Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters seen here. They all belong to Suzanne Collins, and may Mockingjay be as good as I think it's going to be!

A/N: Let's pretend that the Gamemakers have a decent bone in their bodies, okay? And remember, this is AU, so I can pretty much do whatever the hell I want. So please don't tell me that I've got it all wrong or that it could never happen. Please.

What you Need To Know: Now, in this story, obviously Rue doesn't die and before Katniss does they put the rule in that there can be two victors and they leave it there and so there can be two victors. There also won't be any rebellion, because since there is no Katniss there is no spark. That's the set up. Enjoy.

Fields of Heaven

They're both staring at each other warily, unsure of what to say. They can hardly believe that this is actually happening, but it is. There will be two victors, and since both of them are alive that means that there is a chance that they might win this thing. They might win the Hunger Games. Together. That would mean so much to their District.

Rue, naturally, is the one who speaks first. "Hello. My name is Rue."

Of course, he already knows this, but it isn't like he's going to tell her that. She doesn't seem to recognize him, and that's probably a good thing. That means that they would start off fair and square and almost unattached. Almost.

"Thresh," he manages to spit out, knowing that if they really are going to have an alliance he'd better learn to speak, fast. You can't have a team with someone being unwilling to talk. That's just unheard of.

They look at each other awkwardly before Rue begins to speak again. "I think we'd better think of a plan," she says gently, knowing that there are people in these woods looking for them as they speak. There are only three other tributes left, Foxface (as Katniss called her) and Cato and Clove, who are the other two tributes left that can become a pair, and they are all looking to annihilate one another. Rue just hopes that they could destroy each other before she and Thresh have to destroy them. She doesn't want anyone else to die, but she now knows that in the Games death is inevitable.

Thresh nods and they sit on the hard ground and began to discuss strategy. Well, she begins to think the way Katniss would, if she was here, and she listens as Thresh roughly agrees or disagrees. She can tell that there is so much under the surface with him, and she can't even scratch his exterior. Not yet.

The truth is, both of them want to live, and the only thing that they have right now is each other. And they're just going to have to live with that.

oOo

Rue is staring into the fire thoughtfully, unsure of what to do or what to say. They just killed someone today, and she hasn't reacted. Thresh can tell that she wants to cry, but there is a strength that runs throughout her and makes her tears never appear.

They had both just fought a fierce battle, and Thresh is badly cut on one leg. He had been trying to protect Rue more than he was trying to protect himself, and that now showed. Rue, knowing a bit about healing, managed to create a kind of tourniquet from the cloth of Thresh's bag and it was helping to slow the bleeding. The blood should stop flowing by morning.

They are now silent, as they often are because Thresh can never bring himself to speaking whenever she's around. This little girl, Rue, brings out feelings in him that make talking, which for Thresh is already difficult, even harder. He has no idea why, because she shouldn't, but she does.

He adds more wood to the fire, hoping to make it smoke, because the fire is just a ruse to get Cato looking for them, like he knows that Cato will be. He and Rue managed to kill Clove (just after Clove managed to kill the girl from District Seven) and Cato wanted revenge. He wanted it badly, and he was thirsting for their blood now more than ever.

Thresh had noticed that Clove and Cato had some sort of bond (Perhaps they were friends? They were the same age.) before, and now he knew this for certain. They had a bond that he and Rue would never have.

Of course, Thresh would be manically furious if anyone ever killed Rue, but he was pretty sure that she would not be much affected if he was killed. Throughout the few days that the two of them had together they had become comfortable with each other, but there was no easy companionship between them like the one she and Katniss shared.

Thresh knew that he would do anything in his power to make sure that Rue won the Games if they couldn't win it together. Even if that meant defeating himself.

Rue had more to live for than he did. The only people that Thresh had was his Grandmother and his sister, Tilly. Rue had her six brothers and sisters and her parents. She also had friends and a life beyond what he did. All Thresh had, basically, was himself.

Because Thresh was less than articulate people automatically thought that he was stupid and they made fun of him, until he eventually threw them to the ground and told them to be quiet. He had no friends at the school, and his parents were both dead.

Most people just didn't see beneath the rough and large exterior, they didn't bother looking beyond his labored way speaking. They didn't know that Thresh was actually insightful. They didn't realize that he could actually feel emotions burning beneath people, and he could infer the real meaning in the words that people said.

