The first time she had said it was on the train to the Capitol.
He wasn't the only at the table who saw the dark purple spots that had bloomed along her arm, but he was the only one who cared.
He had confronted her after dinner when she was watching a recap of the reaping's alone.
'Who did that to you?' he had asked her, trying to sound generally concerned. But everything that had come out of his mouth since the reaping had been demanding and threatening.
She fixed him a glare, automatically crossing her arms so precisely that they covered up her bruise. She knew exactly what she was doing.
'I don't know what you're talking about,' her eyes continued to throw daggers at his skull and she shifted her arms uncomfortably. It hurt like hell, but she would never give him the satisfaction of knowing that.
He growled in frustration. She knew damn well what he was talking about, but she was being her stubborn little self as usually. He reached her in a single stride, ripping one arm off the other, stopping when he heard her wince in pain. He gave her time to calm down before plucking up her arm and waving it in front of her face.
'Who did this to you Clove?' he growled as she barely managed to mask her pain. She could feel the tears threatening to tumble down her cheeks.
'I slipped and fell on some…ice?' she managed to gasp out. It was pathetic excuse and she knew it, but the pain in her arm was too intense to ignore and she prayed that Cato would stop soon.
'Bullshit,' he replied, inspecting the arm closely, brushing over the delicate purple skin as gently as he could, but it wasn't enough.
'Cato!' she gasped, not able to take the pain much longer. 'Cato, please stop. It hurts!'
His eyes softened and he stopping brushing, but he didn't let go of her arm. 'Clove,' he murmured so softly that it almost made her think that it was a different boy who volunteered today, 'please tell me.'
She sighed as she looked at his pleading puppy dog face, golden hair drooping into his eyes slightly, bottom lip pouting, blue eyes smouldering. He may be known as a vicious killing machine across the district, but he could change anyone's mind with a face like that and he damn well knew it. She tried her best to stay calm as she continued to take in his begging expression. She took a deep breath before answering him.
'It's honestly nothing Cato. It's just a little bruise,' she did her best to give a reassuring smile, although it probably looked like a grimace.
His eyes turned cold again, and the boy who had volunteered returned so quickly, that she wondered whether his pleading expression had happened at all. 'Clove,' his voice was cold and cutting, laced with seriousness, 'please, we have to get this fixed up, we'll be training soon and I don't want you looking like...'
Clove growled and cut him off. 'I'm fine Cato. It's nothing I can't handle. Things like this are for weak people. And you,' she stood abruptly and began to walk towards the door, 'are weak.' She left the room and got into her bed without a sound.
He pretends he doesn't hear her moan in pain that night when she rolls on her arm in her sleep.
The second time was in his room at the Capitol.
He was seething with rage when she had walked in, and had ducked just in time as an expensive looking plate went flying at the place in the wall where her head had just been. It shattered into a thousand pieces, falling to the floor like snow.
He growled at her, readying himself another plate. 'What do you want?' he hissed through his teeth, barely restraining himself enough to prevent throwing the plate at her face again.
'What are you doing?' she asked, reaching reflexively for the knife in her belt loop. She wanted to get into the arena in one piece and she was going to protect herself if need be.
'What does it look like?' he threw another plate on the pile on the ground. 'That little bitch from 12 thinks she can go get an 11? How the fuck did she do it Clove? I got a fucking 10 and she gets an 11?' another plate goes soaring into a spot inches from her head.
She sighs and sits on his bed, brushing broken glass off in the process. 'You think I'm happy Cato? I got a 9! I just know how to control myself,' she rolls a piece of glass around between her fingers.
He growls again and picks up yet another plate, and she wonders where on earth he's getting all these plates from. It's poised in the air, ready to be shattered into pieces when she grabs his arm softly.
'Learn to control yourself,' she gets up and more glass falls to the floor, 'Because acting out about things like this is weak. You, are weak'
She picks her way through the glass to the door and slams it behind her without another word. Needless to say, he calms down after that.
He ignores the sound of a plate smashing against her own wall.
The third time, it's in the arena.
He's sitting awake under the fire girl's tree. Glimmer was originally keeping watch, but dozed off at some point so Cato decided to keep watch instead. He didn't have much choice anyway, and Glimmers quiet snore confirms that. He couldn't seem to get any sleep anyway, his mind was still racing.
With nothing to do, he takes his spear and began cleaning it. That's when he sees her. The small girl from 11 with chocolate coloured skin as she dances through the trees like she's nothing more than a bird herself.
He raises his spear, ready to send it straight through her heart when he realizes he can't, not to the little girl at least. He drops the spear and picks up one of Cloves knives instead and takes aim on a small rabbit about 10 meters away.
'I saw that,' an all too familiar voice says from behind him and startles him out of his wits and the knife goes flying into a tree at least 30 meters away.
