A/N: Hello my lovlies! So I just want to thank everyone for reviewing :) it makes me so happy to read them! I just want to answer one question someone asked, wolfess49ers I believe the username was. No, Cato is not Landon because Syra was in her twenties and Cato is around nineteen now. Alright, thanks guys and enough of my rambling! Enjoy :)
Cato and Katniss reach the beach, both gasping due to the physical exertion. Katniss is holding on to his shoulder. She looks at him, still breathing hard.
"I'm sorry about her," she says.
"It's okay. I never really knew her but I just felt really bad for how hurt she was." he replies quietly. Katniss nods and leans forwards, kissing him on the cheek. Haymitch and Finnick join them, Finnick is looking behind them, obviously wondering where their other member is. He looks to Katniss for an explanation and she only shakes her head. A moment later, he gets a solid answer when they hear a canon. Finnick clamps his jaw shut, looking down at the ground.
"She wouldn't have lasted long, we all knew that." Haymitch says to Finnick, who simply nods.
A sudden noise makes all of them jump. The leaves are rustling, and then two people tumble out of the shrubbery. It looks to be Beetee and Wiress, the two Tributes from District 3. They're covered in... Snow? However, the white powder soon melts off, leaving the two of them covered in water. Finnick takes a step to go to them but Haymitch grabs him and pulls him to a stop, looking at them suspiciously.
"We need to wait, they could be-" Haymitch begins but Finnick cuts him off almost instantly.
"Look at them! They're freezing and we know them. They're not a threat. Now let go of my arm." Finnick snaps and hauls his arm out of the man's grip. He runs forwards the two tributes, who are visibly shaking and Wiress has turned blue.
"What happened?!" Finnick asks as he drops to his knees in front of them. He takes Wiress's face in his hands and tilts her face to get a better look at her. Her nose has began to bleed.
"There was a sno-snow storm. We were-weren't prep-prepaired for it." Beetee says. He has his arms crossed in front of his chest, and he's trying desperately to stop the cold.
"The waters warm, why don't we put them in there?" Cato suggest, gesturing to the water. Finnick nods. It's not the best way to warm them up, but it looks to be the only option now. They ease the two tributes into the water, Finnick still tending to Wiress and Cato and Katniss with Beetee. It takes a good twenty minutes for their shivering to stop, and during that time Finnick was able to swim up to the Cornucopia and grab some blankets. They get the Wiress and Beetee back on the beach and wrap them up, making sure there's no chance of them getting cold again. Katniss has noticed that Beetee has held on to something the entire time he's been with them.
"What's that?" she asks him.
"Just a coil," he mumbles and fiddles with the copper wire.
"What's it for?" she asks him. He glares at her, annoyed with her questions.
"I think I have a way to kill the other tributes, now please I need to focus." he says and Katniss backs away. Cato is sitting next to Haymitch in the soft sand, still sore from his wounds. Katniss is looking at him, biting her lip.
"I think we should go get medicine," She says out loud. The three men look up at her curiously.
"Now where are we going to find that, sweetheart?" Haymitch asks gruffly.
"There," she says and points to the Cornucopia. Cato rubs his hand over his face and Finnick chews his lip, looking doubtful.
"You know what happened last time we went there..." Finnick says quietly.
"There were three careers last time, now there's only one. We don't need to stay there for very long, just to grab some supplies," she says. She looks at Cato, who is clearly weakened from his battle with Gloss. Haymitch is going through serious withdrawal from alcohol so he could probably use some painkillers because she could bet he has a bad fucking headache. "Guys, we need to do this. Please." she says. They sigh, but eventually nod. Cato goes to stand up, to go with her to the Cornucopia, but Haymitch grabs him and hauls him back to the ground.
"Not a chance, sorry kid, you're not fit to do much of anything at the moment. Katniss and Finnick will go." he says. Cato begins to argue, but Katniss shakes her head as a signal to stop. It's pointless arguing with Haymitch.