But with Rue everything was so, so different. She had so much potential and goodness that she practically radiated it, even though she didn't know it. It would be worth it, to lose his life to realize that she would be safe.

This was a very powerful thing, and he knew it, especially about a girl that was three years younger than he was, but he couldn't help it. He had always been drawn to Rue, even though she probably had never so much as thought of him in any way other than the fact that he was one of the box carriers that was always assigned to her tree back home, if she thought of him at all.

Rue looked up at him suddenly, and opened her mouth, which made his thoughts scatter. She seemed so very small, her dark hair wet with sweat and her face shiny in the light of the fire. There were a few fingernail marks where Clove had clawed Rue's face. "I can't believe we did it. We killed someone."

Thresh is surprised. He didn't know what to say. The sad fact of the matter was that if Thresh felt threatened or that something happened to make him snap hard enough he could kill someone. Plain and simple.

"We had to."

Rue's eyes were suddenly on him, astonished. She didn't expect him to respond, and he often didn't. This was new, and she was actually enjoying this. She liked Thresh, even though she didn't know how he felt about her. He was very hard to read and he wasn't much of a talker, which made him a sort of mystery to Rue. He was interesting.

"I know," she said slowly, the way you might to an injured bird so that it wouldn't get frightened and try to fly away. "But that doesn't make things any easier." She knows that the whole of Panem is watching this right now, but to be honest she doesn't really care. The Games were going to end soon enough anyway, she is certain of this now.

"No," Thresh said, looking very much like he was struggling with something, but then he relaxed. "It does. I wouldn't kill anyone if I didn't have to, and I know that you wouldn't either."

Rue is shocked again. She had never heard him talk so much before, and the fact that she actually got a full sentence out of him makes her almost proud. Who knew that she would have that sort of effect on somebody?

Back in District Eleven she had seen Thresh before, he was the sort of person that was hard to miss, and she had always wondered about him. He was lonely, that much was obvious, and he was always alone.

Even on bonfire nights, which were the nights that all of the small communities that were within District Eleven got together and burned all of the trees they pulled out of the ground so that more could be planted, when everyone was sociable and loud, he was alone. He never had anyone to sit next to, no one to talk to. She always sort of pitied him, because she knew that she wouldn't want to be as companionless as he obviously was. Rue many friends and didn't know what she would do without them.

Thresh was surprised too. He had no idea that he had that sort of response in him, and the fact that he said it instead of simply thinking it like he usually had to be some sort of record for him. He found that actually saying the words aloud, to her at least, made them flow just that much easier. He liked the way that she seemed to be listening to every word instead of just half of them.

He would never be a man of many words, he knew that. Thresh would never be able to make eloquent speeches or be able to have a simple conversation with someone and he would never be able to small talk, but talking to her was actually as easy as talking to Tilly, or his grandmother.

He can tell that she's astonished as well, but he also feels an undercurrent of excitement, like a puppy that has made a new friend. Rue is probably used to conversation, which was something that Thresh has not been providing her lately.

"You're right. We could all kill if he had to." Rue looked down at her dirty hands. "I just want this to be over. Soon."

oOo

And it was. They devised a plan in which Cato (who did not know about Rue's ability to travel through branches silently) would be ambushed from above by Rue and Thresh would give the final blow.

Rue had winced whenever she heard the sound of Cato's bones breaking, but she knew that this was a necessary evil if she wanted to win. Cato would have unflinchingly killed her if he had the chance.

But then they had won. There was no rush of euphoria, no triumphant voices screaming inside. The only thing to be felt was relief, and there wasn't even much of that. Winning didn't feel as good as she thought it would. Rue was exhausted and sore and hungry and above all frightened.

Did the fact that they won the Games mean that they were bigger monsters than everyone else? Katniss would either be proud or displeased with Rue if she knew, but Rue couldn't tell which one it would be.

Thresh looked at her one last time before the hovercraft came to pick them up. She had matured mentally in the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, but so had he. He had not wanted to change, but he knew that this was probably going to happen. It was either he change or be dead. He'd pick the first one if he had a choice.

He did not feel good about killing Cato, but as he had told Rue before; they had to. To not do it would have meant certain death, he was positive. He would rather have the two of them win together than to win alone, though.

Having her with him made things just that much easier to bear.

oOo

The worst part of the aftermath, so far, had been the interview. Thresh had been unable to speak words that were longer than two syllables and Rue's voice shook with each word. Neither of them were very good at speaking in front of crowds.

