“No. I’m not. If anything I’m...don’t worry”

“It sounds like you are. If you really think I have that little hope, then I’m not gonna make you stay.” He moved to get up, but Kurt grabbed for his wrist again.

“Would you stop?!” Kurt let go of his arm. “Sit down...please” he added once Blaine glared at him.

“I don’t understand any of this.” He started. “Okay, answer me a few questions, and then I’ll drop it.”

“Okay” Kurt reluctantly agreed.

“Why don’t you want to be in the career group?”

Kurt thought for a moment, fiddling with the string on his bow before mumbling a reply. “Because I want to be with-stay with,” he corrected. “stay with you.”

“Because I’ll be an easier kill than they would when it comes down to the two of us” Blaine added.

“No” Kurt dismissed. “I wish you’d stop that”

BOOM.

The cannon sounded. The end of the Cornucopia bloodbaths.

“Ten” Kurt confirmed at the end of the blasts. “That leaves...14, including us.”

“So now what?” Blaine asked, digging his knife into the ground in front of him and twisting it experimentally.

“We should just at least get some food ready and then move out, we need to find water” Kurt suggested, pulling himself up and out of the enclosure. As he pulled himself out, a huge flash of white lightning knocked him back, he threw himself back into the enclosure and dragged Blaine down with him, both of their arms rising to shelter their eyes from the blinding light which still encircled them. A high pitched squealing hit their ears.

A dark shade grew over their area, a low humming overtaking the white noise as two hooks dropped from the hovercraft.

“Stage one is complete. Tributes, please prepare to be relocated.”

Seneca Crane’s voice reverberated around the arena and the wires which were dropped from the hovercraft appeared at the mouth of Kurt and Blaine’s enclosure. Blaine looked at him warily, but Kurt just pulled himself up, put the bag onto his back and took a firm grip on the wire, feeling himself freeze in place as they prepared to lift him into the hovercraft. Blaine followed swiftly after and as soon as they were lifted into the air, the ground below them engulfed in flames and burnt down to nothing but ashes.

The hovercraft was empty, but they were not released from the wire which lifted them into it. Blaine looked over at Kurt, who had a small smile on his face. The lights in the hovercraft switched off, Blaine supposed it was probably to give them less connection with where they were or what was going on. They stayed in the hovercraft for about 30 minutes until they came to a sudden halt and were slowly lowered back down into the arena. When the hovercraft pulled away, Blaine let himself take in his surroundings.

A town. Well, what was once a town. They were outside the front of an old building which had smashed in windows and a dented door. Kurt grabbed Blaine’s arm and shoved him into the doorway, closing it quietly as he followed Blaine in.

“Go upstairs, tell me what you see” Kurt demanded, running into one of the downstairs rooms.

Blaine obliged, taking the steps two at a time, being careful not to stand on the ones which were already smashed through.

“BLAINE?” Kurt yelled up the stairs when he had inspected the downstairs area.

“I...there’s nothing up here. Just...a mattress, and a smashed mirror.” Blaine replied, standing at the top of the stairs. Kurt followed him, and walked into the room directly opposite the staircase.

“A mattress. Well at least now we’ll have somewhere comfy to sleep” Kurt smiled. “There’s gotta be something...” he mumbled, walking around the sides of the mattress, kicking its corner until dust puffed up from the centre.

“What are you looking for?”

“Something to tell us what stage two is.” Kurt replied, walking over to the smashed window. He stuck his head out and looked as far as he could. “We’re in District 13” He said quietly. Blaine walked over to him, standing on the mattress when it was in his way and a spring popped through the material as he lifted his foot.

“What? We can’t be...they bombed it”

“Look...over there” Kurt pointed out the distinct horizon they always show each year when displaying clips of District 13 to the other districts as a reminder of what they are sacrificing themselves for and what will happen to them if they fail to comply with the Capitol’s rules.

“They didn’t think we’d notice?” Blaine replied quietly, turning his body to face the side of Kurt’s.

“I dunno. Maybe they’re trying to show that they can still kill everyone without having to bomb people...maybe they’re trying to say that if they need to kill each individual person, they will.”

“And then we’ll kill your children too.” Blaine said bitterly. “Yeah, I think I get it now.”

