fifteen - berries

- - - ➳

since matthias has deemed himself an expert on all things tracker jacker related, we put him in charge of watching asher. this quickly proves to be an easy task. all he does is sleep and occasionally groan, which he'll stop midway through if given a swift nudge, which matthias does often. sometimes he'll snore.

"i hope he wakes up soon," i sigh as i watch matthias apply ointment on the stings. the swelling is going down, at least. "we can't move without him."

"thalia's right." carly stands up and grabs her bow. "we tried that last time, and it didn't work because someone" – she glances sharply at matthias – "kept dropping him."

matthias narrows his eyes in outrage. "hey! you try lifting this kid. he's like a tree. a tree that moves!"

"we're either going to have to leave him or find another way to do things," i say with a shrug.

"no. we are not leaving him." carly's tone is icy and that possibility is out of question. i share a knowing glance with matthias, who is trying to hide his smile.

"okay." matthias caps the tube of ointment and pulls asher's shirt back into place. again i notice asher's too-skinny body and worry once more. "so what are we going to do?"

carly grabs the parachute we saved and holds her hand out to me. "give me the poisonous berries."

"poison ones?" i ask to make sure i heard her correctly. when she nods, i fish them out of the compartment in my belt. i let them fall through my fingers into her outstretched hand and watch as she stuffs the berries into the parachute.

"what are you doing?" matthias asks, face pinched in curiosity.

carly pauses from what she's doing to smirk at him. "finding another way to do something." she turns to me. "quick, thalia, who's the dumbest tribute you can think of?"

i ponder this for a moment. though i don't know the tributes very well, i did pay attention as much as i could.

"milo, district six," i finally decide. he wasn't the brightest during his interview, and as far as i could tell he wasn't very good at weaponry, either. his score was one of the lowest.

"cool. any idea where to find him?"

"he said he likes water," matthias chips in. "i remember that from his interview. he talked the entire time about lakes. it was weird."

"that helps." carly nods in thanks. "i'll be right back."

"i'm coming with you," i say, pushing myself up so i'm standing.

carly nods again. "matthias, can you handle him?"

"if thalia can, then so can i," he responds, then pauses. "if he gets annoying, can i kick him?"

"be my guest," carly approves, then we set off.

we locate the beach fairly easily but make sure to stay hidden once we find it. sure enough, milo is sitting by the forest opening, and it looks like he has something in his hands. i can't tell what it is from where we are.

"he's not that far away," i whisper. "let's run."

i lead the way, running lightly on the balls of my feet to make sure i'm not too noisy. it's a two-minute run since we're sprinting, and we slow to a stop right near him.

"okay," i say softly once we're close, trying to keep my heavy breathing quiet. "what's the plan?"

"you're good at climbing trees, right?" she asks, eyes glancing up at them.

i nod. "yeah."

"great." she hands me the parachute and points to the tree right above milo. "climb that one, then drop the parachute down on him. i'll stand guard."

this is it. this is the true test of carly's faith. will she abandon me, or stick with me? i really hope it's the latter.

i take the parachute and carefully begin to climb while carly spots me from below. the bark is rough and good for gripping onto, which i am very grateful for. since one hand is carrying the container with the berries, i have a little less balance, but i move slowly to ensure i don't plummet to the ground.

once i'm a fair distance up, i rest on a branch and hold the parachute out, aiming so it'll land a little way in front of him. and then i drop it.

i curl into the branch, making myself as small as i can in case he looks up. he does, but not at me. he watches as the parachute floats down and catches it mid-air. eagerly he opens it, doesn't notice there isn't a note, and lights up at the sight of the berries.

"finally!" he says cheerfully, pudgy face lighting up. "i'm starving. i just haven't been able to find out what's bad and what's good!"

i feel a little bit bad for him as i scoot quietly back down to the ground. after making sure milo has eaten the berries, i tap carly on the shoulder and we run back to camp.

his cannon goes off in less than five minutes.

-

we see asher's hazel eyes open the next morning. i'm on watch when suddenly he whimpers, "ow," and i nearly jump a mile in the air.

"good morning, sunshine," i tease as he rubs his eyes with the heels of his hands.

"shut up." asher winces, grabbing onto his abdomen where the stings are. "this hurts like hell." he looks down his shirt and yells in surprise, waking carly and matthias up.

"whazzah?" carly sits up, twigs and leaves in her hair and her eyes drooping. she rubs them, sees asher sitting up, and says blankly, "oh. you're awake."

"yes, i am." he is still inspecting the stings, though i can't imagine how good of a view he has from looking down his shirt. "glad to see you missed me so much."

