"Get up, sweetheart. It's time."

I don't even need to ask Haymitch what he's talking about. I already know. The finale is about the start. I halfheartedly make my way into the sitting area. I'm not looking forward to this at all. Regardless of whether Noah wins or not, it's going to get bloody. I close my eyes tightly, but only for a second because Haymitch nudges me. When I open my eyes to look at the screen I see Noah running. My heart beat races. The whole room is silent. Not even Effie is saying a word. The Careers emerge out of the trees seconds after Noah has gotten to the cornucopia. He picks up as many weapons as he can, stuffing them into his pockets and anywhere else they will fit. He spots them running towards him and lunges a spear through the heart of the boy from One. The others don't even turn around. The tribute girl from Four heads straight for the net. Noah's already a step ahead of her, though. When she tries to throw the net over Noah, he slices it in half with a sword. Although, the second he takes his sight off the boy from Two, I think his name is Gil, he hurls an axe at him. Somehow Noah turns around right in time for the axe to miss his head by an inch. Noah turns his attention back to the girl from Four, who is approaching him with a dagger. She really isn't much competition for him, because she is so much smaller. Noah side steps out of the way and jams his sword through her back. Now it's only Noah and Gil. Gil got a hold of a few knives while Noah was fighting the girl. Knives in hand, he pounces on Noah knocking him to the ground. Since Noah is big he manages to shove Gil off him and attempts to run. He doesn't get far before a knife slices through the air stabbing him in the stomach. Quickly, Noah pulls it out and turns around to face Gil. Dark blood seeps through Noah's shirt. Gil easily knocks him down and starts punching his face repeatedly. In one last attempt to save his life, Noah reaches into his pocket and pulls out a knife. He wedges the knife into Gil's leg.

"Bastard," he spits.

Then in one motion, Gil grabs a spear off the ground and jolts it into Noah's skull. One last canon fires.

"Ladies and gentleman, your victor of the 75th annual Hunger Games!"

"No!" I screech.

I can feel the warm tears stream down my cheeks. I can feel Haymitch's arms around me. Then everything goes black.

I wake up an hour later in my room. My head is pounding. I swing my legs off my bed and attempt to walk out of the room. The instant I stand up, though, the room starts spinning. I grab the side table to balance myself. Once I steady myself I make my way into the dining area. Haymitch and Effie are sitting silently at the table.

"Can we go home now?" I ask despairingly.

Haymitch lets out an audible grunt, and Effie turns to me and speaks.

"I'm sorry, we can't, Katniss. We have to wait until he has healed and he does his post-Games interview."

She says this in a soothing voice. She is probably scared that any loud noises will upset me, like an injured dog. Haymitch, on the other hand, does not see the point in being gentle.

"Yeah, she didn't tell you the kicker. They're saying that he is having a mental break down, and that there's no telling when he will be well enough to be interviewed."

"So we're stuck in the awful place?" I fire.

"This is where I live, Katniss!"

I never thought Effie was so proud of living in the Capitol. She shakes her head, trying to regain poise, while Haymitch nods in agreement.

"There's more bad news," Haymitch mumbles.

I look to Effie, knowing that Haymitch will deliver the news in a much harsher way.

"You and Haymitch have to do an interview," she pauses "tonight".

I violently push myself away from the table and head back into my room. I cannot believe this. We lost a friend, and they expect us to just go and talk about it like it's nothing? Doesn't the Capitol know that we're mourning? Not everyone is like them. Not everyone can just bounce back from losing someone. The longer I sit in my room, the angrier with the Capitol I get. By the time my styling team reaches my room, I'm about ready to explode with rage; and that's exactly what I do. While Flavius and Octavia lay out their materials Venia comes over to me.

"Alright, let's get you in a bath so I can wash you before I wax."

Her Capitol accent sets me off.

"You're all cruel! Every one of you just expects us to get over the death of Noah within a few hours! Do any of you even have feelings?"

My screaming brings Effie running into my room, and sends Venia out crying. My hands tremble, and tears well up in my eyes. I can't hold them back any longer. I start crying again. Effie calls Cinna in, and within seconds he is at my side comforting me. It takes thirty minutes to stop my crying. When I gain clarity in my eyes, I look around the room. Everyone is standing around me with looks of worry on their face. Venia is standing in the corner of the room. I turn to her and apologize. She gladly accepts, then ushers me into the bathroom. The water is cold, but I don't say anything about it. It's my fault that I broke down, and let the water sit. The Game's have changed me. If this had happened before the Games, I wouldn't have cried at all. Now, I can't seem to stop crying. When I've been beautified to Capitol standards Cinna walks back in.

