stardust is making me blind [pisces v terra]

My return to the part of the arena that I'd now deemed the 'land of the living' didn't really go how I had expected. What was currently the trio of us sat around and talked quite a lot that night. It started with us watching the anthem together. Two of the faces I expected to see: Steel and that boy from the Catacombs who refused to give me his name. The face I didn't expect was that of Meredith Strauss. It surprised me, in all honesty. I think that's mostly because she wasn't in the Catacombs with me.

That must mean that when she died on the surface of the arena, she truly died. Had she been on her second life and I hadn't realized it? I supposed it was possible. The girl was always kind to me, both before we entered the arena and during the time we had to face one another within it. She wasn't someone in the arena who I felt deserved to die in here. Then again, I honestly don't think I can get myself to believe that anyone truly deserved to die in the arena.

When the face of the boy I killed showed in the sky that night, I pointed him out to Dom and Zenia. I don't know why, but for some reason, I felt as if they should know.

Immediately, after the anthem, Zenia seemed to insist we move our conversation to somewhere a little 'less depressing'. I agreed, as I didn't have much else to say, and having some other sort of topic to speak about could have the potential to ease my mind. She told Dom and I that she'd tell us a horror story. So, while she spoke, telling us the tale, I listened.

When her story concluded, Dom and I took turns telling our own. Mine was a bit more lighthearted than Zenia's. I told she and Dominic a story about my childhood. I told them about the time I first discovered that I wanted to be an artist. Some may have considered such a story to be boring or uninteresting, but to me, it was a very important one, so I shared it regardless.

After all of us were done telling our stories, we started to settle down to rest for the night. Dom and I were still awake beyond Zenia's time of slumber. Lying on the ground next to one another, Dominic told me something that made my heart want to melt. He told me how he wanted to keep waking up beside me every day- and about how if it came down to just he and I, he'd choose me.

I looked at him with a combination of kindness and sadness in my eyes. I would never want him to die for me. It was supposed to be he who outlived me.

"Dom," I said. "I know you said you'd choose me," I told him, "but I'd choose you."

His fingers traced my jawline as he told me he loved me.

I felt fluttering in my chest- that feeling of 'butterflies' that people describe. It was a delightful feeling. Blissful, even.

It just felt so right.

"I love you more," I said back to him. We smiled at one another before his lips met my face.

---

The morning is one filled with fog. The fog is so thick that, at first, I think that's the reason I can't see the ground beneath me. That's when I realize that instead of the ground being like it was before, it's as if I'm walking on the sky. It's so… strange…

A split second later, I called out to my allies. In this thick fog, I have to make sure we stick together.

"Dominic?" I call out.

"Dom? Zenia?" I try again.

I hear no response, and all I can see in the fog is one of the ghostly figures who'd been lurking for so many days prior, yet much more clearly visible this time.

I try to see through the fog, but I can't. I can sense that there's someone nearby, though, and not just one of those spirits. If it's not my allies, though, it must mean that it's a threat of some sort. Whether it be a mutt or another tribute who's not Dom or Zenia, I know I need to defend myself against it. I still hold my blade that I received in the Catacombs tight in my hand.

As I get close enough to the presence I can sense around me, I finally make out the face of who it is. It's the girl who was with those boys that killed me the first time. She'd never laid her blade to my flesh, but I knew I had to lay mine to hers.