Alright. Maybe Cato, and Glimmer, and Gloss, and my mother, and…well, everyone, really, weren't completely off in thinking I was an idiot. Actually, I probably should have thought about the mine thing the second that Rue suggested an alliance, because the idea was kind of obvious. Live explosives in the arena? What purpose could they possibly serve beyond pissing off Cato?

The three of us get something like a plan laid out as we finish eating. I, surprisingly, remember that Nerd Boy spaced the mines out and wired them up all independently of one another. In other words, blowing up one mine won't do anything except send Cato rushing back to camp, waving a sword or a mace and thirsting for my blood.

This problem stumps all of us. Katniss thinks that setting off two or three mines would most likely get the rest to explode, but, depending on how heavy the impact needs to be, even that could prove to be a pain in the ass.

Finally, Rue yawns big and says, "I really need to sleep. You guys can finish figuring stuff out. Marvel, you don't think Cato will be hunting tonight?"

I shrug.

"No, not really." I think a second. "Then again, I also thought it'd be impossible to destroy those supplies, and that definitely wasn't the world's most intelligent conjecture." Katniss and Rue both look concerned, but I quickly add, "But I think I'm right this time. Clove is smaller than Katniss, and she took a lot more venom. There's no way that Cato would go hunting without his mini-me."

"We'll keep watch, anyway," Katniss assures Rue, really not sounding confident in me at all. It's because she hasn't seen Cato and Clove together. I got a full five days of watching them finish each other sentences and telling kill stories like a pair of demented siblings. My allies would be much more convinced of Cato's staying put if they realized that he classified Clove as an excessively dangerous weapon, and therefore loved her nearly as much as he loved himself. "You don't have anything to worry about."

"You're sure?" asks Rue. "Because I could stay awake a little longer…" She has to stop and yawn. A sheepish smile stretches across her lips, but she still looks almost disappointed in herself. The girl who stayed up for twenty hours, so I could get extra rest. Yeah, what a wimp. "Actually, maybe I do need to sleep. Just for a little bit."

"We'll be fine. Katniss and I are keeping watch, so Cato will get a few sharp objects lodged into his gut if he comes anywhere near here," I say confidently, shooting Rue my best smile. Then I glance at Katniss. "Besides, the longer you sleep, the more alone time I get with my woman." I look up at the setting sun and, widening my smile, add, "Actually, it's getting a little colder. You can take my sleeping bag again, Rue. I'll cuddle with Katniss in hers."

Rue grins as she gets to her feet.

"I almost want to stay awake now. This sounds like it's going to be interesting."

"Some of it may get a little mature for you," I warn. "Katniss still owes me a kiss for half-breaking my nose, and after she gets a taste of me, I'm pretty sure I'll be hard-pressed to keep her from wanting more. I'm pretty damn irresistible-"

"Marvel!" says Katniss. I look over and see her giving me the funniest look. It's like she thinks I'm a hundred percent mad, but is also angry enough that I'm allmost worried she'll totally discount the madness and go after me with a dull knife. "She's twelve-"

"And yet, I think that this is flustering you a lot more than it is her," I interrupt smoothly. I wave Rue off to bed, and she walks away smiling from ear-to-ear, like I'm the funniest thing in the world, while Katniss continues to stare at me with a look scarily similar to the one I gave my prep team when they asked me to undress for the first time.

Funny. I haven't even gotten around to that request yet.

"I'm not flustered," Katniss says a little while after Rue leaves.

"Yeah, that may not have been the best word choice," I allow, especially once she gets over her initial surprise and her silver eyes start flashing with a pretty heated fire. The kind that would burn the hell out of me if I decided to mess with it. "Right now I'm going to say angry is the more accurate term, which I really don't understand in the least. I don't see anything wrong with my awesomely romantic comments."

Katniss narrows her eyes at me.

"You're making me look weak again," she says. Her voice is laced with frustration. "I'm not going to throw myself all over you. I don't even know you, and I don't know what it's like in District One, but in District Twelve, people usually at least like each other before-"

I've got no idea why I do it. Probably because I'm a fearless idiot, but there's something about the way that Katniss is getting flustered that's just a little bit attractive. Back home, my flirting would have been written off as a joke by whichever girl I tried it with, but Katniss either doesn't know better or maybe she's just smart enough to realize that I'm not completely joking, that she is fiery enough, and… just different enough, that, with the added bonus of spectating sponsors, kissing her is actually a pretty appealing prospect.

It's funny, really, because Katniss is so caught up in making sure I don't do what I'm intending, that she totally misses the way that I move so I'm kneeling instead of sitting, that she hardly even notices when I start moving forward. Katniss's eyes widen when she finally wakes up and sees that I'm about six inches away from her face, but her brain doesn't comprehend what I'm doing until I actually lean down and catch her now frozen lips with my own.

I'm so worried about getting the shit slapped out of me that I only kiss her for a second. Maybe two. Then I back off, hands already up to protect myself, trying not to smile too wide. That was surprisingly not as disgusting as I would've expected kissing a poor person would be. Katniss's lips were actually soft. Warm.

If I wasn't terrified of castration, I would almost be tempted to kiss her again.

Instead, I keep my eyes on Katniss, who I'm quite worried is going to do me seriously bodily harm.

She doesn't. Once it becomes apparent that I have a second or two to speak, I relax and let my smile get a little bigger.

"Alright, Katniss. You win," I tell her. I think up the most romantic words I can, some cheesy shit that'll have the citizens of the Capitol in a real brouhaha, then, once I find something suitable enough, I continue, "I had my District One moment. Now tell me how guys do things in District Twelve, and I'll go about things that way from now on."

Katniss blinks at me once, then wipes absentmindedly at her lips- which is almost kind of insulting. I mean, really, she's the one who probably grew up eating dog intestines, and I didn't make a single comment about that- and glares at me.

"Are you deaf?" asks Katniss, her voice a little too loud, her eyes a little too wide. She crosses her arms over her chest and suddenly looks very uncomfortable. "I don't like you. If… if Peeta was an option, I'd probably be more apt to go for him, because he's not like… you are." She sits up a little, more confident now, like she's finally figured out what to say. "He wouldn't have done that."

Peeta. God, why is just hearing his freaking name starting to piss me off? I don't usually get mad. Not noticeably, and definitely not uncontrollably, but suddenly I really, really want to kill something.

Instead, I take a deep breath and rake a hand through my hair, working to focus on the positive. Katniss has to like me at least a little. She's smiled at me twice already. And I'm not dead. I kissed Katniss Everdeen and I'm not dead. That's a good sign.

"Yeah, and I wouldn't have either, if you hadn't screwed up my nose," I say lightly. I give her my best smile, doing my best to ignore that way I'm feeling almost… rejected? Upset? I grimace for a moment, then smile even wider because I'm really creeped out that I give a shit. "But, alas, if I hadn't just kissed you, you would have wound up owing me something, and I know how you outer district people dislike that."

Katniss looks like she's going to be mad again, but then she just shakes her head and relaxes the smallest amount, this strange expression on her face, halfway between a grimace and a smile. I'm not even quite sure how that's possible, but Katniss Everdeen somehow manages to pull it off.

"I don't understand you," Katniss says then. "You're nothing like anyone from District Twelve, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing."

And… pissy Katniss has left the building. Damn, I'm good. I kiss her, and it only takes about ninety seconds for the whole thing to blow over completely. I was expecting at least a few days of arguing, and that was if she hadn't tore my throat out with her bare hands the instant my lips touched hers.

"It's a good thing," I say confidently, my head ballooning back up to its normal size. "When I'm involved, it's always a good thing. Now, back to me being sweet and romantic and all those other things that you love so much… you say you want a District Twelve guy. What do I have to do? Strip naked, paint myself black with coal, and challenge Peeta to a battle for your heart?"

Katniss almost smiles before she doesn't.

"You could stop making fun of my district, to start with," she says, but I can tell that she's definitely not mad.

I grin winningly.

"Sorry," I say, reclining back into the sitting position I was in before. It's getting chilly, just like I figured, and I'm half tempted to ask Katniss if she'd like to share body-heat, but while Glimmer had taken that suggestion gratefully our first night here, something tells me that getting away from that kiss in one piece was about as much as I'm going to manage tonight. "Go ahead. Enlighten me as to how I can reach your heart."

"Do you ever give up?" asks Katniss.

I laugh.

"Does it look like I ever give up?" I ask. Then I add, "And besides, we're in the middle of a gory fight to the death. Don't you think a little love would be nice for the both of us? And don't say, 'But one of us is going to die', because I know that very well, but you only live once, and our lives are suckishly short right now, so…"

There's a little pause after my dramatic trail-off, and I absolutely adore the way that Katniss is already starting to look so comfortable. Rue was right, about people relaxing around me. I've just never noticed it before, probably because people in District One don't take me seriously enough for me to have any opportunity to work my magic.

"That isn't bad logic," Katniss says. She looks strangely victorious. "But I really can't help you. I never really talked to any guys in District Twelve."

Now this is news to me. Strangely welcome news, but news all the same.

"I'm slightly worried that District Twelve's male population is blind from all the coal dust. Um… what about that rather tall, good-looking person who pulled your sister off you at the Reaping? It looked like a guy, and, if the extremely protective look in its eyes at the time is any indication, I would say that you've probably spoken to it on more than one occasion."

"Oh," says Katniss, looking horrified. "Gale."

"Aw, shit. I just jogged your brain about some jealous boyfriend who's probably dying to kill me right now, didn't I?" I ask, pretty sure that that's it. I don't see any reason why she'd be this upset otherwise, and now I'm mad at myself and really hoping that I didn't just kill all the progress that I've made in the name of securing sponsors.

"No, no," Katniss assures me. "He's my friend. That's it. It's just…" She looks angry at herself. "He's not the biggest fan of the Careers, and I know he's not happy about this. I hadn't even thought about it before, but he's probably screaming at the television right now, shouting for me to kill you. I'm just not smart enough to listen."

"Good," I say. "That must mean I'm doing something right. And Katniss?"

"Yeah?" she asks, not quite here anymore, now deep in thought, probably thinking about Gale, who I immediately choose to dislike.

"You care about Gale, obviously, and know him, and speak to him often, so… What District Twelve mojo has he pulled to get so close to you?"

Katniss jerks back to the present and, after studying her hands for a short amount of time, looks up and stares me straight in the eye. I feel like this is another test, like she's trying to find something, and even though I'm pretty sure whatever she's looking for isn't anywhere to be found, I find myself staring right back at her.

Then, miracle of miracles, she actually starts talking.

"Our fathers both died in the same mining accident, and we were pretty tough off," says Katniss slowly. "We had no money, no food, our families were starving, and we became friends because we needed to to survive. After a while, it just… became more than that. He's my best friend now."

I stare at Katniss Everdeen. No money? No food? Starving families? She said 'after a while' in describing her friendship with Gale. Meaning that she and some other teenage guy have been keeping their families alive for 'a while'. God, her tone of voice even made it sound like something normal.

"Holy shit. This is probably really off topic, but your life… it's had to suck."

"What?" asks Katniss, because she has no idea what I'm talking about. I blink several times, then shake my head.

"Nothing. I… What I meant to say is that I must be off to a better start than I thought. You say you and Gale were thrown together because you needed each other to survive. Life or death. That sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

Katniss looks surprised, like she only now realized this. Then she shakes her head.

"I don't know why I'm talking about any of this with you. It's not important." She swallows, and her eyes turn guarded again. It's clear that she's not happy with what I just pointed out. I suppose the truth hurts. "Those mines… Do you think rocks could set them off?"

I rub at my eyes with the backs of my hands. I know Rue let me sleep for a long time, but I'm still not used to being up this long or working this much. It's irritating.

"It's not a bad idea," I yawn. And then we're back to discussing strategy, and any attempts I make to talk about Katniss Everdeen are glared at and immediately written off.

…

Rue wakes up happy and bouncy several hours later. After a little strategizing, Katniss and I fell into complete silence for the rest of the night. I spent a ridiculously long time sharpening my spearheads with one of my knives and looking like I was actually doing something, but that was about all that really went on.

"So, do you know what we're going to do yet?" asks Rue. Cutely, she wipes at her eyes with the back of her hands, like little kids do sometimes. "About the supplies?"

"Uh, we've got a few ideas," I say. "If Katniss can shoot a box or something over with an arrow, enough crap will fall that at least a few mines will blow up. I've told her where most of them are, so all that she'll need to do is get one thing to tumble onto a crowded spot, and everything will go to hell pretty quickly after that."

"That's a good idea," smiles Rue.

"Katniss thought of it. Probably because we had a ridiculously long time to strategize, given that she adamently refuses to talk about herself," I say, which gets me a glower from Katniss, and a smile from Rue.

"I can see her being a pretty private person," alliterates Rue. "But from what I overheard before I fell asleep, you didn't do too badly." She looks at Katniss. "Is he a good kisser?"

I start laughing so hard that I think I'm going to die. Without even really thinking about it, I sling an arm around Rue's shoulder and give her a manly half-hug.

"God, I wish my sister had a sense of humor like yours," I manage to get out, which gets Rue to beam so big that it has to hurt. And I still keep laughing, especially at the look of absolute horror on Katniss's face.

"I thought you were tired," Katniss says defensively, to which Rue only smiles bigger.

"I didn't want to miss anything too interesting," she says. Then, once I finally get myself to stop laughing, more seriously, "But, about the supplies… What are Marvel and me going to do while you blow them all up?"

"We're going to set up signal fires," says Katniss, quite endearingly red-faced. "When everything is ready, you'll light each one, one at time, to keep the Careers away long enough for me to destroy the supplies. Marvel will… he will..."

"I'll take care of any tributes Cato leaves behind," I interrupt, because Katniss doesn't have the balls to so much as talk about killing, while I'm actually quite pumped for the job. Professional assassin. It even sounds beastly. "Or any that wander in our direction before she's finished."

"Alright," says Rue. She shrugs out from under my shoulder and bounces over to her little bag. "Let's start getting those signal fires together then."

Since we really don't have anything to wait for, we all get to getting our things together. I roll up my sleeping bag and start shoving junk into my bag, then strap one of my spears on, leaving the other to carry in case we run into another tribute while we're setting up the fires. I jam Glimmer's sword in my belt, useless as I'll probably find it, and turn to Katniss and Rue.

Neither of them had half as much stuff as me and my ever-so-privileged self, so they're both waiting on me. Katniss takes a few moments to gather some green wood to make a nice, smoky bonfire at this particular location, and then we start trekking off, into the forest and away from our nice and cozy camp.

Rue slips her hand into mine before we're ten feet away. I don't make her let go.

Our trip is a lot quieter than any of my excursions with the Careers, and for once, I don't try to overcompensate with any meaningless chatter. Without a half dozen scary Careers at my back, it's not quite so easy to be overconfident. I may be cocky, but, contrary to popular opinion, I am not stupid. Or at least that stupid.

"I think we should have a signal," Rue finally says softly. "For when we all split up. You can hear the Mockingjays here, right?"

Because I'm not a hick, I say, "Mocking-whats?"

"Mockingjays," Rue explains. "They're in all of our fields back home, and if you whistle, they whistle the same tune back. Have you seen Katniss's pin?"

I shake my head, and Katniss turns a little, jerking her head down at a gold pin that's attached next to the zipper of her jacket. It's a little circle with a bird in it. Now that I do see the bird, I recognize it a little. They sometimes fly into some of the trees in the less-populated parts of District One, although I'm away from the city so little that I've hardly had any opportunities to see them.

"Well, that's what they look like," says Rue. "And in District Eleven, we whistle a special song at the end of every day to let everyone know it's time to come in from the fields. I think we should sing that song after the supplies are gone, to let each other know we're okay."

"Okay?" I say. "That's ridiculous. Of course we'll all be okay."

"Marvel," says Rue. Her eyes are huge, and I swear that she knows something I don't. "I'd really appreciate it. I just... I don't want to have to worry about you."

She widens her eyes even furthur and sticks out her lower lip, not enough that it's over-dramatic or intentional, but so that I know she really, genuinely wants to do this. Because she's scared, whether or not she's actually going to say so.

"It's fine," says Katniss before I can speak. "What's the tune?"

Rue whistles a simple four note song, and, almost instantly, a chorus of birds answers her. It's so surprising that I actually whistle something else, some ditsy Capitol song, so I can listen to them sing it back to me.

They get every note perfectly.

"Alright," I say. "That's awesome."

"Outer District entertainment," Katniss says jokingly, and I laugh because I was actually thinking the exact same thing. There's a really weird moment where we both make eye-contact and smile at each other a little, but then Katniss shakes her head and looks away, saying to Rue, "I think we should make up another one, too, just in case. One that we can sing if one of us is in trouble."

Rue looks even more worried now, but it's a good idea, so she nods and whistles a different, almost eerie song. This time, I shiver when the mockingjays pick it up, and even though I see myself as heartless, I really, really hope that I'm never going to have to hear it again.

We set up our second signal fire then. Our third one a mile or so later.

Then it's time to split up.

"We'll see you as soon as possible," Katniss says to Rue. "After all of the supplies are blown up."

"Yeah," echoes Rue. "After all of the supplies are all blown up."

She walks forward and gives Katniss a big hug, which Katniss only hesitates a moment before returning.

Then Rue walks over to me, and, with eyes too smart for a twelve-year-old, eyes just like my real little sister's, she says, "Remember what I said, about you being someone to look up to."

Rue hugs me super tightly, and it's a long time before she lets go. There's a huge lump in my throat, and I hate it, so I write it off as useless worry and force a smile.

"You're making it sound like we're never going to see each other again. Don't worry, Rue. We'll meet up later, just like we planned, and we can spend all night laughing about Cato's misfortune."

Rue looks a little more skeptical than I am, but she still smiles and says, "I hope so."

Then it's done and she's disappearing through the trees. Katniss and I both exchange a look, and even though we both decided that the split was necessary last night, I know that neither of us like leaving the smallest, most defenseless one of our group alone. The one that, to both of us, is probably the most-liked member of our trio. The little girl who looks up to me and says that I'm exactly what a big-brother should be like.

I wordlessly take Katniss's hand, just like Rue did with me. Not for sponsors or anything too gushily romantic, but because I think she might need it, after watching Rue walk off on her own like that.

And the thing is, she doesn't tear it away.

We keep walking forward. Katniss's sense of direction is a hell of a lot better than mine, so I follow her lead as she weaves her way through a maze of trees, not seeming at all effected by the bugs or heat. Then again, thinking back to what she said last night, about being so poor that she didn't have enough food to even feed her family, I think it's probably safe to say that Katniss Everdeen is used to a lot of things that I'm not.

We reach the edge of the Cornucopia in a strangely short amount of time. I didn't realize it was so close. Now I can very easily see why Katniss and Rue were so concerned about hunting Careers last night, but I also realize that I was right about Clove being under the weather. She's leaning back against the metal Cornucopia, her eyes closed and her face pale.

For a terrible moment I wonder if we didn't send this plan into action too early. Stupidly, I totally forgot about Clove while we were going over things last night, and I think Katniss did too, because we both exchange a rather worried look once we see her. Will Cato go chasing the signal fires if she's not well enough to go with?

We don't have too much time to dwell on it, thankfully, because the first signal fire starts flaring up only seconds later. Smoke rises high in the sky, and District Four, who seems to be keeping watch, catches sight of it instantly, getting to her feet and pointing, saying, "Look! I think someone's cooking something."

Cato- who I am pleased to note has a bandage wrapped around his right arm- appears out of the inside of the Cornucopia, nerd boy at his heels, and Peeta behind him. From the looks of it, they were all sleeping.

I don't miss the way that Katniss's breath catches in her chest when she sees Peeta.

"Oh, no," I whisper. "You agreed to this. You aren't going to back out because of him."

Katniss says nothing, and I almost want to beat my head against the ground in frustration.

Then Cato gruffly says, "District Four, Nerd-kid, you're coming with me." He looks at Clove, who's already weakly gotten to her feet, and, after a second of thought, says, "Sit back down. We'll kill us some idiot and be back in an hour. I don't want you tiring yourself out over something so small." He smirks. "I hope it's Marvel. It probably is. I'm guessing he's the only remaining tribute dumb enough to light a fire in the middle of the day."

The mental image of Cato stumbling upon a dead Clove and lots of burnt supplies keeps me from minding his insult too much.

"I don't want-" starts Clove, but she shuts her mouth and pouts when Cato sends her a nasty glare.

"Lover Boy," says Cato. "Stay here and watch her. Don't let her leave, and don't let anyone else hurt her. Got it?"

Katniss makes a funny noise, and Peeta nods, looking worried.

Then Cato and his troop head off in the opposite direction, leaving Peeta alone with Clove.

Immediately, Katniss hisses, "Peeta is coming with us. I'll hate you forever if you kill him." She pauses and actually widens her eyes at me, like Rue just did. Like I never thought Katniss Everdeen would ever do. "Marvel, please. If you care about me at all, you're going to let him stay alive."

I shake my head. I think I want to kill Peeta more than I thought because my heart has started beating funny, and I'm pretty sure that adrenaline is the only reasonable explanation for that.

