The darkness crept in through the trees surrounding them, not allowing the light from their fire to spread from beyond their small camp. It had been their last match. The red and orange flames reached up and jumped towards them. Clove lowered her head towards the fire; there were small cracking sounds as it threatened to lick her face. Grey smoke rose up above the two of them. There was no threat of lighting a fire anymore. With only six people left in the arena, the fire was an open invitation. Come find us. I dare you. I'll rip your tongues out with my knife. She brought her face back from the fire and looked over at Cato, who was desperately dumping everything out of their bags.

"Are you sure there is nothing in here?" His voice was rough, he was still bitter from all their supplies being blown up. It had been Katniss Everdeen who destroyed it.

The name made her fingers instantly grip the knife hooked to her waist. Clove wanted nothing more than to take her knife and cut through those pretty lips of The Girl On Fire. And then she'd never get to kiss her lover boy again. Katniss was the only real competitor in the games. She scored higher than Clove by one point. Lover boy was already dying thanks to Cato's sword and Cato's temper always got the better of him so Clove knew he was no match when he lost his head. The other two tributes were merely things in the way. She didn't even recall their names.

"She blew up all of our provisions, Cato. There is nothing in either of our bags to eat." Clove sat back on the ground and watched as Cato angrily kicked the contents of both bags. It had only been a few hours since they had last eaten but Cato was hungry again. He hadn't seen the flaw in taking all the supplies and living off of it lavishly. Now that it had been taken away, he was at a loss. She smiled to herself at the thought of getting up while he was sleeping and throwing her knife at fish in the lake. They were safe to eat raw at least.

"Well, how are we supposed to win if we don't eat, huh? We need food," he growled.

"We need a lot of things." Clove replied sarcastically.

"I know!" Cato rushed towards her with his sword in his hand.

She pulled her knife and took a defensive stance, stopping his advance. "If you kill me, you'll have no chance against Twelve. You already couldn't kill the talentless one." Clove glared at him.

He grunted and threw his sword down into the dirt. He knew she was right. Out of all the tributes, Clove probably had the best chance of winning. He sat down next to her. There was silence for a while. She offered her solution, "We can go to the lake and spear some fish later."

Cato grunted in response. His face fell into his hands and he sighed deeply.

"Cato, why did you volunteer?" It seemed odd that she didn't already know this fact about him. But to be honest, she had never even laid eyes on him before the reaping in District One. Clove's reason for volunteering was simple: she was bored. Life in District One was boring. She needed something exciting. Clove needed action. Not so simple. Close pushed the thought aside; she was done with her life in One.

"My father."

His response was quiet and small. Very un-Cato-like. A silence followed for a short time after until Clove whispered an apology for bringing it up.

"It's not a big deal. He just paid for my training for years and last year I was supposed to volunteer, but I just couldn't do it. I don't know why, I just wasn't ready. You think about death sometimes and it scares you, you know? Or at least it scares me at times. One minute you're there and the next minute you're gone. I guess I just wasn't ready to stop existing. But when I didn't volunteer, my father stopped talking to me, the bastard. He said I wasn't worth his breath and that was that."

Clove fingered her knife, careful not to prick herself on the blade. "So, you just volunteered because you have daddy issues?"

It only took half a second until Clove could feel Cato's eyes piercing into the side of her head. She relaxed her grip on the blade and allowed him to dive in, like she saw that he was planning to, and grab the blade. He held it against her throat and she tried her best to put on a terrified face so that he would think he was in control.

"When I volunteered, my father came to see me in the Justice Building. He told me that he would never be more proud of me than the day when I would return home as a Victor. I volunteered because I am going to win."

"You need me," Clove whispered. It wasn't a plea; it was a fact.

Cato leaned in closer until they could feel each other's breath and were looking eye to eye. "And you need me." He dropped the blade from her neck and tossed it in the direction of a tree without ever pulling their faces away. "Stop pretending to give me the upper hand, Clove. I'm not as dumb as I look."

She glared at him as he let them fall away from each other. "You are sometimes." Her eyes found the blade embedded in the middle of the tree. "Lucky shot." Her mind flickered to the first nights in the arena when he seemed to be overly-friendly with the District Two tribute, Glimmer. Clove didn't understand what Cato had seen in her. She was weak and pathetic and it hadn't lasted long in the competition. Clove had been by his side the whole time. I didn't think you were dumb until I saw who interested you.

There was suddenly the sound of trumpets. Clove jumped up and ran to an opening of trees where she could see the sky. She felt Cato join her within seconds, his hands wrapped around his sword in case it was an announcement of something near. The feast. Clove knew what Cato was thinking too. Claudius Templesmith's voice boomed, congratulating the six of them that had survived. Us, twelve, and two other tributes. But then both Clove and Cato are confused by the announcement that comes.

"The Gamemakers have instituted a rule change. From this point forward, if two tributes from the same district are the last to survive, both will be declared victors of The Hunger Games! Good Luck! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

It must be clear to the viewers that the information was not sinking in for the remaining tributes because Claudius repeats the rule again before signing off. And just like that silence was brought back into the arena. Clove turned to look at Cato and he smirked back at her. He was the one who broke the silence first.

"We're gonna win, Clove."