Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES NOR THE CONCEPT.
AN: Hullo ALL! There was a good question brought up in the reviews by Miss. Ashley about Peeta and his sacrifice. If you remember from the training center Peeta and Luctra silently come to an agreement and understand each other. She knows why he's with the Careers because it was the same reason she would have been with them if she hadn't thought Cato was after Dash. Hope that clears it up for you, you can go back to that chapter, I think it's 4 or 5 and see what I'm talking about.
Thank you all for the reviews! Without them I can't clear up any misunderstandings and I am happy to know that you find my story different. And yes LBOE the romance is going at pace, but I have written first scene you are ALL dying for, but I'm not telling you what chapter it is in!
This chapter took me a while to get just right. Keep in mind that Luctra has no clue what is going on outside. She is just doing what she knows how to do and Panam is taking its own interpretation, like with Katniss in the books. The difference though is that Luctra has be fighting to change what happens in the games by refusing to fight to be a victor. I don't want to make her a martyr but remember hope I explain well enough how the Districts are seeing these events.
Now I know that a lot of people now simply add stories to their alerts of favourites, but I am an old school fanfic user and writer and I WANT FEEDBACK! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!
Enjoy!
Chapter Thirteen:
Beating back the Fire only to Start Another
Luctra woke up with a start that morning. Something was wrong. Her instincts were screaming at her that trouble was close. Luctra crawled out from under the uprooted tree she had spent the night hiding under. She had refused to take rope from either Dash or Rue. She told them they were better off in the trees then she was so they should take the rope, the uprooted tree was more than adequate to sleep under and remain concealed to anyone who may walk by. Both Dash and Rue were still on their branches secured with rope so that wasn't what was setting her off. So what had woken her up? Then she smelled it.
"DASH! RUE! WAKE UP WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Luctra cried frantically running to get her bag and weapons out from under the tree. She threw the bow and quiver on her back and picked up the spear. They had put all the other stuff into Rue and Dash's backpacks, Luctra's argument was that she was very well sponsored so if they got separated she wouldn't need it as badly. She heard two thumps land behind her.
"What's wrong?" Dash asked panicked. Looking around he didn't see or hear any tributes. Apparently Rue had figured it out because she had gone deadly still.
"Forest fire." Rue whispered in horror. Rue barely had time to say it before the group of them took off running. Behind them the forest was ablaze.
Luctra was sure the Gamemakers were purposely trying to kill her, maybe for what she had said to Rue the other day. Talking shit about the Games probably wasn't the best idea, and now she was in a forest fire, with fireballs. Being from a water District Luctra had a personal dislike for fire. That she had lit herself on fire once, but that was another story. Luctra pushed Dash and Rue down as another fireball flew over them. 'THEY'RE USING FUCKING FIRE BALLS! She screamed in her head. Like a forest fire JUST wasn't deadly enough. They all scrambled up and kept running.
They had to hop over fallen trees and dash between blazing ones but they never stopped moving. It was so hot and the smoke was making it impossible to breath."WE HAVE TO GET TO THE RIVER!" Dash shouted over the roar of the blaze surrounding them. Luctra kept behind the two kids needing to make sure that if one of them fell she was there to pick them up.
"AHHH!" Rue screamed as a burning log fell knocking her to the ground. Luctra ran up and tossed her spear to Dash who had stopped when he heard Rue scream. "TAKE THAT I'VE GOT HER!" She shouted to him. Luctra ran up to the log. It had pinned Rue to the ground. Without a second thought she grabbed the medium log and hauled it off of Rue not paying attention as the heat burned through her hands. She scooped Rue up into her arms and continued running with a new determination, they could try to kill her but she would give them one hell of a fight for trying to take out the kids while she still breathed. Luctra felt the now raw skin on her hands tearing. They had been burned badly and were now chafing against the fabric of Rue's clothing, but Luctra's hold didn't loosen for a moment.
"I got you baby girl. I always got you." She promised. Luctra didn't even know if Rue could hear her over the fire. Luctra would not let go, even if the skin on her hands was torn off right down to her bones.
