Blaine is roused by the gentle hand of an avox the next morning. He hasnt seen her before, or he has. She looks familiar and concerned, Blaine feels as if he should be comfortable around her. She leaves him after hes woken up properly enough to get out of bed and get dressed, and only when he is alone he wonders where Cooper and Quinn might have gotten off to.

He dresses in simple clothes, knowing hell have to change into the tributes costume soon enough. His body is heavy, heavier than before. His bones ache with dread and exhaustion and every inch within him longs for Kurt to hold him. He knows Kurt will, that hell see Kurt shortly before entering the Quarter Quells Arena, but it wont be enough. Nothing will ever be enough when it could be the last time. He hopes it isnt, will do everything to make sure it isnt. It could be.

Blaine finds Quinn and Cooper at the breakfast table, their chairs scooted close together and Quinns head resting on Coopers shoulder. Cooper tries to feed her, but Blaine is quite sure her mouth feels as much as cotton as his does. Neither of them eat, neither of them have any energy to put towards anything other than getting through the morning. Theyll enter the Arena at noon, until then everything is unimportant.

As much as Cooper tries to force Quinn and Blaine to eat, Blaine notices he doesnt take a single bite of his cinnamon roll either. They all just sit there, in silence, neither of them saying a word and still the silence is too loud. Its too loud when the avox walks in and Blaine almost feels as if he can hear her stare at Cooper. She looks so frustratingly familiar, and with the way she keeps looking between the three of them meaningfully Blaine thinks she might be from Nine. He stores her face away for later, if later ever comes, and concentrates on whats important today.

Surviving, surviving, always surviving. He tries not to notice the loud silence around him, every scrape of Quinns fork aimlessly scratching at her plate, every sigh Cooper lets out and every whisper of love they share between each other. Its too much for Blaine, the quiet zooming of the preview broadcast in the background. Their interviews are repeated, filled with tears but cut short and any criticism towards the Capitol left out. They dont show Katniss twirling and turning into the Mockingjay, they dont show her saying she is. Blaine knows Panem has seen it, though, Blaine knows the rebels have been urged on by Cinnas bold design.

He knows, too, that he needs to save her. If he wants Panem to have a future she needs to defy the Capitol again and again. If the Mockingjay dies now, here in the Arena they designed to destroy her, they will have won. Blaine is not ready to lose. Even if winning means giving up his life to save the embodiment of the revolution, he will.

“Its time,” Cooper says too soon, he nudges Quinn up and gestures for Blaine to do the same. He does so as quietly as possible, as if to spare his powers for the Arena. His mind is a juggle of thoughts, he longs to sling an arm around Quinns waist and stay at her side throughout the day, another part of him wants to run and flee and take no one with him. Mostly, though, he wants today to be over. If hell be dead before midnight, so be it. He just needs to get through this morning, through the trip to wherever this years Arena is and he needs to get through the ten minutes he gets before with Kurt. Anything beyond that is outside his grasp right now, as if its something his brain cant comprehend quite yet.

“Cooper,” he whispers, voice broken and one foot already inside the elevator. Quinn is still plastered to Coopers side and her face buried in his neck. Cooper tries to pry her away, but she clings to him tightly. Blaine feels his blood boil in his veins. He loves Quinn, he does, and he will need to keep loving her throughout this experience because itll keep him sane. But in this moment, he doesnt particularly like her.

Cooper throws his free arm around Blaine and steps in close, dragging Quinn with him. Blaine buries his face in Coopers neck on the other side of Quinn and he wishes for her to step away. He knows she loves Cooper, and he knows this is hard for her as well, but he needs his time alone with his brother. He feels like he has a right to say goodbye to his brother on his own, without Quinn attached to his very being.

“I love you,” he whispers, because there is nothing else too say. It feels like too little, too meaningless and too much all at once. He wishes he could say more, promise to survive and promise to see each other soon, but he cant. Theres nothing in this world that would be enough now. Not when hes on his way to an Arena where he might have to sacrifice himself to save the future of their world.

“Me too,” Cooper whispers, pressing a kiss to the top of Blaines head and then he nudges Blaine towards the elevator, peeling Quinn off him with force. He presses a kiss to her lips, long and hard, and then pushes her straight into Blaines arms. She throws two arms around Blaine as the elevator doors slide close, blocking their view from Cooper. The doors click shut, and it works like a charm on Quinn. The second Cooper is out of reach, she heaves a deep breath and untangles herself from Blaine.

She doesnt say anything, just lets her left hand slide down Blaines right arm, to grip his hand. They ride down the elevator in silence, and reach the ground floor too soon. On the other end of the doors stand four peacekeepers, two take Blaine from each side, the others prying Quinn from him and they take her. Neither Blaine nor Quinn protest, theres nothing they can do now. They obligingly walk with the peacekeepers, and take their seats in the hovercraft quickly.

Around them their friends start arriving too, Finnick and Mags first, Johanna with the male tribute from her District second. Katniss and Peeta arrive last, after which the hovercraft door closes and lifts into the air. All twenty-four tributes get trackers jacked into their arms, but Blaine is so preoccupied with the thought of needing to say goodbye to Kurt that he hardly even feels the pain.

The ride is long, too long for Blaine, even if its taking him to an almost certain death trap. Its taking him to Kurt, too, and thats all he can think about. He looks around the seats to the other tributes, wonders how many of them have left loved ones behind the way he and Quinn are leaving Kurt and Cooper. He knows Finnick left Annie, he remembers seeing one of the women having to peel three crying children off her when her name was reaped. He hadnt thought about these things the last time he went into the Arena, everything is different now.

When they arrive at wherever this years Arena is located, Blaine doesnt get a last chance to say anything to Quinn. All of them are hauled up forcefully by peacekeepers, led to the tiny rooms where theyll get into tubes and launched into the Arena. Blaine is pushed into a room, much like the room he and Kurt first kissed in two years ago, and the door behind him closes with a loud thud.

Kurt sits on a couch, the head he had buried in his hands shoots up as soon as Blaine enters the room, and after the door closes his entire body follows. He rushes to Blaine and gathers him in his arms, before they sink to the ground together and wrapped up in each other. Kurt scrambles towards Blaine, crawling into him as closely as he can. They smell each other, breathe each other in for the few short minutes they have. Everything in this room reminds Blaine, yet again, how vastly
these Games will differ from any other games.

