Slowly, I got up from the ground and dusted myself off. I picked up my backpack, which at this point in the Games only contained my sleeping bag and a handful of berries due to eating my other supplies, and told Sandy what my plan was.

We were to somehow get to the Cornucopia again before the Gamemakers sent something after us to push us to it. It would most likely involve a mutt, or some sort of "natural" disaster that could result in us getting killed. From there on we would wait for the other tributes and engage in what might be the last fight of our lives. Hopefully one of us would come out victorious. If it were us two as the final two tributes I'm not sure what I would do. I couldn't bring myself to kill Sandy; she cares about me, for a reason I am still unaware of. Even though she has some sort of mental problem, she's one of the nicest people I've ever met.

Sandy agreed with my idea, and we began our journey to the Cornucopia. Neither of us remembered which way it was, so we both decided to keep on heading straight, and should a turn ever come up, turn right. It would have been nice to have directions towards it, as my allies and I had received earlier in the Games, but at this point it would be near impossible for anything to come in for anyone. Prices would be so high that a small first aid kit would cost the same amount as a set of weapons would cost on the first day.

A cannon boomed.

That meant that there were only three tributes left in the Games now.

Me, Sandy and one of the other Career tributes.

The reality of the imminent battle suddenly hit me, and my heart beat increased substantially. This would be the final battle for me, whether I died or I came out victorious.

"Let's go."

Those would be the last words I think I would say to Sandy, unless the odds were not in our favors and we were the last two tributes, somehow defeating the other Career tribute. Instead of Sandy leading this time, I started leading, acting with more confidence than I knew I actually had. Sandy suddenly seemed to realize the dire consequences that we were about to face, and had turned silent. It was funny, how the two of us had switched positions from when we first officially met. Thank goodness she hadn't switched personalities again. She could save that for our fight against whichever Career was left; it would be much more useful in that battle than it would now, by trying to attack me.

After walking for what seemed like forever, when in actuality it was most likely a few hours in the maze, Sandy motioned for us to take a break. It wouldn't do us much good to be incredibly tired and unprepared when going to the Cornucopia. Sandy mumbled a few words after we sat down saying something about her taking a quick nap and having me stand as guard. It felt as if I was almost a mother to her, even though I'd only known her for a couple days. For some reason I felt a little protective of her; maybe because she had acted like family when she rescued me from the hands of a Career. Maybe it was because she had some sort of mental problem, so I wanted to become the best friend a person could possibly be and treat her normally, unlike others, as I was almost positive that her mental problem is the reason why she was voted into the Games by her District. Whatever the reason may be, I truly did not want her to die.

While Sandy napped, all other sounds suddenly stopped. I heard no more of what had become background noise, such as wind, bugs and the few random mockingjays that were placed in the Arena. What was going on? What could possibly cause everything to cease to make sound?

I jumped to my feet and gently nudged Sandy with my left foot. When she began to protest to her waking up, I put my hand over her mouth in an attempt to shush her. After she finally realized that I had a reason to attempting to mute her, she became quiet on her own, allowing me to remove my hand from her mouth. I looked all around me, trying to find the reason or source for the noiseless Arena.

All too soon I had discovered the source, as a huge tidal wave suddenly appeared from the direction we were walking away from, making us scramble to get our things and sprint away from it. I guessed the Gamemakers decided it was time for the battle to happen, whether we were ready for it to happen or not. Sandy and I were struggling for breath as the wave chased us, and once we finally reached the Cornucopia we almost keeled over to catch our breath. My lungs felt as if they were about to burst from exhaustion. I don't think I had ever run that much in my very short life. I cracked open one of my eyes to see a very blurry figure across from us, in the same state as we were, if not worse. It was a girl, so by process of elimination it had to be Hazel, girl tribute from District Two. Her shirt was singed in many spots, and she was limping towards the Cornucopia, gripping her thigh. I suppose instead of being chased by a tidal wave, she was chased instead by fire. It suddenly struck me that perhaps being the person to have claimed the Cornucopia instead of fighting said person would be the best plan to go with, so I struggled to get up and make my way over to the center of the Arena. Sandy must have somehow gotten my message, as she followed suit, although perhaps a bit slower than I.

It was then that it struck me how strange the situation was. A Career tribute against a twelve year old and mentally problematic teenager from lower Districts to fight each other to claim the title of Victor of the twenty-fifth annual Hunger Games. All of us sharing one disability at the moment; injuries from the Gamemakers. It must not be making a very interesting final battle, I thought as I almost laughed hysterically at the thought of Capitol people bored at the Hunger Games finale.

All three of us collapsed at the Cornucopia, too exhausted to fight. I looked up and saw three parachutes flying down, each to go to one person. How in the world had there been enough money to send all three of us something? I had understood Hazel, her being a Career and from the favorite District Two, but there were virtually no sponsors for the lower Districts. I pushed the thoughts aside as I quickly grabbed the container and opened it to find a syringe inside. I looked at the other two tributes and found that we all had the same thing. I watched as Hazel plunged the needle into her arm, seemingly without thought, and watched furthermore as she seemed to completely recover and ready to fight. It looked as if her burns hadn't even affected her: it was as if they didn't hurt at all. Sandy did the same, and rose to her feet, wheezing no more. It was then that I decided that the syringe wasn't poison, but was rather Capitol medicine sent to help us get ready to fight. I was right; the Capitol people were too bored by our exhaustion, so the Gamemakers had to do something to get us all to fight.

