A/N: Okay, you want a song to go with this fic? How about... Lava? Yes, the Disney one.

There was something dreadfully wrong. The sky was dark. Smoke drifted before the sun.

60, said the timer.

Something was wrong. Perseus was raising his eyebrows at Jason, the boy from One, who in turn raised his eyebrows at Thalia, who nodded at someone Will could not see, hidden behind the Cornucopia on the other side of the clearing.

49.

Will searched for Nico frantically. The Careers were smirking.

43. 42.

There he was, squinting through the ashy air at the Cornucopia in the center of the clearing. He was seven - no eight - starting plates away. Will stared at him, hoping to get his attention.

36. 35.

"Nico," he muttered under his breath.

But the boy in black was busy surveying the field.

There will be backpacks full of necessary survival supplies close to the starting plates, Chiron had told him and Kayla the night before. Grab one as quickly as you can and run for shelter. Don't bother with the weapons.

Will had wondered if Nico's mentor had told him something entirely different.

25. 24. 23.

"Look up," he growled. "Dammit, di Angelo. Look up."

20. 19. 18

Nico finally did. He met Will's eyes with a puzzled expression. Will imagined that the look on his own face must have been painstakingly contorted.

He spread out his hands. What will you do?

Nico pointed at the Cornucopia and mimed a slashing motion. A sword.

13. 12. 11.

Will shook his head at him vigorously, but Nico had already looked away. The Careers were coiled like springs. Will turned to the field. There was a dark green bag about 20 meters away. He trained his eyes on it.

Five.

No, wait. 80, maybe 100, meters farther away there was a longbow and a well-stocked quiver.

Four.

No, he had to find shelter. Chiron had said so.

Three.

But it was a bow. Practically already in his grasp.

Two.

But the Careers. And Nico. Especially Nico. Will couldn't leave him behind.

One.

The horn sounded. Will leaped off his plate. He saw Nico, a wisp of black in the corner of his vision, as he hurtled across the field. Will's hand closed around the strap of the bag. He took a few faltering steps forward, in the direction of the bow, and paused. Nico had sprinted ahead, dashing for the Cornucopia. He was all right. He would make it, Will thought.

And then he saw the Careers closing in on the boy in black, with glinting eyes and gleaming, white-sharp teeth, like a pack of blood bound wolves.

"Nico!" Will shouted, and without thinking, he ran forward and snatched up the bow.

Nico had seen the Careers now. He raised a hastily-procured wooden axe to deflect Jason's club, then whirled around to block the knife Thalia threw. A girl from District Four rushed him with a sharpened stick, which he caught on the hilt of his weapon and threw aside.

The bowstring strummed as Will hastily nocked an arrow. Perseus had emerged from inside the Cornucopia and was rushing at Nico now, a gleaming bronze sword in his hand.

Will inhaled and drew. The tip of the arrow was pointed at Perseus's heart. Will knew it would not miss.

Shoot.

Nico was preoccupied with Jason and Thalia and the girl from Four. Perseus raised his sword, closing the distance between the blade and Nico's neck in three long strides…

Will adjusted his aim and released.

Perseus fell back with a scream, an arrow buried in his shoulder. His sword clattered to the ground The other Careers faltered, their eyes turning to Perseus. Nico dashed away. Will pulled out another arrow and nocked it. He approached the Careers cautiously, stopping once he was within speaking distance.

"Take one step after him, and I'll shoot - for your heads this time," Will bluffed.

They froze. Thalia glared. Jason and the girl from Four looked bewildered. Perseus winced in pain.

Nico appeared again, armed with a black sword and a small shield. He skirted around the Careers and joined Will.

"Let's go," he said and started away at a jog without a backward glance.

Will followed, keeping the bowstring tight and arrow in place even after Perseus said, "Let them go. We'll get them later." and the Careers fell upon the other tributes in the promised bloodbath. He only dared relax his grip when he and Nico were well in the cover of the ashy forest.

"Thank you for… helping me," Nico said as they made their way generally downhill.

"No problem," Will panted. His throat felt dry and scratchy and his eyes watery from the sooty air. He coughed. His chest hurt. "Let's just find some water."

