I think the entire arena knows when Cato figures out what happened to his supplies. Or maybe when he reads the little message I left him. Either way, Peeta and I both stop to listen to his impressive screams from close to a mile away. A cannon goes off soon after, and although I hope that either Clove has died, or maybe that I literally gave Cato a heart attack, I'm intelligent enough to figure that it's probably the poor bastard from Three. That's who I would've killed, at least.

"Do you think that's Clove?" Peeta asks me. He's still got Katniss in his arms, and she hasn't woken up yet. She's breathing well and has color in her face, but isn't awake.

"Nope," I say, popping the 'p'. "We're not that lucky. It's Nerd Kid. Now come on. I think Cato's done with his hissy fit, and I don't want to get caught up in his subsequent rampage through the woods."

I keep walking forward, Peeta behind me. Rue and Katniss and I had agreed to meet at the tracker jacker tree, and there is a very bothersome feeling of concern stirring in the pit of my stomach. For Rue. She'll have to die anyway, I know that too well, but I hate not being with her now. To protect her.

I run a hand through my hair and try to wipe the dripping sweat off my face. I've got my coat on because it's easier than carrying it, but the arena is getting to be sticky and hot. Disgusting, really, and nothing like the drier, cool temperatures I'm used to in District One. I think the heat is the reason that I'm starting to have such funny thoughts, that it's making me go mad like Annie Cresta.

Worrying about Rue? Leaving Peeta alive? Enjoying locking lips with Katniss Everdeen?

Yeah. Definitely the madness.

"So," Peeta says as we jog. "What are we going to do once we get to the tree?"

"Wait for Rue," I tell him simply. But he knows this, so he waits for me to say a little more. I want to tell him that we'll go to the edge of the river so I can slit his throat, push him in, and write it off as an accident, but I fully realize that Katniss would kill me for such a thing, and so I keep that delectable fantasy to myself. "I don't know. Wing it?"

Apparently that doesn't garner a response.

We jog forward a while, and then Peeta abruptly changes the subject, hesitantly saying, "I wanted to stop Cato from going after you, after the tracker jacker attack, but I… I didn't know how. I have to stay alive, you know. Until I can make sure that Katniss is going to make it out. When he came back saying that he would have killed her if you hadn't turned 'traitor', I almost threw up."

I turn and shoot him a funny look. Why would any idiot apologize to the competition for his one true love's heart, especially for something like saving his own life? Katniss isn't much more than my one true sponsor magnet, and I wouldn't sincerely apologize to Peeta if meant a free swing at his face with a mace.

I suppose he felt that he had to apologize because he's so moral.

Moral people disgust me.

Except Katniss and Rue... but, then again, I think my acceptance of them is a result of the madness.

"Yeah, well," I say, surprisingly honestly, "we got away, and I got stuck in a much friendlier alliance, so I'm good with it. Anyhow, how was life in Career-land? You guys take out anyone else?"

Peeta blanches and says, "The boy from Ten. Clove… had fun with him."

I remember the crippled kid and almost curse out loud. Damn. I'd wanted to kill him.

"That's a pity," I say.

"Um, yeah," Peeta says. We run on in silence for a bit, then he continues, "They were finally starting to trust me. I think I would have had a better shot at Cato if I had stayed behind, but I suppose that this is better anyway. It doesn't make me feel quite so guilty."

He's right, I realize. I should have given Peeta a tad bit more credit, because, as much as I would love to impale Cato numerous times with a spear (all while he begs for mercy and admits my superiority), Cato also scares the shit out of me. Finding him dead by Bread Boy's hand would have been a pleasant surprise.

"Well, it's too late now. Besides, this was quite fun, wasn't it? I think even you smiled when he started screaming, and you're… well, you."

"I'll take that as a compliment," pants Peeta.

"You do that," I reply as we break into the clearing at the base of the tracker jacker tree. The shell of the nest is still there, and I start choking for some strange reason. I cover it up with a cough and pretend that I can't still see the ghost of Glimmer's disgusting, swollen up body right where I left it just two days ago. I actually have to blink a few times to get the illusion to go away.

I feel even sicker because Rue isn't here yet. The third signal fire was far away, but I had to slow down for Peeta, who was all but walking because of having to carry Katniss. Rue's quick. She should be here.

I listen again, but the mockingjays have stopped singing. Nothing is wrong, but she's not saying that she's okay either.

"That cannon-" I start.

