A fine dust falls to the ground, the last to come after the great pile of boulders fell. A few stray rocks and pebbles come tumbling down, though they are nothing compared to the great stones that seal the tomb of the two tributes.

Peeta realizes in this moment that the Capitol would never actually let two tributes win.

Beneath that great pile, left to rot in that tomb, is Cato and Katniss.

Seconds later two cannons ring through the air.

If he could process much right now he would consider that they might not actually be dead. But all he can do is chock on the dust clouding his vision as he inhales sharply.

Imagine Katniss, so focused on trying to gain some footing on Cato and suddenly, without any warning, those rocks falling to her. An irony almost, that this is the most common way to die in District Twelve.

His heart falls to the ground, his stomach turning and bile rising to the back of his throat. Tears prickle to his eyes, a combination of the clearing dust and his pure devastation of losing the girl he's watched for so long.

And beside him Clove takes sharp breathes before screaming.

"Cato!" She pushes right past Peeta, her small legs stretched and moving quickly, dragging herself to the pile of rocks and trying to see if there's anything she might do. Prove the cannons were wrong.

There isn't and there not wrong.

Peeta swallows, trying to come down to reality.

But Katniss Katniss Katniss.

Rotting in there. A primarily stop for tourist when this place becomes some sort of vacation getaway.

The dust settles but he still hasn't moved. Clove continues to claw at the boulders. Scraping off the smaller rocks bur coming to the realization that it's too late. That Cato was gone.

Peeta tries to come to the same realization, that he will never see Katniss in the flesh again. She will forever be cemented as a memory, as a million little pixels on a T.V. screen. Dead. Gone.

Prim, sitting at home between her mother and father. Watching in terror as Clove begins to scream, slamming her left fist into the stone. Her right arm broken, the sling for it coming off. He imagines the pain being impossible.

His leg, barely healed, throbs from all the standing and fighting.

Still, it doesn't stop him from taking those numb steps forward and watching Clove carefully.

She's technically the last one standing in his way of going home. But he won't kill an injured and mourning girl. He stands at the end of the boulder she's climbed onto, watching her knuckle begin to bleed as she scrapes at the ruble. "Cato! Cato! Answer me!"

He doesn't.

Peeta watches the scene unfolding, watching the once stoic and collected girl unravel. Her hair falling from her tight ponytail as she continues to fight boulders.

He knows it's useless to call out to Katniss. Even if she was alive…

Still he knows that she wouldn't want her body to rot in such a horrible place. She would want to be taken home. For that he crawls up, some difficulty because of his leg, and begins to push rocks aside with Clove who spares him a glance before growing frantic once more.

There's no way they can actually make it. He comes to this conclusion about five minutes later. They would need at least ten Thresh's to make it.

Slowly he pulls away, notices the changes in the air. The heavier atmosphere. One of them needs to die. The Capitol is growing uneasy and needs to be appeased. He thinks of the knife in his boot, taken from the Careers so early in the Games.

But that isn't Peeta. That's playing this game he so much detested. Does he even want to win? The answer is simple. No. Not without Katniss anyway.

Clove will mourn for a while, but ultimately she wants victory.

Slowly he draws the knife, gripping the blade lightly he places the handle in front of her face.

It's the only thing that works. Though he sees her nails, cracked and bleeding, still twitch as though to dig once more.

"The hell are you doing Loverboy?" She hisses.

"He's gone Clove."

Her eyes flash and an actual growl rumbles in her throat.

"No he's not! He's in there and I have to get to him."

She begins to pull at the top boulder again, desperate to pull at least one out.

"Clove."

Nothing.

"Clove."

Silence.

"Clove!"

"What! What do you want from me? Tell me Loverboy, just tell me what!"

She's in complete hysterics at this point.

He drops his knife before her and slides down to the ground.

He sits in the dirt, unable to support his own weight anymore. He notices the bleeding on his leg. Clove must have gotten him during their own fight.

He still hears her fighting above him, hissing, growling.

Peeta's eyes fall shut, though he doesn't fall asleep. Instead he wanders through memories of Katniss and home. He imagines a world where she live to be old with him.

And then he waits for Clove to come to her senses and realize she has to kill him.

Hey guys, new story here. Basically going to update this one constantly, not that I don't love Lux in Tenebris, I just think I put all my Kato/Catoniss love there and realized that I was getting to fluffy when it was meant to be more adventurous.

Some brief warnings about this: It's mainly Cato/Katniss Peeta/Clove and some very dark and angsty Madge/Gale. Very dark. But they're way later. But I do love baby fics and pregnancy stories and not to spoil anything but consider it a very real possibility that this could turn into a baby/ early next generation fic. I only say this now so that when you're knee deep in it you don't get pissed at me because 'you didn't sign up to read about babies and blah blah blah.'

Sorry, just having a rough week.

Anyway, chapters won't be very long, barely a thousand words but most will be leading to the plot.

I hope you enjoy and will answer any questions.