Glee, Hunger Games 1. I Would Do It For You

Chapter 1: I Would Do It For You

* * *

Kurt watches in horror as the broadcast shows Blaine sleeping alone in a cave, completely unprotected and unhidden. He watches as the tribute—he can't remember their names; he doesn't want to—with the bow sneaks up next to the sleeping boy. He tries to cover his eyes as she slits his throat but he can't move fast enough to block out the sound of the cannon going off seconds later.

Kurt sits up suddenly, eyes snapping open and breaths coming fast and panicked. _It was just a dream_, he tells himself, letting out a quiet sob of relief. He's been having similar dreams for the past week, but this one was the worst. He can only guess the reason for that; it's the night before the reaping. Nobody can sleep well except for maybe the ignorant puppets in the Capitol.

Shutting out any and all images and thoughts of Blaine dying in the Games, Kurt slowly gets out of his bed which is nothing more than a torn mattress with tattered blankets wrinkled atop it. He pads his way into the small kitchen which is also the living room, glancing over at his father's room. He's still sleeping, so Kurt decides to make breakfast for his dad before heading out.

Once he spreads the hard, oily butter over the stale bread and leaves a glass of milk on the table, he quietly walks outside, clad in his best clothing because the reaping is in a matter of hours. He cautiously looks around for patrolling Peacekeepers but sees nothing and decides it's safe to cross through their yard into the Andersons'.

He knocks on the low window on the side of the house and smiles when he sees Blaine sit up and rub his eyes before walking over to the window. When he opens it and sees Kurt, his eyes light up and he grins. "Good morning. My day just got a whole lot brighter." Kurt blushes and giggles softly when Blaine leans in to kiss his nose. Then Blaine's tone and expression turns serious when he asks, "How are you? And don't say fine because I know you better than that."

Kurt sighs and lets Blaine help him through the window until they're both inside. They move to sit on Blaine's bed, which is significantly nicer than Kurt's, and Kurt meets Blaine's earnest, concerned eyes. "I keep having the nightmares," he admits.

"I have them, too," Blaine tells him, squeezing his hand. Kurt looks at him for a moment before leaning into his chest and letting Blaine hold him. "I know you're scared. I'm scared, too. But it's just one more year. One more year and we'll be safe. It'll be okay, I promise."

"You can't promise that," Kurt whispers. After that, they sit in silence, just holding on to each other and trying not to think about what could happen in just a few hours. Within the next day, one of them could be preparing to fight to the death and there would be no going back. Both of them are fully aware of this, but they have a sort of silent agreement to just enjoy every second they have with each other rather than live in fear every day that they could be next.

"Come on; let's go someplace. Someplace almost as beautiful as you," Blaine says, smiling adoringly at Kurt and kissing his forehead. Kurt looks up at him and smiles, blushing at the praise. He nods in agreement, knowing that he'd follow Blaine anywhere he asked.

They walk together, past the Seam, past the Hob, and even past the fence. Kurt's heart races as they slip through the electrical fence that's never turned on and he follows Blaine through the open meadow until they're hidden by the cover of the forest. Their linked hands don't part even as they walk through the tangle of roots and moss. "Are we almost there?"

"You'll know when we're there," is all Blaine says.

And he does know. He gasps in awe when they reach a beautiful patch of flowers and grass on the shore of a small, crystal blue lake. "Blaine, it's beautiful," he murmurs as Blaine pulls him forward. They sit down in the soft patch of green, purple, yellow, red, and orange. The soft flush of purple flowers and green grass contrast starkly to the vibrant shades of yellow, red, and orange flowers and it all creates a beautiful array of scents that Kurt didn't even know existed.

"Not as beautiful as you," Blaine says with a soft, loving smile. Kurt giggles again and yelps softly when Blaine suddenly lays down, taking Kurt with him. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Kurt answers instantly. There's not a doubt in his mind that he does, either. Ever since they met as kids, Blaine has always been a sure thing in his life. Loving Blaine, even when it was only as a best friend all those years ago, has always been as simple as breathing. So obvious. So undoubtedly necessary to Kurt's survival.

They doze off in that position, waking up every so often only to fall back into a peaceful sleep when they remember where they are and who they're with. However, eventually, they hear the loud chiming of the clock from the town square back in Twelve, signaling that it's time for them to head back. Reluctantly, they walk back to the district together, parting ways with a kiss and returning to their own houses.

Burt doesn't even ask where Kurt was. He knows he was spending what could be their final precious seconds together with Blaine. And he understands. He did the same with Elizabeth the morning before that fateful reaping; the one where Effie Trinket trilled out the name _Elizabeth Hummel; _the one where Burt said 'I love you' to her for the last time that she would be able to hear it.

So he doesn't ask.

They eat in silence, Kurt sitting unusually close to his father at the table. When he finishes his food before Burt does, he closes his eyes and leans his head on Burt's shoulder. "I love you, dad," he whispers.

"It'll all be okay," Burt says even though he knows there's no way to promise that. He knows that Kurt's taken out as much tesserae as possible for the two of them for the past seven years. And now, at eighteen, he has forty-two cumulative entries being put into the bowl. And even with the tesserae, they're barely surviving in the depressed District 12.

The odds are surely not in his favor.

Blaine's family, on the other hand, has never needed to worry about tesserae. Even before Cooper won the games at eighteen, when Kurt and Blaine were ten, their family was well off. Mr. Anderson was good friends with the mayor and he was a very successful tradesman. Although their house was right next to Kurt's, it was much nicer and much warmer in the winter. Which is one of the reasons Mr. Anderson agreed to let Blaine stay in that house even after the rest of his family moved into Cooper's house in the Victors Village. He'd wanted to stay close to Kurt.

However, Blaine does have a few extra entries in the bowl. Each year, he's taken out one—his father wouldn't allow anything more—tessera under the pretense of taking it out for himself. But, unbeknownst to the Capitol, he has been giving it to Kurt and his father for the past seven years. Because of this, he has a total of thirty-five entries.

While slightly less depressing, the odds are weighing against him as well.

Before they know it, it's ten minutes to one o' clock, the time when they're supposed to be assembled in the square.

Kurt meets up with Blaine and they walk hand-in-hand to the sign-up table. Their fingers are pricked and their prints are recorded before they're rounded up in the eighteen-year-old boys section. They somehow lose a hold of each other in the crowd and Kurt's heart races as he tries to catch Blaine's eyes overtop of the other boys' heads. When he finally does, he relaxes and keeps the image of Blaine's shining eyes in his mind to calm himself while he waits for Effie Trinket to take the stage.

Five minutes later, Effie wobbles up the steps with her too-high heels, followed by the mayor, Haymitch Abernathy, and Cooper Anderson. Kurt takes a deep breath to calm down as the crowd silences.

"Welcome! Welcome to the sixty-first annual Hunger Games!" Effie announces cheerily, beaming bright at the dull crowd. Annoyed at the lack of enthusiasm, she clears her throat and hums before continuing into the same introduction that she gives every year. She turns the time over to the mayor, who clearly isn't happy about having to give this same speech_ again_; talking about how the Games are a time to celebrate and how everyone should be thankful to have such an organized society and a wonderful president. It makes Kurt sick. "Now!" Effie trills as soon as the mayor has effectively put some of them to sleep, including Haymitch. "As always, ladies first!"

Her heels click as she waddles over to the left side of the stage, drawing out the moment. She reaches one delicate hand into the bowl, moving it around before snatching a paper out and unfolding it. "Sophia Tarring!" she announces and Kurt's heart sinks. He knows that girl. She's a tiny twelve-year-old who roams around the Seam in tattered clothing, as thin as a twig, in search of a kind stranger who might give her food and shelter. Nobody knows what happened to her parents, but there are rumors. There are always rumors. Kurt thinks that the Capitol punished them because of Sophia's older brother who rigged the games all those years ago. Now Sophia is homeless and without a family. Kurt knows she won't last a day in the games. She's too small, too innocent.

He feels his disgust for the Capitol take on a newly-lit fire in his heart. _This isn't fair. None of this is fair. _

"That's it, dear," Effie coos as she the crying girl is led up onto the stage. "Moving on!" she exclaims with a bright smile. Kurt's entire body tenses as Effie reaches the bowl on the right side of the stage and reaches in. She unfolds the paper and Kurt closes his eyes, hoping against all hope that Blaine's name won't be called.

Blaine is hoping the same thing about Kurt. And, to his relief, Kurt's name isn't called.

But the name that is called makes his knees buckle.

"Blaine Anderson!"

* * *

No.

No!

_No!_

_"I volunteer!"_

* * *

Blaine is being walked in a haze towards the stage and Kurt stands in the middle of the aisle, helpless as two Peacekeepers hold him back. He doesn't even realize that he's struggling or that he's screaming or even _what _he's screaming until his own voice reaches his ears.

"I volunteer as tribute!" he shouts desperately and the Peacekeepers let go of him as the other two walk Blaine back to his spot. His eyes are wide and desperate when he passes Kurt. Kurt wants to cry and hug him and tell him he's sorry, but he's being pushed forward by the Peacekeeper behind him. He stumbles before walking towards the stage, stunned.

"How exciting!" Effie says giddily. She makes Kurt and Sophia stand beside each other as the crowd stays silent. Kurt has to give them some credit; most other districts would probably cheer and hoot at the turn of events, but each and every face in the square is solemn and silent. He catches sight of his dad's face and his heart clenches painfully. He hadn't been thinking of the effect his actions would have on his dad. He'd just been thinking about Blaine; _save Blaine. Keep Blaine alive. _But now he saw the heartbreak in his father's eyes and he has to avert his gaze.

Then he finds Blaine, whose eyes are wide and desperate and terrified. However, he doesn't see anything else because then he's being hauled away by Peacekeepers to the Justice Building. He's moved roughly into a room with plush, comfortable couches, but he doesn't sit down. He just waits.

A few seconds later, his dad enters the room and Kurt immediately throws his arms around him in a tight hug. "I'm so sorry, dad," he whispers.

"Hey, none of that," Burt says soothingly. "I would've done the same for your mother if I could have. I just want you to promise me something."

"Promises don't seem to work out when it comes to the Games," Kurt says flatly.

"Just promise me that you'll fight. Tell me you'll fight to come home to me and Blaine. I don't know about you, but I think that kid's one hell of an incentive to stay alive."

"He is," Kurt whispers, just hugging his dad in silence until the Peacekeepers come to escort him out.

"I love you, Kurt," he says just before the door closes.

"I love you, too…" Kurt whispers, shutting his eyes and wrapping his arms around himself. A few seconds later, he feels another pair of arms wrapping around him.

"Kurt," Blaine says softly. "You shouldn't have done that." His voice sounds so heartbroken and it cracks when he says, "You're so stupid… Why would you do that?" He starts crying into Kurt's shoulder, clinging to him like his life depends on it. "You have to win, Kurt," he says forcefully, looking up at Kurt solemnly. Kurt reaches up to wipe Blaine's tears away and cup his cheeks. "You have to fight and you have to win and come back to me, okay? You can't leave me."

"I'll try," Kurt says, because that's the most he can promise. "I'll really, really try. I promise."

"I love you so much, Kurt. I love you," he whispers before pressing his lips to Kurt's in a passionate kiss. In that kiss, he does his best to put every ounce of love, fear, desperation, and strength that he has into each tiny movement. By the time they break apart, all he can do is slump into Kurt's arms.

"I love you, too," Kurt murmurs. "I'll do everything I can to come home to you."

After that, two Peacekeepers come to escort Blaine away and Blaine struggles, crying desperately. "No, please! Kurt! Kurt, you have to win—"

And the door closes behind them, leaving Kurt alone. A few seconds later, the door opens again, surprising him. He's surprised to see Sam Evans, a boy in his year. But he's never spoken more than five words to him at once. "Hi," he says.

"Hi," Kurt answers, a little confused. "I'm sorry, I—"

"I'm not saying you need to protect her, because I know she can't win and I know you need to come home to your dad, but please make sure she doesn't suffer. She's so small and so sweet and—"

"You mean Sophia?" Kurt asks, understanding a little better now.

Sam nods, sighing. He reaches into his pocket and hands Kurt a golden locket. "Blaine told me to give this to you since he didn't get the chance. He wants you to have a token to take into the arena."

Kurt takes the locket and opens it, examining it carefully. His heart catches in his throat when he sees what's inside. It's a tri-fold locket; one side has a picture of Blaine, one side has a picture of his dad, and the middle is a pressed flower petal, bright yellow. It's a tulip, Kurt can tell, because tulips have always been their _thing_. The yellow ones have always been Blaine's favorite because they're like a symbol of hope and happiness. And ever since Blaine came to Kurt's door with a bouquet of tulips that he'd picked from the meadow, confessing that he loved Kurt as more than a friend… Well, Kurt has always loved the flower; it's always held some sentimental value for him.

"Thank you," he says earnestly, finally meeting Sam's eyes again. "And I'll make sure she'll be okay. She won't suffer."

"Thank you," Sam says, moving forward and awkwardly wrapping Kurt in a hug.

"Time's up," says a Peacekeeper outside the room, ordering Sam out. Then Kurt is ushered towards the train. When he gets there, he finds Cooper, Effie, and Sophia sitting at a table.

"Where's Haymitch?" he asks quietly.

Effie sighs, longsuffering, and says, "He's in the _liquor _car of the train." The distaste in her tone is obvious and actually a little amusing. Kurt nods before taking a seat next to Cooper.

"Blaine came to see you?"

Kurt looks at him and frowns. "Of course."

Cooper nods. "Sorry. I just… This is going to make me sound like a horrible person, but thank you for what you did for my brother. If he was in the Games, he… he wouldn't last. He could never hurt someone, let alone kill them. He's too good of a person. No one decent ever wins the Games."

Kurt sighs, nodding. "Well, maybe I don't want to be a good person anymore. I need to get home to him."

"Good. Keep that in mind. Never forget that you're fighting for _him_; not for them. How else do you think I was able to make myself actually kill those people when I won my Games? I just thought of him and I knew I had to get home for him."

Kurt doesn't answer. He stays silent and pulls out his locket, opening it up to see Blaine's face. And he makes a promise to himself right then. He's already made the promise to Blaine, but now he needs to convince himself. _I'm going to come home. I'm going to fight. I'm going to get back to Blaine whatever it takes. _

* * *

**A/N: Oh my gosh! This is so fun. I love writing HG Aus. And add in Klaine and it's even better :) So this is only the first chapter. I might spout out another chapter tonight, but if I don't it'll be out next weekend. But I'm kind of on a roll tonight. We'll see :)**

**Love you, my lovelies! **

**Review please :)**


	2. Only You Can Hold Me

Chapter 2: Only You Can Hold Me

* * *

Kurt spends the rest of the train ride in his room, ignoring Effie when she knocks on his door and tells him that lunch is ready. They arrive in the Capitol not even two hours later, around three o' clock, and Kurt can already hear cheering and excitement in the city streets. He doesn't look out the window. For now, at least, he refuses to take any part in their enthusiasm.

"Hey, it's time to get you all prettied up for the tribute parade," Cooper says, peeking into his room. Kurt nods and reluctantly stands up. As he walks through the parted crowd to get to the Training Center where he'll be living for the next two weeks, he holds his chin up high. He refuses to let them see him as weak or less than them just because he's from Twelve.

They have about ten minutes to take a look at their rooms before they're being carried away to the Remake Center, where they'll be caked with makeup and made to look like something resembling coal.

He immediately dislikes his prep team. The three of them are bright—and he isn't just talking about their personalities—and all too enthusiastic to turn him into their own little doll. Octavia's skin is a sickly green color, probably meant to look beautiful but it only looks depressingly like a rather awful skin disease. Flavius has hair in a shade of orange that even Effie Trinket probably wouldn't wear. And Venia is trying much too hard to emphasize her Capitol accent, drawing out 'S' sounds and 'M' sounds. It makes him sick to think of people actually _wanting_ to fit in with the ways of the Capitol. He can't even imagine it.

"Oh! You're fun," Flavius says excitedly, circling Kurt's naked body on the table as the other two get to work on removing leg hair and facial hair. "Cinna's going to _love _you. You're so pretty. And your hair! Oh, it's too perfect. I never knew such natural beauty could come from a district like Twelve."

Kurt wants to scowl but he knows it won't help his case. He's supposed to act like he's enjoying himself so that he can earn sponsors, as Cooper had told him before they'd arrived in the Capitol. He knows that Cooper is right, but that doesn't mean he's happy about this particular _acting exercise. _

Cinna is easier to like. In fact, Kurt thinks he'll be the only person in the Capitol that Kurt will _ever _like. And it has almost everything to do with the fact that he doesn't seem like he's a citizen of the Capitol. He's more natural, with soft brown hair and only a thin line of gold eyeliner on his eyelids. And he's calm, reserved. He's easy to talk to, which Kurt likes.

"Put that robe on," Cinna says as they walk into a new room. Kurt sighs in relief, wrapping the robe around his bare body. "Now, let's talk. I hate these Games as much as you do, maybe even more. But we might as well have some fun getting ready, right?"