District 11 watched the screen intently. A horrified gasp ran through the crowd as they watched their Rue get pinned under the burning log, assuming that this was the end for the little girl. The comments about sacrifice made by the 'Goddess of the Games' to their Rue had struck a chord of shame, guilt, and regret deep within the District. The group held its breath, then cried out in astonishment as the 'Goddess' grabbed the log barehanded and threw it off of Rue. District 11 was witnessing the truth behind the 'Goddess of the Games' words, she would actually die for Rue; she was going to make the sacrifices she had promised.
Awestruck they watched the 'Goddess' pick up Rue with severely wounded hands without a second thought. On the screen before them Luctra ran through the blazing forest blood spilling from her hands as they ripped open from her refusal to drop Rue. The camera went to slow motion. The arena blazed around around Luctra as she thundered through the forest her face set in determined defiance against the Gamemakers for attempting to kill Rue before her. She was a vision of strength and hope in world burning to the ground. At that moment something broke in District 11. It was the chains of bondage.
"THE SACRIFICE OF THE GODDESS BE NOT IN VAIN!" One man cried out turning the crowd against the Peacekeepers. Enough, was enough, sacrifices had to start being made by the adults and not just the children.
It was the ripple Haymitch had predicted and the spark Snow feared. Luctra was now the living spirit of sacrifice as all of Panem had watched her challenge the fires of hell, created by the Capitol, to save the innocent girl no matter what the cost to her was.
They crashed out of the trees together exhausted and struggling to breath. They all tumbled into the river and swam to a large flagstone that protruded out, over the on other side river trying to get as far away from the fire as possible. The cool water felt good against their burning skin and they took a moment to enjoy it.
"GET HER! GET BACK HERE GIRL ON FIRE!
"WHAT THE FIRE TO HOT FOR YOU NOW?"
Luctra looked up to Rue and Dash. The Careers were heading this way and by the sound of it they were closing in on Katniss. Luctra wasn't going to be able to fight them off with the current state of her hands, especially now that Cato probably had an even bigger personal vendetta against her. She began to panic.
"Under here!" Rue whispered urgently. Luctra looked over and saw Rue had backed up under the overhanging flagstone. Her body was completely submerged under the water and her head was just above the water line. The flagstone would hide their heads and if they were lucky the Careers would be so focused on Katniss they would pass right by being none the wiser. Dash and Luctra quickly joined Rue under the flagstone. They waited being as still as possible needing the water to be completely still around them. Luctra clamped her burned and ripped hand over Rue's mouth when Rue was about to gasp. Not far from them, Katniss had trudged into the river trying to escape the Careers who had spotted her. She had clearly been in the fire and had been burned. Luctra could tell Katniss was favouring one leg.
"THERE SHE IS!"
Luctra thought her heart was going to explode. The Careers were literally right above them. If the Careers ran into the water and turned around for any reason, they would find her and the kids. They all held their breath. Luctra watched as Katniss pulled herself out of the water down river from them and ran into the not on fire side of the forest.
"GET HER!" Luctra heard Clove yell as the Careers ran off down the shoreline after Katniss. Luctra waited for a while, wanting to be completely sure that the Careers were all gone before she let the kids emerge.
"Let me go first." Luctra whispered slowly moving out from under the flagstone. She stayed low in the water moving out further until she could turn and see the top of the flagstone that the kids were hiding under, where the Careers had been. There was no one there. Standing up, the water was only waist deep; she began moving back to the flagstone. She was about to tell them to come out when 10 suddenly broke through the bushes, ran full speed off the flagstone and tackled Luctra backwards into the water pulling her under with him. Luctra managed to throw the boy from 10 off her under water and stand up again violently breaking the surface. She looked right to Dash and Rue.
"Go. Don't look back!" She begged them just as an arm wrapped around her throat from behind. Dash and Rue got out from under the flagstone and ran into the forest. Once about 50 yards in they climbed up a tree and waited. He felt guilty for leaving Luctra but Dash knew that they would probably cause her to focus on them and not on beating 10 if they had stayed. Dash also didn't want Rue to have to witness someone being killed. It was traumatic, even if the person you loved was doing because they were attacked and trying to save your life.
