hey guys! i just want to preface this before i begin the latest chapter: don't expect a lot of updates to follow this. while i'm incredibly grateful for over six thousands views on act I, i have been very busy lately and this book is not my highest priority. thank you all for understanding, and love you!! also i'm literally dying of heatstroke rn so don't mind the bad writing/grammar.
"They used to cheer when they saw my face
Now, I fear I have fallen from grace"
Here, I sit alone, trying not to drown in self-pity, but feel my head slip beneath the waves of fear and helplessness. I grip the blanket next to me, occupying the space that should hold him.
Of course Peeta doesn't hold me responsible for my depressed state, although he should, he's too kind for that. Right now, he's making a trip to our local market to get some tea to make me. It's the dead of winter in District 12 now, and I can't bear to be outside.
Ever since the games, my body has not been the same. When I lost weight in the arena from starvation, I still haven't been able to gain it back. Now, I have a permanent seat in front of the fireplace, with my arms looking like bones, and my face so hollow that it lacks it's radiance. I feel myself getting weaker and weaker as time progresses, but I do nothing but sit here and stare blankly in front of myself. The cold of December is too harsh on my weak and brittle body, so I stay here, decaying in safety.
Suddenly, I hear the familiar creak of the door hinge, and glance over to catch one of the rare sights that manages to put a smile on my sunken and pale face. Peeta's blond hair had grown longer over the months, but it could still light up the room like no one else. But something is off about him now, his face is lifeless and absent of the joy that it always possesses.
"What's wrong", I mumble, afraid of my voice breaking if I spoke any louder.
"New Head Peacekeeper just got here. There's fires in the streets, people screaming, I don't know what's happening. I need to help them".
"Oh, my god. Is my aunt okay?".
"I'll go find her, you stay here", he says hurriedly, grabbing a thick winter coat and bolting out the door before I could say anything else.
It was then that I realized the severity of the situation.
I pushed my limbs off the comfort of the couch, grabbing onto the table to make sure they don't buckle beneath my weight, and rush to the door.
I wrap myself under layers of jackets and fur that I must have looked ridiculous, but my body is incapable of producing enough heat to get me through the winter storm outside. I slip on my huge snow boots and launch myself out of the house.
I trudge through the thick snow that litters the ground, searching for Peeta through the harsh wind. Soon enough, I arrive in the center of the town, without any sight of him.
The streets are polluted with unfamiliar faces in crisp, new peacekeeper uniforms, only tarnished with deep red splotches all over their body. I suck in a gasp, and hopelessly stare around me for any sight of Peeta's bright hair or my aunt's short brown hair, but am faced with nothing.
Nothing except a very recognizable scream coming from deep in the town square.
My feet are taking me faster than I thought they were capable of, sprinting for the first time since the arena. I shove people out of my path once I reach a crowd of people, hopelessly watching the spectacle happening in the middle.
I only care about her.
Once I made my way through the flock of people, I see Primrose Everdeen' limp body tied to a post in the middle of the square, with freshly-elicited cuts scattering her pale hands.
I hear her cries of agony, and suddenly it isn't the blonde girl in front of me, it's the dark-skinned girl from District 11. Once I gather my thoughts, I find myself racing to where an older man is holding a whip drenched in her blood, and use all of my strength to knock him away from her.
Of course, this resulted in violence from the man, and feel a sharp pain across my face, and the warmth of my blood trickle down my cheeks. My body collapses to the ground, but I push myself up enough to shield Prim's body from the whip.
"Want another one? Get out of my way", he says menacingly, poising the weapon to strike again to show he wasn't kidding.
But I don't back down, instead I shake my head and keep a firm stance in front of the shaking girl behind me.
And just as he raises the whip to bring it down upon me, a flash of blond appears in front of me like an angel before me.
"What do you think you're doing?", Peeta nearly screams, voice seething with anger that I had never heard from him before.
"Trying to punish that one for trespassing into the woods, until your little friend decided to jump in front of it".
As the two men are arguing back and forth, I reach for the trembling body beside me, and take her head into my chest and allow her to cry into me. All the sudden, their bickering is interrupted by the one and only, Haymitch Abernathy.
"Hey, hey, I understand that you're new, but do you not recognize her? I know she looks a little rough, but that's y/n y/l/n. Winner of the seventy-fourth Hunger Games, Capitol darling", Haymitch says with fake sincerity, glaring at the man
"I don't care who she is, she interfered with a public whipping".
"I never said she was smart. I'm just saying, it wouldn't be in your best interest to cut up her face on the eve of the big wedding".
I see the conflict raging in the peacekeeper's eyes, but eventually he acquises and unchains Primrose from her post. Haymitch rushes to her aid while Peeta kneels in front of me and grabs my face in his hands.
His beautiful, worried features are the last things that flash before my eyes before everything goes dark.
——————
When I return to consciousness, I immediately notice my shift in location. I'm no longer laying on the grimy cobblestone of the square, but instead find myself lying on a small couch in a color-barren room.
I groggily rub my eyes as I sit myself up, only to find a very familiar clump of hair sprawled across my lap. Peeta's clearly exhausted, I can tell he was worried since his features are still laced thin, even in sleep.
As I try to sit up without waking him, just the slightest movement of my thighs make his head snap up and desperately search around until his eyes meet mine.
"Hey", I say weakly, not sure what to talk about.
"What were you thinking? That guy could've killed you!".
"I was trying to help".
I finally piece together that we're not in either of our homes, but instead an unfamiliar place.
YOU ARE READING
In Our Stars || Peeta Mellark x Reader {Act II}
Fanfiction"The fault dear Brutus is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings" ------ Some think love is a choice, others believe it to be written in the stars. But to the Capitol, the star crossed lovers of District 12's affection was an act...
