Interdistrict

Chapter 1: Broken

Coral looked from Cato's smug expression to Seneca Crane's raised eyebrow.

"No! NO!" Coral protested in a tone of desperation. "You can't do this!"

Seneca ignored her outburst as he seriously considered Cato's suggestion. "It would make the lead up to the games more interesting. Those who were rooting for her would be devastated once the news spreads."

"That's all I'm saying sir," Cato smiled at the game maker.

"No! Y-You can't seriously be considering this. It's not fair! She'll die as soon as the game starts!" Coral was panicking. She barely felt Finnick's hand on her shoulder. It did nothing to calm her down.

"She was going to die anyway," came Cato's nonchalant response. Coral suddenly saw red and without thinking she lunged at Cato. Finnick's reflexes were quick though and his arms circled around her middle and held her firmly in place.

"Coral! Stop!" he hissed in her ear. But she couldn't hear him. The blood was pounding in her ears. All she wanted to do was knock Cato to the floor and beat him repeatedly until he bled all over the pristine hospital tiles.

"Ms Blackstone," came Seneca Crane's cold voice. He moved slowly and stood in front of her, finally acknowledging her. "Control yourself. You are an embarrassment."

His cutting words snapped her out of her aggressive state and she became almost limp in her mentoring partner's arms. Crane simply walked out of the infirmary hallway unfazed.

Why was she surprised? These people were soulless. Why did she even care? Caring about anything only meant inviting more pain into your life. She knew this, so why didn't she just give in and let herself become numb like the other mentors. Coral sighed and absentmindedly played with the jade owl pendant on her necklace. Because I made a promise. That's why.

The blonde 74th Hunger Games victor didn't make any move to leave the hallway. He was looking at the district 4 tribute through the infirmary window with a grin. He was lucky that Finnick was still holding Coral in place.

"You did this!" she growled to his turned back. He turned around and shrugged.

"Just gives my tributes a better chance in the games. It's nothing personal 4." He then looked her up and down. She suddenly felt as if his eyes were burning into her skin and she felt her whole body become more alert and her cheeks flushed uncontrollably.

Cato cocked his head to the side as he examined her. Her eyes shot daggers at him, her cheeks were a rosy pink and her mouth was open slightly breathing a bit heavier than normal. She clearly hated him but he didn't care. She was stunning. He briefly wondered why he hadn't noticed her properly before. She had been around for the last two years since she was the Victor of the 79th Games but he had never truly seen her.

"It's cheating!" she spat out venomously.

Cato's eyes that had wandered down to the strappy red high heels she was wearing snapped up to her accusing eyes.

"How is suggesting that your tribute enter the Games with her broken leg cheating?" he asked in a condescending tone.

Coral's eyes narrowed. "Do you seriously expect us to believe that this wasn't part of some plan of yours to have her fall down the stairs and be rendered useless?"

Cato scoffed. "Sweetheart, both my tributes scored a 10 for their skills and your girl scored a 7. She had no chance to beat them. Do you really think with those scores that I would feel the need to sabotage your tribute?"

"Corry that makes sense." Finnick said as he let go of her gently.

Coral glared at Finnick as if he had betrayed her. What Cato was saying made sense but she hated him for convincing Crane to not have Violet's leg healed before the games. With the technology they had in the Capitol the doctors could easily fix it within a day and she'd be back to normal. She would have had a chance in the games.

"Violet." Coral snarled.

"What?"

"Her name is Violet not tribute." She snapped. The blonde rolled his eyes and placed his hands in his suit pocket as he made to walk through the hospital hallway doors.

"You shouldn't care so much 4. It's a lot more fun that way."

Both Coral and Finnick watched as he left. She disliked most of the former victors accept for a select few, but disliking Cato didn't even come close to describing how much she loathed the district two mentor.