Cato's POV
I must admit, the Training room was pretty impressive. Once I got Ebon to suck up and take me outside of the hospital and lead me here, I was in awe of everything. The whole District was huge-I mean, District 2 is pretty big, but this District had way more sight-seeing. And the training room, damn. I thought the training back in District 2 was impressive-but this, a fighting arena in a dome just couldn't get any better. I wonder why the government didn't find District 13 before and had them share their weapons and training devices with District 2..It would've been amazing, seriously. The other tributes in the Games wouldn't stand a chance against us.
"Are you impressed?" Ebon asked me, his eyebrow raised.
"Definitely." I leaned against the wall, which was inside a room over-looking the arena.
"Wait here, I want to have a word with the other elites first." Ebon opened a door, which led to the arena downstairs.
"Tell them I want to fight them, unless they're too scared of course.." I smirked.
Ebon blinked at me, probably wondering if I was still sane. "Yeah."
As he proceeded to descend down the steps, I averted my cold brown gaze over towards a group of kids-probably elites, all huddled in the corner of the room.
Some stared at me in freight, but others stared at me with a blood-thirsty look on their face, like they were determined...probably to fight me.
"Tsk." I ignored them, my gaze wavering towards the door that Ebon went through.
"I hope you're as strong as you look.." One of them spoke, the one that was staring at me with his determined gaze. "You have some guts to come here and face us."
"Watch that mouth of yours..." I glared at him. He looked about 17 or 18, maybe my age, but I had a feeling I was a little bit older than him. His hair was a messy brown, and freckles covered his face.
"Or what?" He grinned.
"Or I might have to rip it out," I stepped closer towards him. "I hope you fight as good as you talk."
"I'll rip you to shreds, outsider. I know where you're from. You're from District 2, those little conceded morons who do whatever the government tells them to do. You're nothing but their lap-dogs." He flashed me a cold stare, while his body was inching closer to mine.
"Says the District who has been hidden from the government for centuries, hiding, living in the sewers underground. It's no wonder why they deserted you. If you're all like this-just a bunch of yapping fuckers who no one wants. What's it feel like? To not be wanted? To be from the District who no one cared about or no one cared to find?"
I let out a miserable chuckle. "You sad, sad, little-"
My words were interrupted by a fist that was sent flying towards my face, which I instantly dodged by seconds.
"Shut up! Shut the hell up! You don't know anything!" He screamed at me, and continued to furiously throw sloppy punches at me, which I easily dodged.
"Wow. I really hope the rest of the elites aren't as suckish as this.." I raised an eyebrow.
"I'll kill you! I'll KILL you! Just wait-" He furiously spat into my face just as Ebon came walking back upstairs.
"What's going on here?" Ebon asked the both of us, his glare being placed on mine.
"Don't ask me, ask this moron right here who couldn't keep his fat mouth shut." I crossed my arms, just waiting for the fireworks to blow off this kid.
"I want to be the first one who faces him, alright?" He managed to ignore me, but not without effort. His furious gaze averted towards Ebon.
I rolled my eyes. "Whatever, kid. Keep dreaming." I muttered under my breath.
"Alright. Just try to cool off, will ya? I'm going to have a talk with our little friend here." Ebon dismissed the boy, who steamed off towards the other direction.
"I really need to keep a leash on you. Or better yet-a muzzle," Ebon crossed his arms and glared at me.
"You can try." I glared back at him, shrugging.
"I'm..surprised. Did you block all of his punches? He's not out best, but he's definitely advanced for his age group. He is considerably ranked among our top elites."
"You're joking." I blinked, clearly not impressed. "He punched like a six year old."
"Maybe it was because his rage and frustration towards you caught him of guard. He tends to do that-it's his biggest flaw," suggested Ebon.
"Well, whatever. You can spout that bullcrap all you want to me, but I think these elites are seriously overestimated." I silently walked towards the door, proceeding down the steps and into the arena.
"Wait, Cato." Ebon followed me, trying to persuade me to stop.
Once I entered the arena, I headed over to the weapon rack.
