rage, rage against the dying of the light ♛ 76th Finale

She lays there bleeding crimson as he knows that she's going to die. Blood upon his hands as he can see her brown eyes still as the gash on her chest looks painful. There's a whisper on his lips as he lets the tears fall from his eyes. A light dies with her. A piece of everything good in the world falls with Emberly Lowe's crimson blood. He stands there with death still in his ears, but there was nothing to fear in that moment. Death had already picked their victim. He can hear her words upon his ears.

He kneels down beside her like he had done to patients before.

"It's over, then. I've come so — so far."

Her words are struggled as he can tell she's dying. It's slow. A suffering that he could end quickly with his blade, but he waits. He waits because he wants to hear her words. The words of a dying girl from District Ten. He wanted to hear the last thing Emberly Lowe would say in the world of the living. It was a struggle already in his hands as they shake in his lap. Tears falling from his green eyes mixing with the blood on the ground.

"I've done so many horrible things . . . but I never lost myself. I'm still — I'm still Emberly. Until the very end I'm —"

Her voice breaks for a second as the tears come from her brown eyes. Hearts beat together as he wants to do nothing more than hold her close to him as she dies. Emberly Lowe was something more than anyone ever could be. She was always the same person that he had met in the training center. A kind soul who wanted to know everything about everyone, so she wouldn't forget them. It's her kind brown eyes that would haunt him for the night when he tried to sleep.

"— I'm still the girl that my family loves. That they remember."

The koalas she has comes down from the trees above as the mew in sadness. Their friend was dying in front of them. Teddy couldn't hold back the tears that came to his eyes. Mo and Ring were somewhere by the stuffed animal waiting for him to return. He watches them climb down to the form of Emberly Lowe. She pets one of them as she speaks what could be her last words.

"And in the end, I didn't let them down. I'm not coming home, but I never stopped fighting for them."

The sun begins to dip into the horizon as the sky goes red. He looks to the sun like an anchor that keeps him there for a moment. He's letting her words sink in to his ears. Emberly Lowe died as the person that she's always been. A kind and caring soul who didn't deserve to be put into the arena. There wasn't any hope for the Lowes, but he would carry her with him to the end. This was the fate of the Lowes that would come after Saffron. Victory never seemed as close as it did then for Emberly Lowe, but he had to be the one to take it all away from her.

"I hope you're right about finding peace."

Peace was waiting for her. It's the one thing that she deserved in the end. A peaceful rest.

"But don't — don't end it for me now. I don't want it to be quick," Another tear drips down her face. "I want to suffer. I want to feel one last time before I die."

His voice escapes from his lips right away. He doesn't skip a beat in his heart or mind. Emberly Lowe had taught him so much in such a little amount of time. The sky seemed to bleed red, just like Emberly Lowe who lays before him. A queen had been slain by his own hands. He had considered her a giant when they first clashed, but they were the same. Kind souls who carried the weight of everything with them. He wasn't afraid anymore. He knew there was so much still left for him to do. Green eyes move to the sunset as he speaks.

"You've still got a heart of gold. Until the end."

He lets out more tears from his eyes as he continues to speak.

"You're still you. I'll remember them and you."

His hand moves to her hair, still shaky from the adrenaline, but he manages. He pushes the hair out of her eyes as he feels the tears in his eyes. She was dying. The fight was over. Emberly Lowe was going to die and it was all his fault. All he could do was brush her hair out of her face. Eyes still glued to her face as he backs away from her once again. Words seeming to fall from his lips.

"You'll find peace, Emberly."

He leans down as he remembers his real mother doing when he was too young. A little boy who was still afraid of the dark. Every noise sending him into a fright as he cried. His real mother telling him to man up, but in the haze of the night while his eyes were dropping and he was almost asleep. Her lips pressed against his forehead in a show of affection. It was the rarest memory to remember, but he did. He remembered that moment in Emberly's death. His lips move to her forehead as gently brushes them against skin.

He pulls away for a second tears in his eyes.

"I'll carry you out of here."

A promise that he didn't know if he would be able to keep, but also an action. He puts his arms under her, supporting her in his arms. He lifts her up as he speaks to her.

