Her back was stiff and shoulders tense as she continued to sit there, staring straight at the things that continued to move but never really came any closer. She wasn't entirely certain of how long she sat there, still seeing the beach between the trees not too far away but still enough to conceal her from view. She wasn't sure how long it had been until she stood up, flexing her fingers around the handle of her hammer, as she began the slow walk toward the beach, not knowing what to do anymore now that she had lost Lux and sight of the Careers.

The only thing she had done in her last games was wandering around angry killing anyone she could get her hands on, but how could she do that now? When she had no motivation to survive the games, to begin with? Not on her own at least.

Lux had been a friend, a very good and close friend, and probably the last person she would ever speak to from her district, the last connection she had to her home, and Terra had lost it so quickly and easily, that it felt sort of hollow and empty, here around her.

Hunting alone, hunting people, that was something that she had done well the first time, but that was different, all the tributes she was faced with were victors themselves and knew better than to mistake letting her close. With Lux she would have had guidance and someone to keep her in check instead of spiralling as she was doing now.

Closing her eyes tightly, Terra takes a deep breath and continues to move forward, knowing that staying in one place wasn't going to help her.

She wonders, briefly, if she would see Lux's face in the night sky or if she would be stuck waiting for tomorrow. She wonders if the others would mourn him as she has when they see, if they would care when she knew - if that hadn't already figured it out with her scream.

Really, she just wanted to tug at her hair and shout, cry and yell and let everyone know what had happened, let the Capitol see her grief and pain as she threw herself to the sand crawlers, let them have her in some dramatic display.

A rustle of folliage to her left had her jumping to action, hammer at the ready and stance firm when she saw slow, timid steps expose themself. Short cropped hair and thin stature - Heller, from district 5. She couldn't remember when the girl had won her own games, but it had something to do with her wit.

"Heller," she greets, tense.

"Terra, I'm sorry."

Terra breathes sharply.  "For what?"

"I saw what happened back there and I'm sorry," Heller tells her, and she stiffens in response, waiting for the catch. "And I'm sorry for what I'm about to make you do."

"What?"

Heller charges her, sloppy and messy with wide punches and short kicks with only a pointed rock as a weapon. The older woman slashes at her again, reaching with grunts and groans.

"Wha- what are you doing? Stop!" Terra shouts, blocking with the hammer and moving back with steady steps.

"I can't be here anymore, I don't want to be here!" The older woman cries, lunging forward again.

"Stop it," she states firmly, continuously moving iut of the way. "You're acting crazy."

Heller stops, breathing heavily and closes her hand around the rock a little tighter. "Those things, they were horrible. There wasn't even any blood and he was just gone, sucked into the ground."

"I know! Don't you think I know? I watched him disappear and there was nothing I could have done, no enemy I could have fought away!" Terra argues, jabbing her lightly with the top, blunted bit of the hammer to push her back.

"I won't stay here, they can't make me," Heller sobs, and Terra has to look away, the terribly frightened, determined gleam in her eyes something that was entirely too familiar. "You had a list, right? Add me to it, make them happy and maybe they'll send you a sponsor gift!"

"I'm not going to kill you for a gift, Heller," Terra snaps, pulling her her lip back in a snarl.

"Please, help me. Don't make me do this to myself," Heller pleads, dropping her knife to reveal a bloody hand in the moonlight.

Looking at her now, so vulnerable and begging, Terra lifted the hammer, spinning it in her right hand as she settles the weight, moving it so that the flat end was the one she was going to use before lifting her arm steady and swinging with all her might, watching as it hit Heller across the jaw and sent her head jerking up with a loud crack that twisted her neck. She remained standing for a sliver of a second before her nody crumbled and a cannon was ringing in her ears.

Terra reached down, gripping Heller's hand tightly, the one free of blood and instead cool and clammy with sweat.

"I'm sorry, Heller, rest well," she whispers before she stands and moves away quickly, leaving room for the gamemakers to collect the body and moved towards the beach.

Terra would need to start looking for the Careers soon, to live up to her promise, for sure. She would need to, to switch back into that mindset she had found herself in the first time around - focused and centred and angry. Terra needed to set her mind on what needed to be done, she didn't have time for deep thoughts or pains of the heart right now.

The expected whirring of the helicopter never came, and as a silence settled began to settle over the sector, Terra felt an uncomfortable sensation go down her spine. She tucked her weapon back into her straps of the bag, hoping to make sure it stayed as she glaced at the ground, looking for a glint in the dark of the knife that Lux had given her. She went forward, stepping past Heller as she went back near where the sand crawlers stopped, hoping to find it on the ground where she had sat.