Kurt turned back towards the stairs. “Come on, we need to find out where we are”

Blaine went ahead of him, but his foot got stuck in one of the cracks of the staircase, and his leg fell through, a huge rip of wood and fabric. Blood began to pour from Blaine’s thigh where a piece of wood was jammed into it. A cry tore from Blaine’s throat as his hands came down to his thigh, his other leg bent into a crouch.

“Stay still” Kurt demanded, ducking under his arm and stepping over his other leg to get around him. “Stay still, Blaine” he repeated once Blaine’s hands were fumbling over his bleeding leg again.

“A-ah-ah!” Blaine cried out, wincing as Kurt tugged his hands away from his leg gently.

“Where’s your knife?” Kurt asked.

“Aaaaaah!” Blaine whined again as another sharp jolt of pain wracked through his leg. “Boot...” he managed to whimper. “Boot” he repeated, shuffling his open foot a little bit on the top of the stair. Kurt caught on and reached into the side of Blaine’s boot, pulling the knife out carefully. He got to work on the stair, sawing around the outside of Blaine’s thigh to give him enough room to be able to get his leg free.

Blaine was crying by this point, a few tears dropped from his chin as his fists were clenched by his side, trying to stop himself from grabbing at his leg.

“It’s alright, it’s alright” Kurt reassured, continuing to saw through the wood. Once it was free, Blaine fell backwards and sat down on the above stair, reaching forward to grab at his leg.

Kurt furrowed his eyebrows a bit. “Blaine, I need to get the wood out...I’m sorry, it’s gonna hurt but I need to...I’m sorry” Kurt apologised, reaching down and tugging Blaine’s hands away from his leg again.

Blaine shook his head, still crying as Kurt squeezed his hand gently and placed it next to his hips.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated.

Kurt pulled a little on the blood soaked wood and heard Blaine cry out at the movement, his head throwing back with pain. Kurt reached up and pulled his head forward.

“I’m so sorry” he whispered again, leaning up to rest their foreheads together. Kurt ran his thumb under Blaine’s eye and wiped his tears away. He pulled back, his hand cupping Blaine’s neck and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I’ll do it quickly, okay?” Blaine nodded sharply and Kurt’s hand brushed along his cheekbone again.

Kurt pulled the bag off his back and took his water bottle out, unclipping the top in preparation. He reached down to the small piece of wood in Blaine’s thigh and ripped it out in one quick motion. The ear-piercing scream which erupted from Blaine’s chest felt like a stab wound in Kurt’s stomach, and he reached forward immediately for the water bottle and poured some onto the piece of fabric he’d used to join him to Blaine earlier in the day. He soaked it with water and pressed it onto Blaine’s wound. He wrapped it around securely, tying it up tight.

Blaine was still crying, his face flushed red with the pain from his leg. Kurt reached forward and brushed his tears away again.

“It’s done, it’s done” he reassured. “I’m sorry, but it’s done, you’re okay”

“K-Kurt” Blaine whined, throwing his head back again and falling back against the stairs, his hands coming up to his hair as he tried to resist pulling at his leg just to find any way to stop the which still felt like it was being ripped from him. Kurt moved to the side of him and rubbed his stomach softly, just like he did whenever Finn was sick or in pain. Blaine turned his head and looked up at him through his fluttering eyelashes which were rapidly opening and closing with the throbbing splitting through his body.

Kurt looked down at him through his own glassed over eyes, and he leant down, kissing Blaine’s cheek carefully, running a hand through his hair.

“It could get infected” Kurt mumbled aloud. “We need to...find...something” he looked around aimlessly until an idea hit him and he sat up quickly. “Will you be okay here for a minute?” he asked softly, running his finger across Blaine’s jaw. Blaine nodded shakily and then clenched his teeth as he accidentally moved his leg without thinking.

“Okay, I’ll be right back” Kurt promised, leaving with one final squeeze to his hand.

Blaine waited until Kurt was out of sight before he lifted the water bottle with a shaky hand and poured a little more over the fabric covering the slice in his pants. He let out a small cry, but tried to bite his lip through it.

After the pain subsided, he felt a little bit of relief.

“Aaah...” he whispered, bringing the water bottle to his head, feeling the metal canister cool his warm forehead. He sipped a bit and then placed it back down on the stair, just as Kurt came back up the stairs carrying a small box.

“I found this in one of the cupboards. Along with this.” He tossed a small packet of biscuits on top of his bag and put the box on the stair below. Once it was open, he pulled out a bandage and started to untie the piece of fabric. He looked at the wound since it was now clean, and pulled a small tube out of the box as well.

