Hi everyone! Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far! 

I appreciate you letting the characters continue their journey. 

It's now Day 4 of the 67th Hunger Games, inside of the Arena. Unless something drastic happens, this will be the final day! I cannot wait to see how it will play out between Crimson and Scarlet and the three wolves. 

Be sure to like, comment, and share your thoughts and opinions. I really am dying to know! :) 

Remember to VOTE. 

Take care and stay safe!~ CANGEL

***

The Arena: Day 4

Scarlet Wolfe

     Her fingers and body were stiff from sitting in the cold. Still, she rose with the sun, standing up without hesitation when the sun finally peaked from the horizon. She wasn't sure if she'd slept; if she had, it was nothing more than a fleeting sleep, providing little rest. But how could she have even laid down? There were only two tributes left in this Arena.

     Today would be the final day of the 67th Hunger Games.

     Today, Scarlet and Crimson would go head to head. 

     Scarlet shoved both her knives into the holster at her hips and wrapped the razor wire back around her waist. She grabbed the remaining pack of dehydrated protein and the water canister and left everything else behind, leaving the cave for what should be the last time.

     Scarlet's Wave and Cadmium's Crest followed beside her. Like they knew what was about to happen, the wolves seemed somber. Cadmium's Crest in particular, was quiet and even stepped as he kept pace with Scarlet and his sister wolf.

     As if he knew not to wander far away from them today or else something bad could happen.

     Of course, something bad would happen. But Scarlet tried not to think about that. She would...She would think about it. When she was closer. When it was time.

     Scarlet stopped every other mile or so to take in some water and a bit of protein. She knew she had to keep moving, or the Gamemaker's would find some sick way into forcing her to move. They'd already allowed her the grace of a long, quiet night. But she also knew that she couldn't afford to be dehydrated or starving when she arrived in the Cornucopia. She needed all her strength for the coming fight, in order to have any chance of getting out of here alive.

     As Scarlet drew closer, she forced her mind to turn to the coming battle. She forced her mind to focus on the fight that loomed ahead of her.

     Crimson was waiting for her in the Cornucopia. Weapons. Food. Water. He had every advantage in here. She felt the burning weight of the piece of paper in her pocket.

     He's waiting for you.

     Finnick's words echoed in her head. Crimson was waiting. He'd had all day yesterday and today to prepare. Who knew what would be waiting for her when she got there.

     Scarlet checked the blades at her waist for the hundredth time. She fiddled with the wire on her wrist, nicking two of her fingers in the process.

     What weapons did he still have access to? What weapons would he choose?

     She knew what her injuries were. But she didn't know how Crimson had faired after the bloodbath. Apart from the wound she'd given him with the blade, she assumed he'd have sustained some kind of injury from his fight with Urban and Elixia. Even with Crimson's Tide at his side, it would've been a bloody battle.

     The injuries he had would most likely impact the weapons he chose. She knew he was most comfortable with a spear. But it was a weapon that would be better utilized at long distances. He would have some kind of blade. A sword or a knife.

     And he had Crimson's Tide. Aggressive and bloodthirsty. Even his sister wolf had been shown no mercy. Scarlet could safely say that neither Scarlet's Wave nor Cadmium's Crest would be given it today.

     She had Scarlet's Wave, who would fight to defend herself against her brother wolf and Scarlet. She also had Cadmium's Crest with her, but she wasn't sure he would fight or watch or run. Cadmium's Crest wasn't a fighter by nature. He was protective, but he wasn't overly aggressive.

     When she saw the underbrush that surrounded the clearing of the Cornucopia, she stopped walking. Scarlet's Wave and Cadmium's Crest stopped with her. Waiting. She felt Scarlet's Wave shaking next to her, her mouth hung open with clouds of her panting breath filling the air in front of her and her paws dancing in the snow. Anticipation coursed through her veins.

     Scarlet uncapped the silver canister with shaking fingers and brought the cold metal to her lips. The icy water flooded down her throat, choking her. She coughed, water trickling down her chin. Flecks of red appeared in the snow at her feet. Cadmium's Crest sniffed the snow, licking at it. Scarlet wiped her hand across her mouth and pulled it away, staring at it.

     Bloodied water coated her fingers, freezing in the cold air.

     She placed a hand on the wound at her side, wincing slightly at the pain that followed. She let her hand fall to her side, letting the empty canister fall into the snow.

     Scarlet pulled the first blade from the holster, gripping it tightly in her left hand.

     There was no turning back.

