𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐞𝐞𝐧

── home

          𝔈ver since we returned to the clearing, hovering under a large plateau of rock, it had been raining. Not the normal, light shower sort of rain, but thunderous downpours like we had in the winter back at home. 

Cato and I stayed close together, him starting to heal the wounds that Clove's dagger had caused, and me because the guilt of killing Clove me didn't seem to really leave, no matter what I did. There's a clap of thunder, lightning racing across the sky as rain drips down onto the ground.

"They're trying to flush Peeta and Thresh out." Cato muttered, tilting my head to the side as he examined the cut carefully. "Get them to kill each other. Leave us to Foxface, or vice versa."

We fall silent, before I wince as he presses his finger to a steadily forming bruise.

"Sorry." He muttered, taking more care this time. His calloused hands are warm, much warmer than the air around us, and he treats the injuries with a care that I had never really pictured him to have. When he finished, his hand rested on my cheek, rubbing my cheekbone gently as I looked up at him. "What's going on in that head of yours?"

"I want to go home, Cato." I whispered, shaking my head. "I'm so tired."

"You'll get home, I promise." Cato nods, catching my eyes with his icy ones. I stare at him, at the determination that hasn't seemed to falter for a moment, not since I met him at least. I manage to smile. "I'll make sure of it."

"I want to go home now." I sighed, before leaning into his touch. "I miss it."

"Tell me about it then."

"I miss the farm." I told him, smiling at the thought of the ramshackle buildings and large fields. "You know, we have over 150 cows at this moment, or at least there were last time I was home. I named each and every one of them."

"You remember all of their names?" Cato laughed, leaning beside me as I began to steal his body heat.

"Of course. When you call them in for milking, you call them in by their names." I explained, before laughing. "I have a favourite. We called her Cream Cheese, because she was cheese coloured and her milk was always creamy. I refused to let my father get rid of her when she stopped producing milk."

"Cream Cheese?" Cato laughs again at that, a warm laugh that in turn, makes me giggle. I like it when he laughs, he looks so much younger than the arena has made him out to be. He seems like a teenager.

"Yes, and then we have herding dogs. My father has one, an old one now, and then I have two. Caspar and Mick." I smile at the thought of my boys. "They're very good boys. They're my good boys. Did you have animals?"

"No, no." Cato shook his head. "I was training since I was young, didn't really have the time to keep a pet."

"They're not pets, per say. They have jobs and they're very useful to me." I pointed out. "Cream Cheese is a house cow though."

"A house cow?"

"Yes, because if I had my way when I was little, she would have slept in the house." Cato laughs again, as we descend into quiet chuckles for the rest of the night, thinking about home and about what we're going to do when we get back.

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

The next three days are much the same. The weather doesn't let up, our food supplies dwindle, and Cato and I spend a lot of time talking about home and things that we're used to from the different districts. Districts don't interact much, so hearing about Two from Cato is astounding.

We continue to laugh, before I break into the spare food that we have, chewing on the bread that Cato had scavenged from his sponsors. 

"There's not gonna be anything to see tonight. Nothing's happened, there's been no cannon." I pointed out to Cato, who was watching the sky all the same.

"Mitzi..." 

I'm too focused on the food, eating quietly and thinking of a plan of action.

"Mitzi."

"What?" I look up at his words, finding him watching me. "What is it?"

"Thresh is dead." It feels like my heart stops in my chest, my eyes widening as I stare at him.

"What? No, you're lying." I deny. "He can't be dead."

"They must have fired the cannon during the thunder and we missed it." Cato replied, his eyebrows furrowed.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's chucking it down, I don't know if you can see anything." I continue to shake my head. "And who would have killed him? You didn't. Foxface couldn't and Peeta's lying face down in a ditch."

Cato tugged me forward, pointing to the sky and for ten seconds, I see Thresh's face on the screen and everything inside of me stops. I sit down almost immediately, staring at it before it blinks off the sky and tears well up in my eyes. 

I can't cry, I remind myself. There's four of us left in the arena, and no one's going to think I have a chance of winning if I start crying.

"It will have been Peeta." Cato muttered, a tentative hand falling on my back as I fight back tears. "He's not as injured as we think he is. Are you alright?"

"I'm alright." I did not sound it. "I'm alright."

"We'll get him." Cato promised, nudging me. "He won't win, not for killing Thresh."

"You know, I've known Thresh since I was three? We went to school together, worked the harvest." I took a deep breath. "He was a good friend. Peeta was in his territory, he shouldn't have been able to kill him. Thresh was strong, he wouldn't have gone down without a fight."

"Then he probably injured Peeta." Cato pointed out. "Let's hope this time it kills him."

Cato and I don't talk much after that. When I settle down to sleep that night, I let myself bury my head in Cato's neck, needing a moment to cry and allow my emotions to take a hold of me without the cameras seeing. Cato understands, not saying anything as I cry, and instead covering my face from all angles, until all I can see is his black shirt.

