Yesterday, The Night Before Tomorrow

A/N: Just kinda a quick piece thrown together at 1 oclock in the morning. Inspired by the song Tonight by Lykke Li. It's about the night(and some origin of Clove and Cato) before the Games cause these two are the most gorgeous things ever.

Can I get an Amen for a District 2 Origins movie?

The distant cheering of the crowd outside echoed in my ears as I ran my fingers across the silver blade. It's so sharp and smooth. It glimmers of light in a frightening manner. A smile creeps across my face.

I savor this peaceful moment.

My mind goes into the scenerios that will face me in the next weeks. Tomorrow is the day.

The Games.

I've been training my whole life for this. I am the most prepared and able girl to win the Games. Some think the girl from 12 has a chance, but I know better. Her and her lover boy are no match for Cato and I. They may have the audiences favor, but they can't fight or kill.

Killing is what we do. Cato and I are killers. We have been raised to take away life.

And it's the best feeling in the world when you hit a victim right in the fatal spot and you can feel the life leave their body. I can't help but smile at the thought.

Killing the girl from 12 would be extraordinary. Cato and I are at a quarrel at who will get her kill. Perhaps one gets the girl and the other the boy. I want the girl. The boy just seems too easy. It wouldn't be savoring.

The excitment of getting kills is flowing through me until the anxiety creeps up again.

But its not about the killing or the Games or the fear of my life like most people would have tonight.

It's the man that just walked into my room.

"Can't sleep." He shrugs.

I prop myself onto one elbow. "Oh really?" I tease. "The big bad Cato is having a outer district pre-Games late night?"

"Shut up, it's the loud party parade out there." He walks towards the window and crosses his arms across his bear chest. His sleeping pants barely reach his ankles. I guess the Capitol's fashion isn't designed for taller men.

"Doesn't bother me. Sounds sorta soothing. Excites me in a way." I go back to stroking my knife.

"You're excited?" Still facing the window, he says the question more as a dissapointed statement and I let out a breath because I can already see where this is going.

I turn to face him. "For the killing Cato. I need it right now. I wanna get as many kills as I can get." I once again smile at the thought.

"I would love to have somebody right now I could kill. Just one to snap their neck." His hands hold the air as a victim. "Least it could do would calm the nerves."

I can see his whole body start to shake as his jaw tightens.

"Cato..." I warn and rise from the bed.

"I'm ready to go, I'm ready to kill, I'm ready to do this. I'm ready to snatch all of them up and take their life into my hands and feel their last breath leave them." His voice rises with each word.

"Cato..." I'm almost at his side.

"I'm ready, I'm ready for the Games, I'm ready!" He screams. I put my hand on his shoulder and he wipes around and graps my arm and shakes my small figure.

His face is beat red and his eyes are blazing with anger.

"CATO!" I scream and he immediately lets go of me and wipes back around to the window.

"But I'm not...I'm not ready..."

The last little mumble is barely above a whisper.

"I can't..."

We just got loaded onto the train in District 2. I was so mad my hands were shaking and I could feel the blood pounding in my veins. Our advisor finally left us alone and all hell broke loose.

"YOU IDIOT!" I screamed.

"Me? It wasn't my fault Reinda didn't volunteer! She's the one who got you into this mess!"

"The Games? CATO? You think I'm worried about dying?! I can win the Games with my eyes shut! The problem is YOU!"

"It was my year to volunteer and I DID. It was my year to win for District 2!"

"And nothing crossed your mind when I was reaped, Reinda didn't volunteer, and I was on stage? You should have let the Reapings controlled this one!"

"It's my duty to volunteer!"

"To who Cato?! Your district? Your forsaken screwed up DEAD dad? You don't owe them anything!"

"No I don't!"

"Then why would you volunteer?!"

"BECAUSE."

He screams and punchs a hole into the train wall. That's all I need to know.

"Cato..."

"I couldn't let you..." He says with grit in his teeth.

"Dammit Cato! No you did not! Did you think you had to protect me? Did you not think that I had enough strength to win? I'm not 7 anymore! I can take care of myself! I don't need your help! There's two of us only one comes out!"

"I know." His tone softens as he looks up and blue orbs gleem into my eyes.

"NO! You are NOT dying for me!" I grab a knife from a nearby table and throw it as hard as I could at a Capitol seal in the room, hitting a bullseye.

"Clove-"

"GO AWAY!" I yell at the top of my lungs and pick up another knife. "GO AWAY."

He exits the car and within minutes I hear thuds from punches at all objects coming from the other room. I find the liqour bar and get my fill. I find the nearest bedroom and let myself sleep off the strong drinks hoping that when I awaken this will all my a nightmare.

Not the Games itself, but the fact that I might have to watch my best friend die at my side.

Ceasar's voice echoed in the thunder of the cheering crowd eagerly waiting for the parade to start. Cato and I were dressed and in the chariot waiting for the chariot before us to start. We hadn't talked since our fight on the train.

"Now that we're here we have to act like our sitution is a normal one. We can't let them know anything different that we are just tributes that were randomly put into the Games, you understand me?"

"I was afraid you were going to bring that one up." He mumbled.

"Like it or not, we can't let these colorful chimps out there, or anyone for that matter, know anything. You know what they'll do."

"Trust me I do."

"I know."

Memories fill in the silence.

"We just won't talk about the Games anymore alright? Just don't, understand?"

A slight pause. "I get it Clover."

I can't resist but smile at the ancient nickname.

"An even better idea would to befriend that District 1 girl what's her name."

"What?" He exclaims turning to me and I realize it's the first time I've seen his face since the Reaping. I'm grateful. I never noticed how much I missed it.

"Yep, she's the one. She's a Career, she's the sterotypical attractive blonde. You'll fit together like a puzzle."

The horn buzzes and the chariot departs as we raise our hands to the roaring crowd. However, I can still hear Cato mutter, "You know I prefer brunettes."

"Cato." I step in front of him and he finally looks me in the eyes. For a split second I think I see water in his eyes, but that could just be the reflect of the city lights. I manage to smile up at him and he takes his huge arms around my petite frame.

I rest my head on his chest in his cocoon of muscle. I put my small hands on around his back. I can feel his huge body shaking and it tells me all of what he's thinking. The embrace takes me back to my childhood memories or horrors rather, when Cato first became my guardian angel. For all those horrid years of living with my filthy, abusive uncle, I was greatful for a protector.

That's one regret that has come out of the Games. I feel there will be many more to come.

I can feel his emotions and thoughts run through my body. I know that this is a result of his fear. Not even the fear of him not protecting me in the Games... it's the small percentage that he might fail his task in protecting me and suffer the ultimate punishment.

I can relate.

"Cato." We stay motionless after I whisper. "Will you hold my like you used to when I was little? You remember? I would come to you after my uncle was finished... and you would hold me and protect me?"

"Yeah, how could I forget it?"

We lay down on the bed and he puts his arm across my waist and strongley supports my small body. I feel the warmth of his body and it feels just like the nights when my uncle abuse me.

It started when I was seven and stopped only when my uncle was found dead when I was 12. He used to do with whatever he pleased and I pleaded with Cato to hold me to keep me warm, to keep the shakes down and for me to feel a good physical contact.

In his mind, he was protecting me and keeping me safe from the horrors of my uncle. For now, the scenrio was no different.

Cato was my protector and guardian angel. He was my brutal, bloody, beautiful angel.

As I fell asleep in his arms my only thought was that it was my turn to return the favor.

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