And a chance to last longer in the arena would be much acceptable, maybe, but he will always use that chance to do as much for others as possible, while he himself waits for the death he believes that for him is inevitable. (And for everyone else except one, if he is being honest to himself, but even so, he will fight. He will save all of them, one by one, and he will die repeatedly until he had fought for the freedom of all.)

Besides, in the last few seconds before his body had succumbed to poison in the first arena, the pain and suffering had dissipated and he had fallen asleep with the vision of his Cosette seared into his mind. More than freedom, more than a retaliation against the Capitol, he would die again and again if he could see her face each time before he is enveloped in darkness. He would accept all the torment, all the agony anyone inflicts on him if it gives him but the briefest second to glimpse her smile.

Which is why he shakes his head and gives her a tiny smile of assurance. "I can hunt another."