Disclaimer : Oh, God. If you still can’t figure it out, I have no idea what to say.

Percy’s POV

I’d love to say that I faced the mutt with my sword and/or knife.

Or at least save myself by climbing the Cornucopia.

It’s a basic fight or flight reaction, right?

But no.

I had to stay rooted to the ground.

And I may have peed a little.

  “ It’s nice to see you again, Percy Jackson,” the mutt – THALIA! – says, its mouth curling over its fangs. Its electric blue eyes glint with malice. “ I’ve missed you.”

  “ I…I…don’t know what to say,” I say, my voice getting stuck in the throat. “ I’m….”

 “ Aww…you’re tongue-tied,” she says, her tone mocking. “ No matter. I’m not here for silly chit chats or stupid reunions. No,” she bares her fangs, “ I’m here for revenge!”

She let loose a loud howl (let’s hope it’s not for a backup squad or something) before lunging at me. Right on cue, my legs got the same burst of energy as before and I ran as fast as I could towards the Cornucopia. Katniss is on it, screaming at me to go faster. Cato is standing 10 feet from her, staring at me in horror.

I rip my knife out of its sheath and as soon as I’m near enough the Cornucopia, I jump as high and strong as I could and plunge the knife into the metal, using it to hoist myself up faster.

Sure, the method is pretty neat and probably effective, but unfortunately, I wasn’t fast enough. As soon as the knife sinks into the metal, I felt something sink into my legs and pain blinds me for a minute.

I hear Katniss scream and the whizz of an arrow and just like that, the clamping sensation is gone. But something else detaches itself from my legs (or leg). I’m dazed with so much pain that I didn’t feel Katniss pulling me up. I roar in pain when I feel her touch the wound the fangs made on my legs.

“ I’m sorry,” she apologizes, stroking my cheeks. My vision clears and I could see her pale face, merely a few inches from mine. “ I’m sorry I didn’t pull you up fast enough.”

“ How…how bad is it?” I pant, trying to stay focused. “ What did I lose?”

She lowers her head, not wanting to meet my eyes. “ The mutt ripped your left leg off.”

“ The broken one?” She nods. “ Oh, well. I couldn’t exactly stand up straight with it anyway, right?” I say, my joke feeble. She half-smiles. “ Don’t worry. When we get out of here, they’ll fix me with a fake leg or something.”

“ They’d better,” she mumbles.

“ Why are you guys so confident that the both of you will make it out of this place alive and in one piece?” another  voice asks, sending me into fits of terror. “ Haven’t you even considered the possibility of me killing the both of you?”

“ Stay away from us, you retard!” Katniss screams at him, bringing her bow and arrow up, the arrow pointing directly at Cato’s heart. “ You take another step and this will go straight into your heart.”

He guffaws, his eyes glinting with malice. “ Why should I be afraid of a little girl with a bow and an arrow?” he asks, taking another step towards us. “ I have the upper hand here. You have to defend both yourself and your darling boyfriend there whereas me, I am as free as..as a..um ….” he stops, his brows scrunching up, trying to think of a good hyperbole.

“ What? Can’t think of a good enough hyperbole?” I ask, propping myself up on my elbows. “ Is your brain cell really that tiny? Or did someone hit you on the head hard enough you can’t even remember your name?”

“ Shut up, Lover Boy,” he snarls at me, pointing at me with his (I shiver at the sight of it) short sword. “ I’m surprised you even made it to this point with the cut I gave you weeks ago.”

“ Yeah. I’m just that awesome that even your sword can’t kill me,” I shrug, wincing a bit when my left leg – or what’s left of it – sends terrible pain up my side. “ Why don’t you just commit suicide and let the both of us win?”

He laughs again. “ No way,” he says, shaking his head. “ The victor’s going to be me!”

“ Wow, overconfident much?” I mutter under my breath. “ Don’t be so sure, Cato. For all you know, it wouldn’t be you.”

He bare his teeth, obviously mocking us. “ Have you taken a good look at yourself? The both of you are starving – “

“ We had better to eat than you!” Katniss says, looking extremely mad but Cato ignores her and continues.

“ – the both of you are much more smaller than me – “

“ That’s an advantage to us, actually,” I say.

“ – and one of you just lost a leg and is bleeding so much I think I could take a bath with your blood,” he says, looking at me smugly. “ Your chances of getting out of this arena is close to none, Jackson.”

“ One’s got to have some hope if one wants to live,” I say, shrugging nonchalantly. He makes a face.

“ All of this chatting has made me bored,” he says, yawning. “ I think I’ll finish this now,” he adds, raising his sword. Before he could do anything, something howls into the night. At first only a single creature’s howl. Then another. And another. And another until they’re doing a mighty scary choir.

