Let Me Fly

by Fanfic Allergy

When a plague hits District Twelve, Katniss is forced to make some very hard decisions. Together with Gale and what's left of their families, they decide to escape District Twelve, taking a reluctant Peeta Mellark with them. Main Fic of the Mockingjay Songs Series. Peeta/Katniss/Gale relationship.

6. Let Me Fly - Follow the Drinking Gourd

Let Me Fly
by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre

oOo

Chapter Six: Follow the Drinking Gourd

oOo

Last Time in Let Me Fly:

I hear voices calling my name. Peeta. Prim. Gale.

They're pleading with me to come back. To hold on.

I can't.

oOo

I slowly drag myself back to consciousness. My head feels muffled and heavy, like it's been wrapped in wool. There's something warm vibrating on my chest. It's comforting. Someone's holding my right hand, running calloused fingers over mine.

I try to say something, but all that comes out is a rusty groan. I try again and get the same result. Frustrated my attempt to vocalize failed, I struggle to open my eyes. It's not easy. Every little bit of light is like a knife to my skull, forcing me to shut them again. I begin anew, this time more slowly. Eventually I'm able to work my way through the pain and finally force them open.

Two yellow eyes stare back at me.

I let out a frightened yelp, jerking away from them.

The warm, vibrating thing turns into a hissing, clawy thing. Buttercup. Of course that damned cat would be the first thing I see.

Buttercup's departure gets the attention of the person holding my hand.

"Katniss?" Gale asks. "Are you awake?"

I'm not sure I can answer but I try anyway. "Mmmph…"

Gale takes my unintelligible moan for a yes. "I was worried about you, Catnip. You were screaming and crying for hours." He squeezes my hand tightly. "Your ma said we had to just let the poison run through your system."

I nod my head slowly. That explains why it's so hard to speak and why my eyes hurt so much.

He reaches up and runs his fingers through my hair. "I thought I was going to lose you, Catnip. Don't you ever scare me like that again. I've lost so many people. I couldn't bear to lose you too. I need you so much. You just don't know how much you mean to me." He strokes my hair tenderly, his voice rough with emotion.

I want to get away. I'm uncomfortable with the depth of Gale's feelings. I can sense that he's one step away from declaring he's in love with me and I'm not sure if I can deal with that right now, if ever.

Gale seems to realize how unnerved I am because he changes the subject. "Do you want to sit up?"

I nod my head again. Laying around like an invalid doesn't appeal to me. Even if that is exactly what I am at the moment.

He leans down and pulls me into a seated position. He hands me a canteen. I bring it to my lips, my hands shaking slightly. I gulp the water eagerly, some of it dribbling down my chin.

I don't care.

The cool liquid soothes my throat and I'm able to rasp out, "Is everyone okay?"

Gale nods. "You were the only casualty, although Peeta's shoulder is a little sore." I immediately notice the change in name.

I raise an eyebrow. "When did he become Peeta?"

"When he saved my life," he says with a sigh. He looks at me intently. "And yours."

"Oh." I'm glad that they're not fighting anymore. A small smile crosses my lips. "So when are you guys gonna start braiding each other's hair?"

He smiles warmly at me, stroking my hair again. "I don't think you have to worry about that, Katniss. You've got much better hair than he does."

I not sure I like this new touchy-feely Gale. His touch is distracting and makes me feel things in my stomach. I don't like it. I decide to change the subject. "So... what was on the other side of the river?"

Gale gives me a look, but answers, "A pack of wolf-like mutts. Rory and I took care of them."

I nod. "Sorry I couldn't help."

He shrugs. "Don't worry about it. That's what friends are for."

I lean back against the tree, taking in my surroundings. I can see Buttercup tied to a tree nearby and Rory turning a large bird on a spit. Prim, Peeta, and my mother are nowhere to be seen. I ask Gale, "Where is everyone?"

