Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.

The first thing to hit Gale is the scent of saltwater. It overwhelms and suffocates him all at once, renders him unable to breathe, to think. Blinking once, twice, the arena comes into view. An ocean surrounded by a jungle. An island with the golden cornucopia. 23 other tributes circled around. He glances to his left and sees the young boy from 4 – Annie Cresta's younger brother. He glances to his right and finds an older woman – a winner from District 1's mother.

Where is she?

He should be surveying his surroundings but he already knows he's going to dive in when the time is up. The sun is too bright for him to see too far, but he finally catches sight of her. Madge Undersee is at least ten spokes away from him and her eyes are focused in his direction. Even from the distance he can tell she's terrified, perhaps it's in the way she stands.

The time is up and Gale jerks his head in one direction and she nods, and then he dives into the water.

When he finds her he feels relief surging through his veins. Gale crushes Madge to his body as quickly as he can and savors the coolness of her wetsuit against his own. "You're such a fucking idiot," he growls. She squeezes him back, her arms around his middle. "Jesus Christ, Undersee."

"I had to try," she forces out. Madge ran for the cornucopia even though they had previously agreed Gale would be the only one to do so. "There was nothing but weapons." No food, no water bottles, absolutely nothing but weapons. She grabbed a few knives, Gale grabbed a bow and a sheath of arrows. They pull apart and his hands cup her cheeks. "We've got to find water," she says.

He tips his head in agreement.

Fuck the Quarter Quell. Gale's 19, he shouldn't even be in the reaping. Last year was supposed to be his last. The president couldn't have that though, he wanted to torture little miss Katniss Everdeen for her stunt with the berries last year. As a reminder that friends and family were lost in a time of strife, only those related to previous Victors will be in the reaping bowl. Regardless of age. Madge just so happened to be Haymitch Abernathy's goddaughter. For Christ's sake, they can't catch a break.

Gale murmurs something and Madge pauses, looking over her shoulder at him. "What'd you say?"

I'm not even her cousin, was what he grunted. He shakes his head. "Nothing." Madge wipes sweat from her forehead and nods, trying to smile. "We should take a break."

"No use until we find water." He lumbers up to her, his eyebrows furrowed. "It's so hot," she exhales. "I feel like I'm suffocating."

"Maybe that's their plan," Gale says. "Put us all in a boiling pot and roast us to death."

Her lips curve upwards into the tiniest smile. He savors it for all it's worth.

By the end of the first night when 11 tributes are dead, they still have not found water. Madge and Gale are setting up camp in a small cove when the pictures flash in the sky. She looks toward him expectantly, the hug when he first found her gave her too much hope, and waits for him to move next to her. He doesn't, he can't. They can't push what last year had, the romance angle will be overdone and fake and it's basically writing a death warrant. Katniss warned them against it.

But it isn't an angle at all, and Gale would give absolutely anything to curl up to Madge and kiss her goodnight. Instead he says, "I'll take the first shift."

Her face falls but she nods. They can't be together in the arena. They should get to savor their possible last days together but it isn't an option. He drags his hands through his hair and looks out across and through the trees. He wipes the back of his arm across his forehead and collects more sweat, and then looks toward the sky expectantly. Maybe Katniss or Peeta or Haymitch are watching. Maybe they know how thirsty he is. Searching all day has turned up nothing.

Just one bottle, that's all he wants. He'll take a few sips and give some to Madge. They'll make it last as long as they have to. But nothing comes. No parachutes fall.

Late in to the night when Gale is starting to drift and beginning to considering waking Madge so they can change places, a cool fog emerges from deep into the woods. Gale stares at it for a moment and considers the possibilities. Haymitch and Katniss spent their training time talking strategy, while Peeta coached Gale and Madge's mind. Never trust the arena. It's deceptive. It wants you to lose.

"Madge," he reaches over and stirs her. She snaps awake, her eyes wide and scared. "We've got to move."

"What?" she's still half asleep. "What's going on?"

"Come on," he says again.

Maybe he's being paranoid. Maybe the fog will cool them down, maybe it will leave dewdrops on leaves that they can lick. But he's not going to risk it. She looks back toward the fog and struggles to her feet. They swing their gear together quickly and make back toward the ocean.

