Sorry for the long wait. Thank you so much to Arianna Le Fay, Gigi, Ro-Lee, Primrose314, EisForElephant, justsurvivesomehow, UseYourInsideWings, and my lovely guest reviewer! I love hearing from readers.
So this one is going to hurt in the end.
Tissue alert again.
ACT TWO: CRUCIFIXION
Song Suggestion: "Titanium" by Sam Tsui (cover)
XXII:
Soon before the Victory Tour, reporters from the Capitol swarm to Two to interview the new star-crossed lovers, whom they have graciously left alone the last few months. All are delighted that Ember is actually talking this time. They ooh over her greenhouse and ahh over Cato's fledgling forays into blacksmithing, something he's always had an interest in but never had time for before the Games. Every time they do or say something remotely romantic, the reporters and cameramen—fully-grown adult men and women—giggle like schoolchildren.
Both of them are exhausted by the time the pests leave. When another train arrives, they're wary at first.
Then Cinna, Ember's designer, steps off.
Cato sees her eyes filling with tears, but none of them fall as she hugs Cinna tightly. Cato leaves the two of them to catch up and goes to practice in his personal gym. After several rounds, he figures he's been gone long enough, and he catches the tail end of their conversation.
"Rain wants to speak with you."
"I don't."
"She knows you blame her for Cedric, but she says if you'd only give her five minutes—"
"What, she'll try to convince me otherwise? Cinna, you saw just as clearly as I did that the bird they sent, however garishly pink, was a crane. Just like that fiance of hers. The future Mrs. Seneca Crane has nothing of value she can say to me."
"Husband. Current Mrs. Seneca Crane."
"...What? When did that happen?"
"It was a quiet ceremony. Rain insisted. And they wanted to marry before she gave birth. You have a niece, Ember."
The ensuing uncomfortable silence convinces Cato it's time to interrupt. Ember looks up at his entrance and forces a smile. He doesn't know why she bothers to pretend. They both know he can tell if her happiness is real or fake.'
XXIII:
The night before they depart for the Victory Tour, Ember's parents and little sister arrive. Cato heads out of the house to give them privacy. He wanders into Ember's greenhouse and admires how well it's all coming together. Plants aren't his thing, but he can at least appreciate the aesthetics.
Maysilee Donner joins him. "Ember told me you commissioned this for her birthday."
"I did."
"When she told me about it over the phone, she sounded happier than I'd ever heard her."
"I knew she liked gardening."
"It isn't just that. What touched her was how you picked up on something she would enjoy so much, despite how few clues she gave you." Ember's mother's eyes bore into him, as if she's reading his soul. "You aren't who I thought you were before the Games, or even who I thought you were the day we left the Capitol, when I asked you to look after her."
Cato feigns nonchalance. "Is that right?"
"You love my daughter."
He stares at the vines of morning glories that Ember insisted on planting, even though the owner of the nursery told her they're more akin to weeds than anything.
"You're good for her. And she loves you."
"Did she tell you that?" he asks quietly.
"She doesn't need to. I could see it in her eyes and her face. She thinks the world of you."
Cato snorts, amused. "Ember is always the very first person to let me know in no uncertain terms that I'm wrong, or that I'm being an idiot. She knows my every fault, all too well."
"And in spite of them—or should I say, because of them—she loves you."
"Is there something you're trying to get at, Mrs. Abernathy?"
Maysilee runs her hand along one of the beams supporting the greenhouse. "This is a lovely building. You must be able to get a lot of privacy in here."
Cato gets what she's trying to ask. "I personally knew everyone on the construction team that built this. And we have to be careful with electronics in here, because of the sprinklers and hoses."
In other words, not bugged.
Still, Maysilee errs on the side of caution. "Dark times are coming, Cato." He is eerily reminded of his own father's words. "I'm not entirely sure what will be coming, but it won't be good. Whatever happens...can I still count on you to keep Ember safe?"
That isn't even a question.
"Always."
XXIV:
The first stop on their Victory Tour is District 11. All Cato can think about on the way there is how he killed Thresh. It had to be done, but he'd found no enjoyment in it, no sense of satisfaction like he'd found, to his shame, with his earlier kills. Now all these months of ignoring his memories of murdering all those children come crashing down upon him.
Ember is also pale and quiet, and he remembers Rue, the little girl whom she and her brother mourned.
Their escorts have given them speech cards, but Cato feel sick as he looks at Thresh's sister and grandmother, then Rue's sprawling family filled with younger siblings. How is he supposed to tell them that it was an honor for Thresh to have died by his hand? For Rue to have died with Ember watching over her?