"Cato, wait for a second before you do something stupid. Your arm is still in really bad shape, if you put even the smallest amount of stress on it.."
I ignored him and grabbed a spear from the weapon rack. It was a decent spear, a steel one, similiar to the one I used in the Games.
I barely noticed the other elites training around the arena as I adjusted my grip onto the spear and took a couple steps back.
I hunched my shoulder backwards and leaped forward onto my left foot, releasing the spear and sending it flying towards a far away target, which so happened to be in front of the elites.
Once the spear hit the target in the middle, the elites gasped and whipped around to stare at me in awe.
I let out a breath of air as I stepped back and smirked, satisfied with my performance.
A certain redhead, stood back and stared at me, a flirtatious smile on her face. She was pretty, I had to admit.
She walked towards me, with a few other elites following behind her. She had a small bruise above her left eye, but otherwise, I just payed attention to her looks.
"Who's this?" She asked Ebon, but continued to smile at me. I smirked back.
"This is Cato. Cato, this is Jana." He merely replied.
I laughed. "Was she the one that Katniss lost to?"
"Yeah."
Jana frowned. "You know her? You know that girl? Tell her, that next time she won't be so lucky."
I crossed my arms. "Yeah, I know her. We're not exactly talking, though. She recently pissed me off."
Jana chuckled. "I think you and me will get along just fine. Are you joining the elites? You should. That move you pulled right now was unbelievable."
"Yeah?" I raised an eyebrow, loving the fact that the elites were glorifying me.
"I don't know if he's joining the elites. He's not from this District, and his arm needs some time to heal," spoke Ebon.
Jana gasped, stepping closer towards me. "What happened?" She leaned against my side, comfortingly touching the cast on my arm in an attempt to flirt with me.
"The Games." I responded.
"Oh." She blinked.
The announcements boomed across the whole arena, speaking in a robotic voice. "Next opponents!"
In that second, the boy I was arguing with earlier, came running down. He pointed at me, his eyes fixed at me that screamed "Kill!"
"That's Ejay." Jana stared at me. "He's really good, be careful."
"I'll destroy him." I told her, like it was the easiest thing in the world.
"In your dreams, District 2 know-it-all." Ejay sneered, popping up a sword from the weapon rack and walking into the arena battle field.
I cracked my knuckles on my good arm while Ebon pulled me aside for some advice.
"Don't get too cocky, alright? Ejay is seriously good. If you even turn your back for a second-"
I waved him off. "Yeah, yeah."
"Cato.." Ebon warned, but sighed once he realized warning me was a lost cause. He headed up the steps along with the rest of the elites.
I picked up a sword from the weapon rack and stepped in front of Ejay. "I hope you're ready to get your ass kicked." I merely grunted as I spun around the sword in my hands. Anger, it's his weakest flaw. This will be easy. All I have to do is get him upset and it's an easy win for me.
However, he merely chuckled. "You so sure that your gonna win, aren't you?"
I ignored him as I heard Ebon shout from above. "You guys ready?"
"You bet." Ejay glared daggers at me.
"Let's get this over with." I smirked.
As soon as the announcements boomed, "GO!" I lunged forward and swung my sword at his side, but was instantly surprised when I found out he dodged it.
Shit.
I dodged a punch from him and kicked him at his feet so his legs would give off. He fell, with his sword still in hand and jumped up in the air as I got ready to throw another kick at him. He blocked my kick with his hands and punched me in the stomach.
I winced, and grabbed his entire body to throw over my shoulder. Once he flipped over and landed on the floor, I kicked his side.
He coughed and blocked my kick with his hands again, lifting himself up.
He swung his sword at me, but I blocked it with my sword. For minutes, we sparred and heard the "cling" of the swords each time they collided with each other. He aimed for my cheek, but I blocked it again with my sword. I have to hand it to him, he's pretty good at sword-fighting. It's almost impossible to hit him...
Once I got caught of guard he lunged forward and sliced my cheek. I gave out a surprised grunt and caught the sword in my mouth once he lunged again. Grabbing the sword and throwing it on the floor, I roundhouse kicked him backwards, which sent him flying back on the floor.
