A/N: This is Chapter 13! Okay guys, here goes. 3 Starts with Cato's POV.

"But...but you...oh my god." I kiss him a million times and more. I've been waiting for this for three months. ~

"They don't know I'm alive," I whisper, not letting go of him for a moment. "I've been hiding and running for three months. I've seen every District except One." ~

"I can't believe you made it..." I take a moment just to breathe. "I was so lost without you, Peeta." ~

"I know..." He knows it's me. Thank goodness. "But I'm with you now...you don't have to worry." ~

"Please don't leave me again." He better still be here when I wake up tomorrow morning. ~

"But...I can't stay here. They...they'll find me, Cato." ~

"What?" No, he can't go. "Where would you go?" ~

"I don't know..." I hadn't figured that part out yet. "It's too dangerous for me to just stay in Two. The place is riddled with Peacekeepers." ~

True. My own house is riddled with Peacekeepers, technically. One. "So you're leaving...?" ~

"Only if you'll leave with me." I say apprehensively. What am I saying? Asking him to leave this perfect life he has now to go live in uncertainty in the middle of nowhere...just to be with me. But I had to try. ~

I can run away like I wanted to. But this time, I wouldn't be alone. "I'll do it." ~

I nearly choke on my words. "R...really?" I wasn't expecting this. I was expecting one last goodbye before really being on my own for the rest of my life. ~

"Knowing you're still out there but I'm not with you?" I look out the window. It's starting to get cloudy out. "I need you." ~

"I have no idea what's going to happen out there, you know." They think I'm dead. They'll never come looking. ~

"I don't care. I need you." ~

"And I you..." ~

"Then it's settled, isn't it?" I smile. I'm so glad to have him back. I would've had to wait the entire rest of my life until I could see him again...but here he is. "Let's go out, instead of waiting around here. I can show you around a little bit." ~

"I can't go out, Cato." I look at him sadly. "The world thinks I'm dead. My heart nearly stopped when your mother opened the door, because I didn't know if she'd recognize me." I pause. "If anyone recognizes me, I could probably end up really dead." ~

"But...we have to go, don't we? We'll have to go outside." ~

It'll be even worse if they see me with him. "I..I don't know," I say. Now that I think about it...I'm putting his life at risk here, too. I can't do that. "But...maybe I should go." ~

"Go? What, like you leave first, and I'll follow later?" I walk over to my closet and take out a small, green backpack. "What should I bring with us? We need some clothes...because you kinda smell a little, no offense." ~

"I haven't settled down since Four." I pause. "I kinda assumed I'd be able to get here from there in a decent amount of time, so I finished off my money there. Not like I had a lot, but I got hot food for the first time in a month." I laugh. "Not to mention a real bath with soap." I sigh. "You're sure about this?" I don't have to be alone. Not ever again. ~

"Of course I am!" Excited to see him and all, I completely forgot about food until he mentioned it. "Oh, you want food? My mom cooked breakfast before! I can bring some up for you. You like eggs and bacon? And pancakes?" ~

"I'll be fine." I laugh at his excitement. "Don't leave me." ~

"But I'd only be going downstairs." At this point, I just start taking out random articles of clothing and stuffing them into the bag. "My skinny boyfriend needs a little bit of food soon! If we're leaving, who knows when we'll eat next?" ~

"Well, since there's two of us...I'd rather have a plan now," I smile. "I had no clue what I was going to do before, so let's figure this out." ~

"Somewhere with no Peacekeepers." Everywhere has them. "Well, with not a lot, I mean. Did anywhere appeal to you on the way?" ~

"I never really had the time to look around," I admit. "I couldn't stay anywhere very long." ~

"Oh." Then I have absolutely no idea. "The woods?" That's a last resort. ~

"We could...I don't really care, though. We'll have each other." That's all I have right now. ~

"Yeah, I know, together. But we still need to decide on somewhere to go." Even if it's no definite place, just an idea is good enough. "The Capitol is a little northeast of here, over the mountains, so...maybe go west?" ~

"That sounds good to me...we just have to go." I kiss him, pulling myself to my feet. "Far away from here. Where they can't find us. They'll never know." It's perfect. Sure, things could be tough. But I've dealt with tough. ~

"Right." I zip up my backpack and look at him. My Peeta's back from the dead and now we can be together. Somewhere out there, we could be together. He came all this way for me. Risked his life for months just to see me. Only two months before I'm due to leave for my Victory Tour, where the Capitol would escort me to every district. They can't have their Victory Tour without the winner of the Hunger Games. They'll know. "I'm not going." ~

"Where?" I sit on his bed casually looking around the room. It really is gorgeous. Big, too. ~

"With you." ~

I must've heard him wrong. "...What do you mean?" ~

"I'm not going away with you," I repeat slowly. ~

"But..." I look at him confusedly. "You just said..." He just said he'd go. "Did I say something wrong?" ~

"No!" I say quickly. "I just don't want you to get hurt." ~

"Why would I get hurt because you went with me?" ~

"Because they'd have everyone in the country looking for me. You...they don't know you're alive. You could make it alone." ~

"No, I couldn't." I stand. "I couldn't make it without you." I wouldn't want to. ~

"Yes you could! You'd die with me there. They'd probably kill me, too." I start to unpack my bag, but stop. "Do you need shirts? Here." I hold up the half-emptied bag. ~

"I don't want the stupid shirts, Cato, I want you! I traveled three months for you." My voice is shaky. "I'd rather us be dead and together than alive and apart." ~

"Well, I'd rather be apart but knowing the other is safe!" As long as I know he's out there somewhere, I can deal. Maybe fate would bring us together again. One day, he'll grow up and look different, and he can come back. No one would suspect anything. "We'll meet again, Peeta. I'm just doing this for your own good!" ~

