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Rogue-Mando

Chapter 43

Percy pov

"Look, if we want to make it out of here alive then we need to work together," Percy explained as Thresh and Cato continued to eye each other wearily.

Neither of them was willing to voice their opinions as they continued to stare daggers at each other. Thresh was holding his sword once again. Percy thought this was reasonable since Cato had yet to put his own blade down.

"This isn't an old western and neither of you are Clint Eastwood," Percy rolled his eyes as he tried to get them to stop the macho act and focus on the real problem.

To Percy's credit they both immediately stopped staring at each other. Instead they turned their heads in unison to stare at Percy with confused looks on their faces. The sudden attention made Percy self-conscious and he nervously ran his hand through his tousled his hair.

"Who is Clint Eastwood?" Cato said after he decided to stop gawking at Percy. Thresh looked expectantly in Percy's direction as if saying explain yourself.

"What? How do you not know Clint Eastwood? Famous actor… all around bad ass," Percy searched their faces expecting recognition to emerge. "Never mind it's not important," Percy switched the topic when he realized they were both uncultured swine. "Can we just have breakfast at the cornucopia and discuss how we are going to get out of this mess without trying to kill each other?"

Cato and Thresh continued to stare at him. Neither of them seemed keen on making a truce. Percy thought he had Cato figured. Percy had assumed that the only reason Cato hadn't tried to kill him yet was because he was still valuable, and he couldn't kill Percy in a straight up fight. He would have to wait until Percy would least expect a betrayal and strike. Percy was wrong. Cato had saved his life when he could have let his biggest threat die to another tribute. Perhaps Clove's death had changed his outlook on the games. Thresh was more difficult to figure out. Percy presumed he had spent the entire hunger games alone in the fields. It wasn't a bad plan. Percy reckoned most tributes would head to the forest, so Thresh could just wait the whole games out by himself until it became the final two.

"If you don't like what I have to say you can go back to killing each other after breakfast," Percy sweetened his deal before wisely adding, "dying on an empty stomach is annoying."

They looked at Percy a moment longer before Thresh gave Percy a curt nod of agreement. Cato looked between Thresh and Percy before sighing in exasperation and growling, "fine."

The three tributes had come to an agreement to allow Percy to climb up first, for he was the least likely to stab the other two in the backs. As Percy heaved himself over the top he heard a faint rumbling from inside the cornucopia. He grabbed his sword and scanned the area on high alert.

"You gonna help us up or not?" Cato whispered venomously from below.

Percy didn't answer. Instead he kept his focus on the mouth of the cornucopia. He was certain someone or something was inside. Sure enough, a cautious figure emerged from the opening carrying a backpack full of supplies. Percy saw her fiery hair and immediately recognized her as one of the district five tributes. It was clever, for most of the career tributes were gone and most other tributes would be too fearful to return to the cornucopia. Percy had all but forgotten she was still alive. She had a sword strapped to her hip and a knife tucked away under her shirt. The sword was clearly too large for her to wield, so she'd be better off taking her chances with the knife. He saw the girl scan the area quickly before her vision rested on Percy.

Percy saw sheer terror written unmistakably on her face, as her eyes widened and a hand came to her mouth. Anger swelled inside Percy's chest. It bubbled to the surface ready to explode in a way that brought back painfully empty memories. Percy realized that while his mind was unmistakably clouded, his muscle memory was very much well at work. His heart was beating fast and loud in his ears, until suddenly the anger died back down as quickly as the fire had stopped when Katniss and Percy had run into the manticore a couple days ago. He calmly raised a finger to his lips to warn her to be quiet. He then gestured for the girl to run away from here. The district five tribute searched Percy's face curiously as if wondering what kind of trick Percy could be pulling. After careful examination she sprinted into the wood toting a backpack full of provisions.

Percy turned back to the fields to find Cato and Thresh waiting impatiently for Percy to return.

"I was just checking to see if it was safe first," Percy supplied innocently.

Percy was unsure as to whether he could trust Thresh and Cato not to kill the other tributes yet, so he had to keep that to himself for now. He had half expected them to be duking it out by the time he got back. After Cato and Thresh had been hauled up they all grabbed their respective swords and headed to the cornucopia for breakfast. They rummaged through the supplies and found a carton of eggs as well as a refrigerator filled with chicken breasts. Percy couldn't help but notice the food supply was beginning to dwindle. Together they started a fire and cooked the food in silence. Percy was none too concerned with other tributes attempting to attack them at the moment. Three of the five highest scoring tributes in one area would seem pretty intimidating to most of them.Except KatnissPercy considered after a moment.

This time Percy was thankful for the silence. It allowed him to think about Annabeth. He was not quite sure who Annabeth was to him, but Percy could not deny the way his face warmed and his toes tingled when he thought her name. Annabeth.Even her name sounded like royalty. It gave him newly discovered resolve to stay alive. He didn't know why, but he neededto see her. It gave him a new purpose. Percy no longer wondered whether anyone would care if he made it out. He would survive the hunger games. The tricky part would be to make sure everyone else survives the games as well. At least the ones that are still alive.

"You're going to burn the chicken," Cato snapped Percy out of his thoughts.

"Right sorry," Percy said quickly before taking the chicken off the fire.

After the meal was divided up, they say down in the grass and ate in silence. Percy's stomach was as reliable as ever, so he was of course the first one done. He briefly wondered what Thresh had been living off of all this time. He looked as healthy as he had been before the games. In fact he might have gotten bigger since entering the arena. Percy didn't know what kind of animals lived down in the wheat fields, and it didn't seem likely that he would be using the cornucopia for food every day.

