Take Care

Chapter 1: Audience of One

"We ran away, now all my friends are gone

Maybe we've outgrown all the things we once loved

Run away,

What are we running from?

A show of hands from those in this audience of one

Where have they gone?"

-Rise Against, Audience of One

Katniss POV

I'm running. Quickly through the forest, past the stream on my way to the cave where a gravely injured Peeta is waiting. I clutch the small pack containing the Capitol medicine that will save his life.

I came so close to dying back at the feast. Clove had been waiting patiently to take my life, and she wanted to make as slow and painful as possible. If Thresh hadn't shown up when he did, I would be dead now.

I try to push the thought back, and remember that Peeta is waiting for me back at the cave. He and I, we can still do this. We can win this thing and go home together. Back to District 12, where our families and old lives are waiting.

The thought of going home to Gale and my family was the only thing keeping me going until the rule change, when I found out that one less of us had to die. I don't yet love Peeta the way he claims to love me, but I care about him and owe him for saving my life. He's a genuinely good person, and even the games haven't changed that.

Maybe real love will come when we're victors together and return home to our families. Thoughts of returning home to an ecstatic Prim overwhelm me when the cannon goes off.

But for who? I can see the mouth of the cave clearly in the distance and I sprint frantically towards it. "Peeta!" I yell as I climb inside. "Peeta! I'm back! I have your medic-"My voice drops as my eyes take in the sight of Peeta, the wound on his knee colored a nasty shade of purple, blood gushing from the surface.

His once bright blue eyes are now glassy and half closed as he lays eagle spread on the hard floor of the cave. "Peeta! No. I have your medicine! You're going to be fine, don't go! Everything is going to be fine! Wake up, and we can go home! Please Peeta! Don't go! Peeta…" My voice drifts off as I realize it's over, he's not coming back to me. And with not even so much as a warning, my last remaining ally in the games has been taken from me.

Cato POV

I stand over Thresh's dead body, offhandedly admiring the way his blood stains my sword. "That was for Clove!" I spit as I turn to walk away when the cannon sounds. I do a double take as I realize that it sounded not once, but twice.

Who's the other cannon for? Hopefully Fire Girl or my pathetic former ally, her Lover Boy. The Girl on Fire had been stealing my spotlight ever since she volunteered for her sister. When she scored that eleven, it could have been all over for me if I hadn't charmed the money out of those idiotic Capitol citizens wallets. Of course, my brute strength and good looks certainly didn't hurt.

As much as I dislike her, I have to admit that Fire Girl's the only person left in this arena that's actually worth my time. If she's still alive, when I kill her I may even get a chance to ask her exactly how she got that eleven. I might even make her death quick since she's been such good competition.

She actually had something going for her in the looks department too. I quickly shake the thought of considering the enemy to be attractive out of my mind and mentally scold myself for nursing a soft spot for the Girl on Fire.

I remember what Brutus, my mentor said after he caught me glancing at her during the tribute parade. "There are other girls back home that are far more desirable than her. Once you're victor, all of them will be dying to be with you."

Not that they weren't before, but as a victor, I'll live in luxury with a beautiful wife and my kids will train and become victors just as I did. Then, all of this- giving up my whole life to train, hardly seeing my family and loosing Clove will be worth it.

Clove. It's painful to think about her. She and I went way back and had been close ever since we were rookies at the training center. It shook me up pretty bad when she was chosen to volunteer with me. The idea of killing her, even though it may be necessary, ate at me throughout our time at the Capitol and during the games. I would never feel completely accomplished if I knew I had been forced to take her life to win.

I sigh deeply as I reach my shelter and try to calm down. I killed Thresh to honor her memory, and now I have to move on. In a few short days, I will become victor and make both District 2 and Clove proud as the winner of the 74th Annual Hunger Games.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! This is my first fan fiction. Like a lot of people, I'm a hardcore Catoniss shipper and I just had to throw something into the collection of great stories people have been writing. Since it's finally summertime, I decided to start writing my first fic, considering I have a lot of time on my hands. I'm hoping to use this story as an opportunity to improve on my writing, kind of like practice for when I start my AP Lang and Comp class in the fall. I'm trying to make this as unique as possible, which is going to be difficult since I'm entirely sure where I want to take the story, so bear with me if this sounds somewhat familiar. It'll be kind of obvious that it starts out in Katniss' point of view and then switches to Cato's. I just have a few ideas right now, so feedback would be awesome and I would love to hear if you guys have ideas to improve my writing. I may go back and edit the chapters to make improvements on the story. Thank you for reading and please review if you can - Claire

Edit 6/29/12: I went back and changed the format to make it easier to read.