Oceania scuttles up the tree like a squirrel, and before I know it she's right in front of me. I back up on my branch, knowing that falling from this height would surely kill me. 

Like it did Lee, and Lea. 

I push the thought out of my head. Nope, no thinking about that. Not right now. 

I hold my ax out in front of me and swing, but Oceania dodges. She swipes at my arm with her trident, and just barely misses as I stumble back yet again, getting closer and closer to the trunk and the exact spot where I will surely die. 

"A bit out of practice, aren't you, Seven?" She taunts. I try not to think about her words. I try not to think about anything else other than not falling.

I feel like a clumsy troll next to her graceful moves. She's quick and balanced, like she's used to fighting fifty feet up in a tree. 

I'm totally embarrassing my district. The girl from Seven dying in a tree, how ironic. 

Oceania jabs at me again, and the tip of her trident catches my bandage, tearing it off, with some effort. The bloody fabric takes the long trip down to the ground, and I don't bother to watch it land, or even to glance over at my shoulder, which has resumed bleeding. 

She stands in front of me, clearly seeing that I'm in no condition to fight right now. And I'm not. I'm injured, and I've been crying so much I feel like I haven't had any water in years. 

She smiles at me, then kicks in the chest, hard. I fall backwards, and a branch clips my face, but I somehow don't scream.

I manage to grab onto the branch we were both standing on at the last moment, holding on for my life

"Are you trying to make yourself look brave? How sweet. I saw you crying your guts out that night in the sand, and so did everyone else... though I suppose killing seven people--seven for your district, isn't that poetic--makes you brave, doesn't it?" 

She hovers over me, smiling in anticipation. "Thanks for that, by the way. Made my job much easier, Amethyst." She says my name like it's taboo, sneering.

I glare, adjusting my grip, glancing down and getting ready to maybe leap to a different branch, regain my footing and continue this fight. 

"Just barely hanging on there, huh?" She teases, smirking. She raises her foot to stomp on my hand and make me crash down to the forest floor. 

I reach my other hand up towards her ankle. 

"If I'm going down, then you're coming with me." I grab her ankle right as she stomps on my hand, making me lose my grip on the branch. And I hold on tight to her foot until I'm sure she's falling with me. 

Oceania's screaming her head off next to me, though I'm silent and calm, or really as calm as anyone could be, in this situation. My eyes are shut so tight it feels like my eyelids are going to crack, but I don't scream. I know I'm going to die. It was inevitable. But at least I won't die looking crazy. 

A branch is coming up in front of me, and I recognize the chance when I see it. I grab onto the branch. 

My arms feel like they're going to pull out of the sockets, but somehow I manage to pull myself up onto the thin branch, even with my shoulder wound. I lie there, panting, until I hear the crunch of Oceania's death, and then her cannon. 

"Congratulations Amethyst Greenwood, victor of the fifty-third Hunger Games!" It announces, joyful, too joyful. It takes me a bit to process the words. I must be in shock. Or maybe this is a dream. I didn't just win, did I? 

Two hovercrafts lower: One to pick up Oceania's remains, and one to grab me. I grab the ladder enthusiastically, not even minding when I am frozen in place and hauled up into the hovercraft.

Not that I'd be able to move, anyways. I'm still frozen in place from pure shock. 

I won. I won. I won. I didn't die. I didn't die.

Inside, I get dragged to a small room with walls that look like they're made of ice, frozen and solid and cold to the touch. 

A doctor injects something into my arm, my good arm, and I black out.

(Ahhhh tysm for reading and I can't believe I actually managed to write out her whole games like whattttt! <3)