Those Who Rise Shall Fall Again (Hunger Games fan fiction)

Animal I have become

Chapter Four: Animal I have become

The sudden feeling that something was going to go wrong overcame Lucy in her dream. She had been dreaming about her and Marvel back in District 1, where both of them were happy until the sky turned grey and made everything eerie. In the next minute the pair of them were in The Hunger Games and the bloodbath had just begun.

"Run!" Marvel had screamed at her in desperation, She did as she was told and followed him into the depths of the cornucopia. They each grabbed their signature weapons before running back out and trying to kill every tribute in sight, even if Lucy didn't want to.

That was until, they both saw Cato.

His face was filled with cruelty and he was ready to kill off both of them in revenge for what had happened in the 74th annual Hunger Games. He ignored Lucy and went straight for Marvel, she stepped out of the way just in time as Cato faced Marvel. His hands were dripping with blood just like Lucy had remembered they were when she had first seen him in the arena.

Cato's large, strong, bloody hands clasped Marvel's throat. He applied the lightest amount of pressure and Marvel was already going blue; it was still amazing to Lucy how strong Cato was.

"Lucy!" Marvel rasped as Cato held his throat tighter, slowly suffocating him. "Save yourself!"

"But what about you?!" Lucy protested in desperation.

"I'll be — " but he could not finish his sentence, for Cato had got fed up of suffocating him. It became apparent that this took too long for him. Instead, he had ripped Marvel's head clean off, holding it in the air like a trophy. Lucy suddenly flinched awake.

She looked up quickly to see if Marvel was still alive and in fact he was. He was wide awake and was clutching Lucy's hand as well as her. He tried to smile despite her pained look; it was best to get her to smile in the darkest of times.

"Any nightmares?" He asked.

"Y-Yes," she stammered.

"Tell me what happened."

"It was you, Marvel! It was you!"

"What happened to me?" He asked curiously although he already knew the answer. He squeezed her hand. "Go on, you can tell me."

"You, me and Cato were all back in The Hunger Games and Cato...Cato...he tore off your head!" She sobbed and buried herself in his jacket as though this would protect her and so he couldn't see her face.

"Don't worry, I'd fight him off if it were really me," Marvel whispered. "If Cato didn't defeat us once, he'll have no chance the second time because he's...well, dead." He laughed slightly but Lucy just gripped his jacket tighter.

"I hate these nightmares," Lucy whispered.

"I know you do but if you stop thinking about them, they'll go away." Marvel replied and made her face him. "Now, you've got to put on a brave face; we'll be going out to see the people of District 11 soon."

"Are we in District 11?"

"Yes we are but we've been kept on the train because our facilities are much better than theirs."

"You're starting to sound more and more like a Capitol person, you know that?"

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

"OK, maybe I am," Marvel agreed in defeat. "Go back to sleep, if you do the sooner morning will come and the sooner we can get away from this stupid Victory tour..."

Lucy nodded and fell asleep as soon as she shut her green District 1 eyes.

*      *      *