He smells it in Kurts fresh scent, he knows it in the way Kurt holds him. He feels it in the way his stomach clenches at the thought of killing people. The fact that hes not against it, the fact that hes thinking of how the quickest way would be to eliminate the enemy. He knows District 1 and 2 have to be disposed off as fast as possible, knows theyre not to be trusted. He knows everyone in this Arena has killed before, no one is new to the sensation. Theyre all prepared, all damaged and all ready to be damaged a little more severely.

He claws at Kurts simple shirt, taking as much of him in as is humanly possible. He breathes against Kurts neck and lets no tears flow. He cant go into the Arena with tear stained eyes. He holds Kurt, rubs his back through the sobbing and kisses the tears away from his cheeks.

“You have to survive,” Kurt whispers hoarsely, “you have to survive, you have to survive.”

“Ill try,” Blaine answers. Its the best he can do.

“Please,” Kurt begs then, “please, please, please.”

“Ill try,” Blaine whispers again, pressing a firm and confident kiss to Kurts perfect mouth. He doesnt press further, doesnt open his mouth for tongue. All he can give, all he has to give is a hard press of confirmation and love.

Blaine changes into his tribute suit quickly. Its a simple, thin blue jumpsuit that indicates a warm Arena. The boots are much lighter than the ones he wore in the icy winter two years ago, and as a finishing touch Kurt attaches plastic purple belt around his waist.

“If you survive, we should go swimming together,” he says as he clicks it shut, “I really like swimming.”

Blaine looks between the belt and Kurt puzzled, hes sure this was one last attempt at code language, only Blaine cant decipher what. Its not like he still can learn how to swim now. Or is Kurt asking if he did learn how to swim. If so, why would it be so important?

“We should,” he says, “I love it too.”

Kurt brushes their noses together, leans in slowly and lets his lips glide over Blaines. He doesnt press for a kiss, he simply makes them breathe together. The way their lips slide against each other makes Blaines entire body tingle, from head to toe he feels covered in sparkles and butterflies and for a few short moments he forgets what is about to happen. His hands are on Kurts strong, gorgeous upper arms and his thumbs stroke in tune with the gliding of their lips. Their breath mingles and their faces are so close Kurts tears land on Blaines cheek and roll down from there.

When a voice announces its two minutes until take off, its as if in Blaines mind hes back to two years ago. Back to the moment Kurt broke down, telling him how he was the first subject Kurt had ever designed for. He remembers feeling so overwhelmed by how much Kurt cared, so much love even then. And here, two years later, he is again. In this mans arms, and there is nowhere hed rather be right now than pressed against him. Kurt pulls back, slightly, whispers words of love and pleads for Blaine to live. He doesnt plead for Blaine to win, he knows about the plans, he just pleads for Blaine to live. To survive until its time, to survive until theyll come to get him.

“Thank you,” Blaine whispers back, “thank you for keeping your promise.”

“My promise?” Kurt asks.

“Two years ago I asked you to always care, and here you are, caring so much. Thank you.”

Kurt attempts a smile, but his eyes betray him. They shine with tears, despair and pleads. No smile reaches them.

30 seconds till take off.

Blaine surges forward, presses his lips to Kurt one final time. He kisses as if it is their last kiss, in the same place and at exactly the same moment as where they shared their first two years ago.

“I love you,” he says before he gets into the tube and lets it close around him. He doesnt put his hand on the glass this time, he just keeps looking at Kurt until the platform begins to move. He stays upright, knows if he crouches down to watch Kurt for as long as possible the audience will see him like that. Tributes uninvolved to the rebels will see him like that, deem him weak and make him their first target to kill.

He stands tall, and soon the ceiling above him opens. Just like the first time around, a bright white light appears. His head is through and Kurt is out of sight. He pushes away the sensation Kurts lips left, tingling on his own, and forces himself to take in his surroundings. Two years ago he had been hit with a sharp cold when his head went through, this time its a stuffy heat that overwhelms him. Theres a salty smell in the air and as his eyes slowly adjusts he immediately understands why Kurt had been so adamant he learn to swim. Hes stood on a platform in the middle of what seems like a small salt lake.

To his left theres something that looks like a stripe of land, and to his right he finds Blight, the male tribute from Seven. He looks further, trying to find Quinn but he only sees Johanna, Wiress from Three, Cecelia from Eight and the two morphlings from Six. He wishes he knew their names.

The Cornucopia seems to stand in the middle of the perfectly round lake, twelve sections in it lined with stripes of land. Within each of those sections stand two tributes, and Blaine wonders how many will just drown in the first few minutes because they never learned how to swim. Blaine assumes Quinn is on the other side of the Cornucopia, closes his eyes and listens to Claudius Templesmiths voice as he counts down from twenty to zero. He has exactly twenty seconds to come up with a plan before the bloodbath emerges.

Twenty-four trained tributes stand around him, on metal plates amidst the water. He doesnt know if they can swim, how many of them can swim, but he knows once they get to the Cornucopia they know how to kill. The plan up until now was to team up with other rebelling tributes, but he guesses he has to see how hes going to survive first.

The countdown hits zero and without preamble Blaine dives to his left, swims effortlessly towards the spoke of land there and reaches it before he can think better of it. He stands aimlessly for a short while, looks around and tries to decide whether he should run to the beach behind him or the Cornucopia in front of him. He sees Johanna climb on the spoke closest to her, and sees her running towards the middle of the lake. He knows she knows theyre involved in the plan to keep the Mockingjay alive, so he thinks his best bet is to stay with her.

He runs towards the Cornucopia, screaming Johannas name. She waves at him, yells for him to duck and a knife zooms right over his head, hitting Beetee, the male tribute from Three, in the back. A large gap is torn in his jumpsuit and Blaine can see the blood immediately dripping out from it. Johanna throws an axe to behind Blaine, where she hits someone square in the chest. Blaine cant see who it is, they fall back into the water immediately and he assumes they drown.

“You get Beetee,” Johanna yells at him, “Ill get supplies.”

He supposes he should trust her, she knows about the plans and shes been in collaboration with Finnick. Blaine only knows he should trust Finnick to know when the rescue mission will happen, and that he and Johanna would make sure they know everything they need to know in the Arena. Blaine looks around, trying to find a sign of Quinn but he cant. He only hopes she is able to get in touch with Finnick so she can join him in the mission. He doesnt want to think about what would happen if she has to walk around this Arena full of killers on her own.

