Author's Note: Hopes in mercy of the readers that this is acceptable...xxx Anyway, um...yeah...With the torment of the overhanging gloom of academic priorties and what-not...I kinda forced myself to get this out. So hopefully, it still somewhat lives up to everybody's expectations...And worry not, Peeta remains alive...for the time being.

There was a permeable peace that had settled among them that night. Whether it was due to the unwarranted presence of a killer or just because they were in dire need of rest, no one was quite sure. For the botched rescue, Katniss could quickly agree to herself that the estranged silence couldn't have been worst. But alas, quelling the sickness settling in her stomach, was really the only task she could try to conquer now – the gluttonous temptress being her enemy for the night. With the wafting scent of fresh, roasting fish being her seducing perfume, the job was easier said than done.

Trying to focus on something else, she found that below her tree, Peeta's labored breaths were enough to pull her attention elsewhere. Chancing a look down, Katniss fought off the nausea that was swelling up inside her as she caught sight of his fatal wound. Oh, Peeta...

Even by the sight of it, the most oblivious fool could conclude that Peeta was barely living now. Wherever he hung, at night's comely door or by death's persnickety hearth, it was hardly a question of whether he would survive, but when he would die. Yet he was still fighting, and that was all she could ask from him.

Fighting for her? Katniss didn't know nor care. Peeta could be trembling away from death just for the pure suspense and anguish it caused her and she wouldn't have minded. Where she couldn't save Rue, she'd die trying for him.

"Cold, Peeta? Need a hug?" the icy voice was nothing but a cool reminder that her fight was closer than she desired.

Behind those heavy-lidded eyes, blue irises peeked out of their sockets as they looked over at the siren of District Four. He would have been damned by her beauty if not for the fact that it was already dulled and shaded by the frightening change in her demeanor. Where she had been sane not a few days ago, he'd watch her crumble and cautiously teeter on the border of insanity.

Suddenly, the warm light glowing against her peach skin turned against her favor as he watched her pull something out of her pack; Peeta held his breath as the putrid stench of a rotting corpse hit the air. What he mistook as a bloody rag became an arm attached to half of a boy's torso with its other hand mangled into a disproportionate sight.

"Catch."

He tried not to cringe. Honestly, he tried to fight off the disgust but it became all too much as the bone of the spine poked his wounded leg and he threw up. A brown liquid pushed past his lips as the nutrient-lacking puke splattered all over the back of the torso and spilled onto his own legs. Deafened by the buzzing in his ears, he could barely make out the alienated laughter that punctured the air.

With a final grunt, Peeta pushed the corpse off of him and glared at the jolly girl. "You're sick." he spat.

District Four shot him a lopsided grin, "I try."

. . .

It was well into the night when Katniss finally stirred the slumbering Peeta. But with his quick yet forgiving sluggish response, Katniss knew that sleep too, had eluded him. Quickly shrugging his protest away, she gingerly lifted his arm and slid it across her shoulders. Peeta was deadweight in his current predicament, but the girl who held him now was more than willing to carry all his burdens and maybe steal some for herself.

Tiptoeing in between the shards of glinting glass, the broken pieces of mirror became more of a search light, like a distraught mother looking for her lost children. Only, Katniss and Peeta weren't related and home was about as far as the moon itself.

Catching sight of a favored hiding place. Katniss blindly led Peeta in a canopy of branches and twisted them in a way that would serve them as a makeshift shelter. Around this hour, the sun was slowly rising up and lost sleep was what it was. Unconsciously, Peeta decided to catch up to it and had slipped into the haziness of his mind and fell into a deep slumber; Katniss was left to fend off their fort.

Grabbing a plump twig, Katniss began chipping off its edges and shaped it into a decent stake. Not once in her muddled thoughts did she think about the scream she had heard earlier, not once had she stopped producing those nature-made knives. For what lay ahead of them was more important in what they had left behind...

"Kat..niss?"

The name was almost a breeze itself, but she heard it. Looking behind her, Katniss saw Peeta struggling to sit up. She shook her head and pushed him back down. "Go back to sleep, Peeta."

She watched as his weak body obeyed to her orders yet his blue eyes still forced themselves open and strained in eagerness to bring some sort of comfort to her rigid posture. "Water?" he croaked.

Katniss sighed and automatically let her fingers brush over her bottle. Holding it up, she found the container to be too light and immediately regretted drinking up all of its contents last night. Both their stomachs suddenly growled and she grew more ashamed by the minute.

"I...left my pack back there." she admitted, running a hand over her shirt. Such a mess it was, but with her jacket clinging tightly to the Peeta's open wound, she didn't think much of appearances anymore. Irony only had it that she enjoyed the little bits of luxurious apparel she had worn back in the Capitol.

"I won't let you go back." Peeta said sternly, his gaze hardening.

"And I won't leave you." Katniss replied.

Peeta smiled in succession as he finally pushed himself up. Tiny green faeries tickled his palms as they swayed to the gentle wind. "Guess we have to go back together then."

Katniss knew it had been a bad idea ever since she agreed to let him come along. Every twig and leaf that met its demise because of Peeta's heavy footfalls caused her to flinch. In the hazardous maze of trees she found no comfort in the returning silence as they would rest. No matter that they were safe – anyone could be silently stalking their every move. Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, Katniss let out a breath as she glanced over at Peeta's stature; he was bent over, stealing whatever air he could into his lungs.

