Can I just start of my apologizing? It's been a LONGGGGG time since I've updated and I feel horrible. So I felt that I should stop being such a lazy donkey and actually write a chapter to show my gratitude :P

IMPORTANT: So I got 3 reviews from an anonymous 'Guest' saying how horrible my stories were… And truthfully, I'm not all that bothered. I'm more… amused. That Guest said that s/he hated my story but read all the way to Chapter 19? That's a bit messed up. So I'd just like to say that if you hate my story, just close the tab and don't read it. I'm pretty sure I never mentioned anytime or anywhere in my story that you HAVE to like what you're reading, and I know that I am not an amazing writer and the first few chapters are probably quite appalling to read :P I just think you'd have to be pretty shallow to do something like that, you know?

I promise that we'll never have such a long A/N ever again XD

IMPORTANT: This chapter continues off Chapter 21, when Cato goes off in search of Thresh and when Katniss manages to get the medicine to Peeta and falls asleep.

ON WITH THE CHAPTER!

We watch Cato run wildly into the field, in search of Thresh. He uses his bare hands to push away the tall grains and curses under his breath.

"Where are you, Eleven," he growls.

He treks quickly into the field. From the screen, we can see that Thresh is only 100 metres away from where Cato is standing. Cato looks up and finally sees him; he's sitting down, hugging the 2 packs against his chest and murmuring incoherent things under his breath. Cato knits his eyebrows together and trudges towards Thresh.

Thresh hears Cato before he sees him.

He gets up and looks around, trying to locate where the sound of heavy footsteps are coming from.

"Looking for me?"

Thresh whirls around and sees Cato with his fists curled up, ready to throw a punch at the bat of his eye.

Thresh stares at him.

Cato smirks. "I don't want much, Eleven. Maybe if you'd give me my pack, I'll leave you unharmed. Alive. That is, if you choose to do it the easy way."

Thresh remains calm but fierce. His eyes are burning with determination and his face stern. His hands are by his sides but are tense and rigid. He tentatively steps in front of the pack labeled 'Two' and hides it from Cato's eyes. He's not going give in.

Cato grins evilly. "You really want to do that, Eleven? I don't think you've seen me in training before. Have you? Or were you too busy taking care of that District partner of yours? What was her name… Prune?"

Thresh's nostrils flare out in anger as he says in a low voice, "Just leave, and things would be easier for both of us."

Cato's eyebrows raise in mock disbelief as he says, "He speaks."

Thresh glares at him and says angrily, "What do you want from me, Two?"

"You know damn well what I want, Eleven," snarls Cato as he takes a step towards Thresh. Now they're only a metre away.

They stare at each other for a good minute before Thresh says, "No."

Cato smiles. "When this is over, you'll be just like little Prune girl; as good as dead."

Cato barely finishes the last syllable when Thresh pounces on him with such force that he tackles him to the ground. He throws a couple of hard punches before Cato regains his strength to flip Thresh over, until he's the one on top. He holds his hands down onto Thresh's throat until the colour drains from his face.

Cato cackles. "And that wasn't even hard, Eleven."

But Thresh uses this time to lift his legs up to lock them on Cato's shoulders and push him down. Cato releases his grip, allowing Thresh to get a breather before forcing Cato down and pressing down on his throat.

"Using… my… tech..nique… eh?" whispers Cato, as Thresh pushes down on his windpipe.

Cato uses whatever strength he has left to jab Thresh on the neck, exactly where the pulse would be. Thresh howls in pain as Cato punches him in the ribs multiple times before he falls to the ground.

"Too bad I know the counterstrike."

Cato beats Thresh until blood is gushing out of his nose and mouth. Thresh yells and screams in pain, but nobody comes to help him. All this time, Portia is squeezing my hand and breathing hard. Effie and Haymitch sit silently, not saying anything this whole time. I still think something happened between the two, I just don't know what. I'll find out in time. For now, I need to concentrate on Thresh, and hope that he makes it out alive. But then again, he'd be in so much pain; it'd be better if he died.

"That one was for Clove!"

"Die, Eleven, die!"

He yells out more profuse language before standing up and panting. He looks down at Thresh, whom is currently half-dead. His eyes are swollen shut, nose and mouth bleeding and the bare skin that is showing badly bruised. The rise and fall of his chest is so small, you have to stare at it for a minute before realizing he's still alive. But he won't be for long.

Cato got what he wanted in the end: his pack and his revenge.

The sky starts to get cloudy before Cato spits on Thresh.

"For Clove."

And with that, he stomps on Thresh's chest so hard that we hear a huge crack.

Boom.

The death of Eleven's last tribute, killed at the hands of a brutal boy at the age of 16. Is this what the Hunger Games is really supposed to be? Just a murdering race, to see who should die first? Who is the better killer?

The Control Room is silent.

I think of Chaff and Seeder. I imagine that this would be worse for them than it is for us. Thresh was Seeder's nephew and Chaff was Rue's uncle. I decide to go visit them, see how they're coping.

I knock on the Eleven Control Room door and say, "It's Cinna. Can I come in?"

I have to wait a few moments before I hear a soft voice saying, "Okay."

I open the door slowly and tentatively. I peek in and see Chaff sitting with his face blank, while Seeder looks like she just cried her eyes out. She sniffs as she looks at me.

"Today's his 17th birthday, you know."

To die on the day you were born… I don't even know what to say anymore. So I just hug Seeder and let her cry into my shoulder.

"It's okay, Seeder," I say softly into her ear. "He's alright now."

"I could've done something," whispered Seeder. "Maybe if I had-"

"Shh," I interrupt. "No, okay? You did him a favour. Nobody wants to live in a world like this. Nobody does. He could've died a less painful death, but what's done is done, Seeder. Don't blame yourself for it, okay?"

I release Seeder and hold her at arm's length. She smiles weakly at me and whispers, "Thanks, Cinna. I needed someone to say that."

I nod and smile. "Any time."

I turn to Chaff, and see him still sitting there, staring into space. I walk up to him and place a hand on his shoulder.

"Chaff."

He doesn't respond.

"Chaff, I need you to listen to me."

Silence.

"Listen. Rue's death was not your fault. Neither was Thresh's. There was nothing much you could do to save them. You couldn't have had known that Marvel was going to kill Rue, and you could've have known that Cato was going to give Thresh such a painful death." I take in a deep breath. "You did all you could."

Then Chaff turns to me. The look in his eyes makes me wish that I wasn't there.

"I will kill Snow. I will kill him for this, Cinna. Nothing you say will change that," says Chaff in a threatening voice. "I will kill him."

I keep quiet. This room could be bugged. Snow would've heard everything. And if he did, it would result in his imminent death.

"And you know what kills me the most, Cinna?"

I look at him.

"What kills me the most is the fact that what I did wasn't enough to save them."

I hope that was good enough :P At the rate we're going, I'm guessing that we'll have about 5 more chapters until CATCHING FIREEEE!

Thanks so much for 131 lovely reviews (apart from the anon ones) that I've been receiving during this writer's block! Special thanks to Nightlock-Rebellion for reviewing EVERY CHAPTER! I may not have many readers, but I definitely have one of the most supportive readers (: I really mean it when I say I try my hardest to get a chapter done.

Thank you again, and see you at the next chapter!