how far we'll go { ctclrteaw vs hei hei }

C H E S T E R .

Tears stained his eyes, but at the moment, Chester wasn't sure if it was from the smoke filling the air from the eruption or the pain from the fight just moments before the fire shot into the air as the volcano came to life. It was hard to see, nearly impossible to move - each time his body moved, the broken bones in his legs shifted back and forth digging deeper into the muscle. Yet he tried keeping the same blank face that he had wore so many times before.

Adelaide had saved his life when she should've left him behind to die. One less tribute standing in the way of claiming the victory, not to mention Chester killed her friend just a couple days before. The games gave him a never ending debt.

I can never repay you.

But soon he was alone, unsure if Teddy was alive or not. Last thing he remembered was telling him to run, to escape the molten lava and rock. It was best to leave him behind to fend for himself -

The sky was dark, covered with smoke, and the temperature just kept rising higher and higher.

Half crawling, half dragging himself, he moved around trying to keep as much pressure off his legs as possible. Nothing moved, nothing stood in the distance. Perhaps this was the plan, smoke out the arena and figure out who could hold their breath the best - what kind of show would that be?

Eyes darted back and forth trying to search for his friend. Teddy was there somewhere, and Chester only hoped that the lava hadn't swept him away. But all he found was a dying Wendell going in and out of consciousness muttering incoherently.

Nobody deserved to die alone, not even this man. Wendell was a bully, but if Chester could ease the passing, he would do so. Inhaling sharply, e slid on over to him stopping just arms length away. He deserved to know the truth.

"Rory died because you thought he killed her, but that is far from the truth." He sighed, "He was there, but his weapon didn't slit her throat." A silent tear slid down the side of his face as the scene played over and over inside his mind. "Mine did. I killed her Wendell. Me. I killed dandy Gordon."

He closed his eyes trying to fight what had happened. Rory didn't deserve to die for his sins, but the past can't be changed. It was behind him, and all he had now was to move forward. To try to make it out of this place alive.

"Why... Sh... was delicate as a flower..." His words were slurred, and Chester knew his time was coming. Wendell wouldn't last much longer - it was a miracle the lava didn't devour him. "A dandelion.."

Finally her made sense. A beautiful dandelion. A flower wilted far too soon, and yet he was alive because her friend saved him.

"If I said I didn't regret it, I would be lying. I want you to know that I will remember her for the rest of my life. I'll never forget what I did just like I'll never forget you." His words were true. They were a lot alike, and yet so different at the same time, but his words didn't matter because it was over, and his cannon echoed through the arena.

It was the games, but it didn't stop him from being a human. When he ran forward, Chester knew what had to happen. He knew people had to die, but never once did he realize just how bad it felt. And right now he had nobody. He wasn't even sure if Teddy was alive.

But he willed himself forward away from Wendell. The Capitol would want him soon.

He yearned for a companion, a friend. He wanted to know if Teddy was still alive, he had to find him because being alone was worse than living in a nightmare. Nobody cared for him, and yet at the same time, he felt like many did.

But he had nobody.

Maybe I'm truly alone.

And then he saw him.

Teddy standing there and someone was momentarily with him.

His heart leaped into the back of his throat before plummeting into the pits of his stomach. It clawed at his chest wall. A steady flow of tears fell from his eyes as he stopped moving. It took every ounce of strength to not call out his name - alerting other's of their location was no good.

Teddy wrapped his arms around him, embracing him in a hug, and it was one of the best moments of his entire life. Having a friend like this was rare -

It was a shame the relationship came at the price of the games.

But he couldn't find the words to say.

He knew they wouldn't last forever, and this was probably the last night they'd safely share together before separating.

Chester offered Teddy some of the feast he managed to grab after patching himself up with assistance from his friend, and all he could do was sit chowing down on what was inside. In the Capitol, seafood didn't interest him, but right now it was amazing. It was better than shoving leaves down his throat. At least he wouldn't starve to death.

And as the sky turned darker, Chester curled up in a ball and fell asleep.

It wasn't the anthem that woke him, or the sound of a giant chicken squawking in the distance. No, it was something louder, something he had never heard before, but he remembered the sounds of the roaring ocean when standing on the beach, and then he saw it.

A giant wave cresting over the hills, splashing against the lava still flowing through the obsidian.

"We gotta leave here."

With a nod of his head, he used the cane to help him stand, but the bones weren't prepared for the weight of his body. Grimacing, he used the cane to bare most of his weight while trying to get away from the wave crashing towards them.

Soon the rock went away, and he heard the thundering of a waterfall, and he saw the giant chicken from the other day. Apparently the volcanic eruption wasn't enough to kill it -

You have got be kidding me.

And then there were others.

Nine of them to be exact.

Not a single word escaped his lips as he followed closely behind Teddy. Someone would die today, and Chester wanted to make sure it wasn't one of them.

Pain was temporary because his life could flee from him forever.

C H E S T E R .

Eyes locked on the giant chicken wondering if it was just as dumb and stupid as the day before, and maybe that was his mistake as a blade slid across his face, fire scorching his cheek. A crimson river gushed down the side of his face leaving streaks from the ash and dirt. He had no one to blame but himself. It was his fault, and yet that wasn't even what was on his mind. In the training center, the trainers told him to never turn his back from the enemy, and that was exactly what he did.

Who was the enemy?

Despite all the time he spent with Teddy, Chester realized he had to die if he wanted to make it out of this alive. The eight standing in this fight plus the one hiding somewhere else had to die. This time he doubted anyone would work together to kill the chicken with such few people still alive.

A soft, delicate chuckle erupt past his lips as the giant chicken plucked a rock. Just like the one from before. This was probably the worse invention of all times, but Chester didn't care. It stopped him from becoming food.

He paused, listening to the roar of the waterfall mixing with the voices of those gathered around. It was all he could hear.

All that he worked for was falling apart. Right now he was so close, yet so far away. Coming close didn't matter because only one survived. Everyone else died. The twenty-three that didn't make it out of this game became food for the ground as their souls rotted beneath the soil. Nobody deserved that fate, but it was all apart of the games. He knew that when he volunteered. He knew his time would possibly come to an end, but he had to fight to stay alive.

To make a point.

This wasn't about saving Pine's life.

No, he wanted to prove he was more than a mistake.

And as bad as it sounded, Chester made friends.

That wasn't his intentions, but Rhetoric, Rory, Teddy, they fought for him. They kept him company. They showed him that it was okay to have a family even in the darkest hours. Pain was all he knew despite hiding behind the walls he built so high. Even Adelaide showed him it was okay to help the enemy in times of need so they wouldn't fall victim of a horrible death - Chester had killed, he ended the world for two people, and right now he wasn't afraid to do it again.

Teddy was more than an ally.

Chester saw the kid as a brother, someone he didn't want to lose, but one of them had to die.

Knowing he was behind him put Chester at ease. Knowing they had each other's back in the midst of the storm made it worth it. Right now was the calm in the middle of the storm. They stood in the eye, and it was time to fight. Time to kill.

Time to make sure Chester and his brother made it out of this alive.

Dark eyes locked on eleven before blocking it all away.

It was time to become a breath in the wind.