I don't own the Hunger Games or any of its characters.
…
I stayed up the whole night, letting Rue sleep. About eight hours in, I was going to wake her up, but I noticed the bags under her eyes, so I kept going. As the sun came up, I woke her up, and we ate a little before she forced me to get some sleep. I didn't fight too hard.
We didn't do much that day or the next. We gathered food and smoked it while filling all of the water bottles. We redistributed all of the supplies to have some in case we had to split up. I had to change my bandages two times, and I left the wound clean while airing it out in between changes. Rue looked at it and agreed that it would need stitches, but neither of us could do them, and it was healing already. If we put stitches in, it would be worse if I pulled them while fighting.
We just rested as we waited for Katniss to wake up. There were seven of us left, three girls and four boys. They will probably wait till everyone is good enough to put up a fight before we have to see the others again. The waiting gave me time to figure out what I was doing. Katniss did wake up on day six in the arena.
…
I was next to her airing out my wound while Rue refilled the water bottles and checked the traps. I grabbed the bandages and a knife when I heard a shuffling.
I was only able to turn before I got tacked to the floor. I quickly got over my surprise, took advantage of my size, and pinned my attacker to the floor. With the knife still in my hand, I put it on my attackers' throat and pinned their arms with my legs as I straddled them.
I couldn't see correctly with the bit of light that came into the cave, but I knew that my attacker was smaller than me based on how I could straddle them without using my arms. It wasn't till I heard a grunt that I knew who I was on top of.
"Are you serious? I save you, and you attack me." I say as I pull the knife away from Katniss's neck.
She pauses in her struggle but continues to try to get out from under me.
"Get off of me." Katniss grunts trying to buck me off.
I ignore the warm feeling I get as she bucks against me and put more weight on her to keep her still.
"No way. You attacked me when I did nothing." I said as I reached for the bandage and gauze I dropped.
As I shift my weight, she bucks her hips again, and I let out a hiss as she grinds a little against me in the process.
"Stop. Seriously." I say as I put more weight on her.
She stops struggling and lays on the ground as I start to cover my wound.
"What are you doing?" She asks as I finish putting the bandage back on.
"I got stabbed, so I'm wrapping it up." I clenched my jaw as I started to wrap gauze around the bandage.
"If you got stabbed, then why didn't you stitch it?" She asked, and I could hear the irritation in her voice.
"Neither of us knew how and I would rather it heal slower than rip my stitches during a fight." I finished wrapping it, testing my range of motion before getting off her to get my shirt.
"…who's we?" She asked while she stretched after getting up.
"Me and another person that's not you," I say as I put the trash away before grabbing my shirt.
I expect her to snap back at me, but she doesn't say anything as I stand in front of the only light source for the cave. When I look at myself in the light, I realize that she got a lot of dirt all over my bare skin when she tackled me.
"Really? You better hope that you didn't get dirt in my wound, or you're the one that's going to have to deal with the infection." I say as I use my hand to dust myself off as well as I can.
I still don't get an answer, and as I'm about to move the tarp to get enough light to see her, I see Rue coming out of the forest with the bottles and a few animals along with the basket she weaved to carry berries and herbs.
I finish dusting myself off and put on my shirt before grabbing a spear and my sword. I leave the cave and jog the young girl.
"I'm so glad that you're here," I say as I get closer to her.
"Why?" She asks, tilting her head slightly like a puppy.
"Because she's awake and tackled me. It would be better if you told her what's going on. And I will smoke these so we can have them later. You can go and eat with her; just set a portion aside for me." I say as I take the animals from her and start jogging away from the cave.
"Coward." She said before I got too far from her.
"And proud of it!" I said louder than usual but not loud enough to attract too much attention.
I jogged for a while before stopping somewhere a ways away from the cave. The place I stopped had a lot of foliage to keep the smoke from getting out. I spent fifteen minutes there, and after I cooked the animals, I wrapped them in leaves, so the smell didn't attract too much attention. I lit the fire after I skinned and gutted the animals.
I noticed I was being followed not five steps from where I left. I didn't take the same route to get back to the cave, instead, I went straight to the part of the river closest to me.
'Cato and Flynch are out of the question. This person is desperate, but Flynch would just steal from me instead of following me, and Cato would try to kill me from the start. I don't think Thresh would come after me now, especially since we were some ways away from the meadow he was hiding in. So that only leaves Diego from ten. I remember he was muscular and could probably put up some fight, but he sucks at hiding if I already know he's there. I think he was one of those who got away with a bag during the bloodbath. So he might have a knife or something.' I think as I lead him to the river.
