The Weight of the Crown

The Last Flash

Auren and Johanna finally emerged onto the beach. The sun was still shining, casting golden hues across the sand that made the landscape appear almost surreal, as though everything they had just endured in the jungle had been nothing more than a fevered dream. The gentle lapping of the waves stood in stark contrast to the tension that still smoldered in their chests.

Katniss was curled in on herself, her gaze haunted by voices, echoes of pain and memories that didn't even belong to them. In silence, Johanna approached her and handed her a bowl of clear water. Katniss took it with quiet gratitude, trembling, her fingers brushing Johanna's for the briefest moment. Johanna sat down beside her, throwing an arm casually behind her in a practiced display of indifference that poorly hid her own exhaustion.

Meanwhile, Auren stayed back. Her feet carried her soundlessly to a leaning tree at the edge of the sand. She leaned against it lazily, one knee bent against the trunk, her eyes fixed on Finnick. He sat alone at the water's edge, his arms wrapped around his knees, staring out at the horizon. The wind played gently through his golden hair, and despite his stillness, he radiated a contained force, a tension that Auren could almost feel humming in the air.

She didn't want to disturb him. Not now. Not when everything she felt for him was churning in her belly like a bittersweet poison. So she stayed there, silent, watching him through the swaying leaves while letting her thoughts drift. She thought of what would happen after. After the enemy tributes were dead. After the blood had dried on their weapons. After the screaming stopped.

There weren't many of them left now. And yet, what awaited them was no easier. Victory here had never come gently. Auren knew what she had to do detach, pull away before the bonds turned to chains. Before they cast her out like a foreign piece in a machine grown too intimate. But the thought ached in her chest. Because, against her better judgment, she had begun to care. For Katniss, fierce, upright, unyielding. For Peeta, who wore his tenderness like armor. For Johanna, bitter and brash, but oddly loyal. For Beetee, the quiet genius with the sharp eyes. And most of all... for Finnick.

Suddenly, a voice broke through her thoughts.

"I have a plan."

Auren turned her head. Beetee was sitting just behind her, his sharp eyes locked on some invisible point in the sand. She immediately approached him and sat cross-legged at his side, alert. Johanna, having heard him, called out to Finnick to join them.

"I have a plan" Beetee repeated once everyone had gathered.

A heavy silence fell, thick with anticipation.

"Where do the Careers feel safest, do you think? In the jungle?"

"The jungle's a nightmare," Johanna said flatly.

"Probably here, on the beach," Peeta suggested.

"Then why aren't they here?" asked Beetee.

"Because we are. We hold the ground," Johanna said, arms crossed, brow furrowed.

"So if we leave, would they come?"

"Or stay at the jungle's edge," Finnick offered, stepping up beside Johanna, his eyes briefly meeting Auren's. "Where, in about four hours, everything will be swallowed by the wave."

Beetee nodded.

"And what happens at midnight?"

"Lightning strikes the big tree," Auren answered before Katniss could, her eyes suddenly keen.