Ding!
"Remember what we talked about." Clove whispered quietly as she and Cato walked onto the elevator which also happened to have a wide-eyed Lane standing in the corner with her district partner. Cato nodded slightly and looked back at the girl giving her a tight-lipped smile. Clove sighed as the elevator chimed once again, announcing the arrival of their floor. She nudged Cato as they walked out.
"Could you be anymore awkward?"
"I said I was trying." Cato growled and went straight towards the weightlifting station.
Clove sighed, looks like I need to have another little chat with Lane, she thought.
"So how did it go yesterday?" Lane looked up from her painted arm to see Clove standing in front of her.
"You mean with…" She trailed off.
Clove scoffed, "Who else?"
Lane licked her lips, "Oh. Well he was very helpful. He helped me w-with my shooting."
The brunette nodded in approval, "Fair enough. I need you to do one more thing." She said. Lane listened intently at her plan.
"If I do this…I'll be safe?"
"Safe as you can get, after all… this is the Hunger Games kid." Clove smirked and walked over to the weightlifting station to join her district partner.
After Clove left, Lane tried to go back to camouflaging her arm but found out that she couldn't. By doing as Clove asked she would be safe for the majority of the game and not to mention she would have a better chance to get to know the brutal career from Two.
"Going behind my back again Clove?" Cato said from the bench press chair, his eyes never leaving the ceiling.
Clove cleared her throat, "I find that impossible in your position." She was referring to the fact that he was on his back practically laying down. "I mean I'm just a normal person like you Cato, I lift dumbbells one arm at a time." She smirked and went to the abs machine.
As she settled into her thirty minute warm-up routine she allowed her mind to wander. Clove hoped that their plan would work, for Cato's sake. If the girl followed through on her directions then everything would go without a hitch and they'd be set for the games. Cato would be safe, although she wasn't too sure about Lane. Clove had guaranteed Lane's safety for as long as Cato thought it was worth it. If his patience wore out before the finale then that would suck for the girl. Oh well, it wouldn't be her problem anymore.
"Attention Tributes! Please report to the obstacle course. This is mandatory. All tributes to the obstacle course!" a voice rang out after a few hours.
"Obstacle course huh…sounds fun." Clove grinned and Cato quirked one side of his mouth up at her childish anticipation. His eyes glazed over the loop that went around the entire space with different obstacles placed strategically on the certain parts of the course.
Atala appeared at the beginning of the track holding a stopwatch. "This obstacle course will not only test your agility, but also your speed and endurance. Complete the track once and then end here." She gestured to where she was standing, "You have approximately two minutes to warm-up."
"50?" Clove asked stretching out her legs.
"50." Cato smirked bringing his arm in front of him to stretch his tricep. His smirk faded when he felt someone slide their hand around his flexed bicep. He instantly slapped the hand away.
"Ow, Cato!" Glimmer squealed rubbing her hand.
"Don't touch me." He snarled and she backed away instantly, "Remind me again why we have airhead in the career pack?"
Clove laughed, "Because she's from District 1. Come on, I know you're enjoying the attention. Somewhere inside your ego is jumping with joy."
"Not even a little bit." He sighed.
"Everyone to the starting line!" Atala yelled setting her stopwatch, she waited until everyone was in their own lane before starting the countdown, "On your mark…get set…Go!"
The tributes took off for the first part of the race. So far Cato and Clove were in the lead, Marvel a close second, the boy from District 4 in third, and surprisingly Lane tied with Glimmer for fourth. At the end of the 400m mark there were hurdles set up one side and about a dozen steeples on the other. Cato looked at Clove and she nodded in response they ran for the hurdles. They knew that water only slowed you down, so it made up for the many rows of hurdles.
The next obstacle had ledges that you had to balance on and jump off of. Though Cato had the lead at first, this was Clove's element. She was smaller and lighter on her feet compared to him.