Kurt frowns, a little confused. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I have plans a much more bold than covering you and Sophia in coal dust," Cinna says with a sly smile. "Do you trust me?"

Against his better judgment, Kurt nods.

* * *

Later that night, just before sunset, Kurt finds himself dressed in a black skin-tight leather suit. He has to say he was hoping for more, but what did he really expect? Coming from the mining district, there really isn't much to work with. And at least Cinna's design shows off his… assets.

"Cinna, are you sure this is going to make us stand out? I feel like we're blending," he says once he and Sophia are on the chariot that will take them through the streets into the City Circle.

Sophia nods along in agreement. She's obviously shy, Kurt has noticed.

Cinna just grins and calls Portia over. She's carrying two lit torches and Kurt's eyes widen. Cinna has lost his mind.

"What are those?" he exclaims.

Cinna laughs. "Don't worry, Kurt. It's artificial flame, of my own invention. You'll be perfectly safe. I promise. Trust me."

Again, Cinna said those words with such calming sincerity that Kurt can't help but agree. "Okay."

"There you go," Cinna says as he touches one of the torches to Kurt's leg. Kurt tenses, expecting to feel the pain of a burn, but it doesn't come. He grins, relieved, and laughs happily as he looks at Cinna.

"Cinna, you're a genius! We look amazing."

"Of course you do," Cinna says with a chuckle. "Now get out there and watch them love you."

And they do. The crowd absolutely adores them, and Sophia seems to enjoy the attention. She's waving and catching roses as the audience cheers: _"District Twelve! District Twelve!" _

Kurt's pretty sure that's never happened before, not once in the entire history of the tribute parades. District Twelve has always been the worst of the districts. Now… now they're the stars.

The chariots arrange in the City Circle and President Snow gives his speech, making Kurt's happiness immediately die out. He's reminded painfully of why he was here. He isn't here to have fun. These people aren't his friends.

He's here for one reason and one reason only: to keep Blaine safe.

* * *

After the parade, they're whisked away to the twelfth floor of the Training Center where they'll be living for the next few days.

Kurt heads to his room to take a shower and just _think_. He thinks about Blaine, about what he must be doing right now. He's probably watching the evening recap of the parade, and he's probably ecstatic that Twelve did well with the crowd because he knows it means more sponsors. And more sponsors will give him a better chance at survival.

After showering and getting dressed in a simple t-shirt and sweats, he joins the others at the dinner table. He sits between Sophia and Cooper and doesn't say anything as Effie starts rambling excitedly about how amazing they were. Kurt tunes it out, focusing on the wide array of food in front of him. He's never seen so much food in one place at one time. He wants to stuff himself, but he knows it'll make him sick if he does that. He's never eaten more than exactly what he needed to stay alive at the time, so he doesn't want to push himself.

Sophia doesn't seem to have the same concern. She's shoving food into her mouth like she hasn't eaten in days. And she probably hasn't.

"Why, I never!" Effie exclaims, her silverware clattering to her plate when she sees Sophia. "_Manners!" _she hisses, shaking her head.

"Leave her alone," Kurt says with a glare in her direction. "If you lived on tesserae and garbage can scraps, you wouldn't be thinking about _table manners_, either." He turns to Sophia and pats her shoulder, making her flinch away. He frowns sadly. "Sweetie, slow down. You're going to make yourself sick." As if on cue, she puts her arms around her stomach and squeezes her eyes shut. "See? Come on; I'll set up a warm bath for you, okay?"

She nods gratefully and follows him to his bedroom. "T-Thank you, Kurt," she says once they're there.

Kurt smiles kindly at her. "I don't mind. Just try not to eat so much at once. Your body isn't used to it." She nods and Kurt fills the tub with warm water before stepping out of the bathroom to give her some privacy. Closing the door, he goes back out to the dining room. He glares openly at Effie. "Could you at least _try _to be a decent person?"

She huffs, looking hurt, before storming off. Kurt rolls his eyes. He doesn't even feel bad, not really.

Once she's gone, Haymitch stands up, looking surprisingly sober. He shakes his head at Kurt. "She's… sensitive."

"So is Sophia," Kurt counters.

"Listen, Porcelain—"

"Kurt."

"Whatever. Cooper said that I need to sober up and help you win. But part of that deal is that you do exactly what I say when I say it. Is that clear?" Haymitch narrows his eyes and steps closer to Kurt. Kurt's relieved when he doesn't smell alcohol on his breath.

He nods, grumbling, "Crystal."

"Good. Now, you and I need to talk about strategy. Since the girl's going to die anyway…" He trails off, seeing the way Kurt flinches. He nods, understanding. "Sorry. But what I have to say to you won't apply to her either way, so have a seat."

Kurt sits down across from Haymitch and Cooper at the table, looking between the two men. Cooper was the first to speak. "We're having a tough time coming up with a marketing strategy. We want to make the sponsors love you even more than they already do after the tribute parade. We want them to be lining up to send you gifts in the arena. So we thought maybe you could play the sexy part." Kurt wrinkles his nose in distaste, making Cooper laugh softly. "Yeah, I figured. So I thought the sarcastic, funny, witty side of you could come in handy. So definitely use that to your advantage. But don't be snarky. Be funny. Be charming."

Kurt nods, relaxing a little. "I can do that. Anything else?"

Haymitch nods, continuing where Cooper left off. "Everybody knows you're the one who volunteered for your boyfriend. But you don't want their full-blown sympathy. You want just enough that they are rooting for love to prevail, but you don't want them to feel sorry for you. Just talk about how in love with Blaine you are. Talk about your promise to go home to him. Even talk about a planned wedding. They'll go crazy. Everybody loves a good love story. And everybody loves a happy ending."

Kurt isn't so sure he feels comfortable talking about his personal life with Blaine, but if that's what it takes to keep them both alive, then so be it. It's not like his life is private anymore anyways.

"Okay. I can do that. And Blaine and I have talked… about getting married. After this year we were going to, once we would be safe from the reapings." His eyes are sad as he says this and he looks down at his hands, pulling out his locket and looking at Blaine's picture. "I was going to propose tomorrow."

"See, that's the type of thing you should talk about," Cooper says, nodding sympathetically. "Make it all about your love story."

Kurt just nods, staying silent after that. He mumbles a quick, "Excuse me," before he's out of the room and back in his own quarters. He sees Sophia asleep on his bed, wearing pink night clothes, and he smiles softly. Already, he's grown quite fond of her. It makes him sad because he knows she doesn't stand a chance in the Games. In fact, she'll probably be one of the first to perish, if he's being honest with himself. She's too young, too gentle, and too tiny. He just hopes he can stay true to his promise to Sam and minimize her suffering when she does inevitably die.

He crawls into bed and drapes a warm blanket over Sophia's small frame. She instantly cuddles up to him when he settles down beside her. He smiles sadly and wraps his arm around her shoulders, closing his eyes and falling asleep.

* * *

The next day is their first training session. Here is where Kurt hopes to make at least one ally. Haymitch talked him into it and now he understands that he needs a trusted ally besides Sophia in order to win the Games. However, after a half hour of going from station, he doesn't meet anyone who seems trustworthy enough.

That is, until he meets Chandler. He seems like a nice guy, and he's good with spears as well as knives. That's where he meets him; the knife station. He doesn't pay any attention to the fact that Chandler is obviously flirting with him. He ignores it. He's head-over-heels in love with Blaine and that's not going to change any time soon, so he doesn't see how it's going to make a difference. He figures it'll be better for him in the long run. Maybe Chandler is the type to do anything in order to protect who he cares about. So if he cares about Kurt, then Kurt has a better chance at surviving.

It makes him sound like a horrible person, but all he cares about is getting home to Blaine. He can't afford to think of anything else; if he thinks of the fact that he might have to kill some of these people in the next week, he might completely lose his sanity. He won't get through this unless he keeps his mind set on his goal: Blaine.

He also keeps an eye on Sophia. She's good at climbing, he notices, and he sees her succeeding at the poisonous plants section. That'll come in handy, for sure. He's relieved that she's not completely helpless.

Kurt finds that he's pretty good with throwing knives, and he's even better with a sword. He's okay with a bow, but he doesn't think he could shoot it in a high-pressure situation to save his own life. Sophia helps him with learning to recognize the different poisonous plants and he teaches her how to make a fire.

By the end of the day, Kurt feels much better about his ability to _fight. _He isn't going into this blind. If someone comes at him, he can defend himself. He can stay alive. He can keep his promise to Blaine.

He's feeling hopeful when he returns to his room with Sophia. They talk for a while, about their different skills and their strategy plans for the arena.

"Chandler is the only one I've met who's trustworthy enough to be our ally. Everyone else seems too… _eager_. But he doesn't enjoy the fighting. He just wants to get home like us."

"I don't want to go home," Sophia admits and Kurt looks at her, confused and sad.

"Why?"

"I don't have a home to go back to," she shrugs. "You need to get home to your family. I know I'm not going to last long once we're out there, so I don't want you to protect me. If I'm dying, you save yourself if you can. Don't give up everything you have just to save me when I know I can't win."

Kurt sheds a few tears, sniffling and closing his eyes. "I'll make sure you're safe for as long as possible," he promises, because that's the most he can say.

Sophia smiles sadly and hugs him. He hugs her back and they stay like that for a while before it's time for dinner.

* * *

That night, Sophia excitedly dashes into his room. "Kurt, turn on the TV! You won't believe it. I don't think they've ever done this before."

Kurt, curious, flips on the TV, which is automatically programmed to play nothing other than recaps and live-action footage of the Games and the lead-up. He sees President Snow standing on his pedestal, making what seems to be an important announcement.

"And this year, we'd like to make a new addition. We will be checking up on the loved ones of the tributes, interviewing each one shortly. Stay tuned for word from your friends, family, and significant others."

Kurt is instantly sucked in, waiting eagerly for them to show Blaine. It's a long program because they show most of everyone's interview. Kurt doesn't pay much attention to the first twenty-something interviews, but he feels his heart pound when they show Blaine's handsome face on the screen. Then Kurt sees Blaine sitting on a stool across from an interviewer, smiling nervously.

"Blaine, is it?" Blaine nods politely. Kurt wishes he would say something because he just misses hearing his _voice_. He misses Blaine more than he could've ever imagined possible. "You're quite the charmer, Blaine. Tell me, is that how you won over the heart of your boyfriend?"

Blaine blushes and shrugs. "I guess. I mean, we were always friends. I don't really know what the turning point was when we realized there was something more beneath all of that." He gets that smile that he always has when he's thinking of happy memories, and Kurt's heart warms pleasantly. He's missed that smile.

The interview coos. "That's so romantic! So you two are completely in love, then?"

Blaine grins at that, absolutely adorable. "We are. He's everything to me. All I want is for him to come home to me. I'll never ask for anything ever again if I just have the chance to see him again."

"So how do you feel about the rumors that people are already lining up to pay for Kurt's affections? I'm sure it can't be a surprise, what with how handsome he is."

Blaine frowns and his eyes turn sad, concerned, horrified, and then desperate. He looks between the interviewer and the camera, looking directly into it as if he just knows that Kurt is watching. Kurt, for his part, is frozen in shock. He can't breathe. He just stares at Blaine as if he can offer some sort of comfort through the screen.

"I-I—"

And then he's cut off as the camera fades to the next interviewee. It's his dad. Kurt figures he can watch this later. Right now, he needs air.

He runs out of his room and down the hall until he finds the stairs going up. He dashes up them until he's standing on the roof, the wind chilling him to the bone. He keeps running until he's at the ledge, clinging to the stone railing and feeling sick.

_This can't be happening, _he thinks. He knows she said they were only rumors, but he can't help the panic rising in his chest at the thought of being sold off like a toy if he wins these Games. He knows this happened to Finnick Odair and several others in the history of the Games. President Snow sees someone who might be able to earn him more money that he doesn't need, and he sells them out against their will. And people pay them for their company, but it isn't enough to fill the emptiness they feel afterwards. Kurt doesn't want to feel like that. He only ever wants to be with Blaine. No one else has ever made him feel so safe and cared for; and he doubts anyone else ever will.

He hears the door creak open and he sees Haymitch when he turns around unsteadily. He keeps his face neutral until Haymitch is right in front of him, and then he collapses into Haymitch's outstretched arms, dissolving into tears.

_This can't be happening_.

* * *

**A/N: Woo, here's another chapter! Earlier than expected and just in time for me to go to bed now :)**

**Sorry for the cliffhanger. I'll have another chapter out sometime in the next week, I promise. Don't hate me. **

**Love you, my lovelies!**

**Review please :D **


	3. Hope Is More Dangerous Than Fear

Chapter 3: Hope Is More Dangerous Than Fear

* * *

"They're only rumors, Kurt," Haymitch says as he tries to console a terrified Kurt. "You know how they like to stir up drama in the interviews. That's all they care about. She couldn't have possibly known anything about that. Whatever she says means nothing. Just calm down, okay? They're not going to touch you."

Kurt knows this. He knows all about the drama that the Capitol people like to spread. Logically, he knows Haymitch is right and that interviewer was probably just trying to get a reaction out of Blaine for a good story. After hearing Haymitch confirm this, he's not quite so terrified. But he's afraid of what Blaine will do. He's worried that Blaine will believe the story and be even more scared for Kurt. He doesn't want Blaine to worry.

"I just wish I could tell Blaine that," he says, pulling out of Haymitch's hug because it's a bit awkward given that he doesn't know the man very well. He wipes his teary eyes and smiles shakily at Haymitch. "Thank you."

Haymitch nods. "Anytime, kid."

With that, he leaves, and Kurt is startled by his words. His dad always called him 'kid.' He knows that his father didn't every really know Haymitch, so it's probably completely unrelated, but it still makes his heart clench sadly. He's been thinking this whole time how much he missed Blaine and what Blaine was going through. He hasn't been thinking about his father.

It's this thought that prompts him to return to his room and continue watching the interviews because he knows his dad's is up next.

He stopped the recording before going upstairs, so he's able to watch it from where he left off. He's glad he doesn't have to see the terrified look in Blaine's eyes again.

His dad obviously doesn't know about what Blaine heard in his interview, because he doesn't look any worse off. Kurt knows he would see distress and anger in Burt's eyes if he were aware. But all he sees is a father missing his son.

"You're the tribute's father, correct?" It's a different interviewer. She doesn't sound at all enthusiastic, which Kurt is a little relieved to hear.

Burt frowns briefly, correcting her. "Kurt. His name's Kurt. And yes, I'm his dad."

"Right, of course. Let's move on." She's trying to muster up some excitement in her voice, but it's not much. "What did you tell your son when you two said goodbye?"

Burt clears his throat, hesitating before he answers. "I told him to fight," he says simply, with a determined glint in his eyes that Kurt knows is aimed at him. He wants Kurt to do whatever it takes to come home.

"That's all?" she sounds a bit intrigued now, because if there's one thing District 12 is good for, it's that they haven't all been dehumanized by the Games. The career districts have all been taught that it's a privilege to be reaped and an honor to win, but the people in Twelve know better.

Burt frowns at her. "What else is there? I just want my boy to come home. I don't care about these damn Games, I just I want my son back where he belongs. Are we done yet?"

"Of course," she says as the camera shows her give a small smile. They fade away with Burt shedding a single tear, which Kurt hasn't seen him do much since the year Elizabeth died.

By the end, Kurt is crying, too. He knows that he can't let his dad down. He can't leave him alone. Yes, Blaine would take care of him, but it's not enough. He can't bear to cause Burt so much pain when he's already had to face it once before. Wiping his puffy eyes, Kurt crawls under his covers and shuts his eyes tightly. He hardly notices when, a couple minutes later, Sophia crawls into bed with him and snuggles in close, thinking that he's asleep already.

* * *

After the interview, Blaine runs home as quickly as he can because he knows he'll burst into tears at any moment. The second he closes the front door and collapses against it, eyes shut tightly, he breaks down. He slides his back down the door until he's sitting on the floor, sobbing. How could they even consider doing something so awful to someone so amazing? How could they hurt Kurt after they'd already put him through too much? How could they be so cruel?

Blaine's not crying for himself; he's crying for Kurt. He's crying because the love of his life is about to fight to his death. He's crying because, if Kurt makes it out alive, he'll be sold off to various suitors to be used and tossed away like he doesn't matter. He's crying because he has no way of comforting his boyfriend; no way to hold him and tell him that everything will be alright; no way to make him feel safe. He's completely powerless.

Finally, Blaine decides that he needs to go somewhere to feel closer to Kurt. So he pulls his coat on and sneaks out around through the town and through the fence. He sprints until he's under the cover of the forest, unseen. Panting a bit, he makes his way through the trees until he comes to the clearing he'd gone to with Kurt just the other day. Funny, it feels like a lifetime ago that he'd last held Kurt in his arms.