She swooped down, grabbing it and tucking it into her belt with a relieved sigh before she began to turn back, moving faster towards the beach than before to escape the silence that seemed to follow her, unnevered, she took to staying off the ground, walking over roots instead as she could still see the sand creatutes moving on her right.

And when they suddenly stopped, the earth freezing with nary a sound, she felt her stomach drop, a panic rising in her chest as she looked around.

There was a sound of rushing water, a trickle running by her feet, and she looked in the direction it came from finding more streams that were beginning to build up in size and speed.

Backing away, she watched as the water began to build in speed, moving passed her until it stoppedb pulling back as if it was collecting somewhere, and she began to move faster, stumbling over herself as she ran.

There was a roar somewhere behind her, a sound that she never quite heard before, and as she glanced over her shoulder, peering through the thick cannopy above her, she grew incredibly pale and cold at the sight of the heaving wave that crashed through the trees and pushed them down - destroying everything in its path and coming towards her, looming dangerously above her.

Sprinting by as fast as she could towards the beach, she spared a glace to the side finding the water contained within just the one side of that invisible line that seperate the two things and marked the information aside for later as she burst through a bundle of thick folliage and left the slow shift from dirt to sand beneath her feet.

Terra aimed for the line, a hand reaching out pointlessly as she excited the tree line and she screamed a terrifying sound that made her ears ring as the ground was swept away from underneath her, knocking her back and she went spinning into the water.

It burned, her lungs begging for air, and her mind screamed for her to swim, to move and right herself - yelling out instructions she had once heard Finnick speak to her, holding her as they danced stupidly under the bright sun of his district, telling her the dangers of waves and how easy it was to get yourself lost.

She never thought it would be quite like this, this sinking feeling of turning and throwing, as though she was being hit from all sides, beating her down as she clutched at something - anything - to save her.

The water was nothing like how Finnick described, no time for thinking or self-preservation, there was only the dark and the bubbles that burst around her, coming from her mouth with each drowned out cry she made, her lungs already aching and head swimming, she could feel only the water and the thunping of the hammer against her back each time she was flung one way of another.

Just as suddenly she was airborn, soaring free as she tried to get herself to breath, and back first she went sinking deep into the water - still and silent and motionless as it flowed by her, moonlight shinning through the disturbed surface and Terra found it was like staring up at with all her broken surfaces and rippling edges. Or maybe she was the crackling edges of the land strips, worn and broken from the waves that would beat and weat at it's surfaces, destined to be worn and broken by the water.

Falling, so quickly, deeply, she watched as the surface smoothed over, a ringing still sounding in her ears, a sound of a cannon dancing across her mind, and Terra gasped to awareness, kicking desperately towards the surface and when she broke free she gasped with a cough and sputter of water trickling through her lips. The surface continued to moved with water and when she looked across the way the trees were broken and wavering still from the force of destruction - Terra had found herself on the opposite end of the Cornucopia facing the mouth that was a mess of toppled over shelvings and crates that things had originally been placed on. Squinting as best she could Terra found the place to be empty but that didn't ease her rapid heartbeats as she pulled herself on top one of the land strips.

Gasping still as it stung her ribs and her limbs burned with heaviness, Terra flopped onto her back and heaved for air, each beat of her heart feeling as though it was trying to climb free of her chest. She was wet and the humidity of the island was horrible to breath, and the suit disgustingly uncomfortable, and their was a pinch on her thigh, an alarming ache that made little sense. She reached with a hand, prodding gently, and groaned with at the sharp pain she felt - her hand came back with fingers speckled in dark blood.

Pushing up to her elbow she got a better look at the wound that had been inflicted by the placement of Lux's knife.

"I hate my life," she ground out as she forced herself up to her feet and toward the Cornucopia, hoping to take refuge there now that she had the chance. The Careers had gone into the jungle and Terra wished they encounted something nastier than she had.

Limping into the dark entrance, Terra dug through the discarded supplies in hopes for anything reminiscent of a med kit but came up empty. Knowing she had to stop the bleeding she stripped off her shirt and found a sharp blade among the mess and began to cut off her sleeves until both were free - getting dressed once again once she was done and using the sleeves as a makeshit bandage.

At least now she won't be as hot, Terra thought easily, taking her hair out of the buns and working them up into place again. I might get a nasty sunburn though.

She decided then that she would need to get herself something to eat and drink after a full day in the arena with nothing, salt water, she would probably start to hallucinate soon if she didn't get something to drink.

Repositioning the stacks and crates to cover her a bit better, though making sure they still looked like a mess, Terra freed her hammer and placed it next to her, lying down with a hand on her weapon, she let herself relax and only fell asleep as she heard a slow gong rhythm count twelve times and the flash of lightning across the sky.

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2019-02-11