Blaine dives back in the water when Johanna calls his name again, more urgent this time, and he swims over to Beetee to help him out. He puts both his arms under Beetees armpits, the way Sue Sylvester taught him he needed to in case of a rescue, and starts swimming towards the Cornucopia.

“No, beach!” He hears Johanna yell, he looks aside, sees her running down her spoke, hands full of weapons. Everything else seems calm on this side of the Cornucopia, almost as if the entire bloodbath is happening on the other side and Blaine cant say he is complaining. The only worry he has is that Quinn is on that side and what if she isnt anymore? What if soon a hovercraft will appear over the Arena and grip her body from the water, or from where the Cornucopia stands.

Blaine closes his eyes, focuses on the weight of Beetee in his arms and pretends its someone he loves. It would be so easy to let go of Beetee, save himself and swim to shore. Hes in the Arena, instinct tells him to leave everyone behind and save himself. Find his District mate and fend for themselves. Screw the plan, screw the Mockingjay and try to survive alone. But he also knows that this is the only way now, and if they need Beetee to get out of this Arena, hell have to make sure Beetee gets out of the water in the first place.

He reaches the sandy beach short of breath, Beetee almost unconscious from blood loss and distortion. His Districts female tribute, Wiress, rushes to his side and starts mumbling to him. Johanna hauls him up and inspects his back. She informs them there were no supplies other than weapons at the Cornucopia, but that she managed to confiscate quite a few axes and a useless peace of wire she thought was too strange and specific to leave lying around. At the mention of the wire, Beetee fires up and seems to regain a little energy in his body. He asks to see it, so Johanna gives it to him.

“Perfect,” he mutters, “perfect, yes, perfect.”

“Just what we need,” Wiress agrees, “just what we need. Just what we need.”

“Great,” Johanna interupts them, “Finnick gets on the fun side and Im here stuck with Nuts and Volts and someone who didnt even think it was necessary to show up to training.”

Johanna doesnt even look at Blaine when she says it, instead nudges her head to back where she sees her District partner washing to shore.

“How did he not drown?” Blaine asks, hed seen Blight struggle keeping his head above water earlier, yet there the man is, scrambling up on the sand and making a beeline for Johanna. She looks affronted but welcomes him in her arms anyway. Blaine thinks he understands, they must know each other pretty well, living together in Victor Village in their District. He looks at Johanna and Blight, looks at Beetee and Wiress and then looks back to the Cornucopia. He wants Quinn.

“Lets move,” Johanna says after a silent minute, “we need to find drinkable water.”
Blaine nods, as does Wiress.

“Come on Volts,” Johanna nudges Beetee, “get a move on.”

Volts, -Beetee, Blaine corrects himself in his head, he doesnt like using nicknames that might offend or demean someone, not in here- groans. Blood is still gushing from the wound in his back, though now that hes on land it doesnt seem as bad as it did in the water. Blaine throws one arm under Beetees armpit and hauls him up. He gestures for Johanna to do the same, and together they manage to get him on his feet.

“Into the woods,” Blaine says, though he isnt sure if what he sees ahead of him are even woods. He just means they need to conceal themselves, away from where any unknowing tributes might find them. He wonders briefly how weird it must look for two strong ones like Johanna and himself to take on these weak tributes as their allies. It must not make any sense to the viewing audience. They could just as well leave Beetee behind, have him bleed to death or dehydrate before he gets that far. Johanna could easily take out a knife and stab Wiress several times, Blaine could even do it. Its nothing he hasnt done before. He remembers Four from his year, his hand around Blaines throat while Blaine drove the knife into his gut time and again. Just the thought makes him choke again.

“You okay?” Johannas voice sounds concerned, but strained at the same time. Beetees full weight rests on the both of them, and in the heat of the full sun on their backs, together with the humid air, it makes both of them stressed out sooner than they would like to admit. Its as if all the training, all the strength Blaine has built up in the past few weeks, disappears with the sweat that leaves his body. Hes panting, dragging Beetee along with him. The man is incoherent for the most part, mumbling things under his breath, the wire Johanna found for him clutched tightly in the hand thats slung around Blaines shoulder.

They walk for a long while, and Blaine can feel his mouth drying up much faster than it should. He is thirsty after maybe forty minutes of dragging Volts around. Beetee. His breath is ragged, as is Johannas and behind him he can hear that Blight and Wiress arent any easier off.

“Theres no water,” Wiress says in a dreamy like voice after a few more hours of walking, dragging mostly, “no water, there isnt any water.”

“We know theres no water, Nuts,” Johanna bites and Blaine, despite himself, chuckles. Johanna gives him an angry stare, “I wish I could just kill them,” she grits through her teeth, “just get it over with.”

“You could,” Blaine challenges, wondering how much information he can get out of her, wanting to desperately know how theyre going to need these three weaklings to break out of the Arena.

“Theyre friends,” Johanna answers weakly, everything in her face showing how much these people are not her friends, “I only killed someone back there because they tried to kill you. I dont want to kill anyone anymore, I know everyone in here too well.”

Blaine nods, supposes its fair enough of her to use this opportunity to explain their funny little alliance theyve got going on. He hopes the audience buys it. Or at least President Snow, if the audience doesnt buy it and it fires rebelling its not a waste, but if Snow doesnt buy it and has Johanna and him executed through forces inside the Arena, that would be a shame. Especially since it seems like she and Finnick are the only ones who know the full plan.

Theyre getting exhausted and dehydrated at a fast pace, the heat and foliage wearing them out more than they can afford. The sound of the cannon going of six times startles both him and Johanna into a halt, causing Wiress to bump into them. Beetee falls in between them and with one simple look both Johanna and Blaine understand they need to rest.

“Only six killed in the bloodbath, thats not much.” Blaine says then, wanting to take his mind of the stupid plan for just a moment. Not that thinking about the bloodbath is any better, images of Quinns body floating around surrounded by her own blood consume him pretty much as soon as he drops Beetee to the ground to look around and see if the Cornucopia is still in view. It isnt.

Johanna says nothing, just sits down and starts randomly picking at moss. Blaine sits down next to her, taking deep and steady breaths, trying to ignore the thirst building up inside himself. Wiress keeps walking around them in circles, Blight following her as if shes actually going somewhere.

“Were here with a bunch of lunatics,” Johanna mutters, “we have to find the others.”

They sit there for a long while, perhaps too long. Theyre an easy target this way, without any food or water in their system theyre weakening soon and with just a few knives and axes as their weapons they stand no chance against bows and spears. It starts to darken in the forest, or jungle, and theyre all silent. No one says a word for what feels like hours, until Wiress falls down exhausted from the laps shes walking and Johannas stomach grumbles loudly.