He doesn't lie down at first, because he feels a bit overwhelmed in this spot that means so much to him and so much to _them_. It was their final moment of peace before everything was swept out from under them. Eventually, he decides to lie down on the colorful flowers, pulling a few and inhaling their scent. He closes his eyes and sighs, imagining that Kurt is there with him. He smiles a little.

After a while, he decides to take a swim, because it's a bit warmer than it has been lately. That's not to say that it's swimming weather, but Blaine doesn't really care. He just wants to numb the pain that seems to engulf his entire being.

He takes off his shirt and shivers a bit. At least the wind has died down. The water is freezing when he wades into it up to his waist and then his shoulders. He stays in for less than a minute, but it still feels nice to focus on something other than his heart breaking inside him. It's easier, less painful, to focus on the physical pain the cold brings.

Flinging his coat and shirt over his shoulder, he begins walking towards home. The voice in his head reminds him that it won't feel like home until Kurt has returned safe and unharmed.

He's still a little wet from his swim when he gets back to the fence, and just as he's slipping through the fence and into the district, he hears a loud, booming voice that says, "Stop!" He startles, turning around to face the voice. His heart races when he sees the Head Peacekeeper standing there, marching quickly towards him. He knows he's been caught now. He's known about the risk ever since he learned that he could cross the fence without being electrocuted, but he's never imagined actually getting caught. Now he doesn't have to imagine it. "You are in direct violation of the law, young man!" the Peacekeeper says angrily, reaching Blaine in a few long strides and grabbing him around the wrist. The action makes Blaine drop his coat and shirt and then he's being roughly dragged away. He doesn't want to think about where he's being taken, but he thinks he has a pretty good idea. Town Square.

He doesn't bother resisting because it'll only make things worse.

Before he knows it, he's being cuffed to a tall post in the middle of the Square, fighting tears because he knows what's coming. He's seen it being done to others in the district. He's even seen some killed by the harsh punishment. He hopes he isn't one of those people.

"Fifteen lashes for crossing district boundaries!" the Peacekeeper, Tauren, announces, flicking his whip a few times. "Five more for suspicion of past marks of the same offense!" he adds, making Blaine wince. He doesn't look around to see their faces, but he knows the crowd is full of shaking heads, people thinking _this is wrong. He's so young. This isn't fair. _He knows the people in the district care; they just don't care enough to speak up for fear of being next on the post.

The first lash comes without warning, and Blaine cries out in pain, still fighting tears as he grits his teeth. The next three happen in quick succession, sending a jolt of pain through him each time. The next one is harder than the last, making him fall limp before pulling himself up a bit. Each time, he cries out, grunting and whimpering between each mark the whip leaves on his back. They just keep coming and he loses count after nine, giving up on keeping his tears at bay. They stream down his face quickly with each scream of pain that falls from his lips.

He hears someone say, "That was twenty already. Poor boy." Tauren ignores whoever said it and just continues whipping past the said amount. He gets to twenty-six before another Peacekeeper steps in and stops the unreasonably angry man.

"He's had enough. Let him go," the man says, and Blaine chokes out a relieved sob that's also filled with pain.

Burt is by his side as soon as his cuffs are removed, helping him stand up and leading him to the Hob where he knows a talented healer. She uses herbs and other remedies to attend to medical needs in the district.

Blaine is still grunting and whimpering painfully as they lay him face down on a table and begin to work on his back. He feels a needle going into his back as they inject what he thinks is morphine. After that, he feels much better and less than a minute later he's asleep.

* * *

Miles away in the Capitol, just two hours later, Kurt finds himself wishing he could have been there to protect Blaine, or at least to make him feel better afterwards. Haymitch shows him footage of the whipping, letting him know what happened, and Kurt's heart shatters each time Blaine lets out an agonized scream. Haymitch also shows Kurt footage of the two of them sneaking past the fence, relaying the message that President Snow knows about their little getaway. The thought makes Kurt sick. That spot in the meadow is important to him in ways he can't explain. To have it taken away from him makes his heart ache, and not only for himself. He knows it means a lot to Blaine as well, like an escape from the damaged world they live in.

Kurt eventually has to turn away halfway through the whipping footage, but he can still hear Blaine's pained screams even if he can't see it happening. Out of mercy, Haymitch turns the screen off. "You better make it pretty darn obvious that you're head over heels for that boy if you want to make sure he's safe from now on. They won't hurt him if the crowd wants the love story. _Make _them want the love story."

Kurt gulps, nods, and takes a shaky breath. "I-I don't know how I can make it any more obvious than by volunteering for him…"

"Talk about him; tell the audience how you're going to win the Games for _him_. Like Cooper and I said, make your interview all about your love story. Tell them all about the missed chance at a proposal and how you'll do anything to get back to him." Kurt nods again. He shouldn't need to use his acting skills at all for that. He's pretty sure he wears his heart on his sleeve when it comes to loving Blaine. Everybody always knew it from the start except for Blaine. But he figured it out eventually.

"Okay," he says simply.

"Good. Now get some sleep. Tomorrow's your last day of training before your private session with the Gamemakers." Again, Kurt just nods before heading to his room and trying to get a good night's rest. As per usual since he arrived in the Capitol, he doesn't get much sleep.

The next morning, he eats breakfast and goes to the training session to practice making fires. He's waiting until the private session to show off his skills with knives and a sword. He also practices climbing because he figures it'll come in handy no matter what kind of arena they're put into. He keeps an eye on Sophia and on Chandler, making a final decision on whether or not he wants to be allies with Chandler in the arena. Sophia did say the decision was up to him, so he wants to choose wisely.

During lunch, they get called down for their private sessions. The tributes file out of the room district by district until only District 12 is left in the room. "Remember," he tells Sophia, a lump in his throat, "you just have to show them that you're not out of the running. Show them how you can climb and make fires and identify plants and berries. You'll do fine."

"You don't have to do that, but thank you," Sophia says with a smile. When they call her name, she hugs him and leaves the room. Kurt watches her go sadly. He doesn't think there'll ever be a day that he won't be angry at the Capitol for sending such a sweet, innocent girl into such brutality. Of all people, she deserves better. Kurt doesn't, by his own standards, given that he's already planning on killing half of these people. He just wants to get home to Blaine as quickly as possible. If he lets himself care about any of them, he won't make it out of the arena alive.

"Kurt Hummel," a monotone voice says through the speaker a minute later. That was fast, he notices. He wonders if something went wrong. He hopes not.

Taking a deep breath, he enters the room, nodding politely to the Gamemakers up on their balcony. He heads straight to the simulation area, pulling out a sword and a belt of knives. He starts up the simulation and starts attacking the faux enemies, switching between his sword and his throwing knives for the ones closer up and farther back.

He ducks and rolls, which he's been practicing over the past few days, as he avoids enemies and hits them, making them clatter to bits.

By the end of it, he's pretty proud of himself, breathing heavily and turning around to face the Gamemakers. What he sees on the balcony makes his temper flare immediately. One, maybe two of them even bothers to look his way. The rest are chatting and not sparing him a glance. His fists clench around his knife and sword and he stalks over until he's within throwing range. Readying a well-aimed knife, he lets it fly until it hits the wall next to one of their heads. A few gasps can be heard but mostly they just stare down at him in stunned silence.

"Hope you enjoyed the show," Kurt says sarcastically before walking confidently out of the room.

As soon as he gets back to the twelfth floor of the Training Center, he's bombarded with questions.

"How'd you do?" Effie asks excitedly. "Did they love you?"

"Did you make a good impression, kid?" Haymitch asks next.

Before Kurt can reply, Cooper asks, "Were you respectful? You don't want the Gamemakers to have anything against you."

Kurt sighs and shakes his head. "I did amazing." They all grin at him but everyone except Effie loses their enthusiasm because they can tell there's more. "But I don't think I made a good impression."

"Kurt, what did you do?" Effie asks with a dramatic gasp. Kurt rolls his eyes.

"It was _nothing_. They weren't watching so I got _mad _and I just threw it into the wall. It's not like it _hit _them or anything—"

"What did you throw?" Cooper asks while Haymitch is holding back laughter.

"A knife," Kurt mumbles, already heading towards his room.

Now Haymitch bursts out laughing, causing Effie to huff disdainfully and Cooper to rolls his eyes. "Kid, you're _brilliant_!" he exclaims. "I've wanted to do that since before my time in the Games. Way to go."

Kurt blushes self-consciously, shaking his head. "I'm going to my room."

"Expect a low score when they announce the results tonight!" Effie huffs as he walks away. He rolls his eyes as he closes the door behind him.

Once in the privacy of his own room, he takes the time to really let it sink in what he's just done. He decides to take a shower while he thinks. It's been a long day.

He knows it was a stupid thing to do, throwing that knife at the wall. But he wasn't throwing it at _them_. He just has impeccable aim. Still, now that he's cooled down he's getting worried. They can give him any score they choose, regardless of his ability level. If they give him a low score, he'll be seen as an easy target and the first person the Careers decide to go after. That'll also make it hard to make any allies, despite his budding alliance with Chandler.

It doesn't even cross his mind that the Gamemakers could do so much worse.

* * *

Usually, Blaine is not at all enthusiastic about the mandatory gathering in the square to watch the evening recaps. Every year, he and Kurt would stand in the very back and watch as little as possible. However, this year is different, because every second that he can see Kurt and know he's still alive is precious to Blaine. This year, he's the first person there besides the Mayor, staying as close to the stage—where the screen is suspended up in the air—as the restraining ropes will allow. He doesn't want to miss a second. Burt has to help him, though, because he's still in pain from the whipping. And the morphine makes him drowsy.

Even though tonight they're just showing short bits of footage from the third and final day of training before they reveal the tributes' scores, Blaine is eager. He wants to find out how well Kurt did so he can have a better idea of how good Kurt's chances are in the arena. If he gets a decent score, he'll pull in sponsors. If he gets a high score, Blaine will feel a little better about his ability to fight. He's never known Kurt to hurt anyone except for with cutting remarks. He knows from experience that Kurt is _strong_, but he's never been able to picture Kurt actually harming another person. He's too kind for that.

Sighing, Blaine pulls himself out of his thoughts. There's no use wondering about it. He'll find out soon enough.

The anthem and the seal of the Capitol signal that the recap is starting, and Blaine tunes in quickly. While they show footage of the training sessions, he scans for any glimpse of Kurt that he can. He wants to see what kind of survival skills Kurt has. He's able to see Kurt building a fire and climbing up various tree-like structures. He smiles. Those skills will come in handy no matter what kind of arena he's dropped into. Later on, he sees Kurt talking to a young girl, the girl from their district. They even briefly show him talking to another boy around their age who's nodding and smiling excitedly. He's making allies, Blaine realizes. That's good, Blaine tells himself, even though he has a sinking feeling in his gut when he looks at the boy—Chance? Connor? Chuck? He doesn't know—and he doesn't like the idea of Kurt teaming up with him. All he can do is hope for the best, though. Kurt is smart. He'll be smart about this.

Blaine continues to spot little glimpses of Kurt throughout the recap, and then they're cutting to the image of Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith. Blaine's dread comes to a climax as he sees the high scores of the Career tributes: tens, nines, and an eight. And they all look like fighters. They look ready to kill at a moment's notice.

Finally, District 12 is up and Blaine sighs sadly when he sees that the young girl, Sophia, receives only a five. Next up is Kurt, and they seem to draw the revealing out a bit too long. Then, beneath Kurt's picture and name, a flashing eleven appears and Blaine gasps, overwhelmed with relief.

"And a big surprise from our dear District Twelve!" Caesar says excitedly, looking to Claudius for agreement. They go on talking about how they wonder what Kurt's secret is, but Blaine is done listening. He's just so relieved. This means that Kurt stands a chance. He can fight. He can survive.

What he doesn't realize is that things just got a whole lot worse for Kurt.

* * *

**A/N: Yay, another chapter! I'm actually doing pretty well about keeping frequent updates for this, because it's easier to write than my other stories. I hope to have another chapter out of either Just Like An Angel or Blackbird sometime during Spring Break :) Don't give up on me now. **

**Love you, my lovelies! **

**Review please :)**


	4. Deal

Chapter 4: Deal

* * *

The next day is the day of the interviews. Kurt knows this, and he's as ready as he can possibly be as he makes his way through the hallway and towards the waiting room. He takes a seat next to Sophia on a plush couch and they watch the interviews of the other tributes while they wait their turn. The tributes from One, Two, Three, and Four are all charming enough, but the few that stand out to Kurt—he doesn't want any of them to stand out—are the boys from Two and Four and the girl from One.

The girl from One is pretty—she's gorgeous, actually—with her shiny brown hair and her shocking green eyes. She'd be intimidating enough with that striking combination, but then Kurt sees her teeth when she smiles. They're like fangs, as sharp as razors. Kurt has a feeling that she'll live up to her title as a Career.

The boy from Two is enormous. He can't be much shorter than six feet and his muscles are bulging out of his arms and shoulders. There is no doubt in Kurt's mind that he could squash Kurt or anyone else like a bug, and it terrifies him. He makes note to stay away from the boy, who scored a ten in his session, once they get to the arena.

And finally, the boy from Four. He's not particularly bulky or muscular, and he's not even noticeably handsome. There's just something in his eyes that sends shivers down Kurt's spine. Something cold. Something cruel and unforgiving. Kurt doesn't ever want to find out what caused that darkness, and he definitely never wants to be at the mercy of it.

Above all, though, because he promised himself, he doesn't let himself remember any of their names. If he does, he'll remember that they're all human beings. He'll remember that he has to kill in order to get back to Blaine. He'll remember that this is different than hunting rabbits with his dad when he was very young. He'll remember that this is his reality, so much worse than any nightmare.

When it's Sophia's turn to go up, he reaches out for her hand to offer reassurance. That's when he sees the cast on her arm. His heart drops and he looks at her questioningly, but she just shakes her head. "I'll tell you later. Don't worry about me."

Kurt holds her uninjured hand and squeezes gently, nodding. "Good luck out there. You'll do fine. They'll love you, I promise."

She doesn't look convinced, but she nods and forces a smile anyway before turning and walking out to meet Caesar, center stage.

Kurt sneaks out of the room and watches her from the side of the stage. Out of sight but still able to hear the interview.

"Sophia!" Caesar announces as she takes a seat in the swivel chair beside him. "Sweet Sophia, how are you tonight?" he asks kindly. Kurt would almost believe it were sincere if it weren't for where they were and why.

"I'm doing well, Caesar," she says with a shy smile. Kurt smiles widely. She's already pulling off the sweet and loveable "act" that Haymitch told her about—not that she needs to put on a show for people to love her, but she was told to crank it up a notch for the interview. Kurt's proud of her. He's hoping it'll earn her sponsors.

"That's all?" Caesar presses, humming curiously.

She shrugs. "Well, Caesar, I'm going into an arena full of people who want to kill me tomorrow. I think I'm doing as well as I can be at the moment." Kurt flinches at the words. She says them so nonchalantly, like it doesn't even matter that Kurt's going to lose her and it could be in the next twenty-four hours.

Caesar clicks his tongue sadly, leaning forward. "Well, I hope I speak for everyone when I say we're rooting for you, sweetheart."

She forces a smile but Kurt can see the way it falters. He watches in horror as she tenses up and looks out at the audience, as if reminded for the first time that they're there. She reaches blindly out to the side as if to steady herself. Then, in an instant, she's falling out of her chair, unconscious on the wood of the stage. Kurt gasps and wants to run to her, but he feels hands on his shoulders stopping him. Cooper.

"Cooper, I have to help her. What's going on?" he asks, panicking.

"Calm down, Kurt," Cooper says, spinning him around to make eye contact. "They'll take her to the hospital and she'll need you when she wakes up. She'll need you to be calm."

Kurt takes a few breaths before he's able to think somewhat clearly again. "What happened? Why did she pass out?"

"She had a panic attack," Cooper sighs, sadly. "I hate to be the one to say this, but it's your turn to go up."

Kurt's eyes widen. _"What?" _he demands. "I can't go out there. I have to go see Sophia. I have to make sure she's okay."

"No, you have to go out there and do the interview," Cooper says coolly, a warning in his eyes. "If you don't, Snow will make things worse for you _and _Sophia. You don't have a choice, I'm afraid." Then his expression softens and he pats Kurt's shoulder gently. "I'll go find Sophia, okay? She's going to be just fine. Now go."

Reluctantly, Kurt does as he's told. He winces at the bright lights of the stage before unsteadily taking his place in the chair beside Caesar.

"It's so good to finally meet you, Kurt," Caesar says, moving as if Sophia hadn't just passed out onstage. Kurt has to stop himself from glaring at the man. Heartless. They're all heartless in the Capitol. "So, I'm sure you've already seen your boyfriend's interview back in District Twelve," he says, prompting a discussion.

Kurt forces a smile that soon becomes easy. Thinking of Blaine always manages to calm him down and make him happy. He just has to focus on that to get through this interview. "Yes, I saw it. It was nice being able to see his face again. I… I really miss him," he says honestly, and the audience emits a chorus of 'aww's and 'ooh's.

