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Did I make the right choice?

Daphne's thoughts spiraled as she wandered mindlessly through the ruined neighborhoods, kicking at debris scattered in her path.

Should I have left them?

She did not trust Makani and her crew one bit. How was she to know that they wouldn't jump her at any random moment? What if the whole 'plan' was just a cover for Makani to orchestrate a way to get most of the tributes together in one place for an easy slaughter?

Daphne picked up a splintered chunk of wood and hurled it with a frustrated huff. It bounced off another pile of rubble on the edge of the path, scattering the contents.

Damn it, if that group of tributes was luring in others for a mass murder, then Azalea and Rye had walked straight into the trap. Something wrenched inside Daphne at the thought. Somehow, she found herself needing to choke back tears when she realized that that might've been the last time she even saw her two allies.

After all, who was going to protect them if Makani turned out to be a twisted mastermind? Who was going to fight at their sides when the attack actually happened? Nobody. Nobody that Daphne knew for certain would not betray them.

She halted in her tracks, cursing under her breath. She shouldn't have let herself get attached. There was only one who would walk out of here alive. If Daphne wanted to be the one who returned home, it meant the death of everyone else in this arena. If Daphne wanted to be able to see Esther and Rourke, Lysa and Tobe, Barley and her sheep ever again, it meant all whom she dared to care for here would never see their own families again. She was going to have to accept that her allies were going to die at one point or another. Either before, or after her own demise.

Besides, part of her had longed for Caelum for the past week in the arena. She ached to see his face just once, that subtle handsomeness of his that not everyone seemed to see. The way his corny jokes and obsession with books always managed to lift her from a foul mood. Even if he hadn't spoken directly to her for a year now, she would overhear his conversations with his friends, and smile. Wishing that one day, he'd be comfortable enough to approach her in the same way as he'd used to. Casual, friendly.

She'd never actively gone out of her way to find him in the arena, but everywhere she went she found herself on the lookout. Needing to see him, to know that he was okay. Hoping that she would run into another tribute, only if it was him. And now she was free to search.

Yet still... Daphne thought about Aedon's run in the arena. He hadn't had any allies, relying on only himself for the entirety of his Game. Perhaps that was where he went wrong. There had been nobody around to protect him when he'd been attacked. Daphne felt the familiar hole in her chest everytime she thought of him, then quickly shut down her thoughts.

Along with that, Daphne could not stand the thought of Rye and Azalea walking blindly into a slaughter. Even if Makani turned out to be genuine, there was no way of telling whether or not they would survive the attack.

"Damn it," Daphne muttered. "They're not going to die under my watch." At least if they did, she could say that she tried.

Daphne turned back around and broke into a run, frantically praying that the group hadn't gone far. It hadn't been that long, but Daphne couldn't be sure. She retraced her route, cursing herself for traveling so far. Thankfully, in her frustration, she'd kicked aside a trail of debris as she went. Now, she followed the path of disrupted rubble, finding herself back at the ruined house that she, Rye and Azalea had sheltered in.

From there, Makani's pack of tributes were easy to track. A group of eight certainly disturbed the gravel and debris atop the path enough that Daphne could effortlessly follow. She traced the trail of footprints and cleared-aside junk, and within minutes she caught sight of them up ahead.

"Wait!" She called out breathlessly. The eight of them paused, turning around to find Daphne hurtling towards them.

"Wait," Daphne repeated, halting as she reached them and resting her hands atop her knees in an effort to catch her breath. "I've changed my mind."

"Well, that was anticlimactic," Sylla snorted.

Daphne fought every fiber in her body screaming to pounce at Sylla, instead focusing her steady gaze on Makani. The wiry girl seemed to perk up, as did Rye beside her. Azalea simply looked upon Daphne with indifference. As if she didn't care at all that Daphne had come back only so she could protect her and Rye.

Rye rushed forward and promptly wrapped Daphne in a bear hug. "I knew your stubbornness wouldn't hold out for long."

Daphne wiggled out of Rye's embrace, though not without a smile. She just tried not to think about how Aedon used to pick her up in bear hugs like that all the time.

"As Rye said, I was almost positive you'd come back," Makani beamed. "And you came at just the right time. I was about to go over the plan of attack."

