[Flowers] • The Hunger Games

Fourteen

Here she was.

Playing the part of a victor. And he stood ahead of her- playing out the part of the fool. His chest rising and falling as he stood over the other tribute. She stood behind the scene, silent. Lying in wait for the tide to change.

The fool stabbed downwards. The boy from district two let out a pained screech as the sword cut through his stomach. The boy from district one pulled it out as he let it fall to the ground. The tribute choked a bit as Asteria kept herself hidden behind, waiting silently.

"You don't...kill me if you have to, I'm already dead. But she can't be the one to win. You don't understand. She killed them all. I didn't even know what happened until you told me! I just heard the canons- she-"

But it was too late.

Asteria had already thrown the axe.

It hit the boy from district one square between the shoulder blades. He fell forwards, landing in the earth just beside the boy from two. He turned his head as much as he could in an effort to see what had happened to him. And see, he did. Asteria stood above the both of them. Her knife had found its way to her hands. In case either had more strength left than they ought to. She was this close. There was no losing now.

"You...you..." Mars, the boy from one, had mumbled.

It was an accusation, a heartbreak.

"Me." She agreed somberly, with a bit of a nod. "I just...I knew that I couldn't go and beat the career pack by myself. I had to figure something out. That's...what I do. I figure it out." She mumbled- almost inaudibly.

Gone was her sickly sweet tone. Gone was her girlish giggling and warm smiles. Everything that she had built herself up to be over the past two weeks faded into nothing as she stood over the pair of critically wounded tributes. All that was left was a girl, far too old for her age and too tired for her own body.

"You...lied."

She nodded. She set her jaw, affirming to all who were watching that she was way too close to give up now. She reached down and pulled the axe from his back, kicking the sword away from the two of them as she did. It had been a fatal shot. At the very least, a paralyzing one. Though he wouldn't have to worry about that for much longer.

"I lied." She confirmed.

It hung in the air for a moment.

"For what it's worth... I am sorry." She continued.

His breathing was labored, pained. He tried to choke out another sentence but couldn't. Blood caught in his throat before his movements finally ceased.

And a canon sounded above.

Asteria sat bolt upright with a gasp.

"Hey, hey- you're alright." Finnick was at her bedside, coming over to sit on the edge of her bed. Asteria's hands were gripping her hair as she breathed heavily for a few seconds. "It was just a dream. You're okay." He promised.

"I- it was..." She shook her head silently, taking a few moments to compose herself. The memory threatened to play itself in her vision over and over again. She let her hands drop back down to her lap.

The events that had transpired at Snow's manor recalled themselves to memory. Cold smiles and firm hands. Spinning rooms and a senseless world. But eventually, safety and relief.

Salvador Creed. Councilman from the Capitol, with direct ties to President Snow. Her heart sank with dread before she could even remember what she was so afraid of.