"Until the end, Emberly."

He carries her to a place that was nearby. There's almost a hill that overlooks to the ocean from where they are. He hears a thank you fall from her lips and he gives a small and sad smile. He places her down where the flowers on the ground grow in the dying light. The ocean is soft, but waves still hit the shore like a melody of a lullaby. Her words come out as she stares to the ocean.

"I had a daydream once, about the afterlife. It was in a field of flowers just like this one. I saw them. Everyone who died. They were so happy."

They would be so happy. It was real. It had to be real. A place that Emberly could see where there was peace for her. Peace for the girl who deserved it in the end. All he could do was watch her as he listened to her tell him about the field of flowers.

"I hope that dream I had isn't one of the impossible ones."

It wasn't. He was sure of that.

Her hands moves to her pocket as she grabs something. She moves her hand into his palm and places the object there, where it rests. Her hand moves away and he can see a pack of cards that glimmer in the dying light of that day. Her words tell him what he needs to know about it.

"Take these. They were Ree's. He gave them to me before we split up."

Ree Fer's cards. They were his token from home. A reminder of the death that he had caused. The fight wasn't over. One remained still, he didn't know if it was Titus or Lux, but either way, he'd try to take Ree and Emberly home with him. Eyes gaze towards her again as she speaks once more. Death isn't pretty, but the people are beautiful. Their words, their emotions, and their love in the end. You can feel it all coming from them.

"And if you come home, bring my koalas back to Kiara and Clementa, my sisters. I don't know what will happen to them otherwise. I don't want them to live in cages."

He didn't want Mo or Ring to either. He pets the three of them on the head gently as they move closer to Emberly, but he stops as he looks at her. He feels his hands smooth out finally, he feels a tear fall down his face. There's a silence that seems to set between them for a moment as he speaks.

"I promise, Emberly."

He's about to get up, but he doesn't. He sits next to her for the few moments that she has left. Words leave her lips as he stays seated. It's a calm that seems to remind him of the way his ma and him would sit around the house doing anything and nothing. Emberly Lowe was dying. The light of a golden heart was going out. He had caused that. He was the cause of Emberly Lowe dying. His leg ached to be stretched, but he ignores it for her words.

"Stay until I'm gone, please." A tear falls down her cheeks and her lips tremble. "I don't want to die alone."

He wasn't gonna leave her. He never would leave her, until she was gone from this world. He breaths gently as he watches her. His voice finding an escape.

"You're never alone, not even in the end."

Brown eyes stare at the sunset, until the light fades from her. He can see her last breath exhaled out of her body. Death's got her now and all he can do is cry as she still stares into the sunset. Death was never pretty, but the people were beautiful. All he can do is whisper as he gets up, grabbing Emberly's sword and the spiked mace from her bag. Emberly's animals following along with Mo, Ring, Angel, and Thumper.

"Goodbye, Emberly."

---

As soon as he leaves her, the island becomes a raging mess of molten rock that explodes. The sound echoes in his ears and all he can do is run. Run to the sea where he can try to escape the molten rock. The peg leg feels like a weight as he runs through the waterfall, the hot springs, a little bit of the rainforest, and then he's arrived at the beach. Foot and peg leg sinking into the black sand that was clearly the same as the black glass fields behind him.

This was only the beginning of the end. The island is set aflame as he looks for an exit. The water wouldn't do him well as he wouldn't be able to swim as well with the peg leg. All he can do is look from the molten rock to the ocean in front of him. The water parts for him like it was made to do that. A wooden walkway stands before him as a ship rises to the surface of the ocean. He's almost ready to not get onboard, but he does because only one stands in his way.

One person who he had to kill in order to get home to the people who cared. The only person who could stop him from carrying them to their places of rest. One person to stop him from being the one to remember them all. He holds himself for a second and then stumbles aboard the ship. It was too close for comfort as the molten rock sizzles in the ocean. The water was a place that seemed to comfort him, but he grew nervous with every wave that clashes.

The boat moves gently along the sea as he can't see anything in the distance. An island that waits behind him. The light of the place that they had called home is bright and he can no longer see it. All he does is look to the sky as the familiar anthem comes to life in his ears. Eyes stare as the first face guides him to the knowledge of who stands before him.

