#hunger games peeta

[3c1ipseartz]

Young president snow

Ik a lot of people didn’t like the ballad of songbirds and snakes but I kinda loved it, I LOVE hunger games and I think it fit well. Just rlly long

[heliads]

Hello :) can you do a Peeta Mellark fic when she is one of the friend of Katniss and after the first game she goes on the woods. Peeta meet her, they were friends before and he heard her singing. And he confess his crush on her between the threes. Please ?

oh i most certainly can!! peeta is my boy i love him

masterlist

Peeta Mellark has something to tell you, you think, but for some reason, he cannot manage to do it. You watch him when he lingers next to you after school; when he waits in the bakery door as you pass by; when he calls by your house to ask some question for an answer he doesn’t need. His entire being seems chained to some great need, but for the life of him, he is unable to say what it is.

He had better get to it, though, as the Hunger Games are coming in season again and everyone knows all confessions are best said before the Reaping, just in case. The odds of either you or Peeta having your name called are slim to none, but this is the Games, after all; since when has anything been in your favor?

You think he tried to say something once, but fate wasn’t in his avenue. You had stayed late for your job, trying to pick up extra hours so you wouldn’t have to put your name into the Reaping any more times than strictly necessary. Peeta had seen you walking back down the street to your house, and he’d hurried from his post at the bakery to call your name.

You’d dutifully waited for him to catch up, then waited for him to get to the point, then waited by your window after he walked you home, wondering if he might double back and finally say something. In all that time, though, he never did. Peeta has always been strong in your eyes, but something far greater than even his control is holding his tongue, stopping him from telling you what he truly wants.

Of course, you could just be reading something from nothing. Maybe he just wants to make sure you’re alright. After all, tension in the districts is always high around a Reaping; too many nerves like split wires, everyone buzzing with the knowledge that soon two of their young will die, and no one can do a thing about it. No one likes helplessness, but everyone has it.

You should have stopped him, though. You should have stood stock still in the middle of the road until he was forced to tell you what was on his mind. You should have sensed that something would go wrong in your very close future and demanded that Peeta speak his truth. 

As it turns out, he wouldn’t get a chance to say a single word. When that chirruping thing from the Capitol, Effie Trinket, you think, read out the names of the District Twelve tributes for the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, you knew one of them all too well.

That Reaping Day still has a place carved out in your mind. You think you’ll remember it until the end of time, that awful feeling of inevitability. For a while afterwards, you blamed yourself for it, like you’d worried over the possibility that you or Peeta would be Reaped that it actually came true.

Such a thought is ridiculous, of course, but when you were standing around waiting for him to die, you could not help but think it. Every detail of that day is painful, but it is still your memory; yours to haunt you, yours to cherish, yours to keep.

The girls were Reaped first, just like always. The Capitol woman reached her hand inside the glass vessel and cheerfully read out a name:  Primrose Everdeen. You can recall a stillness falling upon the crowd, then; Prim was just twelve, barely anything at all more than a scrap of fabric, blond hair, and bright eyes. To see them close one final time would be a horror.

Primrose did not get a chance to die, then, not yet. She had hardly made it halfway to the stage before her older sister, Katniss, burst out into the aisle and declared that she would volunteer in her place. It is a terrible thing, to sign yourself up to die, but you have no doubt that it would be worse for Katniss to stand there with the rest of you and watch the murder of her sister, all the while knowing full well that she could have done something to stop it and didn’t.

That was the girl decided, then. The next matter was the boy. You were safe this year, but for some reason your nerves didn’t settle in the slightest. Peeta was not yet guaranteed another twelve months of life, and that meant that you could not rest until you knew he would be alright.

Effie strode over to the vessel with the boys’ names and plucked out one scrap of paper. So small, so insignificant, but containing on its surface the ability to hurt you more than anything. There are dozens of names she could have called. So many friends, so many strangers. An infinite amount of options, really, and of all the names to be called, you hear Peeta’s.

It isn’t real at first, not really. Some insistent part of you pushes itself to the front of your mind, tells you not to worry because this can’t be happening. Peeta has brothers, older ones who still have their name in the bowl. They could volunteer for him just like Katniss volunteered for Prim. You stand there, shaking slightly, and you wait for one of them to save him. 

The waiting is the worst, and it is terrible because it never ends. After a long, uncertain pause, Peeta starts moving up the aisle towards the stage, and no one stops him. Not even after the Capitol woman raises both of their hands and shouts something saccharine and stupid about the odds being ever in their favor. Not even after they’re pulled away into the mayor's office to say their goodbyes. The time for a volunteer comes and goes, and no one lets Peeta leave. 

You don’t expect to be let in, not being family, but you still hover by the door just in case. You can tell by the quiet set of his jaw that Peeta knows he won’t make it out, and worse, knows his family has realized the same thing. He’s running out of time when he finally spots you, and you just have enough time to reach through the quickly closing door and tell him that you believe in him, that you know he’ll make it out.

You try to imbue the words with as much certainty as you can. If he won’t believe it, maybe you can for him. Maybe you can convince him of his own likelihood of survival and make it real. It has to be real. He still has something he needs to tell you, Peeta cannot die now.

You watch with the rest of District Twelve as Peeta and Katniss are bundled into a train and taken away from you, spirited towards the Capitol. From then on, the only time you’ll see him is in interviews, and then the Games and then nothing more at all.

Watching the Games is, of course, mandatory, but you think that you would be affixed to the screens even if they weren’t. You must know what happens to Peeta, you must– if you don’t, if he died without you there, it would be some sort of betrayal, and you cannot do that to him. If he comes back– when he comes back– you have to be able to look him in the eyes and tell him you were watching for him the whole time, and it has to be true.

This gives you full access to every interview, every sneak peek the Gamemakers will let you have of him. There is one appearance of his that wrecks you to your core, although you cannot entirely explain why. Peeta was not hurt. In fact, he was joking with that blue-haired posturer, Caesar Flickerman, as if nothing was the matter at all, as if he were not a child that they were sending to die.

