Clove's POV

I have my official "reunion" with my mentors and prep team on camera outside of my medical room. I wear a clean pressed uniform that all the tributes wore in the arena, but this one is free of rips, burns, bloodstains and more. I look just like I did on the first day, except a lot skinnier. I do not really want to wear it right now, but I guess it's for the crowd so I go along with it.

Slowly, ever so hesitantly, I open the door that leads into a hallway and I follow the familiar voices. There standing at the end of a turn are Prica, Curry, Orvo Dazzle (who is unmanly emotional), and my stylist couple, Carnel and Flaga. I exercise restraint, remembering I'll be on camera and walk calmly over to my welcome party. Prica is the first to pull me into a surprisingly strong hug for such a small girl. I have a feeling that we may become friends once we go back to District 2. After all, she's only nineteen, won the games at seventeen. Curry smirks with his chiseled face full of stubble and pats my shoulder, which causes me to subconsciously rub my pearly smooth wrists, free of my suicidal scars.

"Great job, princess," he teases. He sounds just like Cato. Orvo bursts into a fresh round of tears and hugs me.

"Oh Clover!" he cries. "You were absolutely fabulous."

Flaga pulls Orvo off me and smiles sweetly before giving me hug.

"Our little angel," she says, her Capitol accent fading away for a moment. Carnel, for once not dressed in purple but—pink, gives me a handshake. I don't think he entirely likes me anymore for having natural violet eyes, but I don't care. I have an entire other group of people happy to see me alive.

A few more celebratory words are exchanged and Flaga pulls me along with the rest of the prep teams, whose names I never bothered to remember get me ready for the final ceremony of watching the three-hour recap of the Games.

"I was so excited when I heard our little love birds were going to win!" said Flaga, holding up her sketchbook. Nearly all the pages were gone. "I could barely think of what to put you guys in! Something to coordinate with life and death when you both are alive! I wanted to do something that included all the tokens of the tributes."

Surely she can see the horror on my face. Their tokens? As in the items they brought from their homes? The only thing they had closest to a home?

"But the Gamemakers wouldn't allow it."

My shoulders relax and I let out a breath. I can't imagine what the Victory Tour would be like, the families of those I may or may not have killed, knowing I would have worn a family heirloom or a birthday present. Do these Capitol citizens realize what they are suggesting?

"We went back to our original color scheme, though and I am pretty happy with our results," Flaga continues. She makes me close my eyes until I feel the satin fabric slip over my body. I'm still uncomfortable with how the doctors surgically modified my body. Aside from removing scars and fresh wounds, they filled me with some substance that filled out the areas where my bones protruded, like my ribs, chest and buttocks. All my curves have been artificially restored and it feels weird. I think there's a reason our body changes itself so gradually.

When I open my eyes, I can't help but stand in front of the enormous mirror, absolutely breathless. The dress begins pure white at the top with transparent straps that form a sparkling web across my shoulders, then gently cascades to my feet where the color fades into a deep crimson. My shoes are red high heels with diamonds along the straps. My hair, re-trimmed and dyed from its old light brown to a platinum blonde that fades into white tips. Dainty feathers adorn my hair here and they're as if an angel has flown over me and its feathers have fallen like snow onto my head.

"Woa," I breathe, reaching out to touch the mirror, wondering if it's all a heavenly illusion. A cherubic dream.

"You look stunning, Clove," says Carnel. "Your beautiful eyes just pop with the makeup."

It's true. With all the light makeup, my dark eyes stand out even more. But something is suddenly wrong. I get a flash of memory from the Games, when I saw myself in the reflective surface of the lake. My face was darkened by dirt and caked on blood, a tracker jacker sting still swollen under my chin. There was a wild look in my eyes that now I can see in contrast to now. The eyes of a cold-blooded killer. The eyes that took lives of …

I count on my fingers…

The boy from District 9 in the bloodbath.

The girl from 7 in the bloodbath.

The boy from 10, the one with the weird foot. I'm surprised he lasted as long as he did.

And then the Ginger from 5.

Four. I've killed four people. That's four families that will never see their children, brother, sister, girlfriend, boyfriend, fill in the blank- ever again. All they will be getting is their body in a cheap wooden box to mourn over.

I suddenly feel like ripping the gown off and running back to the arena to take back all the death I caused. What hurts even more is that over two dozen Victors from District 2 have done the same thing I have done, if not more. So many lives lost…

Cato's POV

Curry straightens my black tie and claps me on the shoulders.

"You make me proud, nephew," he says. But they're something in his eyes that tells me something is wrong. The same look I saw in him when I was still bedridden, but no one will tell me anything. All I receive are congratulations and wishes about my future with Clove. They all seem to be sugar coated facades over something deeper than what I've been led on to believe. I'll probably find out soon.