Gale doesn't like traveling at night, and he doesn't like forcing Madge to come with him, but they fog moves quickly and looks sick. They've been moving for at least 20 minutes toward the waterline when suddenly they hear screaming.

"It's poison!" Someone screams. Gale and Madge's eyes lock and he picks up his pace, and she follows quickly. Someone else must've taken cover in the same area as them, must've got caught up in the trap. "Help!"

A cannon booms. The person is gone. Madge and Gale continue on. They take a sharp turn counterclockwise and stumble down a hill, landing by a swampy pond. It doesn't look drinkable, and Madge stares at it longingly, pressing her tongue to her lips with a frown.

"Don't risk it," Gale murmurs. She nods, pushing herself to her feet. They both turn their head to see where the fog is and find that a wall has formed in front of them. The fog travels upwards and in, as though there's a barrier it can't cross. "What the…" Madge starts toward it but Gale grabs her wrist. "Don't."

"Too weird," Madge frowns. They glance around. They could make it for the waterline but if the fog isn't going to get any closer there's no reason for them to tread toward the center. It's most open out there. "You should get some sleep," Madge says, grabbing his arm. "What time is it?"

"Dunno." Gale yawns, sleep suddenly overtaking him. "I should." They move to a safer spot as quietly as they can. The moon is bright and fake. Gale wishes he were home. They settle to the ground and Madge cries out. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"The ground!" she yells. Her eyes dart back and forth, her mouth gaping open. "It looks like it's covered in—"

"Blood," someone answers for her. Gale is on his feet in seconds, an arrow pointed in the direction of the stranger. The boy from 4, Annie's brother, emerges with his hands held up. He's soaked from head to toe in the color red. "It started raining blood," the boy says. "My name's Seth, I'm not going to hurt you." Gale's arm is starting to hurt from holding the string. "Please, I… I was with the girl from my District but she hit the force field."

Madge steps forward. "You're Annie Cresta's brother, right?" The boy nods. Gale remembers him to be 15 years old. His eyes are wide and green, much like the old Victor. "I'm Madge," she says. She looks toward Gale who doesn't lower the bow and arrow. He doesn't trust this boy. "This is Gale."

"From District 12, right?" Madge nods and gestures for the boy to come over. "I don't have any weapons," he says. "I swear." Finally Gale lowers his own weapon and the boy crosses to Madge. Despite the fact that he's taller than her she cups his cheeks and brushes under his eyes which are suddenly filling with tears. "I heard screaming and ran." He pulls out something small and thing and extends it up to her. "This is a spile. It can get us water from the trees."

Gale's heart leaps. He suddenly feels awful for aiming a weapon at the boy.

"We won't hurt you," she promises. Madge takes the spile from his hands and offers it to Gale who makes for a tree at once. "Tell me what happened at the force field."

They take him to the water line to wash the blood from his body. He's just as scared as half of the people in the arena, Gale thinks. He's much like what he's heard of Annie who is quiet in her movement and scared of her own shadow. It was no coincidence that his name was pulled from the reaping bowl, much like Gale's own.

"We can't take him in," Gale grumbles as the boy waddles in the water. "You know we can't."

"He's just a boy," Madge says. "And remember what Haymitch told us?" Trust 4 and 7 and 11. Find them. Ally with them. It's your only hope. Gale huffs but jerks his head forward. "We don't have a choice, Gale."

They find the two from District 7 the next day, a man 23 years old who was proclaimed as Johanna Mason's cousin (though Gale knows how far that lie can go – they were probably lovers at some point in time) and a girl the same age who is sister to another Victor. The alliance is shaky. They take watch in shifts.

Seth, the boy from 4, joins Gale on his watch. He looks at Madge, and then at Gale.

"I'm sorry," Seth says.

Gale cocks an eyebrow. "For what?"

"That you're both in here." Gale's eyebrow remains high. "I see how you look at her. How you touch her." Gale thinks as to how he's touched her and frowns. He's held her elbow once or twice, brushed her bangs from her forehead. Sometimes their hands graze and Gale holds on a second longer than he should. At night he lies close to her, his fingers near enough to feel her heat. "You love her." Gale says nothing in response to this. "This must feel like some sort of cosmic joke, what with your cousin and all that happened last year."

Gale still says nothing. There's nothing he can say.

