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serenefreakgeekao3 · 1 year

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Ever in our favour

CHAPTER FOUR

[Table of Contents]

Summary: You find Peeta- but also find others along the way. Warnings: Cannon-typical violence, descriptions of blood Author's Note: I'm supposed to be going to sleep for work right now, but I wanted to get this posted since it's written out completely. I've already started on chapter five, so we'll see how soon that'll get posted (also I'll likely be making a table of contents for this series here soon so watch out for that i guess)

Peeta’s head comes bobbing out of the water with a gasp, his arms flailing on either side of him to gain some sort of purchase. The relief you felt was palpable as you began to run to catch up to him, running downstream to chase him along. You looked for anything to help, a branch or rope of some kind, but you came up empty. Peeta’s head sank under the water before reemerging once more, sputtering and coughing out water.

“Peeta! Just hang on!” You scan with your eyes, running to speed up ahead of Peeta’s stumbling gait. A bend was coming up soon and- There! You ran forward toward a large fallen branch, heaving with the effort to lift it. The other end dragged along the dirt, but you managed to push it into the river. The rushing water tried to take the branch from you but you held tight, pushing it farther out into the river.

Peeta seemed to finally be getting his bearings. He kept going under every so often, but he wasn’t coughing as he emerged anymore which was a good sign. He was facing forward now, downstream, and he seemed coherent enough to listen to you.

“Grab the branch, Peeta!” You screamed as loud as you could, hoping beyond hope that he could hear you over the rushing water. Peeta tried his best to swim against the current, ducking under the water and reappearing a moment later closer to your end of the banks. The river finally pushed him within range, and he full-body tackled the branch you held out. Your grip stuttered and you almost lost hold, instead taking a note from Peeta’s book and tackling your own end of the branch.

You were both heaving breaths, resting against the dead tree limb. Peeta was still very much in danger, but he wasn’t using his full effort to stay alive any longer, and you weren’t sure whether you could move from your position without dipping Peeta back into the water. During this resting period- that’s when it happens.

You’re hit with a sharp pain in your side, calling out in surprise. You turn onto your side to look up, catching a boy maybe a few years younger than you withdrawing a bloodied knife. Fear flashed through you quickly, eyes widening as you stare up at this boy. You hear your name get called loudly, panicked, but you don’t remove your eyes from the current threat. You kick your feet out suddenly, knocking the boy off balance. You crawl up farther on the branch, sitting down on it and trying to kick and push the other tribute away as he tries to crawl on top of you. You would fight back more, push him into the river maybe, but you had to make sure the branch stayed up. You had to make sure Peeta didn’t get lost in the river again.

“Agh!” The boy yelled out, his head twisting to the side from an awful kick you threw. He snarled, tackling you further and pinning you to the ground with a struggle. “Just- fucking die!” He thrusts his dagger down toward your throat and you were only just able to dodge to the side, avoiding the attack. You miss your name being called once more as you dodge another attack, the branch under your body wiggling nonstop. It was rough, trying to hold it down and worry about someone attacking you at the same time.

You finally managed to get your bearings, reaching up to grab ahold of the boy’s dagger arm. He used his other hand on top of it, trying his hardest to push down, as you tried with all of your own strength to push back. Unfortunately, the current positioning was not on your side. As the boy sat above you, pushing desperately down on the dagger, he was gaining ground. The tip pressed against your throat and you swallowed, feeling a shallow cut against your throat. He was going to do it- you were going to die.

You gasped in fear, pushing harder than you thought possible. The dagger lifted another inch before the boy growled, leaning his whole weight down onto you and the offending knife. You cried out, squeezing your eyes closed as you struggled. You could feel tears burning inside your eyes, a few sneaking out down your face and into your hair. You were running out of strength, arms burning and breath coming in heaving pants.

When it happened, it took you a moment to realize you didn’t have to struggle anymore. The boy was removed from your chest, the dagger nowhere in sight as your eyes flew open. Sitting up, you immediately looked to the river, not seeing Peeta anywhere. You quickly scanned the area and- there, behind you, was Peeta sitting atop the boy that had just been about to kill you. You heave your breaths, trying desperately to regain oxygen as you watch. The struggle between the two boys was fruitless, Peeta was obviously stronger as he sat atop the boy. He managed to wrestle the dagger from him, then swipe quickly.

