Glimmer.
Glimmer, Glimmer, Glimmer.
That was all he had talked about.
When he and Clove were watching the reaping's on the train to the capital, Cato stared dumbfounded at her. He didn't notice that she was sitting as close as she could without freaking him out, despite the wide couch they were sitting on and the countless chairs. All he noticed was how beautiful Glimmer was.
When they had left for the tribute parade, he didn't once notice how Clove had been wearing make-up for the first time since he'd met her all those years ago at the academy, no, all he had noticed was that Glimmers dress was cut to show off her large breasts and how her hair always caught the light.
During training, he didn't notice at all how many times Clove had hit the target, dead centre every time. No, again, all he could see was Glimmers skills. Glimmer hit a shoulder when aiming for a heart, "Oh my god Glimmer, that was such a good shot." But when she hits right on a major artery at 30 feet, "Sorry Clove, did you say something." And, to add insult to injury, before the individual assessment, Cato gave her a squeeze on her upper arm and wished her luck, while when Clove said, "Good luck Cato." He just grunted, "Sure, Clove, whatever."
It was even worse once they started interviews. Having had special classes at the academy about interviews, their mentors already knew the angle they wanted. All of the career pack were done by lunch. They weren't allowed to leave their floors, so all that Clove could do was confine herself to her room and play the game that she had played with her sisters, making everyday objects into weapons. She managed to do severe damage with a hairbrush, a blunt stick and even worked out a way to asphyxiate someone with her own hair. When she came out, Cato was watching re-runs of the tribute parade, not to judge their competition, but simply to keep staring at her.
Backstage, Cato practically drooled through Glimmers interview, and, had she not been under orders from her stylist not to smudge her make-up in any way, Clove might have punched Glimmer afterward.
When they got to the arena, she could forget, for a while. She missed that stupid twelve girl but killed so many others, and, after the bloodbath, when they were checking injuries, Cato noticed and treated the cut that the seven girl had made when Clove wrestled her to the ground and killed her while Glimmer was left to treat her own wounds. It didn't last long but for that second, she had him back.
It didn't last long. The moment that they started hunting, Cato and Glimmer started talking alone, she knew what it was about, they were planning to abandon her and Marvel and run off. They'd knock out a few more tributes first, but it would be Cato and Glimmer against the world, not Cato and Clove like she'd always dreamed.
They had the twelve girl treed. She couldn't come down, couldn't move to another tree, she was toast. And Clove hated it. She knew that once twelve died, Cato and Glimmer were off and she was dead. It was simple maths. There were twenty four tributes to start with. Outside the Cato-Glimmer alliance, that was twenty two to kill. Twelve tributes had died in the beginning bloodbath. That left ten. They killed that eight girl a few days ago. Nine. Once Twelve died, they would polish off Lover Boy. Seven. Kill her and Marvel while their backs were turned. Five. They had that Three boy back at base. Snap his neck and that left four. Both from Eleven, the boy from Ten and the girl from Five. Easy picking. She was dead the moment Twelves heart stopped beating.
It was getting dark now. They were all huddled around the fire and once again, Cato and Glimmer were together. Cato was heating up his sword in the fire then blowing on it to try and make it sharper. Glimmer sat next to him and giggled 'Boys', earning herself a smile from Cato. Clove always had to work for those smiles, but Glimmer got them easily. Clove took out her anger the way she always had, by hurting. This time she was throwing knives into a lizard, impaling it over and over until it felt her pain. Glimmer and Cato fell asleep together, snuggling together and making Clove wish more than ever that she was that beautiful. Cato, the boy she had broken her 'I am the only one that matters, don't get attached' rule. The only boy to melt her iron heart. And now he was gone and her heart had set, just like the iron of Cato's sword, into an unusable and ugly shape. And she hated both him and Glimmer for it.
She woke up suddenly to great pain in her leg, then there was another in her right arm. Then, she was swarmed by hundreds of the mutant wasps. She was about to panic before she remembered. Remembered that these were covered at the academy. "If you ever come across Tracker Jackers," their instructor had said, "head to water, they wont follow you there." So that's what she did, she forgot about Twelve, about Lover Boy, about Marvel and Glimmer and Cato and she ran.
She survived with only four stings, and with her size and physical condition, that was only enough to induce the hallucinations, not kill her. Someone helped her through that. Someone dragged her out of the lake when her legs gave way and she went under. Whenever she started screaming as she saw things that terrified even her, someone was there. They dabbed her stings with a cream supplied by sponsors. And once, when she was to weak to even scream and she knew she was dying, they said to her "Please Clove, please live. I don't want to lose you too."