"Fighting Thresh was one of the hardest things I've ever done. He hadn't trained like I had, but it was a close match. And I didn't want to kill Thresh." All eyes are on him. "All I wanted was the pack that was supposed to be mine, which he took. I don't blame him for taking it. It's all part of the Games. You do what you can to survive. That's what Thresh did. That's what I did. That's what we all did. Now I'm alive, because Thresh is dead, and that's a fact I'll have to live with." He feels Ember taking his hand, and it gives him the strength to muster two more words. "I'm sorry."
Whispers ripple across the crowd.
Then it's Ember's turn. "Rue had one of the most beautiful souls I've ever seen. She lived for things like the warmth of the sun on her face, the wind in the trees as she climbed, the song of mockingjays. She was the closest you could be to happy in the arena." A sad smile crosses her face. "Cedric thought she was beautiful, too. It broke his heart when she died. The flowers were his idea; he didn't want her body to be taken away as if she meant nothing to him, to us. Although we only knew Rue for a few days, she touched our hearts. I wish more people could have known her goodness, but she was taken from us too soon. As was Thresh, and—" her voice chokes up "—and Cedric, and all the other children who died there." Ember closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. "Thank you for giving us the chance to know Rue."
The crowd is silent. The one old man whistles Rue's little melody, and he raises his hand in the three-fingered salute that Ember and Cedric publicized in the Games, and all hell breaks loose.
XXV:
Brutus leaves it to Ember's parents to explain how the two of them fucked up the speeches in Eleven. But Cato's mentor probably wasn't expecting exactly what Haymitch and Maysilee tell them.
"Snow's plan backfired," Haymitch whispers, barely audibly. "He let the two of you live, and he...he had Cedric killed, to demonstrate his power, the Capitol's power: we all live and die as the Capitol tells us, whether or not we want to either way. He wanted to remind the Districts that the Capitol is God, that our lives belong to them, that no one is safe. Not even the Abernathys, especially not the Abernathys." Ember's father smiles bitterly. "But all those times he had our family's private lives open to public consumption did him a disservice in the end. The people remembered that we're human, that the twenty-four kids sacrificed every year are all real children with real families and real lives and real interests and real skills, just like Cedric. And they will no longer stand for it."
"So, what, are you saying people are thinking of rebelling?" Cato asks.
Maysilee shakes her head. "Cato, Ember. People are already rebelling. And they see the two of you as symbols. Ember represents our family and everything that we've won and lost and suffered for. Cato shows how even the staunchest Capitol loyalists can be swayed and turned against them. Snow knows this, and he's afraid of what you two may incite the Districts into doing, whether or not you mean to. And that makes me afraid of what he has planned."
XXVI:
Cato and Ember stick to the script for the remaining Districts. He finds many of those Districts painful, because he killed so many tributes in the Games, and now he must face his demons. It's easier to ignore them when he's reading from a card, even as the crowds murmur angrily—but not at him. At the Capitol. And try as he and Ember might, they can't stop citizens in some of the Districts from exploding, to violent and deadly ends.
They reach Four.
"Cato, my friend, let's have a chat." Finnick Odair slings his arm around his shoulders. "It's nice to walk along the beach at night."
Ember is being beset by Capitolites—who attend the Victory Tour parties in greater and greater numbers, the closer they get the Capitol—but she nods when their eyes meet. So Cato agrees to go outside.
Once away and alone, Finnick, usually such a smooth-talker and charmer, doesn't bother with pleasantries. "You need to marry Ember."
Cato doesn't know how to respond to that. "Any particular reason?"
And again, Finnick cuts to the chase. "Snow likes to take the most in-demand Victors and sell them to anyone willing to pay the price for a night with them. I would know. And Ember has been in-demand since before she was even in the Games, when she was just one of Haymitch and Maysilee Abernathy's kids. People were asking for her when she should have been much too young to be on anyone's radar. Those are the depraved souls who will be going after her when you reach the Capitol. Some of them are talking to her as we speak." Finnick grabs Cato's shoulder before he can storm back inside. "Listen to me. If you don't do anything by the time you get to the Capitol, even though you two will only be in the city for one night, Snow is going to milk it for all it's worth. You don't want that."
Cato tries to tamp down his surging rage. "How is marrying her going to help?"
"You probably don't have to marry her right now, just as long as you make it clear to the Capitol, to Panem, to Snow, that you intend to. A lot of people didn't buy your star-crossed lover story the first time around, at least not the people who'll want her. But if you make them see it's real now, if you publicly make your claim—as chauvinistic as that may be—that will make a lot of them back off. You're a pretty frightening guy. They'll think twice when they realize they'll have to get past you."
His head spins with plan after plan, how he can keep Ember safe from this. "Why do you care, Odair?" Suspicion dawns on him. "Why do you care about Ember?"
