mad woman; ❛ ENIGMA ❜
↷ the hunger games
❝ you are just letting your feelings cloud your judgment ❞

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Alina was the first one to bolt towards the District Two penthouse after changing out of her costume and into her regular clothes. She did not even wait for Cato, Ikarus, or Mare. The only thing on her mind was how she was going to crush Katniss Everdeen like a little bug.

This was not how it was supposed to go. District Twelve never got that much attention, especially during the Tribute Parade. They always got the shitties costumes. The bare thought of a tribute from an outer district winning the games instead of her infuriated Alina like nothing else.

To make her mood worse, when the others came back, Mare forced her to have dinner with them even though she claimed she was not even hungry.

Alina stepped into the dining room in a dark green t-shirt and a pair of leggings, not bothering to spare anyone a glance as she sat down in the empty seat next to Cato ── who was too busy glaring down at the food on his plate to even utter an annoying comment in her direction.

Mare gave her a scolding side glare when she did not bother to greet any of them while Ikarus simply nodded at her and then took a long slow sip from the alcohol in his glass.

Pascal, Cato's stylist, cleared his throat and shifted in his seat awkwardly, "You two did well today."

Alina simply raised a bored eyebrow and lifted the fork in her hand to her mouth so she could eat a piece of meat from her plate.

𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘥 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘴𝘴. She thought bitterly. What were they doing? Standing there and looking pretty so they would get people to buy them stuff.

Cato didn't bother to hide his eye roll and let out a mocking snort, "Sure we did."

Mare's heel soon hit Alina's shin and by Cato's low grunt of pain, Alina knew she hit him too.

Ikarus broke the uncomfortable silence by putting his glass on the table quite loudly. "I'm not gonna sugar-coat it. Twelve was pretty good this year but as much as sponsors and costumes are important, they aren't the 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 important part?"

"Aren't they?" Alina asked, putting her fork down, but keeping the knife firmly in her hand. "Let's see. Cato and I are almost a week into the games and one of the poisonous bugs stung us but no one sends us the cure because they already sent it to Twelve. What happens? We die."

"You are being a little dramatic, Alina." Mare tried softly, only for Ikarus to interrupt her.

"No, Mare. She is right." he nodded, ignoring the surprised look from both Cato and Mare. "Without sponsors, you die. But you still have two weeks to gain them. There is still the little show each of you will put on for Snow and the Gamemakers and you'll get special scores then. You still have a shot. Don't give up on day one. I'm your mentor and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to keep at least one of you alive. Now, tomorrow you're gonna start your training and start gaining allies. You two and the two kids from District One are the careers and I want you to stick together at all costs. You are gonna make Twelve fear you. Understood?"

Alina felt her grip on the knife loosen as she and Cato spoke simultaneously, "Understood."

"Good!" Mare exclaimed, "Now that that's settled, eat up. You will have a long day tomorrow."

"Actually, I'm gonna take a shower." Alina said, getting up from the table. Deciding not to ignore another scolding look from Mare this time, she simply gave her a sarcastic smile. "May I please be excused? I have to get this glitter out of my hair and the unnecessarily big eyeliner off of my face."

Mare's eyes shone with amusement that she was clearly trying to hide and she gave the younger girl a dismissive nod. "You may."

"If it makes you feel better, I like the makeup. The red lipstick and eyeliner bring out your eyes. They add to the whole 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘩 look. It's hot." Cato chimed in, giving his fellow district tribute the usual flirtatious look. Ikarus snorted at his shameless flirting while Alina just flipped him off and walked out of the dining room to take a long-deserved shower.

-

"In two weeks, twenty-three of you will be dead. One of you will be alive. Who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next four days, particularly to what I'm about to say. First, no fighting with the other Tributes. You'll have plenty of time for that in the arena."

Alina felt Cato lean closer to her and heard him whisper in her ear. "Take notes on that, Angel. You might wanna stop glaring at Twelve like she's your next meal."

The King girl's eyes narrowed at Katniss even more and she subtly jabbed her elbow into Cato's stomach, prompting him to shut up so she could listen.

"There are four compulsory exercises. The rest will be individual training. My advice is; don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most will die from natural causes. Ten percent from infection, twenty percent from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife."