I kicked his sword away to make sure it was well out of his reach and brought my foot down on his stomach which sent the air flying out from his lungs.
"Ughh!" He groaned, and managed to dodge my other kick, again.
I cursed in frustration, and grabbed his head to smack it hard on the floor.
He moaned and wiped away the blood from his face as he jumped back on his feet once again. He blocked my punches as I blocked his, as we punched at each other for another few minutes.
I kicked his feet again, which knocked him back onto the floor.
He's not going to get back up this time...
I lunged forward and held him on the floor while I furiously punched his face, watching as blood poured out and landed on my shirt. I punched him again, ignoring his moans and screams.
"Stop! Cato, stop! That's enough!" I heard Ebon shout from above.
I let out a satisfied smirk as I stopped punching his face. "Had enough, yet?"
He coughed out blood and to my surprise, lunged forward and punched me in the face.
An exploding pain surged through my face as I held it in rage. "You little..shit." I punched him in the stomach as he grabbed my arm and pulled it aside.
What the-
I furiously looked down at him as he grabbed a hold of my cast on my bad arm.
"Now you'll see what District 13 is made of.." As I frantically tried to pull myself away from him he grabbed my bad arm, twisted it, and smacked it with a great amount of force onto the floor.
Unbelievable pain shot through my entire arm as I screamed my lungs out. I was now on the floor, but had rolled away, clutching my arm in misery.
"Ahh..." I moaned and screamed again. Oh god...it hurts...
That fucker..
I screamed "bloody murder" as I wriggled on the floor, coughing out blood from the pain.
I sat up on the floor and bent down on my knees as I tried to breathe for air and clutch my arm at the same time. Most of the cast had fallen out, as it bled against my side. It was horrible to look at, it looked like some kind of animal that got run over several times. It was red and bloody, the muscle and bone sticking out, it had no skin on it whatsoever.
I moaned out in pain again as blood dripped from my face. I murderously stared at Ejay, who was now probably passed out on the floor by now. I'm going to kill him...I'll kill him.
However, as I tried to crawl forward in an effort to throttle the life out of him, I was stopped by Ebon who held my shoulders back.
Several medics rushed to Ejay's side and pulled him onto a trolley bed. Some rushed towards me, to examine my arm.
I screamed in frustration and in pain. "Let me go..damn it! We're not finished...I'm going to kill him..."
Ebon shushed me. "Let it go, Cato. Ejay's passed out, and you're seriously injured. The fight's over."
I winced as several of the medics lifted up my arm and tried to put bandages around it. "Ahh..-no..god,no. It hurts.." I groaned.
"I know, I know." Ebon spoke in a more calmer tone. He gently lifted me up and put my arm around his shoulder in order to support me to walk.
I panted, as every step I took was severely painful for my arm. I gave out a few grunts and moans as I dropped my head to stare at the floor. I heard blood drop onto the floor as Ebon led me towards a nearby chair.
As soon as he set me down onto the chair, I leaned back and winced. I let out a series of moans as I turned the other way, away from the medics.
"Oh my god..!" I heard Jana shout, who came running my way. "Are you okay?"
I merely ignored her and grunted as a response.
"Take his shirt off." Ebon impatiently told the medics, who stepped towards me and gently slipped my shirt off. Once they pulled my bloody shirt away, they continued to bandage my arm to try to recreate the cast.
Jana blushed when they took off my shirt, probably in awe of my abs, but instantly turned in horror to stare at my bloody arm.
"The cast will take a while to make, this is the only thing we can use right now." One of the medics explained.
Ebon rested his hand on my shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Try to hold on a bit longer, Cato."
"Yeah, sure..." I winced and stared at the ceiling, trying to stare at everything but my arm. "Ughh..."
"Help me take him back to the hospital," spoke Ebon to the other medics.
Katniss POV
I playfully kicked at a nearby pebble as me and Mason walked back to the hospital. The ice cream was delicious. Although, it was a lot different from the ice cream back at the bakery shop in District 12. Peeta and his Dad made the best ice cream...
