Author's Note: Just a quick note, in case you're interested (yes, I'm back, hello!) - over on my tumblr I've been doing some more writing, which will probably not get posted over here - if you're interested, my tumblr's the same name as my fanfiction pen name! Simple!
Warnings: Character Deaths (obviously. This is a Hunger Games AU, it'd defeat the object if no one died), Violence (although not explicit), brief mention of sexy times (you have to squint and tilt your head slightly) and slight spoilers for the first Hunger Games book (in that the Hunger Games exist.)
Blaine Anderson had never been one for luck. He hated animals, and was lumbered in the one District where he was expected to deal with them daily (unless you counted District 4, but there was something inherently different between catching a fish in a net and chasing a stubborn sheep around a field for three hours). He'd been picked on, bullied, and generally teased for as long as he'd been in contact with other children. Overall, the odds had been decidedly not in his favour.
It wasn't that much of a surprise, therefore, when his name was called out at the reaping for the 67th Hunger Games. If anything, he was surprised that his name hadn't come up sooner.
What angered him, more so than his own reaping, was that Brittany Pierce, the sweetest girl in all of District 10, had been called, and not one person had stepped forward to volunteer for her. He hadn't expected somebody to volunteer in place of him, but he'd felt sure that, when his best friend's name was called, that somebody would step forward. But they hadn't. Brittany hadn't seemed fazed, however, smiling and waving happily at the relieved children as they were hastily escorted onto the train that would take them to the Capitol.
"Blaine, we're going to the Capitol," Brittany said excitedly, holding his hand as they watched the fields fly past through the window.
Their mentor, a man named Will, further convinced Blaine that the odds were not in his, or Brittany's, favour. It seemed rude to ask this man how he could have possibly won his own Games, but some of the advice he was giving them - "Avoid the Careers, at all costs... Just... Hide somewhere, till it's all over" - was giving Blaine a good idea.
Blaine refused to watch the highlights of the reapings on the television in their cart, because he didn't want to see his own face staring back at him when they got to the District 10 reaping. He didn't want to see the faces of the twenty-two other kids who were out for his and Brittany's blood, like wild animals.
After all, he'd see them tomorrow.
Their stylists, a pleasant enough woman named Shelby and a wide-eyed woman named Emma, went down the slightly controversial route of dressing them all in leather for the opening ceremony - Blaine refused to tell Brittany why leather was relevant to their District, the last thing they needed was for her to cry during the parade - but black and brown leather doesn't draw the eye, and they were generally overlooked by the crowd. As always, District 1 drew the largest cheer, but Blaine couldn't blame anyone for that - even from a distance, the tall pale boy and tiny brunette were almost blinding to look at. Blaine and Brittany passed around the track with barely a second glance from anyone in the crowd, but as Blaine was too busy staring in awe at the boy from District 1, he couldn't really bring himself to care.
"Um, hello," a voice said behind him, causing Blaine to jump. He turned to look at the speaker - an obscenely tall boy, who was stood next to a pretty, dark-haired girl with a large grey bow in her hair. They, too, obviously didn't have the best stylists, and were actually wearing papier-mâché models of coal, attached by straps over their shoulders. Then again, everyone remembered the year the stylist from District 12 made the tributes parade naked and covered in coal dust.
"Hi," Blaine said cautiously. "Not wishing to be impolite, but why're you speaking to us? Most people stick to their own Districts, you know."
"Blaine, don't be rude!" Brittany admonished, stepping forward with a slap to Blaine's shoulder and a smile at the boy and girl. "Hello! I'm Brittany, and this is Blaine."
"I'm Finn," the tall boy said gratefully. "And this is Harmony. District 12."
"It's a pleasure to meet you!" Harmony said excitedly. "This is sort of exciting, don't you think?" Blaine raised his eyebrows disbelievingly. "Not the Games themselves, that part is horrible, but the rest of it - the crowds screaming your name, the food, the colour! I'd love to live in the Capitol, wouldn't you?"
"Um, not really-" Blaine began; Finn grabbed his arm and pulled him away slightly.
"Look, dude, I get it, okay? I'm as uncomfortable with this as you are - I don't want to make friends, because I intend on getting Harmony home. But I can't keep her safe by myself, so, I figured... I could make some allies." He said the last part in a whisper, and Blaine frowned.
"And then what, Finn? Kill Brittany and me when it gets to the end, and then kill yourself so she can win? The Games don't work that way, and you know it." Finn looked shocked.
"What, I - no! If we become allies, we're not going to kill each other," he said decidedly. "You get it, right? I see the way you look at Brittany, like she's too naive and friendly to see the world like it really is?" They both looked over at Brittany and Harmony. They were talking to each other excitedly, drawing odd looks from the other contestants who were firmly sticking to their partners. Blaine could see the Career tributes, in particular, looking at both Brittany and him confusedly. "So, we help each other - I help you keep Brittany safe, you help me keep Harmony safe. If we all inexplicably make it to the end... We'll deal with that when we come to it." He held his hand out seriously for Blaine to shake. "Do we have an alliance?"
"Why not?" Blaine said, shaking Finn's huge hand.
His first run in with the Careers didn't happen until their second training day - on the first, Blaine had avoided them at all costs, sticking to the edible plant station. Finn had proven himself apt at throwing a spear, and Harmony had shown Blaine how, if you knew how, you could dig anywhere there was vegetation, and find water. Sure, it'd be dirty, but they were all old enough to remember the year the Gamemakers hadn't included a source of water, and they'd watched the tributes die of dehydration.
Brittany... Was Brittany. She was agile, and fast, but she seemed more preoccupied with talking to the other tributes - so much so that, by the end of the first day of training, Blaine found that the young tributes from District 6, Sugar and Rory, and Tina and Mike from District 9, were all promising him that they wouldn't kill him or Brittany, to begin with.
Because that's what most of these promises revolved around. 'We won't kill you... At the start.' Because everyone here had a goal - to get themselves home, or to get their tribute partner home. No one was interested in letting a tribute from another District win.
On the second day of training, however, the Careers had seemingly had enough of this apparent camaraderie between the other Districts. The Tributes from 2 and 4 stood before him, glaring down at him with perfectly beautiful faces.
"So," the girl from 2, Santana, said, examining her nails. "We have a proposition for you, hobbit." Blaine raised his eyebrows.
"Your innocent, happy-go-lucky facade? It's fooled the other tributes, and we think you're secretly the one to watch," the boy from 4, Jesse, said. "So, we want to extend an invitation to you to join the Careers."
"Excuse me?" Blaine spluttered. Sebastian, the boy from District 2, smirked.
"Bless him; this adorable blushing boy thing he's got going on is both convincing and super hot. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity, kid."
"What about the tributes from 1? Surely they'd be more useful?" Blaine said. They all scowled, and Blaine took a step back.
"Apparently they think they're better than us, and brushed us off," the girl from 4, a stunningly pretty girl called Quinn, said angrily. "No matter, though, they'll be dead on the first day."
"So, what do you say, Shorty? You want in?" Santana said invitingly.
