"if i'm a ghost
then so are you"
Emerald Colter hasn't known peace at any time in her life; and with her reaping comes a chance for her to finally make her mother proud of her. Only, when she returns home, everything remains the same and...
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Waking to the familiar sound of tweeting birds is enough to soothe her, even as pain continues to shoot through her leg. There is another sound she can hear as well, the gentle thump of something against her ear.
She's still alive. How?
Emerald perks up and tries to push away from wherever she is, fear filling her and causing her to act out. Her eyes fly open and she stumbles backwards, her hand scraping against a tree and cutting up the skin of her hand. Everything continues to stay blurry, all she can see is the figures in front of her.
"Emerald?"
It's familiar voice, but in her delusional haze, she can't put a name to the sound. Instead, she lashes out, tackling the first person she can reach to the ground. A groan leaves their lips as their body slams against the floor, Emerald reaching for something to attack with only to be pulled away.
"Emerald! Emmy!"
Emmy.
Only one person calls her that.
"Silas?" Emerald mumbles.
"Yeah. It's me. You're okay now," Silas assures, turning her around so that she's leaning her head against his chest. Emerald practically sinks into his embrace, allowing the boy from home to comfort her.
The boy looks down at Katniss who is brushing herself off after the attack from the girl, Peeta making sure she's free of injuries. He hopes that Katniss can at least understand that it wasn't a personal attack, which she seems to because she simply scales one of the trees to try and see if she can find some fresh water.
Emerald can feel Silas' fingers entangled in her hair, prying apart some of the recently formed knots that came with the swimming. He doesn't say anything further, just allows her to stand within his embrace in order to calm her erratic heartbeat.
"She okay?"
The voice belongs to Finnick Odair, who up until now, went entirely unnoticed by the District Eight girl. So it seems that Silas had managed to find allies after all, and Finnick does make a little bit of sense — the two of them seemed to get along quite well during the training sessions.
"Yeah, she'll be okay. Peeta, can you grab me some of the rations? She should probably eat to help get her strength back up," Silas responds to Finnick before turning his attention to the blonde boy.
There is no verbal response from Peeta, but moments later Silas is pulling away from Emerald and offering her what appears to be some dried fruit. Emerald allows herself to be guided to the floor so that she can sit down, her leg still aching slightly. It's then she looks down and sees the large gash is relatively healed, merely a dark red line on her skin.
