There comes a time in every tribute's life (except the ones who kick it first, obviously) when he realizes he can no longer live off of rabbit food. That realisation came for me as I watched Lianelle eat the trail mix from Rolf's backpack and not have a problem with it.

Bitch, I thought.

To make matters worse, Rolf seemed to be getting along just fine with her. The two blonde faeries were discussing strategies to meet up with the allies that they had lost. Lianelle would smile and flip her urine colored hair every few minutes while Rolf was drawing maps on the cave floor.

Nobody had bothered to ask me what I thought. Stupid twig bitches.

It was about the second that that disgruntled thought had run through my head that Rolf looked up from his map and gestured to me. "Levi, stop glaring at us like a broody mother hen and get over here and work with us." He said nonchalantly, evidently not realizing that if I came over there I would probably murder Lianelle.

I stood up and frowned at him. "I wouldn't go within a yard of that bitch. I might catch the stupid." I grinned and stretched my arms that had been tight from sleeping in them. "The stupid is strong in that one- she didn't just fall out of the stupid tree, she was dragged through the entire dumbass forest." I shrugged and sent my complacent grin towards Lianelle.

Lianelle raised her eyebrows as Rolf buried his face in his hands. "I'll have you know that I am brilliant, Levi!" She placed her hands on her hips in a huff and extended her leck proudly as if she thought proving her neck was longer than mine would prove her brain was bigger too.

I made a show of placing my hand to my chin in the way that old men tend to do when they are thinking. "It's really a shame." I said completely ignoring Lianelle's statement. "You know Rolf we could always try slapping the stupid out of her... Then again judging by the looks of her it would probably take a week."

Lianelle curled her lip in disgust, "What is wrong with you?"

"Just tell him yes, it is the safest way to go." Rolf said dismissively, rubbing his temples. It was quite obviously he just wanted to get back to his plan, but that didn't stop the stab of irritation from burning in my chest at his disdain... No, that wasn't irritation. It was hurt. Here he was, so fixated on retrieving Magnus he couldn't even indulge me and instead sided with that thing. I found myself feeling humiliated at my own sadness that swelled within me. After last night I had thought he had cared about me on some bizarre level- after all he had come after me in the snow.

Lianelle snorted and curled her lip, "Sure." She said glancing at Rolf before looking back at me. "Whats wrong with you? Are you broken or something?" She asked raising an eyebrow, obviously only drawing attention to my expression because I had broken her plastic little heart.

I shook my head, trying to force myself to think again. "See? The stupid is catching. I can't even function around her!" I looked over at Rolf who was quite apparently sidetracked, I really wanted him to just be there for me like he had last night, even he had made me cry. As much as it killed me to admit, I had liked the support... the feeling of not being alone. "I need a break, Rolf, do you want to take a walk with me?"

"We haven't even started yet! I want to find Magnus! Can't you just co-operate with Lianelle? She hasn't done anything to you." Rolf demanded, his face laden in exasperation.

I furrowed my brow and bubble of laughter erupted from my throat in disbelief. "Do you know what she did to me?" I asked, looking over at Lianelle in disgust. Lianelle only looked at in confusion which only increased my frustration. Lying whore-brain.

Rolf's thin lips twisted into a tight line. "No, Levi, you aren't exactly an open book. Quite honestly I don't know you at all, the only thing that I do know is that you are being irrationally mean to Lianelle. Like it or not she is your ally and you should start treating her like one." Rolf his irritation decorating his face like an ugly photo on a wall.

I didn't blink.

I didn't breathe.

His words scratched my ears like daggers and a felt a giant weight crush my chest. I was stupid to attempt to trust him. I was stupid to think I might have a friend. He was right of course, we had only known each other 5 days and we had hardly had a discussion that actually meant anything. That made it all the worse. "I'm not leaving the mountain. We haven't seen another tribute since we came here, I am familiar in this terrain and I really like this rock." I growled slapping the cold stone wall of the cave. I watched Rolf's face fall in surprise and I turned away grabbing my bow. "I'm going hunting. You two had better be gone by the time I come back."

"But our lives are linked! You can't leave!" Lianelle yelled at me as I walked into the light of early morning from the dim light of the cave.

I threw a glance over my shoulder and forced myself to smirk. "Well do us both a favor and don't die."