They had already examined the contents of Will's backpack, which contained a coil of rope, a bag of dried beef and fruit, a water bottle - empty, a thermal blanket, and a vial of iodine.

"I know," Nico said glumly. "Water runs downhill. Where there's mud or animals, there's water. We just haven't found any yet."

They trudged onward. Slowly - so slowly it was almost imperceptible - the air became easier to breathe, and the sun gradually sifted down through the clearing smoke. The ground turned slippery, and Will lost his footing and fell down in a brown puddle.

"It's mud, Nico! It's mud," he laughed, scrambling to his feet, then doubled over in a coughing fit.

When he straightened up, he found Nico inspecting him with concern.

"What?" He dusted himself off as best as he could and raised his mud-streaked hands to show that everything was all right. "I'm fine."

Nico said nothing. They continued moving and eventually came upon a small creek, where Will filled the bottle with water and added five drops of iodine. They waited an excruciating hour for the water to purify, guzzled it down almost ravenously, and filled it three times more before their thirst was sated.

By then it was nightfall, and the air had turned chillingly cold. They huddled among the roots of a tall fir tree - the branches were too thin to climb - and spread the blanket over them. The Panem national anthem played, and the faces of the tributes who died flashed across the sky. Eleven in all, including Kayla and the girl from Two Will had never recalled seeing.

When the last face disappeared, all was dark, and Will might as well have been blind. The only sensation he could feel was the warmth of Nico beside him.

"Let's just go to sleep."

"Yeah."

Their fingers touched underneath the blanket.

"You're cold - are you cold?" Nico's hand was warm. He didn't wait for an answer. "We can build a fire."

"No, the Careers will be able to see us."

"I bet they've built a fire."

For Will the night passed in fitful intervals of lucid dreams and dreamlike consciousness. The cannon boomed twice, although Will wasn't quite sure if the sound that awakened him wasn't his own coughing. His lungs were on fire. The wolves were on the hunt.

"It's the smoke," Nico said drowsily sometime in the early morning. "You're sick."

"I'm fine," Will insisted.

"I'll build a fire."

"No, the Careers have been hunting all night."

"You're dying."

"I'm not. You're protecting me… remember?"

He could feel Nico rolling his eyes.

Sponsors are the key to winning the Games, Chiron had said. Everything you've done up to this point - the interviews, making alliances, the training scores - was all to gain support.

The silver parachute fell down to them as the sun rose. Will was packing up his bag when Nico caught it. There was a length of wire inside, wound around a spool, which Nico showed to him, and a piece of rolled-up paper, which Nico kept to himself.

Will didn't mind. The wire signified that it was from District Three and that it was for Nico's eyes only.

"Come on," Nico said once he was finished reading. He folded up the paper and put it in his pocket.

They sloshed through the creek. On the other side, Nico led Will a little ways into the cover of trees and stopped before a thick trunk with a hollowed knoll.

There will be cameras everywhere. The Gamemakers - no, all of Panem - will want to see your every move.

Was there a camera buried in the trunk of that tree? Why had Nico brought them here?

"Nico," Will began, "what -"

"I have an idea," Nico interrupted. His eyes were downcast, and he talked swiftly, stumbling over his words. "I have an idea - more of a plan, really - of how to get rid of the Careers."

"Get rid of them?" Will repeated. "You mean kill them?"

Nico glanced up at him, then looked away again. "Yes, we exterminate the threat before it can harm us. It's the only way."

"No," Will barked. "We can't do that. I'll never be able to -"

"We have to," Nico insisted. "They'll kill us if we don't. You said it yourself: The Careers were hunting all night. They're looking for us already."

Will could only shake his head.

"I'm trying to protect you!"

"Fine! Then I don't need your protection. I'll leave. I don't want any part of this."

"We're a team," Nico protested. "And it's the Games. Those people - they want to see a show. And we have to give it to them. Our lives depend on it."

Will felt his hands curl into fists. "Di Angelo, I don't think you heard me. I can't kill -"

But Nico didn't let him finish. He lurched forward and pressed his mouth to Will's. The kiss was short and urgent, and it felt like Nico was saying please, please, please, Will. And Will kissed him back tentatively - please, what? - before he came to his senses and pushed Nico away as far as he could. The boy in black fell back on the tree, his head thudding against the knoll that must have contained a camera.