"Was too close to Cato's screaming fit to have been Rue," says Peeta right away. I think he's uncomfortable, seeing me vaguely upset. Which I am. Madness or not, Rue should be here, dammit.

I don't say anything else and sit down next to the base of the tree. Peeta gently lowers Katniss to the ground and then takes a seat across from me, sweaty and panting. He's obviously not used to running like this.

"What happened?" asks Peeta then. "After you saved Katniss from Cato?"

I think it's interesting, how he phrases his question like that. Not how I ran away from Cato to save my own ass and grabbed Katniss as an afterthought, but how I completely abandoned all thought of myself to get her away from him. I wonder if that's how Peeta actually thinks things went down.

"I stopped to take a break and Rue found us," I tell him. I crane my neck a little, looking for Rue, but she's definitely not here. Not coming, either, that I can see. Where is she? "We made up an alliance while Katniss was still sleeping, and when Katniss woke up, Rue was there to… talk her down a bit."

Peeta smiles, and it's so genuine that I almost laugh at him for it. How is anyone this nice? God, I hate it when people are hard to hate.

"Is that where the black eyes came from?"

"Black eyes?" I ask, because it's not like I have a mirror. Peeta laughs and kind of gestures to the general area around the base of his eyes, and I grimace. "Yeah," I say. "Katniss flipped out when she woke up, and I tackled her, to keep her from getting her bow. I'm sure you can imagine how that turned out."

"Yeah," says Peeta. He's smiling, and I think it's because we're talking about Katniss. He's definitely the type of guy who gets hopped up and giddy about something like talking about a girl's personality. "I think I can imagine. She isn't very good with guys who like her, I don't think. I got shoved into a vase after the interviews because she was mad at me for 'messing with her'. That's just… Katniss, though. She has no idea how she can affect people."

I think of the silence after she volunteered, of her presence at the tribute parade. I think of her eleven. All those things from the girl who is continually saying she doesn't understand why Peeta or I would like her.

"I get that now," I say, rubbing my nose a bit. "I think that's what makes her so… different. "

Peeta nods.

"It's why she affects people in the first place, because she doesn't care what they think and just acts like… Katniss."

We both fall into silence, and I keep my eyes on the girl in front of me. Peeta's right, I realize. Katniss is the epitome of everything that's not District One. She acts how she wants to act without a second thought as to whether or not it gets other people to accept her. For someone who wears a mask so often, Katniss Everdeen is very, very real.

It's a little dodgy, how I'm identifying with Peeta so well right now, especially in talking about the girl who he loves and who I really don't.

A little more time passes, and up above I can see the sun start to creep down a little. It's been over an hour, at least; it's got to be past one by now. No Rue. I almost want to look for her, but knowing her, it would be impossible for me to find anything. Maybe she got sidetracked, or maybe there's a tribute close to her tree. That could be it, why she's not giving the signal that she's okay. Some moronic douchebag is probably inadvertently keeping her trapped somewhere, and she worries that he'll realize what's going on if she leads the mockingjays into a sudden burst of random song.

Yes. That's it. Nothing is really wrong.

"Are you a Career?" Peeta asks me after a while, breaking up the silence. I start to open my mouth and give him some kind of smartass answer for such a dumb question, but then he seems to realize that he didn't phrase it quite right and amends, "I mean, did you train, back in District 1?"

"Nope," I say. "I learned how to throw spears so marvelously by working at my daddy's jewelry factory."

Peeta shakes his head. I think my wonderfully cheesy 'marvelous' comment throws him off for a second, because he opens his mouth like he's going to comment on it, then smiles lightly and lets out a quiet laugh.

"Right. You just don't seem like one, not really anyway," says Peeta. "You're arrogant and… brutal, but you're worrying about Rue. It's weird. Sorry."

"You know, Peeta friend," I say, because his thoughts are echoing my own, "it is weird. I'm honestly curious as to why I do care so much... Do you think that I'm losing my mind?" I tilt my head at him, waiting for an answer. I've heard somewhere that other people can detect madness better than the person who is actually going mad. "Because none of this is supposed to be happening to me."

"No," says Peeta. He's got big blue eyes that are just… strange. They're like a girl's eyes, honestly, with longish blond eyelashes and too-big irises, and they're also almost too-potent. Like he can read minds or some shit like that. If he wasn't such a powder-puff, I'd almost say that he's gotten this far because he's psychic. "I think you're just starting to care."

