Hey guys! Thank you to ALL you guys have reviewed on my story, because it really makes me motivated and ecstatic about my stories. I apologize again for the late update, I'm juggling to Cato and Katniss stories and it's hard to keep a consistent schedule. I promise that this whole more-than-a-week-to-update act will end this chapter and the next one will be up soon. I made this chapter a lot longer than the last two to make up for the late update. I'm really sorry guys, again :( Thank you to all the anonymous reviewers, which includes justapersonwithapony and Priscilla X. Silver.

Without further ado, here's chapter 3 or "Breath of Fire."

The woman in front of me glares into my eyes. She remains there, leaning against her desk in her white blouse tucked into a gray skirt, examining me. Her washed out looking gray eyes remain masked, revealing no hint of emotion, and they seem to look right through me. Her silver hair is neatly combed, and is parted deep to the left, and falls to her shoulders. Her red painted lips are pursed as she looks at me. This is the, as Snow put it, "insufferable" President Coin. As soon as I laid eyes on the woman I immediately disliked everything about her. Her room is too neat, everything perfect, not the slightest bit tilted or out of place. She has an enlarged painting of the district thirteen seal on the wall behind her in black, while the rest remain cream desk is full of worthless knick knacks, and has pens neatly laid out approximately an inch away from one another. Her room is lit brightly, with lamps extending off the walls. The crimson rug has vacuum marks on it, and doesn't contain a speck of dust. The walls have paintings hung up that come from artists that are from before the dark ages. Some are odd, like one has a distorted figure of a man, a work of art that looks like something I believe they called abstract. There are others that are exquisite, like one looks like a bunch of dabs of paint on a canvas up close, but as you move away it looks like a landscape.

I look around her room curiously, and then bring my gaze back to hers. I have been here for about an hour, answering worthless questions, like if I have a family, what's their names? If I went to school? If I got good grades, if I have experience in combat, and many, many, more ones similar to so. Before all this I got a full body scan so they can look through every person in Panem to make sure that I am indeed Cato Soldate, and not some mutt. They also made me do a blood test, a check for viruses, and they studied my heartbeat. They put me in a secluded room for about three hours and were staring at me through a one sided mirror, so I couldn't see them. After a while of what they said was researching they sent me up here to Coin's room to be questioned. Guards surround us everywhere, and are ready to pounce on me if I try to attack her.

Finally, after about a million questions, she says, "So, Mr. Soldate, I'll need to ask just a few more questions. We are almost finished. Be warned, in this portion of the questioning we will know when you're lying, we have the technology to tell here." I nod, and feel myself slightly panic. How am I supposed to answer questions where my while role I'm playing is a lie? I'll need to twist my words so they are truthful, yet being a lie. She smiles and says, "First, where do you come from?"

"District two," I answer steadily.

"Why were you in district eight?" She asks.

"I felt the need to go to district thirteen, and that was the only known time that anyone from thirteen was above ground." True.

She nods. "So have you always been supporting of Katniss Everdeen?"

I shake my head. "Not at first, but I she grew on me." Also true, over this last day, she grew on me the slightest bit.

She nods and then says, "Why do you want to join the rebellion?" I shrug.

"I feel like I have to." What I don't say is that I actually have to.

"Interesting,"she says. "Did Snow send you here?" She asks suddenly.

This will be hard. I take a deep breath. "In a way, it was my choice if I wanted to go or not, and I chose to go here. It was almost like he sent me here, I would've preferred to stay in my district but Snow's violent ways left me no choice but to come here." Man, I'm good.

"So you mean you didn't like the way he lead?" She asks.

"Honestly I was indifferent, but like I said, his violent ways lead me to choosing to join the rebellion," I say.

"You've never met Snow in person?"

"I have. A lot of people in my district have," I say. This is true, all the victors have met Snow.

"You aren't a spy or anything correct?" she asks carefully.