And then, almost when you had let down your guard, Caesar asked Peeta if there was a special someone out there, a girl back home he wanted to impress. Peeta answered that yes, there was a special girl, but she had come to the Capitol with him.

It was like a blade to the chest. You remember your friend asking you a question almost immediately afterwards, and being surprised that you did not spit up blood with your answer. You had never– you and Peeta had never– never so much as brought it up or thought about it or anything, but this hurts. You never claimed any part of Peeta’s heart, you were raised not to take things that weren’t yours, but knowing that Peeta is in the Capitol with the girl he loves makes your veins thrum with acid.

There is not much time for jealousy, though, for not long after that, the Games begin. You watch him fight, join the Careers, turn on them, grow sick and feverish from his injury. You also see Katniss run to him when she realizes that both of them can win together. You see her kiss him, and you pretend that it does not kill you every single time she so much as smiles at him.

You suppose you should be grateful to Katniss, though– when the Games end, both of them are the survivors. Katniss kept him alive. That’s what you should think about, and it is, mostly. Peeta is alive. Peeta is alive. It makes you want to scream and cry and shriek with relief.

And then, before you know it, he’s given his final interview, and has been placed on a train coming home. You join the crowds once more to welcome him back, but for some reason the thought of doing anything much more than that makes you sick to your stomach. You cannot watch Peeta and Katniss smile sweetly at each other anymore, you will not.

So you run. Running is easy, returning home is harder. You know about the gap in the fence surrounding the woods, you know how to slip away and make sure you’re never found again. It is risky to do this with the sudden influx of Peacekeepers in the district due to the return of its victors, yes, but you need it. The natural beauty surrounding you will help you clear your head.

You wander deeper into the woods, letting your gaze rest on the waving boughs, the rustling leaves. Birds chirp overhead, repetitions of the same song you’ve heard since you were a child. The air is cool and still, and when the breeze pauses momentarily to give the trees a respite, you hear someone say your name.

“Y/N?”

You whirl around, ready for a Peacekeeper to arrest you or someone to turn you in, but no. No, it is Peeta walking towards you, Peeta with his hair shining gold in the sun, Peeta who must have come straight from his family to find you. There would have been no time for anything else.

“Peeta?” It comes out as a question, some sort of lingering uncertainty that this could actually ever still be him.

“Yes,” he says, “yeah, it’s me. I’m here.”

You stare at him a moment longer, and then the spell binding you in place breaks and you all but run to him, throwing your arms around him just to remind yourself that he’s still here, still alive. He flinches slightly as you start to move and you whisper apologies, but he murmurs back that it’s alright, he’s alright, everything is okay. It isn’t, not yet, but maybe it could be.

You shake your head as you draw back. “How did you know how to find me?”

His smile is lopsided. “I could hear you singing.”

You laugh incredulously. You thought you’d buried that habit a long time ago; that was a thing of childhood, of a girl who liked the sound the birds made so much that she tried to imitate it, too. You learned any song your parents would teach you, then the parents of your friends, then any random stranger capable of being spoken to out of turn by some kid with too much curiosity. It’s been a nervous practice, but you thought you stopped doing it when you were small.

You tell Peeta as much, and he grins. “No, I’m afraid not. Usually you don’t, but when you’re stressed or tired, it slips out.”

You sigh. “That would make sense, then. I’ve been a lot of both ever since you left. Look at me complaining, though, you were the one out there. In the Games, I mean.”

Peeta shudders unconsciously when you mention the Games, and judging by the dark circles under his eyes, it’s not something he’ll forget for a very, very long time. “I know. It was– I was– Do you know what kept me focused during all that?” He begins again suddenly, “I thought about someone the whole time. Someone who needed me to live. Someone who told me that I would.”

“I know,” you reply softly, “Katniss, you said it in the interview.” Somehow, you think him repeating that sentiment out here, beyond the scope of cameras or attention-seeking interviewers, would make that blow so much worse.

It never comes, though. Peeta furrows his brow, confused, and then realizes what you mean.

“It was a lie,” he blurts out, “What I said in the Capitol, it was a lie.”

“What?”

“When I talked about the girl I liked, I said she had come with me to the Games. It wasn’t true. I needed some story to keep both of us alive, and it worked. Katniss never loved me, and I never loved her. We only ever kissed when the cameras were rolling. She doesn’t like me like that in the slightest.”

“Then– then who–”

“It was you,” he breathes, and you swear you can watch parts of his confidence leave him in that sigh. His shoulders slump like he’s been punched. “It was always you, Y/N, ever since we were kids. I was supposed to tell you how I felt, but then the Reaping– and I was never supposed to live– I was terrified that you would hate me for leading you on all this time and then saying that I loved Katniss, but it wasn’t true. It wasn’t.”

Your breathing feels ragged in your chest, even though Peeta is the one who just just given this helter-skelter monologue of a confession. It can’t be real. It can’t, but it is. All this time of hoping, and your dreams finally came true.

“That means you–”

“Love you? Yes, I do. I don’t know how to do anything but love you. It’s the only thing that has ever made sense. I was out there dying in the Arena, and all I could think of is that you were at home watching me give up, and that made me angrier than anything. I wanted to come home and tell you that I fought. I needed to tell you.”

You reach out and take his hand, and for some reason that brief moment of physical contact is enough to stop Peeta’s restless wave of words. “I love you too,” you tell him, and that makes the last of his worries bleed away into the empty air.

“You do?” He asks doubtfully, almost as if expecting you to laugh in his face and profess this all to be another Capitol illusion. 