He grunts as he watches the rabbit's eyes widen before it scampers into the underbrush. He turns to look at Clove who is staring at him intently. 'What?'
'I saw that,' she repeats, watching his reaction carefully. His eyes flit from hers, to the spear, to the trees and then back to hers again.
He gulps. 'I don't know what you're talking about,' he averts his gaze and picks up his spear and pretends to continue cleaning it.
She rolls her eyes and gets up to retrieve her knife. He is almost worried about her safety as she strays farther and farther away from him to get the knife, but then she grabs it and opens her jacket to place it with the rest of her collection of the glinting weapons and he feels stupid for worrying in the first place.
'Don't play stupid with me Cato,' she takes a seat beside him, and he can see a white scar running down her left cheek in the pale moonlight. 'I saw the girl. I saw you go to throw the spear but then stopped. Stop pretending you didn't.'
He gulps again and wonders why on earth he is so nervous. He runs a hand through his hair before replying. 'I don't want to be the one to kill the girl. I may not look like it but I do have a heart. I don't want to be the one to destroy whatever innocence she has left.'
Clove is silent for a long time. Finally, a smirk plays across her lips and she turns to face Cato. 'Because you're weak,' she states again, but this time it's less cold, less of an insult then before, and he smirks with her.
She tells him that she'll take watch and he lays down and tries his best to get some sleep but ends up watching Clove twirl a knife between her fingers
He doesn't say anything as the girl dances back through the trees, right in front of Clove and her twirling knife.
The fourth time, the girl is dead.
He shouldn't have been surprised. But he really didn't expect anyone to want to kill the little girl. It doesn't take much thought about who killed her when Marvels face flashes in the sky, and it doesn't take much thought to who killed Marvel either. They both knew the girl had an alliance with 12.
'So,' Clove says from where she lays across from him, hands splayed across her stomach, 'Just us left.'
He nods at her from where he's sitting cross legged, sharpening his spear. 'I suppose,' he shrugs and continues to sharpen the blade.
'You suppose?' Clove questions, tilting her face back to look at him. Even from the position she's in, he can tell she's giving him her trademark smirk. 'You're not planning on leaving me, are you?' she asks as she continues to smirk at him.
He almost chokes on his saliva. He couldn't even begin to imagine being in the arena without her. But she's staring at him so intently that she obviously saw the shock on his face so he plays along with her. He puts on a mask of fake shock and looks at her. 'How did you know?'
She laughs and rolls onto her stomach, resting her head in her hands. She smirks mockingly. 'You wouldn't last 5 minutes without me,' she taunts, eyes glinting mischievously.
'You wanna bet?' he waves his spear at her, trying to intimidate her, but he knows the words she speaks are most certainly true.
Suddenly, she's on her feet and darting towards the forest. He's worried that she might actually be serious, so he gets up and leaps after her, when her laugh tinkles in the air around him. He catches her, and they fall to the ground, him on top of her. With surprising strength, she flips them over so she's straddling his waist and removes a knife from her jacket.
'I could kill you, you know,' she traces the knife gently up his chest until it reaches his neck. She lays the blade flat and presses down slightly, 'Right. Now.'
'Why don't you?' he manages to gasp out. His hands reflexively go to her waist as he holds her in place. He doesn't want her to move from her position, even if she is threatening to kill him
She continues to smirk her ass of at him. 'Because,' she drawls, 'you're my district partner. And I don't like to kill people if they haven't done anything wrong, most of the time. And you've been pretty good so far. But if you even think about doing something wrong...' she trails off, and even Cato can work out what she would do.
She leans down, lips next to his ear, hair tickling his neck. 'Still want to take off without me?' she smirks against his ear. He doesn't know why he's breathing so hard, but he knows it has nothing to do with the knife at his throat like it should do.
'No,' he breaths, and she laughs hauntingly, still against his ear, before hoisting herself back up. She smirks triumphantly down at him for a moment before making a move to get off him.
'That's what I thought,' she taunts as she stands up and pretends to brush herself off before giving him a final smirk and heading back to where they were set up, twirling her knife as she goes.
Cato sits up and shakes himself off, refusing to believe that he was beaten by a girl. A girl that can throw knifes with deadly accuracy and could probably ripe your throat out with her teeth if she really wanted to, but a girl none the less.
She bats her eyelashes at him as she asks him if he can take first watch and he simply grunts and wonders what exactly came over her tonight. He settles down next to her as she tucks herself into her sleeping bag and stares up into to night sky.
He says a silent prey for that little girl, hoping that her family will be all right and that she didn't suffer too much when she died. He only then realizes that Clove eyes are trained on him.
'You were praying for that little girl, weren't you?' she asks as she studies his face carefully. He's been pretty good at masking his emotions so far, for the sake of the games, but she always seems to make him crack
'Some of us do have a heart you know,' he says avoiding her gaze.