“ Mutts,” I say to Katniss. “ More of them.”

Mutt-Thalia grins at me sadistically. “ My brethren joins me,” she says, before joining the choir.

A sandy mutt with blue eyes leaps into the clearing, its gaze fixed on me. Fear grips my throat. Please don’t let that be –

“ Hello, Percy,” the sandy mutt says. “ I don’t think you remember me. I’m Luke,” it says, holding out it’s paw as if in a handshake. “ Come now. Shake my hand – I mean, paw. I won’t bite,” it says, baring its fangs.

“ It’s okay. I’m cool. We’re cool, right?” I squeak when I see it take a step forward. “ Right?”

“ Maybe,” it muses, actually rubbing its jaw with its paw. “ Maybe.”

“ Percy,” Katniss says slowly. “ Are you talking to the mutts?”

“ Yep.”

“ Are they talking to you?”

“ It’s called a conversation, Katniss.”

“ Why can’t I hear them?” she asks, looking at me all puzzled.

Before I could answer, two more mutts appear. One has curly blonde fur and startling grey eyes. The other, dark brown fur with brown eyes.

“ Hello, Percy,” the both of them choruses together. “ It’s good to see you again.”

HOLY SHIT!

“ Percy, you remember Annabeth and Katie, right?” mutt-Thalia says, her blue eyes bore into my green ones. “ They’ve missed you so, so much.”

“ It’s true, Percy. We thought, maybe you should come home with us,” mutt-Annabeth says.

HOLY SHIT! STAY AWAY FROM ME!, I scream, sadly, in my head since my mouth seems glued shut.

“ Percy – “ Katniss starts to say, pulling me in closer to her but just then, another blonde mutt leaps into the clearing. No, make that two. Both with green eyes, one slightly smaller than the other. Male and female. Blonde mutts. Glimmer and Marvel, maybe?

Katniss suddenly yelps in surprise, her hand tightening its grip on my shoulder. I, in turn, yell in pain because of the recently healed shoulder injury. “ They’re…they’re talking to me! Can you hear them?” she asks me, her eyes wide and fearful. “ They said…they said they’re Marvel and Glimmer.”

“ No way,” Cato breathes, taking a step away from the edge of the Cornucopia. “ No effing way.”

Oh dear, Cato. You’ve killed half of the tributes. You are going to have one big happy reunion with these mutts. Please, please enjoy this reunion. I’m sure you’re going to love it.

“ What do you want from me?” he suddenly yells, slashing at the mutts with his short sword. “ Get away from me, you filthy ugly mutts!”

“ Percy,” Katniss says, gripping my arm. “ They’re…they’re blaming me for their deaths. And…is that…Rue?” she gasps, pointing into at a mutt, smaller than the rest with thick, curly jet black fur and dark eyes. It fixes its gaze on us and…and something flashes in it. Something like…hate? Betrayal?

“ I see you remember me,” the black mutt says, sitting on its haunches. Katniss stares at the mutt in horror. “ Yeah. The both of you can hear me because of you, I died,” she says softly.

“ We didn’t kill you, Rue,” Katniss says softly, horror etched on her face. “ We protected you.”

“ I still got killed, didn’t I?” she asks, baring her fangs. “ I died and the both of you got to live!” she snarls, pawing the ground, her hind legs tensing. “ Now, however, is the time where I can avenge myself.”

She leaps, fangs bare and claws out, ready to shred us into mince meat. Katniss raise her bow and arrow and shoots, barely containing her sob. The arrow hit the mutt right in the heart and it falls down to the ground, twitching around until it finally goes still. The now-still form on the ground flickers, turning momentarily into the small form of Rue before disintegrates into ashes.

“ I….I killed her,” Katniss sobs. “ I killed her.”

“ It wasn’t her,” I say, trying to comfort her with all the snarls and howls around us. “ It was a mutt, designed to torture us mentally.”

“ How clever of you to figure that out, Percy,” mutt-Thalia purrs, giving me an approving look. “ I’ve always told Cato you were pretty smart. But he wouldn’t listen.”

“ Thanks for believing in me,” I say sarcastically. She smiles – no, well, it is a smile but the fangs made it look…..murderous.

“ I can’t take this anymore!” Cato screams, pulling tufts of hair out. “ I’m going to end this!” he says savagely, turning his eyes on us. “ I’m going to end this!”

With that, he runs straight at us, sword out. Ready to kill.

This will be it.

I am not going to let him hurt – no, touch her.

“ No!” I hear Katniss scream, just as I register the sharp pain in my chest.

Cato looks at me in surprise, before crumpling to the ground.

With an arrow in his heart.

And a sword in mine.