An: We're so sorry that it's so late! That's just one of the cons of co-writing, if one of us has time to write and the other doesn't, then we can't write… and we spend a lot of time fooling around on the internet when we do have time to write…

Disclaimer: we don't own anything

Chapter VIII : The Early Bird

Finnick's P.O.V

The heat of the fire was burning against my skin, making it feel like I was also on fire. All I saw was moving colors. Red, orange, yellow, constantly shifting through the wall of trees that kept surrounding us. The thick fog made it even harder to see. I only knew where Percy was because of our connected hands. My free hand pushed away all plants that tried to stop, or eat us.

'This way!' I told Percy and pulled him into the direction of our previous resting place by the water. It was strange, but once I made a connection with the water, I could still feel it in the back of my head. Like an inner water-detector. Whatever the cause may be, it sure as Hades saved my en Percy's asses. Thunder boomed somewhere behind us as we dove into the water.

I quickly scanned Percy over, looking for burns. All I could detect where a few scratches here and there, but they were already healing in the water.

"We can't stay here for too long, the Capitol will notice." Percy warned me.

"In that case we must stop the fire without drawing attention to the water."

"Splash battle?"Percy suggested. "We can limit our powers a bit so it looks like we're just splashing the water on the fire."

"A splash battle it is." I grinned. Despite the grave situation, Percy still managed to make me smile.

Percy easily put out the fire on his side, but I had a hard time using my new found powers. "Some help over here?" I asked him, still throwing water over the fire.

"Sure." With just a wave of his hand the water spat up continuously, slowly putting the fire out.

And then suddenly the night sky turned dark, making it look like it was night already. "What just happened?" Percy asked me.

"I think that it's night." I stated the obvious.

"I know," Percy rolled his eyes. "but why so sudden?"

"The game makers control everything in here, the weather, the light…" I summed up, not liking their total control the slightest. "It's night when they want it to be night."

"But… how? I mean, they can't really control the weather, right?" Percy asked in confusion, a cute frown marring his face. "Humans aren't supposed to have that power."

"Don't worry, we're indoor. As far as I know, we still haven't found a way to manipulate the nature like that. Sure, we've done other things, but we have not controlled the weather." I reassured him after seeing the distraught look on his face. It must be hard for him, waking up in the future with no knowledge at all about what has changed or stayed the same. I sat down next to the water's edge, Percy following suit.

My thoughts got interrupted by the familiar Capitol music, suddenly blaring trough the whole arena.

"What the Hades is that?" Percy looked at the clear black sky, that wasn't so clear anymore.

I followed his gaze upwards, "Those are the dead tributes. Each night the gamemakers tell us who died."

"Wait, isn't that Alice?" Percy asked me. My eyes widened, and sure enough, it was Alice. "Oh gods, what happened to her?"

I heard Percy counting the dead tributes. "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. There are ten dead tributes."

I nodded, recalling their faces and districts. "District 1, 2, 4, 6, 6, 7, 10, 10, 11 and 12." I frowned, how strange, it's uncommon for the first four districts to lose almost half their number. "Well, at least we won't have to kill them anymore."

Percy scoffed, "That's an interesting way of looking at things. I am going to kill president Snow if I ever get the chance."

"And I'll be at your side, holding him down." I grinned slightly.

"Can he see me when I kill him?"

I chuckled, "I sure as Hades hope so, he will piss his pants from the glare you'll be sending him. But anyway, I have to ask you something more serious."

"What?" Percy looked at me.

"At the horn, the girl from district 12 threw a spear at you. Do you know if she is good at throwing spears and saw you, or if she was just aiming for someone else and it tragically missed?" I asked him with a grave tone, if she could see through the mist she could become very dangerous.

"Oh gods, she is incredible with a spear." Percy looked worried

I frowned, just what I'd feared. "What can we do? I mean, she must be very suspicious of us now, she saw us two on just one platform." As soon as those words came out of my mouth, I blushed.

Percy coughed, "Uh, speaking of the platform… can we talk about the kiss?"

I noticed he also had a blush on his face. "Err, yeah. Sure, so what about it?" I tried to ask as nonchalantly as possible.

"Did you enjoy it?" He asked me curiously.

I almost died of embarrassment. "Depends… did you?"

