"After interest in the Games drops to an all time low, President Snow is determined to regain the once amazing popularity. Twelve tributes. One 'arena.' And one game-changing twist. Welcome to the 80th Hunger Games, the Rebirth."

~ The Rebirth Games ~

Chapter Twenty:

Until Death

Her lips pause and her words linger in the air. I lean over her body, waiting for her to speak up again, but nothing happens.

"Fern?" I say, shaking her body. I grab her shoulders and lightly shrug her. "Fern.. Wake up."

Her eyes seal shut.

"Fern! Wake up! You need to tell me! Fern! Fern! Please say something!"

I bury my face in her clothes as tears roll down my face. "Please, fern.. Fern, don't.. Don't do this to me!"

For once, I'm finally done. I'm done with it all. I'm sick of these Games. I'm sick of this Mockingjay. I just want to go back home. I want to see my parents smiling and standing through the kitchen doorway, I want that fresh scent of a lovely dinner cooking throughout the house. I want Cas and Seidon's stupid and lame jokes to irritate me nonstop! I want that calm feeling, I want to know that my friends aren't going to die any moment, any second. I want to know that everyone is safe. I want to be with Maris and know that she's perfectly safe. I want to be in a place where I'm not being accused of brutally murdering the people I'm closest to. I just want to be loved again.

It takes me a while to finally leave, I can only guess an hour. I can't stop staring at her body, her wasted life. Her future is completely gone now. Possible memories of the big life that was ahead of her. The possible friends she could have made. Lovely times with her family that she'd remember for years to come. It's all gone now. I picture her holding hands with the people she loves, in fields filled with colorful flowers and fluttering butterflies, a peachy sunset in the distance. All I can do is hope that far away, far into the sky, that she's there. That she feels the support she deserved.

I peer back over the roof, and instead of seeing the Mockingjay, all I see is the outline of their body in the snow and footsteps leading towards the village. Once the sun begins to rise, I finally make my way back down the flight of stairs. I can't keep it in much longer. My head spins and I hold onto my stomach in pain as I reach the final step. The voices inside my head laugh at me. I'm a fool. I'm an idiot. I'm here to burn in this hellish land of no fun or happiness. One by one, we're all dying. When will it stop? Who knows? My fate is sealed all by a person under a stupid mask.

Once I reach the living room, the looks on their faces take me aback. Tren and Are.

"Danix.. You won't believe what we found.." begins Are.

"She's dead," I interrupt blankly, not a single emotion in my voice. I sit down on the sofa and wait for a reply.

"Who is dead?" Tren asks.

"Fern.." I continue. "I got a box at my door.."

"Like this?" Are asks, holding up his own one. Pink and covered in glitter, wrapped with a purple ribbon. The exact same one that I had. He holds it in his hand, Tren holding one up too.

"What's going on?" asks Tren. "We heard knocks at our doors and found these.. We went to find you but you were missing! What happened to Fern?!"

"I opened the box.. I got a message telling me to meet on the roof.. The Mockingjay was up there. Fern somehow followed me and..."

Are sits down beside me. "And what?"

"Open your boxes," I say. "Right now."

Are pulls up the lid, and just like mine, a small ballerina spins around inside. Except this time, there's no keyhole in his. He picks up the note placed inside and reads it.

"Complete the tasks in both Danix's and Tren's boxes. Your reward will be me in my fullest form.. Game on bitches."

"But Danix already completed his task.." whispers Tren. "So that means..." She cuts herself off and immediately opens up her box. She takes her message sitting above the keyhole inside and reads it out loud.

"Unlock the surprise that lies within by receiving the key from your own nightmare in the village. What secrets do you have?"

What secrets do you have?

I can already see Finnick waving me off to my death in the Launch Room. I can already see Beetee grinning at me in the dining room on the train. Their faces. The evil laughs. They're here inside my head. And they're coming to take me down. I knew it was her all along.

"We need to go right now!" I yell.

I knew that that face was familiar among the crowds.

"Danix, we need to calm down-" begins Tren

"No!" I shout. "Run!"

I try to get up from the seat but Tren grabs onto me.

"Danix! Snap out of it!" she exclaims. "You need to tell me what is going on!"

"It's her!" I shout. "It's her!"

"Who is 'her'?!"

"I have no time to explain! We just need-"

Her lips press against mine and she places her hands on my shoulders. I stare into her eyes, shocked, confused. But I don't stop. I go along with it. She draws back and gives me a smile.

"I love you, Danix, and I don't want to see you get hurt.."

The next few seconds is nothing but heavy breathing and awkward staring. Then Are speaks up.

"Aww. Cute."

I finally convince them to trust me and tag alongside me. All I say is search for the one with the black hair and pale skin. When we walk out into the entrance hall, ready to go out the door, something else becomes quite apparent. The basement door left slightly open.

Livvy.

We search down in the depths and she's nowhere to be found.

"Where the hell did she go?" Tren asks.

"I don't know.." I say. "But there's nothing bad about defending ourselves." And so we do. We stack up on weapons, Are takes two shot guns, Tren brings a bow and a couple of explosive arrows while I bring an explosive spear. I practiced spearing once or twice back in Four, but that was years ago. Maybe now is the time I shall use my skills to their potential.

