DISCLAIMER: The Hunger Games are not mine neither is Hungry Hungry Hippos for that matter (seriously I don't own the board game! I have Monopoly instead)

Chapter the Twenty-First

Showdown

It's been a week and a day by our reckoning from the time we have entered the arena.

I haven't received any notes from Mr. Abernathy, mainly because I haven't asked for anything in a while, because we haven't needed anything. Maybe because he knows I don't need pointers right now if something comes up I am sure he will be the first to tell me.

We get breakfast of pears and water and the last of the snake when we hear from off south of the hideout.

"Maverick! Maverick I am calling you out! Come on coward face me! I dare you! Or should I find the twerp first!" Henry calls out, "I'm sure she will be an easy kill!" and he starts to laugh again, that hollow laugh.

Its like a fire is lit under my companion, he looks off to where the voice is coming from and on a small cliff, maybe three or four stories high is Henry. He's thirty minutes away by foot, and since he's calling I am pretty sure he is gonna wait there until he dies of exposure or Maverick meets him.

I am scared when Maverick's feet start to steer him there, I grab his good arm. His face is determined, he means to face him!

"No don't Maverick" I look at him pleading him to stay, "he's insane let the heat and exposure kill him please."

"What if we get separated and he finds you Ariana" he kneels down, "I can't let him find you"

"but I can take him out with my atlatl" I counter, "he's lost his mind! Please don't do it, don't go" I can feel myself getting choked up, I know if we let him die off we would have to face off against one another but I can't let go of my last ally, it hurt when Farrow died, despite my best efforts tears start to form and then fall.

"no you've killed enough, remember what I said, I'm taking that responsibility off you" he shakes his head, "I'll be fine! Trust me" he smiles, why do I feel like I am back in the living room having the conversation with Farrow? When he gave off the sense of accepting he would not come home. I can't let Maverick go alone, Farrow, Celena and Archie were alone when they died. I can't do that to another friend.

"Then I'm coming too" I say, "I won't let you go alone"

He looks on the edge of telling me no, but I am looking at him stubbornly, the same look I give Seneca when he tells me to finish my breakfast, or wake up for the reaping, the look that almost always gets me what I want, almost.

He brushes the tears off my face, but more replace them. I'm heartbroken, I didn't love him but I liked him a lot, he helped me cope, he was there when I needed someone, my friend and ally and now he is going too!

"Alright but you stay hidden" he says softly wiping away a new stream of tears, "don't come out no matter what you hear or see okay? And take a route he is not watching deal? I don't want him spotting you before he sees me"

I nod, one more deal, not too hard to keep. I wipe my eyes.

"Good" he says as then hugs me, "it will be okay Ariana, now go" He watches me head off then he stands and heads off himself.

I take a westerly route back around our hideout whereas he take a direct route to the platform. There is a small alcove on one side where a dried up saguaro cactus stands, it was a scrawny one now dead and hard like wood, it sticks up like a sore thumb among the rocks and boulders.

"Where's the twerp?" I hear above me, "Renard said before I gutted him that you were probably playing babysitter"

"She's fourteen Henry, hardly a baby," Maverick replies, "and she saved me twice, unlike your partner, Juliette, last I saw her was before the sand storm that killed the girl from nine, the one babbling about blood and snakes"

"LEAVE JULIETTE ALONE!" Henry bellows

"Of course I will, she's dead Henry" Maverick replies calmly, I can imagine he has his arms up palms facing Henry calming him, "she got out of here, not the best way but at least she's out, what can you say about yourself? Hmm? Not all that well from the look of it"

"Shuddup" Henry says, "I'm getting outta here, you'll see, you'll all see" he laughs, "you'll all see! They already see! Saw everything we went thru, I got one bottle of water this whole time, one, Juliette gave me hers told me to win, told me I had to" he whimpers I hear gravel being moved and then crunching as maverick probably has gone to see if Henry is okay

"Don't touch me!" Henry cries, "don't…don't…you'll just as easily kill me, so I'll just kill you then your little savior if that's what you think she is"

"Over my dead body!" Maverick growl and I hear him cry as he lunges and a scuffle ensues, I hear a rattler nearby and see it slither past, as the sun starts to move I see the shadow of the two of them. Like one is strangling the other, or maybe its just wrestling. I can't figure it as the shadows disappear as they have gone to the other side. I hear a cry of pain and laughter.