The mighty Titus had fallen to Lux Pelotte.

Memories of Titus helping him down the mountain. The quiet words of thank you that they shared, until he had killed Cam, Raquel, and Aline. There was a gentle soul inside of him, but he was gone now like Emberly Lowe. Another heart that had fallen from the sky onto earth only to perish in a fire of molten rock. All of Emberly's animals and his own are on board the ship, hanging to the giant headless chicken plushie like it was their last piece of life that they could get.

He can see them all in the back of his mind. The pieces of them that stick to his head and never leaves. Rhetoric's smirk. Basil's red hair that sends shivers down his spine. Clementina's strong stature. Lorenza's naked body. Kaiser's wink. Lace's quiet look. Rory's teasing words. Raquel's sisterly aura. Wendell's evil smirk. Cam's words of home. Hero's words at lunch. Ree's want to be high. Chester's small smile that only he got. Adelaide's soft touches. Walherich's quiet words. Titus' strength and brokenness that he had seen. Emberly's kind heart.

They all were there in his head somewhere. He carried them on his shoulders as a piece of them hides inside himself.

The anthem fades away with the images of Titus and Emberly who wouldn't be seen for awhile, unless he were to escape the arena with his life. His heart beats as he moves to stare up at the sky. Peg leg tapping against the wood as he patches himself up. The light of the island dying away in the distance as he gets further out to sea. Night seems to come with a cold chill.

It wasn't cold enough to remind him he was alive, but the cards in his hands were.

Teddy Ursa was alive.

He would carry them.

Until the end.

---

The boat drifts gently as the waters are still. There's no roughness to them as he can see down into them. There's jellyfish that glow around them. Lanterns gleam to life on the boat as it drifts in the water. This was his first time every being on an ocean. The water was peaceful like the waterfall that he's gotten used to knowing. There's a second where he forgets where he is. The reality of the situation was one person stood in his way of life and carrying them all.

Lux Pelotte. All he knew about her was that she was allied with Hero. They were different. Separated by days of fighting other people. He had seen her at the feast when she had attacked Chester. That's what he could remember about her. That she had attacked Chester. She was Titus' killer. She had to have killed Chester or Adelaide. There was nothing that he could figure out, but he still wasn't ready. He would never be ready for the final fight.

It was already coming.

Mutts pass by the boat occasionally. A family of whales passes him. A creature that he didn't know of slinking past the surface as it goes back under again. They were all passing by him like the people who had perished. He could remember their words. Chester's promise that one of them had to get out. Ree's dying wish. Cam's words of him not to visit District Five if he gets out. Emberly's promise to try and make it out, until the end. All he can do is wait as the boat drifts out to sea where shadows of islands pass them by.

A raft of koalas from the rainforest village passes him by as he can see Curse and Ashe upon the raft. Curse groans in koala, while Ashe is just silently waving to him. He gives a small wave back to the baby koala as the boat stops for a second. Eyes move to catch where the boat has stopped. Another boat is on the ocean as he can make out the form of Lux Pelotte. The gold is in his hands before the boats even stop and the wooden walkway comes out.

The breeze brushes his hair back in the wind, the glow of the island dims to black. He stands before her in the cold and soft drizzle that wets his hair. The koalas he has with him hiding away among the ship with the plushie. He watches her for a moment as he can see that her last fight had been just as bloody as his own had. It's a moment of relief as they both look tired, but there's still one more fight to be had.

"We're the last ones, Lux."

Gold gleams along the laterns' lights that surround them. Green eyes focusing on the form of the District Four girl. District Six was watching. Families were watching him. Other tribute's families were watching him. He's not as ready as he feels, but he's gotta fight now. They had already been there. One more stands in his way, but the end was only just beginning. Live or die. This was the biggest question. One would perish and one would live with the fallen souls upon their back.

Words seem to come from his lips again as death's bones rattle in his ears like the day before.

"There's no where to run anymore. This is the beginning of the end."

Gold gleams in his eyes as he watches her carefully. The fight was going to commence. He wasn't going to wait for them to strike first like the last few times. This was the beginning of the end. Gold moves quickly as do his peg leg and foot as he approaches. Words already upon his lips as he swings for her.