Luctra was in a bad situation. She was exhausted from running, could barely breath because of all the smoke in her lungs, and her hands were shredded. She dove under the water bring the kid from 10 who was on her back under with her. She went into the death roll, like the alligators did. She spun herself around and around under water till she felt 10 let go. She stood up and broke the surface again, closer to the flagstone now, 10 surfacing right beside her. She punched him in the jaw. His head snapped backwards. When he brought his head back she smashed her other fist into his eye. 10 reeled back and then tackled her again. The front of her head caught on the flagstone, cutting her across the forehead. As she was going down she turned and pulled 10 underneath her by his arm. She grabbed onto his jacket collar once he was in front of her and crashed his body below her body into the water. Gaining her footing on the river floor Luctra placed her feet on either side of 10's body. Standing she suspended 10 in the water so 10 couldn't push off the bottom of the river. She held 10 down so his head was completely under water. He tore at her arms, desperately trying to bring his head above water. Her hands protested in pain but she held on. She had to. His struggles got weaker and weaker until eventually they stopped altogether. A second after that she heard the cannon go off. The tribute from 10 was dead, by her hands.
They were at the base of the tree that Katniss had climed up when Cato heard the cannon go off. They all looked around confused. None of them had died.
"Did she die?" Glimmer questioned clearly confused.
"Yes Glimmer. The fact that she is still moving, breathing and taunting Cato is all an ILLUSION." Marvel waved his hands when he said 'illusion' in front of Glimmer's face. Cato rolled his eyes, he was really regretting not stabbing Glimmer with his sword last night.
"It was another tribute Glimmer." Peeta calmly said trying not to look at Katniss. He had seen the look of betrayal in her eyes when she saw him at the base of the tree with the Careers. She was burned, badly, and there was nothing he could do about it, the physical burn or the burn of betrayal she was probably feeling.
"Go get water Lover Boy, since we're gonna be waiting her out." Cato ordered getting comfy at the base of the tree. Peeta nodded looking up at Katniss sadly. He wished she would understand he was doing this to protect her. It was a short walk to the river so Peeta made it there in no time with all the canteens. He was startled while he filled one of the canteens when something floated into his hand. He almost yelled when he saw it was the body of the boy from 10 floating down the river.
"So the cannon went off for him." Peeta breathed out slightly relieved, then nudged the body away with the open mouth of Glimmer's canteen. 10 wasn't someone he liked. Meaning it wasn't Katniss or the girl from 4. The girl from 4 was the person he would want to win if Katniss and he died. The way she looked after her partner, it reminded him of Katniss, but it was deeper. Just being around 4 made him feel like someone cared even when he hadn't talked to her yet. For Luctra protecting and caring for people seemed as natural as breathing and a person could feel it when she walked into a room. Peeta sighed. He was about to start filling a new canteen when he heard coughing. Looking up he saw her. The girl from 4 was collapsed on a flagstone up stream. He had to warn her that the Careers were close by. Getting up he quickly ran down the shore with his canteen.
Luctra heard someone coming down the shore, but it was from the wrong direction for it to be either Dash or Rue. Looking up she saw it was Peeta. He had probably heard her coughing. She relaxed into her pain knowing he wasn't a threat to her right now.
"Did Katniss get away?" She croaked out to him when he got to her side. Her throat was dry and raw from the smoke. Peeta was surprised that she knew that Katniss had come by and that the Careers had been chasing Katniss. She must have been in the river before all of them got here.
"They chased her up a tree." Peeta told her giving her his canteen to drink out of. It had a purifier so it was safe. Luctra took a long gulp.
"No one tried to climb it?" She questioned surprised and handed the canteen back to him. Peeta smiled with boyish charm.
"Cato did. Branch broke. He fell flat on his ass." Peeta laughed. "Marvel calls it the 'Crashing Cato'." Luctra laughed with him but it quickly turned into a coughing fit. Peeta rubbed her back.