"Which means I'm going mad," I explain to him slowly. I let out a low breath. "I knew it."

Peeta looks like he wants to laugh, which is annoying because I'm not joking. For once. He doesn't, though, so I manage to keep from getting too mad at the pouf, and then we're quiet again. More time ticks by. I get up. Sharpen my spears. Reorganize my pack.

Katniss wakes up after about four hours. Still no Rue, no mockingjay song, no nothing. But I'm still relatively relieved when Firegirl groggily starts stirring, and then looks back and forth between Peeta and I, her face confused.

It comes back after a second, though. I can see realization lighting up her eyes, and then she smiles a little. It fades just as quickly as her other ones, but this time I find myself smiling with her- not smirking, but smiling- and then frowning, because there's something warm bubbling up in the pit of my stomach and I've got no idea what in the hell it is.

"We actually did it," Katniss says. Then she seems to notice something, and her good mood fades into worry. "Where's Rue?"

Peeta speaks first.

"We've been waiting for her since we got back."

"I heard the good song right after we blew up the supplies," I add, because Peeta doesn't know about the mockingjays. "But I haven't heard anything since. She's not here, though."

Katniss immediately goes serious, and I think she locks eyes with me because I'm no doubt looking more worried than I should be. Peeta is concerned, but more in a general way, because he doesn't know Rue, not like I do. He doesn't understand that she's too sweet to… to what? To die? I don't let myself finish my thought because saying that shecan't die is ridiculous.

Of course she can. She has to.

"You could have destroyed the supplies yourself," Katniss says. She walks until she's five or so feet away from me, and by the way that she's walking I can see that she's dizzy. I wonder if she has a concussion, and am then excessively troubled by the fact that I actually care.

"No, I couldn't have. We needed your arrows," I say. "Besides… I would have killed Peeta." I shoot him a look that's supposed to be apologetic but really isn't at all. "Then you would have been mad and said that you should have come with me."

"But-" she starts.

"But Rue is fine," I say, because pessimists piss me off and I'm really pretty pissy right now anyway. Katniss shuts her mouth right away and then falls into silence. I think that she wants to talk, but she looks as worried as I feel. Peeta kind of awkwardly sits there, unsure of what to do, and the whole clearing is filled with more tension than I can stand.

Rue. Damn, I don't think I'd care this much if Brianna was missing, but then again, I'm thinking Brianna wouldn't be too worried about me either. Rue would be, and maybe that's why I'm so concerned about her. Like all that owing crap that she and Katniss always talk about. I care about Rue because she cares about me.

Except that I'm not like that, and that philosophy is absolute crap. I am going mad, dammit. That's going to be my new explanation for all of this.

Eventually I get up and begin pacing. Then I grab a spear and pace with that. God, it's tense and I hate tension, but I can't even think up a stupid comment to get everyone to relax. I want to say something funny or ridiculous, but I don't feel like it. I feel like being serious and worried, and that is most definitely not normal.

"Maybe she got sidetracked for the night," Peeta finally tries. I change direction to see Katniss take a deep breath at his words, convincing herself.

"That has to be it. And Rue knows better than to sing if there's someone near her tree. She's smarter than that."

Just as I let Katniss's words wash over me, get that worry in my gut to stop wriggling quite so pressingly, I hear something echo way off in the distance.

"Of course, Katniss," says Peeta. "You don't have to worry."

"Peeta," I snap, praying that I didn't hear what I think I did. "Shut up."

"She's somewhere safe-" Peeta continues, either not hearing or totally ignoring me. Thankfully, Katniss shoots him a look that has him closing his mouth in an instant. When he goes quiet, it seems like the arena erupts with a new sound, one that I really, really don't want to hear.

An eerie four note song.

I've never panicked. I've never been really afraid, especially not for someone other than myself, but in that moment my blood turns to ice and my spear goes heavy in my hand. Rue is in trouble. I close my eyes for just a moment, images of her white smile bright in my mind, the feeling of her small hand in mine burned into the back of my eyelids, and in that moment a terrifying realization hits me hard in the gut.

I can't let her die.

Without another word, I take off. I don't know how I know which way to go, but I have a gut feeling. Unfortunately, whatever progress I do make seems to take way too long. I've never been fast, I've always been slightly clumsy, and running through the forest still hasn't ceased to be a challenge to me, but this feels different. Like I'm running through quicksand and can't make my feet work right.

"MARVEL!"

