A/N:

Okay, I'm so sorry. I really didn't mean for this to take so long. I think I gave myself too much leeway and then I just couldn't pick it up again. But here it is for your enjoyment!

Chapter 6

It seemed like they'd been walking for hours. The pair walked and walked and walked. Everything they saw was rocky and, unfortunately, dry. No water, anywhere. The paths were very obviously man-made. There wasn't much climbing involved, save a couple of jutting walls or small trenches. This certainly was a manufactured mountain landscape. If you would even consider it mountainous.

They were currently taking a brisk walk up a ramp-like structure around the mountainside. Kurt stopped abruptly, causing Blaine, who hadn't been paying much attention, to run into him, almost pushing him off the edge. They'd reached a dead end. Nowhere to go except down. And down was a 200-foot jump that no sane man would even dare taking.

"So, what now?" Blaine asked.

"Well, we could go back down. Or we could always jump. Just get it over with. Why not, anyways?" Kurt asked, morbidly.

Blaine stared at him, slightly in awe, slightly with admiration. He was very right in a way. What was the point of all this? They could so easily jump. End it right now. But…

"No. We have to find Cindy." He turned around, not really caring if Kurt followed.

But he did. Kurt hadn't really planned on jumping anyways. There was a part of him that knew there was something more to this. He just had no idea what. But he wanted to figure out, before he died anyways.

As they walked back down, Blaine in the lead this time, Kurt tried to think of anything but…well anything but Blaine's butt. Why did it look so good in those pants? They weren't even pants made to make one's butt look good, but they sure did the trick for Blaine.

Oh, pull yourself together, Hummel, he thought. That is the last thing you need right now, is to be obsessing over the boy who you'll end up killing's butt. The last thing.

But it did look good.

When they reached the bottom of the mountain, they continued walking, but in a different direction this time.

After walking another mile or so, they came up on a clearing. It seemed like a small grove amongst all the rockiness. There was green stuff, probably moss, growing along the floor. The small area was surrounded by a tall rock wall. There was only one way in or out, and that was the passage they were currently standing in. Honestly, that fact probably would have sent them turning back, it was too dangerous. The walls seemed too high to climb and anyone could show up. Besides, Blaine realized suddenly, neither of them had weapons. On the other hand, right in the middle of this small sanctuary was a waterfall. Perfectly constructed, coming from a peak a few hundred feet above them. Water. Exactly what they needed.

Therefore, Kurt decided to take a seat beside the small pool beneath the fall. And, not seeing another option, Blaine joined him. The heat was stifling after all and he was definitely feeling dehydrated.

The first thing Blaine did was to fill his canteen with water. Then he dipped his hands in and drank greedily, not stopping for five good minutes. When he finally stopped, he wiped his mouth and looked up to see Kurt smiling down at him. Apparently, the other boy hadn't been so thirsty.

"Don't look at me like that."

"Like what?" Kurt asked with some fake innocence.

"All superior and stuff. You're no better than I am."

"Well, excuse me mister hot stuff, I just thought the way you were guzzling that water like there was no tomorrow was slightly…endearing. Is that the word I'm looking for? No, maybe humorous."

"Ha. Ha."

They sat in silence for a minute, both with small smiles on their faces, before Blaine spoke up. "The other night, during your interview, what was Caesar talking about 'a rough life'?"

Kurt practically choked on the gulp of water he was working on, not expecting the serious turn in conversation, "What?"

"Well, you know…"

"No, Blaine, I don't know. I have no earthly idea what you could possibly be talking about. And even if I did, I really don't understand how you would think you had any right to know that information about my life," his voice slowly rose until he was practically screaming.

"Well, okay then," Blaine murmured, barely audible.

Silence again. Then, "I was eight. When she died, I was eight."

"Oh, I'm so –"

"No, just hold on for a minute. I was eight and there was an accident. Both she and my father were involved. She, well she died. And he, my father, he lived, but barely. He can hardly function. He's paralyzed from the waist down and he has a mental condition. He forgets everything after about three days or so. It's never really certain, but one day he just won't remember anything. And, well it's hard, you know? It's so hard when that happens. Because I have to explain every time, that she's not coming back. Every single time. And I can never forget; I can never let it go. Because I have to remind him, and I have to watch him die inside every time."

Wow, that was a lot of information. Blaine looked at the other boy, on the brink of tears. He wanted to pull him into his arms and tell him it was okay to cry, that he deserved to cry and no one, not the people of the Capitol or anyone else should deprive him of crying. But Blaine knew better. He knew that Kurt couldn't cry, because crying showed weakness. And this was a game. A cruel, strategic game.

