Author's Note:

FINALLY, HERE IT IS: CHAPTER 9!

Sorry, Y'alls, I've been so incredibly busy for these past couple months with school and dance. But now that school's over and I have a 3-week break from dance, I have finally gotten around to finishing chapter 9. Sorry I couldn't deliver something better. It's really short, but we're getting to the good part. And it's sad because... the story's almost over :( But don't worry! this shit's going out with a bang.

Now, without further delay, enjoy :)

It was dark when Blaine came to. Heat entered his pores as he breathed deeply, smelling pine. He felt drained. His head was throbbing and his body felt stiff as a board. He must have been out for a while. He balled up his hands, then released them. They felt dry. Like something had dried on his hands. His fingers managed to pull apart from the weak adhesive that coated his hands. A cold pressure brushed them.

"Blaine?"

Blaine moaned in response.

"Do you need water?"

Blaine moaned again.

"I think that's a yes." Another voice said. Blaine couldn't tell who, though. Everything at that moment just sounded like echoes in the static white noise.

A thick warm sensation washed over his tongue. It flooded his throat.

Blaine's eyes flew open and he sat up quickly, sputtering and coughing violently. At his side, Meredith was holding a flask, looked startled and disheveled.

"I'm sorry!" She squeaked. She patted Blaine's back hard.

"How many days was I out for?" He croaked.

"You were only out for a couple hours."

Blaine rubbed his face with his hands, trying to chase away the stupor that was threatening to pull him back under. His palms felt scratchy. He examined his hands in the light of the lit fire. Pale splotches of red dotted his palms, smeared between his knuckles, and under his fingernails. He studied the red on his fingers. He looked up at Meredith. Her face was grave.

"What is this?" He asked her firmly. "Where's Kurt?"

Meredith took one of Blaine's hands.

"What did I do?" He asked her in a small voice.

"I don't know." Meredith replied.

"Where's Kurt?" Blaine asked again.

"He's off getting wood for the fire."

"Oh, my God," Blaine sighed in relief, letting his head fall into his hands. "For a second there I thought I had killed Kurt."

"You wouldn't have survived if you tried to kill Kurt." Meredith chuckled.

They sat in silence, listening to the crackle of the dying fire.

"You were really worried for a second there, weren't you?" Meredith asked.

Blaine stayed quiet.

"You care about him." She said, quieter. Probably too quiet for the camera microphones to pick up.

Blaine smiled. The truth was, yes. Yes, Blaine cared for a selfish boy from a Capitol-favored district. A boy who wanted to spill blood. A boy who was going to kill him up until a week ago. He cared for that boy. The boy who pulled him from the hands of Death. The boy who saved Meredith. The boy who risked his safety for two people from District 12. Panem probably has already picked up on him and Kurt. The more Blaine thinks about it, he starts to realize that they move around each other. They correspond. They connect. They're like Karma; one gets what one gives. Meredith surely picked up on it.

"It's kind of obvious, you know. Well, to me it is. I don't know about the rest of the nation." Meredith whispered.

"I wish there weren't any feelings from the start."

Meredith propped her head up on her hand next to Blaine. "Why?"

"So that things would be easier. Before, I had a good chance of wiping them all out. Now, I just can't… imagine him not being here. I don't know what I'm feeling, really. I just know that… he can't die."

Meredith brushed his cheek with her fingertips. She shook her head. "Blaine—"

"I know."

"I'm sorry."

"I know." Blaine closed his eyes in defeat, a single tear slipping out.

Meredith gripped Blaine's hand and looked to the sky for the hope that didn't exist.

"Wake up, wake up! You're sinking into the ground!"

Blaine's eyes flew open. It was Kurt. He was soaked from the knees down. He yanked hard on Blaine's arm. "We gotta go! The whole place is flooding!"

Blaine's leg was halfway under the moist Earth. He can see the water lapping at the edge of their clearing. He yanked his leg as hard as he could out from the ground. Kurt was already helping Meredith up. Once Blaine was free, he grabbed their packs. The water was already soaking their boots, helping the ground swallow them up faster.

"Where do we go?!" Blaine cried.

"We have no other choice." Kurt replied. He had a spear in his hand and he gripped it hard.

Meredith gave a little choke and pulled out her knife.

Blaine understood. He sighed, then nodded once. "Lets go."

Teeny tiny chapter, you guys, sorry. But OOOOOOO SHIT'S ABOUT TO GO DZZOWN