It isn’t, though. It’s real. All of this is real. The good and the bad. His memories and yours. Everything happening between these trees is absolutely genuine. Peeta knows it, you know it, and while the sun still shines overhead, bright and beautiful and glorious, you start to get the feeling that everything is going to be alright.

requested by @hope92100, i hope you enjoy!

hunger games tag list: @w1shes43, @ilovexavierthrope

[aquanova99]

Haunted (Cato x Reader)

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Part 6

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A/N: I know I know and I’m sorry! Thank you for being so patient and not giving up on me🤍

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Y/Ns POV

My eyes shot open. Your body did not follow. Your muscles were stiff and ached from the slightest movement. Where was I? How did you end up here? You were almost completely covered in what you hoped was the morning dew of the forest. The walls surrounding you seemed to have been made from old tree trunks fallen over a group of rocks. A perfect little makeshift cave of sorts. Too perfect. You were almost sure this was made as a possible hiding place for the tributes, courtesy of the gamemakers. This seemed like a place you would pick to hide in, but from what you recall you didn’t make it very far after collecting Glimmers arrows. The arrows! You needed to get out of here, get your bearings. You needed to push against your protesting muscles. You decided on moving one singular muscle group at a time. You turned your head noticing your packs were still next to you. Your arms were next. Slowly, ever so slowly you patted your body down searching for your knives. Nothing. Not too surprising I guess. Whoever put you here would be an idiot to leave you armed. It took another five minutes just to sit up. You shuffled next to your pack going through every pocket. You small first aid kit seemed rummaged through but other than that nothing seemed out of place. The smaller pack had been mostly cleaned out, probably nothing of real use anyway. You left the other bag you stole from Glimmer. You decided to make your way out of the tiny hole you found yourself in, a much bigger effort now that you were carrying your bag. You needed water. And food, but water was once again, your first priority. Climbing was out of the question. You looked at your canteen… full. Could you trust no one had poisoned it? You shrugged away your worries, if they wanted you dead they could have found a hundred ways to do so by now.

The sun was blinding. You’re only hope was that the careers are hopefully doing much worse off than you. Your brain struggled to get itself together. You were walking target. You allowed yourself a few deep breaths to force yourself together. You recognized the area. Your body moved instinctually until you were at the small body of water that had already once offered you sanctuary when the fire started. How many days ago was that? You finished the water in the canteen before filling it up and setting the iodine drops in. You decided to clean yourself of all of the blood, mud, and sweat you had built up since you were thrown into these games. Even in the worst parts of twelve, you would have never seen anyone look as disheveled as you were right now. The heat levels made you feel secure enough that your clothes would dry out quick enough if you washed them, you hesitated knowing you were still being watched, but after all the blood and gore you doubted they’d care about someone trying to maintain themselves. Honestly if anything, it might give you some brownie points from the capitol. Whatever. You stripped down to your undergarments as you washed what you could out of your clothes. You look at your hands, traces of some makeshift bandages beginning to peel off. You questioned why they wouldn’t just use the first aid kit…You continued to stare before the realization that the location of the tracker jacker stings were almost untraceable. These were not bandages. Great, another debt you may not be able to repay.

You could hear Haymitch scolding you for being so reckless. Here you were trying to…what? Feel clean? Look nice? Meanwhile You were without a weapon and completely out in the open. Stupid. You threw your head back with a sigh, and decided to put on your damp clothes and start regathering yourself. You dig through your pack cursing silently when you realize any rope you have left was burned up in your attempt to flee the fire. You have no choice. You have to head back in the direction you came from. Someone kept you alive. And someone had your weapons. Your mind spins with the jerk of your head towards the sound of a twig snapping. Your eyes begin scanning every inch of the spread of trees before you. You saw nothing. Heard no one. You stay frozen in place, only darting your eyes until they land on the smallest tip of what appears to be a child’s boot.

“Rue??” Her eyes peek from behind the tree, ands it all you cand do from sprinting over to her. Your voice comes out in a harsh whisper, barely managing to contain your excitement “oh my god. Are you okay?”

“You’re worried about me?”

“Why wouldn’t I be? Did—did you help me?”

She shook her head, “Not just me…uhm are we still allies?”

Relief washed over your body, “of course.”

“I’m sorry I took your knives. Thresh wanted to make sure.” You ask get a rundown of the two nights you were unconscious. There’s only ten of you left. Rue chews on her cheeks, “Y/n…Thresh is injured pretty bad.”

“What?”

“Well…I went find him first and we were running towards the edge of all that smoke from the fire, he wanted to see if could get Arioch while he was more out of it. But the closer we got we heard them find you. We didn’t want them to find us so he climbed a tree to sleep and I went to find you. The tracker jackers freaked the careers out and Thresh went to investigate because I hadn’t made it back to him. They were running back toward the lake by the cornucopia. Clove and Marvel were first and didn’t even see him. Arioch was starting to see things and we don’t know what he saw but he pushed him down and kept running, but well. You know Arioch he pushed really hard and thresh fell back pretty hard. His shoulder looks like bad.”

“He dislocated it?”

“I think so. I found him first because I heard him scream, I think he popped it back into place but he wont tell me. But if he wasn’t hurt he would have gone after the careers. Now they have medicine.”

You knew he had to have been the one who moved you. That probably didn’t help much. No wonder he took your weapons. “Well, lets find him. Once I get that bow we can hopefully get some food.”

“Enjoy your rest?” Thresh asked as the two of you joined him

“Cheerful as always, aren’t we?....How are you doing?”

He shrugged, his first mistake. The pain on his face was evident. Rue asked him about your weapons. Thresh was more than reluctant to give everything back. You couldn’t blame him. With only ten people left the alliance wouldn’t last forever. You saw him wince as he lifted his arm to hand you the knives. You thought about the gift from your sponsor. The fire had hit your leg, but you were quick to swat the fire on your thigh. Your calf was not so lucky. If the medicine from the capitol went deep enough through the layers of skin to heal the burn, you wondered what effects it would have on Thresh’s bruised, and likely strained muscles.

“I don’t know if this will work but, it may help some of the pain.” You rummaged through your bag to pull out the gift from your sponsor. It had done its purpose. Your burn no longer caused any pain, it wasn’t pretty to look at but you could manage that.

He scoffed, “Nice sponsors.”

“Do you want to work with me or not? Take off your shirt so we can try this out.”

He sighed but gave in to your request. If the cream Haymitch sent you had brought a cooling relief when you had first put it on, then at the very least it would relieve some of the stress in Thresh’s shoulder. You grabbed a bandage out of the first aid kit. Thresh’s body reflexively jerked from the touch of your hands on his skin. Though the bruises on his skin were barely visible, it was clear that the slightest contact still brough sharp pain through his body. In a way that was a good thing, it meant that he just needed to rest. On the other hand, he need to rest. And rest was something they couldn’t afford in these games. “How does it feel?”

