SAGE HADN'T EXPECTED FOR HIS ALLIANCE TO END RIGHT THEN AND THERE. But in a way there was a weight lifted off his shoulders. As much as he trusted Marena, he liked the feeling of just having to count on himself. He had, foolishly, counted on Watt to get Boyde to the other side of the stream. And it cost him his entire alliance. Deedee was gone. Boyde, gone. Watt was gone too— but he barely considered him an ally. Maybe Watt had been right, in some cases in the arena regardless of your alliance, you had to put yourself first. That was what Watt did, whether Sage agreed or not. Sage didn't think he could do that if he and Marena stuck together, the two of them getting closer to the final two was something he didn't want to happen. Sure, if he didn't win, he wanted Marena to win. He liked to think that if Marena wasn't going to win, she'd want him to win. If it came down to the two of them, it wouldn't be easy or really fair.

      So they agreed to part ways after dividing the supplies. Sage let Marena keep the jerky they had gotten— he could hunt if he had to. She let him keep the canteen— being from Four gave her an advantage on finding ways to get drinkable water. So once it was said and done, they swiftly parted ways without much of a goodbye. Sage decided to make his way deeper into the arena, farther from the cornucopia. She decided to move further away from the stream while Sage used it to guide himself deeper into the trees. While he did so he tried to imagine himself back in Twelve, even though it was far too humid to be Twelve. He tried to imagine that he and Katniss were out scavenging for wild berries, hopefully enough to sell and also take home to their mother to make a berry pie. If there was one thing his mother could do besides raise hell in the Hobb and barter if they didn't get a fair payment, cooking was her next talent.

"Sage!"

         Sage stopped abruptly in his tracks, suddenly snapping back into the arena. As if he had successfully went back to the forest outside Twelve even if it was just momentarily. But the sound of someone calling for him brought him back, and it left an eerie feeling in the air. Because it was Katniss.  At least it sounded like her.

"It's not her." Sage stated firmly, his eyes scanned the trees around him. "It's not her."

"Sage!"

Sage felt a heavy feeling fill his stomach, he felt like he was about to be sick again. They wouldn't do that, he had to tell himself that. Katniss wasn't old enough for the games. They wouldn't put here in there just to screw with him, they'd have an uproar from the districts and even the Capitol to deal with.

The trees around him were still, and the air was eerily silent as he stood there in complete silence. The words it's not her and they wouldn't do that we're on repeat in his head until suddenly it was the sound of Katniss calling out for him. Instead it was just a shrill scream, this time it didn't quite sound like Katniss. The scream was one filled with pain, and fear. Sage could almost feel the pain they were going through, he could feel his heart racing as if he was going through what was scaring them himself. And within moments of him first hearing it, it was like it surrounded him. It was everywhere. But it wasn't until he looked up that he finally saw it— a black bird with a shimmering blue chest that let out a shrill scream every time it opened its beak.

After he found the source of the noise, Sage was able to keep moving through the trees.

But it was nearly impossible to imagine himself outside of District Twelve.

        The bird followed Sage as he moved through the arena. Sage tried his best to focus on the ground beneath his feet, it was becoming more and more rocky the further he went. And the trees began to thin out. And the air even began to change, it wasn't quite as thick feeling on his skin, the humidity seemed to begin to melt away. But every so often the bird that followed him would swoop down right past him or behind him, screaming as it did so. It was as if it was taunting him. He was positive that it was meant to get under his skin, but it was more of an annoyance. Only because he couldn't place the voice it was supposed to be. If it really had been Katniss, he'd already going insane. He was sure of that, but after listening to it for what felt like hours, when it reality had probably only been one hour, he knew that thinking it was Katniss at first had just been a knee jerk reaction. Probably one that the game makers had been wanting...

The bird followed Sage until he made it to the outskirts of the forest. There was a few feet of rocky ground until there was an abrupt drop. By the looks of it, the arena kept going, at the bottom of the cliff he stood on top of, there were more trees, and the stream that he had been following flowed down the cliff into what looked like it could have been a pond based off what he could see. The trees stretched on and on, much farther than Sage expected. But he doubted it was real. Over the last couple years whenever there was an abrupt cliff with no visible safe way down, it usually the end of the arena but disguised so the tributes would think there was more out there.