"I've got to get home, Lux. They're counting on me."

Heart beat quickens as the adrenaline comes back.

"It's the only way."

Gold is lifted up to the stars and he strikes down.

This was the beginning of the end for them.

The start of something new for them.

The final battle for them.

Live or Die.

Gold cuts into her calf barely with stars that would gleam.

Lanterns give light to the crimson that comes from her leg. Eyes catch the dark hair that moves gently with the wind. She was menacing. A career built to kill like so many others, but they all had fallen. All except her. She moved like it too. Skillfully moving like his spear had done nothing more than graze her skin and not cause a wound that flickers to life. The gold gleams in the sky, just like the silver that she bares that looks like the weapon that she still carries on his back. It reminds him of the vicious Wendell Gordon who had taken his leg in a battle of stubbornness. Rory's death still vibrant in his mind as he remembers Wendell's glaive cutting his foot off.

There's death's bones rattling in his ears. The sound of his breath hitting the air. His heart beat that increases with every moment. He holds the spear like it's his lifeline. It's been with him from the start. It almost allowed him to kill Raquel. It almost killed Lorenza. It almost cut Walherich to his death. It's gold has been with him since he ran into the rainforest alive. He still was alive. There was enough proof in his pack that he was just as alive as he had been before. Emberly Lowe's eyes that cared about him, but still ended up dying with the want to not be alone. He didn't want to be alone. He never was alone.

They were with him everywhere he went. The cards that hide in his pocket. The empty vial that sits in his pack. The sword that Emberly had used on him. The headless chicken that Rory had cut the head off of. The coconut that he had received once meeting them all for the first time in the arena. The golden lance that was given to him by a sponsor that believed in him. It had been apart of his body since the beginning. A second limb that could cut into tributes and kill them, like it had done with Ree Fer and Emberly Lowe.

Her words sound like venom in the cold day.

"And I have to stop you."

She has to be the one standing in his way like a wall to peace that he can't climb over. Eyes meet and his spear feels like it belongs in his hands. It's in the moment of her speaking with venom upon her lips that he feels Chester in himself. He wouldn't die like him. He didn't want to die like him. Eyes turn cold with a blank stare and he watches her as she seems to be preparing for the strike on him.

"We’ve both got blood on our hands, Teddy, and I don’t know if you are strong enough to live with that."

Strong enough. It was always a question of strength with the careers it felt like. Strength and weakness were something that seemed to be in question whenever someone fought him. He was missing a leg, but he's still made it to this point. He's fought hard for them all. He has them with him. They're counting on him to take them home. There's already a grip upon his spear as knuckles turn white. She speaks once more like she knows him.

"You’ve still got your heart."

Heart. He has a heart, but he also lost so many pieces of it that it wasn't the same as it had been before. He can feel it in his chest, pounding away at him. There's that silence that hits his ears as he watches her. He's got more heart than her, but does that make her stronger than him. Strength and weakness seemed to be lost causes in their world now. If anything, they all had something inside of them that was considered a heart. It pumped blood in their veins. Some were cold. Some were warm. They didn't determine strength, but he wasn't going to give up. He wasn't going to back down. He wanted to fight her now that she had spoken of him having a heart as his downfall.

"I don’t have mine," Eyes glance to the silver she carries. "Having heart holds you back. I can’t hold back."

She strikes like the career he expected. Her blade cuts into his shoulder leaving crimson, but he pushes back against it. There's no point in letting her run her mouth about having a heart and not having a heart. There's a moment when he thinks to all of District Six that was probably on the edge of their seats since Wyatt O'Connor had been reaped. He can't give up, he needed to see the friends that he had once made. He needs to tell the real parents that he had that he wasn't their son. He needed to visit his Ma's grave. All he can do is feel himself keeping his ground as she spits venom at him.

It reminds him of Wendell Gordon. There's a moment when he thinks that Lux Pelotte deep down had a heart. She probably did, but he wasn't going to look for it. He's standing there and he can tell that she had fought some of the deadliest foes. He's about to speak, but stops himself as the cards in his pocket feel heavy. The vial in his pack gleams with Adelaide's image in his head. Her lips upon his own. He had to get them home. He had to see who they were. Where they were from. He had to see the places they resided in.

