𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲-𝐨𝐧𝐞
── the final interviews
𝔄bove me, the anthem booms and I can hear Caesar Flickerman greeting the audience. He must know how import every word is from now on? He'll want to help us, won't he?
The crowd breaks into applause as the prep teams are presented, and then Aurelia's introduced after that, along with Cato's Capitol supervisor. I wonder how long Aurelia's waited for this moment? I'm the first District 11 kid to win in a long time, and I can understand that this will mean a lot to her. Varya and Cato's stylist receive huge cheers of course. They've been amazing, some of the best in the game with the exception of District 12's two. Geare, Jasmine, Enobaria and Brutus (who'd been Cato's advisors) had at least five minutes of cheers, the four of them being praised for everything that they'd managed to do, working together to get two tributes out of the arena.
Then it's my turn.
I can feel the metal plate lifting me up to the stage, lights blinding. The deafening roar rattles the stage and as I turn, I catch sight of Cato. He looks so clean, so healthy and beautiful, I almost don't recognise him. But his smile in the same, he's put his façade back on of being the warrior, but I don't care. When I see him, I fling myself into his arms, clutching onto him.
He almost stumbles, but stays strong as I hold him, his hand snaking into my hair, my face buried into his neck. We just cling to each other as the audience goes insane. Then, he's kissing me, properly kissing me, and all I can think about is that Cato's here, he's here. He's back and alright. After another few minutes, Casear Flickerman taps on his shoulder, but Cato just pushes him aside without even glancing at him, kissing me again until I wasn't sure if there was any oxygen left in my lungs. The crowds were going wild, and one wink from Cato made me realise that he knew exactly what he was doing.
Then I knew it was gonna be okay. Cato knew, he knew what we had to do, he and I could work together again.
Finally, Geare interrupts us, shoving the both of us towards the victor's chair, causing much laughter. Normally, it's a single, ornate throne thing, but this time, it's a plush red velvet couch. Cato sits first, and I slide in next to him, pulling me legs up beneath me as I let him wrap an arm around my shoulder. I lean further into his touch as he laughs and shakes his head. He's wearing a crisp white shirt, his own tribute gift on display between the unbuttoned material, and dark pants. On top of that was a dark blazer, contrasting the pair of us completely. I looked the innocent Golden Girl, whilst he looked the fearsome warrior.
Caesar Flickerman makes a few more jokes, and then it's time for the show. This will last exactly three hours, and it's require viewing for all of Panem. The lights dim, the seal appears, and my stomach feels like it's in knots, but I master my face and make sure that I look calm. Despite how much I don't want to see the other deaths over and over again, Cato is beside me. If he's with me, I was pretty sure that I could stomach anything.
Condensing several weeks into three hours is quite a feat, especially when you consider how many cameras were going at once. Whoever puts together the highlights has to choose what sort of story to tell. This year, for the first time, they tell a love story. I know Cato and I won, but a disproportionate amount of time is spent on us, right from the beginning.
The first half hour or so focuses on the pre-arena events, the reaping, the chariot ride through the Capitol, our training scores, and our interviews. There's this sort of upbeat soundtrack playing under it that makes it twice as awful because, of course, almost everyone on-screen is dead.
Once we're in the arena, there's detailed coverage of the bloodbath and then the filmmakers basically alternate between shots of tributes dying and shots of us. Of course, the moment where Cato throws me the spear is shown a few times, from different angle, and I smile at that. I had thought he was going to kill me.
It shows Cato and I doing the things, though for the first part of the arena, neither of us are anywhere near each other. It shows him leading the career pack, hunting down tributes, fighting Peeta and injuring him. On the other hand, I've been relatively tame. It shows me and Thresh sorting out our supplies, hunting and then parting ways, it shows me saving Katniss after Cato's lot trapped her, it showed our plan, showed me doing my job of starting the fires, it showed Cato killing Katniss...
I try not to let the shock register on my face, half turning to look up at Cato, who's face barely changed. He hadn't told me this. He'd killed Katniss?