"Just like Renard, stuck you good didn't I?" Henry says

I cover my mouth to stop screaming out.

"I've had worse" Maverick grunts

"Well come on then I'm all for seeing how badly you can hurt me" Henry says, "or should I just find the girl, hmm? She's probably hiding closeby isn't she" he laughs again, "do not play poker, you just gave her away! Come out Come out little Ariana! Yeah I know your name met Farrow in my travels….before he bit it, sorry about that saw him get stuck good, ate some weird berry and kicked it"

"Leave her alone!" Maverick grunts

"Make me windbag!" Henry counters and I hear Maverick roar angrily and then running and Henry grunting as Maverick probably collided with him, they are struggling and the shadows appear again this time just getting larger until stones spill over and I hear Henry give a strong grunt and Maverick's shadow disappears, Henry had pushed him off.

"Nice try career, but no luck" Henry replies, "just stay down and die like a good gutted fish" how badly was Maverick cut?

"No" I hear faintly

"What was that?" Henry says, "no strength behind that Maverick"

"NOOO!" Maverick's shadow appears so quick I barely registered it before Henry and Maverick come plummeting to the ground. Henry lands squarely on the dead cactus stump, it impales him thru the gut. A canon goes off immediately as they both land, but I'm not shaken. Maverick took a nasty tumble as well landing finally on his back.

"Maverick!" I cry out and scramble from my spot under the cliff. He's not moving I can barely see his chest rise, "Maverick? Mav?" I touch his cheek with a shaky hand

His eyes open just barely and there is blood coming from his mouth, "hey kiddo" he says catching my attention

"Hey" I say, I feel my eyes start to itch with tears, "we'll get you home ok? Patch you up?"

"Oh good" he says and tries to laugh, "how bad am I?"

I take stock of his body, there is blood coming from his mouth, and when I go behind his back with my small hands they touch a sticky area, I can't treat him I don't have what I need and I believe even Mr. Abernathy won't send it now. They will watch him die.

"Ari" he says softly

I look at him, and he brings a shaky hand up to smudge away a tear that escaped, "hey, its okay" he looks at me, his eyes are glassy and one tear manages to escape his, he grimaces and coughs, he must be in a lot of pain. I go for my crossbow that has rested on my back the entire ordeal.

"What are you doing?" he says softly, "Ariana no"

"But" I say, "I don't want to see you suffer", I can feel myself trembling

He smirks, "I barely feel a thing" he says, he's lying I know he is, "I just feel cold" he looks at me, "besides you've killed enough, just stay with me? Don't be scared"

I look at him, my friend, and I nod, he saved my life I can do this for him. I take off my jacket and put it across him.

"He's dead right?" he asks so softly as if it's an inside joke

I have to laugh, he's trying to make me feel better despite what is going to happen, "yeah had a bad encounter with a dead cactus"

He laughs and cough and when I look at him he has blood splattering his face from what he coughed up. I wipe him clean and wash his face a bit with the canteen water that has gotten warm.

He grimaces again, "Ari" he says

"I'm here" I reply touching his face, he barely registers me his eyes finally lock on mine

"I'm scared" he says his face has gone ghost white

"It's okay" I say, "It's okay Mav I'm here I won't leave you I promise"

He grips my hand as he shudders, and I rest my head on his chest, listening to his heart as it beats. It gets slower.

"Mav?" I say softly sitting up

"Yeah?" his voice is so quiet

"Thank you, I'm glad I knew you" I say to him, I mean every word, I can't say goodbye to him, I have a hard time to say that word, maybe because Seneca and I had to say it to mom and dad's closed coffins.

He closes his eyes and gives a sad smile, "ditto" his voice is barely a whisper, I look at him, and he's still

"Mav?" I look at him, "Mav?" I shake him, he's cold, and pale, and gone

Seconds later a canon goes off and I jump, tears are streaming down my face, and I am in anguish

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN OUR VICTOR MISS ARIANA CRANE" announcer Templesmith says.

I see a hover plane come and a ladder falls.

"Ariana" I hear, I look up to see some unknown person I have never met before, "come on grab the ladder sweetheart" she says

I don't move.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Poor little kid! To be a victor isn't a good thing after all don't you think? It's not over folks, stay tuned! Don't forget to review / flame, reviewers get rewarded, flamers….well I have marshmallows : P !

(thanks go out to my fab four reviewers JB, KL10X, Arrow and Capp)