     It was time to end this.

***

     Scarlet stepped into the clearing alone. She couldn't guarantee that Cadmium's Crest wouldn't wander in after her or take off into the woods, but Scarlet's Wave settled down in the snow near the clearing, her white fur blending into the snowy ground nearly flawlessly, waiting for Scarlet's command. So far, Cadmium's Crest waited with her.

     She saw Crimson crouched against the exterior of the metal shelter, a spear across his legs and a blade hanging from his fingers.

     She didn't see Crimson's Tide anywhere. But she knew he wouldn't be far.

     When Crimson caught sight of her, he stood, the spear gripped comfortably in his hand.

     They both approach each other cautiously, unsure how exactly to proceed. Or she was. The blade was gripped tightly in her non-dominant hand. But she only had two. She couldn't afford to just throw them at him. And it wasn't like he would just stand still for her to throw it at him. If she lost her weapons, she was dead.

     His eyes scanned around her, searching for her wolf, she was sure. Looking for Crimson's Tide was the first thing she had done. But now Scarlet studied him.

     Crimson's face was thinner than before. His clothes that had been white, were now bloodied with the death of the fallen tributes he'd killed. She searched for any sign of a wound that she might be able to take advantage of. She found none.

     Nothing.

     How?

     When she looked back up at his face, she watched his lips curl. His eyes knowing all too much about her thoughts and her still having so many questions about his.

     Twenty feet separated her from her twins. Despite the circumstances, she found her lips curling in response to his.

     "I've been waiting for you." He said, breaking the thick silence between them.

     "I didn't want it to come to this." She answered.

     His mouth opened and his head fell back briefly. His eyes flashed humorously just before the smiles melted off his face, leaving only a deadly acceptance.

     "This was always the way it was going to end."

      Maybe it was always going to end this way. They had done everything to avoid it. Refusing to ally with one another. Refusing to help each other. Refusing to share secrets. Refusing to give up or sacrifice for the other. And it still came to this.

     Crimson and Scarlet. 

     Brother against sister.

     "I know." She replied, blinking back tears that threatened to fall. If it could only be anyone else in front of her. If he could only have never been reaped. If he had only refused to volunteer for Auburn. Auburn would have died right away.

      The thought was cruel. Too cruel. But at the moment, it was all she could think. He shouldn't be here right now in front of her looking so calm. 

     "I thought you might not make it through--at the river." 

     His words snapped her attention back onto him and the present. Focus, Scarlet. "Yeah," she scanned the snowy clearing around her once more searching for his black wolf, before flicking her eyes back to Crimson. She spun the knife in her left hand, before clutching the hilt tightly. "I'd like to give my thanks to your beast..." Scarlet let her voice trail off intentionally. Where was he, Crimson? Where was Crimson's Tide?

     His eyes lit and his lips curled up in bemusement. "Oh...he's around."

     At ten feet away, she could see a thin red line that cut down from his jaw to his shoulder. Did he almost lose his head battling Urban and Elixia? Or had he received that injury from sometime earlier in the games?

     She rubbed the side of her neck with her right hand, ignoring the ache that shot up her arm. The bolts of lightning that shot from her hand to her elbow had subsided with the salve that Finnick had sent, but the pain hadn't completely gone away, and she still couldn't grip anything tightly with her right hand without her fingers going near numb.

     "I see you—"

     His eyes shifted to the trees behind her, a wicked grin spread across his face just a moment before he shouted, "kill, Crimson's Tide, kill!"

     Scarlet spun her head around just as Scarlet's Wave came crashing through the trees, her face in a snarl and her teeth bared as she rolled through the snow seconds before Crimson's Tide tore through the underbrush, tearing after her.

     "Scarlet's Wave!" Scarlet shouted as she whipped around, narrowly avoiding the head of Crimson's spear. Inches away from her, she saw the glint of metal as it passed over her face. She spun away, raising her knife protectively across her chest as they circled one another once more. "Call him off, Crimson!" She shouted angerly at him. "They don't have to be involved in this."

     She didn't take her eyes off him, even as it nearly killed her not to know what was happening. Did Cadmium's Crest come to help? Did he run? Is Crimson's Tide killing her wolf?

     "They are in here with us, Scarlet. There's no turning back for any of us in here." He responded, near manically.

     Gods, Crimson, what happened to you?

     He lunged with his spear. She dodged it, catching the end with her hand and shoving it up, spinning away from it. His fist crashed into her face, sending her to the ground. She let her momentum roll her body and she landed on her crouched feet, blade in hand. She spit out blood from her mouth, glaring up at her brother as she rose.

