A/N: Thank you so much for your reviews! Really appreciate it. Hope you like this chapter, because I had major trouble finishing it, I think I rewrote it like three times.

Anyhow, enjoy.

"I feel I could kill. I feel that I might like it. And I know it should scare me. But it doesn't. It excites me."

- Nenia Campbell "Fearscape"

Clove had always been a loner. She had been abondonded by her parents, she didn't even know who they were, she didn't know whether maybe she had any siblings. She had no friends, really. She grew up in the Academy around people with the same or similar mind set that they had taught her.

In her whole life not once had she felt the need to doubt whether killing innocent kids for entertainment was right or not. Until now.

She had been surrounded by young girls and boys who believed the biggest achievement of their lives would be to go in the Games, kill everyone, including their own partner, and bring pride to their district. Until now.

No longer was she around people who were trained to wound, torture, murder and laugh while they do it. No longer was she around guys like Cato whose the entire sense of life was focused around the Games. Now she was with kids who were scared. Kids who did not choose to be here. Kids who would have not grabbed the weapons and started killing for fun if things had not changed so unexpectedly.

She hated them. She did. But she couldn't help but feel so thrown off by all this. She was allies with people that were capable of caring and loving; unlike her they did have someone at home praying for them. They did have someone to go back to.

What was the reason she wanted to win? She had dedicated her entire existence to training and the Games because nobody gave her any other choice. She thought she wanted this. No, she did want this. She still did want to win. She wanted all the glory and fame and all that. Right?

She hated them. Their presence was enough to confuse her mind. It's like when you're around sick people and, automatically, you begin feeling sick yourself. But it's all just in your head, isn't it?

Isn't it?

They were not killers. They were not cold and empty. They were just human beings. They were good people. They did not deserve any of this. They did not choose to be here. They were taken away from their home and family to fight with people like... her.

It all didn't matter, though. Since when did she even waste time thinking about it? She hated them. Period. Right?

... Right?

"Well, look at our little Clove."

Her thoughts were brutally interrupted, as Marvel's voice sent a shiver down her spine. And the reason for it wasn't because they had caught her off guard. It wasn't because she knew she was at the verge of passing out, unarmed and they stood there, both of them so confident, strong and equipped.

It was because of how vicious his voice sounded. And how it made her realize hers sounded nothing like his anymore.

"You ended up with the girl on fire, huh?" Marvel continued with a cruel laugh "hot damn!" He shot Glimmer a glance and her own smirk grew wider.

In spite of how hard she had been trying to fight it, naussia won that battle and took over her body, making her wince. Her dry throat started burning, as her mouth filled with saliva at the sight of the deliciously looking water that was so close, and yet so far. She was so exhausted and thirsty that she considered ignoring the shiny swords of her, now, enemies'. She just wanted one little sip. Two tops. That would make her start thinking so much more clearly.

For some reason, though, her mind was still sober enough to comprehend a little and she could tell that those two were not about to just invite her to join the Career pack. Something about the hate in their eyes and the satisfied smirks at finally having found her, told her that whatever was about to happen would involve a lot of running and sword swinging.

Still though, she sensed more than noticed that her allies had slowly started to back away from her. She knew they didn't trust her. She couldn't blame them. She would have done the same. And they didn't have the slightest idea what their intentions really were. So ironic.

"I was hoping we'd find you first, little girl." Marvel spoke again and Clove glared at him intensely. How dare he use his nickname? "That way we will have a very nice story to tell Cato when we see him."

Clove didn't know whether it was dehydration or hunger or both, but for some reason as soon as his name was mentioned, her blood started pulsating angrily in her body and she clenched her fists weakly. So much for an alliance, right? She wasn't sure how she felt about the rule change anymore. All she knew was that she was supposed to be the one to corner other tributes with a vicious smirk on her face and a dagger in her hand. Not that blonde bimbo who looked like she barely knew which end of the knife was to be used to stab the opponent.

How did she end up here? For the first time in her life she understood what it felt like to be from a lower, weaker district. For the first time in her life she lacked control. She was the lamb. And they were the wolves.

"We were considering having you join us, Clove, but you see.." Glimmer said, taking a dagger out of the inside of her jacket and admiring it. Clove couldn't help but stare at it hungrily, "we just don't like you very much."

"You're breaking my heart," Clove choked out sarcastically, trying to make her voice sound way stronger than she actually felt. Number one rule in the Academy was to never let your enemy know you are weaker. Because once they have realized that, they will beat you for sure. But if they don't know, you still stand a chance.

