Frisk 

All of a sudden, I feel my heart pounding the way an elephant stomps into dirt. It pumps blood so past all I can hear is the beat; Bum bum bum bum bum.

I somehow manage to find words, though they are meek and almost inaudible compared to the screams ringing in and out of my head like TV static.

"W.. What was that?"

The old turtle grins kindly, his hands releasing mine and G's I think. I can't tell. I feel too numb to notice. Everything suddenly feels heavy and weightless at the same time, like the world outside is spinning and gravity in this tent is pulling me down. My eyes dart to G, who is frozen solid, not even his iris is glowing. It's dimmed and small; White. Though he's a skeleton, he looks pale and lifeless. God...

Gerson laughs, drawing my attention back to him; slowly but surely. It's hard to move. I can't breathe evenly. What?

"It seems as if your souls have already agreed to this as well. Your strings are shining so brightly!" His old crackly voice whips in one ear and out the other. St-strings...?

I fool myself into thinking he is only joking, laughing my head off. I am about to nudge G and begin joking with him- but that's when I remember and realize... This morning. In the bathroom, I felt an odd feeling of loneliness while G was away. It was like my soul was aching. I took it out to look and I could clearly see golden threads around it. They were dim, but I could feel them uplifting themselves when he was close to me. I remember those strings not being there until I held his hand in the Ruins in hopes of stopping him from leaving.

Oh.

My.

God.

I cover my mouth with one hand to stop myself from gasping for air.

This whole time. I never needed to travel to the Capitol. I never had to ponder what my Guardian would look like or who they were. He was with me the whole time. Protecting me, in a way, without even noticing it.

I've been on this wild goose chase for nothing.

I had this whole journey placed in front of me, I had so many things to see. Now? What will become of me now that my journey is done? What next?

Low cursing echoes throughout my field of sound and I peek from the corner of my eyes to catch G with his head in his hands, shaking madly and cursing at himself repeatedly under his breath.

He looked miserable. Angry. Terrified.

This...This was my fault... My ...fault..

Gerson's eyes slimed with concern, he leaned over to his ear "Lad, are you alright?" He whispers, thinking I can't hear him. I could, but I don't know G could.

He ignored the elder and kept swearing, talking to himself and causing me to worry.

I slowly reach for his arm, gripping it gently "...G-G?.."

Out of nowhere, he slaps my hand away and I jolt. Without another word he gets out of his seat, before I can so much as turn around I hear the sound of things crashing to the dirt floor of Gerson' stents. I yelp to it, scared out of my wits and finding myself in a half-fetal position when a rough scaly hand is placed on my head.

I dare to look up, seeing it was only the kind turtle giving a reassuring smile.

He sighs, helping me from my chair. I then take note that he's shorter than me by a good mile. He doesn't seem to mind his stature though, which is good.

I clear my throat, still reeling from all this. "Thank you, Mr. Gerson. I'd love to stay but I need to find him now..."

He chuckles. "It's quite alright, child. Now, run along." He gives me a good push towards the door. On my way out of the tent, I see what had fallen- no.- I see what had been pushed over; A table with miscellaneous items and supplies such as a rolled up blanket, some matches, sticks, different ores and viles, and other things I didn't take much time to observe. I ran from the tent and immediately into the woods where I figured he might be.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night time air passes through me cool and brisk. The roofs above shone with the jewels know as stars and casted dim lights within the treelines. My cloak waves behind me and wind brushes through my hair. I run as fast as my small feet can carry me, hoping to find him soon through my desperate shouting.

"G...G?!"

I use my hands as a megaphone, searching everywhere; Between rocks behind trees, in trees, calling out to him.

"G?!"

I keep calling.

But nobody came...

This is my fault. It's all on me. This might never had happened if I hadn't of ran away from home. If I had never of listened in on my parent's conversation. If I never heard them say those backstabbing words, I might not have run off. It's my fault.

"G?!! G, please!!"