"I had something else planned for tonight, but after I saw your reaction to Noah's death I went and grabbed a different outfit."

He unzips the bag and reveals a long back dress. The top of dress is made to look like lace, but it's shiny and plastic looking. There's a belt in the middle, then black satin flows to the ground. I slip into the dress, then they pin some sort of veil to my side bun that covers half of my face. Cinna says it's called a birdcage veil and that it's vintage. I have no idea what any of that means, so I just smile. They give me a natural look for makeup, only putingt a little grey on my eyelids. I'm pretty sure they went light on the makeup because they think I'm going to cry again. Haymitch appears at my doorway, signaling that it's time to go.

"You don't have to talk if you don't want to, sweetheart. I can handle this."

Haymitch tells on the way to the interview. He can be a jackass at times, but I know at the end of the day he will always do what's best for me. I wouldn't be able to make it through any of this without him.

As we sit down in the plush seats my palms start to sweat. I turn to Haymitch hoping he can calm me down. We don't have much time, so he just pats my knee and mouths,

"It's okay."

I take a deep breath and brace myself. Caesar begins by telling us we both look nice, and then dives in to the serious questions. I zone out and don't come back until I feel Haymitch pinching my arm.

"Sorry, what?"

Caesar laughs.

"I said: how well did you know Noah and how much is his death affecting you?"

I take a deep breath and prepare to answer as best as I can.

"I only knew Noah a little. Our fathers worked together, and I know his family depended on him a lot. Even though I didn't know him that well, I'm still devastated over his death."

I look past Caesar and find Cinna in the crowd. He gives me a nod, telling me I did okay. Out of the corner of my eye I feel Haymitch lean back in relief. The rest of the interview is filled with Haymitch answering all of the questions. At the end, we shake Caesar's hand and walk off stage. I want to head right back up to the apartment. All these Capitol people are driving me insane. As we wait for the elevator, I look down the atrium and see Cato. My temper rises again. Without saying a word, I march over to him.

"This is your fault!"

He whips around, with terror in his eyes. He's begging me not to do this again. I don't pay attention to it though.

"He could have won! He deserved to win more than your tribute!"

"Don't do this again, Katniss," he warns.

I don't stop.

"By killing him, you killed his family, too! You're not human! None of you are! You live for this! You live to murder children!"

Tears threaten to pour, but I hold them back.

"It's the Games, fire girl! That's how it works! Don't be a sore loser," He snarls.

The moment he finishes the tears fall. My whole body is shaking. My knees grow weak. I feel myself collapsing, but Cato swoops down and catches me. I'm crying so hard I don't notice that he's carrying me until he lays me down on my bed. I stop sobbing enough to hear the conversation he has with Haymitch outside my door.

"Thanks, kid. You can go now."

"Can I just stay awhile?"

"Sure, do whatever you want. I'm sure she'll kick you out soon enough anyways."

Then he's back by my side. He takes off my veil and unravels my bun, then runs his fingers through my hair. We sit like this for a while, until I'm completely cried out. I push myself up into a sitting position. He wipes away the wetness from my cheeks, and then gets up. When he returns, he hands me a rag that has been soaked in hot water. I put it on my face letting the steam warm me.

"I brought you some comfier clothes," he tells me. "I'll wait outside while you change."

I cover myself in the soft cotton of the pants and loose shirt Cato has gotten me. I walk out and find Cato looking out the window.

"Looking at the stars?" I ask.

"Everyone from my district is going to be really angry with me. They saw me carry you up here."

I have been so upset over Noah, I completely forgot that Cato isn't supposed to be seen with me.

"You didn't have to do it."

"No, but I did. I couldn't stand to see you like that, and I wasn't just going to let you fall to the ground crying. I- I just- Forget it."

"No, tell me," I press.

"I care about you, okay?"

I never expected to hear that out of him. He's supposed to be a killing machine. I'm supposed to hate him, but I don't. I don't hate him at all. I don't even hate him a little bit.

"I care about you, too." I admit.

He gives me a small smile, and then leads me back into my room.

"You should go to sleep, you've been through a lot."

As he's walking out the door, something comes out of my mouth that I don't expect.

"Stay with me," I ask.

Ok, so this chapter pretty much paved the way for me to continue the story. A lot of y'all reviewed and told me that you liked sweet Cato and didn't want to see him leave, so I kept him. Now that he's going to be in trouble with his district, things are going to change a lot. Don't worry though, they can get through it together. Review and tell me what you think/what you want to happen! Also, I just want to thank all of you who review and suscribe/favorite! It really makes me want to keep writing. I love hearing from y'all, so keep the reviews coming! Oh and like always, Katniss's outfit will be posted to the tumblr - .com