"You don't know anything, Lux."

He stands his ground to the career like he had done with Ree Fer and Emberly Lowe. He can feel his stomach tossing as he's afraid that death may come, but he has to fight the fear in his throat. If death were to take him, he would have said that he's done his best, but he can't help but feel like there's more to this story. The story of Theodore Ursa that was waiting to be told, but Lux Pelotte stood in his way. All he could do was prepare to strike with his golden spear.

"Having a heart. Not having a heart. I've seen it all. The heartless and the ones who have hearts. You're being held back by your falsehood of strength."

He can't let someone like Lux Pelotte get out of the arena. She wouldn't remember them. She would only cheer in the glory of herself. There's so many that were counting on him. He could feel the pressure, but he's always seemed to be able to handle it. He's seen death. He's tricked death multiple times. He couldn't just let it all die there. He had to fight, until his last dying breath. There's a moment when he looks into her eyes, trying to find who Lux was. All he could do was speak.

"I don't care what you say about me. I may be strong. I may be weak. I don't know, but I am going to fight until my last dying breath or your last dying breath."

He moves gently with the golden spear in his hands. The air is cool on his skin, just like the waterfall the day before. There's the sun that has given him hope every day. He wants to see the sun for another day. Another day where he could watch the sunset. All he wanted was to live. He wanted to make it home. He wanted to see it all again. Eyes meet hers as he speaks again.

"I carry the others with me. You forget them, Lux. I can't let you do that. I know what it's like to be forgotten. No one deserves that."

Foot and peg leg move forward as the last words leave his lips.

"Not even you."

He strikes.

"I'll make sure you're remembered like the rest. That's what having a heart means."

A breath.

"You carry the lost to live again."

He would try to let them live.

It was his promise.

The bright glow of the sun bounces upon his spear as he draws crimson from Lux's body.

She's on a different level than Wendell. He could read it in her eyes and in the way that she moves like a predator. Eyes always watching and waiting for a moment to strike him. One wrong move could end up getting him killed. This was the truth to it all. A wrong move would lead to his demise. He couldn't let that happen. He didn't want that to happen. Ma used to tell him that he needed to be the best at what he knows in order to keep up with the rest. She told him that she fought for her job as a doctor through countless of people who were looking for the same job. It was a competition of it's own, but he could still apply it to the games.

Death lingers over them with no care in the world about who wins. One will be taken away to depths of the sea, where souls linger and there's no peace. He wasn't ready to die. Not now. Not ever. It seemed so far away and so close, but death always remained with them, whispering in their ears to just put the last blade through them, but they had to continue fighting where crimson is spilled. He holds the gold in his hands as he watches her look like a girl who didn't know kindness in the world.

He can feel the eyes of the family he didn't know watching him from home. The childhood friends that wait for him at home, going about their lives with the lingering thought of him stuck in their mind. He could feel them with him in the way that he moves. His heart beats with them as he can feel their presence with him, not as strong as Ree, Emberly, or the others, but they were still there. District Six was watching him, hoping that the words of Wyatt O'Connor were wrong.

And she strikes with words so cold that he feels a chill come down his spine.

"Having a heart means that you can let people in. You shouldn’t let them live through you. You don’t owe your life to anyone other than yourself."

Letting people in was all he had done before. He let in the others because it's what he did as a nurse, he cared and comforted for others. He worked with people to make things better. He's seen death in ways that not many people have. Her words of not letting them live through them sends him spiraling down in his heart. She couldn't shatter it. She wouldn't carry them. She wouldn't remember them because the demons that linger from the want of victory hides the emotions. He owes his life to many people.

Lux owes her life to plenty of people too. He could name a few that she did. Her allies. Her career trainers. There's so many people that they all relied on, even if she didn't think so, he did. He also knew that he was selfish. Selfish because he wanted to live and he owed that to himself to try to. He holds himself steady as her words feel like a chill in the air. Her eyes feels so dead to him that he can't stand it. Lux Pelotte would let everything die there if it meant going home with a crown and not much else.

