Brutal, bloody mentor.

The End.

Time seemed to stop the moment Deja swallowed the final pill.

She had no idea what effect they'd have, but knowing how frowned upon love within The Hunger Games was, she didn't expect anything less than them being fatal. And she was okay with that. Finally, she had taken matters into her own hands, and after seeing what winning The Games done to her mentor, she was certain that she'd rather death than to continue life at The Capitol's plaything. 

'...Deja.' The young woman was so caught up in her own thoughts to notice Cato had ended his relentless torment on his other tribute, pulled out of her head by his soft voice calling out for her. How funny. She thought, as the weight of everything from the past 80 hours began to crash down onto her worn out body, or maybe it was the drugs already taking affect.

'Hey, hey. It's ok. He can't hurt you anymore.' His voice was soothing as blood drenched hands cradled her face, crimson staining her pallid skin as he drew her into his chest. 'We - we don't have long, baby elephant. Let me hold you for a moment before we get you out of here.' Deja shouldn't have found her brutal, bloody mentor comforting, yet in that moment, as poison pumped through her bloodstream, she found solace.

'Cato... Don't be a part of their games anymore.' Deja whispered, finding enough strength to reach out for him and settle her hand upon his face, doe eyes examining his face as if she was taking in every crevice of his features, a haunting smile creeping in.

'What are you - Don't talk like that - Deja -' It took him a minute for the adrenalin of his kill to subside, for Cato to finally put all the pieces together. Deja was usually pale, but now she was unnaturally so, a tinge of purple beginning to discolour her rosey lips, his eyes trailing from her unreadable expression to the empty pill bottle that lay beside her. 'NO.'

Cato acts without thinking, scooping Deja into his arms before kicking at the white walls in desperate, futile attempts of escape. 'Save her! Kill me! I can't -'

Cato doesn't hear Deja's profession of love with her final breath.
A minute passes before Cato gives up and sinks to the ground, cradling her body, unaware that in his rage, he never got to say goodbye. 

'I love you.' The victor whispered into her hair, waiting to hear it back.

Cato never heard it back.