Damon let out a sigh of relief as Avery stirred. He seemed confused, but as he tried to move and winced in pain, it seemed to wake him up a bit. He pulled a small bottle out of some sort of liquid, Avery seemed to be thinking about it deeply. He examined the bottle closely, before uncapping it.

"What is that?" Damon asked aloud, Avery's father had gone pale.

"Poison." He whispered. "He knows how to make it." Damon's heart stopped.

"Av, please no." He whispered.

"You said you wouldn't teach him!" Avery's mother shrieked.

"I didn't." Avery's father answered. "He just told me one day that he knew how to make it. I didn't believe him."

Damon looked back at Avery, he had put the poison back in his pocket, and had sat up to listen to an announcement.

'Attention tributes. You must gather in the cornucopia, for one final fight.'

He saw the fear hit Avery's eyes at once. Avery bit him lip worriedly.

"Come on Av." Damon whispered.

Avery sighed and looked at his leg, before grabbing it and forcing the bone back into place. He screamed through gritted teeth.

Damon watched, his nails digging into his palms as he listened to his best friend's scream. Avery didn't deserve this. Just hearing the boys scream, it made him want to cry. Lil took his hand gently.

"It's okay." She whispered. She too was crying.

Tying strips of material around his leg, Avery got up he made his way to the mouth of the cave and forced himself to climb out of it.

They watched with bated breath as he made his way to the cornucopia.

He could barely walk and his lips were tinged blue from him lying basically in the snow for over a week. His face was bruised and blood-stained. His nose had been forced back into its original position, but it was still bleeding. He had bruises mostly covering his face.

He reached the cornucopia and was immediately faced with the girl from district two. She threw a knife at him and he dodged it, so she tackled him to the ground, punching him in the head, he pushed her away, kicking her in the stomach, he tried to get up, but she forced him back down. She screamed loudly in victory, stabbing a spear into his ribs. He screamed in pain.

Damon had to look away, Sara left the room sobbing, and lil let out a half scream. He could hear Avery cry out with pain again.

Damon finally brought himself to look at the screen again to see  tbe girl put pressure on the spear, moving it slightly, Avery begged her to stop. He saw him reaching for a knife, and he mananged it in enogh time to stab the girl in the neck, before she stabbed him in the heart. He let out a sigh of relief as her face went blank, pushing her off him. A cannon sounded.

Avery looked at the spear embedded in his ribcage and sighed, before pulling it out, screaming loudly. His eyes filled with tears again, but he just wiped them away. He lay on the floor, breathing with shuddered breaths. He looked up as he heard someone running towards him.

The boy from three ran towards him, Avery groaned and threw the spear with all his might, it hit the boy in the chest, he went down like a rock in a bucket.

Damon and Lil cheered. Avery had just won the 73rd hunger games.

The boy shuddered and his eyes closed, his head lolling to one side.

"No." Lil gasped. The footage cut out and they announced Avery as the winner.

"Well that sure was an interesting hunger games. And we're getting reports that..." Ceasar trailed off for dramatic effect. "Avery is still alive."

Everyone in the room cheered. Damon felt like crying, Avery had kept his promise, he was coming home.

"Oh my god!" Lil exclaimed, her eyes shining with tears, but she had a huge smile on her face. "I thought I was going to lose him."

"So did I." Damon agreed, she hugged him tightly.

"We're going to see him again." Wes yelled, dancing around the room. Damon laughed.

"He won! He won!" Sara yelled running into the room, dragging little six year old Maggie with her.

Avery's parents hugged in relief.

"You kept your promise." Damon whispered, but he couldn't stop smiling.

^^^
"So, he won." Damon looked at his mother and nodded as he entered the house.

"He did." Damon nodded. "And he kept his promise."

"Which was?"

"To come back, alive." Damon answered. "To win."

"Damon, honey, I have to ask, what are your feelings towards him?" His mother asked him.

"Mom, can we talk about this later?" He asked her pleadingly.

"You'll spend all your time with him when he comes back, please?" She asked, he sighed.

"I love him, okay!" Damon sighed.

She smiled. "I thought so."

"What does that mean?" He asked defensively.

"The way you two are together." She answered.

"I only told him before he left." Damon muttered.

"I don't like it." She said, he stared at her.

"I'm sorry What?" He stared at her in shock, not understanding what he had just heard.

"You and him, he's so, less then we are. Have respect." He had thought she had changed, but apparently not.

"This isn't the capitol Mom! Of which you got us kicked out of!" Damon yelled. "And we aren't together."

"Good, keep it that way."

"No." Damon told her defiantly. "I love him, okay and I've almost lost him, I won't let you take him away too."

With that he turned on his heel and marched up to his room. The reality of what she had said hit him like a ton of bricks, and he collapsed into a sobbing mess on the floor. Even knowing Avery was okay couldn't stop the pain her words had given him.