Peeta’s body was blocking your view, but you heard the choked gurgle of the boy. Peeta had killed him. You look away quickly, not wanting to see what you knew was there. You pushed slowly back until you fell off the uncomfortable branch, watching it swing wildly upward, then get dragged away by the river current. The white noise from the water drowned out anything else around you, and you turned to look at Peeta again. He sat there, staring downward at the boy he had just killed. The delayed sound of a cannon shot off, and you swallowed roughly in response.

“Peeta,” You call out softly, watching as his head snaps upward and begins frantically searching for you. Once his eyes lock with your own, he scrambles to get away, dagger still clutched tightly in his hand as he stumbles to get closer. Kneeling next to you, Peeta brings his free hand up to place against your cheek.

“You’re alright?”

“I should be asking you that,” You breathe out, coughing lightly before reaching out toward his leg, remembering where he had been caught by the mutt. You press next to the wound, hearing him hiss and look down at it.

“Ah, that explains why I couldn’t get there quick enough. I kept stumbling on the branch.” Peeta laughs, and you look at him with a crazed look.

“You almost just died, and you’re laughing?”

“Better to laugh than rage,” Peeta shrugs, sitting fully on the ground next to you with a groan. “No one to rage against anymore, right now.” He reaches out, placing a hand on your leg and giving you an obvious once-over. “Are you sure you’re alright?”

You think things through, trying to wonder about it all. You take stock of your body, realizing just how badly your back was hurting. Thinking back- hadn’t the fish mutts gotten your back as you ran? Then the boy wrestled with you atop the branch, pushing your back down onto it, with Peeta pushing on the other end to send it upward. You were beginning to worry, unsure whether you should tell Peeta and let him see it. You’re quiet for a moment too long, however, and Peeta immediately catches it. He scoots closer, eyeing you more obviously.

“What’s wrong? What hurts?”

“Who was that boy?” You ask, trying to distract him. You can see in his eyes that he knew what you were doing. He’s too nice to deny you, it seems, as he answers.

“I remember Cato calling him Jason in the training rooms, thinking he stole his knife. He was district six’s boy.” You hum, nodding along. Your eyes jump quickly over to the slumped-over body, but you look away just as fast. You didn’t want to have to see that, but you were exhausted so where else were you supposed to go? “You still haven’t answered my question, Y/N.” You sigh, looking back up into his worried eyes.

“My back hurts,” You mumble, trying to play it off. Peeta, however, immediately moves around behind you. His breath stutters audibly, and you worry about the state you must be in if he has that reaction before even lifting your shirt up. “That bad, huh?”

“Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” Peeta was frantic, his hands were shaking as one laid across your hip, the other slowly and carefully lifting your shirt.

“Too busy dying, probably.”

“Don’t joke like that,” Peeta whispers, his hand tightening on your hip. You wondered at the tone of his voice, how the worry seeped through even his touch.

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as it looks,” You whisper back, turning your head to try and catch him out of the corner of your eye. Peeta’s gaze meets you, unable to keep the worry and guilt from being obvious on his face.

“It looks pretty bad, Y/N,” Peeta breathed out, and you finally turn, taking his cheeks into your hands.

“Hey, look at me. I’m right here.” He nods, repeating the sentiment. “See? Everything is fine, we’ll be-”

That was the last thing you remembered before everything faded to black.

The train ride was weird, to say the least. The train was outfitted with furniture that likely cost more than your parent’s house and farm put together, and they served food so decadent and different from the bland foods that you were allowed that you were unsure whether you were supposed to eat another bite or mix them with something else. Your district partner stayed in the room assigned to them, and anytime you passed by you could hear their crying within.

