abrahams children by inkystars

7/29/2019 Abrahams Children by Inkystars

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Abraham’s Children

by

inkystars

AU || M

Hunger Games AU. Kurt Hummel, a volunteer from District 8 wanders about the foggy forests of the Game,

forming alliances, dodging Careers, and wondering what exactly went wrong between himself and the sword-

wielding District 2 tribute, Blaine Anderson.

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Contents

Chapter One - 3 -

Chapter Two a - 15 -

Chapter Two b - 22 -

Chapter Two c - 28 -



Contents↑

- 3 -

Chapter One

Abraham took Isaac’s hand

And led him to the lonesome hill.

While his daughter hid and watched

She dared not breathe, she was so still.

Just as an angel cried for the slaughter,

Abraham’s daughter raised her voice.

Then the angel asked her what her

Name was, she said “I have none.”

Then he asked how can this be,

“My father never gave me one.”

And when he saw her, raised for the slaughter,

Abraham’s daughter raised her bow.

“How darest you child defy your father?”

“You better let young Isaac go.”

—“Abraham’s Daughter”, Arcade Fire

Kurt sped through the trees, clutching the stitch in his side as he slowed to trudge on. He’d long ago given up

on direction and the fog was too thick to see beyond thirty feet. All he knew for sure was that there was a

mountain on one side of the forest and the beach on the other. He paused to catch his breath, leaning heavily

on one of the large pine trees. The temperature was dropping fast and he’d been running for hours, desperate

to get away from the blood bath. Nine canons had gone off about an hour ago, signaling its end, so the Careers

were already most likely in the trees, weaving their way through, finding tributes to slaughter, all six of them—

He clenched his eyes shut, trying desperately to block them out of his thoughts, not wanting the images of

them killing tributes to crop back up again. The sonorous boom of a canon snapped him out of his reverie. Ten.

Nearly half the tributes were already dead and the first day wasn’t even over yet.

The Capitol must be pleased.

He set off deeper into the woods again, eating a couple of pieces of dried fruit from the pouch he’d managed

to snatch up from the cornucopia before he fled. He needed to find some cover, otherwise the Careers would

slit his throat in his sleep. He folded his clothes carefully around himself, glad that his District 8 textile

knowledge was unexpectedly coming in handy. Blaine had thought it wouldn’t be much help—



Contents↑

- 4 -

He stopped in his tracks, trying to block his mind from the memories, but they steadily washed over him…

Kurt bit his lip as he conquered the hexagonal knot. He’d been at the knot-tying station for the better part of an

hour, trying to master as many knots he didn’t already know as he could manage. It didn’t come as easily to him

as it did to the District 4 tributes, but his knowledge of thread gave him a bit of an advantage.

He started knotting from the start again, for practice, but got distracted by the pair of hands next to him that

were fumbling their way through the simple square knot. Kurt tried to concentrate on his own task at first, but

then rolled his eyes while snatching up the rope from the hands beside him and dropping his own knot. “Here,

see? It’s like this…” He completed the knot, then undid it, placing it back into the lightly sweaty hands. Then he

molded the other’s fingers around the rope, guiding him through the process.

Kurt smiled when the knot was completed. “See? Not that hard…” He glanced up and froze.

It was Gel (at least, that’s what Kurt called him in his head — he’d been too busy to learn all the tributes’

names) , the male tribute from District 2.

“I… um…” Kurt’s throat was suddenly dry. “I’m sorry —”

“My name’s Blaine.”

Kurt blinked at him, and at his outstretched hand. Cautiously, he shook it. “Kurt.”

Kurt blinked away the memory, continuing on. He jumped when another canon blasted. Eleven. This was

getting out of hand. The Careers must be on a rampage. Well, that was expected…

“Why did you do it?”

Kurt and Blaine had met up everyday at the knot-tying station so that Kurt could help Blaine with his knots. He

was definitely showing improvement, despite the fact that his fingers were used to masonry.

“Do what?”

“You know,” Blaine pushed. “Volunteer. For that guy.”

Kurt sighed. “I guess you would have seen that.”

Blaine snorted. “Of course. My mentor said the tributes always watch each district’s reaping. I mean, haven’t

you? You know, for background information.”

Kurt’s fingers halted in their twisting and tying. He ignored the question, because the answer was no. Will and

Terri had done very little to prepare him and Quinn for the arena. “You mean to size each one up. To see how

hard or easy it’d be to kill each one.”

Blaine froze. “No, Kurt—that’s not what I mea—”

“Blaine, it’s okay,” Kurt rushed, gathering up his things. “We all know that the Careers are banding together to

kill the rest of us as soon as the countdown ends.”

“Kurt—”



Contents↑

- 5 -

“I have to go,” he muttered, hurriedly joining Quinn from his own district at the edible plants station.

Another canon blasted. Twelve. Kurt shivered, but it had nothing to do with the cold. He searched through the

towering pines until he found a giant tree with large, sprawling roots. He slipped down through a gap between

them as another canon blasted. Thirteen. More than half of them gone now. His heart raced as he pushed

nettles and pine cones aside, burrowing against the sweet dark earth. He tightened his clothes around himself,

trying to seal in warmth as he ate another piece of dried fruit.

Night fell quickly, and the anthem blared through the arena. Kurt could see the faces of the fallen through the

roots.

The girl from District 2. Well, at least one Career was dead. He vaguely wondered how she died. He wondered

how Blaine felt about it. Then he shook his head.

Both from 3. Both from 5. The girl from 6. The girl from 7.

Quinn.

The boy from 9. Both from 10. The boy from 11. The boy from 12.

So that meant there was Jess and Andrea from 1, Blaine from 2, and Sebastian and Harmony from 4 in the

Career pack who were out hunting everyone.

Aside from himself there was that blonde boy from 6, the boy with the dreadlocks from 7 (Joe?), Mercedes

from 9 who’d helped him and Quinn out at the edible plants station, the snarky curvy girl from 11, and that girl

— Tina, he was sure her name was — from 12, made popular because her fiance had caused a great stir at the

reaping, trying to keep her from going.

Eleven of them left.

They hadn’t even been here eight hours.

Kurt closed his eyes to get some sleep, willing Blaine to not be on the back of his eyelids.

The odds never were in his favor.

The next day Kurt ran into a fidgety Blaine in a hallway. “What?”

“I’m sorry,” Blaine rushed out. “I shouldn’t have —”

“It’s okay, Blaine,” Kurt rolled his eyes and slowly turned to walk away. “The rest of us are sitting ducks, we

already know that. There’s only one victor and they’re most likely going to either come from 1, 2, or 4. And my

chances of surviving the blood bath are laughable at best. I’m pretty much a wounded gazelle on the Serengeti,

waiting for you to skewer me —“

“No, Kurt!” Blaine snapped, spinning him around. “I don’t want to kill you!”

His voice rang through the hall with such conviction that Kurt was actually speechless for a moment.



Contents↑

- 6 -

Then reality caught up with him. “None of us really want to kill each other, Blaine. Well… I’m pretty sure the

tributes from 1 and 4 do, they’re pretty demented. But the point is, that when the time comes, we will.”

Blaine shook his head. “I won’t. I won’t be the one who kills you.”

Kurt smiled. “The sentiment is nice, but there are twenty two others perfectly capable of doing the job. Odds

are, you won’t be the one who kills me anyways.”

Blaine stared at the ground, long and hard. “So you don’t want to live?”

Kurt balked. “What? No — why would you think that?”

“You’re in the games. You volunteered. You could be at home right now. Instead, you’re here, patiently awaiting

your death.”

“I’m not patiently awaiting my death!”

“Then why did you volunteer?” Blaine exclaimed.

Kurt stared into Blaine’s blazing eyes, momentarily taken aback. “Because…because it was the right thing to

do.Puck… Puck has a family that he supports, he couldn’t go —”

“He would be getting on better than you,” Blaine snapped, tone still sharp. He could even have had a shot at

winning — I mean… I don’t mean you don’t, but this guy seemed more physically prepared than you…”

“He never would have won,” Kurt said sadly, shaking his head. “Because he never would have been able to kill

Quinn. He loves her.”

Some of the wind was taken out of Blaine’s sails, and his tone softened slightly. “But… surely someone else

could’ve taken his place —”

“Yeah, my stepbrother Finn was going to,” Kurt sighed. “But… he never would have killed Quinn either. They

used to date. And he’s engaged. He’s eighteen. He has a life and pretty soon he’ll be starting a family. So I

volunteered before he had the chance to.”

“Because you’d be able to kill Quinn?” Blaine asked.

Kurt shook his head. “No. Because I wouldn’t need to. It doesn’t matter if I come home or not.”

“Kurt, don’t be stupid—”

“Stupid?” Kurt glared at him. “Blaine, I have nothing. Finn will take care of his mom and Rachel. He’ll help out with Puck. My mother and father are dead. There’s literally nothing holding me here and who the hell are you to

judge me? Sorry that we all can’t have a hotshot brother and wealthy parents and a proper roof over our

head!”

“You don’t know anything about me!” Blaine snarled. “My brother? I’ve been living in his shadow my whole life!

Nothing I do will ever measure up to Cooper. Especially after he won the Games seven years ago. My father has

never been accepting or even loving towards me! At least your parents loved you enough to keep you close and

sing you lullabies when you were scared!”



Contents↑

- 7 -

“Well, I —” Kurt froze, at loss for words. How on earth did Blaine know about that? Probably from his stupid

background research, his mind provided. “I hope you’re happy, then. You finally have the chance to live up to

your brother. Excuse me if I don’t feel sorry for you and your daddy issues because over half of my district is

starving while you get to pine for your father’s love every night with a full belly. How hard life must be for you.”

He felt it before he even saw it. Blaine took two knives from his belt and lodged them five inches into the wall,

less than a centimeter from either side of Kurt’s head.

Kurt’s body went on lockdown, every limb and cell freezing completely as Blaine stormed off. After standing

there, frozen for ten minutes, he carefully moved away from the knives — well, daggers, really — and yanked

them out of the wall. He stared curiously at their curved shape before taking them back to his suite.

Kurt was snapped out of his drifting thoughts by a rustling at the root gap to his small burrow. He curled as far

into his corner as he possibly could, watching as two figures climbed into the burrow, whispering frantically to

each other.