"Gathering. Your mom saw a bunch of wild leeks and other things on our way here and wanted to snag them."

I realize suddenly I can't hear the river. "Here? Where's here?" I look around more in growing panic. "Where are we?"

"About a half mile north of the river. We had to get away from the river but there was no way we could carry you and everything else very far." He lets out a short laugh. "It was a bit of a clusterfuck for part of it. Trying to figure out how to get you and our stuff away from the Capitol's traps. It'd be funny if it weren't happening to us."

"Wait - what - traps?"

"Yeah, your ma's the one who figured it out. Those mutts were a bit too regular." He pauses. "And we also found some other proof."

"Other proof?"

"Looks like we're not the first ones to try to run away from Twelve," he says solemnly. "There's some bones and packs a few feet up the hill from the log." He takes a breath, gathering his thoughts. "It looks like they got ambushed by the wolf mutts or some other animal. I think it might've been Liddy Fairburn and her family. The timing's right and the clothes look familiar."

"Why do you think it's them?" I vaguely recognize the name. Liddy Fairburn wasn't somebody I interacted with, but I kind of remember people talking about her disappearance.

"It makes sense. They went missing right before the 71st Games. Her sister, Neesa, was always talking revolution. Trying to organize the miners. Trying to make the Capitol lower their quotas." His voice is admiring, then he shakes his head. "She pissed off a lot of the higher ups but the workers loved her. Then suddenly she was gone. Word was she and the whole family were disappeared. Taken by the Capitol for Neesa's agitating. Based on what we found, I guess they disappeared another way."

"Did you know them?" I ask softly.

"Kinda? Liddy was the same age as me even though we didn't talk much. I suppose you could say we grew up together but we weren't close. Liddy's ma was on the same crew as my dad. Her ma made it out. My dad didn't. After that, we didn't bother trying to keep in touch."

I nod my head and change the subject. "Did they have anything useful on them?" I know it's a bit morbid to ask if they searched the bodies, but the Fairburns are dead and we're not. No matter how gruesome it might be, we should take anything that could help us survive out here in the wild.

Gale understands. "There's a few things. Peeta's got a lunch pail now. There's also a bit of clothing and a bar of soap. But the best thing we found was a saw and a bow wrapped in oilcloth in Mr. Fairburn's pack. I don't know why he didn't have the bow out. I guess he didn't think he'd need it or something."

I perk up at the mention of the bow. "What about the arrows?"

"I checked, but they were a bust. All broken and chipped. Totally useless."

It would've been nice to have more arrows or even arrowheads, but this is an extremely lucky find.

"How long was I out?" I ask next.

"Not quite a day. Rory's making breakfast."

A day? I can't believe I was out for so long. "What did you do for watches?"

"It took a bit of doing. Your mom was too focused on you, so Prim and Rory took the first watch. Peeta took the second. I took the third."

I raise my eyebrows at the information. "You really trust him now, don't you?"

Gale has the decency to look embarrassed. "Yeah. He's proved himself. You were right about him."

We don't get a chance to talk anymore because my mother, Prim, and Peeta come back with a sack full of wild onions, wild leeks, wintergreen, pine tips, solomon's seal, and partridge berry.

My mother, seeing I'm sitting up, comes over to check on me. "How many fingers am I holding up?" She holds two digits in front of my face.

"Two! Knock it off." I feebly try to push my mother's hand down. "I'm fine. See?" I struggle to get up. I fail.

"You're not fine," my mother counters. "In fact, I think we need to stay here for the rest of the day while you heal up. We can continue north tomorrow."

I shake my head. "We can't stay here. What about that hovercraft?"

"We haven't heard it since yesterday," Gale says.

"But that means they'll probably be looking this way pretty soon." I nod at the fire. "We can't have that burning. They'll be looking for smoke."

"I only set it this morning," Peeta says. "And only because Gale got the chicken and we don't want that much meat going to waste. We made Rory give the squirrel he got yesterday to Buttercup just to be on the safe side."