Finnick chuckles. "No need to be jealous. I'm not interested in her that way. But...well, I know her brother, Ashton. Remember him? Won the Sixty-Fourth Hunger Games, right before I did, at age twelve? Relies on booze and drugs to get by now? When he's in his right mind, he talks about his family. And I've always liked Ember and Cedric and Summer. They were cute kids—Summer still is, of course. I try to look out for them on his behalf." His sea green eyes darken. "And no one should have to endure the same things I do, especially not someone who's already lost as much as Ember."
Perhaps against his better judgment, Cato decides to trust Finnick. "We reach the Capitol in three days." So little time.
"If you plan to ask Ember, the best time will be onstage, during your interview in the city. Snow won't have much time to react, and she'll at least be safe this time around."
Cato hates that he can't ask Ember on his own terms. He hates that he'll have to do it on TV. But it's necessary, and when it comes to Ember, he does what has to be done. "Know if I can buy a ring in One?"
Finnick's expression shifts. "I have something you can use. Only a loan, mind you, and I expect it back when we next see each other."
XXVII:
Cato and Ember manage to escape the party before they have to board the train again and head to Three. (That'll be another painful stop. Cato snapped the boy's neck in a fit of rage.) They stroll to a different part of the beach, the full moon illuminating their path. It lends her an ethereal glow, makes her look too beautiful for this world, and Cato vows that he will not let the Capitol break her again.
"Ember?"
She stops and looks at him. "Yes, Cato?"
"Whatever your parents think is coming, whatever we think is coming, whatever Snow and the Capitol have in mind for us...regardless of all that, would you want to marry me?"
He hears her breath catch. "God, yes, Cato, yes."
Cato laughs quietly and pulls her close. "Ember Abernathy, will you marry me?"
"Yes. Yes. Yes."
Their escorts are not happy when they return with their clothes covered in sand.
XXVIII:
District 1 is painful in its own way. For Ember, it's because Glimmer was her one and only kill. For Cato, it's because Marvel was the closest thing he had to a friend in the arena. And despite his resolve to read only from the speech cards, he feels it would be a disservice to not mention that. So he does, briefly.
"Marvel could have been my friend."
Six small words. But they help spark the fire again.
XXIX:
As the two of them planned, with her parents' help, Cato proposes to Ember onstage, with Caesar Flickerman dramatically gasping beside them. The Capitol goes wild.
At the party that night, Cato is inseparable from Ember. He doesn't trust Snow not to try anything, even after that spectacle. So it's with his hand placed possessively on Ember's waist that he meets Mrs. Lorraine Crane, formerly Abernathy, for the first time.
She looks different from when he glimpsed her on the Gamemakers' balcony so long ago, when Ember asked him to help piss her off. Older, more tired. Cato supposes having a kid will do that to you, as will watching your little brother die on TV.
(And possibly being responsible for his death, as Ember has accused.)
"I have nothing to say to you," Ember hisses, as harshly as she can without drawing undue attention from the partygoers around them.
"Ember, please—"
"You killed Cedric." That stops Rain cold. "You killed your own brother."
"I didn't—"
"They sent a crane for him, and I don't think that bird was supposed to represent Mr. Seneca Crane."
Speak of the devil. Mr. Seneca Crane himself appears, standing by his wife's side. "Ember, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. And you, too, Cato." Then, the Head Gamemaker, the one who orchestrated the deaths of twenty-two children (including his own wife's brother) this summer and of many more in the summers before that, in a move utterly stereotypical of a proud new father, queries, "Has Rain showed you pictures of your niece yet, Ember? I'm biased, but I think Priscilla may be the most beautiful child ever." And he pulls out not a digital device but an old-fashioned booklet of printed photos.
Priscilla Crane, who looks to be one or two months old, is indeed a very pretty baby.
Ember stares at one photo in particular, of little Priscilla cuddling what looks to be a plush mockingjay. Rain notices. "Would you like that photo, Ember? We have copies." Ember says nothing, but she accepts the photo without complaint when her sister presses it into her hand. "It's her favorite toy," Rain tells them. "I want Priscilla to grow up knowing her family and everything that's important to us. Like the mockingjay."
XXX:
Snow summons Cato, just as the party is ending. Ember looks worried.
"I'll be fine," he assures her—empty promises—and makes sure she leaves safely with her parents before heeding the summons.
As before, the president offers him wine. As before, Cato declines.
"I'm rather disappointed, Cato. I expected better from you." Hologram projectors play clips of his and Ember's speeches during the Victory Tour, specifically those where they deviated from the script. "You've gone and fallen in love with Miss Abernathy for real. What am I to do with you now?"
His hackles rise. "Perhaps, sir, if you didn't want me to fall in love, you shouldn't have sent her to Two with me."
"Very true," Snow concedes. "I was planning for the opposite to happen: you would tire of Ember's presence, and she would grow to fear you, and the world would watch the two of you trying and failing to appear happy together."
