Chapter Nineteen: The Best Feeling Ever

I rise slowly and shakily to my feet. "What – what did he just say?" I whisper, my voice trembling.

Cato stares at me, openmouthed. "I…"

The news slowly starts to sink in. Both of us can win… can live. If we're the last two alive…

A smile begins to spread across my face. "Cato! Oh, my God – we can both win!"

The truth of the matter seems to be dawning on him as well. "Clove…" He grins.

Suddenly he leaps to his feet. "We can win!" he shouts joyously. "Yes!" Before I know what's happening, he's lifted me off my feet and is spinning me around as though I weigh no more than a piece of bread.

"Put me down!" I shriek, but I'm laughing at the same time. "I mean it, Cato, you're making me dizzy!"

Cato laughs loudly. "Get over it, little girl," he says teasingly. For once, I don't berate him for using the humiliating nickname.

I close my eyes. "I… I just can't believe it." I smile widely.

"I know," he agrees, and I open my eyes.

"Why do you think they did that?" I ask wonderingly. Nothing could have set the precedent for this…

Cato rolls his eyes. "Why do you need a reason?" he says questioningly. "Just face it – we're too awesome to die. Isn't that enough?"

I sigh happily. "For now."

Then I snap back to reality. "Wait."

He looks over at me, apparently concerned by my sudden change in tone. "What?"

My eyes tighten. "Two isn't the only district with both tributes still alive, Cato," I remind him tensely. "Twelve."

Cato freezes, and then he groans. "Damn."

I hesitate. "Well… I guess we'll just have to fix that, then, won't we?" As if there are any other options.

"Of course," he agrees quickly. "It'll be easy. And then we can go home."

"Good," I whisper. "I mean… don't get me wrong, I love it here. But I want to see my parents, and Enobaria, and Brutus, and Maio…" I trail off.

"Me too," Cato agrees. "So we'll finish this as soon as possible."

I nod determinedly. "To hell with District Twelve. They aren't taking this from us."

We grin at each other. After a minute, Cato speaks. "You haven't slept for a long time, you know. Do you want to take a nap or something? I can guard," he offers.

"I don't think I could sleep if I tried," I admit. True, it's been a while since I last slept, but I'm too hyper right now to lie down. "I'm just… not tired."

He laughs shortly. "I guess I can understand that."

"I would hope," I giggle quietly. He rolls his eyes.

A thought comes to me a little bit late. "Wait, no, I slept this morning before we tried to figure out what happened with Marvel and Little Eleven. I guess I just forgot, but that explains why I'm not tired."

Cato snorts. "Yeah, right. I know you didn't sleep. Neither of us did. It'd be suicidal, when we're down to the final six."

I raise and eyebrow challengingly. "Would you have killed me in my sleep, Cato? I have to say, I didn't think you'd ever stoop that low."

Rolling his eyes again, he mutters, "Of course not. You're impossible." But he grins at me anyway.

We end up sitting by the lake again. It's the most peaceful place in the arena, I think – I just love it.

And of course we end up talking.

"You know," I say thoughtfully, "I know neither of us really thought about what our talents would be… but I think we have to now. Since we're both going to win. I mean, we have to do something, right?"

Cato frowns. "That's true. I dunno… I'm not really good at anything."

I snort. "Please, Cato. Just please."

He smiles faintly. "Fine. Correction – I'm not good at anything besides using weapons."

"Better," I say.

He shrugs. "I guess I could go into the weaponry business." Then he grins wickedly. "I could – ah – test them to see if they work properly. I'd be okay with that."

I smirk. "Sounds good. I wouldn't mind that either. Although I still think it'd be fun to be a stylist. For the Games, you know…"

Cato raises his eyebrows. "I forgot about that. You mentioned that in your interview, right? Not the part about the Games, but designing clothes."

"Yeah. I kind of forgot about it too, actually. What with being here… I guess actually being in the arena is kind of distracting."

"Agreed."

We sit in silence for another couple of minutes, just thinking. Or at least I am. How are the Games going to play out now? Obviously Cato and I are going to win, but when will we get a chance to kill the others? Maybe there'll be a feast or something. I doubt District Five would show up, somehow… we've hardly seen her at all since the beginning of the Games. She's probably hiding somewhere far away from us… though that doesn't explain why she was here the other day. And what about the pair from Twelve? They'll team up, naturally, but Fire Girl won't be able to bring Lover Boy back from what's as good as the dead. He'll die, she'll be upset – I don't believe she loves him, but they'll become closer, as allies, Cato and I are proof of that – and she'll be an easy kill. That only leaves Thresh… and between Cato and I, he won't be a problem.