How am I going to answer this one? I'm not really a spy, more of a bounty hunter, and she didn't specify on what "or anything" meant so I don't know if that falls under the category. "Correct."

"Alright. Will you ever betray the rebels?" She asks.

"I'm on your team," I say. For now I am at least.

She nods and then says, "Alright. You're in."

I gape. "Is that it?" She nods.

"You seem like you won't screw this up. Just don't get in the way of my plans," she says darkly. I don't believe it though. There has to be more questioning than this.

"Oh," I say.

She shrugs, "Our technology team is researching everything about you as we speak. I haven't gotten any news that you have done anything wrong, and as long as you're innocent, and have an innocent past, there's nothing to worry about." I nod and then she says, "You're excused."

I get up and walk away and open the door to leave. "Oh, and Mr. Soldate," President Coin says. "One more thing." She looks at the guards and says, "Would you give us a moment? He's fine, I just need to ask him something." The guards look questioningly at one another, wondering if they are allowed to do this. Though a swift and sharp, "Go," from Coin's part sends them out of the room. As soon as the doors close, she grins darkly and says, "I won't stand in your way, I don't care about the safety of the girl. It's just the rebellion that matters."

I look at her in confusion, as if what she said didn't completely mortified me. "What do you mean?" I ask.

The woman shrugs. "The girl means nothing to me, just telling you, she will merely take away from my power. Wouldn't you agree it'd be better if she was just plucked out of the rebellion?" she asks casually.

I realize what she's saying and my eyes widen. I stare at her fixated for a moment. "I don't know," I mumble unsure.

She chuckles to herself, and then continues,"It would be a shame if she were handed over to Snow, but that would make the rebels go crazy and bring Snow down once and for all." She smiles to herself, and examines the many rings on her fingers and then she says, "That is all."

I turn around and walk out of the door, and think perhaps Snow may not be the only one who is a ruthless dictator here, because I'm pretty sure Coin has learned about Snow's compromise with me, and is willing to help me hand Katniss over. Why is she willing to do so? I don't know. Though she's willing to go to the extremes to make sure that I get Katniss to the Capitol because she's a threat to her power, and it'll bring down Snow once and for all.

I stare at the ceiling, counting the specks there, waiting for the girl to wake up. I've reached about one hundred and thirty-six to be exact, yet I'm not entirely sure if I've recounted some. I take my eyes off the ceiling, feeling foolish and strange for counting specks. It's amazing what boredom can make you do. I exhale heavily and pat my legs with my hands and look around. The hospital waiting room isn't very full. All the people that wait her is that pathetic drunk Haymitch, who's nearly asleep, her friend Gale, and her little sister Prim. Not many people seem to care about the "Mockingjay." Of course there's a few stragglers here and there for dimwitted injuries some people from thirteen received.

The boy Gale doesn't seem to talk much, but is highly fond of Katniss from what I heard, which is a bit astounding because he is her cousin. His hormones must be all out of it, because falling for a family member is a little out there. Her little sister has been proven decent, she seems the only one in this whole place who's likable. I heard the famous Finnick Odair is here, who I have had the honor of meeting in the victory tour, though now he's supposed to be insane. Also that guy Beetee is in the weapons department, but he's the one who set off the explosion in the arena. Do I seem to be the only sane person in this district?

I eye the girl's cousin, who's pacing back and forth in the halls nervously. He's panting and is all nervous. I sneer at him, and can't believe how weak he's acting. I call out to him, "Hey." Gale paces for a second before stopping, and turns to me with a confused look smacked in his face. The boy seems almost shocked that I'm talking to him. I shrug and say, "She's okay, you're freaking out for nothing."

I don't tell him this because I want to calm him down, it's actually amusing seeing him so scared about nothing, no, I tell him because his pacing is bothering the crap out of me. Gale shakes his head and says, "I just feel so bad I let her get hurt."