Alina watched The Capitol head trainer give them another once-over before she turned around to walk away. Her plan was simple, she was not going to use knives yet, because it will show everyone else her specialty. She was going to start by practicing with a bow and arrow some more, then she will move over to hand-to-hand combat and then to throwing spears and the obstacle course if she has extra time.

She tightened her high ponytail and was about to turn on her heel to get to training when the two tributes from District One walked up to her and Cato.

The girl ── Glimmer ── gave them an obviously fake smile and greeted, "Hey. You're Alina and Cato, right?"

"Yeah." Alina nodded, lifting her left hand to give them a small wave.

Glimmer's stiff posture seemed to relax at the surprising friendliness and her smile turned more genuine. "Pleasure to meet you, Alina. I'm Glimmer and this is ── "

" ── Marvel." the taller boy next to Glimmer cut her off. He gave Alina a charming smile and she swore she felt Cato stiffen beside her at his actions.

"I'm Cato." Alina's fellow tribute greeted and when she turned her head to look at him, he was flexing his arms slightly and giving Marvel a cold look.

"Right..." the King girl trailed off. "I'm gonna go and check out the archery station. Come find me if you need anything."

"I'll come with you." Glimmer quickly exclaimed, a grin on her face now as she grabbed ahold of Alina's wrist.

"You have fun with that." Cato said, already knowing that it would not take Alina long to get bored of the blonde. "I'll go check out the guy from Eleven to see if he is as strong as he looks."

Alina merely gave him a nod before turning on her heel to make her way to the archery station, Glimmer following right behind her with a hop in her step.

-

"Did you know Cato before you two volunteered?" Glimmer asked after a while of them training. Curiosity was clear in her voice and Alina couldn't see any alternative motives behind the question so she simply shrugged and answered.

"Yeah. We knew each other basically our whole lives." She said, angling her bow and arrow into a perfect Mongolian draw and firing the arrow into the mannequin.

It landed right in the middle of its chest and Alina allowed a small coy smirk to appear across her lips.

"You're good at that." Glimmer mused impressed, lowering her bow and staring at Alina's target.

"Yeah." Alina admitted nonchalantly, "I'm much better with knives though."

"I prefer a spear." The District One tribute informed her fellow career.

Alina smiled slightly, finding how easy it was to talk to Glimmer strange but a little comforting. She was about to pull out another arrow when the girl next to her let out an amused giggle.

"What?" The redhead girl asked, looking at her with furrowed eyebrows.

"Don't turn around but you have three pairs of eyes on you." Glimmer said, another chuckle escaping her red-tinted lips.

Curiosity got the better of her and Alina turned around to see who she was talking about. First, her gaze fell onto no one other than Katniss, who was staring at the bow in her hand like it was her last meal but averted her gaze away as soon as she realized Alina caught her staring. Alina was quick to realize how much of a different reputation she had in The Capitol compared to her home district. In District Two, everyone viewed her with either administration or envy and here, they mostly just looked scared. And don't get her wrong, Alina loved every second of the ability to get someone to crumble with a simple glare but Katniss Everdeen just looked like a stalker. Her awkward position in the middle of the training room had Alina rolling her eyes.

Then, she looked around the room once again to see Marvel staring at her from the knife-throwing section with a small smirk on his lips. Third, Cato was standing behind him, glaring between him and Alina, before snapping his fingers in front of Marvel's face. The District One boy snapped out of his gaze to give Cato a sheepish shrug. Alina watched them get back to training before looking back at Glimmer, who had a small smirk on her lips.

"Shut up." Alina scowled, picking up an arrow and aiming it at a mannequin.

Once she hit the bullseye, Glimmer spoke up once more.

"You know I can definitely see it."

"See what?" The King girl asked, not even looking at her as she shot another arrow into the mannequin, hitting its stomach this time.

"You and Marvel." Glimmer explained, nonchalantly looking between the two "It would be a good love story for the viewers. It would get you a lot of sponsors."

Alina could not keep her snort in this time and looked at Glimmer with raised eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"What?" The blonde asked in fake innocence, "He's hot and you're gorgeous. I can admit that I'm not blind. Everyone would eat it up." Her smile soon turned mischievous as she looked at someone over Alina's shoulder. "But something tells me you already got an eye on someone else."

"I am so not having this conversation with you." Alina said, gaping at Glimmer in disbelief, but her smile only grew.

"What conversation?" An all too familiar voice asked behind Alina, making her almost drop her bow in surprise.

