A/N- Hello everyone! Well, I accidentally labeled this story as 'M' instead of 'T' and have been denying most of the fanfic world the presence of this story! But don't worry I have fixed it (and my other mislabeled stories.) So here Chapter 6 of my now appropriately labeled fic.
((DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games.))
CHAPTER 6: "Gold of a Different Kind"
As we arrive at our camp the Panem anthem starts playing. "Where have you two been?" Clove angrily asks running up to us.
I shrug my shoulders. "We just want for a run."
"You've been gone all day!"
"Did anything happen while we were gone?" Glimmer cuts in.
"Well, no. But—"
"Then why are you freaking out at us?!" Nice.
Clove huffs, turns on her heel, and then goes back to standing guard.
"Only one death today," announces Lover Boy as the sky goes dark. He has an odd smile on his face that makes me want to punch him until it disappears. But just then Lover Boy rolls over and sees me glaring at him, which wipes the smile off his face. And I guess that will have to do, for now.
I lie on my side facing away from Glimmer, who has decided that she is allowed to sleep beside me now, and try to sleep. After a few agonizing minutes, I realize that sleep will not be joining me tonight. I sigh, flip over onto my back, and watch the imitation stars make their way across the sky.
At some point on the night Glimmer starts snoring and the noise that comes from this girl is enough to make me want to rip my own ears off.
"I can't take it," I grumble in an angry whisper scooting away from her.
"Cato? Is that you?" I hear Clove murmur.
"No," I reply sarcastically.
"I need to talk to you," I am caught off guard by the way she says this because it's not the usual spiteful tone that she normally talks to me with.
"Yeah, hold on."
I stand a few feet in front of where she is seated. "I don't bite, you can sit down." I raise my eyebrow at her to remind her of the time she was in a competition with Comet. "That was one time!" She shrieks loudly then clamps her hand over her own mouth for a second. "And it wasn't even that hard, he was being dramatic," she finishes in a whisper.
I sit down next to her. "So what did you need to talk about that couldn't wait until morning?"
"I was just wondering why you like Glimmer so much."
"I don't," I say plainly.
"You liar! You said you loved her!"
I am not quite sure why she's acting this way. Glimmer said she would explain this to her. Maybe she forgot. "After the interviews," I start explaining from the beginning hoping to give the cameras time to switch to someone else, "Cliff and I met up with Glimmer's mentor to tell her about his plan to win us all more sponsors. And once they decided what to do they called Glimmer in to explain their idea to her. They thought that if Glimmer and I pretend to have fallen in love during our time at the Capitol, the sponsors would be less interested in the Lover Boy and Katniss Everdeen, and would again be interested in us."
"Wouldn't it have been easier, and smarter, to have picked me?" asks Clove in a way that makes her sound hurt.
"Well, yeah, a lot easier. But when Cliff told his idea to Talia they realized it would never work because you hate me so much." I pause. "It was actually Talia's idea for me to pick Glimmer."
"I don't hate you," Clove says looking me in the eyes. "I... well... I kind of, might be, sort of in love... with you."
I don't know what to say, I just stare blankly past her into the darkest part of the woods. After a long time I finally manage to ask, "What? ... But you hate me."
"No, I hate that you never pay attention to me... All the extra practices I signed up for, all the times I volunteered to spar in front of our training classes, everything. It was all my attempt to try to impress you. But you never even gave me a second look."
"But I was impressed."
"No you weren't."
"I really was. I just didn't want to show it. I thought everyone else would see it as weakness... And I actually wanted to pick you. Not Glimmer."
"Really?"
"Yes really. And if it really comes down to it, I'll choose to save you." I reply hinting to the rumor of the rule change of one male and one female victor Cliff was telling me about. "Now, why don't you go rest, I'll take over watch. We got a big day of Kat hunting tomorrow." The way she laughs at this stupid pun makes me realize everything she was just telling me is the truth.
She shakes her head. "Go back to sleep, Cato." I obey without argument because truthfully I'm starting to finally feel tired.
"I'm just saying you two are weirdly close for a brother and sister!" I wake up to District 4 screaming.
"No, we're not!" Glimmer argues getting off her brother's lap. Yeah, too close. Even Marvel looks uncomfortable. "Cato!" squeals Glimmer throwing herself into my arms apparently just noticing me and forgetting her fight with District 4.
Out of the corner of my eye I see Clove roll her eyes and I wink at her behind Glimmer's back.
"So Cato, Lover Boy was just wondering what the plan is for today," comments Marvel interrupting the momentary love triangle.
"What? Is Lover Boy too good to talk to me himself now?" I reply in a mocking tone.
"No, I was just pointing out—"
"Oh, shut it, Marvel!" snaps Clove.
I glance over at her but she just shrugs as I free myself from Glimmer's grip. Who huffs at me and insists upon draping herself on my left arm and shoulder while I speak. "Today, we have two priorities. And they are to find and then kill Katniss Everdeen. And to do that," I smile walking over to Lover Boy, "we are going to search every inch of the area around the lake, thanks to the tip from Lover Boy." And with that I 'pat' him on the back once in a way that looks friendly, but is meant to hurt. "And if we don't find her, it's your head." I whisper in his ear.