'Are you saying I don't have a heart?' she narrows her eyes at him and he shakes his head almost instantly.
'I'm saying that we shouldn't have a heart. We're not supposed to feel. We're careers,' he tells her and watches her face.
She huffs and mutters something under her breath and turns her back to him. 'Well then in that case, maybe I don't have a heart,' he can hear the pain leaking into her voice and wishes that he never brought it up.
She then turns back towards him suddenly and he doesn't fail to see the smirk dancing across her lips. 'Feelings are for weak people. And you Cato,' her smirk spreads wider, 'are weak.' And then closes her eyes and is asleep before he can even think about disagreeing with her.
She wakes up a few hours later and tells him that she'll take watch so he sinks down into his sleeping bag and tries his best to forget about everything.
He doesn't say anything as he hears her give a silent prey for the little girl too.
The fifth time, they're a real team.
It's at night when it happens.
They're walking together through the forest, looking for someone to kill. But it's not as easy anymore. In the first few days of the Games they would come across a tribute as often as a squirrel. But it takes more than luck for anyone to make it this far, and no one's going to be out in the open, but they try anyway.
They're just getting back to where they're set up when the voice rings out around them. It's Claudius Templesmith, of course, and Cato rolls his eyes. A feast is not really what they need, but it would be a good time to pick off some tributes.
He's barely listening as Claudius states something about a rule change, and then he starts to rethink the words that he just heard when Clove jumps into his arms and he grabs her thighs as her legs grip his waist tightly.
'Cato, Cato did you hear that?' she asks, lips brushing his ear, unable to mask the excitement in her voice. 'We can both win Cato. We can both win!'
He listens closely as Claudius repeats himself before a grin spreads across his face. 'Both of us. We can go home together,' they both smile and before he even knows what he's doing, he has his mouth pressed to hers and she gladly kisses him right back with just as much force.
He breaks away for breath and Clove jumps from his arms and down to her feet, the biggest grin across her face. She tugs his hand and they make their way back to their camp.
They sleep in the same sleeping bag that night, knowing that they can now actually have each other, and the thought crosses her mind that now she doesn't have to worry about killing him and a smirk makes its way to her lips.
'I guess I don't have to worry about killing you now,' she says mischievously.
He smiles at her as the moon turns her dark hair silver. 'I don't think I could have honestly killed you anyway,' he admits with a shrug of his shoulders.
She continues to smirk as she states simply, 'Because you're weak' before snuggling her head into his chest and closing her eyes and getting peaceful sleep for the first time since she entered the arena.
He doesn't tell her he saw the flash in her eyes and knows that she wouldn't have killed him either.
The sixth time, is the actually feast.
It was not that long after the announcement of the teams that he heard voice of Claudius again, inviting them to a feast. Cato actually smiles this time as he shakes Clove awake. Now he and Clove are an official team, nothing can stop them. Clove blinks herself awake and yawns before focusing on Cato.
His grin doesn't falter as she gives a look that tells him that she thinks he's insane. 'Feast Clove,' he tells her, wiggling his way out of the sleeping bag.
She groans and grabs his arm forcing him to stay still. Typical Cato, eager to get going, ready for a kill. 'Just a few more minutes,' she yawns, eyes already drooping shut again.
He's about to argue, but she lifts her head up from his chest and kisses his cheek lightly and not even Cato can argue with that.
When they finally wake up enough to get out of the sleeping bag and pack up their gear, they discuss the plan. It's not much thought really. They will be the only team there, since Lover Boy won't be able to walk to Cato's 'I know where I cut him Clove,' so he will keep watch while she will retrieve their pack and take out as many tributes as she can.
They make their way back to the cornucopia with at least two hours to spare. Clove wants to climb a tree to get a full view of the area, so Cato decides he may as well take off as well.
She turns to climb the tree when he grabs her waist and pulls her back to him, mouths finding each other. Her hands thread around his neck and weave through his hair while his stay at her waist and thumb the strip of skin showing just above her shorts. She shivers involuntarily as his thumb brushes her bare skin and his tongue mingles with hers. She has no idea how anything can feel this good, especially in their situation and she tugs his bottom lip with her teeth and he groans and pulls away for air.
They're both panting hard and it seems to refuse to slow. Trying her best to put herself back together in her muddled state, she fixes the best smirk she can and laughs at his panting.
'Your panting like a fucking dog,' she tells him, licking her lips before bringing them to his ear. He can almost hear the smile in her voice as she breathes into his ear, 'You're weak.' He doesn't even try to argue as she drags her lips slowly down his jaw before pulling away completely and turning back to the tree.
When she reaches the top she smirks down at him and blows a kiss in his direction and he gladly takes it.
