Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games

Its funny how fate works, I've always believed that everything happens for a reason, why did we choose to befriend one person and not another, why was District 12 designated with the District of Coal and not lumber? Okay so some options can be answered quite simply, we are built on a coal mine and there aren't many trees in the boundaries. And for the friendship, probably it was because I was the Mayor's daughter and nobody wanted to actually talk to me. But surely the paths and decisions we make are why our lives turn out the way they do. And yet sometimes our journey goes down a path that we didn't choose, but a path someone chose for us.

But like I said everything happens for a reason, I was reaped for the games and though it's the worst thing that has ever happened to me, instead a different girls name could have been called, by me being here I have saved the life of another girl, a District sister I could say. It's an odd way of seeing it but it's what keeps me going in this hellish nightmare. What happens to me from here? Do I win the games and join Haymitch in mentoring or do I die and my name becomes another on the ever growing list.

It's a bit morbid but I do feel we all have a time, like a giant clock ticking away the seconds of our life and that clock knows the time of your death, you can't escape it. No matter how hard you try if your time is up then it is up. How we die is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things, you avoid one way then someone else will come and kill you. In District 12 the options are ever-growing and here in the games it's the same. Anything can kill me here, and if my time is up no matter whether I avoid the blade of a knife I can still die by the juice of a berry.

Two things haven't changed, it's still raining out and I'm still sat in the cave in my underwear. It's then I remember the coat in the bag. I reach for the bag and I quickly pull out the District 1 coat. It's Glimmers coat and now she's dead, owning the coat just didn't seem right but I have to look past that fact, it's important I stay warm and dry and that coat may be the only way to survive.

I hope Gale is safe, the rain seems to be falling harder now and I hope he managed to find shelter, but a heavy feeling in my stomach causes me doubts, I've not seen any forms of shelter other than the caves and now all I can imagine is him sitting in the rain, soaked to the bone. A cruel small part of me hopes he isn't doing as well as I, I've always been over looked in District 12, seen as nothing more than the District Princess, when my name was called I know the citizens looked at me with sad eyes, all thinking the same as each other, she doesn't stand a chance. Many know of Gale, know of his skills and capabilities and yet I'm sat here safe and strong and I can only imagine Gale isn't. Obviously I want him to be okay and safe but I'm aware only one of us will win the games and it's selfish but I don't want to lose.

I'm quickly taken from my thoughts as I hear a sound from outside, I freeze listening more carefully. I hear what I think is a twig break and my heart begins to beat faster. Someone or something is outside, I quickly stand and I reach for my bow and arrows, whoever it is I'm ready! Cato clouds my vision, I can see him coming closer his grin dripping with blood and I shoot but the arrow just bounces off of him.

I shake my head at the thought, it will not help me now. I don't hear any talking but I hear footsteps coming closer, I try to listen closer but I'm finding it harder to hear over my own heartbeat. I nock the bow and arrow and pull back ready to release. It can't be a career, there's only one set of footsteps, unless it's Marvel and the crazy ones from 2 have abandoned him. I'm ready, whoever it is I'm ready. I pull the string on my bow harder as the person appears in front of me, I freeze.

The boy from 4 stares at me, his head is bleeding and he has no weapon. He simply just stares and his eyes are locked in fear, and we simply just stare at each other. Only a few seconds pass but I slowly lower my bow. I remember his reaping, the shock in my voice when he appeared on the stage. He didn't score very highly and I simply cannot bring myself to kill a child. If it had been one of the careers I'd have just shot and thought about my actions later but this child has done nothing wrong.

"You okay?" I ask as I slowly place the bow to the ground.

"You're not going to kill me?" he asked and I shake my head.

"No, I won't do that to you. Do you plan to kill me?" He shakes his head and slowly inches forwards, I smile softly at him and he smiles in return. "How did you hurt your head?" I ask, blood continues to trickle down the side of his face and as he comes closer I can see that the cut doesn't look too serious.

"I fell over when it started to rain, is it bad?"

"Doesn't look it from here, do you have a headache or feel dizzy?"

"Erm a little bit," he admits to me and I point to the space next to me.

"I'll have a look at it for you. I won't hurt you," I can see the weariness in his eyes and he doesn't move. I need to go with this in a different way. I reach to my bag and pull out my bottle of water, I take a drink and then throw it towards him. He continues to watch me, searching for any signs of poison before reaching for the drink. He takes a hefty gulp and then wipes the back of his mouth.

"Thanks," he says and I smile, I pat the spot beside me and he now steps closer to me. He truly is terrified of me and it's something I'm not used too. "You're the girl from District 12 right?" I nod and he frowns. "So why are you wearing the coat of District 1."

Now I understand. He saw the coat and suddenly thought I was Glimmer. "It's a long story," I tell him and he nods.

"I thought I was going crazy. You looked like the girl from 12, and I was certain the girl from 1 appeared in the sky but seeing you sat here with that coat made me confused."

"Easily done, you can't quite make out what real and what isn't real in the arena." I say and he nods, "How long have you been up here?" I ask and he shrugs.

"A few days, it's been pretty safe you're the only person that I've actually seen up here."

"Well you and I aren't the only ones, the boy from District 1 and both tributes from District 2 are up here last I saw." His eyes widen and I wince. "Kind of my fault I'm afraid."

He looks at me confused, "how is it your fault?" he asks.

"Well, the four of them caught up to me while I was half way up the waterfall and they followed after me."

"Wait the four of them?" and I nod. "What happened to Glimmer?" I scratch the back of my neck and fiddle with the coat.