“San, you have to be quieter! They were right on our tail and I swear that 1 girl —”

“Andrea.”

“— Andrea has super-human hearing.”

“I’m sorry, Tina, it’s just too cold. District 11 is a freaking furnace, I’m not used to all this fog crap — I need

more warmth!”

Kurt surveyed the two. Tina from 12 and “San” from 11. And apparently Careers were on the way. So if the girls

had to be surprised, it should be now instead of when there were five Careers prowling the area.

So he shushed them.

The two girls wheeled around immediately, San raising a jagged rock-knife.

“I’m unarmed!” he whispered hurriedly, raising his hands. “But you have to be quiet if Careers are on the way!”

San still held the rock up, her teeth chattering. Tina looked between the two of them, worried.

“Listen,” Kurt stressed. “We don’t have a lot of time, but I can wrap your clothes so that you retain warmth.”

San stared at him suspiciously, but he could see her resolve weakening.

He held out his hand. “Truce?”

“Should we find allies?”

He and Quinn were alone at dinner, again. Their mentors, Will and Terri, were out on the town, doing god

knows what. He and Quinn had to guess their way through a strategy. They didn’t even know if they had

sponsors.

Quinn shrugged. “They could be useful, depends on who. That 7 boy, Joe, can wield an axe pretty well. Maybe

him? Just anybody other than the careers.”



Contents↑

- 8 -

Kurt hesitated. “Why?”

Quinn rolled her eyes. “Please, Kurt. We’re from 8. They’d kill us before the first day is up.”

Kurt glanced nervously towards his room, where the odd daggers were kept. “Yeah… yeah, I guess you’re right.”

San broke, putting her rock down. “Truce.” She shook his hand. Tina followed suit.

Kurt got to work, folding San’s clothes around her, even giving her his jacket for extra warmth — “8 is cold, it’s

fine”— and the three of them settled in, watching the foggy woods.

Ten minutes later, the Careers appeared, laughing and cheering boisterously. They spread out around the

clearing, poking and prodding things. Kurt, San, and Tina all clasped hands tightly.

The 4 girl, Harmony, stopped right in front of their tree. “Well well well. What have we here?”

Kurt looked up fearfully from behind the roots, ready to take flight, but Harmony’s back was turned to their

tree. She was looking up at the tree opposite theirs, across the clearing.

“Oh my god, are you serious?” Jesse, the 1 boy laughed.

“Please… !…” a voice pleaded from the trees.

It was Joe, the dreadlocked boy from 7.

Andrea, the girl from 1, put an arrow in her bow. “May I do the honors?”

“Naw,” Sebastian 4 four said, twirling his spear. “It’s Blaine’s turn, isn’t it, Blaine?”

Kurt looked around, spotting Blaine by the side of Joe’s tree.

He was staring directly at Kurt.

Kurt waited for it, the words that would end them. Because really, what hope did the three of them have of

surviving a fight with five Careers?

“You’re right, it is my turn.” Blaine tore his eyes off Kurt and threw two knives into the tree. There was a cry of

pain and then silence. Andrea shot an arrow into the body for good measure.

“Let’s clear out, find the other ten,” Jesse said, and the Careers began to leave the clearing. Blaine was the last

to leave, shooting a look in Kurt’s direction and holding back a gasp when he got close enough to confirm that

it was indeed Kurt he thought he’d glimpsed.

It wasn’t until Joe’s body fell out of the tree and the canon boomed two minutes later that the three sprang to

action. They ran over to Joe’s body, Tina grabbing the weapons, San snatching up his backpack, and Kurt

divesting him of his jacket. They left quickly, so his remains could be picked up, walking in the opposite

direction to the one the Careers took and comparing spoils. His jacket was standard, but could be used for

extra warmth. In his backpack were matches, edible tree bark, a needle and thread (which Kurt happily

claimed), a spile to get sap from the trees, and a knife, which San grabbed and tucked into her belt.



Contents↑

- 9 -

“These are kind of funny-looking, aren’t they?” Tina muttered, holding up the daggers.

Except they weren’t daggers. They were sais.

Kurt nervously entered the combat area. Blaine was practicing fencing with a sword, his shirt shed and sweat

glistening on his chest. Kurt gulped and cleared his throat.

Blaine stopped, neatly putting his sword back in its sheath. He raised an eyebrow in question.

“Um…” Kurt shifted from foot to foot. “I… I came to return your daggers.” He held them up.

Blaine raised his eyebrows in surprise before moving forward to take them. “They’re not daggers, they’re sai

swords.”

Kurt nodded. As if that made any difference to him. “Right…”

Blaine tucked them into his belt before taking his sword out again. He swung it around before seeming to

realize that Kurt was still there. “What?”

“I just… I wanted to apologize,” Kurt muttered, the word foreign on his tongue. “I’m sorry for what I said

yesterday and… yeah.”

Blaine blinked once before nodding.

Kurt tapped his leg nervously. “Well, I guess I’ll see you around —”

“Wait.”

Kurt turned back.

Blaine licked his lips and swallowed. “I was wondering… maybe… if you wanted to be allies?”

And that was the last thing he’d expected to come out of Blaine’s mouth.

“Allies?” he asked incredulously. “But the Careers —”

“I don’t want to be apart of their group!” Blaine burst out, then looked around in alarm, making sure that no

one heard him. “Look, after the countdown, we’ll run. I’ll try to grab as much as I can from the cornucopia, and

we’ll make our way through the arena. Just the two of us.”

“But… Quinn —”

“No,” Blaine said emphatically. “Just the two of us. Anyone else, we’d have to kill eventually.”

Kurt didn’t say the obvious. That they’d have to kill each other eventually. And he knew who’d win that fight. So

he opted for what he thought was a safer question. “But why me as an ally?”

Blaine stared at him, his gold-green eyes startling in their intensity.

“Because I want you to be.”



Contents↑

- 10 -

He handed back the two sais. “Take these. Textiles won’t help you in the arena. Come on, we have to train.”

Kurt frowned at the sais. “But I don’t know a thing abou — ARGH!” He hastily held the two sais up in an “X”,

catching Blaine’s sword before it cut him in two.

Blaine grinned at him. “Well, at least you have good reflexes. Come on, we’ve got a long way to go.”

Blaine was merciless in his training — though why Kurt had expected anything less, he’ll never know — doing

his very best, it seemed, to give Kurt an actual injury. Kurt blocked as well as he could, taking the occasional

swipe at Blaine, but eventually both of Blaine’s sai swords were knocked from Kurt’s hands and his legs were

kicked out from underneath him. Blaine straddled him, pressing the tip of his sword to Kurt’s throat with a grin.

Seriously, were all the citizens of 2 psychopaths?

“While we’re in this position,” Blaine smirked. “How about some ground rules?”

Kurt nodded as much as he could with a sword pressed against his throat.

“First, no one else. Just us. Two, at the cornucopia, you run. Get the hell out of there. Grab a backpack if it’sright next to you, but then you have to run. I’ll grab what I can, but you won’t last five minutes.”

Kurt didn’t argue.

“And lastly… we’re allies. That’s it. Nothing more. Allies.”

Something stung deep in Kurt’s chest, but he ignored it. “Okay.”

“Agreed?”

“Agreed.”

They shook hands.

Kurt ended up with the sais when San and Tina realized that he could actually use them. The day following Joe’s

death was eerily silent. They’d seen no sign of the Careers, and it seemed Mercedes and the blonde boy from 6

had managed to stay out of the Career’s rampage, too.

The next afternoon, Tina went in search of some game while Kurt and San took down their temporary camp,

intent on moving on.

“Do you have anything back home?” San asked suddenly, straightening up. “Anything that you’re fighting

more.”

Kurt grimaced. “Not really.” He felt pathetic for admitting it.

San nodded, pushing her hair out of her face. “I don’t either. But… Tina does.”

Kurt looked at her and he understood. Because Tina had spent the past day jabbering about Mike and how

much she loved him. He didn’t have anyone like that, not since his father died. And from the looks of San, she

didn’t have anyone either.



Contents↑

- 11 -

He nodded. “If it comes down to it, Tina should win.”

San nodded. “Exactly. 12 hasn’t had a winner in nearly fifty years. Let’s send her back home.”

They shook on it.

“You know,” Kurt laughed. “You’re nothing like you were at your interview.”

San laughed, deep and throaty. “I could say the same thing.”

“So, Blaine,” Caesar Flickerman said with his infectious, slightly creepy grin. “Your brother won the Games seven

years ago, when he was eighteen.”

Blaine nodded. “Yep.”

“And you’re only seventeen. Do you think you can live up to your brother’s legacy?”

Blaine’s smile was nearly blinding, but Kurt could see from his eyes that he was annoyed. “I’m pretty sure that

I’ll blow Cooper out of the water.”

***

“Listen, Caesar, there’s only one thing you need to know about me. I’m fierce, femme, phenominal, and I will

end anyone who gets in my way.”

Caesar laughed. “Well there you have it folks! Santana of District 11! She’s a firecracker! Better watch out for

her…”

***

“Didn’t Quinn just look stunning in her dress?” Caesar sighed.

“Yes,” Kurt agreed readily. “She always looks fantastic.”

“But I hear that it’s not the ladies who turn your eye, right Kurt?” Caesar nudged him playfully with a grin.

Kurt was freaking out internally. Seriously? This was where they were going to go? He just coughed politely and

looked to the side.

“Oh, don’t be bashful, Kurt! Now, I was just wondering, of all the male tributes, which one would you like to kiss

the most?”

What the hell kind of question was that?

“None of them.”

Caesar laughed. “Come now, Kurt, you have to at least like one of them? How about Blaine? With those dreamy

green eyes —”

“Why on earth would I kiss someone who wants to kill me?”



Contents↑

- 12 -

Kurt almost slapped his hand over his mouth. How could he be so stupid? He was trying to impress them, to

gain sponsors. No one here wanted to be reminded of the sheer brutality and cruelty of the Games, despite the

fact that it was exactly that which they would soon consume with eagerness. But not now. What should he do?

What… what…

“Sebastian!” He blurted out the first male tribute name that came to mind. “I’d… I’d kiss Sebastian…”

Caesar blinked out of his shock and arched his eyebrows in surprise. “Really? The handsome District 4 tribute?

Well I must say Kurt, you have excellent taste, doesn’t he folks?” The crowd cheered in agreement as Kurt

attempted to get through the rest of the interview alive.