"I... Sorry, guys, but I have my own motives for this competition." The Careers stared at him; he was faintly aware of a snigger coming from behind him.
"You have got to be kidding me," Jesse said incredulously. "You're from District 10; you should be jumping at the chance to join us."
"Look, the way I see it? Even if I did join you, you'd just kill me anyway - I think I'll take my chances." As he turned to walk away, he caught the eye of the girl tribute from District 1, who was giving him an approving smile, before she flounced away with a swish of dark hair.
Blaine sighed as he walked back over to Brittany. He was well aware that he'd just made four highly dangerous enemies in the Careers - he'd have to hope that their vendetta against the tributes of District 1 would be greater than their hatred of him.
"So, Blaine," Shelby said as they waited in the Launch Room. The interview hadn't gone well for Blaine - he'd been too preoccupied with thinking about the previous interviews to really engage with Caesar Flickerman. Brittany had been talking during the interviews with the tributes from District 1, so he hadn't caught their names, but the tributes from 2 and 4 already had the crowds of the Capitol in the palms of their perfectly manicured hands. Thankfully, Brittany, with her natural charm and likeableness, had also drawn a large cheer from the crowds.
Hopefully, she'd get sponsors.
"Shelby, a pep talk is the last thing I want or need," Blaine said wearily. The outfit they had been provided was a simple combination of a long sleeved top, trousers, boots, and a jumper – Shelby had somehow managed to get her hands on a loop of fabric, and was hastily stitching it onto the back of Blaine's jumper, so he'd be able to carry a weapon – if he got one.
"I know," she said wryly. "You're not like other tributes I've styled. You're... Stronger. Most either come here too terrified to form coherent sentences, or so determined to win that they forget to see the bigger picture. I have a good idea of what you're planning, so... I hope it goes the way you want it to." She finished vaguely. If the Gamemakers got wind of the fact that he wasn't 'in it to win it'... Well, there was no telling what they'd do.
"Thanks, Shelby," Blaine muttered. She patted him on the back, and then gently propelled him back to allow the cylinder to close around him and raise him into the arena.
"Ladies and gentleman," the voice of Claudius Templesmith boomed. "Let the Sixty-seventh Hunger Games begin!"
During the sixty seconds they all had to remain on their platforms, Blaine avoided looking at the other tributes, in favour of examining his surroundings. There was a river close by - the Gamemakers had obviously learned their lesson on not letting their tributes dehydrate to death - and the Cornucopia was actually half-submerged in the lake the river fed into.
For once, luck seemed to be on Blaine's side - both he and Brittany could swim, and he knew only a few of the other tributes had that skill. He chanced a glance at Finn, who was stood on a platform close by, to see that he was staring at the placement of the Cornucopia in unadulterated horror.
The gong sounded, and many of the tributes remained on their platforms, unsure as to how to proceed. Blaine saw Jesse and Quinn, the tributes from 4, run for the lake, and when he saw Brittany sprinting towards the lake too, he ran in after her.
Their survival depended on being better swimmers than two Careers from a District that spent most of their lives in the water - Blaine really wasn't counting on their chances. However, both Brittany and himself inexplicably reached the Cornucopia in good time - as Brittany hesitated over the weapons, Blaine looked into the water. About halfway between the bank and the Cornucopia, Quinn was beating her small fists against the blonde boy Blaine had seen from District 8, who'd talked emotionally of his little brother and sister waiting for him back home – he was holding Jesse underneath the water.
"Blaine!" Brittany shouted. "I don't know what we need!" Blaine tore his gaze away, but not before he saw the boy lunge at Quinn, Jesse's body floating uselessly to the surface.
"Food! And a spear for Finn..." Blaine said, scouring the Cornucopia for anything else that would be useful. He could see many of the other tributes dithering on the bank, trying to decide whether the natural human tendency for floating would be enough to get them to the Cornucopia - however, far in the distance, he could just make out the tributes from District 1 sprinting into the dark shaded woods.
"Anything else?" Brittany said, shoving random items of food into a rucksack before shouldering it and looking at Blaine seriously. Blaine grabbed a suitable looking spear and, for good measure, a long knife. He put the knife into his belt, and threaded the spear through the loop of fabric on his back.
"I think that's everything." Blaine looked around at the banks - he could see Finn and Harmony hovering awkwardly. "Swim that way," he said to Brittany, pointing. "Finn and Harmony will cover us." Brittany nodded and dived in, Blaine close after.
Everything was going well - Blaine would use the word 'swimmingly' if he had been in a better situation with people that would appreciate the humour - when he felt strong hands push down on his shoulders, forcing him under. Panicking, Blaine thrashed around for a few seconds, before remembering that, actually, he had the upper hand in this situation, for once. Barely thinking about it, he unsheathed the knife and drove it into the leg of his attacker, before breaking the surface of the water, coughing and spluttering.
His would-be killer, a mohawked boy that Blaine was pretty sure was from District 11, was staring at him in shock - Blaine could only think of his relief that his first foray into the Hunger Games had been against someone he didn't know. Quickly regaining his wits, Blaine scrambled for the bank, Finn pulling him out of the water.
"Follow the river!" Harmony said, dancing from foot to foot, as if eager to be running. "Then we'll have a good source of water, and we can work from there!" They all nodded, content to listen to Harmony's reasonable advice, running alongside the river. After a few minutes of steady jogging the river entered the woods, which Blaine was grateful for - not only would they have water, but they had a good chance of finding food in the woods, and the trees would provide sufficient shelter from the heat of the sun.
"Can... Can we stop?" Harmony gasped after almost half an hour of jogging. "I'm really sorry, but... I'm not good at running, and I couldn't eat much breakfast this morning, and I'm starving."
"No problem," Blaine said hastily - he'd been feeling the strain too, but hadn't wanted to say anything. "Brittany, what food did you pick up?" Taking off the rucksack that she'd managed to keep hold of during the swim, she handed it to Harmony.
"This is some really good stuff, Britt," Harmony said thankfully as she perused the contents. "It'll keep for a long time, and it's all nutritious enough that we don't have to eat lots of it to stay healthy." Brittany beamed; Blaine looked in the rucksack, which was stuffed with energy bars, dried food, and even a bottle of putridly coloured energy drink.
"Brittany, this stuff is brilliant!" Blaine said, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.
"So, we're doing pretty well for ourselves," Finn said happily, taking a seat on a tree root. "We've got enough food to last us for days, we've got weapons, we've got water..."
"What about fire?" Harmony said thoughtfully. "It's probably going to get pretty cold tonight, and we haven't got any sleeping bags - not that I'm blaming you guys!" She said quickly, shooting panicked looks at Blaine and Brittany. "Without you, we wouldn't have any food or weapons, and we didn't exactly risk our lives at the Cornucopia to help you, so-"
"Harmony, it's okay," Blaine said, laughing. Now that they'd started, and started well, Blaine felt much better than he had in a while. "We're in the woods, right? We'll get some firewood, and there's bound to be something to start a fire with around here..."
"Okay, so, how about Blaine and I go looking for firewood? We'll take the spear, leave the knife with you two, and we'll stay within shouting distance, yeah?" Finn said, standing up and brushing the dirt off his trousers.