“Cold. But good. I guess”

You nodded and began wrapping, you started on the top half of his arm. Thresh’s was again, but fortunately and unfortunately, very muscular. He could hold his own in the game, and would hopefully heal quickly. But you would probably use the whole roll of wrapping you had acquired. You prayed none of you needed any more. After starting with the upper half of his bicep you went across his chest to stabilize his shoulder. It would limit his range of motion, but the more he let it rest the longer he would last. You and Rue helped him put his shirt and jacket back on before he spoke again.

“Thanks.”

“Why didn’t you take it?”

“How was I supposed to know what it did?”

“Okay. Fair I guess.” Something told you something didn’t want to betray any trust, probably Rue, “Okay we need to get food. You guys have anything for snares?”

“Nothing. But we have lots of berries and roots. See?” Rue said excitedly, her eagerness brought a smile to your face.

“I guess its my turn to bring something to the table. I’ll be back.” You looked at Thresh’s hesitant face, “Here. You can keep the knives and bags if it makes you feel better about me ditching. Be right back.”

You took a few practice shots before going to far. The bow was easy enough to carry, or it would have been if your body didn’t feel as if it was run over by one of the peacekeeper vehicles. You tried to remember all those times Katniss and Gale would tread carefully near one of your hiding places. You felt ridiculous. You wish you would have taken up Gales offer on going hunting with him and Katniss right about now. Your aim was still off, definitely improved, you would be able to get food. But if it comes down to an arrow your precision could be what loses you the game. You came into a smaller clearing with a flock of birds grazing. If you ever got your hands on more rope, you would remember to set the snares in this area. You shot at the slowest moving bird, you tried to hit the general area of his chest. Your breath steadying as you released the notched arrow. Feathers flew as the birds flapped to make as much distance between you as possible. You got lucky and clipped through one of the wings. Not exactly where you were aiming but it would do for now. You tried not to make a face as you broke the bird’s neck to finish him off. Maybe this is why you never asked to be taught how to shoot. This always made you swallow back any possibility of vomiting. The cracking of bone, the squirming of the animal’s body. Maybe this is why you preferred the spear, though wooden and perhaps not as quick as the metal one from the capitol, they almost always finished off the animal in question.

You tried not to get in your head as you headed back to your new alliance. You had to be honest with yourself. You had picked up the knives quickly. They were lightweight and deadly. Your arms were too shaky with arrow and it affected your aim. You were good with snares but that wasn’t exactly helping take out any tributes. You were, at the end of the day, average or below average in everything. Your best shot was hiding and hoping to pull off another sneak attack like you managed to do with the tracker jackers. And even then, you wouldn’t have even noticed them without Rue. You’d never won in hand to hand combat in the training center, you had little chance of making out of a physical fight alive, that had always been Peetas strength.

Peeta…Where was he right now? Not with the careers according to Rue. Was he okay? Should you even care at this point?

“Nice catch 12.” Thresh grunted as you stepped back into view

“Thanks. I don’t suppose you’d mind plucking this thing?”

He chuckled, “Yeah, sure. And its groosling.”

“A groosling?”

Rue jumped down from a smaller tree, “Yeah we have them all over 11, when they come into the field we get a decent lunch.”

“Not much food there either?”

“No, you get in a lot of trouble if you take anything you harvest. They’ll whip you in front of everyone. Thresh act—”

*ahem Thresh coughed. You didn’t need to hear more. Your heart sank. You would have never thought you’d be grateful to have been from 12. “We better be quick about cooking up this bird. We don’t want to risk lighting anything once it gets dark.”

They both nodded and as Thresh worked you asked more about the Careers camp Rue had spied on. She had made good work of flying through the trees. They had replaced Peeta with the boy from 3, Elias. Why would he be working with the careers, he wasn’t a fighter, and he couldn’t bring food to them. The thought made you uneasy. Rue was explaining how they had set up all of their supplies in one big pile. The seemed risky, could the tracker jackers have messed with their mind that badly? As Rue is finishing telling you about seeing Peeta head towards a river in the opposite direction of the careers Thresh plops down next to her. “Now, what?”

You make quick work of starting a fire, and begin cooking. You have to entrust Thresh and Rue to make sure the bird cooked through while you stand in case the smoke gets too visible and draws in wanted attention. Much to Thresh’s chagrin.

“Y/n. Its all done.” Rue says quietly, you proceed to quickly douse the fire and stomp out any remaining embers. You hand a knife to Thresh and tell to cut off however much he wants to eat, you cut off thigh and leg, and hand it to Rue. “I’ve never had a whole leg to myself before.”

“Well, you need to keep your strength up.”  You smile at each other. You slice off some of the bird’s breast and begin eating. For a moment all the three of you can do is pick apart the food and eat. It was a good a meal as any back home. You felt your body relax a bit more. You should probably save more of the bird, but not much you could do with it. Might as well have the energy to get through the next day.

“How long do we do this?” Thresh asked the question youd been avoiding

“The careers need to go. Then we split.” The steadiness in your voice surprised you. Thresh nodded, Rue changed the subject on dividing any food leftover in case they get split up. You noticed neither of them had had the luxury of finding a sleeping bag. “Thresh you and Rue can share the bag. I’ll keep watch first. We can switch out when its your turn.”

They both looked at you shocked that you had offered something so valuable. Thresh regained his composure first, “Thanks. So how do we take care of the careers?”

“I don’t know. But if all of their food is in one pile, it sounds tempting to find a way to destroy it.”

“That could get us killed.”

“Do you have any other ideas?”

“You two fight a lot.” Rue chimed in, giggling

You sighed, “You’re right. I want to destroy their food. It gives us the best chance at winning.”

Thresh echoed his own sigh, “Alright. Lets figure out what we’re doing tomorrow.”