"My fault again, I got to the top of the waterfall before they did and there was this boulder, it was big enough to push and I did, pushed it off the waterfall and it hit her, landed on her head." I say and he stares at me with wide eyes. It's quite a comical look.

"You killed a career tribute!" he says and I nod.

"It's how I got the bow and arrows,"

"Not the coat?" I shake my head. "Let me guess you've come across them before then?" I smile and he shakes his head.

"I was hidden up a tree the first night and I heard them say the camp was unguarded, so I went to it. Stole a bunch of stuff and her coat."

"You're crazy 12!" he laughed and I smiled.

"What about you, you faced anyone yet?" He shakes his head and I nod.

We continue to sit in silence he wipes at the cut on his head and as he wipes at it I can see the blood has stopped flowing and the cut on his head will be nothing to worry about. He looks skinny, and I'm amazed he's still alive. Strangely the little girl from 11 is also alive and I wonder if the game would finally see the first ever 12 year old Victor.

"It's Madge right?" he says and I nod. "What's it like in District 12?" I'm taken back by the question but it makes me smile.

"It's dusty," I say. "We are the coal mining District so as you can imagine nothing stays clean for long. The District is kind of split into two segments, the Town and Seam. The Seam is where the miners live, it's the biggest part of District 12 and most of the people who live there look a bit like my District Partner Gale. Dark hair and a slightly darkish skin tone. The other part is the Town and that's where I live. It's the wealthier side, where the school is and where the reaping is held."

"Sounds very different to 4," he said and I smile.

"It's completely different, we are surrounded by woodlands and we are considerably smaller, we've only a population of around 8,000."

"Is that it?" he said and I nod. "Wow I think we have over 100,000!"

"Yep, District 6 has the highest population in Panem with over 600,000 individuals."

"That's loads, how do you know all of this?" he asks and I smile.

"I'm the Mayor's Daughter, I know all sorts of things about the Districts and the Capitol."

"I remember now, you were going to move here and do a musical class," he said and I smile, I can feel the guilt of lying in my stomach but I have to keep with it.

"Yeah, not sure I would have lived here permanent but I would have liked to experience the Capitol Lifestyle, maybe be on the other side of the games instead of this one."

"I know that feeling. I'd have loved to be like my dad you know," I look at him intrigued and he continues to tell me his father worked on the fishing boats, he would go out to sea for several days in a row working as a trawler man, collecting fish.

"Why can't you now?" he looks at me with a frown.

"Finnick Odair is the youngest tribute ever to win the Hunger Games and he was 14. I'm only 12, I'm not going to win this." He says and I feel as though someone is squeezing my heart.

"You don't know this," I tell him and he shakes his head.

"I do, there's no way I would win against the Careers or the others, and I've done well surviving as long as I have, and sure I'd love to win it but the chances are so low."

"Every time that cannon goes off you are one step closer to home, who would have said that both tributes from 12 would still be standing and the girl from District 1 would have died so early. These games are different to the last few, you may be surprised who'll win."

"Even if I did win, I wouldn't be able to go on the trawler boats, as a Victor it wouldn't be acceptable." He says and I have to agree.

"Well if you win, maybe you could take a celebratory trip on them." He thinks about what I've said and smiles.

"I think you could win this you know," I raise my eyebrow in surprise and he nods. "I'm serious you've already killed off one of the strongest opponents and you aren't injured and only semi naked, why aren't you wearing clothes?"

I point to where they are laid, "They need to dry." I tell him and he nods.

"Have you thought about making a fire?" he asks me and I nod.

"The problem with a fire in here is, the smoke. It's gonna have nowhere to go and the roof isn't high enough."

I allow Noah to stay in the cave with me as the rain continues to fall, I couldn't bring myself to allow him to stay outside in this weather. I had originally thought the weather would remain for the day but as night comes and goes I realise that may not be the Game makers plan. By the second day of the rain my rations have ended and we've run out of water. What little Noah had has also gone. Since the rain had started only once had the cannon gone off? We both huddle at the edge of the cave to watch the single face appear in the sky. My breath catches in my throat and I instantly look down to the tiny 12 year old boy beside me, it's his district partner that shines brightly in the sky.

He lowers his head and heads back into the cave and I'm left staring up at the sky thinking of Gale. I can't imagine how Noah must feel right now, District 4 is far larger than 12 and the two may have never met until this day but they had shared this terrifying journey and to see that one person who could understand what you felt appear in the sky must be horrible.

It's quiet during the night, the only thing that ruins the silence is the rain. I walk back into the cave to see Noah wiping his eyes and I slowly lower next to him and I gently place my hand on his shoulder.

"Did you know her back in the District?" Noah sniffs but shakes his head.

"I only met her during the trip to the Capitol. Marina was a few years older than me, but she seemed so calm and so strong. She did so much better than me, I honestly didn't think I was going to go further than her."

"I'm so sorry, it's so cruel!" Noah smiles sadly at me and I have to hug him. The games are horrid and so cruel and today my new little friend is hurting in a way that people don't associate with the games. After all the years of watching the games I had never thought about the pain the death of a tribute partner could really feel, but now a 12 year old boy sits in a cave upset and afraid and it makes me hate the Capitol more than ever.

So after a bit of searching I discovered the little boy from District 4 never received a name so I decided to go down the water theme and call him Noah, (he's just needs an Ark) I hope you liked this chapter, please drop us a review and let me know what you think so far! Thanks for the previous chapter reviews!