I shrug and then mumble, "You couldn't have done anything to save her. She's going to need a bit better physical strength for what's coming up. This a war, and I don't mean to be harsh, but she's going to get hurt."

Gale shakes his head and his face is hard and conflicted. "I just care a lot about her. I mean, I love her."

Again, with the weird hormonal stuff, what's up with this kid. I can feel my face flush and a bitter taste enters my mouth. I look at him and say, "I'm sorry to ask you this, but aren't you a bit freaked out that you like your cousin? I mean, she's cute but, you're related."

Gale looks at me puzzled for some reason then he laughs. "Oh, no, you got it wrong, we're not really cousins."

"Oh," I say. I nod and then say casually, "Why did you tell everyone you are?"

Gale puts his hands in his pockets and says casually, "I loved her, and we didn't want anyone to suspect that I was a flaw in the star crossed lovers plan."

I nod and then realize that I'm supposed to hate this guy, he is going to get in the way of me wooing Katniss. I make a mental note in my mind saying, don't trust the fake cousin. "That sucks," I mumble. He nods and I lean my head back up so I'm facing the ceiling symbolizing this conversation is over.

I doze off for a little, waiting for the girl to wake up. I don't even know why I'm here waiting, instead of in the food court or something. I'm so hungry. Though I'm sure that this helps my whole image of caring about her. Snow, I think to myself, you picked without a doubt the best person for this job. He's lucky he's scary as crap or else I'd say no to wooing a girl I hate. I close my eyes and breathe heavily in and out. This is going to be fun but also not at all. The handing her over part will be excellent, though I'm sure I'll be a little rueful for probably destroying any sliver of happiness she obtained. The not fun part is going to be the wooing. I feel like I've lived this whole story before, while asking out a girl or trying to sustain her feelings for me. I flirt, she gets giddy, then I lure her to the bed. Done. She's going to be like all the rest. Though I'm sure it'll be but harder to get her to fall in love with me, much less trust me. She's incredibly stubborn, or as I picked up from Haymitch babbling on about how she disobeyed him. I don't understand how any guy could love her, yet she seems to really capture the guys hearts. First Peeta, then Gale. Any other whelp that Snow would've chosen for the job probably would've fallen for her too, her exquisite beauty, her bravery, her head strong attitude, her determination... I refuse to fall in love with her. She'll have to be very different from any other girl in order to do so, I'm hard to please.

I'll have to be really convincing that I actually do want to be a part of the rebellion.

Haymitch is already weary of me. As soon as I set Katniss down and everyone got on the ship he got two guards to hold me against the wall while he questioned me. "What is your name?" He asked.

"Cato Soldate," I replied.

"Where are you from?"

"District two."

"Why were you in eight?"

"I wanted to join your fight against Snow," I lied breezily. I had gone over this moment time and time again before the Capitol's hovercraft dropped me off in at the edge of district seven and made me walk a few miles to the hospital so no one saw where I came from.

"How did you know about district thirteen?"

I shrugged and said, "I heard rumors and I found out the footage was fake. I saw what I believe was a Mockingjay fly by in the background."

Haymitch nodded but still seemed unconvinced. He let them release me, even though if I wasn't playing this whole act I could've gotten them off the moment they touched me. He warned me the president would further question me about joining.

I thought it was a joke at first but then as I learned before coming here, no it was not a joke.

President Snow is right, Coin is insufferable. She is possibly more infamous than Snow-at least Snow stays loyal to his motives, she has her plans all jumbled up. She covers it up, no doubt about it, by making herself seem like a perfectionist. Truly, she is a sadist that is willing to help me with my plans. I know I should be amused and relieved by the fact that even the president of thirteen is giving me assistance in my mission, though the mission almost seems unreal now. It seems too easy. She's even making sure I look the part, she made sure that I was put into district thirteen clothing attire, and she's taking care of me too. She made sure the wound on my arm (which one of Snow's men gave to me before I left because they said it'd make me look like I was in district thirteen, and made me seem more "realistic") was completely healed has to be a catch with her offering to turn the other cheek while I deliberately take away her icon. I'm knocked out of my train of thought by a poke on the shoulder.

