Thought I'd update another chapter, because you guys are awesome and, you deserve it after how long I was gone (a). Thanks for reading so far! :). Keep reviewing. Thanks so much to the people who favourited it and alerted it. It genuinely makes me so happy to know you guys think it's good enough for that! Love you guys 3
Chapter Six
Brutus and Lyme took us down to the chariots earlier than we should have been there. They must have made an agreement with district one's victors, Cashmere and Gloss, to get all of us down there so we'd have extra time to get to know each other. I know we're all Careers and it's the unspoken rule from one and two that we team up every year, but I wasn't looking forward to it. I'd much rather it be just me and Clove. We're strong enough, it would be easy for us to kill everybody else. That way I could make sure that Clove was always safe. It's going to be so much harder for me to keep an eye on Clove, and protect her when there's other people around. I can't let them know I'm trying to protect her, it will make me look weak.
Snap out of it. I order myself. I can't protect Clove. Ever. The sooner she dies, the easier it will be for me. I hate thinking like that. But it's true. If Clove dies early on, it wont be as hard on me. I can't protect her. I can't save her. In the end, only one can come out. I can't let it come down to just me and her. How would I kill her? I couldn't. She's beautiful, and sweet, and perfect. She doesn't deserve to die. I could never kill her. If it was just me and her, I'd rather take my own life than let her die. I couldn't hurt her. But, how am I supposed to survive knowing that my beautiful Clove would be gone? Whether it was my fault, or somebody elses?
The tributes from one were already at the chariots when Clove and I arrived. They were spray painted silver and wearing silver tunics, to represent district one's export, which is luxury goods. Glimmer was tall, beautiful and very sexy, with long curly blonde hair. Closer up, I saw her eyes were bright green. Marvel was tall, probably taller than me, but he was skinny. He didn't look muscular or fit, but being a Career, he must have been relatively strong. He has light brown hair, and bright green eyes, like Glimmer.
I saw Glimmer's eyes widen when she saw us, and she started whispering and giggling to Cashmere. Cashmere was clearly uninterested though, even I could tell she was just trying to be polite back. Her forced smile said it all. "Me and Lyme are going to go talk with Cashmere and Gloss. We'll leave you four to get to know each other. We'll come back over when it's time for you to go to the chariots. Have fun" Brutus said, forcing a small smile. It was the only time I'd ever seen him smile, even if it was small and forced.
Glimmer confidently walked forward, heading straight for me, not even bothering to look at Clove. "Hi" she smiled. I saw Marvel roll his eyes and sigh.
"Hey." I said, trying to keep my voice steady. I was trying my hardest to stifle a laugh.
"So, I'm Glimmer." she said, flicking her hair over her shoulder.
"Yeah, I know, I saw the reaping"
"Thought you'd pay attention to me, then?" She flirted.
"I remember people who I'm supposed to be in an alliance with that's all" I shrugged. I'm not interested in talking to her. I wouldn't mind killing her now, and getting it over and done with. I'm probably going to end up killing her anyway, and she seems like she's going to get on my nerves as it is. I can't stand girls that constantly flirt with everybody, just because they can, and she seems like one of them.
"Oh." her smile faded and she looked to the floor. "Well, anyway, this is Marvel. But I suppose you already know that" She was staring at me, her face full of anger. She must have gathered that I wasn't interested in her, or even just flirting with her, and I take it she didn't like it. Girls like Glimmer always get what they want. They never get rejected. If they want to flirt with someone, they will, and that person will flirt back, but not me.
"Yeah, I do." I snapped, staring back at her.
"You're Cato and... Clove... Right?" Marvel suddenly said, from behind Glimmer.
"Yeah, we are." Clove said. "What do you think of the other tributes this year?"
"Well, I guess we'll have to see tomorrow, in training, but right now, I can honestly say that I think the winner will be one of us." Marvel grinned. He looked me over for a minute, but I didn't see fear in his eyes, I saw determination and happiness.
