"Shit."

"Stop saying that."

"Shit!"

"Nico, please shut up."

"I won't, Will! This hurts like hell!"

"It would hurt less if you stopped touching it."

"Oh, shut up!"

Will sighed, shaking his head. Nico was a difficult person to be around sometimes. Will was incredibly happy that he had woken up, but getting hurt hadn't worked any wonders on his temper.

"Right or left?" Will asked.

Nico scowled. "Neither. We've been through this area before."

Will looked both ways. The path did look familiar, if only because it was the same type of gray metal that had surrounded the Cornucopia. "Maybe. Does it matter?"

Nico glared at him. "No."

"And I assume that by 'no,' you mean yes."

"Whatever, Solace."

"So I'm right!"

It probably wasn't smart to keep provoking Nico, but it was just so much fun! "Let's go right."

"Why?"

"What could go wrong?"

"Literally everything."

"You're so negative," Will chirped.

"I swear, Solace…" Nico growled.

Nico and Will continued down the left path for a few more minutes, before getting to a huge room. There were two more entrances. Will was starting to get a bad feeling. "Nico, let's turn back."

"SHIT!"

"What?" Will wildly spun around, before realizing that the door they had entered through had closed. They couldn't leave through there. "Come on!" Will began dragging Nico towards another door, but before before he could, Hazel stumbled through it. There was dirt in her curly hair, and she looked terrified. She stopped short on seeing them, breathing heavily. She had had an ally, Will remembered. Her district partner. Was he the cannon that had gone off earlier?

Through the other door, someone else emerged.

Octavian.

Anger boiled up in Will. He didn't bother keeping it down. He had to kill that boy, the boy who had killed Lou Ellen! Lou didn't deserve any of that! Octavian had to die!

Nico looked angry, too. He was glaring at Octavian. Octavian smirked back at them, as if he had some kind of secret, as if he was somehow superior. Will would give anything to rip that stupid smile off of his face! Anything!

"Easy, boy," Nico warned him.

"Shut up, Nico."

"So the beast awakens!" Nico replied.

Octavian's smile got wider. "Hello, Will. Nico. Hazel."

Will didn't get a chance to respond, because something came out of the tunnel that Hazel had run out of. It seemed too bright against the gray Arena. It spread out over the floor, green and pale yellow. At first, Will thought that it was grass. Then, Will realized that there were little people hidden in it.

That was disgusting. Will felt sick.

But not for long, because a group of the things surrounded Hazel and began building themselves up around her, surrounding her. Hazel screamed sharply before going silent. Will watched in horror for a beat. He tried to work up his courage to help Hazel, but something stopped him, because Hazel stood in the way of him and Austin and Kayla. But that could have been Austin being eaten by…tiny little humans…and Will couldn't let that happen! He and Nico ran for Hazel, helping to yank off the little things. Nico smashed into the them with his sword. Will used his hands, but the things were relentless. They were going to lose.

One of them sank its teeth into Will's hand. Will screamed, yanking his hand backwards and ripping it off, taking off some skin with it. Will frantically wondered if he was going to die here, but suddenly, the disgusting little mini-cupids backed off, hovering around the edges of the room.

"I don't think I need to explain what's going on here," Octavian said.

Will bit back about a million responses and considered stealing Nico's sword, but his ally started talking. "Excuse me?"

"Someone needs to die, or those horrible things are going to start attacking again and eat us all alive."

"How about you, Octavian?" Will snarled.

Octavian grinned. "You can try. I was thinking that you two can kill District Ten, and then I won't kill you."

"Fuck off," Will snarled.

Octavian sighed. "Is this about your district partner, Mr. Solace? Because I believe that we are both just playing by the rules of the Game."

"Shut up, Career!"

Octavian raised an eyebrow. "I didn't volunteer for this any more than you did, Will. But perhaps calling others nasty names lets you forget that your twin brother didn't love you enough to volunteer."

"Shut up!" This time it was Hazel who spoke. Nico looked at her in surprise, but Will kept his eyes on Octavian, who he would kill if it cost him his life. Hazel continued. "You talk a big game, Octavian, but anyone with two brain cells can realize that you're just manipulating everyone. You're scared because you know that we can kill you."

"If it makes you feel better to think that," Octavian replied.

He was bluffing. He had to be bluffing. Ignoring the pain in his hand, Will tensed himself. He needed a weapon. "Nico, give me your sword."

"Surely you aren't that stupid, Mr. Solace!" Octavian laughed. "Very well."

Will yanked Nico's sword out of his hand and charged.