As Finn and Blaine began gathering wood - a learning experience in itself, considering neither of them really dealt with wood on a day-to-day basis - the cannons counting the deaths began to sound. They both stopped collecting to count.
"...I got nine," Blaine said.
"I got ten," Finn said. "I guess we'll know tonight, huh?"
That was when Blaine heard it - the crack of a twig. Finn appeared oblivious, continuing to talk; Blaine looked around nervously, before catching sight of the person who had made the noise.
Shrouded in shadow, the only thing Blaine could make out was the eyes - startlingly blue, and wide in terror. Blaine stared back.
"I mean, it's horrible, but I really hope all the Careers got killed during - dude, you okay?" Finn said, waving a hand in front of Blaine's face.
"Huh? I... Yeah," Blaine said, turning away from the eyes. "Guess I spaced out there for a bit. We should get back to the girls, though, it's starting to get dark." Finn nodded, and Blaine, as they walked back, shot a glance towards the eyes.
Now that he'd changed his angle of perception, Blaine could see that the eyes belonged to the male tribute from District 1, and he was still looking at Blaine, although now it was in shock rather than fear. Upon Blaine making eye contact again, the boy ran off, trampling through the undergrowth. Finn stopped, holding out a hand. Blaine tried not to smile at how much Finn resembled a picture of a meerkat he had seen once.
"Blaine... You hear that? Sounded like footsteps."
"It was probably just a wild animal," Blaine lied. He was saved from further speculation from Finn by yet another cannon blast sounding in the distance, and they both picked up the pace to make it back to their mini-camp.
He didn't know why he wasn't suggesting they chase after the boy - they were armed, after all, and he was relatively sure the boy wasn't, as he hadn't gone to the Cornucopia. Maybe it was because Blaine didn't want to turn this into a sport, like so many of the other tributes would.
Deep down, however, he was sure his reasoning wasn't quite so noble.
Blaine had always known he was... Different. Ever since he was twelve, when Brittany had given him a kiss on his birthday, he'd known. It wasn't such a huge deal, liking boys, as it once had been, as long as you kept quiet about it. And, as Blaine had never met a boy he had really liked before, it had never been much of an issue.
It was, partly, the reason he admired Brittany so much. She had once confided in him that she felt the same feelings when she'd kissed him as she had when she'd kissed a girl at a sleepover, and the simplicity with which she'd accepted this fact about herself made Blaine want to protect her from all those people that would hate her for it.
"Blaine!" Finn whisper-shouted, laughing. "Dude, wake up, you keep daydreaming!" Blaine smiled weakly, taking another sip of water. When they had arrived at camp, it was to find the girls perfectly safe, and fully relieved that the cannon hadn't been for either of them.
Now, it was almost as though they were having a campout; the four of them sat around the most pathetic looking fire Blaine had ever seen, talking and laughing. A campout under pretty sinister circumstances, but Blaine was trying not to think about that fact.
"The audiences must be so confused," Harmony said, chewing on her nutrition bar thoughtfully. "They've probably never seen tributes make friends with each other before."
"We just have to hope the novelty of it doesn't wear off, then," Blaine said brightly. "Because, you never know, it might earn us sponsors." Suddenly, inexplicably, as though he had some divine gift of prophesy, a parachute floated down from the sky, coming to rest in Blaine's lap.
"Open it, Blaine!" Brittany whispered excitedly, leaning forward to peer at it.
"We don't know it's for me-"
"It landed in your lap, Blaine," Finn said, grinning. "I think it's safe to say it's for you." Blaine shrugged - he was planning to share the contents anyway - and undid the tie.
"What is it?" Harmony said curiously.
"I have no idea," Blaine said, twisting the small, lumpy item in his hands. Finn, however, was pointing at it wordlessly.
"Words, Finn, you're gestures aren't helping!" Harmony said.
"That's a tent," Finn managed to gasp out. "My dad used to have one."
"Finn, I really hate to break it to you, but there's no way this-" Blaine held up the item, which was a compact cylinder of fabric. "Is a tent. I think the point of a tent is that you can sort of sleep inside it-" Finn, wasn't listening - he pulled the item from Blaine's outstretched hands, stood up, walked away a few paces so that he had a reasonable amount of space, and fiddled with the strings binding the fabric. "Finn, what're you-" Before their eyes, a tent - an actual tent, that would more than fit all of them at once - sprang up in front of them.
"As I said, my dad used to have one," Finn said, eyeing the blow-up tent critically. "But his was really old - this looks brand new." Finn looked at Blaine approvingly. "You've obviously gained yourself a very rich sponsor."
"No, we've gained ourselves a very rich sponsor," Blaine said firmly. "Who has made it their first object that we all get a good night's sleep."
"We can't all sleep at the same time though," Harmony said. "I think two of us should take watch, while the other two sleep, and then switch over halfway through the night." They all nodded their agreement but, before they could say anything, the anthem began playing, and the enormous screen descended from the sky. They all looked up as the photos began showing.
First was the boy from District 3; Finn groaned in disappointment that the tributes from 1 and 2 had survived the day.
"That was the boy in the wheelchair," Harmony said sadly.
"They reaped a boy in a wheelchair?" Blaine asked disgustedly; Harmony merely nodded. The boy was followed by his fellow tribute from 3, and then -
"Both tributes from 4?" Finn said, sounding half-shocked, half-gleeful.
"I knew Jesse had died - I didn't know Quinn had," Blaine said, staring up at Quinn's beautiful face thoughtfully. One of the tributes from 5, who Blaine didn't know the name of, had died, and then the screen showed the faces of both tributes from District 7.
"That means Rory and Sugar made it!" Brittany said happily, hugging Harmony. Blaine didn't have the heart to tell her that, if she wanted to go home, they'd have to die in the end - they all would.
The blonde boy from District 8, the one that had killed Jesse, had made it through the day, but his fellow tribute, a pretty black girl, hadn't. Then Brittany gasped sadly at the next.
"Oh, Mike... Tina will be so upset." They all stayed silent for a few seconds, thinking of the happy boy they'd met a few days ago. His face was followed by the mohawked boy that had tried to kill Blaine - Blaine had the horrible premonition that he'd been the cause of that particular death - and his fellow tribute, and then the screen went black.
"That was... Eleven, right?" Finn said; Blaine nodded. "Thirteen of us left." They all sighed. "I'll take the first watch with Brittany." Blaine looked at Finn shrewdly, who returned his gaze with one that was both sheepish and determined. Blaine couldn't blame Finn for not trusting him, because he hadn't been intending on letting Finn and Harmony watch over him and Brittany whilst they slept.
"Wake us up in a few hours," Blaine said simply, crawling into the tent, and almost immediately falling into a fitful sleep filled with fires that wouldn't light and floating parcels encasing bright blue eyes.
"We need to learn how to hunt," Blaine said. They'd slept through the night with nothing more horrific happening than Harmony getting a mosquito bite and, if Blaine wasn't terrified that it'd bring the wrath of the Gamekeepers on their heads, he'd say this particular Games was pretty boring. Then again, he didn't know how the other tributes were getting on - maybe they were having such a horrific time, that no one cared about the four tributes practically living in luxury in the middle of the woods.
