The Final Straw {Red vs. Eos // Day 7}

It was as though a change of heart had shifted my core like a mere light switch being flicked. Without a single thought of why I was doing so, my fingers desperately clawed for him to not plummet to his demise. Death was surely kissed upon his cheeks from the bites of our weapons; but I didn’t know if I was reaching for him in attempt to aid him from our destructive strives, or to simply not witness him collapse over the edge of the abyss… or maybe it was to ensure the next canon to fire was his’. And the wise boy from three wasn’t constructing a miraculous way to escape the Reaper that I’ve become. No matter the reason, it didn’t work.

A silver locket upon his neck was all that my fingers managed to grasp. It snapped almost instantly against the pull of my need, and the push of his surrender. The necklace wraps around my palm, while its break is practically the final straw that sends Orion into the depths of the unknown. A canon erupts immediately after and I know that it’s his’, while his locket slams against my chest in grateful regret to another obstacle being eliminated for a twelve to make it home alive. More dry, absent tears burn at eyes while I stare over the edge as if in an attempt to grace one last glimpse at him, but he’s no where to be seen.

A breath furled through the icy air in a form of a cloud, as my eyes ventured over to his comrade that I’ve caused to now be utterly alone. “I recommend leaving us to go on our way, unless you’d like to join your friend.” Warned with a tone desiring no further disarray. The tension of my throat from this brutal endeavor felt as though that itself would kill me without assistance from another. And with one gaze over to Cedar, I knew priority would be his solitude - as there was no point in killing, if the non-killer died himself.

Sleep surprisingly graced me into the realm of nothing; allowing me to escape, if only momentarily, from all the terror that I’ve done… but surely it was only momentarily. For the second my eyes venture back into the reality of truth, with one hand clenching Dusty’s toy lion, and the other with a necklace weaving around my fingers, the nightmare surrounds me viciously once more. A bed at least comforts me as it hasn’t in days, as Cedar and I discovered the rows and stacks of miniature homes a few hours prior.

When we stumbled upon this petite Panem, for a second I forgot about the destruction that I had caused. For a brief moment I wondered if we could just live out the rest of our time here, and maybe even be forgotten by the others indefinitely. In exchanged for the absence of battle, I’d sentence the remainders of my days here with a boy who refuses to flirt back… it wouldn’t be so bad, though I know it could never occur. And when my eyes shift around the tiny house we claimed for some rest, the boy who’s endured this place with me since day one is gone.

“Cedar?” I question in a hesitant whisper, wondering if someone else had stumbled upon us to only slaughter him in an unknowing of my presence. Me sleeping through a battle seems unlikely, while another explanation feels unreachable. My eyes are caught by the light of my watch, with a message that I didn’t know it could receive.

Hey Red. Sorry again for shooting you yesterday. It wasn’t on purpose… but I’m sorry for the way that I thought maybe I should shoot you on purpose, too. I just wanted to express my gratitude for everything that you’ve done for me. Or for the things you’ve done for yourself that I’ve benefited from. I guess it doesn’t matter which at the end of the day, when it comes down to the fact that you were willing to make yourself a murderer three different times just so that I could live another day.

Confusion ruffles the arches of my eyebrows, both in uncertainty of how he sent this and why. And to read the number of my kills is extremely rough to swallow, along with his uncertainty if I did it for both of us - or solely myself, for him to maybe benefit from. And was I willing to make myself a murderer, or did it just happen like that?

I’m never going to be strong or resilient like that, and that’s okay. I’m sorry for leaving, too. It seems like things are getting down to the wire and… I get that I’m going to die, even if I don’t want to. But I don’t want you to be the one to kill me, and I don’t want to kill you either. Hope the morning finds you well. And good luck out there. You do whatever you need to, okay?

All the best,
Cedar.

What I don’t need is for the one person in this mess, that makes me feel like I’m a murderer with a cause, to leave me. Anger and regret rattles me in the most unexpected way as I wrestle from the sheets to retrieve my ally back. Figuring out a way to message him back crosses my mind, while dissecting the difficulties of technology sounds to be a longer waste of time than just finding him. Perhaps he just left… and hasn’t gotten far.

“Cedar!” Hesitation no longer contorts the lengths my voice reaches. With a bag in tow upon my shoulder, instincts control me towards the spiral staircase that seems to go on for decades. Feet slam in releases of my mixture of confused emotions, before I breach the top of this little town. “Cedar!” Screams from my core once more. But there’s no sign of him, solely a view of the numerous different paths he could have taken.

The inside of my cheek is bitten in attempt to accept what has happened, while my eyes continue to scan in every which way for the sight of the brunette boy from home. Maybe he’ll regret his decision and return? Or perhaps he solely wishes to see me next in a casket on his way home from this. A gulp seeks to slide down my throat with no success.

A child’s swing within this chaos of a mess discovers my company, while for once I’m left completely oblivious to what I should do. Before it was so easy, even if direction scarcely slithered from Cedar’s lips. But without his company, it merely seems pointless…. Until new company greets my lonely eyes.

The relics of beauty within the form of youth graces me with her presence. Long brunette hair framing her sharp features and badass expression. She’s surely not like the deaf boy from six who seemed to only fire his weapon in desperation to survive. She’s definitely not like the girl from three who had to strive to be strong. And she’s not like the boy from three who had to rely solely on his intelligence to figure this thing out. She doesn’t seem desperate to survive, solely willing. She doesn’t appear to need to strive for strength, but rather like she was born with it. And it doesn’t look like she gives a damn about the equation of this stupid place. She’s the ultimate threat to Cedar escaping from this game with his breath still intact.

A last glance is given to the physical memories, of the ones I’ve killed, before they’re stored away, and the buzzing light of my sword returns to my hand with an instant flicker on. “We both know what has to happen here. You don’t look like the type that’ll be oblivious to the truth.” Words sprinkle from my lips without the power they contained before in Cedar’s presence. There’s no longer that desperate need to protect, solely a desire to hope that this will help him in the longer run. But maybe… “I just have one question before you become the fourth person to haunt me - Do you know where Cedar is?” Because all that matters now is eliminating his competitions, and finding him before someone eliminates him.