For about the billionth time since entering the arena, I wonder what's going on back home. My parents are going to be thrilled, naturally – my mother will be happy about all the publicity she'll receive, and my dad will just be happy that this increases my chances of coming home safely.

Enobaria and Yoh are probably in shock right now. More than that, they'll be irritated, because now they'll be forced to work together for a longer period of time. Not that Cato and I were planning on breaking the alliance until we were down to the final two anyway. Ha.

"How long do you think this is going to last?" Cato asks suddenly. "We've been in here for… how long now?

I have to think about it. "Um… a little over a week, maybe?"

He nods. "Sounds about right. It can't go on for too much longer, can it?"

"I wouldn't think," I say slowly. "But we're down to the final six, so it's not like there's going to be a death every day anymore. This is where it gets interesting."

"Right. So… what's the plan?"

I smile half-heartedly. "Same as always, isn't it? Kill people."

Cato frowns. "You make us sound evil when you say that."

I smirk. "Do I care?"

He sighs. "I changed my mind. You don't just sound evil."

My smirk shifts into a scowl. "Watch it."

Now he smirks at me – damn him. "Like you'd kill me at this point. You couldn't win without me, little girl."

"Shut it," I advise him. "I let you get away with calling me that once. Don't expect it to happen again."

He just laughs at me. "Whatever, Clove."

"You say that a lot," I mumble.

Cato snickers. "I know."

We enter another silent period. I'm wondering how I got stuck with such an irritating district partner when a strange thought enters my mind.

"Why?" I ask him curiously, momentarily forgetting that he has no clue what I'm talking about.

"What?" Cato says, looking baffled.

"You know. A while ago, you kept trying to get me to go to sleep. Why was that?"

To my surprise, Cato looks kind of… embarrassed. "No reason. Just… trying to be a good… ally."

I don't miss the hesitation there. "You were about to say something else," I accuse him.

He sighs, surrendering. "I guess… I was going to say friend. But that doesn't really work, does it?"

I grin. "It does now."

I turn to face him completely when he doesn't respond right away – and I'm met with a strange sight. Cato seems to be having some internal debate… and the expression on his face is hilarious. I'm very tempted to laugh at him.

"What?" I giggle. "You look funny."

He rolls his eyes. "I think it really has been too long since you slept, Clove. You're hysterical."

"Am not," I argue. "You're mean. And you looked like you were going to say something else. What was it?"

His eyes narrow. "Nothing."

"Liar!" I exclaim. "Tell me."

"I don't know what you're talking about!" he argues.

I tug on a lock of my hair in frustration. "Cato, I swear to God if you don't tell me whatever the hell you were thinking right this second, I'll slit your throat." I draw a knife threateningly to prove my point.

He raises his hands in front of him. "I'll make a deal with you. Take a nap. Hold it," he warns when I start to protest. "If you do, I'll tell you."

I huff in annoyance. "Fine." I lie down on my side – no tents anymore. "I'm not tired," I add in a whiny voice.

It seems that he couldn't care less. "Clove, I really couldn't care less."

Whoa. I'm good.

"Just go to sleep," Cato finishes.

I glare at him and close my eyes. I do have to admit, it's nice, being able to fall asleep without having to worry about being attacked. Cato is the only one here who would stand even the slightest chance against me, and now that we're a team – a real team – I can sleep without worrying that he'll try to kill me. It's nice to feel… safe.

Wow. Did I really just think that?

Maybe I really do need to go to sleep.

I'm surprised when I wake up – one, because I don't remember falling asleep at all, and two, because I slept for so long. It looks like it must be late afternoon at least… but it's still really, really hot.

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner?" I demand when I spot Cato a few yards away from me. It was still dark when I went to sleep!

He shrugs. "You needed rest. And…" Oh no. He looks guilty again. "There was sort of a fire off in the distance… but I figured that it was a ruse anyway, and… I didn't want to wake you up…"

I pinch the bridge of my nose. "Of course."

"Are you mad at me?" Cato sounds worried. Good.

I glare at him fiercely. "Never mind. So, what were you going to say earlier?"

Cato sighs. "Is there any way I can get out of telling you?" he asks warily.

I shake my head. "Nope."

"You're just going to yell at me," he warns.

"Wait." I'm hit with a vague memory. "Didn't you say something like that to me before? After the tracker jacker attack?"

