Hey y'all! How's everyone doing? Alright, now we're dealing with the aftermath of Katniss' rather poor choice of actions while also getting to the part where Rue comes in and the alliance that they formed actually starts to matter. Also, I'm not really going to include a section of what Katniss, Clove, and Rue were up to in this chapter cause I feel like it'll bog down the story flow a bit.

Like always, I enjoy comments, in fact I thrive off of positive comments and love constructive critique ones cause it shows an author that their readers are actually paying attention and enjoying their work.

Thanks for continuing to read this story! Virtual hugs and cuddles to y'all.

Disclaimer: I still do not own anything except any OC's that may come up, any world building that has not yet been officially stated by the books or the movies, and any plot points/structures that have not been used in the books or movies.

Warning: No beta, we die like Rue.

Chapter 18: The Tracker Jacker Alliance

XXXXXX

Val jerks awake the moment the light from the rising sun hits him in the face.

He blinks rapidly and raises a hand up against the light. He's also very confused because his designated sleeping tree is positioned so that the light would never get in his face until the sun had completely risen. Then he looks down and the confusion immediately clears.

Down below him are the Careers, still sound asleep. The fire from last night now just a pile of ash surrounded by small rocks and sleeping Careers. Kai sleeps on his side near the fire pit, hand loosely gripping his spear. Marvel sleeps against the trunk of the tree Val's on, spear leaning against him as he softly snores away. Glimmer is curled up between Marvel and Kai though she clearly shifted towards Kai during the night. Her hands are close by his feet and nowhere near her bow and arrow. Clove sleeps soundly near a bush, obviously positioning herself there so if trouble came a calling, she could immediately roll over for cover. And Katniss sleeps nearby Clove, her slight twitching and soft muttering attesting to her uneasy sleep.

Val feels somewhat guilty as he looks down at his sister, shifting back and forth as if caught in a nightmare. He almost wants to forgive her for her "betrayal". She was just following a plan, a very stupid plan, but given the way the Capitol folk treat the Games, it's still a plan nonetheless.

Then he scowls because he shouldn't forgive her. He doesn't want to forgive her! That stunt she pulled could've gotten her killed and it almost got him killed! And he never thought she would agree to use manipulation of any kind to achieve her goals. It was one of her three things to punch people over, sitting snuggle up there with willful stupidity and malicious lying. And he especially isn't going to forgive Haymitch for coming up with this plan and convincing her it was the right thing to do.

But he knows that with enough time, he will eventually find it in him to forgive her and her false betrayal will become another scar on his heart. Val turns his attention to his leg, wondering how well the burn gel worked. Then he does a double take because damn. That gel works really, really well. His burn is almost completely healed, only red irritated skin left in place of the black and blisters of yesterday. Maybe he will forgive Haymitch but only a little bit though cause he's still an asshole.

With his injury no longer a pressing issue, Val returns his attention to the Careers down below. He has no idea what to do. If he tries to climb down, the ground around the tree is covered in dry leaves without a single opening to allow him to escape unheard no matter how quiet he tries to be. He looks around at the trees nearby but they're all positioned out of reach and the ones that are close enough, don't have branches strong enough to support his weight.

Val leans back against the tree with a heavy sigh. Looks like he'll just have to power through another day of sitting up here, twiddling his thumbs, while the Careers throw words and weapons at him.

Then he hears the branches of a nearby tree move. He quickly draws the short sword from his backpack and looks up wearily. The branches continue to shake until finally, Rue climbs up to greet him a wide grin full of mischief.

Val lowers the sword in relief. He gives Rue a small wave that she returns in kind. He's about to greet her when she holds up a finger to her lips, an indication to be quiet. Then she points up at a spot just above him. Val trails his gaze to where she's pointing and his mouth shuts with an audible quick. He almost falls off the branch in shock because death and danger were apparently closer to him than the Careers last night.

