Cato stands on the stage, waiting as their District escort rambles on and on about the glory of the games, the honor of them...
Last year, those words meant the world to him. This year; they're nothing more than horse shit.
Beside him, the three other male Victors are scowling at him. Brutus was snarling at him, his blue eyes stormy with hate. Cato's pretty sure that Brutus has lost his mind many years ago.
"The female tribute for District 2 is Savera Lowenek!"
Cato's head snaps up and he sees Savera flip her golden hair and smile, her white teeth jumping against her ruby-red lips. She begins to make her way to join the escort, but then a sharp voice forces her to stop.
"I volunteer!" Enobaria shouts. She steps forwards, shoving a very pissed off Savera out of the way. Enobaria is wearing a golden dress that hugs her slim figure and her dark hair is hanging down her back in curls. She takes her place and lets out a startling war cry, which makes the crowd erupt in applause. The escort tries her best to calm them down and moves on to the male tribute.
Please, please not me. They'll volunteer for me if I'm chosen. Please let it not be me, Cato thinks as the escort reaches into the bowl. She fishes out a piece of paper and opens it, but then smiles and scans the crowd, making them jump and start screaming at her to read it.
"The male tribute is Brutus Willif-"
"I volunteer as tribute!" Cato shouts before she can finish her sentence. Brutus lets out a startlingly loud scream and looks like he wants to rip Cato to shreds, but Cato pays him no mind and instead just shoves him out of the way to join Enobaria and the escort. She glares at him as he stands beside her and bares her fangs.
"You're not one of us." She hisses.
"I don't want to be," he responds, his voice seeping with anger. Their icy blue and dark brown eyes lock on to each other, almost as if they're daring the other to make a move. But eventually have to break away when the escort begins to lead them to the train. Before stepping on, Enobaria swings around and slams her hand into Cato's chest, completely stopping him from entering the train.
"You won't be welcome with the career's this year, Cato." She snarls, baring her fangs once again.
"Try to listen closely," he whispers, leaning down and pressing his lips to the sensitive skin of her ear. A shiver ripples through her body. "I said before; I don't want to be. So if you think that saying this will threaten me or frighten me, than you're as much of an idiot as that escort." He finishes than shoves his old mentor out of the way, and due to his strength, he almost makes her topple over. She snarls again at him and he knows that he's going to be number one on her kill list once they get into the arena.
Katniss and Haymitch sit on the train; Haymitch is drinking while Katniss stares at the ornate lamp fixture opposite them. Being the only two Victors, they had to go as tributes, they had no other choice. They still haven't said a word to each other about the situation and Katniss doubts they will until they arrive at the Capitol tonight.
They hear the clicking of heels and Effie's high-pitched voice follows. She sits in the plush chair opposite them and lifts her chin high, taking a deep breath and forces a smile.
"So we'll be arriving at the Capitol right on schedule. Now, everything will be different about the games simply because it's the Quarter Quell. The Capitol has spared no cost; even building a brand new training center..."
Katniss knows she should be listening, but she tunes Effie out and focuses on the lamp once again. Haymitch will tell her all this stuff later tonight and she doesn't want to listen to Effie's voice at the moment. She still can't believe Commander Thread wouldn't let her say goodbye to her family. This year, she's going up against Victor's who have all killed before and many will be itching to kill again. There's a thousand to one chance that she'll be getting out of this and they couldn't have the decency to let her say goodbye her loved ones? Her fists ball together as anger and hatred for these disgusting people makes her blood boil. Haymitch glances over and places a hand on her shoulder, giving it a reassuring squeeze. She lets out a small smile and slowly releases her first, noticing the small, red, crescent-shaped marks that her nails left on her palm.
There's only one consolation to her about going to the Capitol; she gets to see her friend, Cato.
When they arrive at the Capitol, Katniss has to half carry Haymitch to his room before dumping him on the bed. He lets out a weird sort of groan and she rolls him on his side in case he vomits. She sighs and brushes some of the dirty blonde hair from his eyes.
"What have they done to us?" she says quietly. She knows he won't answer, so she stands up and begins to make her way out, but before walking she looks over the side of the bed and, in his grubby hand, sees a half empty bottle of spirits he was drinking from. She grabs it so that he won't drink it tomorrow before they have a chance to talk about what their plan will be. She walks out, flicking off the lights as she does so. She'll come back and check on him in a few hours.
She goes out into the large living room, intent on finding something to eat and throws out the bottle of spirits as she does so. She snoops around for a while until an Avox arrives and looks at her curiously.
"Can I have some food please? Some lamb stew and grain?" she asks. She's in the mood for something familiar tonight. The Avox nods and disappears, as silent as a mouse.
