Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES NOR THE CONCEPT.

AN: I am so happy that people are liking this story! The feed back has been great and helped me decide a few things. Here is the Katniss Luctra interactions that you have all been waiting for. I'm sorry if they don't make you happy but something needed to change Katniss because the events in later in the books that cause her to change, however little, are either different or altered. All shall be revealed in do time...

Now I know that a lot of people now simply add stories to their alerts of favourites, but I am an old school fanfic user and writer and I WANT FEEDBACK! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!

Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen:

Understanding true Sacrifice and Minor Luxuries

Luctra woke up the next morning just before the sun was going to come up feeling tired. Not from lack of sleep but because the games were slowly wearing her down. She felt like she was out swimming and had been pulled into the under current and every time she got her head above the water another wave came crashing over her, but she would never let herself stop swimming. Shifting to get up Luctra noticed something on her legs. Picking it up she found it was a shirt, a big shirt. Putting it to her nose she smelled it. Musk and mint.

"Cato." She breathed out.

"How did you know it was his?"

Luctra jumped a little and looked up into the tree. She saw two sets of eyes looking at her. One set was curious and worried, Rue, the other angry and hurt, Dash. Luctra swallowed. She was probably going to have to do some explaining to Dash if he was ever going to stop looking at her like she kicked his dog then made fun of his dead mother.

"Because I know what Cato smells like." Luctra sighed laying the shirt back on her lap.

"And you know that because…" Dash's voice was full of anger. Luctra had kept something from him and that hurt.

"Come down and I'll tell you everything." Luctra told him. Both kids scurried down the tree. They didn't have much time since they were going to back to help Katniss just after day break. The kids sat in front of her looking at her expectantly. Luctra took a deep breath.

"After we split up I got stuck on the edge of a cliff….." Luctra proceed to tell them the whole story, taking out all of the things that were either embarrassing or not proper for their ears to hear, and that included the elevator confrontation and that Cato had offered her a place with the Careers. Dash would just feel guilty about her turning it down for him. She had Dash pull out her medicine from her pocket and told them how she had escaped to find them. Dash was no longer angry. He didn't realize just how far Luctra had gone to protect him. He knew she was protecting him but now the full weight of what that actually meant settled over him. He never knew that Cato was, for whatever reason, after him and that Luctra had put herself at Cato's mercy to make sure he got away. She was putting herself between him and every evil in the Hunger Games she could. And all Luctra had asked him was to look after Rue if Luctra should die before they were the last three. He felt really bad for getting mad at her.

"Cato is a confusing person. He can be kind one minute and vicious the next. It may all be a part of his game. I just don't know." Luctra finished after Rue asked her why Cato didn't kill her after they survived the waterfall. A thought occurred to Luctra. "Wait how did you know it was Cato's shirt?" Both Rue and Dash looked away guiltily.

"He kinda came by last night." Dash said moving back from Luctra a little bit not wanting to be in whacking range if she flipped.

"WHAT?" Luctra flipped out. "He came by and you didn't wake me up! What if he had…"

"I tried to shoot him with the slingshot." Rue cut in. Luctra almost laughed. That was like throwing a pebble at a bear.

"But he caught the bead." Dash was still in awe of that fact. "He said he wasn't going to hurt you and that he just wanted to see you." Dash finished lamely. Dash remembered the way that Cato had looked at Luc's when he saw her hands, it was weird, like he was actually upset Luc's had gotten hurt. Dash was super confused now that he knew the whole Cato story. Why would Cato care if Luc's got hurt? Luctra's eyebrows drew together.

"Wait so he knew you were here Dash?" Luctra noted. Dash nodded. "And he just left you here alive?"

"Well obviously." Dash answered and rolled his eyes at the stupid question.

Luctra was also confused now. Cato having found her and leaving her here was weird, but knowing Dash was here and leaving him alive was just down right mind boggling. Looking at the shirt on her legs Luctra was pretty sure it was Cato's way of telling her 'look I was here and I left you all alive, you owe me so bring me my shirt and join me at the Cornucopia' as he had wanted her to do to from the cave.

"We need to get going." Rue told Dash. Luctra looked up. The sun was just starting to break across the sky.