"There's a reason you're still stuck with your allies while we had gotten all the supplies." Marvel said, ignoring her last words "don't take it personally, this would have happened sooner or later anyway, even if the rules had never changed."

Bullshit. He couldn't be this dumb. Cato would have never allowed him to put a single finger on her. That son of a bitch would have definitely died first. That much she knew for sure. He had promised her that. He'd promised that they were going to be the last two standing.

"Yeah?" Clove snapped, trying to stay concious and alert while her head was pounding painfully like never before, "How 'bout we do this later then?"

Marvel let out a semi-sincere laugh and shook his head, "Sorry, Clove. People wanna see some blood. It's about time someone dies, don't you think?"

"Absolutely," stay conscious, stay concious "how about you run yourself through with that sword of yours then? I'm sure people will love that."

His eyes hardened somewhat. She knew there was no going around it. She knew there was a great risk she was about to get killed, ironically by district 1. But she couldn't help but try to piss them off. It's who she was. She was not gonna beg them to go away.

"I'd rather run it through you, little girl." He whispered darkly, again purposely using Cato's nickname.

"Then what the hell are you waiting for?"

She was pushing her luck, she knew it. But him calling her that again had sent another wave of hate down her body. There was a very small chance she would be able to run away from him. She knew she was about to perform the slowest jog in her life. But it's not like there was anything she could do. Her body and her mind were not entirely hers anymore.

Marvel glared at her even more intensively; this wasn't turning out like he had imagined apparently. He probably wanted her to beg or cry, shatter her image of a strong, vicious and sarcastic Career. Well, she had wrecked two thirds of it by now. She was gonna die sarcastic, though. Whatever was about to happen, she was not going to give that one up.

It all happened very slow or maybe it was just her mind that had been working in slow motion. Marvel and Glimmer took a step towards them, into the water of the stream and she turned her head to look at her three allies who were no longer there. She knew they had just taken off, though. There was no way Marvel would have wasted time talking to her if they had started running off. Clove spun around and feeling as if something was holding her back, she began to run. Immediately she noticed the figures of her allies disappearing in the darkness of the forest in front of her. It seemed like they were trying to stick together. Well, how about that. Turns out they were not much different from Careers, apparently. She was on their team, yet they didn't even look back. Did they think Marvel and Glimmer were just kidding? That they actually were trying to fool her allies and wanted her to join so she could help them kill her team? They were forgetting something important. If she dies, their chances of winning will also get hurt. Good.

Her bitter thoughts were long forgotten, as she felt Glimmer's dagger cut open her upper left arm as it flew by. She screamed out in pain, but did not stop. Silently thanking Glimmer for sucking at aiming, she placed her right hand over the cut, feeling hot blood quickly making its way out it. She cursed under her breath. She must have been really slow. Under different circumstances, Glimmer would have never been able to hurt her in any way.

She could barely see in the dark but she could damn sure hear someone running hot on her heels. She couldn't think of anything that would help her out. She was too weak to run faster, too hurt to climb a tree. And whoever was chasing her was way too close by now, so there was no use for hiding.

It seemed like hours had passed before she felt her legs slow down significantly without her permission and maybe a few seconds after, a body crushed into her and sent her flying on the ground. She gasped loudly, as her wounded arm made contact with the hard ground. Her opponent spun her around so she could look him in the eyes.

"Where do you think you're going?"

Marvel grabbed her hands and pinned them both above her head with one of his strong arms. She cried out in pain and felt blood flowing down her shoulder.

"Aw, I'm sorry, did that hurt?" He asked cruelly and she felt the end of his sword poking her side sharply. "Game over, sweetheart. Any last words? For Cato perhaps?"

"Oh fuck you, Marvel." She hissed, gritting her teeth in pain and anger, wanting nothing more than to hurt him.

"Well, I'd love to but he wouldn't like that, would he?"

She had no idea why he felt the need to talk about Cato. Sure, Careers always liked talking shit about their victims' family or friends before they kill them. But for some reason this seemed so much more personal.

"You think he'll cry when he sees your face in the sky tonight?" He mocked, probably enjoying having her at his mercy and thinking about how her death will affect the big, bad Cato...

It hit her. All of a sudden. It was simple, really. Marvel must have hated Cato. For being stronger, a better fighter, better looking, way more impressive. For having scored higher. And Cato was originally supposed to be the leader. He had hogged that position without any speculations. It had become clear to everyone the moment they started talking about an alliance. He hated him. And so naturally, he hated her. That was gonna make it so much easier for him to kill her. Not that he would have had trouble doing it, anyway.