We take a few minutes to gather our weaponry and then silently make our way over to the lake, again leaving Ryland behind to guard our remaining supplies.
"Should we split up to cover more ground?" Lover Boy questions me.
"I call Cato!" yells Glimmer laughing.
"No, we are going to stay together so we don't miss anything." Splitting up was actually a decent idea, but I can't let Lover Boy start thinking he's smart. We search along the closest bank of the lake and find nothing, of course. We slowly walk the edge of the shore that has some rock formations on it.
"Look a cave!" yells Glimmer running ahead of everyone, the other two girls are close on her heels. Lover Boy is behind us still limping from his fall the other day.
"I heard you talking to Clove last night," announce Marvel nonchalantly.
"And?" I pretend not to care.
"You shouldn't mess with Glimmer like that."
"She agreed to it and so did her mentor, so I really don't think you have too much—"
"That's because her mentor doesn't know what's wrong with her!" he hisses through his teeth.
"There's nothing wrong with her. I mean just look at her." I say allowing myself a moment to watch Glimmer.
"Ugh, no! That's my sister! I mean she isn't right up there." Marvel says motioning to his head. "She gets confused easily."
"She doesn't seem confused to me." I reply defensively.
"Are you sure? Ask her if she remembers you're only pretending to be in love with her. After that ask her if she knows where she is. Or who I am. THAT'S why she was hanging on me this morning, she thought I was you." Marvel is in full-on monologue mode now, "Sometimes she can go days without getting confused and it's like there's nothing wrong with her. But on her bad days it can happen every hour. And I have to constantly remind her what's going on when nobody is paying attention. That's why she freaked out when she didn't see me at the cornucopia that first day."
"Was she born like that?"
"No," he sighs looking across the lake, "during one of her sparring session she got hit in the head pretty hard. And even since then she's been this way."
"Oh," I reply quietly thinking about some of the things that have happened to me. "Does she ever blackout?"
Marvel gives me a long sideways glance. "No... why?"
"No reason." I look away thinking of how to change the topic, "I guess it's lucky you got reaped the same year she did."
"I volunteered—"
"I see you two are working hard," say Lover Boy slowly passing us.
Just the sound of his voice makes me see red and I all I want to do is hurt him. But I can't do that, not yet, but pushing him in the water won't be too bad. And just as I reach out to shove him down, "There she is!" yells Clove.
I look up to see the flash of color that is Katniss Everdeen sprinting through the water to get away from us. The five of us are close enough that there is no way for her to outrun us, especially since I notice she has an injured leg. This is almost too easy. Soon I am at the head of our packing and am already closing in on Katniss.
Once we are in the woods though it's a different story, she is harder to keep track of; weaving in between trees and blending in with the dark colors. Not to mention the smoke that wasn't noticeable to us until now. I can hear everyone behind me coughing and gasping for breath. And even I have to admit I'm not feeling so hot either. Which eventually causes me to lose track of her for a single moment and when I see her again she is scrambling up one of the trees. She doesn't stop until she's half way up the tree. You've got to be kidding me.
*"How's everything with you?" she calls down after surveying the six of us.
I find myself shocked by her reaction to our presence, but I don't miss a beat. *"Well enough. Yourself?"
*"It's been a bit warm for my taste," she's says in a light voice, *"The air's better up here. Why don't you come up?"
She must hear us coughing; I try to slow down my breathing to control my smoke intake. *"Think I will." I reply reaching up to grab the closest branch but instead of a branch I end up with Glimmer's bow. I'm annoyed but I take a deep breath and try not to show it. "Thanks babe, but *I'll do better with my sword," I say pushing the bow away.
I reach my hand up yet again this time successfully taking hold of a branch. This must scare little Katniss Everdeen, because she climbs even higher up the tree. As I pull myself up with one arm reaching for another branch with the other I can already tell that I'm not going to make it up very high. By the time I reach the third branch it is starting to bow beneath my weight. I quicken my pace up the tree, but that doesn't help, at around the sixth or seventh branch I hear a cracking sound. Panic runs through me because I am relatively high at this point and falling would most likely do some damage. I can't climb down because I'll look weak and going higher would make my fall even worse. So, I choose what seems to be the lesser of the two evils and push myself up the tree even farther.
I make it four more branches, but the moment I took hold of the fifth one and put my weight on it the branch snaps. I feel myself plummeting down and a scream tries to escape from my mouth but I bite down on my bottom lip and refuse to let it. I probably don't fall for very long, but it seems like forever because on the way down I hit every branch that I use to climb up with the full weight of my body. The last one I manage to grab hold of, for a moment, but I still end up landing on my back with a loud thud.