Looking back, I saw that it had moved on. They played our full kiss in full, show me almost dying, show Cato's panicked face before he killed his Career friend, all of it. Things pick up from there on in, it shows me and Cato training together, laughing, kissing and hunting.
Then it shows me killing Clove, and I can feel Cato's eyes on me. I hadn't told him that I'd done that. They show that death in full as well, considering it was my first kill of the games. It shows me and Thresh parting ways.
Objectively, I can see the mutts and Peeta's death are as gruesome as ever, but again, I feel it happens to people I have never met.
And then comes the moment with the berries. I can hear the audience hushing one another, not wanting to miss anything. A wave of gratitude to the filmmakers sweeps over me when they end not with the announcement of our victory, but with me pounding on the glass door of the hovercraft, screaming Cato's name as they try to revive him.
It was probably my best moment of the entire video if I'm honest.
The anthem's playing yet again and we rise as President Snow himself takes the stage followed by a little girl carrying a cushion that holds the crown. There's just one crown, though, and you can hear the crowd's confusion — whose head will he place it on? — until President Snow gives it a twist and it separates into two halves. He places the first around Cato's brow with a smile. He's still smiling when he settles the second on my head, but his eyes, just inches from mine, are as unforgiving as a snake's.
That's when I know that even though both of us would have eaten the berries, I am to blame for having the idea. I'm the instigator. I'm the one to be punished.
Much bowing and cheering follows. My arm is about to fall off from waving when Caesar Flickerman finally bids the audience good night, reminding them to tune in tomorrow for the final interviews. As if they have a choice.
Cato and I are whisked to the president's mansion for the Victory Banquet, where we have very little time to eat as Capitol officials and particularly generous sponsors elbow one another out of the way as they try to get their picture with us. Face after beaming face flashes by, becoming increasingly intoxicated as the evening wears on. Occasionally, I catch a glimpse of Geare and Jasmine, which is reassuring, or President Snow, which is terrifying, but I keep laughing and thanking people and smiling as my picture is taken. The one thing I never do is let go of Cato's hand.
The sun is just peeking over the horizon when we straggle back to the Training Center. I think now I'll finally get a word alone with Cato, but Enobaria and Brutus take him to the second level whereas I get taken up to the Eleventh one.
"Why can't I talk to him?" I ask Geare, who pats my hand. I had to talk to him, about everything. Especially about the fact that I'd killed Clove, and he'd killed Katniss. It was vital.
"Plenty of time for talk later. Go to bed, you're on air at two."
Despite Geare running interference, I'm determined to see Cato privately. After I toss and turn for a few hours, I slip into the hall. My first thought is to check the roof, which had become our spot over the course of training, but it's empty. Even the city streets far below are deserted after the celebration last night. I go back to bed after that, having found the elevators to not be working, but sleeping is hard when all I can remember is Cato killing Katniss, and his face as he watched me kill Clove.
──⭒─⭑─⭒──
I have about five minutes to eat a bowl of hot grain and stew before the prep team descends. All I have to say is, "The crowd loved you!" and it's unnecessary to speak for the next couple of hours. When Varya comes in, she shoos them out and dresses me in a a different white gown, this one floor length, and more whimsical, much like my first interview gown, and golden shoes to make me closer to Cato's height. She adjusts my makeup until I seem to glow, and we make idle chitchat about what else happened during the show last night.
I can't shake the feeling that I'm being watched constantly.
The interview takes place right down the hall in the sitting room of Eleven. A space has been cleared and the love seat has been moved in and surrounded by vases of red and pink roses. There are only a handful of cameras to record the event. No live audience at least.
Caesar Flickerman gives me a warm hug when I come in. "Congratulations, Mitzi. How are you faring?"
"Fine. A bit nervous about the interview," I say.
"Don't be. We're going to have a fabulous time," he says, giving my cheek a reassuring pat.
"It's just different..."
"Nothing you say will be wrong," he says.
And I think, Oh, Caesar, if only that were true. But actually, President Snow may be arranging some sort of "accident" for me as we speak.
Then the elevator dings and Cato's there. He looks handsome dressed in a red suit this time, and he pulls me off to the side carefully, trying to force a smile for the others.
"Why is your mentor so set on keeping us apart?"