My heart drops. Not again. There is no damn way that I am going to let someone else die screaming my name. I shouldn't give a shit and maybe I only do because I am insane, but I don't care. I just know that Rue has too much life to die, that it would be cruel and unnatural for her life to be snuffed out now and that I will save her.

God, I have to save her.

I don't know how fast I run, but even though I know it's too slow, I get a huge lead out in front of Katniss and Peeta. Rue keeps screaming. For me. For Katniss. Then for me again, and sometimes my head distorts her voice until it's not so high and childlike, until it's almost accusing and cool and Glimmer. Just the sound makes me stomach go hollow with guilt that I haven't felt until now.

My heart is about ready to burst from exhaustion when I finally burst into the clearing. Rue is struggling in a net, screaming and terrified, but alive. Without any hesitation, I kneel down next to her and set my spear on the ground beside me, reaching into my pocket for a knife to cut her free. I want to be relieved, but I'm still tense. She still isn't free.

"It's okay," I pant. Rue is staring at me with wide, thankful eyes. "I'll cut you out. It'll be fine."

Rue swallows hard and nods, but she's too terrified to say anything. She's always seemed so mature, so much like Brianna, but now it hits me hard that she is twelve, and that my sister would be doing exactly the same thing in a situation like this. Rue is just a kid, hell, we're all just kids, and she shouldn't be here. She shouldn't have to fight to the death. God, she shouldn't have to die.

With fumbling fingers, I cut away the net and help Rue wriggle out from underneath of it, relaxing a bit each second that I'm closer to helping her out of the thing. I just get it torn away from her, just have her freed, when I hear someone else tread into the clearing. My spear is in my hands and I'm up on my feet, all set to throw, in less than a second.

I make eye-contact with the girl from District Four, and as soon as I see that it's not Katniss or Peeta, I launch the spear harder than I've ever thrown one in my life, driving it and willing for it to get there fast enough. The girl whips a knife, and for a second I think that she was going for me. I almost laugh as the spear goes through her gut, almost smile when the knife goes three feet to my right.

Except then there's this childish gurgle that I'm never, ever going to forget.

With feet like lead, I turn around to see the knife embedded in Rue's stomach. Rue isn't smiling, but instead her eyes are bugging out of her head, her face as pale as I've ever seen it, and her hands resting around the wound, like she can't quite believe it's there.

Katniss and Peeta come into the clearing, but I hardly hear. I'm stomping away from Rue, over to the bitch that killed my little sister.

District Four is dead. My spear was thrown hard enough to almost go straight through her skinny little body, but I yank it out and shove it into her face anyway, then kick her hard. I think that I'm crying, but I'm not quite sure because I feel numb. Out of it. I grab my spear again and rise it to drive into one of her eyeballs, but then a little voice whispers, "Marvel."

I swallow and let the spear clatter to the ground. When I face Rue again, Peeta is staring at me, but Katniss has her cradled in her arms, tears running down both of their faces. Slowly, like I can't make myself move any faster, I walk over to where they are sitting and kneel next to them, reaching out to run a hand down Rue's face, wiping away her tears with my thumb.

Some part of me that I didn't even know existed wants to tell her that she'll be fine, but Rue isn't an idiot and even a moron would know that the knife is buried too deep in her stomach. She's got Katniss's hand tight in both of hers, but doesn't take either of mine. Instead I keep my hand on her cheek, not sure what else to do.

Finally I manage to choke out, "We destroyed the supplies. Pissed off Cato like you wouldn't believe."

Rue almost smiles. I take a shaky breath and close my eyes, remembering her words from a couple nights ago. That no one deserves to die. I don't know about that, but I know that she doesn't. That she worked her way under my skin. That I would have died for her if I would have had to.

Except now I won't get the chance. Someone finally believes that I'm smart and decent and not worthless, and she's dying. Murdered. I couldn't save her. The little twelve-year-old girl who I love like a sister, and I can't save her.

"You… you win," she says. Her big eyes look at me and Katniss, and she whispers, "Both of you. You have to."

I don't have the heart to tell her that we can't.

"We will," Katniss says. She's crying worse now. I can hardly understand her, and it's turning me into a mess because Katniss Everdeen shouldn't cry. I wipe at my eyes and choke on my next breath.

"No," I say, shaking my head. "I want you to win." I run a hand through my hair and look up. To the Capitol. To God. To sponsors. I don't know. "They can save you. There have to be sponsors. They'll save you." I close my eyes because I know they won't. "I…" I trail off. She's dying, and I'm not helping. She's dying. God, why is she dying?