She turned around to glare at Cato in annoyance, "I hate it when you do that."

"I know." Cato smirked, "It just makes it funnier."

"Are you two ready for lunch?" Marvel chimed in, not allowing Alina to snap back at Cato like she usually would.

"Yes!" Glimmer exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I'm starving."

Alina watched Glimmer drag an annoyed Marvel to the eating area and didn't even bother to hide her amusement as she and Cato were left with no choice but to follow their newly gained allies.

"So," Alina started as she sat down next to Glimmer and opposite of Cato on the lunch table, "what did the guy from Eleven say?"

Her question only seemed to dampen Cato's mood and a scowl soon made its way on his face. Marvel eyed the blue-eyed boy warily, noting how he looked close to snapping, before choosing to respond for him. "He said no to the alliance."

"What do you mean he said no?" Alina asked, with a scoff of disbelief. 𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘴𝘢𝘯𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘢 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬?

"He said he'd rather stick on his own." Cato explained, glaring at someone over Alina's shoulder and the blonde didn't even have to turn around to know it was the boy they were currently discussing.

"We can always ask the two kids from Four." Glimmer suggested, looking slightly uncomfortable with the predatory glare Cato was sending the guy from District Eleven.

Tributes from District Four often found themselves as a part of the career pack so Glimmer's suggestion was not a big surprise, but one look at the District Four tributes and Alina instantly knew they would not be of big use so she did not even bother to hide her mocking laugh, "The 𝘬𝘪𝘥𝘴 from Four? Seriously? They are like fourteen and look like two lost puppies."

Glimmer did not seem offended by her tone. The pout on her lips made her look more like a child getting scolded by their parents.

Alina did not know what she was thinking, maybe it was the Clove-like pout on Glimmer's disappointed face, but the next words coming out of her mouth definitely surprised her the most. "I mean we can see if they're even a little useful. We'll kill them when we have to and we definitely won't trust them but they can be good for playing bait or guarding our stuff while we're hunting."

Cato narrowed his eyes at his District partner and pursed his lips thoughtfully before surprisingly agreeing, "Sounds good to me. Just don't go and get close and personal with them, they're just backup, and don't hesitate to kill them when the time comes."

-

Alina and Cato were undoubtedly the leaders of the career pack that year. With his ambitious personality and the intimidating way he carried himself, and how cunning and ready to do whatever it takes to win 𝘴𝘩𝘦 was ── plus her ability to wrap anyone around her little finger just by batting her eyelashes and flashing a smile. You could say the career pack has not been this strong in a while.

Well, with the exception of Marvel, who has not stopped talking the entire time they were eating. Alina was surprised how he managed to ask so many questions, flirt with her and eat at the same time.

"What do you think about them?" Alina asked, turning her attention away from Glimmer and Marvel's retreating figures and towards her district partner.

"They seem alright, I guess. We could have gotten better." Cato admitted, making Alina roll her eyes, the gesture accompanied by an unamused scoff.

"What's wrong with them?" She asked rhetorically. "They trained their entire lives just like we did and from what I have seen Glimmer is decent with a bow and good with basically everything else," 𝘰𝘬𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘵𝘰𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘭𝘪𝘦, 𝘎𝘭𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘵 "and Marvel seems pretty good with a spear."

"Of course, you would think that." Cato muttered, scoffing under his breath.

Alina crossed her arms over her chest, and looked around to see if everyone was occupied before glaring up at him. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You have been making eyes at both of them since the moment we first saw them." Cato explained, sounding quite more bitter than usual, "I think that you are just letting your feelings cloud your judgment."

"My 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴?" Alina scoffed in disbelief, hoping she wasn't as loud to the rest of the remaining tributes in the dining room as she was to her own ears. "Hadley, tell me you aren't serious."

"Dead serious."

Alina blinked in surprise, trying not to let her anger get the best of her. Nonetheless, she swiftly got up from the table and gave Cato a harsh glare. "I'm gonna get back to training and you come and find me so we can discuss the alliance when you stop being an arrogant ass."

-

Alina was sparring with Glimmer when Cato's angry yell echoed through the relatively quiet gym.

"Six, where is my knife, huh?"

"I didn't touch your knife." The male tribute from District Six weakly defended himself as Cato backed him into a corner, completely ignoring the trainer trying to hold him back.