"No way in hell. You told me I could kill whoever was left here, and it just so happens that Peeta was chosen to stay behind, so…"

"I thought Cato would take everyone with him," Katniss says snappishly.

"I refuse-" I start, but I stop the second that Katniss raises her bow and presses the tip of an arrow right into my chest. She's serious. She actually wants me to leave Peeta alive, and, if I don't, she's planning on shooting me. And I really, really don't want to get shot. "Fuck. Fine. I won't kill the douchebag, but please don't mess with anything else I've got planned."

"Marvel," Katniss says worriedly, but at least she lowers the bow. I gesture impatiently. "Fine," she mutters. "I promise. Now go get Peeta and take out Clove. I don't want to risk taking too long."

I don't need to be told twice. Merrily, I pick up a spear and mosey out of the forest with an absolutely enormous grin on my face. Peeta's on his feet the second he sees me, lifting a spear, probably one of the ones that Cato had stolen from me, and Clove follows suit a second later, shaky and unsteady, but still deceptively dangerous.

The second she registers who it is, she opens her mouth to scream at Cato to come back. Clove is pretty damn smart for a District Two boar. She fully realizes that it's no coincidence that I showed up so soon after Cato left.

Ignoring Peeta, I whip my first spear at Clove, acting fast so that she doesn't have the chance to call out, and then I'm running straight for her, relieved that she's not as quick as she usually is. She dodges the spear relatively easily, but it takes her just a second too long to get her bearings back enough to realize that she still needs to scream.

I pull out Glimmer's sword in a single fluid movement, and not paying any attention to the knife that Clove pulls out of nowhere and tosses in my direction, I hold the sword an inch from her mouth.

The knife skims my left shoulder, but not enough to do any lasting harm. I don't even flinch. I guess even the best aim can falter when a sword is coming straight for a person's face.

I'm just about to send the blade right through one of her eyes when I pull up short.

It's another stupid oversight that could only occur from a halfwit from District One and a couple relatively uneducated underlings from the outer districts trying to draw up fancy plans at four in the morning.

If I kill Clove, Cato will hear the cannon and come running back.

I mutter something under my breath. Great. It's either Clove, or Cato's supplies, and my very tiny logical side is coming on just strong enough that I know taking out the supplies will do a lot more damage in the long run.

Clumsily, because I really can't use a sword to save my life, I stab at Clove with the thing and get her in the arm, just deep enough that it gives me an opportunity to drop the sword and lunge forward, closing one hand tightly around one of her skinny wrists, and circling the other around her neck. Clove has enough time to buck once, aiming for my nose with the back of her head, but she's so short that she slams her head into my chest instead.

I find a pressure point in her neck, squeeze, and relax as she falls harmlessly to the ground. Ha. And my instructors thought that I slept through all my hand-to-hand combat classes.

"Peeta," I say, looking over my shoulder to see Bread Boy pointing his spear at my back, as if he would dare to hurt me with one of my little friends. "Katniss is with me, and we're all allies, so killing me will do nothing except make you look like a heartless asshole." He lowers the spear and I smirk. "Good. Now, fetch me my spear and get me some rope, will you?"

"Marvel," says Katniss, coming out from her hiding place. I notice Peeta work to hold back a grin at seeing her, and I really, really want to kill him. Really, I'm having a difficult enough time without any competition. What's Katniss going to do now that she has one of those District Twelve guys she loves so much falling all over himself to make her happy? I can gurantee that any and all of my sponsors will switch to Peeta the second that Katniss chooses him over me. "Get your own spear and rope. Peeta," she says, nodding in his direction. "You should get back into the forest. Marvel will find you when he's done with Clove."

"What are you guys doing?" asks Peeta, looking worried. He peers over his shoulder, like he's concerned about Cato coming back at any second. "I can help."

"If you want to help, don't ask questions, and fetch my things," I tell him. Katniss glares at me, but Peeta obeys my request so obediently that she doesn't even question it. I kneel down next to Clove and turn her over so that she's facing up. Her face is scary pale, and the stupid wound on her arm is bleeding more than it should be. I have half a mind to wrap the thing up so she doesn't bleed to death, but then I figure that she has at least an hour left. We'll be gone by then.