"Oh, of course you do!" Caesar exclaims. "With a handsome fellow like that on your arm, I'm sure you want to spend every minute you can with him," he says with a wink.

Kurt blushes at the insinuation. Even if it's true. "Well, I do, but it isn't just about the outside or the physical. I'm in love with him. I always have been and I always will be." He smiles a bit dreamily. "That's why… I was going to propose the day after the reaping. But there were… complications, as I'm sure is obvious." He swallows nervously. Blaine would know about the ring now. They'd talked about it, of course, but to really go through with buying a ring—that was something different, something real.

Kurt misses Caesar's next question over the surprised and excited gasps from the crowd. "S-Sorry?"

The crowd laughs as Caesar does. "You two must really love each other," he says, growing serious.

Kurt nods earnestly. "He's my forever. I couldn't live without him, which is why I volunteered. I can't imagine my life without Blaine and I don't ever want to find out what it'd be like."

"Believe me when I say that I hope you don't have to," Caesar says with the first sincere smile of the night. Kurt's surprised by it, but not necessarily in a bad way. "I'm afraid that's all the time we have, folks!" he announces, and the sincerity is gone. "I'll be back with my good friend Claudius for the evening recaps—"

Kurt stops listening to him, remembering that he needs to get to Sophia. He waves before walking off the stage and then dashing towards the medical unit. As soon as he finds Sophia's room, he walks in quietly so as not to disturb his young friend.

"Has she woken up yet?" he asks Cooper, who shakes his head. Kurt sighs and takes a seat beside Sophia's bed, holding her uninjured hand. "What happened to her hand? She wouldn't tell me."

"She wasn't supposed to tell anyone. In her session, she was climbing the net course and she fell. She broke her wrist and got a concussion."

Kurt narrows his eyes. "That's why she passed out, isn't it?" Cooper nods. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I had to get you to your interview and I knew you wouldn't go if you knew it was serious," Cooper explains. To his credit, he at least looks guilty. "I'm sorry."

Kurt sighs. "What am I going to do?"

"I don't know if there's anything you _can _do."

They're silent for a while before Kurt speaks again. "I think I have an idea. I need to talk to President Snow."

"I—"

"Cooper," he says sharply. "It's important."

Cooper sighs. "I'll arrange it."

Kurt smiles. "Thank you."

* * *

That night, Kurt waits in his room. He was told that President Snow would meet him in there, so he just has to wait. A few minutes later, the door opens and Snow walks in. Kurt immediately tenses. He resists the urge to wrinkle his nose at the foul stench that now fills his room. Roses, blood, and too much perfume.

"Good evening, Mr. Hummel," the president says in an all-too-gentle tone that makes Kurt shiver. "Are you going to invite me to sit down?"

Kurt quickly apologizes before gesturing to one of the couches. Kurt sits on the other. "H-Hello, Mr. President."

The man smiles but it's much too cold to be called friendly. Kurt cringes internally. _This is a mistake_, he tells himself. But no, he has to do this for Sophia. He has to try. "I asked you to come here because—"

"I know why," Snow says. "You want to save that poor little girl from the arena." Kurt nods quickly. "Of course. Believe it or not, this isn't the first time I've been asked for a favor like this. The last time, it was Finnick Odair." Kurt tenses. He associates that name with… "And we both know how that ended for him."

Kurt gulps. Nods. "Y-Yes, sir."

"Are you prepared to offer the same kind of deal in return for the girl's safety, Kurt?" _No, no, no,_ Kurt wants to say. He wants to cry and scream and run away with Blaine and take Sophia with them, but he can't. He doesn't have a choice anymore. "Are you prepared to offer your, ah, _services_ for those who can pay the price?"

Kurt squeezes his eyes shut to block out the tears. After a moment, he opens them and meets Snow's eyes. With surprising confidence, he responds, "Yes. I'll do it. Just promise that Sophia will be safe. Promise that she won't have to go into the arena."

"My word is my honor, Mr. Hummel," he says with a sweet smile. Kurt doesn't trust that smile, not even a little bit, but he has no other choice if he wants to give Sophia the chance she deserves. His father will let her live in their home, he's sure of it. And Blaine will help provide for her. He'll make sure she's taken care of, no matter what.

"Wait," Kurt says before Snow can leave. The man turns to him, slowly, and tilts his head. "I-I need it in writing. I'll sell my fate in exchange for hers. All I ask is that she's kept out of the arena. I just… I need proof."

Snow laughs, amused and dark. "You don't trust me."

"And you don't trust me," Kurt counters.

"Fair point, young man."

"Won't this be easier for both of us if we just agree to trust each other's signatures rather than meaningless words?"

Snow smiles, almost impressed. "I think you're quite right. I'll have the contract sent to you in the morning with my own signature already signed."

Kurt deflates a little in relief. "Perfect. Goodbye, Mr. President."

"Goodbye, Kurt," the man says with an unreadable smile before leaving.

Kurt collapses on his bed, feeling better than he has in days. He may have just essentially sold his soul to the devil, but he was saving another soul that was perfectly innocent, perfectly pure. He was saving Sophia.

* * *

**A/N: Yay, another chapter! I'm impressed with myself, considering I've been bedridden for the past day and a half and I feel like the walking dead right now. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter :)**

**I know these chapters are shorter than what I usually write, but that's because I'm trying to keep it to a few major events per chapter. I think this counts as major ;)**

**Until next time! **

**Review please :)**


	5. Just Breathe

Chapter 5: Just Breathe

* * *

As promised, the next morning Kurt gets the contract sent to his room. But not before it gets to Haymitch.

"What is this, Kurt?" he demands, tossing the rolled up paper onto Kurt's bed. Kurt rubs his eyes sleepily and sits up before reading the paper. His eyes widen and he tries to explain but Haymitch doesn't let him. "Why would you agree to this, kid?"

"I had to do something," Kurt says tiredly, his forehead creasing in distress. "President Snow said it was the only way to save Sophia. Have you seen her? She has never been ready to go into the arena, but especially not now. She's sick and she's hurt. She'd die at the Cornucopia before I could even get to her. I can't let that happen."

Haymitch sighs sadly and sits on the edge of Kurt's bed. "I understand why you did it. I just wish there was another way. I'm proud of you, though. You're braver than I could ever be."

Kurt manages a small smile. "Thanks, Haymitch." Kurt leans in to hug Haymitch around his middle and the older man freezes up for a second before returning the gesture. Kurt sighs tiredly and Haymitch rubs his back.

"Come on, lie back down. You've still got five hours before you have to be ready to go in there. You can sleep for a little longer. You'll need it."

Kurt nods gratefully and crawls under the covers, falling to sleep quickly. He's exhausted.

Two hours later, Kurt wakes up again. He remembers to sign the contract and then Haymitch promises to get the document back to President Snow.

Time passes quickly and it feels like minutes before Kurt's standing in a small room with Cinna, waiting until he's told to stand on his platform.

Cinna doesn't ask if he's okay, or if he's ready. Those questions are pointless. Instead, he gives Kurt his locket from Blaine. Kurt smiles gratefully and put the precious item in his zipper pocket.

His clothing for the arena is a skin-tight wetsuit, so he can only assume that the arena has something to do with water. There's also a rubber covering on the back of his collar, which he isn't sure about. He has absolutely no idea what it is. Well, he'll find out soon enough.

"Tributes, take your places," a mechanical voice says through the speaker.

"Kurt, remember what your goal is," Cinna says, holding him by both shoulders. "Remember Blaine."

Kurt nods, blinking a few times to stop the tears. He refuses to cry. He won't cry in the arena. He won't cry until he's safe at home, wrapped in Blaine's arms. He won't cry until he knows that it's over.

"Tributes, take your places," the voice repeats. Kurt sighs and hugs Cinna tightly before shakily stepping up onto his platform. The tube closes around him and he feels like he's suffocating. He tries to take deep breaths, closing his eyes and counting. When he opens his eyes again, he can see the arena.

He looks around quickly and is relieved that he doesn't see Sophia anywhere. That means that Snow kept his word.

The next thing that Kurt notices is that everything is underwater. He looks up and he can't even see the surface. He startles when he feels his suit shift. The rubber covering that he wondered about slips off and an air helmet wraps itself around his head. It's not round and bulky like a space helmet; it's slim and it'll make navigating a bit easier, he thinks.

The countdown is down to thirty seconds. Kurt shakes his head and tries to focus. He looks around at the different items at the Cornucopia; backpacks—he'll go for one of those—and various weapons such as spears, tridents, daggers, and even miniature torpedo launchers. Kurt gulps. Those might come in handy, along with the trident. Kurt sees that the two weapons are side-by-side, and decides he's a fast enough swimmer that he can go for them. But the Careers are bound to be fast, too. What if he is too slow?

He starts wringing his hands together nervously and accidentally hits a button. He watches in surprise as the areas of his suit that cover his hands turn into swimming appendages, webbed and large. Smiling, he hits the button again and they turn normal again. Then he pushes the same button but on his ankle. He figures it'll be more useful for his feet to be webbed. That way he can grab things easily.

He looks around quickly again and sees that only a few people are figuring out the trick of the webbed hands and feet. He doesn't see any of the Careers figuring it out, though, and he smiles a little to himself. He might actually stand a chance.

He doesn't have much more time to think about that, though, because the countdown is at five seconds and he has to prepare to kick off the back of his tube. When the countdown reaches zero, one side of his tube opens up and he kicks off of the other to get a head start, swimming speedily towards the Cornucopia.

He grabs a backpack at the same time that another boy does, but as soon as the boy sees his face and recognizes him as the boy who scored an eleven, his eyes widen and he backs away. Happy to avoid conflict, Kurt slings the bag over his back and zooms toward his desired weapons. He manages to grab a trident easily, but he sees one of the Careers—the pretty girl from One—going for the torpedo gun.

She aims the gun at his head with an evil smile and Kurt panics. He jabs his trident forward and it sticks in her gut. She looks at him with wide eyes before dropping the gun and Kurt feels like he's going to be sick. She falls limp in a matter of seconds and he tries not to look as he grabs the gun and sticks it in the side pocket of his backpack.

Terrified of having to fight—and most likely kill—anyone else, he quickly swims away from the Cornucopia. He doesn't want to think about the death he just caused, even if it was in self-defense.

Kurt swims as fast as he can, downwards because he figures there will be a cave to hide in or something.

"Hey!" he hears a familiar voice say. He pauses, surprised because he didn't think they'd be able to talk to each other underwater, but then he realizes that he didn't actually hear him out loud. He heard the voice in his head. So they can all communicate telepathically? Interesting. "Hey, Kurt! It's me. Chandler!"

Kurt turns around just in time to see another tribute coming up behind Chandler. "Chandler, look out!" he thinks, hoping Chandler gets the message. He seems to hear him, because he turns around just enough to jam his sword into the girl's abdomen. Kurt sees Chandler wince and he knows he chose the right ally. At least for now. Chandler isn't heartless. He doesn't want to be here anymore than Kurt does.

"Follow me," Chandler tells him, mouthing the words as well. Kurt guesses he does it because it feels weird to talk to someone without actually talking. "I saw a cave down lower. It's hidden."

Kurt smiles and follows him, keeping an eye out for unwanted company as they swim lower and lower. He notices that Chandler doesn't have the webbed feet and he swims forward so he's side-by-side with Chandler. Once he has the boy's attention, he tells him, "There are buttons on your ankle and on your wrist. They'll help you swim faster."

Chandler smiles at him and bends to push the button on his ankle. "Thanks."

"Anytime."

They're silent after that and they reach the cave that Chandler mentioned, swimming inside. Chandler was right when he said it was hidden. Tall seaweed plants grow thick in front of the entrance that's just big enough for one person to get through at a time.

"So… allies?" Chandler asks as if it isn't obvious.

"Allies," Kurt confirms with a nod, subconsciously mouthing along with the words.

Chandler smiles at him and Kurt looks away. He knows that Chandler likes him and that's the only reason he wants to be allies, but he can ignore that. Kurt just wants some sort of company in the lonely arena that will be his playground for the coming days, maybe even weeks.

But he's not going to let himself get at all attached to Chandler. If he lets that happen, he won't be able to kill him if it comes down to it. If he has to choose between saving Chandler and going home to Blaine, he knows his choice. But that won't make killing him any easier if he lets himself be friends with the boy. He cares too much about his friends and he knows that. It's his fatal flaw.

"What's in your backpack?" Chandler asks, startling Kurt out of his thoughts.

"I don't know yet. Have you looked in yours?"

"No. But I only managed to get a small one after I had to fight for this sword."

Kurt doesn't ask if the fight ended in a death. It's implied that winner is synonymous with survivor.

"We'll look together, then."

And they do. Chandler opens his first and finds a knife, three bags of what looks like dried fruit—how will that help if they can't take off their masks to eat?—and a carton of fish bait. There's also a package of something that neither of them recognize. In Kurt's bag, there's also a knife, but there are ten bags of the dried fruit and another unknown package. There's also some more fish bait.

"Well, this would all be just great if we could actually put food in our mouths," Kurt says, frustrated. There has to be a way to eat, but he can't figure it out.

"We'll figure it out," Chandler says, putting a comforting hand on Kurt's shoulder. Kurt shies away from the touch. This is all wrong. Blaine should be the one to comfort him. Or his father, or Cooper, or _someone_. It shouldn't be some stranger who he's going to have to kill or let die in a matter of days. "Sorry," Chandler says.

"It's fine," Kurt responds even though it's not fine. He's not fine.

"What should we do?"

"Chandler," Kurt says shortly. The boy recoils slightly and Kurt sighs. "Sorry. Just… let me think, okay? I don't know what to do, either. I need to think of something."

He gets up and swims over to a quiet corner of the cave, wracking his brain for anything that might be helpful. Nothing that they learned in training prepared them for this. Kurt's good with his knives, but he can't throw knives underwater. He learned how to build a fire to cook raw meat, but that's useless as well. They didn't learn anything about underwater climates.

Curious and desperate, Kurt digs through his pile to find the unknown package. He studies it, looking for any helpful labels. He groans in frustration and tosses it in the pile again, frowning when the movement loses its dramatic effect due to the water. Everything is sluggish and he hates it.

"Kurt, look!" Chandler says, pointing over at the entrance of the cave. Kurt looks over and sees a bubble floating up, carrying something with it. "It's a care package. I think it's for you."

Kurt hurries over and snatches the package out of the bubble before it can float away. He retreats back to the safety of the hidden cave and opens the box. Inside is a circular contraption with a button in the middle. Curious, Kurt pushes the button. A hologram appears with a message.

_Give your air supply a break. There's a place in the neck of your helmet to put the substitute in. –Haymitch _

Kurt grins. "I knew you'd come through," he whispers, hoping Chandler won't hear. He looks up at his ally, who doesn't seem to have heard anything. That makes Kurt smile even more as he realizes that people only have to hear his thoughts in the arena if he wants them to.

"What is it?" Chandler asks.

"The package has some kind of air substitute. We just have to put it in our helmets like this." He demonstrates, opening the package and attaching it to the correct area, just below his left ear. Chandler follows his lead and both of their helmets open automatically. To Kurt's surprise, he can breathe normally.

A second part of the message pops up in the hologram.

_You have a total of 24 hours to use this. Just press the button on the other side of your helmet to pause it and use your air supply. But use the supply wisely. It'll run out sooner than you think. –Haymitch _

Kurt nods and pushes the button on the hologram to turn it off. "Thank you, Haymitch," he whispers for only himself to hear.

"Your mentor's a genius," Chandler says with a laugh. "I can't believe I'm breathing underwater."

Kurt laughs, shaking his head. "Okay. I suggest that we use this only when we need to eat. We only get a total of twenty-four hours to use it and I don't know how long we're going to be in here."

Chandler nods in agreement, his smile losing some of its glow as he's reminded of exactly why they're there in the first place. "Right."

"Let's eat," Kurt says with a smile.

* * *

**A/N: Wow, I'm actually updating multiple times a day this weekend. Apparently being sick is giving me inspiration and creativity. I mean, just the other day I was having these vivid hallucinations… and I'm not going to get into that. **

**Anyway, don't listen to my ramblings! You can if you want to; just don't judge me for them. **

**Until next time! **

**Review please :)**


	6. Silence

Chapter 6: Silence

* * *

One advantage of an underwater arena, Kurt thinks, is that there's no difference between night and day. The temperature doesn't change, the amount of light doesn't change, and it's basically an even playing field for the most part.

However, Kurt figures it must be close to night time because Chandler has fallen asleep after a few hours of sitting in their cave.

Kurt is close to dozing off when the sound of the Capitol anthem plays through his helmet, blurred by static. Kurt winces at the loud music and swims to the mouth of the cave. They're about to show how many of the twenty-four—well, twenty-three since Sophia is no longer in the Games—tributes died the first day. Kurt doesn't dare move the seaweed in front of the cave for fear of being spotted, but he can just see the Capitol seal through cracks in their camouflage. Enormous bubbles float up from the Cornucopia, showing the seal followed by the fallen tributes. Kurt counts them off in his head.

