Hello my lovely and incredibly patient readers, I AM SO SO SO SORRY for delaying this chapter as long as I have. as a treat I will be updating this week for the second time, since you all definitely deserve it. I had a massive writers block and some things, well life really, happened which prevented me from finishing this chapter on time. I will be working on Cold Cases and Hunger as well, but that too will take some time sadly.

Happy reading

x R.

Emma Fights for their lives.

A cannon went off. The sound vibrated through her bones, or so it felt like. Everything was completely silent except for that one cannon shot. How many cannons had gone off in these five days? She had no clue. She had barely moved from the spot she was in right now, next to an unconscious Regina that was still on the brink of death, now with three unopened silver parachutes around her. Emma didn't want to open them, yes they could be a help to her, but they could also be false hope.

Because that is all that these games really were, false hope for the children that have to return to the reaping next year, false hope for the children who safely made it out, but now have to enter their children into the reapings when they get older. False hope that one day it might even get better, that this all is an act of mercy and kindness, given to them by the lovely Capitol.

The only thing she desperately needed right now, was Regina waking up and giving her the smallest of smiles, since it seemed that the brunette was only able to give those as smiles, and tell Emma that everything was going to be alright. That Regina would save them both and that Regina would protect her. She hated the idea of being so reliable on someone, well normally she would hate it, but with Regina she really liked it. She loved the fact that Regina would do her best to protect her from whatever harm may come their way. It felt nice to know someone cared enough for you to give their life. Regina had almost done so five days ago.

A cannon went off just after Regina had closed her eyes five days ago, and Emma had feared it was to signal the death of the girl that was in her arms then, but there was still a heartbeat to be felt, a puff of breath blown out of the brunettes nostrils. Probably some tribute Regina had wounded, or a whole other one that succumbed to the deadly pulls of nature. The relief Emma felt when she realised the cannon wasn't meant to alert everyone to her death, was so immense tears had leaked from her eyes. She didn't get why someone she hadn't even known for long, made her cry with relief, but that moment she didn't care about that. She just hugged the limp body of the brunette close to her as she let the tears flow for now.

That was also when the first parachute arrived. It had taken her a whole damned hour before she even wanted to move from her spot to haul the metal thing inside their little camp, but she did. She didn't open it though, the false hope that was to be had when she did open it was too great to open the thing. So she had left it there, her eyes only on the still body of the girl that had taken her heart without Emma even noticing until it was already far too late.

Now though, after five days and a few parachutes later she really needed to open them, maybe it really was something that could treat Regina her wounds better than Emma had tried to.

She opened the oldest one and sighed as she just saw some food. Her stomach was yearning for some of it by loudly stating an growling for the food in her hands, so she took about half of the food, put that back into the container and then ate the other half, of something she didn't even know the name of.

The thought of Regina not waking up, and thus not having to share this food with her didn't even come up in her mind as she ate and kept her eyes trained on the unconscious brunette. "Regina please wake up, I've got some rather good tasting food... Please?" Emma whispered to her as she sighed. This really did feel rather fruitless. This wasn't going to help the brunette up...

The second parachute had some kind of beverage in it together with the cryptic words of Maleficent, the mentor of Regina.

This might breathe some life back into the party

M

Emma didn't really get the words and shrugged her shoulders as she took a small sip of it. Her face scrunched up in disgust and she spat the liquid out, trying very hard not to make a sound while doing so.

Wait.

Maybe this was for Regina to drink. Maybe this would wake her. Maybe this would heal her even! Emma felt a new kind of energy surge through her body as she knelt down next to the face of the brunette, tentatively opening the mouth by pulling one of the plump lips down. Then she carefully dropped a few drops into the mouth of the brunette.

After a minute of staring at the brunette nothing happened and Emma felt angry at herself for having this damned false hope. It was the main reason she hadn't opened the amend things in the first place was because of just that, and still she let herself have it. She was such an idiot. Such a stupid idiotic little gi-

Regina gasped and spluttered as she liquid felt like fire through her veins. As if someone blew new life into her battered and bruised body. It was like the deep cuts that were afflicted to her body were slowly sewn shut, it hurt like hell and a pained whimper left her lips.

"Oh my god Regina you're awake!" Emma said happily and rushed to the side of the brunette that couldn't answer that statement before she felt two soft lips on her own and she kissed back after the initial shock that had shaken her system.

