A/N: Basically unedited with an abrupt ending. I might add more later and put it here; I don't know. Full crossover featuring Caesar, Mags, Finnick, and Annie from THG and Jesse, Finn, Klaine, and Quinn from Glee.
The frilly woman on the stage smiled. I hadn't bothered to learn her name; it was her first year doing the reaping. I'd learn it in time. "Ladies first," she announced brightly, making her way towards the glass reaping ball. I chanted silently in my head that it wouldn't be Quinn or her little sister Emily. My thoughts payed off.
"Kathryn Golde," the woman on stage announced. I sighed in relief as the girl—easily the most well-fed and strongest seventeen-year-old in District Four—made her way up the steps. She brushed off the guiding Peacekeeper's hands, knowing the route to the stage after having spent so much time playing on it when we were younger. Kathryn smiled broadly and faced the audience.
"And now the boys," the chipper lady on stage announced. She crossed the stage and dug around for a name. Once she had one, she made an extremely slow trip back to the middle of the stage. I wished that it wouldn't be me or him.
"Blaine Anderson," the high Capitol accent read, and I froze. Blaine's hand, which I had been holding over the seventeen-year-old and sixteen-year-old barrier rope, squeezed mine.
"Don't do anything stupid," he whispered in my ear. He let go of my hand, kissed my forehead, and walked slowly up to the stage. I couldn't have done anything, anyways. I was frozen completely.
I don't remember much else of the reaping itself. I remember small details, like the Mayor stuttering during his speech—which was always saved for last in our District—and how Blaine, being Blaine, had refused to shake Kathryn's hand and had instead bowed respectfully to her. Mostly he didn't touch anyone but me.
Once we were let go, I made a beeline for the Justice Hall. I was one of Blaine's few goodbyes—both of his parents were dead and his brother lived on the other side of the District.
"Blaine," I sighed as I saw him. I felt his strong arms wrap around me as I sank into his chest. I felt more than heard him sobbing, one hand stroking my hair while he whispered what I thought to be comforting words into my forehead. I don't know; I never heard them.
"You have to come back," I whispered finally. I looked into his teary eyes and my hand automatically moved to my wrist.
"Your token," I stated quietly. I handed him the bracelet I had taken off—a thin rope chain held in place by a tiny anchor, with two bronze heart-shaped charms. Each was a locket. One had my picture, one his. I secured it around his wrist.
"I love you, Kurt," Blaine choked. "I'll do whatever I can to come back to you, okay?"
I sniffled and nodded. "Okay. I love you."
Blaine smiled. We sat on the couch, wrapped in each other's arms until the Peacekeeper came for me.
"See you soon," I heard as the door shut behind me.
I really hoped he would.
I suddenly had an idea. Finnick, the tribute mentor, was walking toward the car that would take him, Annie, the other mentor, the escort, and Blaine and Kathryn to the train station. I spotted him in the crowd and tried to get his attention.
"Finnick!" I called, waving him down. "Finnick!"
"Kurt, right?" he asked as I fell into step beside him. I nodded and grabbed his arm to stop him for a moment, pulling him out of the crowd.
"You have to make Blaine your priority," I hissed. His eyebrows shot up questioningly and I continued. "That Kathryn girl can survive off a goddamn puddle if she has so much as a nail. Blaine doesn't have that kind of training or skill. He's good-looking enough that if—" I shuddered a bit at the word, "—he survives the bloodbath you'll be able to charm your way into getting him sponsors if he gets a score anywhere above a three in training. Kathryn will ally with One and Two, but Blaine doesn't like other people enough to trust them with his life..." I trailed off for a second, but snapped out of it when Finnick tried to pull away. "Please?"
He looked at me for a second before nodding. "Okay. I promise." I sighed in minute relief and let him go, watching him look at me one last time. Blaine caught my eye from behind him and winked. I laughed at his expression for a moment before remembering that I shouldn't be laughing when my boyfriend was going to be sent away with a one-in-24 chance of coming back.
By that time, though, he was gone.
~o0o~
"Morning, Mags," I greeted the old victor a few days later. After the reaping, she'd hired me to help her out. I don't know why; maybe because working my job at the docks was getting tedious and I was getting sloppy. Maybe she felt sorry for me, seeing as my boyfriend had just been sent away for slaughter. Maybe I was just good company while Finnick and Annie were away. I don't know; I never asked.
