Chapter Thirteen.

"Peeta, Peeta!" Katniss' excited voice stirs him from his slumber. His eyes crack open and slowly, he rolls onto his back, reaching up to rub the sleep from his eyes. He still feels heavy and slowly, the events of what happened before he went asleep enters his muddled mind. Suddenly, he's wide awake. The medicine. His one chance at survival and Katniss was back, alive, and with it. He shoots up, ignoring the pain because soon, it'll be the thing of the past, and looks over at her. She looks as she did before she left. But this time, she's smiling. "I got it, I got it." she says, holding up the narrow bag with 12 written in bold, white numbers.

"So you're okay?" he asks, remembering his role as a star-crossed lover. But after this medicine, maybe he can go find Cato. The thought makes him frown. Cato doesn't want him so he might as well stick by Katniss. But he's playing the game back this time, he knows it. He isn't falling in-love with Katniss and he's not just a pawn. He's a player and they both know it.

She nods as she begins to open the bag.

"Cato?" Peeta can't stop the word and Katniss looks up from untying the knots on the bag, her brows furrowing before her face smooths out. His name hurts to say a little because he wants to say it and the boy to be there.

"Thresh snatched up his bag and ran off. I'm sure Cato and him are fighting out for it as we speak. And Foxface, she was hiding inside the Cornucopia, so she had hers in record timing and was gone." she explains, even though Peeta didn't ask about Foxface and he didn't care.

Cato... Thresh stole his bag. Of course Cato would go after Thresh and fight him for the bag. She opens the bag and Peeta watches as the joy in her face slowly crumbles, her shoulders slumping.

"What the-" she stops as she tilts the bag upside down and three, fist-sized rocks fall out, clanking to the cave floor. All they do, at first, is stare at the rocks, wondering what kind of sick joke this was the Capitol was pulling now. Peeta allowed himself to hope, for one second, Cato had something to do with this but doubted it after that. He looks at Katniss' face and nearly flinches. The fury on her face is frightening.

"What the fuck is wrong with them!?" she screams, picking up a rock and tossing it farther into the cave. Her face flushes with her fury, her breathing becomes ragged as she picks up another rock and glares at it, as if it's the rock's fault. "I thought I could save you! Make you live and we could go home," she throws the rock as hard as she can and it clanks faintly in the distance, "TOGETHER!"

Whoa. She's good at this whole, bitch-fit-throwing-because-my-boyfriend-is-going-to-actually-die thing. Or is it an act? Is Peeta the player and she the pawn? Peeta doesn't want to think about it because he needs to calm Katniss down, before she does something stupid.

"Stop throwing the rocks!" he says when she lifts the last one to throw it. The anger lessens as she gives him a confused look. "Maybe I should lick them and see if they're coated in medicine."

She stares at him, her arm slowly falling back to her side, the rock clanking to the ground. And then, she bursting into a fit of giggles but these aren't normal, ha-ha, school girl giggles. No, she's in hysterics. She begins to laugh, tears pooling into her eyes as she falls onto Peeta and clutches his shoulders. And all Peeta can do is wrap her in his arms and hold her as her laughter drifts off into heart-wrenching sobs. Even his heart clenches a little at the sound of them. Was she acting? Was she seriously this upset over his problem? She had to be. Katniss wasn't this good of a liar, Peeta knows this. He bites his tongue as he tightens his grip on her. So be it. She's the pawn and he's the player. He had gotten rid of the guilt, he refuses to let it come back. Even, his future was looking extra bleak now and so, his mother might be right. District 12 might finally have a winner. Not winners.