"I'll… I'll tell Glimmer that you're sorry," whispers Rue. I have to lean forward to catch her words, and then I know that I'm crying. With real tears. For the first time in a very, very long time.

I nod, unable to speak, and then Rue says, "Don't go."

"Course not. Staying right here," Katniss says. She moves closer to Rue and pulls her head onto her lap. I brush her hair out of her face, trying to memorize those big intelligent eyes. Trying to find something about this girl that I won't forget. Because I'll be even more of a monster than I already am if I forget about Rue.

"Never," I add.

Then Rue looks at Katniss, or, God I hope she looks at Katniss because I can't sing to save my life, and hoarsely commands, in a voice almost too soft to catch, "Sing."

Katniss blinks in something like surprise, but then I elbow her hard and Katniss takes a deep, shaky breath. I see her thinking over what a person could possibly sing at a time like this, and then she begins:

Deep in the meadow, under the willow

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow

Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes

And when again they open, the sun will rise.

Rue's breathing has slowed down to almost nothing, and my hand is shaking against her face. She looks at me one last time, her eyes making me feel like I'm a million times better than I really am, and then she glances at Katniss. Between us. And I think that she knows something that we don't, because she forces the smallest of smiles onto her lips and hope shines in her eyes, and then her eyelids slowly flutter shut.

Katniss is shaking and breathing hard, but she pushes forward, her voice choked and sad and the most beautiful thing in the world.

Here it's safe, here it's warm

Here the daises guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

Deep in the meadow, hidden far away

A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray

Forget your woes and let your troubles lay

And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.

I can hardly see Rue's chest moving up and down anymore, but she's no longer crying. She looks peaceful, almost.

Here it's safe, here it's warm

Here the daises guard you from every harm

I have to strain my ears to hear Katniss's last few lines.

Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

Things go quiet for about two seconds. Then Rue's cannon goes off, and that sets off a chorus of mockingjays, all of them taking up Katniss's song. Where Rue's tune was sung only minutes before, now the lullaby that sang her to death is reaching every corner of the arena.

Katniss leans forward and kisses Rue's forehead. I slowly back away, leaving Katniss room to gently move Rue out of her lap, positioning her head so that it rests peacefully in the grass. We should leave. The Gamemakers get mad when tributes hang around for too long, but just… going feels wrong.

Without a word, I force myself to my feet and walk over to the girl from District Four. Slowly, I pick up my spear and stare at her body for a long time. I want to make her pay, to make her suffer, but this isn't even her. It's just her damn body. I killed her too quickly to torture.

Still, I raise the spear into the air and bring it down hard. Once. Twice. I'm going for a third when a strong hand closes around my arm. Releasing a low, shaking breath, I face Peeta and look down at him, snapping, "This is going through your head if you do not let go right now!"

Peeta says nothing, only jerks his head in Katniss's direction. She's gone away from Rue now, over into the woods, and I just look at her until she comes back carrying a handful of wildflowers.

Rue would appreciate that more than what I'm doing. If she was alive. Which she isn't, because District Four is a cruel, messed-up…

I stop my thought because I know that I'm worse than District Four ever was, instead slamming the spear down through her chest one more time before taking it out, keeping it close because I might still need it. Then, with deep, shaking breaths, I trample over to the bank of wildflowers that Katniss just visited and grab my own armful. Then I make my way back over to Katniss.

She's just kneeling there, so I make the first move, yanking the knife out of Rue's stomach and tossing it into the forest. We won't need it, I can't stand the sight of it, and I just want the damn thing gone.

Katniss starts weaving the flowers through Rue's hair. I take my time, placing my own stems around her body and hiding her wound. I don't know why I'm doing this. It's the Games. Death is death. I've killed before and enjoyed it.

But I keep laying the petals out around Rue's face anyway. Madness. I want to say that I'm doing this because I've gone crazy, but I can't help but say that it's for love instead, sappy and disgusting and wrong as that sounds. I laugh harshly as I place my last flower on her beautiful and fragile corpse, thinking that it's screwed up. Marvel Metzger grows a heart and starts crying over the death of a random little girl, all while some high-up bastard in the Capitol is smiling because my and Katniss's little show will no doubt up the ratings.

Then we're finished, and I have to almost-smile because, unlike Glimmer, I at least helped give Rue a beautiful death.