"He must be livid." She said between coughs.
"Pretty much." Peeta was wondering something. "Cato jumped off the cliff after you, did he ever find you?"
"Yes." Luctra saw Peeta's shocked face. "I don't know why, but he didn't kill me. Under that monster persona there is a real person. Just be careful, you can never tell what will make him switch from one to the other." She warned him. Peeta nodded.
"I have to get back." Peeta urged and helped Luctra stand up. He didn't want one of the Careers to come looking for him and find them like this. That's when he noticed her hands. Luctra saw him staring at her hands, which she hadn't even seen the damage of yet. She didn't want to look at them right now.
"Pulled a burning log off Rue." Luctra said nonchalantly and shrugged. Peeta looked up to her face shocked again. She was protecting both Dash and Rue? His respect for her had just hit an idolizing level.
"You can't save everyone." Peeta told her sadly. He was having trouble just trying to save Katniss.
"No. But I can die trying." She teased him and then began laughing. It wasn't all that funny to Peeta because it had truth to it, but Luctra sure thought it was and laughed for a good 30 seconds. Peeta shook his head smiling at her weirdness.
"Good luck and may…" Peeta started.
"You finish that sentence and I'm going to punch you." Luctra cut him off sternly. "How about 'Good luck and I'll be seeing you." She suggested. Peeta smiled and put out his hand.
"Good luck and I'll be seeing you." Luctra looked down at his hand. He had forgotten about hers. So she did what she thought he probably needed the most right now. She gave him a big hug. Peeta was surprised at first when Luctra threw her arms around him. In an arena full of death it was a rare thing to find someone who would give you an honest hug when you were stuck in a shitty situation. Peeta hugged her back tightly. Luctra pulled back and gave him a nudge with her wrist.
"Now go save your fire princess from her tree tower guarded by Crashing Cato and raccoon Glimmer." She smirked and took off into the woods leaving Peeta to head back to the Careers. Peeta grabbed the canteens and heading back with a laugh and a new sense of hope.
Luctra ran into the woods where Dash and Rue had gone earlier. Like before as she ran under a certain area of trees she heard them call to her.
"Luc's! Up here!" Dash called. He couldn't be too loud with the Careers being so close. Luctra stopped.
"Hey I can't climb up." She told him lifting her hands up in the general direction of the voice. She heard two gasps of shock. Maybe she shouldn't have shown them.
"Luctra those are really bad." Rue felt guilty because she knew they were because Luctra had lifted the burning log to save her.
"Hey no feeling guilty Missy." Luctra playfully chastised Rue who was somewhere in the trees.
Both Dash and Rue came out of the trees and stood in front of Luctra. Each of them grabbed one of her hands and inspected her palms and fingers. Luctra took her first look at her hands. They were both an angry red and covered with blisters. Some of the blisters were open, some of them were closed, some places were bleeding; skin was torn or gone in different spots. The skin had also started to dry and tighten. In about 15 minutes she wasn't going to be able to close and open her hands. That meant no weapons and no fist fighting. She thought for a second. Would her Capitol medicine work? She shook her head lightly. She couldn't risk it. It could make her hands worse, or do nothing and she would have wasted something she might desperately need later on.
"I know some plants that will help!" Rue told her excitedly. She was happy she could help out Luctra even if it was in this small way.
"That would be great but, we need to be really careful. The Careers have Katniss chased up a tree not far from here." Luctra informed them hushed. She watched as Dash and Rue looked to each other. They having a silently conversation with their eyes and coming to an agreement. They both turned to her. Luctra knew she wasn't going to like what they were about to tell her.
"We want to help Katniss." Lutra gaped at them. Dash thought she looked like a fish with the way her mouth kept opening and closing.
"No." She told them flatly. Dash got that look on his face again. The same face he gave her when he told her to eat the oatmeal or he would drop it.
"You have saved us so many times. And Katniss did for her sister what you're doing for us." Dash argued. To Luctra it was two different things, her and Katniss, but the kids wanted to fight for something. She ground her teeth hard.
