As night descended onto the the arena, so did the cold of the ongoing blizzard. As Serenity Moore and her uncanny ally, Kaden Woods, huddled together in the corner of a dark closet like room, the chill pierced through their skin and into the pale of their bones. Their fingers were numb, even when buried deep into each others jackets. As they lied together sharing their warmth with one another, the doubt of survival began to settle down upon them. They had made it this far, through the snow, the fear, the starving and even the violence. They pondered if their demises would come at the hand of the cold. “Exposure can kill as easily a knife,” as their trainers had once said whilst at the Capital.

    “Serenity,” Kaden muttered with a soft steamy breath. He crooked his head to look up at Serenity who currently had her arms and legs wrapped around him from behind. They had been taking turns for the past few hours like this, trying their best to keep eachother warm. I

    “Yeah?” Serenity had responded, taken slightly off guard. She looked down at him, at his unusually pale face- which was normally a smooth almond color-, the redness of his battered nose and at the dryness of his lips.

    “We...We might die here,” he continued, his words slurred together as if he had something in his mouth.  He looked into her ocean blue eyes as he shivered into her. She looked back at him in sympathy and shock. He had said exactly what she was thinking, he had the courage to confront the reality of their deaths, something Serenity couldn’t yet face.

    “Yeah..” she started, not looking away from him. “We might. But we can’t think like that, were survivors man we-” she was interrupted

    “Why can’t we think like that?” he asked her, his eyelids evidently heavy. He looked down at his legs, which he had tucked up to his chest, before looking back at Serenity, who’s gaze was still set upon him.  “What's wrong with death? It's gonna happen eventually- why not now?”

    “No. No, we can’t think like that!” she yelled at him in a horse voice. “We won't die in this closet due to some fucking cold air. We won't ! I won’t let that happen.” She whispered the last part, seemingly doubting herself. Before he could respond she continued. “We’re both fighters who frankly don’t deserve this bullshit! We are going to make it through the night!” There was a pause as he looked at her.

    “Do we deserve it?”

    “What?” She napped back in confusion, her blood rushing.

    “We near killed each other not even forty-eight hours ago-”

    “Well that’s different,”

    “Why so?”

“Because we didn’t Kaden. We’re not killers- were fighters, just trying to survive,”

“I wasn’t just surviving when I hurt that young girl, Ruby,” he sighed closing his eyes. Silence filled the air for a few short awkward moments.

“What are you talking about?” Serenity asked him in a confused yet cautionary tone.

Another pause, this one longer than the last. Kaden took in slow yet shallow breaths, before Serenity gently shook him, his eyes shooting open.

“ I mean… The night-the day of feast I had pushed Ruby, the little girl, into a table thing… She clipped her leg on it, lots of blood,” he said, giving no more details with his slurred and chattered speech.

“Oh Kaden… Its okay. She's alive, right?” she narrowly responded, not much of an idea on how to respond. The girl’s photo never showed up in the sky and it wasn’t like she was gonna die from infection… Right?

“What if she's hurt or has a scar?” he mumbled. “What if she’ll never walk again?” he continues closing his eyes again.

“I think you're being dramatic,” Serenity responds through her own chattered teeth. Kaden looks at her through squinted eyes and nods his head.

“I hope….”

As a exhausted Ruby Terrace lied in the pews of the grand cathedral a cannon went off.

BOOM

The young girl, and her allie, Armie Stranger were near shocked as the loud explosion of sound rung throughout the interior of the cathedral. Another one dead, yet they wouldn’t find out who for the next several hours. Armie counted on finger tips.

“Twelve left Ruby. Twelve,” she said, sitting next to the girl. She looked over after waiting for a response. “Hey. Ruby.” she said, abrasiveness slipping into her voice. Ruby turns her head to the side, her attention being caught.

“Oh… Sorry. “ she apologizes, her tone quiet and soft. “Wow. Only twelve, that's kinda scary” she murmurs, her eyes fluttering open and closed. Armie looks at her for a few seconds as the girl seemingly begins drifting off into sleep. Armie takes a hand and places it on her shoulder, slightly shaking her.

“C’mon sit up Ruby. We’re not sleeping yet” she lightly commands the younger girl, whos eyes drift back open. Ruby begins sitting up, straining her muscles as she winces in pain. She struggles against the weakness of her own muscles for a few seconds before pushing through it and winning her legs over the edge of the pew, leaning back for rest. Armie looks at her with a light frown. The girl had gotten weaker and weaker since she became sick. Her muscles were sore and exhausted, her head hurt, she had no energy and vomited almost everything she ate. None of them knew what was wrong. Armie wondered if she had been infected through the gash on her leg. She knew it was improbable, but there was no other sensible explanation.

Armie stared at Ruby, whos small chest rose up and down as she near panted for breath. Her usual rich almond skin was pale and lifeless, save her red nose and ears Armie also had when exposed to the near freezing conditions even inside the cathedral. Her eyes, which were once bright and full of life were dull and lazy, as was er whole personality. She was dying, there was no denying that. The only question would be how much longer it would take.

“Are you feeling any better Ruby?” Armie asked, Ruby looking over at her with her dull brown eyes.

“I don't know Armie… I wanna try walking again.”
    “You could barely sit up”

“Please...Can you help me?” she asked in her usual sweet voice, the hyper life of it gone and replaced with the soft sickliness. Armie nodded her head.

“Fine, but if you can’t do it, don't blame me.” she snaps standing up. The much taller girl extended her hand, which Ruby quickly grabbed onto it. Ruby starts standing up, her legs shaking and swaying beneath her. Armie watches on as Ruby sways back and forth before gaining proper balance.

“You okay?” Armie asks keeping her eye on the smaller girls thin ,shaking legs.

“Yeah- i think so” Ruby responds with an air of hesitance about her.

“You wanna keep going or what?” Armie asks.

“Sure,” She responds as Armie slowly began leading her out of the pew, Ruby's steps slow and uneasy. With every step her face tensed up and contorted, eliciting light innocent whimpers. Once out of the pew Ruby smiled, her eyes beginning to lighten up once again.

“Good job,” Armie congratulated, looking back up through one of the long rectangular stained glass window. Silvery night light shone through the colorful panes of glass, helping illuminate the dim, candle lit insides of the cathedral. Flakes of snow beat against the glass sending small echoes throughout.

As Armie looked out at the window, she felt a light tug at her white jacket sleeve. When she looked down at Ruby, the little girl began to speak.

“Armie… I just wanted to thank you” she whispered with a smile. “For everything ya know?” she continued as Armie simply nodded her head with a smile.

“Yeah. Of course” she responded nonchalantly. She looked back up the window, her smile fading. Yeah, she had been taking care of Ruby these whole games, and it nearly killed her. No amount of thank yous and sweet smiles were gonna be a fair reward for that. Still Ruby stood there, with a sweet and closed smile as she looked at her apparent protector. Ruby knew Armie could have killer her, yet she didn’t. She must really care she, thought to herself. Then the girl slipped.

Armie’s head snapped to Ruby and her eyes widened as the girl slipped. The girls hand slipped through Armie’s loose grip and she went falling to the floor, letting out a yelp as she collided with the polished red brick floor. She lied on her back, sucking in air as Armie swifty got onto her knees , looking over Ruby.

“Are you okay?” Armie asked her face still impassive. The younger girl let out a light groan before rolling over, and beginning to gag and cough. A small amount of blood both dripped and splattered onto the floor as her face turned purple. Armie quickly stood up in shock as Ruby continued to cough more blood onto the floor.  She swore under her breath watching the girl writhe as her chest tightened and face contorted.

Armie looked scared at the girl with absent eyes, until her attention was drawn by a bang on one of the stain glass windows. Armie looked up to see a small silver box dragging against the window, it’s small white parachute whipping about in the snowy wind. Armie looked back at Ruby.

