Author's Note: This one-shot was written almost a year or two ago. It's based on a non-canon and pure AU of Suzanne Collin's, The Hunger Games. It's a very short, tragic love story between District 2's female Career Tribute, Kali, and District 9's female tribute, Elizabeth. Not much detail, not much background history. I considered re-writing it and making it better, but I'm going to leave it as is. Regardless, I hope you'll enjoy it and leave critical reviews on it.

Safe and Sound (Megan Nicole and Tiffany Alford) :: www youtube com / watch?v=Wn-_MyJV37E&list=FLj2R2LNilPBfJvQB9JB_qfA&index=9

One-Shot. "The 6th Annual Hunger Games."

"BRANDON!"

Her blood curdling scream pierced through my ears so viciously that I had dropped everything I was doing and turned on my heels. All I could do was run desperately in the direction of Elizabeth's voice. The panic and fear had me shaking down to the bones when I hadn't heard her or Brandon screaming for help of any kind, and then my worst fear had come to life: the sound of the cannon.

"Please eat," I caressed Elizabeth's cheek, trying to get her attention but she didn't respond. Her eyes were vacant and all she had done for the last two days was keep to herself, and even though I couldn't blame her for falling apart… I missed seeing her happy.

As I caught sight of Dominic with the steel mace raised above his head, I realized he was about to kill Elizabeth as she tended to her brother's lifeless body. Without hesitation, I quickly launched one of my sickles in his direction with absolute force. The rounded, glistening blade had impaled itself into the fair-skinned boy's chest and I watched as he released the mace in his hand. It fell to the ground behind him at the exact moment his body had collapsed onto his knees.

I couldn't bring myself to look at Brandon's corpse just yet. Not until I finished off his murderer. As I approached the barely breathing Dominic, he looked up to meet my eyes and in that moment, I violently pulled the sickle from his chest. With one great burst of strength, I swung the curved blade right through his neck and watched as his head slid off right from his body.

"I'm fine," She whispered, though it was barely audible. Elizabeth glanced directly at me for a brief second and displayed the smallest of smiles as if she were trying to reassure me that she was okay, but she wasn't. Her younger brother was gone. It wasn't ever going to be okay.

"So," She said in a somewhat brighter tone, "how many are left?"

"Two," I replied solemnly.

I wasn't looking forward to running into Lance again. As a Career tribute from District 1, he was brutal and relentless, and he'd kill Elizabeth exactly the way I killed Dominic: without any remorse or hesitation. Elizabeth wasn't brought up like I was and what's worse is that she hadn't taken a single life yet. I didn't ever want her to experience killing someone but I think I was more afraid of the fact that she might enjoy it like I did. With Brandon dead, she was on the edge and the last thing I want is for her to become anything like a killer.

"Lance and Grant?" She asked, trying to verify the identities through me.

"Lance is brute strength," I said honestly in the hopes of scaring her. I didn't want her to do anything stupid. "He'll use anything and everything to get a hold of you, and it's your job to keep from getting caught. Once he has you, I can guarantee you'll be dead in seconds."

"It's not just me, right?" I heard her voice break as she turned to look me in the eyes. "He scares you as much as he scares me?"

"Yeah," I forced a smile as my mind wandered back on seeing Lance take the first kill of the game. Even though we were joking and poking fun at the other tributes, we didn't show a single one any kind of mercy. The way Lance had looked like a train running over a pedestrian was terrifying; he had snapped the boy's neck quickly and efficiently within the first ten seconds of the game.

Elizabeth took a deep breath and sighed before biting her bottom lip. "What about Grant? He's from the same district as you."

"Maybe but we're not friends," I said as she took a step closer to me.

"Seemed like it the first few days," She responded while closing the space between us.

"Yeah and then I ended up betraying them in favor of," I paused briefly to think of the correct word to use for her, "gentler company."

She stared at me for a moment, her eyes focused on mine before ultimately glancing down at my lips. I knew it might've been too soon but I couldn't help myself from stroking her dark brown hair and pressing my lips gently against hers.

Elizabeth's eyes slowly fluttered closed as she returned the kiss with a little more force than I had given her. Neither of us had pulled back or moved any further. We just stood both blissfully while the looming fog of unease pitted itself inside of our stomachs. Regardless of how our final showdown with Lance and Grant ended, there could only be one winner and we both knew that.

"And, here I thought, you were just fucking with me."