“We need to find food at least,” she says with more force than she probably intended.

“Hold on,” he says, “let me see whats going on.”

“Youre not going back there,” Johanna urges, pointing in the direction of the Cornucopia, “you and I are the only sane ones in this group, if I lose you out there none of us will be sane.”

“Youd still be sane.”

“No,” she says, “I wouldnt.”

“Alright, fine,” he answers, taken aback by Johannas sudden confession. Sure, they get along and its nice to have someone to talk to in the Arena, but he hadnt expected her sanity to rely on his presence, “lucky for you Im an excellent climber.”

He climbs the tree efficiently, despite his exhaustion and the headache from dehydration that starts to kick in. He focuses on placing his feet right, gripping to the trunk with his hands. These trees, theyre different from other trees hes climbed before and even though its still one of his best skills, it requires more concentration than he would like to use. It tires him out, quickly, and the higher he climbs the more the sun flares on his skin.

Hes annoyed, remembers the large ice burned blisters on his hands from two years ago and wonders if this year the sun will burn him enough to blister on the first day. Either way, he feels the sting from too bright sunshine before he gets to the top of the tree. In front of him he sees the lake, as perfectly round as he expected it to be. Amidst the lake stands the Cornucopia, large and seemingly deserted. He sees a few bodies on the ground around it, and one floating in the water, but he cant see who they are. Hes too far off to see if either Quinn or the Mockingjay are among them.

Now hes up in the tree he takes the chance to look around and see if he can find water, but it seems like Wiress is right. There is none. He sees the sun starts to set across from where he is now, estimating the time is about eight oclock at night. Just as hes about to climb down, the anthem starts playing and up in the sky he sees the faces that have died today.

He sees a hovercraft appear in the corner of his eye, collecting the pieces of the bodies. Six people have died, the first two he cant name, then Cecelias face from Eight appears and Blaines heart speeds up. In a way hes happy hes up in the tree alone, where hes about to find out if Quinn is still alive or not. Down there are Johanna and Blight, and Beetee and Wiress. Theyre all nice people, but none of them live in the fear he does. All four of them know their District partner is still alive, Blaine doesnt. He needs to find this out on his own, without those eight eyes on him, awaiting his reaction for when Quinns face might appear in the sky.

Seconds turn into days as he watches Cecelias face there, he feels a sad pang in s chest, remembers her saying goodbye to her children. Its all so unfair, and then her face disappears and Blaine grabs onto the branch hes holding stronger, but its not Quinns face that appears. Not yet, its Woof this time. The other tribute from Eight, theyre both gone. Blaine wonders for a brief moment if this will flare up the rebellion in Eight even more, but then Woofs face vanishes and Blaines world halts. Its now, the next face will either be Quinn or she is still alive. His entire body aches to turn away, to ignore what is yet to come, so he forces himself to look up. He needs to know, he needs to see with his own two eyes if Quinn will appear up in the sky.

When the female face of District 10 visualizes in front of him, Blaine feels muscles he didnt even know he had relaxing. His entire body sags and he almost loses his grip on the branch, but he can breathe again. Quinn is alive, shes still out there somewhere. She might be hurt and exhausted and as dehydrated as him, but shes alive. Blaine doesnt even try to look at who else might have died, does his best to regain his breath and his ability to think clearly, so when the anthem ends he can climb down the tree safely.

“Shes alive,” Johanna mutters as Blaines feet touch ground, “shes alive.”

“We have to find her,” Blaine says, “what if shes hurt? We have to find her.”

“Shell be fine, with that twelve in training shell have sponsors left and right.”

Blaine looks at Johanna confused for a moment, then realizes shes not talking about Quinn. Shes talking about Katniss Everdeen. Of course, he thinks, thats why they gave the tributes of District Twelve a twelve in training, Kurt was right, because they needed to be believably receive millions of gifts in this Arena.

“Still, we have to find her,” he says, in the hope that Quinn might be with her. He needs to find Quinn, “if we form an alliance with them we can share in all those gifts. I didnt see any water around and I hardly think were going to find food here.”

Johanna smiles at him, almost in a condescending kind of way, but Blaine cant blame her. She knows more, shes been more invested in the plan while he was busy pitying himself over leaving Kurt. He needs to do as she says, needs to do what she thinks is best and if she thinks finding them isnt the best right now, hell need to accept that.

“After a short nap,” she says, “I cant hold Volts up for much longer and Nuts seems to be exhausted from her everlasting laps around us.”

Blaine looks between the two tributes from Three, Beetee moaning softly as he shifts on the moss and Wiress fast asleep.

“Fine,” Blaine answers, even though his entire body hungers to find Quinn, his conscious knows its better to stay in a group he can trust, “Ill take first watch,” he says and gestures for Johanna to lay down next to Blight. Johanna eyes him suspiciously for a moment, almost as if she doesnt believe hes in on the rebellion.

“Youre sure youre up for it?” She asks, to which Blaine nods.

“Ive trained, remember?” He winks.

Reluctantly Johanna lays down, she closes her eyes and almost instantly Blaine can hear her breathing evening out as sleep consumes her. He sits close to her, his weapons ready in his hands in case an enemy might emerge. The Arena is quiet, incredibly hot even after the sun has set and Blaine silently prays Cooper might get someone out there to send them water or any other form of liquid.

Nothing appears.

Blaine tries his hardest to keep his eyes on his surroundings, be on alert for any tributes he might not be able to trust, but with his allies asleep and the Arena eerily still he cant help but wonder. He wonders where Kurt might be now, if hes okay and whether hes holding up alright. He wishes he could show Kurt how much he misses him, here in this Arena and how much he wishes it was Kurts body next to him, instead of Johannas.

She shifts a little next to him, presses herself against him and the weight is welcome in a way. He sits a little more relaxed, the warmth of another body close comforting. Not as much as Kurt or Quinns body, but comforting nonetheless. He sits ready to wake her when needed, but he doesnt have to.

Hes sat there for a few hours when suddenly a bell starts trolling. Johanna and Wiress are jolted from their slumber and sit upright.

“Whos dead?” Johanna asks in reflex, but the sounds that keep gonging through the Arena arent a cannon. No one died, this bell means something else. Blaine counts twelve bongs, and exchanges a wondering look with Johanna.

