Welcome to the Republic

Hey Peoples! I'm back! Sorry about the prolonged wait, I had a minor case of writer's block; I also wanted this chapter to be REALLY long; Julie's was unable to edit it till like 2 days ago; I was watching tv, a lot; howrse; Youtube; Tratie; Thalico; sleepover parties; chores; etc. See, I have like... 10 excuses... and only 4 are exceptable... sad. Okay: New readers: IMPORTANT INFO!: This is a SEQUEL! So read Return of the Tributes first! Oh and thanks to all you guys that Favorited me or my story, it's really amazing how many of you liked my story. I will be posting more one shots for some of my favorite couples, and more chapter stories too, but this will be my main concern. Anyways, this chapter may be OOC and I'm sorry about that, like I said minor case of writer's block.

Linebreaks Explained:

1. My favorite line of a hunger games song

2. A line from an original song by Megan and Liz

Chapter 27 Linebreaks:

1. Ron Weasley Book 3, or in the movie. Tea Leaves, harry's grim.
2. Percy Jackson Book 4, Calypso's Island
3. Payphone by Maroon 5, great song, great band
4. Payphone, again
5. Honestly by Hot Chelle Rae, great song, great band

Okay, time for the chapter. Enjoy!

I am evil. I have killed more people than you could count. So have my allies. But I regret my actions. And I'm trying to make it right. I have teamed up with my mortal enemy to do this. And I'm not giving up.

I am Clove, the witch from District 2.

I'm not the best person ever. My actions are horrible, but my conscience is clean. I don't regret my actions and recognize my mistakes, but I do not dwell in the past. My girlfriend, the only person I really care for left me, but I feel little remorse or sadness.

I am Cato, the invincible warrior.

Clove 1: The Torture Begins

This may not have been the best decision of my life. Especially considering what I've lost, and what was waiting for me here.

"Clove, time for your training."

All the tributes from my games, alive. All the kids I killed, alive.

"Clove?"

"Coming." I say, getting up from the small cot I was sitting on and stepping out into the hallway.

Naiad, a fellow Career tribute, also brought back to life. But the difference between us is major, she has no regrets, I have plenty.

The training room here is very similar to the one for the games, just more rustic. Tributes and soldiers all train for battle against my former allies. For the first time in my life, the training room is overwhelming.

"Ah, Clove." Arrows calls walking over to me. Naiad has disappeared into the vast room. "How was your sleep? We will have your room upgraded in a few days; we just need to prepare it."

"Whatever."

"Okay, so you'll be training with-"

"Why do I even need training?" I ask, bored.

"You may have had very extensive training in your past, but you had yet to experience the training of a soldier, which is necessary for you to have in order to become one." Arrow explains; she takes my silence as an answer. "You will be training with Hurley; you may have met her already." Arrow gestures to a blonde girl holding a spear. Oh, crap.

~~Don't you dare look out your window, darling everything is on fire~~

Hurley knocks me to the ground again. "I thought you were better than this, District 2. Oh right, you're all torn up because you miss your boyfriend. Well my boyfriend thinks I'm dead, so suck it up, witch." She spits the last word at me, looking at me in disgust.

I stand up, choking back my comeback, and pick up my spear. Usually one of my best weapons, but today I can't seem to handle it.

"Oh no. You're done, District 2. Come back when you can actually hold a weapon correctly." Hurley laughs at me walking away.

My shoulders slump. For some reason everything seems harder here.

"That's not the right spear for ya." A voice says from behind me.

I spin around coming face to face with the boy from 3.

"Justin."

"That spear, it's made for a person Cato's size. Not you, Clove." He takes the spear from my hands.

"Hurley," I accuse, "Said it was fine."

"She hates you, but she hates almost everyone, so don't take it personally." He smiles happily. "I'll have Arrow get you a new trainer." He looks around. "Or Fabian can train you."

"Fabian?" I ask.

"Fabian Hawthorne, you'll love him." Justin smiles happily and yells, "Fabian!"

The boy jogged over; he had dark brown hair, cut short stuck up in spikes, really pale skin and light blue eyes.

"Justin, please don't tell me you hurt yourself again." He eyes me. "Or hurt someone else."

"No." He says, offended. "This is Clove. She needs a trainer that doesn't hate her."

"Oh good." Fabian lets out a breathe of air. "Nice to meet you, Clove."

"I'm here to train, not talk, so shut up." I glare at him, picking up a sword.

He laughs, but stays silent other than that, picking up his sword.

~~~The sky was the color of blue that looks best on you~~~

I never won a fight, but many of the fights ended in a draw.

"Decent." Fabian acknowledges. "But you could do better."

"So could you." I answer. "You were going easy on me, so I went easy on you." Not the entire truth, he was going easy on me, but I wasn't going easy on him, I'm still kinda dazed from my fights with Hurley.

He laughs. "Yeah right. Well next time try."

He walks away, shouldering his sword, leaving the room. I look around for someone to show me to the Mess Hall. I spot Arrow by the door, checking something on a clipboard.

I walk over to her. "Ah, Clove. Done with your training?" She asks, not looking up. Before I could ask, she explains. "I saw you coming out of the corner of my eye. Ready to go to the mess hall?"

I nod and she puts down the clipboard and leads me to the large mess hall, full of soldiers. We walk over to the long buffet line, snaking down the side of the room, around the many tables.

Arrow grabs a tray for each of us.

"Would you like to consume your food here or in your study?"

"Um… Here?" I answer, unsure.

"You may sit with me or the other tributes from your games." She passes me a bowl of salad and we move down the line.

"Um…" I start.

"You can decide when you see the tables; you may prefer to sit with the other tributes, for my table would seem boring for someone of your… stature." I nod as we reach the end of the line.

Arrow then leads me through the sea of tables, gesturing to couple tables saying thing like: "Our Air Fleet", "District 4 fleet", "Computer programmers", etc. Then finally she stops.

I glance over the tables and see Naiad gesturing me over. I give Arrow a half smile and walk over to where Naiad is. The seat beside her is open, and she seems to want me to sit there, so I do.

"Hello, Clove. How was your day?" She asks warmly.

"Torture." I answer.

"Hurley was your trainer, wasn't she?" She shakes her head in disappointment. "Arrow should have realized that, that was a bad decision."

"Why do you even have to train?" Pike, the little boy from 4 asks.

"I'm not a soldier." I answer. "So I have to go through this torture every day. But it's gonna get easier… I hope."

"Trust us, Clove. It's only gonna get worse from here."

Wonderful, you reached the end without bailing. Please review, I really want to know what you think! Also, vote for Cimorelli in the Teen Choice Awards, since they are amazing! You don't have to but check them out. Anyways thanks for reading! You guys are amazing.

R&R

Dara