Effie has gone to bed by now so it's just her in the living room. She sits on the soft couch and eagerly awaits the Avox's return. It returns soon with a steaming bowl of grain and stew as well as a glass of water. The Avox places it on the table in front of her, nods and then goes to stand silently in a corner. Katniss nods her thanks and tucks into the meal, consuming half of it in two minutes. It's spicier than last time, which must be why the Avox brought water for her. She chugs down the water and then continues on eating. She's about to lift another bite to her lips, but a knock at the door interrupts her. She wrinkles her brows, who could be knocking at this time in the night? She drops her fork, annoyed at the interruption but makes her way to the door regardless. She opens it and lets out a relieved sigh at the sight greeting her.
"Cato," she breathes. He offers her a small smile and opens his arms and she doesn't hesitate in wrapping her arms around his chest. Being in his arms is as comforting as when she used to hug Gale like this. Gale, however, smelt different. He smelt like the woods, like the coal from the minds. Cato doesn't smell like that. He has strong cologne on which makes him smell sweet and spicy and comforting to her.
"How are you?" he asks as he retracts his arms from around her body.
"Oh, I'm was just swell. How are you?" she asks. He smirks at her, his icy blue eyes twinkling.
"I'm the same. Listen, I have to go back because Enobaria will notice and she'll have both our heads. I'll talk to you tomorrow," he says. He kisses her quickly on the head, much to her surprise. She doesn't mind though, at least it wasn't on the lips because she probably would've tasted like lamb stew and that would've just been weird. Cato smirks at her once again and then disappears down the hallway. Katniss runs back and wolfs down the rest of the food, then makes her way to bed. She knows Effie will be waking her up extra early tomorrow. She pulls off her clothes and drops them in a heap on the floor. She goes to the dresser and searches in it until she finds something to her liking; which is just a sleeveless grey shirt and black cloth pants. She changes into them and quickly climbs into bed; ready to try to sleep and forget about the horrors of the day.
Her night is restless as she dreams about dead kids and sharp spears. It seems she only shut her eyes for ten minutes before Effie's loud voice forces her to jolt awake.
"Katniss! Wake up; it's a big, big day!"
Katniss rolls over and covers her ears with a pillow, trying her best to block out Effie's voice, but then Effie suddenly appears in front of her and rips the pillow off her and shakes her shoulder, making Katniss release a growl.
"Cinna needs you! It's the day of the Tribute Parade and it's time to make you look decent now get up!"
Cato sits in the chair in front of his stylist, as they ponder what to dress him in. It's a mix between suit, armor like last year and simply grey underwear which is supposed to represent stone but he knows the real reason is to show his entire body. He hopes to God they don't choose that one. It takes some bickering and a glare from Cato to finally decide on the grey, stony armor. Enobaria looks fierce in hers, despite the tunic she's wearing barley covers her bottom. It does however reveal her long legs, which will make some sponsors go crazy for her. Cato's leaves his back completely exposed, which hopefully works in his favor for getting sponsors himself.
Their stylists scurry around them, giving a last sweep of black makeup on Enobaria's eye, dousing Cato in cologne and then they reveal their finishing touches; a hair pin and a necklace. They twist Enobaria's hair into a bun, and then use the grey gemstone hair clip to make it stay. They give Cato the matching gemstone necklace on a long silver chain. They want to try to show the sponsors that Cato and Enobaria are united, even though many already know that's complete bullshit.
The stylist's do a final inspection of the two tributes, and they can barely contain their joy and pride at their excellent work. They give them their approval and the two are quickly ushered out to the awaiting horses.
Cato scans the crowd of Victors, and even he must admit most of them look really good. He sees Finnick Odair saunter over to Katniss, a cheeky grin plastered on his face and a sugar cube in his fingers. To his left, he sees Johanna Mason yelling at her stylist, clearly upset with what they put her in.
He sighs and shakes his head; he finds the Victors behavior odd.
"You seem disappointed."
He jumps at the sound of the silky voice behind him. He turns around and is greeted by Syra Jardine of District 9. She won the 69th Hunger Games and has been a Capitol darling ever since. Cato can't blame them; she's truly a stunning human being. She has ivory skin, pale blue eyes and thick black hair. She has her head tilted and a smile on her pale lips. She's wearing barely anything on her chest, only a few beaded necklaces that have been strategically placed to hide the front of her breasts. Her skirt is fashioned out of beige material that resembles grain stalks and has a large slit running the length of her leg and Cato can barely manage to tear his eyes away from the soft looking skin.
"I said you seemed disappointed. Aren't we pleasing to you?" she asks, her voice dripping with silk. Her eyes travel up and down his body and she's clearly impressed by what she sees. She takes a step closer to him, until she's pressed against his broad chest. He doesn't really know what to say or even do for that matter, what does one say when they have a Victor pressed against their chest...?
Syra goes on the tip of her toes and presses her lips to his ear, making the delicate skin under his ear erupt with goose bumps.