I take one last look at myself in the mirror. For once, the costume doesn't show off my arms, even though they've been surgically restored to their original bulk. They still feel numb, but no one would be able to tell, the black sleeves fold over my arms like silk and as I hold them to my sides, fade into a deep crimson down to the edges of my pants with dark mahogany boots. The collar of my suit jacket folds over my shoulders like bat wings, similar to my Opening Ceremonies costume. I'm excited to see what Clove will look like.

I blink.

I'm excited to see Clove, period.

About an hour later, I am ushered beneath the stage where I will be reunited with Clove and the rest of the Capitol. I can just see everyone in District 2 gathering in front of their televisions to witness history. Curry and Prica have managed to bring home both tributes from the Games, and it wasn't even the Star-crossed Lovers of District 12 either.

It was us.

There's a wooden wall that smells fresh of sawdust. It was probably made recently to separate Clove and I. I want to knock on the wall and see if she is really there, but I probably shouldn't, and even if I wanted to, Curry comes up to greet my before he takes his place with Prica to be introduced.

"This is it," he says, but he is clearly bothered. If no one else can tell, I definitely can.

"You alright, Uncle?" I ask. He nods and shakes his head,

"Yea, just still can't get over how lucky you are." He scoffs. "Got to have your cake and eat it too, huh Lover boy."

"Oh God, please don't call me that," I say, immediately thinking of Peeta. "Cato will do just fine."

"Well you guys have a big name now among Panem anyway," he replies. "The Unknown Lovers of District 2."

"Unknown?" I question. Curry nods.

"Yep. No one saw it coming. They were too busy watching District 12 that until you rescued Clove from the forest fire, no one even realized you two had any positive feelings for each other."

I nod. It doesn't surprise me, but Curry gives me a light smirk and grabs my hand in a firm shake. The hard creases of a folded piece of paper dig into my skin and I ball my hand into a fist before it drops from my hand for any cameras around to see. Curry keeps his smile, but also seems to relax a bit as he give me a light solute and leaves to join Prica. I hold the piece of paper hard in my hand, wondering what he wanted to tell me without the Capitol knowing. But I can't risk opening it now. I'll wait until I'm back in my room, if I even have privacy there. But for the time being, I stuff the paper in my pocket and pat down my clothing to cover it up.

I hear the roar of the crowd above me and Caesar Flickerman addressing the audience in a banter of jokes and then he introduces our prep team. Ursula, Flaga, Carnel and the rest of the team take their seats and then a significantly greater amount of applause is released for Prica and Curry.

This is it. The machines below me start to rumble my platform and then I shoot up into the blinding spotlights. Before me just a few yards away another platform holds Clove. I'm frozen in my steps as I see her. The most beautiful creature I have ever seen in my entire existence.

She's an angel.

Although I am stunned to silence and stillness, Clove's bright smile lights up my heart and she leaps into my arms, causing me to stumble back. I wrap my arms around her tightly and bury my face in her lightly scented hair. The happiness I feel right now is incomparable to any feeling in the world. The crowd is painfully loud and I can feel Clove either laugh or cry beneath my tight hold on her. I pull away slightly just to lean back in to kiss her.

It starts gently, then as the crowd's cries grow, so does the kiss. I hold her face in my hands and she wraps her arms around my torso. Caesar comes over to usher us away from the platforms, but I ignore him, pulling Clove back into a tight hug.

"Now, now you two," he says. "There will be plenty of time for that in a minute, if you would please follow me."

I settle my forehead against Clove's and then for a moment, I don't follow him, but then with a stroke of pure glee, I sweep Clove up into my arms like a bride and carry her over to the ornate love seat that replaced the chair for a single victor. The audience goes nuts at my motion and Clove can't help but laugh and wraps her arms around my neck to steady herself. I sit down into the plushy seat and keep her draped across my lap. She doesn't seem to mind.

We settle into our seats and the lights go out. The dozens of screens around us give everyone a different angle of the recap of the Games. It's strange because instead of a typical story about struggle to victory or the king of the hill coming out on top in a fury of excitement, it's a romance. A sudden thought occurs to me.

Everyone, even the camera men are focused on watching the recap. Maybe with the light of the television, I can read the message. I slowly take out the piece of paper from my pocket. Clove notices my disturbance and watches me askance. I lay the white sheet of paper against her dress where it sort of blends in with the color and lack of light. Through the flashing colors of the television screen, I read the message and my stomach drops to my knees.

Clove's stunt in the arena has caused an uproar in the Districts and the Capitol.

The Gamemakers are furious so watch out for them

Just remember, you two are madly in love and incapable of thinking otherwise.

Curry and Prica

A/N: Whew! It's been a while. From how the AU is coming along, it's almost as if I'll be obligated to make a sequel...oh boy...