"What did you do? Right about now?" Peeta asked the second Zoya rushed into the opening room. She wore a peacekeeper outfit to disguise herself, pulling the helmet off. Today was the day, the morning he'd enter the games. Snow had it order for Zoya to only bring her district five tributes to their respectable facilities, that's when she put a peacekeeper in a choke hold and took his uniform to get here.

"I jumped off the side of the building." Zoya said honestly as Peeta stared at her, "There's a forcefield down there, doesn't let you."

"Is that suppose to comfort me?" Peeta took a deep breath, pacing slightly.

"Don't show them you're scared." Zoya wrapped her arms around him tightly, his head digging into her neck as they stood for a moment, "You're not scared, you're not."

Maybe she was attempting to convince herself more then she was him.

"I don't wanna go in there." Peeta whispered to her, holding on to her tightly, "I don't wanna kill people."

"I know." Zoya whispered back, her hand pressed to the back of his head as they continued to hug. That's when Zoya knew Peeta was too good of a person to make it out of this alive, she just didn't want to admit it out loud. No, she couldn't bare to say it out loud. He didn't want to kill in an arena filled with people who did, he was gentle and sweet when the tributes around him were cruel and violent. She wanted him to win, she did, but how could he with a heart like this, "Just don't end up like Titus from District Six a few years ago."

"Was that the guy that ate the tributes he killed?" Peeta asked, and he had to laugh slightly when she nodded, "I promise, I won't."

They pulled away when the small speaker heard, "Thirty seconds."

"You're gonna be okay." Zoya smiled, she wouldn't let her tears fall but the way her eyes watered said enough, "You are, you're gonna be okay."

Peeta nodded, but it was clear he didn't believe it either, "Don't watch if I die."

Zoya nodded with a exhale, "Try not to."

"I will." he agreed.

Twenty seconds.

"I have to get in there." he looked toward the glass tube, meeting her eye again, "Thank you."

"Well, it's not the roomiest elevator." Zoya joked slightly, one tear left her eye.

"For believing in me." Peeta went along with his words from before, "Thank you."

Ten seconds.

He hugged her again, tightly because they both knew it would be the last time. Zoya leaned back, pressing a kiss to his forehead due to their similar heights, "Make sure to run."

Peeta nodded, letting her go and stepping into the glass tube. It shut immediately, his eyes widened from the other side. Zoya rose her hand, her tattoo painted hand, pressing her palm to the glass while he did the same from his side. As the tube began to move upwards, the ceiling opening, Peeta got one last look at Zoya before he was put in the middle of a deadly arena.

The girl from District Three. The boy from Four. The boy from Five, Zoya district. Both tributes from Six and Seven. The boy from Eight. Both from Nine. The girl from Ten.

Not Peeta. Not Katniss. Not Foxface.

Zoya found the bloodbath the most terrifying part, yet the three she only seemed to care about made it out. Zoya ended up with Haymitch, Effie, Cinna, and Peetas stylist back in the top penthouse. Snow agreed, because Zoya wished to be with Haymitch during this time, and because he thought she'd only been with her two tributes the entire morning. Cinna had Zoya a cup of tea when he took notice of her bouncing leg, the way she sweat, her freshly stained tears along her face.

"What is that?" Zoya spoke up, standing to her feet when she saw the overcast of the new angle from the arena, new tributes. It was dark, but it was enough to catch her eye on what was happening.

"Zoya." Haymitch warned her, because he saw it better then she was.

Peeta had been with the career pack.

"No." she gave a whisper, a small whisper as her heart sunk, "They'll kill him."

Effie put a arm around her to sit her back down, Cato stabbing the girl from Eight on the screen. The group was close to Katniss, she'd been camped out in a tree not too far away. Zoya was beyond a mess, as if the games weren't so bad, now the only people Zoya wished Peeta would have stayed away from he'd been brought in with.

"Did you see the look on her face?" Marvel laughed as they walked away from the girl, who's started a fire to keep warm but only gotten herself killed.

"Oh no! Please don't kill me! Oh no." Glimmer mocked along side her district partner, Clove and Cato close behind them both.

"Hey, lover boy." Cato called, Peeta pushing through the branches to be near the group again. The closer he was, the more feral Zoya was becoming. Her leg was cramping by how much she was bouncing it, but it had been better then pacing around the penthouse terribly, "You sure she went this way?"

"Yeah, i'm sure." Peeta confirmed, speaking of Katniss. Zoya knew him too well, she knew whatever he had planned wasn't to kill Katniss like it seemed. Something was hidden within the depths of his heart, only the careers were too stupid to know that.

"You better be." Cato threatened him.

"Yeah, that was her snare we found back there." Peeta nodded, his tough guy act far from believable but once again, they weren't smart enough to know that.

"I didn't hear the cannon." Clove spoke up, "Didn't finish her off."

"I will." Peeta spoke up before Cato had the chance to. He looked as though he was about to argue, but Peeta was already heading back toward the stabbed and bleeding out girl.

"Are you sure we shouldn't just kill him now?" Glimmer asked Cato, Zoya held her breath as her hands tightened. Her nails, the ones she hadn't bitten away, dug into her palms.

"Nah, he's our best chance of finding her." Cato shook his head down at Glimmer, a grin to go along with it, "Let's go."

Zoya wanted to turn her head away when the cameras fell onto Peeta again, leaning over the girl from eight. Cato had stabbed her, yes, but not enough to kill her. She was bleeding out and suffering, dying so slowly that it had been painful to watch. Peeta scooped her up in his arms slightly, shhing her gently as the knife Clove gave him rested in his right hand.

It was a mercy killing, one that the girl would surely be thankful for considering her state. It was clear that it was hard for Peeta to do, not only because he cried and heisted, but because of the way he held her after. So gentle, so ease and loving like. His very first kill, and Zoya had to watch as if killed him from the inside out.

She knew watching the games would be hard, but she wasn't prepared for this feeling no matter how much she hoped she would be.

•

kylie speaks

the next few chapters
are genuinely just so
heart breaking i hate it
here. catching fire pls
come quicker so they can
be a little happier.

anyways here are mood boards