Octavian was ready for him, and Will hadn't ever used a sword before. It felt ungainly in his hands, but Will knew the concept: sharp things cut. Hit your enemy with the sharp thing.

That didn't prepare him for Octavian's prowess with that stupid knife. He blocked Will's first swing, sending shockwaves up Will's arm. Will swung again, and Octavian parried, thrusting at Will this time. Will didn't bother trying to his Octavian's knife and hit the ground instead, kicking out at Octavian. Nico's sword already felt heavy in his hands.

Octavian stepped out of the way of Will's kick and kicked him in the stomach. It hurt. A lot. Will curled himself into a ball. He had to get up…he had to get up…but Octavian hit him again. Will kicked again, knocking Octavian over. Will dropped his sword and resorted to wrestling with Octavian. The two boys when rolling along the floor. Octavian made to stab at Will, but Will grabbed his wrist and pinned him to the ground. He wrestled the knife out of Octavian's hand, but Octavian didn't give up. The two boys tussled over the knife. Octavian came out on top, stabbing wildly at Will, who dodged.

Octavian's next blow was blocked by Nico, who had his sword back. Nico was better than Will at fighting, but Octavian had been trained for longer and was able to block Nico's blow. Will felt useless, and he hated it. He needed a weapon! It wasn't fair that Nico was fighting his battle, and that he couldn't do anything to hurt Lou Ellen's killer! And Octavian slowly made Nico take small steps backward, towards the roiling mass of evil grasses.

Will did the only thing that he could do.

He tackled Octavian.

Once again, the two boys went sprawling. This time, Will fought with more ferocity then he had ever experienced in his life. Octavian could not win! He punched Octavian in the jaw, in the stomach, wherever he could, keeping Octavian's knife out of reach.

But Octavian somehow made his way to the top again—

And Will didn't have anything to block the knife with—

And anyway, his hands were pinned down—

And so the knife entered his stomach.

It burned.

And oh god, it hurt so much.

Will wondered if this was how Lou Ellen had felt as she was dying, as the boy from 2 killed her in the same way. He wondered if he would see her again in the next world. He thought of Kayla, of Austin.

It hurt again when the knife left his body, but for some reason, Octavian didn't stab down again, and then there was the face of a black-haired boy above him…

Hazel had been useless throughout the fight, but she couldn't let Octavian kill Will. They had spoken. He was nice. Beyond that, Octavian was a terrible person and could easily kill her and Nico. Hazel didn't know where she had gotten the strength, but she heaved Octavian off of Will and sent him flying into the mass of evil little grass babies.

Octavian thought he could feel every one of his bones rattling around as he landed on the metal floor, and it hurt too much to push himself up, and then the mutts were on him…they swarmed him, biting, and it hurt, and Octavian wondered why it had to end like this…he was a Career! He wasn't supposed to get eaten by a Gamemaker trap! He was supposed to win, to go back home!

Nico barely registered Octavian in the background, the firing cannon that followed because after all, it wasn't Will's! He was too focused on Will. There was a bleeding wound on his stomach, but it could be fixed, right? Will could fix it. They could get sponsors! There was always a way! Nico remembered Will's response to bloody wounds. He ripped off his own sleeve and started wrapping up the hole. He could do this. He could do this.

Will's mind drifted away from the pain and to Austin. They had always done everything together. Every class, every song, every Reaping was spent at each other's side. But now he had gone into the area of experiences that Austin would never have. Nothing would ever be the same. Will was happy, deliriously happy, that Austin hadn't had to experience this. But for some reason, there was a bit of bitterness, too…

"You're not dying," Nico hissed. "Come on, Solace."

Hazel dropped to her knees next to him. "I don't think it's too deep. The problem is if he loses too much blood…"

"Stop! Just stop! We have to save him!"

"We will, Nico."

Nico hated how measured Hazel's voice was, because really, didn't Will deserve the panic? But at the same time, it was comforting, reassuring. It felt good to have someone rational helping him along.

"Well, I guess we're stuck together," Nico snapped.

"I guess…?"

"Help me, then," Nico ordered.

Hazel complied.

Tributes:

D1: Nancy Bobofit
D2: Reyna Ramirez-Arellano
D3: Leo Valdez; Annabeth Chase
D4: Percy Jackson; Clarisse La Rue
D5: Jason Grace
D7: Grover Underwood
D8: Ethan Nakamura
D9: Will Solace
D10: Frank Zhang; Hazel Levesque
D11: Katie Gardner
D12: Nico di Angelo; Zoe Nightshade

Any suggestions?