     Crimson circled her as she turned with him, never once letting him out of her sight. Without warning, Scarlet sent the blade in her left hand flying toward her brother's heart. Pulling her last blade into her hands without hesitation before the first landed.

     Her brother managed to stop the blade from piercing his chest, but he couldn't avoid it all together. His own blade fell to the ground, blood fell in rivets down his hand as her knife sunk deep in his wrist.

     Crimson held his arm to his chest; he dropped to one knee. She could end it now with him still stunned from the fresh wound on his wrist.

     She raised her hand to do just that when she caught sight of a blood-soaked white fur in the corner of her eye.

     Scarlet's Wave. She released her blade without a second thought and watched as it sunk into Crimson's Tide's muscular front shoulder. He jumped away from Scarlet's Wave, stumbling across the snow, his face contorted in rage and pain as he searched for the threat.

     He wasn't done. It wasn't over.

     But he wasn't the biggest threat to her. She turned back to Crimson, just as his fist clocked against her face, hard like an anvil. She stumbled back as pain exploded through her skull. Crimson's foot hit her chest like a brick slamming against her. 

     Scarlet flew backwards, going weightless in air for a moment, before landing hard against the ground. Her breath is ripped from her lungs as she choked on the air that she needed. She tried to stand, getting as far as her hands and knees. Blood splattered against the pristine white snow as she breathed.

     She saw her brother's shadow against the snow a moment before his foot pressed against her back, forcing her face first into the snow. She twisted forcefully to her back just as the tip of his spear came down.

     Scarlet kicked her foot up at the last moment, knocking the spear off its intended target. She watched the spear pierce through the air, helpless to do anything, frozen as it stuck into the snow so close to her head that she felt a new sting and the familiar trailing of blood slipping down her cheek.

     Crimson stumbled from the unexpected kick and Scarlet used it to her advantage, kicking her foot upward again, hitting Crimson's chest hard. He stumbled backward, injured hand against his chest as he tried to regain his balance.

     She stumbled up to her feet, pulling the spear from the ground on her way. Scarlet wasn't familiar with a spear the way Crimson was and she didn't have the muscle to throw it with any accuracy nor did she have skill to wield it in close combat. But a weapon was a weapon. And if she had it in her hands, it meant he didn't.

     Crimson crouched, his face grinning, his hazel eyes fierce and bloodthirsty. He also knew her lack of skill and wasn't worried.

     But Scarlet doesn't let his confidence stop her as she lunged forward. She made like she was going to try to shove the spear through his face and at the last second, she changed course, planting the spear between his legs, just behind his left foot as he stepped back with his right. As his left leg moved to follow, Crimson went crashing down to the ground.

     Pain exploded through her side. Her body was torn into as she crashed to the ground alongside her brother. She screamed as she fought to get away from the pain of whatever just happened. She pushed her hands against the source, her fingers slicing on sharpened teeth.

     Crimson's Tide.

     She managed to get to her back. The only thing she cared about was getting him off her. She tried to pry his jaw open as he shook her body like a rag doll, his teeth tearing further into her flesh. His claws dug into her stomach, ripping through her jacket and into her skin. Scarlet screamed her wolf's name, begging for her help, but none came. 

     She looked around, spotting Scarlet's Wave in the snow several feet away, covered in so much blood, no one would who hadn't seen her before would know that she had once been white as the snow around them.

     Scarlet's Wave couldn't help her. At this moment, she didn't even know if her wolf was still alive. She focused once more on the wolf mauling her and she gouged her fingers into his eyes to no avail. He was going to kill her.

     Not Crimson. Not the Careers. Not any of the other tributes. Not the Capitol. But Crimson's fucking Tide.

     Like some fucking joke. Her own personal punishment for breaking Panem's laws and saving these wolves as pups. Scarlet would laugh if she weren't in so much pain, or so desperate to get free.

     She couldn't help but think about the girl by the river. Lilian. This was how she died. This was how much pain she had suffered before she'd finally bled out and died. How long had it taken? How long had she screamed for? How long did her pleas go unanswered, before she finally drew her last breath?

     Maybe Scarlet deserved this?

    Just as suddenly as he had attacked, Crimson's Tide was torn from her body, knocked to the snow away from her. Scarlet saw a flash of gold before she rolled away from the tangling wolves. Crawling and stumbling into the snow, holding her hand across her wound. This is not good. Scarlet would bleed out soon. Already she struggled to stand. Her brain, dizzy from the pain. Or the blood loss.