"We're making our choice." Rue finished. Luctra was in shock and backed into a corner. The little girl was using Luctra's own reasoning against her. There was nothing she could say to stop them and she knew it. And with her hands shot to hell physically tying them to a tree was out. Huffing in resignation she looked at them. She could lay out rules that would keep them safe, especially if Cato had been humiliated by trying to climb the tree. None of the Careers would risk looking that stupid to Panem again.
"You scout the area and come up with a plan. It has to be from the trees, the ground is suicide, okay? I will be down by the river in the forest in the area where we were hiding under the flagstone." Luctra laid out the rules for them. Both of them nodded as they climbed up the trees and set out on their mission. Luctra headed down to the river carrying one of the backpacks looped on her forearm with the machete sticking out of it and the spear clutched under her arm pit. The kids had hidden their packs up in the trees with the bow.
"These games are more about who's saving who then whose killing who! It's so backassward!" She muttered to the sky.
Luctra's mother sat at the table watching her daughter constantly risk her life to save Dash and now Rue. District 4 had heard about the uprising in District 7 and now 11, the motto "THE SACRIFICE OF THE GODDESS BE NOT IN VAIN!" was being picked up like wild fire. Her daughter was the major face of a rebellion that she had no clue she had even started. Luctra's mother knew that her daughter was just being who she was by nature, a protector and a defender of what was good, and that's probably why her fight, her willingness to die for what was right, had stirred the need to fight for change in the Districts.
Luctra's speech to Rue about sacrifice had gotten not only to the heart of Panem but to her. Here was her daughter, willing to die to protect the people she loved, to run through fire to do what was right, while she, her mother she did nothing but sit back and watch her daughter defy the odds, defy the games, defy what the Capitol was telling her she had to become to win in the games. Luctra had refused to become a living victor of death, Luctra would stand alone instead as champion of the innocent. Her daughter had never really been 'normal' anyway.
Luctra was now standing as a living symbol of hope and strength to a large part of Panem and her mother would be damned if her daughter was going to stand alone. If her daughter was going to be forced into a war, as her mother she was sure as shit going to make sure Luctra had an army to back her.
"We are going to do something. This has to end, permanently." She whispered to her husband. He looked at her and nodded. He needed to talk with Brewas.
Luctra sat in the bushes in the forest behind the flagstone at the river where she told Rue and Dash she would be. She looked down at her hands sadly. It was another scar for her already crappy body. Now she was butch and butchered. Being fierce and intimidating was different than being attractive. She may be the 'Goddess of the Games' but it was because of the power she exuded, not her looks. Men always wanted to control and possess power, and that is why the men would sponsor her to sleep with her. It's probably why Cato wanted her, to prove he was more powerful then she was to all of Panem. With the scar on her thigh, maybe one on her forehead and now these hands she could probably kiss any relationship goodbye.
Luctra stopped. Then she started laughing at herself. She was in the Hunger Games and she was worried about her non-existent future love life. She blamed it all on Cato. If that asshole had just left her alone she could have done her job and never felt like she missed out on anything. But no, Mister God's gift to women had to come along and use her, make her feel things she had never felt before. And it wasn't purely sexual which freaked her out.
Luctra thought back to the cave, when Cato had treated her leg. Her skin had tingled as his fingers had gently touched her thigh. His fingers then traced the gash up to her mid-thigh, around the crest of her wound, passing over the front of her thigh just below the band of her underwear leaving a trail of electricity on her skin. She imagined his hand running across the bottom of her underwear on her leg instead of traveling down again. His large strong fingers would trace the edge of the fabric until coming to stop at the hot junction between her legs. Luctra shivered. His hand would dip between her legs the pressure of his fingers causing the fabric to rub teasingly against her hot center. Her legs would tighten on his hand. He would probably smirk feeling her dampness, then pull back his fingers and continue to drag them down the inside of her thigh until reaching the inside of her knee where he would push her leg open and crawl on top of her, pressing his member against her throbbing core.
