Cato
Enobaria and I found Graff, Crassus, Forlan, and Kelsa waiting in the Dining Car. I sat down beside Graff. "You two have already won, so I honestly don't think there's much to teach. We'll start practicing," Crassus said and I nodded.
"Alright, so what do we do?" Enobaria asked and he grinned.
"First, both of you will drop and give me 100," He said. I glared at him but obliged. Enobaria and I got on the ground and began doing what we were told. I completed the 100 and Kelsa took me into the TV compartment to do some one on one.
"50 sit ups and a 5 minute plank," She said and I followed her orders. The rest of the train ride was made up of working out, eating, and sleeping. I welcomed a good night's rest after everything the others put me through.
Well, it'll come in handy sometime.
When we reached the Capitol, I was led to the Remake Center to be made pretty. They ran a laser over my chin to prevent me from growing any facial hair. My eyebrows were plucked, my nails clipped, and some weird oil was rubbed into my skin to make it shine.
Afterwards, I met with Willose and she put me in a white silk tunic with gold clasps. The tunic was one-shouldered and bared half of my chest. It reached around mid-thigh and I was given gold sandals to wear.
I met with Enobaria who was wearing something similar to me. The only difference was that hers covered her chest and bared her back. Her hair was done in an elaborate style and someone applied gold makeup to our eyes and the lines of our muscles.
We walked out to where the chariots were and I shook hands with Cashmere and Gloss. Enobaria had already promised an alliance and I went to find Finnick.
"Cato!" He called and waved at me. I raised an eyebrow at his outfit. Finnick wore nothing but a net knotted at his groin.
"Finnick, are you sure you're wearing that?" I asked and he nodded.
"The more Finnick the better," He grinned and tossed me a sugar cube. "So, alliances, eh? I don't know. I don't like the careers much and I care about Mags too much," he shrugged.
Remember Mags? She was so nice.
"Ah. I understand," lowering my voice, I whispered to him, "I saw what she did for Annie," Finnick nodded.
"I'm indebted to her," He said and grinned. "I'm going to go offer people sugar cubes," He said happily and shook my hand. "You're a great friend, Cato," He smiled and went off whistling a tune.
Yeah, said it before and I'll say it again. Finnick is not what you would consider as ideal best friend material.
Shut up, I thought and popped a couple pieces of sugar into my mouth. After a while, I decided to find Katniss.
She was standing beside a horse and was petting it. Her dress was black and her hair had been done with black feathers. Her makeup looked fierce. "Well, look who it is," I smiled and kissed her hand. Katniss smiled at me and looked me up and down.
"Wow, but at least you have more covered than Finnick," she laughed and I nodded.
"Katniss, I want you to know that I love you. Haymitch will help you and I'll try to keep Enobaria away from you. Remember the enemy," I said and kissed her.
Tributes to your chariots! Tributes to your chariots!
I walked to my chariot where Enobaria was waiting. "Cato, she may be your fiance, but I can't honor that if I'm fighting for my life," she said and I nodded.
"If it were down to the two of us, what would you do?" I asked and she sighed.
"You're my sister's son. Think about that," she said and I nodded. The horses began walking and we shot into the sunlight as the Capitol cheered. Enobaria and I raised our fists to the sky and I winked to as many Capitolites I could. Some of them I recognized from our nights.
Suddenly, people began to scream louder and I looked behind me to see Katniss and Haymitch glowing.
Should the drunk be allowed near an open flame?
I chuckled slightly as flowers rained upon our chariot. Enobaria looked at me and gave me a smile. "Your fiance is quite the catch," she said and hopped off of the chariot once we were back inside. I frowned and followed her and our Mentors into an elevator.
"Well, now that that's behind us, we're going to focus on training. Cato and Enobaria, you know what to do," Graff said and I nodded. Our plan was to intimidate the others.
After eating lunch, we were given our training uniforms. They were black sleeveless shirts and loose pants. Putting them on, I went down to the Training Center and pulled a sword from the rack.
Katniss
After Johanna Mason blinded me in the elevator, I lost most of my appetite. Haymitch sat beside me at the table and began talking.
"We need allies-"
"No," I said and he raised an eyebrow.
"Katniss, the people here are not cowering fourteen year olds holding a knife for the first time. They're trained and vicious. They've also known each other for years. You're the newcomer. They'll kill you first," He said and I frowned.
"Who's allied with who?"
"So far, only 1 and 2 are allied. The others will probably stay with their district partners and another district or two."
"We'd better get to the training center then," I said and he nodded. We suited up in the black shirts and pants laid out for us and I waved to Effie.
When we reached the Training Center, I was not prepared for what awaited. It was nearly empty save for a couple districts. I looked to where Haymitch was and saw that he was already sitting on a course with two of his friends, drinking.
Walking around, I decided to see who was doing what. Cashmere and Gloss were throwing knives at the holograms and making each and every shot. Johanna was taking down dummy after dummy with her axe and Enobaria was easily fending off an instructor. Then I turned to Cato. He held a spear and cleanly sent it through two holograms at once.