Although I'm disgusted by the knowledge that I'd rather it was my beautiful death.

Katniss holds out her hand, and I mindlessly take it in my own. Peeta is hovering awkwardly in the background because he didn't know Rue, but when Katniss stops to turn back, he does the same.

I freeze when I see Katniss make the strange three-fingered gesture that I saw District Twelve make to her after she was Reaped, and although I don't quite know what it means, I can feel that it has to be appropriate for this situation, so I copy her, and Peeta slowly does too.

Then Katniss whispers, "Bye, Rue," and all of us walk off. I've still got tears in my eyes and I feel like I'm going to be sick, but worse than that, I feel dead. Like I don't even want to win anymore. Like it's not worth it.

God, Rue is gone. Rue is dead. Little Rue. Who liked to sleep with her back to mine and her frizzy hair brushing my neck. The girl who said I was exactly like a big brother should be and told me that I was someone to look up to. Who said she'd rather have me live than herself, which I didn't really understand up until now.

Rue, who had the biggest, brightest smile I have ever seen. Who stole Cato's knife. Who sent me off to sleep with fluttery breaths and saved my life from tracker jackers and somehow thought that I was a good person when I'm obviously not.

Dead. Forever. Gone. I didn't save her. Wasn't quick enough. She said I made her feel safe, but that's absolute shit because I didn't save her.

Suddenly, I remember Katniss Everdeen's words back up on the rooftop of the Training Center. Her cold, "This is why I can't even begin to like you. Because you don't see anything wrong with this."

Except now I do see something wrong with this.

Suddenly I stop and tear my hand away from Katniss's.

"I want to kill them," I say suddenly. I look around. I don't know who I want to kill. I don't think it's the tributes, but they're the only people here, so that's who I'm hoping is going to show up. I raise my spear and shout, as loudly as I can, "COME AND GET ME CATO! CLOVE! I'M RIGHT HERE ASSHOLES! JUST TRY TO KILL ME!"

Katniss rushes over and puts a hand on my arm.

"Marvel, calm down-"

I shrug away, panting.

"WHAT ABOUT THRESH? I DIDN'T SAVE YOUR PARTNER! COME MESS ME UP! I DARE YOU!"

It goes quiet. The mockingjays have stopped singing.

"No one is coming, Marvel," says Katniss. I realize that she sounds disappointed. She wants to kill someone too. She wants them to pay.

"Someone will come," I say lowly. I raise my spear and bellow, at the top of my lungs, "DAMMIT! ARE YOU SCARED? GET OVER HERE SO I CAN FUCKING KILL YOU!"

I stop screaming and whip my spear into the nearest tree.

"They're not coming," I laugh. I raise my hands up into the air and ask, "Why aren't they coming?"

"We need to regroup," says Peeta softly. "Get our things. Come up with a plan."

Katniss and I both stare at him blankly, but then he starts walking. Right. Fuck. A plan. I need a plan. To win. To win for Rue.

Methodically, I walk over to the tree and rip my spear out, then follow slowly after Peeta. Katniss grabs my hand again, and Peeta pretends not to notice.

Together we make our way back to the tracker jacker tree, where all of our things are still laying exactly as we left them. When we were waiting for Rue to meet up with us. I let out a low breath and take a seat next to my stuff. Now Rue's not coming. Ever.

Everyone is quiet, and it feels like a funeral. I want to sleep, but somehow don't even have the energy for that. I think that Peeta is just fighting for something to say, something to make this go away, when the trumpets blare in the background.

"Oh, shut up," I mutter. "I don't want to go to a damn feast."

But when Claudius Templesmith speaks, he's not inviting us to a feast.

I blink several times as I hear him babble on in some foreign gibberish about rule changes. What rules? Don't turn cannibalistic and kill everyone you can? Because those are pretty much the only two that I can think of.

Except then Claudius Templesmith says, "Under this new rule, two allied tributes can live as long as one is male, and one is female." He pauses because he knows that none of us get it. "I repeat, two allied tributes can be crowned as Victors in the event that they are male and female."

Katniss and Peeta and I all exchange one look. I suppose I should be enthusiastic. Rue's words… they've pushed the Capitol into giving her what she wanted for Katniss and I, for the two of us to win. It's like she died so she could sucker the Gamemakers into letting us two out together.

Except Peeta is here, and, well… let's just say that that makes things pretty damn awkward.