A/N: Woo-hoo! We are getting close to the drama now! Alliances shall be made and people will die. Yep, sounds like the hunger games to me!

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"So, ally," Sophie smiled at the District Twelve tribute, "What's next on the agenda?"

"Find Maggie and then get to the stream I found," Nate answered with a shrug. He was busy trying to decide which way to go. The mutt had chased them further away from his safety net than he thought.

"Oh, that's easy," Sophie sighed in relief. She didn't seem to care about the fact that he was paying more attention to the tracks than her. In fact, her voice sounded relieved by the lack of attention. Nate took note of the tone and filed it for later. He didn't want to know if that was a bad sign or a good sign at the moment.

"She's waiting for you by the Career camp."

Well that was great. That actually went against Nate's plan completely. His plan was to avoid the Careers at all costs. Yes, he already broke that plan but he didn't want to do that again. Besides, Sophie's plan sort of changed his plan considering she was counted among the Careers until about five seconds ago. Leave it to Maggie to throw him through another loop. Nate grimaced at his choices in allies and located the stream. Now, all they had to do was get Maggie.

"Let's go to the Career's camp."

Sophie smiled, nodded and immediately started showing him the way. Nate tried his best to ignore the fact that she was practically skipping. He did not want to know what was going on in her head. It was too frightening to believe.

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"So be careful of the booby traps because there should be a lot of them sometime soon," Sophie explained quickly enough.

Nate stared at her. They had been traveling for at least half an hour and she hadn't so much as said a word about the camp they were heading towards. In fact, all she said was something about how the plants here were perfect for something like stew. He hoped she said stew. He didn't want a crazy for an ally. Sure he could deal with it, but he didn't want to. So the question was: why didn't she mention the camp was booby trapped?

"What?"

"Yeah, the camp has booby traps to prevent the rest of us from stealing the food." Sophie turned around and placed her hands on her hips. She looked impatient. Why was she so impatient? What did he say?

"Why didn't you mention this before?" He demanded back. He was really unhappy with the fact that she hid information from him. Allies don't hide important information from allies. Of course he was angry that she hid the fact that he could die just stealing his ally back.

"I didn't think it was important at the time," Sophie shrugged. She puckered her lips a bit and tapped her foot. She was getting frustrated with him?

"You didn't think it was important to mention that our ally was near a camp that would be booby trapped when we got there to rescue her?" Nate had to stop himself from strangling his new ally.

"Well when you put it that way I just sound cruel," Sophie giggled. She wasn't frustrated with him anymore apparently. She seemed much more interested in aggravating him beyond belief. In fact, she seemed to enjoy it.

"What kind of booby traps?" Nate thought it was safest to just ignore her humor. He didn't want to kill her and regret it later.

"Traps very similar to the ones we learned in training," Sophie took a moment to pause in deep thought, "One of them decided to use one of the spears and hide them in the trees so it will collapse through you if you trip a wire."

"So just your usual games' fun?"

Sophie nodded. Nate sighed in relief. At least they were dealing with unoriginal material. Anything new would stick out like a sore thumb.

"So are we going to get Maggie or just stand here and discuss it?"

Nate glared at the girl. She giggled again and nodded. "That's what I thought," she said. She twirled around and started leading the way towards their ally.

Nate fought off the urge to shoot her with his precious arrows. She could come in handy. He needed to wait a few more minutes before he did anything rash. There was more to her than met the eye and he needed to know it if he was going to win. He needed to figure out what to do with her really.

"Don't go that way," Sophie ordered softly. She pulled on his left arm and led him through the big tree roots he was trying to avoid.

"Why?" Nate asked. It was easier than yelling at her for making things difficult.

"Remember that trap with the spear?" She asked. She kept talking and didn't even look up from where they were going.

Nate looked up and immediately noticed the spear hidden in the trees. It was camouflaged pretty well considering he didn't find it immediately. The only real sign that it was a spear at all was the pointy silver thing at the end. Most people would just continue on without giving it a second thought. Squirrels sometimes brought rocks up into the trees to crack their nuts.

"Are we already at the camp?"

"Almost," she said. She quickly pushed him to the right and he obeyed her instructions. He noticed a string tied to the tree specifically so it could only be seen one way.

"We'll be there in about fifteen minutes," she said.

She was right. There was a sparkle of water through the trees and then there was a circle of trees. The Cornucopia was in the center by the lake. The camp stretched out towards the forest and stopped at the end of the little clearing. The Careers were each camped out near a tree and enjoying a nice warm fire. They were unaware of their unwelcome guests. That was good. The pair slowly moved within hearing distance of the camp. They crouched low behind a bush and discussed tactics.

