"Cato!" She yelped, through a fit of laughter. "Cato! Stop that!" She curled up in a pile of leaves that had fallen from the trees nearby as she laughed. "Come on, Cato! Please, stop!"

"All right, all right." I smirked, as I stopped tickling her. After a short pause, I continued on speaking. "You know.. We can win this thing, Clove. We could both go home. As long as we can kill the others."

"I know.." She muttered as she gathered up all her stuff. "I know, Cato."

"I know we can win. We're deadly, vicious, unstoppable…" I began to brag, "We got this."

"Being a little cocky now, aren't we?" She snorted, giving me a small smile as she reorganized the knives in her jacket. "You never know, Cato. We're down to the final 6. The others have survived through everything, so we can't be sure. They're fighting in here as well. I mean, the Star-Crossed Lovers of District Twelve? Yeah, we can kill them. I can assure you that we can kill them. They're just avoiding everything. They never deal with anything themselves, really. Lover Boy is just following the fighter. The fighter is just following the path of others. Letting everyone else save her. So I guarentee you that we can kill them. But the others? The big one from Eleven and the sneaky one from Five? How are we gonna get them? Think about that, Cato."

"Trust me, Clove." I assured her. "We can do this. We will win. We are going home. I promise."

"Attention, tributes, attention!" A voice boomed throughout the arena. "Commencing at sunrise, there will be a feast tomorrow at the Cornucopia. Now hold on. Some of you may be declining my invitation. But this is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something desperately. Each of you will find that something in a backpack marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia, at dawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this will be your last chance. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor!"

"Cato!" Clove began to squeal in excitement. "There's a feast! Everyone's probably going to be there! We can kill them there!"

"I heard," I replied, looking down at my sword, thinking of whether it was a good idea. "I'll go, okay? You stay here and guard our stuff."

"No, Cato. I'm going." She demanded, her excitement fading from her expression. "I'm going, and I'm killing Twelve. I swear to you, Cato. I swear on my life."

"But—" I cut myself off. I looked up from my sword, changing my gaze to meet hers. "I can't let anything happen to you, Clove. You're my best friend."

"That's sweet, Cato. But I'll be fine." She looked a little disappointed as she rolled her eyes. She ran her fingers through her tangled, wet dark brown hair, brushing out the knots. She brought her hair up into a high ponytail before she continued. "Don't worry about me."

"I rolled my eyes, giving an almost silent sigh as I collapsed against a rock. "We need to rest up for tomorrow.. Wake me up in time for the feast, okay?"

"Yeah, okay." She sighed, leaning against the rock opposite of me.

By the time I woke up the next morning, Clove was gone. She was nowhere in sight.

"Clove?" I muttered, sleepishly. "Where are you?"

It took me a few moments to realize where she'd gone. It finally hit me that she'd gone to the feast when I heard her and snapped back into reality

"Cato!" She screamed, with pure horror in the tone of her voice. "Cato!"

"Clove!" I called back to her as I took off towards the Cornucopia. But I was too late. Eleven was running off with his bag as well as ours, but I ran straight towards Clove, screaming her name. By the time I reached her I dropped down to her side, clutching her hand in mine, words just pouring from my mouth. "Clove, stay with me. Please stay. Don't give up. I know you can do this. We can go home. Please, Clove. Don't give up on me. Not now. A few tears slid down my cheek as I tightened my grip on her hand. I looked down and watched the life drain from her eyes. "Come on, Clover. Don't give up. Keep fighting. Just stay with me. We can get trough this. Please, Clove. I —"

I stopped short, hearing the sound of a canon firing, and I knew it was for Clove.

That she was dead. Really dead.

"No.." I whispered, as the tears began streaming down my face. I've failed. All I wanted was to keep her alive, whether it meant I risk my life for her or not. "I'm so sorry, Clover. I shouldn't have let you go. I should have gone. I should have at least gone with you. I should have gotten up earlier. This is all my fault." I brushed her hair back out of her face, neatly placing her ponytail along her right side. I gently wiped away the dried blood from her face and neck, and attempted the shoulder but it was no use. I gently kissed her cold, lifeless lips before saying, "I'm so sorry I let this happen. I love you, Clove. I know it's no use saying it now, but I love you so much."

After what seemed like several agonizing hours of just me talking about all the times we've spent together, both in the arena and outside of it when we were kids, I'd finally let go. I knew I couldn't stay here forever. She'd always be with me in my heart, right? I quickly kissed her forehead and whispered, "Goodbye, Clove. I'll see you soon. I'm dead without you, anyway." then left, after placing her arms across her stomach.

I set off in search for the tribute from Eleven. He's the only one that could actually lift that rock, besides Lover Boy, let alone smash it in someone's skull.

My last wish is to avenge Clove's death.