Another reason why he hated her so much was probably because she was somewhat under Cato's protection. Well she would have been. And whether Marvel liked it or not, that guy was scary. And unfortunately for Marvel, Cato had made it clear she was gonna be his kill. He had let district 1 know that if they even thought about trying to take her down in the Games, there would be hell to pay. She remembered the day he had said that to them and the fairly scared looks on their faces. She had found that hilarious at the time. She remembered how she had promised him that she was not gonna go down easily. She remembered he'd laughed at her response.

Marvel was bloodthirsty. She could see it in his eyes. She wondered would she have the same look on her face if it was her about to kill someone right now. She had never done it before. She knew she was ready. At least she had been before she found herself stuck in a very unexpected and poisonous environment.

Now, Marvel, all armed and anything but weak was apparently longing to find out what would it be like to finally do something he had been training his entire life for. He was going to enjoy it, she was sure of that. His first kill was going to be his almost ally from the district that could have been his biggest threat.

"Go ahead. Kill me." She snapped, trying to ignore the burning pain in her arm and the fact that she could feel that she was dying anyway. "Nothing like an injured, smaller, unarmed girl for your first kill to make you feel all superior and powerful, huh?"

That hit home. There was one thing Careers did believe in. Pride. Clove used to feel like a Career once upon a time. She knew exactly what to say to buy herself some more time. For whatever reason.

He stared at her for a long while, slighty panting in rage. She had hurt his pride.

"Fine." He growled finally, letting go of her and standing up. She sat up slowly, not too sure what his next move was gonna be, "get up." He ordered and she got on her feet, hissing in pain under her breath and fighting back tears. He held up his sword for her to see and then tossed it aside on the ground. Her eyes followed it and then she looked back up at him with furrowed eyebrows, beginning to understand what he wanted to do, "Want me to let you go down fairly? Like a Career you were supposed to be?" He asked, spreading his arms "so be it."

He clenched his fists tight and held them up in front of his face, smirking at her like a psychopath that he was.

"Let's go, Clove." He said, cocking his head to the side "show me what you got, little girl."

"I'm fucking done with this damn city." Cato cursed to no one in particular. He was so frustrated. They had been searching for water,food and anything that could be used as a weapon in almost every single building they passed on the way and they had found nothing. Dusty streets, wrecked cars and trash flying around were everything they saw in front of them. Dehydration and hunger were pretty much unbearable by now and Cato was ready to explode. It was dark again and the moonlight was not much help. He looked over his shoulders at his allies. Peeta looked like he was at the verge of passing out, yet still had Rue on his back. That made Cato even agrier, if that was even possible.

"Put her down," he snapped "there'll be no use for you if you black out. She's fine."

Normally, Peeta would have probably sent him a glare, but reading between lines, Cato had a point. Rue must have gained some strenght back by now and he was barely conscious. Peeta stopped to let the girl hop off his back. She looked at him gratefully and patted his back gently. Cato looked behind them and frowned.

"Where's Ginger?"

Peeta, who was panting hard with his hands on his knees, looked up and turned around, so did Rue.

"She was right behind us like, a minute ago."

Cato swore under his breath and started to look around furiously, not sure whether it was safe to call for her or not. He could barely see what was fifteen feet in front of him.

"If she gets herself killed, I swear I'll tie you two up so that you don't fuck up my chances." Cato barked, running a hand through his head angrily.

"Yeah? With what?" Peeta snapped back before he could stop himself. To his surprise, Cato just glared. He must have been too angry with district 5 girl to pay him any mind. Rue smiled at his smart remark, but her smile faded when she met Cato's hard eyes.

"Think it's funny?" He whispered dangerously "this will mess up your chances, too. Not that you have any to begin with."

"You done?"

Cato turned on his heels at the sound of her voice and surely there she was. Red hair, pale face, arms crossed over her chest.

"Well, look at that," he snapped, but he couldn't help but feel relieved "it speaks." He growled, referring to how quiet she'd been until now.

She took no offence to that, not surprisingly. Just let her arms down and looked at him tiredly.

"If you're interested, I think I know where we should look for water next."

It was hopeless. She knew it. What choice did she have though? He was not gonna let her go. And giving up was something she had never done in her life before. She wasn't about to start now. She didn't know how to give up. She was gonna fight until her last breath. It wasn't about going down like a Career anymore. It wasn't about trying to get out of it. She was dead already. Warm blood running down her arm felt like her own life was escaping her body.

It was about dying strong. She might have been dehydrated and exhausted and wounded, but she was not weak. The fact that she still stood straight was a proof.

She lifted her small, slightly shaking fists to her face and took a deep breath. She was great at hand-to-hand combat, but damn it, that was only because thanks to her small posture she was very quick. But now? She was anything but that.