"I would never have hurt her."
"I realize now that is true, unfortunately."
Cato clenches his jaw. "Did you want something, sir?"
"I did. Cato, it's time to send Ember home."
"To Two?"
"No. To Twelve."
XXXI:
They stop at Two before Twelve on the Victory Tour. Cato and Ember manage to escape to their house, to his room—or rather, their room.
She's curled up in his arms. "I don't want to leave you."
He runs his fingers through her hair. "It'll be okay. You'll go back to Twelve. You'll see your cousin. You'll see your friends. You'll be going home."
"I am home."
XXXII:
Cato imagines that normally, District 12 is much grayer and gloomier. But welcoming home their fifth ever Victor—a miraculously high number for such an outlying district—and their fourth Abernathy Victor, specifically, is not normal.
He finally meets Ember's closest friends in person. Madge, her cousin who looks unnervingly like Ember, but blond. Katniss, possibly the most laconic person he's ever met. Peeta, who's always smiling but it never feels fake. And Gale, who would be even more reticent than Katniss if he weren't constantly whispering with Madge.
Ember clearly wants him to get along with them, and them with him, and they all try for her sake. It's a fair success. Cato isn't good at making friends, and neither is three out of the four others, but Peeta's natural amicability compensates for them all.
When Ember is called away so she and her family can have their pictures taken by the paparazzi, Cato looks at her friends. "Will you guys watch over her?"
They exchange glances with each other. "We will," they say.
XXXIII:
The spacious house is lonely without Ember. Cato knows nothing about gardening, so he's had to hire someone to take care of her greenhouse for her. He goes home to eat with his family more frequently now, but he hates how his father looks at him knowingly, so more often than not he stays in and scrounges up whatever he can find for dinner.
During one of those uncomfortable family dinners, he hears about Romulus Thread. "They're sending that sadist to Twelve?" Thread, originally from the Capitol, once wanted to be a Gamemaker, but his cruelty was too much for even the cruelest. So it was decided that the Districts would benefit from his profound capacity for violence, and he was sent to District 2 to train future generations of Peacekeepers.
"The president thinks District 12 could benefit from a firmer hand," Tiberius replies. As not only a Peacekeeper, but also their father's son—their father, the most powerful man in Two—he has the privilege of knowing information before the general population is aware. Sometimes, information the general population will never know. "Old Cray is going soft."
Cato feels a sense of foreboding.
XXXIV:
It's Madge Undersee who tells Cato what happened, and he can barely understand her frantic garblings over the phone.
He hears Thread. He hears Ember. He hears whipping.
"Tiberius!"
His brother eyes him suspiciously. "What do you want, Cato?"
"Get me to District 12. The very next train."
"I can't do that, it's against—"
"I don't give a fuck. I need to go to Twelve. Please, Ty."
Tiberius scrunches his face. "You're really head over heels for her, aren't you? Fine, I'll help, but you owe me big, kitty-cat."
The next morning, Tiberius lends Cato a spare Peacekeeper uniform and smuggles him amongst the batch of new Peacekeepers being sent to reinforce Thread's new dictatorship in Twelve.
XXXV:
Cato manages to separate from the Peacekeepers and runs to the Victors' Village. He hammers on the Abernathys' door, and it's answered by a wary Haymitch. "What does that sick fuck Thread want from us now?" Ember's father growls.
Cato takes off the helmet.
Haymitch blinks. "Oh. It's you." He scans their surroundings and quickly pulls Cato inside.
"Did Thread whip Ember?" he demands as soon as the door shuts.
"Yes," Haymitch answers tersely. "Em's friends were about to be caught red-handed with illegal game, so Ember incriminated herself instead. Well, rather than being lenient on one of the newest Victors, Thread decided she needed to be taught a lesson, that he'd make an example out of her, to show that nobody is exempt from punishment. He only got a few blows in before May stormed in there to put a stop to it. So Thread stopped whipping my daughter...and started beating my wife instead." Cato thinks he sees a faint scar from a whip across Haymitch's cheek, and he wonders if it was Ember's father who finally put a stop to the madness.
"How are they?"
"Ember is more or less okay. Mrs. Everdeen thinks she'll fully heal soon, no problem, but she'll be in some pain until then. It's May we're worried about."
The Abernathys' kitchen has been turned into a sick room, and the faint scent of blood lingers in the air. Maysilee lies on the table, unconscious, and Cato sees more bandages than he does skin. Used and unused vials of morphling are lined neatly on a nearby counter. Katniss's mother and sister tend to their patient, grave expressions on their faces.
"Ember is in her room with Madge and their friends," Haymitch tells him, and Cato goes.