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

When I next wake, the rain has stopped and Cato is packing our supplies. I know what this means.

"We're going hunting." Cato turns to me, helping me up as I gather my things. We split Clove's knifes, though I don't tell him how I got them. I think he assumes that Clove just threw all of them at me before Thresh killed her, but I can't tell him that I was the one who killed Clove. Not yet. I needed Cato to stay sane, especially with Thresh now dead. I'd tell him when all of this was over.

"Peeta's going to be hunting now." I pointed out to Cato, tightening the straps on my boots as he sharpened his sword. His sponsor's had sent him a whet stone, which I think was pretty expensive. He was the Capitol's favourite, at least I'd assume so.

"Shame." Cato muttered, twisting the sword back and forth. "Alright, come on, time to work for our dinner."

Both of us began to wade through the river, working our way upstream to hide our tracks. The current is strong, and we can't find fish, but we make it back up to where I had healed Katniss the first time. It had taken us a few hours, and we stopped to eat the last of our rations and drink some of the water.

"We'll split up." Cato looked down at me. 2's backpack was still over his back, neither of us having looked in it yet. We were waiting for the right time, or maybe it was because both of us were scared what it would show us. What did we need for our way out? Either way, we hadn't opened it. "Gather food, find rabbit or grouse."

"Alright. You know what food is safe and what isn't?" I double checked, not wishing to lose him. "Can't have you getting poisoned."

"Have some faith, Kennedy." Cato teases, calling me by last name as he grins. "I know what to do."

"Alright, Hadley, if you say so." Shaking my head, I lean up to kiss him, having to stand on my tiptoes to do so. I teach him a bird whistle, not a melody as we would use in the fields back home, but a more simple one so we can communicate even a little further apart.

Away from each other, both of us set about finding food. I set up snares, something I had got a lot better at over the course of the games, searching for tracks and periodically whistling for Cato and waiting to hear him call back. It's like playing games when you are little, where someone hides and then calls for the seekers to try and find them. I loved that game.

I have a couple of fish and a rabbit to show for my hunting endeavours, which I am pretty proud of considering I hadn't hunted before all of this. Grinning to myself, I whistle, but hear nothing back. I hurry along, before emerging in the clearing. Cato turned, before his eyes went wide at the sight of me.

"I whistled. You didn't whistle back." I muttered, already knowing what his question would be, and Cato grins, before showing the pack in his hands.

"Sorry, blueberries. I know you like them." I did like them.

"That doesn't mean don't whistle." I took a deep breath, happy to have him in one piece still, though I checked him over just in case.

"I'm sorry, Mitzi. I didn't hear." Cato shakes his head, putting the berries down, concern growing on his face. "Hey, you been snacking?"

"What?" I narrowed my eyes. Cato turns me around, pointing at where our packs were. By the side of them was a sheet of plastic, more blueberries appearing, having spilled out on the floor.

"You haven't been eating those have you?" Cato looks panicked now, eyeing me carefully.

"No, wha-no, I only just got back here." I shook my head. "Why would-"

The cannon sounded and both of us paused. 

"What did you do?" I turned back to him, whispering, as Cato relaxes immediately now that he was sure I hadn't eaten them. "Cato?"

Turning back to the berries, I began to pick them up, looking at them. They looked like blueberries, each one the same as the one in Cato's hands, except, there's something off. I can't tell what it is, but I know that there's something wrong with them. He reaches over, before squashing one in my hand.

Instead of a dark pink juice, that most blueberries have, this one runs purple, almost black. The sour smell hits my nose, and I drop it.

"Those are nightlock."

"Yeah." Cato nods. I caught on pretty quickly.

"Did you paint the nightlock to look like blueberries?"

"Yeah." Cato nodded, before watching as a hovercraft appeared a hundred yards or so away, a glint of red hair being lifted into the sunlight. Once again, I'd somewhat underestimated the tall man beside me, who was continuously proving that yes, he might be a soldier and a good warrior, but he was smart. Dangerously smart. "I knew she'd try and wait it out, thought she'd come and steal food from us at some point. So, I painted the nightlock to look like blueberries and she was so scared that she fell for it, instead of relying on all that training she did."

"Huh." I twisted to look at him, as Cato merely smiled. "Clever."

"Thanks." Cato winked, before grabbing the rest of our stuff. "Let's start a fire, I'm hungry."

──⭒─⭑─⭒──

Hiya,

So, there was a chapter called painted berries earlier on, and Cato says that he has blue hands from eating blueberries, but it's actually stains from painting the nightlock to look like blueberries. He's been planning things, which is kind of scary. Anyway, Thresh is dead, Foxface is dead, Mitzi just wants to go home and I respect that.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx