To the second Guest reviewer, I love you truly and deeply. In response to your review yes there are only three (now two) chapters, and I'm sorry, but I can't tell you if Peeta dies or not.

Anyway, much thanks to air2dsr, ZyePenguin (reviewer of the chapter), Guest, enchantedlight, Guest and badkitty98 for reviewing and being amazing.

Katniss' POV

"So what do we do now?" I asked, nibbling on some of the berries Rue had gathered when we came across our waterfall overhang. We had been hiding under the stone shelter for around half an hour or so, I'd wager, and were regrouping and planning our next move.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I really-" Peeta began to say, before being cut off by a parachute coming towards us. Rue got up to catch it, and after taking off the outer shell (which was larger than usual) she held out the inner container to me.

"It's for you, Kat."

I opened it up, seeing bandages and a set of three quarter pants, made of the same stretch material as our training outfits. Haymitch had also written a note. Our warm hosts would only allow me to gift you with so much. Stay safe. H. I caught the drift that the Capitol wasn't too happy that I was getting mentor gifts, and that this was all I'd be getting, likely for the rest of the games if Snow could have his way. If Rue hadn't have found those plants, who knows where I'd be.

"Some bandages and a pair of pants for Haymitch," I said. I stood and started unbuttoning my current shredded pair, and Rue turned. I couldn't help myself and giggled. "Rue, sweets, it's ok to look. Nothing scandalous being shown." She turned back, blushing, and Peeta laughed.

"With the entirety of Panem watching, propriety kind of goes out the window, don't you think?" Peeta laughed, turning around nonetheless, "unless you're her brother. Then propriety stays right where it is."

I laughed, using my ruined pants as a blanket on the ground. "Rue, can you help me?" I asked, gesturing to the bandage, "I just need you to unravel some of the roll while I wrap it around my leg." She did as I asked, and I began tightly wrapping the burnt area of my skin, clenching my teeth as I did so. I then got up gingerly and pulled on my new clothes, Rue helping to prop me up as I wobbled.

"So," I began as I sat back down, a microcosm of my mind feeling better just because of the bandages and pants, "what were you saying Peeta?"

"Yeah, as I was saying," Peeta said as he turned back around, Rue sitting beside me, "I would really love to pay the Careers back, and I think I know just how to do it too."

Two beats passed without anyone talking. "While I appreciate you pausing for dramatic effect," I said, "do you think you could enlighten us to your plan?"

He rolled his eyes. "Well, I was thinking that we should blow up the big pile of food and supplies they've got near the cornucopia. Think about it, they wouldn't be using a lot of sponsors because they'd have all of the things they'd need. Let's force them to rely only on that; there won't be enough sponsor gifts to go around."

"We'd need to distract them," mused Rue, "perhaps a smoking fire?"

I nodded. "It'd definitely get their attention. But we need to make this as safe as possible for us." I pondered the issues for a few moments. "What about if we lit separate fires?"

"Why?" Rue asked.

"So that they don't know which to go for," Peeta said, already knowing what I was thinking, "but that could be dangerous. You're playing on the fact that they aren't quick enough to realise our ploy. What happens if they aren't as dense as we hope they are?"

I stood in frustration. "I don't know. I do know this is all I can think of though. We have to take the gamble; we'll put the fires far away from the cornucopia, and each other, so they'll have to split up, and then it'll take them ages to get back."

"How do we blow up the food?" Rue asked.

We were silent. If only we could get the mines that had been inside the hovercraft, and somehow set them up. I thought this aloud.

"The mines!" Peeta cried, before realising the life threatening situation we were in and quieting down. "The mines," he repeated sheepishly, at a much lower volume.

"Once again dear brother, enlighten us."

"When Rue and I were heading around the hovercraft, we saw everything had been moved," he explained.

"That's right," Rue said, joining in, "there were a few supplies left inside, but most was piled up in a separate camp a little while away."

"And there were those mounds buried around the big pile, remember?" Peeta asked, and when Rue nodded he continued. "Well, I think they may have been the mines."

