A/N: Hello again! So once again, as always, I really don't know where this story is going, how long it's going to be, and what I am doing for this chapter as a matter of fact. Let's just see what ends up happening.

Oh, and if someone does die, please don't kill me! D: I'm only trying to make the story realistic. I do have an idea that will please most people though.

Ok, on to the chapter.

Rue POV

We had found two other caves to camp out in not far from our original one. We knew that the Capitol could blow them up again but what mattered the most at that moment was finding shelter.

It had been a day since our cave was blown up. Not much happened really. One more tribute died though. I think it was the girl from District 10, but don't quote me on that one.

So now, there were eleven tributes left. The 7 of us and 4 enemy tributes. The only two that we were really worried about were Cato and Thresh, the male tribute from my district. Cato was like a machine who could kill anything and Thresh was just about the same way. The only other two tributes that were our enemies were the District 10 boy and District 1 boy named Marvel.

It was late at night. I was snuggled up in a sleeping bag with Katniss. I alternated between Katniss and Peeta sleeping with me because one of them was always on watch, to keep us safe in case the Capitol did try and blow this thing up. Katniss, Peeta, and I were in this cave, and Jade, Beck, Cat, and Robbie were in the other one about 3 yards away. We had a rope system going on. A long cord of grasses stretched from our cave to the other cave. The person on watch held one end of it in their hands. If anything should go wrong, the person on watch need only tug on the rope and all 7 of us would spring into action.

So safety was really not an issue to be honest. Therefore, I didn't know why I was wide at this time of night. I could tell by the way Katniss was breathing that she was awake too.

I looked over at Peeta, who had fallen asleep.

"Katniss?" I whispered. Katniss looked down at me.

"Why are you still awake? You need to sleep," she said, brushing some hair out of my eyes.

"I could say the same to you. And I can't sleep because…because I have a plan. I kinda only want you and me to do it, but I know it'd be better to have everyone else come along," I said.

"Ok. And why did you only want me and you to do it?" asked Katniss.

"Because…I feel closer to you than anyone else," said I said. Katniss smiled. A real, genuine smile. One I hadn't seen for a while.

"Alright. What's your plan?" she asked me.

I told her everything that was going through my mind. My plan was for us to blow up the food pyramid that Cato had stacked by the lake (we had seen it and seen that Cato had dug up and re-placed the land mines when we were hunting the other day together). I would light some three fires to lure Cato and other tributes away from the food and towards me. We would use the mockingjays to signal if we were alright. I sung the tune quietly so no one would wake up, and Katniss sung it back to make sure we had it right. Katniss would shoot an arrow at something in the pyramid to set off the land mines around it. The food would blow up, and we would rendezvous back at the camp.

"That sounds perfect. No way Cato can survive without his precious food pile," said Katniss.

I nodded. Cato couldn't survive without it, and that was just that.

"So…are we going to tell the others when they wake up?" I asked.

"One of the others already heard," said a deep voice that could obviously only be Peeta.

Katniss and I sat up and turned to him.

"Oh…hi," Katniss said. He smiled.

"Sounds like a great plan, Rue. Who knew you were such a mastermind?" said Peeta. I smiled.

Katniss hugged me and ruffled my hair.

"Course she's a mastermind, she's Rue," Katniss said. My smile only got wider.

We talked until it was just light enough out to call it morning. Then the three of us went over to the other cave, where we were surprised to find the others awake.

"You don't talk as quietly as you think you do," said Beck. He was smiling though.

Katniss POV

"So you heard the plan?" I asked. Everyone nodded.

For the next hour, we were setting up the areas where the fires would be lit.

"Ok…let's go ahead and put it into action. Peeta, Jade, Beck, you're with me. Cat, Robbie, and Rue, you're going to light the fires, ok?" I said. I needed the stronger ones to be with me, and everyone seemed to understand that.

I whistled the call to signal we were alright and explained it to the others, just in case they didn't catch it.

I grabbed three knives and handed one to Rue, Cat, and Robbie.

"I'll see you at dinner, ok?" I said to Rue. She looked a little bit scared.

I hugged her close to me, praying that this wasn't the last time I would do so.

I hugged Cat too, promising that everything was going to be alright.

"You take care of them, alright?" I said to Robbie. This was different from all the other times we had split up; there were stronger people in each group. Now….not so much.

"I will," he said. I went ahead and hugged him too.

I remembered saying goodbye to Prim and Mother. It had gone sort of like this. I had told her not to cry when I was hugging her. Only now, I was telling myself not to cry.

We finally headed into action.

