On time wow that's rare

❤️💜27k uwuwuwuwu💜❤️

It was mid-afternoon when the storm stopped.

Sunshine shone through the gaps in the ivy, illuminating the cave floor and walls that were slick with rainwater and moisture. Instead of the deafening sound of thunder and lightning, bird song had started echoing through the damp forest.

Cross was awake, Nightmare asleep. The oreo was sat up with his back against the wall, eyes cast fondly down at his sleeping partner who's head was currently situated in his lap. He was slumped on the floor to the left of him, one arm flung out over Cross' legs and the other lying limply on the floor. He absentmindedly trailed his fingers across Nightmare's skull, tracing circles, triangles, squares and dodecahedrons. Nightmare would occasionally let out a whispered mumble or groan, but nothing else much.

He hummed the little tune that Blue used to whistle under his breath, eyes closing. The sharp sting of loosing Blue was still there. He hadn't forgotten then small child, never will. Nightmare had just been a nice distraction, something that could help him ignore the dull ache in his soul. But he would never forget Blue. Never.

"Mh, I can't hear rain..."

Cross looked down and blinked, seeing Nightmare shifting next to him and rubbing his one visible eye with his fist. "Oh, yeah, the storm is over." He rubbed the base of Nightmare's skull, glancing back at the cave entrance once more.

"Really? Cool." He pushed himself up to a sitting position, groaning as his stiff bones popped. "That means we can go kill people."

"I'd rather we let them kill each other before we do anything." Cross murmured, smoothing out his clothes and gladly taking Nightmare's offered hand to get himself to his feet.

"That's boring."

"It's safe."

"Whatever." He grunted, slinging a rucksack over his shoulder. "Either way we need to move from this cave, or some bullshit will happen. The gamekeepers must be bored of only showing footage of the two of us snuggled up and being all uwu together so would probably end up dropping a boulder on one of us. For you know, the drama." He gave jazz hands and threw Cross' rucksack at him.

The smaller almost missed, fumbling with the straps and yanking it to his chest before it could hit the floor. "G-Good point."

"My points are always good." He hummed, pulling himself up and out the cave entrance and into the blazing sunshine. "Ouch."

Joining him, Cross had to shield his eyes with a hand, squinting massively in the bright sun. The two of them had been down that cave for so long - Cross more then Nightmare - and had quite literally forgotten what full sunlight exposure felt like.

"God- my eyes." He hissed, squeezing them shut to try and stop them from watering. "God- my eye." Nightmare copied, blinking rapidly.

The two stood there for a good three minutes, just letting themselves adjust to the drastic change of surroundings. Eventually their eyes adjusted, much to their relief, but everything still looked incredibly blurry and bleached by the light.

The storm had left everything in floods. The smooth rock floor that used to be visible by the river was now completely flooded, snarling water tumbling over them and turning the once nice and calming stream into a terrifying rapid. The grassy floor was now so saturated by water that when Cross stepped on it, his foot sunk down into the ground by at least an inch. It made a sickening squelching sound that would be imprinted into Cross' mind for years. It was horrible. Trees dripped with water, all their remaining leaves slick with it and constantly letting fat goblets of water fall once the pressure became too much.

The air was thick with the musky smell you normally get after rain, the earth and grass scent making Cross' nose tingle and eyes twitch. Snails and slugs were everywhere, plaguing the floor and crunching loudly every time Nightmare would purposely step on them. Birds were singing and chattering up in the treetops, but not as much as they had previous days. They were probably still hiding in their flooded homes, unsure if the weather was certifiably over.

"Yo Cross?" Nightmare nudged the smaller, having said his name for the fifth time. He'd spaced out. "Cross!"

"WhAT?!" The smol yelped, stumbling back and looking at him in surprise.

"Your head was high in the clouds." Nightmare said, rolling his eyes and flicking the side of his skull. "Pay attention."

"O-Oh, sorry." He laughed softly and rubbed his arm, embarrassed. "Repeat what you were saying..."

"I was saying, that it would be great if you could shoot some bird or rabbit etc so we could eat it. Cuz I'm hungry and we've got no meat left apart from that rotting rat carcass I found in your bag last night and threw out to get drowned by the rain."

"Of course." He bit his 'lip' softly and nodded, still embarrassed by his space out. "I'll um, I'll do that. You can uh, look for berries or stuff like that."

Nightmare rolled his eye and nodded, turning on his heels and walking towards a load of dense bushes. "Watch me pick all the poisonous ones!"

"If you start dying, scream!" Cross called after him before quickly adding. "And don't eat any till I've checked them!" But Nightmare was already out of sight, and he didn't know whether the teen had heard his last warning or not.

For a moment Cross considered running after him and telling him again, but he felt like Nightmare would only say "I know dumbass, I heard you the first time" and leave himself in an even more embarrassed state than current. So he stayed silent, muttering a quick prayer for the boy. It's not like he he thought Nightmare would pick every single poisonous berry, he just didn't trust him to know the difference between the good and the bad ones. That's all.

Weaving through trees and bushes, Cross kept an eye and ear out for any signs of animal life, also wary of the possible presence of Tributes that could be lurking in the shadows. He stared intently all around him, slowly crouching down to pick up a moist rock from the floor. The texture of it was sickly really, but he gripped onto it nonetheless and waited.

A slight rustle came from one bush and he threw the rock, his knife gripped in his hand instantly after as three birds launched from the undergrowth and flew up in a flurry of beating wings. He went to throw the knife, only for a sudden sound to set him off balance and miss.

The knife missed the birds by miles, disappearing off into the distance and out of sight. He should have gone to try and get it, after all he only had one knife left now. But he was too busy panicking, scrambling back in the way he came with his soul thundering in his chest. That sound, it had sent his mind into a flurry of panic, Nightmare's whereabouts being the only thing he could think about.

It had been a cannon shot.

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Ohohohohoho if you're a true Hunger Games fan then you know what's coming next >:3

Oof this chapter was so short lmao sorry I made it o n e w o r d over my minimum word count

Oh well

Yo their time in the arena is coming real close to an end. Like five or less chapters left siuxuseiuxusisuduudiejeyxhsisux

This story is coming to an e n d s o o n

Sob I dun really want it to ngl but everything must come to an end diduysiwdyusisxusuisuxu

Apart from Crossmare uwu Cuz that's just immortal

-Jess-