“The amount of Districts?” He supplies, but she simply shrugs her shoulders. She doesnt know either.

Then a flash of light appears right next to them.

“Was that...-”

“Lighting,” Johanna confirms, when another flash brightens the Arena. They cant hear any thunder, though, so it should be pretty far away and so they soon decide staying where they are is there best option. The lightning is so bright and frequent, it keeps them all awake. Johanna offers to take watch for now, but every time Blaine so much as closes his eyes hes jerked back by the bright light that keeps flashing somewhere in the Arena.

It lasts for about an hour, when it stops just as suddenly as it had started. They can hear the rustling of rain getting closer, though, and Blaine is quick to pluck a large leaf from a nearby plant with which he can gather some water. He sees Johanna and Wiress do the same. Johanna rouses Blight, who had slept through the lightning storm.

“Grab a leaf,” she says, “its starting to rain. We can drink.”

Blaine feels the first thick drops fall on the bare skin of his neck and immediately knows something is off. This doesnt feel like water, this isnt regular rain. He knows rain, it rains enough in Nine to know rain. He looks up, only to be met with a dark drop of something to fall straight into his eye. He smears it away, looks at his hand and sees the red substance.

He smells it, it smells stale and a little rusty.

“Blood,” he whispers.

“Its blood! Dont drink it!” He screams, seeing Blight raise his cupped leaf to his mouth. He runs over, knocks it out of his hands and gestures for Johanna to gather up Beetee.

“Wiress, Blight, follow us,” he says, “we have to run.”

The blood rain comes down fast and heavy now, covering them in the stench of it. Blaine tries to breath, grabs Beetee together with Johanna and runs after where Wiress and Blight are going. He tries to open his mouth to ask Johanna what to do, where to go and if she knew about this, but when he does he just gets a mouth full. He spits it out, but doesnt get all of it and he immediately feels sick. He pulls through it, though, keeps dragging Beetee.

The sleep did Beetee good, he seems a little steadier on his feet than before and he isnt as heavy, but theyre still all thirsty and exhausted. The thick of the rain makes it impossible to run fast, or to see far enough ahead and then all of a sudden theyre all knocked backwards, something heavy resting on top of Blaine.

He pushes it off him, the cannon echoes just loud enough to hear over the rain and Blaine realizes hes looking straight at a dead Blight.

“Blight!” He screams, getting a mouthful of blood yet again. Johanna keeps her mouth firmly shut as she pulls on Blaines sleeve and urges him to move forward with her.

Blaine looks at Blight for another second, closes his eyes gently with his fingers and then moves to help Wiress up. Her eyes are wide, she looks concerned and points to the direction where Blight was leading them. She shakes her head, her lips tightly pressed together, and starts in another direction.

Blaine follows her, not sure what shes trying to say but trusting she saw what happened to Blight. He just flew backwards and died, nothing at all that indicated danger other than the bloody rain. He follows Wiress, Beetee being dragged along by Johanna, until Wiress collapses and gives up. Blaine turns around to look at Johanna and Beetee, both look exhausted and without another thought he sits down next to Wiress and holds his head down as much as he can.

Theyll have to sit this one out.

They all look ridiculous when it ends, soaking wet and red with fresh blood. They need to get to water, they need to get further but right next to where theyre sitting a thick fog seems to start. The fog doesnt reach them, though, it seems to move away from them.
Its weird, the first the lightning and then the blood rain, now this obviously artificial fog. Its like the Gamemakers are chasing their tributes with disaster after disaster.

“You okay?” Blaine asks Johanna, who sits with her head in her hands, “you knew him best.”

“Im fine,” she says, “what happened to him?”

Beetee moans, Wiress keeps staring at the fog with intense eyes.

“What?” Johanna bites to Beetee, “did you say something, Volts?”

“Force field,” Beetee groans a little louder, before rolling over on his side to be more comfortable. “He ran into a force field.”

Johanna closes her eyes and nods, she stays like that for a long time, until she announces theyll have to find water. She gets up to start moving, but Wiress yanks her down again and looks at her intently.

“Tick Tock,” she whispers, “Tick Tock.”

“Come on,” Johanna urges, “we have to move, we cant stay in the same spot for too long.”

Blaine gets up to enforce Johannas words, holding a hand out to Wiress. If Johanna is going to be strict and angry with her, Blaine should best be nice and gentle with her. “Tick Tock,” Wiress says as she grabs Blaines hand and pulls herself up, “Tick Tock.”

“Yes, Tick Tock,” Blaine agrees with her and starts walking to where to fog seems to have dissapeared. “Tick Tock.”

They walk out of the area where the blood rain had stopped about an hour before, the ground turns from soppy and muddy to hard sand under them in an instant, Blaine looks along the tracks and it seems like a perfect line dissects the fog area and the blood rain area.

“Something very weird is going on inside this Arena,” he says out loud.

“We have to find the others,” Johanna says as though thats an agreement.

“Tick tock,” Wiress answers, “Hickery dickery dock, the mouse ran up the clock.”

“Shes singing now?” Johanna asks exasperated. Blaine nods. He doesnt know the song, but it seems to calm Nuts down so he lets her go with it. Wiress, it seems to calm Wiress down. He ignores the singing, holds her hand firmly and walks a few hundred yards until the thirst and sleep deprivation start to get to him. He hasnt slept at all since he was woken up this morning and if he looks at the position of the moon he thinks it must be around four oclock in the morning. He has been awake for about twenty hours, if not more.

Every bone in his body aches, his lungs feel raw from exhaustion and thick humid air. He hates the way his calves clench up when he crouches down to rest a little, but Johanna drops Beetee heavily to the ground and sits herself down.

“Lets rest up,” she says, “were not going to find any water anytime soon and you need sleep.”

He does, he really does need sleep.

“Tick tock,” Wiress breaths next to him, “tick tock, tick tock, tick tock.”

“Tick tock, Nuts is in shock,” Johanna sighs and Blaine chuckles. “Give her a break,” he tells Johanna, “that bloody rain was quite disconcerting.”

“We got out of it okay, didnt we?” Johanna nudges Blaine, but theres no actual force behind her voice. She knows, too, that one doesnt react to the horrors of the Arena the same as the other. If this was Nutss breaking point, theyll have to pull through and accept shes going to be a burden, just as Beetee is a burden.

Blaine wonders what the Capitol thinks, what the unknowing viewers think of their weird little alliance. Are they buying into it, do they suspect something? Is Cooper alright and what does Cooper think of the way hes handling things? He thinks of Kurt, how last time in the Arena hed been so confused as to what their kiss had meant, that this time he isnt sure if hell ever see Kurt again.