     Arms circled around her throat.

     Crimson. In the midst of Crimson's Tides' attack, she'd forgotten that her brother even existed.

     His hands locked in a tight hold, pressing against her trachea, cutting off her air supply.

     She rammed her elbow into his chest and scratched at his face, trying to force him to release his hold on her, or at least loosen his grip, but it was no use. Crimson held fast. His body shook against her, his breath ragged. She didn't know why she was so focused on him when she so desperately needed air.

     Her lungs burned inside her chest as her brain screamed for her to breathe.

     She grabbed a handful of Crimson's hair in her hand out of desperation. Crimson's Tide approached. She couldn't see Cadmium's Crest. Black spots flickered over her vision as Crimson's Tide launched himself at her, seeing her vulnerable and at the mercy of her merciless brother. Scarlet kicked her feet up in the air. Braced against Crimson, she kicked with all her might, into the blade still stuck in Crimson's Tide's side. Satisfaction licked at her insides as he crumpled to the ground in front of her.

     Scarlet let go of Crimson's hair, the metal wrapped around her wrist catching her eye in the sunlight. She grabbed the razor wire, wrapping the ends around both of her hands and threw her arms up, hooking the wire around the back of his neck.

     Scarlet brought her legs up and then swung them down with all her might to the ground. Crimson wasn't much bigger than her, and he couldn't keep his balance, especially as she pulled his head over her shoulder.

     She slid from his grasp, his fingers scraped against her wounded face, pulling at the edges of the cuts as he tried to keep his grip on her. But he couldn't stop their movements as he flew through the air and landed flat on his back. She choked on the air as she filled her oxygen deprived lungs.

     Scarlet doesn't stop or pause or wait. She forced herself to keep moving. Keep going. Her body is heavy. Hurting. Pain wrapped around her like a second skin with every breath she took and every shift of her body.

     Crimson started to sit up, ready to continue fighting. It was now or never. She'd bleed out before she ever got another opportunity.

     She leapt close to Crimson, closing the distance and wrapped the razor wire around his throat and Scarlet pulled with all her might.

     His fingers reached back towards her, scrambling to get her off him. He knew this was bad. He knew this was his fatal mistake. She could nearly taste his panic and fear as his nails scraped against her skin. He made to stand up, trying to shake her off him in his desperation.

     Scarlet twisted her body; her arms now crossed at the elbows. Her back pressed against Crimson's. Her side felt like it would explode as her entire body tensed in an effort to keep hold of the wire and keep Crimson exactly where he was.

     Twenty seconds passed, before Crimson fell back down to his knees. She landed on her butt in the snow. His fingers tapped desperately against hers. A signal from their past to stop. Mercy. Scarlet squeezed her eyes shut and tried to shut her brain down to the reality of what she was doing. Not to just anyone. What she is doing to her brother. Her twin.

    Her brother was asking for her mercy. But she couldn't...

    She couldn't give it to him.

    "I hate you." She said, the cold air stinging her wet face. She wasn't even sure if he could even hear her, still she repeated herself, "I hate you!" She hated him so desperately for being here in the Arena with her. For surviving until this point. She hated that she loved him after all that they had done to one another.

     She hated him for everything, but she hated herself even more.

     Scarlet felt the wire give way as it cut through his throat. She pulled tighter, not letting any slack grow between the wire and Crimson's throat.

     Seconds later, the resistance gave way completely. She felt warm blood coat the back of her hair that quickly froze to ice with the wind. Scarlet gasped, covering a sob, as the knowledge of what that meant hit her.

     Crimson...

     She brought the wire down in front of her as she stared at the slick blood coating her gloved skin. She tried to drop the wire, only to realize too late that the wire had cut deep through the gloves and was buried in the palms of her hands.

     Scarlet's breath came out in quick pants. Her heart sped up. She dropped both hands to her wounded side, still bleeding profusely from Crimson's Tide's vicious bite, and tried to stem it. Scarlet twisted around, her stomach dropping at the sight before her.

     Crimson's body was sat prone and still on his knees in the red snow. She could almost convince herself that he was still alive.

     Except for the fact that his entire head was missing. Blood dripped down the remainder of his neck. Bile rose in her throat. She forced herself to swallow it down.

     She had killed him. Crimson.