A few feet above his head is a branch with a bee's nest hanging off the end. Now normally he'd just brush it off since bees are harmless and he's not allergic. But this bee's nest is no ordinary bee's nest. It's a tracker jacker nest. Val had seen a tracker jacker nest before, once in the deep parts of the forests of 12. When he first came across it, he had no clue what sort of bug hung around it as he had found a corpse of what looked to be a wasp but it was almost completely gold in color. He had then gotten stung by one and quickly fled into the lake when the rest soon followed and would greatly appreciate never repeating that ever again.

It wasn't until later, after he was taken in by the Everdeens, that Ed told him of the genetically engineered animals that were created by the Capitol during the old wars. Some were still kept around to continue to assert the Capitol's control over the Districts. The tracker jackers, genetically engineered wasps, were the worst in that they attacked those who came too close to their nests and would continue to hunt their prey down with stings full of venom that cause vivid hallucinations and death if stung one too many times. Ed told him the only viable strategies to escape trackers jackers were fire, water, or directing them to another target.

Val looks to Rue with an expression of gratitude for her warning. She giggles and shakes her head. She mimes sawing at the branch and points at the sword that's still in his hand, then down below at the Careers. He immediately gets the picture and his gratitude turns incredulous at her crazy ass idea.

Rue giggles again before waving and jumping off the branch, hopping through the trees like a squirrel. Val watches her go and once she's far enough, sees a large dark figure that can only be Thresh emerge from the shadows of the trees and rush off after her.

Val sighs, mind racing because there's no way he's going to commit to such a crazy idea just to get out of his current situation, right? Right? He looks back up at the tracker jacker nest and then back down below at the Careers. Ugh. He really doesn't have any other option available to him right now so guess he'll just have to hope that he manages to escape mostly unscathed.

Val unties himself from the trunk and hefts his backpack up in preparation for a hasty retreat the moment he's done cutting the branch.

Meanwhile, down below, Katniss awakens, jerking up with a gasp that she immediately throws her hands over her mouth to smother. She takes a few moments to take in her surroundings and a few breaths to calm down. Then she looks up to see her brother do one of the stupidest things she's ever seen him do.

She silently makes her way to Clove, who thankfully wasn't too far so the dried leaves weren't much of an issue. She quickly shakes Clove who jerks up with a knife held to her throat. Katniss holds her hands up in surrender and stares wide eyed at her. Clove blinks, registering who actually woke her up and puts her knife away to Katniss' relief. Clove opens her mouth to ask what's going on but stops when Katniss gestures for her to keep quiet and to look up. Clove does and immediately deadpans because of course her best friend's would be doing something incredibly stupid to get out of a bad situation. It was dumb of her to think he outgrew such tendencies.

Katniss then gestures for the two of them to leave as swiftly as possible. Clove nods in agreement. The two girls slowly stand up, gather their things, and proceed to leave the small clearing as quietly as they can.

The two are gone while Val continues sawing the branch, movements as smooth as possible to prevent any shaking that may alert the tracker jackers to his presence. Unfortunately, he's only about half way through when the deadly wasps grow agitated, the branch lowering from the weight of the nest and Val's cuts. The few that are buzzing nearby deem Val enough of a threat to start stinging him. He slaps at his neck when he's stung and starts swatting at the other wasps while still sawing with the sword.

Soon enough, Val redoubles his efforts, abandoning all efforts to go unnoticed and instead trying to finish the job as soon as possible to minimize the damage. His vision starts to grow hazy as his arm gives up sawing and just starts hacking away at the branch as hard as he can.

Finally, just as his mind becomes heavy and his thoughts foggy, the branch drops down with a loud snap that has the Careers jerking awake. They look around disoriented only for them all to jump quickly onto their feet when the nest hits the ground and smashes into pieces, releasing the deadly insects inside. The tracker jackers buzz angrily before swarming the closest target, who just so happened to be Glimmer.

