Two in a day? Yes.

Please enjoy.

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X-X-Part 3-Chapter 25-X-X

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Katniss was adamant in not letting Annabeth take first watch. So they both stayed awake, one more stubborn than the other. He and Peeta on the other hand…well he wasn't tired, but he knew when it was wise not to waste precious time where he could rest. Annabeth, he saw, wasn't too exerted, which is why he trusted she'd be okay, if just for a bit she took the first watch. He would soon wake and tell her to sleep. In the meantime though, he allowed himself to close his eyes, and let his mind wander off into oblivion.

He was awoken by the sound of the Capitol's anthem. He'd forgotten about this. He opened his eyes and then sat up. Noticing that both Katniss and Annabeth were sitting next to each other like they had been talking before the anthem had begun. He looked up at the sky and counted the dead. The first to appear was Woof, the male from district eight. He was part of the alliance. Then both tributes from, nine. He felt Katniss look at Peeta, for the male, who'd died drowning. The female from ten was next, and when he saw the girl, he remembered about the quickness and the no hesitation on his part, at throwing a killing knife to her chest. And then lastly, Seeder's face appeared in the sky. She'd been from eleven.

Sudden relief washed through him because it meant that most of the allies were still alive. Except two, which was good. It was really good. Principally though, he was glad that Finnick and Mags were still out there, that both of them were still alive. He was definitely doing a good job at keeping her alive, and he also hoped he was with others, otherwise, if he'd get ambushed by the careers, he would have a hard time fending them off while also protecting the older woman. Yet they were still alive, and no cannons sounded, so for a moment, it was good.

"We need water," Annabeth said then, once the logo was out of the sky. He looked at her. "Judging by the temperature we're in right now. And an estimate of the time we've been in here, without water…we've got a few hours left at best before we die of dehydration. We need to find water." He looked at Katniss and Peeta, but neither of them gave any suggestions and they looked just as dehydrated as he felt, and as Annabeth looked. He looked back at Annabeth. "Percy—?"

"No," he said before she could even finish her sentence. He stood up and then he was closing his eyes, trying to do something which he doubted would even work. Feeling for big bodies of water which could be a pond or anything, but there was water all around them, and so he found nothing. He took a couple of steps further down…he could barely feel the body of water that was around the cornucopia.

Annabeth went after him. "Percy, you could—"

"Annabeth, no," he cut her off. "I'm sure we'll find something before it's too late. Unless I seriously need to I won't."

"Why not?" she asked him, and he was too stunned by the question to answer it. "I mean we're in here already! What else is he gonna do?" she said and he really wanted her to stop it. "Because he can't come in here and kill you can he?"

He didn't answer her. "How long do you reckon?" he asked her.

"A couple of hours at best before we start hallucinating, then well, a few more before we can't function, and then we die," she said.

He closed his eyes and tried to feel for it. He came up with nothing. "Then, if in a couple of hours we have nothing I'll do something about it, alright?" he said to her.

She nodded, and he was glad she didn't decide to be stubborn in this moment. They walked back the couple of steps and then they sat down. Katniss looked at them. "Five," she said, and he wondered for a moment before realizing she was talking about the tributes dead.

Then the weird noise of a parachute started off, and they all looked, glued to their spots as it dropped to the ground. A small cylinder in between the strings of the parachute. Katniss went to get it, she opened it, and came out with a cylindrical tube. She looked at it with confused eyes and then passed it to the closest of them. Which happened to be him. He looked at it, and he recognized it fairly quickly.

"It's a spile," he said and that was also when he realized why there was water all around them. Not because of the dew and the mist and all the condensed water vapor. Rather there was water all around them because it was in the trees, why else would they need a spike. "Annabeth, give me one of your knives," he asked her.

She was quick to hand him one, handle first. He twirled it in between his fingers to get the grip in his hand and then he was walking towards one of the trees. He put his hand on it, and…no this one wasn't good for it, there wasn't enough water there. He concentrated for a moment and then walked over to the thicker tree, a lot of water inside of this one. He drilled a hole with the point of her knife, and then stuck the spile within that hole.

Nothing came out at first, but then…then he forced the water out and it came out in a sizzling drizzle. A thin stream. He stepped back, and Katniss was there immediately getting the water to her throat and thirsting her thirst. He could wait where they couldn't, so he walked back to Annabeth. He smiled at her as he held out his hand. "Almost like an answered prayer, don't you think?" he told her as she grasped his hand. He pulled her close before letting her go, their nose touching. "I don't want to take any chances," he said to her in a whisper. He planted a soft kiss on her lips and then they both went towards the spile, and in turns, they both drank up.