"Come here you two." Luctra held out her arms and hugged both of them tight to her body with her arms. "Be careful and bolt at the first sign of trouble. I will find you if you don't come back." She promised holding them close. "Never lose each other." She ordered them. Releasing them she smiled a sad smile. It was a bittersweet moment. On one side these two kids were willing to risk their lives for someone they barely knew because Luctra was protecting them and felt it was their duty to pay it forward, but on the other hand it could put them in danger. Luctra watched them scamper up the trees and disappear. Those kids were seriously part monkey. Luctra sighed dejectedly. It should be her helping Katniss because of how the kids felt. It was her job to protect them, and now because she was useless they were going to do it themselves, and she couldn't stop them.

She had probably been sitting there for about 2 hours, having done her lady business, which as a BITCH without being able to use her hands properly. She was about to apply more aloe when a parachute flew down to her. It was a small silver '4' pod and inside she found gauze and fingerless leather gloves, like the one she used in the training centre. No medicine for her burns. GREAT!

"You must be pretty pissed at me Finnick." She hissed out. Luctra noticed a note at the back of the pod.

Gauze is not opaque. Look to THE firelight.

Another cryptic message. GREAT! This one was going to give her a headache and she just knew it. Ok so everyone knows gauze is not opaque, but it is translucent. Luctra thought about that. Firelight? Is he talking about the forest fire? Luctra sure as hell wasn't going back into a forest fire anytime soon, nor was she gonna try and start one. Her and fire just DID not mix. What did it mean? She thought hard over it then took a break, her head starting to hurt from frustration.

She turned her face up and enjoyed the warms rays on her face a moment. Wait. Her eyes shot open. Firelight…THE firelight…the sun! Gauze isn't opaque when you hold it up to light because you can see through it. Luctra worked to unwind the gauze but eventually she was able to get the start and the middle parts in her fingers and hold it up to the light. There it was. Faintly in the weave of the gauze was the real message.

Katniss has burn cream. Districts rioting b/c of Goddess. Hold tight.

What did he mean the Districts were rioting? Hold tight for what? What did her Capitol nickname have to do with it? Taking the gauze and tearing it in half, like she had been trying figure out the middle point the whole time, Luctra used her teeth to put a heavy amount of aloe on her hands. She then wrapped her hands as best she could with the gauze. She painfully maneuvered her hands into the gloves. Just what the hell was going on outside the arena? And what did it have to do with her? Finnick she figured was just teasing her with her nickname because of her Joan of Arc retaliation.

Suddenly she heard yelling as people came charging in to the river from the forest down river from her. Luctra crouched slowly. She gathered up Cato's shirt, her pack, and the spear. Her hand was able to minimally wrap around the shaft of the spear. She would be able to carry it, probably stab someone if needed, but she wouldn't be able to throw it or fight well with it. Quietly moving through the woods Luctra stopped when she was just close enough to see what was going on through the foliage. There in the river were Clove, Marvel and Glimmer. They had all thrown themselves in the water and were swatting at things, and then ducking back into the water. Cato startled her as he came crashing through to the bank down from her a moment later. He jumped into the water and started doing the same thing that the other three were doing. Eventually the four Careers pulled themselves to shore. They were spread out from each other.

Luctra noticed they all looked completely disoriented and were picking at their bodies, the movements getting slower and sloppier every second until Glimmer, Clove and Marvel had all passed out. Something weird was going on. Moving to the river bed slowly Luctra crept cautiously towards them. Cato was closest to her, a little distance from the others lying on his back, feet still in the river. He was breathing but he was losing control over his muscles as she saw him picking at his body. She knew there was no danger of him lashing out at her now so she came to kneel right beside him.

"What happened?" She asked him quietly putting the spear down and shirt down. Cato looked at her but his eyes were glazed over, like he wasn't really seeing her.

"Your hair is blue." Cato told her. Luctra raised an eyebrow at him. She looked over his naked chest. Scattered all over his body were stings.

"Tracker Jackers." She murmured to herself. She knew about these mutations. It wouldn't have been so bad if he had been wearing a shirt when they had swarmed him. She looked over Cato's chest. If she didn't get the stingers out Cato could be poisoned to a toxic level, and she owed him for her leg. But her hands wouldn't be able to make the finite movements needed to pick the stingers up between her fingers. That left her with only one option. Bending her head Luctra lowered her mouth over one of the stingers on his abdomen, caught the stinger between her teeth and pulled it out. She spat the stinger to the side. She bent down and pulled out another, moving her way across his stomach, to up over his pecks, and then down both his arms removing the stingers from his smooth marble skin. Her lips were almost numb from the venom but there was only one stinger left. Sticking out of the side of Cato's neck was the very last stinger.

