I am at home sitting on my bed and staring out of the window. I watch as the few street lamps we have light up the road ahead of me. I climb off of the bed and make my way over to the window. Making sure there is no sound coming from anywhere in the house, I slowly open the window, step out and scramble onto the roof. I just sit and stare at the mountains that surround District Two, not wanting to leave this spot and go back inside so my Dad can beat me and tell me how much of a disappointment I am.

Suddenly from behind me I hear the scuffling of feet and heavy breathing. "Man I hate running." Clove says as she sits down beside me, "In fact, I hate exercise."

"Says the girl who is top of her class in training." I laugh.

"I never said I wasn't good at it." She replies, "Actually I'm better than good, I'm fantastic."

"Modest as always, Clove."

"I know." She laughs. We fall into silence after that, just watching the things around us and getting lost in our thoughts.

"It's beautiful isn't it? I wish I could go into the mountains. I would love to see the wildlife and the lakes and the forests and everything else they hold." Clove says after a while. I love how Clove is a different person around me. She doesn't hide behind weapons and violence; she doesn't pretend to be the evil girl everybody else thinks she is, she is just Clove, and that is how it should be. With me she is Clove, the girl who dreams about running free in the mountains without a care in the world.

"Me too Clove. But that will never happen. The most we will ever get to see of them is the outline."

"I know, but I can always hope, can't I?" She asks.

"Yes you can."

"And if I ever do find a way to go to them you would come to. You will be with me every step of the way, where ever I go, right?"

"Always."

I open my eyes and stare at the blank ceiling with a sick feeling in my stomach. Clove always wanted to run off into the mountains with me so she didn't have to pretend to be something she wasn't and so I didn't have to face my brutal father everyday. But she never found a way to get past the electric fence. She was just a girl with a dream. But not any girl, she was Clove. Clove, the girl with a dream. Clove, the girl with a dream of running away. Clove, the girl with a dream of a better place. Clove, the girl who's dreams never will come true.

I sit up and throw my legs over the side of the bed. I see a pile of clothes folded at the end of my bed. I quickly change into them and hurry out of the room. But before I have made it to the breakfast table, I freeze. She is there. Sitting at the table with her back to me. Her long, brown hair cascading down her back like a waterfall, just how I like it. She seems to be cheerfully talking with District twelve's mentor. But how? She's dead. I watched her die in the arena. It couldn't have been a dream, could it?

I walk up to her and place my hand on her shoulder. She slowly turns her head towards me and instead of seeing green eyes; I am met with grey eyes. Fire girl's grey eyes. I stumble backwards and fall to the floor. "Clove?" I croak hoping beyond hope that she is the one standing in front of me, not fire girl.

"Cato, it's me, Katniss. I'm really sorry Cloves-" Fire girl starts but I cut her off.

"Dead. She's dead. Thresh bashed her skull in with a rock. I held her while she took her last breathes. I went looking for Thresh. I killed him. I was attacked by mutts. I ran to the cornucopia. I put lover boy in a head lock. I then released him. Then lover boy fell off the cornucopia and got eaten. I then begged you to shoot me. You didn't. I gave us both night lock. We went to eat it. We were announced winners of the Hunger games. Snow asked to talk to me. He said I had to start a relationship with you and threatened me to make sure I do. And now I'm here." I say, repeating the events that had happened since Clove's death.

"Snow said what?" Fire girl screams. So I tell her everything that Snow had said to me. Once I finish she looks degusted. "So basically, us two have to be in a fake relationship otherwise Snow will kill and torture your family?"

"You don't have to. I bet Snow could find another way to keep the Districts in check." I say to her.

"No! I will. I don't want your family to die just because I wasn't willing to act for the cameras. And I don't want you in anymore pain; you have enough of that already." When she says that to me my head drops into my hands as I try to fight off the tears that are threatening to spill down my face. "Oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for you to get upset."

"No it's OK." I say lifting my head back up, "And I'm glad you agree because I bet Snow wouldn't hesitate to use your family against you either and I don't want you to experience anymore death." As I say that I see pain flash through her eyes and immediately regret what I said. But before I can apologize she is up and walking back toward the table. She pauses just before sitting down and turns to face me.

"Come on breakfast will be gone if you don't get here soon." And with that I walk to the table, sit down and practically inhale the food in front of me.

"Ladies and gentlemen, please give a warm welcome to the girl on fire: Katniss Everdeen!" Caesar says over the many cheers, "And the boy with the swords: Cato Jones!" The boy with the swords? I have never heard that before. But before I can think about it any further someone has pushed me onto the stage right opposite fire girl.

Pretend to be in love with her. Pretend to be in love with her. Do it for Lucy Cato. Do it for Lucy. I repeat over and over in my head as I walk towards her and give her a hug.

Kiss her.

No.

Do it for Lucy.

So I do. I lift my head from her hair and slowly move my face towards hers. I see the shock on her face, but only for a second because she then closes the space between us and makes our lips meet. The cheers from the crowd become even louder and I hear a few whistles before me and fire girl break apart. I stare into her eyes checking to see if she is OK with us going through with this act. She gives a small nod of her head, laces our fingers together and walks over to the plush couch, me right beside her.

"Congratulations Cato and Katniss for winning the games. How does it feel to be victors?" Caesar asks.

"I have trained my entire life for this, and now that I'm here words can not even begin to describe the feeling." I say and I see fire girl give a little nod of agreement next to me. The rest of the interview goes the same way: Caesar asks a question, one of us answers and the other gives small nods of agreement. Overall the interview seems to be going fine, that is until Caesar asks the question I have been dreading.

"Cato, when did you first start to have feelings for Katniss?" Caesar asks.

