𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒕𝒖𝒔; 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓

𝑺𝒚𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒕𝒉𝒚 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒍

The trio of Careers continue to wander the forest, after taking care of the girl from six. Lilith leading the way, the boys following behind.

"When one of us gets out of here, it's gonna be strange seeing daylight again." William says out of the blue.

Lilith turns her head to look at him. "Weird timing. But, yeah. Agreed." She turns her head forward.

"One of us as in any of the group? Or just out of us three." Bruce questions. William doesn't answer at first. "Come on, humor me."

"Just us three." William says quietly.

Lilith bites her cheek at that. A part of her almost feels pity for her tribute partner. Almost.

The trio stumble across this grove of giant, glowing mushrooms. Lilith finds herself smiling like a child at the sight. They walk through the grove, careful not to touch anything, they could be poisonous.

The three Careers stop in their tracks when they hear a low growl from behind them. They slowly turn around, to see they are face to face with an oversized wolf. Black all over, with glowing green stripes.

"Is everything bigger in wonderland...?" Lilith remarks in a low voice, her heart leaping out of her chest.

The blonde's voice startles the animal, it snaps its large jaws. The Careers take this as their signal to run, sprinting away from the wolf. Lilith runs as hard and fast as she can, fear taking over her body. She doesn't dare turn around to see if the boys were behind her.

Bruce yells out in pain from behind her, he falls victim to the animal's jaws. A canon booms, not halting the chase happening. Lilith continues to sprint, turning corners trying to lose the mutt. Her legs burn profusely, but she keeps going.

"Lilith! Look, up ahead!" William calls out, now beside her. Lilith looks ahead and sees a large lake, glowing pink like the stream they saw earlier.

Lilith runs faster, coming up with an idea. "Jump in!" She yells as she reaches the shore.

Lilith sucks in a deep breath and jumps in the lake. She pries her eyes open, hoping the pink liquid doesn't cause her to go blind. The action is in vain, she can't see anything in the lake. The blonde swims up to the surface. She rubs her eyes as she treads water, opening them again to see the wolf is gone. She whips her head around, looking for William. The boy resurfaces, gasping for breath.

"It's gone." Lilith says breathlessly. "So is Bruce."

"It's okay, let's get back to the cornucopia, yeah?" William swims to the shore and gets out.

Lilith follows suit and gets out of the lake. The pair walk in silence, Lilith holding both swords at the ready. The blonde starts to feel the fatigue setting in. "Can we sit for a minute?" She says quietly.

"We'll stay here for a little bit, you can take a nap." William says, dropping his bag down. Lilith plops down and rests her head against a tree. Taking the chance to close her eyes and rest.

William watches over his partner, her chest rising and falling with every breath she takes. He looks out into the forest, waiting for the next attack.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─ ─•~❉᯽❉~•─

Silas Whitlock sits anxiously in his chair, recovering from watching Lilith get chased by a mutt. He's just glad she made it away and is resting. So far both of Silas' tributes are alive and well, that's all he can ask for right now.

He has sat in this same chair, year after year, not really caring about the outcome. He knew there was a high chance one of his tributes would win, and if not they most likely didn't listen to his advice. But Lilith, his sweet Lilith, he needs her to get out alive. The stakes are higher this time around, somehow the pair had formed a close bond within a few short days. Everything happens for a reason.

Silas makes sure to watch over Lilith as she sleeps. Although he doesn't think the quality of it is very great, based on her small flinches and grip tightening on her swords. He doesn't dare take his eyes away from the screen, not even when his friend Haymitch offered him a drink.

He can't risk not being completely sober, in case he needs to send supplies.

The same can be said for the District four mentor. Finnick had been watching the games very closely, not really liking who his tributes decided to ally with, specifically Lilith. But he had put those feelings of hatred aside, and prayed the Careers would be enough to get one of his tributes out.

Finnick heard every word of the conversation Nancy and Lilith had. He scoffed every time Lilith opened her mouth, but when she was left alone, he saw her thinking. He believed she was closer to realizing the truth, until she shook her head and her stone expression returned. He rolled his eyes at that.

He now watches his own tributes, still at the cornucopia. Both sleeping with the District one tribute, Diana, keeping watch. Finnick can't help but worry, because if she wanted to she could kill them both right now. But she won't, not until numbers decrease more.

Finnick lets curiosity overcome him, he peeks at the screen Silas is watching, knowing Lilith would be on it. He sees her resting against a tree, William at her side.

Silas senses eyes on him, and turns to look at the young boy. "Need something, Finnick?"

Finnick's eyes widen as he's caught. Shaking his head, he turns back to his own screen. Silas watches the boy, eyebrows raised. Eventually he looks back at his own screen, to see William and Lilith on the move.

─•~❉᯽❉~•─ ─•~❉᯽❉~•─

Lilith jolts awake as William shakes her shoulders. "What is it?" She quickly asks.

"I know where the twelve tributes are." He says, putting the bag on his back. Lilith nods and gets up, stretching herself a bit.

"Lead the way." The blonde says, pointing a swords forward.

The pair creep in the forest, trying not to make noise. They look up to see smoke, smoke means fire, fire mean stupid tributes. They look at each other, giving a nod of confirmation.

As they get closer, the District two tributes hear voices. "David, I'm telling you this is a horrible idea."

"Eva, it's fine." Well clearly not.

Eva looks around, the fire David made causing immense paranoia. While they both have their backs turned, the Careers spring into action.

Lilith jumps out of the brush, swords at the ready. Eva tries to run away, but trips over herself numerous times. Making this an easy kill, Lilith plunges her swords deep into Eva's chest. She looks to see William putting arrows into David. Two canons fire. The Careers stomp out the fire before leaving.

Once again, the middle of the night is marked by the Fallen Tributes. In total thirteen of the twenty-four tributes are dead.

"More than half way." William says, the pair still walking back to the cornucopia. Lilith hums a reply. "I know what you plan on doing."

"I don't know what you're talking about." Lilith dismisses, keeping her head forward.

"Oh, come on, Lilith. Everyone plans on doing it. Everyone except for me." Lilith stops walking and looks at William.

"What are you saying?" She questions. Her tribute partner stays silent. "William?"

"Lilith, you're so young. I'm going to help you in any way I can, I'm going to die in here. I've accepted it." William keeps walking, not looking Lilith in the eyes.

"But why? You should be helping yourself."

"You have people who care for you." William says sympathetically. Lilith's mind goes to Silas first. How funny? Her mind goes to someone else over her parents. The blonde's hand goes up to her chest, where the ring dangles underneath her damp jacket.

Lilith doesn't want to die, nobody does. But Lilith doesn't want to leave Silas alone. He, and the other people she personally met in the Capitol, have taken care of her. She can't give them up, not when she just had a taste of what her life could be. She needs to live the life she wants, in the Capitol.