Glimmer screams and thrashes as the tracker jackers swarm her. Every inch of her body is covered by small, golden bugs that aggressively sting at every available surface until finally, she abruptly dies from the venom coursing through her veins. Her voice cuts off mid-scream.

Throughout the attack, Marvel manages to escape without a single sting since he'd been far enough away from the nest when it fell. Kai scrambles away as quickly as he can but manages to get stung a few times. Anger overtakes him and he starts lashing out wildly with his spear. He manages to scratch Amber who had been stung as well while watching Glimmer die with morbid curiosity. Amber, drawn out of her trance by the scratch, violently lashes out at Kai with a harsh punch to his jaw. The force of her blow manages to immediately bruise his face.

The two stare each other down and it looks as if they're about to go at each other but the sound of the cannon and harsh buzzing of the tracker jackers snap them out of it. The two remaining Careers scramble away from the clearing as the deadly wasps chase them down.

As soon as they are gone, Val shakily climbs down the tree, his limbs growing heavy and numb with each passing moment. His foot slips on a branch and he falls the rest of the way down, landing heavily on his back. He blinks rapidly, trying to clear his vision but it only grows blurrier as the effects of the venom start to distort his perception.

He blinks again as he crawls over to Glimmer's still body, her once beautiful face now blotchy and swollen. He clumsily pries the bow and arrows that were clasped tightly in her hands away. Then he hears someone shouting at him from behind. He turns his head as the blurry image of Katniss appears before him. She looks upset and is yelling something about an idiot and to go.

Val weakly shoves her away as he stumbles up to his feet with newly acquired bow and arrows in hand. She tries to grab at him to support him, her voice still sounding distorted to his ears. But he shoves at her again, more harshly this time as he mumbles some unintelligible curses at her. After all, one night isn't enough time to get over a betrayal like hers no matter how fake it was supposed to be.

Katniss looks hurt and she says something again but Val's already checked out. He turns his back on her and stumbles out of the clearing as quickly as he can. He looks back after a bit to see if any one may be following after him. But he's alone.

Val continues to stumble as quickly as he can do an undetermined path with the only destination being "away from here." Slowly, the forest distorts around him until it warps into something different, something familiar. The tall trees shrink down till the tops are only a few feet above him. The dirt floor becomes soft grass and the dried leaves grow into the colorful flowers of his youth. The scenery around him has changed into the backyard of his home in 2.

Val blinks and right in front of him is his father, looking just as he had the day everything changed. Cayden Evans smiles down at Val as he takes his hands and grips them tight. "Keep on living, son. No matter how tired you get, no matter how hard it seems. Keep on living."

Then with a blink, his dad is replaced by his mother, strong and healthy without a single trace of disease in her appearance. She's kneeling by the flowerbed, her face streaked with dirt and her apron covered in soot. Cathleen Evans turns to Val with a smile and offers him a red chrysanthemum. He reaches out to take it and suddenly it's like he's Cato again. Just that little boy from 2 with a loving mother and strong father making one small but happy family.

Val's eyes fill with tears as he opens his mouth to speak to his mom for the first time since she died. But she gently shakes her head and says, in that soft yet wise voice of hers, "Be strong, my little mockingjay. And never, ever forget."

"Mom," Val says, reaching out to her. Then a blink and he makes a strangled sound as she suddenly grows thin and sickly, her cheeks hollowing and skin yellowing until she falls back onto the green grass, dead. Next to her lies the bullet ridden body of his dad.

He chokes back a scream when red blood pools across the green grass and suddenly, in place of the flowerbeds, are the bodies of his dead family. Their faces full of horror as their wide, unseeing eyes stare back at him almost accusingly. Disembodied voices scream and shout all around him. Screeching cries, tearful shouts, and hateful accusations hurl down at Val as he falls to his knees, hands pressed against his ears to try and block it all out. But it's to no avail as the mournful cries of his relatives continue to ask why they had to die while he got to live. Tears fall as Val chokes out sobs for forgiveness because he still doesn't know, to this day, why he was the only one who lived. Then the voices that cry out diminish until only one voice remains.