He nods, grimacing. "Well… that's kind of what it's about…"

"You were trying to get me to take a nap," I recall, "and you said that. Only, it was weird, because you'd just said the same thing about sleep two seconds before…"

"Right," he mutters. "Because that's not what I was talking about." Then he freezes, as if he wishes he could take back those words.

"What?" I ask incredulously. "Then… what were you going to say?"

Cato looks at the ground. "Do you remember? I looked over at you, and I was about to say… something… and you asked what… and I said you'd just yell at me if I told you. You assumed I was trying to get you to take a nap."

I try to push him forward. "And… you weren't?"

"No," he admits. "I… I was thinking about breaking off the alliance. Completely."

I stare at him, speechless. "Why?" I whisper. It's strange that it hurts to hear this, but it does.

He sighs. "Because… I didn't want to kill you."

What's my brilliant response to that?

"Um…"

"I know," he interrupts. "It was stupid. But… I guess… you'd started to feel like a friend. And I guess I didn't want it to come down to just us… because killing you… it would've sucked," he finishes lamely.

I force myself to meet his eyes. "I didn't want to kill you either," I tell him quietly.

Cato's eyebrows shoot upwards. "Really?"

"Really," I say, a smile forming on my face. "I kept hoping someone else would kill you before I had to… because I didn't want to."

He smiles widely. "Well, in that case… I think this rule change is a very good thing."

I grin back at him. "It's taken you this long to figure that out?"

He rolls his eyes – and I notice the bags under them. "Cato!" I say, shocked. Damn. "When was the last time you slept?"

He shrugs. "Not sure."

"Take a nap!" I order him. "Just… for a little while, okay? I feel like a bad friend, letting you stay up all the time."

Cato smiles. "Don't worry about it," he says, but he lies down and appears to fall asleep almost immediately.

I sigh and lean my head back to watch the nightly death toll – nothing, obviously. Cato's acting a bit strange… but I guess we've both had a bit of a shock. It's understandable. I'm actually glad he made me sleep, though, because I feel very rested now, which will be good when something exciting happens.

Cato ends up sleeping for a ridiculously long time – so long that I'm getting very bored just sitting here. The sky turns light, and the sun makes it's way across the sky. Anyway, he's eventually woken up when the trumpets blare suddenly through the arena, and we both leap to our feet, just like before Claudius Templesmith announced the rule change.

"Congratulations to the final six contestants of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games!" booms the announcer. "I'm here to invite you all to a feast!"

I exchange a thrilled glance with Cato. A feast!

"Now hold on. Some of you may already be declining my invitation. But this is no ordinary feast. Each of you needs something desperately."

What? We don't need anything desperately.

"Each of you will find that something in a backpack marked with your district number, at the Cornucopia at dawn. Think hard about refusing to show up. For some of you, this could be your last chance."

That's the end of the announcement. I look at Cato. "What do we need desperately?" I ask.

He shrugs. "Nothing that I can think of. Maybe we'll need something soon and we just don't know it yet."

I smirk. "Either way, we're going to kick some ass tomorrow morning." Yes, this is going to be good.

Wow. Almost the end, guys! One more chapter after this, plus the epilogue... and Clove's story is over. :(

Anyway. This chapter was interesting to write, since I could be creative with Cato and Clove's reaction to the rule change. I hope it lived up to your expectations! Let me know? :D

Also. (Wow, I seem to really like these one word sentences at the beginning of paragraphs. Sorry.) I got a review recently that made me laugh so I thought I'd share a part of it. It's from an anonymous reviewer, and the end of the review reads: "Bravo, take a freakin' bow, kid." That... made my day. xD I laughed so hard.

So. (Okay, that one was on purpose...) That leads up to what I've been saying since the beginning: REVIEW! Pretty please? You don't even have to have an account, for those of you who don't know that! Seriously. Just click the button that says "Review this Chapter" and leave a review! It doesn't matter if you loved it or if you hated it (if you hated it just tell me why). Just review! Please! :D

One last thing. I mentioned a while ago that I'm planning another fic... I didn't give a lot of details. It's about Marvel, basically the same thing as what I've done with Clove... going through his time in the Capitol and the Games. I'm writing it mainly because I thought of a title I want to use, "They Call Me Stupid." I'm putting this here in case you haven't seen it on my profile, because I'd really like opinions about whether anyone would be interested in reading it. Thoughts? ;)

Argh, sorry for the long author's note. :P Review! :)

~What the Quell