Suzanne Collins (the great and wonderful) owns all wonderfulness of this story.

THE GAMES :))))) YAYAYYAYAYA

Chapter 12.

Empathy.

A strange and unusual thing, for me at least. To care about others. To really care about other human beings and what happens to them. I wonder what it's like to have empathy. The only human being, in this whole horrible world, that I love is Cato. And that ice surrounding my heart, well he's chiseling away. That hole, it hurts. But it loves. Love and pain, are interlaced aren't they.

But empathy for others, is not something I have, not something he has. And we won't mind taking their lives away. We'll enjoy it. What twisted human beings.

"I guess this is goodbye for now," I look at the ground. But he puts his fingers under my chin and lifts my head up. His gleaming blue eyes crawl their way into my soul and I try to memorize their beautiful colour. The farther into the games, the deeper they will become.

"I'll see you in a few hours," he whispers.

I shake my head, "what if we don't?" The tears threaten to come, but as always. I don't let them. I can't let them, not now, not ever.

"Then I'll see you in another lifetime."

There it is again, the love, the pain. Mixed together to make this one feeling of my heart being in my throat and my emotions pushing to be out. This feeling in my chest, it fights to get out. But I can't let my heart melt. Not now. Not ever.

"I love you," he whispers. We have never said those three words in our entire lives, until now. Not to our parents, not to our friends. Now that we're going into the games, we say it as much as possible. Because we need to before one of us is gone and we can't say the words again. Can't feel the strange syllables running from our tongues, in such meaning. Never again.

"I love you."

Redmond leads me to a hovercraft, waiting for me on the roof of the building. Waiting to take me to the arena. I grab the ladder and if freezes me in place and lifts me upwards. A woman dressed in white sticks a needle in my arm. I would wince if I wasn't frozen. Then they let me go and I stumble into the craft.

"What was that?" I ask.

"Your tracker," the woman answers stiffly, before she disappears. I take a seat in the empty hovercraft and Redmond sits down beside me. He has brown hair, cropped short, brilliantly vibrant green eyes. The only thing that trade marks him to the Capital, are the millions of tattoos covering his tanned body, and the many rings in his ears. I wish I could live long enough to get a tattoo. Or maybe grow old with the person I love. But life isn't fair and that's a lesson I learned a long time ago.

"You should eat something," my stomach clenches with nerves and I don't know how I could stuff something down. Everyone thinks blood thirsty careers don't get nervous for the games, that they're as confident on the inside as they are on the outside. But that's a lie. They're as nervous as the rest, they just have a better poker face. I order a plate of eggs, bacon and toast. And I force the food down my throat. I need my strength for the games.

I remind myself over and over that I'm better than all the others. That no one can touch me, that no one is a match for me. But my mother taught me a long time ago, that I'm not invincible. That's something I must remember in the games, I can't let arrogance be my downfall. Not when I need to stay alive to save Cato. My task is too important for silly mistakes. And I have my work cut out for me, but I've always loved a challenge.

Slowly the hovercraft lands and I'm led underground by a group of peacekeepers. I know we must be under the arena, when I look up at the ceiling I imagine the fates of every tribute, but one. I imagine just above us, 23 of us will die. Including me, the possibility of Cato too.

They take me in a room labeled "2" for my District I assume.

I sit on a metal table and look around the room. It's a dull grey brick, dark and pale in the underground fluorescent light. There is a hanger and a bag. Obviously containing the clothes I will be wearing in the arena. Then at the far end of the room there is a black tube, ready to lead me up to the arena. I can't help but gulp and I have to work hard to keep my expression neutral.

"We should get you changed now," Redmond breaks the silence, I almost forgot he was here.

"Oh really?"

"No need to be sarcastic," he frowns, "take off your clothes."

I shoot him a glare, but comply and slip off my outfit. I stand in front of him, wearing a sports bra and boy shorts underwear. They all gave us some this morning, saying this would be most comfortable in the games. My hair is already done up in a ponytail, three balls hanging down off my head. Again, I look like a dinosaur. But a baddass dinasour.

He gives me a maroon t-shirt, which I pull on over my head. And brown khaki pants, then a heavy duty balck belt to keep my pants up. I lace up a pair of hunting boots, they feel slightly unfamiliar to me, but they move well and seem like they would be good for running. Then I get a maroon coat, that has a thin material, good for rain, but a warm inside.