Katniss took care of the spile, and he was okay with that. Then she sat back on her ledge. She wasn't going to sleep. Annabeth looked at him as he, too, sat down on a ledge, his sword in between his fingers. "Go ahead, sleep," he told her. "I'm good." And she believed him because all this water around them was keeping him very awake, and it was good. She smiled at him, caressed his cheek, and then found a cozy spot next to him where she curled up and then tried for sleep.

He watched her for a while, caressing her hair softly until she was asleep and then he left her alone. Katniss seemed on the verge of passing out, but he didn't comment on it. Then a couple of hours later, when they were still both awake, something else happened, almost like the bells he remembered from church. They started sounding and reverberating throughout the whole arena.

"I counted twelve," Katniss said, as both Annabeth and Peeta both sat up.

"Midnight?" Annabeth guessed.

"Or the number of districts," he gave another option.

Then, they all watched as lightning struck a tree, a few sectors to the right. He flinched and Annabeth saw that. He wasn't the greatest fan of electricity for one reason, and also not a fan of lightning, but that was for another reason. He still remembered the time where his cousin, Thalia, had stroked him with a mini lightning bolt in…camp half-blood. Annabeth clasped his hand tightly and he was brought back to now.

Peeta was lying down already, and Annabeth was as well. He looked over at Katniss. She looked tired enough, and he didn't want to be needing to drag her around because she was too tired. So he said, "You should sleep."

She shook her head. "No thank you," she said as she leaned on her bow as she stuck it in the ground.

He didn't push her.

So he had the pleasure of slowly, seeing her fall asleep. Stay asleep for about two hours, before she jumped awake once she had gotten back to consciousness and realized she'd been sleeping. He chuckled a little, being careful not to wake Annabeth or Peeta up. Perhaps he did it to annoy her a little since she then glared at him and looked around herself.

"You didn't fall asleep?" she asked him, and it was almost accusingly.

He shook his head. He looked down at Annabeth, sleeping peacefully. "No," he said. "I slept plenty yesterday night. Plus, I got an hour or so in before the anthem. But it's good you got some. The more you have the better we can face today. It won't be easy," he continued. "I'm sure it will be surprise after surprise."

"What are you, a seer?" she asked him sarcastically. She seemed to be full of it. He liked it.

"No," he said with a small chuckle, keeping his voice low. "I get can get you with one though," he told her with a smile. He was thinking about Rachel now, and the smile quickly turned to a frown. No thought about them ever left him with a smile. He missed them. "Anyway, it's still a few hours before light comes. You can still get a couple of hours of sleep in."

"Or you could," she said, and there was no ulterior motive in that. She seemed to care for him for that split second because then something caught his eyes, and his expression must have given it away because she turned around to look at it.

It was like a fog. White and dense fog. He didn't feel good about it, and he wanted to tell everyone to stand up and to go, but the words never left his mouth. No, instead he was transfixed in watching as Katniss stood up, her bow in her hand as she walked over to the fog, and with her hand, tentatively touched it. The scream that shook through her was warning enough for him that it wasn't safe. Blisters immediately appeared on her hand, and as she stood up, as everyone woke, she was screaming at them.

"Run, the fog is poison!"

He pulled a sleeping Annabeth to her feet, and then they were running down the slope, towards the cornucopia. Towards the beach. And the fog, the fog was right behind them and it raced after them. Tendrils like fingers looming ahead of the main mass, and reaching for them. Lucky enough for them, the fog wasn't as fast as they were, and so they managed to stay ahead of it. Except…he quickly saw that hitting the force field, and his heart having stopped was having an effect on Peeta. He was slowing down. He was slow. And perhaps it was also because of his leg, but the fog almost caught up with him on many occasions.

He knew he could have controlled it, but as long as they managed to stay ahead of it he was going to not touch it. They ran downhill, speed helping them as they did, and Peeta managed to stay in front. He even took the lead at one point, cutting away at vines with his knife. He was right behind them, and Katniss dropped right in front of him, but it was Peeta, not himself, that got there and pulled her up. Yelling as the fog caught them and there he used his powers, pushed it back, but it had already done damage, both of them were getting covered in blisters.

