Chapter Thirty-Seven

Marvel's POV

"Can they even do that?" I asked Cato while Glimmer continued to try and comfort Clove in a way that made Cato tilt his head in confusion. I had no idea how to even begin to understand their relationship, my bet was that they're both just so messed up only the pair of them can understand each other.

"It's the Capitol, they can do whatever they want," his voice would make me think he didn't care but the fact he couldn't stop watching the small brunette girl trying to convince Glimmer she was alright made me think differently.

"Still it's a bit extreme even for them," I pointed out.

"Not really, the clue was that the finale last year was dogs that looked like dead tributes. It was the next step in the process to send in actual tributes and it just so happens they have access to everything they need," he shrugged. I knew the logic behind the situation wasn't bothering him; in fact I was almost surprised he'd managed to figure it out. No doubt I'd hear it all over again later from Glimmer in far more detail, and actually I had no problem with it. She enjoyed talking to me, and weirdly I loved that.

"Suppose, how you feeling?" I asked him, already knowing he'd have some way of avoiding telling me what was going through his head, it was like a weird natural ability. I wondered if he even told Clove what he was thinking sometimes.

"Doesn't really concern me," he replied. Cato wasn't hard to work out; he kept everything to himself and took any emotion, good or bad, out in training. It couldn't be healthy but it worked for him, and I sure as hell wasn't arguing with him.

"Hate to break it to you but it sort of does," I tried and felt myself tense as his gaze broke away from Clove and focused on me instead. It wasn't a threatening look, just one that asked me to explain the theory. "Well, you like her or are dating or are, well yeah. So what she does has a direct effect on you, because you care, " I started, hoping he'd take the bait.

"But I can't do anything, I can't volunteer," he stated; now looking back to Clove. It was funny how only certain things would ever distract his attention from the girl, and even then it would only be for a few moments before he had to look back to her.

"You tried?" I asked, surprised at how certain he sounded with the statement.

"Yeah, apparently they've already decided and nothing is changing, it's been finalized," he quoted what I assumed one of the people constantly with clipboards had told him. I had to admit he surprised me by even asking.

"She'll be fine though, it's Clove we're talking about here," I reminded him, sort of hoping him and Clove would go soon. Not to sound mean but Glimmer had gotten bored waiting for them to show up, had decided it was time to do some catching up and then they had decided to appear.

"Yeah, I guess," Cato mumbled, effectively ending the conversation as he went back into his own head. Almost in a weird synchronicity, Clove looked up then and signaled for them to leave. "See you," he said to me as he followed Clove out the door.

"Weird," I whispered, not removing my eyes from the door as if some how it could explain the strange pair who just left.

"What's weird?" Glimmer asked from behind me snapping me back into the moment.

"Nothing just, Cato trying to volunteer to take Cloves place. I didn't think he would," I pointed out.

"Really?" she sounded surprised that the situation had stumped me.

"Well yeah it's a bit odd though isn't it? I mean they chose Clove, there's no way they were changing their mind. And I get that he cares about her but him volunteering would piss her off, and I don't think even Cato could really handle a pissed off Clove," I pointed out.

"No it makes sense. He volunteered in Two because it was what he trained for it because it was what he was meant to do and because he didn't know anything else. Since then he's learned things about himself that he never had the chance to in Two because having feelings of any kind were frowned upon, here they're allowed to develop and he's not really sure what to do with them. So he does the only thing he knows how to, which is fight. So he wants to fight for her because it's the only way he knows how to show his feelings," she explained like it was the simplest thing in the world.

"So he tried to volunteer to show he liked her?" I could hear the confusion in my own voice and Glimmer nodded happily. "You sure he doesn't just want to take out fire-girl himself?"

"Sure, he's worried about Clove. Didn't you see the way he was watching her like he was trying to memorize everything about her?"

"I guess…"

"Exactly, I reckon killing fire-girl would just be an extra bonus," she added happily.

"So Clove's there because she got closest to killing her right?"

"Literally held the knife to her throat remember?"

"Right. So why the other girl as well then?"

"Rue? Easy she's the one Katniss cared about the most. Even if Katniss does kill Clove, there's no way she'd let anyone harm Rue. She can get close to Katniss without her suspecting a thing and then kill her easily," she explained.

"So it's like covering all bases?"

"Exactly."

"Then why not just send us all in, 22 all against one seem like pretty good odds."

"Because then there's too big a risk we'll get hurt, or killed. No it's easier just to pick two per tribute, stop everything get too confusing and just let them do the dirty work," she smiled up at me, knowing that once again she'd spotted something I hadn't.

"Speaking of dirty work," I smirked at her and enjoyed the fact her eyes got a wicked glisten that I hadn't seen in what felt like far too long.

Author's Note: So we now have Glimmer's insight into the new Games. Not quite all of it yet, because there is a fun scene with Blake and Topaz's feelings on the matter coming up which she will be there for! So we shall get some more fun insights into it ASAP. Once again I wanna apologize for taking way too long to update! Also to apologize for being really crappy at replying to reviews, I seriously am not happy with my course for taking up way too much time which sucks :/ But if you have any questions go nuts and your reviews mean so much to me! So pretty please keep reviewing I promise I'll try and get back to you!

-R