"How would the Careers have known to do that?" I asked, "the strategy I get, but they would've had to have had expertise with those mines to tamper with them like that."

"They could've easily have manipulated one of the other tributes," Peeta insisted. "You can trigger the mines, and Rue and I will light a fire each."

"Me? Why me?"

"You're the only one capable with a long distance weapon," Peeta said, as if it were obvious, which retrospectively it kind of was.

"We can meet back here," Rue suggested, "and since Peeta and I know the exact positioning of the camp site, we'll know where to set up. One of us lights the fire, and the other will wait a few minutes before lighting the other. Kat can blow up the mines when they're gone."

Peeta nodded, agreeing. "We're roughly in line with the camp site, if we walk in that direction." He pointed off to the side. "Rue, you take the lake side of the camp, I'll take the field side."

"How will I know when to light the fire?" Rue asked.

"Climb a tree," Peeta told her, "since the field side is further away, it'll take me longer to get there. If you can hurry and keep a quick pace, by the time I get there you'll be set up. When you see smoke, climb down and light your fire."

"And when you lit the fire, leave some distance, enough so you don't get burnt, and get up into a tree, alright?" I asked Rue, to which she nodded.

"No time like the present," she said, "we can do this Kat," she said, noticing my look.

I nodded, attempting to smile but being unable to displace the feeling in my gut. "I only wish I shared your confidence. But this is the only thing I can think of."

Peeta agreed and then came over to me, pointing me in the direction I needed to go, explaining that I'd come up to some heavy foliage from the trees that I could use to hide.

"Remember Kat, don't set them off until they're gone," Peeta told me, to which I nodded. "Good. We'll meet back here. If someone isn't back, we'll wait the night out before moving on."

It was an unpleasant reality, but one we had to embrace. "The mockingjay tune," I said suddenly, "that's our panic signal alright?" I got nods all around as I took a deep breath.

"Good luck," Rue said, and with that we were each on our way.

~FOTM~

I make my way through the immediate area around the cornucopia, and encounter the hanging branches Peeta told me about. I take my time surveying the area, noting where all the Careers are and how the mines are situated. The District 3 boy was sitting with a spear, facing away from me, and the three career tributes were standing by the fire, heads together. I then turned my attention to the pile of supplies. They had everything, from sleeping bags to weapons to medicine packs. Heck, there was even a bag of apples: the capitol really had thought of every- hang on a second, the bag of apples...it was very precariously hung over the side of the pile, and it was sitting directly over one of the mounds. All I needed to do was tear the bag enough for them to fall and hit the buried mine. It was so close that by blowing up it'd cause absolute mayhem for the careers.

I kept my eyes steadily on the area where Peeta was meant to be lighting his fire, and my nerves increased. Peeta wasn't like Rue, he and I both knew that if climbing a tree was his only option it'd take him to long to get up there safely. I just hoped that Rue and I were quick enough to take the Careers attention, before they could get to him. Speak of the devil, I thought as I saw Peeta's fire start to smoke. The careers also noticed, and after instructing the District 3 tribute to stay here they made their way to the tree line. Just as they were ten metres away, the second fire was lit. The group stopped, turning to face the second smoke column, and then split up, Marvel going towards Rue's area with Clove and Cato continuing on their way to Peeta.

Once the cornucopia was empty I turned my attention towards the pile of supplies. I gently took my arrow out of my case and notched my bow, but before I could pull the string back Foxface, the tribute from District 5, dashed across the area, sneaking around the back of the pile to grab a bag. As she continued forward, the District three boy saw her too. Just as she was nearing the very edge of the mine field, he caught her attention.

"Hey!" he shouted at her. What was previously a nimble avoidance of the mounds turned into a stutter and face first fall into the ground. The bag was dislodged from her group, landing a few feet away from her. Directly on one of the buried mines.