"It's not going to be her." Glimmer snorted, looking at Clove. I turned to Clove, just as she was reaching down to her boot. I wondered what she was doing, when I suddenly remembered yesterday after the reapings, on the train.
"Clove. Don't" I warned. She looked at me, still reaching for her boot.
"Or what?" She snapped.
"Don't do what?" Glimmer asked.
"Clove, leave it. She's not worth it." I said, ignoring Glimmer altogether.
"Fine." she looked at me again. I knew a part of her hated me. I hated me too. I would have liked nothing more, for Clove to reach down into her boot, pull out the knife she brought for safety and throw it at Glimmer, but I knew that would be disastrous for Clove. There would be plenty of time for her to kill her in the arena.
"Hello? I'm talking to you." Glimmer turned to look at Marvel. "You can see me right. I mean, you can hear me too? I'm not just invisible, right?"
"Shut it." I snarled, stepping towards her.
"Cato. Calm down." Marvel said, moving so he was in between me and Glimmer. "Like you said, she's not worth it, right?"
"Hey. Marvel!" Glimmer squeaked. "You're my district partner. You're supposed to be sticking up for me."
"I might be your partner, but doesn't mean I have to like you" he mumbled. Clove gave a quiet laugh, and Glimmer shot her an evil look. I knew Clove didn't see it, or Glimmer would probably be dead by now. Clove's temper is as bad as mine, and if I saw her give me a look like that, I would already be on my way to kill her. "Anyway, I am sticking up for you, Glim. I could easily have let Cato kill you. But I haven't"
"Whatever." she huffed. "Look, we have to at least try to get on. We are going to be allies."
"She's right." Clove said, looking at me and then to Marvel, but refusing to turn her gaze to Glimmer. "We can't be allies if we don't get along, and I don't know about you, but Brutus and Lyme scare the hell out of me, so I wouldn't want to go against them and not be your ally. I'd much rather just go along with it."
"She's got a point." Marvel said, looking at me and then to Glimmer. "Just, try to stay out of each others way, as much as you can. Don't talk if you're just going to want to kill each other. I don't know about you, Glim, but I'd rather be with them than without them"
"Why?" Clove asked.
"Your reaping. You both clearly wanted to be here, for whatever reason. Cato, you're big, and look really strong. Your temper doesn't make me want to be the one you're hunting, any more, either" he laughs softly. "Clove, you clearly have quite a bad temper too. You look small, sorry, no offence, but your determination to be here was unforgettable. You must be a strong contender in the games, otherwise you would have let someone volunteer for you."
"You two both volunteered too, right?" I asked.
"Yeah" Marvel smiled.
"So, what can you do, what's your thing?"
"Spears. I can shoot pretty well." he says.
"I'm fast, and strong. I can use a lot of other weapons, too" Glimmer says, quietly. Probably unsure if we were talking to her or not. "You?"
"Swords." I say, bluntly.
"Knives, are my thing." Clove smiles.
We stand in silence for a while, not knowing what else to say. I hate Glimmer. I'm not looking forward to having to be permanently around her in the arena, for days. I might warm up to her, but I doubt it. She's the type of person I never have time for, back at home. Marvel, however, I like. He seems nice. I could survive, living with him for a while. Back at home, we could have even been friends. I wouldn't have minded that. He seems scared of me, which doesn't surprise me, much. I'm used to people being scared of me. Nearly everybody at home is scared of me, mainly because they've had a past experience with my temper, but also just because of how I look. I'm tall and very, very muscular.
"Look, there are district four. Should we introduce ourselves?" Glimmer asked, pointing to the tributes walking towards their chariot.
"No. We can leave them, see what they're like in training. They don't look to good." I shrug.
"I don't know. The girl might be some use to us. I doubt the boy would be though." Marvel says.
"Maybe."
"There's no time, Brutus and Lyme are coming back." Clove said, looking behind Glimmer and Marvel.
Clove and I walk towards our chariot slowly. "What do you think of them?" she whispered.
"Marvel's fine. He could help us, a lot. I can't stand Glimmer" I whisper back.
"Can I kill her, please?" she pleaded.