"He's very responsible." I reply diplomatically, tilting my head as Cato does the same. Cato seems to catch on to my discomfort and hums for a moment.
"Well, there's just this before we sort out what's happening at home." I didn't have the chance to ask him where home was, was it District 2 or 11, nor did we get to bring up the two deaths that are hanging over us, because Caesar was calling us over.
"Oh, go ahead and curl up next to him if you want. It looked very sweet." So I tuck my feet up and Cato pulls me in close to him, just like we used to do in the arena.
Someone counts backward and just like that, we're being broadcast live to the entire country. Caesar Flickerman is wonderful, teasing, joking, getting choked up when the occasion presents itself. He and Cato already have the rapport they established that night of the first interview, that easy banter, so I just smile a lot and try to speak as little as possible. I don't really know what to say.
Eventually though, Caesar begins to pose questions that insist on fuller answers. "Well, Cato, we know, from our days in the clearing, that it was love at first sight from you at the tribute parade, no less?" Caesar says.
"From the moment I laid eyes on her," Cato nods, looking down at me with a smile.
"But, Mitzi, what a ride for you. I think the real excitement for the audience was watching you fall for him. When did you realize you were in love with him?" asks Caesar.
"That's a hard one..." I laugh slightly to myself, before looking over at Cato, who has an eyebrow cocked. "It was, it was when he offered to train me."
"Really?" Cato laughs as I nod.
"Well, yeah, the games is all about having this advantage, and he wanted to train me just to help me feel better. He didn't care about the consequences of it." I replied, before squeezing his hand. "The first moment I liked him was on the roof. He scared me for a bit, and then I realised, I liked the accent. But I didn't act on it."
"Why do you think that was?" urges Caesar.
"Well, we were about to go into the arena and no offence, you are a little intimidating." I say to Cato, who nods and smirks at the camera, playing into his role. "But then, he saved my life and the rules changes, and I realised, there was this chance that I could go home and still keep the man I cared for."
Geare and Enobaria are nodding, so Cato and I have done well at least. Caesar pulls out a handkerchief and has to take a moment because he's so moved. Cato pulls me closer, before grinning.
"So now that you've got me, what are you going to do with me?"
I turn in to him. "Put you somewhere you can't get hurt." And when he kisses me, people in the room actually sigh.
For Caesar, this is a natural place to segue into all the ways we did get hurt in the arena, from burns, to stings, to wounds. But it's not until we get around to the mutts that I forget I'm on camera. When Caesar asks Cato how his 'new arm' is working out.
"What?" I pulled away from Cato, twisting to look at him. "New arm?"
"You didn't notice?" A small grin forms on Cato's face, before he shows me his left hand, which, now he mentions, isn't quite right. I feel it, and realise that it's cold and there's a scar that's missing on the wrist, where he'd been bitten. My eyes go wide, before I look up at Cato.
"No one told you?" asks Caesar gently. I shake my head.
"I haven't had the chance," Cato replied.
"It's my fault," I say. "I should have used a torniquet or something."
"Yes, it's your fault I'm alive," Cato shakes his head.
"He's right," says Caesar. "He'd have bled to death for sure without it."
I guess this is true, but I can't help feeling upset about it to the extent that I'm afraid I might cry and then I remember everyone in the country is watching me so I just bury my face in Cato's shirt. It takes them a couple of minutes to coax me back out because it's better in the shirt, where no one can see me, and when I do come out, Caesar backs off questioning me so I can recover. In fact, he pretty much leaves me alone until the berries come up.
"Mitzi, I know you've had a shock, but I've got to ask. The moment when you pulled out those berries. What was going on in your mind...hm?" he says.
I take a long pause before I answer, trying to collect my thoughts. This is the crucial moment where I either challenged the Capitol or went so crazy at the idea of losing Cato that I can't be held responsible for my actions. I turn, looking up at him.
"I couldn't bear the thought of being without him." I press my hand to his cheek gently. "I knew that if he died, I would never recover. One part of me would always be tethered to the arena, waiting for him to come back. I couldn't do this without him."
"Cato? Anything to add?" asks Caesar.
