Another day along and I wasn't faring too well. At that moment, I was sitting in a hollow, balling my eyes out and not being able to bring myself to eat anything. I was weak, cold and hungry, but my body just wouldn't be able to handle it.

I had tried to hunt, but every time I threw an axe at something the boy from One pops into my head and I miss horribly. Anyways, I can't make a fire because my hands are shaking so much I would probably burn myself again. I was running low on my precious medicine.

Suddenly, I hear Claudius Templesmith's voice filling the arena.

"Attention, tributes, attention. The regulations requiring a single victor have been... suspended. From now on, two victors may be crowned if they both originate from the same District. This will be the only announcement."

I have a minute to take this in, then I whisper under my breath. "Austin."

For some reason, I now go looking for the boy I've hated all my life (bar the time when he saved it). Rue told me he was down by the lake, so that's where I'll start.

I go down to the small pool of water, then notice something on the rocks. When I lean down to touch it, I realise it's blood. Cato must've made him pay the price for saving me.

I run faster, axe in hand in case I run into anyone but the boy I'm supposed to be in love with. I look on the ground, in the trees, everywhere, but I can't see-

Suddenly, a hand grabs my ankle and I would've gone flying if I hadn't grabbed a tree to stop myself. "Austin!" I yell, looking down. All I see is rock and dirt. But no-

Suddenly, a section of the rock opens its eyes and I see him. Just like he showed me, he's been using his camouflage skills. "Oh my god, Austin!" I shout crazily.

His body is buried under loads of pebbles, moss, mud and stone, but with a lot of hard work, I uncover it and bring him into a hug. I can't help but enjoy this. I really think I might be falling for him.

"I guess all those hours decorating cakes paid off," I say, smiling slightly. He had this nice home and there I was, hunting in the woods to try and keep me and my family alive.

"Yes, frosting, the final defence of dying," Austin says sarcastically.

"You're not going to die," I say sternly.

"Says who?" He raises his eyebrows at me.

"Says me," I shut the topic down firmly. "We're allies now, if you heard."

I choose not to mention how somehow, I always lose my allies.

"Yeah, well, it was nice of you to find what's left of me," Austin rolls his eyes.

I bite my lip. "Did Cato cut you?"

"Yeah, left leg, up high," he winces.

"Okay," I say. "Well, let's get you into the stream and wash you off first."

This is easier said than done. I try to drag him, roll him, and push him, but none work very well. I get one full rotation when I roll him, but I have to stop at the edge of the stream because of the horrible, horrible noise he's making. Maybe this is better.

"Okay, Austin, I'm not rolling you all the way in, just to the edge," I clear with him.

"Okay," he nods.

I start to slowly drench him, trying to clean all the mud and dirt off him, gradually revealing his clothes. He tells me he has injuries on the top half as well, so I decide to conquer these before I look at his leg.

Once I finally get his undershirt off, I see a few small burns and three tracker jacker stings. I'm slightly reassured because I can fix this much.

I scour the bushes for Rue's leaves that she helped cure me with, then dig the stings out of the lumps. I internally thank Rue for all this knowledge that she passed on. If it wasn't for her, Austin'd probably be nearing death.

He sighs in relief as I coat him in the leaves, and I smile slightly at the expression on his face. I then dig in my pack for the burn medicine Haymitch gave me and coat his burns in that as well. I try to give him some rabbit but he wrinkles his nose and refuses it.

"It's funny," he says. "I haven't been hungry for days."

Maybe he isn't clued into this, but I know better. This isn't just an appetite loss, this is proper sickness.

But I'm slightly more motivated now I've taken some of the pain off his hands.

However, when I look at his leg, all the levity disappears. Cato's sword cut deep. The whole wound is oozing with puss and blood, and I really have no idea how to fix any of this.

"Okay..." I say. I know Austin and everyone watching this right know will know I have no idea how to fix this, so there's no point trying to cover it up. "Well, I know the leaves draw out infection, so I'll
start with those."

They draw out infection, and they also draw out puss. Austin watches unblinkingly as I slap round after round of the leaves on his leg, drawing out buckets and buckets of puss.

After that, I put some burn medicine on it (because I really have no idea what else to do) then use some of the bandages I got from Marvel and patch it up.

Austin, who's been watching me since I started to draw the puss out, comments lightly. "You know, Willow, I've known you since you were five, and I never realised that you were this squeamish."

I roll my eyes. "Shut u."

He chuckles lightly as he asks. "Can I sleep now?"

I nod and watch as he closes his eyes and falls asleep immediately. Whilst he sleeps, I pack up and put everything back into the bag I got at the bloodbath.

After a few hours, I wake my ally. "Austin, we need to go."

"Go? Go where?" He asks.

"Upstream. I noticed a few caves coming down here, we can go to one of those and hide you until you're better," I say.

I help him hop to the cave and when we get there, I give him my sleeping bag and let him lie down on it. "No one will find you here," I say, trying to convince myself as much as him.

He doesn't fall for it. Austin Thatcher's a lot of things, but he's not stupid. "They already found me."

"Well- we'll just get you some medicine," I say, pursing my lips.

