Only two left, Treech thought as he scanned the arena. Reaper and Lucy Gray.

Reaper, the strong boy from Eleven who had done nothing these games but take care of dead bodies. And Lucy Gray, the songbird who spent the entire time hiding. 

An odd combination. But not an easy one either.

Currently, Reaper sat in the stands, back facing the arena. Something he does quite often. But that doesn't necessarily mean it'll be easy to take him out that way.

And Lucy Gray. Well, she'd finally come out of hiding and was now mysteriously huddled over a puddle. Did her mentor forget to send her water? That seemed unlikely, seeing as the blonde boy looked rather infatuated with her just a few days ago.

But then again, that could've all been an act. And now that the games had begun and the boy realized she probably wouldn't win, he gave up on her.

Treech took one more glance at his opponents and the surrounding area before forming a strategy.

Lucy Gray might've been easier to take out, but the straggling snakes on the outskirts of the arena might be a problem.

On the other hand, Reaper was currently distracted by something on the wall and Treech could use the element of surprise to take him out, but that wouldn't last very long and even Treech knew there was no winning a fight against Reaper.

So, even though Treech feared the snakes, he knew going for Lucy Gray would be his best bet.

Slowly, the boy began to creep down from the scoreboard, making sure not to draw any attention to himself as he crept his way through the stands and behind the barricade.

And with one last breath, Treech broke out of the barrier and charged toward Lucy Gray.

Lucy Gray, now aware of Treech's ambush, quickly tried to make a run for it, but the boy seemed to be much faster than her, gripping her wrist tightly as he pulled her back.

Lucy Gray, however, did not go down without a fight, harshly pulling herself and Treech to the ground as she fought to grab the axe, but only sending it flying toward the edge of the arena.

Instinctively, both tributes reached out for the axe, crawling toward it desperately only to find a new source of terror. 

Treech quickly threw himself back as he noticed a stray snake slithering around the axe, seemingly interested in the foreign object that had entered its domain. Lucy Gray seemed equally as spooked, letting out a yelp as the snake hissed at the two of them, jolting toward them in a flash.

Immediately, the two tributes pulled themselves off of the ground, hoping to get far enough away from the snake. But the snake persisted, inching toward them with an odd fury.

How was he going to get out of this one? This snake was relentless. He'd be dead in a minute if the snake managed to get to him.

He needed to get the snake to attack Lucy Gray.

So, with one final look, Treech pushed forward toward the snake before kicking it in Lucy Gray's direction, causing her to flail on the ground as the snake attacked her.

And then, with all the adrenaline left in his body, Treech flung himself toward the axe, quickly picking it up off of the ground before swinging it down on Lucy Gray, axing her right in the chest.

Treech let out a heavy breath as he watched the girl from Twelve stare up at him with utter fear in her eyes before she finally stopped moving. Whether it was Treech's axe or the snake bite that killed her, Treech couldn't tell. 

But one thing was certain. He had just killed someone. Again.

Treech let out a sigh before ripping the axe out of Lucy Gray's chest and swinging it down toward the snake that slithered by her hair, killing it for good.

And then, he did what no one expected. 

Treech leaned down toward Lucy Gray and closed her eyes, lowering his head as he muttered 'I'm sorry' over and over again.

-

Vera watched in horror as Treech knelt over Lucy Gray's body, seemingly letting all of the guilt pour out as he apologized to her over and over again.

Poor Treech, she thought. He didn't deserve this. None of them deserved this.

But Vera's heartbreak didn't last too long before Coriolanus began to freak out.

"What just happened? Why did that snake attack her? I mean. The hand-" Coriolanus began to rant beside Vera, clearly frustrated enough to almost expose his whole plan.

Vera let out a loud scoff before turning to him.

"Why didn't the handkerchief work, you mean? You did say you had a drawer full, didn't you? Maybe you just chose the wrong one," Vera muttered, smiling at him with a devilish grin.

Coriolanus's face grew hard before grabbing Vera's arm and pulling her toward an empty hallway.

"You wouldn't," said Coriolanus, so sure that his friend would never betray him like this. Too bad he never actually treated her like one.

