No Place Like Home

Part 25 ~ Final Part

When Phil woke up, the room was immensely bright.

Like, this wasn't even funny anymore, who's damn idea was it for hospitals to have freaking beams of light for bulbs?

Phil had an oxygen mask again, and when he looked to his right he had a heart machine and a blood drip.

He heard two sets of bleeps, and both were annoying.
Phil then looked to his left and saw another hospital bed. This one had another boy in it.

He had a bandage around his head, one around his arm - like Phil - a blood drip, a heart machine and cuts and bruises all over him.
He had curly dark hair, and deathly pale skin, dark circles under his eyes and his eyes closed.
But he was alive, Dan was alive.

He looked God-awful and frail, but he was breathing.

Phil grinned under his oxygen mask and pulled it off again.

"Dan..." he mumbled. "Dan..."
"He's not awake yet," Haymich walked in.
"You b*tch," Phil breathed, his lungs learning to work on their own again.

"I don't feel that was necessary," Haymich replied dryly, and reached for the bed remote next to Phil. "Do explain why you decided to call me a female dog."

"Because of what you've done," Phil exhaled.

"And what did I do?" Haymich said and pushed a button, sending Phil's bed head upwards, so he was more upright. "Save Dan's life? Save your life?"

"You did none of that," Phil replied, feeling stronger by each word. "I did that. I saved our lives."

"With the help of me," Haymich said. "Without my advice, you and Dan would've never become allies. And then where you would be? Probably 6 feet under with a hole in your chest from Casey's knife-"

"But I'm not," Phil said. "I'm here. So I guess... thank you."

Haymich nodded, "That's all I wanted to hear,"
He glanced over at Dan, who appeared to be shifting, "I'll leave you two to talk."

Phil's heart sped up, and it was noticed on the monitor.
Dan's eyes flickered open.

"Hey," Dan said with a grumbly and weak voice.
Phil was so happy Dan was awake, but he tried to keep cool and said, "Hey. You look rough."

Dan chuckled, and reached over to a remote and lifted his bed head upwards, "Really? I feel smashing."

Even in a hospital bed, hanging on by a thread, Dan still managed to be sarcastic.
Phil chuckled, "Yeah, of course you do."

Once Dan was at the same height at Phil, he said softly, "Are you okay?"
Phil sighed, "No. Not really."
"Well then," Dan said and got himself comfortable. "Talk to me."

Phil smiled and looked down at his hands, "You made it."

"Surely that's a good thing?" Dan said, smirking a little.

Phil grinned and looked at Dan, "Of course it is, but... I didn't."

Dan furrowed his brows in confusion, like he did in the games, "You did. You're here."

"No," Phil sighed. "Everyone thinks I'm dead."

"What?" Dan was now concerned. "Why?"

"Because," Phil exhaled. "There can only be one victor. And that's you. You won, Dan. You made it. I'm not the victor. Haymich said there can't be more than 1 victor, or other winners in the other games will think its acceptable for 2 people to walk out of there un-harmed. Well, not un-harmed. But alive. I'm not jealous, I just wish there was a way for you and me to be victors together."

Dan looked down, before reaching over and offering his hand to Phil in the middle of their beds, and Phil took it.

"Listen, Phil," Dan said softly. "Look at me," Phil looked across at Dan. "When you died, I told you we'd get out of the arena, together. All you had to do was wake up. Right? Right. And you did, and so I somehow, in the strangest way possible, managed to hold up my end of the deal. We are here, Phil. We made it out alive. The other tributes are all dead, they're all gone. It's just you and me, okay? You come and be my roommate in the Victor Village. And we can live like victors together, like we said we would. I just have to go and talk about how sad I am that you're dead and blah blah blah,"
Dan and Phil chuckled, and Dan continued softly, "But Haymich, Patrick, Snow, you and me both know who really got us out of there. We all know who's genius idea it was to blow-up the arena, giving us our best chance. Remember that? You wanted to give us our best chance. And you did it, we're alive. Yeah, we lost a bit of blood, and got a few cuts and bruises, but we're here. Alyssa's sacrifice wasn't all for naught. We all know who really won the games. And you and I both know, who the real victor is."

Dan gave a small smile, and Phil smiled back and said quietly, "Thank you. For everything, all of it."

There was a small pause of silence, nothing but the sound of their combined beating hearts.
And that was a beautiful sound.

"Promise you'll come and live in my big fancy house with 10 bedrooms and more money than I need?" Dan said after the pause, smiling.

Phil smiled and looked down at their clasped hands, with bruises and burns all over them, "As long as you promise to keep breathing."

It was then, where Dan and Phil were laid in hospital beds, hand in hand, looking the Grim Reaper in the eyes, where the two boys who went through Hell and high water for each other made their final certainty.

Phil raised a cut eyebrow, "You promise?"
Dan grinned and replied softly, almost a whisper, "I promise."