"Let's go this way," Sophie suggested quietly, "They'll never even know we were here."

"She's in the trees," Nate pointed up to reveal Maggie's hideout without revealing it.

"Oh," Sophie's eyes grew wide in understanding as she spotted the District Twelve girl camped out in the tree directly above the Careers' camp. "That's almost exactly where you were hiding when the mutt came into that clearing the other day. You were going to kill me, weren't you?"

"Yeah then I figured out the rest of your plan," Nate huffed towards her quietly. "It's a good thing I did too because you came in handy more than once already."

"What took you so long to take the shot?" Sophie pointed out with a smirk. Apparently she figured out just how long it took him to fail at that.

"I don't know what took me so long," Nate admitted slowly. "It doesn't matter because we've got to get Maggie out of there."

"Want me to try?" Sophie suggested bravely.

"No, I want you to…" Nate stared at the district one tribute's audacity in surprise. The girl just waltzed on into the camp as if nothing unusual were about to happen. "The hell?"

"Excuse me, gentlemen," Sophie calmly announced her presence with a gentle wave of her hand and a polite smile. "Could you help a girl out?"

"Where have you been, Sophie?" James demanded of the tribute in worried relief. "I've been looking all over for you."

"Well," Sophie took a careful look back towards the trees opposite Nate with wide eyes, "I'm the distraction."

"What do you mean?" James asked with a weary look around the camp.

"The tribute from one of the other districts," Sophie gulped in a barely there whisper. "They tried to kill me but I was smart enough to say that I had something worthwhile here at camp if they spared me."

"Which way," James nodded as he caressed her cheek in a very loving way. Nate ignored the fact that he wanted to vomit at the gentle nature of the savage boy in the circle. It was so obvious that he was trying to use Sophie to win the games. Pathetic!

"Nate!" a quiet voice whimpered from above. The boy looked up to see his fellow tribute had succeeded in getting out of the tight spot. "What's going on?"

"Sophie's our ally," Nate answered back just as softly. "She's the distraction."

"Oh," Maggie nodded with a gentle plop beside him. "Well, our distraction is about to get a knife in her back from the boy from district three hiding behind the tree."

Nate's attention immediately found the threat and took him out with a quick zip of his arrow. He and Maggie quickly moved out of the way as a spear came to the exact spot Nate once was. The boy's cannon fired off at the same time. Nathan huffed in anger at that. He accidentally gave away his position to save his ally. Hopefully, it was a risk that would pan out.

"How many?" James whispered just a little too loudly.

"I'll tell you in a minute," Sophie promised with a quick look directed towards the other tributes in the circle. The boy from district four looked like he was trying to decide if he could squeeze in a few minutes alone with her.

"They finished the bombs," Maggie informed her ally immediately. She wasn't sure if they were going to say anything to Sophie or not.

"Bombs?"

"Yeah, Nate, bombs," Maggie rolled her eyes, "They just finished rewiring the bombs the Capitol uses to keep us from getting a head start. They're going to plant them tomorrow like little mines.

"It's an arrow," the girl from District Two informed the group. Nate tried to figure what her name was. He was drawing a blank.

"You lost the arrows?" James gasped at his fellow tribute's idiocy.

"Well they did attack me from behind," Sophie glowered towards them, "I couldn't exactly take them back. We're lucky they're greedy enough to bring me back."

"They attacked their ally," District Two girl explained, "That must mean they've changed tactics."

"Alright, everybody span out and make sure," James ordered. He pointed towards the three minions of the pack, "Protect this area with your life and make sure you have those mines ready. We're planting them as soon as we get back.

"Sophie and I will retrace her steps to see if they left anything behind," Marcus volunteered.

James' eyes grew into slits at the suggestion. Unfortunately, he was not in a position where he could argue. He nodded his head and sourly started ordering the other tributes around.

"We'll wait until they are out of earshot to strike," Nate whispered to Maggie. He then pointed up to the trees and Maggie smiled. She knew exactly what to do.

The two Careers traveled through the woods in silence. Sophie was carefully looking for a way to get out of her current situation. Marcus was kindly admiring the girl's figure. Nate and Maggie were following in their respective places. Sophie bent down to check out a plant and Marcus enjoyed the view of her bending down. Maggie rolled her eyes and waited for the signal. Nate took a moment to roll his eyes and regret what he said at the interview.

"Sophie," Marcus moved to her side into an uncomfortably close proximity. He looked around and grinned that they were far enough away from camp to talk. "Can we have a moment?"