***

Kurt paced back and forth on top of the roof — his and Blaine’s designated meeting place. His interview hadn’t

been the greatest, but he’d have to talk with Blaine about sponsors before they went into the arena tomorrow

—

The door slammed opened and Blaine stormed across the terrace, infuriated. “What the hell was that?”

Kurt jumped in surprise. “Wha— ”

“Telling the whole goddamn nation that you want to kiss Sebastian?” Blaine shouted, less than a foot from Kurt.

Kurt stared, bewildered at Blaine’s rage. “I… I was just trying to fix my mistake. Sebastian was just the first

name that popped into my head. I had to say someone.”

“Then why didn’t you say me! I thought we were allies!” Blaine paced back and forth like an angry animal.

Kurt blinked in confusion. “We are allies. I just didn’t think of you —”

“No, Kurt,” Blaine spat. “You just didn’t think. You never think when it comes to these things —”

“Blaine —”

“— which makes you a liability.”

Kurt frowned. “So… wait, what do you want me to do?”

“I honestly don’t give a fuck anymore. This alliance is over.”

Kurt gaped. “What? No, you can’t —”

“Like hell I can!” Blaine yelled. “Go back to Quinn, Kurt. I’m joining the Careers.”

“But, Blaine —”

“God, I was such an idiot , thinking you’d actually be worth something as an ally.”

That stung. And Kurt swallowed the lump in his throat as Blaine stormed back down the stairs.

“I’m back!” Tina called cheerfully from twenty feet away. “And look, I found a rabbit.”



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- 13 -

“Oh thank god,” San moaned, as they both hopped off the log. “I’ve been dreaming of meat since —”

Kurt acted on instinct.

He saw the metallic glint over Tina’s shoulder and ran, knocking her to the side. He yelled out in pain as the

arrow cut across the side of his arm, knocking him to the ground.

“Harmony, quick! They’re over here!” he heard Andrea yell.

He turned back to his girls. “San, go.”

San shook her head, knife already out. “I’m not—”

“Santana!” he snapped. “Take Tina and get the hell out of here! Remember your promise!”

San stared at him before nodding, grabbing Tina by the arm and running away from where the arrow came

from.

He turned back to Andrea just in time to knock one of her arrows out of the air with a sai. But that was it, as of

now he was determined to be on the offense — at least strategically — he was bleeding and had only one goal.

He had to buy Tina and San as much time as possible. So he ran to the left, leading Andrea into a chase. He

heard Harmony join too, after a minute. Thank god he was a fast runner.

Harmony gained on him. She had a carving knife out that had wicked jags — clearly for cleaning fish. She

swiped the knife across his back, managing to cut through one of his layers.

Luckily he had on four.

He ran around a giant oak tree, managing to come up behind her and bash her head into the bark. He kept

running as she fell unconscious to the ground, turning to knock one of Andrea’s arrows to the ground.

He came to a clearing, wheeling around to knock away another arrow before charging Andrea. She was

growing frustrated, shooting arrow after arrow, trying to hit him, but he knocked each one out of the way. As

she reached back for another, he threw one of the sais and it lodged in her shoulder. She screamed in pain,

dropping her bow. Kurt ran up and jammed his other into the joint where her neck met her shoulder.

She dropped to the ground, blood pooling everywhere.

His first kill.

He wrenched his weapons out and ran. Kept running through the woods. Until two things made him stop.

The boom of the canon signaling Andrea’s death.

And Blaine suddenly standing before him, ten feet away.

Kurt licked his lips, terrified out of his mind as the countdown reached twenty. The cornucopia was overflowing

with weapons and food and tools. He looked over to Quinn, who was four tributes down from him. Their plan

was to run, run as fast as they could to find cover. Luckily, they were surrounded by fog, so it shouldn’t be too

hard.



Contents↑

- 14 -

But Quinn was looking significantly towards a backpack ten feet in front of her. Kurt thought it was too

dangerous — he was just going to grab the small backpack that called to him from only a few feet between him

and the cornucopia — but they had no time for arguments. So he nodded at her with three seconds to go.

The canon fired.

He grabbed the backpack, slinging it over his back as he backed away quickly, eyes on Quinn. She grabbed the

backpack and he turned and ran.

“Kurt!”

He turned at Quinn’s voice.

She was standing, twenty feet from him, a spear protruding from her chest. She spat out a mouthful of blood.

Sebastian grinned from behind her. “How about that kiss?”

Fight or flight.

Kurt ran.

Kurt breathed in sharply through his nose.

Blaine stood there, sword in hand, staring at Kurt pensively.

Well, Kurt was already a dead man walking.

He attacked, sais whirling, and Blaine countered with force. Kurt very quickly realized that Blaine had been

holding out on him during training. That sword was like an extension of Blaine’s self, deflecting everyone of

Kurt’s swipes with ease. Kurt did manage to cut one of Blaine’s cheeks, but lost a weapon in the process.

Panicking, Kurt stabbed his remaining sai towards Blaine’s midriff, but Blaine was quick and agile. Blaine moved

away from the stab as if he had expected it exactly where it ended up in the air, and knocked that one out of

Kurt’s hand as well.

Kurt was finished. He’d been finished since he volunteered for Puck.

But hell, he wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

So he kicked Blaine in the shin.

Blaine actually dropped his sword in surprise as he hissed in pain.

Kurt eagerly pressed on, trying to punch him, but Blaine grabbed his wrist, wrenching it the other way. Then he

grabbed the back of Kurt’s neck and Kurt knew it was over. He shut his eyes tight, waiting for the painful snap

that would mean a broken neck and one less tribute in the Games when he suddenly felt drops of water

landing on his cheeks, lips and forehead, and he opened his eyes in shock. Rain was pouring from the sky; and

Blaine?

Blaine was kissing him.



Contents↑

- 15 -

Chapter Two a

Kurt froze in shock, all fight draining from his body as he nearly went cross-eyed staring at Blaine. Kurt’s mind

was blank. He just stood there as Blaine gripped his wrist tightly and pressed Kurt’s lips to his as the rain

poured out all around them.

Kurt took a deep breath through his nose, head immediately shooting back as an acrid stench filled his nostrils.

Kurt’s eyes flew open in surprise, Blaine’s hands still tightly gripping the back of Kurt’s neck and his wrist.

Blaine’s lips were red and he was breathing heavily as the rain steadily began drenching the two. “I…” Blaine

murmured, his voice rough. He sniffed the rain, glancing away before his eyes widened in horror. “Come on!”

he yelled, dragging Kurt through the forest by his wrist.

Kurt’s brow furrowed in confusion as he stumbled after Blaine, nearly tripping on branches and roots as they

tore through the forest. “Blaine, what—” He dodged a tree branch.

“Just hurry up!” Blaine snapped, panicked. He yanked Kurt’s arm harder.

Kurt hissed in pain, as the wound from Andrea’s arrow bled out through his jacket. “But I don’t understand—”

“It’s alcohol rain, Kurt! Now come on!”

Kurt’s blood ran cold as he sped up, fear making him keep pace with Blaine.

Alcohol rain. Everybody knew about alcohol rain. It had happened the year Blaine’s brother Cooper had won

the games. There had been a lull in the killings and the Capitol had apparently gotten bored, so in lieu of rain

they had poured alcohol over the entire arena. All it had taken was one foolish tribute from District 5 to light a

match and the whole arena had been ablaze. Only three had survived — Cooper by hiding underground.

Kurt had no idea how Blaine knew which way they were going — or whether he even knew which way they

were going at all — but the rain was coming down harder so he just pushed on.

Blaine suddenly took a very sharp left and Kurt almost hit a tree. As they came to a field of ferns that lead up to

the edge of the mountain they wove their way through the foliage to get to the mouth of a cave.

Blaine ushered Kurt in, out of the rain, before picking him up and tossing him ten feet in.

Kurt cried out as he landed on his injured arm — thankfully not breaking it — and curled in on himself as waves

of pain shook his body.

Blaine backed up a couple of feet so he could run and leap a whole seven feet. He landed gracefully and

precisely close to Kurt but with enough space between them so as not to crowd him. Blaine sighed, running his

fingers through his curly hair and grimacing at the mixture of residual gel and alcohol.

“What…” Kurt winced, gritting his teeth as he sat up. “What… the hell … was that for?”



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“We’re drenched all the way through,” Blaine said, taking off his shirt and wringing it out over a large crack

near the wall of the cave. “If we’d just run in, we would have left a trail leading right to us for when the arena’s

ignited and we’d burn. And I’m pretty sure that you can’t jump far enough, so I threw you.”

Kurt fixed a glare at Blaine’s face, and deliberately schooled himself to glance from Blaine’s cheeks to the

bridge of his nose and eyebrows then back again to make sure he kept his eyes above Blaine’s neck. “You could

have warned me.”

“You would have said no,” Blaine shrugged and unbuckled his pants with a wet scrape of metal on leather.

“Woah! What are you doing?” Kurt scooted further back into the cave in alarm.

Blaine rolled his eyes and shucked off his pants, wringing them out like his shirt. “Do you really want to sit in a

puddle of alcohol all night?”

Kurt locked his arms tightly around his knees, feeling oddly sluggish as he turned to face the wall and yelled,

“Of course I don’t!”

There was a loud ripping noise and Kurt had the vague and odd feeling of his back being tugged. He looked

around and realized that Blaine had torn his jacket straight the middle. “What the hell?” he shrieked and jerked

away from the tugging, which since he was as close to that far end of the cave as he could get meant he pulled

himself into a standing position that made his jacket slide off him and onto to ground with a wet smack.

Kurt looked up from the jacked around his ankles in shock. Blaine’s brow furrowed and he was frowning at Kurt

petulantly. “You need to get naked.”

“No, I don’t!” Kurt whined with his teeth clenched to keep the hiss of pain to a minimum, but as much as he

tried to stand upright, the pain in his arm and back from the fall made him curve and bump into the wall.

“Yes, you do!” Blaine insisted, tugging at Kurt’s shirt, ignoring Kurt’s batting hands. “Because Coop said… Coop

said…”

“I don’t care what stupid Cooper said!” Kurt yelled. The shout unbalanced him so he was stumbling against

Blaine, whose fingers continued tugging and fumbling at Kurt’s clothes despite the fact that his hands were

pressed into confinement between their bodies.