"I won’t remember everyone, but I’ll never forget them."

The words mean something more, but he doesn't exactly see her as the kind to honor them all. Would she deliver the koalas to Emberly's sister? Would she be able to tell Rory's brother and cousins of the honor he was? Would she be able to carry Ree with her? There's so many questions that he could add to it, but he wouldn't. He didn't think that she could carry them like he could. There's a moment where he wants to cry out in frustration, but he doesn't. He focuses on the things that he carries. The promises that still linger in him. The fight's not over. The blood never stops. It just keeps coming with hearts and heartless. They battle with dark and light. Everyone has the potential for the dark or for the light. They clash like the beliefs of everything.

Her words are cold with the rays of sunshine. He wants to live to see another sunset. He wants to live to see another night full of stars where faces wouldn't shine in the sky to remind him that death still lingered around every corner. He's still there. He's still alive. The weight of the vial and the pack of cards hangs with him. He moves with her, trying to read every instinct that he could. Lux, a career who had been trained for this. He was nothing more than a nurse with a spear that felt like his own limb. He carried himself through the games. His friends and allies helped him through it. They were all there for him. Waiting to take Lux or him with them to peace.

"We’re both very different people, Teddy."

Different in so many ways. Hearts. Heartless. Career. Tribute.

"You are becoming a victim before you are even dead."

Victim was a new one, but he's had that role for years. Victim of tragedy that seems to follow him where ever he goes. They weren't victims in that moment. They were two kids fighting for a chance at living another day. Lux Pelotte wanted the crown that came with the title. A form of a trophy of the people that she killed. A prize to be earned by her, so she could just live in glory and do anything. He's seen enough to know that Lux would treat it like a title rather than a place to carry the ones who couldn't make it. Not all tributes wanted to be there.

He's tired of playing victim for everyone. He didn't feel like a victim. He was an equal to everyone. Emberly had shown that to him. They were all equals who stood on the same ground, breathed the same air, and were born from flesh. They craved desire. They hide from death. They were selfish creatures who wanted to live another day.

His words find their way out of his lips as he can feel his heartbeat.

"We both owe them something. Honor. Peace. Their words to their homes. We owe them more than you think. If we don't, we'll be seen as monsters. I know I've killed. I know I'm a murderer just like you, but I carry the ones that I killed. They don't all deserve death. No one does. Not you. Not me. Not any of the twenty two others, but we stand here because of it. You owe it to them to at least honor them if you make it out. But I don't think you could do that."

It's not easy for everyone. Their deaths and words eat away at the soul with depression. They could fall into sorrows of the lost or find a way to live life without it eating away at the soul. He was strong enough to know what it was doing to him already. Tears that threaten to come out at any moment with the words of Emberly Lowe. Tears that wanted to fall with Ree Fer's death upon the volcano. Rory's death. Cam's death. Chester and Adelaide who looked down upon him in the sky. Kaiser Fray's voice in his head. The anger that he felt for Lorenza when he knew that she killed Basil. Rhetoric's last stand. They were all with him, but he carried the good with him too.

The things that not everyone got to see of them.

He wanted to carry them all upon his shoulders with him. All he can do is watch as her blade cuts into his cheek. Pain that comes with the crimson as his hand moves up to touch the crimson. His own blood going to his hands as he stops and grips the spear again. He moves back and gives her Chester's blank stare. He can feel Chester with him in every second of the games. They breath together in two different worlds. He's the reason that he needed to get home. He needed to see Chester again, even if it were to be his last time. He needed to see them all. Even Lux, if she is to fall there.

They were all needing the peace that they deserved.

"I'm tried of being the victim. I've been the victim for years, Lux, but you wouldn't know that. We're all victims in some way or another, but I won't let that stop me. I won't become some victim in your mind."

He raises gold in the sunlight, his own blood upon the handle of the golden spear. Crimson shines in the light as he prepares to strike.

"You need to learn that we aren't much different at all."

He strikes with Chester in his heart. The words of a promise lingering in his ears of one of them needing to get home. Heart beats quickening as he holds onto the things that he knows. Chester was watching from some other world. District Six was counting on him. The dead were hoping to be honored by them, but he couldn't let a heartless soul take up that, when she wasn't strong enough to do it.