"Morning," she responded. On second thought, it might have been the fact that I was one of the few people who understood her heavy accent, something between Capitol and Four, that she'd hired me.
I grabbed a duster off of a shelf, but the old woman shooed me away. "It's a day off for you, honey," she smiled. I nodded in response and stepped into the kitchen.
"Day off," she said again when I started pulling out a bag of flour. I laughed.
"I know, Mags. I want to make cookies." Mags nodded and sat at the table beside me.
"It's interview day, you know," she said quietly. I sighed.
"Yes, I know," I mumbled, scooping sugar into a bowl. One of the perks of my mother having been a baker was that, despite her dying half my life ago, I knew this recipe by heart.
"I've been talking with Finnick, boy. He says that your Blaine is very skilled." I looked up at her, cocking my head to the side.
"There was a spear in the training center. He threw it forty yards on target. Only Annie saw, but she told Finnick and said it was quite impressive."
I smiled and went back to my cookies. Blaine, ever the outcast, would almost always be found out in the tiny wooded portion of our district with wooden spears, aiming for the tallest leaf on a tree and always hitting it.
I put my cookies in the oven and cleaned my hands off, sitting on the couch. I really liked Mags' house; it was much more homey than I'd first expected. Even though it did have a bit of a Capitol look to it—fancy appliances, 24-hour electricity, and working water—she'd put a lot of the sea look in. The walls were almost the same sea-green as Finnick's eyes, the hardwood flooring was made out of driftwood, you could find sand in almost every corner (I was told not to vacuum it away when Mags first hired me; she said it reminded her of her family), and there were little anchors almost everywhere.
Thinking of the anchors, my heart broke a little bit. My hand went to my wrist, but my bracelet was in the capitol with Blaine, the one with the locket pictures of me and him.
Mags must have seen the look on my face, because when I looked up from my lap she was sitting beside me with a piece of paper in her hand. I unfolded it and a tear rolled down my cheek.
"Where'd you get this?" I asked, looking at the picture. It was slightly water stained, but I could still see Blaine's and my faces clearly.
"Your brother gave it to me. He said he had it with him when he was working on the docks, but that you could use it a whole lot more right now."
I had forgotten. Finn had gone through a little stage of depression when he'd found out his father died of a drug overdose, and I'd given him the picture because the reminder of having a family helped him. He always had it in his pocket.
"Thanks, Mags," I whispered. I checked the clock and stood up, tucking the photo into my pocket. I went back into the kitchen and took the cookies out of the oven, setting them on the counter to cool.
"They're going to give the training scores now, boy," I heard Mags say from the living room. I poked my head out and caught a glimpse of Caesar Filckerman's bright orange hair, laughing at it's ridiculousness. I sat on the couch again beside Mags and stared at the screen.
The boy from One got a 9, his female counterpart scoring 7, both from Two getting 8, and the boy from Three making 6.
"Nikki McDougal from District Three got a 5," Caesar announced. My heart raced as Blaine's face flashed on screen and I crossed my fingers.
"Blaine Anderson from District Four got a—oh my," the announcer cut himself off, sounding extremely surprised. "Blaine Anderson got a 10," he continued. My mouth dropped open and Mags hugged me around my shoulders as Blaine's picture winked cheekily and a 10 flashed in front of him.
"Oh my god," I squeaked. I didn't pay any attention to the other training scores.
"Your boy might actually have a shot at this," Mags said in my ear.
I smiled.
"Remember to tune in for the tribute interviews later tonight," Caesar reminded the audience. "Happy Hunger Games!"
"I'm going down to the docks," I said quietly. I packed the cookies into a plastic container and put a few aside for Mags, who shook her head and handed them back to me.
"Give them to your sister, boy," she suggested. I smiled, thanked her, and left the house quietly.
I walked the few blocks from the Victors' village to the docks, where all the fishing boats were currently being sent out.
"Jesse!" I called to the tall nineteen-year-old that worked with Finn's crew. He poked his head over the side of a boat and I threw the container up to him.
"Thanks, Kurt!" Jesse smiled. "I'll give these to Finn!"
"Some of them are for you, too," I offered. He laughed and tossed the container into the air, catching it easily.