He swallows thickly as her sobs slowly die off and she lays there, her breathing rapid whereas he's quiet, just staring blankly at the wall opposite him. What can he do? What should he feel? He isn't sure of anything anymore. He isn't sure what to do, what to say, and especially what to feel. The Capitol played with them, just showing them they could do whatever they want. They dangled hope in front of their faces and they took the bait only to have the rug pulled out from under their feet. It was a horrible feeling, gut-wrenching. He was going to die, no hope in the world. He briefly wonders if Haymitch is cursing the Gamemakers out but he doesn't want to think about that. He realizes, with a heavy heart, Katniss fell asleep. He leans his head back and closes his eyes. He doesn't know what to feel anymore. Katniss isn't playing a game, she's serious about her feelings. She had to be. He, though... he's smitten with somebody he barely knows and can't even have. With a deep breath and a stroke to her braid, he finds himself drifting off with her.

...

Katniss shakes him awake, her face grim. "We need to eat, I'm going hunting." her cheeks are flushed, her eyes are red and puffy, and her hair is messy.

She looks like a mess and he knows she feels like it. Peeta nods, leaning forward and capturing her lips. Star-crossed lovers. Her fingers are in his hair, holding his head in place, as she presses her lips back. Slowly, they part and he sees tears shining in her eyes before she's turning away. He realizes it's a new day then, as she crawls out of the cave. He unzips his sleeping bag and wonders if she only went hunting to get away from the pain, to get away from the fact that he was going to die and their last hope was hopeless. He feels... numb. Just numb. He knows what he's feeling now: nothing. Nothing at all. He's just... done. Done with it all.

He can't do anything about his death and so, with a shake of his head, he wishes Katniss the best but deep down, he's hoping Cato wins. Even though Cato wouldn't want his blessing, he's thinking it anyway. A small flare of emotion raises in him at the thought of Cato and he clenches his jaw, trying to banish it. No, he wants to go out of this world feeling numb. What happened to the fighter part of him? No, he feels it slipping away. He feels like he's slipping back into the boy he was at the bakery. Not nearly as strong, as confident, as sure of himself. Just a boy with a mother who hit him sometimes and a low self-esteem. But here, in the arena, he became someone new, someone stronger, someone he liked and admired. He was still himself but things were added to him and he felt better about himself but now, here he was, wallowing in numbness and waiting for death.

With a jolt, he hears the sound of feet outside but they're too heavy for Katniss, too uncaring. Katniss walked carefully to not scare animals off; these feet weren't in search of animals. There's clanking, like rocks being thrown around and knocked down, and Peeta's hand grips the jagged rock, his heart pounding. It isn't Katniss, he knows that. She wouldn't dare make this much noise. The loud pound of feet, the uncaring of noise... he feels his throat tighten as so many emotions swirl in him; fear, glee, confusion, and the most powerful one, the warmth building in the pit of his stomach and spreading through him at a slow pace. He hasn't felt it since his kiss with Cato and it feels wonderful but Cato was here to kill him. The noise stops and then, his boots come into view and then all of him. Holy crap, he looks... amazing. How can he look so good while still in the arena?

Peeta quickly takes him in. His blonde hair is a mess atop his hair, dirty and sticking all which ways, his clothes are ripped and torn and dirty but he makes the look look good, sexy, attractive. As Cato looks around and his eyes land on Peeta, the hardness there, the look of a killer, Peeta doesn't know what's he's doing before he does it. He throws the rock straight at Cato's face and he panics the instant he does it. It was knee-jerk reaction because, fuck, wasn't Cato here to slice his throat and make his death quicker? And because he couldn't stand looking at that damn face without feeling so much pain. How did he become so attached to Cato when he wasn't even with him? The thought was maddening and he didn't want to see Cato because of all these annoying emotions. Cato's quick and ducks to the left but the rock still snags him in the arm, getting caught in his jacket and falling to cave floor. It didn't cut through the jacket and make him bleed but Peeta hopes it leaves a bruise. The sudden fierce thought scares him and the fear stays when Cato turns an angry gaze on him.

"Ouch," Cato deadpans, rolling his eyes to the cave ceiling and pinning Peeta to the cave wall with an angry glare. "That's the greeting I get?"