"I never wanted to be apart from you, from the moment we met! I accepted it in the Games, because I thought there was no other way...but now we have a chance, don't you see? You...you said you loved me. And I said I loved you. And I really, really meant it. I'd die for you. But I couldn't be away from you." ~

"I never liked you." Maybe if he thinks I don't like him, he'll go. And then he can be safe instead of me always getting him into trouble and putting his life at risk for my own selfish reason of wanting to be with him. "You have to be away from me." ~

"Now you're just lying," I whisper. It can't be true. All that time...it was so perfect. He couldn't have not meant it. ~

"No, I was lying back in the Games." I love him so much. "You think I loved you?" I still do. "There was one time in the Games where I didn't lie. When I said I had someone back home." I had no one back here. "My girlfriend was pleased to see that I won." My first and only relationship was with Peeta. ~

From the moment he questions that he loved me, I'm crying. Quietly, at first, but I can't contain myself by the time he's done speaking. "W..what?" A girlfriend. He had a girlfriend. Has. ~

"Do I look gay to you?" I'm not totally gay. "Sorry, sweetheart. I like to play with my victims before I let them die." ~

No. No. I've heard this all before. My hands are shaking, and I can't tell if my heart is pounding or if it's just decided to stop.

"You want to kiss me? Do I look gay to you?"

Laughter. One person's laughter.

"Sorry, sweetheart. I like to play with my victims before I let them die."

Laughter. Many people's laughter.

Coal being thrown.

Hands on my wrists, feet...

Ripping. Tearing.

Struggling.

Sobbing, screaming.

"Help!...Help!"

Of course, help never came. But the screaming made them all run. And left me out, battered on the street.

Not again. Maybe they were right. I'm an idiot to fall for people who'll never love me back. I feel like I'm going to puke. Or pass out. Or die. Maybe all three. My face is completely pale and my eyes lose focus.

"What a fool." ~

Oh god, he's beyond upset now. But if I want him to leave and be safe, I'll have to let him go. Lies can keep him safe. "Do I have to physically throw you out of my house?" I would never. "Quick, before she comes by. Because then we'll both have a little fun with you." I open my bedroom door. "Just for the record, to answer your original question...yes, it was worth it volunteering for the Games." Because I met him. ~

At first, I can't even bring myself to stand. But I make it, pushing the backpack he'd offered me back onto the floor. I go over, and as much as it hurts, stand face to face with him by the door. "I...hope you're happy now. I have nothing. Every penny I'd saved to support my family when I got older went to getting here and being with you again. All of it." I try to act strong, but I have a feeling I'm going to break at any point here. "I walked for three months to find you. You, the man I believed to be perfect. Someone I believed to love me." Tears begin pouring down my face. "But everyone back in District Twelve was right. No one could ever love me." That's what they always said. "You know when I snuck out of the wake, it was my father, brothers and my class from school? My mother didn't go. And every member of the class was laughing or smiling. They were so glad that I was dead." I hear them telling stories of how pathetic I was. How much they hated me. My father was the only one who really seemed completely upset. "I can't go back there. I can't go anywhere. I have no one. No one would hide me. Or protect me." I never break eye contact with him, even when the sobbing starts. "There was another like you. But I was just as much of an idiot then as I am now. Wanting things I can never have. Like a life. Love. Hope. Happiness. Because no matter what I do... it'll get destroyed in front of my own eyes. Because it was all fake. All lies. And I never even had it in the first place." He has to know this. I have to tell him how it makes me feel. "Congratulations." I whisper. "You've made a fool of me for the last time." ~

I look down at the floor. Partially out of shame of what I've said, but he can't know that, so partially out of the fact that I can't even look at him right now because I might break down. I don't want to be hearing this. "I hate hearing you say this. I hate hearing you say anything, really." Big lie coming. "I just generally hate you. I've been planning your death since the first day I saw you." That's true, but the reason for that is irrelevant to this conversation. "Maybe you should get your awkward face with your shitty new hair out of here before I make a fool of you again." I really hate saying these things to him...but if it gets him to leave, then it's necessary. ~

"You...hate me?" My voice cracks, and I smile with so much pain riding on it. "You definitely wouldn't be the first. I guess you always do pick the cool thing to do." ~

"It's the cool thing to do because I'm the one who does it. That automatically makes it cool." I shove him out into the hall. "Go. Live wherever. I would've turned you in to the Peacekeepers, but I'm going to be nice here." But if I did that, he would die. Especially if it's my own father who does it... "I'll let you go. Quick, before I change my mind." I go to close the door, but I pull it back open for a moment. "Have fun living your lonely life. Goodbye, Lover Boy," I say, forcing out a laugh. It isn't funny. ~

"I don't need your mercy." His laughter is like a stab in the back. "The Peacekeepers don't open office to the public until the afternoon. Two o'clock, to be exact. I checked." I pause. "You can find me there then, if you really want to watch. Just know that...everything you've said is the last thing you'll say to me. And now you've got to live with that." And I close the door for him, running out of the house as fast as I can, into the streets of the Victor's Village and into an alley so I can stop and sob for a few minutes. ~

He's bluffing. Just trying to get me to follow him so that it would prove that I still love him. But I'm not going. Because I know that he wouldn't get himself killed over this. He doesn't have to die for me. Besides, there's always the chance that I would love him again, and he wouldn't pass up that chance. So he isn't serious.

Since he's gone now, I lie down on my bed and begin to think about all the things he's said. Pretty good actor. ~

A/N: That's that… We just like messing with your emotions and all. :/ We're seeing who's reviewing…we have special things for you all! :D Okay, bye! xx