The Unmatched Beauty (Cato Hadley) - Currently being Rewritten -

Trente Quatre

Marina groaned. Again.

Whilst I understood her pain, I could no longer deny that her loud grunts were starting to get irritating, spinning my mind into madness.

We were both left to defend the Cornucopia, at an appropriate distance as to allow the Capitol's hovercraft to retrieve the fallen corpses.

"Look," I sighed, "I understand that you're hurt, but if you make one more peep, we might as well alert the entire arena where we are. And I am not dying because of your whining".

The taller girl shot me a hateful glare but did not protest. It seems that ever since Clove reprimanded her, she's been an awful lot more docile. Turning her head away in mild fury, she fidgeted awkwardly with the bident in her hand.

The design was sleeker than a trident, but it still seemed much too large in her grip. One could tell that she was not that experienced with it, yet no one could deny that she could still stand on her own when left to her fists. If anything, the bident was more of a stylistic choice to represent her District, rather than being her field of expertise. It also did help that the weapon had a sharp edge to it.

After a few more minutes of silence, she spoke up. "Look," her index finger pointed towards the sky, where a hovercraft was once again taking off, "It's leaving."

"Seems like it." I nodded. "Let's head back then. I'm sure the others will be doing so too."

Weapons strapped over our limbs, and blades in hand, we trekked back to the Cornucopia. Once we made it back, we made sure to check that most things were in order and that nobody had snuck in.

Food? Check.

Medicine? Check.

Weapons? Check.

And so we waited for Cato, Marvel, and Clove to come back. A few hours went by, and the two of us sat in silence, basking in the passing heat. With every second, the sky got darker, until a light shade of orange started to settle on the horizon.

"Figure we can eat yet?" Marina asked.

"We'll have to ask Cato first," I replied, also starting to feel quite hungry. It's been a while since I last ate, and the night was fast approaching.

And as our luck would have it, the missing three were finally back. But they were not alone.

Cato was at the front, with Clove not far behind, her knives menacingly pointed at two lumping figures, a gleeful glint in her eyes. Marvel trailed after her, spear held tight in his clenched fist.

Marina was the first to get up. "What are they doing here?"

Peeta's breath hitched as one of Clove's knives pricked his back in a low threat.

"Bait. Or tracker dog. Whichever you prefer." The shorter girl grinned. "He came at us, believe it or not."

"Did he?" It was now my turn to get up on my feet, patting off stray pieces of grass from my pants. "Now why would he do that?" I faced the stocky blond boy.

"For a chance to live, no doubt." It was Cato who answered me, arms crossed. "He'll have a better chance with us than with his lover from 12."

Peeta meekly nodded, swallowing deeply at my gaze. I raised an eyebrow. He was either being brave, or extremely stupid.

"Fine, I don't see why not. He should know her better than any of us since he loves her so much." I shrugged. "It'll be easier to find her."

"Or it could be a trap." Marina hissed. "As if I'm going to trust a rat from 12."

"What's he going to do, write poetry and stab us with his metaphors?" Cato scoffed. "I thought it was a good plan, so did Clove and Marvel, and now Nini. If you have a problem, you could just leave."

Marina stilled. If she left the alliance, she might as well have signed her death sentence.

"Fine, but if this bites us in the arse, I'm calling the shots next."

She whirled her head towards the other victim of Clove's menacing grip. "And him?"

"Caught him on our way back," Marvel spoke up, stabbing his spear into the ground. "Was frantically muttering about the mines."

Mines? Like a bomb, ka-boom, mines?

"He's a bit of a charmer, this one." Clove shoved the small boy onto the floor, pulling her knives back from both him and Peeta. "If we spared him, for now, he'll rewire the bombs for us."

"And?" I crept up closer to Cato, his hand not so discreetly finding my own, as Clove rolled her eyes when she turned to look at me, irises darting to where our hands intertwined.

"It means that we can set up traps." The brute to my side showed me his pearly whites, joy fleeting in his eyes. "Someone tries to touch our supplies and then-"

"Boom!" Clove cackled.

"And you're sure you can do that?" I turned to the boy.

He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by Cato. "He's from 3, what else are they good for?"

"Alright." I held my hands up in mock surrender, stepping back. "If that's what you want."

Just as I uttered those words, Marvel's stomach rumbled. The tallest of the bunch smiled sheepishly. "Speaking of supplies..."

"Yeah, it's starting to get dark, we should eat," Marina said.

Cato cocked his head to the side, eyes zoning in on the diminishing sunlight. "Right. Nini and I will get the food. Marina, you start a fire, Marvel and the boys can set up the tents. And Clove?"

He glanced at his District partner, who aimlessly twirled a knife in the air before catching it.

"Yeah?"

"Keep an eye on them."

"You got it, chief." She mock-saluted him, an impish smile stretching onto her face.

Cato wrapped his arm around my shoulder, pulling me away from the rest of the crew, and into the mouth of the Cornucopia.

Once in, he buried his face into my neck, arms snaking around my waist, and inhaled sharply.

"You have no idea how infuriating it was to be with those two."

A laugh bubbled up to my lips. "That bad, huh?"

"Clove is one thing, but Marvel and her make one awful pair."

"Got along too well?" I paused for a second. "Hey wait, so you do know his name."

He ignored the latter statement, and lifted his head, before pressing his forehead onto mine.

"No, those two are like oil and water. They just kept on fighting over which way to go."

"Ah, figures." I brought a palm to his cheek, petting it gently. "But hey, you're with me now, right?"

A smile split open on his face. "Yes, you're right."

And his lips latched onto mine.

We definitely weren't going to get that food for a while.

Yes, I am alive. I'm almost completely done with high school (yayyyy) but exams aren't over yet (booooo). Thought I'd take a bit of a breather and actually write for fun for a change. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! As always, stay safe, and don't forget to vote and comment, feedback is always welcome! ;)