"Really?" he chuckled. I smiled; Jesse's family lived in the lesser part of town, whereas mine was closer to the square. They usually couldn't afford treats like cookies.
"Yep. But share!" I called after him as he fled below deck. I shook my head and continued down the boardwalk to the end, hopping into the smallest boat beside Quinn.
Quinn wasn't my sister, but she was as good as. We had grown up as neighbours, in the same grade at school and best friends. I handed her a cookie out of my pocket and she smiled. I unhooked the boat and pushed it out into the open water.
Neither of us spoke, nibbling on cookies and staring at the horizon line. It was usually like this on our lazy days, minus the cookies unless they were stale or burnt. Quinn eventually ended up laying down on the bench with her head on my lap as I sang a quiet song to myself.
Listen to my lullaby,
Let the ocean soothe you to sleep.
Dream of peace, of a new day,
Of friends you wish to keep.
A faraway land where things are better,
Where you will stay all night,
And when you wake you will remember,
This paradise in light.
"I remember that song," I heard Quinn say softly. "My dad used to sing it to me when I was little."
That wasn't why I was singing the song. I used to sing it to Blaine all the time when we were little. His parents had just died in a boating accident and my parents had taken him in. He had been sleeping in my room and had a nightmare, so I sang him the song and we'd been inseparable ever since.
"Blaine's going to be fine," Quinn whispered, sitting up. I rested my head on her shoulder and closed my eyes.
"You don't know that," I breathed.
"You're right. I don't. But I know Blaine, and I know that he'll do anything to get back home to you," she sighed. She kissed my forehead and looked up at the sky.
"We'd better get back," she suggested. I did the same and we got back to the dock in about fifteen minutes.
"I have to go check on Emily, okay?" Quinn asked, helping me tie the boat back to the post. Emily was her sister, a little blond twelve-year-old with the bubbliest personality I'd ever seen. I nodded and hugged her.
"Thank you, Quinn," I whispered. She hugged me back and we went separate ways, her to the town and me back to Mags' house.
The old woman was sitting idly on the couch with a ball of yarn, weaving it around her fingers expertly and knotting it in such a way that if you pulled one end of it tight, the beautiful blanket it made would stay together, but if you pulled it at the wrong time, the whole thing would unravel. I sat beside her and watched her fingers work, slipping my hand into my pocket. My hand caught on something that hadn't been there before, and I pulled it out to see what it was.
My hand was tangled in a thin white rope with a charm identical to the one I'd had on the bracelet I'd given to Blaine, though this one was about two and a half times bigger. I opened the locket and saw a neat square of paper with "Open me" printed on it in tiny letters.
Finn told me you had a new picture, but didn't say where you were going to put it. I found this charm at the little jeweller's shop in town when you first made the bracelet. I guess they were originally sold in sets. I didn't know what I was going to do with it until Blaine got reaped. Now I know you need it more than I do.
~Q
I smiled and folded the note up again. Quinn must have slipped the necklace in my pocket when I'd hugged her. I took the picture of Blaine and I out of my pocket, folded it so it would fit in the charm, and secured it around my neck.
Mags looked up at me and smiled as I tucked the charm under my shirt. She continued with her blanket and I watched her, memorizing the pattern. I don't know how long we sat there, but eventually the clock struck eight and the tribute interviews began.
Diamond and Angel from One played sexy and seductive respectively, while Logan from Two was threatening and his female counterpart, a tiny thirteen-year-old, was absolutely adorable. Three didn't really leave a lasting impression. Kathryn seemed eager to get the interview over with, as far as I could tell, but nothing else really caught my attention.
Once Kathryn left the stage, Blaine was introduced and my eyes were glued to the screen. He was wearing a skin-tight white shirt, pants the exact same shade as the ocean, and a matching blazer with a sequined-on wave pattern around the bottom third. The only makeup I noticed was an odd colour of eye shadow that made the gold flecks in his eyes stand out.
He and Caesar had a little exchange on how much better Blaine said the seafood was here than in the Capitol, then Caesar asked a question to start the interview.
"You are quite a handsome young man," he commented, pausing for cheers of agreement from the audience. Blaine laughed and shook out his hair, which had been gelled back so only a few curls showed at the back. The movement loosened it enough that more curls sprung free, now making it look like he'd just come from a swim in the ocean. To put it short, he was hot.