She grinned looking back at him, "Having a little trouble there Cato?" he glared and increased his stride so that he didn't have to jump, he would just leap onto the ledges without stopping. The competition continued on as such. Clove or Cato would take the lead depending on the obstacle and their strengths but ultimately Clove won.
"7:29…" Atala called out as Clove ran past the finish line, "7:31…" Cato heard as he ran over the line as well.
"Damn it." He muttered.
"Well, what are you still doing standing up? 50 right? Drop." Clove said folding her arms across her chest smugly.
Cato cursed under his breath but did as he was told. He was on his seventeenth push-up when he felt something on his back. It wasn't unbearably heavy but it was noticeable. They had put heavier things on him during training back in District 2.
"Clove you said 50, you didn't say with weights." He said in between his deep breaths.
"Yeah, I know but I wanted to sit down and your back looked comfortable." She said in an almost bored tone. Clove was sitting on him Indian style while idly picking out dirt from underneath her fingernails with a knife.
As Cato finished his pushups, Marvel ran past Atala earning him the time 7:58. Cato rolled over onto his back trapping Clove's legs under him. She glared at him but he simply crossed his ankles and put his arms behind his head feigning relaxation. Marvel walked over to them and hunched over trying to catch his breath.
"You guys…are…so fast…" Cato shrugged and Clove smirked.
"Not fast enough apparently since Cato over here came in second." She said wiggling her legs, but to no avail. Cato was two hundred pounds of thick muscle.
"It was the stupid crawl. I'm too big to fit into those tiny pieces of crap. We're tributes, not soldiers." He shook his head.
Marvel had regained his breathing and sat next to Clove, "Where you guys suppose to finish at the same time or…?"
"Well that was the plan, but the loser had to do 50 pushups…Which is why Cato is being a jerk and not getting off of me." She grumbled.
Cato rolled off and got into a sitting position and raised an eyebrow, "Happy now?"
"No." he rolled his eyes at her response.
"8:15…" they heard Atala say and they looked up to see Lane jogging past the line.
She beat Glimmer, Clove thought just as Glimmer ran over the finish line earning herself an 8:22. As the blonde sat down next to Clove and stretched out her legs, Marvel sat next to Cato.
"District 7 is pretty fast." He said nodding his head towards Lane, "I mean she beat Glimmer…" that earned him a dirty look from none other than Glimmer herself.
Clove scoffed, "Yeah, she's seems like a worthy ally don't you think Cato?"
He narrowed his eyes. He knew his best friend was testing him, "Sure." he offered indifferently, "Marv go ask her to join." Glimmer huffed but no one paid her any mind. Clove on the other hand smirked with satisfaction while Cato glared at her evenly.
That night as Cato closed his eyes to sleep, instead of being thrust into a world of nothing that he was used to his mind had other ideas. The dream started off as such…
"What's it like?" Cato said twirling a lock of Katniss' curly brown hair. She was currently lying on his chest, and they were in the meadow near the base of one of the mountains in District 2.
"What's what like" She mumbled.
"The games…" He felt her tense up at the mention of the word.
"I don't want to talk about it." She replied quietly, "Just hold me, kay?"
Cato tightened his arms in response, his hand now running through her hair repeatedly. All of a sudden he heard a voice in the distance calling his name. Soon it became loud enough that he swore someone else was in the meadow with them.
"Cato!" he recognized the voice, it was Lane. She came walking through the tall grass towards him and Katniss. What the hell, he thought. He stood up pulling Katniss with him as he stood.
"How'd you get here?" Cato asked at the same time that Katniss asked, "Who's this?"
"Umm, Katniss this is Lane, Lane," he gestured to the brunette, "Katniss."
Lane smiled tentatively while Katniss kept a blank face staring at the girl. Awkward.
"What are you doing here?" She asked bluntly raising her chin a little.
"I came to see Cato." Lane said with just as much attitude. Cato's eyes widened.
"Why?" he asked.
Katniss turned around to face him. "Does it matter?" Jealousy and possessiveness lacing her voice.
