Steps Singles - The One Shots

Last Thing On My Mind (part 2)

"I was honestly beginning to think I'd never find you." A familiar voice from just below her drew her from her thoughts.
Faye looked down and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw the scruffy blond hair of Ian. He looked wrong dressed in black rather than the colourful tops and denim she was more used to seeing him in back home. "I thought you'd died in the bloodbath idiot!" She replied. "Where'd you even go?"
H sighed, pulling himself up and sitting on a sturdy branch just below hers before lifting something over his head. "I thought just one weapon between us wouldn't go amiss." He said, handing her a bow and quiver of arrows.
She smiled a little. "Wouldn't a knife have been a better choice?"
"Too much fighting over those, I don't want to die straight away! I grabbed this bag though as well, I don't know what's in it." He added, unzipping the backpack he'd been wearing. He squealed as there was another cannon shot (that was the 5th) and wobbled, grabbing the branch Faye was sat on as he thought he was going to fall. "Let's see then. A bottle, some matches and... what the hell is this?" He asked, holding up a packet of something.
Faye took it off him and stared at it. "I think it's some kind of dried food maybe? Oh no, is it sterilising stuff for water? I don't know."
He took the packet back and tucked it back into the bag. "That's it. The bottle doesn't even have anything in."
"But it's something. It'll mean we can go without having to be by water at all times." Faye reminded him. "Come on, we should move so we're harder to find."
He nodded, slinging the bag onto his back as Faye slipped her bow and quiver over her head. She carefully stood, climbing down the tree a little so the breaks in the canopy between trees was unnoticeable, meaning they'd be able to easily step between trees. Ian followed, shuffling his way down following Faye's route as he knew that would be safe, with much less dignity than she'd managed it with. She tried not to laugh as she watched, despite how serious the situation was she needed to try and find some joy in what she still was convinced was going to be the last days of her life. She headed slowly through the trees, stepping from branch to branch as easily as if she was walking normally, while Ian struggled more, wobbling his way through the trees causing them to shake badly as he did.
"You're going to cause the tree to fall down the way you're going!" Faye teased him.
He groaned. "I mean we're really far off the floor and walking in a tree... I'm going to be scared."
She stopped, shuffling back along the branch she was on to a point that felt really quite sturdy. "Look, just trust that if you follow me it'll be fine. I'll tell you if the way I go is bad okay. We've got to trust each other." She assured him softly. "Nope next one to your left, that one'll just break if you stand on it." She added as she watched him tentatively test a dead branch with his foot (luckily before he risked stepping onto it).
"Ooh right yeah." He stepped across and smiled at Faye as she took his hand.
"We don't have anyway of doing this properly, but pretend we cut our palms open first..." She grabbed his wrist (on the arm he wasn't gripping a spare tree branch with) and after a moment of confusion Ian closed his fingers round her wrist in return. "I swear that I'm going to keep an eye out for you and that I'm going to help you survive the games as long as I can."
Ian nodded. "I promise I'll look after you, watch your back and that, and help you survive as long as I can too."
Faye smiled, gently kissing his hand, then nodded to him to kiss hers, which he did sceptically. "Now we can't break our promise. It's blood-bond but without any blood." She told him.
"Okay."

*****

"We can't go any further Faye, I can hardly see you in the dark now." Ian moaned. They had no idea how late it was, but Faye was just starting to feel confident that there was enough distance between them and the cornucopia.
"I know, I'm trying to find somewhere we can sleep up here." Faye replied, waiting again for Ian to get closer to her.
He stopped as he nearly lost his footing again. "Wait you want me to sleep up a tree?"
"Yes. Or would you rather get killed in the night?" Faye retorted.
"I'll fall out and die!"
"No you won't." Faye said. "I mean look the canopy is so thick I think you'd be able to build a house here! It's just finding somewhere with a branch you can get comfortable on."
"I don't want to sleep up a tree."
"I don't want to be in the Hunger Games arena Ian, yet here we are."
There was a moment of silence as he picked his way closer to her. "Fair point. Sorry, the last thing we want is to be killed during the night."
She nodded. "Come on I think I can see somewhere."
Ian sighed and followed as she headed off towards the place she'd seen. They both sighed in relief when they made it, Faye finding it would be more than suitable to sleep in, Ian just because it meant he could finally stop worrying about finding the branches that would hold his weight.