He thinks of how much Kurt has come to mean to him, and as he lies there in this Arena that doesnt seem to cool down, he cant find sleep without Kurts body pressed close to his own. No matter how tired or worn out his body seems to be, he needs the warm comfort of that crazy, gorgeous silver man against him to find sleep.

“Stop thinking so hard and just sleep,” Johanna snaps, “I can practically hear your brain squeak over here with the way youre wearing it out.”

Blaine smiles a little at her directness, thinks of the way Quinn would be so much gentler. He almost asks her to sing a lullaby the way Quinn used to when he was little, the way Quinn did last night in their quarters in the training center. Last night, it seems like forever ago. He cant believe theyve only been in the Arena for so short. It seems like hes been here forever, even if he hasnt been able to find sleep here yet. He keeps thinking, his mind wandering between the lack of Kurts body against his, Coopers kind smile all guilty and worrisome and Quinns soft voice. Somewhere in between he manages to succumb to slumber.

He is roused, what feels seconds later, by Johanna and Wiress standing over him. Wiress seems to still be chiming her tick tock song, and Johanna looks about ready to murder her.

“We have to move,” she says.

Blaine wipes a strain of drool away from his face, realizing he slept without nightmares and, if the drool is any indication, completely relaxed. His jaw doesnt ache the way it normally does when he wakes up after a night alone and his back only gives a slight indication of discomfort.

“You sleep very heavily,” Johanna comments, enforcing his suspicion hed been out like a light. Its not the best news in an Arena full of danger. “You slept through two cannons,” she says, “and Beetee is getting worse, hes sweating more than before and he keeps babbling nonsense. This one here keeps singing about her mouse and her clock and Im just about to go insane. You are never allowed to sleep again.”

“Sorry,” Blaine mutters as he sits up, “I feel better, I had a rough night yesterday, I guess I needed to catch up a little.”

“Yeah, well, if you keep catching up like that youll be dead in an instant in here,” she spits and as if to prove her point another cannon fires.

That makes three cannons since Blaine fell asleep, that combined with the six from the bloodbath and Blight it means there are ten dead now, fourteen still alive.

“I say we go down to the beach and see what we can see from there,” Johanna suggests, hauling Beetee up under his arm and walking towards the middle of the Arena. It turns out theyre only about fifty meters away from there, they exit the jungle and only in the full sunlight Blaine can see how ridiculous they all look. Theyre covered in a red-brownish color from the blood rain and with Wiress running around in circles where Blaine and Johanna drop Beetee to the sand, it must all look a little helpless to the audience. Just as Blaine is about to suggest they wash themselves in the salty water, a voice draws all their attention to their left.

“Johanna!”

Finnick Odair runs towards the foursome, or at least Blaine thinks its Finnick Odair. He looks terrible, covered in green goo and blisters. Behind him Peeta and Katniss stand unsure. Katniss has an arrow ready to shoot either of them and Blaine doesnt blame her. She knows even less about the plan, if she even knows anything at all. To her they must just be obstacles on her way to another year of victory. They look awkwardly between Finnick and Johanna, who hug tightly on the middle of the beach.

“Blaine,” Finnick says, nodding to him politely, then he turns and calls out, “Quinn! We got you something!”

“You have...-?” Blaine starts, but his sentence gets caught off as Quinn stumbles out of the woods, as blistered and covered in green goo as the other three of their alliance seem to be.

“Blaine!” She yells, and starts to run despite herself. She limps a bit on her left leg and the scabs on her face, arm and side dont seem like they can be very comfortable, but she runs straight into Blaines arms. He winds his arms around her waist and buries his face in her neck. The green goo stinks horribly, but he doesnt care. Shes alive, shes as well as can be and shes here in his arms. He twirls her around as he laughs.

“Youre okay,” she whispers, keeps repeating it, “youre okay, youre okay, youre okay.”

Blaine laughs louder, “Im okay,” he promises, “youre okay too.”

Its not a question, its not something he wants to know. Its something he sees, her smile is bright and she clings to him strongly enough for Blaine to understand shes still got energy left in her. She is limping, she looks like hell ran over her face and her left side twice, and shes okay.

Behind them Blaine hears Johanna explain everything to Finnick and the rest, but he cant even be bothered to care about it. Quinn, stinking and limping in his arms gives him all the strength he needs to survive this moment.

“You look like shit,” he jokes when he holds her at arms length to take a good look at her. She laughs, swats his arm and tells him he does too. Which, he supposes, he does.

After everything is explained, Johanna and Katniss have some words and Johanna nearly exposes the plan to the Mockingjay, they all head to the other alliances camp. Quinn shows Blaine a spile hacked into a tree, which gives a steady flow of water. He holds his head under it and laps the warm liquid eagerly.

“Calm down there, bloodshot,” Johanna says as she pushes him aside playfully, “you were hydrated enough to be able to drool in your sleep, give someone else a chance.”

Blaine laughs, though she is right. He wonders how its possible that he was. Perhaps the blood that he involuntarily swallowed hydrated him a little still, or maybe being covered in blood prevented sweating. Still, the water that is coursing through his body now immediately makes him gain strength and the bread that Finnick offers him tastes like heaven.

He retreats into the water, where Katniss has already started washing Wiress. Beetee lies on the sand naked, clean and with moss pressed tightly to the wound that was bleeding severely minutes ago. Blaine undresses, tries to ignore the fact that the entirety of Panem will see him naked when he does. He just has to, has to clean his jumpsuit and has to clean all this blood off his body.

Its ironic, how he thought hed kill and be killed in this Arena and yet the blood hes washing isnt any victims, neither his own. He closes his eyes as he dips his head under water, ignores the lingering wonder whos blood exactly it is that hes washing out of his hair. He rinses it as thoroughly as he can, and only comes up for air when he absolutely has to.

When he and his jumpsuit are clean, Blaine joins Quinn on the beach. They sit a little away from where Johanna is sleeping, with Peeta and Katniss as her guard. Wiress lies in front of Katniss. She seems to like her, which Blaine appreciates. With Johanna being so distant and businesslike it had been his task to make the District 3 tributes feel comfortable. It had been exhausting. Maybe thats why he slept so soundly.