She had a mental debate with herself. This was her one chance to do it. He wouldn't know, he wouldn't wake up, and she wouldn't have to know if she had done it right. She could do this without fear of repercussions. Without the fear of it all being a ploy, a game to him. He wouldn't be able to ridicule her or laugh at her inexperience. She pushed aside her fears and for once broke her own rules. Bending her head to his neck Luctra pulled the stinger out. Keeping her face in the crook of Cato's neck she spat the stinger out onto the riverbed. Tilting her head back to his neck Luctra pressed her lips to the skin of his neck feeling the warm softness of his skin. She drew her tongue out and dragged the tip of it over the skin below. She felt him shiver. She pressed her lips against his neck again.

Cato was in a delusional heaven. There was a beautiful water Goddess, blue hair and shiny skin, with hazel eyes. She was planting butterfly kisses all over his body. It felt amazing and Cato didn't want the sensation to stop. Then his Goddess placed a firm kiss on his neck. He felt his loins stir when he felt her tongue trace his skin and he shivered. The he moaned out her name.

Luctra flew backwards away from Cato thinking he had woken up. He had just moaned her name while she was kissing his neck. Moving back beside Cato Luctra touched her lips lightly with her burned fingertips. Was he imagining it was her, or did he know she was here? Taking the fingers off her lips she reached down and traced his lips with her fingers. Her stomach tightened when Cato's lips parted and he let out a sigh of contentment at her touch.

Getting up Luctra grabbed the spear and bolted away from Cato, she couldn't let herself hope that he was actually thinking of her, feeling things for her, because there was no way it was real. She was strong, tough, loyal, protective, could look good, but she wasn't in the same league as guys like Cato. She had been reminded of that fact too many times in her life. As she ran away she didn't notice that she had left Cato's shirt behind.

Luctra ran in the direction that Cato had come from, detouring only to kick Glimmer in the face. She couldn't kill a defenseless person, not even Glimmer. But she could help keep the raccoon look on Glimmer's face longer.

Luctra found the area where Katniss must have been, since there was a stomped out fire and a fallen Tracker Jacker nest all at the base of one tree. She moved around the area cautiously, worried that there may still be Tracker Jackers in the nest. She made it to the other side of the area finding a sort of path going in the opposite direction of the river. Peeta, or Katniss must have gone this way since they didn't come to the river, and Katinss was who the kids would be with. She followed the sort of path taking in the signs from the ground. She wasn't a tracker at all but even she could see that someone had stumbled and dragged themselves away from the Tracker Jackers, until they fell down the hill. Luctra looked down the hill and grinned.

"Hey you guys okay?" Luc called down to Dash and Rue who were at the bottom of the hill. They were currently trying to drag Katniss's passed out body somewhere by her legs. The kids looked up the hill.

"Hurry up she's heavy!" Dash said emphasizing his point by jerking on Katniss's leg. It was pretty funny and Luctra chuckled as she carefully started climbing down the hill. On the way down the hill something gleamed in the sun catching Luctra's eye.

"Yes!" She called going over to it. Picking up the ornate carver she grinned like a mad woman. She happily made her way down to the kids.

"Oh great another weapon!" Dash cried sarcastically still holding Katniss's foot in his hand. Like they didn't have enough of those already.

"I'll be able to use it soon enough." She cryptically tells Dash. "You're gonna pull it off if you keep doing that." Luctra said to Dash as pulled on Katniss's leg again. Dash unceremoniously dropped the leg with a thump and crossed his arms staring at Luctra.

"Here take this." Luctra said handing him the spear. "And you take this." She handed the carver to Rue. "Grab the rest of our crap and I'll deal with her." Rue and Dash hurried off to get their things. Luctra looked down at Katniss, the girl had stings everywhere that her skin was exposed. When Dash and Rue got back Luctra hooked her elbows under Katniss's armpits. Lifting her, Luctra then dragged Katniss backwards to the area Rue had found that was secluded enough for them to set up camp in safely. Once there Luctra dropped Katniss like a sack of potatoes.

"Rue I need you to go through Katniss's backpack for me." Rue looked at Luctra uncomfortably.

"She may have something that will help my hands." She stressed. She couldn't flat out tell Rue that she knew Katniss had burn cream without raising the question how how she knew; it would be a question she couldn't answer. Hopefully the Gamemakers believed that Luctra had figured it out when she saw Katniss's healing leg. Rue nodded understanding and began going through Katniss's backpack. Finally rue extracted a tube from it.