When he arrives at the threshold, Ember's cousin and friends wisely depart to give them space. Ember, who's wearing an oversized shirt—one of his—and shorts, careens into his arms. He can feel the bandages on her back.
"I thought she was going to die," she sobs into his chest. "I thought my mom was going to die because of me."
"She's your mother," Cato promises her. "She's strong like you. She'll pull through."
(He needs to stop making promises he doesn't know he can keep. They're going to come back and haunt him one day.)
XXXVI:
Maysilee wakes up.
Mrs. Everdeen doesn't think her leg—which Thread stomped on at one point—will ever be the same.
But she's alive, and she refuses to hear Ember and Gale and Katniss's apologies.
"It isn't your fault."
XXXVII:
Cato doesn't want to leave, but the worst is over, and his absence from Two will be noticed soon. He doesn't know how long Tiberius can cover for him.
Ember shows him an abandoned lakeside cabin beyond Twelve's fence, and as they lie there on his last night in the district, she tells him:
"District 13 still exists."
And if there is going to be a full-scale rebellion, as so many are whispering, then Thirteen will be at its core.
So will the Abernathys.
Cato holds her tighter.
XXXVIII:
He's with his family when they watch Snow announce this year's Quarter Quell.
"On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of Victors."
For several long moments, no one reacts.
Tiberius, the District 2 volunteer that never was, smiles bitterly. "Look at that, kitty-cat. You might get to be a Victor twice-over."
But Cato is too busy processing what Snow's pronouncement really means.
District 12 only has four living Victors, and they are all Abernathys. Two male, two female. Haymitch and Maysilee. Ashton and Ember.
Snow has realized his error in letting the Abernathys live, and now he is doing his utmost to wipe them out.
XXXIX:
This time, it's Ember who illegally travels to see Cato. (Yet, despite the lack of permission, in the following weeks no one comes to bring her back to Twelve, even though Snow surely knows.) "I want to spend my last few months at home."
Cato is alarmed by her words. "What do you mean, your last few months?"
"There's no way I'm letting my mom go into the arena. You heard what Mrs. Everdeen said about her leg. She'd never make it. So that leaves me."
"Ember. " He grips her shoulders. "You can't do this. You're going to make your parents lose another child."
"And how is losing my parent any better?" she shoots back. "The other tribute from Twelve is going to be either my dad or my brother. I can't lose two more people, Cato, I can't."
"And I can't lose you." He sets his jaw. "Ember, if you go back in there, then so do I."
"What? No, Cato, no! Not you, too. Stay out of it, stay safe—"
"How can you ask that of me when you refuse to do the same yourself?"
Her bottom lip trembles. "I'm going to lose everybody, aren't I?"
"Not everybody," he tells her. "Not everybody."
Empty promises.
XL:
They train at the Academy in Two. Ember's parents did a good job preparing her—and her siblings—for the Games, but it's nothing to the regime perfected by District 2 over the decades. Cato himself works with her the most, teaching her how to use her small size—compared to him—to her advantage in a fight, how to be deadlier with a knife, how to quickly adapt to strange new weapons.
He doesn't expect Sergius Graylee to join in.
Sergius, the winner of the Sixty-Ninth Hunger Games, is his sister Vespasia's fiance. Cato, who had zero free time before his own Games, never got to know Sergius that well, and he's barely seen Sergius since the Games, but he's always had an alright impression of him.
Cato is suspicious as he watches Sergius give Ember tips and help adjust her grip. When Ember goes to take a break, Cato rounds on the older Victor. "What are you up to?"
"I'm helping her."
"Why would you do that?"
"Because Vespasia likes her. She loves you more, even though you're a little brat, but she knows you'd sooner die than let Ember Abernathy be harmed. So being the ridiculous romantic she is, she asked me to lend a hand." Sergius tilts his head. "Cato, would you be opposed to my being your mentor this year?"
XLI:
Both of them are still hoping that they can convince the other not to go into the arena. And they're both so stubborn that they're both bound to fail, which is inevitably going to lead to heartache.
But Cato won't let Ember go back without him, and she won't let her mother go back instead of her. So all they can do is savor the time they have left with each other, be as prepared as they can, and hope against hope for the best.
Ember tells Cato about Twelve's wedding tradition of the Toasting. "Maybe, since we won't have a real wedding…"
They toast some of the bread his mother made over the fireplace, and for one night they pretend that everything will be okay.
XLII:
Cato nearly has to punch out Brutus in order to be District 2's volunteer. Onstage, he and Enobaria don't bother to shake hands. He's never liked her, and she doesn't give a fuck about him.
Ember was finally ordered to return to Twelve several days ago, to ensure she would be present at the Reaping. Cato watches the recap on the train. District 12's square is even more deathly silent than it is in normal years, and the Abernathy family, instead of segregating themselves by gender, has chosen to ignore the ropes the Capitol set up and stands together as one.
