Promises of a Sacrificial Lamb |Destiel x The Hunger Games|

-20-

"So Cresh was chasing you?"  Cas asks.  He sits across from me, brows furrowed in concern and knees hugged into his chest.

I nod.  Shivers still run down my spine when I think about that malicious glint in his eyes when he spotted me at the Cornucopia.  "Yeah.  I was looking for you after the gong sounded, but he saw me and just started coming after me.  I didn't want to lead him directly to you, either, so that's why I ran the other way."

For a moment, Cas falls silent.  He almost looks perplexed.  "You risked your life to keep him away from me?"  he murmurs, barely audible over the birds and the soft breeze rustling the leaves around us.

"After what he said to us in training, I didn't want to chance it,"  I tell him.  The worry glimmering in his gaze seems to pierce right through me.  "I'm so sorry I left you alone.  I acted before I thought.  I didn't realize how long it would take for me to find you."

A faint smile lights up Cas' face.  "You don't have to apologize,"  he says.  "I'm just really glad you're here."

Words can't describe how much I've missed him.  "Me too,"  I say with a smile of my own.  Just being in his presence has already soothed most of my rattled nerves from the events of the last day.  "So what did you get up to while I was scouring the whole forest?"

"Nothing of interest."  He gently rocks back and forth, keeping the tips of his boots on the trunk for stability.  "My platform was right behind the tail, so as soon as that gong sounded, I took off and didn't look back.  There was a District Two boy right next to me.  I didn't feel like going toe-to-toe with him."

"Understandable,"  I laugh.  So he was by the tail.  That's why I didn't see him when I was frantically scanning the battlefield.

"I kept running until I couldn't hear the screams anymore,"  Cas goes on.  He draws a deep breath.  "I thought about staying on the ground in case you were behind me somewhere, but a few minutes passed, and I still didn't see you.  I got nervous about someone else finding me, so I just picked a random tree and started climbing as best as I could.  I sat there keeping an eye out for you for a long time.  Then the cannons went off, and then the death recap, and then this.  No fun escapades for me."

Hearing how he camped out in this exact tree for hours upon hours, waiting for me and hoping I was alive, only worsens the guilt gnawing at my stomach.  I can't even imagine how afraid he must've been out here by himself.  I try to let it go, though.  Everything is okay now.  I found him.  We're both still kicking.  It all worked out in the end, even though the road there was uncomfortably bumpy.

"What about you?"  Cas' quiet voice rips me out of my thoughts.  "How were the exciting adventures of Dean Winchester?"

I scoff.  "More like nightmarish adventures.  I was worried I was never going to find you.  It's like a maze out there, and the darkness and dehydration didn't help in the slightest."

Cas presses his lips together.  "You didn't find any water, then?"

"Not a drop."  I shrug my knapsack off and unzip it to show him the contents.  "There's a bottle in here, but of course it's empty.  At least there are some other good things."  I fish out the crackers, the jerky, the small flashlight, the container of iodine, and finally, the switchblade.  He seems impressed by the haul I managed to snag.

"We're going to have to look for water soon,"  I say, as much as it concerns me to do so.  "We won't last long in this heat without it."

Cas nods, but I can tell the very idea of leaving the safety of this tree makes him anxious.  He's been up here for almost twenty-four hours.  He hasn't seen the rest of the rainforest yet, and I feel like I hardly scratched the surface during my travels.  There's a lot of unexplored territory, and unexplored territory can be dangerous.  I'm just as uneasy about leaving as he is, but our dehydration is only going to get worse as time goes on.  We need water.  We'll just have to be cautious when we venture out.