When There Are 25- A Clato Story

A Victor's Nightmares

Clove POV

"Let's get you to sleep," Cato says like talking to a child. Usually I'd get annoyed at him for it, but I'm too tired to right now. He swings me off my feet and into his arms and carries me to our bedroom.

He sits me down on the bed and walks to the bathroom. He comes back with a bottle of makeup remover and cotton pads in his hands. He pours some of the liquid onto the cotton and wipes the makeup off my face. He then gestures for me to stand up and he unzips me dress and helps me step out of it. He grabs a T-shirt of his from the wardrobe and slips it over my head. He pulls my arms through the sleeves carefully.

"You're going to be a great dad," I say, knowing he will be.

"I'm getting so much practice taking care of you," he jokes looking up at me. He picks me up and lays me on the bed gently and pulls the covers over me. Cato kisses me forehead and slowly leaves the room. I wonder where he's gone for a second but realize I'm a little too tired to care. My eyes slowly flutter close and I fall into the world of sleep.

I'm back in the arena and I see Glimmer standing a mere few feet away from me. She turns and she has a screaming baby in her arms. Thresh crashes through the trees in front of us and Cato barrels after him, rage on his face. Thresh also has a crying baby in his arms. I get a better look at the baby Glimmer is holding. It's a boy with blond hair and bright green eyes. The blond hair is identical to Cato's. Thresh stops next to Glimmer and holds a knife to the baby. Cato stops in his tracks and slowly walks towards me, his sword brandished dangerously. The other baby looks like a girl with beautiful blue eyes that are a perfect match to Cato's. The babies are our twins, I realize with a horrible shock. I draw a few knives and hold them in my hands, ready to throw if necessary.

"You took my life from me, so now you're going to lose everything good in your's," Glimmer snarls and stabs the baby. The baby screams and goes limp. Thresh stabs the other one and this time, I scream. Cato lunges forwards but is dragged back by the mutts that attached us in the arena. He kills a few but more immediately take their place. I try to move but I am frozen in place, I can't even throw a knife. I have to stand there and watch as the mutts attack Cato. He is eventually overpowered and the mutts leap on him, their teeth digging in. He yells and screams but they don't stop. A canon blows and I am released from my frozen state. Thresh and Glimmer have turned into mutts and I'm silently begging for them to end me to, but they won't.

"Clove Sevina, the Victor of the seventy fourth Hunger Games!" A voice announces.

"No!" I scream. "Kill me! I've lost everything!"

"You can always lose more," a voice whispers eerily. Bodies appear around me. Finnick, James, my mom, my dad, Katniss, Peeta, and my friends from 2.

"No!" I screech again. I keep screaming and screaming.

I bolt up in the bed just as the door swings open. Cato and my parents rush into the room and run to me. Cato reaches me first and I grip him tightly.

"You're safe, you're safe," Cato soothes. I just cling to him tighter. My mom sits behind me and rubs my back soothingly. My dad walks out of the room mumbling something.

"I saw you die, I saw everyone die," I whisper shell shocked. My hands run across my stomach and am I relieved when one of them kicks.

"It was just a dream," Cato whispers into my hair. My dad comes back in the room with a glass of water. He attempts to hand it to me but I shake my head and bury my face into Cato's chest. I hear him sigh and set it down somewhere. Cato's arms snake around me and gently pull me into his lap. I relax slightly, feeling safe. I always feel the safest in Cato's arms. My eyes start to close again and a few moments later I'm asleep again.

Cato POV

I relax a little when I see she's fallen asleep again. I ease her out of my arms and back onto the bed. I pull the covers back over her and kiss her forehead softly. I stand up and look at her sadly. I turn to her parents standing in our room. "Do the nightmares ever go away?" I ask referring to the nightmares that the games cause.

"No," Brutus states bluntly. I sigh and look to my sleeping fiancé on our bed in worry. I feel horrible that she'll have to deal with this.

"Sometimes they'll get better or worse though. Mine were better after James and Clove were born," Enobaria says in an attempt to reassure me.

I squat down and gently hold her hand. "You really love her, don't you?" A new voice asks.

I turn my head to see Finnick Odair in the doorway. "More than anything," I answer truthfully.

"Take care of her, Cato," Finnick demands and walks from the room.

"You will take care of her, right?" Brutus asks, needing reassurance from me.

"Of course, I love her," I promise her parents honestly.

"Thank you," Enobaria whispers and throws a concerned glance at her sleeping daughter before walking quietly from the room. Brutus follows without a word and softly closes the door part way behind them.

"I feel like we're losing our daughter, Brutus," Enobaria confesses. "Whenever she had a nightmare, we would be the only ones able to calm her down. She ignored us, she only wanted Cato."

"We're her parents, Baria. He's her everything. They're having twins together, they love each other. She's growing up, but we'll never lose her," Brutus reassures.

"I know, it just feels weird. I always knew they loved one another, I just..." she says, trailing off at the end.

"She feels safe with him, safe enough to fall asleep in front of thousands of people," He jokes.

"She must be exhausted. Carrying one baby was plenty for me," Enobaria admits.

"You were a handful when you were pregnant with James and even worse with Clove," Brutus says, thinking back.

"I was not! I was an angel!" Enobaria disagrees.

"Angel of death, maybe," Brutus jokes back.

"Agree to disagree."

"Since when do you agree to disagree? Usually, you fight until you get what you want. What did you do?" Brutus asks, suspicion creeping into his voice.

"Why do you always assume that I've done something? I'm not that bad," Enobaria protests.

"Yes, you are. I should be watching my back," Brutus says cautiously. Their voices fade out of earshot and I turn back to their daughter in front of me.

"I love you, Clo. I'll never let anything hurt you ever again," I swear to the sleeping girl. My eyes start to droop and I fall asleep with my head against the bed and my hand in Clove's.