The Angel of Death || Peeta Mellark x Reader

I Did Something Bad

oh my god the people outside of my house need to stfu. anyways, guess who got the taylor swift long pond session vinyl. ME! also i'm sorry about not being very active, it was just my birthday lol. i started driving and studying for finals so i've just been so busy lately, so i haven't been updating. sorry

The silence that followed Cato's cannon was eerie. I watched from Peeta's arms as the dogs began to retreat, and I made eye contact once again with the animal that was supposed to resemble Rue. 

Once all of the hideous animals had retreated to wherever the gamemakers called them, Peeta and I slowly made our way down the Cornucopia. I couldn't bring myself to look at Cato's dismembered, dead body, so we went to the other side.

"Why aren't they saying anything? I thought we won?", said Peeta, solemnly.

He was right, we had won, but there was no sign of victory on our faces. Just sadness.

"I- I don't know", I spoke gingerly, my throat still hurt from where Cato had roughly held it.

He held me firmly in his arms, terrified that I would drop dead at any moment. During the games, we had learned to take nothing for granted.

No hovercraft had appeared to take us or Cato's body, so we stood, awkward and confused. 

"Do we have to move away from the body?".

"I don't know, I can't remember anything", I responded, my mind too clouded to think.

But then, a voice from overhead spoke. Claudius Templesmith.

"After further examination of the rule book, the previous rule change has been... revoked. There may only be one victor. May the odds be ever in your favor".

This was their game the whole time, they never intended to let both of us live. I don't know why both of us were so stupid to believe them. Hope makes people do funny things.

"Y/N, it has to be you. You have to go home".

"No. I'd never make it without you, Peeta. You know that".

Both of us stood still, too scared to utter another word. If we didn't end this cruel stalemate soon, the gamemakers wouldn't hesitate to send the dogs to finish it for us.

Then, Peeta walked around the corner, leaving me alone and vulnerable. When he returned, he held Cato's sword in his hands. It must have fallen off the Cornucopia during the fight.

"Peeta. What are you doing with that?", I trembled.

"We know how this has to end. They need to have their victor, and I need it to be you".

"No! Please, you can't leave me like this. Not after that night on the balcony. If you meant everything you said, you wouldn't do that to me. Especially not now, after everything we've been through! After everything I've lost. I watched that little girl die in my arms, Rue. And if you think I can live with myself after that, you're wrong. You can't do that to me".

"I have no other options! I'm not going to let you die, I have to be the one to go. You don't understand, there are people that need you. Nobody needs me".

"I need you".

And then we stood there, neither one of us daring to make a move. 

"They don't need their victor. Why should they?", I said, cutting through the silence.

"What do you mean?".

"We'll die together. Give me the sword".

He uncertainly hands over the oversized weapon to my outstretched hands. My arms nearly buckle under it's weight, and it didn't help that my left arm was completely unusable.