✧ ✦ ✧

One week seemed like an eternity to Katniss. One week with everyone's eyes on here in school, one week of her mother barely uttering a single word during meals but pretending everything was fine while she cooked or helped Katniss with her homework. One whole week of Prim forcing her way into Katniss' bed shortly after their parents went to bed. One whole week of Ella being the one to accompany Katniss outside of the fence.

Katniss hadn't watched all that much of the games. She woke up late enough that her breakfast usually consisted of a piece of bread with a bit of butter or jam that she ate on her way to school with Prim. Then after school she usually ran home, changed, and then went to the woods. Ella would usually find her soon after Katniss has gotten all settled with her bow or had filled half her basket with berries or herbs. By the time she went home, dinner was about ready and they didn't watch the games during dinner. After dinner, it was time for Katniss to work on her homework, and then after that it was time for bed. But she had heard enough about the games to know that Sage had a bit of a chance at winning. But so did the girl from District Two, and Marena from District Four.

Since the day he left, nobody besides Prim seemed all that confident that he'd be back. Prim seemed to think he was unstoppable, but she was still a kid. She could barely remember any of the games that she had been around to watch. All she remembered from this years games was the tribute parade or the interviews that painted Sage to be some icon in the games. Everyone in District Twelve acted different after his interview, everyone had a glimmer of hope that they could have a victor. But Katniss didn't. Nothing ever went right for the tributes from Twelve, and she didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Katniss, dinner is ready." her mother informed her through the window above where Katniss sat against the house with some strawberries she had gotten from the Hobb, she had taken it upon herself to take Sages' job of plucking off all the green leaves because Prim refused to eat the berries if she saw them on them.

"Coming," Katniss replied, popping one of the berries in her mouth before she brought the bowl back inside, only to hear the faint noise of Ceasar Flickerman interviewing Finnick Odair.

"Sage and Marena split up," Prim announced as Katniss set the bowl down on the counter. "Finneck says he thinks it was a good thing for both of them."

"It's Finn-ick." Katniss corrected the young girl, earning a side-eye from her mother as she took the bowl of berries to rinse them off before putting them on the berries.

Katniss took her seat at the table across from Prim as their father exited their parents room that doubled as a office for him and he took a seat beside Katniss and her mother took a seat at the end of the table. They always left Sage's chair open, he always had the seat beside Prim and she threw a fit the one time their father tried to sit there so they could all sit across from each other.

"Do you think we'll have berries left over when Sage gets back? Finnick says he thinks the games will only last another day or two." Prim stated as their mother began to dish up some food on her plate.

"If we don't eat them all tonight," their father stated, taking one from the bowl and eating it as he nudged Katniss. "You and Ella must have had something good to trade today."

"Just a few rabbits that Ella gave me." Katniss replied, "Sage's bow is still too big for me, but I think I'm getting the hang of using it. Ella said by summer I should be pretty good with it."

"But its Sage's." Prim stated.

"You don't even go out there, Prim." Katniss sighed heavily as she grabbed a piece of bread and began to spread some butter on it before taking a heaping scoop of mashed potatoes.

"But Sage will need it this summer, you'll have to use your own. He can't use yours, it's too small for him."

Silence filled the house, followed by the sound of the arena as the usual whistling of crickets filled the darkening arena.

"Sage might not be coming back, Prim." Katniss said, her voice was monotone and flat. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she felt her father's eyes on her.

"You just don't want him to come back because the Hobb gives you all the good stuff now since he's in the Capitol." Prim retorted, she didn't understand how the Hobb worked yet. She thought Sage always was able to bring stuff back because they liked him, not because of what they had to trade.

But her words felt like daggers stabbing Katniss. She didn't want him to come back? Of course she did, but did she think it was likely? Not really. 

"Prim, of course she wants him to come back," their mother said, a bit breathlessly trying to keep herself composed. 

"She doesn't act like it." Prim huffed before she turned to her meal.

The rest of the meal was silent, listening to only the games on the television which barely focused on Sage now that he was on his own, and instead focused mainly on the career tributes that were left. All of it left Katniss with barely any sort of appetite.