"It was my first kill too! And it went to the stupid cat!" I'm a little surprised Rory managed to kill something with that silly slingshot he's been playing with since we left Twelve, but good for him.

Unsurprisingly, my sister objects, "Hey! My cat's not stupid!"

"Yeah he is! Look at him! He's walking around on a leash like a dog!"

"That just means he's smart and he's not gonna run away!"

"He should run away! He's eating all of our food!"

"No he's not!"

"He ate my squirrel! It was my first kill! I should have been the one to eat it!" Rory looks like he's about to start crying.

"Can you guys tone it down a little?" my mother interrupts them. "I'm sure Katniss doesn't appreciate all of this loud bickering. She needs real sleep, not just hallucination sleep, to recover from the effects of the tracker jacker venom."

The two pre-teens glare at each other before pointedly ignoring the other.

My mother sits down next to me, pulling out the library book to read aloud. I fall asleep to the soft tones of her reading.

oOo

I'm awakened several hours later when a heavy weight settles over my body and a large hand covers my mouth. I struggle, snapping my eyes open. It's Peeta. He makes a shushing motion and points up.

I stop trying to get away and follow his finger.

The sound hits me. The roar of a hovercraft.

We wait in silence, hoping it will go away soon. It doesn't. Peeta whispers in my ear, "It must be searching for me."

"Or all of us. Is the fire out?" I hiss back.

"Hours ago."

I nod my head. "How long?" I point up.

"Just a few minutes. Your mom's covering Prim and Gale's covering Rory. We're all back underneath the trees so hopefully they won't see anything."

We listen in silence and my eyes keep darting upwards, looking for any sign of the aircraft overhead. I see the bright light of a searchlight filter down through the canopy overhead and I hold my breath.

The light moves on and eventually the hovercraft does as well. We stay motionless on the ground until the birds start chirping again. Even then, when we do move, it's slowly, making sure we stay hidden under the protective cover of the trees.

"I think it's time to get out of here," I whisper.

My mother nods her head. "Agreed. Tomorrow at first light."

Gale starts redistributing the packs a bit to even out the weight. He reaches into his pack and hands Peeta a knife. It's a visible gesture of trust.

My mother comes over with a cold chicken leg. "Here. We saved this for you."

"It's too much," I say.

"You need it. You haven't eaten in over twenty-four hours." She also gives me some of the partridge berries and a piece of hardtack. The berries and the hardtack are tasteless, but the flavor of the chicken makes up for it.

After I eat, my mother helps me change out of my soiled clothing. "I'll wash these in a nearby creek," she says, taking the small cake of soap from the Fairburns with her.

I'm embarrassed by my nudity, but luckily no one is looking right at me. Rory, Peeta and Gale are deliberately keeping their backs to me to give me some level of privacy.

Prim brings me new clothing and then heads off to change clothes herself. Apparently it's laundry day. Gale gives Peeta some of his spare clothing, which Peeta takes gratefully, before he and Rory change into fresh garments themselves. Prim carries all of our dirty clothing to my mother.

When they come back, arms full of wet laundry, they hang the clothes over low lying branches to dry. I can't stop myself from smiling when I notice there's a whole army of socks placed on twigs sticking out of the ground. My mother makes us change socks every night and we've been going through them. It'll be nice to have clean ones again.

I speak up. "I'm feeling a bit better. Do you want me to take the first watch?"

"No," my mother says firmly. "You're still recovering."

I make a face but don't argue. I could use more sleep.

oOo

The next morning, I wake up to an already cloudy day and Peeta curled up against me. I wriggle out from under the covers, careful not to wake him. I stand up, stretching my muscles. It feels good to finally move around again.

I see Gale sitting on a fallen log on the other side of the camp. He must have had the last watch. He smiles at me and motions for me to come over and sit next to him.

