Cato draws back his blood-slicked sword, firmly tucking it into his belt. Peeta crumples to his knees, struggling for breath.
"My god, what the fuck did you do? We had an agreement!" Katniss shouts, whirling around.
A cannon booms, and Katniss looks at Cato despairingly. "Yeah, we did! But he wasn't gonna make it anyway!"
"And that means you get to just stab him?" Katniss rises, her hands on her hips.
"The agreement was that if you and I were the last two, we would have to kill each other without our weapons. Now we're the last two!" exclaims Cato.
"That was a stupid agreement, you know," Katniss counters, glaring at Cato. In the dim light, the blood on his face is still discernible. She shoves him firmly, and he stumbles backwards, his foot meeting the edge of the cornucopia.
He pushes her back, and she clutches the edges of his jacket, pulling him to the golden weave with her. They wait in stalemate for a few minutes, tightly gripping the edge of the cornucopia. Then the rain starts, beating down on them.
"You killed Peeta. We could have both made it out," Katniss says bitterly.
"See, this is perfect proof that you never loved him in the first place," Cato responds.
Katniss's eyes widen. She opens her mouth to protest, but realizes that he's right. She doesn't love Peeta. She stares into Cato's steely grey eyes, her jaw set.
"I want to kill you," Cato admits, eyeing the ground. The mutts huddle in the cornucopia, baring their teeth at those who do not fit.
"Great. It's mutual." Katniss pauses. "Then why don't you?"
Cato ponders this. "It's incredibly hard to kill someone you love."
"You've got to be kidding me!" Katniss exclaims, standing abruptly. She retreats to the tail of the cornucopia, her arms crossed. "What happened to being a cocky asshole and that being the end of it?"
"What happened to you being this girl that-"
"Stop it!" she interrupts. She turns, her damp hair flying out around her. They're staring at each other in the dark, grey eyes meeting at dusk.
Her dark hair is wet and sweat beads on her forehead. She reaches behind her shoulder for the final arrow in her quiver, but her hand falls as the tips of her fingers brush the fletching.
She closes her eyes. "Okay."
"Okay what?"
"Okay this." She steps forward and presses her lips to his. When she pulls away, disgusted, he smiles. The slightest hint of a smile makes its way onto her lips, as well.
Cato draws a small handful of nightlock from the leather pouch Katniss had left for him. "I'm not leaving without you," he says, placing a single berry in each of their hands.
"Me neither."
But when Cato places the berry on his tongue, Katniss throws hers down for the mutts to fight for.