I remove my gaze from the ceiling and look down to see the little girl, Prim. Her blonde hair is neatly brushed out and lays straight, reaching about waist length. She's a tiny little thing, and reminds me a bit of my younger sister. Her blue eyes beam at me, as if waiting for me to say something. I raise an eyebrow and say, "Hi," a bit more begrudged than intended.

She smiles and says, "Hi."

I stare at her, feeling a bit impatient. I don't like the whole introduction process, or beating around the bush, I'd rather the person just get to the point. She waits for me to respond, but I don't know what to say. I widen my eyes in slight annoyance, and nod awkwardly. She nods for a second and then sighs. "Thank you for saving Katniss," she grins.

"Oh," I mumble. "It was nothing."

She looks at me for a second and then says, "How do you know my sister?"

I shrug. "Everyone knows her."

Prim nods and then says, "Yes, I know. I heard you were from District two and traveled to eight so you could meet her. You must care about her. Then you saved her and now you're waiting for her to wake up. Did you two ever meet personally?"

I shake my head. "No, I've never met her, but I care about her. I mean, she is the Mockingjay," I bluff.

Prim shrugs and then says, "There's people to save her you know?"

"Yeah, I know, though it seemed necessary because she was right next to me," I answer. "Your sister is a remarkable girl, and I would be honored to give her life up for mine," I lie.

"Yes, though why are you waiting for her?" Prim asks casually.

I'm starting to get a bit frustrated by all the questions, but Katniss loves her sister to death, so I'll have to get the little sisters approval in order for Katniss's trust. I laugh a little and say jokingly, "You're full of questions aren't you?"

She smiles and nods. "Yeah, just want answers in return. So, what's your answer mister?"

I smile at the fact she called me mister. "I saved her so I want to make sure I did a good job at it," I say. I add jokingly, "Just making sure I'm improving my hero like skills."

She giggles a little. A nurse walks by and Prim stares at her and the nurse gives Prim a little nod. Prim turns back to me and then says, "I think she's awake. You want to see her?"

Wow, it took her long enough. I nod nevertheless. I turn my head to tell that Gale kid that Katniss is up, but he's gone. He must've left while I was lost in my train of thought. I just shrug an stand up.

Prim gives a waving motion indicating I should follow her. I do, and she walks down the hall, then takes a right and walks over to a random door. She knocks on it, and then we hear a faint voice say, "Come in".

Prim opens the door and walks in, and I see Katniss. She has a few scraps on her face, and a bandage on her forehead. She had a gross cut there earlier that was pretty deep. When she sees Prim, her eyes light up, and she smiles brightly. Then I walk in, and her silver eyes lock on me and her smile fades. "What is he doing here?" she demands at once. I have to hold my arising smirk at her boldness for saying this. It's amusing to watch her be mad at me, I decide. I keep my poker face on as I stare at the girl in front of me. As much as I hate to admit it, she looks exquisite right now. In the all white sheets her olive skin nearly glows, illuminating the room with some color. Her brown hair is fanned out across her pillow, finally out of the braid she always seems to wear. Her face has a few cuts on it, nothing too damaging. The only thing bandaged up is a deep gash she has on the left side of her forehead. Thank god they got that thing covered up, I think to myself. I'm one who has never minded blood, but her gash was deep and purple, a disgusting sight truly.

Her silver eyes glare at me with such a hostile edge, just displaying pure hatred. How nice, I think to myself as I return her glare with a soft look of innocence.

She's a feisty one.

That's new, I've never experienced a girl to be all guarded and stuff.

I like feisty, I think to myself, trying not to smile. Prim walks over to her sister, probably giving her a look of complete and total disapproval. Katniss's eyes follow her with a confused look in them. "Katniss," the little girl says calmly. "This boy wanted to see if you were okay."