“It’s not that deep, it just got you at a weird angle. You’re gonna be alright” Kurt promised, squeezing some of the clear gel onto his finger. “This might sting a bit...just, please don’t hit me or anything” he snuck a small smile at Blaine, who was supporting his upper body on his elbows to get a better look at what was going on.

Kurt bought his finger down to the wound and ran the gel over it, trying to ignore Blaine’s small sounds of pain until they changed into more soothed whimpers. He squeezed the last of the tube onto his finger and ran it over the wound again, until Blaine was no longer making any sounds of displeasure or hurt. Once the tube was finished, he wrapped his thigh back up in the fresh bandage and then passed Blaine the water bottle.

“Have a long drink, you lost a lot of blood” he suggested.

“Thank you” Blaine said gratefully. “You didn’t have to do...all that” he finished softly, taking a drink until he felt a bit stronger.

“It’s alright, and plus, we have loads more medical stuff now.” He gestured to the box he was emptying into his backpack. “Have a biscuit” he nodded at the packet with a smile.

“I’m tired” Blaine complained, opening the packet shakily and picking out a biscuit. He offered one to Kurt, who opened his mouth with a smile and continued to pile things into his bag. Blaine laughed a little and leant forward to place the biscuit into Kurt’s mouth. Kurt bit around it and then pulled away.

“Am I really gonna feed you this whole biscuit?” Blaine asked.

Kurt just nodded and hummed around his food.

“You’re a child” Blaine replied, taking a bite of his own biscuit. Kurt opened his mouth wide again and began rearranging things in the bag. Blaine sighed, laughed a little and then fed him more of the biscuit, Kurt’s lips brushing across his fingertips as the biscuit became smaller with each bite.

Once they had both finished, Kurt helped Blaine into a standing position and shuffled him to the side of the staircase.

“Walk in a straight line and you’ll be fine, I’ve checked them all for stability” Kurt said, his arm wrapped tightly and protectively around Blaine’s waist. Blaine’s arm hung around Kurt’s shoulders and they began to shuffle down the stairs together. “You alright?” Kurt confirmed once they were at the bottom.

“Yeah...I think I can walk, I’ll be okay” Blaine said smiling. “Thank you”

“Don’t worry about it...come on, we’ll go out the back and try find somewhere else to stay. It’s almost nightfall, and people probably heard you screaming”

Blaine frowned. “Sorry”

“Don’t apologise, they could’ve seen the hovercraft anyway, we just need less proximity with them.”

Kurt reached out and held Blaine’s hand, walking with his bow in the other hand, Blaine equipped with his knife. They walked through some alley ways for a while until they realised that all of the houses were the same, and there was no way they’d be able to get found silently. Every door way, staircase and floorboard creaked. If someone was coming for them, they’d be able to be prepared before they got there.

“Let’s stay in here” Kurt said, pulling the door of a house open. There was a thick mattress laid out on the upstairs bedroom and Kurt helped to lower Blaine onto it as the sky darkened outside. There was a dusty blanket scrunched up in the corner, so Kurt brushed it out and laid it over them both.

“You okay?” Blaine asked quietly.

“Yeah. Are you?” Kurt replied.

“Yeah,” he whispered. “I’ve...never slept in the same bed as someone before.” He admitted quietly, letting his eyes fall closed.

The Capitol anthem blared through the sky and they both looked out to the window as the images of the dead tributes were displayed for them. The boy from 3, both from 4, the girl from 5, both from 6, the girl from 7, the boys from 8 and 9, and the boy from 11.

“Me neither” Kurt said softly once the anthem played again and they were plunged into darkness once more. “Shared a bed...that is” he confirmed. “Apart from with my brother when he’s sad.”

“Mmm” Blaine hummed, letting his eyelids flutter closed again.

Kurt eyed him for a moment before moving over and lifting Blaine’s arm from his chest.

“C’mere” He whispered, pulling Blaine’s arm around his shoulders and laying his own across Blaine’s waist, tugging himself closer until his head was nuzzled into the side of Blaine’s neck.

“Thank you” Blaine whispered, tightening his grip on Kurt’s shoulder and stroking his other hand and fingertips across Kurt’s arm resting on his stomach.

“Goodnight, Blaine”