A/N: I forgot to add this note on before. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed. Especially to 265: you're often quite scarily close with your guesses or suggestions. Thanks for your enthusiasm. I'm glad people are enjoying the story. -Lu

CHAPTER TEN

Clove's POV

Something was rustling in the trees but the darkness of night time prevented her from seeing more than a few meters in from. Clove spun around wildly, searching for the source of the noises which were sending a shiver up her spine. Low, pained voices moaned in and out around her as she spun. Just as she thought she had found their origin a new voice would creep out of the darkness behind her.

"Cato?" she called, desperately hoping it was a cruel joke he was playing on her. "Marvel?" It would be just like the two of them to think this was hilarious. She'd like to see how hard they laughed when she accidently sent one of her blades flying into their skulls because she thought they were prey.

Suddenly there was a massive cracking sound above her and she looked up in time to see a fork of piercing white lightning descending from the pitch black sky. It struck the tallest tree, meters from her, and engulfed her in a shower of white hot sparks. Screaming despite herself Clove threw her arms over her head and threw herself to the ground. As soon as she closed her eyes, her head buried in the dirt, a sudden, absolute silence descended around her. With a growing feeling of dread Clove lifted her head slightly. The forest was gone but it was still night time. She was lying on the floorboards of the kitchen in her old house in District 2, the slight glow from streetlamps outside creating spooky shadows in the otherwise darkened house. It was home but it inspired a feeling oc utter dread in her. Something was off.

"Hello?" she called. Her voice sounded strange in the silence and emptiness. It didn't sound like her at all. Too small. "Carolina?" She climbed to her feet and despite the uncomfortable churning of her stomach forced herself to walk towards the doorway of the living area.

With the last step she suddenly knew what she would find. Even though she knew, when her eyes fell upon the mutilated bodies spread across the room she couldn't help but scream and clamp a hand over her mouth.

"No!" Tears escaped down her cheeks. "Mama!" Clove wailed, collapsing onto her knees next to the nearest figure. Her hands hovered over the bloody clothes of the corpse. The face was almost unrecognisable.

"I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry," she sobbed. She knew this was a dream but she couldn't convince herself to fight it. The pain and the guilt got her every time and she lost all sense of reality.

Her eyes drifted passed the body before her to the next one. "Carolina." The words were a hopeless whisper. The monsters hadn't touched her face but her raven black hair streamed out behind her and mixed with her deep crimson blood which flowed from her skull. Clove curled up in a little ball between the two corpses and felt the sticky edges of pooled blood touch her skin.

She didn't want to do it anymore.

"Clove!" A sharp cry in her ear made her eyes fly open. The terror of her dream blurred with the terror she felt as a figure loomed over her, only slightly darker than the shadows around it. Her mouth opened in an involuntary scream but before she could a hand clamped over her mouth.

"Calm down. It's just me," Cato hissed, leaning in close. Her heart beat slowed slightly at the familiarity of his voice and the terror began to subside. As he realised she wasn't going to scream again he moved his hand. It was then that Clove remembered where she was; the initiates dormitory of Dauntless, a long way from home, from the massacre.

"What's going on?" mumbled a voice from nearby. Several beds creaked as people rolled over.

"Al is that you again?" said an exasperated voice, a girl.

Cato grabbed Clove's arm and hauled her into a sitting position. "Come on," he said shortly. He half carried her from the room as people muttered and flopped back in their beds. He didn't pause once they were clear of the doorway and dragged her down an unfamiliar corridor. Her teeth were chattering even though it wasn't cold.

"I'm sorry," she hissed finally, wrenching her arm out of his vice like grip and forcing him to stop. She slumped against the corridor wall and refused to move. "I'm sorry," she said again. He was looking at her in the dim light and she didn't want him to see the fear and pain that was still there so she hid her face behind her hands, concentrating on one breath in, one breath out. She wasn't going to cry, only pain and terror could force that from her, but she still hated how she felt weak. She hated that the strong, vicious, uncaring character she had carefully built all her life was slowly being destroyed. It had started with the Games and the needles of guilt that had crept in. She thought that once they left the Capitol and their terrible crimes behind it might get easier, but the memories wouldn't let go. She had been cruel and cold and vicious for as long as she could remember. She didn't know who she was without that character and it terrified her. She knew how to be a Career. She didn't know how to be Clove.

Eventually she lowered her hands, trusting herself enough to look up at meet Cato's eyes. He was leaning against the opposite wall of the corridor, watching her carefully. She couldn't read his expression and it annoyed her. She felt like all of her was on display and he still kept everything so well hidden.

With a nervous movement she rubbed her palms on her pants and concentrated on glaring at him. "What? What are you looking at?"

There was a flicker of a smile across his face at her venomous tone but it was gone so fast she wondered if she had imagined it.

"We have to be careful Clove..." he said softly, as if continuing a previous conversation.

She blinked at him incredulously for a few seconds but when she realised he was serious she set her jaw and glared at him. "What?" she said in a dangerously quiet voice.

He looked her dead in the eye and refused to be intimidated by her anger. "You almost gave us away. If any of them had been awake to hear what you said-"

"What did I say?" she demanded, a spark of curiosity taking over. He didn't answer, just kept looking at her, and she was suddenly forced to be the one to look away, to her disgust.

"Be more careful next time," he said simply, uncrossing his arms and standing up straight. He shoved his hands into his pockets and walked away, back towards the dorms. Clove stared after him in silent indignation for a few moments. With an angry scream she slammed her palm against the wall, wishing it was Cato's head. She couldn't go back now, and even if she could she didn't want to sleep.

With an angry huff she flopped back against the wall and stared at the ceiling, her mind running over all the reasons she hated Cato in that moment.

"Couldn't sleep?" A voice startled her from her murderous thoughts and her head flicked up. Four stood in the middle of the corridor, his eyebrows raised in curiosity.

"Something like that," she muttered, resuming her study of the ceiling.

"Yeah. Me neither," he said simply. Wandering forwards he leant his back against the wall next to her and lifted his chin to stare at the ceiling too. As he moved to cross his arms Clove noticed his hands were shaking slightly. She turned her head to look at him properly. He was wearing a sweatshirt and track pants and his hair stuck up in tousles. He looked slightly pale, making the dark shadows under his eyes stand out more.

"Sleep is for the weak anyway," she said lightly, fairly certain in that moment that he had been woken by the terrors of his own mind too.

"Yeah," he agreed, his face twisting into a tight smile. He rolled his head against the wall to look at her. "And weak is certainly something you're not, are you Clove?" She couldn't decide whether there was a teasing note to his voice or not so she said nothing. "Mind you," he added, glancing away again. "I could still beat you at knife throwing though."

The confidence of his comment made her laugh out loud and he looked at her grinning, a challenge. "You've seen what happens to people who underestimate me," she said. She watched the recollection of Molly's fight flash in his eyes and felt a grim satisfaction at the impression she had left.

"We'll see about that," he said. He was definitely teasing now but he straightened from the wall and looked at her expectantly.

"Where are we going?" she asked, lifting herself from the wall. Her fear and anger were slowly fading as she felt a spark of familiar competitiveness.

"To the training room of course. So you can see just how much better than you I am."

Clove rolled her eyes contemptuously but followed him down the corridor laughing.