star crossed lovers ➸ cato hadley

xvii. guilty thoughts

     Natalie could see feel the guilt clawing at her. She waited for the blue-eyed male to stop and come back. She wanted him to turn around and defy her order. But he never did.

He walked off like she was a discarded weapon; one that was too blunt to work anymore. They hated each other but deep down, they liked each other. Whether it was simply lust or something more, they didn't know.

The pair were too afraid to act on their impulses. Afterall, only one can win. They were both too competitive in the Hunger Games to get involved with one enough. Natalie was on a mission to save her brother, whilst Cato was on a mission to bring glory back to his home.

So they acted on their hatred, not at each other, but at the Captiol and President Snow, pushing the other away to the point of no return. They were on the breaking point and Natalie had taken the final step.

     There was no telling how many days went passed. All the days and nights blurred together. But together, Natalie and Peeta managed to avoid trouble and conflict. They watched the fallen each night, thankful that it wasn't the other sibling that had lost their lives but hatred for Captiol for ever creating the games.

For the past hour, the pair had split up continuously. They searched for food and water, meeting every fifteen minutes for any news or progress. But luck wasn't on their side. Peeta often came back with a few berries, whereas Natalie came back empty handed.

The female tried desperately to catch game, but every time she came close, the small animal would turn to a full grown teenager and she couldn't handle the images that entered her head.

She knew it was the guilt eating away at her. She had killed two innocent children to save her own skin. It was something Natalie vowed she would never do. She wouldn't take the life of anyone but her own.

She had no one else to blame but herself. Nobody forced her to kill Glimmer and Marvel. Nobody had forced the knife into her hands. Though she liked to blame the Captiol and President Snow for her actions, it was time that she stopped. Her actions were purely her own. It was her decision to volunteer for the games. It was her plan she was sticking to. It was time that she took some responsibility.

So Natalie began her mission. She left Peeta behind without any words exchanged and went to find a Clove Kentwell.

Natalie knew that Clove was coming for her but she hoped that Cato had managed to stop her with whatever shred of humanity that was locked inside.

Natalie liked to believe that he cared for her more than he had shown but Natalie often tried to find the good in people. It was one of her greatest weaknesses. She knew that it would get her killed, possibly her twin brother as well.

The female saw beneath the ice cold exterior that Cato liked to portray. There were truths behind the endless lies he told that night on the roof. He wanted a family to care for, he wanted a little sister to protect but all of that was likely to be taken anyway from him. Unless she had something to do with her.

And that's when the final piece of her plan started to take place. But only this time, there was going to be two survivors and she wasn't planning on being one of them.

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sorry for the filler chapter but i was so hyped for this chapter because we start to see natalie's  feelings for cato and it's going to be so cute.