Title: Pretty Dead Girl
Author: Ella (thesewordselope)
Characters/Pairing: Cato/Katniss
Rating: Mature
Spoilers: For the first book.
Summary: Cato laughed hysterically when he realized that Katniss only had one arrow left. Katniss could use the one remaining arrow to kill Cato now, or she could put Peeta out of his misery.
Disclaimers: No copyright infringement intended.
Author's Note: Written for Twitter user JD_Pendergast for the Girl On Fire Ficathon, with the prompt: Cato/Katniss - Dark AU, "Broken looks good on you."

Trigger Warning: Violence, attempted rape.

Cato laughed hysterically when he realized that Katniss only had one arrow left. "Oh, wow, isn't this something! I hope you guys are getting this!" he shouted at the sky, blood streaming down his face.

Katniss could use the one remaining arrow to kill Cato now, or she could put Peeta out of his misery. She pinched her lips together and squeezed her eyes shut, failing to hold back her tears. Then she exhaled, as calmly as she could, and took aim. It had to count: there would be no do-overs.

She shot straight. The arrow barely missed the muttations and pierced Peeta's heart, killing him mercifully. The canon rang out like an artillery shell, and Katniss let out a sob, throwing her bow on the ground. She stared out at the horizon, ignoring Cato entirely.

He wasn't having any of that. He pulled his sword out of his belt and pressed the point into her side. "What do you think you're doing, sweetheart?"

"Trying to figure out how to kill you," she said through gritted teeth.

Cato smiled, letting the blood drip into his mouth and coat his own teeth. "Don't get ahead of yourself," he said, crossing the distance between them until he was inches away from her, all the while keeping his sword pressed against her side. "Look at me." She ignored him. "LOOK AT ME!" he shouted, the smile dropping away.

She turned her head and looked at him with cold detachment. "You're half dead already."

He dropped the sword and pulled out a knife, which he pressed against her throat the same way Clove had done before. "We'll see about that," he laughed through the words and the blood, like strange gurgling noises rising from his throat. "I still have it in me. I can still do this." Reaching out, Cato forced Katniss down onto the cold metal of the Cornucopia. "I can still do this."

Katniss lifted her chin out of the way of the knife as her backside hit the Cornucopia. Even with all of his injuries, she wasn't sure she could overpower Cato, especially now that he was on top of her. She had no choice but to wait it out, see what happened next, and hope for an opportunity to strike. "You can still do what?"

"You would make such a pretty dead girl," he breathed, unbuttoning his pants and putting all of his weight down on her. Katniss could feel his erection jutting into her leg, pressing against her menacingly like the knife against her throat. She tried to recoil from his touch, but Cato put more pressure on the knife. She had nowhere to go.

"Fuck you," she spit at him, lifting her chin as high as it would go to avoid the edge of the blade. Even still, she felt a light trickle of blood start to drip down her neck.

"Did you kiss loverboy with that mouth? Don't worry, you'll get your chance soon enough." Cato grabbed the hair at the base of Katniss's skull with his free hand and mashed his lips against hers. It hurt, and her throat closed up at the taste of Cato's blood. His tongue felt slimy against her lips and teeth, coating them with blood and sweat and the copper taste of adrenaline. She was afraid she might throw up, and she was unsure as to whether that would work out in her favor or not. She decided that it might force him to get off of her, maybe even distract him long enough to get the upper hand, so she gave in to the sensation and started to gag.

Cato pulled away. "I know, I know, you feel guilty." He kicked his pants off the rest of the way and started grinding against her through her clothes. "But it's your fault he's not here. You killed him, not me." Unable to make herself vomit, Katniss let out another sob, and Cato grunted with pleasure in response. "Yeah, sweetheart," he whispered into her ear as he dry-humped her, still holding on to her hair. "Break for me. Broken looks so very, very good on y-"

He didn't get the chance to finish, because Katniss had just thrust Clove's knife, which had been hidden under her jacket, into his stomach. It slid into his abdomen easier than she expected, and when she twisted the handle, hot blood spilled out of the wound, soaking her pants and shirt. This was her first kill from up close: she wasn't prepared for the perverted intimacy of it. He looked down at her with an expression of almost comical disbelief, until his eyes turned glassy and he slumped over to the side.

A few seconds later, another canon fired, and Katniss, not realizing she'd been holding her breath, finally exhaled.