Quinn and he sit in silence, until the sun is bright overhead and Blaine wonders when the next cannon will sound. He wonders if theyre safe on the beach, if the careers will come and hunt them and if he will actually have to sacrifice his life for their Mockingjay when they do. Theyre allies now, and he hasnt even spoken a single word to her. Their group is large, eight people is a lot and the audience must wonder why on earth they arent just killing each other. Or why at least they dont kill Beetee and Wiress. To the audience, as well as Peeta and Katniss, theyre all just obstacles in each others way to victory.

Lightning strikes the same tree as it did the night before.

Katnisss face grows confused as Blaine looks at her, she looks down at Wiress and something seems to click inside her mind.

“The Arenas a clock,” she says.

“Thats why,” Blaine mutters.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“A clock, the Arena is a clock!” Katniss explains. Wiress was right. Tick tock, the Arena is a clock. The lightning has died down and Blaine can see the blood rain now. Just the thought of it makes him nauseous again. It makes sense, it makes total sense. Every spoke represents an hour, every area has its disaster. This is why, Blaine thinks, this is why they need Wiress and Beetee around. Theyre smart about things like these in ways the others arent. Or maybe they were prepared for this, maybe this was their part of knowledge. Though Blaine doubts it, hes still pretty sure the wire that Beetee seems so fond of has something to do with their part in it.

This is how we can figure out when the rescue mission is, Blaine thinks, even without clocks and watches theyll know exactly what time it is. He cant say this out loud, of course, it would give everything away.

Katniss rouses everyone and Blaine helps her, shes right, they need to move. After the blood rain comes the fog, then comes hour three and from what they told about attacks by monkeys, he doesnt want to be here for that. They need to get away. Everyone gathers up, listening to Katniss fairly easily and they move to the Cornucopia with their odd group of eight.

Johanna and Katniss argue, again, and Blaine can see they dislike each other. He tries to give Johanna a warning look, sees Finnick do the same to Katniss. Its easy, for her, to kill Johanna when she feels she needs to. She doesnt know about Johannas plan to rescue her and only her. Beetee seems to have come to life again after the others took care of him and he praises Wiress for being more than smart, for being sensitive. He says she can sense danger before anyone else can, like a bird in a coal mine.

When they get to the Cornucopia everyone mostly goes their own way, Wiress cleaning off the wire and Peeta creating a map of the Arena in the sand. Blaine and Quinn sit a little away from everyone, staring out over nothing and holding hands. Theyre kind of detached from it all, and maybe they shouldnt be but they cant help themselves. Theyre not very deeply into the plan, all they know is to make sure Katniss lives and Peeta lives so she wont turn on them. They are the only ones here who still form a little family and its nice to be in the Arena with a loved one. At least for as long as theyre able to ignore the fact that they can die in an instance.

A painful fact theyre reminded of when Wiresss song goes silent and they turn around to find her throat sliced, Gloss from District 1 smirks as he lets her slide into the water. An arrow flies into his temple and seconds later his sister, Cashmere, gets Johannas axe to her chest. Blaine doesnt even flinch when he sees it happen. He had almost forgotten about the other tributes, as nice and happy as their little eight man alliance had been. Seven now, with Wiress gone. Three people dead in the span of ten seconds.

Brutus and Enobaria, the tributes from District 2, take on Finnick and Peeta. They duck behind the Cornucopia and before Quinn and Blaine can even try to get up to help, something shifts. The two careers are halfway down a spoke of land when the entire island with Cornucopia starts spinning. It spins and spins until it doesnt anymore.

As Blaine tries to regain his posture, tries to get the dizzy feeling from spinning out of his body, he sees Katniss jump into the water and swim towards one of the bodies. Its Wiress. She still has the wire, and Katniss saves it. Blaine thinks he can see why shes the Mockingjay, why shes the face of the rebellion. She keeps doing nice things for people, she keeps doing things she shouldnt. Like now, acknowledging a body thats already being picked up by a hovercraft. He can see why people cling to her.

When she gets back they all agree they need to get away from the Cornucopia. There is some discussion about where to, none of them knowing where they are after the spin. They decide on a spoke and head down to the jungle. It must be monkey hour and they find an area thats monkey free. After some discussion they get Peeta to draw another map, and Katniss is going to tap a tree. Its difficult to have them both protected at all times, Blaine thinks, they must crave a little privacy as much as he and Quinn did. If not more. Yet they manage, Blaine and Finnick join Katniss in the hunt for water.

Finnnick digs a hole in a tree, asks Katniss for the spile, when she goes rigid.

“Prim!” She yells and starts running. Blaine and Finnick exchange a worried look, before running after her.

“Isnt that...-?” Finnick starts.

“Her sister,” Blaine provides, he knows. Hes seen her volunteer for her sister, hes wondered what he would do was he in her place. He knows he would have if Coopers name was drawn this year. Blaine knows how hard Katniss Everdeen will fight to protect her sister.

He runs after her when he turns around abruptly, the scream is agonizing, shrill and shakes him to his very core. Hes off towards it, needs to get to it. It keeps on going, and Blaine needs to find him.

“Kurt!” He yells, reaching for nothing but a sound. Kurts screams are torture, both to listen to and to decipher. Its obvious hes in pain and there is something very wrong. He keeps running and running, the voice only distancing. He doesnt stop reaching for Kurt until he trips over something.

He looks down and sees Katniss sitting there, a dead bird at her feet.

“Jabberjay,” she says, “theyre jabberjays.”

Of course they are, the birds that can mimic any sound they hear and repeat them back when needed. Kurt isnt here, Kurt isnt in the Arena. Blaine is about to sit down next to Katniss when another voice starts, and he hears Finnick shout Annies name in the distance. These birds will get them at your very core, screeching those voices that will get the deepest parts of them. Blaine and Katniss get up, run towards Finnick. He stands still and Katniss tries to explain to him its only a jabberjay, but he refuses to listen to her reason.

“How did they get those sounds?” He asks, and Blaine feels sick thinking about what he means. They repeat sounds, they hear sounds and repeat them. They must have heard Kurt scream like that somewhere. In agony, in pain, sheer panic. Another jabberjay starts screeching in Kurts voice and then Coopers voice is joined as well.

What are they doing to them, why arent they safe? Theyre supposed to be safe. Hes the one in the Arena, they shouldnt be tortured like this.

“Stop!” Blaine yells, covering his ears with his hands, “stop, stop, stop!”

