Author's Note: I am so sorry this took so long! Thank you so much for the support, hope you like this chapter!
"Under the new rule, both tributes from the same districts will be declared if they are the last two alive."
I stand up a little too quickly and I lose my balance, the ringing in my left ear hasn't gone away and I am reminded that I haven't eaten anything in days. But all those thoughts are quickly dismissed when Claudius Templesmith's booms from the sky once more and the rule change is repeated, as if they had been staring directly at me and wanted to make sure I didn't think it had just been a hallucination. Because this was too good to be true.
If the rule change is true, if I am not making this up in my sleep-deprived, scared and broken haze, then this means I have a chance to have it all. I get to bring Danny home and have my life back. Peeta won't have to be sad about his brother's return, I'll get to see my family again. The jewels and money the Capitol will offer me once I'm a victor pale in comparison to the thought of seeing them again. Because I am going to be a victor, I'm getting out of this Arena alive.
It's almost too easy to forget about the lives I've taken, about the ones I'll take, as I stand again. Once I manage to get on my feet, I take a drink of water and start walking towards our cave hoping Danny is still in there, that he didn't go out to search for me. I wonder if he heard the news too, I smile at the thought of seeing him again without having to think of a way of getting myself killed so he can live. Danny will finally face me without thinking my death will weight on his shoulders.
I had to stop twice, searching my bag and Rue's for something to eat, but now that I am finally here and I've spotted the cave I seem to recover my strength and I run to it, biting my tongue not to call out Danny's name. The entrance is concealed, as I left it, and I try not to bring my hopes up in case he is not there, but I'm unable to.
Still, my worries dissipate as I spot him sleeping on top of the folded sleeping bag, his forehead is furrowed in a frown and guilt washes over me momentarily for having left him on his own for so long. "Danny," I whispers even when I want to chant his name. A huge grin is threatening to break my cheeks and I can't remember when it was the last time that I felt like I could actually laugh.
He stirs in his sleep and murmurs something unintelligible, so I press my hand to his shoulder and shake it slightly. "Danny wake up, I'm back."
The kid's eyes open and he sits up startled, it takes him a moment to focus my face but when he does, it's no more than a second before I have his arms tightly wrapped around me. "Katniss!" He exclaims and I chuckle, wrapping my arms around him and covering his ashy blonde hair with kisses. He tastes like dust and sweat, but if I focus hard enough I'm able to remember his usual scent of flour and sunlight, and if everything goes as planned it's not long before he recovers that perfume.
Danny pulls away after a moment, his eyes are confused but he is visibly happy, a somber thought crosses his mind a second later and his smile falls. "I was so worried when you didn't come back! And then... then I heard the canons and I was so scared, Katniss. I stayed up to watch the death toll, and I saw Rue..." My own smile falls a little as I think of the young girl, I pull Danny into my arms again.
"I was too late to save her," I confess in a sad whisper. His arms around me tighten.
"Did you kill Marvel?" He asks after a moment, pulling away to eye me carefully. I know he is impermeable to lies, and I don't want to lie to him so I just nod, avoiding his eyes. We stay silent for a moment before I remember the good news I brought.
"How long have you been sleeping, boss?"
"I don't know, maybe a couple hours. It's hard to know here. I finished all the food we had..." he fiddles, almost ashamed, and I laugh. He looks up at me confused.
"Then you slept through the best news I've ever heard in my life, Danny." He raises an eyebrow and I smile at him, caressing his face to push a blonde curl away from his eyes. "We are going home, Danny. Both of us. There has been a change in the rules, two tributes can win as long as they are from the same District. You and I, boss. We are going home."
The words seem heavier now that I've said them out loud, and for once it's a weight that I don't mind carrying.
Danny digests the news quickly, and a grin that I'm sure mimics my own spreads on his face and he hugs me. "We are going home," he repeats, elated.
Danny and I go hunting, and an hour later we sink our teeth on some squirrels I got my arrows on and some berries that he collected while I hunted.
We both look up when a twinkling melody announces the arrival of a silver parachute, inside there is a bread that I'm positive I've seen before, but that isn't entirely familiar. It doesn't look like the delicious sweetened rolls that abounded in the Capitol, or District Twelve's signature cheese buns that Peeta bakes so well. At the thought of Peeta his voice rings in my head and I smile, recognizing the bread.
"It's from District Eleven, Danny. They sent a gift to us," I say fondly, wanting them to know that I'm aware of their gift and what it means. Rue was important to them, and she was important to me. I just made sure the Capitol knew that.
I split the bread in two and hand Danny half, it's still warm and delicious and I close my eyes. Soon, this will all be over, and I will have a warm bread in my hands and Peeta's arm wrapped around me. Soon the Arena will be nothing but a distant, bad dream and Danny will be safe.