Another blink and Val wails out in despair as Prim stands before him. Her beautiful, white Reaping day dress stained heavily red as blood drips down from her face. She stares accusingly at his kneeling form.

"How could you let us die? I thought we were your family!" she shouts at him, voice full of venom the real Primrose Everdeen could never muster no matter how angry she became. But even though Val knows this, the hallucination still wins out over his common sense as the false Prim hisses words that drive daggers straight into his heart. "But I guess that's just what happens to anyone in your family. They all get killed but only you get to live on, happy and healthy until you get your next family killed as well. You're like a bad luck charm, Val. The only common denominator to a cycle of death that will never end until you do."

Val blinks through the tears and suddenly, Prim is gone. He looks around desperately and sees he's in the forests of 12, near the cave he had called his home for six months before he was found. Val turns back to where Prim stood and in her place is Gale with that ruggedly handsome smile of his that Val would never admit had charmed him since they'd first met.

"Gale," Val chokes out as he stumbles towards him, hand hesitantly reaching out as if he can't believe that the young man he had loved since he first understood what it meant to love was standing before him.

"Hey Val," Gale says back, gently taking Val's hand into his own.

"What are you doing here? No better yet, how are you here?" Val asks, still in disbelief.

"Oh, I think you know the answer to that," Gale cheekily responds, his grip tightening unexpectedly.

Val winces. "What? I don't...I don't understand."

Then blood slowly starts to drip down Gale's face as various wounds appear all over his body. Val watches in horror as Gale smiles at him, teeth stained red. "It's because the only way I can be with you...is in hell."

Val screams as the image of the bloodied Gale warps and distorts. He grabs at his head as pain shoots through him until his vision clears enough to see that he's back in the arena forest. He blinks and suddenly, the forest floor is rushing up to greet him.

Another blink.

Then black.

XXXXXX

His awakening is a gradual process.

First, he comes to awareness, vision still black as his mind slowly awakens.

Then his limbs twitch and shift. They're heavy and numb from disuse.

Then his brow furrows as he slowly opens his eyes. He winces at the bright light and has to hold up a hand to shield his vision as he blinks rapidly to clear it.

Finally, his vision clears and he struggles to push himself up into a seated position. He looks around, taking in his surroundings. He's in another clearing that is sufficiently covered by a large amount of brush with a few trees nearby tall and sturdy enough to escape on if need be.

Then his mind registers cooling sensations all over various points on his body. He looks down and examines his arms to see patches of some herbal paste plastered all over. He reaches up to his neck and pulls his hand away to see the same paste on it. It seems someone made an herbal remedy for his tracker jacker stings.

"You're awake!"

Val's head snaps up to see a greatly relieved Rue rush over to kneel down beside him.

"R-Rue?" he croaks out, voice harsh and dry from disuse.

She puts a bowl full of herbal paste down beside her. He looks down to see that the bowl is actually half of the container his tribute gift came in. Rue notices his stares and starts to fidget.

"I'm really sorry I went through your stuff. But I wanted to use something cleaner for the paste than a piece of tree bark," she explains nervously.

Val smiles at her though it feels more like a grimace and he tries to reassure that it was alright but he ends up coughing harshly instead. She jumps up in a panic.

"Oh wait! Water! Let me get you some water!"

She rushes over to a tree and expertly climbs its trunk until she reaches a branch where a bunch of bags were tied together. She removes a backpack and swiftly climbs down, falling the last few feet with a soft thud. She rushes back to him and takes out the water bottle that sits in the side mesh pocket.

Val gratefully uncaps the bottle and chugs down half its contents in one go. Once he's sufficiently hydrated, he looks at the backpack and realizes that it's his. Rue hands it over to him with a smile.

"I'm glad you're awake, Val," she says. Then she jumps up in excitement. "Hold on a bit. I'm going to go get the others!"