Your mentor- a thirty-year-old, blonde and gentle woman who ended up becoming a children’s teacher- tried to answer any questions you had to the best of her ability. She wasn’t as helpful as you’d have hoped, repeating that she really didn’t know how she won. The games really were just pure luck. This didn’t inspire you at all, and you began to wonder if holding out hope for yourself was useless.

You were dismounting from your carriage ride, hearing the whispers surrounding you about district twelve’s fire show. You tried to find their boy in the crowd, but his black outfit ended up blending into the background and you couldn’t find him again. A gentle voice brings you out of your stupor, turning to face your mentor.

“That was good, I think you might’ve gained a few sponsors with that smile of yours.”

“Unlikely,” Your district partner murmurs next to you, crossing their arms. “All eyes were on District Twelve.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little hope,” Their mentor scolds, and the three of you begin your way toward the elevators. She ends up leaning in close to you, her blonde hair full of a new scent you couldn’t recognize. “Don’t worry, I’ll find sponsors for you.”

“So, this first training session is going to be the first time you’re allowed to interact with the rest of the tributes.” Your mentor looked up from the steak she was cutting, locking eyes with you, then your district partner. “Don’t show them what skills you’ve already acquired, they’ll keep it in mind and know to watch out for it.”

“Then what are we supposed to-”

“You train in the things you’re unsure of. The things that you’ve never done before, or that you know you need improvement with.” Her advice recently has been improving, and you wondered blandly if she was asking for advice from other victors and parroting it to you. Either way, you took the advice to heart.

“So you said this is the first time we’ll be meeting each other,” You begin between bites, poking your food around your plate, “So shouldn’t we be trying to make allies?”

“No,” She replied in a harsh tone, lifting her steely gaze to lock onto you. “Do not trust any of them or their promises. It’s all fabrication, all lies to lure you into a trap. Everything changes once you step foot into that arena.”

Gasping awake, you move to sit up and yelp as pain stretches across your back. You breathe heavily, looking around quickly. You were outside, in some sort of meadow, it appeared. Glancing around, you try to make heads or tails of where you were and what happened, but everything was coming back foggy. Blinking a few more times and stretching your eyes, you begin to push against the ground to stand.

“I wouldn’t do that,” A soft voice called from nearby, and you fall back onto your bottom to look around wildly. You don’t see the source of the sound, but she sounded feminine and small.

“Who’s there?”

Silence is your only answer, and you hiss in pain, reaching behind you to try and touch the wound. It seemed to be on the centre of your back where you couldn’t reach, but as you pulled your hand away it came back bloody anyway. You wipe the blood on the grass below you, biting your lip and looking around. Everything came back slowly- the cave, the mutts, the river, the boy. Peeta.

“Hey, I had a boy with me,” You call out, turning this way and that to try and locate whoever had been nearby. “His name was Peeta? Do you know where he went?”

“He’s trying to fish,” She giggled out, and you were able to pinpoint a general location of her. “He’s not very good at it.”

“No,” You agreed, studying the trees above you, “No, he’s really not.” You spot a curl of brown hair before it disappears behind a tree and you sigh, finally thankful to have found her. “Hey, you can come down from there. I promise I’m not here to hurt you.”

“Everyone here is here to hurt us,” She replies but starts to poke her head around anyway. She was an adorable little girl, but much too young to have been put into this place.

“What is your name?�� You call out first, leaning back and resting your weight against your elbows. This seemed to calm her a bit more, climbing down a few branches until she was on the lowest one. Only after she settled, her feet swinging in the wind, did she answer you.

“Rue. I’m from District 11.” You nod along toward her, turning to scan your surroundings once before looking back at her. “He’ll be back soon. He comes back every hour or so.”

“Thank you.” Your voice was sincere and you could see Rue smile gently in response. “Does he know that you’re here too?” She pursed her lips, then shook her head. Again, you nodded to her, “Will it be okay if I tell him? He won’t hurt you.”

“Do you promise?”

“Absolutely.” Your assured voice must’ve resonated with her, because she nods then. She looked to be gearing up to climb down to join you until you both hear a noise coming from the brush. You quieted your voice, keeping your eyes averted away from her. “Hurry, up the tree, hide.”

