Katniss and Peeta sat at the entrance to their little cave, eyes on the artificially starry sky. Their water supply gurgled along beside them. It really would have been very nice in a situation in which they were not waiting to see who had been murdered today.

"Be Cato, be Cato, be Cato," Katniss chanted.

Thresh's stern profile appeared above them.

"I can't get anything, can I?"

Peeta put an arm around her.

Warm morning light angled it's way into their stony notch the next morning. Backpacky sat leaning up against the wall opposite where the two of them were sharing the thin plastic sleeping bag. His white eyes slowly narrowed as he stared at them.

"Rise and shine," he said.

Katniss rolled over and gave him a groggy look. "Did you think of any brilliant plans for how to kill Cato?"

"Yeah. Shoot him in the head."

Katniss laughed and attempted to disentangle herself from Peeta and the bag. "Sure, Backpacky. I'll just do that."

"If you can hit a squirrel through the eye, it shouldn't be hard."

"Yeah Katniss," Peeta mumbled, rubbing his eye with the corner of his sleeve, "He has a point."

"Hey, Peeta," Katniss smiled at him, "Why don't you kill Cato by throwing a weighty object at him? If you can do it at the bakery, it shouldn't be hard."

Peeta stalked out of the cave. "Let's just go get some food."

She slipped Backpacky over her shoulder and followed him. They both stopped upon seeing the little creek, completely dry, as if a Gamemaker somewhere had just switched off the faucet.

"They're pushing us to the lake," Katniss said, kicking at the dusty bed.

"So this is it, huh," Peeta said shakily.

Katniss stamped across the dry earth, taking her bow off of her back. "Let's do this."

They made their way through the quiet forest. The lack of animal or human life disturbed Katniss. She felt like everything was holding it's breath, waiting for her to get to a certain point, to see something that they were already aware of. The two of them made it around to the lake with the feeling unbroken, the shining Cornucopia at their backs.

Cato broke into the clearing at a dead sprint.

Katniss drew an arrow, almost laughing at how easy it was going to be. "There's your finale for you," she made her shot, "Katniss is the winah."

It bounced squarely off of Cato's chest.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Katniss threw her arms in the air, "Body armor? Okay. I want, right now, some sort of formal set of rules for the tier of weaponry that can be obtained in this arena."

"I told you to shoot him in the head," Backpacky said.

"Why was he running?" asked Peeta.

"He's a psychopath raised from birth to combat other children!" Katniss answered, arms still waving about, "That's probably just how he gets everywhere," her tone dropped in an imitation of said psychopath, "Better go to the store," she ran in place.

"I doubt he had to go to the store, if he was rich enough to be a career," contributed Backpacky.

Katniss ran in place again. "Better go get my face dyed."

"There we go," Backpacky said.

The actual, more horrifying reason Cato had been running crashed into the clearing, barking and howling. Katniss and Peeta booked it toward the Cornucopia, following Cato. The metal was hot under their fingers as they scrambled up, the mutant pack snapping and gnashing just beneath them.

Katniss stood to her feet. Cato ran at them, his footsteps echoing on the metal. Katniss attempted to load her bow, but he was on them too fast. She swung the metal bow at him. He caught it in his hand and barreled into them.

"Peeta, use your chameleon skin!" Katniss cried. He flickered and disappeared into the grey metal.

Cato stopped and took something out of his pocket, securing it onto his face. He looked back up at Katniss. A square lense covered his right eye, attached to his head at the ear. He smiled at her.

"Heat vision?"

He nodded. "That's right."

Cato suddenly made a wild kick at the air in front of him. Peeta flashed back into sight and crumpled down next to Katniss.

"I regret not having a melee weapon now," Katniss said as Cato tackled her to the ground. She landed hard, all the air in her lungs escaping. Before she could take in some more Cato's hands were on her throat.

"Peeta," Katniss coughed, "Use..."

Peeta's eyes widened. He got up on one knee, then, willing his body to move, he stood. The baker took up a stance, legs shoulder-width apart, his hands in front of him as if they were holding an invisible ball. His eyes went completely white. A wind came from nowhere, swirling around him, lifting him up into the air. His blonde hair stood up, and flecks of flour floated up off of him. He flew at Cato and tore him off of Katniss.

She gasped as sweet air rushed into her lungs. Drawing her bow, Katniss stood to her feet. On the other side of the Cornucopia Cato now held Peeta by the throat. He stepped back towards the edge, where the dogs leaped and clawed.

"If you shoot me, we both go down," Cato said, as Peeta's pupils returned and his hair fell down.

"And then what?" Backpacky asked, looking squarely off in the other direction.

"He dies," said Cato.

"And...?"

Cato squinted at Katniss. "You win?"

"Exactly," said Backpacky, "Do you see the flaw in your plan?"

Cato's face twisted itself up in fury.

"You fail, Cato. You lose!" Backpacky shouted. He paused, letting his words settle. "You've been bred for this, for this single purpose, like some fighting dog, and you failed! You're worthless now! Your whole life had been for this, and it's over! You have wasted what little life you have lived in pursuit of victory and been bested by someone who didn't even try! You will die here and never be thought of again. One of the twenty three tributes who didn't win. You will be remembered only as the last obstacle that Katniss, this year's glorious victor had to face. You are worthless!"

A single tear ran down Cato's cheek. He released Peeta, and stepped back over the edge of the Cornucopia.

Katniss looked on in horror, and Peeta looked back at her in horror.

"Hurray," Katniss said flatly. They embraced each other.

The two of them slid off of the Cornucopia, then looked up towards the sky.

"Psych!" the voice of Claudius Templesmith boomed down at them, "Only one person can win after all!"

"Ha!" laughed Backpacky, "What a hilarious twist."

Peeta looked at Katniss with fallen eyes. "Do it. You go home, Katniss. For Prim."

She shook her head. "I'm not going to do it."

Katniss reached into her pocket and produced a handful of little black berries.

They looked at each other for a long time. Peeta took a couple berries out of her hand.

"On three," said Katniss, then, "trust me," she whispered.

Peeta nodded.

"One. Two. Thre-"

"Nope," said Backpacky.

Their hands stopped halfway to their mouths.

"If you were a totalitarian government," he continued, "Who used bloody spectacles to entertain the people in the capital and intimidate your enemies, would you rather show that with the power of true love you can beat the system, or that nobody can escape your control?"

Katniss sighed. "Let's just do it Peeta."

They brought the berries to their lips.

"Stop!" boomed the voice again, "I give you, the winners of the Seventy Fourth Annual Hunger Games!"

"Wow," said Backpacky, "They are falling apart up there."