"Did you manage to note which direction the sun came up from?" I lower myself onto the log.

He points to a mark on the ground. "Yes."

"Good."

There's not a whole lot more to say because the others are stirring.

We pack up and set out, heading northeast away from the river. I take point. It's a little more difficult to navigate with such heavily overcast skies. Every so often, I mark a tree with our direction as an extra precaution. We don't want to wander around in circles.

About an hour or so after we set off, Gale calls us to a halt. "I think I just heard thunder."

I grimace. "Are you sure?"

He doesn't need to answer because there's another rumble. We haven't seen lightning yet, but it's not far behind. We need to find shelter and get out from underneath these trees. Trees attract lightning and you don't want to be under one if it's struck.

"Everybody fan out and look out for a pile of rocks or an overhang or something," I say. "Keep within shouting distance and hurry."

Gale and I each take the flank, branching out to find someplace, anyplace, to wait out the coming storm.

Surprisingly, it's Prim who finds a small cave. It's not even big enough for me to stand up in and it's clearly been inhabited at some point, probably by a hibernating bear. But it'll keep us dry and hopefully out of danger.

The rest of the group congregates around us and I yell, "Get some wood!"

We barely manage to gather a few dry sticks before a huge gust of wind roars through the forest. The trees creak and shake dangerously over our heads.

"Get to shelter!" Gale yells and we run for it.

Rory's the last to join us when the skies open up, drenching the pre-teen.

We pile what little wood we've found into the center of the cave.

"That won't even last an hour," Peeta says, surveying the pile critically.

"How do you know?" I ask.

Peeta smiles. "I got really familiar with fires, working in the bakery. It was my job to set the fire every morning with my father." He looks sad. "It's one of the things I miss most. That quiet bit of ritual before the rush of the day."

"Oh," I say lamely.

My mother sits down, her back against the wall. "I suggest we save the wood until we really need it."

He nods, letting the subject drop.

We huddle in the cave and my mother digs the romance novel out of her pack and starts to read it aloud to the group. Rory rummages through his pack and emerges triumphantly with a deck of cards.

I roll my eyes.

Prim takes Buttercup out of his bag. The cat's in a mood, apparently. He claws my sister's hand and she yelps in pain, dropping the stupid beast.

Buttercup hisses at us and makes a break for the cave entrance.

"Grab him!" Prim yells, cradling her injured hand.

I attempt to snag the infernal cat but he darts around me.

He reaches the opening of the cave and skids to a halt at the wet beyond. It's only a short pause, but it's enough to give us an opening.

Peeta takes it.

Moving faster than I expect him to be able to, he seizes Buttercup by the scruff of the neck and then gently picks him up. "You don't want to go out there, little boy," he murmurs. "It's wet and cold and there'll be nothing to eat. Why you go back to your mistress and she'll feed you some nice, yummy fish. Doesn't that sound better?"

The cat, for some weird reason only felines can know, seems to understand what Peeta is saying. He calms down and buries his face in the crook of Peeta's elbow.

A loud boom of thunder tears through the woods causing all of us to jump.

"I bet you're just scared of thunderstorms aren't you?" Peeta guesses, talking to the animal in his arms. "You just wanted to go home and hide under the bed until it was over. I can understand that. I don't like thunderstorms either."

Buttercup doesn't respond. He's cat. But he does try to burrow deeper into Peeta's arms.

With the excitement of Buttercup's escape attempt over, we all settle in for the duration. My mother resumes reading the book aloud. Peeta is on cat duty. Prim, seeing nothing else to do, joins Rory playing cards. They bicker for a bit before settling on a game. Gale shakes his head at his little brother and pulls out a whetstone to start sharpening all of our knives.

I'm not sure what I should do. Part of me wants to sleep, but the responsible part of me forces me to check on the rest of our weapons. I pull out Gale's and my bows along with the one we found on the Fairburns. It's in surprisingly good shape, considering that it's been out in the elements for three years. All it needs is a new coat of oil and it'll be ready for use.