I promised you, Chester.

He wasn't a victim.

And he'd try to prove that.

They clash like two souls with the desire to live.

They bleed the same crimson as the tributes before. They're storms in the same world with different causes. They dance a bloody dance with murder and lies and hearts. They aren't different like she had said before. They are both killers. They both have blood on their hands. They both carry the weight of the past with them. He couldn't give in now. He couldn't let it drop to the ground now. He's alive. He's there. It takes everything in him not to cry out. He can feel them with him as they do their bloody dance. All twenty two others watching them as they fight for the next sunset. One where death wouldn't always be hiding away in the corner of the place. Where death wouldn't be a shadow in the corner, but he'd still be there with the memories of everyone else.

His blade cuts into her back with crimson upon the tip. It's gold gleaming in the sunlight. A pieces of him that's stuck with him through the start. He can feel the wind that pushes his hair around with a chill. He can feel his grip on the spear tighten with his own blood drying on his hands. They were battered, bruised, damaged, and broken, but they still fight with everything they have. Both could fall to any attack. Death is looming over them both with bones that rattle. He can only try to live for them. The pack of cards that weighs his pockets. Ree taught him that bitterness leads to nothing. The vial in his pocket. Adelaide taught him that it's okay to love. The sword's silver gleam in his bag shows him Emberly's lesson on selfishness. He can feel them with him.

There's a moment when he can envision his allies with him. Rory, who was always a reminder that there could be joyful moments to remember within the games. Rhetoric who had taught him that politeness is important. Chester who carried his heart more most of the games, until he saw him in the sky. He learned that he needed to carry himself in order to carry them all. They were all with him in that moment, words of their honor in his ears. The promises that they made him vow to in his mind. He's holding onto them and he'll carry them out if he can survive.

"You don't know the first thing about me. You never will."

He didn't know who Lux was, but he could try to guess. He could try to figure out who she was. He's learned that not all careers were monsters. Kaiser Fray had a legacy of victory that he was meant to carry. Hero had been named hero because his parents wanted him to do something heroic one day. Teddy knew that not all blackened hearts were full of evil, but they carried the good inside of them too. Lux wasn't any different. If it were another place, another day, he would have tried to solve the puzzle that was Lux Pelotte, but he couldn't. He would carry her if she were to die, but anything could happen still.

He watches her movements as he takes in her movements. She's quick, strong, and confident. He can see it in her movements, a real trained career who had numerous kills under her name. They were both killers. They were both humans. They were born of the same flesh and bones as anyone else, but they were on a collusion course for death. One would die, the other would live to tell the tale. He couldn't tell you which of them would because he could never be certain of who it would be.

He listens as her words come once again.

"You’ll always be a victim, I’ll always be a victor."

District Six was counting on him. Wyatt O'Connor's words ringing in his ears. Victors do not come from Six. He didn't know if it was the truth, but he was going to try and prove it wrong if he could. Victims, they had been victims of death for decades. Names that had vanished to the echoes of time. He couldn't let that happen. He couldn't let himself be forgotten by the echoes of time. They would all be forgotten if that were to happen. He watches her with the blank stare of Chester. Gold glimmering at his side.

Victors. Victims. They were all the same. Survivors of something that no person should have to go through, but this was the way of life. They had no control over what happened. They fight like the storms they are. Blades clashing, crimson falling, and emotions breaking. They were all beaten up and broken inside, but they fight because they want to live. He wants to feel the sunset as the night would grow dark. He wants to lay under the stars and just breath without feeling like he was going to be crushed in by the world itself.

He speaks with words that seem to drown in the air.

"I don't know anything about you. I never will."

He holds the spear in his hands with caution as he remembers each person that had died. Each soul that fights with him. Each person that has taught him something. He's going to try and keep his promise to them. He's going to try and keep his promise to himself. He's going to try and keep his promise to his ma who lay in a stone grave.

"Victims. Victors. We're all the same. We were born from the same flesh."

It takes him a moment to step forward, but he does, gold extended as sunlight hits his weapon.

"I wish I could have known who you were, Lux."

He strikes with them all.