_One. _

There's the girl from District One that he killed. He's almost glad they don't show her name, because he doesn't want to know it, but he also hates the Capitol for it. If he died, he would be just another nameless face, only remembered by his closest loved ones.

_Two. Three. _

The girl from Two and the boy from Three are both dead. That means that the bulky boy from Two is still in the running—no surprise, but Kurt's heart drops a little at the fact.

_Four. Five. Six. Seven. _

Both from Six. The girl from Seven and the girl from Eight.

_Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. _

Both from Nine and both from Ten.

The anthem plays again and Kurt sighs, retreating back into the cave. Chandler's counter-part from Eight is dead. He wonders if they were close at all, or if they even knew each other's names. He hopes they weren't close. He doesn't want his ally to be upset, whether they're friends or not—which they aren't.

Kurt sits against the cave wall and takes out his locket, opening it up and touching the flower behind its plastic covering. He looks at the picture of his dad and then the one of Blaine, closing his eyes tightly to stop the tears. _No. You can't cry. Not here. _He closes the locket and encloses it tightly in his fist, holding it to his heart. _I promise I'll come home to you, Blaine_, he thinks, mouthing the words and hoping Blaine can see him on the television at that moment.

"What's that?" Chandler asks, and Kurt jumps a little.

"You scared me," he says. "I didn't know you were awake."

"Sorry," the other boy says. "Is that your token?"

Kurt nods, scooting away slightly. This locket is special, from Blaine just for him, and he doesn't want to show anyone. He doesn't want to open up. And he can't afford to, here especially. "My boyfriend gave it to me," he says, hoping that will get Chandler to drop the subject.

It doesn't.

"What is it?"

"I don't think that's any of your business," Kurt snaps.

Chandler backs away, hands up in surrender. "Sorry. Just trying to keep up a conversation."

Kurt frowns. "I don't want to talk. To you or anyone. We're allies but that doesn't mean we're friends."

Chandler looks hurt, and Kurt wants to feel bad about it but he doesn't. He can't let himself care about Chandler. The only thing he cares about is getting home to his dad and to Blaine. Nothing else matters at this point. He just has to survive.

"Fine," Chandler says shortly. "That's fine. You can go ahead and sleep and, uh, I'll take first watch. Goodnight, Kurt."

Chandler gets up and moves to sit by the entrance of the cave, back turned to Kurt. Kurt sighs and shakes his head.

He figures he might as well get some rest while he can.

Kurt falls asleep quickly and his peaceful sleep lasts for a few hours before his mind is tormenting him with nightmares.

He dreams of faceless men, all rich and arrogant, using him and then throwing him away after a pre-paid night. He dreams of Blaine's face when he heard about the rumors that Kurt was going to be sold in the Capitol. He dreams of Blaine, being the selfless person he is, trying to put an end to the deal Kurt made with Snow, only to be killed by Snow's police force. And worst of all, he dreams of what his life would be like without Blaine to light up his day and bring him the only joy he gets living in District Twelve. He dreams about losing Blaine, and it's too much.

He wakes up to Chandler shaking his shoulders, trying to get him to snap out of it. "Kurt! Kurt, wake up!"

"I'm awake," Kurt tells him, quickly backing away from the boy and curling in on himself. He reaches to grab his locket but realizes that it's still clutched in his hand. He opens the locket and stares at Blaine's picture, focusing on Blaine's smile that's frozen in time. It calms him, fills him with warmth, and he ignores the way Chandler is staring at him.

After a few minutes, Kurt fastens the locket around his wrist, double-looping it so it won't fall off.

"Get some rest, Chandler," he says. "I can't sleep anyway, so I'll take lookout duty."

"Okay," Chandler says before going to the opposite side of the cave and lying down.

Looking back at Chandler, he almost considers leaving the cave, leaving the alliance. He could take his bag and his trident and he'd find somewhere else to stay. Well, that last part he isn't so certain about. It's that little detail that overrides his desire to cut all ties and not risk making any friends in the arena. Allies are fine until you start caring about them. Once you start caring about them, there's nothing but pain if they die, especially if you have to be the one who kills them.

But he can't be certain that he'll find a safe place to hide if he leaves their little cave. And he doesn't want to be alone if he runs into the muscular boy from Two.

So he stays. He's afraid of not knowing, and so he stays.

The silence eats at Kurt's sanity for the next several hours. It gives him plenty of time to think about Blaine and what he must be thinking. He must be so scared; scared of losing Kurt, scared of what will happen to him if he does win. And his dad. His dad must be losing his mind not knowing if Kurt will survive the next hour, let alone the next night.

He also has time to think about the deal he made with Snow. He thinks about Sophia, wondering if she's truly being taken care of. Is she still in the Capitol with Haymitch and Cooper? Is she back in District 12 watching the games with Sam or Blaine or even alone? Is she wondering why she was spared of her fate that she'd been resigned to accept? Does she know that Kurt sold his soul to the devil in order to protect her?

Kurt hopes that he lives to find out. But that brings up thoughts of the other half of their agreement. If he does live, what will become of him? Snow owns him now, and he can sell him to the highest bidder or the most foul of men, whichever he chooses for his new toy. If the Games don't break him, long nights with strangers definitely could.

Then a horrible thought comes to mind. What if he doesn't get to return home to Blaine when this is all over? What if he's whisked off to the Capitol immediately after the Games to carry out his end of the bargain? What if he's never allowed to see Blaine again?

The thought tortures his mind and tears his heart in half and he can't help but let out a sudden sob. He turns on his air substitute for just a moment, taking off his helmet to wipe his eyes and bury his head in his hands. _Pull yourself together_, he scolds himself. _Stop. Crying. _

After a few minutes, he closes his helmet, feeling a little more composed now. He doesn't want anyone to see him at his most vulnerable. He doesn't want to be seen as weak.

But the possibility, however slight it may be, that this could all be for nothing—that, even if he wins, it won't matter after all—is enough to shatter most of what little hope he has left. It all feels so pointless. But he has to try. If there's even a chance that he can be with Blaine again, he _needs _to try. He promised that much before he left District 12.

_I _will _come home to you, Blaine. Even if I lose myself, you're not going to lose me. _

After hours of being left to his thoughts of helplessness, the Capitol anthem finally plays and he sticks his head out so he can see the Cornucopia.

Two more tributes have died. The girl from Four and the boy from Seven. That leaves ten, including Kurt and Chandler. Kurt's starting to think that he might be able to wait out this war until there are only a few people left. He might even be able to let them kill each other, and he wouldn't have to kill another innocent person.

He knows it's probably wishful thinking, but it's easier than swallowing the fact that he's going to have to kill another person at some point if he wants to get out of here alive.

* * *

Blaine only sees Kurt on the screen for a moment, but it's just the right moment. Kurt's holding his locket to his chest, to his heart, and mouthing the words _I promise I'll come home to you, Blaine. _

Blaine yearns to reach out and hold him, to kiss him and let him know that he got his message. He knows Kurt and he knows that Kurt needs to know that Blaine heard him, loud and clear.

After that, the cameras don't focus much on Kurt or his mysterious ally. Blaine watches, cringing, as a boy who is on his own is impaled by a spear of one of the Careers. He watches as one of the Careers, a girl, takes her mask off—the other members of the alliance practically held her at spear-point; she was their guinea pig. Apparently, they wanted to find out if there was any way to eat the dried fruit and then put the mask back on. (They're idiots, Blaine thinks.) The second she takes her mask off, the water has an instant effect. Her skin dries up, wrinkly and decayed, and she falls limp after a few seconds of suffocating.

After that, they show Kurt again and Blaine leans forward a little. He grins when he realizes what Kurt's doing. He put some kind of… air substitute in his helmet and he was able to open his helmet and eat the dried fruit in his backpack. Blaine realizes that the air substitute must also be some kind of protective shield from the water, because the water is obviously toxic to the touch. The girl from Four is a cautionary tale.

Blaine is beyond grateful that Kurt figured it out. He doesn't want to think about Kurt ending up like the girl in the Career pack whose name he doesn't remember.

Blaine's attention is lost after that. The camera switches between groups of allies and Blaine leans forward every time they show Kurt, but nothing exciting happens.

Well, not until later, at least. The cameras focus on Kurt again and Blaine doesn't think much of it until it goes to split screen, showing another tribute with a miniature torpedo gun. Once Blaine catches on, he gasps, leaning forward with wide eyes and a racing heart. _No. No. It can't end here. _

Kurt is sitting by the mouth of the cave, concealed by seaweed. At least, he _thinks _he's concealed. He seems to hear something and he reaches out to grab his trident, looking around.

That's when the other tribute, a girl, fires a torpedo straight at Kurt. It hits the wall next to him, but it hits close enough that the impact renders him unconscious, falling to the seafloor with his trident in his hand.

* * *

**A/N: Ah, I'm mean. I know. And, unfortunately, I probably won't be able to write again until next weekend because I've missed the past four days of school and I have a lot to catch up on. Sucks being sick! **

**Until next time, friends! :)**

**Review please :D **


	7. Anything For Love

Chapter 7: Anything For Love

* * *

Blaine doesn't even realize he's crying until he feels Burt pull him into a side hug. He leans into the embrace gratefully and keeps his eyes fixed on the screen.

He watches as Kurt's ally darts out of the cave and rushes to his aid. Blaine is actually glad for once that Kurt has this boy as an ally. Then Kurt's eyes open slowly and Blaine isn't sure why but he's grateful for it. Chandler—he thinks that's his name—grabs Kurt's hand and helps him up, pointing at the girl with the torpedo gun who is swimming towards them. She hasn't figured out how to make the artificial webbed feet so she's slow-approaching, but approaching nonetheless.

Blaine sees Kurt's shocked face and he has a sinking feeling that he knows what that means. Kurt isn't going to kill her. He doesn't want to do it; he's afraid to. But if he doesn't… well, Blaine doesn't want to think about it. But Kurt's not moving. Not even bringing his weapon up from where it's resting down by his hip.

_No, no, no! _Blaine screams internally. _Kurt, snap out of it! I need you to come home to me! _

"Please, Kurt," he whispers, terrified. "Please don't give up…"

* * *

Kurt sees the girl just before he feels the blast of the torpedo. He's knocked from his perch at the mouth of the cave, falling slowly through the water. He isn't unconscious, just in shock from the blast. He hits the ground and groans a little, unable to move though he doesn't know why.

"Kurt! Kurt!"

Kurt hears the voice in his mind and for a moment he thinks he's hearing Blaine's voice. He hopes foolishly that he's finally waking up from this terrible nightmare; that he'll open his eyes and he'll be lying in Blaine's bed, warm and secure next to the love of his life.

But it isn't Blaine, Kurt realizes as the voice actually registers in his mind. It's Chandler. He finally blinks his eyes open and sees Chandler rushing towards him. He must have awoken when the torpedo hit the cave. Then Chandler grabs his hand and helps him regain his bearings. He's a little disoriented but he can think more clearly now.

That's until he sees the girl who fired the torpedo, swimming towards them. She's swimming slowly—she must not know about the button on her ankle—but Kurt is focused on her eyes. She has dark brown eyes and black hair and she's glaring viciously at him. He feels frozen. His eyes widen and his entire body tenses. He can't move. His trident is at his side and he knows he can't lift it to kill this girl. He's going to die and he's never going to see Blaine again…

"Kurt!" Chandler warns him, pointing at the tribute. Kurt still doesn't move.

_I can't kill her. I can't kill her. _

Chandler either gets the message or he decides that the girl is too close for comfort. He fumbles for a minute before grabbing the torpedo gun from his pocket—he took it from Kurt's bag when he went to help Kurt, just in case. Then he aims the gun at her and fires. It isn't a direct hit, but it bounces off her helmet just enough to crack the glass. The girl stops, beginning to panic as her helmet fills with water. She starts choking, though, before the water even reaches her mouth, and her skin dries up until she falls limp and sinks to the sea floor.

Kurt stands there for a moment longer, stock still, until Chandler taps his shoulder. He looks over at his ally to see his worried expression. "You okay?"

Kurt shakes his head, trying to clear away the fog in his mind. "Yeah," he replies. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Chandler eyes him skeptically but lets it slide. "We need to find a new place to hide out. They must know where we are now."

"Agreed," Kurt says. "Let's just gather our stuff quickly and hope the Careers don't spot us."

So they shove all of their supplies back in their backpacks and grab their weapons before swimming out of the cave. They look around cautiously and see nothing, so they decide to swim out a little further.

Just then, Kurt sees something swimming around the seaweed near the bottom of the sea. He taps Chandler's shoulder and points down at it. "What is that?"

Chandler looks at it, gasping. "It's a muttation. It's some kind of giant eel, but it's charged with electricity." That's when the muttation jerks its head up and spots them. It opens its mouth and it has teeth like a shark. "Kurt, go! _Go!" _Chandler shouts, pushing Kurt towards their cave. Kurt nods a little and starts swimming as fast as he can. He doesn't dare look behind him but he is pretty sure the mutt is following them. Once he reaches the cave mouth he risks a look back at Chandler and sees that he's fighting off the eel with his sword, but the blade is snapped in half.

"Chandler!" Kurt cries.

"Just get in the cave, Kurt!" he orders, whacking the eel in the eye with his sword. That earns him enough time to start swimming towards the cave, but it also made the mutt angrier.

Kurt stays by the mouth of the cave, wanting to wait for his ally. His heart pounds as he watches Chandler swim as fast as he possibly can. As soon as Chandler reaches him, he starts shoving Kurt inside the cave. _"__Kurt! _Get in the cave unless you have a death wish!"

Kurt realizes, then, that only one of them can fit and the eel is too close. They don't have time. He realizes that Chandler is saving his life.

Chandler shoves him into the cave at the last second and then he's screaming in pain as the eel's teeth sink into his leg. Kurt can't hear the screams, but he can see the anguished look on his face. He wants to look away but he can't. And he can't move to do anything to save his ally, either. They aren't friends, not really, but Kurt hates to see it anyway. The boy did just save his life, after all.

He watches in horror as the eel rips Chandler to pieces, leaving him barely recognizable. He feels a lump in his throat, guilt creeping up. He should have done something. He should have just _moved_. But he was too shocked to do much of anything.

Then it hits him that he's on his own now. It's almost a relief that he now doesn't have to worry about eventually betraying his only ally, but mostly he's terrified. If he's counted correct, there are now eight people left including him, assuming no more people have died today besides Chandler and that girl with the torpedoes. That leaves him against seven people, and at least half of those people are Careers.

It's extremely disheartening to think about, but right now he needs to focus on finding a new place to hide. The cave has been discovered and he can't risk being ambushed. So he slings his backpack over his shoulders and slips carefully out of the cave. He decides he'll stay by the outside wall of the arena (it's a circle, he's noticed) so he's not as likely to be spotted.

Carefully, he swims along the wall, searching for a cave or a hidden corner or _something_. He needs to be quick. He needs to find someplace hidden before the Careers or anyone else finds him and kills him…

"Hello, there," a voice says from behind him and he freezes, eyes widening. He turns around and sees a pretty blonde girl smiling at him. He can't tell if it's a genuinely kind smile or a deceiving smile. Before he can really make a conscious decision, he turns around and swims as fast as he can away from her. But he swims directly into another person, a boy this time. The boy has a matching smile to the girl's and Kurt's heart is racing unevenly.

"P-Please don't kill me," he says, because he doesn't want to fight these people until he absolutely has to. "I-I just want to find a safe place to hide."

"You can hide with us if you want," the boy says, looking him over carefully. Then the girl suddenly appears in front of him as well.

"Yeah, I don't see why not," she says. "You seem nice enough."

"I-I… You mean you aren't going to hurt me?" he asks skeptically. "W-Why?"

The girl laughs, not unkindly. "Because you've got a boy back home who needs you and I know what it feels like to be in love," she says. "Do you want to stay with us or not?"

Hesitantly, Kurt nods, dropping his trident to his side. He didn't realize he was been holding it up in front of him, gripping it until his knuckles turned white.

"Sorry for scaring you," the boy says as Kurt starts following them to wherever they're going. "Didn't think you'd be so jumpy after scoring an eleven in training."

Kurt sighs. "I think anyone would be a little jumpy after seeing their ally ripped to shreds by a mutt."

The boy pauses, looking back at him apologetically. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

Soon enough, the reach a part of the arena that's on the seafloor, right by the wall. It's covered by a rock that curves up and over the area, blocking them from view. And the entrance is covered by a pile of rocks that the girl and boy must have put there. Kurt realizes that he still doesn't know their names. They probably know his, though, if they remember his score in training.

"So, what's your name?" the girl asks.

Maybe not.

"Kurt," he replies quietly.

She smiles. "Quinn. And this is Puck. Well, Noah, but everyone calls him Puck."