He waited for them, and then as Peeta started falling, started to hold him up, swinging one arm over his shoulder and bringing half of his weight. Annabeth was somewhere on his right, running down through another route. She started yelling too, and for a moment he lost balance and they all three fell. He looked at her and yelled her name loud and clear. "Annabeth!" but she didn't call him back, simply stood up again, and then kept on running. He knew they had to do the same. So he pulled up one of Peeta's arms, and then Katniss pulled up the other. He was far worse than either of them, having gotten a lot of the fog when he'd helped Katniss. The fog caught up with them, and he held the scream in as his skin felt like it was on fire.

They kept on running, down the hill, further down and then furthermore. He didn't see Annabeth anymore, but there had been no cannon, so she was still alive. She was still okay.

After what seemed like more than he could possibly imagine, they all three caught on something and fell down a steeper path. He held the sword in his hand in a way that wouldn't cut him, but the one shallow cut on his cheek was inevitable after all. He hoped Peeta didn't skewer himself in the process, but then they were on the beach and the fog wasn't there anymore.

He rolled around so he was on his stomach and he looked at the tree line. He looked at the jungle. Searched for a head of blonde hair, but could find none. He wanted to scream her name, but when he opened his mouth, he found his throat to be sore. "Annabeth," he said. The fog had gotten in, and it was blistering the insides of his body as well as the outside.

He was shaking, and his heart was racing at speeds too great for him to keep up. He rolled on his back and looked up at the sky. It was starting to get light, but there would never be light if he couldn't find Annabeth. If she died in this arena before the rebels managed to get them out. Yet no cannon had sounded and so there was hope.

He was on fire. He felt like his whole body was being held close to a torch, and he knew what that felt like…his missing hand was a sign of it. His whole body was shaking, but he held the groans of pain within. He held them in as he fisted the sand beneath him and tried to get some water on him. It would help him for sure, but he wasn't sure how he'd manage to get there when he couldn't feel his limbs. When the fog, as well as blistering and being very painful, seemed to have been paralyzing him as well.

Katniss muffled scream was the first he heard, and then there was Peeta as well, but as he turned his head to them, and saw them in the water, rubbing the blisters away with agony on their faces, he couldn't bring himself to crawl to it. So he opted into closing his eyes and hoping that any second now, Annabeth would resurface from the tree line and then plant a kiss on his lips.

Instead of her, it was Katniss and Peeta who were there by his side, each grabbing a limb and pulling him into the water. He groaned as the feeling was worse than it had initially been, as the water touched the blisters. Then it was immense relief as the water, his element, cradled him. Movement to his limbs soon returned and he was cleaning himself off, still stinging, and still on the verge of screaming but he was okay for now. He would manage it. He cleaned himself out as good as he could, and then, Katniss suggested they kept to the tree line, as the careers could be anywhere.

They sat just within the tree line so that if anyone was on the beach they wouldn't be able to see them. Peeta went further inland to get some water, but he sat there, and Katniss ended up sitting next to him. Holding her bow steadily in her hand, while he twirled the hilt of his sword in his. She'd helped him in the end, which meant she trusted him some bit.

"She's still alive," she told him, as he kept on looking at the beach from where they had emerged. "No cannons sounded yet. Which means she made it out of there."

He looked at her, and then closed his eyes. "I don't know," he said. "She's not here, and I'm scared. Gods I'm terrified."

"Trust her," Katniss said as she stood up. "She can take care of herself."

Then they both stood, and turned around to go look at what Peeta was doing but instead were met by monkeys. Monkeys. The word danced around in his head. No, these weren't monkeys. They were mutts. Created by the Capitol, and they sure as hell weren't going to be of any help to them. "Hey Peeta," he said, his voice calmer than any other part of him. "Very slowly, take the spile, and your weapon, and make your way down here to us," he warned him. "We have company."

Peeta made it halfway to them before the monkeys attacked. It was a savage attack of literally a rabid animal fighting you, but somehow they managed. Not without getting hurt though, one of the monkeys clawed at the side of his face, and the cut he'd gotten with his sword —which had healed with the water— was replaced by monkey scratches. Then as Peeta seemed in the most likely state to die someone erupted from absolutely nowhere and got in the way of the monkey and Peeta. The mutt bit into the person's stomach, and then he killed the mutt.

He hadn't recognized her at first, but he had no doubt it was her when he saw her, laying on top of Peeta. Genevieve. He mildly remembered about her harsh words towards him on the train. Barely remembered watching the highlights of her game, where she had won them by staying hidden most of the time. By staying hidden. She had been camouflaging herself all this time and now…now she had given her life for Peeta, because she knew, like he knew about the plot, and she was willing to give her life. She was giving her life.