Daphne walked side-by-side with Rye, Azalea strolling along closely behind. Sylla kept whispering to Lua, and Daphne caught flickers of words like 'untrustworthy,' 'unpredictable,' 'troublesome,' and 'people that look like her.'

Daphne's fists balled. She'd known that her eastern heritage was rather startling for some uneducated folks, who believed Panem was only made up of people with more western features. After all, there were hardly any easterners portrayed in the media. Perhaps that's why Daphne found herself gravitating towards Rye, and half-east Caelum.

Daphne cast a glance at Rye, who seemed oblivious to the District Three girls' conversation. She spun around, glaring them straight in the face. Lua gave a squeak of surprise, while Sylla just stared right back. There must've been something challenging in Daphne's eyes, as if daring them to say more, for Sylla and Lua both eventually looked down at their own boots.

Daphne listened as Makani began the debrief of the attack plan.

***

Theron slowly wrapped his arm with thick bandages, gritting his teeth to stifle his groans.

Pain still swam at the edges of his vision. His body felt like limp jelly, every movement requiring an unholy amount of energy. Hot tears streamed down his face, and his entire left arm was numb and on fire at the same time. For what felt like an eternity, Theron had remained broken on the ground, bound by ebbing agony that had plagued him for hours upon hours.

I'm going to kill him.

It was a miracle he could form a coherent thought through the red haze, but it was the first sentence that had formed in his staggering mind. His entire body seemed bruised and broken, blood from his left arm coasting from the wound and soaking through the bandage almost immediately. He was only mildly concerned about the blood loss.

I'm going to kill him.

Theron had passed out from the pain a few minutes after Caelum had given chase after Azalea, when he'd managed to yank the damned arrow from his arm. He hadn't woken up until the earthquake this morning, finding a sponsored capsule containing bandages, stitching materials and a bottle of morphling pills sitting beside him. Thankfully, the convenience store had held up rather well. Theron had been spared from raining debris, too paralyzed by pain to manage to move.

But the pain wasn't the only thing killing him inside.

For all he knew, Caelum had caught up with Azalea. Given her a slow, painful death.

Or maybe Caelum had not found Azalea. Maybe Azalea managed to get away. Maybe she'd already have killed Daphne.

Theron didn't know. But he knew he would stick around the convenience store until that night, waiting for Azalea. He knew that he would be watching the memoriam very, very closely.

And he knew that once he regained his strength, Caelum Caflisch was going to regret ever picking him into the Games.

Theron took a morphling pill, since the last one was already wearing off. The effect was nearly immediate, easing away the fire in his arm like an elephant had been lifted off of him. He flexed his arm around a couple times, pleased to find not a pinprick of pain, save for the numbness. He heaved himself to his feet, his head swimming dangerously.

Gritting his teeth, he dragged one foot forward. Then the other.

***

Night seemed to fall far too soon.

Daphne wasn't sure why it had taken so long, but the band had been trekking for hours and only managed to make it to the border where wooden houses gave way to adobe towers. To be fair, they'd made many pit stops for spontaneous bathroom breaks or simply to rest after a few tributes complained of exhaustion. They'd also paused for far too long at an apple tree, perhaps the same one Daphne and Azalea had wandered across days ago.

Daphne had been living purely off fruits for the entirety of her time in the arena. Though the fruits provided enough fiber and fuel to keep her going, her body was slowly beginning to feel the effects of a lack of protein and other vital ingredients.

At least her arm wound had ceased to bleed, having scabbed over finally two nights ago. Now she didn't have to worry about changing bandages, which was good since she'd already burned through Azalea's supply and was about to resort to cutting strips off the plaid blanket.

Currently, the group of nine had chosen a tower to reside in for the night. It would probably take another full day of traveling at the rate they were going to reach the cornucopia, and there would be no point attacking the Careers when they were drained of energy.

They climbed up to the top floor, splitting off into separate rooms. Daphne realized with a surge of relief that this meant watch shifts would be distributed amongst several more people, and now she could possibly get a full night's rest without having to get up multiple times.

Daphne chose a room with Rye and Azalea. She could hear Sylla's voice floating through the walls. Daphne just hoped that that meant Sylla would be able to hear Daphne's own snoring in the night and not be able to sleep.

