A/N:

Rewatched Catching Fire yesterday and this idea hit me. This story can be seen as a side story taking place within the story 'The lion cube and it's kitten friends' or just be read as a drabble based off THG book 2, Catching Fire

Peeta, that sweet little boy from last years Hunger Games, he was in the waters by my feet, fighting off Angus from District 10 and trying not to die or drown all the same. But he was weak and Angus was big and strong and I knew he'd be dead soon if no one helped him. If no one killed Angus.

I couldn't afford to think that another sweet boy was going to die in order for this one to be saved.

"The boy! He's in the waters!"

I couldn't tell which boy I was referring to when I tried to scream, but it didn't matter because my useless old brain of course failed me, and all that came out was a series of hoars, garbled sounds that no longer held any real meaning.

But it was enough for Finnick to notice.

"Mags found Peeta!" He yelled, Katniss at his heels as they both came over to me, Finnick (my sweet, sweet Finnick) jumped into the waters to help.

I saw him separating Peeta from Angus, hitting him over the nose and knocking him unconscious without actually killing him (did he spare him because I was watching?) and then quickly climbing back out of the water, Katniss having already helped Peeta.

"We need to get outta here" He said, kneeling so I could get up on his back.

As I climbed up, I saw Johanna Mason, Blight Glade, Beetee Latier and Wiress Router fleeing into the forest at the North end of the island. I saw them, but I didn't make a sound. I couldn't. Their victories was still as clear memory as if they happened yesterday and I simply didn't have the heart to give them up, to ve tray them like I was supposed to.

I hoped I wouldn't have to see their faces in the sky tonight.

It happens fast, too fast for me to really perceive.

One minute, I'm riding on Finnick's back, my hand around his neck as I try not to fall off as he's walking forward and stumbling on uneven ground in the thick jungle.

The next minute the sweet little girl, Katniss, is screaming and everything's exploding and me and Finnick and the little boy, Peeta, is flying, and I simply can't hold on.

I land in a pile of leaves a few meters from Finnick, the green plants doing nothing to soften the blow and I can feel a searing pain in my back. I quickly forget the pain though, because as Finnick jumps up on his feet and run over to Peeta, I realise something happened.

He's dead

Katniss is screaming and hitting him on the chest and begging him to live, but my sweet boy Finnick simply push her out of the way, starting to do CPR. I breath out. Peeta is going to live.

I am grateful there's one less person I have to see die today.

After several hours without water, I could feel my strength starting to slip away from me, the whole world slowly growing fuzzier. All my energy I had left was going to keeping my arms wrapped around Finnick neck so i wouldn't fall off, but he had to notice it was growing weaker.

He was growing weaker too, it was getting harder him from cary me as dehydration was taking its toll on him, and he constantly had to grip my legs anew as we were both failing to hold on tight enough.

After Katniss climbed into the three and found out the the arena is a dome, he suggest we rest. It's late anyway and Katniss and Peeta is not much better off than us.

When he put me down I can see him sighing in relief and I feel ashamed. I wish I could walk myself, so I wouldn't have to weigh him down, but everyone knew I'd be too slow and stumble too much and as such I simply pat him on the arm and mumble a thank you.

I don't think he heard me or understood what I was saying but he smiled anyway and patted me back on the cheek.

That's when Haymitch gift land.

It's a spiral, I see it immediately, because I used a similar one in my own games all those years ago (though the only one who would know would have been Woof) and it means the fresh water we all desperately need is in the trees.

But I can't tell them and they don't know. They guess a thousand times over, Katniss even going as far as to asking if I could fish with it, to which I shake my head no, before they understand.

"It's a special! Like the one you use to tape Maple syrup! " Katniss suddenly say, finally having understood, and even though they can't see when they got their backs turned to me I nodded approvingly. They got it.

Katniss stick into a tree standing quite some away from our little temporary camp, and I uselessly try to get up to follow them to the three, but I'm so tired and lacking of strength that I can't even get up, and instead i fall right back down with a useless whimper escaping my lips.

Finnick notice my distress, smiling, hugging me, telling me to lay down and promising to get me some water himself since I couldn't move. I try to thank him but as always it mostly sound garbled and unintelligent. This time I think he understand, though.

Soon after we all had gotten our fill of water, my sweet little Finnick keeping his promise and bringing my fill with him back to me, it's time for the recap of the fallen tributes.

I don't want to see it, I really don't.

I had know every single one of these victors, from the moment they were reaped to their first time mentoring all the way to them being reaped again. To see their now aged faces, kept young only in my memory, shining on the sky, and to know that they are gone, it would be a heartbreak worse than mourning all the children that had never come back from arena. That never lived again.

I couldn't do it, yet I did.

At first, I pretended to sle