"I put my knife right there!" Cato exclaimed, "You took my knife!"

"I didn't touch your knife."

Alina's huffed, handed her spear to Glimmer, and headed towards the fight, just before two peacekeepers arrived.

"You took my knife, you liar!" Cato yelled again, only to have Alina grab a hold of his forearm and pull him off the kid he was attacking.

"Hadley, dial it down!" She yelled when he tried to fight off her grip, announcing that it was her and not a random peacekeeper, so he would not hit her. "We are not in a prison yard, idiot. Save that for the arena."

Reluctantly, Cato backed away from the District Six boy and his shoulders fell. He relaxed and let Alina pull him away slightly but still kept his glare firmly on the boy. "This is actually better, you little punk. I'll wait for the arena. You are the first one I get, so watch your back."

"Cato, he gets it." Alina hissed in annoyance. She thought that he was smarter than this. What kind of idiot would start causing fights in front of the Gamemakers during 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨?

"You don't know who you're messing with, kid!" Cato called over his shoulder, allowing Alina to pull him out of the training room.

To say that both Cato and Alina were absolutely fuming until they reached the changing room would be an understatement. So, yeah, Alina was not exactly thinking straight when she turned on the shower and pushed Cato under it, not caring that her right hand got completely wet.

Cato let out an annoyed growl and moved his hand out of her own to turn the shower off, before he turned around to glare down at Alina.

"Are you finally done with throwing your temper tantrum?" She asked in a snarky tone, returning the glare.

"He took my knife!" Cato repeated, sounding 𝘦𝘹𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘭𝘺 like a little kid throwing a tantrum.

"So? You will just add him to the list of the tributes that you will kill in the bloodbath and call it a day." Alina snapped, clenching her fists. "I know Ikarus and Mare will give you the talk about it later, but can I just ask where the hell your head is at right now? We are in The Capitol and The Hunger Games begin in two weeks. The Gamemakers are watching our every move and you are lashing out at a kid because you think he stole your knife. Anger makes you stupid and stupid gets you killed, asshole."

The blond did not seem to have anything to say to defend himself so, smartly, he stayed silent.

"So, what?" Alina chuckled in disbelief, "Now you shut up?"

They both knew Cato was too big of a Hadley to admit he was in the wrong in this situation so after a couple more moments of Alina glaring at him, she shook her head and left him alone in the changing room.

-

"Angel, come on."

Alina did not even bother to respond or wait as Cato called after her. The training was finally over for the day and she did not need any more of his stupid temper tantrums.

"Angel."

She merely rolled her eyes and quickened her pace.

"Angel." This time, his voice was closer and she could hear his pace quickening by the sound of his steps echoing in the empty hall. "Alina." He said louder and grabbed a hold of the crook of her elbow.

"What do you want?" Alina snapped, turning around to scowl up at him.

"Stop ignoring me." Cato whined out, trying to puppy-eye her into forgiving him like he was some sort of toddler.

Alina's eyes only narrowed into a glare and she lifted the hand that wasn't holding her water bottle to slap him across the face as expected, he winced and the snap echoed through the empty halls.

"Woah, you are really mad aren't you?" Cato breathed out a chuckle as he rubbed the sour spot on his cheek with an amused smirk.

The King girl snorted in disbelief, "I don't know, Hadley. Am I?"

She moved to walk away only to have him grab a hold of her wrist. "You're not going anywhere until you tell me why thell you are so angry with me."

"I already told you. I'm mad at the fact that you're an immature asshole that does not think about anyone other than himself. You don't think before you act and sometimes I feel like your head will get so hot it will start melting." Alina snapped, "And I'm stuck with you."

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you were worried." Cato taunted.

"About my chance of survival with you breathing down my neck? Absolutely."

Cato placed a hand on top of his heart, "Ouch."

"Go to hell."

"I'm leading a pack of useless careers with Alina King." The blond let out a breathy laugh. "Oh, Angel, I'm already there."

"Well, that makes two of us." Alina shot back, before finally brushing past him to go back to the District Two penthouse. She would be lucky if she survived two days in the Arena with him by her dide. IN the end, the two of them bight just kill each other.

a/n: yes, alina and glimmer are my brotp and if anyone touches them (other than me) I'm throwing hands

glimmer also won't be flirting with cato because she's a canon lesbian