"Wow she has burn cream!" Rue said surprised reading the writing on the tube.

"Thought she might. Look at her leg." Luctra pointed out more for the sake of the Gamemakers then Rue. Rue looked down at Katniss's leg and saw the healing burns.

"Oh." Rue astonished.

"Can you put it on my hands for me?" Luctra asked holding out her hands. Rue hesitated. The cream wasn't theirs.

"Look you saved her life. Take it as a form of payment." Luctra said offhandedly, she needed that damn cream if she was going to finish what she set out to do. Rue still wasn't sure. To her it was an expensive gift to take.

"Well Peeta kind helped to." Dash piped in. Luctra looked to him.

"What do you mean?" Luctra asked. She hadn't seen Peeta on her way over here. Dash began the story.

"Well after we dropped the nest…"

"You guys dropped the Tracker Jacker nest?" Luctra said stunned. It was a pretty ballsy and dangerous move.

"Yup Katniss dropped it right on top of the sleeping Careers after we pointed it out to her!" Rue chimed proudly. It was her idea and it had worked so well.

"Nice thinking." Luctra complimented them smiling. It was a good idea, and Luctra had reaped a small completely inappropriate benefit from it, which no one would EVER know about in the games.

"Yeah so after it hit the ground and everyone was madly scrambling around. Katniss had been stung while dislodging the nest so she was disoriented when she climbed out of the tree." Dash continued. Rue picked up from here.

"She was stumbling around and then Peeta came back yelling at her to run away. See the Career from 2, the boy, was still trying to catch Katniss since with his size the venom took longer to fully affect his system. Well when Katniss got away and when the Career saw Peeta had helped her he took a swing at Peeta with his sword." Rue finished. Her and Dash had watched all this happen as they moved from tree to tree following Katniss. They had promised Luctra to keep to the trees and they weren't going to break that promise.

"I didn't hear a cannon go off though." Luctra commented confused. She clung to the hope that Peeta wasn't dead, she liked the kid.

"Peeta didn't die. Cato was all loopy woopy so his swing wasn't really aimed well or that strong. It caught Peeta on the inside of his thigh." Dash confirmed pointing to the area on his leg where Peeta had been hit. It was close to the major artery which had Luctra worried about how long Peeta would be able make it without help.

"Where's Peeta now?" Luctra was concerned Peeta was bleeding to death somewhere. He had come to warn her about the Careers earlier and she wanted to help him in return for that and getting hurt trying to save someone he loved. Something she could REALLY relate to.

"He stumbled off in that direction." Dash pointed to the area on their left. Luctra turned back to Rue who was still holding onto the burn cream tube. Luctra had an idea.

"Rue I have the medicine that will help Peeta. If I use Katniss's burn cream, I can go find Peeta and heal his leg up. Would that be a fair trade off?" Luctra volunteered. Rue thought for a moment.

"Yeah that seems fair." Rue agreed. Rue walked up to Luctra and began taking the stuff off of Luctra's hands. Luctra was glad she hadn't used her medicine, or she would have had to sit on top of both Dash and Rue so she could use Katniss's burn cream while the kids protested under her. 'I'm sure Panem and Finnick woulda got a kick out of seeing that though...' She laughed mentally.

"Sponsor gift?" Dash nodded his head towards the leather gloves and gauze.

"Yeah. Finnick sent it not long after you left." Luctra confirmed. Dash wondered why Finnick hadn't sent burn cream. Luctra looked down at her palms after all the gauze was off. The blisters were releasing puss now and more pieces of skin, damp from the aloe, were peeling back and lifting off. To Luctra they looked disgusting, like she had stuck them in the bait grinder at work.

"They'll heal." Rue assured her. Rue had seen the look on Luctra's face when Luctra was examining her damaged palms. It was the same look her mom got when she looked in a mirror and didn't like her outfit. Luctra made no reply. Rue used the gauze to wipe off the aloe and puss from Luctra's hands. Rue then squeezed a generous amount of the cream onto Luctra's palms.

"Maybe just rub them together so no cream gets wasted." Rue suggested. Luctra did as she said. Immediately she began to feel her skin being soothed and the tissue softening as the cream penetrated through the burned layers.

