Selected Future (Hunger games-Cato love story-AU)

Train Ride and Arrival

//Cato's POV\\

I looked at Ash as she stood in the middle of the compartment uncomfortable and uneasy. I sigh as I step forward taking her upper arm in my hand before leading her to her room. Once we arrived I stepped in with her in front of me before I turned around and shut the door behind me. I turn back to her to see her sitting on the bed playing with her fingers while avoiding my gaze. "Why didn't you tell me?" was all I said as I still stood standing by the door looking at my stuttering fiancé. "Uh... we-well, you see... uh I wasn't suppose to t-tell anyone about me...uh... volunteering for the games so... I didn't tell anyone even thou-though I wanted to tell you and everyone else." I nod before sighing still seeing that Ash was sitting there uncomfortable under my gaze. I walked towards her and knelt in front of her as I took her hand in one of mines while the other was on her cheek softly. "I understand now that you explain... hey... hey look at me..." I move her chin slightly making her look at me while my gaze softened. "I'm not mad at you alright? I'm just scared that instead of leaving you home I'll be mentoring you for the Hunger Games... I don't want to lose you to this... I promised.... I promised Elis that I would protect you and that's what I plan to do, now more than ever." I tell her as she looks me in the eye and nods lightly.

I laugh lightly before I sat on the bed beside her still holding her hand. "To be honest I'm still surprised that I'm going to be marrying you... hopefully..." At this I hear her laugh softly sending a warm feeling to grow in my chest. I smiled at her before I began to stare ahead at the door, and that's when I heard her giggle out of no where. I look at her to see her looking at me with a glimmer of playfulness in her eyes. "What?" I ask as she was still smiling widely at me, "You just seemed so concentrated on the door ahead of you." I look at her confused until I laughed myself, finally getting why she was laughing at me. We sat there laughing when we were cut short by a knock on the door and a high pitch voice came through, "Get up and ready! Dinner is going to be served in just a few minutes!" I gave an over-exaggerated sigh before standing and walked over to the door. I may be a victor of the 71st Hunger Games but I'm also still a seventeen year old boy. I turn to Ash and see that she was smiling at me with a glint of awe in her eyes. "How can you act like nothing is wrong, when in one day we'll be at the Capitol getting ready for the games..." My smile falters a little but I turn away from her before I walked over to the window.

"It's not that I don't notice the things that happen or are about to happen... I just think about what really matters and that maybe sometimes this is just a test to see how strong I can be for myself and for the people around me." I sigh and continue to look out the window watching the landscape fly by..."As you already know we're from district two... we have a reputation to be tough and emotionless so that we can be victorious... I knew that if I didn't create a mask to hide who I really was then I would of died in the games... Whenever I was on camera or in the capitol or whenever I was in the arena... I thought about Jamesin and Talia and how I couldn't leave them behind just because I couldn't keep my emotions hidden... That's why I act so brutal in front of the camera, I worry more about myself than the needs of the Capitol. I act like this because I have a feeling that I need to be this way to show I am strong enough to go through this pain and that I'm strong enough to still be myself in the end." To finally be able to tell someone what I was feeling was like taking an immense pressure off my shoulders.

I was about to turn around when I felt Ash hug me from behind. "Even though I still hold a grudge against you... and I have a feeling Elis trusted you through the games.... and I know that you may of left her for dead, but... I'm willing to trust you and give you a chance, so that you could show me that you are really not who you seemed to be as in the arena..." I nod and turn my body in Ash's arm before hugging her back. Just as I was enjoying this comfortable silence with Ash another more forceful knock came from the other side of the door. "You guys might want to come to dinner since Violetta is throwing a little fit that your not there yet." Ziath spoke from the other side of the door making me nod then realize he can't see me, "Alright Ziath... we'll be there in a minute!" I hear Ziath's footsteps walking away from the door when I finally let Ash go and take a small step back to get a good look at her face. She smiled shyly at me before she took my hand in hers and led me to the door and out into the hallway. As we walked down that hallway I couldn't help but look at her and realize that even though I basically 'killed' her friend and without her permission, am engaged to her, she is still willing to give me a chance. I smiled at the thought that someone beside Mixa, Naith, my family, and Elis wanted to get to know me for who I really was.