You perch yourself up against a tree and hope the venom lingering in your body doesn’t drag you into slumber. You think about the best way to draw the careers from the cornucopia, but unless their up to hunting the rest of us down there’s little you can do to avoid being seen. You draw in the dirt in front of you with your knife until a voice draws your attention.

“I think it was all fake you know?”

“What?”

“The whole love act you and the other guy from 12 put up.”

“It was an act, you didn’t hear about him working for the careers?”

 “Yeah and I’ve also heard you trying to figure out if he actually saved you. I also know he isn’t working with careers anymore.”

“He was probably just trying to make people think he’s in love with me. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway.” You go back to playing with your knife. You knew it was an act because you knew who Peeta was actually in love with. Still, why did he try and get you to leave? And did he actually fight Arioch?

“Those glasses in your bag…you should use them at night if you want to actually see anyone coming.”

“They’re night glasses??”

“Yeah.”

You put them on immediately. Almost letting out a laugh from your surroundings, it would definitely help you see if anyone was coming. Thresh said nothing else, and you let him rest until your eyes could no longer stay awake. Rue cuddled into you, reminding you of how lonely these games feel when you work by yourself. You missed people, you missed your family, and the few friends you had. The warmth of Rues body pressed against you lulls you into a deep slumber. The boom of the cannon scares you awake, and it takes everything to not scream as you bolt upright. The careers were hunting again. Which meant you had to destroy their supplies, today.

You missed dusk, so cooking anything was out of the question. You had some of the groosling left over for each of you but you would need to wait to for anything of sustenance. Rue had found eggs for all of you in a marsh, while the texture would usually make you want to puke, you have to eat. You learned about Rue, the oldest sibling, fiercely protective of them, even risking foraging knowing about the peacekeepers harsh punishments. She tells you about her love of music, you smile at the light in her eyes.

“Do you get a chance to enjoy music at home?” you ask

“We sing at home. At work, too. That’s why I love your pin,” she says, pointing to the mockingjay that I had all but forgotten. You cant help but agree. Your brothers, they didn’t mind working in silence. But when you had first had to find food you would wake up dangerously early and you hated it but there was something about listening the birds singing as if to welcome you into their world. Rue talks about making friends with the mockingjays, how she uses them to signal everyone that its time to go home. You begin unclasping your pin but Rue stops you, and says that it let her know she could trust you. Rue starts to talk about Thresh, but she barely manages to get out that he has no siblings before he interrupts.

“So, whats the plan 12?”

“Are you ever going to use my name?”

“Not likely.”

You rolled your eyes, he took stubborn to a different level. In a way you understood. The less you knew, the more you could separate the games. Only one person made it out, you had to keep telling yourself that. You all decided on your plan by lunch. We would meet back at the same site, close to the stream. You leave them the sleeping bag in case they need it. You could probably find the other bag you had hidden away in the beginning of the games. But decide to omit that information.

“What about you? Won’t you be cold?”

“Hey, don’t worry about me. Stealing isn’t illegal here. Ill find something before I get rid of the careers.”

Rue teaches me her mockingjay song. A signal that we are okay but can’t come right away. Before you leave Rue wraps you in a hug, which you return. There may not be much time left, and you needed her to know how much these last couple days meant to you.

“You be careful.” She says

“You guys too. I’ll see you at dinner. Take care of Thresh okay?” You joke as you poke her belly, she giggles and goes to join Thresh

“Good luck.” He says with a huff

You nod and go to make your way to the stream.You try to move as quickly and silently as you can. Your mind racing with  thoughts concerning Rue, Peeta, your family. Was Peeta the death the canon was alerting you to? What would happen if it coms down to you and Rue or Thresh? Would you be able to make the first move? Take the first shot? And your family? You risked everything by coming down here, were they okay? Did the mayor decide to punish them for making a scene during the Reaping?

The closer you got to the career camp had you pause at any sound or movement in the woods. You had a knife out and ready, if more than one career showed up it would give you a better chance of making an accurate kill versus trying to restring your bow. Your shooting skills were alright but they were slow, you couldn’t renock your arrow quickly and to get an accurate shot you had to stand almost completely still. You weren’t going to risk dying with those odds. When you get to the hiding spot Rue told you about you allow yourself to sheath your knives and get your bow out. The careers are moving slowly, their body is covered in bumps from the tracker jacker stings. If they had gotten medicine it wasn’t working all that well. The supplies were in a pyramid, it so tempting but its clear that it had to be booby trapped. Most likely Elias’ doing, he was from three, the technology district. You couldn’t remember his score. He had shrunk away when you had tried to talk to him. But if he was anything like his other victors, you were sure he had a few tricks up his sleeves. You knew better than to count anyone out. For now, theres noting to do but wait, wait for them to reveal what the trap was, wait for them to go hunting, or wait for Rue and Thresh to get the fires going.

Arioch’s shouts let you know the alter is what was happening. You can hear an argument start. Marvel and Clove think they should leave Elias to guard the supplies.

“Hes coming. No ones touching the supplies anyway.”

“And lover boy?” Marvel asks. So, Peeta was alive for now. You don’t know whether to feel relief or frustration. You wondered if they were fighting to keep Elias away so they could take the chance to deal with Arioch before its too late.

“It’s a miracle he hasn’t bled out yet. He isn’t moving, and he definitely is not an issue. You don’t think I know where I hit him?” He grabs a spear and pushes it into Elias, “Come on. And if its her I get the kill, my way. Everyone understand?”

Probably doesn’t mean Rue if you had to guess. You sit for a while longer, not knowing what exactly would be the best option here. You’re about to get closer when you see the girl from five, Cora, run towards the pile. You have to stop yourself from shouting out. She was willing to talk to you about alliances, but you doubted with so little people she would trust you now. And Thresh certainly work with you with someone else on board. You see her dance to the supplies. It was so deliberate. She was smart enough that you knew she would be able to tell that it was booby trapped, and she had figured out exactly what the trick was. She overshot one of her jumps and fell forward, a squeal escapes her. It suddenly clicks. You look back at the plates you had all stood on as you waited for the timer to count down. The dirt dug around it, then uneven patches of land. Elias was even smarter than you had thought. Rerigging the mines. No one has ever done that. For a split second you smiled at the thought of something being pulled over the gamemakers before you realize that unless you wanted to sacrifice yourself there was going to be no way of getting to the supplies after all. Your memory was good but you had already forgetten Coras dance. And she was probably long gone for me to offer any kind of truce.