Blaine’s expression brightened. “Stupid Cooper…” he muttered as he shook his head and grabbed Kurt by his

shoulders to straighten him up, slightly swaying and eliciting a wince of pain from Kurt that Blaine didn’t

register. “Hey Kurt, that’s funny! Stupid Cooper! Stupid Cooper!”

He giggled, then clapped his hand over his mouth, his eyes widening. “We get drunk. Kurt, alcohol can travel

through the skin, we’re drunk .”

“I’m not!” Kurt yelled before promptly falling over. He glared at the rocks under his hands. “Okay, fine. Maybe I

am.”

“That’s why we need to take our clothes off,” Blaine groaned. “Because the more prolonged the contact of

your skin with the alcohol, the more inebriated you become.”



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Kurt pouted sulkily. “But I like my layers…”

“Come on, Kurt,” Blaine propped him against the cave wall and tugged off the extra three layers that Kurt had

on. Blaine tried to reach for his tank top, but Kurt grabbed his hand.

“No. This stays on. As well as my pants,” he said firmly. “Try anything and I’ll stab you.” He reached for one of

his sai swords in the loops of his pants.

His hand closed over only fabric.

Panicking, he looked down. Nothing. No weapons.

“My sais…” He looked around frantically, but there was only Blaine. “You idiot ! You dragged us off and we left

our weapons!”

Blaine froze, wheeling around, eyes falling on his empty scabbard.

“What happens if someone finds us!” Kurt yelled and in his panic he started punching Blaine’s chest, but he

was in so much pain he could barely put strength into his fists. “We’re completely defenseless becausesomeone couldn’t stop to grab our weapons!”

Blaine restrained Kurt’s thumping by encircling his wrist carefully so as not to hurt him. “There wasn’t time! I

smelled the alcohol and we had to run. Sorry I was too busy trying to save our lives to worry about anything

else!”

Kurt glared at him, squirming in Blaine’s grasp so he could push himself away from Blaine’s chest, doing his best

not to stumble. “Whatever. I’m going back out there and getting my weapons.”

Blaine held onto his wrist with a tighter grip. “No! Kurt you can’t. If you go back out they’re, you’ll probably

die.”

“Everyone already knows that it’s alcohol rain by now,” Kurt snapped, pushing off Blaine’s hand. “No one will

be stupid enough to light a match.”

“Like that’ll stop the Capitol from igniting the arena!”

Kurt knew that Blaine was probably right, but he didn’t care. “I’m getting my sais,” he said firmly as he walked

towards the entrance.

Blaine grabbed him around his waist, hauling him backwards as Kurt flailed and kicked, trying to get loose. But

Blaine’s arms were like two iron bars locking Kurt to his chest. Kurt leaned forward then snapped his head back,

hitting Blaine square on the jaw. Blaine swore and dropped him. Kurt immediately turned around and punched

him as hard as he could, wincing in pain as his fist came into contact with Blaine’s cheekbone.

Blaine’s head swung to one side from the impact. He lost his balance crashed to the ground. Kurt started to run

towards the entrance but Blaine’s leg quickly swept out from underneath his sprawled body, knocking Kurt’s

feet from under him, resulting in Kurt falling on his hurt arm once again. He tried to push himself back up but

Blaine tackled him and pinned him to the ground. Kurt wriggled underneath him, managing to get onto his

back. He tried using his weight to throw them over but it was no use. He was just a skinny District 8 kid. Blaine



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might be slightly shorter than him but he had muscle and weight to his advantage. He pushed Kurt’s wrists into

the ground, both of them breathing heavily into the air full of sweat and alcohol.

Then Blaine leaned forward and kissed Kurt again.

Kurt rolled his eyes but sighed, because everything felt nice and warm and fuzzy…He closed his eyes and

wiggled comfortably. This was actually quite pleasant. Blaine was licking into his mouth and it was kind of

ticklish and funny but he liked it… no.

“Stahp!” Kurt mumbled over a mouthful of tongue. He shook his head vigorously back and forth until his mouth

detached from Blaine’s with a wet suction noise.

“What?” Blaine groaned, forehead falling down on Kurt’s collarbone.

“Aren’t we ever going to talk about this?” Kurt frowned.

“About what?” Blaine murmured into Kurt’s skin, his head not moving from its spot.

“About why you keep kissing me.”

Blaine groaned and buried his face into Kurt’s neck so he couldn’t see him. “Because I want to?”

“Because you want to?” Kurt asked skeptically.

“Yeah,” Blaine snapped. “Is that really so hard to comprehend?”

“Uh, yeah!” Kurt retorted, his tone equally as sharp. “Because a couple of days ago you were willing to throw

me to the dogs just for saying I wanted to kiss someone —”

“Because it wasn’t me!”

Kurt blinked at him in surprise. Then fury washed over him. “Wait, let me get this straight. You broke our

alliance — which was your idea in the first place — and joined the Careers… because you were jealous? He was

just the first random name that popped into my head!”

Blaine glared at the cave wall to their side.

Kurt bit his tongue to keep the bile from rising in his throat. “Get off of me.”

“Kurt —”

“Get the fuck off of me Blaine!”

Blaine stared down at him with a plethora of emotions, his eyes twitching from one side of Kurt’s eyes to the

other in a last attempt to hope for something. He didn’t find it in the squirming beneath him and smoothly

stepped away from Kurt but never taking his sad eyes off him.

Kurt stood up, brushing himself off and blinking back his angry tears. “I’m leaving,” he said clearly. He turned

on his heel and started walking towards the cave entrance. “I’m going back to the clearing and getting my

weapons—”



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- 19 -

“Kurt.”

There was a soft crack.

Kurt lowered his head in humiliation, momentarily acutely aware that a lot of people might have just witnessed

what had transpired. He still turned his back to Blaine as if he was the only one who could see him and walked

towards the entry of the cave. “And I don’t care if you try to stop me —”

“Kurt!”

Then a low hiss.

“Because I’m go—” Kurt had just gotten within a few feet from the cave entrance when Blaine’s arms wrapped

around his waist and twisted him sharply around. There was a low dull roar outside, then heat, then Blaine’s

scream in his ear as they were blown back twenty feet into the cave. Blaine’s screams continued. He had

landed under Kurt, buffering his fall and thereby taking most of the impact of the fall himself.

Kurt scrambled off of him with wide eyes as he stared at the fiery blaze crackling beyond the entrance of the

cave, where he had just been.

The arena had been ignited.

The very arena he had almost walked directly into.

But Blaine…

He looked down and Blaine was on his stomach, heaving breaths and sobbing quietly. His entire back was

burned raw, as well as the back of his neck, up to his singed hairline.

He’d taken the fall for Kurt.

Kurt stared at the red blistering skin in horror for a few moments before snapping himself out of it and into

action. Back home most of the accidents in the textile factories were amputations, but there was the

occasional burn or two, and he knew how to treat them.

Well, he knew how to treat them when he had the proper medicine at hand.

He rustled through Blaine’s pack — his own had been left when he’d split up with Tina and San — and found a

bottle of water, a jacket, some dried fish, celery stalks, a small knife, rope, and some odd pinkish red fruit that

he’d never seen before. He took out the jacket and spread it on the ground before gently coaxing Blaine onto

it. There was a lot of wincing and whimpering but he managed to get Blaine facedown on the jacket with his

arms pillowing his head. He picked up the bottle of water and gently trickled it onto Blaine’s back. Cool water,

he reassured himself, that was the first step.

Didn’t make the screams ringing through the cave any easier to swallow.

Kurt bit his lip as he gently dribbled a stream of water all over Blaine’s back, cleansing it of cave rubble. Blaine

bit into the material of his jacket, screaming his voice hoarse.



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“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Kurt muttered frantically. He poured the rest of the water onto Blaine’s back, knowing

that he’d regret it later when they were thirsty, but shoving that out of his mind to focus on the task at hand.

He just wished he could clean the wound somehow, but he couldn’t call either of their sponsors for help

because there was no way a parachute would make it through the fire. If only he had some medicine or salve

or something… He sighed and set the bottle down, wincing at the cut on his arm pulling with his movement. He

glanced at it and prodded the flesh. It was still a deep cut, but it appeared to be healing nicely, and there was

no reddening of his skin.

He frowned. The arrows hadn’t been sterilized and he’d been sweating, so why was his cut so clean? The acrid

smell filled his nostrils as he leaned closer to it — alcohol rain. He sniffed at the strap of his tank top.

“Disinfectant,” he murmured. Without thinking, he took it off and gently pressed it along Blaine’s back.

Blaine’s scream caused Kurt to jump and cover his ears as it went on for a full minute until Blaine blacked out

from the pain.

Kurt cautiously took his hands off his ringing ears and pressed the fabric firmly against Blaine’s back, causing a

bit of liquid to rise on top of the fabric and Blaine’s whole body to twitch. He carefully lifted a corner of theshirt to see yellowy pus oozing from the blisters and cracks. Kurt reeled back at the stench, but carefully peeled

the shirt off of Blaine’s back.

Pus was bubbling up all across the burn, leaking out and dripping down Blaine’s sides. Kurt took a deep breath

through his mouth to calm himself. He could do this. He had to do this. If Blaine hadn’t shoved him out of the

way he would have walked straight into this and most likely wouldn’t have survived. And Blaine hadn’t even

had a shirt on!

Kurt went to grab the two other shirts he’d been wearing before Blaine had taken them off him, still

completely soaked with alcohol. Kurt blushed at the memory of Blaine undressing him but quickly pushed it

away to focus on Blaine’s back. He took one of the shirts and started to wring it out slowly, placing one leg on

the back of Blaine’s thighs and the other across his arm when his body started convulsing. Whole tea spoons of

pus started spewing out, but the alcohol was doing a good job of draining it. By the time he was wringing his

second shirt out, Blaine’s back was just starting to look raw and irritated. He’d still need medicine, but at least

now there’d be no infection.

Kurt carefully removed his legs from Blaine’s body once it began to rise and fall in peaceful sleep. He mopped

up the fluids around Blaine with his ruined tank top, then threw it into the blaze, which was finally starting to

die down. He set his and Blaine’s clothes a couple of feet closer to the flames so that they’d hopefully dry. Then

he settled in next to Blaine, waiting as the fire died down. It didn’t take long. Alcohol couldn’t sustain a blaze

for long.

