Chapter 30

NARRATOR | Ashlyn Ramsey, District 11

TIME | Day 4

TRIBUTES REMAINING | 15

A/N - Dear reader, have you ever heard of the burning of the library of Alexandria? Well, my personal library of Alexandria burned down recently, which is why updates have been a bit messed up recently.

To make a long story short a ton of my google docs inexplicably vanished recently - turns out, they were owned by my own school account that had been deleted over a year ago, but there was some sort of window after which the files were deleted, so I had no idea it was going to happen. I had shared the docs with my personal account so I could still access them, but they are no longer accessible.

This story is a very loosely rewritten version of a story I wrote in high school which was in movie script form, so to create this story I duplicated the old document and edited that to form the new one. Turns out when you duplicate a file the ownership stays the same (i believe) and thus the document I used to plan out and write this story was deleted even though it was made very recently.

Thankfully by the grace of some higher power I was able to open my google docs app and salvage this document by opening the file, copying the entire thing, and creating a new document. However, the page reloaded and everything else was deleted - all my old stories including the one Sapphire Tears is based on and my spreadsheet where I kept ALL of my world information. Every Victor in order was listed on that page, and the ages/training scores/all sorts of stuff for each tribute.

So to make a long story short, I've had to grapple with losing stuff I wasn't expecting to and have been navigating that recently, fortunately a lot of the data I lost was posted onto the wiki I made for this series and so I have picked out a lot from the ashes. The worst loss for me was the original version of this story - I always love to see progress in my writing and to look at where I was to compare to where I am now. I have attachments to all of my old stories but unfortunately they are gone. This story is a loving tribute to that story and the others that were lost and a testament to my growth as a writer. With that said, this chapter is not perfect but I want to get it out to start pushing through the rest of this journey!

Enjoy :)

"Come on, Ansel," I say, giving my friend's arm a squeeze. "You need to snap out of this."

Ansel nods, his eyes set ahead of us as we walk. "I know," he sighs. "You and Eddie don't deserve this."

Ever since the Bloodbath, Ansel has been a wreck. We all have been, really, but Ansel has fared the worst. I guess that with Eddie and me being District partners already, Ansel naturally grew the closest to Safira in our group. Watching her die like she did in the Bloodbath was traumatizing - it's kept me awake every night so far - but Violet is Ansel's District partner, and that's made it even worse for him.

"I don't know why we even let her come with us," Ansel says, glaring through red-rimmed eyes at Verity as she leads our group with Eddie. After Safira's death, Verity has felt the brunt of most of Ansel's anger, and I'm not sure why. "None of us trust her, Ashlyn. Safira wanted her because she was a threat to Violet, but none of that matters anymore. We don't stand a chance against anybody without Safira here."

"That's why we need her," I sigh. "Without Safira, Verity's all we have to protect us. We have to trust her or we have no chance."

I fight back the tears welling up in my eyes as I walk with Ansel. I feel like he is falling apart, and our alliance is crumbling alongside him. Our group is already starting to fracture; last night, Ansel yelled at Verity after a long day of traveling through the Arena, and I thought Verity was going to get up and leave. The things he said - that she didn't belong in our group, and she didn't understand any of us - were true, sure. But they shouldn't have been said. Now everything is awkward between us, and I don't know what to do.

If only Safira were here. Where would we be right now if our friend hadn't gone looking for that sapphire? She was so set on finding the power and keeping it from Violet that she got herself killed, and now we all have to pay the price. Whatever benefit that sapphire would've been so far in these Games, it certainly wasn't worth Safira's sacrifice.

Right now, we're following Verity through the woods towards the center of the Arena. We've looked for the last three days for water, but it seems like the only fresh water in this place is right by the Cornucopia. Coincidentally, the beam of the sapphire last night looked like it was coming from the same location. That was what started our whole argument last night; Verity mentioned that she wanted to take a look around for the sapphire while we collected water, and Ansel flipped out at the mention of it. I understand - I think that if I lay eyes on the thing, the memory of Safira's death will come back even stronger - but the sapphire is an important asset whether we like it or not.

Sapphire or no sapphire, we still need water, so Eddie convinced Ansel that we should come to the lake this morning. We've been walking since we woke up, so we're nearly there now.

"We've made it four days, Ansel," I tell my friend. "Things are looking up, right? Let's stay positive."

Ansel offers me a weak smile. I can tell he's trying his best, but I don't know what I'll do if he keeps acting like this. My life is on the line, and I don't want to abandon my friends, but I have to do whatever it takes to survive these Games.

"These look safe to eat," I hear Verity call, and I see her stop at a bush with Eddie. Ansel and I stop next to them, taking a closer look. The bush is covered in small, purple berries.

"They're very bitter, but they're edible," Verity comments, taking a closer look.

As Eddie, Ansel, and Verity start to pick the berries, something catches my eye through the trees. We're right by the lake at the center of the Arena; surprisingly, the metal Cornucopia is nowhere to be found. In its place, a sandy beach lines the outskirts of the calm water.