"We'll be back soon," she says. She smiles at him, and then turns and joins Finnick. Cato watches her go, still annoyed he couldn't be with her.
Suddenly, a blood curdling scream rips through the air which causes everyone to jump. They look up and see an enormous tidal wave crashing through the jungle. It sweeps away trees, bushes, basically anything in the path. Then it hits the force field surrounding the cornucopia and the water and dirt explodes against the invisible wall.
During this, Haymitch grabs him and pulls him close, putting his lips against his ears. Cato jolts away, startled by the man's move, but then Haymitch hauls him close again.
"Listen, there is a revolution about to happen and Katniss is going to be the symbol of hope. We need to get out of this arena, will you help us?" he asks. Cato notices that Haymitch has his fingers wound around the knife in his belt, obviously ready to use it if Cato says the wrong answer.
Fortunately, Haymitch didn't need to use the dagger.
"Yes, I will do anything you need me to." He answers. Haymitch nods and leans backwards, sprawling out on the sand. He had used the commotion of the tidal wave to cover their conversation. He's a clever man. Finnick and Katniss have almost reached the Cornucopia and Cato sits up, keeping his eyes glued on their figures. Everything is relatively quiet for a few moments, but then his world seems to erupt in chaos. Two tributes, from District 6 and 10 by the looks of it, appear almost out of nowhere on the island. He sees one of them jump on Katniss, their hands wrapped around her neck. The other has is fighting Finnick. Finnick shouts at Katniss, but the person he's fighting shoves him back and makes him fall into the water. Cato is running to the beach, getting ready to swim to the Cornucopia when he hears someone running behind him. He turns around just in time to duck and save himself from getting a knife in his neck. Enobaria stands behind him, looking at him with a malicious grin. Her mouth is covered in blood, and he immediately looks to make sure Haymitch is alive. He is, but he and Beetee are sitting beside something. It takes him a moment to recognize that it's Wiress... Or was Wiress. What remains is a corpse with her throat ripped out.
Enobaria laughs at the shock on his face. She runs her finger over her mouth, getting a good amount of blood on her finger before she puts it in her mouth and sucks it clean. She leans forwards, her right hand clenched around a spear. She looks at him and her next words sound like a hiss "You're next, baby."
She throws herself at him and they both crash into the water. His sword goes flying out of his hand and lands a few feet away from him. He managed to wedge his knee between the two of them, so the spear didn't make contact with his stomach as Enobaria planned, but instead with his bicep. Pain shoots through his arm, but he gets an extra rush of adrenaline and he manages to kick Enobaria off him. He pulls himself through the water and grabs his sword. Enobaria's just about to jump on him, ready to rip his throat out. But his sword makes contact with her stomach first. Her face falls into one of utter shock. He kicks her off, making her slide off the blade. Then he slams the sword down on her chest and a canon goes. If there was anyone in his District who didn't completely hate him before, they sure as hell do now.
He stumbles backwards and lands on the beach. He looks up and to his relief sees Katniss and Finnick running back from the Cornucopia. They have medical packs under their arms and some food. The other two tributes who attacked them are lying dead on the island, most likely Katniss's doing. She reaches him and kneels down, taking his face in her hands. She looks at him worriedly.
"Are you alright?" she asks.
"I just killed my old mentor, Katniss. I've done something unforgivable..." He mumbles. She hugs him tightly.
"We've all done something like that, it's alright." she whispers. She stands up, extending her hand to him. The two of them run to where Finnick, Haymitch and Beetee are surrounding Wiress. Katniss begins to rummage through the medical pack, but Finnick puts his hand over hers and shakes his head.
"It's too late," he mouths. She nods and closes the pack with a heavy heart.
Wiress looks scared and looks up at Beetee. Beetee can't explain away death to her with large numbers or words. She's dying and he knows there's no saving her now. So he just holds her hand tightly.
"It'll be alright. Don't be scared." he whispers. Katniss can see his glasses fogging up from the tears that are now in his eyes, but he swipes them away before anyone else can notice.
The canon goes off thirty seconds later.