"I'll go find Peeta tomorrow. My hands should be healed mostly by then. Rue is there anything you can do for Katniss?" Luctra smiled to Rue as she kept rubbing her hands together. Rue nodded and took off into the forest.

When Cato woke up on the river bed he almost wished he could get stung by Tracker Jackers all over again. He had had the most amazing hallucination. He was with the Goddess Amphitrite. She had saved his life. She healed his wounds by placing butterfly kisses over his body with her lips, paying special attention to the wound on his neck and then in return he had whisked her off making love to her for hours in an underwater cave. After she had been thoroughly satisfied by him she had declared she was his to possess forever and had climbed on top of him taking him inside her again and riding him as the waves had crashed around them. Sitting up and gaining his senses he brought up the hallucination from the recesses of his memory.

He wasn't surprised when he realized that the Goddess he hallucinated was actually Luctra in her costume from the parade, except the blue hair thing. It would make a pretty hot role play in the future he thought. Luctra had gotten right under his skin without trying and he wondered if he had even penetrated hers. He leaned back on his hands. His one hand touched something soft. Bringing it forward to examine he smiled. It was his t-shirt. Luctra had been by here. Maybe not everything that had happened was a hallucination, maybe he was also under her skin.

Putting on his shirt Cato got up and stretched out. Turning he saw the others not far from him. He needed to get them up and back to the Cornucopia to regroup. The only one partially awake was Clove. Walking over he passed Glimmer whose eyes were now even blacker and she had a new bump on her forehead. She also had numerous stings, looking as though she got the brunt of the Tracker Jacker attack. If she had looked like shit before she looked like hell now. Cato focused a little more on the dirt on Glimmer's face. Cato cracked a huge grin. The dirt was actually a boot print. Oh yeah, Luctra had definitely been by here.

"President Snow. District 12, 11, 9, 7, 4 and 3 are all rebelling sir. We aren't able to contain them much longer with the current resources." The Captain of the Capitol Defense announced.

"Put all the forces and power into defending the Capitol. Prepare a counter strike." President Snow ordered coldly.

"What about the Hunger Games sir? The arena consumes a lot of our resources." The Captain asked. President Snow thought for a moment.

"Put them on pause. Allow no killing till we get this dealt with. It will be fine as they will be contained within the arena, she won't get out." President Snow commanded. The Captain saluted and went to leave.

"Oh." Snow continued. The Captain turned back. "And level District 12. They are expendable and it will send a warning to all the other Districts."

"So we have a bow and arrows, which none of us can use, a machete, a spear, a carver, which is mine, a dagger, and a slingshot. Did I miss anything?" Luctra was going over the weapons they had accumulated. It was a fair bit for Tributes who had never gone back to the Cornucopia since the bloodbath.

"Does the flare gun count?" Dash asked rotating it in his hands.

"Only if you shoot Glimmer in the face with it." Luctra chuckled. She had an unhealthy obsession with the idea of shooting Glimmer with the flare gun. Maybe then they could call her 'sparkle the raccoon'.

"Ok you stay here with Catnap Katniss. I'm gonna go look for Peeta. I'm only taking the carver and my medicine. Don't leave until I get back." Luctra laid out the plan as she put her gloves over her healing hands. They would never look the same, but she could almost use them like nothing had happened.

"Right. Be careful." Dash said giving her a quick hug. Rue did the same and Luctra planted a kiss on each of their heads. Sprinting off Luctra headed in the direction of the area next to the river where Rue said Peeta had gone after getting sliced by Cato. She checked before she stepped out of the forest, no Careers, it was safe to search. Walking along the rocky riverbed Luctra saw a small blood splatter. She kept walking. Then she saw another one. It was a blood trail she realized, and most likely Peeta's. She quickened her pace until the trail ended. But there was no Peeta.

"Uhhh….ok…." Luctra was confused. She back tracked looking for other clues. She scratched her head. There were none, the trail just ended on the rocks.

"Seriously where the hell did you go Peeta?" She whispered to herself.

"Down here."

Luctra almost jumped out of her skin. Looking down she scanned the rock she was standing on. "Down here where?" She asked. She jumped again when the rocks blinked open an eye.

"Jeezzeee Peeta give a girl a heart attack would ya!" Luctra was a little rattled. She had known he was good at camouflage but she didn't realize he was THAT damn good. Peeta moved his head exposing the paint job on his face. The rest of his body was also so well hidden she never would have found him if he had been passed out.