Katniss darts her gaze back to me and stares at me coolly. "I'm fine, thank you," she grumbles.

Mrs. Everdeen's head perks up and then turns to me. "Are you the boy who saved her?"

I open my mouth to answer but before I can even start Katniss snaps, "He didn't save me! Why is everyone saying that?" Mrs. Everdeen looks at Katniss sternly, and I know the girl feels cornered, like everyone trusts me except her. She must be bit scared, she probably thinks I brainwashed everyone in thirteen to trust me, little does she know a little charm and wit can go a long way.

"Katniss," her mother scolds.

"Oh no, Mrs. Everdeen, it's fine," I say kindly. "I was just doing what I felt was my duty."

I grin my crooked smile that charmed all the women in two to believe anything I said. Mrs. Everdeen and Prim grin at this, thinking I'm merely being humble. Actually, I'm quite fond of myself for keeping the girl alive; she's quite the handful.

Katniss grimaces and says, "What duty do you have?"

I shrug and tilt my head in a manner that makes every girl I met swoon. I know how to work my charm, I've used it so many times. "I couldn't watch you die," I say simply. "You're far too valuable for that."

Katniss snorts and rolls her eyes. "I'm sure millions of people would be thrilled to see me die," Katniss looks at Katniss, pain spread across her face. The emotion in Katniss' eyes indicate that she regrets she's said this, it hurt her sister.

I peer at her through my eyelashes and say, "You can count me off the list." Katniss' eyes look into mine, and I look back.

I'm daring her to keep looking, and she seems to be doing the same thing as I. Her silver eyes show no emotion, nor do mine. Then suddenly, her muscles tense. She does not break her stare but says, "Mother, Prim, I'd like to talk to this boy alone for a moment."

Katniss' mother and Prim exchange questioning glances, then nod. Prim walks over to Katniss and wraps her tiny arms around her. Katniss breaks our stare and returns the embrace and places on hand on the back of Prim's head. It is curious how everyone here hugs each other like it's the last time they'll see one another. Prim whispers, "See you in a bit?"

Katniss nods and reassures, "See you in a bit."

Their embrace reminds me of one I would have with my little brother or sister. It almost pains me to see the two united as so.

Katniss lets go of Prim and Katniss' mother gives Katniss a light kiss on the forehead before pressing her palm against Prim's back, guiding her to the doorway. As Prim passes me she says, "Bye Cato, thank you." I smile sweetly and nod to the girl. The door opens lightly, and then closes. As soon as the click sounds, I look back at Katniss who is glaring at me like there's no tomorrow.

I decide to take this chance to toy with her mind a bit. I walk over to the bedside and caress my left hand on the cushion in the empty cover space between her thigh and the edge of the bed. I say in silky voice, "I'm sorry you got hurt." She narrows her eyes, and averts our gaze childishly. "I wish I just could've done more," I press.

Her body lays perfectly still as she grumbles, "You've done too much."

"How so?" I ask.

"Now everyone thinks I'm a victim and you're the precious hero," she mumbles. "Oh. It's fine, the news will go away soon," I respond trying to be optimistic.

She shifts her position so she's on her back again and turns only her head to me. "Look," she says with a cutting edge to her voice. "You may have everyone else fooled, but not me."

I pretend I didn't know about her suspicion before hand and decide to humor her. "What do you mean?" I ask in fake shock.

She rolls her eyes. "I don't trust you, there isn't much to it. I don't trust you, I won't be fooled by this whole charming facade."

I smirk and tease, "You think I'm charming?"

"No!" She exclaims. "Everyone is forgetting this is a war and you could be working for 're being all nice to you just because you covered me up when a bomb came." This is going to be fun.

I say sarcastically, "Yeah that's nothing."

She doesn't appreciate my sarcasm and snarls, "It is nothing!"