     Dazed and numb, Scarlet stood from the ground. As if she's watching herself perform the acts from outside of her own body, she saw herself rip the razor wire from her hands—the pain was nowhere to be found. She watched the blood-soaked wire fall to the red stained ground; blood dripped freely from her hands, but as it dripped to the ground, there was no telling what was hers and what was her brothers.

     Scarlet found herself stumbling over to Crimson's Tide, who was on the ground only a few feet away. Scarlet noticed him baring his teeth at her. She knelt at his back, gripped the dagger protruding from his side and pulled it out. It must have hurt him, his teeth bared at her and his lips curled into a vicious snarl, but he could barely move his head and as Scarlet pressed him down into the snow, he couldn't move at all.

     Scarlet didn't waste time or prolong his suffering. She shoved the dagger between his ribs, hitting his heart. Crimson's Tide stilled against the snow. His head fell against the snow.

     Dead.

     She watched Cadmium's Crest stumble his way over to Scarlet's Wave, red leaked from his stomach like a Capitol sink faucet.

     He would be dead soon.

      Next, she gathered Crimson's body in her arms and gently laid him down in the ground before pulling him across the snow, laying him to rest next to his Crimson's Tide.

     She tried not to think about what she was holding, but as she's placing his head above his neck, she couldn't help but meet his lifeless hazel eyes already cloudy with death. Scarlet brushed his dark curls from his face and ran her fingers across his cheek, before closing his bulging, bloodshot eyes.

     "May your soul run free with Crimson's Tide forever at your side. Find peace in death, Crimson Wolfe of District 14."

     Scarlet Wolfe stumbled away, her legs no longer seeming to hold the ability of carrying her weight.

     But there was just one more thing that she needed to do.

     She fell to her knee's feet from her target. Blood trailed down her lips and neck, copper coated her tongue. Still, Scarlet closed the distance between her and Scarlet's Wave. She collapsed in the snow, sucking in breath after breath as she stared over at her once white wolf, just inches away.

     Scarlet's Wave's golden eyes locked on hers. Her mouth opened and her tongue shot out, licking Scarlet's face gently. She watched as her wolf's eyes fell closed. Her wet, heated breath stopped.

     Scarlet forced herself up to her knees, her entire body shaking in exhaustion or blood loss or maybe it was going into shock.

     Her brother was dead. His wolf was dead. Her wolf was dead. And as she turned to look at the golden wolf that lay next to Scarlet's Wave, she knew that Cadmium's Crest had joined her in death.

     She raised her chin and stared up into the perfectly clear sky that covered the Hunger Games Arena.

     She let out a howl into the sky. For her loss. For her pain. For their deaths. For herself.

     Scarlet was the Victor of the 67th Hunger Games.

     They had been right all alone. One wolf would go home. And it was her. She was the lone wolf headed home.

     She let loose another wolf howl into the sky, burying her pain underneath a wicked smirk. It was that or crumble to the ground under the weight of reality.

     She couldn't buckle. She couldn't crumble.

     They had both fought to live so desperately and she had won. Scarlet had won.

     As much as Scarlet hated herself, she wasn't sorry. And she had no regret. And maybe that was what she hated most about herself. She wasn't sorry about what she had done. She had fought. She had fought and she had won.

     Scarlet fell to her back. Warm liquid spilled from her mouth. Her vision hazy. But in the sky, she could swear that she saw the three of them together. Cadmium's Crest, Crimson's Tide, and Scarlet's Wave. Running free. She could swear she saw her twin brother there with them, smiling, laughing. Running with them. Free. Happy.

     What an odd look on him. Scarlet thought, as she realized that she had never seen that expression on him before. He could be at peace now. As free as he wanted to be. No worries. No pain. No hurt. No anger or fear.

     As Scarlet stared up at the sky, the approaching hovercraft appeared, blocking her view of Crimson and their wolves. Apprehension filled her at the sight of the metal hovercraft.

     Scarlet wouldn't know this yet, but she would never find herself as free as she saw Crimson that day in the sky.

     Not for many, many years to come.

---------------

So? Tell me what you think? What are your thoughts? I promise we are a long way from over, but so much has happened!! 

Scarlet has just beheaded her own twin brother in the games? Bet you thought that razor wire was going to waste, didn't you?

I cannot imagine being forced to do this. Between Crimson himself and Crimson's Tide, she had no choice. There was no way they were both walking out of there alive. But how does someone even recover from something like that? How does someone recover from this sort of trauma?

Remember to vote if you enjoyed this chapter!

Stay safe and take care!~CANGEL