Author's Note : Title says it all.

"Ava Ayala."

Ava walked towards the podium with her usual perma-scowl on her face. She faintly heard her mother and the rest of her living siblings crying and found herself fighting off tears.

She would not let these monsters see her cry.

The people of district twelve knew that Ava Ayala was not one to show her emotions. Especially after her father was killed in the mines. After that faithful day, Ava face was twisted in a scowl.

When she stepped on the podium she saw her closets friends Peter, Danny, Sam, and Luke staring up at her with somber expressions. Ava faintly heard the male tribute being called up. He was a meek boy. Nobody she knew and will probably one of the first to be killed.

Oh well, at least it wasn't Sam, Danny, Luke, Peter, or Harry.

-Time Skip-

Later on the train, they watched the recap of the reaping throughout the twelve districts. Ava could care less who she would be facing in the arena. Her plan was to live of the land until everyone killed each other off. If someone did attack her, however, she wouldn't hesitate to fight to the death. It should have been the same with every district.

Why did the tall boy with raven black hair and sapphire blue eyes stand out to her?

He was the male tribute from district one. She didn't pay attention to his name though. Maybe it was because he volunteered. Sure, it wasn't uncommon for people in the wealthier districts to volunteer. But his circumstances were different.

A twelve year old boy was who he volunteered for.

-Video Footage-

The twelve year old walked towards the podium. His family that was standing outside the ropes and the ones who were young enough to be tributes stood frozen in the crowd.

"TIM!"

The boy turned around to see his adoptive brother push through the crowd and towards him. Two peacekeepers tried to restrain him.

"I volunteer!"

Sapphire blue eyes burned with fury as they pushed through the peacekeepers.

"I volunteer as tribute."

The twelve year old ran towards his brother and wrapped his arms around his waist.

"Tim, go."

"No."

"Timothy!"

"No!"

"Go find Bruce!"

Another boy peeled away from his group of tributes and pulled the twelve year old off of the volunteer.

"Up you go Dick." The boy with emerald green eyes and white streak through his hair whispered to his brother.

The twelve year old fought against the older male, trying to get to his brother. "NO!"

The sapphire eyed boy walked forward without looking back.

-End of footage-

Dick watched the district twelve reaping video again with interest. For some reason, the female tribute kept pulling on his attention.

She was gorgeous.

With brown skin, caramel eyes, and strong build, it was enough to make people look twice. She reminded him of a tiger.

As he went back to his room, he made it his mission to get to know the tiger girl.

Ava dismounted her chariot with a sigh before looking down at her costume. It wasn't related to her district. It was a white catsuit with jet black stripes. Her stylist took her token, a jade green tiger amulet and pinned it to her center of her chest.

She looked up when she felt eyes on her. Caramel brown met sapphire blue. It felt like getting shocked by lighting. He smiled at her. Ava's eyebrows rose.

Shouldn't he be planning on how to kill me?

Her eyes widened slightly when he started walking towards her. But Fury, her mentor, saw him coming and led her to the elevators.

The last thing she saw before the doors closed was his sapphire eyes gazing deeply into her own.

-Time Skip-

It was during training when Ava saw him again. He was pounding away at a dummy with two escrima sticks.

How the hell do you kill someone with escrima sticks?

As if he heard her thoughts, he pressed a button on the sides of the sticks and two sharp blades popped from the ends. He impaled the dummy.

Ava's eyes were the only indication that she was surprised. The eighteen-year-old boy looked at her with a smirk.

Impressed?He silently asked.

Ava glared at the blue eyed boy before stalking off.

Dick saw her come into the training room out of the corner of his eye. He was attacking a dummy with escrima sticks. His main weapon of choice. He saw her look at him in confusion with a slight tilt in her head.

Kind of like a cat.

He knew what she was thinking. How do you kill someone with escrima sticks? He pressed the button that was on the sticks so that the long blades came out the ends. Dick jammed the blades into the dummy's abdomen.

He turned to her with a smirk.

Impressed?

She glared at him and stalked off. Dick laughed.

She was totally impressed.

-Time Skip-

She sat by herself at lunch. Her partner sat with a few of the other tributes, the weaker ones. In a way she pitied them. Ava pitied them because she knew that there deaths were going to be the most savage ones.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a body dropping itself next to her. Ava looked in shock to see the blue eyed boy from earlier looking at her with a grin.

"Hi."

Ava looked around to make sure that she was the only one besides him that was sitting at the table.

"Hey?"

If he noticed her confusion, he didn't comment on it.

"I'm Dick Grayson."

Ava raised an eyebrow. What are you playing at?

"You know, when someone tells you their name, you usual respond with yours."

She narrowed her eyes. "Ava Ayala."

The boy- Dick- smiled in satisfaction before sinking his teeth into his food.

-Time Skip-

Ava grunted as she attacked the dummy. She found the weapon that was perfect for her. It was a metal glove. When you had it on and flexed your fingers a certain way, long, silver claws unsheathed.

Ava smirked inwardly as she attacked the dummy with said weapons. When she finished, she heard clapping. Ava turned around to see Dick leaning against the wall, clapping and smirking.

"You really are a tigress, aren't you?"

Ava swallowed the unexpected lump in her throat. "I've be told."

She turned around and walked away without looking back. Knowing that if she did, she wouldn't be able to control her tears.

Dick knew something was wrong the moment she walked away. In fact, he knew exactly what she was feeling. The pain of the memory of a lost parent.

Over the course of the next few days, Dick spent more time with Ava during lunch breaks. When it came time for their private sessions, Dick turned to Ava.

"Aren't you going to wish me luck?"

Ava's head shot up as he called out to her. Her face flushed when the rest of the tributes looked between them in confusion.

"Good luck." She growled, not sounding very sincere.

Dick smiled widely at her. "And to you as well, Ava."

-Time Skip-

When it was time for the interviews, Ava couldn't help but stare at the boy she has been avoiding. He looked handsome in his tux.

"So Dick, is there a special girl out there for you?"

Dick seemed to freeze for a moment before his trademark smirk etched itself on his face.

"Maybe."

Joe Kerr looked at the crowd with a huge grin before turning back to Dick.

"Well come on, give us a name."

Dick sighed and shook his head. "I don't know, it's kind of a secret."

He looked towards the crowd with a mock-questioning look. "I can trust you all with a secret, right?"

The crowd shouted that they could. Joe Kerr looked at Dick expectedly.

"Alright, she came here from a different district."

Ava's eyebrows furrowed. Another district?

"Oh? Which district?"

Dick smirked, but to Ava, it seemed hollowed.

"What's ten plus two?"

Ava, along with the entire audience, froze.

Me! He's taking about me!

"Are you saying, that your in love with Ava Ayala, the White Tiger?"

Dick looked to where the tributes were standing off stage, like he could see her.

"Yes Joe, that's exactly what I'm saying. And if she doesn't feel the same, I have some work to do."

Dick knew that he was risking a lot by confessing his feelings for Ava on live television. Hopefully, if Fury's plan worked, it will get them both out of the arena alive.

Ava remained in a shocked state throughout the rest of interviews. When it was her turn, she snapped herself out of her shock and forced herself to look emotionless. The roll Fury came up for her was disciplined and untouchable.

Apparently, untouchable to everyone but Grayson.

"So Ava, as you saw, Dick Grayson just confessed his feelings for you. Anything to respond with?"

Ava blinked and looked at Fury who pointed to her and shrugged.

Play the unsure role.

She sighed. "I don't know what I feel. In a way, I feel a bit foolish."

"And why is that, my dear?"

Ava thought back to the past few days. "I feel foolish for not seeing his feelings because he always payed attention to me. He sat with me during lunch, he even wished me luck before he went in for his private session."

Joe Kerr narrowed his eyes. "And you said you were unsure of your feelings for him?"

Ava nodded. "That's correct."

He cackled. "Seems that he has some stuff to prove in the arena, doesn't he?"

Ava copied Dick's actions from earlier and looked where the tributes were standing. But unlike Dick, Ava's look was vicious.

"For his sake, I hope not."

-Time Skip-

Later that evening, Ava walked through the gardens when she saw two people standing at the balcony. She stayed in the shadows. Looking closer, Ava saw that it was her mentor and Dick.

She watched in confusion as Fury handed something to Dick that was wrapped in a white cloth. Dick nodded silently and turned around to walk away.

Ava was already heading down on the elevator.

-Time Skip-

Dick blinked as he rose from his capsule. He looked around and saw that the arena was a frozen wasteland. There were mountains in the distance. Right next to what looked like a frozen lake and next to that was a forest.

He looked around for Ava and spotted her almost hidden from view because of the cornucopia.

Frozen wasteland. Great.

Ava saw Dick nearly hidden from view because of the cornucopia. Her gaze flitted downward to see her clawed gloves.

Ava saw Dick shake his head. She remembered Fury's warning.

Don't go for the gloves. You'll be drawn into the bloodbath.

But oh how she wanted to though.

Five...

Four...

Three...

Two...

One...

Ava ran for the nearest pack. For a split second, she thought about going for the gloves before seeing a tribute run towards her with a sword.

By the time he got to where Ava was, she already broke the treeline.

-Time Skip-

It's a day or two until she runs into her first mutt.

She was heading towards the mountains when she felt like she was being followed. Ava noticed a hulking black shape out of the corner of her eye.

Probably not the smartest decision.

Because the moment it realized she saw it, it charged.

Ava ran for the treeline. She kept running, not realizing that she's was running on the frozen lake. And that it was breaking.

After she fell through the ice, the last thing she saw was a gloved hand reaching for her.

Before Dick jumped after Ava, he gutted the mutt that was chasing her. Now, he was dragging her as far into the treeline as he could before performing CPR.

It's a day before she wakes up again.

Ava woke up the footsteps crunching against the ice. She tried to move, but found herself too sore.

"Oh good, your up."

Ava turned her head to see Dick kneel next to her to check her pulse. She scooted as far as her body would allow. Dick smiled and pulled something out of his pocket.

"Good thing we're allies, right?"

Ava stated at her tiger amulet in shock.

"Where did you get that?"

"Where do you think?"

Her mind flashed to that bought when she saw Fury handed something to Dick. Ava was roughly shoved from her thoughts when Dick started to get in the sleeping bag.

Which was also the sleeping bag Ava was in.

"What are you doing?!"

Dick smirked at her. "If we light a fire, we're signing our death certificates. And besides, this isn't the first time you and I shared a sleeping bag."

Ava raised an eyebrow. Dick took the opportunity to slip into the sleeping bag. She tried to lay as far away from him as possible, but cold air seeped in.

"For God's sake." Dick whispered before pulling Ava towards him. Her head ended up using his chest as a pillow.

"Sweet dreams."

When Ava could stand again, Dick gave her the clawed gloves.

It's two weeks before Dick kisses her. Which resulted in Ava slapping him. He laughed.

It's another week before he kisses her again. This time, she kisses him back.

Three weeks later, it's down to the last three tributes.

Ava growled as the tribute cut Dick with his knife. She comes up behind him and plunges get claws into his back. Dick stabbed his stomach. The cannon sounded. The two looked at each other before grinning.

Then, they realized they were the last tributes alive.

"Go on Dick. Do it."

Blue eyes looked at brown in disbelief. Said brown eyes had tears welling in them.

"Ava-"

"Do it! I can't kill you. They need one Victor, remember?"

Dick glared at the sky before looking at Ava. He stalked forward and slammed his lips on hers.

When he pulled away, he looked at her, determined.

"No. No they don't."

She looked up, understanding what he was saying.

"On three then?"

Dick pressed the escrima sticks to Ava's abdomen. Ava pressed her fingertips to the back of Dick's neck.

"One."

He pressed his forehead to hers.

"Two."

She kissed him one last time.

"Thre-"

"Stop!"

They pulled away and looked at the sky.

"Stop. Ladies and gentlemen, presenting the victors of the seventy-fourth hunger games. Ava Ayala, and Dick Grayson!"