But one question that Ceaser asks sticks with Thresh. "What was the worst part?"

Thresh has to think about this for a moment, even though he knows that all he will manage to get out is a short "I dunno." What was the worst part?

It probably should be the fact that they had to kill people, but to be honest Thresh doesn't care much about that. As he's already said before he would only kill if he had to, and he had to to win.

Rue's answer, in her quivering voice, is probably the best one. "The uncertainty," she said softly, looking straight at Caesar. "Not knowing what was going to happen next." Caesar then made some sort of funny comment and the crowd laughed as Rue smiled weakly. This wasn't helping her nerves at all.

But Thresh thought that she had a good point. The uncertainty that you felt the entire time really was the worst part. You weren't sure who was dead and who was alive until after night fell. You didn't know what the Gamemakers were thinking, and you just had to wing everything.

Even worse, for him at least, was the fact that he didn't know if Rue was alive or not. She had just disappeared soon after the Cornucopia. At first he didn't really care; he just wanted to get out of there alive.

As time wore on, though, he began worrying about her. He knew that she could take care of herself, obviously, she wouldn't have lasted long if she couldn't, but the fear niggled at the back of his mind. When he found out that she had formed an alliance with Katniss he had been relieved, but Katniss died too soon to really form much more than a deep friendship with Rue. There was no way for the two of them to really plan out ways to survive.

But then the Gamemakers had pulled out the two victors thing-which was probably due to Peeta and Katniss, who had died fighting together more than anything else- and he knew that there was some hope. When she had jumped down at him from the tree and stuck out her hand he knew that there was still something to fight for.

And fight he did. Towards the end of the competition he began fighting for her and her alone. He fought for Rue more than he fought for himself, which was the saddest thing of all. He wanted to win, of course, but he wanted her to win more. And she would never know.

oOo

Rue's birthday fell on the fourth day of the Victory Tour. She turned thirteen years old during a time in her life that wasn't exactly the greatest of times. In fact, it could be counted as one of the worst.

If she was at home things would be different. When you turned thirteen in District Eleven everyone celebrated because that meant that you could offically work adult hours, which meant an even longer time in the fields. You still had to go to school (schooling didn't end until eighteen) but you could work deeper into the night and you had to make due with less sleep.

Because of this, or maybe in spite of it (because thirteen was a very difficult year when it came to some things) you had a grand party. Everyone in the surrounding area came by and they pooled all of their food together and had a grand time laughing and dancing and congratulating the thirteen year old. Of course, there wasn't much food, but the people of Eleven tried to keep their spirits (which most of the time were gone) and morale up. The Peacekeepers just ignored them on these nights. The people of District Eleven were thought of as backwards when it came to traditions like these. They had another large party when a girl turned sixteen (which was the official age that you could get married or start getting courted), but that was a different story.

Rue's would have been very special, even in terms of her turning thirteen. Half the district would have came, because everyone knew and loved Rue. She had a certain spring in her step and was always cheerful. Thresh had never even seen her say a harsh word to anyone. The people of District Eleven rejoiced a person like Rue, because they were so few and far between. Most people were so downtrodden and wretched that having a bright spot like Rue sent their spirits soaring.

But instead of having a party at home Rue had to be stuck on a train and was forced to fake smile and say things that she didn't mean. She got to wear pretty clothes, true, but Rue didn't care about those things. Thresh knew that she just wanted to get home. He didn't blame her.

Thresh was uncomfortable in the fancy clothes that he was given to wear, he didn't like having to talk to the people in other districts that he knew hated him because he had won when their tributes didn't, and he disliked the Capitol people especially. They made his skin crawl with their funny accent and strange way of dress. The way they messed with their skin also made him uncomfortable. Thresh didn't like fake things, and he especially didn't like fake people.

He could hear her screaming at night. She had nightmares, they both did actually. But to get rid of his Thresh had taken to roaming the train at night. He did not want to see the images that were seared into his mind, and so he took to just trying to have as little sleep as possible.

Once he had walked by her door when she was screaming and he felt like a thousand ice cold knives were stabbing his heart. The sound of her wail was making him go insane. He wanted to do anything that he could to make her stop hurting. So he did the only thing he could. He woke her up.