"We need to get to the lake. Everyone got a weapon?" I asked.

I had my bow of course, Jade had the sword, Beck had Tori's old knife, and Peeta had a spear that we had found yesterday.

"Guess so," I said. We headed for the lake.

About twenty minutes later, we were near it. Cato had set up sort of a roof-type thing about 20 feet away from the pyramid.

I looked over and saw the smoke from the first fire that we set up.

Cato looked up and grabbed a sword from his wide variety of weapons and headed off. I hoped that the others were already running to the next one like I told them to.

I drew my arrow and aimed at the food pyramid.

When I released, the arrow sliced open a bag of apples, and before I realized that we needed to get back, the mines went off. We were all thrown backward.

I landed on my back and a shooting pain went through me. I turned to make sure everyone was alright.

Shock wasn't quite the word to use for how I felt when I saw Beck lying still on the ground.

I ignored the deafness in my left ear for a minute and crawled over to Beck. Jade was shaking him violently, trying to wake him.

"Beck. BECK!" she screamed. I didn't care if we were heard.

I tried to help her.

"Beck, come on buddy. Come on!" I said. I felt tears stinging in my eyes.

Peeta just watched in shock. They were really good friends…

"How did he get hurt?" I asked hurriedly.

"He was too close. I don't know what he was trying to do…oh my god, BECK!" Jade said, shaking him and crying without shame.

I put my hand over his heart. There was no pulse.

The boom of a canon told me there was nothing we could do.

The tears in my eyes slipped down my cheeks now as Jade sobbed over his dead body. It seemed to get more and more painful every time we lost someone in our group.

I couldn't imagine what Jade was going through right at this moment. She had loved him. It was obvious. To have him torn away from her…the thought killed me inside.

I forced myself up so I could comfort Jade. I held her tight in my arms as the truth set in.

I was pretty shocked to find Peeta crying as well.

Jade was in the worst state. She kept saying his name over and over, saying that she should have done something.

When I tried to speak, I started crying just as hard. Like I said, every loss hurts more and more.

After a minute or two, I remembered the others.

"We g-gotta go find the others. C-can't lose anyone else," I said.

Jade nodded and took deep breaths.

I grabbed Peeta's hand.

"It'll be ok," I said. He nodded. I kissed him lightly on the cheek.

Once we got up on our feet, we were practically flying through the woods to where Rue and the others should be.

When we got to the fire, we found that it was unlit. My heart sunk, and fear overtook me.

Jade hurriedly whistled the tune.

There was no reply.

"RUE!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Panic started setting in, but I knew I needed to stay calm.

Suddenly, two of them came bounding in. Cat and Robbie. Both were panting heavily, sweat pouring down their faces.

"Where's Rue?" I demanded.

Robbie froze and his eyes got wide.

He whipped around, seemingly searching for her.

"I thought she was behind us!" he cried out.

"Oh god," I whispered.

Without thinking, I ran towards where Rue might be, screaming out her name.

Suddenly, a shriek filled the air. No girl but her could make that sound.

"RUE! RUE WHERE ARE YOU?" I yelled. My heart was racing, and even though my back was screaming for me to stop, I kept running.

"KATNISS!"

She was close by. And finally I saw her.

She was caught in a net. It looked like a booby trap; surely one of the enemy tributes had set it.

Before I could get to her, the boy I recognized as Marvel showed up with a spear in his hands.

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

He threw the spear at Rue, and it hit her in the stomach. Fury rising in me, I sent an arrow into his neck, just as I had to Foxface when she killed Tori.

I heard the canon that signified Marvel's death. Wasting no more time, I ran over to Rue and got the net off of her using the tip of an arrow. I put her head in my lap.

I knew there was nothing I could do at that moment. It was too late.

"You blew up the food?" asked Rue, a tear streaming from her eye. She reached up and gripped my hand tightly.

I heard the others run up to us. They stopped short as they saw what was happening.

"Every bit of it," I said. I stroked her hair in a comforting gesture.

Rue closed her eyes and shuddered. More tears spilled from her eyes when she opened them again.

"You have to win now. all of you," she said, glancing over at the group who watched on at the scene unfolding before them.

"I promise," I said, my voice starting to falter. Tears sprung in my eyes.

"Sing?" asked Rue.

I nodded.

"Deep in the meadow

Under the willow

A bed of grass

A soft green pillow

Lay down your head

And close your eyes

And when they open

The sun will rise," I sang. Rue was slipping away from me. I turned away for a moment to try and hide the tears.

"Here it's safe, and here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet–

–and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you," I continued singing.