"Sorry." Peeta apologized his voice strained. Luctra knelt down, placing the carver down on the rock, and helped Peeta into a sitting position.

"Attractive face." Luctra joked sarcastically. She sat Peeta against her chest as she kneeled behind him.

"Attractive smell." Peeta teased back, though his voice was laced with pain. Luctra let out a fake gasp of indignation.

"Oh I am so not gonna help you now." Luctra teased pretending to get up. Peeta stopped her by patting her hand that was on his shoulder.

"Wait wait. You smell like roses happy." Peeta said sarcastically. He felt Luctra laugh.

"Extremely. Heard you got sliced by a drugged up blonde with an anger issue?" Luctra settled Peeta's head against her one of her shoulders so she could look at his face. Though it was kinda weird talking to him with the rock paint on.

"Yeah, inner thigh." Peeta winced in pain as he turned his leg out so Luctra could see it. Luctra let out a low whistle.

"That sucks." She said.

"Tell me about it." Peeta replied. Luctra reached into her pocket grabbing her container of medicine.

"Lucky for you the 'Goddess of the Games' happens to carry magic healing goop." Luctra held out the container in front of Peeta's face. Peeta's eyes went wide as he looked at the container then to Luctra.

"That's expensive stuff!" Peeta hadn't gotten many sponsor gifts but he knew that this one would have cost a great deal of money.

"Feh. I've used only half of it so you should have enough to get a handle on that." Luctra brushed off pointing to Peeta's leg.

"I can't take it." Peeta refused pushing Luctra's hand with the container away.

"Yes you can. I took Katniss's burn cream for my hands so I consider this payment for it. And I don't like owing people things." Luctra emphasized the last part. Peeta saw the determination in her eyes and took the container. Luctra helped him to the water, where he could wash out the wound and then put the medicine on. At that part of the river Luctra told him he could still play 'rock boy' and not be found before he fully healed.

"I have to get back to Rue, Dash and Katniss, but you should be safe here. I'll send Katniss your way once she is up and coherent." Luctra promised Peeta. He nodded and thanked her again before she ran back into the forest. Luctra was one of a kind that's for sure, Peeta mused. He thought he was going to give up everything for Katniss, whereas Luctra was giving up everything and then some to everyone she seemed to even care a smidgen about. He wished he could be more like her.

"You guys wanna do WHAT?" Luctra shouted at the three faces in front of her.

"We. Want. Too. Destroy. The. Careers. Supplies." Dash repeated slowly like Luctra was actually as stupid as she looked at her Reaping.

"This was your idea wasn't it?" Luctra snarled turning on Katniss who was now awake and healed.

"I'm not against it if that's what you mean." Katniss told Luctra as she munched on some goosling she had caught and then cooked for everyone.

Luctra had been slightly relieved that someone could use the bow now, but that was short lived when Rue had told her what they had come up with while Luctra was away helping Peeta. Luctra glared at Katniss.

"Dash, Rue, go find some more aloe for me." Luctra told them coldly. Dash knew that Luctra wanted to talk to Katniss without them hearing it since Luctra didn't actually need more aloe. Dash grabbed Rue and left.

"So you want two twelve year olds to help you piss off the most dangerous group of allied people in the arena." Luctra hissed angrily. Katniss looked up at Luctra for the first time noticing how intimidating Luctra was. Not just in size but in presence. No wonder Dash and Rue were still alive and almost completely unharmed. Katniss swallowed her goosling and wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

"They have to be taken down some time. And without their supplies they will get desperate, and weaker." Katniss justified.

"I wasn't questioning the idea, Girl on Fire." Luctra snarled taking a step towards Katniss. Katniss stood up recognizing the challenge. "I am questioning your eagerness to send two untrained kids up against the Careers on the Careers own TURF." To Luctra it was the same as walking into Thresh's wheat field waving blow torch around.

"We are all kids in here, regardless of age Goddess." Katniss flared back.

"Your sister is the same damn age as them." Luctra fumed her arms flying up in frustration. Katniss bristled at the mention of her sister.

"Don't you bring Prim into this! I am here protecting…" Katniss threatened. Luctra cut her off.

"You aren't here protecting her!" Luctra got right up in Katniss's face. "Yes, what you did was admirable, but you need to remember one thing." Luctra pointed her finger getting right up in Katniss's face. "You took her place. There are tributes in this arena that will die in here in order make sure that the person they love makes it out of this hell alive and gets to go home." Luctra snapped

"I…" Katniss stuttered.

