Please note to those who have only seen the movies, this chapter will heavily rely on the books as the source material. As always, explanations of the differences will be in the endnotes.

Song for this chapter is "Tenacious Winners/Returning Home," by James Newton Howard. If you can listen to music while you read I highly recommend you do so this chapter!

Finnick's POV

I get back to my room after my interview and find Octavia waiting for me in my bed. The light of the television flashes illuminates her sleeping face. A banner runs under the Caesar Flickerman show, letting everyone know to tune into the finale tomorrow. Octavia must have fallen asleep as soon as she realized that Cato would be safe until tomorrow.

I try my best not to wake her up as I move around the room to get ready for bed, but as someone who's been in the Games, she's a light sleeper. As I get into the bed, I hear her start to stir and turn towards me. "What time is it?" she croaks.

"Twelve-ish," I say not too loudly.

She throws her arm over me and rests her head on my chest. "You had a good interview," she says.

Knowing a good chunk of my on-air time was dedicated to my 'dating life', I chuckle. "I ran into Seneca afterwards."

"Oh, and?"

"Creepy as ever." I briefly debate whether or not I tell her about what he said about the finale so as not to worry her further, but I quickly decide it's best to put everything on the table. Or at least most of it. "He's planning something big for the finale. Says he's got a 'trick up his sleeve'."

"Like what?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe he's going to carve his name into the forest," I joke. She gives a small chuckle and as it fades out I add, "Whatever it is, Cato can handle it. I believe in him. He's got the training."

The silence grows again, but it's not an uncomfortable one. A few minutes pass until she speaks up again, "Everything is going to change tomorrow."

"Not me, I'm not going anywhere," I say, stretching my arm underneath her to pull her in closer. I try to push away the thought that Seneca is clearly onto us, and with the interest he's taken in her—though I can see the appeal, believe me—makes me nervous.

The Capitolians seeing through our charade could make our relationship even more dangerous than it already is. Augustus' death makes it clear that they wouldn't hesitate to get rid of either one of us if we started to cause problems for them. It's not something to brag about, but I'm fairly confident that I make more money for Snow than Octavia does, meaning she would likely be the one they take it out on, not me like I would prefer. So I see Augustus' death as the threat it is; a collective warning to us all, yet at the same time, one custom made for each of us.

The message meant for me though is clear. Stay in line Finnick, or she's next.

Octavia's POV

It's clear to see that things are coming to an end. The lakes and rivers around the arenas were all drained overnight, forcing Cato and the Tributes from 12 to head towards the Cornocopia for one last stand. Knowing it's likely the last opportunity to use the Sponsor money, and thanks to Finnick's appearance last night we've had a nice last-minute top-up, I send Cato down a good breakfast.

The crowd outside has been restless since Seneca appeared on the Caesar show last night, telling everyone to tune into their televisions today because of the finale. Even though I have a distaste for the man and am thoroughly creeped out by him, I can always rely on his ability to turn attention back onto himself.

The news of Augustus' death passes through the Capitol like a fashion trend, disappearing from the news cycle overnight in favour of something more exciting. Throwing him away like they do with all the Tributes who don't win. However, in the Tribute tower, his death and its message make much more of a lasting impression. We haven't forgotten. We the Victors won't forgive or forget something like this. Perhaps unintentionally, the move has strung a common thread between all of us Victors because today, I've seen more interaction between the other Career and the outer-district Victors than I have in a long time. I suppose the imminent threat of death hanging over our heads reminded people that we are all at the mercy of the Capitol; they don't care what district you're from because we're all equally disposable.

In truth, I think the outer districts are the ones who needed the reminder of that more than we did, but I'm sure they see it the other way around as well.

I decide to eat breakfast in a common area today, allowing myself to chat with some of the other Victors. I find myself sitting with Porter, Johanna, Cashmere, Gloss, Cecelia, Seeder, and, of course, Finnick.

My head is oddly clear for finale day, perhaps because there is nothing left to do but sit and watch. I have to rely on the training that I've given Cato up to this point and hope that the arrow-proof armour is enough to at least catch Katniss off-guard. As long as she isn't set up in a tree somewhere in a tree waiting for him and has a good sightline on his face, he should be able to get in close enough to finish it off. I only hope that Peeta will go quickly and without any pain.