"So, was the ice cream good?" Mason smiled at me.
I smiled back. "Yes, really good."
I noticed he made in attempt to hold my hand, but he suddenly wavered it away once we stepped in front of the hospital entrance.
"Well, I would love to stay, but I got work to do back at the mechanical shop," he explained, almost depressed that he was leaving me.
"Okay, Mason. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then?" I stopped to give him a hug.
He hugged me back. "Yeah."
Before I walked inside the hospital, I waved as he waved back.
He started to walk backwards and wave at the same time, and clumsily nearly tripped backwards.
I giggled, while he merely gave me a sheepish grin.
When I walked into the hospital, I stopped for a moment to lean against the wall. Mason's really nice..I always have so much fun with him..Sort of like I did with Gale and Peeta.
I miss them so much...
Sometimes I feel guilty. That I'm over here eating perfectly normal, and living well, while they're over there grieving, probably starving, miserable...
I shut my eyes. No...I just can't afford to think like that...
They're happy.
They must be happy.
I mean, Peeta's rich now. He won the Games. He could do whatever he wants now.
I hope he forgets about me...I hope everyone forgets about me, for their sake.
As I continued to walk down the hallway, I'm instantly greeted by Ms. White, who's currently sitting at the table finishing paper work like always.
"Hello, Katniss." She smiles.
"Hi, Ms. White." I sit down next to her, reaching out for a loaf of bread that was sitting in a basket on the table. The hospital kind of feels like home now, even if I've only been here for several weeks.
So...I've been "dead" for several weeks now, according to all the other districts.
"How have you been?" I decide to ask.
She sets her paperwork aside and sips from a glass of water that was sitting next to her. "Oh, I'm fine. The day's just been busy, as always. A new patient came in just an hour ago."
I blinked. That would explain why the room was so empty, and why the nurses were running around.
"Who's the new patient?" I took a bite from the loaf of bread.
"Oh, this poor young individual who got beaten up bad from a fight in the Training room. His face was nearly unrecognizable, it was covered in blood and bruises. Surprising too, I've seen him train before, and he's not an easy one to defeat."
I wince, just picturing his face. I know how brutal those fights could be, I would know. Stupid Jana...
I look around the room, trying to see if I could find Cato anywhere. But, I instantly stop and narrow my eyes.
Why do I even bother...?
He hates me, anyway. He doesn't want me to be around him.
I sigh, not even bothering to ask Ms. White where he is. He'll show up. He always does.
I lifted myself off the chair and headed into the TV room, where I saw several nurses huddled, staring in horror at the TV.
"Oh my gosh, Jean..Come have a look at this.." One of the nurses spoke, obviously referring to Ms. White.
So Ms. White's name is Jean?
Interesting.
I took another bite from the loaf of bread as Ms. White willingly approached the room to stare at the TV.
"Oh my goodness." She held her hands over her mouth.
Once they turned the volume up, I could make out the words "District 12" and President Snow's voice.
Curiously, I walked inside the room to stare up at the TV.
I wonder what that idiot President Snow is talking about...and why it's involved with District 12..I never trusted him, nope. The minute I spoke to him, I knew he was bad news.
As soon as I looked up at the TV, I saw his face as he said these words, "Let this be a warning to you District 12, if you think you can get away with illegal hunting."
I froze. I used to hunt...but that would mean...No, it couldn't be. He probably caught someone else..
As President Snow's face faded away from the screen, this boy, about my age was getting whipped alive. His screams and moans were too much to bear, but once I heard those screams...those screams that sounded so familiar. It could only come from one person...
My blood ran cold and my world began to spin.
No...Oh my god, no.
That boy was Gale...
I let out a ill-piercing scream that stunned all of the nurses inside the room.
"NO!" I screamed again as several nurses tried to comfort me and see what was wrong.
"Katniss, what's wrong? Look at me, what's wrong?" Ms. White frantically asked.
"NO! I have to save him! I have to go! We have to save him...! Oh god, someone PLEASE help him!" I helplessly fell to the floor, wildly sobbing.
