Veers and I stop by a fallen log by the riverside to eat our last meal in the arena, for good or ill. Birds sing in the trees as I swing the pack down from my back, pulling out the sandwiches and handing one to Veers.

"Thanks," she says, unwrapping it and taking a bite. "Mm, this is good."

"Best sandwiches in Queens," I tell her, gesturing to the wrapping, then fall silent when I think of Peter. I take a bite of the sandwich and resolve again to leave this arena, to fulfill my promise to him and Gamora and Cassie. With Pietro dead, I need to win this for Cassie as well, now.

"Just Clint and Natasha now," Veers says, taking a swig of water from the canteen. "They're still allies, you say?"

I nod. "They appeared to be working in tandem when I was at the Gauntlet, yes. I doubt they've split up since then." I remember when they had been drawn at the reaping, standing together mentioning something about Budapest. They seem to have a history and so will most likely remain allies, at least until the end. We will see what happens when we meet later. Unless they have some sort of plan like we do....

"They know there are only four contenders left, including them," Veers observes, munching on her sandwich. I take a bite of mine and feel a twinge of sadness thinking about Peter getting one of these every day before that fateful Reaping. Truly, these are good sandwiches. "Which of us died, however, they don't know."

"That's to our advantage," I say, holding out my hand for the water canteen. Veers hands it to me and I take a sip from it, closing my eyes briefly as the cool water runs down my throat. It is refreshing, especially after our fight with Wong. "They don't know which combination of Kree, Asgardian, or DimJump they still have to face."

"Or if they're facing us separately or in an alliance," Veers finishes. "We have the advantage here, as you said." She doesn't mention that we had the advantage in other ways: we are Kree and Asgardian, and they are only human.

We finish eating our sandwiches and drinking our water in silence, contemplating the approaching fight. I run everything I know about Clint and Natasha through my head.

Clint Barton, Hawkeye, of District Two, HYDRA's district. A father and an archer, an expert with the bow. A man with heart. But I'm sure that, once I get within close range of him, it will be easy to kill him, no matter my grudging respect for him.

Natasha Romanoff, on the other hand, will probably be a harder target to eliminate. The Black Widow, also of District Two, has shown marvelous skill in hand-to-hand combat and is quite good with her pistols and batons. She is one to take out from farther away, with a dagger, perhaps, or with my spear. We'll see how it plays out.

Both Natasha and Clint have a history together, judging by their camaraderie, and they will most likely be used to fighting together as allies. Veers and I will not have the same level of understanding in an alliance that they will, but we will make up for it by not being mere mortals like the HYDRA contenders.

Between my magic and skill with a spear and Veers' own hand-to-hand combat expertise mixed in with her photon blasts, I am hopeful in our chances to win this. Besides, we fought well together against Drax and Mantis, against Carnage, and just several minutes ago against Wong. It will just come down to the battle itself, hoping we can get in a killing shot before they do. Because neither Kree nor Asgardian are truly immortal, as so many Contests have demonstrated.

"I'll do some more recon," Veers volunteers as we finish with our sandwiches, taking a final drink of water and brushing the crumbs from her hands. "I'll pin down their location so we can go confront them.

I nod, standing and crumpling the sandwich paper up in my hands. For a moment I try to figure out what to do with it before tossing it on the ground beside the log. It's not really littering; we are in the arena, after all, not out in the actual woods. Besides, why place garbage in my pack when I don't have to? "All right. Meet you back here shortly."

Veers takes off, her hands glowing with the wispy yellow and faint blue that signifies her powers are in use. I watch her ascend into the sky, knowing that even if Clint and Natasha see her, there isn't much they can actually do about her. I doubt Clint can shoot her out of the sky and even if he could, she'd probably just catch the arrow and shoot him down instead.

That's not such a bad idea, actually.

When Veers returns about fifteen minutes later, I'm busy changing some of the water in the river into fish and then back into liquid. It's just illusion, mostly, but it keeps my mind from pondering over the endless ways the coming battle can end, when there's only one outcome where I get to go home, fulfilling my promise to Gamora, Peter, and Cassie, and make my father proud with the same stroke.

"Clint and Natasha are on the other side of the Gauntlet, in the forest," Veers tells me, the light dying from her fists. "You ready to head over there and confront them?"

I stand. "Yes, I am ready."

Grabbing up my pack, I turn, about to start walking, but then Veers is at my side and she's hugging me, her arms across my back. Within a second, I've dropped the pack and am returning her embrace, then she pulls back and I cup my hand against the side of her neck in the Asgardian fashion, the way my people show friendship and fraternal affection. I realize instantly it's a bad move, as far as our romance goes, for Asgard and my sister will know it doesn't mean love, simply comradeship. So I quickly compensate by catching up her hand in mine and giving it a kiss, holding her hand like she is a fine lady of the court. Silently, I thank my mother for all the etiquette lessons she gave me growing up.