Cecelia gets into a discussion about family that really seems to captivate the table, especially Cashmere and Gloss. "My kids, they're growing up so fast. I just don't want to miss a single second, you know?"

Porter nods, having had one child of her own around Finnick and I's age, who somehow has managed to prevent her from being reaped. I can't imagine what she had to do to make sure that didn't happen. "My girl's getting married soon and I still feel like that."

To my surprise, Cashmere nods along as well, seemingly feeling the sentiment deeply. "I want to have kids, one day at least," she says wistfully. Of course, we all know why she isn't allowed to have kids at the moment. She doesn't have to say it.

I see Seeder give Finnick a look, which causes him to choke on his eggs a bit. He covers his mouth with the hand holding onto his fork as he coughs out, "Oh no, we don't need more of me running around."

The table laughs at his joke and the conversation eventually moves onto the inevitable topic of the finale. "So, are you ready to watch 12 get stabbed in the face?" asks Johanna. She leans into the table but doesn't really bother to whisper, "I can't stand her shrill, lovey-dovey voice anymore."

"Just know Octavia, we all want your brother to come home," says Seeder. I take note that she seems to have worded it very specifically, but the words she does say are sincere.

"I can't imagine the stress you've been under," muses Cecelia, whose children are notably still too young for the reaping. "Having your brother in there—Gloss, you too, watching your sister be in there must've been terrifying."

He nods. "It was. It's always been us two against the world so I don't know what I'd do without her. But I knew she would pull through. I'm sure your brother will too, Octavia. He's a warrior."

Johanna, Finnick, and I eventually dismiss ourselves from the table and head off to the Mentor Control Centre. I'm grateful that Jo is coming with me because she hasn't stepped foot inside the room since the first day. Already in the control room are Haymitch, Enobaria, and Brutus. Jo and Finnick pull up two chairs behind my station and make room for themselves, everyone preparing to settle in for the long haul. Just because the finale starts today, that doesn't mean it can drag on for hours or even days.

We watch as Katniss and Peeta are the first to reach the clearing around the Cornocopia, and instead of setting up in a tree, she and Peeta simply sit on the edge of the clearing. Peeta makes a remark about not wanting to fight Cato when it's dark out because they only have one pair of night vision glasses between the two of them. They agree to stay in the clearing for another half hour or so, and if not, Katniss would tuck them into a tree for the night and try to wait him out.

Little does Katniss know, Cato is only an hour's walk away from her position, so by the time she manages to get Peeta into a tree, Cato will likely already be there. So she whistles out little harmonies for the birds to repeat back to her. "That's Rue's song," Katniss says, pointing to her pin.

The focus of the main broadcast abruptly turns to Caesar and Claudius, "Woah-ho-ho, in a turn of events here, appearing in the arena just a few hundred feet behind Cato are mutations." I feel my heart flutter in panic as a set hand walk in and hands Caesar new cards which he immediately begins to read off of. "These mutations, specially designed for these Games, are meant to be a highly intelligent wolf-hybrid, each made to look like a different fallen Tribute."

"Look at their eyes, so human-like," muses Claudius. This is what Seneca must've meant when he said he had something up his sleeve.

"I think I'm going to throw up," says Johanna as she tears off out of the room and towards the bathroom. Somehow, within the last few days, the theme of these Games has been 'try to piss off as many Victors as we can,' and it's working very well.

Claudius and Caesar excitedly go on as they try to match each tribute to their mutation. This is something even Brutus and Enobaria cannot bear to watch out of distaste for it all.

On instinct, I look up when they mention Clove, seeing a strong, brown-haired and browned-eyed mutt look around, its eyes, her eyes, look hauntingly like Cloves, enough that I start to wonder if they took them from her body, and these are really wolves mixed with the dead Tributes. The cherry on top is the small dent in her skull, identical to the one that Thresh gave her a few days ago. And if it isn't clear enough already, they helpfully added collars to each of them with their district numbers. Clove's wolf sniffs and stares into one of the cameras, and her eyes bare into my soul. I can see them saying to me through the camera, why didn't you save me, Octavia?

"There's no honour in this," Brutus says, the abhorrence and rage clear in his voice.