At the water's edge, a boy dips something into the water, squeezing it out and wrapping it around his leg. Those look like bandages... he must be injured, but he's too far away to see anything.

"Who's that over there?" Eddie asks, pointing through the trees at the boy. It looks like the others have spotted him now; they must be done with the berries.

"Wyatt," Verity says, leading us through the trees to get a better look. "The boy from Twelve."

"He looks injured," I interject. Something about Wyatt makes me unable to pull my eyes away, and I keep watching as he washes his bandages. I feel like my mind is trying to tell me something, but I can't figure out what...

"I'll take care of him," Verity sighs, pulling her knife from her pocket. "Unless someone else wants to do it."

"Verity, I don't think-" I blurt before I can help myself. "I mean, I think we should leave him. He's clearly injured, he'll be gone soon enough."

"It's just simple logic," Verity says, shaking her head. "The sooner everyone else dies, the better it'll be for us. So, nobody else wants to do it?"

Wyatt turns, finally noticing us at the treeline; our escalating conversation must have alerted him. He jolts, scrambling back before he realizes that he's submerging himself in water.

"Please," he croaks, his voice hoarse. "Wait!"

Wyatt grunts as he climbs to his feet and slips something from his wrist. My heart drops at the sight of the glimmering blue bracelet; I can't imagine how he found it, but here it is. The world around us seems to fade away as Wyatt holds out the sapphire, his eyes flitting between each of us.

"Please," Wyatt begs. "This is all I have."

"Verity, leave him," I beg. "Don't stoop to Violet's level."

Eddie catches my gaze, and I send him a very pointed look. "I agree with Ashlyn," he says, but he doesn't sound convinced. "We should leave him."

"Leave him with the sapphire," Ansel mutters. "It's cursed."

Verity walks slowly across the beach. She looks carefully at the bracelet before plucking it from Wyatt's hands.

Verity moves so fast that Wyatt has no time to react. She throws the sapphire onto the sandy beach behind her, circling behind the boy and holding her knife to his throat.

"Verity, no!" I call, step forward instinctively. "We made a deal. Let's get our water and go."

"There are no rules in the Hunger Games," Verity says; Wyatt winces as she pushes her blade against his neck. "Clearly you don't understand how these things work."

I glance back at Eddie and Ansel, hoping that they'll back me up, but they just stare at me with blank expressions. Of course they don't care about Wyatt, why would they? I shouldn't either, but still, I can't let this happen...

"Okay," Verity mutters. "That's settled."

Before Verity has the chance to slide her blade across Wyatt's throat, I'm lunging at her. Wyatt screams as I grab onto him, and the three of us tumble into the water.

"What are you doing?!" Verity shrieks as we resurface. "One of us could have died!"

"I can heal him," I blurt, scrambling back; for a moment, I'm worried that Verity will stab me for what I've just done. "We need him, Verity. This is the advantage we've been waiting for."

Verity stares at me, completely dumbfounded. Next to her, Wyatt looks just as confused.

"Ever since Safira died, we've needed someone to fill her place," I explain, and as I speak the words I know them to be true. "You know it, Verity. We're falling apart. Eddie may be strong, but if we don't have a strong fighter on our side, Violet will flatten us. Wyatt will be indebted to us, and with the sapphire we'll be unstoppable. Right?"

I glance at Wyatt, and he nods vigorously. I can read one thing on his face: why are you doing this?

Verity actually looks interested now that I've mentioned Wyatt's loyalty. "I see your point," she sighs. "I don't want to get screamed at by Ansel again. But I'm not dragging him around if he's badly injured. If you think you can heal him in the next few days, I don't see why we can't. Beyond that, I'll have to kill him for all of our sakes. The sapphire is enough of an advantage without him if it comes to that."

With our agreement settled, Ansel helps me out of the water. He has an odd expression on his face; all of this talk of Safira must be hard for him, but I'm hoping that Wyatt's addition to our group will help him get over all of that. Behind him, I see Eddie slip the sapphire bracelet onto his wrist.

"Why are you doing this?" Wyatt mutters as the others take out their canteens to collect water. I stay on the beach to examine his injury. "You almost got yourself killed. You could've let me die."

"I don't know," I say honestly. "Something tells me that we need you. If we don't change something around here, we're going to crash and burn. And I need to get everything that's happened off my mind. This will be the distraction we all need."

I take a look at Wyatt's wound; it's deep, but not gruesome. Verity's threat still lingers in my mind, but I think I should be able to heal this up in a few days with the proper equipment.

"I saw Violet kill your friend," Wyatt says, his eyes meeting mine. "I'm sorry. She did this to me, too."

"We'll make her pay for it," I say with a small smile. "I can heal this if I have the right supplies."

"Well, I got this last night from the sapphire," Wyatt says, pulling a spool of thread from his pocket. "For stitches, I think. I got a whole kit; it's all back in the trees."

"I can work with that," I sigh. With my medical knowledge, I can tell that this will take a while to heal properly, but if Wyatt is up and walking by tomorrow, Verity will be happy, and that's all I need.