"What made you come back?" Rye asked as Daphne settled herself into a corner of the barren room.

"Maybe I missed your stupid faces," Daphne teased, prompting a chuckle from Rye.

"You came back because you couldn't bear to be without my blessed presence for more than fifteen minutes, could you?" Rye joked back. The two of them shared a laugh, earning an annoyed huff from a sleepy Azalea across the room.

Daphne decided to ignore her. Azalea hadn't spoken to her since she'd changed her mind about leaving, seeming to want to distance herself from Daphne as much as possible. Daphne wondered whether or not she'd somehow offended Azalea on her way out. Maybe Azalea just didn't like the fact that Daphne would choose to spend her time finding Caelum rather than sticking with her and Rye. But Daphne had come back after all.

Daphne knew that if she were to ask, it may push Azalea further away. Instead, Daphne lowered her voice in an effort to be quieter.

"I came back because I didn't want you guys to be walking straight into a death trap, knowing that I could've done something to protect you."

Rye's umber eyes softened then, and he sat down beside Daphne, drawing his knees up. They were close enough that their shoulders brushed. Daphne shut her eyes briefly, pushing away flashbacks of late nights when she and Aedon would sit like this and have long, deep conversations.

"You know, Daphne, Makani is my best friend from back home." Rye said softly. "It was always just us two against the world. Wherever one of us went, the other did as well. It was only natural that we would agree, if one of us were to be reaped, the other would be the one picked."

"But you weren't reaped," Daphne couldn't help but say. "You volunteered. For your little brother."

"I did," Rye's voice turned husky. A wistful glaze had settled over his face. "I don't regret it, even if it meant that Makani would be sacrificed with me. It's my little brother, Soma Jeong, who matters most in this world.

"I hesitated. Did you know that? I hesitated before picking Makani. But I looked at Soma, and through his tears he nodded. He knew Makani would be my best chance at surviving this arena. My best chance at returning home to him. Even if that meant Makani would have to die in the process.

"When I lost Makani in the bloodbath, I was frantic. I kept an ear out for cannon shots, for a familiar voice, scanning the memoriam at night for her face. I knew I had to find her eventually. Soma would've wanted me to. Soma knew that we'd conquer the arena together, and I'd return home to him.

Rye shifted so he faced Daphne in the eye. "I'm here to fight for Soma. For the chance of seeing him again, for if I'm gone he has nobody. Nobody. And Makani is my best shot at that victory. I trust her with my life, and I just hope you can end up warming up to her as well."

With that, Rye scoot onto his back, curling up on his side on the hard floor of the room. Daphne sat back, her chest suddenly painful with every beat of her heart.

Rye wanted to win to return to his brother. Daphne wanted to win to avenge her brother. If Rye was to win, it would mean he'd have to kill Daphne first to do it. If Daphne wanted to win, she'd have to kill Rye.

One way or another, whatever friendship had developed between them was doomed in tragedy. Daphne just didn't know if she could bring herself to kill Rye if she ever needed to. It would be like losing Aedon all over again.

She couldn't help but put herself inherently into Soma's position, as a twelve year old meticulously watching the Games and praying for his brother to make it out alive. How could Daphne possibly be able to watch Rye die, or worse, be the one to kill him? How, if little Soma Jeong would break down in front of the television, screaming and sobbing as Daphne had five years ago?

"You remind me of someone, Rye Jeong." Daphne said softly. Rye rolled onto his back, staring up at her expectantly.

"You're so, so much like my brother." Daphne's voice was almost a whisper now. "Aedon, he died in the Games five years ago."

Rye's expression turned sorrowful. "I'm so sorry, Daphne."

Daphne sighed. "I cannot let the Capitol take another Feng. That is my reason for needing to stay alive. I just- I just wished there was a way for both of us to return to our families at the end of this."

Daphne thought she saw the shimmer of tears in Rye's eyes, but he turned back onto his side before she could see.

"Me too. Goodnight, Daphne."

Daphne lay down beside Rye, turning on her side so that their backs were pressed comfortingly against each other. Daphne drew her pendant from beneath her shirt and palmed it as sleep beckoned minutes later.

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