Hi! I am soo sorry about the delay in me posting this. I'm having this problem where I know what's going to happen but I'm having trouble getting it into words, so sorry.

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Sherlock

They decided to wait until night to go down to the lake. Even in the Games it was more likely people would be sleeping at night, and it would be easier to scope out the careers camp without being seen with the dark on their side, so John and Sherlock returned to their cove of trees to try and get some sleep. They'd set out after the anthem played.

Neither of them actually required sleep, seeing as they hadn't actually been awake that long, but they took turns feigning it as the other kept watch.

Finally the sun began to set and Sherlock and John went over their plan one more time. Stay together until the lake, then split up. Gather as much information as possible on the careers camp, and then return to a predetermined place to share information and hopefully come up with a way to steal a gun, and if possible, some other supplies, but the gun would be priority.

It didn't take long to reach the lake. Even walking it didn't take much more time to go down than it had to run up.

"Okay," Sherlock whispered. "You go left, I'll go right. You remember that funny looking tree about five minutes back?" John nodded. "We'll meet there. If I'm not back in three hours, come looking. I'll do the same for you."

"Alright. Be careful, Sherlock."

"I will. Stay safe."

It took Sherlock about half an hour to reach a spot where he had a good view of the careers camp. He was perched in a tree on the edge of the clearing by the lake. It was dark, but they had a fire going, so Sherlock pulled out his binoculars to try and see who all was there. It was difficult with the minimal light, but he managed to identify the group. Along with Moriarty, there was Sebastian, Irene, the girl from Two, both the boys from Fours, and, surprisingly, Molly. Sherlock pondered this for a minute. She had seemed vicious, sure, but he wouldn't have thought her career material. And he hated being wrong.

Still, there were only seven of them. Although there could be more guarding the camp. Sherlock didn't risk trying to get closer.

He watched them for a while longer. None of them appeared particularly concerned with sleeping, and they seemed to be having a cookout of some sort on the fire. He wondered momentarily whether they were eating what they had retrieved from the Cornucopia, or if they had managed to catch something.

After about an hour of watching he decided that all of them, except perhaps Sebastian, were scared of Jim. They didn't look as if they wanted to talk to him much, and they were all staying on the outer edges of the camp when possible, while he was in the middle by the fire. Sherlock suspected they only stayed with him because they figured they were safer on his good side than off it. Pointless, of course, they'd all die eventually anyway. Just as soon as they stopped being useful.

Sherlock watched the camp until Irene and one of the boys from District Four disappeared into the woods in the opposite direction from him. It looked as though they left on orders from Jim, and Sherlock wondered if he had gotten annoyed by their presence or if he had heard someone.

Sherlock made it back to the meeting spot after what he estimated was two and half hours after parting with John.

John wasn't there yet.

It took an hour for Sherlock to be positive it was later than they agreed to meet, not having a watch complicated this a bit, and a sense of dread filled him.

He clasped his spear in his hand and made sure his knife was easily accessible, before walking to the place where he and John had split up, and then walked along the edge of the trees in the direction John had gone.

After ten minutes he noticed two people appear by the side of the lake. Even from the distance he could identify them. One was Jim. He was carrying a torch.

The other was John.

Sherlock wondered if he should have included "Don't get caught by the enemy" in the plan.

Sherlock watched from the trees for a minute, trying to decide what to do. They were waiting for someone, that much was obvious. But who?

"Me," Sherlock said aloud. "Of course for me. They're waiting for me to try and get him back."

It couldn't be a trap. If they had wanted to trap him they would have put John out there alone.

An ultimatum then? A challenge? Were they just going to kill John and make him watch?

He decided that if that were the case he should at least try and save John's life. He had no doubt that John would do it for him.

He walked into the clearing, head held high. Jim and John were still quite a ways away, but as soon as Sherlock started moving Jim's head snapped around to look at him.

"Ah, Sherlock, we've been waiting for you." He called to Sherlock. John turned as well, looking frantically at Sherlock and shaking his head.

"I'm sure you have. John, are you alright."

John glared at him. "'M fine."

Sherlock reached them, and Jim smiled brightly at him. "Brilliant. Now, if you'd just drop your spear."

"I don't think so."

"But, Sherlock. I just want to have a little chat. There's no need for petty violence."

"Petty violence? It's the Hunger Games. If I kill you now I'm one step closer to going home."

"If you make a move to kill me I'll only have two choices."

"Is that so?"

"The first, I kill John."

"You're not armed."

"And the second, I have my people kill both of you."

"You think they could kill both of us before I can get my spear through you?"

"We have the guns. There's one pointed at each of you right now."

"You're lying."

"Even if I am, I still have this torch." He pointed it at Sherlock and grinned. "I could burn you, Sherlock. I could burn the heart out of you."

"I've been reliably informed I don't have one."

"Oh Sherlock," Jim moved the torch so the flame was inches from John's head, and for the first time since Sherlock had shown up, John looked scared. "We both know that's not quite true."

"Don't."

"Sherlock, I wasn't lying when I said I didn't want to kill you now. That's too obvious. I'm saving you for something special. My big finale in the arena."

"And John?"

"I haven't decided yet."

"So then what's stopping me from stabbing you?"

"You'll be shot."

"Then I'll die knowing the last thing I did was rid the world of Jim Moriarty."

"Fine, you can die now. I'll find someone else for my finale. Are you sure you wouldn't like to reconsider? They shoot on my command."

Sherlock was about to respond when a scream came from the woods behind the careers camp. A female. Irene. She screamed again, louder this time. She was obviously in pain.

Jim was clearly conflicted. He was about to say something when Irene screamed for a third time, and he chose to sigh in irritation instead. "Congratulations, you two get to live." He said sarcastically before turning and running towards the screaming. He shouted to his allies with the guns, and Sherlock heard their footsteps join Jim's as they ran to save Irene.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Sherlock asked John, quickly checking him over for any injuries.

"Yes. You shouldn't have come, you could've died."

"I've told you many times I don't really care about that. I assume they took your sword?"

"Yes. They left me with the rest of my supplies though, which is about the best we could have hoped for."

"Take my knife then. We'll have to get you something better in the morning. Now come on."

They heard gun shots as they reached the edge of the woods, and a moment later, two canons.

"I wonder who had Irene."

"Not our problem. How did they catch you?"

"Irene and one of the blokes from Four jumped me. They brought me to Jim who stared at me for about an hour before he decided we should go for a walk along the lake. I thought he was going to drown me, to be honest. Irene left again before we did."

"I counted seven of them, did you see anymore."

"I don't think so, no."

"Good, we might actually have a chance."

"Two against seven? Yes, those are great odds."

"It might only be two against six, we don't know if Irene survived. And the rest of them are as disposable to Jim as we are. He might just kill them for us."

They made it back to their trees just as the sun was rising and Sherlock offered to take the first watch. He spent the time trying to decide how to go about finding Lestrade. And then he tried to decide how the hell he was going to convince Lestrade to split with Anderson once he'd found them.