"You're awake."

Renata moaned softly, blinking a few times and gasping when she saw Averie sitting across the fire from her. "What happened?" she asked, sitting up and wincing at the pain in her leg. She looked at it and saw that it was wrapped in gauze. Had Averie taken care of her?

"You fell through the ice and were unconscious for two days," she replied, eating something from out of a pot.

She pursed her lips, her stomach growling from the smell of whatever she was eating. "You saved me?" Why would she do that? She looked around and saw many empty canisters.

"Yeah, and I'm glad I did. I've never seen so many gifts come in at one time," Averie murmured through a mouthful of food. "No wonder Kain's so intent on finding you."

Kain? Her heart dropped as she thought of the burly young man. "He's still alive?" Of course he was…he was the best one suited for winning. She pulled herself up into a sitting position and slowly scooted closer to the fire, warming her hands. "What happened while I was out?" Her mouth watered as she watched Averie set aside the empty dish and warm her hands over the fire.

"There are five of us left," she pursed her lips and stared into the fire for a moment before looking up at Renata. "The boy from eight tried to come kill us, but I got him." Renata noticed the hint of pride in her voice.

"Where did all of this come from?" she asked, motioning to the bounty of food and supplies around them. She reached for a container and gasped in delight as there was hot food inside. Her hands could not dig into it fast enough and she had to remind herself to slow down or she'd get sick.

"Your mentor, probably," Averie replied, chewing on her fingernail. "After I pulled you out, I got a parachute that had medicine and gauze in it. I guess he figured that I'd take care of you if he sent food for us to eat…sorry I ate most of it while you were asleep."

Renata smiled and shook her head, swallowing a mouthful of food. "Why did you save me?" she asked after a moment, setting aside the empty dish and picking up a bottle. When she tasted the contents, a smile grew on her lips. It was hot chocolate.

Averie pursed her lips and thought a moment. "I don't really know. When I was with Kain, he never stopped talking about how when he finds you, he wants to be the one to kill you."

Renata nearly spit out her drink, her blue eyes wide. She saved her to take her to Kain?

"And he went off and killed my district partner and Ruby from One. I guess I thought that if I saved you, you and I could take care of Kain together…I'm glad I did, too. I was worried that you'd either die from your leg or the cold, but it felt like the parachutes never stopped coming."

"Well, thank you," Renata smiled at her and set aside her bottle, grabbing for her pack. "So what, now we're going to hunt Kain down?" The idea wasn't settling very well. She knew that he had killed a number of people and she had yet to kill anyone. The closest she had come to death had been the mutt, and even then, it had stopped. She pursed her lips and looked over at Averie, who was packing up some of the provisions in another backpack. "Did you see who shot the bear?"

"No, I didn't. It looked like it had come out of nowhere, really. But it was dark, maybe another tribute had a crush on you and didn't want to see you become bear food," she smiled, shrugging and slinging her backpack on. "Then it ran past me and literally disappeared. Unless the cold was doing something to my eyes that night, I swear that it just –poof!- disappeared into thin air."

Why would that happen? Renata pursed her lips and tried to push away her thoughts as she struggled to get to her feet. Pain shot up her bad leg when she put weight on it and she stumbled against Averie, blushing as she helped steady her. "Thanks," she murmured, taking her knife and putting it on her belt. "Where are we going?"

"We aren't going to pursue Kain, we're going to let him come to us. Maybe by then it'll be just the three of us left." Averie checked out their surroundings before nodding and starting out of the cavern.

Renata tried to keep up behind her, but her mangled leg forced her to limp and so she remained a foot or so behind Averie as they moved across the snowy ground. She realized after a while that she was blindly following this girl. What exactly would happen when they found Kain and somehow managed to kill him? Would Averie turn on her then?

Finnick had been in the middle of talking to Kent, another sponsor, when the old man suddenly pointed to the screen. "She's awake!"

He looked at the screen and felt a huge weight lift off his chest as he saw Renata's eyes open. Without realizing it, a huge smile had spread across his face and he chuckled quietly.

"Relieved?" the sponsor smiled at him, pulling out his pipe. "Maybe now I'll send something, since I know that it'll be for Renata and not for that other girl."

Finnick chuckled again and nodded, unable to peel his eyes away from the redhead on screen. He had been out of his mind when she had been hurt and nearly killed by the muttation. Something about the incident had left him perplexed, though. The way the bear had been called away from Renata right before was about to finish her…He studied the footage over and over and found that the arrow that pierced its shoulder had not come from any tribute in the arena. It had been conjured out of thin air. Or had it been ordered to fire at the muttation? Finnick pursed his lips, knowing that Seneca Crane had to be involved in this. Didn't he know that cheating didn't go over well with the people? It could be dangerous for Rini, too. But that bastard was only concerned with protecting his claim to her.

"Are you alright?" Kent asked, noticing the veins bulging in Finnick's arms from how clenched his fists were.

"What? Oh…yeah, I'm just thinking," he murmured, giving the man a small smile before looking back at the screen as the girls began to pack up and move out. He frowned when he saw how difficult it was for Renata to walk, but then brightened when Averie turned back to help her along. It wasn't often that a tribute came from a Career district and wasn't a bloodthirsty lunatic, and Finnick was grateful for the young woman's kindness to his tribute.

"So what happens next? It has to be getting close to a finale of some kind…this year's games aren't exactly as exciting as past years," Kent murmured, concentrating on blowing out orange smoke rings.