"Nice to meet you," Kurt mumbles, moving to quiet corner of the cave once they get inside. He decides to keep his backpack on his back. He still doesn't entirely trust these people. He doesn't trust anyone in this arena. In fact, the little bit of trust he has left in this world is confined to a group of about six people.

He sits in the corner and sorts through the provisions he has left in his bag. It's a good thing he had the bigger bag so that his is the one with more provisions than Chandler's. He still feels guilt clawing at his insides when he thinks about the boy.

In his bag, he finds six packets of dried fruit and the other packet of substitute air—he's glad it wouldn't fit in Chandler's bag because it might come in handy soon. The knife and other packets of fruit had gone in Chandler's small backpack. He glances over at Puck and Quinn, who are sitting and talking to each other with obvious smiles on their faces. Kurt wonders if they've figured out how to use the substitute air. They probably have, because they can't have gone this long in the arena without eating, not being as well off as they are. Still, Kurt thinks it's a good idea to keep his small discovery to himself, just in case.

Next, he looks at his locket again. With new allies and new guilt, he needs to remind himself why he's here. Why he volunteered, why he can't afford to make friends, why he needs to get home—all of it leads back to Blaine. Blaine is his anchor, even when they're miles away with no way to contact each other. Blaine has always been a constant in his life, keeping him sane and optimistic. Blaine's the one who always told him that they'd get married after their last reaping; he always believed it, no matter how many times Kurt expressed his worries that one of them would be chosen. Now, he can imagine that Blaine isn't so sure. He knows Blaine must be terrified, not knowing if Kurt will survive the hour, especially with these questionable allies.

With shaking hands, he opens the locket, rubbing the pad of his thumb over the flower petal. He remembers the day Blaine brought him the bouquet, confessing his feelings. He remembers sitting in the meadow with Blaine and smiling shyly as Blaine stuck a yellow flower in his hair. He smiles at the memory, closing the locket and holding Blaine's gift close to his heart.

Once his mind's eye is refocused on the goal, he wraps the locket's chain around his wrist again and nods to himself. _I'm going home. No matter what it takes, I'm going home. _

"Is that from your boyfriend?" Quinn asks, startling him. He looks over at her as she sits beside him, tensing a little. When she notices, she scoots away slightly. "Sorry… I just noticed you smiling at it and I was curious. Your boyfriend gave it to you, right?"

Kurt nods, looking down at the locket where it rests against his wrist. "Yeah. He… gave it to me before I left. He said it should be my one token in the arena… And I'm glad I brought it. So far, it's the only thing keeping me grounded in this place."

She nods. "I know what you mean. If I didn't have Puck in here with me, I don't know what I'd do. It's scary in here but it's not so scary when we have a plan."

Kurt looks at her, curious. "What is that plan? If you don't mind me asking, I mean."

She just smiles sadly at him. "Remember when I told you that I know what it feels like to be in love? Well, I know you know it, too. Don't you think you'd do anything if it meant being with him? Wouldn't you rather die than never be with him again?" Kurt doesn't even hesitate before nodding. "Well, Puck and I feel the same way. If both of us can't get out alive, neither of us wants to. We're not going to waste our time killing if we both know we're going to die at some point."

Kurt wonders for a moment if he can really trust that she's telling the truth. Eventually, he decides that she's far too sincere to be lying. And he knows how she feels. If he and Blaine had somehow both ended up in the arena, he wouldn't have wanted to survive if it meant Blaine dying. And he knows Blaine would feel the same. To be honest, they'd probably be doing the same thing that Quinn and Puck are doing; not exactly trying to be killed but not fighting, either.

For the first time, Kurt feels like he can truly trust his allies.

* * *

**A/N: Oh, lookie, I updated! And I hate to kill off Chandler so brutally, but it had to be done somehow and I always imagined Chandler sacrificing himself for Kurt in some way because he's very much infatuated with Kurt. **

**Anyway, let's see how things go with Quinn and Puck as allies ;)**

**Until next time! **

**Review please! :D**


	8. Slipping Through My Fingers

Chapter 8: Slipping Through My Fingers

* * *

Most of the time, Kurt's grateful for the fact that the arena is underwater, rendering everyone silent except for their telepathic conversations. So far, it's been to his advantage that other tributes can't hear him unless he wants them to. And it still is, at least with the tributes. But he sometimes wishes he could speak out loud so that Blaine could hear him. He wants Blaine to know everything he has to say before it's too late. He knows Blaine is watching, but he also knows that he can't hear him.

Sometimes the thought makes him feel so small and helpless that he thinks there's no way he'll make it out of the arena alive.

Kurt sits in his little corner of their cave, watching Quinn and Puck speak quietly to each other. Puck wraps his arm around Quinn and his smile is surprisingly soft as he looks at her. Kurt smiles at the sight. He knows they don't plan on leaving the arena alive, so he's glad that they can at least be happy together before they both are killed. The Games haven't taken everything from them, not yet. They still have each other.

It's a few minutes later that Kurt feels a tap on his shoulder and he startles a little. He looks to his left and sees Quinn, relaxing once he sees her kind smile. He gestures for her to sit down and she sinks down next to him, staying silent for a few moments before speaking up.

"I'm sorry."

He looks at her, confused. "For what?"

"It must be hard seeing us together when you can't be with your boyfriend," she explains softly. "I'm just sorry that this happened to you. You don't deserve it."

"Neither do you," Kurt shrugs. "None of us do, though. No one deserves this type of cruelty, even if they've been brainwashed to the point of _wanting _to fight to the death in this awful place. But even the kindest of people can become cruel in here. It can break someone; can even make them into a new person. Even if you win…" he pauses, shaking his head and looking down at his locket. "I don't think it ever truly leaves a person. I know I'll never forget how Chandler…" he trails off, not wanting to say it. Chandler wasn't even his friend and yet his death has had such a deep effect on Kurt. "I'm sorry. I'm rambling."

"No, it's okay," Quinn says. "I know what you mean. We aren't just fighting other people in here, we're fighting with ourselves. I'm barely keeping my sanity in here, and only because I have Puck." She goes quiet for a moment, studying Kurt's face before putting a hand on his shoulder. "I hope you know that you have us, too. You aren't alone in here."

He nods a little and she pulls him into a hug, catching him off guard. He startles a little before reciprocating, letting himself be held. It's been too long since he's had a real hug and he needs it. He buries his face in her neck for a few moments before Puck clears his throat above them and they pull apart. Quinn and Puck share a look and Quinn nods, hugging Kurt quickly before getting up. "I'm going to take first watch," she says. "You two can get some rest. I know you both need it."

Puck looks uncomfortable with the idea of putting Quinn in any potential danger, but he nods in agreement. Kurt knows how he feels. He knows he wouldn't want to let Blaine keep watch because it would mean him potentially getting hurt or worse. But he also knows that Blaine would do it anyway, just like Quinn is doing.

Kurt lies down, using his backpack as a pillow. He looks over in surprise when Puck speaks up. "Out of everyone in here, you deserve to win," he says sincerely. "I know Quinn and I aren't going to win, and everyone else in here is only in it for the fame. The careers all volunteered because they want to fight and the guy from Ten is an arrogant brat. You're the only person who is fighting for someone else."

Kurt stares at him, shocked. He smiles a little. "I… Thanks, Puck. For what it's worth, you and Quinn deserve it as well. But I understand why you don't want to win without each other."

Puck smiles sadly before his eyes become guarded again and he shakes his head. "We're going to make sure you win this thing, Kurt."

Kurt doesn't know what to say, so he just nods and closes his eyes, hoping to get some sleep…

He wakes up to a scream for help. He doesn't remember falling asleep and he doesn't know how long he slept, but he knows that he needs to get up now. His eyes snap open and he sits up to see that Puck is already rushing towards Quinn to help her. Kurt's eyes widen when he sees why she's screaming. The dark-haired, green-eyed boy from District 10 has pinned her to the ground and she's barely keeping his knife away from her neck as he pushes it closer.

Fumbling, Kurt grabs his trident, swimming quickly towards the others to try and help. He thinks he actually remembers this tribute. He stood out in the interviews with his cocky smirk and arrogant attitude. That coupled with his score of ten in training makes him memorable, to say the least. If Kurt remembers correctly, his name is Sebastian. And he's vicious. And he's also trying to kill Quinn at the moment.

Kurt watches in horror as another electric eel appears, just like the one that killed Chandler, and distracts Puck before he can get Sebastian off of Quinn. Puck has a sword and he is barely managing to fend off the deadly creature. Kurt has a sinking feeling in his gut that this will be the end.

Once the shock of the situation wears off, Kurt swims in closer and tries to pry Sebastian off of Quinn. But Sebastian seems to see him coming and he reaches out with his knife, slashing a few times and catching Kurt's leg. Kurt grunts in pain, gritting his teeth to keep from crying out. He charges Sebastian again but the boy sends a hard kick to Kurt's stomach and sends him flying into the cave wall, causing him to drop his trident. He groans and tries to catch his breath enough to be of any help. "Quinn!" he gasps when he sees her hands slip where she's pushing Sebastian's knife away from her. The knife jabs into her shoulder and she screams. Kurt knows he has to help her, because Puck is still distracted by the eel, but he can't seem to get close enough to do anything.

Grabbing his trident tightly in one hand, he swims over to Sebastian who is now strangling Quinn with one hand and holding a knife in the other. Now that Quinn only has one good arm to defend herself, she looks terrified. Kurt needs to save her. He can't let her die, not like this. "Get off of her!" he shouts before swimming forward with his trident outstretched. But Sebastian dodges the trident and stabs his knife into Kurt's calf before grabbing another one from his belt and slitting Quinn's throat before Quinn can even make a move to hold him back. Kurt screams as she falls limp against the stone ground, dead. "_QUINN!" _

Kurt pulls the knife out of his leg with a pained cry just in time to stab Sebastian in the shoulder when he suddenly pins Kurt to the ground in the same way he trapped Quinn. It takes all of Kurt's strength to keep the tip of Sebastian's knife away from his body. His blood runs cold as he realizes that Blaine must be watching this, terrified. _No! _He scolds himself. _Blaine isn't going to watch you die. You aren't going to die. _

He manages to cut Sebastian's upper arm with the blade but Sebastian just laughs, eyes dark and manic. Kurt gulps. "You may have scored an eleven, but you're _weak _now. And I'm going to kill you."

Kurt gasps as Sebastian pins his hands down with his knees and raises the knife high up, ready to bring it down into Kurt's chest. Tears fall down the sides of Kurt's face as he prepares for death. He closes his eyes, hoping it will be over quickly…

He doesn't feel the blade piercing his skin like he expects. Instead, he feels the weight of Sebastian being lifted from his body, allowing him to breathe. He sits up and realizes that Puck must have killed the eel and that he just drove his sword through Sebastian's chest, saving Kurt's life. Kurt watches as Sebastian falls limp to the floor, his eyes blank.

"Are you okay?" Puck asks Kurt, kneeling down beside him and putting a hand on his shoulder. Kurt nods shakily, glancing over at Quinn. Puck follows his line of sight and his eyes widen, heartbreak washing over his features. He swims over to her and pulls her limp body into his arms, tears streaming down his face as he holds her against his chest. "I'm sorry," he cries and Kurt has to turn away. "I'm so sorry, Quinn…"

After spending a few minutes crying over her, he sits up a little straighter and his eyes light up with a new determination and obvious anger. He reluctantly lets her go when the Capital submarine—they usually have hovercrafts but it's a submarine this year since they're underwater—comes to take her body back to District 5. He kneels in that spot for a moment, his hands clenching into fists, before he gets up and swims over to Kurt. "Puck, are you—"

"I'm fine," he says, shaking his head. "She wanted to be the first to go… I just thought I'd have more time to accept it, you know? She just wanted to protect me, and then you once you joined us. The only reason she ever fought back was so that she could protect us."

Kurt nods. "She really was too good for this place…"

"It's so unfair," Puck whispers, sinking to the ground and burying his face in his hands.

"Nothing about this life is fair. Nothing has been fair since the rebels lost the war. But it's all we have." Kurt pauses, staring at Puck for a moment before continuing. "So, what are we going to do now?"

Puck looks up at him finally, his tone and eyes serious. "I'm going to make sure that you get out of here alive."

Kurt nods, though he can't help but feel guilty. He knows that Puck wants to die anyway, especially now that Quinn is gone, but that doesn't mean it's going to hurt any less when his only true friend in the arena dies eventually. He knows that he was right to trust Puck and Quinn and, even though he hates the idea of Puck dying on his behalf, he's still grateful. And he's hopeful. For the first time, he's actually confident that he can make it back to Blaine alive. He knows that Puck won't let him down.

"Okay. Are we going to stay here or would it be safer to find somewhere else?"

Before Puck can answer, they hear the Capitol anthem and they both swim to the mouth of the cave, watching the Cornucopia to see who has died today. Kurt knows of at least four, but he doesn't know if anyone else was killed. He watches in surprise as the boys from One and Two are both shown. The boy from Two is one Kurt recognizes; he's the muscular, terrifying one that Kurt noticed in the interviews. Kurt gulps. If _he _was killed…

He notices that the wild-eyed boy from Four doesn't appear among the deceased, and a lump forms in his throat. He must have been the one to kill the boy from Two, and maybe even the guy from One. Kurt's terrified that he'll be next.

Next, they show Quinn's face and it displays her district beneath her—she's from District 5. Kurt has to fight tears and he notices that Puck doesn't bother to hide his own emotions, though he doesn't comment on it.

The next face to appear is Chandler's, and Kurt doesn't realize that he's crying until he feels Puck's hand on his shoulder, a comforting gesture. He smiles gratefully and leans his head on Puck's shoulder.

Next, it shows the two from District 10. The girl is the same one who tried to kill him with a torpedo gun and the boy is the same one who killed Quinn. Kurt doesn't cry about those two.

Six people died today, and two of them were Careers. That leaves four people total. Kurt, Puck, the girl from Three, and the boy from Four.

"Four left," Puck says, coming to the same conclusion. "I have a feeling the Gamemakers are going to get involved tomorrow if no one makes a move."

Kurt nods. "That means that we either have to be prepared for an attack, or we need to be the ones to attack."

"I say we wait it out," Puck says. "The guy from Four is a psycho. He'll come to us."

"I think you're right," Kurt says, nodding again. "I'll take first watch—"

"No," Puck says seriously. He picks up his sword and urges Kurt to lie down. "I can't let that—you need to be safe. Quinn insisted and she…" he trails off, squeezing his eyes shut for a moment. When he opens them, he stares at Kurt with a look that means there will be no arguing. "Get some rest."

Kurt nods silently and swims to the back of the cave, lying down with his backpack as a pillow again. He holds his trident firmly in his hand just in case, closing his eyes and falling asleep quickly. He's exhausted.

He dreams of Blaine at first. He sees Blaine's smile. He sees his eyes lighting up as they walk towards each other. Then he sees Blaine's expression change into something darker, filled with hurt and fear. Kurt turns around to see what Blaine is looking at and he sees the faceless man from his nightmares, the one who represents the darkness he has sealed his fate into. He gasps and turns around to run back to Blaine but his boyfriend is gone. Kurt stops in his tracks and spins around to see the dark figure looming over him, wrapping him in darkness and consuming him completely. He screams as he's overcome by the endless darkness…

Suddenly he's being shoved forward and he startles, turning around to see that the dark figure has transformed into Chandler. "Go, Kurt, get in the cave!" he shouts. "Go!"

Kurt's frozen with fear as he sees the eel tearing Chandler apart. He only moves when he notices Chandler's face morphing into someone new… someone familiar… Blaine! _"__No!" _Kurt screams, darting forward. But he's too slow. He's too slow, too weak to save Blaine. _"__Blaine! Blaine, no!" _he cries over and over again. _"__Blaine!" _

Suddenly he wakes up, feeling Puck shaking his shoulders. "Kurt, wake up! We have to move! _Now!" _

Kurt sits up, slinging his backpack over his shoulders and gripping his trident. He follows Puck, only realizing a few seconds later that the walls of their cave are closing in. He gasps, swimming faster. "Puck! What's happening?"

"The Gamemakers are forcing us out of our hiding spots. They want everyone to be out in the open." Puck grabs his hand and pulls him forward just in time to avoid being smashed by the cave. Kurt pants for a moment, catching his breath, before thanking Puck.

"We should eat while we can. If we're going to have to fight, we need to be at our strongest."

Puck nods and Kurt takes some of the dried fruit out of his bag as well as some of the substitute air, offering it to Puck. He seems to know what it is and he puts it into his suit before opening the helmet. Kurt turns on his substitute air and opens his helmet as well, picking up the fruit and eating a few pieces. He gives Puck a packet of fruit as well, and they decide to each eat a whole packet. They have quite a few left, and the games are almost over. They'll get by. They even decide to open one more and share it between the two of them.

After they've eaten, they have three packets of fruit left in Kurt's bag. Kurt smiles, satisfied, and they decide to start swimming around to see if they can find one of the other tributes, or both. They leave their helmets off because it gives them a better chance of hearing something.