Part of me wanted to turn around and go back, but I forced myself to not turn around. In the bright snow I could see the two sets of footprints of where I had run and Rolf had followed me last night. I walked the other way.

In the solitude of the woods I was able to find a little bit of solace, all the anger slowly drifted from my veins and my head cleared. I had overreacted. I sigh watching my breath, white from the cold, drift into the sky. I had let myself get attached to Rolf. I wasn't attached to anything else so when he... acted like that it hurt more than it should have.

This why I was better off alone.

I walked in silence for a long while, my boots crunching into the frozen snow as I slowly walked into the wind. I felt scanning the ground for the footprints of any animal. I was going to get myself some fresh meat. The thought Lianelle cringing as she was forced to eat the rabbit food we had been living off of since the games began while I had deliciously cooked venison motivated me greatly.

Catching my deer was suspiciously easy. The big, wide eyed doe wandered toward me, unwitting of my presence. I hesitated only a second before reaching for my bow. Generally I made a note of not shooting female deers on the off chance they had a fawn and saved my arrows for the douchebag bucks who left the mother to raise the fawn on her own, however I was hungry. Carefully I aimed at the deer's eye a second before letting my arrow fly.

There was a sharp 'thwap' before the deer dropped into the snow. I let out a little breath of relief before I walked toward my catch, pulling a knife from my belt to gut it.

In retrospect, the fact the deer had come to me should have been a red flag to run as fast as I could to get the hell out of the area in an arena in which everyone is trying to kill you. The reality of the situation didn't cross my mind until it was too late, after all I hunted deer all the time at home. The familiarity of hunting made me feel more at ease than I had felt since I had got trapped in this godforsaken hell hole- no hell hole didn't describe this arena accurately enough. This whole situation was what I imagined it would be like to be crammed unwillingly into Satan's ass.

I knelt down in the snow over the deer and pulled my arrow from her eye. I wiped it off in the snow and stuck it back into the quiver strapped firmly to my back. That was when the hairs on my neck stood on end and a shiver ran down my spine. I froze.

Slowly, very slowly I looked up.

There, standing not ten feet away was a giant deer. When I say giant, I don't mean giant like 'mmmmm, that will provide me with enough food to last a few days' I mean ' holy mother of God, it is 20 feet tall and has fangs.' The deer looked down me, it's giant bloodshot eyes blinking. It's bulging neck muscles rippled as it's gaze shifted to the corpse of the deer that I stood over. "Mommy." It spoke, nearly making me jump. It's voice was deeper than the deepest voice of a man that I had ever heard. "Mommy no breathe."

How the hell had the 20 foot fawn on steroids come out of the doe? I blinked and tried to say something but I had no words. "Bambi make mother-slaughterer no breath!" It screamed and then proceeded to charge me.

I did the only thing that any sane person would do, I leapt to my feet and ran for my life. I heard brush crashing behind me as the deer that was just a glimpse of everything wrong with our gamemaker's heads gained rapidly. The deep snow caught my feet, slowing down my already slow pace.

I desperately loaded my bow as I ran, clumsily I twisted my waist around and let the arrow fly. The arrow bounced off of it's skin without even scratching it. "Fuck you Niamh!" I screamed, reaching into my quiver for another arrow only to feel my foot slip out from itself and find myself tumbling down the side of the mountain. My body cracked against trees and ripped through shrubbery as it only gained speed. I clawed at the snow to attempt to slow myself down.

I grabbed a tree. My body jerked roughly as I pulled myself to my feet, bloody gushing down my forehead. I looked down at the remains of my bow. The frame had been snapped as I had tumbled. I almost screamed another profanity but the deranged deer beat me to it. "Bambi kill! Bambi main! Bambi rip you limb from limb!" It screamed as it raced toward me.

I looked around, on the slope that I stood on I was surrounded by thick brush that went on in every direction- except one. To my right I saw the bright sunlight of a clearing. I sprinted sideways, ducking and weaving my way through the brush.

I broke into the clearing and skidded to a stop, my heart facing in my chest as I stood inches from a sheer cliff. My stomach churned and I looked away, just in time to see the deer lunge at me. I threw myself to my stomach as the deer sailed over my head and tumbled off of the cliff. I could hear it's body crack against the ground from all the way up here.