Katniss moseys off to study the pyramid of supplies, and Peeta quickly returns with a length of rope and the spear that I'd thrown at Clove. I drag Clove over to the Cornucopia, tie her hands behind her back, and then wind another piece of rope around her feet. After a second of thought, I tear off a bit of her shirt and gag her with it, just incase. Then, with a big smile on my face, I grab her knife, spend a second looking for a good-sized patch of dirt, and cut into the ground the words, I hope you enjoyed those Marvelous fireworks.

Then, because I'm obviously smart and resourceful, I walk over to a deep-in-thought Katniss and tap her on the shoulder, telling her to wait a moment before she blows everything up. I carefully dance across the path that District Three showed us after the mines were done, stuff a little food into my bag and grab a few extra knives and spears, then play hopscotch back to safety. By then, Katniss is grinning just a tiny bit.

"See that bag up there," she says, pointing to a canvas sack of apples that's hanging right near the top of the pyramid. "If I can shoot that open, do you think that apples will be heavy enough to make the mines go?"

"I'd say so," I say. Somewhere in the sky, another signal fire starts up. We don't have much time left. Cato will charge to that one, but even he isn't dumb enough to go on to the third one. We have maybe ten minutes. "Just hurry up. And back off a little. Something tells me that this explosion is going to be big."

I take my own advice, jogging into the forest like I'm supposed to, to make sure that no one interrupts the execution of our plan. Peeta is already there, hiding behind a tree and watching the proceedings with wide eyes. I could kill him now. Leave Katniss. There'd only be a handful of tributes left, and with the extra spears I swiped, I'd hardly need sponsors...

Except then Peeta smiles at me and says, "I owe you. For taking care of her."

And he's such an idiot that I can't do anything except grunt and look away.

My eyes flash back to the clearing just as Katniss is drawing back her bowstring. She's probably about as far away from the supplies as she can get while still being in firing range, and I find myself entirely skeptical that she's even going to be able to hit the pyramid with the arrow, let alone a single bag.

She fires and her first arrow cuts right through the canvas on the sack of apples. I let out a low breath. Shit. That is definitely how she got her eleven.

Katniss takes a deep breath, notches another arrow, draws the string, and shoots again. Again, it gets the bag. There's a pretty big hole now. One more, and the apples are going to come tumbling out. I creep a little closer, to get a good view through the trees. I don't want to miss the fireworks.

Peeta creeps up behind me just as Katniss lets go of the last arrow. It slits the bag open completely and a couple dozen apples start tumbling to the ground. One mine goes off. The ground shakes, and shit really hits the fan after that. The other apples hit, and all the mines exploding at once prompt the others into blowing up, and pretty soon the explosion is knocking me back onto the ground, and all I can see is fire and smoke and I can't hear anything.

Then everything goes eerily quiet. The birds resume chirping. The blasting stops. The ground quits moving. No more mines. I force myself into a sitting position and let out a low breath.

No more supplies either.

It's a while before I can manage to regain my footing, and even then it takes a second for me to notice that Katniss hasn't gotten up yet. Peeta sees her the exact same time that I do, and I know that he's stronger than me from training, so I shove him forward, hissing, "Grab her. We have to get going."

I don't have to tell him twice. As a still dazzled-looking Peeta runs into the clearing, I hang back and look at the totally decimated pile of supplies with an enormous smile on my face.

Cato got the mines because he likes things that are big and flashy, but he apparently forgot to consider that nobody does big and flashy like District One.

I almost want to hang around just to see the look on his face, but then Peeta is back with Katniss in his arms, and I'm just worried enough about Rue that I make myself turn and start jogging off, still shaking with happiness.

Who's the idiot now?

...

A/N-

Wow, I got writer's block something terrible this chapter, which, to those of you who asked for previews, is why you never received them. I just got this written up yesterday, and didn't get it edited until now, so... my bad. I'll make sure to send whoever asked for a preview last chapter this chapter, even if you don't review again. Although I really would be super happy if you were to review. Anyway, this chapter was long enough, so I really don't need to keep blabbering.

Oh, and to answer Huntress3419, whom I was too lazy to PM, Siri is like a personal assistant. I think it only works on certain Iphones, but you pretty much speak to it and it's supposed text or call people for you, or bring up internet pages. It also gives funny responses to random questions you ask it, which my brother and I found super-amusing in a 'Ooh- new toy' kind of way. It's nothing too amazing, though.

Alright, I'm done now. Again, review. Please.

~bballgirl32~