A Love To Die For | Clato FanFic

Chapter 6 ~ More Than Just Tribute Partners

Cato POV

After a couple hours of well-deserved rest, Marvel wakes me up for my turn to be on watch. Slowly I stand up, shaking out my sore joints and rubbing my neck that had gone stiff. Now it was mid-day, and the sun was beating down harshly, I walked over to our backpack which was looking alarmingly empty.

Inside I found a few stray packets of dry fruit and crackers, a loaf of bread, and our bottles which were full of water. Marvel must have filled them up whilst we were sleeping. Immediately I know that we'll have to head back to the Cornucopia soon, but we can survive one more night.

One hour turns into two, and I can't take just sitting here anymore. "Wake up, let's go." I say, somewhat quietly as I kick each of their legs. They looked startled at first, not seeming to remember where they are, but they then begin to stand up.

"Alright where are we headed?" I say energetically, but am answered with a round of tired groans.

"I'm so hungry!" Glimmer whines and come to think of it, my stomach is starting to grumble as well.

"Fine, fine," I say grabbing the backpack and walking down to the river, as everyone follows close behind. We all sit in a line along the riverbank, and I hand out a generous chunk of bread and dry fruit to all of us. I give a slightly smaller portion to the District 12 boy, who doesn't seem to be hungry anyway.

The food goes down quickly, but it is enough to settle my stomach. As we prepare to head out for another day of searching for tributes, I look expectantly at the District 12 boy for direction.

He notices my stare and looks dumbfounded for a moment, but then tries to sound confident when he says, "She must be around this area, I know she is." He gestures towards the woods.

"Whatever you say," I reply and follow him as he starts leading down the bank of the river.

It only takes about an hour of walking around in the deathly heat for us to get sick of it.

"I'm done!" Marvel says, frustrated. "We're never going to find anyone like this."

"Why don't we just split up?" Clove suggests.

"Good idea," Marvel replies, looking around at the rest of the group. We all give him an approving nod. "Okay, Clove and I-"

"You, Glimmer and Lover Boy can go together." I say, cutting him off. "Clove and I are used to working with each other." I lie, but before he can argue, Clove walks over by my side.

"Meet back at this point at the river before the death recap this evening, alright?" Clove says.

Clove POV

I can feel Marvel's eyes linger on me. I could tell he wasn't expecting Cato to jump at the opportunity to get me alone, but it's a win for both of us. He gets some quality time with Glimmer, and I get some with Cato. To be honest, I wasn't expecting Cato to do that either, with how he's been acting lately.

As we start heading off in a direction opposite them, I have to ask Cato. "Why did you want to go with me?" He shrugs his shoulders and doesn't say anything. I have a feeling I won't get anything out of him, so I don't push any further.

We follow the rocky, uneven path of the riverbank upstream. I watch as orange, grey, and blue fishes head in the opposite direction to us. We don't speak much, mostly because we were out of breath from having to hike up a dry, rocky hill. The uneven, lose soil that crumbles under my footsteps makes me nervous. We hadn't heard any cannons or seen any signs of other tributes nearby at all.

Once we reach a small plateau on the hill we stopped to catch our breath. The small, flat area was concealed with tall, thick trees, and the once rocky riverbank quelled into a soft, more muddy terrain. In this area, the grass was softer and the scratchy pine needles became more sparse. On one side was a particularly sharp drop in elevation, where no one would be able to climb up, and the other side was the gentle gradient which we had walked up.

I sat on the cliff-like edge of the plateau and dangled my legs. Since we weren't extremely high up, I could only see the tops of a few trees and a decent sized section of the twisting and turning of the river which we followed.

The sun was beginning to set, so I knew we only had about an hour or two before we had to meet Marvel and the rest of the group back at our original spot by the river. Cato walked up and sat next to me. For a few moments we were silent, both admiring the beautiful golds and pinks of the sunset which bled into the sky.

"I don't like her you know..." Cato says, looking down.

This took me by surprise. "Who?" I said, playing dumb.

"You know who," he says, turning to face me. "She just..." He stops for a moment, looking pained. "She reminds me of Anise."

Anise. I swear I had heard that name before, I just couldn't put my finger on it. It's not just this that boggled my mind though. How can he act like he doesn't care one minute and then be opening up to me the next?

"Remember Anise? She was our female tribute a couple years ago."

Her! A floury of memories from watching those games comes back to me. I remember she was so close to winning, she was in the final 5. Our District was going crazy, having never had a tribute so young make it so far; But in the end she was betrayed by her only ally – A boy from District 4.

I'm confused about what she has to do with him. "What about her?" I say carefully, as it seems like a sensitive subject.

"We dated for a bit. She was different to the others, but it wasn't meant to be I guess. My father hated her too, probably because she made me happy." I'm lost for words, not knowing what to say. I share his sadness, but at the same time I can't help but feel awkward. "You're lucky your family loves you."

I pause for a moment. Is that really what people think? "Yeah... I guess that's how it seems, but they don't actually care about me. No one from home cares about me, not unless I win." I spit out.

Cato's icy blue eyes connect with mine, and for a moment I feel like I'm stuck in time. He reaches up his hand and carefully brushes away a strand of hair which had fallen on to my face. Then he moves his hand under my chin, pushing it up and closer to his face.

"I care about you Clove. I always have." He whispers so quietly that no camera would be able to hear, just me.

Those few words were enough for me to forget about any anger I had felt towards him. I allowed him to lean in and kiss me. This kiss was different than the one we had shared the night before entering the arena. I feel like now I really now Cato. Not just as my tribute partner, but as a friend, more than a friend.

His hands cupped my cheek and I just sat there, taking it all in and never wanting it to end. I could feel Cato begin to pull away and instinctively I push my head forward, causing our lips to clash once again. I will never be able to get enough.

After what felt like a lifetime, Cato pulled away and this time I allowed him, as I caught my breath. He tilted his head towards the sky which was now falling dark. "We better get going soon," he says.

As we started heading back it began to dawn on me, the whole of Panem would've just watched that moment between us. A moment which I will probably remember and savour till the day I die, is readily available for the whole country to view. Sick bastards.

When we meet back up with Marvel, Glimmer and Lover Boy we already know neither of us found anyone, apparent by the absence of cannons. Lover Boy is walking in the middle of Marvel and Glimmer, who seem to be ice cold to one another. Poor Marvel.

A/N - I'm working on releasing the next chapter on Christmas! Hope everyone has a good one <3