The screams had woken him up from his daze.
He wasn't sure if he'd actually fallen asleep or if he was simply so exhausted and cold that his body had briefly given up. But guttural, pain-filled screams had broken him out of his stupor and left him trembling. At first, he thought something had happened to Cissy.
Instantly, he'd been alert with his frozen hands pressing her closer to his chest. His eyes had blearily opened though he was moving faster than he could begin to process. But the screams had continued.
Heart racing, Eden closed his eyes and settled back into the tree as he focused on the sound. There was hardly a break for breaths as the injured being seemed more focused on its pain. After being almost sure that he'd heard curse words thrown into the mix of agony, he felt a calmness wash over him.
It was Darius, and he was undoubtedly hurt.
Probably by the same mutts that had nearly killed him however many hours earlier.
The memory of that had him looking down at the slashed up portion of his calf. He almost threw up. While it wasn't incredibly deep, it was messy. Dried blood and mud was crusted all over his tattered pant leg, boots, skin; everything.
But it could've been worse, he reminded himself while tearing up the fabric of the nearest jacket. It could've been worse, he reminded himself as he wrapped the scraps around his wounded leg. It could've been worse, he reminded himself as he bundled Cissy up in the remains of everything else he had.
Jacket after jacket before finally covering that in the plastic sheeting they'd used to catch water for drinking. He fed her and coddled her until she'd fallen into a deep enough sleep that she didn't move when he set her down in the final jacket. That, he'd turned into a make-shift cradle. Attached it to various branches with rope and whatever else he could fine until she was laying on it in a way that she wouldn't fall if she rolled.
Admittedly, the thought of leaving her in the tree was something he would rather kill himself than have to do. He didn't want to leave her unprotected. But if everything went to plan, all the drama would be surrounding him and Darius so the Capitol wouldn't have to focus on anything else.
Eden settled a hand gently over her chest for a moment, tears filling his eyes. As they blended in with the mist dripping out of his hair, he let a few fall. Then he pressed a short kiss to her forehead, gritted his teeth, and began his descent to the ground.
It was time to finish the job.
•••••
His leg ached.
It had been just over an hour since he'd left Cissy in that tree. Each step he took away from her went against every instinct within him that was screaming to turn around and hide with his baby until Darius died of his wounds.
But he had spent the majority of his nights thinking of the way that sword had slid through Flora's chest. The way her eyes had widened as if she couldn't process what was going on. Her body crumpling to the ground.
The scene replayed over and over again in his mind until he no longer recognized his leg as the mangled mess it was. He hardly acknowledged it as it buckled with each step he took. Rage burned through him like a wildfire fire, fuelled by everything he had seen in his days within the arena.
He thought of Ivy and Volt, of Rin, of Lara and Beau and Flora and Cissy and the faces of all the lives he'd watched end. Of the moments that were supposed to have been beautiful and how they were turned nightmarish.
So yes, it would definitely be easier for him to wait it out, to sit in the tree until the final cannon went off. But he had made a promise that he had no intention of breaking. Only death was going to keep him from ending this with his own hands, just like he had promised Darius he would.
Hands curled into fists as he stepped carefully into a puddle of mud, silently willing it to not splash. To stay away from the wound that was likely beginning to fester already. But that didn't matter. Eden was only going to be in the arena until Darius was dead, and he had no intention of that taking more than the next handful of hours.
•••••
Rain had begun to splatter on his skin not much later, and while it had a cooling affect on his temper, he still felt ready to lash out. To scream and tear at his surroundings until the Capitol had no other choice but to end him.
But again, that would leave Cissy defenceless, and he could never do that.
So on he went, dragging his wounded leg through the damp earth until he came across exactly what he was looking for.
A clear set of footprints: a man forcing himself to carry on as long as he can.
Eden stared down at them for a moment, rage steeling him into complete and utter clarity. If someone as horrific and weaselly enough to haul himself through these final hours of the games, then he could too.
•••••
Finally, after however many hours of walking, he could see the faint shape of a man's body using trees around the edge of the cornoupia's clearing to hold himself up. Eden stalked closer to him through the shadows of the leaves, his heart thudding rapidly.
He gripped his knife.
Cissy is alone in that tree.
The closer he got the easier it was for him to see the blood coating the clothes of Darius' side. He could see the slash marks in it that the mutts had left. The way he was holding his side to try and stop the bleeding.
His baby would grow up with no mother and a useless, broken father because of him.
Eden moved forward slowly, ensuring his footsteps were as silent as possible on the twigs and leaves and grass.
He had a job to do.
He could see the details on Darius' clothes now.
He had a job to do.
The blood splatters on his neck.
A job to do.
The paleness of his skin.
A job.
Blood seeping through his fingers.
To do.
He closed his eyes for a moment, watching Darius stumble his way out of the trees and into the openness of the clearing.
Now it's time to do it.
Eden rolled his shoulders back. He lifted his chin and straightened his back and dropped his knife on the ground.
The Capitol always wanted a show for the finales, to make it so exciting it was unforgettable. So it would be remembered for years to come.
They wanted a spectacular scene, and Eden would give them that.
"I told you I would gut you with my bare fucking hands!" He bellowed, silently revelling in the genuine fear he saw cross Darius' face.
And then he was running.
Darius wasn't fast enough because of his wounds, and in under a minute Eden was on him. He tackled him to the ground and swung a punch to his face in order to stun him.
Then, he was at a loss.
Because he didn't have time for that Eden kept punching so the Capitol citizens wouldn't grow bored.
Then he was thinking about Flora, how she had trusted him to care for her and he hasn't. Of Beau, who had tried to go against all of his morals but just couldn't kill a pregnant girl.
Of Lara, who's every look in her final moments told him she would haunt him until the end. Of Rin, who had been even more of a child than the rest of them.
And he lost it.
Edens hands gained their own kind of sentience and were clawing and ripping at flesh that turned red in their wake. Vaguely, he could hear the screaming from around him. Could register the weak hands desperately trying to get him off but he was too far gone from his mind or morality to care.
The screaming grew louder and louder and louder, reaching its crescendo at an ungodly decibel until it was cut off with a spray of blood.
Then silence.
Ears ringing, Eden slowly sat back on his hunches. He stared down at the mangled corpse beneath him, damaged beyond belief.
Damage that he had caused.
He looked down at his hands, at the blood that lathered them so thick he couldn't see the tone of his skin beneath it.
The blood on his hands was...
Eden looked away.
The body on the ground was pale now, but the cannon hadn't gone off which meant it's heart was still beating. But he couldn't bring himself to watch it die.
So he rose up onto his feet and wiped his surprisingly sturdy hands onto the front of himself. He stared down at the body now, watched as it's chest lurched in an attempt to take in a breath, and had to turn away.
Eden walked off the killing field with eyes empty of all hope, humanity, and happiness. Mist and tears rolled off of him, ignoring the boom of the cannon that echoed through the forest around him.
With his heart in his throat and blood pouring from the scratches on his leg, he stalked back into the wilderness to get his miracle, doing everything in his power to ignore the haunting words that chased after him. "And the winner of the 70th annual Hunger Games is; District 10's Eden Koyle!"