"Shall we?" She choked out, smirking as viciously as she could, although she knew she looked nothing like her old self. It didn't matter anymore.

Marvel did not smirk back. He just marched right up to her and threw the first punch that meant to hit her stomach. Thankfully, she dodged his fist and hit the middle of his chest with her healthy arm. He probably barely felt it. He was fast, too. His other fist hit her so quick she almost felt like the pain had come before she saw any movement. She gasped and stumbled back a few steps, but still stayed strong. Marvel couldn't help but look impressed.

"I thought you were nothing but a little, scared girl without your precious knives," he said, staring her down "guess I was mistaken."

She gritted her teeth and tried to punch him in the face but he caught her hand and used his other hand to punch her in the stomach again. All the air escaped her lungs and tears blurred her vision. He let go of her arm and attempted to hit her again but this time she was prepared and moved out of the way before his fist could reach her than threw a punch to his throat, leaving him breathless for a few seconds. He choked and she took advantage of that and kicked his calf. He dropped to his knees. She got ready to punch him in the face but he recovered fast and hit her wounded arm. She cried out.

Past all the pain and tears, there was one more thing she could see.

A coward.

"How the hell did you figure this out?"

The girl in front of him didn't even look over her shoulder. She just continued walking, leading the three of them to the edge of the forest.

"The wind." She replied simply "plus, we spent two days searching for water in the city and found nothing. I figured there must be something out there, except for the ruins."

Cato nodded to himself, not liking how she turned out to be the most clever of them all. There was a way bigger chance of finding water in the woods. Wait, was she actually trying to be the leader now?

This whole game was starting to make sense. Since the Game Makers had already changed the rules, extremely, it wasn't that surprising to realize they had changed more than that. They must have divided not only tributes, but the arena itself, as well. Now Cato understood why they hadn't even stumbled across a single team yet. It seemed like the Capitol was having fun, just watching them struggle with each other for now. It sounded boring to him, though... something else must have happened. Something else must be going on right now...

"Can you actually find water?" He decided to ask, because shit, he had no idea about survival skills. That was the one station in the training Careers never paid any attention to.

"I can." She replied "not sure how fast, it depends on how close we are to any source."

"Well, you better find some soon." He ordered, a hint of a threat in his voice. She still didn't even look back. She knew he was not gonna hurt her. At least for now. And he hated that.

As soon as they stepped into the woods they felt a nice, refreshing breeze that made them all feel a tiny bit better after they had spent all day in burning heat. Cato let out a deep breath, appreciating the much fresher air. Whoever had been stuck in the woods from day one was lucky.

Ginger stopped to inspect the ground and Cato, for oncem decided not to say anything and patiently waited until she was ready to keep moving. He actually wished he had learned at least a bit about survival skills; he wouldn't have had to feel so outsmarted if he had.

After a little while she got up with a small smile on her face. He assumed it was a good sign, so he rose his eyebrows at her questioningly. She said nothing, though. Of course.

"You're not exactly people person, are you?" He growled at her and she just stared at him blankly.

"Are you?"

And just like that she carried on walking, leaving him considering whether he should knock her out or not. Who did she think she was? How could she seem so fearless? How was he not intimidating her? He had to let it slide, though. She was after all looking for water.

Behind him he could hear the little girl's heavy breathing. It annoyed him. He clenched his jaw in order to stop himself from snapping at her. What would he say anyway? Stop breathing? Under different circumstances, he would be glad if she did.

He hated being stuck with those weaklings so much. He hated how things had turned out. He hated what was happening to him. He hated how much he was thinking about things. About her. For some reason, the further they walked, the more anxious he felt himself getting. Was she in danger?

He remembered how he felt when he heard her voice coming from the crowd of young girls: "I volunteer!" she'd yelled. Then she'd gone and walked up on the stage. That was the first and only time that he'd ever been scared.

Why? Why her, dammit? Of all the people he didn't give a crap about? Anyone else, anyone, and he would have been the happiest victor-to-be. He had only waited for this his entire, fucking life. What was he supposed to do now?

Stupid. You should have never started training with her...

His constant thoughts were thankfully interrupted, as he stepped into a clearing where Ginger stood in front of the one thing they had been looking for so desperately.

There it was. Not even ten feet away. A deliciously looking stream.

He took another step forward and frowned, then looked down. Peeta and Rue stopped, as well, right behind him, probably wondering what the hell he was doing. They had to be really interested in what had caught his attention, because all three of them resisted the extremely huge urge to have a drink and gathered around him, instead.