From the girls' bowl, Effie Trinket draws Maysilee Donner.
"I volunteer as tribute." Ember squeezes her mother's hand—her mother, who leans on a cane and looks like she's in constant pain—and steps forward.
From the boys' bowl, Effie Trinket draws Haymitch Abernathy.
"I volunteer as tribute." Cato can hear some of the crowd gasping as Ashton Abernathy, looking more sober than he has in years, takes his father's place.
Onstage, Ember and Ashton don't bother to shake hands. Instead, Ember embraces her older brother, just as she did her younger brother this time last year, on the exact same stage. Then something must be happening in the crowd, something the Capitol doesn't like, because the feed abruptly cuts off.
XLIII:
He has no time to find Ember before the Parade, but she's his very first priority the second he steps off the chariot. He saw how pale she looked on the giant screens; not even the illumination of the fake flames surrounding her and her brother could have hidden that fact, not from his eyes. Her parents and brother appear grave, and they readily let the two of them go.
Cato and Ember ascend to this new Tribute Center's rooftop garden, and her next words change everything.
"Cato, the doctors told me I'm pregnant."
XLIV:
Sergius seems to get along with the Abernathys. It helps that he makes it clear that his goals align with theirs and with Cato's: they want Ember to come out of the arena in the end. Together, the three mentors concur that they—Cato, Ember, Ashton—will need to make strategic alliances.
Ashton nominates Finnick (and with Finnick comes Mags). Cato and Ember agree.
When asked for his input, Cato says, "Not the other Careers. Not this year." Enobaria, he knows, would be delighted to kill Ember Abernathy, the Girl on Fire, one half of the second pair of star-crossed lovers and daughter of the first.
Training is different than last year. Many of the tributes are mingling, having known each other for quite some time. Cato and Ember watch her brother greet Finnick before motioning for them to join.
Cato surreptitiously returns Finnick's ring. "Sorry you couldn't use it yourself."
Finnick smiles sadly. "Yeah. I'm sorry, too."
All the tributes already know everyone else's strengths and weaknesses, so there's no point holding back. Ember decides to go with Mags and learn new skills—"Cedric was responsible for knowing most of them last year, I just listened to him"—while Cato practices sparring.
He pretends the sparring instructor is Snow, and Finnick and Ashton have to pull him off the hapless teacher when he forgets himself. When they return to District 12's apartment, they find that after that violent display, many of the other tributes want an alliance with them.
XLV:
Although the bodice of Ember's interview dress (her wedding dress) is tight against her curves, her belly doesn't show. She's at least twelve weeks along, but it's still early to be showing, her mother says, and apparently her athleticism will help conceal it for some time yet.
Caesar commiserates with Cato during his interview. "It's a shame about the wedding." The Capitol makes sympathetic, heartbroken noises.
The words "We're already married" slip out of his mouth, and then the Capitol makes shrieking noises.
Caesar demands an explanation. Cato tersely explains the Toasting.
"But Cato, you volunteered, knowing that you would be facing Ember's family, or Ember herself, in the arena. Why did you do it?"
His eyes meet hers. "Because a world without Ember Abernathy is not a world worth living in."
The Capitol screams in misery.
Caesar asks Ember how she feels to be going into the arena with her other brother. "Ash says he'll be the one taking care of me this time. I believe him. And this time, I won't be so foolish as to believe I can save anyone I love."
The Capitol weeps.
The weeping turns into gasps as Caesar asks Ember to twirl in her wedding dress, and soon she is no longer a bride-ne'er-to-be but a mockingjay. In this new costume, Ember looks fiercer, bolder, more defiant. She is beyond beautiful.
Then Ashton mercilessly carves out the Capitol's hearts. "It's unfortunate that I won't be able to see myself become an uncle twice-over." He pointedly looks at Ember, and the crowd's reaction is deafening. There are calls for the Games to be stopped, tears, shocked realizations that this is really happening.
The Victors hold hands, and the stage goes dark.
XLVI:
Fortunately, swimming is a skill that everyone learns at the Academy. Cato is one of the first to reach the Cornucopia. Finnick gets there at the same time, and Ember and Ashton aren't far behind.
The Cornucopia has weapons, and nothing else. The Gamemakers don't anticipate a long Games this year.
Once the four of them and Mags grab everything they need, they hightail it into the jungle. Ashton leads the way, followed by Finnick, who carries Mags as if she weighs nothing, then Ember, and finally Cato at the rear.
He sees Ember growing exhausted more quickly than she usually does. "Do you need a break?" he asks quietly.
She shakes her head, determinedly forging on. "We have to put distance behind us. We can rest later."
Cato is grateful when a mile into their climb, Finnick asks to rest, although the Victor from Four doesn't look all that fatigued.
