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A/N: I want to announce that I am officially writing for the remaining two books/three films. I will make the "Mockingjay" fanfic two individual works similar to the films. I have an offer to make for any readers who are also good with digital art. I would like for you guys to make a cover image for this story, and the remaining three. In exchange, you can give me a character that I will involve in the rest of the stories I make for this series. This character is yours to make, but only the winner of this little competition I have will be able to make it. Have fun if you choose to participate. My google email that I want you to use is at the bottom of the chapter under the song credit. I will accept submissions until January 29. Send me one file that includes all four images. Can't wait to see them!

If you have any questions at all, do not hesitate to send me a PM.

Tears from the Eye

Yesterday, the plan seemed so simple. Distract the careers, and destroy their supplies. But how the fuck do we do that? Set it on fire, throw poison all over it? I don't know how Katniss plans to do it, but I'm not gonna let her do it by herself.

"Katniss, you're not doing this alone."

She insists to me, "And Rue isn't doing her half alone either. She gestures to my shoulder, "And you're no good to me crippled."

Part of me always hated her stubbornness. But if I think like that, I'll be a hypocrite, since I'm just the same. Also, I don't appreciate her bluntly calling me useless to her right there. "Stop trying, cause I'm not letting you go at the careers's stuff alone."

"Gale, look at yourself, you may be trying to fool yourself, but you're not fooling me. Anyone can see how weakened you are. You don't have the strength for any fights right now." It's completely useless for me to try and fool her, she'll see through any lie or deception I try to fool her with. "I can handle myself. You don't have to worry about me."

Her telling me not to worry is telling water not to be wet. But I ultimately give up to her. She's right, if I get into another fight right now, I'll never make it. I grab her and tell her, "You better come back to me."

She leans in and kisses me, and then reassures me she will. Rue comes in from nowhere, saying, "We need some kind of signal, in case we get held up."

Katniss asks, "Okay, like what?"

I see Rue glance at something for a bit, before signing four notes. Suddenly, the birds around us begin singing the same four notes. I find it amazing, who would think of that. I say, "Mockingjays, that's brilliant."

"We use them to signal back home all the time. You try."

Katniss whistles four notes, which the mockingjays mimic.

"Okay so. If we hear that, it means we're fine."

I interject, "I guess my and Rue's signal will be the same, since I'll be with her."

Katniss and Rue nod, before Katniss walks off for the lake. I really don't like this. I know she can hold herself, especially because she has a bow now. I don't want to be separated from her, I can't be. But we have no choice.

"Gale." Rue brings me from my thoughts, "We have to go."

We make it to the first pile of foliage, where I set a lethal trap in the direction the careers will come from. It's my most dangerous trap, a trap where the victim is fatally hanged. We wait for a little bit before we light the fire, to ensure Katniss is at the lake, and give her time to scout how she could destroy the supplies. I hope this works, because then we will truly stand a chance at surviving.

Rue ignites the pile, and we wait just enough to make sure the flames begin billowing and smoking. We run off once they do.

At the second flame, we don't hesitate to ignite it. The second flame was designed to simply extend the time necessary for Katniss to destroy the supplies.

Suddenly, a cannon goes off. Immediately, I think the worst. I immediately want to run towards the lake, I'm so scared that that cannon was for her. Rue apparently sees what I want to do, and grabs my arms. "She's okay Gale. Remember the trap?" She's right. That cannon was probably for the career who fell into my trap. We quickly climb up a thick leaved tree with strong branches as the second flame begins to billow.

Not even ten minutes later, the careers arrive at our second flame. They run right below the tree we're in. Only three original careers are here, Cato, Clove, Marvel. They have another boy with them, I'm pretty sure the boy from 3. The boy from 4 isn't here, maybe the cannon was for him.

Cato is evidently pissed off. "We were fucking set up." He angrily swings his sword at the nearest tree. "Meant to catch us in a trap." I was right, the boy from 4 was killed in my trap. I hoped it would be Cato, but go figure that I wouldn't have that much luck.

Clove seems smarter than the others, "Must have been the bitch and loverboy."

The boy with them says, "Good thing that they're not the only ones who can set traps."