"Still have the chance of going home to your sister!" Luctra spat bitterly. "You still have hope because your sister isn't in the arena, because you could take her place. Some of us weren't given that choice when it came to saving our loved ones." Luctra took a dangerously controlled breath and continued.

"Others in this arena understand and have accepted that our lives were forfeit the moment the Reapings were over. We know we will never see our families again. We have someone in the arena whose life we have decided is worth more than our own and because of that we choose to see our lives end, for our families to be the ones to bear the loss, so that another can see home again." Luctra finished deadly calm. She thought of Dash never seeing the ocean again and it made her more livid with Katniss.

Katniss gulped. She hadn't thought of it that way. While Prim would survive no matter what happened, Katniss had the chance of winning and returning home to the people she loved. A Tribute like Luctra had come into the games and knew they were going to die because if they didn't, the person they loved would die instead.

"I never thought of it like that." Katniss whispered. Luctra sighed knowing she had been a little too hard on Katniss. Luctra was just so pissed that Dash and Rue had this idea in their heads now and were dead set on carrying it out. She softened her glare a little.

"Look what's done is done. I will go along with this because if I don't I won't be there to protect them, but I resent you for helping to put them in direct danger while I'm still alive." Luctra looked directly at Katniss. Katniss understood the meaning clearly. While they were on allied terms now when it came down to it Luctra would kill Katniss to protect Dash and Rue.

It dawned on Katniss at that moment that if Prim had been here instead of her, Luctra probably would have taken Prim under her care and made Prim part of her 'clan' as Rue had called it. Luctra would have extended the same sacrifice to include her ducky. And for that reason Katniss respected Luctra and understood her resentment.

This was different then dropping Tracker Jackers on people while they were defenselessly sleeping. The Careers would be awake; the 'clan' would be on the ground and they would be on Career controlled territory. Luctra felt her instincts kick, but for once she couldn't listen to it.

They were outside watching on the tower screen as Luctra read Katniss the riot act, putting the games in a different perspective for the Girl on Fire and also Panem, yet again. This was only going to fuel the Districts even more, and Haymitch was glad for it. He may mentor the Girl on Fire but Finnick was mentoring the 'Goddess of the Games' who had an inner power that rivaled a hurricane when focused.

"She has really chosen to die hasn't she?" Haymitch whispered amazed to Finnick. It was one thing to say it but this girl from 4 was living it. Luctra went into the Hunger Games fighting to save rather than fighting to kill. When Haymitch had seen Luctra run through the fire with Rue in her arms, defying the very nature of the games, daring the Gamemakers to try and change her, something in him came back to life. He had a sense of purpose again.

"Yes. But she'll take down who ever she has too with her to make sure those kids make it out alive." Finnick told Haymitch. Haymitch shook his head in disbelief.

"It took a fucking 17 year old girl with a protective nature stronger then 100 mother bears and a tongue like liquid silver to wake up the country." Haymitch mused. Finnick grinned knowing just how much of a bear Luctra was, aka her aversion to being woken up in the morning.

"She doesn't even fucking acknowledge the impossibility of the situation, to her what's right is no different than what has to be done. Her only goal is to see Dash and Rue make it to the final two." He surmised tightly. Finnick had trouble saying that. It was hard enough hearing Luctra say it over and over again, then to see her following through with her promise through out the Games over and over again, but saying it out loud was almost like he was accepting it. That Finnick was accepting she was going to die.

"Then let's get them the hell out of there before it comes to that." Haymitch decreed. The girl on the screen before him had balls of steal, a heart of gold, and a silver tongue. She was born to lead, born to protect and born to change the world. She was the 'Goddess' and both Haymitch and Finnick agreed with the motto, Luctra was the essence of sacrifice and for the greater good they wouldn't let those sacrifices be in vain.

AN: YAY FOR LUCTRA! I had to bring in Haymitch because I really like his character in the book and it pissed me off that while he was helpful he never really got to grow...sorta. Hope that you enjoyed the chapter. The next chapter shall be the reuniting of Cato and Luctra. Thanks to those of you who helped me with my map question, I have figured it out. Also I know that some may not like how Katniss was ripped a little by Luctra but for my Katniss it had to happen or she wouldn't grow. Plus I had to compare the two scarifices because they are different in my eyes which I hope I got across well enough.

Luv

Rayn