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Song Suggestion: Lorde-Bravado

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Club of Excellent Endeavors

She was supposed to wear that?

A dress was laid out on her bed. It was bright pink with yellow flowers stitched into the bottom hem, which looked as if it would fit snuggly on her body. Black tights went with it to block out the winter winds. Next to it were gloves, black heels, a beautiful clear plastic handbag, a white wool overcoat, and a fur-lined hat.

Prim had never worn a hat in her life. The outfit was beautiful, but it was a little much and not what she expected. Prim had expected something... she didn't know, but something not a dress, much less a neon pink one.

She had thought training would be physical, like it had been with Gale in the woods, and had prepared herself mentally to handle all sorts of exhausting hardships. But now her ideas had been thrown off kilter.

What sort of thing was she about to walk into?

Coral bounced into the room with a look-alike outfit down to the plastic handbag and stitched flowers. The only thing different was her heels. Prim envied her inch-high shoes. They looked far more comfortable than the ones she would have to wear.

"Now I look pretty as you!" Coral gave a little squeal while twisting for her to see her outfit.

Twenty Minutes Later

Prim walked down the stairs carefully, trying to avoid slipping in the heels and breaking her ankles. She gripped the railing hard for balance. When she was a little girl, she used to dream of wearing heels like the people on TV. It usually coincided with her fantasy about the Yulemass. Now she realized how both were stupid. Cato managed to ruin just one more dream.

People from the capitol make this look so easy!

As she made her last rotation around the spiral staircase, Prim saw Cato. He stood at the door. The sunlight framed his body, dulling the edges with the brilliant light and bouncing off his hair, which had grown longer since she first saw him, long enough to place in a tiny ponytail at the base of his neck. The clothes he wore formed to his body, lining every ridge and muscle in his body. He actually looked ready for the type of training she had in mind.

He looked the opposite way, staring outside. Prim stayed silent, hoping for the least amount of interaction possible.

Coral ruined it. She bounced past Prim in her damn one-inch heels as chipper as could be.

"Daddy. Look at us! We pretty for you!"

Cato turned and glanced up. Prim felt inspected as his eyes trailed up and down. It was the first time she had ever been in anything besides a blue-homespun dress.

He smiled; he didn't smirk, as if won something.

"Yes," he said after a moment, soft, "Very pretty."

Coral smiled as if he talked to her, but Cato was staring at Prim.

An Hour Later

The entire car ride Coral kept her face pressed against the glass, making condensation with her breath and then drawing shapes in it.

Cato stared out the opposite window, and Prim was squished in the middle. Cato kept a hand on her thigh, higher than appropriate. She wanted to slap it off, but stopped herself. He was in a good mood, and no matter how disconcerting, it was better than a bad mood.

If it trailed just a little bit higher, though…

She didn't have to do anything. By the time it had inched toward the point of her resisting, the car pulled to a stop.

"What is this place?" Prim asked.

In front of her was a three story building. It stretched for probably an acre across, and she had no idea how deep it extended. It was shaped like a box, with thousands of windows, which reminded her of the eyes of a bug. It seemed to stare back at her as if about to lock her in a web and eat her up. What was her flesh and blood to steel and glass?

"Welcome to the Boys and Girls Club of Excellent Endeavors."

"You mean the Club of Excellent Killers?"

Prim connected the dots. This was the place she had been told of as a child, the place where well-off district 2 families sent their children to hack off a head with expertise and without remorse. She felt like spitting on the abomination.

"I'm not going in there."

If she went in there and participated, would she be condoning the system that took her sister's life? This building created an imbalance where one victor's circle was overflowing and another's was empty. The only thing overflowing in District 12 were corpses of children.

"Come now, little bird, you were doing so well today. It won't eat you." His hand tightened on her thigh in warning, so hard it probably made a red mark unseen under her tights. "If you don't walk on your own, I'll throw you over my shoulder again. If that's the way you want to meet your mentor, then fine."

Prim huffed and followed Coral, who had already bounced out of the car in excitement. It worried her how little she fought against his threats and orders and wondered how far he'd push her limits.

Inside the Building

"Didn't I tell you we'd see each other again someday?"

Prim twisted to see Brutus when she entered the building. She had been trailing after a running Coral, trying to catch up with her and get away from Cato. He hadn't aged a tad. The scars had a lot to do with it. If anything, age made him more handsome.

"Hello, Brutus"

"BruBru!" Coral screamed, running to the giant. She threw herself at him and he caught her, pulling her into a tight hug. It was an odd sight, a scarred brute cradling a tiny child with the same tenderness as if he touched porcelain.

"Ah, both the little girls remember my name. Warms an old man's heart."

His warmth faded when Cato entered the building behind her. Prim didn't blame him. Cato had much the same effect on her mood.