Slowly, I sat up and took a deep breath. That had been by far the most bizarre thing I had ever had to deal with. I looked over the cliff and saw the deer's guts splattered all over the rocky ground. My jaw dropped as I watched mutant dog, just as large and screwed, up wander over nonchalantly and begin eating his friend's remains. This was a fucking epidemic!

I got up and took another deep breath, letting the cold air sting my lungs. I had to find Rolf and Lianelle and warn them, as much as I loathed the both of them at this moment, I personally did not want to die because one of them got eaten by a rabid chipmunk or something equally demented.

My eyes scanned my surroundings before I looked up at the sun to help me figure out where I was. One quick assessment later I was jogging down the mountain in a direction that I was certain would hook me up with the path that Rolf and I had taken up the mountain.

Blood was still pouring from the gash in my forehead. I had to keep wiping it away to keep the hot liquid from dripping into my eyes. I probably should have been more concerned about bleeding to death than I actually was but the feelings of sadness and betrayal I had felt earlier were morphing into a deep seated rage and when I was pissed I was invincible. I almost wanted something to attack me so I could stab it.

I wasn't sure if it was destiny or something else but it was at that moment that I heard the faint sound of metal hitting metal in the distance. I didn't even stop to think about the consequences as I darted down the mountain toward the sound.

It only took me a few minutes to reach the source of the sound.

Two all too familiar blonde heads were fighting three other tributes. I squinted at the tributes to make them out, it looked like Michael, the vampire on steroids, Taraleigh, the angry warlock, and Theo, the annoying little twerp from training. I felt a grin stretched across my face as I reached for my bow, only to remember it was broken. I looked at the long string with two splintered pieces of wood strapped to either end. I guess it looked kind of potentially violent.

I lifted it above my head and tried to look badass. "Why the hell was I not invited to this rondavu? My feelings are hurt." I drawled sarcastically as they all looked toward me in shock. "I will not be deprived of stabbing stupid things!"

Taraleigh recovered first, seizing her chance attacked Lianelle who caught her blow with an agile quickness. Theo charged me, his hands erupting into flames. I ducked into a roll and tumbled past him, a few of my hair's sindging. I jumped to my feet and looped my bow's rope around his neck. Theo yelped and grabbed my forearms with his flaming hands. I almost her got but I gritted my teeth and pulled it tighter. "See, you little bitch? You never stood a chance because I am the definition of boss." I growled through clenched teeth as I kicked the nape of his neck with my boot, snapping his spine.

I dropped the rope and patted out the flames on my shirt where he had grabbed me. Through the burnt fabric I could see the source of the agony that shot through my body; pink melted flesh that bubbled slightly in the aftermath. I shuddered and tore my eyes from the wounds, a wave of nausea washing over my body from the pain. I was sorely tempted to sit the rest of the fight out, but I heard Rolf let out a cry of shock. Before I was aware of what I was doing I was charging in the direction of his cry. Michel had Rolf pinned to the ground, his fangs were extending as he gave into the temptation to feed. I didn't have a weapon so I did the only thing that popped into my mind. I tackled him, knocking him off Rolf.

I tumbled to the ground, I could practically feel my arms throbbing from the slight movement. Michel leapt over to me and sent his fist barreling into my face. My vision blurred, black spots blotted my vision. Curse them and their little black dot families.

I gritted my teeth and swung my fist at his face. He caught my forearm in his hand and squeezed it. I couldn't help it, a scream erupted from my throat as I felt my body collapse from under me. No, no this couldn't happen to me! Not now! I looked up at Michael who said something with a smirk that I missed as my vision was spun.

Suddenly Michel spun around and caught Rolf's arm, he must have been sneaking up on him. I watched the two of them disappear from my line of vision as I tried to force myself to work. The muscles in my body were hardly responding as my head swam. I dragged myself to my elbows and looked over at the fight. Michael had Rolf pinned again, except this time he was grasping a large rock, lifting it above his head to slam into Rolf scalp.

I knew what I had to do, the only thing that I had left to do to save him. I lifted one bloody hand toward Michael and hesitating only a second, I used my powers. My head screamed as large thorny brambles shot from the ground entangling Michael. I forced myself to breathe evenly as I clenched my fist. The brambles began to retreat into the ground, pulling Michael down with them. The Michael let out an enraged scream as body hit the ground and the brambled began to tighten again his shin, the thorns digging his skin. He couldn't breathe.

