Title: Hunting Partners – Chapter Two: Planning

Pairing: Gale/Katniss

Prompt: "grant my last request, and just let me hold you / don't shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me / sure I can accept that we're going nowhere / but one last time let's go there, lay down beside me"

Type: Hunger Games AU

Word Count: 412

"So, strategy?" Gale asks Haymitch. I sit down across the table from him and nibble at the scrambled eggs and toast on my plate. We both look at Haymitch expectantly. He's all ready taking a swig from his flask, but Gale reaches over and snatches it from him. "No more of that. You've gotta bring one of us home, and you can't do that if you're drunk out of your mind all the time."

"I'd love to see you survive in my mind," Haymitch snaps back, grabbing the bottle back from him. He guzzles the remainder of the alcohol in the flask, staring Gale down the entire time.

"This is all so interesting," I say, forcing Haymitch and Gale to break their death-glare. "But I would like to know how either of us could possibly survive, and what we need to do to make that happen."

"You want to survive, sweetheart?" Haymitch growls.

"…I want Gale to survive."

"Well, then, make sure he doesn't die."

"That's it?" Gale snaps. "Stay alive? That's your advice?"

"Yes, it is," Haymitch answers. "You wanna go home, you need to stay alive. Chances are, your bodies won't even make it back to District 12 if you die, so if you want to go back there you have to survive."

I open my mouth. "The Cornucopia – ?"

"No," Haymitch interrupted.

"Excuse me?" I stammer.

"Stay away from the Cornucopia. It's a bloodbath, and you'll only end up dead."

"But I need a bow. Gale needs a bow," I explain. "If there are any, we need them early."

"When you arrive in the arena, you run. Far away from the Cornucopia. End of story," Haymitch responds quickly and assertively. "The first thing you do is to find a water source. You're hunters – you can find food just fine. Water leads to survival. Control the water."

"We can't find food without weapons," Gale responds matter-of-factly.

"They'll come in due time. Dead kids have a habit of leaving their weapons behind for you."

"But you have to have a weapon to kill them with," Gale retorts.

"No," Haymitch says, staring Gale down once more. "Someone needs a weapon to kill them," he corrects. "Then their weapons are up for grabs by whoever gets there first. The faster you are, the more likely you are to survive in there…. You'll pick up weapons along the way, use the terrain, control the water, hunt for food, and hang on for dear life."