When she came around, she was alone. Marvel wasn't there, probably looking for other tributes. Three was tinkering with one of the mines. Cato was sleeping about three feet away from her. It was a few moments before she realised, he was alone. Glimmer was nowhere to be seen. She could just have been hunting but then why would Cato be here, with her, and not following Glimmer like a pathetic little dog. She had started trying to stand up and was halfway done before her leg buckled and she cursed and fell down again. Her curses had woken up Cato, who had rushed over to her. "Careful there," he had said to her, making her stomach flip, "You've had a rough few days, you shouldn't try standing until the swelling goes down." His voice was more gentle than she'd ever heard it, and sadder too. "What happened?" She asked, trying not let him hear how close she was to kissing him. "Twelve dropped a nest of Tracker Jackers on us." He said, sadder than he had ever sounded to her. "Marvel had two and fully recovered two days ago. I was lucky, only one, it hardly affected me at all. You had four, and all in high blood pressure areas, on top of that, you collapsed in the lake and nearly drowned, I had to give you mouth to mouth." Damm, she had thought to herself, why couldn't I have remembered THAT. "Alvin", it took her a minute to realise that that was Three's name, "threw tarp over himself and so he survived." She knew he was stalling for time before he had to talk about Glimmer, this solidified in her mind that she was dead, but she wanted to hear it first hand. "And Glimmer?" She had asked. "Dead" he confirmed, his voice breaking only enough for Clove to tell, "Stings all over, she died on sight. And that Twelve bitch stole the bow and arrows from her corpse." His voice was hardening now, bringing back the anger she was all to familiar with. "Lover boy saved her, so I stuck him in the top of the leg." He isn't dead yet though, Marvel's out hunting for him, he hasn't found him yet but he did get Ten yesterday night." "I'm sorry Cato," she had told him, truthful "you liked her didn't you?" They both knew that the audience was watching THEM so they had to keep it strategic. "Maybe I did" he admitted, "but we couldn't have had anything anyway." He said it so blasé, that she would have believed him, except for the fact that she knew him and she knew his tell. Whenever he was covering sadness, he had always bitten his lips. Just like he did then.
The next few days were awful. They had lost Marvel and all of their supplies on the same day, no doubt Twelve again. They had also lost Three, but that was of no concern to any of them. They were going to kill him anyway. It had been when Claudias Templsmith had announced that two victors from the same district would be allowed to go home that she saw Cato crack a smile. And the smile was for her. Some of these other tributes had never had a whole meal to themselves before, but SHE had never had a whole smile to herself before. They had always been split among her team in competitions or aimed at her but only half smiles before he did something stupid or violent. This one was hers.
After that they had remade their strategy. Five was too hard to find and Eleven was too strong, they were going after Twelve. Lover Boys face hadn't appeared in the sky yet so it was safe to say that Twelve was keeping him alive, but that wouldn't last long. Their strategy was to wait them out until Lover Boy died and the go after Twelve while she was weak.
When they announced the feast, she knew that they had to go. Cato just wanted the easy kill but she knew what would be in that bag. Something to stop Twelves arrows, the only danger left to them.
The day of the feast came and she and Cato where ready. She had been crouched in the underbrush while Cato had been hiding ten feet to her left in the tree line. Her skin had still been prickling from when Cato had given her a hug and whispered "Good luck out there. I know you'll be great. You always are." before moving to his position.
The gong sounded and Five ran out from INSIDE the Cornucopia. She desperately wanted to give chase but she had stopped herself "Wait for Twelve." She repeated in her head. Twelve ran out and she was off. She threw a knife and hit her forehead, not enough to kill her, just enough to down her. Clove was going to enjoy killing her. She taunted Twelve first, about Lover Boy, and about her previous ally, Rue. That was her mistake.
Just before she was going to strike, she was pulled away. She was lifted into the air before all of the wind was knocked out of her as she was slammed against the Cornucopia. The other Eleven, Thresh had her in a death grip. "You kill her?" He asked. She couldn't breathe so she only shook her head violently. "I heard you, you said her name. YOU SAID HER NAME." Her arms were pinned and for the first time in the arena, she felt helpless. She did the only thing she could. She screamed. Screamed for the only boy she trusted, despite his obliviousness and wandering eye, the only one she would ever trust "CATO". And then, a sharp pain struck her skull and she felt herself drifting away. The only thought she could form before disappearing forever. "He didn't love me. I wasted my life on a boy who didn't want me. What a pathetic life."
Thanks for reading. Sorry the careers are all OOC. Reviews would be appreciated.