I suddenly feel like I'm going to have to join Johanna in the bathroom, but the wolves starting to move towards Cato forces me to stay. The wolves move with very human-like coordination, standing on their hindquarters and pointing and howling in the direction of Cato, Katniss, and Peeta's scent. Since Cato's the farthest out from the Cornocopia, they start to run after him. Everyone at our table starts to shout some sort of variation of "Run!" at the screens.

Luckily, Cato can hear the thundering of paws hitting soil getting closer and closer, and without question, he starts to run. He has about a two-hundred-yard lead on them, and with every passing minute, they start to close the distance. His estimated time of arrival at Katniss and Peeta's location quickly drops from one hour to half an hour, as he literally runs for his life.

About twenty minutes into the run, Johanna makes it back, clutching onto a water bottle like a safety net. Winces ring out through the room with every trip or misstep Cato makes. Even Haymitch occasionally lets a small one out when it's a particularly bad stumble.

Only five minutes away from Katniss and Peeta, it's clear he's going to make it to their location. If anything, now Seneca and his sadistic team would pull back the mutts long just enough to make it a three-way, fight-for-your-life against them.

Cato smashes his way into the clearing, drenched in sweat and face purple from running for so long. Katniss looks at him in confusion, likely wondering why he has no weapon in hand, as she loads her bow and fires an arrow at his chest which simply falls aside. "He's got some sort of body armour!" shouts Katniss. If it were under any other circumstances, I would have smiled, appreciating that I thwarted Katniss and saved my brother's life by purchasing the armour.

Knowing what follows behind him, Cato barrels in between Katniss and Peeta, leaving them behind in the dust to figure out what he's running from. I turn my attention away from 12 and watch as my brother makes a beeline for the Cornocopia in an attempt to gain the high ground against the mutts.

Unsurprisingly, Katniss leaves Peeta behind without a second thought and runs towards the Cornocopia as well. Cato reaches the top of the horn and collapses, retching over the side from the exhaustion of running full-tilt for so long. With his bad leg keeping him behind, Peeta tells Katniss to keep going. She obliges, climbing up the Cornocopia to get a better vantage point of the mutts attacking Peeta.

She fires off arrows at any of them who get close to her district partner. Everyone at our station is on edge, begging either out loud or in our minds for Cato to recover. All Katniss needs right now is one good push off the ledge, and then the Games will be his.

As Cato's breathing starts to become less erratic, to my horror, Katniss turns her bow onto Cato, fixating it on his head. Cato won't move in time. She's too close. "No, no, no, please," I beg Katniss from under my breath.

A yelp escapes from Peeta's lips, and with only a moment of hesitation, Katniss turns her bow to the mutt attacking Peeta, choosing to save his life rather than end Cato's. I truly did not see a move coming from the obviously faking lovers or from someone with such a strong survival instinct as Katniss. She likely knows that the couple-degree shift in her shot could cost her life. Nevertheless, she quickly helps Peeta onto the Cornucopia and leaves Cato be, for now at least.

On the other side of the Cornocopia, a still exhausted Cato catches his first glimpse at what the mutts really are. He stares down to see the mutt with long brown hair, brown eyes, and a dent in its skull. "Clove?" he coughs out. His eyes widen and he scrambles back from the edge.

At the same time, Katniss and Peeta seem to come to the same realization that Cato has, and Katniss has a minor freak out as she fights off the mutts of the Tributes she killed. They try to take Peeta off the edge with them, but Peeta stabs one of them and Katniss pulls him the rest of the way up.

Seizing the chance, a now recovered Cato tears Peeta away from Katniss, holding him in a headlock and cutting off his air. For a moment, Katniss seems to think that one of the mutts dragged Peeta towards the ground because she looks down in terror until his blood sputters onto Katniss as he tries to breathe in the headlock.

Katniss raises an arrow to Cato's head and I feel my own breathing start to get heavy. She's got a clear shot at him, and the only thing holding her back is Peeta. I grab onto both Finnick and Jo's arms, watching, waiting to see what happens next.

Cato calls out to Katniss, " Go on, shoot. And we'd both go down and you'd win."

I can see Katniss making the calculations in her head, knowing that if she shoots Cato, Peeta is going to fall off the edge with him and land them both into a pile of murderous mutts. They've reached a stalemate. Katniss can't shoot him or Peeta will die, and Cato can't kill Peeta or he'll die.