When I reach the part where the river meets the rocks, I spot a shallow cave in some stones. I make my way to the shallow cave. Once I get there, I kneel and put the meat and my spear inside the cave just in time to dodge the knife he threw at me.
'Why would he throw his only weapon? Unless…' I barely think of the following words when he gets close enough to stab at me while I am off balance.
I moved to grab the knife, but the move caused me to let it cut my abdomen. I grabbed the blade with my right hand and elbowed him in the face with my left arm ignoring the pain of the stab wound that protested at the movement. I heard a crack and felt his nose give in. He recoiled, and it gave me enough time to rip the knife from his grasp and throw it away. The moment didn't last long since he tackled me. Usually, it wouldn't be hard to make it, so I was on top, but he dived at me so that his head slammed into my left shoulder right on the stab wound.
I bit back a curse as pain ran through my system. It was enough time for him to get a few swings in before I got my bearings. I head-butted him and switched our positions. As soon as I got my hands on his head with a quick snap, the fight was over, and he was dead. I didn't bother raiding his body and just grabbed my stuff and left as the cannon went off.
I could feel the left side of my face start to bruise, and the blood from my new cuts and old stab wound soak my shirt as I made my way back.
'Nine' Ran across my mind as I neared the cave.
I paused, taking a shaky breath before entering the cave. I pulled the tarp down, so it was easier to get in. It was also easier for Rue and Katniss to see all of my blood.
"Marvel…" Rue said from her spot next to Katniss on the floor as they ate.
"I'm going to go get cleaned up." That is the only thing I say.
I drop the makeshift bag in front of her and grab the first aid kit while dropping my spear next to my stuff. I ignored both of them as I made my way out of the cave. I walked till the river was deep enough to be up to my stomach. Not caring if the whole world saw me, I stripped down to my underwear, taking my blood-soaked bandages off as well before immersing myself in the water. I stayed under the water until the burning from my wounds was overpowered by the burning in my lungs.
I resurfaced and only let my head come out of the water. I noticed Katniss immediately but chose to ignore her until I had to say something.
"…You shouldn't leave your weapon so far away from you." She said after watching me swim for a while longer.
"Another tribute is dead, so that leaves us with six left. They will be doing the Family interviews, and it would be a time for sponsors to start investing in their winner. They won't have us crossing paths so soon after another tribute's death." I answer while letting myself float a little.
"Did you enjoy it?" I snapped my head to her as soon as she finished talking.
"Did you even like him?" I snapped back.
She flinched back, and I saw a flash of emotion across her face and regretted it for a second but brushed it aside and went to go underwater again, only to stop when she answered me.
"Yes, I liked him." She didn't look away from me even when I just stared at her.
"…I try not to feel anything when I have to kill, but I guess some part of me does enjoy taking someone's life because, with every life that ends, I get a little closer to getting out of here." I finish and wait for her to leave or yell at me, but she doesn't even look at me.
I left her to think about what I said as I grabbed my shirt and started to wash as much blood off as possible.
"Can you get out of the water so I can fix you up, and we can get back before Rue starts thinking one of us died or worse," Katniss says when I get all of the blood off my shirt.
"I don't know what's worse than one of us dead," I say as I get out of the water to sit in front of her.
She just looked at me before she started to dry and clean my wounds.
Her fingers moved quickly, and she cleaned them efficiently. As she was dressing the cut on my Abdomen (more profound than I thought), I realized that I was staring at her and opened my mouth instead.
"Why?"
"Why? What?" Her eyes flickered to my face as she answered.
"Why didn't you kill me when I left that tree? Why didn't you push me away when I kissed you? Why are you patching me up when I got these wounds from killing someone?" I asked Katniss as she finished the cut on my abdomen.
"…" She ignores my questions and finishes dressing my stab wound.
"…I don't know. I thought that I should have killed you, but…the thing that tells me to survive at any cost doesn't do anything when you're around. I don't want to do anything when you leave an opening." She answered as I got dressed.
"…she told you he died, right?" I asked as she cleaned up the trash.
All she did was nod as we started to make our way to the cave.
"…I'm sorry. He seemed like a nice guy." I surprised myself with how honest I was.
"He got killed because he helped me." She said when we walked some ways away from the river.
"He didn't regret it."
Her head snapped my way. I didn't look at her as she watched me. Eventually, she looked away, and we continued our walk in silence.
Rue set out food and lit a small fire when we got back.
"Now that you're back, we can finally eat." Rue smiled at us while setting up our food.