"Why? We've got enough food to last us for days," Finn said lazily, rubbing his stomach contentedly.
"So, wouldn't it be better to learn now, on full stomachs, than to have to learn when we run out of food, when we're starving and irritable?" Finn acquiesced, standing up and brandishing his spear.
"Why don't we try spear fishing? We're right by a river, after all." The rest of the morning was spent taking turns in attempting to spear fish - at one point, Blaine was convinced he'd speared a fish, when he'd actually run the spear through the toe of Finn's boot, marginally missing Finn's foot.
"Guys," Brittany said worriedly, emerging from the tent at about midday. "Something's wrong with Harmony." Finn and Blaine, who'd stopped attempting to fish in favour of just sitting with their feet in the river, stood up.
"What's wrong? Is she crying?" Finn asked quickly.
"No, I think she's sick, but I don't know - could you come look?" Blaine and Finn rushed into the tent. Harmony, who had been fine a mere hour ago, was red faced and shaking.
"Shut the tent flap, would you? It's freezing in here," she said, teeth chattering. Blaine felt her forehead, hissing at the heat he felt there.
"What's wrong with her?" Brittany said, jittering nervously behind them. Finn lifted the hem of her shirt slightly, and swore loudly.
The tiny mosquito bite, the bite that they'd all laughed over that morning, had swollen to the size of a cherry, and was a horrific shade of green.
"That was no mosquito bite," Blaine said weakly. "She needs medicine, or she's going to-"
"What do we do?" Finn said desperately. "We can't get her to the Cornucopia like this, and it's bound to be guarded by the remaining Careers, and-" Blaine held up a hand thoughtfully. If it was guarded by the remaining Careers, that'd only be two of them, at the most, as he was pretty sure the tributes from District 1 were still in the woods.
"Let me go," he said, looking Finn firmly in the eye. "I'll go to the Cornucopia - just..." He looked at Brittany nervously. "If it comes to it, just... Just don't kill her yourself, okay? Protect her, for as long as you can." Finn nodded, biting his lip.
"Take the knife," he said. "And the rucksack, and however much food you want."
"If I'm not back in two days..."
"I'll come looking for you," Finn said. "Because if you're not back in two days and your face hasn't appeared in the sky, then you're not dead and you need my help." Finn's tone left no room for argument, so Blaine picked up the rucksack, emptied it of the majority of food and, with a goodbye hug to Brittany, set off back to the Cornucopia.
From a distance, the Cornucopia - still half-full - looked abandoned, but, as he got closer, Blaine could just make out a lone figure sat on the top, twirling a huge wooden club lazily. However, before he could hide himself, the figure stood up and waved - actually waved - at him.
"Blaine!" The boy called. "It's me, Sebastian!" Blaine blinked at this friendly welcoming. "How've you been?"
"Fine," Blaine called back, squinting up at Sebastian. "What're you... How're things?" He finished lamely; he could just make out Sebastian shrugging.
"So-so. I'm assuming you heard about Jesse and Quinn?" Blaine nodded. "Well, Santana went after the guy who did it and, as I didn't see hers or that guy's face in the sky last night, and there've been no cannons today yet, I think it's safe to say she hasn't found him."
"Oh, right. Well, I actually came to get something, so..." Blaine edged closer to the Cornucopia, not really believing Sebastian would let him go without a fight.
"Oh, really? What do you need? Food? Medicine? Weapons? Because there's literally everything here. You'd probably be set for months if you were up here." He paused, looking down at Blaine. "Our previous offer still stands, you know."
"Join the Careers?" Blaine said cautiously, stopping.
"Why not? We've got the Cornucopia. And you wouldn't be lumbered with deadweight allies."
"I'll... Yeah, no, I'll have to pass on that," Blaine said, trying to decide which direction to run in. Sebastian grunted.
"I really don't want to have to kill you, Blaine, just yet, but if you don't join us, I'll have no choice but to-" What Sebastian would have no choice but to do, however, Blaine never found out, as an arrow came whizzing through the air and pierced Sebastian's throat. Blaine watched in disbelief as Sebastian tumbled down the Cornucopia, before turning in the direction the arrow had flown from.
"Obnoxious twat," the boy from District 1 muttered, lowering his bow. He turned to leave.
"Hey, wait!" Blaine called, starting after him. The boy stopped. "Why did you do that?" Without looking at him, the boy said,
"I don't like owing people - now I can call us even." Then he ran back in the direction of the woods, heedless of Blaine's shouts. The cannon sounded twice, drawing Blaine away from the sight of the boy from District 1, and onto more pressing matters. Praying that the second cannon hadn't been for Harmony, Blaine ran towards the lake surrounding the Cornucopia.
"Is she okay, is she okay?" Blaine gasped, scrambling into the tent - Finn and Brittany cried out in shock as he entered.
"Yeah, she's doing alright - we thought - when the cannons-" Blaine shook his head.
"One of them was for Sebastian - the tribute from 2 - but I don't know who the other one was for." He rummaged in the backpack. "I wasn't sure what medicine to get, but this one smells like the medicine we use back home whenever the animals get bitten, so I figured it was worth a shot, right?" Finn took the medicine from Blaine and applied a generous layer onto the bite, which looked even worse than it had when Blaine had set out mere hours ago.
"Now what?" Brittany said after a long pause.
"We wait. We should try and get her out into the fresh air, it might do her some good," Blaine said. Finn easily picked Harmony up, drawing a pained whimper from her, and they were all outside just as the second parachute floated down from the sky, landing on the dirt.
"Brittany, you open this one," Finn said.
"It's some sort of spray," she said after she untied the string. "Hey, Blaine, your mystery sponsor sent us bug spray!"
"They're not my mystery sponsor!" Blaine said, eyeing the spray gratefully nonetheless. "It was just luck that the first parcel ended up in my lap last night."
"Well, whoever this person is sponsoring, at least we're not going to be eaten alive by any more mutant mosquitoes," Finn said, eyeing Harmony nervously.
Fortunately, their previous good luck seemed to have taken hold again as, within the next few hours, the flush on Harmony's cheeks dimmed from angry red to a dull pink, and she became a lot more lucid and pain free. By nightfall, it was almost as though she hadn't been bitten, aside from the coin-sized mark on her stomach.
"Shh, guys," Brittany said as the anthem began playing. "It's starting." A third and fourth cannon had gone off during the day, bringing the total of deaths up to fifteen. Blaine expected the first face on the screen to be Sebastian's, yet was shocked to see the face of the girl from District 1, who looked startlingly like Harmony.
"That's two more Careers gone," Finn said thoughtfully, but Blaine noticed that Finn didn't seem as jubilant at the girl's death as he had over the other Careers.
Sebastian's face was followed by the female tribute from District 5, and then Rory from District 6, before the screen went blank.
"What do you think happened? To Rory?" Harmony said quietly. She didn't seem to need an answer, however, as she muttered that she was going to turn in early.