Frowning, Katniss decided to try one more time with his stubbornness. "Peeta..."

Those blue eyes were impermeable. They quickly sized down into a narrow gaze as he shook his head. Even his golden locks were losing their glowing luster now, but as the rest of him seemed to be dying – his determination failed to succumb along with it.

Someone whistled a few paces ahead of them.

Eyes widening, both District Twelve tributes dove for the nearest coverage and found a thick bushel of green to separate them from the newcomer. Fumbling with the stakes latched around her person, Katniss handed one over to Peeta as she peered past the foliage of leaves; it was four.

Cursing their luck, Katniss flashed Peeta four fingers as her other hand hovered over her own stake. There was no getting around their situation now. Staring at were they once were, she saw too many disturbances in the nature that gave away their position. Sitting things out and waiting for their enemy to pass was a fantasy they couldn't desire.

By the time Katniss settled on her decision, the melodious tune had stopped and was replaced by mutterings. Her eyes looked over to the clearing and saw that the girl had paused in her tracks and was glancing around the scenery. Two seconds passed, and her breath hitched as she saw her stormy eyes glanced over at their direction. They seemed to be prying – searching, and once Katniss made the motion to skid her foot back an inch, she soon found the reason why. Behind them lay an intricate trap – a net.

"She gone..?" Peeta whispered, moving closer to the wall of bushes. Katniss was about to reprimand him for speaking when he had taken the mistake her foot almost did. With a sudden hiss of rope, Peeta was suddenly snared into a thick, suffocating net.

"Well.." District Four's sentence was never finished. Jumping out of her camouflage, Katniss pounced on the girl like a crazed animal. Her morals evaporated as she plunged the wooden point of her stake into Four's stomach.

To her victim's credit, she uttered no scream but cringed as the wood sunk deeper into abdomen. "You." she spat out, enclosing her hands around the wooden handle. She kept the weapon firmly in her body as Katniss tried to pull away from her grasp on it. Sadly, Four was still beyond her skill as she had some sort of prior training to the Games and had the strength to keep Katniss in place.

"I knew Peeta would eventually lead you to me." she spoke, quickly curling her own legs around Katniss's. The caught girl gasped as she found one of her legs hook behind her knees and cause her an unsteady waver which Four used to flip their positions over.

Warm blood splattered over Katniss's face as the girl coughed out blood and pulled the stake from her stomach. Grimacing, Four threw away the stake and used her enemy's shock to her advantage. Pulling her arm back, she struck Katniss's cheek with an paramount force that for a good minute – knocked Katniss's thinking into a blank; four continually did this and soon, black and blue spots littered Katniss's face.

"Hmph." Stopping her combo of punches, Four sat up, straddling Katniss, and reached for the knife in her boot. Sliding it out, she traced a long cut along Katniss's jawline and was pleased to see an angry red line appear before her fatal paintbrush.

"Katniss!" Peeta shouted.

"Shut up!" hollered Four. She flipped her tangled hair behind her and pointed the knife at him. "You can have your turn once I'm finished reconstructing your precious love's face!" she yelled, driving the knife across her cheek.

Warranted insults threatened to pour out of Peeta's lips, but he kept his mouth firmly shut as he forced himself to endure the treachery before him. He wanted to help – he had to, but in his position...Suddenly, Peeta remembered the stake Katniss had given him and spotted it below him. Stretching his arm out of the net, his fingers brushed over the cold wood as he strained his reach to grow longer.

Closer and closer, his fingers got but by the time they got a good grip on the weapon, Katniss was barely conscious from her beating. Come on...he thought, sawing through the thick rope. He prayed as he tried to break himself free, but to no avail, he saw that it would take too much time to cut through that much rope. Scowling, he looked above him and saw one thick bundle holding everything together. With an idea formed in his head, Peeta expended the rest of his energy hauling his bulky body up and sawing through the knot above him.

"Ughnnn..."

Hold on...And with one last slice, Peeta was falling to the ground. The wind was momentarily knocked out of him, but it did little to hinder Peeta's efforts. He rose from the ground with a new vigor as he pulled himself closer to Four, and as soon as he was within a three feet radius of her, he saw the cold eyes and knew that if he had not gotten out sooner, he wouldn't be there right now tackling her away from the finishing blow.

"Get off!" she screeched, clawing at Peeta's face. Trying to keep a good space between them, he turned his head to look at Katniss and shouted at her to wake up, make the kill, and run off with him.

"Huh," Four rolled her eyes. "She's unconscious you idiot." she said bluntly. Peeta ignored her as his eyes frantically searched for any sign of coming to be from Katniss. His arms were tiring and soon, his escape would only be in vain.

He closed his eyes and muttered a quiet apology as he, as gently as he could, kicked her side. Luckily, he had kicked a tender region as the pressure on her resting wound jerked to life and resurrected her from her sleep. Shooting up, Katniss's eyes were wide and wild as she took a moment to digest everything in.

Pain shot up around her face as her whole head ached, but once she saw Peeta's uncomprimising position, she came into life and got up. Grabbing her stake, she nudged Peeta away before digging the stake into Four's chest in the nick of time.

The tanned arms died in mid-action and fell to the wood protruding from her breast. Eyes wide, they glazed over to Katniss before fainting from reality. A loud bang raged overhead as the two survivors fell to the side.