A canon sounded.

Then another.

Then a third.



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- 21 -

Kurt felt an odd sadness wash over him. He supposed it was too much to ask for Jesse, Harmony, and Sebastian

to be the reason those canons sounded.

He sighed before balling up his torn jacket for a pillow and nestling in next to Blaine, the cave still warm from

the inferno. With a last glance at the raw skin, he dozed off.



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- 22 -

Chapter Two b

Kurt awoke to the anthem blaring and saw Blaine jump awake as well. He hissed in pain but Kurt was glad to

see that Blaine was nowhere near in as much pain as his sobs had indicated earlier.

Kurt hopped up and ran to the scorched dark entrance of the cave to catch the update projected into the sky.

Well, he got one of his wishes.

Harmony was the first face shown, meaning Sebastian and Jesse were still out there. He held his breath as he

waited for the other two:

The blonde boy from District 6 whose name he had never managed to remember.

And…

Mercedes from 9. He felt a brief pang of sadness He felt a brief pang of sadness as he remembered their time

at the edible plants station but sighed in relief at the knowledge that San and Tina were still out there andalive.

“How many?” Blaine whispered hoarsely from his makeshift bed.

“Three,” Kurt muttered as he walked back to sit by Blaine again. “That blonde boy from 6—”

“Sam,” Blaine murmured quietly.

“Sam,” Kurt nodded. “Mercedes from 9 and… Harmony.”

“Good,” Blaine said, wrinkling his nose as he carefully sat up, minding his back. “Never liked her. She thought

she was the best fisher in 4, but could only catch minnows.”

“Then why were you allied with her?” Kurt said before he could really think it through.

Blaine shrugged. “We’re Careers. We’re supposed to be.”

“That’s stupid,” Kurt said, his anger rising again. “Why not just choose who you want to be with?”

Blaine snorted. “You wouldn’t understand. It’s expected of us to join up with the others. It’s what we’re trained

to do, from the day we’re born. I was always going to end up with the Careers.”

“Then why did you ask me to be your ally?” Kurt said lowly.

Blaine sighed. “I’ve told you a hundred times, Kurt. Because I wanted you to be.”

“But why even ask? ” Kurt exploded. “If you were always going to end up with the Career pack in the end, why

did you ask me and train me and ignore what’s expected of you if none of it was going to matter in the end

anyway?”

“Because I couldn’t let you go into the arena unprepared!” Blaine yelled. “You wouldn’t have lasted the first

hour!”



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“But why me?” Kurt yelled desperately, sick of their verbal dance. “What’s your angle? Why do you want me as

an ally, it just doesn’t make sense!”

“Because I care about you!” Blaine shouted. “Jesus, Kurt, is that really so hard for you to comprehend? I don’t

want you as an ally because of your skills or because I think I could use you to win, I want you because I care

about you and want to protect you and keep you close and safe and sound!” Blaine stared at him hopelessly,

his green-gold eyes bright with tears. “That’s all I ever wanted, since I first saw you in the training room at theknot station.”

Kurt sat, wide-eyed and fists clenched against the stony ground. “But… that doesn’t make any sense. We didn’t

know each other. Why would you want to protect me if you’d never met me before?”

Blaine laughed, but there was no humor to it. “You really still don’t recognize me? I thought you would without

the hair gel.”

“What are you talking about?”

“The square knot,” Blaine said simply.

Kurt’s brow furrowed. “The square knot?”

“You’ve known how to tie that knot since you were six.”

Kurt blinked. “How did you know —”

“Because it’s the first knot you ever taught me.”

“Yeah,” Kurt nodded. “Back in the training room.”

“No. When I was seven.”

“Blaine!”

Blaine looked up from his pieces of rope, hiding them quickly behind his back. “Yes, father?”

His father sternly looked down his nose at him. “What are you doing?”

“Just…” he gulped. “Just an exercise for class.”

He saw the smack across his head coming.

“I can’t believe that you still haven’t conquered the most basic knot!” his father snapped.

“I’m sorry!” Blaine squealed and cowered. “I just… I just need a bit of help —”

“Andersons don’t need help!” His father sighed. “I just don’t see why you can’t be more like Cooper.”

And there it is. The words that always stung the deepest.

***



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- 24 -

“Wait here, Blaine,” his father muttered as he pushed Blaine into a chair.

Blaine sighed. He always had to go with his father to deliver the Peacekeeper weapons because it was

apparently “learning experience” that he needed for class. But in actuality it was really boring. So he took out

his rope again and tried to figure out the knot.

“No, silly! It’s like this!” Small, pale hands took the rope from him and twisted it perfectly into a square knot.

The hands undid the rope and put it back into his. Then they molded his hands and fingers along the rope and

bent them until he made a lopsided — but complete — square knot. “See?” the voice giggled. “Not that hard, is

it?”

Blaine looked up to see a young boy around his age. He had soft-looking brown hair and big blue eyes that were

actually really pretty. He grinned at Blaine. He had small teeth. Blaine said the first thing that popped into his

head. “My name’s Blaine.” He stuck out his hand.

The boy smiled, shaking his hand. “Kurt.”

Blaine smiled back nervously. “So, um… what are you doing here, Kurt?”

“This is my first time in District 2!” Kurt said excitedly. “Your clothes here are a lot nicer than the ones at home.

But my mommy and daddy work in the textile factory and they were chosen to deliver the Peacekeeper

uniforms so I got to take a whole day off school and come with them!” He wrinkled his nose. “The ride over was

really scary, but mommy sang me a lullaby and I felt better.”

Blaine blinked at the odd boy who seemed so happy and full of energy. He wondered what it’d be like if his

mother sang to him when he was scared. He quietly laughed bitterly at the thought, there was no way that

would ever happen. “How does the song go?”

Kurt hopped up next to him and began ooing and ahhing and slowly taught Blaine the lullaby about safety and

reassurance. Blaine slowly circled his fingers around Kurt’s wrist, liking the feel and touch and security that the

contact gave him.

“I have to go now!” Kurt said as a woman and man appeared — obviously his parents. “But I’m really glad

you’re my friend, Blaine!” He gave Blaine a hug and ran off, leaving him speechless.

Kurt stared at Blaine as he finished his story. There was no way… But something in the back of Kurt’s mind

sparked up because what he said sounded accurate and also oddly familiar and —

“At least your parents loved you enough to keep you close and sing you lullabies when you were scared!”

“The hallway…” Kurt murmured, pressing a hand to his mouth. “When I told you why I volunteered. You… you

knew about my mom singing to me…”

“Whoops,” Blaine grimaced. “Must’ve let that one slip.”

“Why didn’t you just tell me?” Kurt whispered.



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- 25 -

“I guess…” Blaine sighed in frustration. “I guess that I just wanted you to figure it out on your own. I mean… I

knew who you were from the second I watched your reaping tape and then you were there in the training

room, so I sat next to you and pretended to fumble through the square knot —”

“Oh my god, you were joking,” Kurt realized.

Blaine smiled. “Yeah. But then you did and said pretty much the same thing you had ten years ago, so I thought

you’d recognize me once you look up, but… you didn’t.”

“I…” Kurt honestly didn’t know what he was going to say. All the revelations were still washing over him. “So

what happens now?”

“I don’t know!” Blaine admitted with a laugh. “Late dinner?”

Kurt snorted, but pulled the backpack over and took out the fish, the celery, and the weird pink fruit. “What is

this?”

Blaine quirked any eyebrow. “You’ve seriously never seen a pomegranate before?” He took the small knife and

cut it in sixths, shucking all the seeds out of it.

Kurt picked up one of the odd jewel-like kernels and popped it into his mouth, surprised at the taste.

Blaine laughed at his expression. “Here.” He divided up the fruit, fish, and vegetables and slid half of it to Kurt.

“No,” Kurt protested. “You’re injured, you need more —”

“No,” Blaine said firmly. “You need to keep your strength up. If someone finds us, or we get into trouble, I can’t

help you.”

Kurt was still hesitant, but he nodded, accepting his share of the food.

They ate in silence, the uncertainty of their situation weighing heavily down on them. “We should, um…” Kurt

cleared his throat. “We should get some rest.”

Blaine nodded in agreement, hissing as he eased himself down.

Kurt bit his lips. “One moment.”

He ran out of the cave. From what he could see most of the foliage on the bushes and trees was as springy and

green as when he’d first seen them at the cornucopia, but in lieu of the cool hazy fog from before, there was a

thick toxic smog. Pressing his now dry shirt over his mouth, he ran over to the nearest tree and grabbed at one

of the small lower branches, snapping it off. He was heading back to the cave when the ferns caught his eye.

Remembering something his mother said about them when he was young, he grabbed a handful of the leafy

plants and headed back inside, coughing the smoke out of his lungs.

Blaine was sitting propped up, looking worriedly at him. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Kurt rasped and coughed again. “It’s just a bit smokey out there. Weird that the air’s fine in here.”

“It’s the arena,” Blaine said. “They give us a couple of safe places for us to try and find.”



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- 26 -

“How did you know about this one?” Kurt asked, remembering the way Blaine had led them expertly through

the forest and to this cave.

Blaine smiled. “Something Cooper told me.”

Kurt wanted to ask what, but Blaine was settling back down on his jacket with his back twitching. Kurt gave him

the short stubby branch. “Here, bite down on this. This’ll probably hurt a bit.” Blaine accepted it

apprehensively. Kurt glanced around, but all of his shirts were now dry. The only thing left that was damp was

his pants…

He sighed and stripped his pants off. Blaine eyed him appreciatively. “So… what exactly is it that we’re going to

be doing?”

“Well, I’m going to be wringing all of the alcohol out of my pants onto your back to make sure that it’s really

disinfected,” Kurt retorted.

Blaine immediately blanched. “Oh…okay.”

“Then I’m going to see if the spores on these ferns will help.” Kurt held them up for emphasis. “My mom used

them on me to treat stings a few times, and they survived the fire, so I guess it’s worth a shot.”

Blaine nodded. “Okay, let’s… let’s just get it over with.” He put the branch between his teeth and laid down flat

on his stomach.

Kurt took a deep breath before lifting his pants and wringing out all the moisture he could. Blaine shrieked, but

it wasn’t as soul-splitting as it had been earlier. Kurt mostly felt sorry for his vocal chords.

