Steps Singles - The One Shots

Last Thing on my Mind (part 3)

T/w reminder (as they finally start to apply here) - death, fighting and blood

After an uneventful night (the watch mildly amended as Claire, Ian and Faye encouraged Lisa to come sleep up a tree as well) they set off again towards the valley to see if Faye's guess had been right. Once again it was hard work and it took them longer than she'd anticipated, but they eventually found themselves sloping downwards into the valley. And as Faye had predicted there was a stream with a pebbly almost beach like area beside it. They all had drinks and refilled the water bottles again, and then (only because there was a decent flow on the water so they weren't going to contaminate it too much) the girls sent the boys to look for food so they could quickly have a wash. Or as it actually was a rinse of themselves and their clothes so they didn't feel so icky. At first when the clothes got properly drenched they'd stuck to them even more, causing each of the girls to feel a little self conscious, but they quickly grasped that they all felt a similar way. Having sufficiently washed some of the sweat off them they each got out, sitting in the slight sun of the beach area to dry off a bit while they waited for the boys to come back.
"Claire, how old are you?" Lisa asked as she finally took a good looking over of her new friends.
"12. I'd be 13 next month. It was my first chance to be reaped." Claire replied shyly. "What about you?"
"I'm 15." Faye replied.
"Me too." Lisa replied with a smile at Faye.
Faye smiled back before quietly reaching for her bow and getting to her feet. She looked round, listening closely in case she heard another splash and did, the other two girls hearing it too this time. Lisa grabbed a knife from her belt, joining Faye on her feet in front of Claire and, despite it being the wrong kind of knife really, raised it ready to throw. Faye drew an arrow and readied herself to shoot. But the boy who stumbled round the corner over the slippery rocks of the stream received an excited shout from Lisa. He smiled when he realised that Lisa had noticed him and Faye suddenly understood that he was the boy from Lisa's district. That to Lisa he probably meant the same as Ian meant to her. A sign of home. When he reached the girls the first thing he did was let Lisa hug him, her gently whispering something along the lines of being glad he was okay.

"Faye, Claire, this is M. He has a full name, he hates it, we call him M. The tall one's Faye, the tiny one Claire." Lisa announced eventually when her and the boy were done hugging.
M smiled at Faye and Claire and they both smiled, Claire a little shakily, back. Before anyone could say anything more the three boys crashed back through onto the beach, Johnny immediately drawing a knife at M, who ducked and pushed Lisa over so she didn't get caught by it either. The knife clattered harmlessly into the pebbles in the stream.
"Johnny! It's alright he's a friend!" Lisa called as Johnny prepared to throw a second knife in their direction. "He's from my district."
Johnny sighed, tucking the knife back onto his belt and nodding sadly.
"Which district are you from J?" Faye asked, aware that he'd acted similarly when he realised her and Ian were both from 11.
"5. Yeah she is if that's what you're wondering. Tasha died the first day."
Faye and Ian exchanged a sad smile, and Claire looked up at Lee tearfully (he invited her into a hug which she accepted, running over to him). None of the four of them could really imagine losing their partner, but they all knew it would inevitably happen at some point. The only way of winning was to be the last one alive after all.
"Anyway, we found some more fruit stuff if you guys want it." Johnny said, desperately changing the subject.
They all agreed, as the fruit from yesterday hadn't travelled well and for the most part wasn't exactly edible now.

"Ian, the promise you made to look after my family if... well when... I die if you win... it still stands right?" Faye asked quietly as they walked. For some reason finding out about the girl from 5 had made the idea of them dieing seem a lot more real to her again and she was looking for some reassurance.
He nodded. "Well, as long as yours about my brothers does." He replied.
"It always will." Faye assured him.
"I know it's too early, but I have a good feeling about one of us winning." Ian told her.
Looking at him when he was so positive hurt, because when he thought about the chance of him surviving and going home to his brothers it ended with him having the biggest grin. Faye found herself staring down at the ground so she couldn't see it as they walked. "Ian there's still 13... or is it 14?... of us in this arena, and anyway you've seen Lee. And he's not even been training for this his whole life like some of them."
Ian glanced at Lee and Claire, who was currently clinging to the older boy's arm like her life depended on it (and in fairness they'd all identified that Claire's survival was dependent on someone defending her). "I can imagine him dieing to protect Claire though..."
Faye sighed. "But if I win I'd have to see you die. Same with me if you win." She reminded him harshly before shaking her head. "We can't think like this."
He sighed. "We'll have to at some point."
"Yeah I'd rather it wasn't when we're part of a massive team!" Faye replied, trying her best to manage how loud she was being, but with no real idea of how well it was working.
"But this won't last forever."
"Ian. Just stop." She moaned, before heading off to join someone else for a bit. If Ian was away from her he'd probably calm down with his idea of going home.