"Is there a special girl back home?" Caesar prodded. Blaine shook his head.
"No, Caesar, there isn't," he smiled. "Sorry, ladies," he said to the audience in a mock whisper, "but I don't swing that way."
Everyone laughed and Blaine continued. "I do have a special someone back home, though. His name is Kurt, and I've lived with him since my parents died when I was six." He reached over for my bracelet and opened one of the charms. "Here's a picture of him."
The camera zoomed in on the photograph and I smiled. The audience sighed and swooned.
"Did you say goodbye to him?" Caesar asked. Blaine nodded.
"He was my only goodbye. I haven't seen my brother since I moved in with Kurt's family." More sighs from the audience.
"Well, if you win this thing, you can go home and be with him for the rest of your lives," Caesar laughed. The buzzer that signalled the end of three minutes sounded and Caesar and Blaine said goodbye.
"I miss him," I whispered to Mags, pulling Quinn's locket out from under my shirt. The old woman patted my shoulder and layed a finished blanket on me.
"Rest, boy," she whispered comfortingly. I nodded and layed my head down on a pillow, drifting into a restless sleep.
~o0o~
The next few weeks were hell. The cameras shooting the Games followed Blaine up until he reached the midpoint of the forest, his arm bleeding from a gash the boy from Two gave him. His District partner, Hanna, died in the bloodbath, along with both tributes from Eight, Nine, Ten, and Twelve; the girls from One and Six, and the boy from Seven. Half gone in a day, and I had no idea where my boyfriend was.
On the third day, the tributes from Three got in a fight and both died after giving each other major injuries. Still no sign of Blaine, but Kathryn joined the Careers as I'd expected. They took out another two on the fourth day, leaving the three of them, Blaine, the boys from Five and Six, and the girls from Seven and Eleven.
On the fifth day, something unexpected happened. The first shot of Blaine since the first day, and he was sitting with the girl from Seven.
"It must suck," Blaine mumbled around a mouthful of food. I noticed a silver parachute next to him, filled with fresh Capitol bread. Looks like Finnick took my advice, because that would be ridiculously expensive if he were spreading out between the two of them.
"What?" the girl asked. She had a handful of strawberries on a leaf in front of her, which she crushed with one hand and spread on her share of bread for a makeshift jam. Blaine swallowed his food.
"Not living near water. At least in my district, you're guaranteed a bath every day," he laughed. The girl shrugged.
"It helps to know what kind of tree is what in this kind of arena. And I can do this." She hopped up onto her feet and scrambled high into a tree, getting thirty feet up in seconds. Blaine laughed.
A rustling of leaves on the opposite side of the tiny clearing they were in brought both of them back to reality. The boy from Six stopped in his tracks as he ran up to them, fear very clear in his eyes until he dropped to the ground four feet from Blaine with a knife sticking out of the back of his skull.
Blaine's spear was through Angel's stomach before he could process the fact that there were other people there. The boy fell to his knees and two cannons fired, one for him and one for Six. Blaine stood frozen until the girl from Seven dropped to the ground, pulled out the spear, and dragged him away.
"Blaine! Blaine!" she said loudly, trying to catch his attention.
"Alexis?" Blaine responded quietly. "What just happened?"
"You killed One. We have to get out of here before—" Alexis was cut off by another cannon. And another. "Run!"
Blaine followed his orders and ran as Alexis grabbed a hatchet off of the ground, swinging it behind her just as the boy from Five threw a dagger into her chest. She used the last bit of her strength to throw the hatchet at her attacker, landing it clean in his forehead as a fifth cannon went off. And then a sixth; someone dying from battle wounds no doubt.
"Alexis," Blaine sighed. Her eyes searched around blindly until they settled on his and she fell to the ground.
"Blaine, it hurts," she panted. Blaine shushed her and kissed her forehead.
"You win," she whispered. "Make it fast."
And with an expert hand, Blaine snapped her neck. The final cannon went off and trumpets sounded. The hovercraft ladder dropped, Blaine held on, and the screen faded out to the commentators.
"He won," I whispered, staring at the TV screen. Finn's arms wrapped around me tightly and he whispered in my ear.
"Dude, we get our family back," he laughed.
A/N: ... Graphic. I'm also posting this as it's own crossover story, so look for updates on that, too. :D