"I told you, if you're nice" I teased. She shot me an evil look, and then we both started laughing, quietly. "Stop, you're going to ruin our serious, evil, reputation"
"Sorry." she laughed, again.
We waited at the chariot for Lyme and Brutus. They were whispering to themselves again. I wonder what they always talk about. Every time you turn around, they seem to be whispering more things to each other.
"Here's what we want you to do; stand as far apart as you can manage. Don't look at each other. Don't wave to the sponsors. We want you to stand straight, and strong, look straight ahead and that's it. I want you to look as strong, brave and independent as you can. Look.. I don't know... try to look, almost evil. You can smile, but not too much. Clove, make sure you don't look too girly, if you smile. Keep the strong look going." Brutus explained, quickly, before ushering us onto the chariot.
"You two look great. You're going to be the stars of the show!" Lyme smiled. "Good luck. We'll meet you back in the lobby of the training centre at the end of the parade." they quickly turned around and left, without another word.
I turned back around to take a quick look at all the tributes. None of them looked as good as me and Clove. We definitely were going to be the best. "Have you seen twelve?" Clove whispered. I looked back again, and I saw them. They were both in black unitards with a black cape and black head piece. They definitely weren't going to make an impression. I couldn't help but laugh, despite my trying not too. You would have thought that their stylists would have tried to do something different, at least try to help them make an impression considering they look like okay tributes. The boy looks strong. Very, very, scared, but strong. The girl volunteered. She must think she has some sort of a chance of surviving, otherwise she wouldn't have volunteered. Nobody's going to remember them. The only decent tributes twelve have managed to produce in the last twenty-four years, and they're just going to let them die. It's good for me. If nobody sponsors them, it gives me more chance of getting sponsors, which means even more chance of me going home.
All of a sudden, the Capitol anthem started playing, and district one's chariot started riding off. "Remember, look fierce" I whispered to Clove. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw her give a quick nod and look forward, trying her hardest to be as far away from me as possible. I'm not sure why they wanted us to be so far apart, probably because they didn't want the sponsors to have any chance of suspecting anything going on between us.
Our chariot began moving, and we were slowly going past all of the potential sponsors. I gave them the most coldest, serious face I could. I couldn't help but take quick glances in the mirrors as we were going past. The lighting made clove look even more beautiful than she already was, even with her face hard and cold, like mine. I could tell it was working an that people liked us, because we were the stars. Everybody was screaming for us. They loved us. Until district twelve came out.
The whole crowd started cheering for them. The pathetic, nobodies that no one is supposed to remember. Why? How? How could they be the ones everybody want. I could feel the anger boiling inside of me. This was supposed to be my moment. They were supposed to be screaming my name. They were supposed to be mesmerised by me and Clove. We look strong, and great. How could they get everybody's attention. They're just in a disgusting black unitard. There is nothing interesting about that. Clove, she looks beautiful. I, look strong, independent and like a future victor. I resist the temptation to turn to look at them, and focus my gaze straight ahead. If anybody was paying any attention to us, the look on my face, and in my eyes, the look of pure hatred, and anger, and determination to kill them, would have worked in my favour. But, nobody was looking at us. They were all fixated on them. No, not on them. On her. They were all screaming her name. Nobody cared about the boy, it was all about her. Why her? Clove looked better than her. Hell, even Glimmer looked better than her.
The chariots finally came to a stop, but I still couldn't see twelve, without turning around. Despite how much I wanted to turn around, I made myself look forward. I'd see them, eventually, but If I turned around now, it would go against everything Brutus would want me to do.
President Snow stepped up to a podium and started his speech. It was the same as every other year, him going through the reasons why we're all here today, why the hunger games started, the rebellion that ended district thirteen. I started to zone out, and got caught in my thoughts. All I could think about was my blind hatred for the twelve girl. She stole my moment. She probably stole my sponsors. I hated her. I wanted to kill her. It took every bit of strength I had, not to get off my chariot, and kill her right now. I wouldn't care about the consequences, all I wanted was her dead. Not just by anybody, it had to be by me. I made a promise to myself that it would be me that would kill her in the arena. Anybody else tried to interfere with that, and I will kill them. I don't care who it is. She needed to die, by me. Only I could kill her in such a horrific way, without feeling guilty.