"This jacket regulates body heat," he comments, "expect cold nights, rain maybe." I nod, like I couldn't already figure that out for myself. He zips up my jacket, stealing one glance at the necklace hidden beneath. He gives me a sad look and I know then, that he knows about Cato and I.

"They had this jacket specially made for you," Redmond says, "they thought they would give you a good way to carry around your knives, there are spots in your jacket where you can line up your knives." I feel momentarily confused, why would the gamemakers want to give me an advantage. Then I remember the games are for their entertainment, and it would be so much better if I could just reach into my jacket and murder someone. They don't want to help me, they want me to give them a good show. Something I intend to do.

"10 seconds to launch," a mechanical voice booms around the room.

"Good luck Clove," he leads me over to the tube.

"9. 8. 7."

"Thank you," I whisper, and I'm surprised to realize I actually am thankful.

He nods as I step inside the tube.

"6, 5."

"I'll root for you," he smiles sadly.

"Root for Cato." Then the door of the tube closes and I start slowly moving up. I'm immersed in darkness, but I revel in the dark and that's not what scares me. The fear is of where this dark tube is taking me. I don't see how I can handle where I'm going. I imagine Cato in the same spot as me, the same thoughts running through his head. Thinking how he can't lose me, how no one can stand in his way of helping me win. Little does he know, I can. And I will.

Suddenly everything is bright, blinding me. The air is fresh and I can hear the sound of water. My eyes slowly adjust to the sudden light and I take in my surrounding with astonishment. How can they build something that looks so real. The 24 tributes are standing on their pedestals, surround a golden cornucopia. Each tribute is the same distance from the golden horn, to make things even of course. But the gamemakers don't care about making things fair, my jacket proves that.

"60, 59, 58, 57, 56." We have to wait 60 seconds until the gong rings out, and we can dash for the cornucopia, If you step off early, well. They'll blow you sky high. In my opinion, not the best way to go. What a weak way to die, I want to die in an epic battle.

Around us there are green forests, leading off for miles and I can't see where the forest ends. We're in an open field, a lake and stream behind us, and a mysterious field of wheat to our left. The place gives me an ominous feeling and I don't fancy having to go in there. Where the stalks are taller than me and I can't see anything. I finish my scope of the arena and fix my gaze to the tributes around me. To my right, three spots over is Fire Bitch, looking around the arena with awe. I don't see lover boy (hey that's a good nickname) around, so he must be on the other side of the cornucopia. To my left I can see Glimmer, practically out of my sight, she's glaring at the cornucopia. Her hair in two pretty little braids, it suits her. Right beside me on my right is Marvel, I remember I need to keep an eye on him, he can't die yet. Cato is too spots over on my left. He gives me wink before poising to run, his eyes trained on the cornucopia.

I get ready to run, I'm really fast. The fastest sprinter and long distance runner at our gym. Cato of course, is the fastest for the boys and I have no problem keeping up with him. We should reach the cornucopia first.

"19, 18, 17, 16, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11."

I find the knives and I prepare myself to run straight for them. Those are mine, and no one should dare touch them. Or they're dead.

"6, 5, 4, 3."

My nerves vanish as if they never existed, my eyes darken. I'm ready, I'm ready to kill. I can't wait to kill. The blood lust is working it's way up inside of me and I know I'm excited. And I no longer care enough to wonder what's wrong with me.

"2, 1."

The gong rings out through the arena. Then I'm sprinting my hardest for my knives. My heart pumping in my chest and my feet hitting the ground in a steady rhythm. This is the beginning, of the end of my life. And I'm ready.

I reach my knives and look around carefully. No one is approaching me. Except a girl, already holding onto the other end of my little package. I grin maliciously at her and she lets go quickly. She looks scared, terrified. I'm so happy that I've made her feel that way.

Let the games begin.

A/N: I know. I know. I'm super mean. But baby I was born this way.

Please review, the most amount of reviews per chapter I've gotten is 3, and I don't understand. I have so many views, please take the time to review, it only takes a couple seconds you could just say "nice job" or "this is really bad." And you'll still make my day. Please.

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Thank you so much to those who have bothered to review, your comments mean the world to me.

Now off to watch t.v. and do nothing all day.

Yay.

Until we Bleed, really gets me in the Clato mood. Check out! There's a really awesome Clato vid on youtube going to this song. You should check that out aussi.

xoxoxxoxo lovelies.