Chapter Fifty

Clove's POV

This was it.

Everything that we had trained for was happening right now and there was damn all any of us could do about it.

We had been boarded onto one of the fancy looking hovercrafts. It had been designed to fly higher than anything else in the sky, so silent and unseeable that it became unknown until it chose to attack. By then it was too late. I couldn't help but compare it to the Shadows in my mind.

Of course, we hadn't been told our destination. Only that the rebels would be there, and it was our job to finish off what the Peacekeepers had started. If the Peacekeepers could have just done their job in the first place then we wouldn't be here now. We'd still be in District 14 training away and hopefully wouldn't have to leave until this stupid thing was over. But life never worked that way. We were the ones who had to play their games, and they always seemed to forget that underneath it all, we were just children.

"Clove," his husky voice let me know that he hadn't done much speaking that day yet. Not that that had really been different from any other day but still, today his silence had felt heavier.

"Cato," I replied, remembering the last time that we had really been together and feeling something warm in my veins.

"You know where we're going don't you?" he asked, and I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from doing something emotional like cry or even run.

"I have my suspicions," I answered honestly. In all honesty I had no proof of where we were headed, only an idea and a possible hope.

I was glad that Cato knew that I didn't want to talk about it. I didn't want to think about what had happened to our home since we had left. Especially since the rebels had tried to take it over and undoubtedly left it in a state similar to 13.

I had dreamed of going home a few times, those were the easier nights the nights I had given in to the Capitol medication and just decided to be happy and not care. My mother and father were just so happy to see me again they didn't care about the Games, or the shame I'd brought on them. They just wanted me back, their little girl. I was an only child and they had given me to the Games, without question that I was coming home and I had failed them.

"Come on," he said suddenly and grabbed my hand as he turned to walk swiftly down the corridor he had come from to find me sitting at the top of the stairs.

I didn't question where we were going, with Cato it was generally better to just let him do his own thing and then deal with the consequences afterwards. It was odd how our weapons seemed to help with that. He would go barging around, swinging his sword and lead the attack, and I would be by his side with my knifes, ready to take down anyone who questioned the barging method.

We stopped in front of a large window. Well window was an odd term since it was on the floor and looking down I could see everything we were flying over. Everything that had ever mattered to me besides the Games was there. Well the things there and the boy next to me.

The slightly snowy mountains looked as peaceful as ever, as though they had predicted the war that was going on around them many centuries ago and had simply waited patiently for it. Not that that said much else for what was going on below us.

The smoke filled the air, blocking out sections of our vision and making it impossible to decide where the best spot to land such a monster as the one we were travelling in was. My throat tightened as I thought of the people below me. People I had once known, who I had assumed to be safe were screaming in pain and crying for lost souls. It was nothing like I imagined my return home would be.

Cato watched them beneath us, his eyes darkened over and his fists clenched at his side and for a moment, I was worried he would snap. That he was about to destroy everything around us to take out his anger at the world.

"We have to stop them," was all he said though, before his hands unclenched and his eyes grew somewhat lighter with misery rather than hatred. Sometimes it was so easy to forget that he was still a child. That underneath it all he was just as lost and confused as the rest of the world, but the rest of the world didn't have time to notice the cracks in the strong, they were too bust fixing the weak. So he had been left to crack, further and further until he nearly smashed into a thousand tiny pieces of a boy. I wish I knew what had saved him.

"Which ones?" I asked, not really sure who's side I wanted to take in all of this. The Capitol, who stood as a voice of reason, control or the rebels who stood for what they felt was right, just. Experience versus the heart. Experience told me who would win in the end.

But no matter how I looked down on the scene, the Nut having collapsed, the rebels being thrown into the square to capture the survivors, they were all fighting. All screaming. All a little lost. All too stubborn to back down. All determined they were right. All determined the others were wrong. All bleeding. All scared. All fierce. All losing.

"Shadows prepare for landing," the voice came over the tannoy and I knew this could be it. We were about to become one of them. We were about to join the fight and the real truth behind the Games was about to be revealed. The only question was how the world would react when they found out it had all been a lie. A cruel trick designed to create the perfect defense.

I checked my belt one last time, making sure my knives were still there. We had all been armed with guns but they didn't make me feel nearly as safe as the knives did. Only one thing would make me feel safer than knives and he was assigned to be a sniper. Ordered only to enter into the heat of the fighting if there was no other option. Needless to say Cato had not been best pleased about this piece of news. However it had relaxed me. I knew he was safe, and knowing that I didn't have to watch out for him while fighting would make it much easier for me. Especially with what the Shadows had planned for the battle.

"We have to get you a chute," Cato reminded me, he was already strapped into one. The thick fabric looking uncomfortable while pressing into the muscles of his chest. Oh yeah, I almost forgot that when they said "landing" what they really meant was jumping out of the hovercraft and falling into the square. All 700 or so of us. So that should end well.

The journey to the chute room was quiet, but nothing on the room we entered into. Everyone was alone with their own thoughts, most not having been in serious combat since their own Games, however many years ago that had been. And in all honesty none of us really all that keen about heading back into it.

"Katniss is making a speech just now. We have to get her out of the game and then while their morale is low, kill the rest of them," Atala instructed, seeming somewhat uncertain of the plan herself. "Put the masks on before you exit the hovercraft or the smoke will cause too many problems and make you a liability to the mission," she didn't need to say the last part, because we all knew what a liability meant.

Suddenly we heard the gunfire start again.

"Looks like someone beat us to the punch. Dive now!" she yelled and the before I could stop myself I threw my arms around Cato and kissed him fiercely knowing it could be for the last time.

"Come back," was all he managed to say before I took off at a sprint and threw myself into the mercy of the sky.

Author's Note: Ah fiftieth chapter! I feel like having a celebration for getting this far! Ok guys I know I suck at updating and I seriously owe you guys since the plagiarized version of Dancing With Danger got removed! I'm so freaking grateful to you all I can't even really express it! But yeah thank you so much! I hope this chapter has been worth the wait, and more importantly I hope you like what I have planned for the rest of the story. So any ideas what the Shadows are going to get up to when they get to the square?

-R