A/N: I'm not really sure where this came from. I just suddenly got an urge to write something from Foxface's PoV and this short, rambling one-shot was the product. I guess this is more movie-verse than book-verse, but it could work for either. Please R&R.
She waited for him to walk away, through the trees and towards where the river was, before darting out. She quickly assessed what food Peeta and Katniss had, her stomach growling at the sight of rolls and apples and cheese. Foxface hadn't eaten in days. Her pack had been useless in that aspect, giving her a dagger and some protection from the rain and whatever other elements that Capital would send at them before the end of this, but there hadn't been any food in it. With the career's food supply destroyed, there hadn't been much of a chance for her to find more food. Until she found Katniss and Peeta. They had to have food.
One hand was wrapped around the dagger, her head tilted as she listened for Peeta or Katniss even as her other hand hovered over the rolls. No. That would be too obvious if she took. They'd know someone was there. Her hand darted to the cheese, ripping off a piece of it and stuffing it in her mouth without a second thought. It was obvious, she realized as she swallowed the piece in her mouth, but not as obvious as a missing roll or apples. Besides, they could live without a bite of cheese.
Then her eyes drifted over to the plastic and the berries under it, her eyes narrowing. It only took her a few seconds to recognize them. Nightlock. She knew plants, flowers and berries and trees. Which ones someone could eat and which ones were poisonous. Her mother had taught her, and her brothers, all about that. You'd be dead in seconds from eating nightlock, it was one of the most poisonous berries that existed.
She didn't think. She just lifted the plastic, grabbed a few berries, replaced the plastic, and ran back the way she had come, glancing over her shoulder to make sure neither of the District 12 tributes were pursuing her. She didn't stop till she was a few hundred yards away, staring down at the berries in her hand. Why had she just grabbed poisonous berries? She couldn't eat them, they'd kill her…
And that was the point.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Foxface hated herself. She was supposed to win, she was supposed to go back to District 5 as a victor, supposed to embrace her younger brother, supposed to laugh when her older brother clapped her on the back and her father praised her for making out of that alive. She was supposed to live in the Victor's Village with her family, the family that would never have to worry about money and food or the Games ever again. She was supposed to live. She'd made it this far, made it when only one Career Tribute was still alive. She was in the top four because she'd been smart and stayed away from all the bloodbaths, using her brains over her brawn. And here she was contemplating suicide to get out of it.
Foxface wasn't stupid. She knew that she couldn't kill anyone. She wasn't strong. She'd never be able to kill Cato and Katniss would put an arrow through her before she could reach Peeta. She'd made it this far because she'd avoided everyone, not because of some amazing strategy but because she was too terrified to face off against anyone. She ran and hid. That was her strategy.
She looked up through the branches of the trees at the sky and imagined her father and brothers watching her on a screen back in District 5. Her oldest brother would be watching her with bated breath, recognizing the berries in her hand and wondering why she hadn't just thrown them onto the ground yet. Foxface's mouth twisted down into a frown and for the twentieth time in the arena she felt guilty. Her family was either going to watch her die or win. And at that moment, winning seemed the least likely of the options.
But, no, she couldn't let them watch her get torn apart by Cato or shot with an arrow by Katniss (though Cato seemed more likely to kill her). Her little brother would cry and her big brother would blame himself and her father would shut down. That would happen no matter how she died, and she would die, she was sure of that now, but maybe they'd get over it quicker if she didn't die like that.
She hoped that the District 12's won. That they got to go home and embrace their family, that they got to listen to their parent's praises, that they got to live in the Victor's Village without the fear of starvation. She hoped that they got everything she wouldn't and everything she hoped Cato never would.
Foxface didn't realize she was crying till she lifted her hand up to her mouth. Her eyes stayed locked on the sky, locked on her family's eyes. She hoped they could see the apology in her eyes. She wasn't going to die because of Cato or the District 12's. She wasn't going to make her family watch as she got ripped apart or starved to death.
She almost laughed under the tears. The Capital would hate this. She was ruining their plans, ruining their little death match. It was so much fun watching other kids kill each other, wasn't it? But there was no fun in watching one of those kids give up. Only she wasn't giving up. She was making a stand against them, but most of all she was making a stand for her family.
Foxface, real name Finch Crossly, stuffed the berries in her mouth. The cannon boomed before she'd even hit the ground.