I curl in on myself as blackness sucks me into sleep. Only it doesn't suck me into sleep. It sucks me back into the arena where everything ended so horribly.

Akari from District 5 comes running out of the woods. She's the only ally that I didn't meet up with until the very end of the games. She collapses to the ground at my feet, a virulent flow of red showing that she isn't long for the world.

I crouch in front of her, my throat tightening. My herbs are gone. My backpack is gone. I can't do much for her. "Akari?" My voice is dry and cracked from the lack of water.

"Kill me," she whispers, coughing up blood.

She curls into a fetal position, clutching her stomach. I wince when I see that it's been torn to pieces. She's literally been shredded by whatever's out there. A blood-curdling shriek from something not quite human comes from the forest she just exited.

"I can't." I bite my lip.

Her wide brown eyes bore into mine. "Azrael." She pauses, choking on her own blood and spit.

Hoping she'll survive, I prop her up on her side so she won't suffocate.

She gives me an irritated look.

"You can't die..." I mumble, yanking off my torn shirt and pressing it against the gaping wound in her stomach.

She sucks in a congested breath.

"This isn't happening..." I'm crying now as I try to keep her here with me.

With a shake of her head, Akari claws at my arm with feeble movements. "You have to kill me. I'm going to die anyway, and it hurts too much."

"No, you have to go back to your family. They need you. No one needs me," I snap, pushing the blood soaked shirt against the wound.

Her eyes are starting to look dazed and glassy. Akari's voice is such a soft whisper, I almost miss it. "They're all gone now. Percy and Ian... I watched them die out there in the forest. We're the only ones left... I won't make it, Azrael. Just end my suffering."

I can't. I cannot kill another kid. Especially not one of my allies. "No."

"Please..." She's losing color fast, and tears snake down her dirt-streaked cheeks.

Her fingers find my wrist and grip me there, losing their strength quickly. The touch astonishes me because her hand is icy and clammy.

"I can't kill anyone else, Akari. I'm sorry... I just can't."

"For my sake. Don't make my family watch me die like this, Azrael," she pleads. "Think about what this will do to them."

I shake my head vehemently, her blood spurting out over my shirt to cover my hands and arms. "I have to save you. You have to kill me so that they'll save you." That thought galvanizes me.

I grab for her knife's hilt. Mine was lost when I got separated from Ian a couple days back. If I kill myself, she'll live. She'll live because they'll keep her from dying if I'm gone. They can't let their victor die.

Steeling myself, I grip the hilt firmly and plunge it towards my chest. Her hand shoots out in a last desperate attempt. It deflects the knife just enough to miss, and it plunges through my side instead. I scream then, wishing that she hadn't. There's still time to do it. There's still enough time to take my miserable existence out of the way so she can live.

Just as I'm about to plunge the knife into my heart again, she spasms and goes still. A cannon goes off, and I know it's too late. An inhuman wail tears from my throat as I kneel in the dirt just outside the forest. Tears drip onto her bloodstained face, leaving trails of white there.

I pull her into me, cradling her in my arms as I cry. Why did I live? Why would she not let me save her? If I'd died right then and there, they would've come to get her.

The claw descends to pull me into the Capital's hovercraft, and I go berserk. My sight goes to red as I attack everything I can reach. Something stabs into my neck, and the world goes dark.

I sit up in my bed with a gasp. It's dark out, but the moon shines in through the shutters to illuminate the room. A soft, warm hand rests on my bicep, and I jump, my heart racing.

"Azrael, it's okay." My wife, Persephone, sits up in bed, her black hair forming a dark halo around her pretty face.

Shaking my head, I sit there in shock, trembling. It doesn't matter how many times I have this same nightmare or others like it, it never ceases to stun me and freeze me to my core. A tear slips down my lashes and splashes onto Persephone's face as she presses her lips to mine.

It brings back the nightmare. My tears streaking Akari's still, pale face. Her unresponsiveness as her own tears and blood dried, covering her tan completely.

Persephone's arms go around me as I rest my head on her shoulder, exhausted. "I couldn't save her," I mumble.

She rubs my back and kisses my neck. "You tried so hard. You did everything you could to keep her alive, Azrael. And the others too. No one can blame you for that."

I swallow back more tears and brush her bangs back. "Thank you."

She smiles. "You know I'll never leave you to deal with this alone."

Resting my forehead on hers, I smile weakly. "I know. That's why I'm thanking you. You're always here, even though I wake up every night screaming. Even though I'm always jumpy and terrified beyond words to go to sleep. You still stay, and always know what to say."

"You brought me out of my own darkness. I couldn't leave you and go back to it."

"I guess we bring each other out of the darkness of our own souls," I whisper, tucking her hair behind her ear.

She leans up to kiss me, pressing closer. "That we do. I need you as much as you need me."

I don't respond as I kiss her back.

She pulls me down under the covers again. "Now go back to sleep. It'll be alright, Azrael."

I let out a deep breath and smile at her, stroking her cheek. "Yeah, it will. As long as you're here, I'm okay."