He picked her up immediately, and he was jogging to the water. For a moment, thoughts of Annabeth's wellbeing left his mind, and instead, it was just her. Peeta and Katniss followed them as he pushed through the water and then got to a point where he was in to his waist, and he let her float there. Holding her up with his hands, but really controlling the water for the job more than anything. His heard was racing, and his hand was holding hers very tightly.

He didn't know what to say. Hell, he didn't think there was anything right to say. For a week they'd been fighting and now…now here she was, dying in his arms. Like Manila. Exactly like Manila had died in his arms three years before. She smiled at him like she knew what he was thinking about. "This…isn't…the same," she rasped out, her hand reaching up to hold on to him. "I'm sorry."

"No," he said, a whisper, a command, of 'don't go'. "Stay with me, eh?" he said. "It's okay. You're gonna be okay." Peeta and Katniss had been decent and left him on his own with her. He wasn't going to cry. Not for Snow. He realized there was no way he could save her. Not like with Peeta. The cannon was just waiting for the blood loss to be enough. "It won't be," he said. "I swear."

"You're a good man, Percy," she said, and then her hand slacked and it splashed in the water. He let go of her body then and let the current take her away from him. He didn't cry. Instead turned around and then…then he sat down in the water. Let it calm him.

"I didn't even know her name," he heard Peeta say behind him. "And she sacrificed herself for me."

They watched as the jet came, and took her body away. "You think she sacrificed herself?" Katniss asked him, and perhaps, a couple more days and she'd have it figured out.

"Look like it," Peeta said, sounding just as confused as she did.

A pause. "That doesn't make any sense," Katniss said. And then there were no words as her body was lifted from the water, and then the jet disappeared in the distance.

He left them then, on the beach talking to one another. Not completely. He first scoured the nearby sectors from the beach, watching and searching for Annabeth. When he couldn't find her, he decided that the least he could do was find something to eat then. So he told the two lovebirds that he'd try to catch some fish in the water.

At least he was in the water. He didn't like the idea of killing fish, but when he spoke to them and explained to them his situation, the happily let him kill them. Calling lord, and all that crap from always. He came back to the two tributes from twelve with two salmons. They couldn't start a fire, for fear of detection, so they decided that raw it was.

They were both equally as appreciative of his fishing skills, and him getting them both food, which he guessed was an improvement from the day before. He went back in to get some shellfish while he was at it. He didn't know what exactly he was waiting for, there on the beach, but he knew that if he had any hope of getting back to Annabeth, the beach was the safest spot where she could find them. Peeta found a pearl in one of the shells and gave it to Katniss. An act of love, let's say, one which he found cute.

He didn't pay too much regard to the pang of his heart at it though and instead told them to catch some rest if they wanted. They weren't going back into the forest any time soon. "We don't know what else lies in there," he elaborated. "As long as we don't know, the safest place is the beach."

"It's also the most exposed," Katniss said, always quick to respond. "But I agree," she added and there it was, a change in attitude. She was starting to like him. "We should stay on the beach. You should sleep. You look like you're about to drop."

So he did. He didn't argue with her, and he trusted her for this. He had no Annabeth to watch his back, but he felt confident enough that she wouldn't attack him, as well as, if she did, he would be able to fend it off. His sleep, however, did not last long, because sooner rather than later, he was being awakened, quite rudely by a very loud scream.

His first thought, even before he was fully awake was Annabeth. It was a girl's scream, but then, the water rose from one of the sectors in front of them, and a cannon sounded. He was on his feet in a moment. Annabeth, he thought as he made to go towards it, but Katniss held him back as a huge tidal wave hit the shore. It seemed to remain secluded in the sector of water from where it had come from. Only coming in rolling waves at their feet. Washing away the shells and the remnants of their old meal.

His heartbeat too fast for him to properly function. Was Annabeth dead? That was the only thing that passed through his mind, and that's when he dropped to the sand. His head buried in his hands. Too much had happened, and his mind was going into overdrive. First, he'd lost sight of her, then Genevieve had died, and now there was a cannon. It could have been anyone, but he could do nothing but think the worst and believe her dead.

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Every time I read over this story it makes me want to go and watch the Hunger Games all over again.

I think this turned out quite alright...what do you think? Why don't you let me know :) In the review section.

Anyway, I do hope you enjoyed.

Idk when the next time I update it will be, but who knows, might be sooner rather than later.

Hunter