Cato kneeled and picked up the hard object he could feel under his shoe, that he had just stepped on. His eyebrows furrowed. In his hand there was a dagger. He slid his fingers up its blade and felt something wet on them. Panic started to set in.

He looked up. Peeta and Rue were frowning down on him, while Ginger, as always, looked fairly relaxed.

"It's blood." He told them, knowing they had figured it out already on their own, "fresh blood."

She remembered how it had never bothered her how ruthless he was. Aggressive. Souless. Maybe it was because she knew she was just like him. Or maybe because he was never all those things around her or towards her. She hadn't even noticed that before. Not until now. Not until she found herself stuck in here with way too much free time on her hands and normal people as her allies. Because of that, all she could do was think. And all she could think about was him.

Was he her friend? Potentially? Did it even matter?

It did. Because she knew she was about to die. It's something that really does change people. Because even her, as malicious and evil as she had been and felt all her life, even her, Clove, needed some sort of comfort now that she was so sure this was it.

So, desperately, she started looking for any good memory, a smile, or a laugh and everything that included those came with Cato's face in it. She had never smiled, really smiled, or laughed as much with anyone else. She barely did that ever, really.

That was all she remembered. Just her and Cato, smiling. Or sharing a brief laugh. Training. Cato. More training. More Cato..

The pain was overwhelming. She was not giving up. She just wasn't able to get back on her feet. Dehydration and blood loss was too much and there was no way she would throw another punch. Marvel's fist had hit her injured arm so hard she was shocked she hadn't blacked out. How was she still concious?

"I guess we're done here. " his voice reached her ears as if he stood somewhere really far from her.

As her final attempt to survive, as little as she knew it'd do, she started crawling away on all fours, very slow, her arm screaming in protest. Marvel took a few steps towards her and grabbed a big knife from his belt.

"Don't worry, Clove." He murmured "you'll see your friend again soon. I'll make sure of that."

She had never felt so much hate for anyone in her life. In that moment, she didn't care that she knew Marvel was only about to do something that was necessary in order to save his own life. She didn't care that she knew if she had gotten the supplies, she'd have been the one killing somebody viciously right now. She didn't care that all this was the game she had signed up for and that the Capitol was what she should hate so much.

None of this mattered, because this guy, that was about to end her, had just threatened the life of her only friend and all that she could do was hate him for it. She wasn't even capable of speaking anymore. She wasn't even able to glare.

Marvel lifted the knife and she decided it was time to close her eyes.

Instantly, Cato's face appeared in her head, easing her fear. The only person she wished she could see just one more time. There was nobody else out there that would care for her death. She hoped he would. At least a little bit. At least for one minute. She wished she'd told him that at times he was the only reason she'd get up in the morning. She wished she'd told him how much she liked spending time with him, even if it was just training. She wished she'd told him a lot of things. Because he had no idea. Not a clue about any of it. She had never, not even once, acted like she gave a shit about him. Just a smirk here, a short laugh there. And nothing else in between.

She wished she had known earlier all that that she knew now.

She didn't want to look at Marvel when he kills her. She wanted to die with Cato's face in front of her eyes. That way she knew she'd end up going, feeling a little more humane. A little more normal. That way she would die, knowing there was someone in her life worth remembering. And it would ease all this pain that was sure about to follow.

The pain never came, though. Instead she heard a sharp breath and a few seconds after a loud thud right beside her. She opened her teary eyes and turned her head.

A breathless gasp escaped her mouth, seeing Marvel lying flat on his stomach on the ground right next to her.

Canon cut through the silence and echoed in her ears, leaving her feeling even colder and numb.

She couldn't stop the shaking. His open, dead eyes looked right at her and for a few seconds she thought they were going to be the last thing she sees before death finally takes her away.

Disoriented, she looked up, breathing rapidly, feeling her entire body shutting off. Through tears she managed to make out a figure of a guy in the darkness, standing so close to her, where Marvel had just stood a minute ago.

Tall. Big. Scary. Sword in his hand.

She blinked a few times, trying to get rid of tears but to no use. She was slipping away. Staring at her savior and not caring whether he was about to kill her, as well, she reached out to him, because it had to be him. Had to.

"Cato.." she moaned in pained voice. He stayed motionless for a second or two and then took a step forward and knelt down, "Cato.." she had managed to whisper again before her eyes stopped seeing.

And everything turned black.

A/N: So, this chapter turned out to be almost 2, 000 words longer than the last one. Guess that explains why it took me longer to update than I'd planned.

Thank you for reading, hope you liked it and find a minute to leave me a review. Enjoy your week!