Blaine was on guard with Finn - they'd both agreed that Harmony needed to rest, and Finn still didn't trust Blaine enough to leave him alone with Brittany - but Finn, who had already sat through one watch, had fallen asleep, effectively leaving Blaine on his own. When he heard somebody stumbling through the dark, however, he shook Finn awake.
"Huh, wha- Whozzat?" Finn muttered, flailing his arms around.
"Finn, wake up, there's someone out there, Finn!" Blaine hissed, nudging Finn until he was more awake. Then, Finn holding the spear, Blaine brandishing the knife, they both stood up.
"Please, don't attack me, I'm unarmed!" A voice called back desperately.
"That sounds like Santana," Blaine muttered to Finn.
"Prove it!" Finn shouted back. "Come out where we can see you!" She stumbled into the light of the dying fire, holding up her hands in surrender. Before Blaine could react, Finn had hurled the spear, and Santana had fallen noiselessly.
"Finn!" Blaine yelled, running towards her and kneeling beside her prone body. "She was unarmed, what were you thinking!"
"That you didn't go to the Cornucopia just so some tribute from 2 would win - that, no matter what, we'd do whatever it takes to get either Harmony or Brittany home alive!" Finn shouted back, but he looked horrified at his own actions too.
"You killed her!" Blaine said, standing up and backing away from her body.
"I know, I know, oh God, what're we going to do," Finn said frantically. Blaine looked up to see the hovercraft that would take her body away coming closer.
"Get the spear," Blaine said quickly.
"What? No, I'm not going near her."
"You threw it, you go get it!"
"I'm not going near her!" They watched helplessly as the hovercraft raised Santana and the spear into the air and bore them away.
"We don't tell Brittany and Harmony what happened tonight," Blaine said decidedly. "As far as we know, Santana got into a fight with another tribute and lost." Finn nodded gratefully, and they both settled back to continue the watch, although Blaine listened far more attentively than he had been, praying that the boy from District 1 wouldn't come near them.
Blaine woke to a scream and a cannon, unaware of how long he'd been asleep. Finn was already standing.
"What's happening?" Blaine said, watching as the girls appeared from within the tent.
"I don't know - we should go look," Finn said.
"Finn, we have one weapon, and it's not exactly a long distance weapon!" Blaine shouted. "Who knows what's happening!" The girls began to question what had become of the spear, but Finn just looked at Blaine.
"Give me the knife - I'll go look."
"What - no, Finn, don't be insane," Blaine said, curling his fist around the handle of the knife at his belt.
"Dude, I have to do this - I have to help," Finn said desperately, eyes wide, and Blaine suddenly understood what this was about - this was about attempting to make amends for his killing Santana the previous night. Blaine handed Finn the knife, which he took gratefully.
"I'm going with you," Harmony said decisively. Finn glared at her.
"No, no, definitely not, you're going with Blaine-"
"Take me with you, or, so help me, Finn Hudson, I shall scream so loudly that the trouble will come to us," Harmony said stubbornly, folding her arms and glaring up at Finn. Finn sighed.
"I - fine. Blaine..." He looked at Blaine and Brittany. "Take care of her," he said, nodding at Brittany. Finn and Harmony ran off in pursuit of the scream, and Blaine and Brittany fled in the opposite direction.
They'd been running for a few minutes when Blaine became aware that Brittany was crying. He took her hand and pulled them to a stop.
"Britt?"
"I hate this, Blaine," she gasped out, her shoulders shaking. "I hate this so much, and I just want to go home, and I'm so scared, and now we've lost the tent, and the food, and you're going to kill me, and-"
"Whoa, no, wait, hang on," Blaine said furiously. "Yes, we've lost the tent, and the food, but who said anything about me killing you?"
"You're - you won't kill me?" Brittany said tearfully; Blaine pulled her into a fierce hug.
"Not if my life depends on it." Another cannon shot rang out, followed swiftly by a second; Brittany whimpered.
"Come on, let's go looking for some food," Blaine said bracingly, trying not to think about what the cannon shots meant.
Thankfully, Brittany fell asleep before the anthem played that night, when the faces of Santana, Sugar, Finn and Harmony filled the sky; Blaine, however, had not, and his shuddering sobs filled the night air. When the crack of a twig echoed amongst his cries, he couldn't even bring himself to care about his own safety, and just hoped that Brittany was sufficiently hidden amongst the bushes for his potential attacker to not find her.
"Blaine?" A voice called out quietly. "Blaine! If that's you, I swear to God, you make more noise than an elephant when you cry." Blaine sniffed pitifully, wiping his nose on his sleeve.
"Who's there? I'm armed!" He called out; the person snorted.
"No, you're not." The boy from District 1 stepped out from the trees. "Relax, though, I'm not planning on attacking you." Blaine slumped against the tree he was resting against.
"Honestly? I don't think I'd care if you did. I'm just so tired." Blaine sat up suddenly. "Hey, wait, you know my name." Maybe it was a trick of the moonlight, but Blaine thought he could see a faint blush on the boy's cheeks.
"Yeah, I do," he said defensively. "You were all the other Careers could talk about, it was always 'What's that Blaine guy's strategy, I don't understand, why is he attached to that girl's hip?' I couldn't not learn your name. Then, when you turned the Careers down, you were all Rachel could talk about - she kept insisting that we should join your alliance, even though alliances are a waste of time in this-"
"Rachel?" Blaine said.
"Hm? Oh, yeah, my tribute partner." Blaine vaguely remembered the tiny dark haired girl he'd seen during the parade, and her face filling the night sky.
"Were you... Close?" The boy shrugged and raised an eyebrow.
"As close as you can get to Rachel Berry." They were quiet for a few minutes, Blaine still sat on the ground, the boy still standing.
"I don't know your name," Blaine said eventually.
"Kurt. Kurt Hummel."
"Kurt," Blaine said slowly, feeling an indescribable thrill at the way it rolled off his tongue. "Well, Kurt. You got any plans tonight? Because I sure could use the company, and you've already said you don't plan on killing me." Kurt shrugged again, but settled down next to Blaine on the dirt.
"Question or memory?" Kurt asked. It was sort of a game they'd just created - as much as you could create a game in the middle of the night in an arena filled with people that wanted you dead - based on truth or dare, where 'question' would result in the person asking the other any question they wanted, and 'memory' involved the telling of a personal memory. It wasn't the most exciting game in existence, but it whiled away the hours.
"Question," Blaine said.
"If you could live in any District, which one would you choose?" Blaine thought about it for a few minutes.
"10." Kurt looked sceptical.
"Really? What about 1? Or the Capitol?" Blaine shook his head.
"I like 10, all things considered – I can't really imagine myself living somewhere else. Question or memory?"
"Memory," Kurt began. "Just after my Mum died, Dad decided to set up a shop, but he didn't really know what he wanted to sell, so he just got a bit of everything – camping stuff, nutrition stuff, you know, anything he could get his hands on. He's literally got everything in that shop, it's pretty cool. Question or memory?"
"Question," Blaine said.
"I'm running out of questions, um... Favourite... Colour?" Blaine grimaced. "Well, stop taking questions then!"
