Broken Toys - Johanna Mason x fem reader

Chapter 29 - Rue

Lyric chapter ahead - Rue by girl in red

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Saying that Katniss was surprised to see me would have been a great understatement. Her mouth was still open due to the shock when she hugged me. I had forgotten how comforting Katniss' presence was. In the whole country she was probably the person who could understand me best. The last years must have been torture, all alone with Haymitch and Peeta, having nothing to do but to go hunting and to think while living in a house full of memories of a time that would never return. Having time to concentrate on my thoughts was one of the things I was most afraid of in the moment. 

"Thank you", Katniss whispered. 

I smiled at her. "I only did what should have gone without saying. By the way I met your mum in district 4. She requested me to tell you to visit her as soon as possible." Katniss nodded. 

I almost jumped when something grazed my leg, but calmed down as I identified Buttercup, Prim's cat. Surprising that he was still alive. I leaned down to pat him. 

"He just refuses to die and remembers me of her every day. It's like a warning not to forget her", Katniss proclaimed sending the cat a sad glare. 

It was ironic. Actually without Prim and Rue the revolution might not have taken place. They had been the trigger. Rue probably would not have been reaped if she had not been my sister. Katniss would not have participated in the 74th Hunger Games, if Prim had not been reaped. Rue and Katniss would have never met. The riots would not have started and Katniss and I would not have met either. We would have lived our separate lives with our families in a country that would still be oppressed. Katniss and I had achieved so much, but in the end we had failed to achieve our main goal, protecting our little sister. At least they had not died in vain. 

"It might seem random, but do you want to go hunting together? I'm sure we can let Peeta and Johanna here for the time being", Katniss suggested. 

This request took me back to the time when Katniss and Johanna had hated each other and tried to stay away from each other. But I knew that Johanna was not the issue in this case. Peeta was too loud to go hunting. I had been able to detect his steps from a good distance inside the arena. Somehow it honored me that Katniss asked me to join her, because she only asked people she thought were skilled enough. Though I did not know anyone more silent inside a forest than me either. 

"Sure", I agreed smiling.

Actually we were a great team. I wondered when Katniss had last talked to Gale. Usually they had been the ones hunting together.

After hunting down two rabbits, a squirrel and an unfamiliar bird, we sat down at a small brook.

"Katniss?" 

"Hm?" 

"Did anything happen between you and Gale?" 

"Do you remember the explosion that killed Prim?" 

I nodded. How could I ever forget that? 

"I'm not sure, if you noticed it. After all our time in district 13 has been unsettling, but Gale invented this trap. I can't help myself but connect Prim's death with Gale." 

"I see. You two have always been so close. The war really destroyed a lot." 

"Yeah, it did. Especially us ..." 

We grinned at each other. It was freeing to talk to Katniss again. The fate of our sisters would always connect us and the time in 13 and the Hunger Games had led us to grow even closer. Katniss was like a sister to me by now.