Cross' head was pounding when he woke up. It felt like the dull blade of a knife was digging into his skull, slowly trying to lever it apart. He raised his hand to rub his forehead, only to find something wet and sticky wrapped around his wrist.

Frowning, the smol lifted his arm into sight and stared at his wrist. A bracelet of dark leaves were curled around his wrist, having some sort of paste beneath them. Upon further inspection, he realised that he also had similar paste covered leaves on his neck, cheek, hands and ankles. And then he realised, those were the places where he'd been stung.

He pushed himself into a sitting position, ripping the leaves off and cringing at the texture of the mystery paste. He didn't have a clue where he was, what had happened, or who had helped him. All he could remember was a tall dark figure yelling at him and dragging him away. Could it have been Nightmare...?

He didn't have much time to think any longer, because the sound of a twig snapping sent him into panic mode. Whipping round to face the direction of where the sound had came from, he went to pull out his knife. It wasn't there.

"It's not there."

Cross stiffened, turning to see a figure stood by a nearby tree. Instantly as he did so, his body slumped and relaxed. "Oh, Blue. It's you."

The small skeleton nodded, giving a shy smile. "Your knives and pack are over there." He pointed to Cross' side.

He turned to his left, blinking as he saw that his knife he usually kept up his sleeve and his pack were indeed laid out for him. The knife was resting on a tree root, his pack next to it with the top still tightly sealed. "Oh, Thanks."

"No problem." He stepped over slowly, fiddling with his fingers. "Do your stings still hurt?"

Cross looked up at him in surprise, his hand subconsciously rubbing at his neck where he got stung. "...No, they don't actually. Thanks, again."

He smiled a bit, nodding. "No problem, again."

The two of them shared a giggle, the smaller of them situating himself down next to the black and white bean.

"That trackerjacker idea was clever, you know." He hummed, glancing down at him.

Blue nodded in response, fiddling with a twig in between his fingers. "I saw your situation and had seen the nest earlier the other day while trying to find water. So I snuck up the tree while you all slept and waited for you to wake up."

"That was dangerous." He frowned. "Why would you risk your life trying to help me?"

He shrugged. "Well you were really nice to me, and I felt like I wouldn't be able to walk off knowing I could have done something to help..."

Cross sighed, resting his hand on his shoulder. "You're a real good kid Blue, you know that? You honestly don't deserve to be in a cruel game like this..."

"But neither do you Cross!" He looked up at him with sad eyes. "You have family at home. Family that really care about you..."

"So do you!" He protested.

"No..." He shook his head. "Not really. I told you how my brother did nothing to help me."

"And I said that maybe he was just too frozen." He responded.

"Cross, you and I both know that's not true..." He smiled sadly. "If you, a sixteen year old can volunteer for your twelve year old brother without freezing up, then surely my eighteen year old brother can step forwards for his twelve year old brother without doing the same."

"Sorry..."

"It's okay."

The two of them sat in silence for a moment, staring blankly off into the distance.

It was around three minutes later that Cross decided to break it. "Hey, were you the one that dragged me away while I was high on trackerjacker venom?"

Blue shook his head, not looking at him and picking at the twig in his hands instead. "No."

"You didn't?"

"Nu-uh. It was your partner, Nick."

"Nick? You mean Nightmare?"

"Sure."

Cross glanced around, biting his thumb. "And then he just left? He didn't stay?"

He shook his head once more. "No. As soon as he saw that I'd found you curled up here and safe, he left without a word."

"Do you know where?"

"He went off that way." He pointed lazily in the direction of west. "I think there's a river up there."

Cross took a mental note of that, staring deeply down at his feet. "Good to know."

Then they went silent again before Blue's non-existent stomach suddenly let out a low growl. The smol's face darkened in embarrassment and he looked away quickly.

"Hungry?"

"A little..."

"Alright." Cross pushed himself to his feet, smirking a bit.

"Hm, where are you going?" Blue asked, standing as well and hurrying after the teen as he walked off in the direction of some bushes, crouching and looking through the leaves on the ground for a rock.