Immediately after, a huge boom rings through the area. An explosion. The careers and 3 immediately look off in the direction of the explosion, the direction of the lake, and gleefully smile and start running for it. What the hell did they do at the lake? I hope that Katniss wasn't killed in the explosion. I haven't heard any other cannons, they would've gone off if she did. But then again, she may be just injured, and be dying, or be unable to move, rendering her vulnerable to the careers. Or maybe her cannon was obscured in the explosion itself.

Once the careers leave, I quickly climb down the tree, and my impulses tell me to run towards the lake too. The moment another cannon goes off, I start running, until I feel someone trip me up from behind. "Gale. Stop!" It's Rue. "You don't know if that was for her."

"I need to be sure."

"If she's okay, we'll hear the mockingjays. Let's just get back to the camp."

I still want to run to the explosion. But she's right. God almighty, I need to be smarter. I have to keep my emotions under control. I have to just believe that she's okay. Unless something turns up indicating otherwise, she's alive.

We've been waiting nearly all day for Katniss to arrive back at our camp. We haven't heard any mockingjay melodies or cannons in the past several hours. With each passing hour, my agony grows and grows. Rue is there to comfort me each moment. It's the worst kind of torture possible, not knowing what happened. At least with my father, I knew what had happened. I knew for a fact I couldn't see him again, I knew he wasn't in this world. But when you know nothing, you can never have any kind of closure.

"She's okay Gale."

"Rue." I'm starting to tear up at this point. "How can you be so sure?"

"I just believe."

That's better than nothing. I guess.

She turns my head to look at her, "We'll find her. I know we will."

I start having thoughts. "Maybe it's better if she doesn't."

Her face changes to one of confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Rue. Look at all this. How many of us are left? You, me, Thresh, Katniss, the girl from 5, Cato and Clove." My tears begin rapidly falling from my eyes. "Maybe it's better that we're not together. Better if we stay separate, and not be forced to kill one another."

Rue sinks into me. I guess she understands what I mean. The worst part of this competition is that part, when tributes from alliances or even the same districts are the last remaining, forcing them to betray one another. Cato mentioned it when he offered me a place with the careers, once everyone else is gone, all bets are off. I can't bring myself to hurt Katniss, and she couldn't do it to me either. The full teams are Cato and Clove, Rue and Thresh, and myself and Katniss. It fully dawns on me what Seneca Crane meant when he said these would be the most interesting games ever, especially if it's me and Katniss remaining in the arena. But at least now, I can avoid Katniss entirely, and prevent that scenario from occurring. Hopefully, only one of us will make it to the end.

Rue stands up. "We should get some more food. We don't have much left."

"We can check my snares. But those aren't a guarantee."

"You go check the snares. I can find some food to pick around here."

I don't like having to split up. "Are you sure?"

She nods. "I'll be fine."

My snares have been better than they normally have been in recent days. I guess the gamemakers decided to let loose more animals into the arena. Almost all of my snares have caught squirrels, a rather good day by typical standards. My body feels like it's getting weaker and weaker as the hours pass. I don't know why, I'm not starving or dehydrated. Even so, I feel a constant drain of energy.

Back at camp, Rue's back with a bunch of dark berries. She looks elated at the bounty I got from my snares. We don't really talk much while we eat. We just kind of keep to ourselves for the time. Until another cannon goes off. This time, I have enough control of myself to avoid running off, trying to find Katniss. I know she's alive. I believe she's alive. The night will show everyone who's died, and I believe that Katniss's image will not be among them.

Rue. She still can tell that I'm in a dreadful state. She stands and moves behind me, and wraps her arms around me, resting her head on my own. It works, helping me to relax a bit. "She's okay. I just know it."

Her words of assurance work to an extent. I want believe that she's okay. But a part of me still will fear the worst until I find her again.

We climb up a tree, where we rest until the anthem comes on. It shows, the boy from 4, the boy from 5, and the girl from 5. I wonder how Foxface got it. I feel somewhat bad about it. It stopped with her, Katniss is still alive. I relax somewhat, knowing that she's okay and knowing that she knows that me and Rue are okay. That leaves, me, Rue, Katniss, Clove, Cato, Marvel, and Thresh.

Oh my god, it's so cold. Why is this morning so cold, it feels like the season suddenly changed to winter when the sun rose. I feel myself shiver incredibly fiercely, desperate to make the cold feeling go away.