Both of them frantically search for an out, but there doesn't seem to be one. My heart starts to race, feeling like it's going to explode as I search my own mind for ways that Cato can get out of this. "Go on. I'm dead anyway! I always was, right?" says Cato, re-adjusting his grip on Peeta so he can't wriggle away. "I didn't know that until now. Isn't that what they want, huh? I should have listened to my sister."

An audible gasp leaves my lips at the mention of me—the realization of what the Games are have fully set in at the worst time possible. "Come on Cato, a few more minutes. You can do this. You just need a few more minutes," I say to my screen. I'm not ready to give up yet. He is coming home.

It's as if, just this once, the person that I'm speaking to hears me through the screen. As Katniss gets ready to shoot, Cato holds Peeta even tighter, his face starting to turn various shades of blue and purple. "No! I can still do this," cries Cato. "I can still do this. One more kill. It's the only thing I know how to do. Bring pride to my district. Not that it matters. Oh god, Vee, you were right! I'm sorry," he chokes out in more of a sob than a yell. Lost in his ramble, Cato doesn't notice as Peeta draws an X on the back of Cato's hand. Or at least, he notices too late.

Eyes widen in realization at the same time that the arrow leaves the bow and it lodges itself into his hand.

I hear a bloodcurdling scream ring out across the room, only to feel the hurt in my throat and realize it was my own.

It's as if everything starts to happen in slow motion; Cato falls through the air towards the pack of mutts eagerly waiting to make a feast out of my beautiful baby brother. Katniss lunges forward and catches Peeta, but Cato has no such aid. Instead, he hits the ground with a sickening thud, and the mutations descend on him.

Instantly, the waterworks start to flow. I know that this is likely the beginning of the end. But like everything in life, Cato isn't giving up so easily. he tears his sword out from his armour and starts to fight off the mutations. The mutt that is Clove tries to fend the bigger ones off from Cato, but she's quickly put down by the larger one from 11. Blood from Cato and mutts alike start to fly as he stabs at them and they bite at the exposed parts of his body.

It takes the better part of an hour for Cato to fight his way to the side of the Cornocopia. I allow myself one last wave of hope; if he can get back up, he can still win. Peeta is hours away from death because of his legs, and both he and Katniss are slowly freezing to death.

He grabs onto the side of the Cornocopia, climbing up the side and then...

The strings holding my heart together snap as I watch the mutts pull Cato down and drag him into the Cornocopia.

I've already exhausted all of my tears, and my eyes have dried up like the desert. I don't know how I feel anymore; the only way I can explain it is that I feel numb. I can't feel my fingers or my toes, and my inner dialogue that is usually rampant and unyielding goes silent for the first time in my life.

My eyes stay glued to the screen, unable to look at anything else. Watching my brother, the child who I've raised and loved for the past five years, get torn to shreds. The very least I can do for him now is be there for him to the very end.

Finnick's POV

Several people, including me, make attempts to gently guide Octavia out of the room, stop her from watching the horrific and bloody massacre, but she resists every attempt without a word or a glance away. Instead, she stands there unblinking, watching the screen as the entire room sits in silence.

I've seen Octavia yell, scream, throw weapons, deceive, manipulate, fight, but nothing has or ever will be as scary to me as the silent, emotionless woman in front of me. I wish she would do something, attack someone; I don't really care, as long as I got some sort of inclination that she's still alive in there.

As the hours go on, slowly but surely, Victors from all districts start to trickle into the room and to their stations until the room is more full than I've ever seen it. And as those hours go on, Cato's loud cries are replaced with whimpers and moans. The funny, charming boy I had met weeks ago is now a bloodied and unrecognizable mess. They're making his death anything but quick, dragging it on for the sake of the show. I usually don't like to make assumptions about my fellow Victors, but I know that this will be a feature in all of our nightmares for weeks.

The sun starts to come up, marking at least eight hours of this all going on when Katniss wakes up from her exhaustion-induced sleep.

"I think he's closer now. Katniss, can you shoot him?" Peeta asks her in a small voice. I'm surprised he's made it through the night, but Katniss has tied a band around his leg so tight that it stops the bleeding, but Peeta will certainly lose the leg.