Michael looked over toward me, his jaw dropping in awe the second before the brambles crushed his ribs. I watched his mouth open as he tried desperately to get in a breath before he collapsed, his eyes rolling back into his sockets.

I looked over at Rolf who was staring at me just as awestruck. His big blue eyes were rounder than I had ever seen them, like a kitten's. It kind of made me happy on some incredibly bizarre, ticklish level.

And that was when I passed out.

~ <> ~

I wasn't out long because when my eyes came into focus I felt just as shitty as when I passed out. Rolf was wrapping a bandage around one of my forearms and it fucking hurt like hell. I tried to jerk it away from him but he held firm. "God, Levi. You just crushed a man with brambles, now is not the time to start acting like a baby. Suck it up."

"Asshole." I growled without much conviction as I let my head fall back to the ground.

There was a long silence before Rolf spoke again. "So.... What was that? Like where did that come from? Have you always been able to do that?" Rolf suddenly asked, his words came out quickly like he had been resisting the question but cracked.

If I had more energy I would have just replied with sarcasm, especially after being blown off like I had earlier, but in my agony I really didn't give a flying fuck, besides, Rolf already knew I had been born a faerie. "Yeah. It was just something I never used. I hate what it proves, the group it ties me to." I rambled deliriously, tearing my eyes from Rolf to look up at the grey cloudy sky.

"What group?" Rolf's soft voice drifted into my ears.

"Faeries. I don't want to be a faerie." I breathed, the words barely leaving my mouth. "They were all so mean to me, no one would even give me a chance. Thats why I hate Lianelle so much, so you know. She was one of the fucking ringleaders. Earlier, I just wanted you to take my side, for once I just wanted to be the one with people backing me. You were right though. You don't know me, I can't expect that. I'm stupid, I've never had anyone care- or appear to care anyway. I just got attached, I'm sorry." I mumbled, my brain quite obviously swimming with confusion. I looked over toward his blurry figure.

Rolf let out a long heavy sigh. "I... like you a lot Levi, and I do care about you, but one of the things that makes me... like you so much is one of the things that makes you impossible to work with. You are just so incredibly intense, you become irrational. You were being the bully earlier, and yeah I did dismiss you because of it. Regardless of what Lianelle did or did not do when you were younger, you were the one hurting someone without being provoked."

I didn't say anything.

"You know, I didn't really pick up on the way you were feeling earlier, maybe I could have talked you down before the explosion. I guess I just wanted to find Magnus.I was worried about him." He rubbed his forehead, a bit of my blood streaking across it. "Look, I want you to understand that sometimes I just get so fixated on an endpoint I can't notice anything else. The endpoint just becomes the center of my entire universe, I become obsessed."

I didn't know what to say. I felt like I should have been angry or something, but instead I just felt empty. "I guess we are just both screw ups." I felt words fall from my mouth before I had time to formulate them in my head.

Rolf laughed, "You have no idea."

I heard the crunching of snow as something approached us, I turned my head to see Lianelle stumbling clumsily out of the woods. She paused to pull a stick out of her long blonde hair. "I think you should talk to her about how you feel and apologise for earlier." Rolf whispered, looking down at me hopefully.

I threw a handful of snow at his face. "What the hell are you? My mom? God, no." I growled, suspiciously void of the irritation that should have filled me after a comment like that. "Bitch." I added, once again lacking conviction.

Lianelle walked over to us. "I chased Taraleigh into the woods, she got away. I managed to wound her pretty badly." She shrugged, her eyes falling on me. "Are you alright?" She asked hesitantly.

"He's doing better. He flat out passed out after he killed Michael, I gave him some of the alcohol I found stowed away in the bottom of Magnus's bag and it seemed to revive him." Rolf answered for me. I felt my jaw drop as my eyes drifted to a empty large bottle that had been tossed aside. He's fucking given me the entire fucking bottle. I'd been roofied by a fucking pixie.

"You gave him alcohol? God, what were you thinking? He will probably go on a killing spree or something!" Lianelle cried, horror covering her face as she eyed me warily, as if she expected me to jump up and kill her at any second.

Rolf laughed, "Relax. He's an emotional drunk."