Will touched a finger to his lips. It tasted like sponsors.

"What the hell are you doing?" he yelled.

"Please, Will…" Nico stared with entreating eyes.

"I hate you!" Will shouted, not quite able to stop himself. "I wish I had never met you."

"Will -"

But Will turned and ran back across the creek and through the forest and up the hill, stopping only when the air turned smoky and he couldn't breathe. Unexplainable tears welled in his eyes, and he wiped them furiously away.

He didn't ask for this. He was fully prepared to fight if it meant defending Nico and himself, but he couldn't do this. He couldn't kill because he was asked to kill. He wasn't a Career. He wasn't fighting to win. He was only fighting to survive.

"Damn you, di Angelo," he said, his voice breaking.

He continued forward. The ground sloped upward, growing steeper with each step. Dirt and grass turned to gravel, then to stone, and the air grew thicker and blacker. Many times he tripped on a loose rock and fell. His knees and hands were skinned and bloody. He was constantly racked by fits of coughing.

Maybe Nico was right and he wouldn't die at the mercy of the Careers by some wicked metal weapon. Maybe he would die from sickness. Will laughed loudly, coughed more loudly, and decided he would welcome that death with open arms.

The Careers were on the move again. As Will climbed, he counted four booms of the cannon. He could only hope one of them wasn't for Nico.

The ground rumbled, and the smoke thickened. Will scurried for cover, squeezing himself into a small hole between the rocks, which opened up on the inside and turned out to be a moderately-sized cavern. He knew now that he wasn't on a mountain, but a volcano. The smoke and falling ash and quaking earth explained that credibly.

He watched the faces of the fallen flash by through the opening above and was relieved when Nico's wasn't shown. He would go back to the creek tomorrow, he decided as he rolled onto his side and stifled another cough. He had acted too rashly today.

But the kiss -

Nico had acted rashly, too. But there must have been a reason. He must have known there was a camera in the tree. The only question was why?

Will pulled the blanket around his shoulders and leaned back against his bag.

Tomorrow.

He woke, shivering, to the sight of a figure crouched in the entrance of the cave.

"Nico?" he said blearily, rubbing at his eyes. "Nico, it's so cold in here. How come it's cold in the side of a volcano?"

"You're sick. I'll build you a fire," came Nico's voice.

"No." Will bolted upright. "No, the Careers. What happened to them? What did you do to them?"

Calm down, Solace. It's a game. Those people - they just want to see a show.

Will rubbed his eyes and blinked rapidly. He looked again. The figure had disappeared. Morning sunlight streamed through the crack in the rocks.

"Shit," he muttered and lay back against his bag with a heavy sigh.

Nico's shield was standing against the tree where they had slept the first night. The ground around it was strewn with silver parachutes, baskets open and empty. Will walked to the edge of the creek, peering into the woods on the other side.

"Nico?" he called.

The boy in black appeared in a blink of an eye, as if he had materialized from the shadows, which Will was almost certain he was capable of doing. He looked haggard; there were dark circles under his eyes, which suggested that he had been up since the crack of dawn. He held a strange device in his hands.

"I thought you would come back," he said with a trace of an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, if that helps."

"You're sorry for what? Kissing me?"

Nico shook his head shyly. "No, I'm not sorry for that. I should have explained myself better. You don't have to kill anyone, Will. I'm sorry."

Will cleared his throat. "I'm sorry, too. I don't hate you. I'm actually - actually, I'm glad we met."

Nico smiled, and it was the most beautiful one yet.

There was rustling in the trees behind Will.

Nico's eyes widened at once. "Run, Will."

Will did not need to be told twice. He ducked and jumped - just in time. A knife hurtled over his head and buried itself, hilt deep, in the opposite creek bed. He landed in the water with a tremendous splash, and his bow slipped off his shoulder. He went after it and managed to grab it before it was swept away by a stronger current. He could feel the vibrations of the stampede of footsteps behind him, rumbling like the volcano. He imagined he could hear the growls of bloodthirsty wolves.

"Get him! Get them both!" Perseus's voice, tinged with vengeance.

