CLOVE'S POV

The doors open to the training center. It's been cleared, only red mats remain. The only light is illuminated from a combonation of the Capitol square and moon. I slouch down against the elevator wall; since the doors don't close, the elevator can't be called upon. I don't want Cato, I don't want Brutus. I want to be left alone. My hands cover my face, burrying it. There's a sound of shuffling feet, quickly I stand up and there in the window is a figure. The figure is almost as tall as Cato, but I know it's not him. The heels echo as I walk to him. Marvel is observing the Capitol. We don't look at each other, we talk while looking out.

I take a deep breath.

"You aren't the only one. It's amazing how the Capitol thinks we're all some sort of celebrity, and yet the moment the canon goes off- we become nothing."

I slowly nod my head, he can see it in the reflection of the glass and acknowledges it.

"What I don't get it why our two districts even have to do this. Mine is all luxury, yours is practically the same.." I start to get where he is going with this.

"Are you afraid?" I ask in a quiet, but strong voice.

His head jerks to me, I look at him. "Are you?"

A laughs comes from me but it's brief. "No."

"But you are afraid of what will happen with Cato." I don't understand how he is able to know what I feel.

He continues. "Clove, take a minute. If Cato really loved you, Glimmer wouldn't have been in his shirt. I caught her coming back the first night we were here. I-"

I cut him off. "I saw them, on the couch, on my floor..."

"Clove." Marvel says putting a hand on my shoulder, I brush it off abruptly. My facial expression goes to focused.

"It's a free for all once we kill Katniss. You kill Glimmer, I could kill Cato..." He trails off.

"Then who kills who when it's me and you?"

He laughs. "May the odds be ever in your favor." The conversation dies.

"Clove."

"Hmmm?" I'm still mesmerized by the Capitol.

"You deserve the victory more than Cato. If I die, know all my bets are on you." A smile makes its way across my face in the moonlit room, but its disapates fast. Everyone knows that Cato isn't sincere- even those who have known him for only a few days. I have known him for a few years. Marvel starts to leave. He stops though and turns around. Right now I am confused, so my torso is towards him. He comes back to me and kisses me. It's not forced or anything; his hands are each side of my face, holding it in place. My lips move with his. I refuse to refuse this. He pulls away; our foreheads pressed against each others.

"A real love will burn even in the darkest places."

I'm so confused, but I don't question. Marvel boards the elevator and waves goodbye. Just as the doors close I hear him say;

"Throw hard."

He was clearly talking about my knives for tomorrow. It's just me now, alone in the training center. In the corner are a set of destroyed dummies. Approaching the one, I realize it's the first one that Cato successfully broke the neck. No matter where we are; Cato will still be Cato. Ruthless. Minipulative. I punch the dummy. Looking out the window once more it dawns on me how dark it is, and that it's the last real midnight sky I will see for a while. It's settled. In the arena, Cato is my enemy. I will be a victor, and I'll do whatever it takes to be one.

CATO'S POV

She left. Brutus and I are just staring at each other. He keeps trying to get the elevator, but can't.

"She must've locked it. If the doors do not close, I can't make it come up."

"You didn't have to bring up Glimmer..." I say.

He looks at me. "It's true. If you loved her. If you were real star-crossed lovers; Glimmer wouldn't have been in your shirt the first night."

I can't think of an argument so I let him leave the room. I keep trying to get to the training center, but the elevator still isn't working. Damn it! I could comfort her, tell her Glimmer is nothing. No, Clove won't buy that. So I just sit there, in the living area, on the couch. I don't even bother changing, I just sit. Sit and wait. I fall asleep, because I jolt up when I hear a door slam. The light shines through the bottom of her door. I can see it faintly.

"Clove." I call out, waiting for a response. I say her name over and over in the dark hallway. After the tenth time I swing the door open. Marvel is there, sitting on her bed; looking out the window. The bathroom door is closed. The moment I step into the room he is standing straight up from the relaxed position he was in. In a moment I have him pinned to the wall. We speak in hushed voices but the tension is still there.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I spit at him.

"Dealing with the mess you made." He shoves me off of him.

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

"Sleeping with Glimmer. Being in love with her, and sleeping with Glimmer." Throwing a punch, he stops my hand.

"Easy there. You have plenty of time for that tomorrow." He snorts and comes close to my ear.

"She was and always will be too good for you."

After that he closes the bedroom door as he leaves. My fist hits the wall; which now has a hole. I sit down onto the bed. Should I scream? Should I yell? Should I have snapped his neck right then? I lay down on the bed, throwing my arms over my face, and groan. What was I supposed to do? Tell Glimmer to leave me alone? She wouldn't have, I know that. Glimmer has a way of being aggressive, and once she has a mind set- you can't stop her. The bathroom door opens. Clove is wrapped in a red towel. Her hair hangs in wet knots, and her eyes are bloodshot. Almost immediately I stand up, but she avoids my presence.

"You have to listen to me." I tell her.

CLOVE'S POV

No. No I don't I think to myself. Cato won't leave me alone for a second. Finally I sit down on the edge of the bed, my eyes staring at the wall. He takes seat on the other side of the bed, his torso towards me.

"It has always been you Clove. Not one of those girls of my past have been anything like you. I've known that since the first day we trained together. All the other girls were so scared, intimidated- but you. Not you Clove, you wanted to train with the boys. You wanted to know how to throw knives, not use a bow and arrow. It has always been you. Since the beginning." His hand reaches towards my knee. I jerk away.

My throat feels like it is closing up, my voice is thick. "Is that all?"

He sighs. "Yes."

My eyes haven't left the wall.

"Get out." I growl. He doesn't say much more. The door slams quietly, but I still jump. That's when the tears stream down my face. I can't do this tomorrow. I really don't have it in me. I never imagined it would end like this, with a slam of a door- alone in the night. The effort to put clothes on isn't there, pulling my knees into my chest I stay just like that. Tears are frequent, I have to make a fist, I bite down on my knuckles to with hold the scream I desperately want to let out.

The alarm goes off, my eyes fly open. I don't want to be like I was last night. The arena will be my sanctuary now. I am Clove. I am ruthless. I am strong. This is the hunger games, and you will come home a victor. No matter what it takes. The last part I keep telling myself.

"No matter what it takes."

"No matter what it takes."

I'm going home.