I got snapped out of my thoughts when our chariots slowly started moving back towards the training centre, and that's when I saw them. Twelve's tributes were on fire. Literally. That's why everybody was so mesmerised, that's why they were so brilliant. They were actually on fire. It's a first, for anybody. Nobody had ever been on fire. "How are they on fire?" I heard Clove quietly whisper.
"I don't know." I whisper back.
"I don't suppose it's too much to wish they fully catch on fire, and burn to death, is it?"
"I don't want that." I say.
"Why?"
"Because, I want to kill her. I need to kill her. In the arena, I have dibs on her"
I keep my eyes focused on the girl on fire. The hatred burning even deeper. I hoped the audience would look my way, just for a moment. I knew they would change their mind, if they did. Twelve might look good, because they're on fire, but that's not going to help them in the arena. How strong, and evil I looked would easily get me sponsors.
"They're holding hands" Clove said, quietly.
"What?" I looked down, and sure enough, they were stood, closely, side-by-side, holding onto each other. Were they together? Surely not. Surely their mentor would know that would stop them getting sponsors. Nobody wants a loved up couple who are sure to die protecting each other, to sponsor. Especially from twelve. They sure as hell aren't going to win. My thoughts quickly flicker to Clove. How I want to hold her, to show her off to everybody, I want her to be mine, but because of this game, because of the Capitol, I'm not going to get the chance to have her. One, or both, of us will die in the arena. All I want, is for my last few days, to be with her. If I'm going to die in the arena, I want to be with her when it happens. Not just physically, I want her to be mine. I want to be hers. But, we can't. The fact that they are so easily parading their love makes me even angrier. Why can't that be me and Clove?
I'm so wrapped up in my thoughts, that I don't even realise the Chariot has stopped until I hear Brutus' voice, booming around me. "Well done! You did brilliantly. Exactly what I asked you to do!" he smiled, this time, it wasn't a forced smile.
"Yeah." I said. My eyes still fixated on twelve. They were off the chariot, walking towards their mentor, still hand in hand. Without thinking, I started to lunge forward. I wanted to run up to them and snap their neck. I wanted to kill her. I wanted to kill their stylist. I wanted to kill everybody in the room.
"Cato. Calm down" Lyme said, resting a hand on my shoulder.
"Come on. Lets go to the elevator." Clove said, her voice full of anger and hatred too. I didn't move, I stayed still, watching everything they were do. Trying to listen to what they were saying. Their mentor looked over to me and slowly started walking toward to the other elevator, them trailing behind. Clove pushed me forward slightly, until I began walking. It wasn't until we got into the elevator that I managed to focus on anything other than them.
"What the hell was that?" I shouted.
"What?" Brutus asked.
"How could they of all people up stage us? Twelve actually got noticed. How? Why?"
"Cato. Calm down. It's not their fault" Clove said, placing her hand on my chest. I could tell she was just trying to stay calm for me. I knew she wanted more than anybody else to go and kill them.
"I don't care who's fault it is. How the hell are we supposed to get sponsors when they're, there up staging us?"
"Don't shout at us, boy" Brutus growled.
"I'll do what I want" I snarled, squaring my shoulders. I was so full of anger and hate that I didn't even care that it was Brutus I was doing it to.
"Cato. Don't" Clove and Lyme warned.
"Shut it." I spat.
"Don't talk to them like that" Brutus squared his shoulders. He was bigger than me. If it came down to a fight, he would win, easily, but I knew it wouldn't. If he seriously hurt me, it would be him that would get into trouble with the Capitol, so I knew he'd have to back down sooner or later.
The elevator doors opened, and before Brutus managed to turn and walk out, I lunged at him. Despite how much heavier and stronger he was, I managed to throw him out of the elevator and jump on top of him.