CHAPTER SIX: ANYTHING ELSE, YOUR HIGHNESS?
-----
Cato sat grumpily on one of the lunch tables in the cafeteria. Breakfast had just begun, and he was beginning to feel a little on edge. The meeting last night didn't go as well as he had hoped. Cole hadn't even bothered to show up. And to think, Cole was one of the "valuable assets" Heavensbee wanted for the rebellion team. Where did that leave him, then? Was Cato just as bad as Cole? No, he couldn't possibly be. He was much more mature and smart about things now, wasn't he?
"What crawled up your butt and died?" a voice demanded with a hint of amusement.
Cato looked up and raised an eyebrow at Cole, who was standing over him with his tray of rations. "Excuse me?"
Cole smirked. "You heard me. Why do you look like someone resurrected Clove just to kill her again?"
Cato clenched and unclenched his jaw, before standing up and looking Cole straight in the eyes. "Say something like that again, and you'll regret it."
"You know, it was your fault she died anyway, you practically killed her, " Cole drawled.
Cato practically shook with anger. The nerve of this little twerp! How dare he! "Shut. Up, " he growled roughly, grabbing Cole by his shirt collar.
Flashbacks.
They were flooding his mind - almost distorting his vision.
*
"I'm not letting you die, Clove." Cato told Clove.
Clove stared at him, unable to speak, then wrapped her arms around him, bringing him into a hug. She felt his body tense, then relax.
Her impulsiveness immediately kicked in, and she quickly grabbed the knife from him while his guard is down, and plunges it into her stomach. Dropping the knife, she goes limp in his arms and her vision blurs.
"Clove!" Cato gasps, gripping her tightly in his arms. He lowers himself to the ground, but still holds onto her, and looks at her with a pained expression. "You're so stupid..." he chokes out. "Why would you do that?"
Clove smiled weakly. "Because I love you, Blondie."
Something wet hits her face and she notices that Cato is actually crying. "I'm sorry, " he says. "For every single time I've been a jerk to you. You never deserved to be treated like that."
"It's okay, Cato..." Clove replies, feeling her eyelids grow heavy.
She sees the muscles in his jaw tighten, and he closes his eyes. "I love you, Clove."
"I...love you too, Cato..." Clove murmurs.
*
"-oron, know what I'm saying?"
Cato blinked twice. "What?"
"Aww was someone not paying attention to me?" Cole chuckled. "I said, you're kind of a moron for letting the girl die. I mean, the hero's always the guy. And here you two are - two Victors, and she does for YOU - " Cole starts laughing historically, " - That's just...almost hilarious!"
Cato tightened his grip. "Do you wanna say that again?"
"I'm not scared of you, " Cole replied smugly. "You try anything and you'll get yourself killed."
"I don't ca-"
"Care? Yeah, I know. We all know. You don't care about anything." the smirk on Cole's face grew bigger. "In fact, I doubt you really even cared about Clove. She was your real ticket to fame, after all."