Cato sighed, "Babe, it's fine—"
"No. Who the hell does this girl think she is!?" Katniss growled walking over to stand in front Lane. Out of habit Lane took a step back at her approach, a little afraid of her intimidating stare. Gray eyes piercing her green ones.
"This girl is standing right here. If you need to say something, then say it." Lane boldly stated. Katniss' eyes flashed dangerously and she lunged, but Cato wrapped his arms around her and pulled her back.
"Kat stop. She—" he started but she cut him off again.
"Stop defending her!" Katniss yelled and wiggled out of his hold.
"Katniss look, it's not…you don't understand…" he said lamely trying to explain.
She narrowed her eyes, "Oh. I understand. Perfectly."
Katniss began to turn around and walk away not sparing him a glance. Cato reached to grab her wrist and tell her to stay but he found that he couldn't move his feet.
"What the—Katniss wait! Please babe stop! Wait! Katniss!" he shouted still trying to move his feet. Meanwhile, Lane took advantage of his immobility and stepped closer to him placing her hand on his arm. He battled her attempts of touch while still trying to regain the use of his lower limbs. Cato could vaguely hear Lane in the background pleading him to calm down because everything was finally going to 'be okay'. With each struggle he faced Katniss seemed to walk farther and farther until she was barely visible. Without a word she turned around and spread her arms out falling backwards exactly the way she died.
Lane suddenly appeared in front of his face, "It's okay, I'm here." She tried to soothe him by stroking his face. He swatted her hands away telling her to fuck off. He tried to look around her form to see if Katniss was still falling, as she was just about to hit the water he cried out.
"Katniss!" Cato screamed bolting up right in his bed.
He was breathing heavily, sweat drenching every inch of his form. He leaned forward placing his face in his hands trying to calm down his heart. After a while he ran a hand through his hair and lay back down. He tried closing his eyes again but her face kept flashing in his mind. Sleep was impossible now. He gave up on it and instead thought about the nightmare.
He used to have these nightmares all the time about Katniss falling, and every single time he failed to save her. This time was different though, Lane was in it. That alone itself confused the shit out of him. All of a sudden he became worried. He needed to talk to Clove.
Cato padded barefoot across the expanse of the floor making sure to not make a sound. He knocked on her door lightly. He heard her groan and soon enough he door opened to reveal a less than happy Clove.
"What do you want?" she asked grumpily rubbing her eyes. Cato walked in and sat on her bed.
"Am I replacing Katniss?" He asked outright staring at Clove. She immediately seemed to lose her grogginess.
"Of course not! Why, what happened?" she sat next to him.
"I had a nightmare and…Katniss left." His voice cracked towards the end.
"Left? Did she die again?" Clove asked remembering his old nightmares as well.
"No, well yes…she got angry and left because Lane was there and then…she just fell." He said quietly.
Her eyebrows shot up, "Lane was in your dream?"
"Yeah, she kept getting in my way. I was trying to save Katniss but she kept stopping me." He explained anger evident in his voice, "I feel like my brain is trying to tell me to stay away from Lane. I'm losing sight of Katniss because of her. I don't remember ever feeling so panicked before, I nearly punched in her my dream."
"Look, I know that you're stressed out right now but don't read to much into this okay? It's only going to bother you and keep you distracted. So just forget about it for the meantime." Clove contemplated standing up and walking over to the door to open it. Cato sighed but nodded and walked back to his room.
Don't worry. I won't let you forget her, Clove thought as she closed the door behind him.
A/N: I'd just like to point out that Lane is not Katniss and I see how some of you might have gotten confused. Which is bad on my part, Sorry! It'll get less confusing as the story progresses on hopefully. So no private session today but it'll be in the next chapter along with the interviews. Just one more chapter before we get to the games! Whoo! Oh and just a quick question, do you think this story is moving too slow or too fast? Feedback is appreciated. Also a "massive thank you" to everyone who's reviewed, favorited, and followed. :)
Til next time.
~Alis-May