She switched to a real memory. She sighed deeply as she remembered the feeling of when of the medicine on his fingers had made contact with her gash. His fingers had stopped momentarily as she burned for his touch and the medicine, but she needed more right then, so she asked him for it. He had obliged her needs. She could almost feel the way his fingers had gingerly traced over her gash sending pleasure and relief throughout her whole body. Going over her ticklish spots over and over again. A branch broke startling her and sending a shock to her damp core. It probably would have been a better shock down there if it had been Cato who broke the branch and found her.
Yup. Luctra was officially bat shit crazy for even wishing for a second that the guy who probably wanted to kill would find her fantasizing about him. Here she was sitting in a bush getting all hot and bothered in the Hunger Games over the guy with the best odds of winning, who she had knocked out by blunt force trauma, when her hands were now completely useless. 'I'm so BRILLIANT.' She thought sarcastically.
"You okay Luc's?" Dash came to her side. When he had found her she had this really weird look on her face, a dreamy half smile.
"Yeah. Where's Rue?" Luctra looked around worriedly.
"She went to find you some stuff for your hands." Dash told her as he took a seat next to her. Their shoulders touching as he settled beside her. He laid his head on her shoulder. Luctra was always comforting to be around. He always felt safe with her. She had once thrown a kid that was picking on him into a barrel of chum since Dash hadn't been picked on before and was about to cry not knowing what to do. 'Best day EVER!' Dash remembered fondly. That was the day that Luctra had decided that Dash was going to be a part of her 'clan'.
"Did you guys figure something out?" She asked him. Luctra was trying to flex her hands, but it hurt too much. They were like dried out leather. She looked to Dash beside her feeling comforted that he was alive and had his head on her shoulder, just like at home. She felt like she was succeeding even with how she was feeling right now.
"They're all awake so it was too dangerous to get really close. We're gonna go back at dawn." Dash informed her. Luctra nodded. At least the kids were being smart, no matter how stupid she thought the kids were for wanting to help Katniss. She really only thought it was stupid because it would put the kids in danger. Luctra almost jumped out of her skin when she turned her head and saw Rue right beside her.
"Holy crap on cracker! Don't do that to me!" Luctra mock scolded grabbing her chest over heart. 'Damn the girl is quiet.' Luctra thought. Rue smiled at the weird idiom.
"Sorry." Rue apologized while smiling. Luctra knew Rue really wasn't sorry, Luctra knew her reaction was probably too funny to warrant a real sorry. "I found the stuff for your hands." Luctra turned her hands palm side up on her lap expectantly.
"Aren't you going to ask what it is?" Rue said surprised.
"Don't need too." Luctra shrugged off Rue's comment. Rue climbed in front of Luctra and sat on Luctra's lap facing Luctra. Rue was holding a long firm piece of plant that was pretty fat around. Luctra watched as Rue squeezed her two fingers from the tip of the plant all the way to the bottom making some clear greenish goo spill out. Rue then took the goo and spread it onto one of Luctra's burnt hands.
"Wow that feels good." Luctra sighed happily amazed. She felt the skin on her hands cooling and loosening up.
"It's aloe. It's not as good as the Capitol stuff but it should help you keep your hands moving." Rue said as she spread aloe over Luctra's other hand.
"You have to keep them moving as much as possible." Rue warned her as she began to gently massage the aloe into Luctra's hands. Rue knew if Luctra didn't keep flexing her hands the skin would seal up and tighten wrong leaving Luctra without the proper use of her hands.
"Thanks Rue." Luctra said gratefully. She knew why Rue was worried about her hands not moving. The kid was pretty smart. Luctra looked up. The sun was setting again.
"We can't risk a fire. Do you guys have any of the protein bars left?" Luctra asked them as she slowly started flexing her hands. It was still really painful but they were starting to move again.
"We only have half of one left." Dash told her.
"I can go forge." Rue offered.
