CupcakeSprinkles14- Aww! Cousins! If you two are anything like me and my cousins, I hope you aren't getting into too much trouble, lol. I'm happy my story is a family affair though :)

Rolyn- Thank you! Here's the update! Hope you like it.

Pale Is The New Tan- That's funny because I definitely do a weird happy dance when I read all these wonderful reviews. I'll gladly feed your addiction.

MangoMagic- It seems like even though we live thousands of miles apart, you'd never know it because the weather sounds like the exact same in both places. Anyway, this chapter has a taste of an interesting little rendezvous for Peeta and Cato ;)

The day of the games had arrived. Peeta found himself saying genuine goodbyes to his prep team and even feeling a little sentimental towards Effie. He decided she wasn't so bad after all. He then took his spot next to Katniss as they left the 12th floor of the training center with Haymitch. When they arrived at the hovercraft that would take them to the arena, it was Haymitch's turn to say farewell.

As Haymitch approached his stoic tributes, he exhibited some uncharacteristic warmth. He embraced them both; wrapping an arm around each of the tributes to pull them close to him. "Get to high ground, find water, and never let your guard down." He then pulled his head back to look at both teenagers, but especially giving Peeta an all-knowing glare that held an encrypted message. "If you survive to day three, you'll both do me proud." Katniss couldn't help but narrow her eyes and sneer at the comment. She was sure as hell going to try and last longer than three days. Was that truly the best Haymitch thought they could do? But Peeta knew better and nodded in understanding to his mentor. Something was going to happen on the third day and he was going to make sure he'd still be around to find out.

The hovercraft arrived at the hangar underneath the arena and Peeta was escorted to his underground launch room. Rubbing the sore spot on his forearm from the injection of his tracker, he looked around the room and saw the tube that would bring him up from the ground to the arena. Standing next to it was his stylist, Portia. She silently stepped forward to hand him his arena attire. When Peeta was fully dressed in his black shirt, belt, brown cargo pants and boots, Portia helped him into his jacket. He rubbed his hand tenderly across the district 12 emblem on the sleeve and looked into Portia's eyes.

"How do I look?" Peeta lightly smiled.

"Damn good," Portia grinned back. "And ready. You look ready."

"I am ready."

"I know you are. Good luck, Peeta. The world will be watching."

Peeta entered the tube which immediately enclosed him and he began ascending to his fate. He found himself placed on his podium in the midst of a wide open clearing. About 100 yards straight ahead rested the giant steel cornucopia. It seemed both ominous and welcoming with its treasure trove of weapons and supplies. Looking around further, he surveyed the arena. It was a forest this year, a lot like the one outside district 12 that he had secretly trained in for years. A wave of nostalgia and relief rushed over him. This year's landscape was the best he could have hoped for. Focusing his attention back to the clearing, he scanned the arc of tributes that were evenly spaced away from the cornucopia. He witnessed personified fear, misery, determination, and blood thirst. Which one was he? The last wrung of the countdown pulled him from his deliberation.

10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1, BOOM!

All the tributes shot out from their podiums. Some were fleeing straight for the woods while others boldly took on the cornucopia. The start cannon's burst reverberated through Peeta's bones as he rushed to meet Katniss. Yep, breaking Haymitch's plans already, Peeta thought to himself with a smirk as he was sidelining dangerous close to the cornucopia to reach his partner. He's probably throwin' a fit, tossin' liquor bottles and screaming at the screens at us like a lunatic right now. Sorry, old man.

When he finally reached Katniss, he had to shout at her amidst all the chaos that was unfolding only a hundred yards away. "I see a bow and quiver of arrows over on the left side for you; I'm going straight in to the devil's mouth to get the knives on the table. Grab whatever supplies you can and meet me on the west side of the clearing." Katniss simply nodded and the two ran side-by-side towards the bloodbath that had already started without them. Many tributes were already armed and fighting with everything they had. As Peeta and Katniss got closer, the boy from 5 ran straight at them, swinging his backpack like a nun chuck. Was he insane or something? The district 12 tributes just looked at each other and shrugged before linking arms and totally clothes-lining the kid as they continued to race towards the cornucopia, completely unfazed by what just happened. Finally, they split up to retrieve their separate spoils. "I'll see you later. Good luck!" Peeta yelled as Katniss veered to the left. Hopefully he'd see her soon. The Careers were already well on their way to dominating the cornucopia, brandishing their weapons of choice as they showed no mercy to their victims.