Chaos reigned, and I knew I had to get out of there. Foxface, or what was left of her, was lying in a pile at the tree line, and the District 3 tribute was crying out in pain at the edge of the career camp. Completely disregarding the pile of supplies, which was either blown to bits or on fire anyway, I stumbled forward towards the fallen tribute, my ears ringing. I still held the loaded bow woodenly in my hands, and as I cam across the crying boy I knew what I had to do. "Please," he whispered as he saw me, "please."

I gulped, before begrudgingly releasing the arrow into his heart. My body was numb as I stared at the tribute from District 3 whose life I had just taken. Come on Katniss, you knew you'd have to do this, I thought to myself. But what truly saddened me was that this wasn't Glimmer, who had been baying for my blood, or Snow, who had assigned me to this fate. No, this boy was truly my equal. An innocent. Well, you aren't an innocent anymore, are you? a little sardonic voice in my head sneered.

I ignored the bubble of self-loathing, and once again turned to take in my surroundings. The immediate area around me was littered with smoking or flaming debris, and as my ears stopped ringing I realised I had to get out of here, before the noise drew the careers back. I ducked back into trees, moving quickly. My path back to our hide-out was quiet, the shouts coming from behind me becoming fainter and fainter, easing my mind a little. But that's when I heard it. The mockingjay signal.

Nothing could describe the fear that went through my body. I couldn't make out from the tune whether it was Rue or Peeta, but the fire in my gut was spurning me on regardless.

Don't lie to yourself, you know who you want to live.

Shut up, shut up.

Can't face the truth, can you? That deep down you're a monster - and you know it.

I desperately shook off the cutting thoughts, urging myself to move quicker. All of a sudden, my heart stopped as I was tackled from the side.

"Kat, Kat, it's me!" someone whispered, and I turned my head to see Peeta, looking as panicked as I felt. "I was cutting across here as a shortcut when I heard the whistle. Rue must be in trouble," he surmised what I had already known. He helped me up and together we continued towards the whistle. The air started to get foggier and thicker the closer we got, and all of a sudden we came to a small clearing, where my heart simultaneously dropped and grew large with rage. Rue.

The girl I had begun to think of as family as being held to a tree by Marvel, who turned at the noise of our approach. All of a sudden his hands released Rue's neck, her body dropping limply to the ground, and Marvel himself moved towards us. In the blink of an eye I had an arrow notched, fired into Marvel's shoulder as Peeta and I too moved forward. "Finish him," I said dismissively to Peeta, trusting him to appropriately draw out Marvel's death, as I made my way to Rue. I didn't spare any thoughts to my sudden sadistic choice, but at this point I was only focused on one thing. You can self-hate later, I told myself.

"Rue, Rue, are you ok?" I asked, laying her down gently on her back. "Come on baby girl, talk to me." I tried to will her to wake, hoping desperately that I wasn't holding my friend's corpse in my arms.

"Kat, come on," Peeta said, coming over and placing his hand on my shoulder. I looked up, briefly meeting his sorrow filled eyes as I looked behind him at Marvel's still body. I cast him from my mind and turned back to Rue, she deserved my attention now.

"Kat," I heard, and I started crying when I realised it was Rue.

"Rue, you're ok," I said, hugging her before pulling back and meeting her eye. No, my mind told me, she's not OK.

"Kat," she repeated, "Peeta - thank you." She was struggling to breathe at this point, and I could almost see the life draining out of her, seeping out of her pores. No, no. "I love you guys," she said, her voice getting quieter, until I had to bend to hear the last word. When I leant back I saw that her eyes had gone glassy. I put my finger under her nose, no air was coming out.

"Rue, no!" I said, a strangled cry ripping through my body. "No!" I clutched Peeta, who was on his knees behind me, crying into his shoulder as I let my sadness take over from the adrenaline that had been occupying my mind and body. The reality was slowly, torturously, sinking in. Rue's gone.

Slowly my crying lessened, until I was just breathing deeply into my brother's chest, both of us clutching the other tightly. I separated myself from Peeta, wiping my eyes as I did so, before making contact with his bloodshot eyes.