We should really think about teaching someone else how to shoot, we now have four bows. Maybe when we're settled. I'm not sure if there's going to be time when we're travelling.

I also check on our arrows. We've used a lot over the last few days and we don't want to run out. We're still in good shape even with the ones we lost to the mutts. I'll need to make more eventually, but we should have enough so long as we retrieve the ones we shoot.

Peeta looks up from where he's playing with Buttercup. "You know, this rain is actually a good thing."

"Why do you say that?" Rory asks.

"Well, it will wash away any sign of our tracks and help throw off any pursuers."

"And I bet the hovercraft is having trouble in this weather too," Prim says.

"Maybe. It can't hurt."

Outside, lightning flashes and even though it's put a halt to our travels, I'm grateful for the storm.

oOo

The thunderstorm passes a little before sunset, too late to try to move on or accomplish anything else for the day. The forced rest over the last few days, while frustrating, was also much needed.

We sleep well that night and, for the first time since we left District Twelve, all of us wake up refreshed.

The rain's stopped and the sun's out, warming us all. It's still cold, but the sun feels nice.

Sometime around mid morning, we hit a wide long clearing heading north and east. A herd of deer startles and scatters on the far side of the clearing as we enter it. I swear internally. If I'd been on my own, I would've gotten one.

It looks like they were licking the ground there. "Do you think there's salt there?" my mother asks.

"Maybe," I answer. "We don't need that much, we have some already."

My mother shakes her head. "Not enough. Salt's important. We've been exerting ourselves a lot and our blood needs salt. And while we brought some with us, we're going to need a lot more for preserving and I think we have space in our packs now if we find some."

We move over to investigate, but there's no sign of any. With no salt and no deer, we decide to follow the clearing, making good time.

We're moving too fast and too loudly for me to hunt effectively, but I keep my bow out anyway.

We call a halt about three hours before sunset. "Do you think we can set a fire tonight?" my mother asks.

Gale considers it. "We haven't heard the hovercraft in two days, we're probably far enough away from Twelve. I think we can chance it. Just keep it small and under the trees."

"I'll get firewood," Peeta volunteers.

"We'll work on the shelter," my mother says, gesturing to herself, Prim, and Rory.

Gale grabs his bow and looks at me expectantly. "Let's go."

We walk far enough away that the noise of the rest of the group shouldn't scare away any game.

We startle a rabbit and I'm able to take it down. There's a few other animals, but they're either out of range or in a bad position for a shot.

Entering a mossy clearing, we see a bunch of rabbits nibbling on the plant life there. I'm able to get one, but Gale's arrow goes wide and the rest startle, darting off into the brush.

"Damn!" Gale swears loudly.

I laugh. "Well, I think we're done for the evening. You probably scared all the rest of the game away."

Gale runs his fingers through his hair. "I know. It's just frustrating when you don't get anything. I kind of feel...useless."

"It's not a competition. Each of us is pulling our own weight. And you got the chicken while I was recovering."

"I guess." He sighs. "Sometimes I wonder if I made the right decision."

"Leaving Twelve?"

"No, not that." He takes a deep breath before continuing. "Katniss, I promised myself I'd wait until you survived your last Reaping before doing this, but we're free of that now."

"Doing what? Gale...what are you talking about?" I eye him warily.

"Have you ever thought about the future, you know, about...after? About you and me?"

The question throws me and I'm not sure I know what he's talking about. I do my best to answer. "Prim would still be eligible for the Games. I would have to make sure she never had to take out tesserae."

"But after that," he presses. "What about your future?"

"What about it?"

He runs his fingers through his hair again. "Have you ever thought about, I don't know, what it'd be like to kiss someone?"

I shrug. "Not really. I mean, maybe? It's not exactly been at the top of my list of things to do."