"Wouldn't I?" replied Vera with a bitter laugh. Coriolanus's face flashed with something that looked almost like hurt before turning cold again.

"That's not fair," gritted Coriolanus, only causing Vera to laugh again. 

"What's not fair? This was all just a game to you, right? Everyone else was your little pawn?" shot back Vera, shaking her head in frustration, "I wasn't just going to sit there and let you jeopardize everything every other tribute fought for."

"You cheated to save Treech," Coriolanus spat, only angering Vera.

Her? The cheater?

"No," said Vera, finally pulling her arm out of his grasp, "All I did was even the score."

Coriolanus shot Vera one final glare as if to say 'I'll never forgive you for this' before storming out of the Academy, leaving Vera standing by herself.

Vera closed her eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath as she silently mourned what had been her favorite friendship before pulling herself together again.

Treech still had one more tribute to fight.

And with that, Vera made her way back into the auditorium, ready for the end.

-

Treech found himself back on top of the scoreboard again as he ate the food Vera had sent for lunch, grimly watching as Reaper took care of Lucy Gray's body.

All that remained was him and Reaper. He needed to figure out a way to take him out. And soon.

Treech wouldn't be able to fight him. At least not right now. No, he needed to come up with a plan that wore Reaper out until the point of exhaustion.

But how? he wondered. And then it hit him. Reaper's morgue.  The only thing he cared about. Treech needed to target that.

-

Treech waited to start his attack until Reaper was on his way back to the stands, hoping that the extra steps would add to the exhaustion. 

Slowly, the boy from Seven made his way into the arena, heading directly toward Reaper's morgue -- axe in hand. 

At first, Reaper paid no mind to him, but as soon as he noticed the way his flag had begun to move, he grew agitated.

Quickly, Reaper made his way toward Treech, angrily trying to get the flag back from him. But Treech was much faster, running away with ease as he let the flag soar behind him, leaving his axe behind.

"Give it back," Reaper grunted toward the boy, but Treech only shook his head, heading further into the stands as he let the flag fly behind him, taunting Reaper to follow.

Their pursuit continued like this for a long while, draining both of them until they both were on the brink of collapsing. Treech, however, kept reminding himself why he needed to win to stop himself from giving in.

His parents. Tilli. Teak. Vera. Especially Vera.

But even his motivation was becoming insignificant to his body. 

Reaper did not seem to be much better. In fact, he seemed to be staggering his way through the stands as if he were drunk, clearly disoriented by something. But, Treech couldn't tell what.

Treech managed to make his way back toward where he had dropped his axe before collapsing, grunting as his body started to give out. 

No. No. No. This can't be happening, Treech thought as he tried to claw his way to water.

Thankfully, Vera seemed to be watching, sending him a hefty supply of water. Treech hastily drank the water, chugging it as if he hadn't drunk in days before clutching his stomach in pain and turning his attention toward Reaper.

Reaper lay only a few feet away, body desperately hanging on as he crawled his way toward a puddle. From the bottles by his side, it seemed as though Reaper's mentor had also sent him water. But that only seemed to spook him as he sent the bottles flying toward the beam.

As Reaper drank from the puddle, Treech took this as his opportunity to strike. With all that he had left in him, Treech peeled himself off of the ground, staggering over toward Reaper with his axe in hand.

Reaper did not seem to notice Treech, seemingly in a daze as he finished drinking from the puddle. And by the time he had noticed the boy, it was too late.

 For the third and final time in the arena, Treech swung his axe and impaled Reaper, killing him instantly, before his body finally collapsed from exhaustion.

He did it. He won, thought Treech as his vision began to blur. He's going home.

-

a/n:

so treech is alive!!! yayy !! lol don't mind me stealing Lucy Gray's idea to taunt Reaper tho

anyways, guys, we are almost at the end !!! ahh I'm so sad but also so excited !! we have one more chapter and then we've finally hit the epilogue !!!! yay 2 more chapters left (besides the alternate ending)

and if you were hoping for a more tragic ending, don't worry, I do have an alternate version that I will publish as well !!

have a great few days guys !! 

love you guys, 

hannah <3