"Sure," Sophie agreed with a smile. She kept her eyes peeled for any possible enemies and looked up to send a prayer of help. Instead Maggie waved.

"Got ya," Maggie whispered to herself from up above. She was directly over Marcus' head.

"About what the boy from District Twelve said the night of the interview," Marcus began.

"Hey!" Nate pointed his arrow at Marcus. Maggie dropped down.

Marcus was out instantly and Maggie took advantage of the moment. She grabbed Sophie's hand and started running. Nate followed suit immediately afterwards to make certain they weren't being followed. The trio ran for the hills at top speed until they were certain they were safe. Maggie stopped to gather up some water at the stream they found.

"When did this happen?" Maggie questioned quietly. She was pouring iodine into her canteen to make certain it would be safe for drinking.

"When Sophie stole my arrows," Nate fired back as he did the exact same thing with his water.

"Technically it happened when Nate decided not to kill me," Sophie bit back as she took a swig from her still filled water bottle.

"They're going to find Marcus soon," Maggie explained with a quick look upwards to get her bearings. "We should work on finding a spot to camp that's as far away from them as possible.

"Good idea," Sophie agreed after she quickly refilled her canteen and purified it. "That way we can take some time hunting and gathering up edible plants."

"How many plants do you think there are here?" Nate questioned the expert in interest.

"Enough to keep us alive if you come back empty handed from the hunt," Sophie responded as she started making her way down river.

"No!" Maggie grabbed the tribute from district one and shook her head, "We go North!"

"But there's more water South," Sophie responded in confusion. "That means more game."

"More game," Nate agreed with a nod, "And more hunting. North means more plants and a better chance of survival."

"And cleaner water supply," Maggie nodded as she started directing their ally upstream.

"Okay," Sophie shrugged as she was sandwiched in between the two tributes of district twelve.

They traveled North for a matter of a few minutes before the loud crunching became too much. Nate whipped his head around and glared at the District One girl.

"What?" She asked.

Nate rolled his eyes and shook his head. "There's no need to sound like a herd of elephants stampeding through the woods. I know you know how to walk through here silently and I would appreciate it if you would do so."

"I am walking silently," Sophie argued.

"No, you're making a lot of noise."

"I haven't made any noise since this game began. Even when I'm home I don't make noise. It's one of my rules."

"Then why are you breaking it?"

"I'm not breaking it."

"Yes, you are!"

"NO, I'm not!"

Maggie watched the two of them trading verbal blows and decided to interrupt their little fight for a moment. "Umm, guys?"

"Yes, you are!"

"You sound like a child!"

"I am a child! That's the whole point of the games, to slaughter children! Yeah, I am a child! Glad we established that one!"

"Just because you are doesn't mean you have to act like it!"

"Umm, guys?" Maggie's soft voice rose higher to be heard among the quarreling couple.

"I'm pretty certain it does because that is what the game makers and the rest of the Capitol are looking for!"

"Guys?" Maggie grunted at her fellow tribute's response.

"Maybe you should stop alienating any possible sponsors and act like you're actually going to win this game!"

"You mean like you and forgetting to mention the whole bomb thing?"

"I knew the bombs weren't going to be planted when we got there. I would have informed you about them if they were!"

"Guys!" Maggie shouted at the pair in disbelief.

They both turned their glares on her and stared. If they were standing side by side they would probably be elbowing and poking each other like children. They both were most definitely pouting like them. Maggie rolled her eyes at their behavior and kindly pointed up the stream.

"We better get going before the Careers find us and seek revenge," she growled, "If you two are done with this whole arguing thing then we can continue and get a really good head start before dusk. but you know, we could always just stay here and let them find us and kill us and lose the game. It's no big deal."

Nate and Sophie's glares grew darker at her statement. They turned towards each other and rolled their eyes. Sophie stuck out her hand and Nate shook it. They were going to be compliant again.

"Good," Maggie beamed at the pair, "Let's go."

Maggie noisily led the way North. Her stomping feet caused nothing but sound to be heard for possible miles. She was clearly unused to being quiet at home. Her feet were going to scare away all the game. Hunting was going to be something Nate would do alone.

"I told you it wasn't me," Sophie said. She wacked him on the arm with her hand to make certain he understood his mistake.

"You could have said it was Maggie."

"I didn't know it was Maggie!" Sophie's voice was a squeal of anger. She was practically at dog whistle level. "Don't you think I would have told you if I thought it was Maggie?"

"Well who else could it have been? You knew it wasn't me."

"I thought it was an animal. You have to admit that she sounds like a stampede."

"And you weren't going to actually tell us about the possible animal coming our way?"