"To our good fortune in the coming battle," I tell her in a formal voice, playing up the moment to erase my earlier slip. "That it will be one of us that makes it out of here alive."

I see in her eyes that Veers understands our plan is still the same; but we mustn't tell the audience what we have planned. Otherwise, they will not believe her when the endgame truly arrives. And they must believe her; the plan rides on them believing her. My performance must be impeccable as well, so I suppose the both of us have to be believable in order to ultimately triumph.

"To our good fortune in meeting," Veers says solemnly and I see she's biting the inside of her lip gently, trying not to laugh. Don't laugh, don't smile. Emotion is dangerous now. "Better to love and lose, than not to love at all."

Well, I don't agree, but whatever. It's all just another lie, isn't it? "Yes," I respond. "It is."

Veers steps forward, her fingers squeezing mine, and kisses me on the lips. It's a quick peck, nothing more, but I lean in again, giving her another kiss to again show the audience how much I love this girl. The second kiss holds a bit more passion and is a bit longer, and pricks my heart with a stab of guilt, and then I break away and gesture in the direction of the Gauntlet, toward the shrubbery. These lies are necessary, this is all necessary. Besides, in the end, it will amount to nothing. A Kree and an Asgardian could never belong together, after all. "After you, Veers of Starforce."

"Why, thank you, Loki of Asgard," she replies with a touch of a laugh, and we set off toward the Gauntlet to end this Contest once and for all.

As we walk, I grip my spear in my hand and mentally prepare for the coming battle. This is it. This is the final fight, the one that will determine whether I am capable of holding to the promises I made. I have killed already; only two more stand in my way and I will gladly take their lives if it means going home.

Death is irrevocable, my memory reminds me. They never get to go home again, never get to see their families or live out their dreams. Clint will never go home to his children and Natasha will never...okay, never mind, I actually don't know what she does. But she'll never do it again.

I frown. That goes both ways. Cassie never gets to hug her dad or mom again, and neither will Peter ever see his aunt or dance with Liz. If it comes down to them or me, it will be them, always and irrevocably.

I think of my sister, how she revels in her title of goddess of death, and everyone I've killed runs through my mind. Helen Cho, Sif, Brock Rumlow, Raze, and Cletus Kasady or Carnage, whatever you wish to call him. The only one of those who perhaps didn't deserve death was Helen Cho, but I had to kill her. In fact, her death was more merciful at my hands than it would have been if Carnage had ripped her head off, although that wasn't the thought in my mind when I committed the act.

But Sif would have killed Hogun if it wasn't for me, and Rumlow, Raze, and Kasady were all trying to kill me. I may have taken their futures, but only to save mine. I feel that is a fair enough trade.

Hela, show me how to kill as you do.

Her voice comes back, taunting. What are you the god of again?

I seethe. Mischief, that's what I'm the god of. Not death.

But I can still kill, and I will.

Clint and Natasha have to die so I can live. It's as simple as that. Their lives for mine, a trade I am willing to make.

It simply has to be done.

For Peter. For Cassie. I made promises to dying children to win, to bring messages home to their families. Those children should never have been in here; it is too twisted and cruel. For them, I will kill Clint Barton and Natasha Romanoff.

And I swore an oath to Gamora to do whatever it takes to return to her.

"Whatever it takes," I say aloud, and Veers looks at me but says nothing. I feel a slight sense of guilt, for this pretend act of love, but I know that at the end of this, we live in different districts and that gulf can never be breached, no matter our feelings. Besides, our mentors wish for this romance to occur, and aren't we supposed to listen to them?

Then there is that feeling you do have for Veers, whatever it may be, that admiration for the girl who stood up....

A sharp ringing screeches through the arena, shattering my thoughts and causing me to duck reflexively and Veers to hunch her shoulders, bringing her hands up to her ears. I wince, gritting my teeth as I gaze around the arena, searching for the source of the noise. But I see nothing.

"I had strings but now I'm free."

The voice follows the ringing, a deep, eerie voice speaking in a slightly singsong tone. Veers and I exchange one look, both of us perplexed, and then we pivot, standing so we're facing away from each other, ready to fight.

Who is it? Who can it be?

Then I see them. Multitudes of robots, dropping out of the sky and flying toward us. Their eyes glow blue and I get the feeling the endgame might not be as simple as I had thought a couple moments ago.

There's no question of what we should do. "Go!" I yell, grabbing Veers' arm, and we take off for the Gauntlet, the drones flying after us.