned. Harry had shifted himself away from the light, and now sat at the very back of the cave, his hands linked around his legs and his head resting in his lap. Slowly, cautiously, the young girl approached him, sitting down next to him and resting her head on his shoulder, taking one of his hands in her own. She knew exactly what had made him so upset, and she knew that there was no remedying what he had done.

"It wasn't your fault, Harry." she told him. She knew that she could not undo what he'd done, but she could try to ease his pain a little. He was her friend, after all.

"It was. I killed her, Abby. I'm a murderer." said Harry, the emotion in his voice all too clear as it crackled and broke. Although both his mother and father had killed in the past in the Games, as had her own, Abby knew that this made it just as difficult, perhaps even more, to have done the same, whether the death was accidental or otherwise.

"You're not a murderer." Abby spoke firmly, moving to sit in front of him, catching and holding his gaze with her own. The sympathy was as clear in her eyes as the guilt and sadness was in his, and neither of them averted their eyes from the other at such an important moment, although both of them wished to do so. "If you hadn't killed her, then she would've killed you. It isn't your fault, Harry. Anyway, you didn't ask to be here. If the Capitol hadn't ignored the whole point of the Rebellion, then none of us would have been here. It's their fault, not yours."

Though it was clear in his face that he did not believe in this at all, Harry made no comment to the contrary, deciding instead to give Abby the last word. He had no energy to argue his viewpoint against such a strong-willed girl. He had no energy to do anything at all, in truth, as none of them had slept in the time they had spent in the Arena.

"How long has it been now?" came a question from the edge of the cave, near the cliff face, and the two friends turned. They had forgotten that Costa was with them now, as she did not speak an awful lot, a trait she had shared with both her mother and aunt in the past. Belle turned towards them, also keen to know the answer to the question.

"It must've been a week." Harry sighed, his voice rapidly returning to its usual strength. The corners of the brunette's mouth twitched at this. Clearly, the talk she had given him had worked. "I'm not really sure. The Gamemakers mess around with the light levels all the time, trying to make us think it's day and night when it isn't really. But I think it's been a week. Maybe just under."

"But that means we only have five or six days left." Belle pointed out, visibly beginning to panic a little, as her hands began to shake. "If we don't, then the Games will carry on. You promised that we could stop it, Abby, we have to!"

"And we will." the Mellark child reaffirmed, trying to calm her. "There aren't many of us left now, anyway. Just the Careers... and Alex."

"But what about when the Careers are dead?" Costa asked, and the whole group fell to silence. In all the time they had spent planning how to stay safe from the Careers and to take them out, they had never spoken of what would happen once only the four of them remained. The Gamemakers would never let there be four Victors. Not the child of the Victors that had begun to bring down the Capitol's control over Panem.

"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." Harry affirmed, breaking the silence. He had no more idea than the rest of them, of course, but he could not stand for them to be divided so soon. After all, there was no guarantee that all of them would make it that far. There was no guarantee of anything in the Games.

However, it seemed that the silence had done them some good, as through it, they were able to hear a cracking sound, like the crumbling of a loose rock on a cliff face. Immediately, Abby reached for a knife that she had stored in a belt around her ankle, preparing to bring down their attacker, leaving one less Career to deal with. She ushered everyone else away from the edge, in case the attacker should have had the same idea.

However, when she rushed to the edge and raised her hand, preparing to strike, she stopped. She had been expecting one of the siblings, Ainsley, perhaps even Coda himself, wanting to take the glory of killing the so-called 'rebels'. But the figure was none of these. And as she allowed him to pull himself to his feet, standing among them, while the rest of the group looked on in horrified confusion, it was Harry that realised why. This figure was no Career at heart.

He was just another boy from District Twelve.

A/N: Alex's back! Please review!