He shook his head. "Don't you dare thank me Kat," he said emphatically, "it isn't even necessary."

I just nodded, before turning to Rue's body. Something stirred within me. "BB, we can't leave her like this. Her death was so dark, we can't just leave her like this."

"Kat-" he began.

"No. I don't care if they're coming together, we can't let her final moments be full of darkness as well," I said.

"I agree," he said gently, and I loved him that much more. It was times like this where I couldn't imagine being here with anyone else.

"Alright," I said, arranging her to lie in one line, hands by her sides, "could you gather some flowers?" We both stood and walked a small distance to reach the side of the clearing that was littered with colourful petals. We both filled our arms, and when we returned I began organising the bunches of flowers around Rue's body, forming a giant halo. For my angel. Peeta continued to gather flora, which I proceeded to twist into a bouquet.

"Why don't we weave some through her hair; wouldn't that look nice?" Peeta asked softly, kneeling opposite me. I smiled and nodded, preceding to follow his suggestion.

We both sat there afterwards, just looking at her. I realised that we had to move. The careers were bound to wonder about Marvel, and I didn't need them to find us. I said as much to Peeta.

"Yeah, we should go," he agreed. He stood, helped me up, saying, "we need to come up with a plan. Now there's no ignoring the end; we need to face it."

"Let's regroup," I said as we began to make our way to our secret cove, "there's you and me, Clove and Cato, Thresh and the boy from District 4."

"We could always wait them out," Peeta suggested, "Clove is sadistic enough to go after 4, and I can't imagine Cato being happy with a threat like Thresh still being alive."

I started nodding, recognising that this wasn't necessarily a bad plan. "Should we keep tabs on them, and stick around the cornucopia, or stay where we are?"

He shrugged. "I don't mind staying put. It'd be easier to defend. We can always move later."

I nodded. "Alright then, that's our plan." We continued on in silence, both of us mulling over our thoughts. I spared a brief thought for Peeta, who had just killed someone, but knew that we didn't have the time to deal with our grief now. That'll have to wait.

Just as we came across our secret waterfall hideaway, we realised that it wasn't so secret anymore. "What is it with you careers and your uncontrollable sadism?!" I yelled, arrow already notched and pointed at a knife-wielding Clove, who was standing over the District 4 tribute, breathing heavily.

"I think it's time we return the favour, don't you Kat?" Peeta asked sarcastically as he circled around to Clove's back, the girl in question whipping back and forth to keep both of us in her sight.

"Oh, most definitely BB," I said, stepping closer, "and Clove?"

"Do your worst, scum," she said, scoffing at me.

"Rot in hell, you bitch," I said, before releasing my arrow. Right into her skull.

Her eyes rolled back into her head as she crumpled to the ground. "And here I was thinking she deserved something long and drawn out," Peeta said as he dramatically pulled out my arrow and cleaned it on his jacket.

"That's why we're going to win," I said softly, as I closed Clove's eyes before doing the same for the District 4 tribute. "We're better than they are."

I stood up to see Peeta smiling at me. "We are." He pulled me into a hug, before letting go and giving me a nudge. "Come on sis, let's go get ourselves out of this damned arena."

"So much for waiting it out," I muttered, before sighing, "but you're right, we can't sit here and expect one of them to commit suicide."

"You know I don't enjoy how reluctantly you admit that I'm right," he said as we once again began walking, this time towards the cornucopia where the remaining tribute was likely to go.

"I think you're hearing things," I said, smiling impishly, "I'd never admit that."

"Oh, you definitely did."

"Did not."

"Yes you did, crazy." And we continued like that, me letting the routine of verbally sparring with Peeta act as a balm to my turmoil filled mind.

I feel a little maniacally evil, because I have a feeling people weren't expecting the way events turned out. But I hope it's not a bad shock, and that my entire viewership doesn't get annoyed at me. I just counted, and in this chapter alone there were six deaths.

Oh, and who can guess where Peeta's nickname comes from?

Different topic: what do you guys think of a sequel?