Val blinks, bewildered as he watches the whirlwind that is Rue, whirl right out of the clearing. He'll never understand where kids get all their energy from. He wasn't ever that active when he was a kid...was he? He's shaken from his musing when Rue whirls right back into the clearing with Clove and Katniss following closely behind.

"Glad to know you're still as invincible as when we were kids," Clove casually remarks with her arms crossed.

She's as neutral faced as ever though her body language gives away her true thoughts. Even after eight years, Val can still read her like a book. The slight furrow in her brow relaying her concern towards his well being while her loose posture tell of her relief that he hasn't gotten himself killed, yet.

Val smiles at her unspoken concern. "Well someone had to be considering you were always the one dragging me into trouble. I don't think I'll ever forget the time you somehow managed to convince me that it was a good idea to go through the mills to find Delilah's cat instead of letting the adults take care of it," he teases.

Clove blushes softly and turns her head to the side with a scoff. "Oh please," she said, "We all know that the only reliable adults were your parents and they were too busy with their anniversary. I didn't wanna bother them."

"Awww, you do have a heart somewhere in that stone cold body of yours," Val coos.

"I'll show you stone cold," Clove hisses threateningly at him with a fist raised. Val laughs in response.

"Um, not to interrupt or anything but is it a good idea for you two to be casually talking like this considering where we are?" Katniss interrupts with an actual sensible question that has Val's eyebrows rising in surprise. "Oh and by the way, I'm really glad you're still safe, bro."

Katniss looks at him, relieved as if some great burden had been lifted off her shoulders but she's hesitant in her approach. Val narrows his gaze at her, scowling something fierce as her pace slows when her eyes meet his own. She doesn't know how to approach after what she'd done and he's not feeling so forgiving right now.

"Oh so now you show concern for my well being? Now I'm your bro again?," Val asks, tone gaining a bitter edge. "What was it you said yesterday?" he pauses as if to recall something he will never forget. "Oh right, that I wasn't your brother and that you were only looking out for your own interests so that you can go back to your own family as if the last eight years didn't matter to you as much as it did to me," he snaps at her.

Katniss flinches and Val feels a sort of vindictive glee at her reaction. Then that vindictive feeling disappears as quickly as it appeared. Because even though he doesn't want to let go of his anger at her actions, doesn't want to be the forgiving older brother like he always is. He doesn't have it in him to do it.

Maybe when he was still just a little boy in 2, he would've held a grudge until Katniss managed to pay her due twenty times over because that was the kind of person he was. Key word was.

After all that's happened after his family was killed and he made his way into the Everdeen family in 12, he realized that there's no point in letting negative emotions influence him because that's just no way to live. So here he is, eight years, with a gained sense of empathy that he desperately held onto until it became such an integral part of himself that no matter how much he wants to be vindictive or have some petty revenge, he won't follow through because there's just no point.

He sighs. "You know what. Forget what I said. I know you were just doing what you thought was best even though trusting everything Haymitch says really shouldn't count. I apologize for snapping at you."

Katniss shakes her head, her expression full of regret as she says, "No, I should be the one apologizing. I should've told you what we were planning so then at least you could've been prepared. Instead of just hoping that you'd get a message before we even crossed paths…"

"What was the plan anyways? Besides allying with the Careers," he asks, genuinely curious.

"Well…the plan was to ally with the Careers and then do whatever I could to draw them away from you while building some form of trust with them so that they wouldn't immediately suspect me if something went wrong. Then once enough days passed, I was going to slowly start sabotaging them," she explained, "And if we ever crossed paths with you, I had to pretend that I was betraying you and that our united front was just an act all along and that I was really your rival in the arena."

"Huh. And I was supposed to get some sort of message or sign that you weren't actually betraying me before we crossed paths?" he asked.

Katniss nods vigorously. "Yeah. Haymitch was going to send you a tribute gift a few days in with a note that would've at least clued you in but we ran into each other way too soon for that to happen."