The kiss turned a little more passionate when the brunette swiped her tongue over the bottom lip of the blonde, Emma of course opened her mouth happily and a soft moan even left her as she felt Regina's tongue invade her mouth. Regina's hands were buried in the blonde's mane as Emma had her hands tenderly cupping the brunette's cheeks and softly caressing them. Both of their hearts were racing as they kissed and kissed, momentarily forgetting where they were exactly, until they had to break apart due lack of oxygen.

"Hello to you too." Regina said and looked at Emma with a small smile, chocolate brown orbs gazing into sea green ones.

"Don't you ever do that to me again!" Emma said and punched Regina in the shoulder, which caused for the brunette to chuckle. "You were asleep for five damned days! You almost died." Emma said the latter in just a whisper, not even wanting to think about it, about losing Regina. She cared so deeply for her already and was afraid that if she were to lose the brunette, she wouldn't be able to survive. God, that sounded cheesy, doesn't it? Well Emma still felt like that was what would happen.

"Well I'm sorry for protecting your sorry ass from Snow and Charming, you're welcome idiot." Regina muttered not really being able to deal with the fact that Emma seemed to care for her so deeply like that. It was a novelty that anyone would care for her, let alone someone being so upset about the fact that she got hurt. Emma reminded her so much of Danielle it almost just hurt. The care, dare she say love in both of their eyes when they met her brown ones, the kisses, God the kisses were just as perfect as they once were when Regina's lips closed the space between hers and Danielle's lips. Maybe Emma's were even better...

It didn't make sense to her, how she and Emma could have clicked like this. They were complete opposites, but then again so were she and Dani. They were from different districts, but then again so were Dani and she...

God this was conflicting as hell. This was really confusing too. She couldn't have Dani anymore though, because she got killed... Because of her no less. The same fate would await Emma were Regina to pursue her right? Regina would be poisonous to Emma, it would be the demise of the blonde if she were to stay with her. It was good that at the end of this all, Regina would have to kill herself. To protect Emma from any harm that might be coming to her. Yes that would be best for everyone. Emma would survive these games and be able to live a happy life, and Regina would be freed from the demons from her past that still haunted her.

"I don't mean to be ungrateful for any of that, but please promise me you won't put yourself in harms way again? Please? For me." Emma pleaded as she looked into Regina's eyes there and saw some kind of turmoil, before the brown orbs looked away. There had flickered some kind of deep, heavy sadness in those eyes, that Emma wanted to decipher. "Regina? what is it?" The blonde asked the brunette and just hoped for an honest answer.

"Before these games end, I will be dead." The brunette blurted out and then slapped a hand over her mouth. She wasn't supposed to say any of that. She was supposed to keep that a secret. Now the blonde would definitely stop her from doing it.

"What?!"

"Oh yes, yell, that will definitely not attract people to our hideout."

"Dead, what do you mean dead?"

"You know, not breathing, no heartbeat, all those lovely things that mean that you're dead."

"Regina, I'm being serious here."

"So am I."

"You can't die." Emma almost whined and looked at Regina with a heartbroken look That snapped Regina out of her rather cold demeanor.

"Emma, I have to die. Only one can win. Why do you think I saved the dreamshade berries? That way when I have killed all the other tributes, and when I know that you're safe-" Regina started and then softly cupped Emma's cheek with a soft smile. "When I know that you're safe, I can eat the berries and let you win. THat way you don't have to kill anyone and can return to your district, your family."

"B-but what about you?"

"I can finally be free." Regina whispered softly and then leaned in, because the pull was too strong to resist, and she tenderly pressed her lips the the blonde's lips. She smiled into the kiss when she felt Emma respond to it. Regina didn't even notice she was crying until her salty tears rolled down her cheeks and Emma broke off the kiss to wipe away the tears that were leaking from the deep brown orbs.

Yes, she was called a heartless bitch and a black widow, but that didn't mean that any of that was true. She had a heart, and that heat was now aching at the idea of leaving Emma behind without being able to stop it.

"I will take the berries too." Emma said softly as she looked at Regina with tears of her own and a sniffle when her nose started to get runny.

"No, Emma. Please, you can't do that." Regina whispered painfully and looked at Emma with pleading eyes. Emma couldn't sacrifice herself as well. That way there wouldn't be a winner… Wait. That way there wouldn't be a winner. That way the Capitol would fail. The Games would fail. That was a perfect plan. Nobody would win. There would be no victor to show how merciful the capitol was to let them live. The whole system of the games would be proven faulty.