For a moment I worry that I died because my eyes won't open and I can't move. However I soon realize my eyes are open, but Glimmer is hovering over me so close to my face that she is blocking most of the light and after I push her away I see the reason I can't move is because Clove, Marvel, and District 4 are also huddled over me. I wiggle myself away from them and force myself to my feet. I'm shaky from the fall and my vision is fuzzy but I look up to see Katniss Everdeen laughing at me from the tree.
I start yelling words that the Capitol will definitely bleep out, spitting blood as I go. And as I'm yelling them, I start wondering why the Capitol chooses to bleep out curse words. I mean they are watching us fight to the death, not only that, but they're also betting on it. So, what's the harm in them hearing a few choice words? ... That doesn't matter you idiot, snap out of it! I stop screaming in time to see Glimmer climbing up the tree. I want to warn her to come back down, but I don't because while I'm looking up I feel Clove sidestep over and press herself against my side.
"Maybe she'll fall," Clove whispers in my ear in a low, sinister voice, "and then you can be with me."
Just then I hear one of the tree branches cracking and I feel my stomach flip with genuine worry. I don't look up afraid to see the girl I'm supposed to be in love with fall. And thankfully she doesn't. When I see her feet gently touch the ground out of the corner of my eye, I breath I sigh of relief.
"Damn," Clove curses under her breath as she moves away from me.
"We're you worried about me?" Glimmer asks taking hold of my hand. I kiss the corner of her mouth in reply. She then pulls her bow off her shoulder, whips around, and fires an arrow at Katniss Everdeen. She misses by a long shot. After three shots, one of them lands within an arm's reach of Katniss and she takes it and waves it at us. I let out an exasperated sigh and I feel the urge to strangle somebody. The closest person to me is Glimmer, but I can't kill her because that would definitely lose me all of my sponsors.
"What are we going to do?" growls Clove.
"Calm down, Buttercup," I tease. And for this I receive a look of pure rage that sends chills up my spine (in a shocked yet pleased way). "Maybe District 4 can climb up there." I look over at her.
"I have a name—"
"So you think I'm bigger than her?" Glimmer cries in a hurt voice. Clove snickers at this and I shoot her the same look she gave me.
"You're more... muscular," I reply nervously.
*"Oh, let her stay up there. It's not like she's going anywhere," Lover Boy points out. And as much as I hate him, this comment thankfully makes everyone shut up about the entire conversation, which I'm thankful for.
We start setting up for the night, and by that I just mean fighting over who wants to sleep where. And then realizing, thanks to the growling of all our stomachs, that none of us have eaten at all today.
"Did any of you geniuses think to bring food?" Most of the group looks around in a panic, but Lover Boy and District 4 (who I still haven't bothered to learn the name of) pull off the backpacks I didn't notice they were wearing.
"Crackers," coughs District 4 tossing the package across the ground for all of us to see.
"Bread," answers Lover Boy doing the same.
"Jerky."
"Apples."
"Some type of cheese... I think."
"More bread," announces Lover Boy setting down to small packages. I'm beginning to think that boy has a thing for bread, why didn't he bring water or something useful?
"Aww, that looks so good!" squeals Glimmer reaching forward to grab three of the apples. The rest of us follow her lead and start stuffing ourselves to make up for lost calories. We polish off over half of the supplies before we're full and the anthem begins. Exhausted from our adrenaline running out, all the food we ate, and all the smoke we inhaled it's a struggle to stay awake. Thankfully it's a short death recap (being that there was no deaths today) and all we have left to do is to decide who is going to have first shift of night watch.
"I will," volunteers Lover Boy as soon as the subject comes up. Marvel, Glimmer, Clove, and I all give him a 'that's-not-going-to-happen look' and he puts his hands up defensively. "Never mind."
"I will," Marvel corrects him. "We can't have you suddenly deciding to switch sides on us now, can we?"
"Guess not," smirks Lover Boy.
"I don't know about you all," District 4 half-says, half-yawns, "but now that that's settled I am going to sleep."
The rest of agree with varying yeses and head nods, then stretch out in our areas across the ground (Glimmer laying as close to me as she can manage). And my eyes close on what will hopefully be an uneventful night and open into a dream different than the dream I have been having for years.
I dream it's the last day of the 74th Hunger Games. Glimmer, Clove, Marvel, and everyone else are dead. Except me... and Katniss Everdeen. We are staring at each other maliciously deciding just what move to make, she lunges at me. I easily take my sword and stab her through the heart. And the moment my blade touches her, a cannon goes off and there is announcement saying I've won. The sound of an invisible crowd screaming wildly fills my ears. And before I know it I am walking down one of the streets of 2, through a crowd of people chanting my name and throwing white roses at my feet. Now they are throwing money. And gold. I see the gold piling up around me and it hurts when it hits me. It's hitting me a lot. And I don't hear my name anymore, I hear buzzing. It's a metallic sort of sound. And it's coming from the gold!
I wake up. And I'm still surrounded by the buzzing gold. But it's a different kind of gold...
~theeShadyLady~
A/N- What you ask? Glato AND Clato IN THE SAME FIC?! Yes, that just happened. :D
* means a direct quote from The Hunger Games written by Suzanne Collins.