The alcohol caused the skin on Blaine’s back to redden even further but then there was a low hissing noise and

smoky gas exhaled out of the pollen. Kurt assumed that it meant that everything was fine now, so he picked up

one of the fern branches and laid it, pollen-side down, on Blaine’s back.

Blaine hissed at the contact, then relaxed. Encouraged, Kurt picked up the other three branches and laid them

across Blaine’s back. The tension from his body eased and he melted against his jacket. “Thank you, Kurt,” he

whispered once he let the piece of wood drop from his mouth.

Kurt nodded, stroking his hair and his cheek. He pressed a small kiss just under Blaine’s eye. “Go to sleep,

Blaine.”

“Willya… will you sing?”

Kurt blinked and hesitated. “Sing what?”

“Tha… that lullaby… from when we were young…”

“Okay” Kurt whispered, lying down next to Blaine. “Don’t you dare look out your window darling; everything’s

on fire. The war outside our door keeps raging on.”

Blaine hummed contentedly along, scooting closer to Kurt and nuzzling against his bare shoulder.



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- 27 -

Kurt smiled, stroking his hair. “Hold onto this lullaby, even when the music’s gone… gone… Just close your eyes,

the sun is going down. You’ll be alright, no one can hurt you now. Come morning light, you and I’ll be safe and

sound…”

Kurt looked down at the sleeping boy nestled against him and smiled. “Goodnight Blaine,” he whispered and

kissed him gently on the lips.

A hand wrapped around the back of his neck and tugged him closer. He yelped in surprise as Blaine rolled over

on top of him and deepened the kiss. But it wasn’t like the other two times — it was soft and slow and sweet.

Kurt hesitantly brought his hands to the top of Blaine’s shoulders, not wanting to irritate his back, as their lips

moved lazily together.

Before too long, the couple dozed off, their bodies and heads close so their lips stayed on each other.



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Chapter Two c

The next morning Kurt was very warm and very thirsty. His eyelids cracked open and he was met with a mass of

dark hair in his face. He blinked in confusion until the events of the past day caught up with him. The pact with

Santana. Splitting up. Fighting Harmony. Killing Andrea. Running into Blaine. Alcohol rain. Blaine’s burn. All

the… other stuff.

He tried to sit up, but Blaine was holding on tight around his waist, nuzzling further into the crook of his neck.

“Blaine…” he murmured, tapping his hip. “Blaine… Blaine, you have to get off me.”

“Mmmm…. No,” Blaine said decisively. He clutched Kurt tighter to him. “Warm… and soft… stay…”

Kurt would have been swayed, except he really had to pee. So he dug his fingers into Blaine’s sides and started

tickling him.

Blaine jerked away from with a yelp. He attempted to sit up, but tipped over onto his side.

Kurt stretched along the ground, pulling his arms above his head to crack his back.

“Nice,” Blaine nodded appreciatively as he sat up.

Kurt rolled his eyes. “Shut up.” He blushed, which made Blaine smirk, so he ended up whacking him on the

chest. “Here, turn around, let me see your back.

“It feels better…” Blaine said as he swiveled around.

Kurt pulled the ferns off. Blaine’s back wasn’t raw anymore, which was good. There was an odd hazy film over

it that looked like it was probably part of the healing process and patches of brown and pink. “Hmmm. Let me

get you some more ferns and we’ll see where we go from there.” Kurt got up and left the cave. After relievinghimself by a tree he waded through the ferns before a silvery glint caught his eye.

About five feet to the left of the cave entrance there was a stash of silver canisters still attached to their

parachutes.

He ran over to them and picked up as many as he could. “Blaine! Blaine, we got gifts from sponsors!” He

brought them to the edge of the cave before running back to get the rest.

“Wow…” Blaine stared at all the containers in amazement. Then he started opening them excitedly. “We have

soup… fruit, crackers, a whole roast chicken?”

“Medicine!” Kurt exclaimed happily when he found salve in one of the cans. He moved behind Blaine and

started smoothing some over his back.

“Oh my god ,” Blaine moaned. “Feels so good…”

“And it’s helping!” Kurt grinned as Blaine’s back turned into a bright pink. “Your skin is almost normal again!”

He took a little of the goop and dabbed some of it onto the cut on his right arm then watched the skin start to

stitch itself back together, pleased.



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“Did we get any water?” Blaine asked as he rummaged through the containers.

“Here!” Kurt pulled out a bottle. “Wait, no. It says… champagne?”

“Are you serious?” Blaine took the bottle from him and frowned at the label.

“What is it? Some kind of juice?”

Blaine burst out laughing. “No… no, Kurt. It’s alcohol. Apparently they thought we were funny when we were

drunk, so they sent us a bottle.”

“Oh.” Kurt wrinkled his nose in dislike. “I don’t like alcohol. It tastes gross.”

“I think you might like this stuff. Come on, it’s a nice day. Let’s have a picnic.” Blaine tugged a reluctant Kurt

into the fern grove.

“Yes, such a lovely day for killing people,” Kurt grumbled as he dragged some parachutes along with them, but

he couldn’t deny that it was a beautiful day. The clearing was filled with warm buttery sunshine and the ferns

glowed in it.

They sat in the middle of the clearing, directly in the sunlight. Blaine popped open the champagne and the cork

nearly hit Kurt’s head which resulted in a frightened squeal. Blaine laughed at him as he licked the foam off the

side of the bottle.

“Here,” Blaine urged, tipping the bottle towards Kurt.

Kurt was suddenly aware of how striking Blaine looked at that moment, surrounded by golden sunlight and the

vibrant ferns, his dark curls blowing in the gentle breeze and his hazel eyes full of warmth and excitement. Kurt

took the bottle, but never broke eye contact as he swallowed. “Oh!” He shivered lightly. “It feels… bubbly.”

“Yeah, that’s its nickname,” Blaine laughed through his mouthful of chicken. “Urgh, this is so good. Thanks,

Coop.”

“Hey, some of this could have come from my mentors,” Kurt retorted.

They stared at each other for a couple of seconds then burst out laughing.

“Good one,” Blaine coughed, almost choking on his food.

“Thanks, Cooper,” Kurt concurred, glancing briefly towards the sky so that a camera could catch his smile.

“Blaine would be a lot more grumpy without this stuff.”

“Hey!” Blaine whacked him lightly on his chest. “I’m not the only one benefitting here. If Cooper hadn’t sent

this stuff, we would have starved.”

“No we wouldn’t have.” Kurt rolled his eyes. “Honestly, did you go to the edible plants station at all?”

“Yeah, but there’s nothing around here that we can eat,” Blaine protested.



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Kurt sighed and hopped up to walk over to the nearest tree. He dug his fingers into the the bark to pull out the

small clump of ferns. “Tree ferns,” he said as he plopped back down next to Blaine. “My mom always ate them

when I was little. Their roots taste like licorice and she was addicted to them.” He bit into the root, chewing it

as he fondly remembered his mother doing the same.

“What… what happened to your parents?” Blaine asked hesitantly. “Because I remember them when we were

young, but you said during training that you’d lost them…”

Kurt looked in the other direction, towards where the mountain edge met the trees.

“I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me —”

“Mom…” Kurt cleared his throat. “My mom died in an accident at the textile factory when I was eight.” He

looked down at his hands. “And dad… dad’s heart gave out a few months ago. He’d been overworking himself

and… and he had a heart attack at work. Didn’t survive.”

Blaine carefully placed an arm around his shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

Kurt nested his head into the crook of Blaine’s arm and took another sip of champagne. “It’s fine. Actually, all

these ferns have reminded me of her. Of my mom.” He reached out and stroked a fern stem fondly. “They

were her favorite plant and our backyard was overflowing with them. She always used to say, ‘Kurt, find ferns.

Because when you find ferns, you find home.’ I think it’s why I’m so comfortable staying here…”

Blaine rested his head on top of Kurt’s, smiling faintly as he rambled on.

“Apparently in plant language, fern means shelter. And sincerity. That’s another thing she’d say. ‘Kurt, if

someone tells you something by the ferns, you can know for sure that they’re being sincere.’ She had so many

fern idioms. Like the secret bond one…”

Blaine quirked his eyebrow in interest. “Go on…”

Kurt shook his head. “No, no way. I’m not nearly drunk enough for that one and neither are you.”

Blaine grinned as he took the bottle from him. “Challenge accepted.”

***

“But Blaine,” Kurt moaned in protest and pulled his head back for what had to be the twentieth time. “We’re

naked . And in the Hunger Games. Why are we kissing? What if we die?”

“Kurt,” Blaine mocked, sucking on his neck. “You’re a worried drunk. Stop worrying. You’re too hot to be

worried. And… mmm… you taste too good to be worried.” He licked further down Kurt’s stomach as his hands

idly stroked his sides.

Kurt’s fingers were lazily carding through Blaine’s hair and he had to admit that he did feel nice and fuzzy and

tingly and warm and maybe Blaine was right, maybe he should stop worrying and ooh, that felt nice, what

Blaine did to one of his nipples and oh goody, he was doing it to the other and—



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“So what’s the secret bond thing with ferns?” Blaine suddenly asked as he abruptly detached his lips from

Kurt’s nipple with a wet ‘pop’.

Kurt groaned and snapped his head back then nuzzled into said plants. “Not gonna tell.”

“Is that so…” Blaine flicked his tongue into Kurt’s belly button and swirled it around. He chuckled at Kurt’s

squirming. “Still don’t want to tell?”

“Uh…” Kurt muttered. His hands clenched Blaine’s hair when Blaine started sucking on his hipbone. “What?”

“Ferns. Secret. Bond. What.” Blaine said stiltedly, punctuating each word with a scrape of his teeth.

Kurt’s hands snapped up to cover his face as he blurted out, “Fern means ‘secret bond of love’ and is supposed

to be the symbol of forbidden love. ”

Blaine’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you serious?” he giggled.

“Shut up,” Kurt blushed, kicking Blaine’s side with his foot. “I thought it was really cool when I was younger.”

“It is cool,” Blaine smiled. He leaned forward and kissed him. “I bet you were the coolest kid in all of Panem,

what with your square knot skills and your knowledge of ferns.

Kurt thought about kicking him again, but decided that tickling was the ultimate punishment - -Blaine’s sides

were very sensitive - -so he dug his fingers into Blaine’s ribs.