Rue closed her eyes, and her grip on my hand slackened.

A sob ran through my body, and I couldn't help but let it out.

I used all the strength I had to finish the song for Rue.

"Deep in the meadow, hidden far away

A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray

Forget your woes and let your troubles lay

And when again it's morning, they'll wash away

Here it's safe, and here it's warm

Here the daisies guard you from every harm

Here your dreams are sweet–

– and tomorrow brings them true

Here is the place where I love you.

Here is the place where I love you," I sang, finishing the song.

There was no life in the eyes that I stared down into. There was no pulse in the wrist that I gripped so tightly.

My Rue was gone.

The sobs really started coming on hard now. I made no attempt to hide them or quiet them either.

I held Rue's hand tight and just sobbed.

I felt strong arms around me, and then another pair. Peeta and Jade were holding me tightly.

"I hate the Capitol. I HATE THEM!" I yelled. I started screaming obscenities up at the sky, hoping the Gamemakers and President Snow and everyone else would hear them.

"Katniss. Katniss calm down," Peeta said. He held me even tight and pressed his lips to my temple.

Nothing was going to calm me down right now though.

To spite the Capitol, I got up and found some flowers. I cut their stems with a knife and began placing them around Rue, tuning out everything and everyone else in the world.

When I was done, more tears came over me.

"She looks beautiful, Katniss," said Jade.

"Thanks," I said quietly.

I felt the wind starting to pick up, and I knew the hovercraft to pick up Rue was nearby.

The three of us stood up and looked down at Rue one last time. She looked so peaceful and calm.

"Goodbye, Rue," I said.

I touched three fingers to my lips and held them out at the sky, hoping the District 11 people would see this gesture and know what I was meaning.

I couldn't bear to look down at Rue one more time.

With blurry vision, I looked over at Robbie and Cat. Cat was in Robbie's arms, and both of them were crying.

"Let's go," I said roughly.

The rest of the night was a blur. We ate the rest of our food, and lie down in our caves. I remember the conversation we had had before going to our separate caves.

"Do you want us to all stay in one cave?" asked Robbie. I could tell by his tone of voice that he sort of wanted me to say no. Frankly, I wanted to say no too.

"No. not tonight," I said. Cat and Jade understood.

I was now laying with Peeta. my head was on his chest, and he had one arm around me.

"Are you ok?" asked Peeta. that was all it took to break me.

"No," I said. Before I knew it, I was shaking and crying all over again, my head buried in the crook of his neck.

"Shh," Peeta said, holding me with both arms now.

"I miss her so much," I said through my sobs.

"I know. I miss her too. I miss Beck, too," he said.

I remembered that we had lost him too. We had lost two people in one day again.

That only made me cry harder. Peeta just held me tightly and whispered comforting words in my ear until I had calmed down.

After I was calm, I had lain quietly in his arms, enjoying the security that I felt by knowing that he was here.

"I hope they feel guilty for killing a little girl. She could have had so much life ahead of her," I said, my voice still shaky.

I looked up at Peeta, who was looking pretty tired and worn down. He nodded, agreeing with me.

It was almost as if we were reading each other's minds, because we leaned in and kissed at the same time. And this was the first one that meant something to me. The first one that made me want another.

So when Peeta said, "I love you," I didn't hesitate to say I loved him back. And for the first time, it wasn't just part of an act.

I closed my eyes and scooted in even closer to him, and he tightened his grip on me. I finally fell asleep to the sound of Peeta's heartbeat and steady breathing.

Rue POV (A/N: you'll understand in a minute, don't worry.)

I watched the two of them in the cave for quite a while. Katniss and Peeta. Katniss couldn't seem to stop crying, and Peeta was there to hold her.

I knew I was dead. I wasn't going to deny it. But I had unfinished business before I could truly go.

In my ghostly form, I glided over to the two of them.

I pressed my fingers to my lips and then held them out to Katniss and Peeta.

"Thank you," I whispered.

I saw a light in the distance, and I saw Beck standing there.

"They'll be alright Rue," he assured me.

He held out his hand, and I took it.

Peeta POV

I laid with Katniss until she fell asleep, her head on my chest.

I was pretty tired too, so I decided I would go ahead and let myself rest.

I kissed Katniss's head and lie back.

I could have sworn that before I fell asleep, I saw the outline of little Rue, her fingers held out in the District 12 salute.

A/N: Here you go. Sorry if this is sort of jumbled and confusing…I'm sort of tired. I promised to update so I figured I needed to do this before I went to sleep. I hope that this was at least tolerable. Please review!