Cato had just slid his sword into the boy from 7 when he caught the blur of blonde from the corner of his eyes just in time to see the district 12 tribute bombarded by the two tributes from district 9, both armed with swords of their own. The younger blonde didn't seem to bat an eye at the charge. The girl from 9 was clearly inexperienced with her blade and she bent down to swing at Peeta's shins to try and take out his legs. Peeta swiped his feet up from the ground and rolled over the back of her, meeting face-to-face with the boy from 9 who took a more direct approach and swung his sword straight at Peeta's face. Peeta easily dodged the attack, reaching out to grab the tribute's arm that held the blade, twisting it back to use as a block against the girl's second swing that was aimed towards his chest. As the girl stumbled back from the block, Peeta swung the boy's arm back around and rammed the sword he still had a grip on straight into the kid's lung. As the boy from nine fell from his own sword, he released the grip on it, allowing Peeta to easily take it from him and pierce the girl before she got a third swing in. Cato witnessed the scene in a matter of only a few moments, astounded by the skill of the younger blonde from 12. He could clearly see now how he managed such an impressive training score.

Still holding the blood-soaked sword from district 9, Peeta ran deep into the belly of the cornucopia and immediately retrieved a belt of knives followed by a backpack stuffed with what he could only assume was a goldmine of survival supplies. As he darted away from the bloodbath and started to wrap the belt of knives around him, he stopped in his tracks as his eyes were drawn to the glistening axe head of a tomahawk leaning against the curve of the cornucopia. Peeta was a novice with a long-bladed sword, but he could easily maneuver the short shaft of a tomahawk. Peeta dropped the heavy sword and opted for the special ax instead when he was suddenly slammed into the cold steel of the cornucopia, dropping everything he had just spilled blood for. Shit, he thought. I didn't even get my knife belt on. Rookie mistake, idiot. As he struggled, he met the bloodthirsty eyes of his captor.

"Told you you wouldn't be getting far from me," The blood-spattered Career leered as he held Peeta's wrists against the wall and placed his knee in-between the younger blonde's legs. "Didn't think you'd hand yourself over so easily, but who's complaining?" He began to trail hot kisses up Peeta's neck as the smaller boy struggled against his larger opponent. Peeta had to think fast. He knew from experience there was only one foolproof way to distract Cato.

As Cato went in for another assault against Peeta's soft neck, he was intercepted by Peeta's lips instead. The Career eagerly accepted, forcing his tongue into the younger boy's mouth to maintain dominance when out of Peeta's mouth came the sexiest moan he had ever heard. Cato lost himself in the moment and dropped Peeta's wrists to reach down to the boy's waist and draw him closer. He was so far gone in his testosterone and endorphin-fueled high from the bloodbath that he gripped into Peeta's waist so hard it was bound to leave deep purple bruises.

It was at that opportunity that Peeta used his now-free hands to grab the older boy's head. Instead of grabbing it to deepen the kiss, he turned slightly to ram Cato's head against the steel wall. The Career yelped in pain and was stunned long enough for Peeta to push him off and escape. As he headed for the woods, he bent down to collect his fallen weapons and ran for his life. The rush from the kiss gave him that extra burst of adrenaline to disappear in the tree line before he could be followed.

Peeta didn't stop. He knew if he was caught by the Careers there would be hell to pay. He had to find Katniss. He was traveling through the woods from the west of the clearing just like he had told her to do. Where is she? He thought when he was suddenly rocked by the barrage of cannon blasts. It was signifying the bloodbath was officially over. Peeta made it out alive. He silently trudged along the rocky formation of a widening river bank, counting the number of blasts. They stopped at 10. 10 tributes already dead. He continued through the woods along the river's edge. It was going on an hour since he escaped the cornucopia and he was starting to get worried. He stopped by the water to fill up a canteen from his backpack when he heard a loud whisper echo across the bank.