"It's too late in the day for that." Said Luctra as she looked up, hoping a camera would zoom in on her face. "Finnick we could really use something right now." Three minutes later a silver parachute was heading towards them beeping very quietly. Luctra figured Finnick made it quieter since they would see it coming and he didn't want anyone nearby to hear it by mistake. It floated right to them. Attached to the parachute was a medium sized silver pod with '4' painted on it.
"Wow. That's amazing. I don't have many sponsors, if any." Rue sadly told them as she watched Dash catch the pod, the beeping turning off.
"You're part of the clan now so our sponsors are your sponsors." Luctra grinned. She would have tugged on one of Rue's braids if it weren't for her hands. Rue's face split into a large grin.
"Only Luctra could manage to form a whole fucking family in the Hunger Games." Finnick groaned banging his head on the table. Petal warned him that if he kept doing that he was going to dent his pretty forehead. He told her to piss off.
"It's really sweet when you think about it…" Diamond gushed. Finnick banged his head on the table again. 'The girls were actually going to kill him this Hunger Games.'
"This is good." Dash managed to say through a mouth full of bread. In the pod had been some rolls, cheese and grapes. Not as fancy as her meal with Cato but it was good food none the less. They were by the river, with a water purifier equipped canteen so Finnick had known not to waste money on fluids. The kids were being really sweet too. They would break off small bits of cheese and bread and put it between Luctra's fingers for her. The kids weren't saying anything to her about helping her; they just silently did it and for that Luctra was very grateful. She didn't need a reminder about how dependent she was on them right now. It wasn't supposed to be that way. And she was dead set that it wouldn't stay that way.
"Finish up and get to the trees. You need to be ready if you're going through with your plan tomorrow morning." Luctra chewed on the last piece of cheese. The kids nodded, eating up any crumbs and hoisted themselves into the tree above Luctra. Luctra would be sleeping on the forest floor against the tree in the bushes. She really had no other option. It was dangerous, but she trusted the kids to warn her if something bad was coming. Luctra picked up the note and read it again.
Working on the cream. Also stop acting like you're fucking JOAN OF ARC!
Luctra laughed as she looked to her side, knowing there had to be a camera there somewhere. "Joan of Arc burned Finnick. You can't burn the Goddess of the Sea." Luctra knew back in the Capitol Finnick was probably cussing her out or banging his head on something. That made her happy.
"She just ripped you Finnick." Gem roared laughing. When Luctra had looked at the camera and said what she did everyone in the room burst out laughing. And Finnick had cussed and slapped his forehead with his palm.
"She survives waterfalls, takes down a titan and runs through fire saving a fallen child like a fucking arch angel. What the hell stunt is the 'Goddess of the Games' going pull next?" Finnick groaned. Luctra was not helping herself by being so different and not playing the Hunger Games the 'normal' way. And she was going to make his head explode with all the concern, frustration, and anxiety. The last because of her stunts with Cato and her bloody need to save almost EVERYONE but herself.
"Cause a titan fall in love." Petal suggested dreamily. Finnick looked at Petal like she had sprung another head. He whacked his head on the table again. He was sure he had brain damage by now, which is probably why Petal's comment actually sounded like a real possibility to him right now.
Luctra watched the Tribute to the Fallen, only the kid from 10 had died. She sighed and asked for his soul to be at peace. She didn't need forgiveness this time, the kid had chosen to attack her directly when he could have run and left her alone. He had been looking to be a victor and not just trying to survive. That was the difference between 7's death and 10's death for her. 10 had chosen to try and take her life unprovoked, 7 was after Dash's supplies to survive. Leaning back against the tree Luctra let a deep sleep wash over her.
She would never understand how he knew she was there that night.
Cato had woken up during the night. His body had been completely tense and his mind plagued with dread all day worrying that the cannon had been for Luctra. When he finally knew that it was for the kid from 10 and not her, his body relaxed. But he didn't sleep long. Getting up he looked to make sure Katniss was still in the tree. She was. With everyone else at the base of the tree he felt confident he could go to the river. Picking up his sword he walked through the forest, not caring about making noise. He was Cato. The remaining Tributes were trying to avoid HIM not the other way around.