"Is she really pregnant?" Finnick asks him quietly. Cato nods. "Damn."
He observes how Finnick interacts with Ember in the same fraternal way that Ashton does—more brotherly than her actual brother, even. Their break is only a few minutes long, but Cato can see that where Finnick's playful banter, even now, comes to him as easily as breathing—and it's readily returned by Ember—Ashton is quiet and more awkward around his sister. Sometimes, Cato catches him watching Finnick and Ember with envy.
Yet another relationship the Capitol has stolen from the Abernathys.
As they near what appears to be the top of the hill, Ashton begins to randomly toss some nuts that he cut down from a tree. "During my parents' games," he explains when Cato asks, "they made it to the edge of the arena and discovered there was a force field surrounding it. Not something I want to run into accidentally." Ashton's caution pays off when one nut is repelled by an invisible barrier and lands on the ground, singed.
Mags happily picks it up, peels it, and begins to snack. She does this with all the nuts that come back burned, with no apparent side effects. Good to know there's something they can eat in the arena.
What's worrisome is the lack of water. Dehydration is not good for any of them, especially not for Ember, who looks worse by the minute.
XLVII:
Hot, tired, and thirsty, they make camp. Finnick and Mags turn out to be pretty good homemakers. They make a hut out of grass mats, and Cato makes Ember lie down in its shade. "I feel like a useless damsel in distress," she murmurs as he brushes sweat-soaked hair from her face.
He cracks a smile, despite the direness of their situation. "Just this once, will you let me be your knight covered in shining sweat?" She laughs, and he feels temporarily satisfied.
Ashton, like his brother, is a fair hand with the bow, if not quite as flawless as Cedric was. He returns with a dead rodent and suspicions that there is indeed water nearby—he just doesn't know where it is.
Ember emerges when the anthem begins to play, and she wraps Cato's arms around herself as they watch the faces flashing in the sky. The two of them don't know many of the other Victors, so the faces they see don't strike much of a chord with them. It's the faces they don't see that resonate. Enobaria is alive, and Cato doesn't think he likes that very much.
"Chaff's alive," Ember murmurs. "He and my dad are friends. And Johanna—she's weird and not very likable, but I'm glad she isn't dead yet. And Beetee and Wiress. Cedric loved them. He was Beetee's number one fan. The last conversation they ever had was about force fields and their weak spots. Chinks in the armor, they called them. You can exploit them and take down the whole thing. Ced was the biggest science nerd I ever knew, and he followed news about Beetee's inventions and innovations religiously. He wanted to be just like him."
Cato looks up in time to see the pained expression on Ashton's face. Ember isn't the only one who lost a baby brother last year.
XLVIII:
He's starting to wonder why Ember's parents aren't sending water for their pregnant daughter when the gift arrives. Finnick presents it to Ember with a flourish. Cato doesn't recognize the metal tube inside, but Ember and Ashton do.
"A spile!" they exclaim at the same time, and they look at each other as if silently sharing some memory known only to the Abernathys.
The water is warm, but it's water. Cato makes sure Ember drinks her fill, and then some. She looks much better once her thirst is quenched, and Cato relaxes slightly, but just a bit. Water was only one of their many problems.
Finnick takes the first shift, but later, Cato—and Ashton—are awoken by twelve loud clangs. As Ember and Mags slumber on, the three of them stare at each other. Whatever those twelve tolls mean, it can't be good. Ashton takes the next shift, and Cato returns to an uneasy sleep beside Ember.
Then he's woken up, again, by Ashton shouting. Cato sits up and quickly sees what has Ember's brother riled up: a strange fog drifting their way. It looks harmless, but they all know that nothing in the arena is truly harmless. Ashton's paranoia gives them enough time to run. The fog's speed increases, as if determined to catch up.
Ember stumbles.
The fog touches her, and she cries out in pain. Cato wheels around and scoops her up so he's carrying her like Finnick is carrying Mags. He hisses when the fog makes contact with him, but he forces the pain aside. What matters is getting Ember to safety.
Miraculously, the five of them all make it to the beach. The fog stops several yards behind them, as if confined by an invisible wall. They were all touched by the poison to some extent, and Ashton discovers that the saltwater helps draw it out. The five of them slowly return to rights.
Cato breathes.
Ember has a strange expression on her face. "I don't feel so well."
XLIX:
Trigger warning: miscarriage.
Finnick's eyes are sad as he rejoins Cato and Ashton. "Mags says she's going to lose the baby."
Ashton's shoulders slump.
Cato is eerily still. Barely breathing. A meaningless buzzing sound fills his head; he barely comprehends what Finnick is explaining about Mags's thoughts on the poisonous fog and its effects on Ember. He doesn't know what to think. What to feel. So he boxes it all away and puts it aside for later. "What can we do?"