"I know we're not what you thought, but do not be so quick to pass judgement on us... despite what you have seen or heard," she whispers. Then, with that, she just gathers the hem of her skirt in her hand and walks away as if nothing had occurred between them. Cato just stares at her with a look of pure confusion. Yeah... These Victors are really weird.
"What was that about?"
Cato glances at Katniss who had managed to come up beside him without his noticing. Well of course he didn't notice, not after what happened with Syra. Katniss looks a little annoyed, to Cato's overwhelming pleasure.
"Is someone a little jealous?" he asks, laughing at her immediate response of punching him in the shoulder.
"I am not at all! I was just wondering what she was doing- oh, never mind!" she grumbles, frustrated at the tall boy beside her. Cato smirks again; he loves how easy it is to tease her. Though soon those playful feelings are gone as he notices how striking she looks in the tight fitted black dress that her stylist has chosen. It has a low neckline and hugs her body all the way to her ankles. Her hair is braided over her shoulder and there's black makeup around her eyes, almost in a feather like design with hints of gold. She's definitely the most beautiful tribute there.
"What?" she asks when she finally notices him observing her.
"You're looking good, Sparky. Though I hope your partner isn't in the same get-up." He says and she snorts as a reply.
"He looks better than you do, 2. I'll see you after the parade." She says and walks to join Haymitch. He smirks again, but that falls as soon as he sees Enobaria approaching him. She's glaring at him, which is all she seems to do these days.
That night, Cato stands in the shower, trying his best to scrub away the overwhelming smell of the cologne they dumped on him earlier. He hates this stuff, and they knew that fucking well. He's convinced they did it just to piss him off. The parade went as well as can be expected. No one fell of their chariots and Katniss and Haymitch's costumes went up in flames as they rode through the Capitol. All eyes were on them, of course they would be. After that, Cato managed to leave his annoying stylist and head back to his rooms- but he ran into a naked Johanna Mason on the way there. He didn't even bother to question it.
It takes him nearly an hour to finally get rid of the smell, but his skin is now tingling and red from the rough scrubbing. He grabs a fluffy white towel, wrapping it around his waist before going back into his room. He was thinking of going and visiting Katniss again, like he did last night, but he nearly jumps out of that towel when he sees who's lying on his bed. It's Syra, the District 9 tribute. She's wearing nothing but sheer white night-gown that reveals every single inch of her bare body underneath.
"How the fuck did you get in here?" he asks, rather alarmed that she could get in here so easily. She sits up, flicking her hair off her shoulder and looking at him with wide, innocent eyes.
"We may only have a few days left to live, Cato, but that doesn't mean we have to be alone," she says quietly. Cato considers this, and eventually realizes she's right. He's not going to get this from anyone else... So why shouldn't they? They don't want to be alone. He realizes his feet have been moving and he has reached the bed. He has Syra's face cupped in his large hands. Her breathing is quick, and she seems unsure for a second.
"Are you sure you want this?" he asks her, his voice hushed.
"Yes." She answers and then their lips crash together.
The next morning, Katniss sits with Haymtich as he tries to ease his hangover with food and water. She hands him a jar of marmalade and piece of toast to add to his plate.
"So there were no nightly visitors last night?" he mutters as he rips off a chunk of toast.
"No, actually there wasn't." She responds, already annoyed with him. She does, though, find it odd that Cato didn't come to visit her last night. Oh well, she's sure he had a perfectly good explanation.
"Katniss, we need to talk about something." Haymitch says between bites of sausage.
She looks up at him, suspicion clouding her grey eyes. She swallows her mouthful of potatoes and gestures for him to continue.
"Allies."
"Not a-"
"Will you shut up for one second and listen to me?! You think you can actually take these people by yourself? I knew you were stupid, but I didn't think you were this stupid." He grumbles and takes another bite of sausage.
"Fine. Who were you thinking of?" she asks. Haymitch seems shocked that she actually agreed.
"Finnick maybe and-"
"Cato." She interrupts and Haymitch sighs.
"Oh, of course we'll have your boyfriend there."
"He's not my boyfriend, but yes I want him. And you can have Finnick, there is that a good compromise?" she spits out and quickly stands, shoving her plate of food away.
"You know, for a second, you actually seemed agreeable. I thought you had taken your happy pills!" He shouts at her as she walks out.
"Fuck off! And get changed, we have training in half an hour." She snaps back at him, which causes him to smirk. He takes another bite of toast then stands, wiping his greasy hair out of his eyes with equally greasy fingers. As he walks to his room to get ready for another day of hell, he ponders over her words. He knows Finnick wants to be allies, they discussed this last night after the parade. But no matter what Katniss says about him; he won't ever trust that District 2 kid. And he's scared that he'll stab Katniss in the back; literally.