"Wait Emma, you're a genius!" Regina said suddenly and without warning pulled Emma in for a happy passionate kiss that the blonde herself melted into. Regina held Emma close as she let her plump lips move against thinner pink ones.

"Okay, not complaining about the kiss or anything like that, but why am I am genius?" Emma asked with a rather awkward chuckle.

"Because if we both take the berries at the same time after I eliminate the rest of the tributes, nobody wins. There wont be any victors left for the capitol to celebrate. In a way we as tributes can finally win the games." Regina said with an excitement that she had almost never felt this way.

"S-so if we both take the berries and die, nobody will win?"

"Yes, nobody would win and that means that the games, and thus the capitol will fail." Regina said with a broad smile and it seemed contagious since Emma was smiling as well.

"So that also means that in the short time we still have with each other, you won't fight the attraction you feel towards me?" Emma asked with a glint in her eyes and a smirk on her face.

That look on Emma's face reminded Regina so much of Dani, it almost hurt. The glint in the sea green eyes and the smirk to match it when she was challenging someone. When she knew she knew something others didn't of things she wasn't supposed to know. But it also reminded her of how well Danielle could always read her, it seemed Emma was doing a rather good job of that herself right now, since apparently it had been obvious to the blonde how much Regina truly felt for the beautiful creature called Emma.

"Am I that transparent?" Regina teased and received a nudge of Emma's elbow against her bicep and a lovely chuckle that still managed to speed up her heart beat.

"With that look that you give me when you want to kiss me, or are about to kiss me, yes" Emma teased and then sobered up a little.

"We still need to treat the rest of your wounds Regina, or they will infect. Do we still have the salve that came with the very first parachute?" Emma asked but Regina shook her head.

"No sorry, we used all of that up on the wound on my leg." Regina said with a heavy sigh and looked at emma with an apologetic smile.

"Well then I supposed we just have to open the third parachute and hope for the best right? Maybe that still has something that will heal the cut on your cheek and the one in your stomach." Emma said as she once more looked at Regina, but this time it was to inspect the slightly healing wound, but it was healing badly and this way would without any doubt leave a incredibly nasty scar that would be marring Regina's face. Then her gaze moved down towards the wound in Regina's stomach that still looked as nasty as ever.

She had cleaned the wound during the day after the horrendous night that Regina got hurt, but even cleaning the wound regularly while the brunette was sleeping, wasn't enough to make it even look a little bit better.

So opening the other parachute it was then, it seemed like that was the only way they could go. Emma picked it up from the ground and when she opened it her hopes to heal Regina were crushed. Food. It was just simple food. Okay, yes it meant that they wouldn't have to go and hunt for something to eat, but if they didn't get something for Regina soon the brunette would die of infected wounds, they would still be nowhere.

"Don't look so sullen Emma, we can use the food, we need the food really, it will help us. With the food from the first parachute and this one we won't have to hunt for food and thus don't have to expose ourselves for a little while longer. We just need to get some water to stay hydrated and we will win." Regina said solely to help Emma keep her spirits up. She knew that they were doomed. They were doomed and they would both die and let someone like Snow win the games, their rebellious plan would be stopped before they could even do it. They had to stop these games from ever happening again after this, and they together would stop it, would give the spark for a new rebellion, a new rebellion that could overthrow the Capitol if they were lucky. Their deaths would serve the people well, they hoped. But her pre timely death would be bad, it would ruin their master plan.

A voice cleared its throat through some kind of speaker "Tributes, don't despair too soon, for there will be a feast at dawn, and you all are invited. All of you have something they need, and we as gamemakers are feeling generous. At dawn you will see a table at the cornucopia with the thing you need most placed upon it in a backpack with your district number upon it. But be quick, for you wouldn't want the others to get your things, now do you?" After that there was a crackle and then silence.

"The medicine, we need to go get it for you, it could heal you. Regina this could be our chance to still do the thing we want to."

"NO! No you are not going out there with all the other tributes while I lay here waiting for you. Emma i'm not letting you go out for slaughter. I won't let you." Regina said firmly and gave Emma a stern look as her brows furrowed. "You will get yourself killed and I can't lose you. Not now. Not before it is our time to say goodbye to this world forever. I don't want to cut this short time any shorter." Regina said and bit her lip to spill more of her worries and pains that she felt at the idea of losing Emma. Yes they would die soon, but that didn't mean she wouldn't miss Emma if she were to die beforehand…

"Regina you will die if I don't. I'm going and that's final." Emma said defiantly. She stood up against Regina and she know she shouldn't but still she needed to save Regina the pain of dying from infected wounds.