My hands immediately reached for both sickles resting along my belt as I spun around in place. As I faced the brute himself, I allowed my body to move on instinct and swung the dual curved blades skillfully in my hands.

"I'm pretty shocked to be honest," The words rang dryly from his lips. "I didn't expect a farm girl from District 9 to make it this far but here we are. An ill-fated girl being led by one of District 2's blood thirsty ravagers and my once good friend, Kali."

"We were never friends," I spat in annoyance.

"Right," He spoke with little interest, "why else would you say- and I quote 'Do what you want but I call that pretty one all to myself.'"

My grip on the hilt of the sickles became unbearably tight. All he had to do was come at us and I'd gladly take his head off just to shut him up.

I love you.

Her fingers brushed against my wrist tenderly, causing my grip to loosen on the hilts. I wasn't sure how exactly to respond to her touch while we stood only a handful of feet away from a mindless killer. Elizabeth's touch was sheer heaven, but when it was used on me, it could either give me focus or deliver a lethal distraction.

"GET DOWN!"

In the corner of my eye, I found Grant hiding between trees further away with a single spear in his left hand. But what gathered my attention was that fact that Lance had taken off like a madman and came charging head on for the both of us.

In one swift motion, I turned and shoved Elizabeth down onto the ground before rolling out of his trajectory. Everything had happened so fast and as I turned to look at Elizabeth, I found that she had successfully avoided both Lance's train wreck and Grant's spear. But it didn't help in the slightest.

Lance leaned over and pulled Elizabeth up by her hair, and it pained me to hear her scream like she did. Before I could even raise my arm, I watched in horror as he grabbed her with his other hand and savagely slammed the back of her head into the base of the tree. As soon as he dropped her, I felt the anger and the fear of losing her overwhelm me. All I wanted was Lance and Grant dead.

I brought my arms in quickly and dropped to one knee, taking a single deep breath before glancing at the both of them in opposite directions. In my fury, I launched both of my arms out and sent the sickles on their way before staring down at the dirt. The stinging pain in my eyes was unbearable and I'd finally known what emptiness felt like… to have nothing left to fight for and nothing left to lose.

Booooom.

That was one…

…

Two…

…

I opened my eyes when I hadn't heard a third. There was only silence that filled what was left of the arena and though I couldn't bear the thought of Elizabeth's enduring and surviving the blow to her head, my first instinct was to see if she was still breathing.

Scrambling and making my way over Lance's heavy corpse, I found Elizabeth lying in a heavy pond of her own blood. I dropped to my knees at once as she gasped desperately just to find her way to oxygen, but there was no saving her at this point. There was too much blood and a very precious speck of time to spend our finals moment together.

I carefully slipped one hand behind her head and helped her lean into me for support. She had closed her eyes as the last of her life slipped out of my hold and I reacted by grasping onto her lifeless corpse to desperately keep her with me.

The final cannon rang mercilessly through my eardrums and a cold-hearted message followed shortly after:

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the victor of this year's 6th annual Hunger Game.

Trembling in anger, I uneasily lowered what was left of my lover back down into her own blood and kissed her forehead one last time. I raised my bloody hands and wiped the tears running down my face with my wrist before bitterly pulling the sickle from between Lance's eyes.

"Consider this the first step to ending the bullshit," I spat in disgust as I rose and moved to Grant's body that rested against the tree he had hidden behind before coming out of hiding. With no gentleness whatsoever, I ripped the second blade from his chest as his corpse fell over with an echoing thud.

As I walked back to Elizabeth, I took a deep breath and kneeled before her respectfully. Hesitantly, I reached out and touched her hand before pulling back almost immediately. Her body was losing its warmth and that knowledge was enough to give me the strength I needed to end this year's Hunger Game without a victor to give the Capitol any kind of sick justice.

STOP!

"A-ah…"

I hesitantly looked down at the searing pain in my abdomen and found both blades hilt deep inside of me. Immediately, I had collapsed onto Elizabeth with heavy eyes. I didn't need to stab myself again. By the time I pull one of the hooks out, I would've disemboweled myself, but at least this way I could die alongside her and Brandon. I didn't have to relive each and every day tormented by the kids I had killed like the last eight victors.

I'd rather feel this darkness consume me and live in the pain of a million stabbings than live another second in their world.

.. So if this is what dying with blood on your hands feels like, then I can only hope that it was painless for Brandon and Elizabeth.