Blaine yelped and jerked off him. Kurt rolled on top of him with a triumphant grin. “Ha! See who’s laughing

now!” He leaned down for a kiss.

“Hmm,” Blaine murmured against his lips. “Yes. Perfect.”

***

Their happiness didn’t last.

After their drunkenness had worn off and they’d put their clothes back on (“Blaine, I want to make sure that

your back heals properly!” “But Kurt, you look so much better naked.”) the couple laid together in the grove,

munching on fruit and watching the sky change colors.

They had not a care in the world, were completely wrapped up in each other.

Until the Head Gamemaker’s voice interrupted them.

“Tributes,” the ominous voice boomed throughout the arena. “We’d like to invite you to a banquet by the sea

tonight at dusk. There will be a special something there that you need the most, marked with your district. We

hope to see you…”

“It’s the third night…” Kurt muttered. “Why are they trying to get this over with so soon? Why not draw it out?”

“There must be some really big bets on shorter days,” Blaine said softly. “If anyone running the Games wants

to curry favor with some rich Capitolite, then they’ll let them win the bets.”



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Kurt frowned. “What do we need that’ll be there?”

Blaine shrugged. “Weapons. Since we lost ours during the alcohol rain.” He smiled. “But no one’s found us so

far, and going to the banquet defenseless is the fastest way to get killed. Plus I bet they didn’t even realize that

nothing could tempt me from this field. Everything I need is right here.” He cuddled Kurt tightly to his chest.

“Yeah…” Kurt agreed, clutching Blaine tighter. “Same…”

He was lying.

“…going to the banquet defenseless is the fastest way to get killed.”

San and Tina were going to go to the banquet because they needed weapons and probably some more food.

They couldn’t take down Jesse and Sebastian on their own, they’d get slaughtered. And the pact that he’d

made with Santana was still weighing heavily on his mind. He wanted Tina to be the one to win. But… He

looked up at Blaine’s content expression. But that had been before Blaine. Before the cave. Before…

He clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to block everything else out. He didn’t want Blaine to die. He didn’t

want Tina to die. He didn’t want San to die. Hell, now he didn’t really want to die and it was so unfair .

Why did they all have to die? Why did they have to fight to the death? Hadn’t they paid enough for their

ancestors? Weren’t they punished enough by having to live in their impoverished districts? He held onto Blaine

tighter as his body was wracked with shakes and tears were streaming down his face.

“Hey,” Blaine murmured, stroking his hair. He tilted Kurt’s face up. “What’s wrong?”

“I—” I don’t want any of us to die. I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to just become another statistic. I don’t

want to leave you. I don’t want to be their pawn. I don’t want you hurt. I don’t want to play anymore games.

“I… I love you.”

The words came out before he could even decide on what to say. But he was surprised to realize that they

were true.

Blaine stared at him in shock. His blank expression stretched on for a minute and Kurt briefly wondered if that

had really been the wrong thing to say but then Blaine’s face split into a grin. He cradled Kurt’s face and

pressed kisses and murmured “I love you oh I love you”s all over it.

Kurt held Blaine’s head still so he could kiss him properly and everything clicked. This was why “I love you” had

tumbled off his tongue before he could even properly decide on what to say. He wanted to give Blaine this, this

last piece of him. Something that no one else could take from him. Because this had nothing to do with the

Capitol, nothing to do with the Games, nothing to do with anything except for him and Blaine. Because his

mother had been right. He’d found the ferns. He was home. Home in Blaine’s arms. Because they’d been

sincere with each other. Because they’d loved each other while everything else was hopeless. They had that

secret bond. Because in this moment, nobody could touch him, or Blaine, or what they had. It was something

that was entirely theirs.

***



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Kurt untangled himself from Blaine’s arms and pressed a kiss to his forehead after making sure that Blaine had

been sleeping for half an hour and the sun had sunk low in the sky. He didn’t take anything with him as he

moved into the trees.

Kurt went into the forest a good couple of hundred of feet before he tilted his head up to the sky, knowing that

there’d be a camera there to catch him. “Hey Cooper,” he said evenly. “I’m kind of saving your brother’s ass

right now. So make sure he gets what he needs if I don’t come back.” Almost immediately, a hole in the fogcleared and a single star twinkled. Kurt smiled grimly. “Thanks.” He set off through the forest.

He really would have had no idea where he was going because of the fog, but the star surely had to lead him

the beach. They wanted a good show after all. So he ran as the sun sank lower and lower. He felt lost, but

noticed that the trees were thinning out as it turned dark.

A cannon cracked through the arena and the fog cleared over a patch of the sky where a face was illuminated.

It was Tina.

“No,” Kurt breathed in horror. He pushed on faster. He could already hear the faint sounds of metal clanging in

the distance, along with the dull roar of the ocean.

***

Blaine snapped awake at the sound of the cannon. He let out a steady breath, moving his hand to wrap around

Kurt.

There was only air.

He sat up. No weight impeded him. He looked around wildly.

Kurt was gone. And deep in his stomach he knew where he’d gone.

Before a coherent plan could even form in his mind, he ran across the grove, tearing through the trees to reach

the beach on time.

***

Kurt broke through the tree line just in time to see San cut a vicious slash across Jesse’s neck. The District 1

tribute stumbled back and fell into the sand as red soaked down his front. Kurt skidded across the sand to her

and screamed out a warning just as he saw Sebastian throw his spear.

“Santana!”

She turned to look at him in surprise just as the spear lodged between her collarbones. Her mouth tried to

form a word—Brett? Britt?—but then she fell to the ground and two cannons went off, one for her and the

other for Jesse who’d finally taken his last breath.

***

Blaine stopped short at the sound of the two cannons. He looked at the sky in horror. “Please, please, please,

please, please…” Jesse and Santana. He kept running.



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***

Kurt shook with rage as Sebastian dislodged his spear from San’s neck with a laugh. Kurt ran forward to pick up

two sai swords that he saw scattered by the bodies in the sand. He turned to face Sebastian, then stood stock

still, waiting for Sebastian to make the first move.

Sebastian looked at him with a smirk. “Where’s Blaine? I know he’s been with you for the past day.”

Kurt licked his lips nervously. “He’s not coming.”

Sebastian laughed. “Doesn’t matter. We’re the only three left. So after I’m through with you, I’ll find Blaine and

I’ll run him through with this spear.” He petted his weapon fondly, smile cruel. “Just like I did with Santana. And

Tina. And… what was her name?”

Kurt locked his jaw. His hands started to shake, they were clenched so hard around his sai swords.

“Oh, right! Quinn.”

Kurt attacked.

Fueled by his anger he swung his swords with force and quickness he wouldn’t have thought himself capable

of. The left blocked Sebastian’s spear, the right jabbed at his chest, leaving a deep cut.

Sebastian staggered back in surprise then touched his cut and winced in pain. He glared at Kurt, adjusted the

angle in which he held his spear, and brought it down hard.

Kurt caught it by forming an “X” with his swords. He over estimated the force behind it, causing him to lose his

footing. He fell in the sand.

Sebastian stabbed down, Kurt rolling out of the way just in time to avoid the spear. He leapt back up to his feet,

both sais swinging out to knock away the spear, slashing forward, but missing Sebastian as he jumped back.

Sebastian swung his spear around and smacked the side of Kurt’s head hard . Kurt fell to the ground, seeing

double as Sebastian raised his spear.

His vision snapped back just in time to see a sword knock the spear out of Sebastian’s hand and slash him

across the chest. Kurt blinked several times and looked up in surprise to see Blaine roundhouse kick Sebastian

squarely in the chest and knock him back several feet.

Blaine turned back to face Kurt and he was furious. He grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and yanked him up

and into a tight embrace. “Don’t you ever, ever scare me like that again, Kurt.”

Kurt felt himself nod before everything seemed to happen at once and he reacted before he really understood

what he was doing.

He clutched Blaine to him and turned them around before shoving Blaine away from him as hard as he could.

And it hurt. It hurt a hell of a lot more than he thought it would.



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Blaine was sprawled out on the sand and staring up at him in confusion and a hurt look. Then he looked down

from Kurt’s face at his chest.

Where Sebastian’s spear was sticking out.

Kurt looked down at the spear. It was metal, looked the exact same as it had at the cornucopia when he’d seen

it poking out of Quinn’s belly.

And now it was poking out of him.

He heard Sebastian laughing behind him in the sand from where he’d thrown it. Kurt had never realized this

before, but Sebastian had a really annoying laugh…

His legs gave out and he fell, Blaine finally snapping out of his daze and rushing forward to catch him under his

armpits. “No. No no no no no, Kurt no, please —”

“Aw, isn’t that adorable,” Sebastian coughed, clutching the wound over his chest to try and stem the blood

flow.

Blaine saw red.

He got angry. Really angry. So he ended up doing an extremely odd and incredibly stupid thing.

He threw his sword. He just picked it up and let go as he slashed sideways with force, aiming at Sebastian’s

head.

Sebastian fell to the ground, his head rolling a couple of feet away from its body. A cannon fired.

Blaine pulled the spear out of Kurt’s chest as gently as he could in his panic. “Kurt? Kurt, come on, you have to

stay with me —” He looked up at the sky desperately. “Coop! Cooper, come on, please! Will! Terri! Anybody,

he’s dying!”

“Blaine…” Kurt whispered, his throat feeling oddly full. “Blaine, they’re not going to send any help.”

“Shut up, Kurt! Yes they are, they have to! Cooper !”

“You… you knew that it was going to end like this…” Kurt coughed. There was blood on the back of his tongue.

“The Games… there’s only one winner in the Games…”

“This isn’t a game, Kurt, this is your life!” Blaine screeched, his body shaking in desperation.

“We’re all just pieces in their games,” Kurt whispered, eyelids drooping. “From the day we’re born to the daywe die. We try to fight it, but… but…”

“Kurt, stop. Listen to me, stop right now. You’ve got to fight this, you’ve got to —” Blaine broke off as the sobs

wracked his body.

“Blaine… Blaine… would you… sing some of the lullaby? The one I… I taught you?”



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Blaine clenched his teeth, anguished, but nodded, cradling Kurt closer to him. “I remember tears streaming

down your face when I said, ‘I’ll never let you go.’ When all those shadows almost killed your light.”