"Psst! Peeta! Over here."

He stiffened at the voice and looked up and around until his eyes caught sight of three silhouettes moving from under a rock shelter on the other side of the bank. Three? He panicked as his grip instinctively tightened around his tomahawk.

One of the dark figures emerged and Peeta recognized the dark braid. "Katniss? Who's in there with you?"

The other two figures poked their heads out. "Rue? Thresh?"

"Hurry and get in here, Peeta," Rue called to him. "Others might be coming."

This wasn't really part of the plan, but Peeta wasn't about to protest. He did enjoy their company at the lunch table back at the training center. They seemed like a pair that could be trusted. Maybe this could be a good thing. Peeta waded through the river and the others helped pull him up into the hollowed out section of rock. Each girl took an arm while Thresh unceremoniously grabbed Peeta roughly by the seat of his pants to pull him up, causing the blonde boy to yelp in surprise.

"Hey now! Watch the merchandise." Peeta snickered.

"My bad. I'm not really known for my delicate nature," Thresh chuckled.

Peeta smiled with a nod and took a seat next to Katniss. "I was wondering if I'd ever find you. I was getting worried."

"Once I got my bow, I ran as fast as I could and ended up body-slamming into Thresh. Needless to say he didn't budge and I bounced off like a bug. Rue helped me up. She had climbed a tree and spotted this perfect rock formation here on the side of the river and uh, yeah, we're allies now."

"Sounds good to me," Peeta smiled at his new alliance.

Back at the cornucopia, the Careers returned after the hovercrafts had picked up the slain tributes. Cato was still seething at the memory of Peeta's escape. He replayed in his mind how he was blinded by sheer ecstasy until he had felt his head slammed against the wall. Pain had shot across his skull, his vision clouded with black spots and his equilibrium was thrown off. That little shit had slammed him hard. He remembered regaining composure well enough to catch the sight of the younger blonde's figure disappearing into the tree line. He was going to chase him down when the boy from 8 had suddenly appeared in front of the Career and tried to take him on while he was down. Even with Cato off his game though the foolish boy hadn't stood a chance. The Career had rolled away from the boy's spear and grabbed his sword to slash at the enemy's Achilles tendon. The boy from 8 had fallen in a bloodcurdling scream as Cato got up to thrust his sword down for the final blow. By the time it was over, the only tributes left alive in the clearing were the Careers. Peeta was long gone. Not only did the boy from 12 leave Cato with a wounded head, he had wounded the brute's pride too. No one escaped the clutches of a Career during a bloodbath. That was a crime that could not go unpunished.

As night was falling over the Career camp, they were all gathered around the fire regaling one another with stories of their triumphs during the bloodbath. The Capitol anthem silenced them and the sky was lit with the images of the fallen tributes. The pair from 3, the boy from 5, the pairs from 7, 8, and 9, and the girl from 10 all flashed across the sky.

"Looks like we'll be doing some hunting tomorrow," Clove remarked as the sky went black again.

"And it looks like Cato can still get his boy from 12," Marvel added smugly. "We just have to get to him first."

"I had him at the bloodbath," Cato bitterly told the group, "but the little fucker weaseled his way out and then I got sidetracked killing another tribute."

"We'll find him first thing tomorrow, Cato," Cast comforted his leader.

"Yeah, we'll find him and then kill him," Glimmer spit.

"And if he's with his partner," Coral added, "then I call dibs on her. I'll make her watch and then kill her myself. I can't wait."

So, Peeta has a new alliance that is not the Careers and now he's about to be hunted down by them. This story has certainly deviated from the original and it's only going to deviate further as it goes on. I hope that's okay. I obviously don't own anything Hunger Games so I'm just going to take inspiration from the amazing Suzanne Collins and her characters and do a little twist on it. See you all in a couple days!