"My last arrow's in your tourniquet," says Katniss.

"Make it count," says Peeta, unzipping his jacket and handing the arrow to her.

Katniss attempts to warm her likely frostbitten hands to make her last shot count. Peeta supports her as she hangs off the edge to fire the arrow, and her shaky hands pull back on the bow. As Katniss raises her final arrow, the look on her face isn't one of anger, hatred, or even dislike as it had been before. Instead, it's one of pity. It's one of humanity. A wanting to stop his pain. An understanding, a forgiveness.

"Did you get him?" whispers Peeta.

The cannon fires in answer. Cato is dead.

After everything, with Augustus, Cato, the mutts, Enobaria and Brutus clap their fists to their hearts, drop their heads and kneel towards Octavia, giving her a District 2 salute of respect. Without fail, the District 1 Victors follow suit, and slowly but surely, in a scarce moment of solidarity, all in the room are kneeling—none have their heads bowed in more reverence than Haymitch.

For the first time in hours, Octavia removes her eyes from the screen, scanning the room and seeing the mass of Victors, friends, all kneeling at her. Her chest moves heavily as she surveys the room, perhaps only now realizing that everyone has trickled in. The body that once stood at attention at all times, stood up straight and proud, is now full of defeat; it's as if she's shrunk several inches in the span of a few hours. Octavia's eyes cling onto Haymitch for a moment, and I expect her eyes to ignite with rage. But, instead, her eyes remain dead, no sign of spark or life in them as her head lull's into a tiny inclination of recognition.

Heads in the crowd start to glance up at Octavia and she gives them a small bow of her head thanks as she makes for the exit of the room.

But a voice coming from the television stops her. Claudius' voice stops her mid-walk. "Greetings to the final contestants of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games." Slowly, as if a snake, her head eerily leads her body to turn around and watch the announcement. "The earlier revision has been revoked. Closer disclosed that only one winner may be allowed," he says. "Good luck and may the odds be ever in your favour."

A hint of life flashes in her eyes before she turns back towards the door and exits the room with deafening finality.

Without hesitation, I follow after her.

Haymitch's POV

Three days have passed since my Tributes won the Hunger Games. In a move that was genius mixed with a heavy amount of psychosis, they both managed to escape the death trap stacked against them in so many ways. I send Effie to check on them every half an hour to see if they've woken up yet just in case they 'forget' to come and get me. But with Peeta's leg and Katniss' ear, surgeries upon surgeries keep them under. It took Cinna and I a lot of time to convince the doctors not to surgically 'enhance' and enlarge Katniss' features while she's under the knife. She would've killed me if I let that do them to her.

But they're not happy with her, with Seneca, with anyone involved. My sources tell me that riots have broken out in most of the districts, taking Katniss and Peeta's suicide pact as an act of rebellion. That's going to be much harder to talk my way out of, I think to myself.

The television flips from a recap of Peeta and Katniss' current health status' a birdseye view of a limousine moving through a crowd of obnoxiously brightly coloured Capitolians.

"With heavy hearts, we watch as the limousine escorts Octavia Jones to the Presidential Palace, where we suspect she will receive the first-ever Presidential Condolences," says Caesar. I feel a pang of guilt and remorse for my friend. No doubt this part of the cast is only playing in the Capitol. "When we come back, we eagerly await the reunion of our Victors Katniss and Peeta!"

I think back to the last conversation I had with her a few days ago on the rooftop, hoping that my words would stay with her and direct her anger at the right target. I touch the newly formed scar on my cheek and hope the words she said to me that night will hold.

Her eyebrows scrunch in confusion, "No offence Haymitch, but you being the brains behind the operation doesn't really make me feel any better."

I give her a small smirk, knowing my next words are about to blow her mind. "It's Plutarch."

She nods, her face starting to grow into a smile of approval. She's realizing that this thing could be real. She starts to pace around the roof, thinking everything through. "So what you're telling me is we have a real shot, a good shot at this."

I nod, "That is what I'm saying."

"Well, that's good because I don't miss shots. Who else?"

"Well, all the Victors from 12," I joke, "Everyone from 11, 8, 7, and 5, Beetee, Wiress, and Coggs from 3...I feel like I'm missing someone, oh, yea, and Mags and Finnick from 4."