He nods along as her expression turns confused. "By the way, how did we cross paths so soon? I thought for sure that you went one way and I was going a completely different one so that we wouldn't run into each other until at least day three or after?" she asks.

Val takes a moment to think before groaning. Katniss perks up at his reaction. "You know?"

"Yeah I know," he says.

"Then how?"

"It was the freaking Game Makers," he hisses out.

Katniss looks at him, eyebrows high with a bewildered expression. "I thought they never interfered until way later in the Game or when nothing exciting's happened for a while?"

"Yeah well, they apparently thought two days was enough before trying to literally make me the boy on fire," Val scoffs. "And I'm really starting to get sick of that title now."

"What'd they do? Set the forest on fire with you in it or something?"

"You'd think right? But no, they had to send fireballs hurtling at me instead. How'd you think I got this burn?"

"Burn? What burn?"

Val gestures to his leg where his pants were still torn. Katniss looks at him like he's gone crazy. "You mean you got a sunburn from a fireball?"

Now Val's looking at her like she's crazy. He looks down at where his still healing burn should've been but instead is met with the sight of a patch of light red skin that did indeed look like sunburn.

"Huh. That medicine was better than I thought," he comments.

"Whatever you say, bro," Katniss says, still giving him a funny look. Then she walks over to kneel beside him. "Look. I know you'll probably never forgive me, but I still just want to say that I'm sorry for everything that happened."

Val places a comforting hand over her tightly clenched ones. Katniss looks up in surprise to which he responds with a small smile. "You know I'll always forgive you no matter what Katniss. Even though I really wished you'd told me if only so I could've offered a few suggestions of my own."

Katniss slumps in relief. "But just know that I will never forget that you allowed Haymitch to sucker you into trying to lie your ass off without punching someone's teeth in," he teases, "How'd you even do it without spontaneously combusting?"

"Val!" Katniss cries out in embarrassment.

Clove and Rue snicker in the background, reminding the siblings of their audience. Val turns to them and asks, "So...what happened? How long was I out?"

All three girls exchange glances with each other, silent conversations occurring right over his head as he patiently waits for answers. He also marvels at how Rue managed to seamlessly integrate herself into their little makeshift group. He'd always known that Clove and Katniss could've been the best of friends if they'd ever been given the opportunity.

When the siblings made their alliance to Rue, Val thought she'd unintentionally become a substitute for Prim whenever either of them interacted with her. But given her ever-changing expressions during the silent conversation, she's not only keeping pace but also giving the other two a run for their money.

Finally, the girls' conversation seems to end when they all give each other a firm nod and simultaneously turn to face him. Val starts in surprise at their synchronized movement and expressions.

"So after you cut that tracker jacker nest," Clove starts.

"Which was completely insane by the way. Did my fake betrayal really hurt you enough to scramble your brains too?" Katniss interjects.

Val gives her a flat stare. "It was Rue's idea."

Katniss rolls her eyes. "Oh yeah sure. Blame the little kid for your insanity."

"No, it actually was my idea," Rue chimes in to which Clove and Katniss both look at her in a mixture of awe and fear.

"Anyways," Clove continues on with a shake of her head, "After the nest fell, all hell apparently broke loose."

"Apparently?" he asks, confused.

"We left before you finished cutting," Katniss responds, "Getting stung by a tracker jacker is definitely not one of my top things to do before I die."

Val grimaces, running a hand over the dried paste on his right arm. "Yeah. That was definitely not something I'd ever want to do again."

Rue shuffles her feet, chastised by an unspoken scolding. "I'm sorry about that, Val. I shouldn't have suggested you cut the nest loose," she apologizes gloomily.

He shakes his head. "No, no. You were just looking out for me and honestly, if you hadn't pointed out that nest, I'd still be stuck up that tree for the rest of the day."

The three girls grimace to which he raises an eyebrow in question.

Clove clears her throat before continuing on, "Anyways, even though we left, we were still close enough to hear the nest break when it finally fell. We stayed hidden behind some bushes when Marvel run by like a bat outta hell. Then shortly after we saw Kai run away with a very disgruntled Amber following after him and a swarm of tracker jackers not too far behind."