"Willow, I don't get many parachutes," he says bitterly.

"We'll figure something out," I say surely.

"Like what?" He asks quizzically.

"Something," I say. I look him in the eyes and see his are switching between my face and my lips.

I kiss him on the cheek impulsively. I've never kissed a boy before, and Gale's a pretty overprotective brother, but this still doesn't phase me.

Suddenly, I hear the whistle which means a parachute. I collect my axes and head outside the cave, looking for the prize that is undoubtedly ours.

I find the little box and open it. There, nestled inside, I see a little pot of broth. I smile as I know that Austin'll be able to eat this. There's also a card inside from Haymitch.

You call that a kiss? Trust me sweetheart, I watched your eyes change. Some more would be nice - H

My eyes change? I thought. What did that mean? Does it mean he sees I like Austin (which I don't) or that the audience can see how plainly I am fooling them?

I don't know. Heading back inside, I see Austin's head popping up. "Medicine?"

"No, soup," I say. His face dims down a bit but I can tell he's quite happy about getting his first sponsor gift.

There was a spoon in the box, so I fill one and try to give it to Austin. He tries to do it himself, but I object. "No. You saved me once, remember?"

He looks down as he speaks. "I think about that all the time. How I saved you from that lorry. I should've talked to you, I should've just put my embarrassment aside and-"

"Austin, it's fine," I say.

"No, it's not-"

"It's fine," I say.

"Well, at least come here," he says to me, outstretching his arm to pull me in. I lay down and rest my head on his chest.

And try to get to sleep without the nightmares seeping in.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

When I wake up, I register my surprise because I didn't have nightmares. I look to my side and see Austin, still asleep beside me. He was there to protect me, so I didn't fall into their trap.

I don't know what makes me more disgusted. The fact that I'm thinking this or the fact that it might be true.

I try to look at Austin's leg when he's still asleep. I unravel the bandage, expecting to see something that I'm pleased at, but I see the opposite.

Blood poisoning. One summer, Mrs Everdeen employed me as her apprentice healer. I had wanted to, and had begged her to let me, but I didn't expect her to comply.

One of the many things I was taught was how to recognise certain illnesses, and right now, I'm in no doubt.

I hopelessly stare at the cave ceiling for the next hour. Austin needs proper medicine. I'll need to pull a proper make out session to get only half of it. Haymitch knows I'm struggling, but even he can't work miracles.

When Austin wakes, I say. "It's all fine, I'll just put some-"

"I know what blood poisoning is, Willow, even if I don't know a healer," Austin tells me, eyebrows raised once again.

I purse my lips as I try to think of solutions. "Listen," Austin says slowly. "If I don't make it home-"

"I don't want to hear it," I firmly say.

"But Willow-"

"No-"

"But just say I don-"

Without really thinking, I lean forward and kiss his lips. I don't really know why I do it, I just want something to eat and something to save Austin with. This is the first proper kiss I've had as well, and I know Gale will be rolling his eyes at home.

It only lasts for a few seconds before we pull away. I instantly expect the sound of a parachute outside the cave, but I get nothing. I try to hide my disappointment as I think.

A single kiss isn't enough anymore. We have to get the audience to engage. I think about starting a conversation; something more personal. I'm rubbish at that, because I don't know what to say or when to say it, but Austin's not.

"Austin," I begin. "You said at the interview that you'd had a crush on me for forever. When did forever start?"

Austin looks down at me. "Let's see, on the first day of school, me and my older sister were walking together, when we met her friend. They were whispering all like 'd'you see that boy over there?' And when I looked over there, I suddenly wasn't looking at the boy, but the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen."

I giggle, hoping I sound giddy and in love. "That's my older brother, Gale."

"Yeah, well, I remember everything. I remember that your hair was in two braids instead of one, that you were dressed in a red plaid dress and that you weren't scowling as much as you do now. I payed attention to you in every class that I was in, but then, in one, one of my friends dared me to insult somebody. I chose you since I wanted to talk to you the most, but then it all went wrong and my friends decided to start bullying you."

I sigh. "That's not your fault. I've always been fiery, or people tell me so, I didn't mean to start a fight with you."

But he completely disregards this. "Anyway, in the music assembly I remember the teacher asked if anyone knew the Valley Song and your hand shot straight up, and when you sung, I swear everything but your voice went silent. After that... I knew I was a goner. I would never love anyone like I loved you."

I look straight into his eyes and try my best to do it. Be in love. "You have a... remarkable memory."

"I remember everything about you," Austin brushed a strand of hair off my face. "You're the one who wasn't paying attention."

"I am now," I shrug.

"Well, I don't have that much competition here," Austin looks round in mock sarcasm.

I can hear Haymitch urging me on ("say it! Say it!")

"You don't have that much competition anywhere."

We lean in and kiss for the second time.

The whistling sound of the parachute makes me smirk into the kiss. I pull away from Austin and head outside the cave, picking up a parachute quickly and going back into the cover of our little hideout.

I go out, expecting to see a parachute with medicine in it. Instead, I find a luscious Capitol meal with proper silverware included. I grin as I read the card from Haymitch.

Yes that's what I'm looking for, sweetheart - H