"Uh, yeah." Percy looked at me waiting for my answer. Seeing that he wouldn't get one he blurted out. "I mean, I would like a repeat, but only if you want to, of course…"

My face couldn't turn more red than it was now, "I think… that I would like that very much."

Percy burst into a bright smile. "Great!"

I also smiled. "Yeah…"

It was silent for a moment as we just stared into each other's eyes. It was a bit uncomfortable, to be honest. We were sitting a few feet from each other, next to the lake. Not moving, not speaking. Just staring

Eventually, Percy broke out of his stupor. "So, er… about that kiss that we were going to repeat…"

"Oh, you mean… now?" I asked him, pleasantly surprised.

Percy came closer to me, he looked at me for permission, I nodded. And just like that, our lips once again touched, and it was just as amazing as the first time. Maybe even better, now that I knew that my feelings were returned. I don't know how long we kissed but it didn't matter. Not at all.

After a few moments, he pulled away. I looked into his eyes, they were sea green, as always, but this time I saw something in his eyes that surprised me. Love. He smiled gently, and pulled me in for another kiss.

All too soon, it ended. I snuggled up to him, my back against him. "You know," I sighed sadly. "This isn't really the best time to get a boyfriend…"

I felt his breath tickle trough my hair. "You're right. But at least I'm not another tribute."

I couldn't help the laugh that escaped my lips. "Can't argue that."

"You know, we haven't had dinner yet."

"Forget dinner, I'm tired. Let's go to sleep early. You know what they say, the early bird…"

"Gets shot?" Percy suggested, sounding a bit lost.

I laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Well… it sounded logical to me. I mean, if there were hunters, than they'd notice the early bird sooner than the rest because he came first." Percy tried to explain himself. I had to admit, I could understand his reasoning. Nonetheless, I laughed at him.

"The early bird catches the worm, Percy. That's the phrase." I turned around, steeling another kiss from my adorable boyfriend.

Percy ended the kiss. "Well, if you want to be the early bird, we'll have to get to sleep instead of kissing."

I blushed. "I'll get the sleeping bag."

I leaned over Percy, grabbing the backpack from where Percy had left it after extinguishing the fire. Zipping it open, I pulled out the sleeping bag. "Er, we only have one." I blushed, sharing a platform was on the verge of awkward and okay, but sharing a tiny sleeping bag?

Percy chuckled, obviously knowing what I was thinking. "Don't worry, I was already planning on sleeping in shifts. Just to be sure that no one gets murdered in their sleep, you know?"

"Right," I coughed, to cover up my embarrassment, "who gets the first shift?"

"I'll do it." Percy offered, which didn't surprise me at all.

"Okay, but don't forget to wake me up when you get tired." I told him sternly, hoping that he would not be stubborn enough to stay awake the whole night.

"Just go to sleep, Finnick."

I sighed but complied, too tired to rebel. And after all, the sleeping bag looked really warm and comfy, despite its presence in the hunger games.

"Hey, Percy."I said, after I got comfortable. "What do you think the viewers at home saw? I know you said that the Mist would cover it up, but what exactly will they see?"

"Mostly bullshit. For instance, my sword turned into a baseball bat. And my huge hellhound turned into a poodle." He told me casually. "Who knows, maybe they'll still see and hear you talk, but think that you're going crazy."

"That would be horrible." I frowned. "That won't result in many sponsors, will it?"

"I don't think so, though it would be awesome if it did."

"Do I have to keep our conversations inside my head, then?" I asked him, displeased.

He shook his head, hand reaching out to play with my hair. "Why bother, they've either already seen you do it, or they never will."

Percy leaned forward, pressing a soft kiss against my head. "Don't worry about the Capitol or everyone else too much, the Mist is a powerful thing."

I let myself relax, closing my eyes and letting sleep take over.

I was in a forest, but something seemed a little bit off about it. It was completely silent, not a single bird was singing. No wind was rustling through the leaves. No tiny footsteps from tiny animals. I moved forward, without really having control over my body. I noticed that the deeper I got into the forest, the thicker the mist seemed to get.

My body kept walking, until I saw something manmade. A wooden sign. I squinted my eyes at the words, only to find that it was written in another language. Ancient Greek. But to my surprise, I knew what was written there. Camp Half-Blood.

AN: YEESSSSS! IT'S OFFICIAL! THEY'RE DATING! And yes, Camp Half-Blood ;).