"Getting food." He replied, gripping the rock in one hand and his knife in the other.

"But I thought I saw food in your rucksack?" He blinked, staying a few metres back and watching.

"You mean the rat?" He glanced back at him and laughed. "Trust me, if you don't want to throw up, you'll leave that thing until you're desperate and starving."

"Oh." Blue looked away. "I'm not that good at knowing what's good to eat and what's bad, sorry..."

"It's fine." Cross stared back at the bushes. "You've survived eating the right things so far, haven't you?"

"Through eating berries, yes."

The taller of the two shrugged, his eyes snapping over to a specific bush as a rustle sounded from it. "Well you'll get meat today, Blue."

He watched silently as Cross threw the rock into that bush, resulting in a flurry of chirps and around two seconds later a large fat pheasant flew out, its wings beating rapidly.

Cross grinned and threw the knife, watching as it sunk into the chest of the bird dead on.

It let out a screech, tumbling through the air and then slamming down onto the ground a few metres away, tweeting weakly as if for help.

The oreo walked over to it, muttering a quick sorry before snapping its neck and ending its misery. He turned to face Blue and held it up triumphantly. "Dinner is served!"

——————

"I cannot tell you how much better this is compared to rat." Cross said, nibbling the last bits of meat off of the wing he'd just devoured.

Blue snickered softly, dropping his clean bone down onto the floor in front of him. "I can imagine."

He hummed softly, passing the breast to him. "You can have this, I'm not overly hungry."

Blue looked like he was going to protest, but another loud growl from his non-existent stomach and he took it bashfully. "Thanks..."

"No problem." He looked around at the slowly darkening sky, a thought popping into mind. "Hey Blue."

The smaller looked up at him, taking a large bite from the crispy pheasant breast. "Mm?"

"How long was I unconscious for? Like, since the trackerjacker event I mean."

He swallowed, wincing a bit. "A day."

"A whole day?!" He jolted, looking at him in alarm. "W-Well whose died?"

Blue frowned, thinking. "One of the girls from seven."

So it was one of the blond girls that looked like they should have been in a fashion magazine instead of the Hunger Games. One of the two he nearly collided with on the second day.

"No one else?" He asked, internally relieved that he hadn't said Nightmare's name, but also a little disappointed that the wasps hadn't killed Geno and Reaper.

He shook his head softly in response. "That's it, why, were you thinking of someone particular?"

"No." He looked away. "Just wondering."

"Really? Are you sure you weren't thinking of that guy, Nightmare?" He smirked a little.

"No I was not." He grunted, pushing Blue away. "Don't be stupid."

Blue let out a giggle and nudged his side suggestively. "I think you were."

"Well I think I wasn't, so there." He shot back, covering his cheeks with his hands. "Now drop the topic."

He snickered again and nodded his head, looking up at the leaves above them. "Whatever you say."

Cross grumbled something unintelligible under his breath and sighed, glaring accusingly at the ground as if it had done something wrong. "...Do you know where any of the others are?"

Blue hummed, giving a small nod as he finished off the last of his food. "Geno and Reaper have a camp at the centre of the arena. They got all the supplies and dumped them around the cornucopia so that they have the loot of the game. There's not a chance in hell they'll starve or something now."

Cross glanced off into the distance, his mind thinking. "Is it guarded?"

"By the two of them, yes. And last time I saw, I think Dream and Abi were there as well."

He closed his eyes, a yawn escaping his mouth. "I think we should do something about that tomorrow. I mean, they can't have everything, can they?" He shot a grin at the smaller.

Blue felt a smile grow on his face and he nodded, helping Cross stamp out their fire.

For the first time since he entered this arena, Cross slept on the floor. The two of them both squeezed into Cross' sleeping bag under the overhang of a fallen tree. They kept each other close for warmth, sleep coming surprisingly quickly.

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God damn I just want to write Crossmareeeeee

Dkxjjsjsjxux oh well there's ur fl00f hope you lieked it

uwu

1,669 words ahaha 6 9

Killme

-Jess-