"Yeah. Seemed like those two got stung and they must've gotten into it before the swarm had them retreating," Katniss adds. "Also, Amber is surprisingly violent given her timid personality."

Clove shrugs. "Well there's a reason why Kai allowed the two from 3 to join the Careers and it certainly wasn't for their looks."

"Oh yeah! We also gotta tell ya about what Noah did," Katniss says, perking up at her sudden internal reminder.

"Maybe later," he says. "You still haven't finished telling me what happened."

"Right. So after the swarm left, I rushed over to make sure you were alright when I saw you acting all buggy and trying to grab the bow and arrows out of Glimmer's dead hands," Katniss says before snarking, "Which by the way, was a really stupid thing to do considering you were also stung and had no way of fighting back if Kai came back."

"Huh," Val says, "So she really did die. Where's the bow anyway?"

"Here," Katniss says as she hands over the bow and arrows.

Val stares at the offered weapon before looking to her in question. "Shouldn't you hold onto that? You've always been a better shot than me."

"Nah," she waves him off before patting his short sword that's hanging off her belt, "As much as I love using a bow, I've found that this sword suits me much better. It's more handy!"

He eyes her warily because while true, Katniss is the better shot of the two, she's also a brawler and has found much glee in getting to as many fist fights as she can whenever someone's committed any sort of offense against her or her family. Her having a sword is just asking for trouble but whatever floats her boat.

"Alright, then what happened after you got to me?"

"Well, I told you to get out of here to which you responded rather rudely which was fair considering what went down the night before," Katniss says.

"Then we sort of waited a bit before following after you to make sure you'd be alright," Clove continues, "When we finally caught up to you, Rue was already there making some sort of herbal paste to put on your stings."

"Then we dragged your dead weight body to this clearing with the help of Thresh who's given me one to many heart attacks already. For a big guy, it's surprisingly easy to lose track of him in the woods. He just seems to blend into the shadows," Katniss comments.

Val nods as he digests the information given. "Alright, so how long was I out? Couldn't have been too long since it seems like it's only the afternoon," he remarks as he looks up to the sky to track the position of the sun.

"Actually..." Clove says hesitantly, "It's been three days."

Val blinks.

Then he blinks again.

"Three days!" he yelps out. "What the hell else did I miss?"

"Actually not much," she responds, "Just the remaining Careers roaming around the forest on a warpath from what Thresh has seen while Noah still stays behind to guard their supplies. Haven't run into any other tributes though Katniss had a brief encounter where she literally ran into Foxface before the two scrambled away from the other with the mutual agreement that they never saw each other."

"Foxface?" he asks, then it clicks. "You mean Finch?" He then looks to Katniss in disappointment. "Oh come on Katniss. At least try to remember the poor girl's name."

Katniss scowls and mutters something unintelligible that has Rue giggling in response. Clove clears her throat to bring their attention back to her.

"So far, in the past three days, only three tributes have died," she continues on, "Glimmer from the tracker jackers, then the guy from 10 and the girl from 8."

"Timmer and Savannah," Val offers to which Clove rolls her eyes and gives a fond smile.

"So the only ones left are us, Thresh, Finch, and the four remaining Careers," Katniss concludes.

"And where is Thresh?" he asks, looking around to try and find the dark, hulking figure of the aforementioned tribute.

"Oh he's around," Clove responds lightly, gesturing vaguely around the forest.

Val's brow wrinkles in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"It means that Thresh only comes to us when he think I need help or there's something he wants to pass along whether it be information or supplies," Rue says with a pointed look to Clove who smiles sheepishly. "He used to follow close behind me until I meet up with Katniss and Clove. Then he started taking a few steps back once he was sure I was in good hands."

"I am so glad I made an alliance with you guys," Clove says with a shudder, "Cause I do not want to be on the wrong side of that guy. He's so huge. It'd be like trying to fight a boulder."