"Blue? Yeah, blue." His favourite colour had been orange before he'd been reaped, but he chose not to dwell on that fact. "Question or memory?"
"Umm... Question," Kurt said.
"Okay... How'd you get a bow? I watched you run from the Cornucopia that first day, and then you inexplicably had a bow on the second." Kurt grinned.
"Rachel and I spent years training ourselves in how to make weapons, in case we ever got reaped. We didn't plan on volunteering - neither of us were the type - but here we are, both reaped in the same year." Blaine didn't question the slight resentment in Kurt's voice, because that could lead down a very dangerous route. Kurt seemed to sense this, because he quickly responded with "Question or memory?"
"Memory. So... It was my fifth birthday, and what I wanted, more than anything else, was a skipping rope, like my best friend had gotten for her fifth birthday. Hey, don't laugh," he said good-naturedly as he perceived the small grin on Kurt's face. "It was an amazing skipping rope - not like all the other kids had, which were just ratty pieces of rope they'd found around the District - her parents had ordered it from District 8, so it was all soft, and the handles were smooth and... Look, it was an amazing skipping rope, don't question me on this."
"Not at all," Kurt said, laughing softly - Blaine had to fight the urge to drop his jaw in amazement at how stunning Kurt became when he laughed. "Do go on, I want to know how this ends."
"Well," Blaine said, shaking his head to try to clear it of the onslaught of thoughts about making Kurt laugh as much as possible. "My birthday came - and I hadn't been subtle about my want for this skipping rope, mind you - and I raced downstairs to see that my parents had bought me a very expensive toy car from District 3. I was the envy of every boy that came to my birthday party, but I was just so... Disappointed.
"Anyway, Brittany found me the next day on the field outside her house - she hadn't been allowed to come to my party, my parents didn't think she was a suitable friend for me to have - and she just... Knew. Right then. So, she looked at me, as seriously as one five year old can look at another, and said 'Blaine, I haven't given you your birthday present yet.' And I told her I hadn't expected her to get me a present, because her parents weren't anywhere near as rich as mine, but she just told me to close my eyes and hold out my hands."
"Go on," Kurt whispered, enraptured at Blaine's apparent knack for storytelling.
"I closed my eyes, held out my hands and, when I opened them, there it was - her skipping rope. I tried to make her take it back, because her parents must have paid so much for her to have that rope, but she told me that she wanted me to have it and that if I tried to give it back, she'd stop being my friend." Blaine smiled nostalgically. "I've still got that rope at home, hidden in a box under my bed."
"She sounds amazing," Kurt whispered. "Your friend, I mean. I've never had a friend like her. You must miss her." Before Blaine could respond, he heard a shuffling in the bushes.
"Blaine? Blaine! Where are you, Blaine?" Brittany's panicked voice came towards him, and he ran over to her.
"I'm right here, Britt, it's okay, you're safe," he whispered, rubbing soothing circles on her back.
"I had a nightmare," she whimpered. "I dreamt that you were dead, and that I was all alone, and-"
"Brittany, I promise you, I'm not going to leave you alone in here, okay? You're going home," she nodded slowly, before settling back down to sleep. When Blaine made his way back to the tree, it was to find Kurt staring at him.
"Is that..." He asked slowly.
"Yeah." Blaine said.
"So... She's your motive?" Kurt said, almost sadly.
"My 'motive'?" Blaine asked curiously.
"Everyone that does well in the Games has a motive - a reason they want to do well. Family they want to get home to, revenge purposes, lovers..." Kurt sighed. "Brittany's your motive."
"Yeah, I guess so," Blaine said thoughtfully. "I always said I wanted her to get to go home over me."
"Why, though?" Kurt asked, and Blaine thought he looked almost hungry for the knowledge. "What drives a person to value another's life over their own?"
"She... I don't know, I just think she'd be missed more, by her family, if she didn't go home. And I wouldn't be able to live with myself, if I went home and she didn't." Blaine looked at Kurt curiously. "What's your motive?"
"Such a personal question, Blaine!" Kurt said wryly, smiling suddenly and raising his eyebrows. "You sure you can handle the answer? For all you know, it could be that I want to get back to my string of girlfriends back home." Blaine tried to ignore the nauseating lurch of his stomach at the mention of 'girlfriends'.
"I'll ask you another night, then, when we've become such good friends that you'll have no choice but to tell me all of your secrets."
Brittany, in true Brittany fashion, had taken to Kurt instantaneously, and she spent the next few, cannon free, days demanding that he tell her stories of District 1, in exchange for anecdotes about District 10. Sometimes Blaine would sit and listen in, content to watch the two of them talk animatedly; other times Blaine would go looking for plants they could eat, forever grateful that he'd stopped at the edible plant stand during training. On what was possibly the eighth or ninth day, having come across a particularly pathetic looking fish that he'd found easy enough to spear with the knife Kurt had fashioned for him, Blaine sat off to the side, staring at Kurt and Brittany thoughtfully.
He'd never been a believer in love at first sight. All the matches he'd seen had either been from convenience, such as his parents, or love that had developed over a very long period of time - one of his favourite stories was how Brittany's mother had turned down Brittany's father five times before finally agreeing to go on a date with him.
Yet he couldn't explain the feelings for Kurt in any other way. Of course, his ultimate goal was to get Brittany home - that was unquestionable. However, he really did not want to have to be the one to kill Kurt, nor did he want Kurt to have to die. It was a pretty confusing emotional state to be in.
Of course, there was the issue that Kurt had pretty much told him that he was heterosexual, but as Blaine wasn't planning on being alive for much longer, this was nothing more than ironic, that the first and only boy he'd felt something akin to love for turned out to be straight.
The parachute arrived mid-morning, as Kurt was telling Brittany a story about when his dance lesson had conflicted with his martial arts class, and he'd spent the hour running between the two rooms, determined on being present in both classes. Blaine untied the parcel, finding a reasonable sized box of nutrition bars.
"You have sponsors?" Kurt said suddenly, appearing at Blaine's side.
"No, I just have this power where I can magically summon boxes of very expensive foods. Stick around, next time I might manage lobster." Kurt shoved Blaine's shoulder.
"Idiot." He eyed the box curiously.
"Want one?" Blaine asked; Kurt took the cherry flavoured bar that Blaine offered, but continued staring at the box. "What? They're not poisonous. I think."
"No, they're not poisonous. They're a speciality of District 1, though. Most pharmacies stock them, but they're pretty expensive. I think I've eaten two in my whole life, this one being the second." Blaine blinked down at the box, aware that he was holding a box probably worth more than the contents of his house. "You've obviously got some very generous sponsors, Anderson."
"I - why're people sponsoring me? I'm hardly a good bet, I haven't even killed anyone - well, killed anyone intentionally." Kurt opened his mouth to speak, when someone crashed through the undergrowth, screaming,
"You! I'm going to kill you!"
"Tina?" Blaine shouted, although he wasn't one hundred percent certain it was Tina - whereas Brittany and he had, so far, survived the Games relatively unscathed, Tina had obviously been through hell. There were dark circles under her eyes, her ribs were visible through her clothes, and she had a manic, depraved expression on her face.
"Blaine? Brittany? You two are alive?" Tina said slowly, swaying on her feet. "Back away from him, he's dangerous!" She screamed, pointing a shaky hand, cradling a gun, at Kurt.
"Tina, he's not dangerous, he-" Brittany began.
"He killed Mike!" She shouted, raising the gun to point it at Kurt's head.
"I... No, Tina, there must've been some mistake, Kurt wouldn't-" Blaine said, but Tina laughed shrilly.
"Really? Ask him - go on, ask him!" Blaine looked at Kurt, whose face echoed the expression Blaine had seen on it, all those nights ago.
"I - I didn't mean to do it! I thought he was a Career! He came up behind me and put a knife to my throat and - Blaine, I acted in self-defence, you have to believe me!" Kurt said desperately.
"Self-defence!" Tina laughed hollowly. "You murdered him!" Tina turned to Blaine. "Who're you going to believe, Blaine? This murdering Career, or the girl who agreed to join your alliance on day one?" He was saved having to answer, however, as he heard the bowstring hum and Tina fell, an arrow in her neck. On instinct, Blaine turned to look at Kurt, who was staring at Tina in shock, his hands bereft of a bow.
"Kurt is our friend, Blaine," Brittany said, passing the bow to Kurt, who took it slowly. "Regardless of what he may or may not have done." She sat on the ground a short distance away, subtly giving them the privacy Blaine wanted, once again displaying an innate sense of what Blaine was thinking.
"I... Blaine, I didn't want to, but-"
"On our second night, I watched Finn kill the tribute from 2 - Santana. During the Cornucopia bloodbath, I probably caused the death of the male tribute from 11, unless someone else gave him a worse injury than I did." He considered his next action briefly, and then Blaine closed a hand around Kurt's wrist. "Being in the arena doesn't make you a bad person, Kurt - like you said, we've all got our motives, right?" Kurt sniffed, and rubbed the hand that Blaine wasn't holding across his eyes furiously.
"Right. Of course. Sorry, I just... I don't want you to think I'm just another Career."
"I don't think that," Blaine said softly. Kurt looked at him, and the intensity of his gaze almost made him reel back.
"Really?" Kurt asked - Blaine didn't know if Kurt was consciously moving closer, but he was, and Blaine was moving in too, almost like they were magnets, pulling each other closer.
"Yeah," Blaine whispered. Kurt released a shaky breath, and Blaine could feel the heat of it on his cheeks - but there was overwhelming heat everywhere, in the air, on the ground, and surely this wasn't-
"Fire!" Brittany shrieked from somewhere that sounded far away. Blaine shook his head; fortunately, Kurt seemed to recover much more quickly, as he scrambled to his feet, clutched Blaine's hand and pulled him along behind him.
"Wait, where's Brittany?" Blaine shouted, looking around in desperation.
"I'm fine, Blaine," she shouted from somewhere up ahead. "Just keep running!" They dodged trees, Kurt never relinquishing his tight grip on Blaine's hand. Occasionally, they caught a glimpse of Brittany's ponytailed head bobbing in and out of the trees.
"They're herding us!" Kurt shouted above the roar of the flames.
"What?"
"The audience have obviously gotten bored, watching us play house in the woods, so the Gamemakers are trying to force us into conflict with whoever's left!" Blaine went through who was possibly left and, with a sickening lurch, realised that only the blonde boy from District 8 and themselves remained.
As suddenly as the fire started, however, it stopped, and Kurt and Blaine stood, panting for breath, looking at the scorched trees just behind them.
"Brittany?" Blaine called.
"Right here, Blaine!" She called back, skipping back happily to meet hem.
"So, we're obviously close to whoever's left - who is left?" Kurt asked.
"The boy from District 8," Blaine said, doing a quick count on his fingers to make sure.
"Really?" Kurt said in surprise. "Sam?"
"You know him?"
"Not really, but he seemed too sweet in his interview to make it this far," Kurt said. "Guess it shows that you shouldn't underestimate any tribute, because you never know which ones will surprise you." Kurt gave Blaine a look that he couldn't determine the meaning of.
"Blaine," Brittany said softly. Kurt was sleeping on the grass, and Blaine had offered to take the first watch, but was spending an embarrassing amount of time watching Kurt sleep.
"Go to sleep, Britt," he said kindly - her eyelids were drooping, but she held his gaze stubbornly.
"I need to talk to you."
"Can't it wait until tomorrow?"
"No," Brittany replied decisively. "Because Kurt's asleep, and I want to talk about him." Blaine sat up straighter.
"Okay, Britt, what's wrong?"
"I think he loves you," she said seriously. Blaine flushed darkly.
"Oh, you mean, he loves me like I love you?" Brittany glared at him.
"No, he loves you like you love him." Blaine opened his mouth to speak, but Brittany held up a finger to silence him. "Blaine Anderson, I know you better than any other person, and I've seen the way you look at him. I don't know why, but you never seem to look at each other at the same time, otherwise this whole problem would have been sorted out days ago." Blaine put his chin in his hands.
"What does it matter how I feel about him?" He refused to acknowledge what she was saying about the Kurt's returning those feelings, because he was sure that wasn't likely. "In case you haven't noticed, Brittany, we've been thrown into the Hunger Games, and it's entirely possible that we'll both be dead within the next few days." Brittany sighed, sat up, and shuffled over to Blaine until her knees were touching his.
"Blaine. Love is... Love isn't something you can count in days. It doesn't matter if you've loved someone for one day or ten thousand days, you either love them or you don't. It's still magical, no matter how long it lasts and it'll hurt just the same amount when it ends, if the love is real." She rested her forehead against Blaine's. "So, I demand, as your best friend, that you tell Kurt how you feel, because he's lying awake over there, too stunned to move." Blaine almost head-butted Brittany in his haste to move.
"You - you knew he was awake?" He spluttered, standing up ungracefully. "How long has he been listening?" He turned to Kurt's still form. "How long have you been listening?"
"I'll just be over there," Brittany said, grinning happily, before taking a seat on a nearby rock and turning her back on the two of them. Blaine walked around so that he was looking down at Kurt's face - his eyes were wide open and his cheeks were red.
"A... A while," he whispered. "Since I heard Brittany say my name." Blaine sat down next to Kurt, staring at him desperately.
"A-And? Was she... Did she..." Kurt smiled tremulously.
"Blaine, it was always you. I tried... I tried so hard to not see you, but you were always there, everyone was always talking about you, and you were so, so different to anyone I'd ever met - but once we got into the arena, I thought it'd be okay, that your kindness would mean you'd get picked off that first day, and I wouldn't have to spend every day in agony over whether or not you'd lived... And then you saw me. In the woods. And you let me go, and I just..." Kurt sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "I knew. Then. What I felt for you. So I followed you, tried to keep you safe."
"That day at the Cornucopia," Blaine said in realisation. Kurt nodded.