Kurt looked over at him, eyes glassy and asked, "So tell me, Blaine, what is going to happen to my father? What's going to happen when he has to figure out all by himself that my mother is dead?"

Blaine looked down and shook his head.

Kurt let out a laugh. "I was it. I was all he had. And when he forgets, he won't remember that I went to the games, or that Mom died. He'll wander aimlessly. And you know what?" He glanced at Blaine expectantly.

"What?"

"No one's going to care."

Boom. A tribute dead.

Then they heard laughing. Not just one person, but a few people, heading towards them.

Blaine's eyes widened. What could they do? He looked around, as Kurt grabbed his wrist. He let Kurt pull him to his feet and towards the waterfall.

"What? Where are we going?" Blaine whispered, before Kurt pulled him into the water.

To his surprise they wound up in a small cave, about the size of a decent closet. It was damp and dark, and he could see a watery, blurry image of the grove beyond the waterfall.

"Whoa. How did you know this was here?"

Kurt smiled, "I read a lot of boo -"

He was interrupted by a small, fragile voice coming from the corner of their cave.

"Blaine? Kurt?" Cindy stood up, looking disheveled and scared.

"Cindy!" Blaine ran over to her and hugged her. She was alive! Oh, and she was holding a knife. Well, at least that solved their weapon issue, somewhat.

"How did you get a knife?" Kurt asked.

She paused, and she looked at a spot beyond Blaine's face, remembering something. "There was a boy, who got killed as I was running. He was holding it. So I took it. A-and I kept running. Does that make me a bad person?"

Blaine stared at her, shocked. "What? No, sweetheart, that doesn't make you a bad person. Just a resourceful one. And that's exactly what we need, is someone who knows what they're doing.

They jumped when they heard the laughter this time, more obscured by the falls, but much, much closer.

"Shhh…" Kurt warned. He led the other two to the back of the cave where they sat down and watched as the blurry figures came into view.

From what Blaine could tell, the group included Briar, the girl from District 1, her companion, Griffin, the District 2 girl and the boy from District 4. Trailing behind them, Blaine saw a much younger boy, probably of about 13. The boy was loaded down with bags, he seemed like he could keel over at any moment. Blaine thought he recognized him from one of the outlying districts, but he couldn't be sure through the fuzzy view he had.

"Did you see the look on her face, Griff? 'Oh no, please don't kill me!'" She laughed manically as she reached down to get some water.

The boy, Griffin, replied, "I know! Making a fire in the middle of the grounds? How idiotic can you get?"

The entire group burst into laughter.

Then the young boy, the one Blaine couldn't quite recognize pointed at the ground in the direction of the waterfall and said, "Hey, look, you guys! Foot prints! It looks like they're leadin-"

"Shut up, you. You're only here to carry our supplies," the District 2 girl, Pomeline said, as she whacked him across the head.

"Yeah, District 12, no one asked for comments," Griffin chastised. The small boy nodded his head and went back to being quiet.

"We're not going to stay here though, right, Griffin?" It was the District 4 boy that spoke this time. "It's kind of dangerous."

"Nah, not for long anyways, Flux. But we really don't have a reason to worry. After all, we are the most powerful ones in this arena. Well most of us anyways," he shot a smirk at the District 12 boy. "Everyone fill up your bottles. We're taking a fifteen minute break, then we'll head out."

Fifteen minutes seemed to take forever as Blaine sat watching the movements of his enemies. Cindy had wound up wedged between Kurt and Blaine. She was shaking with fear and Blaine attempted to calm her down by wrapping an arm around her or whispering 'Shhh' when it seemed appropriate. But he just was not very good at this comforting stuff.

Kurt seemed to have gone asleep, either that or was resting his eyes. He seemed so peaceful, as ironic as that was.

When the group finally tromped out, Blaine felt his tension leave. He helped Cindy off the floor and Kurt remained seated. He was definitely asleep.

He realized that it was actually fairly cool in the cave, probably due to the dampness. Blaine decided it would probably be best just to camp out in the cave for the night and leave in the morning. After all, they could at least trust that group wouldn't be coming back there. Besides, they were pretty well hidden and Blaine was very tired.

He told Cindy his plan; she agreed and helped him slide Kurt so he was lying down on his side.

Wow. Heavy Sleeper, Blaine thought.

Cindy lay down next to Kurt and Blaine next to her.

Who knew what the next day would hold, but for right now, they were safe.

So I'll try to update next week, but no promises. I think I've finally figured out where I'm going with this, so I'm kind of excited now, you guys should be too. It's gonna be epic.!