I feel movement in front of me, but my eyes are closed. It must be Rue. I feel something go across my forehead, it's her small hand. "Oh. My. You're burning up Gale."

I try to be humorous, and say, "Ironic, since me and my girlfriend are the couple on fire."

Rue sarcastically laughs. I open my eyes, and watch as she reaches for the area where my shoulder is. My injured one. The look on her face when she looks at it makes it obvious to me that it's bad. I ask her if it is.

She says, "You're gonna be fine." It is bad. She's not denying it. It must have gotten infected. I'm no doctor, but I'm guessing I have blood poisoning from the stab.

"Rue," I say, "that's not a denial."

She looks at me, and she looks like she wants to cry. "Gale. Whatever you do. Stay here." She loosens herself, and then ties me to the tree again. "I'm gonna try and find something around here for the fever." I want to contest it, but I don't try to keep her from leaving, because I can't. She jumps down from the branch, and scampers off. I want to go with her, but I know I'll only be an impediment to her right now. I can only hope she finds something, or the sponsors send something to help me. I drift off to a semi conscious state, unable to sleep, but too weak to stay awake.

"HEEEEELP!" I'm jerked awake by a loud cry for help. I hear another, and I quickly recognize that it's Rue. "Katniss! Gale! Help!" Something must have happened, the careers maybe. Maybe, no, it has to be them, they're our only enemies left in the arena.

I know I don't stand a chance in a fight right now, but I don't care. I couldn't live with myself if I just ignored her cries. I untie myself from the tree as fast as I can, and let myself fall on my right side. The impact wasn't on my wounded side, but the rebound through my body was enough to intensely hurt that part of me. I manage to fight through it and start moving as fast as I can in the direction I hear Rue's calls.

The sounds keep getting louder, but I hope that I'm not imagining it. I hope that she's really in danger and this isn't my head messing with me. I feel like half of me isn't in my body, like I'm distant from my own limbs. I feel myself weaken as I move more. Katniss, I pray you hear her too.

I almost collapse against a tree, barely able to make out my surroundings anymore. I need a moment to catch my breath. But, Rue's voice is very loud, like she's right here. I look around, but I don't see her. I move against the tree until I'm on the other side, and I can see her, she's struggling against a net, but I don't see anyone else.

Before I can move, a figure comes from nowhere, right to Rue. She pulls out a knife, and I pull out one of my own, ready to kill whoever just came here. Luckily, I'm slow moving right now, because the person I'm about ready to kill is cutting Rue out of the net. I stop in my tracks, and the person pulls Rue out of the net. The two immediately embrace, and then Rue sees me.

Rue yells, "Gale!" The figure turns to look at me, it's Katniss. I would've just nearly killed Katniss.

She screams, "GALE!" She springs to her feet, throwing herself on me, knocking my weakened body to the ground. The impact is much more direct, shooting a lot of pain through me.

I manage to say, in a very low whisper, through my pain, "Hey...Hey Catnip." I don't think she realizes how weak I am right now.

Rue as it seemed, didn't forget. She quickly runs over, trying to get Katniss's attention. When she does, she says, "Gale's wound. It's bad."

Katniss instantly switches from elated to worried, "What?" Rue moves and starts examining my injury, the look on Katniss's face filled with dread. "Oh God."

And then, through the trees, on the other side of the clearing, a figure pops out. A figure in a green jacket, with a spear. I focus my vision and see it's Marvel. He must've come running when Rue was screaming.

I quickly warn the girls to him, but I'm so weak and slow of mind I do it an instant too late. He throws a spear at us, but I can't tell where it's going, it's too fast. It goes right to Katniss, but she moves out of its way just in time.

Katniss quickly draws an arrow and fires it, right into Marvel's chest. He grabs the arrow, and I pity him a bit. It's cruel, to suffer a fate such as that. Especially one like this, because he knows for an instant that he is dying, and that he will not survive such an injury. Before he even hits the ground, I hear his cannon fire.

I turn to Katniss and say, "Nice shot."

My heart wrenches and skips a beat when I turn to Rue. She's standing right where she was before. Except, she now has a spear stuck into her abdomen.

Song credit: Make it Rain by Ed Sheeran

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