When they had both finished their meals Thresh and Cato turned their attention to Percy.

Percy cleared his throat before speaking, "err right. This arena, the hunger games, the capital wants to turn us into something we're not. We aren't monsters that kill each other for sport. At least, we don't have to be."

"Of course we have to be." Cato scoffed while wiping his mouth on his sleeve.

"The hunger games were created by the capitol to show how inferior we are to them. It was created to better themselves, but we can turn it around on them," Percy continued.

"How can we do that," Cato questioned.

Percy looked at Thresh to see what he would say, but he was as silent as ever. "It's simple. We choose not to fight. All of us." Percy wondered if the capitol was listening in at this very moment. He hoped so.

"And you think everyone would actually agree to do that?" Cato sounded less than enthusiastic as he took a swig of water.

"I do," Percy answered honestly. He really believed that people were good. Not all the time and not all at once. But he believed that if people saw a better way, then they would listen.

"Even if by some miracle everyone actually listens to you, again not likely, the game keepers would just try to kill us themselves." Cato rebutted skeptically.

"Maybe. I won't lie. But if the rest of the districts can see the sacrifice we are prepared to make…" Percy didn't finish his thought. He didn't have to.

"You're talking about…" Cato wouldn't say it out loud. "You would be prepared to die on that small possibility alone?"

Percy thought about Annabeth, his reason for wanting to make it out of this arena. He knew she was waiting for him somewhere. He needed to see her again. He was sure of that much, but Percy was also sure that he could not allow this suppression to continue any longer. He could not live with himself if he stood by and allowed the districts to suffer any more than they already have.

"I am," Percy steeled his resolve.

He scanned Cato and Thresh's faces. He could see doubt written clearly on Cato's face. Thresh was again difficult to read. Percy was usually adept at reading expressions, but Thresh was a challenge. He would make a brilliant poker player.

"Who is Annabeth?" Thresh spoke for the first time.

This caught Percy off guard. It took him a moment to respond. "She's someone really important to me. Someone I want to see again."

"I have people important to me too," Thresh nodded in understanding as if that was all he needed to know. "I'll help you."

Percy and Thresh both turned to Cato. Cato looked around and hesitated as if arguing with himself internally. "Fine. But when this goes sideways… all bets are off."

Percy figured this was the best answer he was going to get. He had actually not expected his proposal to work that well. The last time he tried that proposal it had turned out much differently.

Katniss pov

Life in the arena had almost become routine. Rue would wake her up with the smell of breakfast cooking on a fire. This was courtesy of the traps Katniss had set the prior night. She had begun teaching Rue to set some traps herself in case they split later in the games. She was a fast learner, eager to absorb Katniss's tricks. Well, technically they were Gale's tricks but she supposed that did not matter.

Katniss was once again struck by how different Prim and Rue were despite being the same age. Katniss had tried to teach Prim how to hunt on several occasions in case something happened to Katniss and Prim had to look out for herself and their mother. Gale and Katniss had snuck her out of school a couple times on their way to the forest. Prim never showed much interest though. She loved helping everyone and everything. Killing animals disagreed with her. Katniss was sure that if she had the choice she was be a vegetarian.

Prim was much sillier than Rue. Rue reminded Katniss far more of herself than Prim did. She supposed they had a bit in common. Having to take care of one's family at such a young age leaves little room for silliness. There were times when Katniss would grow jealous of Prim. Katniss did not want to be responsible for so much all the time. Sometimes she wished she could be silly too.

After breakfast they went about setting more traps before deciding to go on a hunt. As they moved through the forest in silence Katniss heard the sound of soft footsteps approaching rapidly.

"Over there," Rue pointed and nudged Katniss in the ribs.

Katniss looked for the source of the noise. She had expected to find a deer, but instead saw a fox. Sure enough Katniss could see Foxface sprinting through the woods. Katniss could see a look of panic on the girl's face. After a moments hesitation, Katniss loaded her bow and lined up her target. She took a deep breath in preparation for what she was about to do. Before she could release it, Rue shook her arm frantically.

"What is it?" Katniss hissed as the district five tribute scurried further and further away.

"Look," Rue pointed towards the clearing where the cornucopia resided. Katniss could make out three tributes rummaging around. They seemed to be in an alliance, but Katniss could tell there was little trust in the trio. This was highly unusual. The careers were the only tributes to form alliances, and Katniss had not seen any other alliances being made before or during the games this year. As Katniss got closer to the clearing she realized the tributes were Cato, Thresh and Percy. It was an alliance Katniss had never expected to see.

Percy looked to be in good health. He was still shirtless from when Katniss and Rue had treated his wounds, but he seemed to be moving fine. Katniss thought back to the water she had given Percy. It had healed him much faster than the leaves. He must have made it to the stream.

They all seemed relatively unconcerned that a tribute had just escaped. Katniss felt angry when she saw Percy looking for supplies with Cato. How could he judge her so harshly when he was making alliances with the cruelest killer in the entire arena? She thought about the words he had said to her a couple nights ago. You murdered a girl for a weaponhe had said. She did not murder anyone. It was not her fault Cato had killed that girl. If that made Katniss a murderer, then Percy was a murderer too for helping him.

"What should we do?" Rue asked nervously.

I am well aware that many readers are still a little mystified as to why Percy lost his curse. I am also aware of the reasoning as to why he lost his curse. All I can say at this time is that I hope to be able to explain this better as the story continues. Thank you all again for the input.