“I’ll be back.” she murmured under her breath as she looked down at the girl. Ruby looked up at the older girls darkened face with glazed eyes. Armie smiled, a trace of devilishness sneaking its way into her thin lips. “I just saw what might be a sponsor gift.” she said before quickly dodging out of Ruby’s limited line of sight. She couldn’t see as Armie quickly grabbed some of their stuff - several small knives, a foil sleeping bag and a few cartons of food they got from the feast- into the white backpack before slinging it over her shoulders and dashing for the door. Ruby listened as one of the tall wooden doors to the cathedral was opened with a drawn out squeak. She strained to look over at Armie who gave one last, long and hesitant look over at the girl before ducking out of the building, the heavy door crashing shut behind her as a gust of frigid air escaped into the building.

Ruby lied on her side for what seemed like hours to the young girl, with each moment the pain throughout her body growing like wildfire. Her stomach felt as if it was about to explode, her head felt heavy as lead and her limbs weak and brittle. She continued to cough up blood as her lips grew purple and her eyes began to water. She sweat profusely as the heat grew from inside her. She wondered where Armie was, ahe had said she would be back, and there was no cannon...

“Armie?” she whimpered in a low scratchy voice as she rolled onto her stomach looking up at the set of doors at the front of the cathedral. Her eyes welled up as she waited for her protector. Then she began crawling forward, dragging her limpid body through the puddle of the blood, staining her snow white jacket. She dug her fingernails into the ground, nearly breaking them as she pulled herself along, her head spinning. As she made her way to the door she could feel the cold irradiating from the door, her skin extra sensitive to it.

She crawled up to the door leaning the front of her body against it, a drop of blood trickling from her mouth. She tried knocking onto the door with a weak hand, each knock draining her of more and more energy.

“Armie!?” she growled as she grabbed onto one of the long golden door handles. She began to lift herself up, her legs giving out from underneath her. She pressed all of her body weight ionto the door, keeping her up. “Armie?” she repeated again. She pulled on the door , opening it up a crack, just enough for her to slip through. She slipped through in a moment of adrenaline, fighting through the pain of death in her legs.

She made it outside, looking out into the snow covered city, beneath her a shallow grand marble staircase that led to the sidewalk. She looked down with hazy bloodshot eyes, feeling her body sway once again beneath her.

“Armie!” she cried out, tears running from her eyes. The snow covered world spun around her as she cried out for her protector over and over again, each scream more desperate from the last. She planted her small boots firmly into the snow as her body attempted to fall back to the ground.

“Where are you!” she began to cry as her vision began to blur in and out. She began coughing again, trying to scream out in between each cough and wheeze. “Armie! Armie!” she cried, her voice giving out on her as tears ran down her face. She crumpled at last into the snow onto her back, flashes of light, sound and memories flying through her. She envisioned a tall girl with black curls and rich brown skin pulling her into warm arms. She saw them walking into the cathedral together and falling asleep peacefully into the pews. But when it all came to a stop, all she could see was a snowy gray night sky, as it filled with infinite light.

“Ar…”

BOOM

And minutes away from the body of the young girl Serenity Moore lied with Kayden's cold lifeless body, crying as the life faded from her own. A tear ran down blushed cheeks as she closed her icy blue eyes and whined. She buried her head into his chest, listening for the ech of a heartbeat that would never come. Her own breathing slowed as she slipped into a different world, one where she was devoured by a mass of warm light. She released all tension and melted into Kadens body, feeling herself enveloped by the warming light as her heartbeat began to quiet itself and she went to sleep.

BOOM

RIP KADEN WOODS, RUBY TERRACE AND SERNEITY MOORE

Hey yall, I'm back - hopefully! It's been awhile so hopefully this awfully "cheery" chapter will satisfy you all for now. I really hope that I can put out chapters on a more regular basis, we are at the final 10... As always please comment your thoughts and vote- it means the world.