Here is Chapter 29! Also, thank you to Rose Mellark for being the first person to review in a year!


It can't be.

But it's true.

Cato.

I'm splayed across the stage, unable to stand. He walks over, offering his hand to me.

It must be clone or something. But I notice his smile. It's not a clone. This is real.

I fling my arms around him. To hell with my cold image. I missed him. A lot.

He can't pull himself free, I'm holding on so tight. I don't even lift my head to let him kiss me; I keep it firmly planted on his chest. My fingers glide through his honey-colored hair. I never realized how soft it was. Clean, too, since we aren't in the arena anymore.

My eyes are watery, so I pull away. Tears are too much. I can't go that far.

Now I let him kiss me. It lets me distract myself.

Caesar walks over. I glance and see that his face is no longer on the screen.

"Who's the man?" Caesar asks, in a deep, goofy voice. This must be some sort of Capitol slang. I'm not sure how to reply, so I playfully punch him. Cato picks me up the way he picked up Glimmer that one night. He swings his arm under my knees, the other securing my shoulders. I use this as an opportunity to show an overdone amount of affection, dramatically draping my arms around his neck and resting my head on his shoulder. It feels nice, despite everything.

"Wish I hadn't surprised you?" Caesar inquires, sitting down in a plush chair. Cato sits the two of us down on a small matching couch.

"Surprises can be good, I suppose," I admit, grinning bashfully. Cato kisses me on the cheek. Holds me tighter. Mm. "It's good to know I won't be lonely back in District 2."

"You wouldn't be alone in the Capitol," Caesar is quick to point out. "You have all your adoring fans." The audience screams their agreement. Cato whoops along with them and the sound practically bursts my eardrums.

The banter goes back and forth for a few more minutes and then Caesar has us all face the backdrop.

A short film about our Games plays. Each year, the Capitol manipulates the footage to show some sort of plot line, cutting together certain parts, adding music.

It shows Cato as some sort of player at first, which seems pretty accurate, to be honest. I can see his face reflected in the light of the screen. He looks unimpressed. He glances at me from time to time, gauging my reaction.

Clips of him with Glimmer and Andrea fill the screen. His endless flirtations with the blonde tribute are highlighted. He even kissed Andrea at one point. That bothers me, for some reason. Maybe because I at least knew about him and Glimmer. He never seemed even vaguely interested in anyone else. Well, except me.

The scenes with the other girls are interspersed with clips of him looking at me, me making snippy comments towards Glimmer. I never realized I came off so... childish.

It's pretty embarrassing, in retrospect.

The orchestral music sounds apprehensive, almost eerie. But when the rule change announcement comes, the screen flicks between myself and Cato tearing through the woods to find each other. And when we kissed the first time, the music swelled until it was all-consuming.

The whole documentary is played up like some sort of romantic epic. Up until the last moment, when Cato dove into the lake after me. And the hovercrafts had to fly in to save both of us from drowning. In the film, Cato reached out his hand, said my name, and passed out, still encased in the huge metal claw.

The screen blacks out and I'm grateful. The documentary was too overdone, too artificial. It made everything seem fake somehow. I intertwine my fingers with Cato's. He looks down at me. The lights come back on and we blink, dazed.

"Did you enjoy the show?" We nod.

Caesar yells something forgettable that concludes the interview.

Cato and I walk offstage and I hug him again. I finally allow myself to cry. It's dumb. People are supposed to cry when they're sad, not happy. Yet here I am, happy as a clam, and still blubbering like a baby. I whisper to him, "I thought you were dead."

He rests his enormous hand on my back. "I knew you were alive," he tells me. "I tried to find you. Tell you I was okay. But Enobaria said that Caesar wanted it to be a surprise."

"I'm just happy you're here."

"Me too."

I'm leaving tear stains on his suit. We go back to our rooms after Dacia comes along again- she claims she didn't know Cato was alive either. My dress is swapped for a set of comfortable trousers and a shirt in seconds. I rub my make-up off, grateful to finally look like myself again.

I almost feel like myself, too.

Just almost. I know that I will never completely be the same again.

My face is all red and splotchy. I rub it hard with a towel, to make it look intentional. It doesn't work.

I drop the towel and go to bed. For the first time in weeks, I am at peace.


AN: So Just Another Target is officially finished! Yes my dears, that was the last chapter- I do, however, have a sequel in the works called Just Another Misfire. Stay tuned!

~~~Flare