"i should probably give you more ointment." matthias pushes the blanket off of him and rubs his eyes as he stumbles sleepily to the backpack. he rummages through it, looking completely exhausted, before finding the white tube. i don't think his half-asleep-self realizes that asher is actually fully awake and alert, because he comes a little too close and asher jumps away.

"what are you doing?" asher seems a little too cautious as he holds his hand out to stop matthias, who blinks in surprise.

"i don't know if you've noticed, but you've been stung by tracker jackers," matthias deadpans, seeming to regain his senses little by little. "this is what's been keeping you alive."

asher looks down at his lower stomach but does not lift his shirt to inspect the damage. he does, however, press his hand against it and clench his teeth, his face contorted in pain. he breathes quickly to make it dissipate and looks at matthias with a sincere look of gratitude on his face. "thank you."

matthias grins a little. "you're welcome." he tosses him the ointment. "you have to apply this every two hours. the swelling has gone down significantly but i can see the pain is still there." he sends him an apologetic look as if it's his fault asher is in so much misery. "it should go down soon."

but still, asher makes no move to view the stings again, and i wonder why. if he's in so much pain, why doesn't he want to relieve it?

"anything exciting happen?" asher asks, changing the subject.

"thalia and i killed milo from six," carly responds, pulling her hair back in a ponytail after plucking all the twigs and leaves out. "there's not much left. the careers, a few stragglers, and us."

"i want to do stuff," asher decides randomly. he stands, though i can tell it's hurting him, and stretches out his stiff muscles. "anything we need?"

"we could use some more water and animals," matthias notes.

"awesome." asher pats around his belt for a knife. when he locates one, he tries to twirl it with his fingers, something he used to do so effortlessly before, but suddenly drops it and collapses on his elbows, his face inches from the ground. the utter shock on his face shows that he hadn't been expecting that reaction at all.

"asher!" carly is the one to help him up. "you okay?"

"i-i'm fine." asher clenches his teeth and picks up the knife he dropped. i think his fingers are bleeding a bit, but i can't be sure because he's shielding them from our view. "i'm good." we all give him a look. "i'm one hundred percent, guys."

we all know he's not telling the truth, but carly sighs. "fine. you can go. but i'm coming with you."

asher nods, and i wonder what happened to the both of them, because a few days ago, they'd rather surrender to the capitol than hunt with each other. 

"okay. let's go kill some animals!" asher raises his knife in the air, takes one step forward, and then promptly trips on a rock. he almost impales matthias in the forehead with his knife, but luckily he ducks just in the nick of time. my heart skips three beats.

"that's enough, asher," carly says, wide-eyed as she helps him regain his footing. "no more fancy tricks until you're better."

when they are gone, matthias and i are quiet for a bit. then i hear his voice from where he's seated.

"i almost died."

at first i think he's talking about a few minutes ago when asher almost stabbed him, but he continues on and i realize that's not what he meant at all.

"in the beginning of the games i barely got away. i didn't get anything from the cornucopia. i managed to grab this from a fallen tribute." he motions to his sword that is laying on the ground. "i tried looking for you, but emrys blocked my path and knocked me down, then nearly killed me. the blade would have gone right here" - he points right between his eyes - "and that could've been it. but then i remembered you, and if you were alone, but what if you had died, and i figured that if you did then i had to win so i could be there for your family. so i kicked him in the groin and then the stomach and got away."

i am speechless at what matthias just told me. my people skills block out again and i notice it seems to happen a lot around him, and i wonder why.

"you don't have to say anything," matthias says softly. he is staring at the ground, his back against a tree and his knees up by his chest. "i just wanted you to know that."

before i know what i'm doing i stand up and walk to him. i sit down next to him and– oh god. what am i doing? what is happening? i don't seem to have control over my body. it's just moving, and before i know it–

i've kissed him on the cheek.

"thank you," i whisper quietly, watching as matthias's mouth opens in a small gape, "for wanting to be there for my family."

it takes him a while to say something back. "you're welcome."

and that is the first time i've ever made a boy blush.

gif is carly when they're trying to figure out what to do with asher

-------

THE MATTHALIA MOMENTS ARE REAL AF. MY HEART HURTS

what do you think is wrong with asher hmmm?? leave your suspicions in the comments

ALSO I JUST REALIZED THAT THEYRE WEARING BODYSUITS AND DONT HAVE SHIRTS BUT FOR THE SAKE OF THE STORY JUST GO ALONG WITH IT PLEASE

dedicated to jordisalvatore for her support and kind comments!

i honestly dont know what else to say (i suck ik) so byeeee

xoxo,
kristyn