I looked away as I plunged the needle into my arm, not wanting to see it enter. I felt a slight prick and a cooling sensation flew through my body. My lungs suddenly didn't feel as if they were about to burst; instead they felt as if I had just taken a very relaxing nap, and I even felt well-fed. It was the best I had felt like in a very long time, I realized, as the last time I felt this way was when all of the tributes were in the Training Center.

I heard a scream, and snapped back to reality as I saw Sandy and Hazel deeply engaged in a fight. Sandy was fighting with a random sword that she had picked up when we arrived, and anyone could see that she wasn't comfortable with it. Hazel was fighting with a sword as well, although she was clearly more skilled with it. I watched with horror as she rammed the end of the sword into the back of Sandy's kneecaps, causing her to crumple to the ground. Hazel had begun scanning the Arena, looking for the last tribute she had to take care of to claim her spot as Victor. Me.

I watched as her striking blue eyes fell on me, looking me up and down as if I was some sort of animal being hunted down by a predator. She slowly made her way over to me, seemingly formulating a plan in her mind. A plan that I was almost positive included killing me in the most painful way possible.

As she came closer and closer, I began to back up against the Cornucopia, for whatever little protection it would provide for me.

"Well, hello there Butterfly girl. How are you doing today?"

I gave no response. She continued trying to get me to speak though. "If I remember right... well, wasn't it you that killed Astrita? That was very impressive you know." She held up and started examining her sword, chipping off little red bits on it. Blood, I realized later. She was cleaning the blood off of her sword. "You killed her with a little knife, right? Now this, this is too big for little girls like you to be playing with." She began dragging the sword across my neck, only at the end breaking skin ever so slightly. I still wouldn't give her any reaction. She was not worthy of a reaction from me.

"Thankfully, I'm a big girl, so I get to play with whatever...toy...I...want." Hazel began the motion to decapitate me, and I began to say goodbye to everyone I cared about that was still alive in my head: my parents, Sapphy my mentor, and Sandy. I prepared myself to say hello to the people I had lost, like my sister Kate and my allies in the Arena, when Hazel stopped just millimeters away from my throat. I opened my eyes, not even aware that they were closed in the first place, to see her looking down at her chest, where I saw a sword poking through. Blood was quickly soaking up her shirt, and she stumbled back, in shock that she was dying. I looked up to see Sandy, favoring her good leg, shakily yank the sword out of Hazel's chest. Hazel sunk to the ground, still clutching at what was the now hole in her body. She went still, and a cannon went off.

I was one of the last two tributes.

With my ally.

Which meant that one of us had to die to become a Victor.

Both of us were visibly and mentally shaken by the events that had just happened. I had almost died, and Sandy had just murdered possibly her first tribute ever. I looked up at her, at her conflicted face and decided then and there that I couldn't possibly live with myself if I won the Hunger Games instead of her. What would await me if I won? A house with my two parents, still with no friends? If anything, I would be avoided even more because of my actions in the Games this year. I'm sure my District would appreciate the food, but even still everyone knows that the Peacekeepers of our District take a majority of the food for themselves to celebrate "their" victory. The Capitol could fix whatever was wrong with Sandy's head, and give food to a District that would benefit the people living there instead of the Peacekeepers.

Even still, I knew exactly what to do. I would win these Games, even if it's not what the Capitol would have been anticipating at all. Except I would do it in my own way.

Sandy finally looked up and found my eyes. Her eyes looked so broken, as if she was shattered by what she had just done. I walked over to her, dagger in my hand. She looked away, and simply sat down on the ground, looking like a child.

"Hey Sandy."

"I know you want to win, so go ahead, and just kill me." Her voice sounded just as I had heard my sister's voice sound when she was competing in the Games, as she was being tortured by the Careers before they finally killed her. It was a horrible night for my family.

"I plan on winning these Games, Sandy."

I sat on the ground across from her, and asked her to look into my eyes.

"I really hope you'll forgive me for this."

"Forgive you for what? I'll be dead, won't I? Can the dead even forgive you?" Sandy seemed genuinely curious, yet still wary of what was about to happen.

I looked up at the sky, where I imagined a camera would be. "I love you, Mom and Dad. Please forgive me, but I just can't do it. I'm so sorry."

I looked back at Sandy, maintaining eye contact as I pulled out my last knife, hidden in my pocket. I made her keep on watching me, as she expected me to kill her, when at the last moment I pointed the knife towards me.

I positioned the blade exactly where I wanted it to go, and watched as Sandy finally realized what I intended on doing. She cried out, yelling at me to not do it, but it was too late.

I was too broken to become the Victor.

Sandy deserved to go home and I knew it.

I would win these Games, even if by my own terms.

Sandy attempted to move over to me, to try and stop me from what I was about to do, but she couldn't get there in time.

I quickly moved my arm back towards my heart, and felt as the knife pierced my body. It was excruciating, the pain I was in.

I fell down, lying on my back as the pain started to dull. Sandy had just then arrived, but she was already too late and she knew it too. Tears streamed from her eyes, and the world began to fade.

I knew I had won. I had done the right thing in the end, by letting a mentally unstable girl get the help she needed.

I won, and that was the last thought I had before the world turned black.

A cannon boomed.