Author's Note: Hello readers! At least, I hope there are people still reading this! I noticed that I only got 2 reviews for my last chapter, did you all not like Cato's father? Oh well, hopefully this chapter is better and lots of you choose to review! I really do love seeing what you all think of this story and how it is going. Also a thank you to those who went and read/reviewed my one-shot 'Irreversible Monster.' If you haven't.. go and take a peek? Ok, onto the chapter!

Crowd of Two

Chapter Seven

Grey's POV

The remaining days of our stay in Cato's district pass extremely quickly and most of it is spent by Cato and his friends showing me around where they grew up. I quickly form close bonds with both Lux and Seb, especially Lux who reminds me so much of Marvel that I instantly gravitate towards him. Most nights sleeping in Cato's guest bedroom I would dream about the careers of the 74 Hunger Games. Often they would start happily and for a moment my subconscious mine would almost forget that my friends were going to die. You can't change the past, not even in your dreams. Cato had permanently moved to my room to sleep and often we would both wake up from nightmares at the same time, clutching each other close in the dark. Cato never mentioned it the next morning, trying to pretend that he didn't get scared, but the way I was able to comfort him in the darkness told me more than he ever could.

Cato's father stayed cold to me for the whole time, barely registering my existence and only doing so if it directly benefitted him. Cato told me to ignore him and I was partly glad that I didn't get along with his father, it didn't seem right that I should get along with someone he hated so much. However after the initial awkwardness I did manage to bond with his mother, who eventually told me many family stories about Cato and Chase and even divulged some information about their secretive father. I found out about how he had trained to be a tribute but had never been good enough to volunteer, driving him crazy and obsessed with revenge on those who had made the choice. Chase had been his second chance at victory, but when he died, his father had moved onto Cato, persuading the grieving boy that victory was what he wanted.

"He used to take him away on trips, even when Chase was alive." Julia had told me one morning when the men of the house were still asleep. "Cato was such a bright, bubbly boy as a child, but his father would disappear with him for weeks at a time, supposedly preparing him for the imminent games. They would come back with their skin stained in dirt and grime, but Cato would always be glad to see me. Chase's death hit him hard, and when his father took him away again, he came back changed and suddenly he craved to be a victor. I had lost my son. But when I saw you in the games with him, I thought that maybe what he needed was love. I was right."

The morning of Cato and my departure arrives and as we are packing our clothing up in suitcases side by side he brings up my district.

"What's it like?" He asks, folding up one of his training shirts and stuffing it in the rapidly disappearing free space in his bag. I decide not to let him know that I don't actually plan on training while I'm at home. I hadn't thought about home much while I was away but now that I was so close I remembered all the things that I had secretly been missing. The ocean was one. I hadn't been swimming since that time in the arena, but even that hadn't had the same effect as the rolling tides that toppled against you in the ocean. I couldn't wait to take Cato there.

I was also missing my mother, Titus, and the small amount of friends that I had. I had disowned my father the minute he refused to see me while I was in the Capitol and even if by some miracle he managed to come home to congratulate me I wouldn't want to see him, but seeing my mother, my obsessive slightly insane mother, still held a thrill. My thought trail stops when I feel a hand on my shoulder and I see Cato paused in his packing, watching me standing there. I realise that I've been holding the same shirt in my hands for the last few minutes, and I give him a crooked grin and quickly finish up packing.

"Sorry, just thinking about it. I'm excited for you to come back home with me." Cato murmurs something affirmative and presses his forehead against mine, wrapping his arms around my lower waist.

"Can't wait." He whispers.

Cato's father isn't around when we leave the house, but his mother gives us both big hugs and wishes me well for our time in my district and the victory tour after that. It's most likely that I won't be back here for a long time and Cato will return home alone.

The drive back to the station is comfortable as I lean against Cato, his arm wrapped around my shoulders and I almost forget that when we board the train Brutus will be in Cato's face, a fact that I instantly remember when I see him standing on the platform. He has his arms folded and he looks grumpy, especially when we get out of the car together and he sees how relaxed Cato is. For a second I thought that maybe he could start living his life normally after winning the games, but it seems like there is forever someone attempting to control him.

As soon as we get within arm's reach of Cato's mentor, Brutus reaches out with the reflexes of a snake and grabs onto Cato, tugging him into the train carriage. I see Cato's nostrils flare as he rears back in response like a wild horse, but he manages to control himself and allows Brutus to drag him inside. I watch this curiously, wondering if there was always such a domination game occurring between the mentor and the tribute, before sneaking a last glimpse at District 2 and following the two into the train.

The room we entered, the dining area, is completely deserted but the door in the right corner of the room finishes sliding shut as I look around so I figure that Brutus has managed to cajole Cato into sitting through another manipulative pep talk in the other room. Feeling like he wouldn't appreciate me trying to protect him, I instead head towards the adjacent carriage on the opposite side with the intention of finding Finnick. Like I thought, he's sitting on one of the plush expensive couches watching a blank screen when I walk in, his eyebrows furrowed in concentration. The sound of the door closing behind me must interrupt his thoughts, because he turns his head to look at me and gestures to the spare seat next to him.