Finnick nodded and pursed his lips. "Too many people are freezing to death…not enough bloodshed."

He nodded in agreement. "Do you think it will happen tonight? What with so few left?"

"I don't know." Finnick studied the screen as the sunlight began to fade. The Gamemakers were ready to put an end to this year's game. Kent had been right; the arena had been a failure this year. The tributes were supposed to die by one another's hand, not the elements. He couldn't help the small smirk that crossed his face; if the people were unhappy with the quality of the games, then there was one man who had to pay the consequences.

Someone's arms wrapped around his shoulders, surprising him. He grabbed the arms and wrenched them off, pulling the person around, and his eyes widened as he saw that it was a woman.

Her eyes were wide and she looked flustered as he held her upper arms tightly. Oops. It was a reflex. "F-Finnick," she breathed, her cheeks bright red. "I-I…"

He clenched his jaw and had to restrain himself from tossing his latest client over the balcony. "I'm busy," he muttered, releasing her arms and letting her stand upright. He was getting too angry too quickly, and the woman just standing there staring at him wasn't helping to calm him.

"But…I paid a lot of money to have you," she whispered, licking her lips and looking around nervously.

"I said not now, damnit!" Finnick yelled, jumping to his feet. The woman looked at him with fear in her eyes, taking a shaky step backwards as he advanced towards her. "I'm a little busy here, do you mind if I keep trying to keep this girl alive? Is that okay with you?" he spat, his face flushed red from anger.

She whimpered and nodded, tears welling in her eyes.

Two pairs of hands clamped down on his shoulders and Finnick knew he was in trouble now.

"President Snow would like to have a word with you, Mr. Odair."

"Can we please stop for a minute?" Renata gasped, sweat pouring down her face. She groaned as Averie helped her ease down to the ground and she reached to unwrap her bandage. Her leg still looked in bad condition, but there was no sign of infection or anything and she breathed a sigh when Averie got out the can of medicine and slathered more on her calf.

"Why don't we camp here for the night?" she suggested with a smile, setting down her sword and backpack. "You should rest that leg a little while. We'll make it to the top tomorrow, anyway," she motioned to the top of the steep mountain-like slope they had paused on.

Renata nodded and reached around behind her to pull off her bag, pulling out the bowl with now cold food inside. "Do you need any help?" she asked as Averie began to assemble a small fire. From the spot they were perched at on the slope, anyone in the arena would be able to see where they were. "Do you think it's safe to do that?" her voice came in a whisper and she swallowed.

"No one will come looking for us at night, I promise. It's too cold to move around…they'll just know where we are, and by the time we start moving tomorrow, we won't have to worry about it. Plus, we'll have the high ground against Kain," she replied, reaching for the bowl that Renata hadn't touched. "Let me see that. I'm starving…"

She pursed her lips and handed over the food, looking out at the vast emptiness of the arena to see if she could see anyone else. Snow began falling again and she shivered, huddling closer to the fire, taking the bowl from Averie and eating quietly.

"So what happens when we find Kain? Or he finds us?" Renata asked after a moment.

The young woman didn't answer for a moment, reaching into her bag for more bandage to rewrap Rini's leg. "We kill him," she said after finishing, sitting back and looking at her.

"You say that like it'll be simple," she laughed weakly, taking out her sleeping bag and getting into it. Her stomach was turning nervously and she swallowed, looking across the fire at her ally. "And…then what happens?"

"Then it's every person for themselves," she replied shortly, shrugging and getting into her sleeping bag.

"President Snow?" a Peacekeeper asked, leading Finnick down a pathway lined by hedges and into an opening. There were roses everywhere, and the sickly sweet smell overpowered his senses and made him want to vomit.

The stout man turned and his lips curled upward. "Yes, thank you. Mr. Odair, it's been awhile since we've spoken…how are you?"

He swallowed, glancing behind him as the Peacekeepers left them alone. "Great. Wonderful."

"You know it just warms my heart to hear that," Snow murmured, clipping a rose's stem and sighing. "It has come to my attention that you're not complying to my will…now why is that?"

"How do you expect me to keep my tribute alive when I'm off…plugging some Capitol woman? If I—"

"You think that if you're watching a screen, you're increasing her chance of survival? And what of your other tribute? Surely he has a load of sponsors that want to send him gifts, no?"

Finnick's cheeks burned with anger and he swallowed, trying to keep his hands from shaking.

"Listen, Finnick. I like you, you're a good kid. I'd appreciate it if you would refrain from disobeying the rules and rather enjoy your duties…" he glanced back at him, raising an eyebrow.

He swallowed again, looking into those snakelike eyes and forcing himself to hold his gaze. "I'm not the only one here that has bent the rules, President."

"If you're referring to Seneca, I've already taking care of things…there's no need to worry yourself with such business, Mr. Odair. Now if I were you, I'd go back and made amends with that woman."

The Peacekeepers appeared again, grabbing Finnick by his arms.

Snow turned around, holding a few roses in his hands. He narrowed his eyes at the young man and smirked. " Know your place, Finnick. I would hate for anything terrible to happen to you."

o0o0o0oh President Snow you so scaryyy~ I hope this chapter was alright and I'm verrrrry excited to start working on the next one :3 no spoilers, i'm just super duper excited :3 let me know what you think, as always, I love to read what you think of it! :D

-Kelsey :3