I roll my eyes and look down at her and say softly, "I don't know why you don't trust me. A bunch of people here are calling me a hero."

"That's not true though," she retorts. "And there are so many reasons not to trust you."

"Name them," I challenge with a grin.

She thinks for a moment, and then says, her voice unsure, "Well you're from two, and you guys love the Capitol. No one from two would want to join the rebellion."

My smile fades and I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. She just basically insulted my district. "Well I'm an exception. Besides, that's a terrible reason. Any other, or is it just because where I'm from? I can think of a lot of reasons why I would never trust a certain girl from twelve."

Her face turns red in embarrassment, and she tries to cover it up with a scowl, but I still notice. She continues, "And am I supposed to ignore the fact you just so happened to be in eight and run into me when there's a bombing. That couldn't have been just a coincidence."

"Well, it was," I lie with my voice sour, but there's no hint of falseness in my voice.

Her scowl deepens as she snaps, "I still don't believe you!"

I shrug. "Why are so against trusting me? I wasn't granted permission to stay in thirteen for no reason."

"They don't even know you," she growls.

I smirk again and get up closer to her bed. I say, my voice velvety, "Neither do you Miss Mockingjay." She's looks at me for a moment, as if searching my expression for any hint of something to be suspicious about.

Then a knock sounds at the door. Katniss's head darts to the door, and then curves her head back to me.

"Do you want me to get it?" I ask.

She widens her eyes like I'm an idiot and nods her head.

I walk over to the door and turn the nob. When I open the door I see the man whose name I believe is Boggs in front of me. He has a big contraption extending from over his nose to the back of his head. I think that Gale kid caused this because he kicked the crap out of Boggs' face when he ran after Gale telling them to come back and stay in position. It's all I can do to keep from smiling, and thinking it's hilarious that the leader of the squad they were in got beaten by a soldier. If I was in two, the leader would've snapped my neck.

The man's light blue eyes look at me, and then Katniss. "Both of you are needed for a special meeting in the command," Boggs says with a serious tone.

I blink in confusion. Wait, what?

"Both?" Katniss hisses, picking up on what bewildered me.

Boggs looks at me and says, "Are you Cato Soldate?" I nod and then he looks back at Katniss. "Yes, both."

"But why?" She moans.

Boggs shrugs, his gaze fixated at me. "Special orders from Coin." He begins to walk away, and then pauses, turns around so he's facing me and says, "Oh, and welcome to squad 451 Mr. Soldate."

What else will Coin do to help him? Will Katniss shut Cato out completely? Will Cato be able to adjust to his new environment?

Okay, so for those of you who were confused with what happened with Coin and Cato, basically Coin is portrayed in the book as a person who is obsessive of her power, and will go to the extremes to retain her position as leader, even kill our very own Katniss Everdeen if she's a threat to her power. Coin hinted Cato that she would help him hand her over to the Capitol so the rebels will be infuriated with the Capitol and fight against the Capitol much more intensely. It'll also get rid of Katniss, who Coin is consistently worried will take away from her power.

I really hope you liked this chapter, I did it from Cato's POV because a bunch of you said you really liked it. I hope you guys are into the story.

I hope that this story is getting interesting, and stuff. For those of you who are wondering, Cato is going to woo Katniss as his strategy to get her out of thirteen, one of that categories of this story is romance after all!

Review please! I know this is a bit out there, but I'd like at least 81 reviews by the end of this chapter, because for those of you who've read "Invincible," I'm having a little in story review-off, and see which on thrives more. Invincible got 81 reviews by chapter 3, and I'm hoping for the same or more for this one. Please review, and thank you to all of you who have reviewed thanks, in addition to the ones who've added me to their story alerts. Though, reviews are what really keep authors most motivated, and excited about their stories. We really like to know what you guys think about our stories! As always, if you review, you get a sneak peek of chapter 4.

If you have any requests, please don't hesitate to tell me!

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