Damn it. You scan everything in the pyramid of food and crates. You had no chance of getting from here. Rue and Thresh’s second fire had begun. The careers were smart enough to figure out something was off. You needed to think of something, and you needed to think of something now. Your eyes land on the bag of apples. No way. Theres absolutely no way. You might waste every arrow. You take a deep breath, you had to do this. You could do this. You step out into the clearing. Just enough to give yourself a good enough shot. You start to open and close your hand steadying it to the best of its abilities. You aim near the middle of the bag to see exactly where your arrows would land, you could readjust after. Its high, but that works in your favor. If you aim there again you might be able to release the apples entirely. You shoot another arrow and another, the arrows getting close but not enough your arms begin to shake with the tension of the bow. You take one last deep breath. You see an apple precariously balancing as you release a fifth arrow and finally the bag rips.

You only have a chance to be upset about your wasted arrows before the explosion sends you flying into the air.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Catos POV

Come on… come on. Get up. You have to keep moving. Y/n’s face wavers for only a second as she sees the blood come from her ear, she doesn’t try and stand. Just begins to crawl back to tiny Rues hiding spot. Y/n puts up her hood avoiding any possibility of a blood trail. The screen flashes back to your tributes rushing to get back to the camp site. The boy from three did a good job. Too good. If he was smart he would begin running in another direction. The camera is back to Y/n as a loose crate triggers another mine. Y/n struggles to get herself back to a crawl with every stray explosion.

Y/n settles into her hiding spot seconds before Arioch breaks through the clearing. His usual tantrums seemed minor to the rage he displayed for the entirety of Panem. His hair forcefully came out in clumps. He began kicking and throwing anything that wasn’t destroyed in the wreckage as Clove and Marvel pointed to the sky, trying to explain that whoever set off the mines was probably long gone, and simultaneously avoiding getting too close.

The boy realized he should leave too late. He had only begun to turn around before Arioch came up to him and snapped the kid’s neck. Quick and painless. Probably. But nothing like Y/n would deal with if she didn’t figure out how to get out of there. Until they decided to go hunting she was stuck. The night sky offered nothing for the careers, Arioch cussed some before putting on the night glasses and heading in the direction of the last fire. The camera panned to Thresh and Rue, they decide to hide out until morning. They have no way to see and would probably get them caught. They stay at the third campsite and you realize theres nothing else you can worry about for now.

Exhaustion covers you. You let your head the back of the couch your sitting at. Victors from every district begin walking out. The capitol starts to play out some highlights of the tributes that lost today. You decide to turn on the screen in your room to play the live footage. The next day was sure to bring some, hopefully pleasant, surprises.

It did not. You didn’t fall asleep until early in the morning and miss the first few events. Everyone was beginning to gather in the screening room. The tributes had all been impressive this year to say the least.

“So, what happened?”

He looked you up and down before answering, “Jesus kid, do you ever sleep? (Not really you thought) And so far nothing, Thresh left Rue to see if Y/n needed help. Y/n is trying to find Thresh and Rue and she keeps snapping her fingers near her ear, so I’m going to assume she cant hear right now.”

That couldn’t be good. Being able to know when someone is coming is crucial to the games. Its leaving her with a weakness. The victors with tributes left talk sponsors. The two from your own district are going to have a hard time paying off all the supplies the sponsors wanted to send down. For now, they were holding off. The day drug on. Y/n was now anxiously waiting for Rue and Thresh to meet back where they planned. Rue was waiting for her and Thresh. And Thresh was checking around your tributes’ camp. The room continued to get more and more full. Haymitch noticed your leg starting to tap first,

“Nothings happened yet, if you need to go catch up on that sleep you obviously lack in your life.”

You nodded and began to leave the room. Deciding to work in the training room for a while and then spent some time outside. You were gone longer than usual, Enobaria had slowly been easing up on her guard duties, but it was better not to risk it. The fresh air calmed your nerves. You wondered when you would be able to be around people again like a normal human being. Not that you knew what being “normal” looked like. You’ve spent your whole life in a training center, then you were able to go into the games, and now…what? You still didn’t know what to do. Your life’s purpose had been the games. You went home for a week and realizes your parents were strangers to you. Proud of the accomplishments you’d brought your districts but widely uninterested in anything else. You knew nothing but to kill and survive the games. It felt empty, the last time you’d felt a spark of anything was…with y/n. And that was only because she refused to be afraid of the reputation that preceded you. She saw you as a human being, made you feel like a human being… It had been eight days since you told her you hoped she would make it back, I mean it had been eight days since the tributes were sent to the arena…

You decided to go back to the screening room. Everyone was silent. Not the best sign. Enobaria waved for you to sit next to her, “Rue is close to setting off a trap.”

You looked at one of the victors from 11. The woman, Seeder was unable to look at the screen. Chaff, sat next to her couldn’t peel his eyes away. She sang her four-note song to the mockingjays, the song that signified she was safe. The birds quickly picked up the tune. The camera panned to Y/n. It took a minute but she heard the melody and quickened her pace toward the song. The camera panned to Marvel, him, Clove and Cato split up to try and cover more ground. And likely to be ready to hunt each other once they took care of Y/n and Thresh. The only real threat to their game. The camera shoots back and forth from Y/n who had finished singing her response, to Rue, and a split second later a net descends upon her.

You could hear a pin drop. The room was silent. The young girl struggles to free herself. If she stays quiet, Y/n will reach her in minutes. But you realize Rue is a child. And children scream when they’re scared.

Y/N is sprinting the second she hears Rue scream her name, she responds letting whoever was there know she was coming. She should wait to see if any other tributes were incoming, but there was no logic behind this move. Only emotion. Y/n breaks through the clearing, the camera is focused on the young girl reaching towards her ally. But anyone who has watched games could tell there is something afoot when the camera panned into a high shot. Marvel has made it to the clearing as Rue says Y/ns name reaching for her.