I hear the sound breaking wind. Of a soft thud into grass from a ways to the north-east of me. I whip in that direction and I feel an overwhelming sense of relief and at the same time fear to the smell of cigarette smoke and someone cursing to themselves, just now landing from forced teleportation. Thank goodness.

I slowly walk over, not bothering to watch my footing; Leafs and twigs were bound to be everywhere. No matter what I did to try and avoid them.

I'm scared to get closer than a few feet.

He's standing motionless, not looking at me, a furious expression on his face while he smokes. I carefully take one more step. He doesn't move. Another. No response. I reach him and inhale deeply.

"...I-"

"What the fuck do you want, Doll?"

I flinch, his words coming out cold and bitter. I step back. "I just... Are you..O-okay? You seem upset-"

He growls "Damn right I'm upset. Why wouldn't I be?"

I feel my lips tighten and hands shake, aware of what he's feeling but questioning despite that.

"I'm sorry... Can I help in some way?" My voice is hushed and fearful. G turns his head a bit and looks down at me. I swear all I saw was his yellow iris.

"Yeah."

It takes a minute for him to answer. He takes a step towards me and I take one back, hugging myself. "Stay. The fuck. Away from me."

With that he uses his free four-fingered hand to aggressively shove me back. I nearly fall over, but I instead cling onto a tree. The bark scraped up my arms farther than they had already been. I can only look down at the ground in front of my feet while growling words beneath my shallow breathe.

I hear a low chuckle "What was that?"

I push myself off the tree and walk over to him with purpose. "I said..." Pain shooting up my arm as I use that same hand strike him across the face. Hard. Harder than I have ever smacked someone before. With anger, fear, sadness, and plain out disappointment. I watch as his cigarette is spat out from between his teeth and the lights in his eyes burn out. I scream at him, fist clenching and my other hand shaking half to death. Damn, it hurt so much.

"FUCK YOU, TOO!!"

He looks at my reddened face and eyes me. He stiffens, nothing but anger pours out of him. He points at me, baring teeth

"You listen here , ya' little-!"

I slap him again with my other hand but even harder. I retract immediately, shouting. "No dammit! YOU listen!!"

I do my best to keep my voice from cracking, and try not to show weakness as he looms over me, but I failed. I shake and my so does my serious tone.

"Do you honestly think I wanted this?! Do you really think that I don't feel the same way you do?! I absolutely hate you sometimes!! So much it kills me inside!!"

G cuts in, fuming "Yeah well, do ya think I want to be stuck with you either?!"

"I never said that! I already know you don't want me!!!" I shove him as he'd done me, into another tree a few feet away. Tears blur my vision and cascade down my face "Nobody has ever wanted me! So why would you?!" I feel blood dotting on my arms, stinging sensations consuming them. I can no longer shout, only raising my voice a little "I don't expect you to want me... A-and that's fine!... But please..."

I dig my nails deeper in regret for speaking the truth. "You'r all I have now! I don't want to go back to that wretched house on the surface! I don't want to be stuck in some orphanage and I don't want to be outcasted again!" I sob, watching G's iris return in a worried state. "Wherever you go... Please take me there too!"

I feel sick. Like I am going to throw up. I don't know what I'm doing, but when I open my eyes I find G right in front of me, looking down solemnly. I lose myself, teeth gritting and tears falling harder. "Don't leave me here alone, you...you jackass!" is all I can manage before I am scooped up by two strong arms, my head being softly pushed into someone's shoulder to cry as hard as I want to. He wraps my legs around his torso and hold me like an infant; except I am a grown teenager who's about two if not three feet shorter than him. I hate how kind he's suddenly being. I hate how warm he feels and how i feel so tired. I feel defeated, helpless, betrayed. Betrayed by the world. But this time, not so abandoned. Still, I can't help but hate him for this.

"I-I hate you! I freaking hate you!" I sob, not taking my face off his shoulder and soaking it. I fell his shoulder bounce with a chuckle, his hand rubbing the back of my head.

"I hate you, too, Dollface. But it looks like we'll be stuck together for a while. Sound good to you?"

I shake my head no, sobbing harder, even though I wanted to say yes.

Why didn't I?