He doesn't mention the fact that she was panting just as hard as he was.
The last time, she was dying.
He could hear her screaming for him, but he couldn't seem to get there fast enough. He was chasing a rabbit, a fucking rabbit, and now it's the difference between life and death for her. He's such a fucking idiot.
He gets there moments to late. He watches, almost in slow motion, as the rock in 11's hand comes down on her skull and she falls to the ground in a lifeless heap.
He faintly sees 12 scamper off and 11 run away in the opposite direction with their pack, but he's completely unfazed. He runs to her, stumbling over his own feet several times, until he's standing over her limp body, green eyes glazed over and focusing on a spot somewhere in the sky.
He sinks to his knees and his hand tug at his hair. How the fuck did this happen? How did their perfect little team fall apart so quickly?
Clove's eyes fix on him and she huffs out a breath and that's when he starts to breakdown. He takes her to small shoulders in his hands and begins to shake.
'Clove?' he asks her as he shakes, begging her to cling to whatever life she has left. 'Fuck Clove, I'm so sorry. I should of ran, I shouldn't have left. I'm such a fucking idiot. Just please stay with me!'
'Cato,' she moans and he stops shaking in fear of hurting her. She stares at him with her glazed eyes and he thinks for a moment that he's never seen her so weak, so vulnerable.
And then of course he realizes it's because she's dying.
'Fuck,' he curses again, he can feel the tears forming in his eyes and he hates himself for being so weak, but damn it, if it weren't Clove, if it weren't for 11, if it weren't for these damn games, this wouldn't be happening.
'Stay with me Clove,' he tries again, but he knows her only fate now is death. 'Please, just stay. Don't close your eyes Clove. Don't you dare close your eyes,' he breaths, and he hopes that she can hear him, 'I need you Clove, I-I love you.'
She's still staring at him, and he sees the ghost of a smile that appears on her lips. 'I love you too Cato,' she whispers, and his ears strain just to hear the delicate words fall from her lips. He can't help himself now, he presses his lips to her cold ones and kisses her gently.
He's really breaking now, and as he pulls away he can feel the first of the tears begin to tumble. She squints at them for a moment before trying to lift her hand up to him, but failing in her state. He takes her hand in his and lifts it to his cheek and presses it into him.
She can feel the wetness in her palm, and she knows what it means. 'You're crying,' she breaths, and he presses her palm harder against his cheek. He would say something really smart ass if she wasn't dying.
She musters up what little energy she has left and gives him the best smirk she can in her state. 'Your weak,' she huffs, and her chest rises and falls once more before it stops moving all together. A canon goes off and the hand against his cheek goes limp.
He closes her eyes and kisses both of her lids before resting his head on her stomach and soaking her shirt with his tears. He'll never get any sponsors now, he'll be seen as weak, hopeless, and he doesn't deny that that's exactly how he feels.
Eventually he pulls himself together enough to move away from her and watches as her body is lifted from the arena and taken away in a hovercraft and the thought of her not being in the arena with him makes him blink back tears all over again.
He doesn't mention the fact that she's the dead one now.
A/N: So, yeah.
I saw the movie.
Three times...so far.
And can I just say...
Holy. Crap.
Like oh my god, nothing can compare to the epicness that is the hungers games movie...except the books
My freaking god I cried so much. Like seriously guys, take tissues. You can thank me later.
Anyways, if there's one thing in the movie that I seriously hated (besides the chariot rides. Ugh) was the fact that Cato wasn't there when Clove died.
The first time I saw the movie, it was a 'meh' thing, another scene left out of the movie, so I wasn't to upset.
The secound time, I was really frustrated by it and ranted about it for a while to my friends. I went home and read the scene in the book over and over again and got even more annoyed
By the third time, I was actually in tears at Clove's death.
The awkward moment when your the only one in the movie theater who's crying when Clove dies...
Yep, that was me.
And also so, what was with he Cato/Glimmer thing?
Glimmer?
Glimmer?
Glimmer?
Like seriously, no.
Just no
Never ever ever ever ever in a million years.
So yeah, I was annoyed and wrote this
But the movie was amazing. Like oh my freaking god.
Clove throwing knives. Was I the only one completely amazed by Clove throwing knives? I swear, the only reason I went the secound time was to see Clove throw her knives again.
And Cato breaking that kids neck. I think I freaking fainted.
*fans self*
He was so hot. God, I'm so marrying him.
Just go watch the movie guys ;)
So yeah, hoped you like the story :)
Yeah, Cato's OOC as hell, but that's what he gets for not being there when Clove died :(
Also, Cato and Clove were so perfectly casted I wanted to cry. Alexander Ludwig and Isabelle Fuhrman could honestly not get anymore perfect.
Review! ;)
Zoe Renee xxx