Y/n and Marvel stare at eachother. A second had passed before Marvel took a step. His arm has thrown the spear right into Rue's abdomen. Y/n seems to suddenly remember what’s happening around her as she throws her knife into the center of his chest. You realize Y/n hasnt seen where the spear has landed, shes focused on the career about to run at her. You wonder if the shock affects her aim because the knife lands on his left side. A lung. He was dead either way. He’d bleed out the second he removed it. Y/n seems to know this because she runs toward him as he staggers forward, falling to his knees. For a split second you see Gloss and another guy from District 1 leave the room, probably to go make some phone calls probably for the sponsors. It was customary to be allowed to be yelled at by the ones who lost their gamble.

Marvel falls again but to his side. Y/n stands over him and seems to hesitate before pulling the knive out and driving it into the guys heart, she pulls it out quickly and a canon booms overhead. She seems to have just registered that his spear was still missing. She quickly turns to Rue as she weakly says her name again and begins untangling her from the net.

'Oh my God.'

'No. No no no.'

‘I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.’ Y/n is visibly shaking as she holds Rue’s hand. Repeating an unnecessary apology. Anyone watching would know she tried everything to get to her in time, including Rue. She was clever, she would know... understand. Rue asks her about the food and Y/n assures her she took care of it.

‘One of you guys have to win.’

Y/n is nodding, tears unable to stop flowing from her face. ‘Its going to be okay now.’ She tells her.

‘Don’t go?’

Y/n pulls Rue into her, brushing her hair out of her facing and stroking her cheek, siping it free of any tears the girl had no control in releasing, ‘Of course not. I’m staying right here.’

As Y/n continues to rock her, Rue asks her to sing. Y/n nods and sings an odd tune you’ve never heard before. Not that music was something you often heard in the training camp in 2. Haymitch tells you its an old lullaby. Well, he mumbles it to the room. A single tear drops from Seeder’s eye as she pats Chaffs hand and walks out of the room. The mockingjays pick up the melody of the song as she finishes. Y/n lays the child down as if she were taking a nap. Thresh bursts in too late.

‘What happened?’ he growled

Y/n is silent for a moment. At first, I think shes trying to steady her breathing. Maybe worried he’s going to have an Arioch level meltdown, ‘I got here too late. I only managed to get one career before the other one killed her. They didn’t have a weapon after they shot her. So, they got away.’

‘You didn’t chase them???”

‘Dont yell at me. Rue asked me to stay! Where were you??’ You wondered how the lie would play out outside of the game. Because now you were sure, one of them would be the ones to come back. There was no doubt in your mind. It was a smart move, if Thresh is feeling vengeful he may take out one of the other two threats in the game.

He lets out a scream in frustration, he says nothing about where he was ‘That’s it. Its done.’

‘Wh-what do you mean? We haven’t taken out Arioch yet!”

“Its getting too personal. Lets split up what we have and go.’

Y/n hesitates for a while before she just nods, ‘Fine.’

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Y/Ns POV

You finished separating everything quickly. You tried but fail to stop tears from falling. You were furious you hadn’t been fast enough, furious it wasn’t Arioch that ran through the clearing, furious that you felt sick to your stomach. Every camera was on you and you couldn’t hold your emotions together. But this was Rue, she deserved more than an act the capitol forced you to put on.

“Is that everything?” All you could do was nod. You were losing two allies in one day. It was too much to process right now. Thresh nodded and began walking away. You forced yourself to say something, anything.

“Hey Thresh!...Just-- Make sure you rest your shoulder.”

He paused for only a second, only when you called his name. He didn’t look back, “Thanks…. I hope I don’t see you again, 12.”

You let out a dry laugh, “Yeah, the feelings mutual.” And it was. You knew now that you wouldn’t be able to take that first move in the end. And you didn’t think he would either. Peetas words echoed in your head. You were so quick to dismiss what he said about being a piece in the games, but he was right. You were more than that. Rue was more than that. You couldn’t even be mad at Marvel. We were forced in here. Forced to kill each other.  

Finish it, he had said. You were going to let him suffer for killing her. Training center be damned. His lips had barely croaked it out, Finish it. Finish it. Finish it. No one deserved to die alone. No matter what the cameras saw you knew they wouldn’t have made out his request. You held his arm while you sunk the knife into his flesh a second time. I would want that. To not be alone when it was my time to go. You couldn’t even really offer that to him not with Rue taking priority, but you hoped that somewhere he knew that his life wasn't meaningless. That you wished there was more you could do. But you were just one person.

You took a step into the woods and stopped. You collect any flower you could carry and bring them back over to where Rue and Marvel were resting. You started with Marvel first. You laid him down gently putting some flowers in his hand and placed sporadically around him. Rue took more time, she deserved more time. You placed flowers in her beautiful dark and curly hair, around her body, covering the fatal wound. By the time you finish it looks as if she fell asleep in a field of flowers, as if she had just stopped to take a quick nap. You press a quick kiss to her forehead, “Bye, Rue.”

A mockingjay warns you about the incoming hovercraft. You step to the edge of the clearing, unable to tear your eyes away. You hold in every profanity in your vocabulary bank and vulgar gestures as you see the flying vehicle come in to collect the bodies. As if it were routine. As if the two lifeless bodies meant nothing. Grief suddenly overtakes you and angry tears stream down your face as you fall to your knees. A young mockingjay lands on a branch next to you and sings Rues simple four-note song. The song that meant she was safe. Not here, but safe. You feel your lips tug in a smile and you pick your self up and continue walking. You aren’t sure where, back to the stream by the looks of it. You sit against the trunk of the tree you will be sleeping in today. You want to wait until sunset for no other reason than that your body felt suspended in time. You are about to try and stand when you see another parachute floating down in your direction. You almost drop the canister the second you open it. Peeta talked to you about the different kinds of bread in the districts, this wasn’t from 12. It could only be from Rues district. Suddenly you have more tears left to cry.

