So, this is the second to last chapter. It will kind of summarise what happened to the alliance during the games. I have two song recommendations that kind of add to the atmosphere. They are 'I Always Wanna Die Sometimes' by The 1975 (don't listen to this one if you are easily affected by songs about death) and 'Before You Go' by Lewis Capaldi, but the piano version. I got a bit emotional writing this so I hope you enjoy it.
Jaemin felt the hot tears pour down his cheeks, his breathing rapid and unsteady. He cradled Jisung's lifeless head in his lap, the younger's dull eyes staring straight up into nothing. He screamed in pain, the emotional agony of the past days finally over taking him. He had no idea where Mark was, he lost the older as they were running from Donghyuck, but that currently didn't matter. The stab wound Jisung had received from Lucas last night had finally killed him. Jaemin had lost so many people he held dear to him.
Chenle had been the first to die in their alliance, speared by Taeyong whilst he had gone out with Renjun to find firewood on their sixth day in the arena. The other had died the next day from his own wounds that he had gained during the encounter. Kun never got over it, and Jaemin knew that, although he hid it well, Doyoung never got over Renjun's death either. The very next day Kun was killed by Jaehyun as the Careers found their shrinking group. That was when Mark had joined them. The elder had fought Jaehyun away from Jisung and ended up slicing his fellow tributes' stomachs open. It had been messy but appreciated by the alliance. Jaemin wasn't sure if any of them would have coped if Jisung had died that early on, not that it mattered now, Jisung was gone.
Mark had been welcomed into their group and protected them when Taeyong had reappeared, killing him with the help of Jaemin and Jeno. Two days later the feast had arrived and they all went together to retrieve their gifts. A huge mistake. They had been ambushed by Jungwoo and Xiaojun who at some point had teamed up. That was how they lost Doyoung. Jaemin still couldn't forgive himself for not being able to protect Doyoung properly, he completely missed Xiaojun throwing a knife into the District 3 tribute as Jaemin killed him. Jaemin still couldn't forget the peaceful look on Doyoung's face as he fell and the split second it took for Jungwoo to take advantage of Doyoung's death and slice clean through Jeno's leg.
Jungwoo had gotten away, racing in the metropolis of buildings as the remaining three and Mark had run to Jeno and Doyoung's fallen bodies. Jisung had been hyperventilating as he tried to stop the blood from gushing out of Doyoung's pale body and Jaemin held Jeno's head in his lap, stroking the older's hair letting the tears freely fall. Jaemin is still unsure what happened to Jungwoo, he must have been killed by Donghyuck, but what happened after Jungwoo ran away will stay with Jaemin for the rest of his life. Mark and Taeil discussed something that Jaemin couldn't hear, he had been too busy comforting a sobbing Jeno putting short kisses on his forehead and saying comforting things to his fake boyfriend. Before he knew it, he had been dragged away from Jeno by Mark. He thrashed and screamed in the olders arms but Mark never relented, crouching on the ground with Jaemin and holding the screaming boy tightly in his arms. Jaemin watched through the gap in Mark's arms as Taeil hugged Jeno and then, slit his throat. Jaemin had screamed, his voice ripping at his already hoarse throat he pulled himself out of Mark's arms but it was too late. The cannon had boomed. Jaemin remembers tackling Taeil to the ground and punching him repeatedly until Mark had pulled him off.
Jaemin can barely remember how Taeil died, the last memory he had of the oldest member of their alliance was watching him walk into the jungle of brick and never come back. The boom of a cannon and the appearance of his face that night had been the only confirmation of his death. After that the group of three had stayed close to the Cornucopia. They had hid for almost three days just waiting for Lucas and Donghyuck to find them and they did, eventually.
Now Jaemin had killed Lucas, Jisung was dead and Mark was out there somewhere with Donghyuck stalking them both. Jaemin hadn't stopped crying and was just about ready to accept death, when a pair of arms wrapped around his waist.
Knowing it was Mark, Jaemin turned into the other's warmth, ignoring the blood that was being smeared onto his already dirty shirt from Mark's hands. Mark pulled him away from Jisung's body and together they sat leaning against a grey wall holding each other and crying together. Jaemin had missed the cannon boom that signaled Donghyuck's death, but he didn't care, he simply enjoyed the time he had left with Mark. If you didn't count his kiss with Jeno (the memory still made Jaemin smile slightly), Mark had been his first kiss. The day after Kun's death Mark had stolen a kiss and they had been attached by the hip throughout the rest of the games.
They had kissed and slept together (not in that way) and held each other close.
"Jaemin look at me." Mark commanded. Jaemin lifted his head up to meet Mark's soft eyes and noticed an emotion he could not identify stirring in Mark's dark orbs. A light mist had settled over Mark's eyes, tears that were threatening to spill over. "Thank you, for everything."
Jaemin tilted his head confused.
"Mark what are you talking about-" He was cut off when Mark pulled him into a deep kiss.
They stayed connected like that until Jaemin felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. He pulled away and looked down to see a small knife poking out of his stomach and a deep patch of red that began spreading up his shirt, dripping onto his trousers. He gasped and looked up not bothering to hide the betrayal and hurt that he felt overwhelmingly. Mark had stabbed him. Whilst they were kissing. Thick streams of tears were dripping off Mark's sharp cheeks and Jaemin felt himself falling backwards, guided by Mark's hands. The older lay him onto the ground and stroked his cheek and Jaemin didn't have the energy to push him away. At that moment he hated Mark. The older one had used him to win.
All he could think about was his family. Minjae and his mother needed him. Where they watching. Watching as his breathing slowed, as his vision darkened, as his pulse slowed. He thought about his father, about Hyunjin and Soobin. Maybe dying wouldn't be all that bad, he'd finally get to see his friends again. Finally get to be with his dad. In that split second Jaemin wondered if they had grown up, if some how Hyunjin and Soobin had aged in whatever place they had found themselves after death.
Jaemin turned his thoughts to Jeongyeon, Jeonghan and his stylist team. His mentor and escort had done the best job of getting him sponsors, Jaemin was sure he would have died within the first four days of dehydration or starvation if people from the Capitol hadn't sent him food and water. He wondered how they would cope with both their tributes dying. And Kai and Jisoo and Tzuyu, would they cope. They had done so much for him and he was sure a few of his sponsors were down to the team, how would they deal with his death.
But when the light began fading, he looked directly into Mark's eyes and could see the pain and guilt he felt and the hatred seeped away. He smiled softly at Mark and whispered one last thing.
"I love you."
The boom of a cannon was the last thing Jaemin heard as his vision went black.
"And the winner of the 50th Hunger Games is District One's Mark Lee!"
There will be one more chapter after this and it is a kind of epilogue I guess. Anyway, thank you for reading Neo Games! I had a lot of fun writing it. The reason I left it short is because 1) I found it hard to come up with ideas for each day of the games, or even summarised versions and 2) I got a little attached to the alliance characters and it hurt me internally to properly write out their deaths. I will release the epilogue tomorrow, and also a kind of teaser for the next book I've already started writing! Thank you so much for reading!