But they dont stop, they only grow louder. Katniss and Finnick are off again, but Blaine is tied to the spot. It goes on for what feels like hours, even though it cant be. Voices keep adding, first Kurts, then Coopers and later his mother and father as well as Halina. Only Quinns voice is missing. Because shes still here, but Blaine doesnt even know if he believes that anymore.

Everything is a haze and all he sees, all he imagines is all his loved ones in a room together. Tortured by the Capitol. He stays tied to the spot, his hand over his ears, but it conceals nothing. He hears Cooper cry out and he hears his mothers piercing shrill. Its nothing new, and yet it is more painful than ever. He stays there and he stays there, staring at nothing and trying to block out every sound, until theyre long gone and Quinns soft hands pry his from his ears.

“Its okay,” she whispers as she gathers him in her arms, “its okay, youre okay.”

“They had Cooper,” Blaine says, trembling in Quinns strong hold, “they had Cooper and Kurt and mom and dad. They arent okay.”

Quinn shushes him, tries to explain something that Beetee said about it being artificial, made in the Capitol, but Blaine doesnt believe it.

“They would never hurt Cooper,” she says, “hes our mentor. They need to interview him, he would never be tortured.”

“But those screams.”

“I know,” Quinn says and kisses his forehead gently, the way she used to when he had nightmares at a young age, “I know.”

She takes him to the others where they are resting, this area now safe for another eleven hours, and she gathers him in his arms.

“Sleep,” she says as he crawls close to her. Maybe it looks weak, maybe it makes him look like the weakest one out of their group, but he doesnt care. He doesnt believe anyone is okay and he cant live without being close to Quinn now. If its true, if everyone he loves is being tortured for the benefit of a few jabberjays in the Arena, he needs to keep Quinn close. The only one he loves who he knows is okay. Even with her scabs and her limp and all the trauma she has been carrying since the first time she was a victor, shes okay.

She hums her lullaby softly in his ear, so softly that none of the others can hear it, and he dozes off to a wordless song. He wakes lightly when a cannon fires, and then when the lightning indicates midnight, but other than that he sleeps. And he sleeps, and he sleeps.

He sleeps until Quinn wakes him, theres food, theres water and theres a plan. Beetee explains something about wire and executing the others and when he suggests a midnight strike Blaine knows this is it. Whatever the plan was, this is it. He has to listen to Beetee. He has no idea what will actually happen, what the plan eventually will entail but hell listen to it. Only the two tributes from District 2, Chaff from Eleven and the seven in their alliance are still alive. It is time to get out of here.

So they all head to the lightning tree, Katniss leading as she for some reason can hear the forcefield with her artificial ear, and there they let Beetee do his thing. They all enjoy the day, as much as they can knowing theyre about to defy the Capitol in the greatest way possible. Seven victors working together to escape the Arena, what will the Capitol do in response?

Blaine doesnt really process much of the day, images of Kurt lying strapped to a table while someone tortures him keep playing in his mind. Quinn keeps stroking Blaines hair, pulling him close towards her and humming her lullaby. Its not comforting, not anymore. Not even when she starts singing lyrics. None of the words make sense anymore. She sings about a girl, pure and simple, about innoncence. None of those words belong in this Arena. Her voice is angelic as ever, but shes out of breath and its costing her energy she is going to need tonight. Blaine only feels guilt. Its his fault Kurt was being tortured, its his fault Cooper isnt safe inside this Arena where theyre about to be saved and head to District 13. Its his fault Quinn is wasting energy on comforting him when she should strengthen up for a heavy evening.

He basks in guilt and frustration until Finnick urges him to eat. He eats some of the District 3 bread and then he retreats back into himself again, not feeling up to talking to anyone until he absolutely has to.

When its time to head to the tree he goes silently, following the rest obligingly. When they get to the tree Beetee is absolutely inclined to have Katniss and Peeta split up, so Blaine offers to take care of Peeta for Katniss. She throws him a grateful smile.

“Dont worry,” she tells Peeta, “Ill see you at midnight.”

And with that Katniss and Johanna are off, the wire trailing behind them as they take it to the beach where its supposed to go into the water and electrocute half the Arena to kill the remaining tributes. It is silent for a while, nothing happens and everyone is too afraid to breathe. Until the strained wire drops to the ground and Beetee sighs.

“Something is wrong,” he says. They cant hear anything, nothing in the jungle moves and the suspense is the worst Blaine has ever felt. Everything is still for another five seconds, until Peeta decides to run for Katniss. Blaine doesnt think twice and runs after him. Whatever is going on, he needs to stop Peeta from getting to her. It was so important for Beetee that they split up, he cant have them reunite now.

Blaine can see Brutus running towards Peeta and he sees Chaff jumping from somewhere out of the blue. Brutuss spear ends up in Chaffs gut, the cannon fires almost as soon as the man falls to the ground. Blaine jumps forward, reaching for one of the throw knives he has secured in his belt, when something sharp hits him in the head. A jolt of pain shoots through his body and he falls down almost in slow motion. The entire world around him is a blur, but he can still see Enobaria running away from him and towards the lightning tree. He turns his head to look at Peeta, who drives one of the arrows he was carrying for Katniss into Brutuss stomach repeatedly.

The cannon fires and Blaines world goes black.

Black turns into a bright cacophony of lights what seems like seconds after, or maybe its been months. Blaine has lost all sense of time and space. Hes on the ground, its warm and above him the sky is blinding. It sounds like bombs are exploding, the entire world is shaking and to his right Blaine finds Peeta right next to him. Johanna and Quinn are not far away from them.

When did they get there, and what happened to Johannas face? Shes covered in blood. The sky is still on fire when a loud, humming noise starts growing closer.

A large gripper picks up Blaine and Peeta at the same time, and he sees another gripper envelop Quinn and Johanna's bodies. They're lifted into the hovercraft slowly. Everything around him happens in a blur. He's pressed close to Peeta, who, though unconscious, seems to still be breathing. They hauled inside the hovercraft by a team of masked people, Peeta taken to one side and Blaine the other. He's wheeled into a large, white room and feels a syringe piercing through the skin in his arm. His vision, already blurry, starts to fade even more. A face hangs over him and tells him to relax.

“Calm down, Mister Anderson, just go to sleep.”

The face is covered by a mask, hair tucked neatly under a cap. The fringe is still visible, as well as the eyebrows, and they're both bright pink. There are stars tattooed on the right side of the girl's face and her eyelashes are unnaturally long. It's then, just before he slips into unconsciousness that Blaine realizes. Im not on my way to Thirteen.