"Finnick? And he didn't tell me?"

"I don't know if you've noticed sweetheart but Snow watches you like a hawk. Especially with these Games and your brother. He wanted to keep you out of it and keep you safe so you could focus on your brother."

"How long?" she asks me, trying to work it all out in her head.

"Years for most of us. Chaff and I were two of the first with your two friends being the most recent additions."

"I'm in," she replies. Then, out of somewhere—I'm not sure where and I'm not sure I want to know—she whips out a knife.

"Woah, woah, woah," I say, holding my hands up in surrender. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Well if I'm going to commit to this, I need to make it look like we fought. We both walk off the roof looking all chummy they're going to know something is up."

"And how come you walk away without a scratch?" she gives me a look of 'really?' and I sigh, "fine."

She comes in closer and grabs my face, but I move back in protest. "Why the face?"

"It needs to be somewhere they can see, duh."

She leans in again but I pull back again, "Wait, wait, wait, let me do it."

She rolls her eyes, "Haymitch, you can't even walk straight. How are you supposed to cut straight? They would be able to tell the difference."

I sigh, resigning to taking it and close my eyes. "You seem a little too into this," I tell her with my eyes still closed. "Are you sure this isn't a revenge thing?"

"Shut up, Haymitch."

Octavia's POV

I exit the limousine to a blinding wall of flashing lights from the paparazzi. I feel a large arm wrap around me as I'm escorted into the building. I don't bother putting on a smile like usual and pull my white blazer jacket over my face to block it from view.

For the past three days, they've kept me in the hospital wing under close observation, with a small drip of morphling on a constant flow, obviously scared I might do something. But I have no motivation to move, speak, or really do much of anything. I just sit and stare at the wall. No visitors were allowed in to visit except a brief one from Plutarch who told me what would be happening for today. They had to pry Finnick away from me the day the Games finished to get me into the hospital wing and I haven't seen him since. I even think heard Johanna trying to fight her way in once, but to be fair, it could have been the morphling.

I could hear the agonizing cries of Katniss and Peeta as they would start to wake up too early before being put back to sleep again. Their groans would mix with the memories of Cato's and I would promptly twist the valve of the morphling, increasing the flow.

I slowly snap back to the present, realizing that the arm around me is Plutarch's. He leads me through the familiar route to Snow's office. I sit in my usual seat and Plutarch walks around the desk to stand and observe behind Snow.

"We've had to...re-evaluate the situation and with the loss of your brother at the hands of Miss Everdeen, I'm sure you've figured this out already Miss Jones, but the deal concerning you becoming a citizen of the Capitol is now off the table," says Snow.

The smile on my face doesn't make it to my eyes. "I figured as such. But I also figured that it was never going to happen anyway, was it?"

Snow gives a small amused chuckle at my outburst. "Plans change, Miss Jones. And in a gesture of goodwill towards you, I would like to offer you official condolences for the loss of your brother."

Now it's my turn to be amused. "I'm sure you do."

"And unofficially, just between us three," he says, glancing back at Plutarch, "Because of your tip about the reporters, I have something else to offer you."

I squirm in the discomfort of the Augustus situation. I knew they were listening to him tell me about the reporters. If I hadn't have turned him in, I would have faced consequences too. He still would have died, though, at the time, I had no idea that's what they were going to do to him. When I told Plutarch about what Augustus had said, he agreed that turning him in and getting brownie points with Snow was the best move forward; both to save myself and to avoid exposing any of the rebels who Augustus might have name-dropped as people who helped him.

It came down to a simple choice really. Me or him. Him or Finnick. Him or Johanna. Him or Cato. He never stood a chance the way it was stacked. But Plutarch's instincts, and mine, were right. I need to settle in for the long game. I need to line up my shot. Because once I take it, I can't afford to miss.

"And what would that be?"

"It's a who, not a what," Snow corrects.

"And who would that be?" I ask, barely interested in playing along.

"You and I have a common enemy in Katniss Everdeen." My ears quirk up at the mention of her name. "I need you to keep a close eye on her."

I glance up to Plutarch and he nods, telling me to say yes. "So you want me to kill her."

"Not yet. If she dies now she'll only become a martyr."

My head tilts in confusion. "So what do you want me to do then?"