He looked menacing and gave me a slight nod before going to get a drink of water, sweat dripping from his hair. I walked towards the fire building station and saw District 3 there. After helping them, Beetee taught me how to spot a force field. I didn't know why that would help me in the arena, but I thanked him anyway.
Walking around, I saw Mags Cohen making fish hooks from everything. I approached her and she smiled at me. "Could you teach me how to make a fishhook like that? I can teach you how to shoot a bow," I said and she nodded.
"Hello, Katniss," A smooth voice said and I looked up from my meager attempt at a fish hook. Finnick Odair stood before us, leaning on a silver trident. Mags smiled and pulled him over to the table and handed him a couple pieces of thread and a bottle cap. Finnick sat down and began tying, breaking, and looping things together until he had a hook. "So, ready to enter the arena?" he asked and I scoffed.
"Are you?" I asked and he grinned. Handing Mags the fish hook, he walked away and nodded to Cato along the way. Cato rolled his eyes and chopped the limbs off of dummies once more.
I led Mags to the shooting square and grabbed a bow. It was almost identical to the one I used in the arena. I set the settings for the biggest players in the Games and turned the holograms on.
Nocking an arrow, I let it fly into a hologram's throat. Sending eight arrows in different directions, I emptied the practice quiver and heard clapping. I had a very large audience watching. The Careers spoke by themselves while the other Districts watched. I knew they would want me.
~'~'~'~
During dinner, Effie announced that most of the Districts wanted to align with us. "This will be the year District 12 is allied with the Careers!" Effie laughed and I shook my head.
"I want Wiress and Beetee," I said and scooped some smashed potatoes into my mouth.
"Yeah, Johanna calls them Nuts and Volts. Wonderful choice," Haymitch scoffed and I sighed.
"I want Mags too."
"Well, we'll tell them you're still making up your mind," Effie said and I scoffed. "Speaking of teams, Haymitch, I have a gift for you," Effie pulled a box out from under the table. "I have my hair, Katniss has her pin, and this is yours." She smiled. Haymitch opened the box and I saw a gold bracelet with fire designs on it.
"Thanks, Effie." Haymitch said and slipped it on.
~'~'~'~
Individual reviews were long and boring. After District 2, Cato went in and then Enobaria. Finnick talked quietly with Mags while I tried to keep Haymitch from falling asleep on my shoulder.
Katniss Everdeen. Katniss Everdeen.
I left the empty room and walked into the Training Center. Plutarch Heavensbee nodded to me. "Whenever you're ready."
I walked over to the bow station but stopped. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a painting on the ground. Walking over, I examined it and saw Rue with flowers all around her.
"I'm sorry, but who drew this?" I asked and Heavensbee raised his eyebrows.
"We are not supposed to divulge that information," He said and I felt tears sting my eyes as I remembered Rue's death.
Grabbing a dummy, I went to the paint station and began drawing on it using blacks, whites, reds, and gold. I painted it's hair black and slapped some red on as a shirt and gold for his stupid lapels. In bold letters, I wrote SENECA CRANE in black paint. Out of some fit of misery, I drew his stupid beard on for what I thought was comic relief. Walking to the ropes station I tied and retied one of the hardest loops in the book. Pinning the noose against the ceiling, I brought the dummy forward and strung it for the judges to see.
Most gasped and others glared. I could not give a damn. "Thank you for your consideration," I said and walked out while Plutarch Heavensbee nodded.
One thought remained in my mind. Who had drawn Rue? I walked into the dining hall tributes were allowed to use. Most of the other tributes were there. I sat beside the Morphlings and talked to them for a bit.
Then something caught my eye. The female Morphling, Nadia, had blue and white paint behind her ear. She must have painted it!
"Did you paint Rue?" I whispered and she nodded. "Why?"
"To show them that we were those chil-ren once. That we may die adults, but chil-ren... It is unforgie-ble to take right to live from child," She rasped and I nodded.
"Thank you," I said and she patted my cheek.
"No, Ka-niss, thank you," she said. I didn't know why she would thank me, but I nodded anyways.
I sat on the roof of the Capitol and thought about what Nadia had said. There were no stars in the sky and I heard someone behind me.
"Hey," Cato said and hugged me from behind. I leaned into his touch and sighed. "Are you ready?"
"No."
"Neither am I," He grinned and I nodded. We sat there, just talking. We pointed things out, held hands, joked a bit, and did what normal couples would do. For a second, I almost forgot about the Games.
I imagined we were home in 12, watching the sunset and not worrying about anything. I wished life would be that forgiving. Closer to midnight, Cato led me to the 12th floor and we walked to my room.
"Shouldn't you be on the 2nd floor?" I asked and he took his shirt off.
"Well, I figured if going to die, I'm going to be with you as much as possible," He said and after kicking his shoes off, climbed into bed. I changed into a pair of shorts and a tank top and got in beside him.
I felt safe in Cato's arms and for the first time, no nightmares came to me. He held me throughout the night and I slept deeply knowing that Cato was there.