A/N: I really love depressing stories, if you haven't already guessed. I love to write these chapters (because I love these characters) so I'm writing more! Also, in my AU, the Hunger Games resume, and they all get to go through a third revolution. So, that's why District 12 isn't completely destroyed in my world. P.S. The end of this chapter makes me think of Empty Chairs At Empty Tables from Les Mis.

Geno's POV

It's day 10 in the Arena and I'm exhausted. I've been in this jungle for 10 days now. I haven't showered, or even bathed, I've barely eaten a scrap, and, to top it all off, I have a gash on my face from the boy from 1. And it's been bleeding since the night he died, which was only last night.

My ally Orlick is up first, and I sit up after him, still feeling woozy.

"How's your cut?"

"He slashed it pretty good…" I sit up and gently run my finger over the wound.

"Aw… I'm really sorry."

I shrug, "Not much more to say. He's dead now."

"There are three of us left. It's you, me, and the girl from 4."

"What's her name again?" I hate the question as soon as I ask it.

"Bow," he says, "Or at least I think it's something like that."

I nod slowly, "I see." Then my head spins some more and I lean against a tree.

I close my eyes and focus on breathing. In, out. In, out.

"You Ok?" my ally, who's just 2 years younger than I am, is immediately by my side.

"I'm fine. Just…" I trail off.

Orlick sits next to me and his gray eyes look upset. I hear a beeping noise and groan, "Oh, God… I think this is the end…"

I hear a loud and cheerful laugh come from my ally. "No, it's not! Sit up, you big wimp!"

"Wh-what?"

Orlick leaves my side, just to return with a silver item. A sponsor parachute! I immediately laugh, too, "This is great!"

Orlick grins, taking out a little container of creamy medicine, "I think this is for you."

I laugh, "Maybe…"

He unscrews the lid, "Do you want to do it, or do you want me to?"

I think about it. I'm really not sure.

"Doesn't matter to me… But I guess it'd be better for you to do it, considering you can see everywhere that it's bleeding."

He smiles, "Ok. Hold still." He takes the medicine with his pointer finger and says, "If it stings, tell me. I'll try to be careful, though."

My ally is 14, I'm 16. He's just as gentle as he says, and careful in putting the medication on my face.

I flash him a small smile, wary of not messing up the medicine on my left cheek.

"This came with your medicine," Orlick says, putting a tiny piece of paper in my fingers.

I swallow hard, trying to remain calm. The first thing I think of when I see the black ink on the paper is, to be completely honest, SHIT.

I look at the letters, trying to figure out what the words say, trying desperately to read them, and all of the memories come back.

"What do you mean, you can't read a clock? It's SIMPLE!"

"Hey, hey, hey Geno! Why don't you read Cat in the Hat to us? Hunh? Oh, yeah, you can't, Clockwork!"

"Look at you, on your way to SPECIAL education, IDIOT!"

Not only am I stupid- um... dyslexic… but I'm also one of the smallest kids in my class. Here, the Careers called me Pipsqueak, or Squeaky, Squeaks, Pippy, or, the most awful of them all, Pip.

I blink, trying to focus on the letters and comprehend them.

Orlick can see my trouble, because he looks at me, confused, "Are you Ok?"

I'm lucky my ally is small, too, or else I'd be the smallest boy in the Arena.

I nod, "F-fine."

"What does the note say?"

And all of the confessions swarm out of my mouth like wasps, about being bullied, having to live with dyslexia, and especially my inability to read. He listens the whole time and nods sympathetically.

"Do you want me to read it for you?"

I nod gratefully, and he looks at the paper.

"Good luck, and be prepared for the worst. –Beetee."

I nod, already knowing that. It is the final 3, after all. I don't know why I'm still sticking to my ally.

"So we go after her, then?"

"If we have to, I guess we should."

"Feel up to it?" he asks. I stand up, "Yeah. You'll have to be the lookout, though," I tease. He's been the lookout since we first joined together.

