Author's Notes: edited August 17, 2018

Chapter Thirty-Six – The Silence

"CATO!"

"PRIM!"

They don't know who yelled first, just that they both untangle themselves from their ropes and head for each other. He very clumsily crashed into her, as his injured leg gave way. They don't have a chance to speak as a hovercraft materializes overhead and two ladders drop.

"Will you be able to hold on?" Prim asked, acting as a crutch so that he could stand.

His smirk was a sight for sore eyes, she decided. It seemed so unfamiliar on his pale dirt-ridden face now. He hobbled to the ladder and rested his foot with the good leg on the first rung before opening his arm so that she could hop on to the other ladder as well. With a roll of her eyes, she mirrored his stance and they both get a shock of electric current that froze them in place.

Neither of them spoke.

The minute the door closed behind them, doctors were quick to move and take Cato away from her. He was placed on a silver table to be operated on, and she was directed by similarly-dressed people to another table to be checked.

She flinched as she and Cato are poked and prodded, but she never took her eyes off of him.

If he could, he wouldn't let her out of his sight either, but as it were, he was sedated and on a table surrounded by various doctors clad in sterile white uniforms, masks, and gloves. Had he not been lethargic due to the drugs they were quick to pump into his system, he was sure that he would be going stir crazy trying to get away from their clutches.

All they wanted was to stay by each other's side.

None of this mattered if they weren't together.

When she was cleared of any life-threatening injury —

"You've strained your back and shoulders (trying to pull up someone nearly twice your size)"

"You're temperature keeps on fluctuating (because your body doesn't know how to properly regulate itself right now)"

She had stopped listening, really, opting instead to sit within the vicinity of the operating table Cato was on. It barely registered in her mind that she was being dragged away from him until she saw her reflection when a glass door seal shut between them.

Prim screamed his name, the very real fear of being separated from him pulling her back into reality.

"CATO!" He heard her voice but he couldn't see. It was just darkness —

She could hear her voice break and falter until she lost it altogether. She could hear the thud of her hands beating against the glass door that made sure she couldn't interfere with Cato's treatment. Didn't they understand that she wouldn't do anything to jeopardize his recovery? She was a healer! She knew better to get in their way. She just wanted to be near him.

It was seeing her reflection that jarred her into silence.

Hollow cheeks, wild eyes, tangled hair. She was several shades darker than when she had first stepped into the arena. Fleetingly, she couldn't help but think this was the closest she could have ever looked to Katniss.

Katniss.

She would see her sister soon enough. She was going home.

District Twelve.

Peeta.

Rue.

Peeta.

Thresh.

Peeta.

Clove.

Peeta.

Glimmer.

Peeta…

Her fellow tributes flashed before her eyes in a never ending stream. She held on tight to the memories of what everyone had looked like — alive and well.

To those around her, she was still as can be. Her eyes, a brilliant blue, shone with unshed tears for the fallen. Her hand remained pressed against the glass, but she made no move to scream nor bang any part of her body against the barrier. She looked very much

He awoke with a scream.

A band was around his waist to keep him from sitting up, and various tubes went from the wall to his arm to supply him with the necessary fluids for his recovery.

None of this registered clearly in his mind as his eyes darted to and fro, looking for the blonde and blue-eyed slip of a girl that he had been willing to die for. Where had she gone? Was she being cared for? They shouldn't have been separated! Didn't they see? They were never to be separated.

Just like with the previous times he had woken up however, he was all alone.

Cato felt the cold sensation of liquid being pumped into his veins, pulling him back to sleep.

She didn't know how long it had been, just that time had passed and that she had been in and out of consciousness. Physically, she felt a lot better than she ever had. Her hair was back to feeling like silk, her skin was back to being fair and smooth, and there were no aches that accompanied her movement.

At the foot of her bed were clothes that she supposed she had to put on, having spent her recovery period naked.

Prim visibly flinched upon seeing that the clothes were the same ones that tributes had been tasked to wear in the arena. Her hands trembled as she ran them over the garment. This meant she would see her team soon enough, and while that excited her, she was more concerned about where Cato was.

Was he doing alright? Will she be seeing him soon?

A door opened, having appeared from the wall seamlessly, just as she finished dressing. She left her hair down, walking towards the seemingly empty hallway. But that couldn't be, could it? Her room's door had appeared from what had looked to be a single wall, so there could be plenty of doors along the corridor, and one of them could be holding Cato!

Her lips opened to call out his name, but she was surprised by someone else calling out for her.

Effie, Haymitch, and Cinna!

They stood at a chamber at the end of the hall, and she didn't hesitate to run towards them. Propriety be damned, she had missed them. In their short time together, these people have come to be her family. She didn't even register having thrown herself, sobbing, into Haymitch's waiting arms until she heard him say, "You did great, Angel."

There was no mistaking Haymitch's sincerity, but Prim had a feeling that behind his words lied plenty of meaning.

Effie kept petting her hair and prattling on about who knew what, and Cinna simply pulled her into a long hug and said nothing. No words were needed.

It was when she was standing in front of Portia that Prim felt her knees buckle. In much the same fashion that she had hurled herself at Haymitch, Prim tackled Portia. The woman soothed her as she blubbered her apologies. Prim prattled on about how she should have saved Peeta, about how she had wanted to, and about how she had loved him.

She felt Portia slowly detach herself so she could look into Prim's eyes.

"There's nothing to apologize for, my sweet Angel." She ran her fingers through Prim's hair.

It was only when she was being led to a different area that it begun to sink in how all that commotion must have been caught on camera.

He didn't waste a second upon realizing that he was no longer — essentially — strapped to the bed. He dressed himself and headed for the newly-revealed door. He noted that directly across his room was another open room.

Cato went on to enter the room, calling out, "Prim?"

"Really, you emerge a Victor and she's who you look for!" Brutus laughed, pulling Cato in so that he could sling his arm around the shoulders of the newest District Two Victor.

"Panem's Fire Angel," mocked Enobaria from her spot seated beside Lyme.

"Where is she?" Cato crossed his arms, a frown on his face.

"She's with her team," chastised Brutus.

Enobaria rolled her eyes, "At the very least you could greet all of us." She waved a hand to gesture to everyone in the room, mainly to Lyme, Celia, and Achilee. Celia, his stylist, and Achilee, District Two's Escort, were every bit a representation of the Capitol in their colorful ensemble. They greet each other cordially. Everyone was at ease, reveling in yet another addition to their collection of District Two Victors, but no one spoke of District Twelve's own victor.

They dined, spoke of future plans (the sponsors banquet, his homecoming party) and of events passed (the team's watching of the games, the absolute uproar and scandal of the Seventy-fourth Hunger Games). He was brought into a room with his stylists in an effort to get him ready for his reunion with his Rose — Prim.

"Cinna and I have decided to make sure you and our Angel would match each other well…if you agree to it." Celia explained as she brought out choices for him to wear.