-Nightmare-

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It was once again one of those nights.

One on which she awoke screaming and panicked.

She kept screaming looking for the blood puddle, the blood on her hands, the tributes she killed, Marcus, Jasmine and any of those she knew but this time it was worst then usual.

She threw herself out of her bed, having drank herself sleep not long ago in her days clothes, still slightly tipsy as it was not long enough to clean out her system, she fell asleep in her clothes, only having kicked off socks and boots.

She tripped on the carpet and fell on the stairs, the steps hit her ribs hard but lucky her, she didn't slide.

She scrambled up and ran to the door, throwing it open and running out bare feet into the really bad storm that was raging outside but it was nothing compared to the horror of her nightmare.

Some of the gravel cut in her feet and she almost blindly found her way to her neighbor's stairs up to the porch.

That little distance was enough for the storm to ruffle up her hair and douse her in its rain and winds.

She pounded her fist on the door.

"JOHANNA!!" She screamed through the wind, scrapping her fist off with how hard she was bashing that door, leaning on it.

She stumbled in and couldn't catch herself, falling on her knees, as the door opened.

"Paige?" The victor ask the other, in sweat pants and a tanktop, having been jerked away by knocking that sounded like Snow himself was chasing someone.

The younger woman stumbled up and threw herself in her arms.

"Hey, you are alright." She said gently, closing the door again and easily carrying her, heading up the stairs.

Paige looked like a scared little girl, her hair stuck to her terrified face, her jaw clenched so tight Johanna worried that she'd break her own teeth, a death grip she had on her arm made Johanna's fingers tingle with numbness, the girl was trembling but she couldn't tell if it was because of the drenched clothes or fear.

She didn't care for the water in her home or on her, it will dry anyway.

"There, sit." She put her down and pried her hands away from her arm, Paige cupped them as she sat on the bed without a sound.

Johanna rubbed her head in thought before going to simply shake out her blanket and wrap the girl up.

She then grabbed a discarded shirt and used that to try to dry the girl's hair a bit.

"You'll catch a cold if you go out like this and in this time." she told her, throwing the piece of clothing over her shoulder and sitting on the bed too.

Paige looked truly terrified.

"Do you want to tell me what made you almost run down my door?" But she had her ideas already. 

Paige just rocked back a forth a little.

"Was it those nightmares again?" The younger girl suck in a deep breath, by now the water on her face were tears and not the rain.

"Marcus...."

Johanna considered herself lucky, from what she knew about she didn't remember a brother sister duo for a district ever being pulled, she had not even been close to her district partner, lying to everyone that she was a weak girl to be ignored until the end but Paige ended up with her brother.

Johanna thought little of her family, knowing of the pain and having thrown all their pictures and mementos in the cellar to keep them out of mind, she too, would have died for her sister in the games or even now but Snow didn't want it like that, she lived and they didn't.

"Jasmine, Nelson, Josh, all of them...." Paige gripped her left upper arm. "Their blood, one my hands."

Paige was staring at her palm before Johanna reached over and grabbed it, making Paige look at her.

"It will be fine, we are together, we can beat the odds, we are not alone." She offered a little smile until Paige dropped her head again.

"I saw my father, dead at my own hands."

"You didn't kill him."

"I did, nothing would have happened if I didn't volunteer, you told me yourself." More tears spilt, a shaky voice. "I should have never volunteered!" She screamed into her other hand.

"Paige--" "I saw you, axe through the hair, I killed you, I kill everyone around me, I have no one, I kill everyone, you will die because of me."

"Hey hey hey don't write my obituary so fast, I am not that easy to kill." Johanna grabbed her shoulder with her free hand.

"I lose everyone, I will lose you too."

"Hey!" She turned took her hand off her shoulder and turned the girl's face to her with a grip under her chin. "Calm, I am not leaving anytime soon, got it?"

Paige just kept crying.

"I'm here and I not going away."


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Paige might be asleep but Johanna couldn't.

The only way she got the girl back asleep was to lay with her and hold her in her arm, even she was getting more sleep then Paige did on average and she is an night owl mixed with an early bird.

She brushed a strand of hair from the girl's face.

"Don't worry... I'll never leave you." she promise her and herself.


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That night was a turning point in their relationship.

Johanna quite fast noticed that Paige kept finding excuses to not stay in her house alone so after a while, without questions, she stared sleeping over on Paige's couch.

Johanna saw just how clingy she was almost being but let her, she wouldn't admit it yet, even to herself, but she was enjoying having the other girl close.

They were together a lot, finding solace in each other.

While Paige still 'hated' her unknown feelings, Johanna had an easier time realizing she really cared for the girl but had more trouble putting it in words.

That spark just needed to stay so it could get stronger and all of 7 could damned well see that the older victor would butcher children again in another game to keep that spark going.

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