He goes first and I gulp. One of us is going to have to be dead for either of us to win. I don't think of that. I'm sure Bow won't go down without a fight. I guess it just depends on which of us dies first.

Orlick stops suddenly and I almost trip over him.

"Geno, can I ask you something?"

"What?"

"Would you be willing to…"

"To?"

"To trade tokens?"

"What?"

"Trade tokens. You know, you take mine, I take yours."

It's something to think about.

"If I die, I want you to remember me. And if you die, I want to remember you, too."

It's a grim reality that either of those could really happen, but I nod, "Ok."

I reach in my pocket and take out the gold coin I took into the Arena with me. I hold it out to him, "My best friend gave this to me. Take good care of it."

He nods, and shows me the little lightbulb he has. "This was from my dad's mining helmet. It burned out a while ago, but I still think it's the most nifty thing I own."

I nod, "I'll protect this. I promise."

He smiles and I have to hold one back while the medicine dries on my face. Then we keep walking without a word.

Bow is a girl with wavy brown hair and turquoise eyes. She's a little thing, but still bigger than I am, and she's setting a trap when we attack her. Nobody said it'd be easy to catch us.

Orlick got a fairly small scythe from the Cornucopia, and I got a very aerodynamic and VERY lightweight sword that I use extremely well.

She has her dagger ready, though, and she reopens the gash on my face, and, to my dismay, it starts gushing blood once again.

She grins wickedly, "Look who's getting a Two-for-one-DEAL?"

She throws her dagger at my chest but I hit the ground and roll out of the way.

I didn't think to steal it, but boy, do I wish I had.

The three of us fight as hard as we can after being left for 10 days in the jungle and fighting other tributes.

Orlick is the one who reaches up to slit her throat, and I'm the one who puts the sword through her chest.

And she rolls over, and we hear a cannon.

And now it's the final 2.

And I stick the sword through his stomach before I can even think what I'm doing.

It's a grief that can't be spoken.

It's the one thing I regret more than anything in the world. That's the one thing I wish I had never done.

But I did it. I did it, and now he's dead.

I sit in my house in the Victor's Village, on the old wooden rocking chair, by the blazing fireplace.

Back, forth. Back, forth.

The scar on my face never went away. Frankly, I would never want it to. It's a reminder of how broken I am.

I wish there was something I could do to make it up to him. I'm that one total douchebag who killed his own ally. And it's not like Orlick had a single intention of killing me.

That's what the battle of life and death does to you.

I hold the lightbulb in my fingers and can't help thinking about that one dark day.

Mutts didn't even have to show up at the scene, even though I'm sure they were on their way.

Because it wasn't anything but his own ally that took his life.

I could've at least let him fight back. I could've let him hurt me, too. I could've let him give me scars that make me regret messing with him. I don't think he would've fought back, but I could've given him the option, just so I wouldn't have to live with this.

But I do. And I have to live with it for as long as I live and he doesn't.

The worst part is having to live through the rebellion.

And I stand in District 12, with even more blood on my hands, I feel sick. I look up into the sky and see the world through the eyes of a little 14-year-old boy who had trouble fitting in. Seeing the destruction that this war has caused, I don't think life here will be the same ever again.

And I'm in charge of leading the surviving men through the woods, back to Headquarters in District 13. The women and children were taken on hovercrafts, but there wasn't enough for everyone. So, all of the men who are healthy enough are taken under the gate to the woods, for what may be the longest journey of our lives.

I'm with my best friend Theo, Major Theramin, a boy who I recognize from my District named Tanner, and a guy from 11 named Ben. We make our ways under and try to account for everyone.

I take one last look back at Orlick's home… A home that was starving, destroyed, and will now never be the same again. He would be proud of me, I think. But I can only think.

"Geno!" Theo says, "Earth to Geno!"

I blink and look back at them all.

"Come on," Tanner says, "We're leaving!"

They run back to the front of the line with Major and Ben. I blink a tear from my eye, clutch my gun tight to my chest, and follow them.

I say one last goodbye to my old ally, leaving it all behind forever.