Alright so this is my story in the eyes that Cato wins, I changed some things just to ensure that things would pan out the way I need them too. So please review, it'd mean a lot to me.

Here we go!

Disclaimer: I secretly own Alexander Ludwig. Yup, he's sitting right next to me right this instant and I wrote The Hunger Games. Lol. Jk. All rights go to their rightful owners. The only thing I own is original characters and the plot.

The end was forced upon the remaining three by horrible clutches within the Capital. Only two or one would walk out of this alive. The star-crossed lovers or Cato the brutal and bloodthirsty beast. The entire world was holding their breath.

As Katniss began to figure out exactly what the mutts were conformed of Cato saw it as an opportunity, he grabbed the boy, who was barely able to walk and held him in a tight headlock, causing the girl before him to turn. As her eyes, dull with exhaustion and pain, met the sight they narrowed to angered slits and pulled her bow, ready to shoot.

"Go ahead, shoot me!" Cato taunted, the blood running into his mouth. "If you do, he goes down with me."

"Katniss," Peeta choked out. "Just kill him."

Instantly his grip around the baker's son tightened, not ready to give up. No one knew the turmoil brewing within the young mans soul because they saw him as Brutal, bloodthirsty and vicious. They didn't care that he had a reason to win this; he has a family, he has friends, hell they'd be really surprised if they knew the truth about the career monster. They would never guess that Cato Trintston would be capable of knowing love.

There is so much about this young man that so few know.

With one last twist of the neck, in a second of blurred reality, the Girl on Fire's love was gone. Filled with pure shock and not really knowing how it happened, Cato let the boy slump to the hard metal before falling to the muttations below. He was so numb to it now, death. Numb in a way he was never trained for. As Katniss screamed in pure agony at the loss of the boy he tuned it out, he was affected. Seen things no amount of training could have ever prepared him for, heard cries of innocent lives. Suddenly nothing made sense.

"Why did you kill him?" She screamed in his face, suddenly the arrow was pointed at his forehead. "What do I have to go home to now?"

"You don't think I have things to go home to? We all want to go home, Girl On Fire, but we can't." He told her.

"You're horrid!" She screamed. "You're so bloodthirsty; do the feelings of the heart mean anything to you?"

"They do." He answered with a serious look laced upon his battered features. "And that's why I have to do this."

With all he had he threw the knife, her screams pierced his ears worse than any others he'd heard and he was forced to his knees, covering his ears as hot tears ran down his cheeks. It wasn't done yet.

Finally, though, he was out of the hell that life had forced him to but before he passed out he knew, deep within, he'd never truly leave it behind.

(A/N: From now on it's going to be mostly in Cato's POV or Arabella's)

I never thought anything could be worse than actually being in the arena but I was wrong. The nightmares are horrible. I haven't slept more than an hour in the two day trip and it was starting to take an effect on me. Things are different now and no one is pretending otherwise, yes when I reached my team they congratulated me and then left me alone. Everyone, especially my mentor Jaynee, knows how hard this is.

"Cato," A gentle voice accompanied by a knock sounded throughout my room. I looked up to see Jaynee standing there; she's been a friend of mine for a long time as she's only two years my senior and won the games when she was sixteen, now she's twenty. "I wanted to talk to you for a moment before the prepare you for your interview."

With a nod of my head I allowed her in and she closed the door behind her. Silence coated the room once again and I almost drifted back to my previous thought. Would alcohol be the way to escape these demons? It appears to work for District 12's mentor, he was never sober.

"Cato, alcohol or anything like that won't help now." Jaynee seemed to read my thoughts. "It'll get easier in time, trust me. When you get home it's alright to close yourself off for a while but remember your friends and family they just want to help you. So don't always push them away."

"The dreams are getting worse," I told her in a hoarse voice. "I see every death that took place but they aren't the tributes dying…they're the people I care about and love the most."