However, they don't get very far before Kurt is suddenly sucked into a dome made of air-pressured water shooting up from the ground. Puck's eyes widen in surprise and he tries to swim past the dome but he pulls back with a wince when he touches the water. It's hard and unrelenting, effectively trapping Kurt inside. But it's more than just a physical prison for Kurt…

Inside, Kurt is forced to watch images in the dome of water, and he hears torturous sounds to go with the images. He's frozen to the spot as he watches Blaine being whipped by the Peacekeeper in District 12. He's sobbing as he listens to Blaine's pained shouts. And he cries even more when he hears Sophia's voice crying, "Help! Help! _Kurt, help me!" _He sinks to his knees and screams.

_"__Blaine, I'm sorry!" _he sobs, hands coming up to his hair in distress. _"__Sophia! Blaine!" _

_They're hurting her. They're hurting him. And I can't protect either of them. _

"Kurt!" He hears a familiar voice, but it's not Sophia or Blaine. _No, please, don't hurt anyone else. _"Kurt, it's gonna be okay! I'm going to get you out of there, I promise!" He realizes that it's Puck, but he continues to sob. He can still hear Blaine and Sophia screaming for help. "Just hang on, Kurt!"

Suddenly the screaming stops and Kurt's breathing stutters as he looks up and sees Puck. Kurt stares silently at him as he presses the button on Kurt's helmet to close it. The water drains out of his helmet and Kurt takes a deep breath before letting it out on a shaky exhale. He feels his tears dribble out in quick succession and he throws his arms around Puck's shoulders, sobbing in relief. "Thank you," he tells him.

"What happened in there?" Puck asks, rubbing Kurt's back.

"I heard them," he says, trembling to the core. "Sophia… and Blaine… They were screaming. I didn't… I wasn't… I couldn't help them. They needed me but I'm in here. I'm in this _damn _arena and they're hurting and I can't do anything about it!"

"Shh, it's okay," Puck says soothingly. "I'm sure they're fine. It wasn't real. It was just to mess with your mind."

"Where do you think they got those sounds?" Kurt asks, suddenly looking up at him. His eyes are tired and defeated, like he's given up. "They _hurt _them to hurt _me_. And it worked."

"Kurt, you can't let them win," Puck says sternly, grabbing him by the shoulders. "You can't let this stop you. If anything, you need to go home now more than ever. Your family needs you. You have to get home. You have to win."

"I will win," Kurt says confidently, though his eyes are still distant. "I will."

"Good," Puck says. "Now let's go fight some Careers."

Kurt nods and follows him silently, grabbing his trident with trembling fingers. _I will win_, he tells himself. _But I'll never really leave_.

* * *

**A/N: I wasn't expecting to update today, but when am I ever? Haha. Anyway, here it is. **

**Sorry for picking on Kurt :( But being in the arena is bound to cause some trauma. Next chapter I'll hopefully add something from Blaine's perspective. **

**Until next time! **

**Review please :)**


	9. Bittersweet Goodbyes

Chapter 9: Bittersweet Goodbyes

* * *

The first place they look is the Cornucopia, because it's not as dangerous now that only two people are left to defend it. As it turns out, though, no one is at the Cornucopia. Relieved, Kurt picks up a few torpedo guns and stuffs them in the side pockets of his backpack. For now, they seem to have control of the area, but that could change at any minute and he wants to be prepared.

He and Puck exchange a look and nod, preparing for a fight. The next few hours will be what decide everything. If things go as planned, Kurt will return home to Blaine before sundown. That's all that matters now. He needs to get home to Blaine, to his dad, to Sophia.

Kurt's hardly noticed the pain in his leg from where Sebastian stabbed him, but now it stings and makes him feel nauseous. He closes his eyes and sits down for a moment, wincing. _No, you can't let this get to you. You've made it this far. You have to win. _

"You okay, Kurt?" Puck asks, sitting down next to him. Kurt nods stiffly. He winces again when he tries to move his leg. The suit has already rebuilt itself over the wound, so he can't assess the damage. All he knows is that it hurts. Of course it hurts. He was _stabbed. _

"I'll be fine," he says, because he can't afford _not _to be fine. He has to stay strong, just for a few more hours. Once he wins, they'll fix up his leg and he'll be good as new. He just has to last a few more hours without passing out due to blood loss. "I'm fine," he repeats. Puck looks doubtful.

"Just stay safe, okay? I'm not gonna let you get hurt." Kurt nods, smiling gratefully at Puck. He tries to ignore the pain in his leg as he continues scanning the area for another tribute.

He has a feeling that he's not going to be much help to Puck when the time comes to fight.

* * *

Blaine is exhausted. He hasn't slept in two days. He has horrible nightmares of Kurt dying in various ways, each one worse than the last. He's too terrified to sleep.

As terrified as he is, he can't help but watch every second of the broadcast. In the past 24 hours, he's watched Kurt go through so much without being able to hold him and comfort him. He's watched as Kurt saw the traumatic death of his ally and then witnessed the murder of his newfound ally and assumed friend. He's watched as Kurt was nearly killed by the same boy who murdered the sweet blonde girl. He's watched Kurt cry over the loss of his companions.

It all breaks his heart. And yet, the most terrifying sight has been watching the other tributes. He's seen the boy from District 4 beat two tributes to death already. First he killed the girl from One and then he, shockingly, killed the boy from Two. It scared Blaine to think that the boy could kill someone twice his size. If he could do that, what would he do to Kurt? Blaine doesn't like thinking about it, but he can't help it. It's to the point where Blaine can't stop thinking about Kurt dying. There are only four people left, and Kurt has an injured leg. What if he doesn't make it to the end?

Blaine is pulled out of his thoughts when the cameras focus on Kurt again. He's sitting with the boy from District 5, talking to him about something. Blaine can't make out what he's saying even though he's mouthing the words, but he doesn't look scared or upset so Blaine takes it as a good sign. He knows that the boy is helping Kurt, but he wishes that Kurt wouldn't trust the boy so easily. He could easily betray Kurt and take the win for himself. But Kurt has always seen the good in people, even if they don't deserve it. He hopes Kurt's ally deserves it.

He's not sure how long the two have been sitting there when the girl from District 3 appears, picking up a sword right behind Kurt.

* * *

Kurt is just about to ask Puck something when, suddenly, the other boy shoves him to the side. Kurt winces when he hits his leg on a rock while falling to the ground. "Puck! What the h—"

"Get out of here, Kurt!" Puck orders, and that's when Kurt sees the girl from District 3. He realizes that the girl must have been about to stab him and that's why Puck pushed him out of the way. Kurt doesn't want to leave his friend alone, but he also knows he won't be of much help at this point. So he grabs his trident and his backpack before retreating.

Only a few minutes later, Puck joins him. Neither of them says anything, but the look in Puck's eyes says it all. Kurt knows that Puck feels guilty for killing the girl. No matter how essential it was to their survival, he didn't like doing it. That's why Kurt's glad to have him as an ally. He doesn't kill unless he has to. And right now he only kills to protect Kurt.

"One more to go," Puck says grimly. Kurt nods and they return to the Cornucopia after waiting for the submarine to take the girl's body away. Kurt doesn't even know her name, which reminds him that he's learned more names in the arena than he ever planned to. He's not only learned names, but he's made friends. Chandler was never really his friend, but the fact that he sacrificed himself for Kurt makes him feel like they were. And Quinn insisted on lookout duty when she knew it was dangerous, so she indirectly died protecting him and Puck. And now Puck is probably going to die protecting Kurt. If not, he is going to kill himself so Kurt could win. Either way, it has all been for him, and that makes a knot of guilt settle in Kurt's stomach.

"To be honest, I'm more scared now than ever, even though there is only one person left," Kurt admits.

"It's because he's made it this far, and he's not afraid to kill," Puck says, gripping the handle of his sword tighter. "And also because everything is riding on this one thing; whether or not we kill him decides if you see Blaine again."

Kurt nods, swallowing the lump in his throat. "I need to get back," he whispers.

"You're going to," Puck promises. "You're going to go home alive."

They're both silent after that, sitting down and watching for their last adversary.

They sit there for several hours until Puck says that he saw something moving. "What was that?" Kurt asks.

"I don't know, but I'm going to check it out," Puck says, getting up. "Stay here until I know it's safe."

Kurt nods, shifting uneasily. He grips his trident more firmly and carefully scans his surroundings for any sign of the boy from Four. He even stands up, trying not to move his left leg too much. He looks around a bit more and his eyes widen when he sees a mini torpedo being hurled towards him. He dives out of the way just in time and the explosion hits the ground behind him, sending him flying forward. He barely manages to regain his footing, groaning softly, before he feels a sword point at the base of his throat. He freezes, looking into the cold, dark eyes of the one person he'd hoped never to face in the arena.

"Hello, _Kurt," _the boy says, making Kurt tense even more. "Finally we meet face-to-face. It's too bad it has to be like this." His voice darkens and Kurt shivers, holding back tears. He was so close, but now…

Now he is going to die, missing his chance to see Blaine by mere hours. But he fell short, and now he has to pay the consequences. He has nowhere to run and he has no idea where Puck is. And he'd be dead in an instant if he even _tried_ to lift his trident.

"Ah, ah, ah," the boy says, condescending, pressing the tip of his sword harder and breaking the skin just slightly so a few drops of blood drip onto the sword. Kurt winces and only then does he realize that he's crying. "Oh, this is disappointing," the boy says with a laugh. "I'm actually surprised. You scored an _eleven _and you're not even fighting back! How _pathetic_." Kurt clenches his fist around his trident, suddenly filled with determination and _anger. _He tells himself that there is no way he's going to let himself die. He's not going to give up when he's so close to returning home. Gaining courage from the weight of his locket around his wrist, he ducks away from the sword and points his own weapon out in front of him.

"I think you'll find I'm full of surprises," he says before jabbing his trident forward. The boy dodges it, though, and grins madly.

"That's the spirit," he says. "Now the games really begin."

Kurt tries not to let the boy's psychotic perspective affect him. He jabs again and grunts in frustration when he misses. He moves to dodge a strike from the boy's sword but it catches him in the arm and he cries out in pain. He blocks the next stab by hitting the sword away with his trident. A small smile of triumph tugs at the corners of his mouth when the boy's sword flies out of his hand, landing somewhere out of reach. "Do _not _underestimate me," Kurt says, pointing his trident at the boy's neck.

"Kurt!"

Kurt turns around when he hears Puck's voice, distracted for a moment. He's turned away just long enough to miss the way the boy smirks and pulls a torpedo gun out of his belt and take aim. Kurt smiles in relief when he sees Puck before turning back towards the boy. His eyes widen when he sees the gun in his hand, but he frowns in confusion when he sees that it's not aimed at him. He realizes too late that it's aimed at the person behind him. He pushes his trident forward but not before the projectile is launched. The boy falls to the ground with the trident lodged in his chest and Kurt darts over to Puck just before he can fall over as well. "Puck!" he cries, grabbing Puck's hand and leaning him against a rock. The torpedo took out a chunk of his waist and it's bleeding too much. Puck winces and squeezes Kurt's hand.

"You're going home, Kurt," he says, though it's pained. He hisses in pain and his breathing is uneven. "I'll be okay, once I'm with Quinn. Don't worry about me."

"I owe you my life and now I'll never see you again," Kurt says, tears streaming down his face. "Thank you for everything… Noah."

Puck smiles weakly before his eyes slip closed. His grip on Kurt's hand is lost a few seconds later and his head lolls to the side. Kurt throws his arms around Puck's shoulders and sobs into his neck, not even caring that all of Panem will see him on their screens. He just needs to grieve the loss of his friend.

A few seconds later, a submarine comes to retrieve Puck's body and Kurt holds on until the very last second, watching as he's pulled up into the submarine.

Only then does he realize how much he's been bleeding, and it catches up to him all at once. His vision becomes blurry, his head becomes fuzzy, and he falls into darkness.

* * *

**A/N: Ooh, two chapters in one day! Look at me go! Unfortunately this'll be the last one until next weekend or maybe even the weekend after that. I have projects coming up that are due and I haven't even started on them… whoops! **

**This chapter made me think of the song "Mad World" for some reason... **

**Anyway, feel free to speculate on the next chapter :) Will Kurt go home to Blaine or will he be forced to abide by his contract with Snow… immediately? **

**Until next time!**

**Review please :)**


	10. Safe And Sound

Chapter 10: Safe And Sound

When Kurt wakes up, he's immediately met by too-bright lights and the strange feeling of a comfortable mattress beneath him. He groans and shuts his eyes, trying to block out the light. He feels something wrap around his arm and he flinches away, nearly falling off the bed before his other arm is securely held down.

"No!" he cries, only struggling more when his legs are held down as well. "No! No, _please!" _

He doesn't open his eyes, too afraid of what he'll see. _I thought I was done in the arena_, he thinks miserably. _But it will never end. _

He feels a sudden pinching in his arm and he freezes, slumping like deadweight onto the mattress. As he loses consciousness, he has only one word on his lips and one picture in his mind.

_Blaine. _

…

When he wakes again, the lights aren't so bright. He cautiously blinks his eyes open and lolls his head from side to side, lazily looking around. He whimpers in frustration when he tries and fails to shift into a sitting position. He digs his fingers into the sheets, feeling helpless.

"Finally you're awake," says a familiar voice and his heart leaps with relief.

"Haymitch?" he asks, though it sounds more like "Ay-mish" in his drowsy state. He opens his eyes a little more and smiles when he sees his oldest mentor's face.

Haymitch smiles sadly and puts a hand on Kurt's shoulder. "You did it, kid. You won."

Kurt tries to sit up again but he just falls backwards, his wobbly arms giving out on him. "Why can't I get up?" he asks.

"They gave you some strong pain medication after repairing the damage in your leg and your arm, so it'll take a while to wear off. As soon as it does, you'll be good as new," Haymitch explains.

Kurt nods, or tries to, and relaxes into the pillow. "I want to see Blaine. And my dad. And Sophia. And—"

"They're all waiting for you in District Twelve," Cooper says from behind Haymitch. Kurt, noticing him for the first time, peeks around Haymitch to see Cooper by the door. Cooper's face is emotionless for a moment before he smiles kindly and steps forward. "You won."

"I don't want to think about it," Kurt says, frowning. "I just want to see them… They need to know I'm all right."

"They know," Haymitch says.

"I contacted your dad," Cooper says. "I told him it'd be at least a day before you can go home."

Kurt can feel tears building up in his eyes and he shakes his head. "Please… I just want to go home. Why can't I go home?"

"Kurt—"

"Let me go home!" Kurt cries. "I spent too long in that damn arena and I just want to go home!"

Kurt feels his heartbeat quickening and a nurse comes in to check his vitals. When he still doesn't calm down, she sticks a needle in his arm and Kurt feels the world slip away again…

…

Kurt wakes up screaming, hands clenched in the sheets, breathing in quick and unsteady gasps. He reaches for the closest thing to him, which happens to be Cooper's arm, and opens his eyes hesitantly. He looks at Cooper, who understands judging by the look on his face. Kurt remembers that Cooper had to face the arena, too, and he probably has nightmares just like Kurt just had.

Kurt tries to sit up, relieved when he can manage it, and wraps his arms around Cooper tightly, burying his face in Cooper's chest. What he really needs is to feel Blaine's warm arms around him, but this'll do for now. He can pretend that Cooper is Blaine because the two brothers are similar enough. "Does it ever go away?" he asks in a whisper, his voice shaking.

Cooper is quiet for a few moments before he answers, rubbing Kurt's back. "Not completely. In my experience, it stays with you, probably forever. There's no getting out of it."

"Does it get easier?"

Cooper smiles a little. "You've got Blaine and you've got your dad, and now you've got me and Haymitch. You'll be okay eventually."

"Thank you, Cooper."

"For what?"

"For everything. Just… everything."

Again, they're silent for a long few minutes before Cooper speaks. "Are you ready to go home?"

Kurt looks up at him, eyes lighting up. "I can?"

Cooper smiles. "Yeah, the train will be ready for you in thirty minutes. Get dressed and freshen up if you want to. You're going home."

Kurt grins despite everything, excited by the idea of seeing his family again. Once Cooper leaves the room, Kurt finds some clothes in the drawer by his bed—Cooper must have brought them—and gets dressed after taking a quick shower. He fixes his hair and then finds Cooper so they can wait for the train. He's surprised that his leg and arm don't hurt from being stabbed, but he figures the Capital has the most high-tech medicine known to man. Of course they'd be able to make it like the whole thing never happened—physically, at least. Mentally and emotionally, it can never really be hidden or taken away.

Once Kurt is on the train, he goes to his room and decides to lie down. He pulls his locket off of his neck and smiles as he opens it and sees Blaine's smiling face. "I'll be home soon," he whispers, brushing his thumb over the flower petal before kissing it tenderly.