Rue tilts her head in confusion. "What do you mean? Thresh is really big sure, but that's just from all the work he's done on the fields. He's just a big softie."

"Thresh…a softie," Clove repeats as if she can't believe Rue just said that. The little girl nods vigorously, ready to jump to Thresh's defense.

"Well he was pretty awkward when he offered to form an alliance with us," Katniss comments.

"Yeah. And it seems like he's a complete pushover when it comes to you, Rue, so I can sort of believe it?" Val adds reluctantly.

Rue beams in response. Then silence settles as the girls let Val slowly digest the information they presented.

"So...what are we gonna do now?" he finally asks.

Clove taps her chin thoughtfully. "Well now we're gonna form an alliance with each other," she says as she spreads her arms out and sarcastically adds, "Be one big happy family in an arena of death and doom."

Val smiles wryly at her response while Katniss snickers.

Rue grins and says, "Well I've always wanted to have older siblings since I'm the oldest in my family."

Clove gasps, dramatically shocked. "No way! I've always wanted to have a younger sibling and now I have a little sister!"

"So it's a win win," Katniss chimes in, "A sibling for me, a sibling for you two, a sibling for him. A fuck ton of siblings for everyone!"

"Katniss! Language!" Val scolds with a stern expression.

She sputters at him. "What the fuck Val?" she asks in disbelief, "We're in an arena controlled by psychopaths and full of kids trying to kill each other for the entertainment of mentally fucked up adults. I think swearing is the last thing I need to worry about."

He merely frowns in response, crossing his arms as he enters lecture mode. "That's still no excuse. There are many impressionable young children who have to watch these games so the least you can do is impart good manners and behaviors on them to counter the violence and bloodshed," he says as he wags a finger at her like she's some dog who misbehaved.

Rue stares, completely bewildered. "Is he serious?"

"As a heart attack unfortunately," Katniss deadpans.

Clove blinks as if she's just seeing Val for the first time. "Wow. I never thought I'd see the infamous mother hen mode again."

Katniss snaps her head to Clove with an open mouthed stare. "Holy shit, he did that to you too?"

Clove nods. "Mhm. But then again, he's always been surprisingly mature for his age so..."

She trails off as Katniss squints her eyes at Val as if a narrow field of vision will suddenly reveal all the secrets of the world to her. "Oh! Yeah, yup, I see it," Katniss says, "He's like an old man in a teenager's body. Or would it be an old woman?" she ponders before clicking her tongue with a sideways glance. "What a waste of a pretty face."

Clove and Rue nod along sagely. Val sputters in indignation. "Why are you all ganging up on the injured person?"

Both Katniss and Clove give him a look to which he throws his hands up in exasperated surrender. "Okay you know what. How about we go searching for food and supplies cause you can never have enough of that, especially with four, or is it five?"

"Just four. Thresh prefers to take care of himself and he only pops up when he thinks I need help," Rue responds.

Val nods. "Alright then, we've got four people we need to feed and water on the regular so shall we go?" he says with a flourishing bow.

"We shall, good sir," Clove curtsies in response, which has all four allies laughing in response as they sent forth to complete their newly established goal for the day.

And the grand alliance has been forged! I hope it was everything you guys were expecting. I will be adding a mini chapter on what Katniss, Clove, and Rue were up to the three days Val was out just so it doesn't feel like you've been robbed of Katniss, Clove, and Rue interaction because the next main chapter will be a dozy.

It'll be so much of a dozy in fact that it'll take me a while to write because the next part is the climax of the Games. It's the part that holds a lot of the emotional weight of the story and it's the part where events are set into motion behind the scenes in both the Capitol and the Districts. You all know what I'm talking about (and if you don't, oh you poor innocent child you) so prepare yourself cause it's coming. So I hope you guys don't mind the wait and will enjoy a mini chapter to sate yourselves in the meantime. Until next time!