CHAPTER TEN!

ALLIANCES.

IT IS AS IF HER LIFE FLASHES BEFORE HER EYES, her leg instinctively kicking out and knocking the other person to the floor and clumsily holding her knife to their throat. As Rosalie looks down at them, she recognises the girl — District Seven she believes. She looks about the brunette's age and she holds that same fear, the emotion swimming in her eyes.

"Please," The girl croaks. "I didn't want to kill you,"

"You had an arrow pointed at my head," Rosalie replies quietly. "I'm sorry if I have a hard time believing that,"

"Please,"

Rosalie watches as she trembles and eases her grip, understanding the fear that she must be feeling. The brunette removes the knife from her neck and backs away slowly. She, however, keeps her guard up just in case she attacks again.

"I'm sorry, for you know, aiming an arrow at your head," The girl speaks once again. "I didn't know if I could trust you or not. I almost got my hand chopped off by the girl from Five the other day,"

"You're lucky I'm not one of the Careers," Rosalie responds with raised eyebrows.

"I wouldn't have approached you if I knew you were,"

Rosalie continues to watch her carefully, still not trusting that she won't strike at a moments notice. She keeps her distance, this is not how she will die. She actually refuses to let this be how she dies — placing her faith in somebody whom she cannot trust.

"I'm Fallon, Fallon Hargrave. District Seven," she introduces.

"Rosalie Barton, District Four," Rosalie replies quietly.

"Is that water drinkable?" Fallon asks, her head nodding towards where Rosalie had been kneeling down beside only moments earlier. "I'm not quite sure what is and what isn't,"

"Yeah, it's fresh,"

Fallon smiles and walks over to the edge, crouching down with her own small water bottle. She fills it to the brim and then chugs almost the entirety of it, not bothering to take any sort of break. Rosalie notices her discarded bottle on the ground and hesitantly reaches for it, filling her own up. The entire time, she has her eye on Fallon even if it is only a little bit.

"You don't have to be so weary. I promise, the last thing I want to do right now is kill you," Fallon mumbles.

"It's a little hard to trust people in here. I could look away for a second and end up with an arrow in my throat," Rosalie responds whilst gesturing towards the discarded bow on the ground.

"Right,"

Rosalie does her bottle up and shoves it in her backpack, stashing it away for when she needs it later. The two of them continue about their business in silence, enjoying the sounds of nature around them. It's almost peaceful to an extent, each of them unknowingly putting more trust in one another as they stay there. Either of them could strike at any moment and yet it seems as if neither of them will.

"I heard that girl from two talking about you earlier," Fallon suddenly speaks up and Rosalie looks over to her slowly, her body shuddering as she thinks about the girl from training. "She wants to kill you,"

"Had it out for me from the start. I have no idea why, she just spoke to me a little in the training centre," Rosalie replies quietly.

"She seems like the kind of person who would kill for the fun of it, a bit of a nut,"

"You can say that again,"

Fallon takes a few more sips of her drink before putting her's away. She stands up and holds her hand out to the brunette who is still on the floor. Rosalie eyes the hand for a few moments before finally grabbing it, the girl from Seven pulling her to her feet.

Rosalie tosses and turns as she tries her absolute hardest to get a wink of sleep in. Fallon sits to her right with a small portion of the food she'd collected, eating a little bit at a time to savour it. Whilst, over the past few hours, the two of them have seemingly formed an alliance, the brunette is still weary of the stranger. Fallon doesn't seem like the type of person who would hurt her if she didn't have to, but you never know in these games. One wrong move and there will be a knife in her back.

"Trouble sleeping?" Fallon questions as she watches the night sky above her, the stars twinkling.

The two of them had managed to navigate their way to one of the many buildings scattered around the arena, taking refuge in the cleanest of rooms. It's far from comfortable but it'll do — it has to do.

"Yeah," Rosalie breathes, sitting up beside the other girl. "Too much on my mind,"

"I feel that," Fallon replies quietly, her head leaning against the wall. "I think a lot about home,"

"Me too,"

"My family is all over the place but they're my family, you know? My brothers and I grew up always arguing and making fun of one another but I'd give anything to see them now,"

"I miss my brothers too. We didn't argue as much though, we were, are, rather close,"

Fallon smiles softly and nods her head, images of her family and home life flying through her mind over and over.

Rosalie hasn't stopped thinking about several things since entering this arena — her family, her home and Finnick. She may never see them again but they're the only things keeping her remotely sane in this place.

"My future husband too," Fallon speaks, eyes shimmering with tears. "Childhood sweethearts. Proposed before the reaping but life sucks, I guess,"

"I'm sorry," Rosalie doesn't know what else to say.

"What about you? Any love interests?"

Rosalie's cheeks flare up, a bright red colour pushing through. Fallon can just see it and she giggles lightly, nudging shoulders.

"That looks like a yes. What's he like?" Fallon questions.

Rosalie ponders what to say due to the fact he could be watching at this very moment, he probably is. "He's my best friend, has been since we were really young,"

"Yeah? He have a name?"

"Not one I'm willing to broadcast to the whole of Panem,"

Fallon laughs quietly again and nods, letting the subject go. The two of them then just sit there quietly, enjoying the calm atmosphere whilst it remains — neither of them wanting to think of what they will have to face in the next few days.

NOTE
Thank you for reading!