Once at the river Cato placed his sword on the flagstone and bent over the edge cupping cool water into his hands. Splashing it on his face he flashed back to when he had been washing the blood off his face in the cave for Luctra's sake. He had cared that it would change how she looked at him, but ironically it was something he wasn't actually guilty of doing that had warped her perception of him. He shook the water out of his hair and rubbed his hands over his face. The wind blew by him. He froze. It couldn't be. Another breeze blew by. Oh yes, he definitely smelled it. It was faint but he would be able to pick out that smell even in a shop full of perfumes.
Sea salt and vanilla.
He picked up his sword. Taking a few steps he stopped, the breeze came again and he inhaled deeply. He smiled, the Gamemakers had figured out he knew her smell and wanted him to find her. He took a few more steps, another breeze. He continued to search for where the breeze was coming from. He was standing on another flagstone down river when a strong wind blew over him from the woods, her smell now very strong. Quietly, not wanting to alert her of his presence Cato pushed through the bushes in the forest across from the flagstone. Coming into a small area at the base of a tree he found her.
She was fast asleep. Her hair was a mess and she had dirt and smoke stains on her face and clothes. She had been caught in the Gamemakers forest fire. There was a gash on her forehead but it didn't look serious. He calmed the animal in himself as it demanded he wake her and not let her leave him again. Now wasn't the right time to do that. She was damp, but she had probably been running into the water to escape the forest fire instead of actually washing in it, which is why she still had soot all over her. Cato quietly put his sword down as he approached her. He got about two steps before his hand flew up and caught whatever had just been heading for his face. Opening his hand he saw it was a slingshot bead. Looking up at the trees Cato lifted an eyebrow.
"A slingshot? Really? That's what you use." Cato sarcastically called up to the tree quietly. He relaxed his face and held up his hands dropping the bead to the ground. "I'm not going to hurt her Dash. I just need to see her."
Cato heard no answer, but when no other beads came his way he took it as a sign that Dash was going to let him get closer. He took one step forward. Nothing. Cato brought his hands down slowly and took two more steps and crouched down right next to Luctra's sleeping form. She had a streak of dirt on her cheek. Her brow was furrowed and her lips pulled into a tight line. She was stressed and worried even in her sleep. Unlike in the cave Luctra looked run down sleeping here. Cato's eyes traveled down her neck which was tilted sideways against the tree, to her jacket which still couldn't hide the fact she had a large chest, to down over her stomach, to her lap where her hands…he sighed unhappy.
"You're away from me for two days and you get seriously hurt again." Cato sighed looking at Luctra's burned hands. They had some goop on them, which he guessed had to be and he hoped was Capitol medicine. He wanted to touch her so badly; he even felt his hand start to reach out to cup her face when he stopped himself. If he woke her up now, with the kid being so close and her still thinking he was after him she would attack him and would not stop to listen to him. And if Dash jumped in and he got hurt by accident, well it would all be over, she would never believe his story. Shaking his head a little Cato stood up and looked down at the sleeping 'Goddess' who was clearly going through Hades to keep the kid alive. He wanted her to know that he had been here, and that he hadn't done anything, that she could trust him not to hurt her and Dash. Smirking Cato pulled off his shirt and as lightly as possible placed it over Luctra's knees. Turning around he picked up his sword and left.
"Uh…Dash Bash?" Rue whispered quietly watching the boy from 2 leave without attacking Luctra.
"Yeah Ruby Rue?" Dash responded.
"What just happened?" She whispered.
"I have no idea Ruby Rue. No idea at all." Dash said slowly. Something more had happened to Luctra while she was away. And it somehow involved Cato.
AN: DAT TAT DA! Sorry for the super long chapter but there was so much that happened in this time period that I didn't want to separate it. The group will all be coming together shortly. As you can tell the seeds of rebellion are starting already. There will be BIG drama coming up in the next chapters and some of you are wondering about the fate of Dash and Rue….well I'm not giving anything away. BUT IT IS GOING TO BE SUPER IMPORTANT.
Luv
Rayn