"And here's the screw up. Haven't fucked up enough people's lives, huh? Decided to destroy one more?" He nodded at Prim. "Not that I'm surprised. You seem to own a brain the size of a roach. I'm tempted to tell authorities just to see you swim in your own shit."

"What I do is my business." Cato scowled at his old mentor. "I followed the Manato Code. There's nothing you can charge me with."

"The Manato Code, eh?" He looked at Prim with a mixture of weariness, surprise, and pity, "Didn't realize you were so serious."

Cato looked uncomfortable, as crazy as that was to believe.

The Manato Code? Prim stilled, sensing something important. She had never heard of it.

"Again, my business."

"Not quite. The Manato Code doesn't exist in her district, dumbfuck. Maybe if you read a few books here or there, you'd have known that. In her district, it's theft, and it's punishable."

"Well we aren't in her district anymore. So it doesn't matter what her district believes... or her for that matter."

"Let's hope Snow agrees. He might not be so accepting of your actions when the districts revolt. They are on the edge of rebellion, and you're about to give them a cause. Just think how they rallied around her sister."

"They won't ever find out. The papers—"

"The papers can wipe my ass. If I know she's not here willingly, it won't take long for others.
The look on her face when she sees you gives it all away. "

Cato's face worked hard and failed at controlling his temper. She felt the ripples of rage from where she stood.

"I'm working on it."

"Working on it, eh?" Brutus said and then suddenly tipped his back and laughed open-mouthed and loud. At the end, he wiped his eyes of imaginary tears. "This will be interesting. You do know to win a girl's heart, you have to woo it? Seems an impossible task for you."

"I won't stand for you mocking me." He legs spread into a fighting stance, and his fists balled at the level of his chest. "Not anymore."

Prim stayed silent throughout the argument, trying to dissect and absorb it as much as possible. The Manato Code? Wooing her heart? Prim didn't even know what to feel or even where to begin.

Brutus put Coral down with an amused expression. He patted her on the head, messing with her red curls. He faced Cato with a raised eyebrow.

"There now lion cub, no need to show your wittle claws. You don't want to get into a fight you'll lose."

Cato's looked as if he just might, but then thought better of it. He came behind Prim, placing a hand on the small of her back. His fingers gripped the fabric of her dress, as if trying to stake a claim.

"Come on, little bird, it's time for your training."

Prim didn't want to leave. Brutus had once been her savior, and she would never forget it. Coral didn't seem to want to leave either by the way she stayed glue to his legs even after he tried to extract her.

Please, she mouthed to Brutus. But he just shook his head, the amusement draining from his face.

"Sorry little girl. It's the code. I can't break it. Wish I could, darling. I'd take you back to that mother of yours in a heartbeat. But it's up to you now."

Up to me? Prim thought near tears. What can I do? He's taken away my power already.

He turned to leave.

"Wait," Prim stopped him.

Brutus glanced up.

"My mother..." Prim didn't want to think of Gale, but without him, her mother was like a child, alone and helpless to the blows of life. Was she hungry, cold? Has she woken? "You know how she was. And now... I'm gone."

Brutus was silent, and his nostrils flared. After a moment, he gave Cato a look of death as if he would like nothing more to snap his neck.

"A girl is unlikely to fall for the fucker who put her mother into a grave."

Cato stilled.

"I didn't realize her mother needed help." Cato admitted, shrugging.

"Stupid, little—"

"I promised Prim I'd provide for her and her mother didn't I? Don't worry so much old man, I'll send someone to provide food or whatever." Her waved his hand, as if dismissing the concern.

Brutus stepped forward. He was intimidating at the best of times, but when he brought himself up to his full height, he was downright terrifying.

"You better, you little runt." His warned, "I'm going to go check on her to see that it's done. If I find you lied, I will tell the entire world about your sins and watch you burn with a smile, Manato or no."

The fingers gripping the fabric of her dress turned into a fist. Cato tugged backwards until she rested flush against his body.

Brutus shook his head once again, leaned down to extract Coral one more time, before exiting the building. Prim felt her hope and happiness leave with him.

Cato leaned over. She felt the edge of his lips lift up next to her ears in what she assumed was a smile, but his next words were anything but pleasant.

"There'll be no savior in this district. Not in this world, baby, not under Manato. You have me. And only me. Learn it now before it costs you something dear."

Cost her? She had no idea what more he could take from her, but she didn't want to push it.

.

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.

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A/N I have to go through a heart procedure on Wednesday. I have a condition, which is rare for my age, where my heart beats way too fast with arrhythmias. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't nervous. I'd appreciate any and all prayers from whatever God you believe in. I have an awesome cardiologist, and I trust him, literally, with my life. However, reading some of the risks is still disconcerting.

Luckily, since I have a significant portion of this story already written, I'll hopefully be able to update on time, regardless if I'm feeling up to writing or not during my bedrest.