Sometimes your other half isn’t a lover. Sometimes it’s someone you would never expect. And sometimes, the other half of you is a shadow of who you could’ve been. That’s what Elliott was.

 The thing with my brother was he didn’t mean to be a bad person. He just had no concept of what it meant to be good. And when we were choosing the paths to go down, he strayed to the road less travelled, the one with weeds popping up from the gutter and litter in the road. The road that tends to be travelled alone and has a dead end. Elliott’s time had come. He’d reached his dead end. But it didn’t really make it any easier for me.

  I didn’t want to be his dead end.

 But life went on. And my soldiers grew stronger. And I warned them of the importance of devoting time to their loved ones when they could. To treat every day like their last. Because I didn’t want any of them to miss their last goodbyes. They’re important. I’d grown to know that. And the truth was, sometimes soon, they would be going into battle. And unfortunately, no amount of love can shield you from a bullet.

 I visited my brother every day. I hung on to the hope that somehow, death isn’t the end. That when I spoke to him at his graveside, he could hear my whispers somewhere else. Somewhere safe. And one night, while I sat with him, Uncle Drew came to visit too. We sat together on the wet grass, looking at his grave. We buried him near the bridge on the river where we went as children. Where I almost drowned. Where I saw him last before he left. Not every memory there was good. But with him, it was hard to think about good times. There were never that many, really.

 “How’re you holding up?” Uncle Drew asked me.

 “As expected. I use training as my crutch. It gives me something to keep my mind off….off…”

 “Stuff?” he finished for me.

 “Yeah…stuff. I just…I never expected life to turn out this way.”

   Uncle Drew lit a cigarette “It never does, darling. Not in our family. Your mother knows that better than anyone. Being picked for the Games, losing her best friend, half her family dead…you should talk to her about it.”

 “I’m giving her space. She needs it to grieve.”

 “I know. She’s just pushing everyone away again,” he sighed. He took a long drag on his cigarette “You know, some good has come out of all of this.”

 “Yeah?”

 “Finch.”

 I smiled grimly. I could have told Uncle Drew that Finch was torture. That listening to him sleep, lying awake in the dark every night, and not being able to have him, was killing me. But I didn’t.

 “Yeah. I suppose.”

 Uncle Drew patted my arm, stubbing out his cigarette on the grass and walking back to the District. When I got back later on, Mother sat alone in her bedroom, hugging her knees like a child. Clutched in one of her fists was Elliott’s old shirt. Any other day, I would have left her to it. But after what Uncle Drew had said, I couldn’t just leave her.

 I sat down beside her and leant my head on her shoulder. After a moment’s hesitation, her warm cheek pressed into my hair. She sighed heavily, like breathing was becoming difficult. I prised the shirt from her hand, and brought it to my nose. It smelt of him.

 “I miss him too. But, Mother. He didn’t belong here. He never did.”

 Mother took a long while before she nodded.

 “And, Mother. I know how much you’ve lost. I’ve lost so many too. But you and I…and Elliott too. We’re battleborn. We were born to fight a war. Whether it be against the Capitol or something else. Something spiritual. And we’re born to survive it. The pain isn’t going to go away. For either of us. But it will subside. We have each other. And you have Father…someday maybe I’ll have Finch. We have Uncle Drew, and I have my soldiers. We’re so surrounded by love, even if it doesn’t always feel that way. And now that I’m dealing with my pain, I have to help you with yours. I know you’ve been surviving this longer than me, but let me give you a hand. You need to stop dancing with the dead. They’re not coming back. Focus on the living. On me and the people you love. Only then will it become bearable.”

 Mother nodded, tears spilling over her sunken cheeks. She cried into my hair silently and I talked to her about Elliott. My best memories of him. My saddest memories of him. I told her about the things he said before he died, and how much he loved us, even if he didn’t always show it. And then when Mother stopped crying, she let me tuck her under the sheets like a child, and she fell asleep clutching Elliott’s shirt.

***

 A few days later, I was called to Coin’s office. She sat me down, pacing the room quietly.

 “Today, your troops will go through final testing. To check that they’re fit for battle,” she told me “And then you’ll be going to the Capitol.”

 “Even Finch?”

 Coin’s lips pursed at the mention of his name “Even Finch. At least we can see where his loyalties really lie in this war. I should hope they lie with me.

 I smiled “They don’t lie with you, President. They lie with me.”

 Before she could respond, I left the room. I had to say my goodbyes.

A.N. I'm so sorry for how short this is! It's sort of a filler chapter for what happens next. Buuuuut, I have exciting news for any fans of the Silence series! I'm starting to adapt the fanfics into an original novel (basically using the characters from the three stories in my own original plot) and I've posted the first chapter! It would mean so much to me if you checked it out! It's called Savage, currently, but the name might change later! It can be found on my profile, and its also in the external link at the side of the page! Thanks for being patient guys, uni is over soon then I can update more!