"I followed you, wondering what on Earth would possess you to be so idiotic as to walk right in the path of the Careers, because I didn't know, then, that you weren't... You didn't care about surviving the games." Kurt scrambled to sit up, taking one of Blaine's hands in his own. "I have done everything I can to keep you safe, and I'm just... I'm so scared, Blaine, of what's coming, and-" Blaine lunged forward, pressing his lips against Kurt's.
It was messy, desperate, teeth clashing and hands clutching at hair and shirts, but Blaine never wanted to stop, he could quite easily spend the rest of his life doing this-
Kurt pulled away first, his lips swollen and shiny, stretching into a smile.
"The people watching on their televisions are getting quite a show," he said breathlessly, staring at Blaine's lips.
"Let them watch," Blaine replied, leaning in to kiss him again.
In the end, they had a full night to themselves. After they watched Tina's face fill the night sky, Brittany had excused herself, her face contorting with unshed tears, and she'd refused Blaine's offer to sit with her while she cried. So, Kurt and Blaine spent the whole night learning each other's bodies and minds, trying to cram in a lifetime of love into what little time they would have together.
When the sun rose, they pulled on their clothes. Brittany emerged from the cave they had found just as Blaine was pulling on his shirt; she smirked knowingly at him, and Blaine smiled sheepishly back.
"So, what's the plan?" She said. "There's only so many days we can play Happy Families until the Gamemakers send another wall of fire after us-" She stopped, staring at something behind Blaine.
Sam was stood, looking at them, looking almost as crazed as Tina had.
"I really didn't want to have to kill any of you," he said almost pleadingly. "You all seemed the nicest, and I prayed it wouldn't come down to me." Blaine wasn't sure how to respond - he couldn't exactly ask Sam not to kill them, because then they'd be locked in this inescapable four-way impasse, and would have to let the Gamekeepers chase them around the arena with all manner of horrors until only one of them was left.
"Sam, there has to be another way," Brittany said softly.
"No! You don't understand, I have to get home - my family... They can't get by without me! My younger brother and sister, they'll starve if I don't go home! I... Please, if I win, they'll be fed for life, I can't-" Suddenly, several things happened at once - Brittany took a tentative step closer, and, almost as if on impulse, Sam pulled the trigger. Blaine watched in horror as Brittany fell to the ground, as the cannon shot sounded almost immediately afterwards. He stared at Sam in shock, who looked was staring at his own hand as if he couldn't quite believe what he'd just done.
Blaine could suddenly understand what had happened to Tina - he was filled with rage, so much anger, and sorrow, and she'd had a week of this hurricane of emotions, and he was just in so much pain, and he wanted to curl up and cry somewhere, or kill someone, anyone -
"I'm so, so sorry, Blaine, I really didn't want to do this-" Sam turned the gun on Kurt, and Blaine's anger suddenly went white-hot - he wrenched the bow from Kurt's back, pulled out an arrow, and had shot Sam before he'd even had the chance to steady his aim.
"Blaine, oh God, Blaine, what have you done, Blaine-" Kurt babbled, holding his white face in his hands.
"I - Kurt, he was going to kill you!" Kurt stared at Blaine through his fingers.
"Yes, Blaine, and you should have let him!"
"Kurt, I wasn't going to let him kill you, I love you!" It was wrenched from him – it felt so different to all the times he'd said it during the previous night, so much more desperate and final. Kurt span on the spot, a choked sob coming from his mouth.
"Blaine, you're not looking at the bigger picture, now we're the only two tributes left, oh God, oh God-" Suddenly, Blaine understood.
One of them was going to have to kill the other.
They stared at each other, barely acknowledging the cannon shot for Sam's death. Then, Kurt ran at Blaine, throwing himself into his arms, sobbing freely.
"Do it, do it, I want you to live, please, Blaine," he gasped, clutching handfuls of Blaine's shirt.
"No, Kurt, I only wanted to get this far to get Brittany home, I'm not going home without her and you, don't do that to me, please-"
"What about my motive, Blaine? What if I never planned to go home either? What if, all along, from the moment you let those two tributes from 12 form an alliance with you, I planned to do everything I could to make sure you got home, because such a good person as you didn't deserve to die? Doesn't that matter, Blaine?" Blaine could feel himself trembling, could feel the hot tears on his cheeks, could feel himself breaking.
"I'm not going home without you, Kurt, I-" They were interrupted by a parachute gently landing on the ground next to them. "Oh my God, now?" He asked incredulously, questioning the sanity of his sponsor. He untied the string, but was stumped by the inconspicuous bottle of pink liquid that resided in the parcel.
"I - I know who your sponsor is, Blaine," Kurt whispered, staring at the bottle. Before Blaine could respond, Kurt had lunged for the bottle, gasping his thanks loudly and repeatedly, and was downing the contents of the bottle. He threw the bottle to the ground with an almost comical smack of his lips.
"Kurt, what was that, what did you just drink?" Blaine shouted desperately, snatching the bottle from the floor to try to ascertain its contents. Kurt smiled happily.
"That was enough poison to kill a person of extraordinary health and fitness. As I have none of those things, it's safe to say that I'll be dead in a few minutes."
"Kurt, don't lie to me, what was it really?" Blaine said, trying to laugh but emitting nothing more than a choked noise.
"Oh, Blaine," Kurt replied, stroking Blaine's cheek with a long finger. "Thank you. So much. For everything." He sank to the ground and Blaine followed, pulling Kurt's head onto his knees.
"I didn't do anything, Kurt, please, don't, I don't want to live without you, please-"
"Blaine, you did... So much." He looked at Blaine through half-closed eyes. "Promise me that you'll live. A long life. Dying wish. You have to do it now."
"Please, Kurt, don't make me-"
"Question or memory?" Kurt said abruptly.
"Kurt, no, I don't-"
"Blaine." He replied stubbornly. "Question. Or memory."
"I - oh, question."
"Tell me a story? You and Brittany always told such beautiful stories..." Blaine gasped for breath as Kurt's eyes closed, but when he slowly opened them again, he scrambled for words, any words.
"Once, there was a beautiful boy from District 1, who utterly enchanted a poor, oblivious boy from District 10. They loved each other for as long as they both lived, and no other person ever came close, and please Kurt, please don't leave me, I can't-" Kurt stared up at Blaine incredulously.
"Blaine, that was the worst story intended for distraction that I've ever heard," Kurt said faintly. He took a series of shallow breaths, before asking quietly, "Can you sing?"
"I - Kurt, I'm really not in a singing mood-"
"I think I'm entitled to it, considering how awful your story was. Please, Blaine." So, he sang. He closed his eyes and sang, and he had no idea what he was singing, but it eased the wrenching feeling in his heart ever so slightly, so he sang louder.
When he opened his eyes again, Kurt was smiling up at him, eyes filled with tears.
"Thank you," he whispered. He closed his eyes, took a final breath, and then was still, the smile still on his face.
Author's Note: In case you were terribly curious, the playlist for writing this is entitled 'Cry, bitch, CRY' and involves such classics as 'Fields of Gold', the reprise of 'I'll Cover You', 'A Little Fall of Rain' and the theme from 'Schindler's List'. Thirteen of these songs on repeat, apparently, does not equate to a happy story.