Peeta's mouth goes slack, his mind going blank. That rarely happens, he always has something to say, always knows the right words but now, as he stares at an angry Cato, his mind is blank. He slowly shakes his head, looking away from Cato, and just like that, words and questions and anger and want is flowing through his mind. "What the fuck do you want, Cato?" he snaps, grabbing the other, smoother rock that was in the bag at the feast. Did everyone's bags hold these? Or were they just being targeted?

Cato shuffles closer and Peeta reacts, trying to push himself away. His leg protests and his face scrunches up in pain but he keeps trying to move away, moving to the side, towards the entrance, sliding against the jagged wall. Cato freezes as Peeta slips from the sleeping bag, trying to get away from him. He scowls and Peeta freezes, returning the scowl.

"I know you're here to avenge Clove's death," Peeta continues since Cato hasn't said anything. Cato's hand flexes and Peeta stops breathing, as he sees Cato is holding something. It looks small and he's sure it's a dagger, something sharp, ready to kill him. "I'll scream for Katniss." he threatens weakly but he could barely breathe as it was and so he knows screaming wasn't a choice on his part. He was about to die. Not from this wound but from Cato. The boy with blue eyes that makes his body feel like it was on fire.

The anger in Cato's eyes grow. "You're unbelievable, 12." he hisses and moves forward fast, lifting his hand up. Peeta's breath catches and he can only let out a tiny, shaky gasp as he feels a pinch in his thigh, right near his open wound. He feels a slight burn as Cato presses down a plunger- wait, a plunger? What the... Cato removes his hand and leans back on his heels, as Peeta stares with wide eyes, at the syringe sticking up from his leg. A syringe... medicine. Cato just gave him medicine. Blue clashes with blue and Cato still looks very angry. "I told you not to die on me," he snaps, scowling, but there's a softness beneath the anger, the same softness that haunts Peeta's dreams.

Peeta feels his head spinning. Did Cato just actually help him? Or give him a deadly dosage of poison that will make his death longer and more painful? He sucks in a sharp breath, using his hands to lift himself up and move himself a little ways from Cato. He doesn't miss the flash of hurt in Cato's eyes but it disappears as fast as it came. "Is-is that medicine?"

Cato looks shock for a split second but then it's gone. "You know what, Peeta?" that name sliding off his tongue isn't soft or sweet; it's angry and scary. "Fuck you. I came to save you, to prove to you I could save you and not that Girl on Fire but you're just-" he breaks off and closes his blue eyes, huffing out. "I guess that star-crossed lover bit isn't so far off then, huh? Enjoy your medicine that I risked my life for, 12." his eyes open and they're a mix of so many emotions: confusion, hurt, pain, but most of all, anger, fury.

Peeta opens his mouth, his shock evident on his face. He isn't even sure what he's going to say. Cato risked his life to save his. He got him medicine because now he believes it's medicine to save him. He saved him. He saved his life. "Don't you dare say anything, 12. I'm going to win this thing so I hope you enjoy your last fucking moments with Katniss." Cato snaps and Peeta's heart clenches when Cato's voice shakes on Katniss' name.

He hadn't known Cato had cared enough to risk his life, cared enough to risk getting an arrow in the ass, cared enough to come to him and confess these things. But now he's leaving, shuffling towards the cave entrance. Peeta opens his mouth, his mind in a whirl wind, but nothing comes out of his mouth. Cato pauses at the entrance, hesitating, his eyes glancing back. And when Peeta still doesn't say anything, stunned and confused by the hurt in that glance, Cato leaves, leaving Peeta with his thoughts and a whisper of his name.

...

You guys probably hate me more for leaving you with this cliff hanger. I'm sorry for any typos. I'm back to my regular updating now and so, Wednesday, guys, Wednesday. I hope this was a good enough chapter and I hope you're glad we're flying through the Katniss chapters... so... Question of the Chapter anyone?

Would you have trusted Cato if he came into the cave? What would you do about Katniss, with how she's reacting?

Till next time, my lovelies! Much love, LW.