"No. I think that goes for both of us," he says.
Caesar signs off and it's over. Everyone's laughing and crying and hugging, but I'm still not sure until I reach Geare. "Okay?" I whisper.
"Perfect," he answers.
I go back to my room to collect a few things and find there's nothing to take back. I have nothing. They drive us through the streets in a car with blackened windows, and the train's waiting for us. We barely have time to say good-bye to our teams, although we'll see them in a few months, when we tour the districts for a round of victory ceremonies. It's the Capitol's way of reminding people that the Hunger Games never really go away. We'll be given a lot of useless plaques, and everyone will have to pretend they love us.
The train begins moving and we're plunged into night until we clear the tunnel and I take my first free breath since the reaping. We go through District 2 to get to District 11, so it makes more sense that we travel together and drop Cato and his team off on the way.
I'm not quite sure how I'm going to cope without him, but apparently, both of us have to be in our districts for celebrations.
Aurelia is accompanying us back and Geare and Jasmine, too, along with all of Cato's team. We eat an enormous dinner and settle into silence in front of the television to watch a replay of the interview. With the Capitol growing farther away every second, I begin to think of home. Of my parents and Rue. Of Caspar and Mick. Of my cows. I excuse myself to change out of my dress and into a plain shirt and pants. As I slowly, thoroughly wash the makeup from my face and put my hair in its braid, I begin transforming back into myself.
Mitzi Kennedy. The dairy farmer from District 11, who wakes up at the same time each morning to milk the cows and goes to bed at the same time each night. By the time I return, I feel more human.
When the train makes a brief stop for fuel, we're allowed to go outside for some fresh air. There's no longer any need to guard us. Cato and I walk down along the track, hand in hand, and I can't find anything to say now that we're alone.
"What's going on?" Cato questions, both of us stopping further away. Without heels, I'm reminded of the fact he towers over me. He looks down, blue eyes questioning.
"The Capitol. They don't like our stunt with the berries." I told him, shaking my head. "Think we're inciting rebellion."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Who told you?"
"Geare, he heard it from someone higher up." I shake my head. "They don't like that we did it. Don't like that we messed with the Games that much. Cato, we need to talk..."
"There's nothing to speak about."
"There is." I pointed out, catching his eyes.
"It was the Games, Mitzi." Cato shook his head. "Both of us did what we had to do to survive, I'm not going to hold that against you."
"Aren't you mad?"
"That Clove is dead and you're not?" He shakes his head like it's a stupid question. "We left the arena, leave it there."
"You know that's not how it's gonna work." I point out, knowing that we'll be recovering from this for years, if not decades. "Now, you're going back to 2 and I'm going to 11, what happens now? What do we do? How-"
I stop myself from asking how either of us are going to cope. I can't allow myself to say it yet.
"I thought when we won the Games, we were done. I'm scared that they're going to come back for us, and neither of us are going to be anywhere near each other." I whisper, and at that moment, Cato pulls me back into a hug. We have a lot to talk about, a lot to deal with and work out, but in that moment, I just need him and he just needs me.
"We'll work it out." He mumbles, and that's all he says.
When we arrive in District 2, I hold back for a moment, before he finds me.
"I meant to give this to you earlier."
"What?" He's holding his hand out, and in it, I see the pin that Katniss had once shown me. The one that was given to her by her friend. The Mockingjay pin.
He doesn't say anything, just kisses my cheek, before he leaves with his team and we continued back to District 11. It takes another day, which I spent hidden away in my room, before we're finally pulling into our grimy little station. I can already see the platform is thick with cameras, and it makes me feel worse that I'm doing this without Cato by my side. Instead, I square my shoulders, take a deep breath and step into the unknown.
I can do this.
──⭒─⭑─⭒──
𝐞𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐧𝐞
──⭒─⭑─⭒──
Hiya,
So, both Mitzi and Cato are in their home districts to celebrate their victories, and both of them spoke about killing katniss and clove. But, cato is right, what stays in the arena, stays there, and he was never gonna be mad at Mitzi for it. But, we also see, Cato has a new hand, Mitzi is terrified and I'm so hyped for part two,
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx