The Hunger Games: Faberry Edition
She was just walking around, looking for shelter and water to clean up her wounded leg when she heard the crack of a twig. She immediately took her knife out and glanced around herself quickly, ready to attack at any given moment. She caught sight of something – or someone moving in the bushes. "Show yourself…" she demanded and waited until moments later the familiar face of the District 12 female tribute came out of the bushes with her hands up, looking terrified.
"P-please… I don't have any weapons…" the smaller girl begged for her life.
Quinn studied the girl, still holding her knife up.
The girl glanced down at Quinn's leg and then at her. "I-I can help you with that… I have medicine in my bag, you can check if you want." She said and quickly took her bag off, tossing it on the floor near Quinn, trying to gain her trust.
Quinn furrowed her brows as she scanned the bag then looked at the girl in front of her, "Open it and take everything out."
She nodded slowly and hesitantly walked to the bag, opening it and taking out her water tin, the small medicine cream, a dead rabbit and a sleeping bag. She took the medicine and held it up for Quinn to see, "See?"
She looked at it then at her and nodded, slightly lowering her knife. "Put everything back in the bag…" she waited until Rachel put everything back in the bag. "How have you survived this long without a weapon?" she asked.
She threw the bag on again and shrugged, "I've been staying in a cave… I only came out to check my traps for any game…" she admitted, gesturing towards the empty trap.
"What about confrontations with other tributes?" she asked suspiciously.
"You're my first…" she looked down. "I'm just trying to survive for as long as I can – I don't plan on killing anybody."
She quirked a brow at that. "Why not? Don't you want to go home?"
She shrugged, "I don't like violence… and I don't think I could ever kill anyone, in fact – I know I could never kill anyone, that would mean I took someone brother or sister, or son or daughter…" she frowned.
"I'm sure no one but the careers actually enjoying killing people…the rest of us just want to stay alive." She said, putting her knife in her boot again then took it out when she heard something in a distance, "You said you were staying in a cave?"
She nodded and glanced the way Quinn was looking at.
"Lead the way or we're both dead." She said and followed the girl from district 12 to the cave, watching as she cleverly covered it with leaves. "Nice place you found here…" she commented, glancing around the empty cave. She tilted her head when she noticed something on the wall, "What's this?" she gestured to the lines drawn on the cave wall.
She put her bag at a corner and bit her lip, "I've been keeping track of how many tributes have fallen…it's been 18 as of last night…" she said sadly as she looked down.
She nodded slowly, "I'm sorry about the boy from your district." She bit her lip.
She shrugged, "it's fine… it's not like we had any chances of winning this year – district one and three look worse than past years… it was only a matter of time, just like it is with me."
She glanced at the girl, "How do you know? You could win this…"
She scoffed, "Right – I already told you I don't plan on killing anyone. If I by some miracle become part of the final two… I'm dead; I won't be able to kill them. I've accepted that this is my ending, in this arena." She shrugged.
"What if it was just us?" she watched as the girl began working on her leg, wincing slightly.
She mumbled a sorry as she applied the medicine and furrowed her brows, "You would kill me and that was that. Happy Hunger Games."
"Not necessarily…" she trailed off. "I could let you win…"
She shook her head, "Why would you do that? You don't even know my name, why would you want me to win?"
She shrugged, "I…I don't know…you seem to deserve more than I do." She looked down, "You haven't and you don't want to kill anybody… you don't deserve to die here, I-I do… I've killed someone – I've become part of the Capitol's disgusting game." She sighed and looked at her after a moment of silence. "So…what is your name?"
She continued dabbing the medicine on Quinn's leg and glanced up at her, "Rachel. Rachel Berry, District 12."
She smiled a little, "It's nice to meet you, Rachel Berry." She held her hand out for her, "I'm Quinn. Quinn Fabray, District 6." She felt relieved when Rachel shook her hand and sighed, "I'm so glad I didn't attack you before…"
She furrowed her brows, "Why?"
"Because I wouldn't have gotten to know you – I meant what I said, if it comes down to us, I'm letting you win." She nodded. "I'll do what I can to make sure that happens."
"Quinn you can't—"
"I'm doing it." She nodded again, "I don't have anyone to go back to, you probably do, right?"
She nodded slowly. "My daddies…"
"See? I don't have anyone – my mom died when I was three and my dad was killed in an accident at work two years ago so I've basically been on my own…" she looked down at her wound.
"Oh, wow… Quinn, I'm so sorry to hear that." She frowned. "I can't imagine life without my dads…"
She shrugged then bit her lip and looked at Rachel, "And I'm sure they can't imagine life without you, so I'm getting you out of here."
