17
Cato
She's done it. The whole room is silent as she talks Finnick to sleep, to death. I'm crying – Finnick was a good guy, but I'm so happy she's coming back to me. As Claudius makes his announcement, everyone pats me and Haymitch on the back but I'm not paying attention; I'm watching her grief-stricken face as she leaves the arena.
I demand to see her as soon as her hovercraft lands. She steps off, straight into my arms and breaks down in tears. She's lost so many, watched so many die, and so young. "Katniss, I love you," I whisper but she's hysterical now, screaming, "They laid down their lives for me. For us. I should be dead and you know it. God. I hate myself."
She collapses on the floor and I kneel next to her, whispering soothing words to her as she falls asleep on my chest. I keep expecting Peeta or Clove to come and help me, but they're never coming. Because they're dead. I think about all their families, about Gale's mom, Peeta's dad, Clove's brother. All the pain and suffering and for what? I cry myself to sleep next to her.
When I awake, I'm in a bed, with Katniss beside me, still unconscious. Haymitch is at the door and I jump out of bed, ready to do whatever he needs. "You'll need to wake her. The President wants a word. With both of you, please." I nod and kneel down next to Katniss' side of the bed. "Baby, you need to wake up now. We have to go and talk to the President." She wakes up instantly and looks into my eyes, whispering, "God, I love you. I'm so sorry I flipped out at you, I didn't mean it. I was just upset. I love you… I love you."
I nod, saying, "I love you too babe, so much. Now please will you get dressed?" She nods and uses my arm to haul herself up. I smirk, so graceful. But that reminds me of Finnick so I shake that thought immediately. Or I try to. In fact, I am remembering the first time I met him, when he got really drunk and started dancing, taking the piss out of me. I only need to take one look at Katniss to see she's remembering it too. "We're so the same," I whisper and she nods. We dress quickly and hurry down to Snow's office.
"Katniss, Cato, how good to see you both alive and well," he says and his eyes are sparkling. We both nod with genuine warmth; we're glad he honoured his side of our deal. "I just wanted to let you know that, starting from now, you have 9 months to ready yourselves for our little deal. Ok?" We both nod again; it's so strange being part of this, where we pretend everything is nice and jolly when in fact we're dealing in dangerous territory.
He's about to dismiss us when Katniss interrupts, "How's Prim? Is she ok? Being fed well? Does she know about Rory?" Snow laughs, "So many questions, my dear. She is ok, being very well-fed, and no, she doesn't know about Rory. I was actually going to arrange a little rendezvous, for the two of you. I thought you might like to show her the clip yourself. Beautiful voice by the way, we may use that."
She nods curtly and simply asks, "When?" Snow smirks and the cold is back in his eyes, reminding us that he is dangerous as he replies, "Soon enough. How's Thursday?" She nods once more and asks, "Can you promise me something?" Snow raises an eyebrow and she continues, "Please, don't hurt our family. We'll do anything you want but don't use our family against us anymore. Any children we may have are ours, ok?" Snow, seeing the desperation in her eyes, nods. Katniss heaves a sigh of relief before dismissing herself and sweeping out of the room.
Katniss
Thursday. I get to see my Prim on Thursday. Despite the evil behind his words, that meeting went really well and I jump into Cato's arms happily. "Come on," he says, "Let's go get ready for your post-Games interview. I have to warn you, it won't be easy." I nod and my eyes well up before letting him lead me to my prep team.
He sits by me all day, talking about everything and anything. Just before they leave, he says, "Octavia, Venia, Flavius, can I ask a question?" They all spin at once and nod, speechless because he's actually addressed them. I know for a fact that they're all secretly in love with him, which I find hilarious.
He asks, "Don't you think Katniss' voice is beautiful?" and they all instantly begin to compliment me, falling over their feet in their desperation to gain his approval. I smile at Cato's smug face and he says, "Ok, thank you - that will be all." They all retreat, practically bowing as they leave the room.
I jump onto his lap, laughing and say, "That was mean, and those compliments mean nothing because they were just trying to impress you." He laughs, a joyful sound, and says, "That's not the point. Everyone knows now that your voice is absolutely gorgeous. But I'm the one who gets to hear it every day. Lucky me." I giggle and lean in for a kiss. He runs his hands through my hair at which point we hear a voice, saying, "Mess up her hair and I'll have you hanged."
I turn, still straddling Cato, to see Cinna in the doorway, with one eyebrow raised. I stick my tongue out, give Cato one last kiss and run over into his arms. "I knew you could do it, baby! You're fabulous. And you." He turns to Cato and says, "You got her through it. So thank you. Now go, we have to get ready and I don't want you seeing her until you meet again on stage." Cato nods and obediently leaves, blowing me a kiss as he goes.
About an hour later, I'm ready. I'm wearing a flowery knee length dress, and as I look closer, I realise the flowers are primroses, surrounded by Katniss. In one patch, just over my heart, however, is a bunch of Nightlock berries. I glance at Cinna who nods, mouthing, "They probably won't even notice." I step out onto the stage to thunderous applause and I realise what I have to do now. Oh god.
Caesar hugs me and sits me down. I search the room, where is Cato? Caesar just laughs and says, "He'll be here in a moment." I settle into the sofa and he begins questioning me. "So, Katniss, congratulations. It seems you can do no wrong here in the Capitol and you're certainly a girl of firsts. First to volunteer for their Games from 12, first to come out of two Games alive, first to marry another Victor, first to win the Games without killing any tributes, first to do so twice! You're outstanding!"
I don't know what to say to this so I just shrug and say, "I had really good allies. Friends who were willing to give up their lives to save me. And I love them all so much." I'm getting choked up now, which Caesar can see, so he says, "Beautiful. Just beautiful. Shall we bring out your husband now?" I nod desperately, and whisper, "Yes, please."
Cato rises onto the stage and runs into my arms, lifting me up. I hook my legs round his waist and he kisses me. I hear a coughing from the side of the stage and Haymitch frowns at us, so he puts me down and we sit together on the sofa. Caesar sighs, "Ah, young love. We adore it! So, anything to say before we start the recap?" Cato shakes his head, "Only that I am so proud of my wife. She is a brilliant person and so deserved to win." Caesar nods in agreement and they begin the recap.
The bloodbath is so short it's laughable. However, this is where Ros, Clara, Rory and Peeta all got injured. I didn't notice this when I was up in my tree. Then I start to climb down but I am pursued by the Career pack. Oh god, they were so close. I only had one job, staying alive, and I almost messed that up. I watch as Clove, Thresh and Finnick kill them. Finnick killed his friend for me. He made so many sacrifices – I feel so guilty. I watch as I climb down slowly and Finnick takes my hand to help me with the last few feet. Cato grips my hand slightly tighter, and I know he sees something I don't.
Cato
Love. I can see it in the eyes of all the boys in the arena. They all love her; so much they'd lay down their lives for her. Maybe not in a sexual way, but they do love her. Katniss glances at me and I realise that I'm gripping her hand tightly. In that moment, I realise that she has no idea, no clue the effect she has on people. It's almost like she has us all under a spell, Caesar, Haymitch, all the citizens of the Capitol. Nobody is strong enough to withstand it, not me, not Brutus, not even Johanna. What else can she do?
Katniss
Whatever, on with the Games. When I'm down from the tree, we see the massive row between Thresh, Marvel and Clove. We watch them kill each other and I can see my pain reflected on Cato's face. I remember how I mouthed a message to him and they cut to Cato watching the Games, tears rolling silently down his face as he writes me a message, the one I got in my parachute. Then Ros and Rory die, and the whole room falls silent as I sing.
I hate listening to my voice back but it's soothing and it comforts me to know that Rory would have been calm when he died. Cato puts an arm around me and kisses my forehead before turning back to the screen where Peeta is suffering in silence. I hate him for not telling me, I might not have made it better but now we'll never know. I see that Cato sent him some cream and I kiss him now, silently thanking him for letting Peeta die in peace.
The next few minutes are boring for the audience; they begin shuffling and whispering but then Johanna darts out of the trees, kills Clara and they both die, along with Brutus. It's so fast I barely realise it is happening but they're all gone instantly and I'm crying on stage as the on-screen me realises it's down to the final 2. Oh Finnick. I don't know if I can watch this.
Finnick and I are by the lake, so close together that the audience can't hear what we're saying. It doesn't matter. They don't need to – that's between me and him. I remember it so vividly it will be in my nightmares forever. The banter that carried him to the end. The hurried promises. Then suddenly he stabs himself in the stomach. It makes sense to me, and to Cato, but it shocks the audience. Women are sobbing as the beautiful Finnick Odair dies in my arms and I can't help but join them.
'He died happy,' I remind myself but this is wrong. This isn't how Fin should have lost his life. Oh how I loved him. I loved them all. "He's with Annie now," Cato whispers and I smile, remembering his reason for all this anyway. All of a sudden I'm jerked back to reality by Caesar, who asks, "Well Katniss, I don't think I've ever seen a victor watch their Games back with quite as much emotion as you did. I suppose it's because your alliances were so strong."
It actually takes me a moment to realise he's talking to me, but I put my game face on and answer with a laugh, "I guess that's true. I can honestly say I got on with most of the people in that arena and a large portion of them were my friends, so it was really hard to see them die."
Caesar nods, an expression of false sympathy and understanding on his face; he has no idea how it feels. He asks a question then that is difficult for me to comprehend, let alone answer, "Who do you wish was still here with you?"
Both Cato and I choke slightly at this question and he holds my hand tightly as I reply, "Wow. That's a tough one. I guess… I'd have to say Peeta." Cato nods in agreement and Caesar pulls a face, asking, "But Katniss, I have to say it seems that you were very close to Finnick. Almost like lovers."
Cato balls his fists and chokes out, "Just what are you implying, Caesar?" I wave him down and answer coldly, "Finnick and I were very close. He was a great friend of mine and we bonded over our losses. But the love of Finnick's life had passed away and he missed her so much, he couldn't live without her. I would never want to keep him here where he wasn't happy."
Caesar nods and asks, "But Finnick's true love… Annie Cresta, wasn't it?" Cato and I both give a slight nod of our heads, suspicious of what is coming next. Caesar claps his hands and shouts, "But Katniss! Annie is not dead. Here she is." I gasp as Annie walks onto the stage, eyes red and bloodshot.
I can tell she's been crying almost as much as me. But what strikes me immediately is that she doesn't look angry, which she should be. She just looks desperate, like she needs something from me. And as I break down in tears, she pulls me into her arms and just whispers, "I know, honey. Don't do this now. I need you to be strong for me." Her tone makes me realise that she has a plan and she gives me the strength to finish the interview. But all I can think is, 'I let someone die who had someone waiting for them.'
Hey guys - I finished my exams! Yay! Hope everyone enjoyed this chapter - please review xxxxxxxxxx