Meg took the first shift that night. When she awoke the next morning, she saw Hercules standing over her, looking incredibly sad. She sat up confusedly. "Everything okay?" she asked sleepily. He could hardly bring himself to nod, his eyes still focused on her. She sighed as she took in his pained expression. "Hercules," she said firmly, putting a hand on his chin and forcing him to look at her. "What happened was not your fault. It's over now. I'm not going to break, okay?" He didn't move and Meg sighed. "I'm fine. Let's focus on what's important now, please. We need to get rid of some more tributes." As if to agree, a cannon blast sounded.

She stood and began packing up their camp. Although a hovercraft had come to take Phillip's body, she was still eager to get as far away from this awful place as they possibly could. They began walking in a different direction, not really having a destination. Hercules walked stiffly and Meg knew he was still thinking about what had happened last night. She opened her mouth to say something to him when they saw two other tributes in the woods.

The one standing Meg knew was Tiana. She was struggling to hold onto another tribute. "Tia!" Meg called, rushing over to her. Tiana looked so grateful to see the two of them that she almost cried. "Thank goodness it's you two," she said. "It's Esmeralda. The lion got her earlier today. I got him with a spear, but too late. She's hurt pretty badly." Hercules picked up the wounded girl and carried her over to a clearing where she could rest her head. Esmeralda moaned, her eyes focusing on the newcomers to their group.

"You two," she said, smiling. "I'm glad you've made it this far..." Tiana brushed her friend's hair back. "Don't talk, honey," she said, her eyes full of tears. Meg looked at her wounds. They were substantial. She had claw marks all over her abdomen, and she was practically hemorrhaging blood. "How long did you carry her for?" she asked Tiana. "A couple of hours. She's my friend. I couldn't leave her," the other girl said in response. Esmeralda coughed and blood came out of her mouth. It was clear she didn't have much longer to live. The dying girl turned to Meg. "Hey," she said. "When you get home...give that baby...a kiss from me, okay?" Meg nodded, taking her hand. "I will," she promised. Esmeralda smiled at Meg's words.

The cannon sounded and Hercules closed the girl's eyes. Tiana wiped away tears. "It's so unfair," she said with a little sob. Meg hugged her friend tightly. "Oh, I know, Tia, but at least she's at peace now," she comforted her friend. Tiana nodded, sniffling. "I suppose," she said, giving Meg a watery smile. Meg smiled back at her. "Walk with me and Hercules for a while," she offered. "I've missed you." Tiana nodded and grabbed her pack, with one last sad look at her friend. "Better than this," she replied as she stood.

••••

"Well, we'd planned an alliance, but Cindy never even made it past the Bloodbath. Then Kida took out Naveen. So it was just Esme and I ever since the Games started."

"And no trouble with Careers?"

"All we knew is that suddenly there were less of them. We didn't question it."

"Meg took two of them out herself."

"Stop bragging!"

"Wow, Meg, really?"

"Don't encourage him."

"That's incredible!"

"Tia, really, he'll get a big head."

"So what about you guys?"

"Well, we ran into a rockslide, the careers, demon birds, and careers again. It's been a little intense for four days."

"Try a lot intense."

"Who killed that guy from Seven?"

"I don't know, but good riddance."

The little group set up camp for the day. Tiana broke off some branches and opened a small box that had dried plants inside it. "How would y'all feel about something tasty?" she asked with a smile. "I used to be a chef." Meg nodded. She was getting tired of dried rabbit and fish. "Please," she said. Tiana grinned and took a misshapen wooden bowl out of her pack. "Esme made it for me," she said sadly.

The bowl was deep, and some string meant that it could dangle above the fire and heat whatever was inside. Tiana grabbed ingredients from the forest, took some water, and began mixing up whatever it was she was planning to make. Hercules brought back a rabbit. "Is this good?" he asked. Tiana nodded. "Skin it and clean it and it will be," she told him. Meg twirled a knife around in her hands and grabbed the rabbit, removing the skin.