He makes his first kill, his first two kills, right in a row. It's the pair from District 2. They went after Madge. His hands are sticky and he sees nothing but red. She washes him in the ocean. He wishes he could kiss her.

At night he wakes up with a start. He blames it on the gong that rings 12 which Gale has linked with midnight. That's not why. Madge is a few feet away from him staring at her hands. He moves next to her. They lace their fingers together.

"I don't want to go home without you," she whispers.

"Madge," he murmurs.

She tilts her head in his direction and he finds her blue eyes filled with tears. "I don't think I can, Gale." Kiss her. It might be his only chance left, just fucking kiss her! But he doesn't. He rubs his thumb over her knuckles and drops his gaze down to the ground. "Say something," Madge pleads.

Their eyes meet again once he lifts his and his mouth opens, but words just don't come. He couldn't go home without her, either.

The guy from 7 figures out it's a clock. They only figure it out after they get caught in the blood rain and then run into the fog again, as though the timer on each has gone off. The lightning on the tree helps them too, and the tidal wave that hits at the same time. They don't lose anyone but they're terrified to risk it. They decide to move in a circle and stay ahead of the hours.

"Maybe we should stay on the center island," Seth offers. "We can figure out which time is coming from where for sure. Maybe figure out what's in the rest of the hours."

So they go to the center island. And it spins. And Madge nearly dies.

She gets flung from the rocks and into the water at lightning speed. The second the spinning is over Gale leaps to his wobbly feet to find her, and it takes a bit but she's climbed onto one of the rock pathways leading up to the cornucopia. She coughs up water. She wipes her face and her eyes and blinks to steady her vision.

Gale lunges for her, pulling her body close and pressing his lips to hers. "Are you okay?" he asks. Another kiss. "For fuck's sake, Madge." More kisses. He's not even thinking, his mind is consumed with her. "Can you breathe?"

"I'm okay," she forces out. Her lips respond to his enthusiastically. She never thought he'd kiss her again. He almost didn't.

Seth smirks at them, the two from 7 exchange a glance. No one says anything.

"What happened to pretending to be apart?" she asks him that night. His hand has snaked around her waist, his nose is buried in her hair. "We're not doing ourselves any favors being like this."

"I don't care anymore," Gale whispers back. "They've already stolen everything we've got." They can't have their love, too. He can't believe he almost let them take it. He kisses her temple and she smiles, leaning into him. At least they have these days together.

They should've known it was luck. They should've known they couldn't keep on like this forever. The careers have found them, the ones that are left, and advance without mercy. The group is picked off one by one. The boy from 7 runs into the force field and goes with a gasp, trying for air that isn't there. The girl gets a spear to the stomach.

There are seven people left in this arena and it isn't looking good for any of them, except the careers with the upper hand who are picking off the weaklings.

Seth leaves Madge and Gale so they can talk. Gale grabs her hands and rests his forehead against hers.

"Don't say goodbye," she pleads. "There are seven of us left. Anything could happen. We don't even know where the other two are."

"I love you," he whispers. It sounds like the goodbye he won't give her. "I love you, Madge. You saved me with the morphling. You pieced me back together after everything that happened." After Katniss's rejection. After the whipping. She was his light. And Seth was right, this is the biggest cosmic joke. "Even here…" he shakes his head and her eyes fill with tears. "I love you," he says again. "No matter what happens, you have to know that."

"I do," she whispers. "I do. And I love you too." Why else would she risk her life to dart through ice and bring him medicine? Why else would she wait so patiently for him? "If I could do it all again for just this small amount of time," Madge says, "I would."

He kisses her. They have nothing left to lose. He kisses her more sweetly than any other girl before. He loses his fingers in her hair, he feels her pant his name into his mouth. He clings to every bit of warmth she still has to offer and vows to never forget it no matter what happens.

They're startled apart by the sound of nearby lightning, only amplified by the thousands. Gale pulls her closer to her and wonders what's happening when he sees a string of light shoot into the air. Seth runs back to them, his eyes wide.

"What'd you see?" Gale asks.

"The two left, the ones from 3…" he trails off and the world hisses around them. They all hold their hands to their ears to stop the screeching. A tile in the center of the arena falls. "I think the force field is coming down."

Down it comes. He doesn't let go of Madge, or Seth for that matter. They face the end of the world together.