"You can't make a promise like that, Quinn… the only people who have control over what happens in this arena are the gamemakers and I'm sure they're already plotting something to make sure you can't achieve that." She glanced around.
She chose to ignore that and glanced at the bag Rachel had, "So that rabbit… dinner time?" she glanced at her.
She sighed and nodded, "I'll start the fire."
They made dinner and put the fire out as soon as the rabbit was cooked.
"So what's life in 12 like?" she asked as she nibbled on the rabbit's foot, glancing at Rachel.
She shrugged, "Fairly boring… We go to school, try to make it through the day without dying of thirst, hunger or some disease…" she said.
"That sounds terrible…" she said, putting the bone down.
"No one ever said District 12 was the life of luxury." She sighed and leaned against the wall, startling when a canon went off. She closed her eyes momentarily and whispered out, "Nineteen…" she said and grabbed the sharp rock, engraving another line. "That leaves three other tributes besides us." She glanced at the entrance of the cave fearfully.
She nodded slowly in agreement, "This will all be over soon… surely they'll come up with some scheme to get us together." She furrowed her brows, "I'm going to have to think of a way to make sure you're safe when that happens." She bit her lip in thought.
"Quinn…" she sighed.
She looked at her softly, "I want you to get out of here, Rachel. God has a purpose for everything and I've realized my purpose for being here is to get you out – I'm going to do that." She nodded.
She shook her head, looking at her curiously, "Why are you so adamant about this? We barely just met a few hours ago…"
She pursed her lips and looked down, sighing, "Ever since the tributes' parade I've always had my eyes on you…" she admitted, "I intended on following you around, trying to keep you safe from the beginning and it was going fine until last night." She bit her lip harshly; unsure as to how Rachel was going to react to this, "I was keeping a close eye on you because there was another tribute nearby, the boy from your district – he thought I was going to attack you and I tried reasoning with him but he attacked me…" she shook her head, "I didn't have any other choice but to fight back…" she furrowed her brows and looked down, "I'm sorry."
She looked at her with wide eyes, "Y-you killed him?"
She nodded, "If I didn't he would've killed me and then no one would be there to protect you."
She shook her head and looked at her in disbelief, "But by the bush when you found me – it didn't seem like you knew I even existed."
"I was pretending so you wouldn't grow suspicious and so you would think I was some kind of creep for following you…" she frowned.
"But why? We don't even know each other." She said, shaking her head.
"In your interview when you said your daddy was sick and your dad was too weak and busy with work to help him a-and when you said you wouldn't be killing anyone I just – I had to do something…" she shrugged, "Like I said, I figured that was my purpose for being here."
She looked at her in disbelief and suddenly wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a tight hug, "Thank you…" she said genuinely, "but as hard as you try, there's no way for me to get out – I'm nowhere near as strong as they are and I'm not letting you die for me, Quinn. I wouldn't be able to live with that kind of guilt."
She hugged her back and shook her head, "You can and you will."
Just then, there was a noise from just outside the cave. Quinn immediate pulled away and placed herself in front of Rachel, grabbing her knife from her boot, waiting to see if she heard anything else. When she heard another noise, she whispered to Rachel, "Stay here…whatever you do – don't come out unless I tell you too."
"Quinn no—"
"I'll be right back." She turned and pecked her lips, "I promise." She nodded and turned back, leaving the cave quietly and surveying the area. Everything seemed calm and normal until she heard the shrieking scream come from the cave. She looked back with wide eyes and started running back, "Rachel!" she yelled and hurried into the cave, growling when she saw the girl from District two hovering over Rachel. She lunged forward and slammed herself and the girl into the wall, fighting and rolling on the floor with her until Quinn finally managed to puncture her knife into one of the girl's vital organs and with that the canon went off and the girl fell to the ground, motionless. Quinn pulled her knife out and stared at her blood-covered hand before hearing a whimper and looking at Rachel, rushing to her side quickly, "Shit…" she lifted Rachel's shirt to look at the hole in her stomach, "Hold on, Rach, let me get you the medicine – you're going to be fine." She nodded and reached for the medicine Rachel had used on her moments before.
Rachel whimpered again, feeling extremely weak, "Quinn…" she breathed out.
She had already started applying the medicine, feeling a sting of tears, "It's okay, Rachel…you're okay."
"Quinn…" she grabbed her face and made her look at her. "There's nothing you can do…" she winced, "she got me…"
"Rachel no; you're getting out, okay? I-I promised you would." She let a tear fall.
Rachel frowned and shook her head, "I told you not to, Quinn." She pulled Quinn down and kissed her softly, "It was only a matter of time…"
She started sobbing quietly and shook her head, "No…"
"Thank you…" and with that she was gone. The canon went off and the only living tribute in the cave was District 6's Quinn Fabray.