Once Tiana had the chunks of rabbit in there, it started to smell heavenly. She opened a silver tin and began to pour something from it. "Sponsor gift?" Meg asked. "Thank goodness for it, too. It helps thicken up the broth. Food wouldn't taste the same without it," Tiana said, concentrating on her meal. She was finally done. "You two got something to eat out of?" she asked. Meg got out two shallow dishes that could hold liquid if you were careful. Tiana dipped them in the bowl and they came back out full of something that smelled heavenly. "It's not perfect, probably needs a few shots of tobasco to really give it some kick, but it'll do for here," she said as they took their first sips.

A myriad of wonderful complex flavors hit Meg's tongue. The food in the Capitol wasn't this good. It was tender, fruity, sweet, tangy, had a little punch to it...she immediately began slurping more down. Hercules was staring down at the bowl confusedly, like he'd never tasted food before that moment. "You made this with stuff you found in here?" he asked incredulously. "Forest is full of spices if you know where to look," Tiana said, hands on her hips.

Meg finally stopped long enough to speak. "This is amazing, Tia!" she exclaimed. "It's delicious." Tiana smiled at the compliment. "Thank you," she said, dipping a small cup into the bowl for herself. "I was training to become a chef before President Jafar, with my daddy in his restaurant. Then we weren't allowed to have restaurants anymore, just work in the fields. But I always wanted to open up my own place...when I thought I would make it a while, you know," she said with a small sip of soup. The memory didn't seem to pain her-she just treated it like a fact of life.

"Sounds like you have a pretty great family," Meg remarked. Tiana nodded sadly. "I do," she said. "My daddy died in the rebellion, but my mama and I are still very close." Meg sighed at the saddened look on Tiana's face. "My, uh, my parents died too. Before I met Hercules," she said, looking down at her plate. "When he met me, I was homeless and starving in the street. He saved my life." Hercules smiled at his wife. "Hardly. I was just hoping you'd talk to me," he said with a little blush. Meg rolled her eyes playfully at her husband.

Tiana smiled. "So when did you know you loved her?" she asked, leaning in like a little kid. They laughed. "Well, I was just a kid-we were just kids. But I had just given her some bread like I always did, and we had been talking. I had said I wanted to go fight in the rebellion. She begged me not to. And when I left with my dad, she kissed me on the cheek and said she'd always wait for me."

"And I did wait. A long time," Meg said with a little smile. "It was a year before they came back. His dad had been banished, he was another year older. They took him in front of the whole square and whipped him."

"But she ran out as soon as they had left the square. She picked me up on her shoulders-"

"Twisted my ankle doing it, if I recall."

"And she nursed me back to health. When I asked her why she did it, she kissed me."

"That was my first kiss."

"Mine too. And eventually I asked Meg to come live with me and my adoptive parents."

"He turned sixteen and had to go work in the mines."

"But then we got married."

"Tell me about the wedding!" Tiana begged, hanging on every word. The couple laughed. "Well, it wasn't very fancy," Meg said. "We got married at the courthouse."

"I wore my father's old dress shirt. Meg wore this beautiful purple dress, with this little gold veil in her hair."

"Stop making it sound fancy. It was the dress I wore to the reaping."

"And you looked so beautiful in it."

"There's this ceremony we do in Twelve called the toasting. We did that after the courthouse, and Herc's parents put together a little meal at home."

"There weren't a lot of us, just my family and our friends Taran and Eilowny. But, man, I still remember it as one of the best days of my life," Hercules said wistfully. Meg smiled and kissed him. Tiana sighed happily. "That's so beautiful," she said. "I wish I had gotten to find something like that." Meg put a hand on her friend's, but couldn't say anything to the contrary. It was true, she likely never would. "We were luckier than most," she finally said after a moment.

Tiana beamed. "You certainly were." The Disney anthem came on and they looked at the dead.

Esmeralda Gold, Six.

Simba Pride, Ten.

Who was left now? Meg ran it over in her head. Mulan, Shang, Merida, Pocahontas, Tia, Hercules, herself. "Only seven left," she said.

Friendship is a beautiful thing :)

All right, I'll have a new chapter up tomorrow! For now, send me some love! Or hate. Whichever.

Mwah!