~ 𝑃𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝐵𝑢𝑡 𝘿𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙡𝙮 ~

ℂ𝕙𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕖𝕣 𝟙𝟙

" 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑒, 𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙 𝑚𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒, 𝑖 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘 𝑖𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠. 𝑌𝑜𝑢 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑝𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑚𝑦 𝑜𝑛𝑙𝑦 𝑑𝑖𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.
𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑜𝑛 𝐹𝑖𝑟𝑒 "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~||~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My muscles ache and my legs scream with pain. As Gage and I run, we keep up with each other to make sure neither of us are left behind. As I look over I fall to the ground and huff as I hit my head a bit.

Gage quickly grabs my arm pulling me up, "Vic, Vic are you okay??"

I see two of him but I quickly nod as I'm back on my feet, he steadily held my arm and I move so he takes my hand instead, hand in hand we run, helping each other through the hanging tree limbs.

We ran for awhile, time at this point isn't much on my mind before my body cries for us to stop.

"Let's take a break." He finally says and I sigh deeply as I collapsed to the ground I lay on my back looking up. I hear rustling to my side but assume that's Gage as he collapses right next to me.

I slowly sneak my hand but I intertwine our fingers with each other. We catch our breathes but the air is mucky and hot, very dry as well.

Once I get my heart rate to calm down a bit I reach for my bag, I take the bottle of water out and hand it to Gage, taking it he softly smiles at me as he sips on it. I take this time to scan him over. Looks like he got a weapon, his hair is a mess and strands of it fall upon his face, his eyes which are a pure green looked wild with the dirt all over him, he still looked handsome though. I'm sure he thinks I look like a hot mess as well.

He notices I stare too long and he smirks at me, "liking what you see?"

I roll my eyes and take the bottle from him sipping on the water myself, "maybe I do." I say smirking back which causes him to chuckle.

He sighs deeply, we're both content in the moment, "how many left?" He asks

I bite my lip gently, "five" I say just as a cannon goes off. I jerk a bit and Gage slides over to hold me in his embrace. My pulse quickens at the sound and I start to breathe heavily as he tries to comfort me he runs his finger through my hair soothing me, "shhh it's okay Vic, everything's gonna be okay"

I know we're all around cameras so I quickly hide my face in his jacket, smells like sweat, but I don't care, tears form in my eyes. What I've been holding back for hours now. The innocent kids I've killed, their family's mourn for them, the cannons which haunt my mind.

We sit there for a few as he just holds me tightly, eventually my tears are no more and I look up at him, he stares back into my eyes, my soul as he softly smiles, "you mean four" he says with a slight chuckle.

I sigh and nod, I hope it wasn't Vince, he saved my life, I'd be dead if it wasn't for him. I can't pay a price for the kindness he showed to me. Will I ever. But I also hope maybe it is him, cause I can't, I can't look him in the eye and kill him, he's human, they all were..

An hour passes and Gage and I eat and he hunts a bit with his bow. Impressed, I never knew he could shoot so well. "Where did you learn?" I say

Gage smiles softly in my direction, "my father, although I haven't shot since your brother volunteered for me. I didn't realize I still had it in me."

I smile in his direction, "mmm I see you're perfect in many ways then"

This causes him to come and sit by me, "I hope you know since the first grade I've seen you as perfection."

This causes me to stop chewing and look at him, "what do you mean."

"I mean, you were always someone who was the star of everything, so humble, so kind, when we were six I remember you doing a speech on how we can make the world a better place, with pollution, homeless, you saw nothing but light. I remember watching you and your brother, unbreakable, the smile you would make when you'd help someone out or in need, you never stopped until you made things right."

His words caused me to become speechless

"When your brother volunteered for me, I knew it should have been me. But the kindness in his heart, it's the same in yours. You do nothing but try to protect people, even if you don't know them."

"I'm a murderer Gage" I blurt out. "I killed eleven innocent lives."

His eyes turn sorrow and soft, "but you did it to protect me, you were caught up in the moment, you're human Vic, it's a human instinct to survive, you make mistakes."

I roll my eyes, "mistakes I'll have to live with, be taunted with." I could feel tears form in my eyes, "yes I am human, but I did it not for me to win. But for you"

He shakes his head and takes me in his strong arms once more, "I'll die vic, but not just for you, I'll die for Panem, for change, because I know you can and will do great things vic. You're our new hope, you're my hope. My strength. I'll die being me."

I could feel my hands shake a bit and a tear fall upon my left eye. As I remember my brothers words

~ 𝐼𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑖𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑚𝑒 ~

I then turn to look up at those beautiful green eyes, "but.. you're my strength Gage, you're what keeps me going, always have. Who am I without you."

His thumb brushes against my cheek wiping a tear away, "You're Victoria Fucking Grace, the strongest woman Panem will ever see."

My lips gravitate to his, as our lips seal with each other's I could feel butterflies sworm in my stomach and the heat that radiates off his soft lips that perfectly lock with mine. This was my first kiss. It's with the man I love. The man that I'll always love. I wish it wasn't in this arena for all of Panem to see but that's not what matters, for a moment. I forgot about the arena, the cameras, the blood thirsted tributes out to kill us. It was just us, in each other's arms. We weren't struggling to survive, we weren't in a fucked up world, it was just us, against the odds.

When our lips separate he looks at me with awe as a tear falls from his eye I quickly wipe it away with my finger, "Vic, I love you."

I place my finger upon his lips as we glance in each other's eyes,
"I know Gage, I lov-" suddenly we were interrupted by distant voices a man and a woman.

"REALLY VINCE?? You let her get away!" Clements voice fills the air.

"I couldn't catch up to them Clement I told you, but don't act like you didn't almost let Glenda get away with her stunt"

"Whatever Vince, she pissed me off anyway."

He groans, "Everyone pisses you off Clement"

"Shut up pretty boy"

Gage and I both widen our eyes collecting ourselves together. We quickly remembered we were still in the arena

and the battle was not over.