Will half-swam half-ran to the other side. He pulled himself up, but his clothes were wet and dragging him down and he was too slow. He could hear the sounds of the Careers behind him, the whistling of Thalia's knives. Any moment now and -

He was up and out of the water, and he was sprinting for the trees and for Nico, reaching for his arm.

"Run, Nico!" he shouted.

But Nico did not move. He merely stood and held his strange device, and behind Will there came the sound of bloodcurdling screams.

"Nico? What…" He skidded to a halt and looked back. There were four shapes floating in the water, small and lifeless and so human.

So that's what Careers look like when they die. Just like any of us.

And there was one more standing on the muddy bank on the other side, his face white and stricken, his shoulder covered in white gauze, his bronze sword drooping in his hand.

"Step in, if you want," Nico called to Perseus. "You're welcome to join them."

Perseus seemed to see them for the first time. His expression morphed into one of horror. "You… monsters!" he screamed at them, then turned and ran back through the trees.

"Nico, what did you do?" Will asked in a whisper. He couldn't take his eyes off the bodies.

"Electrocution," said Nico simply.

"That was… your plan?"

"Yes. This is what Beetee sent me yesterday."

Will took the paper Nico handed him, and it trembled as he read it.

Have enough sponsors for the plan. They just need a show. - B

They spent the rest of the day in near silence. The sky above them grew darker with plumes of ash, which seemed to be making their way slowly down the mountain. Will conjectured that it was the Gamemakers' way of announcing the endgame.

Nico borrowed Will's bow and tried to bring down a wild groosling. After a few failed attempts and wasted arrows, Will wordlessly took the bow and shot one on his first try. It made him sick to the stomach.

As the bird roasted on a spit over a small fire, Nico tried to strike up a conversation.

"Have you found out where the smoke's coming from?"

"It's a volcano," Will answered, eyes fixed on the glowing embers.

"Huh." Nico ran a hand through his hair. "It looks like it's about to erupt."

"Attention all tributes: There will be a feast. Please present yourself at the Cornucopia as soon as possible. Remember, this feast is not mandatory, but it will be in your best interest to attend. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favor."

"Are we going?"

"We have to."

"Perseus will be there."

"And so will your chance at winning."

The ground shook as they walked back through the forest. The grass in the clearing where the Games began was gray with ash, and the once-golden Cornucopia was peppered black. Will imagined that their faces didn't look much better. He would be able to see if his eyes weren't burning.

At the mouth of the Cornucopia sat three drawstring bags, each bearing a district number. Perseus was already there, picking up the bag on the far left and undoing the string. Once he saw Will and Nico, he concealed the bag behind him and whipped out his sword.

"Don't come any closer," he warned.

Nico raised his hands lazily. "Look, 'Doctor Solace' can shoot out your eye from here, so you either let us see our bags and we won't hurt you, or he does just that."

Perseus gulped visibly and lowered his sword. "Fine."

Will made the rest of his way to the Cornucopia warily and picked up the bag with the number seven. He opened it with fumbling fingers and reached inside. His hand closed around a smooth, rectangular object. He pulled it out.

It was a remote. With a single protruding bright red button in the center.

Will turned to Nico in perplexity, who held the same object in his hands. Together, they looked at Perseus.

"What do you have?" Will asked.

Perseus hesitated, then reached in his bag and drew out a similar remote.

"What are these -" Will started.

Nico held up a finger. "Wait."

The voice of the announcer flooded the arena. "My congratulations are in order, tributes. You have made the right decision. What you hold in your hands are devices engineered by our Gamemakers that interact with the tracking devices in your arms, enabling them to emit a strong electric signal through your body, which, if I may add, is fatal. Now, each of you holds the remote that controls the tracking device of one of the two other tributes. Converse and decide who will die and who will live. And, as always, may the odds be ever in your favor."

Perseus was already backing away. "If I press this button, one of you dies, and I can easily deal with the other."

"No, Perseus," Nico said slowly. "We can talk about this."

Perseus shook his head. "I'm not talking about anything - not with you, Death Boy. You see it, don't you? I'm going to win." He turned and started running.

"No, Perseus!" Nico called after his fleeing figure. "The Gamemakers - they could be lying!"

But Perseus didn't look back.