A few hours later, though it feels like longer, the train comes to a stop and Kurt hops up eagerly. He practically runs out of his room and out of the train, hopping onto the platform and scanning the area for Blaine or his dad. He sees Blaine first and he runs to close the distance between them, throwing his arms around the smaller boy. Blaine buries his face in Kurt's neck and spins him around, hugging him tightly.

"You're home," he whispers, his voice cracking with emotion. "You're _home _and you're _safe _and you're _alive… _I love you so much, Kurt."

"I love you, too, Blaine," Kurt says with a tearful laugh, bringing his hand up to tangle his fingers in the curls at the base of Blaine's neck. "I won for you… I won for you…"

Blaine pulls back just enough to look Kurt in the eyes, smiling in pure adoration and relief. "Your dad is almost here," he says. "I kind of ran ahead when I saw the train…" he adds with a nervous laugh.

Kurt smiles and kisses him, holding Blaine's face tenderly between his hands. Then, he moves his hands to grab the locket and fastens it around Blaine's neck, kissing him a few more times before pulling away. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Blaine says, smiling softly.

Kurt turns around when he feels a hand on his shoulder, tensing up until he sees who it is. As soon as he sees his dad's warm eyes and crooked smile, he launches himself into a hug. "Dad…"

"I love you, Kurt," he says, choking up. "I don't say it enough. I love you. I'm so grateful to have you home."

"Speaking of home…" Kurt glances over his dad's shoulder, indicating that they should go to the house. Burt shakes his head, though.

"They've already moved us into the Victor's Village," he explains.

Kurt's eyes widen in surprise. "Oh… Okay. Well, um… Let's go there, then." He glances behind him and smiles hesitantly at Blaine. "Will you… um…"

Blaine smiles softly and nods, letting Kurt know that he understands. Kurt feels a weight lifted off his heart. Blaine always knows him so well and he couldn't be more grateful for that, especially now when words escape him.

So, the three of them walk to the new house in the Victor's Village. But Kurt remembers something—someone—as they're leaving the train station. "Sophia," he says, looking around as if she'll appear behind him. "Where's Sophia?"

"She's with Sam," Blaine says. "She's… she's okay. Sam said she hasn't been the same since she returned to District Twelve."

Kurt frowns, concern building. He grabs Blaine's hand and laces their fingers together, needing the comfort.

Once they reach the house, they walk inside and Kurt doesn't even bother looking around as Blaine leads him to the room that's his. Kurt lets Blaine lay him down on the bed and he cuddles close to Blaine as soon as the hazel-eyed boy settles down beside him. "Stay with me tonight," Kurt whispers. "Please…"

"There's no place I'd rather be," Blaine says, kissing Kurt's forehead. "Try and get some sleep. I know you've had a… difficult day."

Kurt nods. He doesn't say that 'difficult' is an understatement, because he doesn't really have words for it either. He just buries his face in Blaine's shoulder and enjoys being held, quickly falling into a deep sleep.

In his dreams—no, nightmares; he doesn't have dreams anymore—he sees nothing but death. He watches Chandler's death and Quinn's death and Puck's death, and there's nothing he can do about it. He sees the life leaving the eyes of the two tributes he killed personally and it shakes him to the core. He sees faceless strangers killing Blaine, as if to get him out of the way and have Kurt for themselves. And the newest addition to his nightmares, he sees his mother dying in the Games, brutally murdered when Kurt was only a baby.

But he never sees his own death. That would be merciful compared to seeing everyone he loves taken away from him.

He wakes up with a choked scream, muffled by Blaine's shirt as he clings to his boyfriend. "Blaine," he chokes out. Tears run down his face as Blaine pulls him closer and strokes his hair. "I… I…"

"Shh, I know," Blaine says. "I remember when Cooper used to have nightmares every night. He never talked about them. I understand if you don't want to."

"I… I don't… not yet," Kurt says, breathing heavily. "I just need you… Just hold me…"

"Always," Blaine says fiercely and yet so tender. "You've got me, my love."

Kurt sighs a little in relief, trembling slightly. "Blaine…" he whispers, shutting his eyes and clutching Blaine's shirt.

"I'm right here," Blaine reaffirms. Stroking his fingers through Kurt's hair, he starts to sing softly.

_I remember tears streaming down your face when I said I'll never let you go_

_When all those shadows almost killed your light_

_I remember you said don't leave me here alone_

_But all that's dead and gone and passed, tonight_

_Just close your eyes_

_The sun is going down_

_You'll be all right_

_No one can hurt you now_

_Come morning light, you and I'll be_

_Safe and sound_

_Don't you dare look out your window_

_Darling, everything's on fire_

_The war outside our door keeps raging on_

_Hold on to this lullaby_

_Even when the music's gone_

_Gone_

_Just close your eyes_

_The sun is going down_

_You'll be all right_

_No one can hurt you now_

_Come morning light, you and I'll be_

_Safe and sound_

_You and I'll be safe… and… sound…_

Kurt sniffles a few times, relaxing into Blaine's embrace. "I love you," he whispers.

"I love you, too," Blaine says sweetly. "Always. I'm not going anywhere, I promise."

Kurt's about to say something but he yawns, breathing out shakily afterwards. He rests his head against Blaine's chest and falls asleep again, comforted by the warm, strong presence of the boy who's been his anchor for nearly three weeks now. For the first time since he volunteered as tribute, he feels truly safe.

…

When Kurt wakes up, he looks up and sees that Blaine is already awake, and he's looking at something in his hand, smiling softly. Curious, Kurt follows his gaze and his eyes widen when he sees the silver ring in between Kurt's thumb and index finger. "Blaine…"

"I found it when I was helping them move your things into the new house," Blaine says, still smiling softly at the piece of jewelry. "You really bought a ring."

"I was going to ask you," Kurt admits quietly. "But then you were reaped and I volunteered and… I never really got the chance to see what you'd say."

Blaine's gaze shifts to Kurt's face as he twirls the ring between his fingers. "Do you want to know what I'd say?"

Kurt smiles. "Maybe I'm a little curious."

Blaine chuckles and reaches to brush his fingertips over Kurt's cheekbone lovingly. "I'd say yes," he says, slipping the ring onto his own finger. "I could never say anything except yes, Kurt."

Kurt grins and leans up to kiss him, feeling better than he has in weeks. "Does this mean you're my fiancé?"

Blaine matches the bright smile, wrapping his arms around Kurt's waist. "Only if you'll be mine."

"I think I can handle that."

**A/N: What's this?! An update in the middle of the week?! How unlike me! **

**Hope you guys enjoy :)**

**Until next time! **

**Review please ^.^**


	11. They Can't Touch Us

Chapter 11: They Can't Touch Us

* * *

After spending hours talking sleepily and happily about their impending wedding, Blaine falls asleep. Kurt rests against his chest and laces their fingers together, staring at the silver band decorating Blaine's left ring finger. His smile is peaceful as he presses their linked hands to Blaine's heart and sighs softly. When he's with Blaine, he can almost forget. Even if only temporarily, he can pretend that the arena was nothing but a terrible nightmare. He can pretend that he isn't a murderer. He can pretend that he didn't watch his friends die brutally. He can pretend that he hasn't made a deal with Snow, selling his body but never his heart. He can pretend that he's okay.

But, of course, he's not okay. He can hardly remember the last time he felt _okay_. Of course, he's only pretending.

Kurt doesn't remember dozing off, but he does remember what wakes him.

He sits up suddenly, letting out a scream that turns into a sob. He gasps for breath between sobs as a startled Blaine sits up and wraps his arms around Kurt. "Shh… Honey, shh, it's all right, I'm here. I've got you. You're safe."

_I'm here. You're safe. _He repeats Blaine's words over and over in his head, sobbing harder as Blaine pulls him into his lap and strokes his hair tenderly. "Shh, it's all right—"

_"__No," _Kurt chokes out, his voice rough from his sobbing. "No, no… _No." _

A few seconds later, Burt comes into the room and takes a seat next to the boys. Kurt wraps an arm securely around him while still clinging to Blaine with his other. Blaine and Burt exchange a sad, tired look and Blaine held his fiancé tightly. "Do you want some tea, buddy?" Burt asks softly, holding the warm mug out for his son. Kurt nods a little and reluctantly loosens his hold to take the mug between his hands and sip. They stay silent until Kurt finishes his tea and then Burt says, "Do you want to talk about it?"

Kurt shakes his head, muttering a small _no. _

Burt sighs. "Okay… Well, you should try to get some rest—"

_"__No!" _he repeats louder, his voice breaking. "No, I can't sleep… I keep seeing their faces… And I saw _them," _he finishes with a small whimper.

Burt frowns in concern. "Them?"

Kurt's eyes widen and he seems panicked, shaking his head and nuzzling in against Blaine's shoulder as if to hide away. Blaine nods to Burt, letting him know that he'll talk to Kurt about it. Burt nods sadly and, taking the empty mug, leaves the room.

"Kurt?" Blaine asks softly once the door closes lightly. However softly he says it, though, Kurt flinches slightly at the interruption of silence. Blaine sighs and holds him closer. "Kurt, you can tell me anything. You know that, right?"

"They weren't rumors," Kurt whispers. Blaine frowns, confused, but Kurt continues before he can ask. "People said I'd end up like Finnick Odair after I won… It's true. I made a deal with President Snow."

Blaine can feel the moment his heart breaks, but not for himself. No, this has nothing to do with him. But he can't stand the idea of Kurt being forced into something like this. He can't stand to see Kurt in so much pain.

"Kurt…" he says sadly. "Why? I don't understand…"

"I had to save Sophia," he explains. "She would've died… Snow said he would keep her out of the arena if I signed the contract."

Kurt starts crying again, hardly noticing when Blaine shifts so they're lying down again. Blaine pulls Kurt snugly to his chest and rubs Kurt's back soothingly. "I… There's got to be some way to… to get out of it. I won't let him do this to you, Kurt. You've already been through Hell. You don't deserve this."

"Don't I, though? I killed them, Blaine. Those two… I killed them. They didn't deserve to die. None of them did. Why did I survive when they didn't?"

"You're a _good person_, Kurt," Blaine tries to tell him, but Kurt isn't listening, not really.

"Puck was a good person. And Quinn. And Chandler. But now they're dead. They all died to keep me alive, and look at me! I'm a mess! I can't even stop crying! I'm weak and I'm barely even human anymore and yet their families each lost a child."

"Kurt, stop," Blaine says firmly, taking Kurt's face in his palm so he'll look at him. "You're right; none of them deserved to die. But that doesn't mean that you did. And you don't deserve… _this_. You don't deserve any of it. You deserve to be loved and protected and happy and safe. You know why you can't stop crying? It's because you've got the biggest heart of anyone I know. You're _so _strong. And you're _so _compassionate and fiercely protective when it comes to the people you love. You _care_, and I can't think of anything more human than that."

Kurt stares up at him, looking defeated. "I'm just so scared, Blaine… I'm so _scared _and I don't know if I'm going to lose myself once I start taking _offers. _I don't know what I'm doing or what I need to do and it terrifies me."

Closing his eyes sadly, Blaine presses his forehead gently against Kurt's. "I know. I… I'm scared, too. I hate that he's doing this to you. And I know that I don't have much power to stop him, but I also know that I will be here for you every step of the way, no matter what."

"You… you won't think less of me after I've..?" Kurt trails off, not wanting to say it.

Blaine kisses him, short and sweet and reassuring. "Of course I won't. I love you. I _love _you, Kurt, with everything I have, and nothing can change that."

Kurt is quiet for a long time, just resting against Blaine's chest and letting himself be held. When he does speak again, dawn is just peaking through the cracks in the curtains. When Kurt sits up, he smiles softly at the way the light casts a glow over Blaine's features. He looks so beautiful. And the best part? Blaine is staring right back at him with that same look of adoration and pure love that Kurt knows is only for him. That, alone, is enough to make him so much more stunning.

"I love you," Kurt says softly, taking Blaine's hand and lacing their fingers. He feels tears welling up in his eyes and, for the first time in weeks, they are tears of happiness. He is just _so _relieved to be at Blaine's side again, where he's supposed to be. He thought he'd never get to see Blaine again, but now they have forever to look forward to. And it's the best feeling in the world.

"I love you, too," Blaine says, moving to sit up. But Kurt stops him with a gentle hand on his chest, shaking his head and smiling softly. Blaine smiles curiously at him. "What?"

"It's silly, I just…" he trails off, laughing lightly. "You look so beautiful and… I just want to enjoy the last bits of beauty in this world. That includes you and everything about you."

Blaine's smile goes soft again and he squeezes Kurt's hand. "It includes you, too, you know," he murmurs.

Kurt's smile falters a little and he glances down at their linked hands, blinking away tears. "Maybe it used to," he says.

"No," Blaine says forcefully, though his voice is still quiet. "Kurt, you're a beautiful person with a beautiful heart. The arena didn't change that. You're still the person I fell in love with all those years ago. You're just a little taller," he adds teasingly, smiling when it gets a small smile out of Kurt.

Kurt leans down and kisses Blaine's lips, carding his fingers through Blaine's soft curls. "I love you," he says as they part.

Blaine smiles softly at him, brushing his fingers through the side of Kurt's hair. "See? I knew your heart wasn't lost. You're still beautiful. Always."

"I love you," Kurt repeats, his voice cracking with emotion.

"I know," Blaine says seriously. "I love you, too. And a few lonely, rich Capitol citizens paying Snow for your false affections aren't going to take you away from me or vice versa."

Kurt stays silent for a few moments, thinking. He sits up again, shuffling closer so Blaine can hug his waist. The intimacy of such a small and seemingly insignificant action is something that Kurt's missed deeply. He closes his eyes to fight tears before saying, "Maybe… maybe there is a way. To get out of it, I mean. When the rumors were going around at first, Cooper and Haymitch told me that I had to play up our romance. They said that, if I could convince everyone of how much I love you, Snow couldn't possibly force me into something like that. The Capitol citizens, themselves, would rebel at such an outrage. They always _love _a good romance, and they wouldn't let their favorite couple be jeopardized."

Blaine's grin is slow and understanding, even hopeful. "So, all we have to do is make sure they know that we're madly in love. Then Snow will _have _to let you out of the contract."

"Exactly," Kurt says with a smile.

Blaine sits up and throws his arms around Kurt, hugging him tightly and grinning into his fiancé's shoulder. "Kurt, you're a genius!"

Kurt laughs a little and hugs back just as tightly. "This just might work," he whispers.

"It just might," Blaine agrees.

After that, they manage to finally get some sleep. Kurt does wake up once in the next few hours, but Blaine soothes him back to sleep with a rendition of _'__Baby Mine' _from _Dumbo. _After that, Kurt sleeps peacefully until Burt comes to wake them up and tells them that there's someone at the door for them. Well, for Kurt, really.

Kurt gets out of bed and tugs Blaine along with him, holding his hand. When he opens the door and sees Sophia standing beside Sam, he chokes out a relieved laugh and pulls her into his arms. She hugs back but doesn't say anything and Kurt frowns, pulling back to see her face. Her eyes are hazy and she isn't looking directly at him, instead staring off into space like she doesn't know where she is.

"Sophia?" he asks, gently taking her shoulders in his hands. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

Her only answer is a slight shake of her head and a whisper that sounds something like _'__help me.' _

"Sophia," Kurt says again, tears springing to his eyes as he tries to get a response out of his friend. "Sophia!"

"She's been like this ever since she came back," Sam says sadly. "I don't know what they did to her but she keeps waking up screaming for help. She screams your name and then she's like this for the rest of the day. I don't know what's wrong."

Kurt pulls Sophia into another hug, kneeling down and settling her on her knees. She clings to him, wrapping her tiny arms around his neck, but doesn't say anything. He can feel anger building alongside his tears and he looks up at Sam. "Snow promised me she wouldn't be hurt," he mutters.

Blaine kneels down next to him, one hand on his back and the other resting on his knee. "I thought you said that, in the contract, he said she wouldn't be sent into the arena. I wouldn't be surprised if he found the loophole in that and harmed her in other ways besides the arena."

Now that Blaine's mentioned it, Kurt is certain that's what Snow did. He lets out a soft little sob and whispers, "I'm so sorry, Sophia… I'm so, so sorry…"

Still, she doesn't respond, and Kurt knows that he can't let this slide. He _knows _that he can't lose Sophia completely. But mostly, he knows that he isn't going to let Snow hurt anyone else that Kurt loves.

He'll do whatever it takes.

* * *

**A/N: Hello again! I know it's been a long time since I've updated but I've just been ****_so _****busy. School is kicking my butt, and all of these doctor visits are bumming/stressing me out. Anyway, starting next week I should have more time to write. And it won't just be on weekends anymore! Just two more weeks of school and I'm ****_done! _****Can you believe that? I can't. But ****_wow _****I am so ready for it to be over. **

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Blackbird will probably be the next update unless I decide to write a follow-up oneshot for my KHBB fic 'Always There.' **

**Until next time, either way! **

**Review please :)**


End file.

Glee, Hunger Games, Drama, Romance