He pounded on the door so hard that he knew that the whole train could hear the noise, and he knew that she would wake up when she heard it. When he removed his fist there was a dent on the door, but her screaming had stopped. He hoped that she wasn't even more frightened by the sound of his fist on the door and had wandered away by the time that she had stuck her head out the door to see what had happened.

Thresh tried to make Rue's birthday a good one. He told the staff, who seemed shocked that he could even speak, and they made Rue a large sparkling cake with all sorts of different colored icing flowers and the like. He had even managed to get her a gift and leave it outside her room.

Rue never knew who had done those kind things for her, because their mentor hadn't known when her birthday was, and neither had her stylist or the rest of the people that were assigned to her. But she thanked whoever it was silently for thinking about her. It had made things just that much more tolerable.

oOo

When they got home things got worse for Rue. For one thing her father was an extremely proud man. He was proud to the point of being absurd. It was one of the reason that he had refused to let Rue sign up for the terrasse, because that would mean that he couldn't support his family by himself.

So when Rue had offered to let her entire family live in the large house that she was given in Victor's Village and to let them have some of her money so that they didn't have to work anymore her father had gotten extremely offended. He saw the fact that his eldest daughter now had more than him as a bad thing and wouldn't accept a penny of what she offered. He didn't let her siblings or his wife take anything either, although every once in a while she would slip a few coins into her younger brothers and sisters pockets so they could go buy themselves a piece of bread or some candy.

She was left in a big house all alone. She knew that Thresh's sister and grandmother lived with him, and the other female victor, Iris, had her little sister living with her. Rue was the only one that was all alone.

Her nightmares got even worse when she was alone. Her screams echoed off the empty walls of her home and one night she couldn't take it any more, and she went outside. The air was warm and had the scent of peaches floating around in it, which was what was being harvested this time of year.

The smell comforted her slightly, because she knew that if things were normal she would be sleeping and would awake early so that she could work and she would be up in her tree singing. But instead she was outside of her home on a full moon trying to get rid of images that just would not go away.

Thresh was walking around the District, letting the warm air pierce his skin. He wanted to go home now just because he knew he had to sleep. His grandmother was worrying about him and the fact that he wouldn't sleep anymore and he had to at least try for her.

It was about two in the morning when he came across Rue sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest and tears running down her face. She looked even smaller than usual, but she did not look weak. Thresh now thought of her as one of the strongest, and best, people that he knew.

"Are you okay?" he asked, and Rue looked up startled. It always seemed to astonish her whenever he spoke, but it was always easiest to talk to her.

Rue's chin trembled but her tears stopped. "No, I'm not okay. I just, I just want it to go away, you know? But I know that it won't, not ever. It makes me sad to think about that. How do you deal with them? The nightmares, I mean. You don't seem to be bothered."

"I don't sleep," he admitted, sitting down next to her.

"Oh," she sighed. "I bet that's easier."

"Yes," he managed to get out. "it is. If you just avoid them maybe they'll go away." That was how Thresh dealt with things. He didn't speak or think about his parents death, because that would mean bringing them to the top of his mind and he didn't want to deal with that. The Hunger Games? He tried to ignore them as much as his mind would let him. It might not have been the healthiest method of trying to get over something, but it really was one of the most effective.

"Maybe," she said, looking at the moon. "Sometimes I wish that I hadn't won, that we hadn't had to kill those people. I wish that there were no Hunger Games. Life would be so different."

Thresh nodded, unsure of what to say to that. It was nice to be talking to her like this, even though it was about something that was so upsetting. He hoped that he was at least making her feel a little bit better.

Rue suddenly looked at him and smiled, her whole face lighting up, the tear tracts gone. "Thank you. For everything. I know I never told you this back in the arena, but I had this kind of feeling that I wouldn't have made it if you weren't there. It's so weird."

Thresh isn't sure what to say to that- what would you say to that?- but it was nice to hear all the same.

oOo

After that night the two of them had formed a friendship. Thresh's grandmother, at the boy's insistence, had invited Rue to breakfast the day after that night and they found out that they actually had a few things in common, even though they were so different physically.

For one thing they both loved music, and to sing, and they realized that Thresh actually had a great singing voice. Rue liked singing with him and his voice complimented hers in all of the right ways.

They both also liked to do the same sorts of things and Rue wasn't above getting dirty. Soon, seeing Thresh was the best part of her day. They spent at least an hour together a day, sometimes more but never less, and Thresh found it easier to speak in her presence.