"Will." Nico turned to him, and Will knew what he had to do.

He nocked an arrow and drew his bow. Inhale. The tip of the arrow pointing at Perseus's back, over his heart. Will saw him reach for his remote, his fist hovering over the button. It was now or never. He let out his breath and released. The bowstring sighed. The arrow flew.

Perseus's hand came down. The volcano erupted.

"Death Boy," Nico mused. "I like it. It suits me."

They were sitting on top of the Cornucopia under the night sky, watching as lava trickled slowly down the sides of the volcano and encroached upon a writhing Perseus, who had long since given up screaming for mercy and now only lay bleeding out on the ground, his heart beating vainly against Will's arrow.

"I killed him." Will was resisting the urge to gag.

"He would have died anyway," Death Boy replied indifferently.

Will considered the remote in his hand. "I should press this. It should cause another eruption. It would make it faster for him."

Nico snatched the remote away. Will couldn't find the strength to protest. "No. We can't control the eruptions. What if the next one's like Pompeii? Besides, would you rather be burned alive or shot to death by an arrow?"

Will covered his face with his hands. "I just… I can't watch him."

"Then don't."

Will blinked rapidly against his palms. "You were right," he said softly. "The Gamemakers lied to us. Why?"

Nico didn't answer for a long time. "They want to see who wins… between the two of us."

The lava had reached Perseus, because he was screaming now. The shrill sounds of agony pierced Will's ears, but his heart continued steadily on without a twinge of guilt or remorse. He laid his head on Nico's lap, and the boy in black wrapped his arms around him, encasing him in a cocoon of darkness. There, Will cried silently for himself.

"I killed him," he whispered. "So why don't I feel anything?"

It gets old real fast, killing does, said a voice in his head, and he couldn't remember if it was something Chiron had told him or part of his own subconscious speaking.

"I'm sorry," Nico murmured. His fingers ran through Will's hair and down his back, moving like rivulets of warm rain. "I'm sorry. I broke you."

Will laughed brokenly at Nico's choice of words and clutched at him tighter. He didn't want to ever let go.

"You'll have to shoot me. Tomorrow."

The cannon sounded for Perseus.

Tomorrow, then. But now, Will only wanted to fall asleep telling himself that Nico would forever be beside him.

When Will woke the next morning, Nico was gone, and beneath him the lava had hardened to stone. After a taking swig of water and collecting his thoughts, he slid off the Cornucopia and began climbing the volcano.

He reached the top this time, sweaty and exhausted. Standing on the rim, he could see into the belly of the mountain. Deep below, there was a pool of bubbling orange.

Nico was standing on the opposite side, facing away, his back toward Will. Instinctively, Will shouldered off his bow, nocked an arrow, and drew back.

You'll have to shoot me.

He didn't. He really didn't. He could jump into the volcano now, and Nico would be the victor.

Now is your chance.

Nico hadn't seen him or heard him. He was looking away, peacefully oblivious. Still, it didn't seem right.

Would you rather shoot him while looking in his eyes?

Yes. Yes, maybe he did. Anything else would be cowardly.

He pulled his arm back a millimeter. Inhale. His shoulder creaked with tension. Sweat beaded across his upper lip.

It's now or never. Kill or be killed.

"Nico," Will called. He lowered the bow.

Nico spun around. "Oh, you're here. I didn't hear you." He squinted at Will and smiled vaguely. "How long were you standing there?"

"Long enough," Will breathed.

"You still can't do it, can't you?"

Will shook his head. Nico put his hands in his pockets.

"I've been thinking for a while…" said the boy in black. "I had a plan, and I thought… Many times I thought I should abandon it… I really liked you, Will. Maybe even a little more than I gave myself credit for."

Will's head spun. Nico wasn't making any sense, but as always, he didn't give Will a chance to speak.

"I'm really sorry, Will," he continued. "I'm really, really sorry."

And he drew his hands out of his pockets, and Will saw he was holding both of their remotes. Nico had taken his last night, when he was going to press it for Perseus. And Will had trusted him. He had trusted Nico enough not to care…

"I'm sorry." And he pressed the red buttons.

And Will looked away from Nico's face just in time to see the lava rushing up at them from below -