You stand up, “Thank you to the people in District 11.” Thank you for everything, you say to yourself. You begin climbing, all of the tears have exhausted you. And you are in no shape to kill anyone today. Anyone else, you remind yourself. The second you settle into a branch your body feels heavy, as if you couldn’t move if you wanted to. Sleep threatens to take you, which would be fine if you didn’t know the nightmares that would await you.

Then you realized you wanted them to come. You deserved them. A penance for living. For wanting to live after what happened and would happen to the tributes around…. Would happen? Hm. You were getting out of here. And you were going to win the Hunger Games.

⋆﹥━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━﹤⋆

Taglist: @adaydreamaway08 @artaxerxesthegreat @aunt-pipie @imtoanonymousforyou @lacychick @xcastawayherosx @chloe-skywalker @ietss @inky-sun

[kodaswrld]

Can you do hunger games ones???

hiii ~ of course i can! thank you for responding to my dm so we could discuss colors & characters!

divider creator - requests open - like & reblog if you use!

જ⁀➴ credit me please & follow for more dividers!

[cherries-and-knives]

Would just like to state for the record: I may be a Gale Hawthorn defender, but I am a Peeta Mellark stan first until I die.

[dreamofescaping]

i will never forgive the hunger game movies for what they did to my perfect bread boy Peeta Mellark. How dare you not recognize his loveliness, his charisma, his wits, his empathy, his significance. a dandelion at the end of winter.

[there-are-many-ways-to-smile]

I've only read the first book of the Hunger Games and I barely remember it tbh.. so does every district have their own Effie? Because I'm rewatching the movies and Effie spends a lot of time with Peeta and Katniss but I'm not seeing her with anyone else.

[banana-pancake5]

Just watched Hunger Games 4

Whyyyyyyy Finnick and Peeta could’ve been best friends ;-;

Like Imagine Finnick just Supporting peeta and helping him through the whole mind control situation it could be so wholesommmmeeeee finnick already helps him out with the whole real or not real thing and I just wish there was more of that

[heyiappreciateyourshoelaces]

It’s giving Peeta Mellark.

"you're good at art you should go to college you should start animation you should get a job in the industry you have so much potential" I SHOULD BE IN THE WOODS. EATING POISONOUS BERRIES

[shinynewmemories]

No but the Hunger Games really said "what do you hate more- the atrocities or the people who commit them against you? Because like it or not there IS a difference. If you hate the people who commit acts of pure evil more than you hate the acts themselves, what will stop you from becoming just like your enemies in your pursuit of justice? What will keep you from commiting those very same acts against THEM when the opportunity arises? And what then? The cycle of pain and suffering will never stop. Round and round it'll go. Nothing will ever change. But. BUT. If you hate the atrocities. If you hate the vile, senseless acts MORE than you hate the people who did them to you. If you are able to see that evil is evil regardless of who does it... The cycle ends with you. No, you may never get justice. But you will never be responsible for making others, even your enemies, suffer the same crimes you have. The atrocities will never be committed by you, never by your hand. And that's the way you change the world. It's the ONLY way" and that's why I am sure it will never stop being one of the most relevant works of fiction ever created

[3c1ipseartz]

PEETA!! In love

I’m reading the books the hunger games and I love him sm 😚 they portray his love for Katniss better and it makes me so sad. I love them tho

[stephsycamore]

I think the most radical thing the hunger games does is tell young people that the most revolutionary thing you can do is have unconditional love for humanity. Katniss throughout the entire series is guided by a deep sense of compassion for the people around her. It is what causes her to volunteer, to bury rue, to mercy kill cato, its why she tries to save peeta, why finnick telling her to remember who the real enemy is works, and even though her compassion for the larger world falters when peeta is kidnapped, it comes back when she visits hospitals and asks for mercy for other victors and ultimately, it is love and belief in a better humanity that makes her kill coin. Through it all, she maintains an unfaltering belief in the fundemental goodness of humanity, which is diametrically opposed to dr gaul's and snow's worldview. Peeta is even more unwaveringly compassionate

So the series tells young people that the most revolutionary thing you can be is compassionate. Let compassion drive your politics. Let yourself believe in the fundemental goodness of people. And i think that's deeply important in a world that touts the superiority of pure reason or logic, to allow yourself to be guided by something as emotional as compassion. Katniss everdeen tells us that your politics should be rooted in compassion in a world that thinks detatchment or cynicism is intelligence and i think thats v cool

[cherries-and-knives]

Girl the post in itself was sad af BUT THE TAGS WHY-

if i think about the hunger games in peeta's perspective i WILL start sobbing

[seasonn]

peeta tried to save him and katniss by saying she had a baby, because he knew that would pull at the capitals heart strings. In a dystopian society, peeta mellark knew the capital would care more about a fetus than the real dying children . this sounds oddly familiar

[logicalbrina]

what makes Snow such a formidable villain within THG universe is that nothing he does was set in stone. there was no sense of inevitability about his actions and his brutality. Snow had enough perspective of poverty, capital cruelty, district hunger and not to mention his own arena experience’ and yet he actively chose at every moment to stray from natural goodness. its even more terrifying in the sense that he had the ability to care. Snow is not a mindless sociopath, he displays feelings to others such as sejanus, lucy grey and tigris but ultimately he will always choose himself. his ability to betray those he cared about in order yo advance himself makes him so much more than the stereotypical villain who is forced into his actions.

[cant-find-anyone-elseeee]

there was a moment when the people in the movie theatre and the capitol audience in the stands were laughing at the same things, having the same reactions to the games, to the deaths, to flickermans jokes, to the doctor's announcement...i wonder aren't we watching it for entertainment too

suzanne collins' books may exist in popular culture as "dystopian", but they have always been a meticulous and startlingly close social critique of our world. at what point does our own idolization of the movies and the books repeat that story? we watch just as the capitol audience does.

all dystopia eventually crosses a line from realistic futurism to current relevancy. how long will it take us to realize we've already crossed that line with these books? and the very people who need to realize this are the ones in that audience...real or fake, we're the same: consuming and consuming.