"How was District 2?" He asks me once I've sat down.

"Okay." I answer curtly, not having enough energy to recount the past several days' happenings. "I met Cato's friends and parents. His mother was kind to me. His father? Not so much."

"I thought that would happen," Finnick muses, "It seemed only natural that someone would have had to teach Cato his ways." I turn my head to look my mentor square in the eyes, ready to snap a snide comment, but I hesitate when I realise that his comment isn't so unreasonable. Finnick sees my pause and shrugs. I decide to change the subject.

"What are you going to do when you get back home?" Finnick opens his mouth instantly, ready to reply, but he closes it again and when he does speak it seems subdued as if he is hiding something from me.

"Just plan your victory tour. Someone has to do it, sweetheart." He smirks and makes no move to ask me a similar question, but I answer anyway.

"I'd like to see Titus and my other friends, but I'm afraid that too much has happened for me to slip back into my old life. Sometimes I feel like the only people who understand me are you and Cato. How terrible is that?" Finnick lets out a bark of laughter.

"That's pretty messed up."

We sit side by side in silence for a few minutes, but it is broken when the door I entered from slides open and Cato strides in. He raises his eyebrow at the lack of conversation but when no one makes a move to enlighten him he promptly lies down on the adjacent couch and covers his eyes with his arm, his feet hanging off the end of the furniture.

"Rough night?" Finnick teases and Cato lets out an emotionless grunt in reply. The silence that follows expanses for another few minutes, time I spend staring at Cato.

His blonde hair is catching the sunlight and he looks like an angel disguised in the casual jeans and buttoned up shirt that I've come to expect from him. The tips of his hair are pushed back as if he had run his hand through it recently, and I catch a glimpse of the slightly tanned creamy skin on his forehead. Soon he shifts positions so he is lying on his side, one arm hanging limply off the edge of the couch. I'm surprised when I hear his breathing change and I know that he's fallen asleep, and I look to Finnick as if to make sure what I am witnessing is real.

"I suspect he didn't appreciate Brutus's talk and walked out. He knows that Brutus can't punish him for insolence if he's with us."

"Why is Brutus being so harsh on him? Surely it can't just be due to the fact he came home a co-victor." I question, pretending that I didn't hear Finnick imply that Brutus 'punishes' Cato if he's not a perfect victor.

"Of course not, even a competition obsessed man like himself would make a big deal about such a petty topic..." My mentor pauses in his sentence and I will him to elaborate with my eyes, but his gaze flicks to Cato's form as if he's worried he is being listened to. I follow his stare and look towards the District 2 victor who has his mouth partly open and looks like he is about to commence snoring or dribbling or thrashing about in a bad dream. Finnick seems to recognize this because he turns his attention back to me.

"Remember when I told you that a rebellion has already started?" His voice is down to a whisper now, and I slide forward slightly and nod.

"I wasn't exaggerating. This year two victors came out of the games, from different districts even! The point is, the Capitol did nothing to stop it and are now having to deal with districts that are starting to believe they can do the same."

"What do you mean? That they can get out of the games alive?"

"No, it is much worse," My mentor replies, "They believe that they can fight back and topple the Capitol, like they did in the dark days! And guess who's to blame for that?"

I lean back, almost subconsciously recoiling from the news. Suddenly Brutus's hatred towards me and his strict treatment of Cato make sense. He knows what sort of danger we are in and he's trying to persuade us to be as less rebellious as possible, forcing Cato back into his career shell to make Panem see that nothing has really changed.

"What districts are rebelling?" I ask hurriedly, but Finnick shakes his head.

"I don't know. All I have heard is what Brutus managed to get from the officials he knew back in District 2; it's being kept very secret. Any information we have is extremely dangerous, we're treading on ice right now because in all honesty we are the first targets."

"No." A voice says behind me, and both my mentor and I turn to see Cato sitting up on the couch, his hands clenched into fists. I feel Finnick tense beside me, knowing that he has released dangerous information to yet another person. "We aren't the first targets. Can you imagine the uproar that would occur if we 'happened to disappear?' They are going to go after our families, our friends, everyone we care about, unless we can somehow stop this."

"Don't say that Cato, please." I stand up, looking between my mentor and the other victor. I suddenly feel stressed out, as if the entire world is resting on my shoulders and I have no idea what I'm meant to do. I want to curl up in bed and sob. I want to go back to before the games, before everything turned bad. "Surely there's a way out, there has to be. Please…"

Now Cato stands up and he steps towards me, extending one arm to pull me into his chest. I don't bother resisting and I instead clutch onto him.

"If there is a way, we will find it. And I promise I will not let anything happen to you." I see Finnick nodding, his expression steeled, and out of the corner of my eye I can see Brutus standing with his arms folded in the doorway, doing the same. But it's the arms around me that ground me the most, and I realise that I could never go back to before the games, because in doing that I would lose the only person I truly care about.