𝔖𝔱𝔞𝔯 ℭ𝔯𝔬𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔡 - Clove and Cato/Clato

XXX

I walked into the room where my gladiator outfit was displayed. The sleeves and pant legs were the same color of dark red as my reaping dress, and at the center held a golden armored bodice.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" Apple said with a sigh.

"Cinna really outdid himself this time," Effie smiled.

"Eh, I've seen better," Wine replied, to which Apple nudged him to shut up.

Once my new "prep team" of capitol refugees finished my look, they directed me to the mirror to see for myself. My hair was in a single bubble braid held from the top of my head trailing down my back. My eyes were smokey and gold flakes were packed on beneath my waterline. It was as though I was crying pure gold.

I heard a knock at the door. I nodded to Jewel to allow whoever it was in. Heavy footsteps cascaded onto the floor as my vision panned up to meet the face of my father.

"Clove," He softly addressed, "Wow. You look just like your mother." I said nothing in response and looked away. "Can we talk? Please? Just for a minute?"

I looked around at Apple and the others, then hesitantly nodded to let them know to leave us. They did as instructed, Apple taking one last worried glance at me before leaving. I sat down. "I'm listening."

"Clove... I know it hasn't always been easy, but I just want you to know how proud I am of you."

"Proud?" I questioned, voice quivering. "You are proud of me?"

He nodded and stepped closer. "Yes. Yes, Clove I am proud of you. And I'm sorry for the way I treated you in the past."

"Sorry? Do you know just how long I've been waiting to hear you say that? Just how long I've been working toward getting you to be proud of me? To notice me? The hours I spent training and working and beating myself up, just to come home to a man who wouldn't even look at me?! You turned me into a monster." I scoffed at him. "All these years I waited...but now that the time has come, I don't care. You taught me not to care. You sent me out in those games to DIE, and now you want to go and tell me you're proud of me? You never expected me to come back, did you? So you should be proud and disappointed at the same time. Because while you succeeded at turning me into a monster, you failed to get rid of me. And I hate you for that."

I could feel tears running down my face, but I ignored them. "You're not a monster, Clove. You're anything but that. I watched your games. You love that boy. I can see it in your eyes."

I stood up. "You can't see anything. Get out," I demanded.

"What can I do to make it up to you? What can I do to prove myself to you?" He pleaded.

"Nothing! I don't want you! Get out!" I raised my voice.

"Clove, please just-"

"I SAID GET OUT!" Without realizing it, I had thrown one of my knives directly into his chest. It sunk in, but did not touch his flesh, as he had a protective vest on.

Haymitch came bursting through the door, running toward me, holding me as I fell to the ground to break down in an overwhelming fit of emotions. "She said get out of here, man!" Haymitch shooed.

My father grimaced at him. "You're not her dad," he stated sternly between clenched teeth before pulling my knife out and dropping it on the floor.

The clatter of my knife echoed around the room as Haymitch clutched my face and tried to pull me back to reality. "Hey," he stated. "In just a few moments, you are going to walk through that door, and you are going to film the most badass propaganda clip and you are going to inspire a shit ton of people. But you need to pull it together."