Anywhere But Here (Foxface/Marvel) THGFic

Chapter 4

*Hit play on the video, I love this song and I know it's about unrequited love- but I suppose towards the end of the chapter, the love is unrequited, isn't it?*

Foxface's POV

My eyes travel to Marvel and his leg, and worry rushes through me. I can tell straight away that Cato did this to him. I need to get him back to the Career camp, but with his leg like this, it won't be easy. Plus there's still Cato and Thresh to worry about.

Just as those thoughts cross my mind I hear two cannons go off, one after the other. My attention quickly snaps back to Marvel who looks pale and has his eyes closed. I shake him and his eyes open. I'm overcome with relief when I realise he's alive. That means the two cannons belong to Cato and Thresh. I want to see how they had both died together, but I can't leave Marvel on his own. I have a feeling that the gamemakers are going to do anything to drive us apart. I've seen some of the traps the gamemakers have set before. Like the way Maysilee Donner had died in the Second Quarter Quell, in pain, being speared through the neck by some bird muttation. I don't want to see Marvel go that way.

I manage to get him propped up against the tree, and I break off a thin, low branch for him to use to help him walk, along with my support. It takes a while, but we finally make it back to the Cornucopia. I sit him down against the Cornucopia and tiptoe over the supplies and do my little 'dance'. I chuck everything I think might be helpful over the boundaries of where the mines finish. I then tiptoe back out around the mines and look through case after case to find anything helpful. In the last case I check, I find bandages, anti-inflammatory cream, painkillers and spray to help infections. I then sit down next to Marvel and proceed to give him painkillers to take along with a flask of water to sip. He slides down his trousers and I spray the infection spray over his cut and then rub in the cream. I bandage up the wound and help him up on to the Cornucopia, out of the way of most things the gamemakers can throw at us. I walk back to the supplies and pick out two blankets and a tent. I climb up onto the Cornucopia and begin to set up the tent. I roll a smaller blanket up to use as a pillow, and the other we can use as a cover. I help Marvel inside and ease off his backpack. He lays down on the pillow and I look through the contents of his backpack. Two spear heads, a knife, a dried packet of fruit and another flask of water.

"Aren't you going to get some sleep, too?" asks Marvel, lifting up the cover as an invite for me to get in. I shake my head, "I need to make sure nothing tries to attack us. It's just us two left and if we're not going to kill each other, the gamemakers will probably try to kill one of us." Marvel nods in agreement and closes his eyes. I sit, watching him sleep and the next thing I know, I find myself stroking his soft, blonde/brown hair. By the time the sun is starting to rise, I am starting to fall asleep. I force myself to keep my eyes open and to do so I splash some water from the flask over my face. I debate whether to open up the tent and look around, if there is anything out there, I haven't heard it, so I come to the conclusion that it's safe. I unzip the tent from the top and peek out with one eye. I can't see anything and so I deem I can open the zip further to allow in some fresh air. I open it enough to allow me to stick my head through and survey the area. There is nothing around and so I turn back to Marvel. I pull up the cover over his leg and undo the bandage. The cut has healed remarkably and so I repeat last night's procedure and use a fresh bandage to cover it.

After about another half an hour, Marvel wakes up and put his trousers back on. "Looks like someone's tired." he says looking at me. I smile and cuddle down next to him in bed and fall asleep straight away. I awake about 4 hours later to see Marvel still laying next to me. I'm relieved he hasn't gone out trying to find something and accidentally been killed or injured in the process.

"You redid my bandage." he says.

"And hello to you, too! Yes, I redid it before you woke up this morning." I reply.

"Why thank you," A smile crosses his face, causing me to giggle, "you know we can't go on like this forever."

"Like what?" I question him, a tone of confusion in my voice.

"Here, just us, the gamemakers will start to get agitated, they have to have their victor, even if we could both get out, we're not even from the same District. They wouldn't allow it. It could've worked...anywhere but here."

His words hit me like I've run into a brick wall. I know this, but him voicing how we both feel makes it seem so much more real. One of us has to die. I try to brush off what I've just heard by nodding, "I know," I say quietly, "I know..."

I unzip the tent the whole way and lay on top of the Cornucopia. After a few minutes Marvel drags himself from under the covers and out to join me. I keep my eyes focussed on the sky, paranoid that one of us will meet the same end Maysilee did with the candy-pink bird mutts if we're not careful. There are easily a lot more mutts that the gamemakers could create, but for now, everything seems calm.

We lay there, staring up at the sky, occasionally looking at each other and smiling. We stay there until it begins to get dark, with only a few stars up in the sky.

"Just so you know, everything that's happened in here. Everything, ever since we first met. I've always wanted to do this." We both sit up and Marvel takes my face in his hands. He gives me a kiss and I feel a warm sensation run down my spine. I feel my face turn red and start to burn. I look down at my shoes and start to fiddle with them.

"Come on, beautiful, let's get you in the tent." He says softly. We stand up and he walks me into the tent. I snuggle down under the cover and he tells me he will be two minutes. I hear him talking outside the tent and a couple of minutes later he is laid down next to me. "Goodnight, beautiful" he says and plants a kiss on my head. He tucks a lose strand of hair behind my ear, like my father did before I left District 5, and I fall asleep.

Marvel's POV

I wait for to Finch to get inside the tent and look up at the sky.

"Please, please someone out there, send me some paper and a pen. I can't leave her without a goodbye." I plead to any sponsors who may be watching. I crawl down next to her in bed and wait for her to fall asleep. I hear the unmistakable beep of the sponsor gift and rush outside to open it. Inside, there is a piece of paper and a pencil, just as I had asked for. "Thank you" I mouth up at the sky. I get straight down to writing Finch a goodbye letter:

Dear Finch,

I'm sorry it came to this, and I'm sorry I couldn't say goodbye to your face, but I couldn't bare to see pain in your eyes. I hope you find this and know that I wished I could have known you before the Games. Life isn't fair, as we've both found out and writing this letter isn't making it any easier for me, or probably for you reading this, but I couldn't leave you without saying goodbye. Anywhere but here and we would've been fine. Free to be together. I love you and I always will and one day, I will see you again and I will reserve a place for you with me in heaven.

Yours Forever,

Marvel

Tears start to stream down my face as I retrieve a knife from my backpack. I hold the knife in one hand, and the letter and Finch's hand in my other. "I'm sorry" I whisper, my tears dripping onto her face. I kiss her forehead once again and tuck a piece of her fire-red haid behind her ear before laying down next to her and striking myself in the heart.

Finch's POV

I awake to a cannon and I scream as I see Marvel's lifeless body laying beside mine. I bang on his chest with my free hand and then feel something rough in my other hand. I open up the piece of paper and start to cry. I cry until my tears have all run out and I tuck the letter in my pocket. I lay my head down on Marvel's stomach. I stroke his cheek and his hair and his lips. I give him one last kiss before hearing Claudius Templesmith announce that I am the winner of the 74th Annual Hunger Games. I pull Marvel's body from the tent and lay him across the roof of the Cornucopia. I kiss him and look up into the sky, my cheeks stricken with tears. I climb from the Cornucopia and watch as a hovercraft takes up Marvel's body, I clamp my hand over my mouth to stifle a sob. I am then taken up by the same hovercraft and I sit in silence on my way back to the Capitol.

I pull the letter from my pocket and hold it to my chest, where my heart is. This is all I have left of him. Somebody I truly loved. Somebody that died so I could live. Somebody I could never try to replace...or could I?