Chapter 1: I needed this?

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games. The oh- so awesome Suzanne Collins does.

Warning: Nothing much.

Summary: Going to the cornucopia Katniss took on much more than she can handle.

Author's note: This takes place after they found out that they can have two victors of the same district. The timeline does not necessarily correlate in this story. I also didn't use the same words that the characters said in the book.

Chapter 1: I needed this?

Another groan pulled me away from the mouth of the cave. Shuffling for a bit I finally reached the body.

"Peeta… Just hold on, all right? You'll be okay."

"K-Katniss… Stay with me all right?"

His voice was so deep and was so laced with pain that whatever harshness was left in my body was washed away.

"Don't worry Peeta… I'll stay here…"

He drew back the cover of the sleeping bag.

I slowly entered with him. Laying my head on his chest I let out a small sigh. "You're warm. Too warm…"

"But me being warm keeps you away from the cold so… it's okay." He mumbled.

I kept silent.

A few moments later his breathing evened out.

I closed my eyes promising myself only a few moments of sleep.

My vision slowly darkened.

A snap outside the cave brought me back into consciousness. Slowly crawling away from Peeta I grabbed the knife and crawled out of the cave.

Claudius Templesmith greeted me with a smile. The feast was at the Cornucopia, the thing that I need is over there.

He then disappears.

I looked back at the cave, Peeta is watching me.

"Don't… don't go there Katniss… please… d-don't leave me… don't risk your neck for me… that's my job… "

I stare at him. I nodded.

"NO. That's not enough. Say it."

"I promise."

That seems to settle him and he waits for me to return in the cave.

"I'll just go hunting okay?"

He looked at me skeptically.

I smiled softly at him. "I'll be close Peeta. Promise you can see me at the mouth of the cave."

He nodded once and crawled back in the cave.

I made sure that he was inside before waddling towards the lake. After a few minutes a parachute lands in front of me. Raising an eyebrow I quickly opened it.

"Sleep syrup…what can I do with…" I looked at the cave. "…to knock Peeta out…"

I know a small dose can knock you out for several hours. I don't know when I'll be back; if I use the whole bottle this'll knock Peeta out for a day. Quickly understanding Haymitch's line of thought I searched the bank for some berries. Returning to the cave I saw Peeta sound asleep. I quickly mixed the berries with the syrup. After I deemed it ready I shook Peeta awake.

"Wha- what?"

"Here. Drink this. It'll make you feel better." I urged him to take the cup. He took a tentative sip before gulping down half of it.

'Not enough… I need you to finish it all.' I thought.

"It's sweet. Where did you get this?"

"I found berries at the bank of the lake. There are some at home to you see."

"Oh." He gulped down the rest of it. "It's sweet, unnaturally sweet, like…" he trailed off. He whipped his head to look directly at me. "…Sleep syrup."

I smiled softly at him. "I'm sorry… I had to do this. It's for you Peeta."

"Y-you promised… Katniss" he started to tilt forward.

"I'm sorry…" I caught him as he fell forward. Rearranging him in the sleeping bag I pecked his forehead.

With one last glance I walked away from the cave without looking back.

Why is the bag so big? Do they expect me to actually be able to carry it? I quickly scanned the other bags. They were east to carry. Why is mine actually more than my own size? What did they send me? My house?

Suddenly a rope snatched one of the bags.

Foxface.

She's sneaky.

Somewhere deep inside of me I felt a pang of jealousy.

Why didn't I think of that first?

Taking a quick recon of the area I slowly walked towards the bags. My fingers almost touched the large package when something slammed at me from the side.

I felt my head slammed harshly on the pebbled ground. Slowly forcing my eyes open I was greeted by the tribute from District 2.

Clove

"Well hello there lover girl." Her smile was wide and slightly insane. "You know… Cato was supposed to be the one to kill you…"

I heard that conversation- threat when I was up in the tree near the Tracker Jacker nest. I wonder where Cato is now.

"But he decided to let me have you, only if I kill you slowly and painfully… to give our viewers a nice show." She drew open her jacket showing off the different assortment of knives she collected from the cornucopia. She seems to settle on the mean looking knife with a jagged side. I gulped.

"And I'll give them the show that they want." She grinned insanely. "Are you alone? Where's lover boy huh?"

"He's in the woods actually. He came with me."

"Liar. Cato took care of him. You're actually alone."

"Hn. Are you sure?"

"Che. You know… you have a pretty face… shame. I should kill you like that girl from district 11 was killed. You know… it was planned that to get you we should kill you. You, who got a lot of attention from the Capitol because you were on fire. Your looks paved way for that to you know" She placed the sharp point of the blade at the edge of my eyes. "Where should I start? The eyes… the nose… or the lips?" she dug the blade into my lips. I felt the soft pierce of the blade on my lips. I did the only thing that came to mind.

"Peeta! Peeta! Peeta, help!"

I felt my cheek sting from the slap Clove gave me.

"Shut up!" she then proceeded to slam my head on the ground. White light just started to infiltrate my vision when I felt the weight above me disappear.

I slowly opened my eyes.

Thresh

He was holding Clove above the ground. Without batting an eye he snatched a large chunk of rock.

"Cato! Cato!"

Then her screams stopped as Thresh slammed the rock on her face. Her head shattered under the force of the blow.

"Was it true? Did they really kill Rue?" Thresh asked.

"It's true. She died in my arms. I sang her to sleep- to death… your district gave me bread… I'm sorry…"

For a while Thresh was silent then he dropped the rock- boulder to the ground.

Thundering footsteps approached the cornucopia. "Clove!"

"Go! I'll let you go now… then we're even."

I nodded once, not believing my luck.

I approached my district's large bag and heaved it up on my back. Grunting with the effort of carrying it under my shaking shoulders I turned to find thresh strapping the straps on me before adjusting the bag. "Man, this is heavy. What did they send you? Your house?"

My thought exactly Thresh.

The footsteps sounded near now. "Go!"

Once I started to run I never looked back. Not even once.

Finally!

I collapsed at the mouth of the cave, gulping down large amounts of air. Once my breath returned to normal I unstrapped the bag and carefully unzipped it.

Suddenly I felt my mouth go dry. The world started to spin. "Wh-what?" my eyes were wide open.

Peeking from inside the bag was dark colored locks.

I quickly opened the bag and a body slumped outwards. A body I knew so well.

A body that served as my warmth when the winter in the meadow became too harsh even for me.

A body that served as my protector back in 12.

"Gale…"