She liked listening to Thresh. He never talked just to talk and he always meant what he said. That was refreshing after all of the double meanings and underlined thoughts that the Capitol, and the Hunger Games, had implemented on her life. Even her mother couldn't speak to her the same way anymore.

Maybe things would have gone on like that forever, with the two of them becoming friends and being able to tell each other everything, but the Capitol had other plans. That summer, which to Thresh had seemed more like a dream than anything else, the Quarter Quell was announced.

The surviving tributes in each district were to fight against each other in the Quell and this was one of the most horrifying things that the Capitol had ever been known to do. People loved their Victors, after all.

In District Eleven there were only three victors. Thresh, Rue, and a woman named Iris who had won simply by the skin of her teeth. Thresh knew that he was going back into the arena, but things were still up in the air for Rue and Iris.

"I'll go with you," Rue told him on one of their last days together before the reaping. "Even if my name isn't called. I'll volunteer for Iris so that I can go with you."

"No," Thresh said roughly. "No, don't. I don't want you to. Iris can take care of herself."

"But I'd feel better if..." suddenly Rue isn't sure what she was going to say. She'd feel better if she could be there to protect him? That's laughable. That she wants to be with him, and she'd feel better if they were going together instead of having him go by himself with someone that he hardly knows? Maybe.

"No." The word was said harshly this time. "If you aren't called I don't want you to volunteer. Please don't."

Rue looked up at him in wonder and he was staring at her earnestly. She could tell that he sincerely didn't want her to go with him. She can't imagine why on earth he might be feeling that, but he is.

All of Thresh's emotions go straight to his eyes. If you want a hint of how he's feeling you look in his eyes, and she can tell that he is having some sort of struggle inside himself. She suddenly feels terrible for him. He's being sent into the arena again when she might not be.

"I want you to promise me something then, okay?" she asks.

He looks at her warily and then nods. "If I don't go too I want you to win for me. Promise?"

"I promise," he tells her, knowing that if he promises her something he will try as hard as he could to keep it.

oOo

On the day of the reaping when Iris gets picked a huge rush of relief flows throughout him. He won't have to watch over Rue, he won't have to kill her. He won't have to watch her die. Thank whatever gods that are out there that this is happening.

He can tell that she wants to go and volunteer, but she won't because she had told him so. He knew that if she said that she wouldn't, she wouldn't. Plain and simple.

But he will win this time. He will win again. He's determined to, simply because Rue asked it of him. He had promised her, and even if that means more killing people he would do it.

Rue was going to be Iris' and Thresh's mentor and she isn't sure what she's supposed to say. She's only thirteen, and there is only so much that she can say. She lets Iris do the talking and she listens to what both the stylists say as well as everyone that will get her advice.

She will get Thresh all of the things he needs from sponsors if it's the last thing that she does. With Thresh it's easy, because most people have already seen his youth and his strength. They know he has a good chance of winning this thing again.

On the last day that she sees Thresh she tells him. "Remember, you promised." And then she gave him a light kiss on the cheek. She isn't sure why she did that, but it felt right. Thresh looked literally stunned.

"Promise," he told her, his green eyes bright. She smiled at him, a nervous and sickly smile, but a smile nonetheless, and hoped with everything that she had that he would win.

oOo

He wins for her, just like he promised. Even though he is half dead and they aren't sure what's going to happen to him he has won. He beat the female, Cashmere, from District One by the skin of his teeth. He had very nearly died. But he still kept his promise.

Rue had been watching the last moments of the games and she felt very uneasy throughout them. But she had been one of the fiercest mentors. She had been loud and aggressive, even though that normally wasn't Rue, because she wanted Thresh to win so badly. The sponsors looked at her determination, along with Thresh's size and had awarded them both with food and clothing and weapons. These things kept Thresh alive. Even though she wasn't in the arena with him she still helped save his life.

But now that he is safe and won't ever have to go into the arena Rue can finally rest. She has done her job well, and he has kept his promise.

Even though neither of them knew it yet, in the years to come Thresh would make Rue many promises and he would keep them all. They would grow together and become one, and they would take the scars of one another and try to heal them as best as they could. Rue would still be one of the bright spots in Thresh's life and they would eventually become far more than friends.

But at that moment all she knew was that the Hunger Games would never tear them apart again.

A/N: I love this pairing so hard, and I don't know why, because technically they aren't even a pairing, but I still love them. Feedback is appreciated, guys. I worked really hard on this.