You tried to push yourself back to sitting up, groaning at the pain. Patting yourself down, you couldn’t find anything on you that could’ve been used as a weapon. As you begin to search the surrounding area for something suitable- a rock, maybe, since you’ve had such success with that- you start hearing the noises get louder, followed by a masculine voice muttering out curses. Eventually, recognizing the voice once it becomes more clear, you finally let yourself relax and stop searching for a rock that appeared to be nowhere nearby.

“Peeta?” You call out, then hear the foilage crinkle more as he audibly rushes to get to you. He pushes through some foliage and appears in the glade with you, a smile lighting up his face.

“Y/N, oh thank goodness,” Peeta calls out, rushing forward and falling to his knees before you. “I was so worried, you have no idea.”

“Peeta-”

“I tried to press whatever medicinal leaves I could find to your back but it wasn’t working. I wanted to use the medicine-”

“Peeta, hey-”

“But I didn’t want to put it on your back and have you turn over in your sleep and rub it off-”

“Peeta!” You take his face into your hands, forcing him to look you in the eyes. He finally quiets, his fretting pausing for just a second. “We’re not alone.” You watch his eyes widen, reaching and pulling a familiar dagger out of his pants and standing away from your hands to scan the area. “No, Peeta-”

“Where did you hear it? Did you see someone?”

“Peeta, please just listen to me,” You sigh out, your tone defeated. He hesitates, looking back down at you before resuming his previous position. Smiling, and with a small laugh, you reach forward to take his hands. “Do you remember who Rue is?”

“Yes,” He whispers, leaning in closer, “District 11, she was the youngest tribute to get chosen.”

“Well, she’s here. I promised her you wouldn’t hurt her.” At this Peeta immediately nods, pocketing his dagger again. His blind faith in you brings a roaring pleasure to your chest, and you have to breathe deep to try to contain the sudden onslaught of feelings. “You can come out now Rue,” You call out to her, though you were unable to look away from Peeta’s gaze. His eyes really were as blue as the sky back home.

Rue climbed slowly down, and the sound of her boots hitting the ground finally drew Peeta’s attention away from you. You stared at him a moment longer before you, as well, turn to look over at her. She was so small, and you swallowed roughly. What were you going to do? What were you all going to do?

“So,” Rue dragged out the word, a mischievous smile forming on her lips, “Are you two… Y’know.” Peeta’s eyes widen and he coughs, scanning the area and unable to make eye contact with either of you. You couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction, reaching forward to take his hand in yours. Looking back at Rue, you shrug.

“Not in so many words. But, well, I do care for him.”

“And I care for you,” Peeta immediately inserted, tugging on your hand until you faced him once more. “Don’t forget that.”

“How could I? You remind me every second.” Peeta smiles, but also looks confused, so you laugh and elaborate, “You don’t speak it, sure, but you show me in every action you take. You’ve done so much to take care of me already.” His face softens, his shoulders slumping in what looks like defeat.

“I’ll try my best, at least.”

“We can help you too if you need it.” You look over to Rue, raising your eyebrows. She widened her eyes in response, slowly shaking her head. “Don’t worry too much. I know our mentors said not to trust anyone but-” You sigh, shaking your head, “Rue, I’m not going to hurt you. You’re much too young. If anyone is going to survive this, it should be you.”

“We’ll protect you with our lives, Rue,” Peeta adds, facing her with a resolute expression. You were glad he was jumping on board. You were willing to look after her by yourself if you had to, but it was nice to know you still could have Peeta there to watch your back.

“Okay,” Rue agrees quietly, taking a few steps forward. You reach your other hand out to her, and she takes it gently. You pull her slowly forward, then sit her down in your lap, wrapping your arms around her. She snuggles into your chest, and you wonder if she might’ve had an older sibling back home that used to comfort her like this.

“Stay like that,” Peeta whispers to you, circling around to your back. “I’m going to apply that medicine now.”

#the hunger games #peeta mellark #peeta mellark x reader #peeta mellark x you #rue barnette #cannon typical violence #fanfiction #multichaptered fic #first person pov

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