"Nothing, really. Mags says all we can do is make her as comfortable as we can. Hot water. New mats."
"I think we can afford to build a fire at this point," Ashton says quietly. "I'll start one."
"I'll make the mats."
That leaves Cato to go to Ember's side. She's lying on the ground, covered by giant fronds that Mags laid atop her to preserve her privacy while she saw to Ember. Mags shuffles off to join the others, and Cato sits down. Ember moves so that her head is resting in his lap.
"How are you feeling?" he asks.
"My back hurts, and there's a lot of cramping." She reaches for her hand and plays with his fingers. "I feel empty. It's weird, because I didn't even know I was pregnant until we got to the Capitol. Now being not-pregnant—or about to be not-pregnant—is the strange feeling." She looks up at him. "How are you feeling?"
"Don't mind me."
"It's your baby, too."
And just like that, it shatters. It all shatters. The baby is no longer some abstract, surreal concept. It's real, it's something that he and Ember made together, it's something that they could have loved—and they're about to lose it before they even had it.
"I wanted it," he says hoarsely.
She squeezes her eyes shut. "I wanted it, too."
Soon, the contractions start. Finnick translates for Mags that it's her body expelling the tissue. It won't be as bad as actual labor, but it won't be pleasant, either.
Multiple parachutes fall from the sky—from Two, Four, and Twelve alike. They bear plush towels, soft blankets, hot water bottles, and pads. Mags places towels around Ember's hips and has Cato and Ashton hold blankets around Ember, to block any cameras' views. The elderly woman, with surprisingly dexterous motor control, cuts Ember's wetsuit at the waist, wraps her bottom half in a large towel, then tucks her beneath another blanket. Cato returns to holding Ember, and the others leave them alone.
The contractions become regular, and Ember chokes back a sob as her body ripples. "I want my mom."
He holds her tighter. "Your mom is with you," he murmurs. And it's true. He would bet anything that Maysilee is glued to the screen right now, watching her daughter suffer and wishing she could do something beyond sending linens.
L:
A blood-soaked Johanna, Beetee, and Wiress stumble across them as the contractions begin to subside. "What's wrong with her?" Cato hears Johanna loudly ask. Finnick murmurs something in response, and the Victor from Seven grows quiet.
Johanna eventually wanders over, holding a large shell from which steam is rising. "I made tea. It should help with the stomach pain. Drink it when you feel like it."
Cato's brow furrows. "Where did you get tea?"
"Whichever dumbfuck designed the arena didn't get the whole jungle thing completely accurate. I recognized some trees that are clearly native to Seven. We make tea from their bark at home." When Cato hesitates, Johanna sighs and takes a large gulp of the tea. "See? Not poisoned, by me or by the Gamemakers."
"It's fine, Cato, I'll drink it," Ember mumbles. She complains about the taste, but she seems to feel better.
Some time later, Ember lifts her head.
"I think it's over." She's quiet as Mags hobbles over.
Cato helps Ember wash with boiled water. Meanwhile, Mags has tenderly folded up the bloody towel and looks questioningly at them upon their return.
"Would you guys like to bury it?" Ashton asks softly.
Cato looks at Ember. Slowly, she nods. She has a death-grip on Cato, and he doesn't want to leave her alone, so he lets Ashton and Finnick dig up the soil where the beach meets the jungle.
Ember claims to feel well enough to walk, but Cato carries her anyway over to the small grave. Ashton kneels and places the bundle in the hole. "I only knew about you for a few days, but your Uncle Ash loved you anyway," he says. "Wherever you are now, it's for sure better than here."
Johanna shakes her head. "Congratulations, Snow," she says flatly. "There is actually no more innocence you can tear away. Nothing left after unborn children."
No one else has any words to say. But Mags kisses her fingers and raises her hand in Twelve's salute. The rest of them follow suit. After a moment of silence, Ashton and Finnick refill the hole, and the bundle disappears.
To be continued...
Response to Guest Reviewer:
Gigi: I don't have all the details mapped out yet, but I'm hoping one day I'll be able to write a fic about Haymitch and Maysilee's Games, detailing some of the in-world events that led to Sweetest Mockery and to this story. I have this idea about the candy-pink birds making an appearance during their Quell, possibly almost killing Maysilee, and here, Snow intentionally had the Gamemakers send the same or a similar bird to kill Cedric, almost as if to "finish the job." So besides that macabre detail you probably weren't looking for, glad you enjoyed reading this story!
The final part will definitely be posted before the end of the month, most likely sooner.
Please let me know your thoughts on Part Two! Did anything make you go awwww, anything thought-provoking, anything make you want to come after me with pitchforks...? Good or bad, I always appreciate hearing from you all. :)