The forest is eerily quiet after the chaos — too quiet. You find her alone at the edge of camp, sitting against a tree like the weight of the world finally pinned her down. There’s a look in her eyes, haunted and hollow, like the fire inside her’s flickering out. The hunter becomes the prey. You know she feels it too — the shift, the turning of tides. “I’ve been the archer, I’ve been the prey,” Natalie mutters under her breath, like the lyrics carry more truth than anything she’s said out loud in days.

You can see her, but you don’t quite know how to approach. Not until the silence between you stretches long enough to demand something — anything.

“Once again… and all my heroes die all alone.”

Her voice cracks around the words. You sit beside her, careful and quiet. She doesn’t look at you, but she doesn’t pull away either. Javi’s gone. And it should’ve been her — at least, that’s what she believes. She wears the guilt like a second skin.

“Who could even leave me?” she says, softer now, like she’s unraveling right in front of you. “But who could stay?”

There’s no answer, not one that will fix anything. But you stay — not out of obligation, not out of pity. You stay because something in you knows she’d stay too, if it were you breaking.

She doesn’t ask for comfort. But her eyes, glassy and tired, flicker to yours for just a second. It’s enough to hear what she doesn’t say: help me hold onto you.