We file out the door and back out into the snowy weather. Following the footsteps of the Mockingjay straight down the hill. It takes a while, but we eventually make it to the village. Tren's fingers wrapped around her box, ready to unlock it once we find the key. We hop over the fence and into the heart of the village. Splitting up would be a good thing to do, but not now. Not when there's so little of us left. The robotic humans continue to march around aimlessly in circles, some going into houses and coming right back out seconds later.. It's like a zombie land.

I grip onto my spear, clenching my fist with my other hand, scanning the crowds for the Mockingjay. But more importantly, I scan the crowds for her. That's when I hear the shrill shriek.

I spin around staring straight at the Mockingjay, a bow in their hand. The citizens scream in terror, running away and leaving the figure alone in the snow. They pluck an arrow from the quiver on their back and draw back on the string. They aim straight up, targeting and locking onto me. All I can do is shout and hope the others hear.

"Run!"

A leap to safety. I land face first into the snow piles and the ear-pounding detonation deafens me. The rumble of the explosion rockets through the ground. My eyes catch sight of the ferocious flames, flickering and waving high up into the air. The sick smell of horrid ash fills my nostrils. Smoke pours out into the air and moves about five meters within a split second. Some of the citizens didn't make it. Blood and metal scraps cover the ground while Tren fires an arrow from the corner of my eye. I watch as it clashes with the snow a few feet from the Mockingjay, setting off a gigantic explosion. More snow rains down. More smoke. More fire. Even more blood.

I get up to my feet and I'm swallowed by the crowds. I'm tossed back and forth like a lifeless doll. No matter how hard I try, I can't escape. I feel fingers from the injured claw at my legs and I'm dragged straight back down. More arrows. Flickers of light turn to monstrous flashes of blazing flames. Concrete crumbles. Rubble pours down from rooftops. Bangs. Ear-throbbing explosions. Blood-curdling screams. This is no longer a fantasy on television. It's like I've been finally sucked into what I've been watching for all these years. No more slick edits to avoid the decapitations or nasty bruises. This is the footage of the third rebellion from Capitol TV, except this time I'm in an unedited version.

I run forward, people falling straight to the ground dead as I run by. Bullets fire from a few of the citizens, shooting their shotguns randomly to add to the craziness. I dive beside a car pulled up on the path and hunker down. I clench the spear as hard as I can, jump up and throw it directly at the Mockingjay. And for once, I don't miss the shot. The Mockingjay goes completely up in flames. The ground beneath their feet blasts into the skies and smoke darts up. Fire lashes their costume like a tongue of a fire mutt, washing right over them like a stormy sea wave. I no longer see them, the smoke is too thick. They are dead.

I run around the car and manage to see Tren and Are through the crowds, latching onto each other for safety.

"Tren! Are!" I shout at the top of my lungs.

"Danix!" But that did not come from them. Neither of them. It's her. Her. I knew it all along. I'd recognize her voice anywhere. She sounds just like she did in the forest beside my house, and just like she did when she was trembling in fear at the Justice Building. She's too hard to see though, she's surrounded in crowds. Tren points straight at her and I manage to see the key tied to her necklace. I sprint as fast as I can past the car, right back into all the action, and that's when the worst happens. I watch as the Mockingjay rises from the arrows, completely head-to-toe in fire. The suit is invincible, I should have known all along. The run straight at my, pulling out one last arrow to finish me off.

"Danix!"

"Maris!" I yell. She's now loud and clear right in front of me. She runs straight at me, gowned in a black dress, heavy eye shadow and makeup on her face. Tears roll down her cheeks, her arms sticking straight out at me while Tren fiddles with the key and the box behind her. The Mockingjay draws back on their arrow and aims the bow.

"Danix!"

We're fingertips length apart, screaming, shouting, roaring. The arrow blasts straight through the sky and skims right over my shoulder, completely tearing up the side of a supermarket. Flames burst into the air, smoke completely covering me. That's when I hear my name yelled again, but twice. By both of them. Maris and Tren.

Maris screams it again, her feet going as fast as they can, but Tren screams it with a smile on her face. She's happy. She has succeeded. She's accomplished. The key is in the hole. She twists it, unlocks the box, lifts up the lid, and all I see is fire.

I'm knocked back as she goes up in flames. The explosion eats Maris up in front of my very eyes and I'm flung backwards in the air. I slam back on the ground and everything goes black.

Author's Note:

...

Hello everybody! Welcome to... oh, just forget it! I'm not speaking about that ending at all. I'm just going to say this: wait for the next chapter. Didn't I tell you that this finale would be... well, a finale. I was going to go out with a bang, but it's not over yet. This was just the beginning... So what did you think?!

Let me know your thoughts on this chapter in a review if you have time.. Oh my goodness. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO SAY?! XD

I don't know how to talk right now.

Shoutout to AsgardianGrizzly who made the character Danix and has been heavily shipping Trenix... This chapter is dedicated to you. I guess you can say there's a LOT of Trenix in this one. xD

So, Fern is dead.. The cliffhanger... I'm lost for words. What do I say without giving anything away?! xD

Stay tuned as the finale powers on and we get closer and CLOSER to that ULTIMATE Mockingjay reveal...

Thank you all so much for reading, byeeeeee! :D