He lets out a short bark of laughter. "It's been at the top of mine."

"What?" No. I'm not ready for this. He can't be saying what I think he's saying.

But he is. "Katniss, you have to know how I feel about you."

"What?! Why are you telling me this? Now, of all times? Why now?"

"I just realized that, with you lying there, I might lose you. And then I realized I might never get the chance to tell you how I feel. I might never get the chance to find out if you feel the same."

"I'm confused. We're friends. Of course we feel the same." I'm refusing to acknowledge what I really think he means.

He steps closer and reaches up to touch my face. "Katniss, I've cared about you for so long. So very, very long. I just couldn't forgive myself if I didn't do this at least once."

"Do what?"

He runs his thumb over my lips. "Can I kiss you?"

My knee-jerk reaction is to say no. But he's regarding me so earnestly, so hopefully I don't. Instead, I blink up at him.

His fingertips caress my cheek while he waits for my decision. His touch feels good. Right, even. Will his lips be the same?

There's only one way to find out.

I nod my head.

He smiles at me reverently and leans down to gently cover my lips with his own. The kiss is warm and dry and our lips are chapped. But it's nice.

Really nice.

Gale must think so too because after it ends he asks, "Can I do that again?"

I nod my head a second time.

This kiss is less tentative. More forceful. More sure. Gale ghosts his tongue over my lips and I feel them tingle.

My arms slip around his waist almost without any direction.

He takes that as a signal to deepen the kiss, pulling me closer.

I feel a little flicker of desire deep in my belly.

It frightens me.

I take an involuntary step back, stumbling over something. I tear my lips away and look down at my feet. "What was that?"

Gale blinks. "What was what?"

"I just stepped on something." I'm grateful for the distraction and kneel down to get a closer look. I can see a dull cream color where my foot scraped away some of the moss. "What's that?" I remove a little more moss and recoil in horror at what I find.

It's a skull.

A human skull.

I look around the clearing, seeing it with new eyes. The swells and bumps of moss take on a more sinister meaning. "It's people," I breathe. "The whole clearing is people."

"What happened here?" Gale asks, looking around, his eye wide.

I shake my head. "I don't know. But I think we should leave."

"Yeah, good idea."

And we do. All thoughts of the kiss we shared are pushed from my head by our gruesome discovery.

oOo

AN:
Written: 2/1/15
Revised: 2/5/15

The title of this chapter comes from the American Folk Song of the same name. It refers to following the north star along the Underground Railroad. It fit, since that is what Katniss and company are doing to escape to freedom.

We think it might be time to talk about pairings and what to expect in the future. On Ao3, you can see all of the planned pairings, but because this site is behind the times we can only tag one pairing. Let's just say that this is a slow build with the intent for Katniss to have both her typical YA boyfriend and typical YA girlfriend. The rating is M for a reason. There will be future sexy times, but not in this arc. We will also be less explicit on this site. Ao3 will be getting the unedited version.

For those people who need it spelled out, that means we're going to eventually be having Katniss/Peeta, Katniss/Gale, and Katniss/Peeta/Gale. If this makes you uncomfortable, this may not be the fic for you. The romance is central to the story, particularly in the second arc, but it isn't the whole story, and we will indicate which chapters will contain smut when we get to them. As a note, there will be no smut in this particular arc. The M rating is because the whole series is going to be rated M. This particular arc is less about the romance and more about escaping Twelve.

Randomized:

- The weather other than the super rainy day which was plot necessary
- How far they traveled each day
- Hunting success and what they caught
- Ability to set fires
- Did they find salt (almost but not quite)
- Who found the shelter on the rainy day
- Everything with the Fairburns - yes, the hapless victims that Gale knew were entirely randomized. It took fifteen rolls to get there. If you want more details, including percentages and what we were rolling for, FanficAllergy will have an explanation up on her tumblr, which is linked on her profile.

So what do you think of all of this? Let us know!

Until next time!