[ yo i cried writing this so

major character death and emotions and a lot of tears bc angst

stay safe,
lew. ]

———————

They fell asleep during their watch.

It's a mistake that shouldn't have been made, but it happened, and now Ruby's gone.

Logan wakes up first, frantically shaking Lewis before rocketing to his feet. There's a trail of turned over dirt leading away from the base of the tree they'd been leaning against, and he drags Lewis along to follow it before he's even fully awake.

Logan seems to be panicking, and Lewis wishes he had the words to say and calm him down. But there's nothing that can undo what happened.

They find Ruby's backpack first. Then the sleeping bag. Then what's left of their jackets.

Lewis voices what's running through Logan's head, as much as he doesn't want to acknowledge it. "We might've slept through the cannon. I'm... I'm sorry, Logan."

He gently pats the younger boy's arm, then starts gathering up what supplies they can reasonably save. When he gets to the sleeping bag, he notices a torn seam and something sticking out of it.

It's a small device, what looks to be a tracker of some sort. But that wouldn't make sense because of the trackers in their arms.

Better safe than sorry, Lewis softly asks Logan to smash the device. He makes the decision to leave the sleeping bag, which Logan is sort of grateful for. It's another reminder that he fucked up.

—

Ezra makes it a 'fun' activity, hunting down the remaining tributes.

'Fun' means he has a hell of a good time, but literally no one else in the arena does.

It turns out that the boy from Three had a good reason to be afraid of the stream. When Ezra finds Bailey and Chase, he throws the boy into the water, which doesn't seem to actually be water. It seems like more of an acid, based on the strangled, pained shrieks.

The girl is more fun. He decides to literally pin her to a tree, using a couple axes he stole from the District Seven boy. But, her tiny body couldn't handle that much pain at once. The cannon sounds right as Ezra got the second axe aimed and ready to swing.

Finally, though, after the next restless night, he decides it's time to rid himself of his ally. He's at least a little bit kinder about this one.

He slips some poison gleaned from various plants into Ronnie's portion of their breakfast, and it only takes a few moment before the hovercraft is en route to pick up the body.

Next target? The 'big' alliance.

—

It's so hard getting over the death of a loved one. Logan's doing a little bit too well, giving Lewis plenty of reason for concern.

By nightfall, both of them are just so exhausted they fall asleep curled together underneath a hastily made canopy. And when they wake up, there's still no space in between them.

A cannon sounds in the distance, serving as a grim reminder. Possibly by the end of the day, they'll have to turn on each other.

As Lewis crouches down to find something to eat in his bag, he feels like something is definitely off within this general area. He goes to say something to Logan about it, and in that slight second of a distraction, that's when Ezra attacks.

He's got a trident gripped tightly, and he almost catches Logan with it. Lewis closes his eyes, the sounds of the fight invading his ears. And then the cannon goes off.

He expects it to be Logan. But when he opens his eyes, he's greeted with the sight of the boy from Four's body almost twitching as blood gushes from the stab and slash wounds, particularly the one in his heart.

Lewis gasps and excitedly goes to stand next to Logan. The other boy is frozen for a few moments, taking in the aftermath of what just happened.

And finally, the pain hits him.

Logan's eyes are wide as he sinks to the ground and touches the deep wound in his stomach. Lewis sobs beside him, grasping one of his hands tightly.

"I'm so so sorry," he cried, gently touching Logan's face. "First we lost Ruby, and now you. It's not fucking fair."

"Look on the bright side," Logan manages, giving Lewis a little smile. "You're going home. You're the last one left."

"I don't wanna be the last one left. I wish it was you, you deserve to go home. You deserve it so much more—"

"Shut up. Just... talk to me about happy things. Okay? Tell me what you're gonna do when you go home."

"I... Probably hug my mom and never let go. Oh my god, how am I gonna survive this? I didn't plan on making it, that's why I said what I did in my interview— Logan, please— If I get a handful of nightlock it should take effect before your wound—"

"Lewis. It's okay, I want you to get out of here and live your life." He coughs, ignoring the blood that stains his skin. It only sends Lewis further into a panic, taking his own shirt off and pressing it gingerly against the gaping hole in Logan's stomach. He shouldn't still be talking, but this is the fucking Hunger Games and everything in here is engineered to cause the maximum amount of trauma.

Logan's breathing starts to slow. Before he can register the action, Lewis leans down and kisses the dying boy, tears still pouring from his eyes.

"Thank you for everything," he murmurs as he pulls away. He expects disgust to be written on Logan's features. Instead, there's a soft smile as he reaches up and shakily wipes away a few tears.

Lewis holds his hand against his face, unwilling to let go. He can't help but feel like whatever emotion Logan's projecting right now is just meant to make him feel better.

The cannon goes off, but he can't hear it over the sound of his own sobbing. Then, the trumpets and the announcement. "The Victor of the 72nd Hunger Games! Lewis Williams of District Eleven!"

—————

[ okay wow probably not that much of a twist but i kinda wanted to hurry everything up before this became a thing where the plot goes entirely out the window.

next might be a bit following lewis as he deal with what he's seen and the victory tour thing. if it isn't that, it'll probably be monster au

thanks for putting up with my 'plotlines' !!