𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 & 𝐆𝐎𝐑𝐄. ᵀᴴᴳ[1]

14

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.