They argued about it deep into the night, but after a while Regina was so tired out from her wounds and how they drank up her energy, she fell asleep. When Emma had made sure that Regina was asleep she gather the knives that they had in their little camp, which turned out to be two, a bigger one and a smaller pocket knife. when she had those hidden away on her body, but easy to access, she got ready to leave. She pressed a soft kiss to Regina's temple and whispered a goodbye before she went on her way. Dawn would be upon them in an hour. If she was on time she could just sneak into the feast with the backpacks before the others had arrived at the table.

She walked towards the Cornucopia with purpose and a power behind her strides. She had a goal and that was to save the girl she loved, nothing more, nothing less. That should be simple enough right? She had the backpack with the district number of both Regina and hers on it. She slung it over her shoulder before someone slashed her shoulder and she cried out in pain, not even in the slightest used to pain. Especially not to the pain of a blade slicing into her flesh. "The pretty blonde dyke was allowed out? Hmm how surprising… Where is you little power dyke blonde princess?" Snow snarled.

The girl had a nasty cut on her face and she seemed to be limping, although that didn't seem to hold her back. Snow lunged out with the knife again, and Emma was only barely able to avoid the blade for slinging into her flesh once more. The blade glinted in the rising sunlight that was coloured a blood red, almost as if it was predicting the deaths that were about to fall at any moment. Just when a blade was to be lodged into her ribcage by Snow, the girl coughed up blood before crippling to the ground. Emma gasped out a choked breath that had been stuck in her throat as Snow died before her eyes.

"Go back to your girl nine, You don't deserve to die by the sadistic hands of Snow." A kind voice said and she found a brown girl with jet black hair give her a smile before she hurried off with the district four backpack. Emma shook her head, breathless she ran back into the forest and towards the girl that she was sure she loved. She had just risked her life for her, just to save Regina. It was so strange that in the two weeks that they knew each other she could feel this strongly for the brunette, but she did.

"EMMA!" Regina cried out and she slung her arms around the blonde, minding the wound she had noticed the second the blonde came into view. When she woke up and she was alone tears had burned in her eyes. Emma had disobeyed her and she had left to save her life only to risk her own. In all fairness she hadn't even expected that Emma would come back alive. So when she saw Emma she ignore all the pain that her stomach and face were causing her and she rushed up from her seating position and hugged the blonde tightly against her.

The pain almost gone, replaced by the pure shot of adrenaline she was feeling as she held the wounded blonde close to her. "Please promise me you won't leave me like that again." Regina whispered brokenly. This was weakness. She was showing weakness by reacting like this, but for Emma she didn't care. Her heart felt torn by the idea of losing her goofy blonde too prematurely.

"I won't. But Regina you need to sit down, you're bleeding." Emma said and guided the frantic brunette down to sit on the floor with her. The wound on Regina's stomach was losing blood fast and Emma worried that if Regina wouldn't calm down quickly she would simply bleed to death because of it.

The pain settled in again as the adrenaline ebbed away and she let Emma hoist up her shirt and take it off. now only clad in her bra on her upper part of her body she felt exposed and wanted to hide. She was confident, yes, and she knew her body was good alright, but she didn't like showing it. Not after all the things he- Not now Regina

Emma didn't look at Regina's body now, just looking at the giant cut across her stomach. She got the salve out of the backpack that was combined for them together and she started to generously lather the wound with the cream like substance, that seemed to almost immediately do its job. She then put the cream on the cut on Regina's face before two tanned hands took the jar from her hands and started to gently put it on the wound that she had gotten in the fight with Snow.

Regina concentrated on the task at hand as she put the rest of the salve over Emma's wound on her shoulder and when it was done she pressed a soft kiss to it as well. "There you go, now we should probably rest, it's already getting dark again." Regina said softly. It was strange that it was already getting dark, but then again, the gamemakers controlled the climate here, even day and night. Apparently they had decided to cut this day short and force all of the to rest. Tomorrow would probably be the big finale, since only four of them wer-

A cannon went off.

Three. There were now only three of them left. Tomorrow would be the finale, where they had to fight Charming and win so they could put their final part of the plan in motion.

Tomorrow they had to be ready to fight, but tonight, tonight they would huddle close together and sleep.