He broke off, mouth gaping open as he tried to choke down his sobs. “I remember you said, ‘Don’t leave me

here alone.’ But all that’s dead and gone and passed tonight…” He kissed the bridge of Kurt’s nose and stroked

his cheek with his thumb. “Just close your eyes, the sun is going down. You’ll be alright, no one can hurt you

now. Come morning light, you and I’ll be safe and sound…” Kurt’s eyelids fluttered closed.

“I love you, Blaine.”

A cannon sounded.

***

“So, Blaine!” Caesar Flickerman grinned at him knowingly. “Last time you were up here with me, I asked you if

you thought you could live up to your brother’s expectation.”

“Yes you did,” Blaine smiled, just as warmly.

“And I must say, you blew us all out of the water! What a performance! Am I right, folks?” The crowd screamed

in agreement.

Blaine laughed at them, waving his hand modestly.

“But seriously, Blaine,” Caesar turned to him as if they were each other’s confidants. “How did you even come

up with that plan?”

“Well, it started just after the reaping, on the train ride over. Cooper and I were brainstorming, since he was

my mentor, and we were trying to find an angle to give me an edge over the other tributes. We decided to go

with “forbidden love” because what could be more forbidden than falling in love during the Games?” Heflashed his bright grin as the crowd oohed and gushed in agreement. “So, the original plan was to go with

Sunshine, but then we watched the tapes. And I recognized Kurt.”

“So, wait,” Caesar cut in. “All of that was true? From your childhood?”

“Yeah! I actually still have that knot back at home. I used to use it for practice!” Blaine said earnestly, with just

a hint of nostalgia.

“And Kurt just happened to be reaped?” Caesar said, astonished.

“Not even that, he volunteered, remember? It wasn’t even supposed to be him. But there he was, the perfect

tool for getting through the Games. But all that comes later.”

“Right, right, of course,” Caesar waved a hand. “So first you had to get close to him?”

“Yes,” Blaine nodded. “I made sure to drop hints of our past so that he’d pick up on them later on. It wasn’t

easy — he was very stubborn — but then eventually we became allies. Then the interviews…” He trailed off as

he cringed.

“Ah, yes, the infamous “I’ll kiss Sebastian” interview,” Caesar said with a knowing smile.



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“I called the whole thing off,” Blaine admitted. “When you’d asked the question, I was hoping that he’d say my

name, which we could play off of in the arena, add fuel to the forbidden love, but him saying Sebastian threw a

wrench into that plan. So I ended our alliance. Joined back up with the Career pack.”

“But then you met again…” Caesar prodded.

“Yes, Harmony, Andrea, and I were tracking down Santana and Tina. Kurt just happened to be with them. So

instead of pursuing Santana and Tina like I was supposed to, I took off after Kurt, managing to catch him after

he’d killed Andrea. Then, well…” He trailed off provocatively as the audience squealed in excitement.

“Ah yes, ‘the kiss heard around the world’ caused quite the stir,” Caesar laughed.

“It even got its own nickname?” Blaine chuckled. “Yeah, that was pretty crazy… Then the alcohol rain hit, and

luckily I have a brother who went through the same thing, so I knew how to deal with it. Then the cave —” The

audience’s screams overpowered his mic. “Yes, yes, I know you all loved it.”

“What was your plan?” Caesar leaned forward excitedly. “We’re all dying to know.”

“The plan was to stay in the cave as long as possible and wait out the death of the other tributes until there

were only one or two left. Obviously Santana and Tina had to go quickly, otherwise Kurt would have never

killed them. But once we would finally have been the last two I was going to convince Kurt to commit suicide

with me.”

The audience gasped in shock.

“I know,” he said, nodding solemnly at them. “There’s nightlock all over the arena, also these odd mutt

blueberries that look extremely similar. So I’d give Kurt the nightlock and take the blueberries myself so he’d

think that we were dying together, too in love to live without each other, when in actuality, he’d be killing

himself, and I’d live. In fact, originally that was when I was planning to tell him about meeting him when we

were younger. The big bang that we were bound by fate to end up together that would really push him over.

But it ended up fitting in so well earlier that I gave that a shot.”

“I just can’t believe this guy! What a performance!” Caesar laughed, clapping Blaine on the back. “Now, just

one question. Why did you chase after Kurt when it came towards the end?”

Blaine raised his eyebrows condescendingly. “Caesar, be reasonable. Who’s easier to kill, Sebastian or Kurt?

With Kurt on my side, we could get rid of Sebastian and Jesse together, rather than the two of them killing Kurt

then coming after me. The odds were much more in my favor if I went to help Kurt.”

“And the odds remain in your favor! Blaine Anderson, everybody!”

The crowd screamed and cheered.

Blaine grinned.

***

President Snow placed the gold crown on Blaine’s head and it was official. “I give to you the victor of the sixty-

ninth annual Hunger Games, Blaine Anderson of District 2!”



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The crowd screamed his name.

His smile was blindingly bright on the giant screens as he waved.

Cooper smiled at him, bursting with pride.

***

Blaine breathed in the air of the woods behind his house as he walked through it, swinging his sword idly. It

was good to be home. The trees here were sparse and there was no stupid fog to clog up his vision.

He went down a different path to the one he usually takes to get to his clearing where he liked to train. He’d

walked these woods so many times, yet there were so many paths that he had never taken.

So, on a whim he took the scenic route, enjoying the change in flora. He even found a small stream so he

stopped for a drink of water, resting against a large cedar.

And there, growing in a small clump to the left of him, was a patch of wild ferns.

***

“God, I was such an idiot, thinking you’d actually be worth something as an ally.”

Blaine turned away from Kurt’s hurt expression and slammed the door. He was only so incredibly angry because

Kurt had ruined his plan. That was the only reason. He ignored the blatant flare of jealousy in his chest and his

irrational instant hatred of Sebastian.

***

“Kurt!”

He turned towards the scream of the name. It was Kurt’s district partner, Quinn. Sebastian had run her through

with a spear. Only one thought occupied Blaine’s mind in that second.

Run.

Kurt ran.

Blaine breathed again.

***

Kissing Kurt was not like he had expected. Cooper had told him to wait and build up to it, but Kurt had been

punching him and Blaine had been angry because Kurt was punching him and Kurt just looked so cute when he

was angry so of course he had to kiss him…

***

He’d panicked.



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Kurt was walking towards the entrance of the cave, looking down. Blaine had heard the odd clicking, the one

that Cooper had described to him a million times. He saw the flare. So he ran. He protected Kurt.

Because he had to.

***

Kurt was frustrated because he couldn’t figure out Blaine’s angle.

Blaine was frustrated because he was slowly losing one.

The only thing that made sense was why he had chosen Kurt.

So he told him about their childhood.

And Kurt sang to him that night.

And he kissed Kurt because, well…

Because Kurt was Kurt.

***

He laid on top of Kurt in the warm sunshine. His tongue lazily traced Kurt’s stomach, vibrating whenever Kurt

giggled.

Kurt glanced down at him. His blue eyes twinkled.

It was the happiest Blaine had ever been in his entire life.

***

Kurt told him that he loved him.

Blaine told him that he loved him back.

He was surprised that the words on his lips weren’t a lie.

Okay… no, he wasn’t.

***

Kurt was there, laying on the sand, staring up at him in shock.

Blaine was furious. Kurt had almost gotten himself killed. Blaine would make sure that nobody — not even he

himself — caused that to happen again. He picked Kurt up and held him tight, and the relief just to be in his

arms was overwhelming.

But then Kurt had turned him around and shoved him away. And for a split second, Blaine wondered. Wondered

if maybe Kurt had had his own agenda this whole time.

Wondered if now, now that only Blaine was left, would Kurt turn around and show his true colors?



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Then he saw the spear.

***

Of course he still knew all the words to the lullaby.

There should have been two cannons fired.

***

They had to sedate him. He wouldn’t let go of Kurt’s body, swinging his sword at anyone who came close. It

took eleven medics.

He had to be strapped down at the hospital.

His biggest regret was that he hadn’t picked up nightlock on the way to the beach.

It really would have come in handy after that last cannon fired.

***

Blaine gripped the soil between his fingers, on his hands and knees as his body convulsed with sobs. He ground

his forehead against the cedar bark, gritting his teeth together as he tried to stifle his scream. He grabbed his

sword and started swinging, hitting the tree as long and hard as he could, until his sword was dull and ruined.

He fell to the ground and stared at the wild ferns through his tears. He grabbed them at the roots, prepared to

pull them out…

“…’find ferns. Because when you find ferns, you find home.’ I think it’s why I’m so comfortable staying here…”

“Apparently in plant language, fern means shelter. And sincerity.”

“Fern means ‘secret bond of love’ and are supposed to be the symbol for forbidden lovers.”

-

“It is cool,” Blaine smiled. He leaned forward and kissed Kurt. “I bet you were the coolest kid in all of Panem,

what with your square knot skills and your knowledge of ferns.” And he meant it, too.

Kurt started tickling him with a cute giggle, his face getting all scrunchy, little teeth showing.

Blaine yelped and leapt off him. Kurt rolled on top of him with a triumphant grin. “Ha! See who’s laughing

now.” He leaned down for a kiss.

“Hmm,” Blaine murmured against his lips. “Yes. Perfect.”

And it was.

-

He sagged against the tree and loosened his grip on the ferns.



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- 41 -

They said he was the winner of the Hunger Games.

But he wasn’t. He was the one who lost the most out of all the tributes.

He was the one who thought he could beat the Games with his own plan, manipulate everyone, be the chess

master for once.

But it had backfired horrifically.

Kurt had been right.

He knew his place now.

No matter how hard any of them tried…

They were all just pieces in the games.

I don’t know where I am

I don’t know this place

Don’t recognize anybody

Just the same old dainty face

See these people they lie, and I don’t know

Who to believe anymore

But there comes you to keep me safe from harm

There comes you to take me in your arms

Is it just a game? I don’t know


Pleading eyes that break my heart

So hopes that I can feel

But I know I must play my part

And tears I must conceal

There comes you to keep me safe from harm

There comes you to take me in your arms


To keep you safe from my bow



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Take my hand and my heart races

The flames illuminate our faces

And we’re on fire

Blow a kiss to the crowd

They’re our only hope now

And now I know my place

And now I know my place

We’re all just pieces in their games

abrahams children by inkystars

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