"It was when I saw her training. I could see the potential in her and I liked that. But I properly realised how I felt after the interviews. And on top of the cornucopia I knew I couldn't let her die because I love her, so when she said she wouldn't shoot me I had to come up with another way to save her without me having to live without her and the only way I could think of was the night lock. If we couldn't win together, then we could die together." I say and I get many 'awws' from the pathetic crowd.

I hope that's good enough for you Snow!

Caesar then asks fire girl the same question and her answer is pretty much the same as mine, "…And I realised I loved him." She then turns her head to me, "I love you." She says to me, but I can see the pain and regret in her eyes from those three simple words.

"I love you too." I reply.

I flop down onto my bed and wait for sleep to come. But after two hours I know that sleep is impossible. I quickly get up and make my way to the roof knowing no one will be up there at this time off night.

When the elevator doors open I am greeted with a gentle breeze. I step out and walk over to a bench that overlooks the whole of the Capitol and in the distance I can just see the outlines of the mountains Clove wanted to visit. I just sit and stare at the lights of the Capitol until my eyes feel heavy and refuse to stay open any longer.

I carefully open the front door and take a quiet step into my house, "Is that you boy?" I hear my Dad call from the kitchen. Damn it, not quiet enough.

"Yeah, it's me Dad." I call back to him.

"Come 'ere." I take my time walking to the kitchen. I step in and immediately smell alcohol in the air. Great he's been drinking as well. "Where've you been. It's late. You should be going to sleep early so you can rest for training."

"I'm sorry Dad. I was out with Clove and I lost track of time." I say to the floor.

"That little girl. You've been spending your time with that little girl? I thought you were better than that, boy. I didn't think you were that weak. Is she the only friend you can get? Do the others not want to be with you? I don't blame them, I wouldn't want to hang around with someone as weak as you." He shouts, standing up and walking over to me. "Weak. That's what you are, weak. You are a weak. Little. Girl. Who. Will. Never. Win. The. Hunger. Games." He shouts between punches. When I am on the ground from all his punches he moves onto kicking me over and over again. Once he is done with kicking he grabs a knife of the work surface and starts moving towards me.

"Cato are you in here I have something to sh-" But my little sister stops talking as soon as she sees the scene unfolding before her.

"Oh, how nice of you to join us Lucy. I was just telling Cato about weakness. Are you weak Lucy?" Dad says to her.

"N-no. I'm not weak."

"Well, should we check?" He says advancing on Lucy. I watch as all the colour drains from her face. She backs up into the wall of the kitchen. Unable to go further she sinks to the floor. Dad's almost upon her but before he can get any further I block his path.

"She is just a little kid, Dad. Leave her alone. She is not weak and you don't have to check." I tell him.

"OK. Lucy, watch as I show you what weakness looks like." He says to her. And before I have time to react he is on top of me with the knife held to my cheek. "This is what weakness is Lucy." He says just before he digs the knife into my skin, cutting me from my ear to the corner of my mouth. But I don't make a sound. I don't want to give him satisfaction of hearing me cry out in pain. He then moves onto my arms leaving 15 deep cuts on each, one cut for each year I have. As he is digging the knife repeatedly into my arms I manage to wave my hands towards the door, signalling Lucy to leave the kitchen before she has to experience this herself. She just shakes her head.

"Go Lucy. Go to your room and lock the door." I tell her quietly so my Dad won't hear. But again she just shakes her head. "Go now, before this happens to you." This time she scrambles to her feet and runs out of the kitchen silently.

Once my Dad has finished slicing open my arms he gets off me. I give out a sigh of relief that my Dad hears. "Was that a sigh, boy?" I shake my head. "I believe it was. Maybe I will have to teach you even more about weakness." He says kneeling down next to me and cutting my trouser leg off mid thigh. He then proceeds to cutting a word into my leg. "There that should remind you." He says before cutting my face again and walking out.

I just lay there, in a pool of my own blood until I hear the kitchen door creek open and I lift my head a bit to see Lucy standing in the door way with tears streaming down her cheeks. I slowly sit up and open my arms to her. She runs up to me and buries her head in my chest.

"I am sorry you had to see that Lucy. I never wanted you to witness it." I whisper in her ear.

"No, I'm sorry. You shouldn't have stepped in his way. You should have let him do that to me. I am so sorry for not stopping him. I-I was scared." She cries into my chest.

"Shhh, it's OK. Everything's Ok." I reassure her.

"No it's not, Cato. Look at you. Look how much you're bleeding."

I look down and gasp. Everything I am wearing is covered in blood and same with Lucy. My little sister is covered in my blood.

"Come on Cato. I will get the first aid kit." She says while standing and dragging me by the hand up to my room.

She makes me sit on the floor while she tends to my wounds. About 15 minutes later I am all bandaged up. "Thank you doctor Lucy. Now, how shall I repay you?" I say to her, "Oh, I know. Like this." And I immediately start tickling her until she is gasping for air.

"Cato- stop it- I can't- breathe." She says between giggles. I stop and she crawls back onto my lap. "Thank you for stopping him Cato."

"Don't worry. I will never let anything or anyone ever hurt you."

"Promise?" She whispers.

"Promise."

Thank you to everyone that reviewed, favourited, followed or read this. I really hope you enjoy this chapter.

I am soooo sorry that this took so long to update but I have been super busy and just didn't have the time to write this.(I know it's a stupid excuse but it's the truth!) But if I get lots of reviews I will probably be able to write it faster because I know people will want to read it. So…REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW. They fill me with joy every time I see one.

14SpiralTree : I am really pleased you like the story and I am glad that it is different to the ones you have read in the past. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Thank you for the review. =D

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