"That happened to me, too, Cato." Jaynee comforted softly. "I think it was out of fear because now you truly know what you're capable of doing…that wasn't a classroom and now that you have that knowledge you're scared you'll use it against someone you love by mistake."

"Do they go away?"

"Mostly," She answered. "With time and a lot of patience. It's going to be hard Cato but you need to get back into some sort of a routine when you return home. Now it's time for you interview are you ready?"

With a nod of my head I stood up and followed Jaynee out of the room. I didn't want to do this. I just wanted to get home and let my Mom hug me, tell me it's alright and be able to remind myself that I'm still only eighteen. Even if I've seen things no eighteen year old should ever see, done things no human should be forced to do. I'm not proud of it but it's a fact and sometimes, in life, you have just got to face the facts.

I stood backstage, waiting for Caesar to announce my name to a crowd of enthused Capital people, people that make me sick to my stomach, more so now than they ever have before. But no, I cannot think like that. I cannot look down on the Capital or the Hunger Games with distaste, let alone hate but I do hate it all. I hate everything about it and as each second passes the more firmer I become on my decision not to have children. I'd be too ashamed to have my children know that I am brutal, bloodthirsty, heartless, monstrous and every other word they've associated with me and also I would never want to force my child to risk their life.

"And now give it up for the victor of the 74th Hunger Games, Brutal Cato from District 2!" Screams erupted as I made my way across the stage but this time it was unlike the first. I didn't wave or smile…I no longer needed to impress these people. When I reached the chair people calmed and I waited for Caesar to continue. "Cato, my boy, how do you feel?"

"As though I just walked out of my worst nightmare." I answered truthfully.

"I would expect so! But you won! Tell us how happy are you to be going home? How does it feel to know that this time tomorrow you will be back in District 2?"

"Honestly Caesar, I think that's the only thing that kept me from ending my life there at the Cornucopia. Knowing that I would get to see my parents, my brothers, my little sister and my friends." I told him. "If I didn't have them to go back to I don't know what I would have done but I can assure you that I would not be here right now."

"I understand you." Caesar said with a nod. "So tell me, how did it feel to be the end of the star-crossed lovers?"

"I didn't want to kill them. I did what I had to do. People forget that each tribute has someone or something to go home to; they all want to return for completely unselfish reason. People assumed that since I came from District 2, I would just be a heartless career. That's what happens when people assume, they become blinded to the truth."

Caesar looked taken back as did most of the audience but I'm not about to back down and change my true feelings to fit some idea formulated by the government. It's okay not to want to actually kill other humans. In fact people used to consider things like the Hunger Games to be horrid and illegal, now they're a part of everyday life. I remember one of my older brothers told me something in the fourth grade when I became friends with this girl Ember, Marcus said to me: Don't be friends with her Cate, you may have to kill her one day. That's what every fourth grader should hear.

"I see," Caesar said looking awkwardly out at the crowd before turning his attention back to me. "So, Cato, what are you going to do now?"

"Probably go home, spend time with the family and possibly look into training at the schools." I answered, reciting a plan I've had for years.

"Any love or any special girl?" He questioned me, wanting all the gossip.

"I'm not sure. I'm only eighteen…there's a lot of life still to live. I think I need to focus getting over the arena before I add a girl to the mix."

"Well ladies and gentleman that is all the time we have. Give it up for our newest Victor Cato Trintston!"

I waved and gave a tight smile as I made my way off the stage. When I reached Jaynee, she patted my back and gave me a friendly kiss on the cheek.

"Ready to go home, Cato?" She questioned me and all I could do was nod as a real smile formed on my face for the first time in weeks.

I'm ready to go home and see my parents, Marcus, my other brother Kale and my little sister Haven. Also there was one more person that I needed to see and that's my best friend in the entire world Arabella. I need to get home.

Well, there's chapter 1. It'd be totally awesome if I could get two reviews? Pretty please?

Lots of love,

Ashlyn.