I smile as I take my place on her left. Katniss sits in between us, and Rue starts asking her questions about her district while we eat. However, the peace doesn't last long as Rue collapses and a cannon goes off. Katniss and I just freeze as we stare at Rue.
I reach over and touch her neck, checking for a pulse even though I know there won't be one. Locking my jaw, I get up. Katniss stands as well, grabbing her bow and arrows as well as my sword and a spear. I pick up Rue as she douses the fire. We both walk out of the cave and into the forest. The sun is still out as we walk. I eventually see a field of flowers. I look at Katniss, and she nods, jogging ahead, and starts to pick some flowers. I found a small clearing setting Rue down. We spent some time putting flowers around her. Katniss began to sing a lullaby when we were almost done. She makes the same gesture that her district did to one of the cameras. I glare at the camera before following her away from Rue.
Katniss breaks down when we get back to the cave. I stand at the entrance before I start to clean up the food. When I get to Rue's place, I can't help but hesitate as I see the small bowl of berries she always picks for herself. Shaking my head, I grab the bowl and freeze as the light from outside hits it. Instead of the raspberries and blueberries that she usually picks, nightlock was mixed in with the blueberries.
"There's nightlock in her berries." My voice cracks as I say this.
Katniss looks up at me.
"She always picks her berries, but she knew what nightlock was. I…why would this be in her bowl?" I thought to myself out loud.
"We won't know unless we get out of here. We can't do anything until you're healed. Now that there's five of us left, what do you think they will do?" Katniss got closer to me and whispered it.
Before I could say anything, a beeping sound came from outside the cave. As I get up from my crouching position, the slash on my side sends a flash of pain. Hissing, I stop moving and sit back down. Katniss grabs her weapons from the spot she set them down and makes her way out.
I'm tense as I wait for any sign that she's in danger. Soon enough, she comes back with a jar the size of her palm.
"Gloss says to stop being a hero, and you're an idiot," Katniss says as she walks over to me.
"Feeling the love, Gloss," I say out loud.
"Take off your shirt and lay down on the sleeping bag." Katniss lays out my sleeping bag, trying to hide her smile.
"I can do it myself if you don't want to." She gives me a questioning look. "You looked like you were going to be sick while you cleaned my shoulder." I elaborated.
"My mom and sister are the ones that heal. I don't mind blood, but I prefer to keep my hands out of people's insides." She says as she gently pushes me down onto the sleeping bag.
She scoops a small bit of the cream into her hand and gently applies it to the cut on my hand. She uses as little as possible on each of my wounds, even getting some inside the stab wound on my shoulder.
"You should get some sleep. Don't cover-up. I don't want any of the ointment to rub off." She washes her hands with some of the unpurified water before grabbing her bow and sitting near the cave entrance.
I watch her as she sits down, and I can't help but see myself in her position with little Rue in the sleeping bag pressed against me. I tear my eyes away, not wiping away the tears that flow from them as I close my eyes.
…
"Hey, Marvel?" Rue asked me as we ate dinner on the second day of our partnership.
"Hm," I reply as I chew on some smoke rabbit while sharpening my spear with a rock.
"Is it true?" She bites into her leg as I give her a questioning look. "You know that you are in love with Katniss."
I start coughing as I choke on the rabbit I am eating.
"Where did you even hear that?" I asked her when I finally stopped coughing.
"That's what everyone was talking about after your interview." She smiled as I set my spear down to give her my full attention.
"I'm not in love with her." I grimace as I realize how stupid that is with the lengths I've gone through to keep her alive. "I just respect her strength and her love for her sister."
"Then why did you help her?" Rue's eyes sparkled as I started to fidget.
"Okay. So maybe I don't just admire her. BUT that doesn't mean that I'm in love with her." Rue stops eating and looks at me to continue. "Katniss isn't like any other person that I have ever met." I sigh as I continue.
"She's stubborn. While she isn't outrageously gorgeous, she is beautiful because she's herself. And judgy. There's just something about her that draws you in. I can't help but be drawn to her. I want to protect her and watch what she will do with that fire of hers." I finish with a sigh looking at Rue only to see her smiling so big I almost thought her face would be stuck like that. "I don't know if you would call that love."
"Will you ever tell her that?" Rue picked up her food again, taking a bite after asking her question.
"No, I was lucky enough for her not to kill me after kissing her. I'm not taking that risk." I reply, grabbing my food and taking a bite.
"You kissed her? What was it like?" Rue asked, scooting closer, giving me her full attention.
"Oh, uh." I rubbed my neck as I tried to avoid her puppy dog eyes. I give up when my eyes meet hers and continue. "She was being stubborn about owing me a debt, refusing to take the bow and arrows. The first thing that I thought of that would make it so she didn't have to owe me would be to kiss her and in exchange, she wouldn't maim or kill me. Thinking back on that there was probably better solutions but I was running out of time so I just did it."
Rue leaned forward completely hooked on what I was saying. I smiled at her before staring at the wall in front of me remembering the feeling.
"When our lips met it was like she started a fire inside of me and with every second it grew and started to burn me from the inside out. It was like nothing I have ever felt before. I never wanted to stop. I wanted to burn." Rue's eyes were wide and bright as I finished talking.
"Finish up. You've got the first watch. Wake me up when it gets dark." I give her the rest of my dinner as I head to my sleeping bag to get some sleep.
"Marvel?" I turn to look at her while she looks at me with a soft smile. "Thank you."
I smile at her before getting into my sleeping bag, setting my weapons close to me just in case.
…
I open my eyes letting the memory/dream fade as I lay there trying not to be dragged into the darkness. I take a deep breath as I lock Rue and our memories into the same box that my mother was in until I get the chance to finally let go.
I sit up pausing when I don't feel the constant pain in my shoulder. Looking at my right hand I don't see the cut from where I grabbed the knife. The large gash on my stomach was almost completely gone leaving a scratch. Looking at my left shoulder the stab wound from Clove looked like a scratch.
Looking at the cave entrance I see Katniss staring outside the opening. As I go to say something a cannon goes off.
'Last four. It's only a matter of time now.' I think as I get out of my sleeping bag.
Katniss looks at me from the entrance.
"This is it then." She says as she gets up.
"Sure is. Only four tributes left." I put on my shirt and jacket strapping on my sword and knives keeping a spear in my hand.
"Don't bother taking anything besides your weapons. I doubt that this won't end tonight." I say as she goes to pack up our things.
Katniss looks at our little space before nodding and following me as I make my way out of the cave. The sun is going down as we start our trek to the Cornucopia. We save our energy by walking instead of running to our destination. I get tenser as the sun starts to go down my grip on my spear so tight that I almost lose feeling in my hand.
Back at home we would have movie nights and whenever it was Haymitch's turn he always picked a horror movie. I hated it because I always ended up covering my face during the whole movie because of the jump scares. Right now I felt like one of those characters in the movies.
Soon enough it was dark and I was tense waiting for the next part.
"You know I used to watch these old movies where these characters would come across some murder or monster and start getting killed one by one. This kinda reminds me of that." I comment when the silence gets to me.
"What happens in the end?" Katniss asked me as we walked.
"Usually one of them survives to warn others about the thing. At this point in the movie one of the group members gets killed and the others hear their scream sending some kind of signal to start the ending." I chuckled nervously as silence followed my statement.
Then we hear a male scream ring throughout the forest before suddenly cutting off before a cannon follows. Looking up Thresh's face shows up in the sky. We lock eyes as we hear a rustling sound coming from behind us. Turning around slowly I lock eyes with familiar light blue eyes.
"Me and my big mouth," I whisper before the thing lunges at me.
By pure luck I moved my spear just in time for the thing to impale itself on it. Grunting I push the thing off of me. It's golden coat and tag rang a very disturbing bell in my head.
"Glimmer." Is all I could say before we heard more rustling come towards us.
Scrambling to my feet Katniss and I start sprinting towards the cornucopia. The rustling turns into growls, howls, and the pounding of paws against the ground as they chase us.
We're running for some time when I hear the thumps of boots on the ground ahead of us. Katniss and I run faster and soon enough I see the muscles and blond hair of Cato running in front of us. I'm breathing too hard to ask why he was running but my question is answered when two red fured mutts close in on Katniss and I from our sides. Both of us push ourselves even faster to match pace with Cato avoiding the claws of the mutts.
The three of us make a beeline to the Cornucopia once we make it out of the forest. Not twenty seconds later the pack burst from the trees right on our tails. My lungs and legs are on fire and the only thing that keeps me from falling is my will. Out of the corner of my eye I see Katniss pull ahead going faster than I have ever seen scaling the Cornucopia like she did the trees once she got there.
As I keep my eyes on the metal save haven I see Cato stumble losing ground as he regains his footing. When I'm close enough I jump on to the side of the Cornucopia making small jumps to get up faster. Cato reaches the bottom of the Cornucopia and instead of climbing he looks at me mouthing something just before the mutts tear into him.
They don't make it easy because with every bite and slash I realize that Cato was wearing some kind of armor on his body. Cato won't have a quick death. They will tear into him slowly and make it as painful as possible. I stand on my legs shaky as they are and pull back my arm holding my spear in the ready position. The boom of a cannon goes off as my spear lands in Cato's head.
I watch the ground open up and the mutts jump in before it closes behind them. My eyes avoid the bloody body as I turn around only to land on the arrow that was pointed at my face.
…
Gloss pov
Years ago my sister and I won our hunger games. At first we were happy and proud thinking that it was an honor to compete and win the games. Now we know how horrible it is to be one of the survivors. The only thing that kept us from letting ourselves drown in our delusions was Marvel.
The kid gave us a reason to keep our sanity. Now he's in the very death game we survived and at this point I'm not even sure what he is trying to do.
"Why is he helping her?" I asked myself as I watched him carry the unconscious girl from twelve over his good shoulder.
"Who knows what he's thinking at this point." Haymitch replied, keeping his eyes on the girl.
"The family interviews should be getting started soon." Finnick said as he sat down between Haymitch and me.
"The perfect time for the money to start rolling in." I try to keep my foot from tapping as Marvel starts to clean up the stab wound from the district two girl.
"What do you think Alex is going to do?" Finnick asked us.
Haymitch and I don't say anything as we watch Marvel, Katniss, and Rue in their cave.
…
The days pass and Haymitch and I spend most of them talking to the richter not perverted citizens about the kids. Then the day comes for the airing of the interviews. That day also seems to be the most eventful.
Katniss wakes up and attacks Marvel. They have their little moment before little Rue comes back. Marvel then gets injured again while killing the district ten boy. Him and Katniss have another moment at the river as she cleans him up.
The most heartbreaking part was when Rue died and it seemed to break the two tributes. Haymitch and I lock eyes as our tributes carry the small girl out of the cave. Haymitch gets up first and walks out of the room. I wait a few seconds before following. I spent the next hours talking to the rich sponsors of the capitol about Marvel and Katniss and their love.
By the time they get back to their cave most of the capitol is routing for them. Using the sponsor money I send medicine to Marvel. A grin pulls at my lips when Katniss reads to Marvel what I sent.
As Marvel falls asleep the screen changes and Ceaser shows up.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, what an exciting game! Now as per regulation we will be showing the family interviews during the break for the final contestants." He smiles big as the screen changes again.
They start with District Two who only has parents to interview. His parents sounded so disinterested in the interview. Five and Eleven followed both a lot more heartfelt than Two.
Then came the awaited interviews. Katniss was first and Haymitch was on the edge of his seat as they started.
"We are here today with Primrose Everdeen. Prim everyone in the Capitol was so touched when your sister volunteered for you. How did you feel when she swooped in and volunteered?" The Capitolist asked the small blonde.
"I was scared at first but I knew that Katniss would be in the finals. My sister is the strongest person I have ever known and I know that she will keep her promise." At the end of the sentence she had the same fire in her eyes as her sister did when she was on stage.
"That family sure is something." I comment as the Mother says the same thing.
"Don't I know it." Haymitch sighs.
Her cousin goes next and finally we get to see Alex's interview.
"I'm here with Alexander Breckon, the 49th victor of the hunger games and the father of our tribute Marvel. Alexander, how do you feel about Marvel's participation in this year's games?" The Capitol interviewer giggles when he smiles at her.
"Both Marvel and I were very honored and excited that he was chosen to be part of this year's hunger games. I'm very proud of him and I know that he will make a new tradition for our family by winning this year's games just like I won the games before the last quarter quell when I was his age." Alex smiled at the camera hiding his real feelings while being a Capitol supporter.
"Yes! That would be a lovely outcome. Now how do you feel about Katniss Everdeen and how Marvel has taken a liking to her?" The interviewer bends over flashing more of her bright yellow cleavage.
"Katniss is a very interesting girl and I would love to have her be a part of my family. Marvel has my approval of everything he does and while it would be great to show her the most beautiful parts of District one and the Capitol I'm still on my son's side and I want him to come home so that we could celebrate this achievement." Alex smiled as the interviewer swooned as she ended the interview.
"He's good." Haymitch said as Caesar came back on.
Finnick and I both nodded as we stared at the TV. Alex was a Capitol supporter the whole time but he also hinted at the idea of both of them coming back and of getting Katniss to be a supporter as well.
"Now what?" Finnick asked us as the screen went back to the tributes.
"Now, we wait." I answered for both of us.
…
Thank you everyone for reading my story and I hope this makes up for how long it took me to update.
