Chance || Peeta Mellark

Soup [21]

Her eyes were dark, black bags laid under her eyes, a permanent frown stuck on her face. It had been weeks without a proper sleep for the girl. Katniss had lost a friend and may of started the beginning of an uprising, and Peeta was half dead camouflaged into the rocks beside a stream. She had lost hope. Peeta was still trying to show his love for Katniss but it was beginning to dwindle, he was too weak.

She had tried for hours to convince the sponsors to pay for medicine, bandages or anything for Peeta; the excuse being they used enough money in Katniss. Haymitch had disappeared before, mentioning something about going to talk to the Head Gamemaker after Katniss' little show.  This was now her fifth time in the room of sponsors for the day, "Please..." she urged the District 12 sponsors, "Please... Anything... I'm sure he'll appreciate it way more than you can." Alexis sounded defeated, but again they shook their heads. She probably looked like a basket case. But she didn't care. "Why?" She asked, not looking for an answer, "He's a sixteen year old boy who's bleeding out right now, he had been for days. I promise you, if you sponsor him anything right now, he'll win these games. If he doesn't.... I'll do anything you ask of me."

One of the men in the group perked up at the offer which made Alexis tense up.

No... She thought to herself, No...

"Anything?" The man asked, leaning towards her; she nodded, instantly regretting her choice of words, "Well in that case," He clapped his hands together smugly, "I have enough for food. Thats all."

Alexis nodded vigorously, taking the note from his hands she read the check as she made her way towards the items she could buy. Bread, potatoes, though the thing that caught her eyes was mushroom soup. It cost almost all her money but this way she knew that he needed something warm and filling. She only had enough for a singular bread bun so she added that to the package. Then they gave her the note. 

Take the soup slow, it's all I could get. You're going good, Strong Boy. -A

She sent it off to the gamemakers to send into the games; Alexis quickly made her way back into the viewing room to see the metal parachute land beside the boy. It just turning morning and no one was near him but he still didn't move. For a second Alexis thought the worst, "He's not dead." A voice said boredly, Alexis looked to her left to see Alex - the boy with auburn hair - "He's just making sure nobody's there. Smart move"

Once Alex finished speaking, Peeta's arm reached out for the small parachute. He sat up, removing some of his camouflage to see more clearly. He slowly opened the larger container to find a smaller metal container, a small bread roll and the note. He lifted the note to his squinted eyes, he looked up and gently closed his eyes, thankful. "Thank you." His voice was hoarse and weak. 

"Couldn't get him anything else?" Finnicks voice softly came from behind Alexis, she turned to him a sad look on her face. She shook her head, "At least he won't starve now... it's better than he was doing." Finnick voiced her thoughts. The girl eyed the man, there was no reason for him to be in the viewing room anymore, but he had stayed with the girl the entire time. She was very grateful but she didn't know how to voice that thought. So she hugged him, she found physical things easier than words, sometimes you can't find the right words.

The man hugged her back, placing his chin on top of her head. He understood.

The two broke apart at Claudius Templesmith's voice over the intercom, announcing news to both the tributes and the viewers. "Attention, Tributes. Attention." Alexis listened up, tilting her head towards the speaker - although she did rather Caesar -  trying to understand what he was saying. "The regulations requiring a single victor has been suspended." Alexis' expression when slack, piecing together what he meant, "From now on, two victors may be crowned, if both originate from the same district."

That's when it clicked, her gaze scanned the room landing on Haymitch, "Oh my god..." she breathed while quickly walking over to the man - almost running - trying to not draw attention. She instantly threw herself into his arms, "Thank you.." She whispered into his shoulder, he nodded as he pulled back. 

He took a deep breath, "Took a bit on convincing not just to kill Katniss." Haymitch looked up to the screen, pointing out it was on Katniss, "Lookie here, she finally cares enough now. Knew she had it in her." 

Alexis glanced up to the screen, "We're giving them a chance." The girl explained, "Katniss knows that...So does Peeta, lets just hope they can pull it off."

"You and me both."

The girl looked down, "I promised that i'd get them both out.. I didn't tell you that but-"

"I knew." He cut her off, receiving a confused look off the girl, "The boy told me. Asked me for pointers even." He almost chuckled, "Hell of a plan you have. I just made it a reality. We can hope the Gamemakers keep their promise."

"They will." Alexis said determined while nodding her head, trying to convince herself. They stood there for maybe 10 minutes, watching Katniss make her way towards Peeta. Tracking him down. She had made it to the stream, climbing over rocks trying to find the boy. That was until he revealed himself by grabbing her leg. Alexis let out a deep breath, she could tell Haymitch was looking at her. She turned her head, furrowing her eyebrows, "What?"

A smile came across his face, "You must really love that boy." Her eyes widened slightly, she knew she liked him; she also knew that they had a connection, from being friends to whatever happened to them before he went into the Games. But did she 'love' him? She looked back to the screen to see Katniss pulling off all of his camouflage, revealing his face.  

She kept her eyes locked on the boy on the screen in front of her; a small nod was the only answer.