Plutarch steps into the conversation, "Consider yourself on stand by. A sleeper agent of sorts." Instantly I get Plutarch's double meaning of the words; go along with what Snow's saying to get revenge on the Capitol, to further the rebel plans. I'll be the woman on the inside. The Capitol will think I'm on their side, and really, with Katniss as the carrot, they have no reason to think otherwise.

Satisfied, Snow closes his notebook, checking items off of his list.

"Wait!" I say with a bit too much urgency, causing looks of confusion in both men. Plutarch gives me a glance, wondering why I've gone outside his plan. "Let me have him," I say to Snow. He seems a bit surprised at my forwardness. Usually, I speak with tact and guile, but I don't have time for any of that anymore. I need my message to be clear. "I want you to let me be the one to kill Seneca Crane. Please, as a gesture of goodwill for our deal. Let me get the blood on my hands. I can take it. No one will be able to trace it back to you—"

"It can be arranged," says Snow, as he opens his book, scribbles something down and walks out.

I'm left with Plutarch, who starts to escort me out. He puts an arm around me as we start to walk and he leans down close to my ear as he starts to whisper, "Listen to me Octavia, I only have a few seconds to explain, whatever happens, if you want to keep this rebellion alive, if you truly want to get revenge on those who really killed your brother, you need to protect Katniss Everdeen and keep her alive at all costs."

"What? I don't understand?" And I don't understand how he could ask me to keep her alive. I don't want to kill her. She's the one who put Cato, who put me out of misery when it all had dragged on for hours and hours. I've set my sights on the real target. But he can't ask me to keep her alive. He can't. It's not fair. And I'm not sure I trust myself to keep her that way.

"She's the girl on fire. She's the spark we need to fan the flames. But if she goes out, we all do." He begins to walk away, leaving me in a further mess of emotion and confusion. "At all costs, Octavia. At all costs."
——————

Okay guys. Unfortunately, as you've all read, Cato is dead. Saving him would make the story too AU, and I've always wanted to stick closely to the source material. In my original outline of the story, Cato wasn't even supposed to be her brother but I wanted to give Octavia a good reason why she might be against Katniss and, therefore, the Rebellion in a way when she's clearly someone who has a distaste for the Games. Cato was fated to die from the beginning. And it made me incredibly sad writing this. But this is the damage that occurs to characters like the Careers. Even though we don't get much of a glimpse of it much through the films/books because we see through Katniss' POV, it is clear that before she got there, these Victors get dragged through hell and back and I wanted to stay true to that. Before Katniss, these people never really got a break, didn't get room to breathe because it was just one bad thing waiting after the other. I've always wanted to make this a story that is true to the world it takes place in, and saving Cato was just not something that could happen in such a gritty society. Especially since it would change Catching Fire and Mockingjay completely.

The fact that you are all so attached to him and sent me messages and comments asking me to keep him alive is such a compliment because it means I've invested you all into the story and made you care about the characters. I've enjoyed adding complex layers to a character that we really only see as one-dimensional, but I wanted to go ahead and emphasize the Cato we get a glimpse of at the end of the film with the speech.

I hope all you Cato fans stick around because my favourite book/movie Catching Fire is coming up, and if you've been reading up to this point, there's going to be a lot of payoff. This whole story has been building up to the 75th Games, essentially showcasing Octavia's journey to those Games. I want to try and realistically integrate Octavia, meaning that I want it to feel like a book that you can layer on top of the originals. I want it to feel like Octavia really could have been there in the books and movies just like the other Victors. Hopefully I can get you all to that feeling!

Differences: In chapters that rely heavily on either the movies or books as source material, I will explain the differences. The mutations being made to resemble the Tributes comes from the books, in the movies, the mutations are only made to look like large dogs. The sequence leading up to the fight at the Cornocopia is also straight from the books. The small speech Cato gives is the only part taken from the movies in this chapter as it does not happen in the books. Finally, the muttations taking hours to kill Cato is also from the books. In the movies, Katniss almost instantly kills him after he falls off the Cornucopia.

There will be a small, but very, very, very, very, very, very, very important epilogue next chapter, but after that, we're on to Catching Fire! Think of it like a post-credit scene a-la-Marvel style.

Onto the chapterly memes, mostly just for y'all to get your catharsis from:

Bonus: