Cato becomes conscious sometime the next morning. He knows that it's morning because there's a fresh layer of dew beside him as well as a certain grayness in the air that tells him the sun hasn't quite come up yet.

He lays there for several minutes still not completely aware of what's happened to him. Sometimes the Hunger Games is just a dream, something he strives for and cannot wait to achieve. Other times he's still lying in a bunk at the Academy. Sometimes he's even home. As in the home his parents own. His father the Honorable Victor and his mother the seamstress. When he hears a loud banging noise he thinks it must either be his older brothers fighting for their father's approval downstairs or the footsteps of a Tribute. When he finally manages to open his eyes he realizes it's neither of these things.

The light blinds him at first but as his conscious manages to catch up to him he realizes that he's looking at the small face of the girl from District 11. She looks terrified to be spotted and quickly hides behind the tree she scaled up in. He thinks he must've hallucinated at first which is curious considering he never gave much thought to the young Tribute.

However, when he finally manages to push himself off the ground and into a sitting position he realizes she must really be there. He probably would've never spotted her if he hadn't already seen her before. She's well camouflaged, especially among the grey new light of day. He tries to regain his bearings or to remember what happened. When he attempts to stand up he fails miserably, crumbling back to the ground he mumbles words that are sure to make his mother flush with embarrassment. He ignores the curious eyes of the girl in the trees and instead inspects his injuries. He's covered in blood but quickly realizes that very little of it is his own.

His muscles are sore and his limbs heavy as he rolls up his pants and sees the giant bumps that swell across his skin. There are few across his arms as well but he forces himself to ignore them as he straightens his jacket out. He does a quick inventory and is pleased to find his sword intact though in danger of rusting from the amount of blood left to dry on it.

He huffs and finally looks around the clearing he spent the night in. Just a small patch of land, barely enough for him to sleep in. Trees enclose over the tiny meadow hovering far above him and so dense he can hardly see around them. He snorts and pushes his hair down before forcing himself to stand up. It takes a good minute to work past the occasional muscle spasm and the soreness. He does his best to hide this from the cameras that are surely watching.

He pinches the bridge of his nose and rubs it for a moment before doing one last take in his surroundings. He sees the direction he must of come from with the snapped twigs and broken branches. He shakes his head but it does little to bring back the memories of how he ended up here. He remembers fighting Jason and the others but after that his mind draws a blank.

He steps around the tree and looks up to the girl who nearly shrieks in terror when she realizes he knows she's been there the entire time.

It's nice to know somebody still fears him…

It doesn't matter though. She's up there and he's trapped on the ground. He could barely get up on his feet let alone attempt climbing a tree.

"Eleven, what happened?"

He sees her knuckles have gone white from where she grips the tree. He eyes this for a moment before turning his attention back to her petrified face. He realizes pretty quickly that she's too afraid to speak to him. He scowls, never one to point out a weakness of his but also never one to be kept in the dark.

He lifts his arms up despite the pain that shoots through his veins. He drops them back down casually to his sides. "I can't hurt you from down here, can I?"

Her eyes slowly wander around as though to be sure that there really is no way up for him.

Her voice is shaky but she finally manages to get her words out. "Your friends with the girl who volunteered for her sister… Aren't you?"

"Allies." He quickly corrects her. He regrets this instantly, the sharpness of his words seems to have scared her away.

So the kids likes Katniss? He goes off of that. "Do you know where Katniss is?"

She presses her lips together and shakes her head violently back and forth.

Liar.

"I'm not going to hurt her."

The kid still refuses to speak and Cato's had just about enough of it. Another flash of pain shoots through him and he falls against the tree, quickly crossing his arms as though to make it look casual. The world doesn't need to know how much pain he's in right now.

Mrs. Everdeen watches the TV alone after her daughter goes to school for the day. The Hawthorne boys went out of their way to come and pick her up again.

The District 2 boy was up and badgering the little girl from District 11. It was obvious he didn't know what happened. The stingers were still in poking out from his swollen flesh, no doubt making the wounds worse and prolonging the effects of the tracker jacker venom.

She waits several minutes for the camera to finally spare Katniss a moment. Her oldest daughter still twitches occasionally in her sleep but otherwise is dead to the world. Mrs. Everdeen quickly snaps from that thought. Not dead not dead not dead.

She exhales slowly and then takes one more deep breath. Katniss was a survivor. A little sting wouldn't kill her. Her choice in allies, however, might.

Katniss's eyes burn when she attempts to open them for the first time. She groans, throwing her head back and giving an exasperated sigh as she attempts to sit up. Her entire body aches with a soreness that feels unbearable, especially in the sharp cold morning air.

She gives herself little time to adjust as she sits up properly. The shrill pain has her nearly falling back to the ground but at the last minute she swivels and instead falls against the rock beside her. She leans into it and tries to figure out where she is.

Her eyes follow the path she must've taken in order to fall where she laid, barely off the natural trail that leads even deeper into the woods. A sitting duck. Anyone following the narrow dirt path would stumble upon her, weak and hardly conscious.

It's when she goes to scratch the itch behind her ear that she realizes what must've happen. The bump on her neck certainly isn't an everyday injury. She gasps when her callused hands run over it before immediately dropping her hands back to her side. There is a similar bump on her wrist and upper arm. She examines the one in her wrist and after a few experimental pokes she knows she's been stung by tracker jackers.

She sees the little stinger still stuck in her skin, teasing her over her short nails that are unable to grip it properly. She always did have a bad habit of chewing her nails. Years ago, when her father was still alive and kicking, her mother would often chastise her for the state of her nails. Very unlady like Katniss. As though the black coal was attractive, always stuck between nails and skin no matter how often you dug it out.

She pours a small amount of water over her wounds before finally standing up. Her mind reels and it's difficult to see past the black dots that suddenly invade her vision. She gathers her backpack which feels especially heavy under the circumstances. She only makes it 100 feet or so before having to sit down and take a deep breath. Her best bet was to find Cato, as ridiculous as that sounded.

They were still allies and he would most likely be in a similar condition as her. And then, for a moment, she felt a trickling of fear. He could be dead. It was a very realistic possibility that she hadn't thought of before. She pushed the thought to the deeper part of her mind, determined to focus on what lay ahead of her. Despite her wobbly steps and painful wounds there was a part of her that wondered what it would feel like to truly be alone in the arena, surrounded by enemies and trembling children.

In the distance a voice echoes against the trees, bouncing bark to bark and echoing through the woods.

"It's been two fucking days?"

Her first instinct is to run but then when the voice settles in her mind she realizes who it is. A flicker of hope lights up inside of her as she pushes herself in the direction the echo came from. She draws her bow, thankfully intact, and positions it in front of her for any sudden movement that she deems dangerous.

Maybe the only danger is that her ally has lost his mind and is now screaming at trees.

Once she's looked him over she allows her eyes to wander up the bark where his anger lies. The little girl from 11, Rue, is perched on one of the higher branches of the tree as she looks down on Cato with a mixture of fear and wonder.

Not wanting to alarm either of them she lets out a slow whistle to announce her arrival. Both eyes snap over to her as she slowly lowers her bow. She limps over to the base of the tree and holds onto it for a fraction of a second before dropping her hands to her side. "What happened?" She asks Cato.

"We've been out for 2 days, according to her." He nods up the tree. Katniss looks from him to the girl the tree before deciding he must not know much either.

"Back up."

"What?" He glares at her.

With her good arm she pushes him backwards until he takes a few steps for himself and watches her with curiosity, though she detects some anger still obvious in his presence.

"Rue," Katniss calls up to the small girl. "We won't hurt you. Okay?"

"You can't promise her that." Cato snaps behind her though she ignores him.

Katniss looks at the small girl in the tree. "You're quite clever up there. Is that how you survived so far?"

She gives a shy nod. From the very beginning Katniss couldn't help but compare this girl to her sister and now looking up at her it was breaking her heart that the 12-year-old was wearing the same jacket as Cato and herself.

"Do you know what happened?" Katniss gently requests.

Rue casts a nervous look towards Cato before turning her attention back to Katniss. "You were fighting the Careers in that clearing." Her voice is wobbling and both Katniss and Cato are surprised by the sudden turn of emotion in the girl. She was alive, what did she have to cry about?

"The District One girl saw me… And…" She's pressing her lips together and Katniss knows that if she were to give into her emotions she would be out right sobbing.

Still, she's at a blank of what could have happened.

Cato's figured it out though. A kid in a tree with a Career, even if it's only Glimmer, staring up at you with the intent to kill. Obviously Rue was smarter than he thought and had a strong will to live if she had risked cutting down a tracker jacker nest.

When he looks over at Katniss he sees her figuring it out, several emotions washing over her at once. It's mostly a combination of horror and admiration.

He tries to keep his voice light but it's always had that sharp ring to it. "You don't have any stings."

The kid still looks close to a breakdown but she manages to reach into her pocket and produce some leaves. Her and Katniss stare at each other for a very long time before Katniss slowly nods. Cato's bewildered at such an interaction but as the girl slowly starts to descend from the tree he knows exactly what's just happened.

He's just made another ally from an outskirt District.

I feel awful for not updating in nearly FOUR months but I think we can all agree it's been tough waiting for Catching Fire. Even if there's no Cato :(

I've also had some personal issues but I'm ready to get back to writing regularly. I'm going to make this story my primary since I've got a lot of ideas for it and can begin to update more often. With that being said, it would mean a lot if you'd leave a review.