"Katniss, who is he? Who is that boy?"
"Gale! My best friend! Oh my god...please no...please..." I trembled, trying my best to keep my gaze away from the TV, and trying to ignore his begs and screams.
The nurses turned off the TV and tried to help me up from the floor.
"Katniss, relax..there's nothing we can do-"
I interrupted Ms. White by screaming in her face. "Shut up! I have to go save him!" I thrashed around, purposely knocking back the nurses who had a hold of me. I stood up and ran out of the room, trying to avoid any nurses that came my way.
Hold on, Gale. I'm coming. I don't care if I have to take on the entire elites, I will get out of this District...
Even if it's the last thing I do...
"Katniss!"
I ignored Ms. White's shouts and screamed as other nurses grabbed a hold of me and tried to reason with me.
"Let me go! Let me go!" I kicked and punched.
As I heard the door open from outside, I heard Ms. White gasp in relief. "Ebon!" She called.
Before I had time to look up, I was lifted up and put on someone's muscular shoulder. Expecting it was Ebon, I was going to start to kick but then I figured out it wasn't Ebon who carried me.
It was Cato...
"Cato..!" Ebon warned, like he was worried. Worried for what...?
I furiously punched his back as he carried me across the room. "Let me go! I hate you-I hate you!" I tried to kick at his stomach.
"I know.." He grunted, and I felt him wince. Was I really hurting him...?
But thinking about Gale, I could hardly care less. "Put me down...Put me DOWN! Cato..." I warned, but as soon as I finished ranting, he stepped inside a nearby room and shut the door behind us, probably locking it.
He pulled me off his shoulder and roughly-but gently, threw me on the floor.
I crawled backwards until my back hit the wall. I stared at him, confused and angry at the same time as he groaned in pain and leaned against a wall.
"Cato.." I called, more calmly this time.
He panted and clutched at his bad arm, which was bleeding and wrapped in bandages.
"Oh my god, your arm.." I weakly stared at it.
"Don't state the obvious, Fire girl.." He managed to reply, but not before letting out another groan and miserably staring at the floor.
"What happened?" I asked, trying to sit up from the floor.
He winced. "Training room.."
I thought back to when Ms. White told me about the new patient who was severly injured. Did Cato do that...? My eyes suddenly began to water again as I realized I must've hurt him even worse when I punched and kicked at him.
"Oh..Cato..I'm sorry..! I'm so sorry!" I buried my face into my hands.
"It's..not your fault. Shh...don't-cry." He began to walk forwards, but not before I nearly fell into his arms and hugged him.
We both leaned against the wall as I buried my face into his shoulder. I let out shaky breaths as I rested my forehead against his.
"Gale-" I began, but he interrupted me.
"Yeah, I know. I saw the TV. And you...freaking out," he replied with a grunt.
"We have to get out of here..we have to.." I stared into his eyes.
"We will..." He sighed, trying clutch his arm and hold me at the same time.
"I'm sorry..." I choked out.
"Shh...it's alright...it's okay.." He tightened his grip on me as he reassuringly pressed his forehead further against mine.
"Cato.." I breathed, but I was interrupted by his lips crashing onto mine. I savored the kiss as I breathed and let tears fall down my face. Both tears and blood came colliding with one other as we continued to kiss each other...hold each other...comfort each other...
I felt like I was in heaven and in hell at the same time.
As our lips parted, we both panted for air and continued to press against each others foreheads.
He let out another painful grunt emitted with a groan.
I carefully stroked his cheek and closed my eyes, beginning to hum a lullaby I knew from when I was little.
"Katniss..." He breathed my name.
That to me, was like the chime of wedding bells in the morning.
I continued to stroke his cheek as I held onto him.
"We're going to get out of this District.." I told him, opening my eyes to stare at him once again.
We have to...
We will.
Here's the next chapter as promised! :) And you also got that kiss that you always wanted! An extra special present since it was Valentines Day. This one is actually longer than the last one, oops. Hehe ^.^ I hope you guys like this chapter, since there's a lot more drama in this chapter than the last one. Thank you and REVIEW! :D