"Well it's pretty obvious that you heard it!"

"OH good lord!"

Maggie rolled her eyes at the frivolous banter going on behind her. She could tell simply by the way they were arguing that they were going to be a handful. It was a good thing she had joined them. The two probably would have killed themselves by now.

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They found themselves a camp an hour before dusk fell. They had decided to stay on the ground tonight in case they needed to make a quick run for their lives. Plus, they would be able to move out a few seconds sooner than if they had stayed in a tree. The three unpacked their bags and shared what they had. Nate handed Maggie over the extra sleeping bag he had and Maggie had some biscuits she had stolen from the District Three boy before he died. Sophie handed out a couple cans of the food she had. It was mostly a soup that had been on the train while they were there. She even handed out some pink berries. Nate held up the worst sunglasses in the world and Sophie immediately snatched them away. She stroked the sunglasses lovingly and Nate scowled.

"You had these the whole time and didn't say anything?" She looked appalled at the idea of it. She was also cradling them close to her chest as if they were the difference between survival and death.

"They suck," Nate shrugged. Maggie seemed just as confused by the District One girl's statement.

Sophie just rolled her eyes and explained. "They aren't meant to be worn in the sun. They're what we call night-goggles in my district. They make it so you can see where you are going at night as easily as if it were day. This would have made Maggie's rescue a lot easier if you told me about them, Nate."

"I didn't know," Nate admitted in confusion. He quickly snatched the glasses away from the other tribute and looked at them. They looked like ordinary sunglasses.

"Well now you do," Sophie smiled at his statement. It was hard to tell if that was satisfaction that she taught him something or satisfaction that he didn't know something. Either way it made his blood boil.

"It will come in handy if you need to do any emergency hunting, Nate," Maggie smiled softly. Her smile was full of warmth and faith. It made Nate smile and feel like a hero. Then he scowled at Sophie. All she ever did was make him feel like he was playing a giant game of chess, and he was losing.

The air began to fill with the music of the games. The Capitol crest appeared and the images of the dead started to play. Well, if you could call the images of the boy from District Three and the boy from District Five images. To Nate they were victims, his victims. To the game makers they were just moments of entertainment. Then the Capitol crest reappeared and the sky went back to stars.

"Time to get some sleep," Maggie announced simply. She immediately curled up into her sleeping bag. She was snoring softly within minutes. There was no doubt that the girl was almost too quick to trust.

Nate grimaced at the snoring figure and turned his gaze on the brunette. Sophie smiled and waved at him, but showed no signs of getting to sleep anytime soon. Like him, she was waiting. They were waiting for the other to fall asleep. The boy from District Twelve shrugged and carefully plopped himself into his sleeping bag. The night air was already getting cold. Who knew how low the temperature could get at the hands of the game makers tonight? They needed to sleep while they could. Fans in the Capitol were going to get bored soon.

A soft rustling from nearby informed Nate of Sophie's whereabouts. She had decided to curl up into her sleeping bag and sleep. Nate closed his eyes and willed sleep to take him. It wouldn't though. Not while he still had the possibility of dying. He couldn't sleep as long as Sophie was still awake.

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Sophie moved towards the sleeping form of the male District Twelve tribute. It had taken hours but he had finally fallen prey to his exhaustion. She knew the plan. If she killed him, she would win the games. The rest of the Careers were already in her hands. All she had to do was kill off the tributes of District Twelve and she would be home free. The girl from District One raised her knife ready to drive it into the boy's heart.

She stopped.

There was no noise coming from anywhere except the sleeping figures, but she stopped. Something was telling her not to kill her allies now. Something inside of her was telling her to protect them at all costs. After all, how many times had she watched the games and see people do the same thing she was about to? How many times did they end up dying because they were all alone? How many times did she despise them for betraying people kind enough to think them worthy of being their friends in the war zone? How many times did she cry for the life that didn't deserve to die without the chance to fight for the right to live? How many times would she hate herself for winning if she did this to them?

Sophie moved away from the boy that would have been her victim. No, she would not do what the game makers wanted her to. She would not betray her allies. She would be more than that. She would help them win. It was the only way to show the Capitol what they were made of. She would be loyal to her last breath. Hopefully they would return the favor.

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Nate listened to the retreating form of his would-be-assassin. He sighed in relief the moment he heard her return to the warmth of her sleeping bag. Sophie decided to keep her allegiance. That was a good thing. He just hoped he wouldn't have to kill Maggie. It was a sad thought, but Nathan Ford was praying to whomever would listen that he had to face Sophie Devereaux in the finally two. He didn't want to think about anything else.