- F A L L E N -

12

The audience gasped, Caesar sent me up the stairs, and I obeyed.

"Well, that was cheery" Finnick leaned and whispered to me, facing front, while the audience continued to mutter amongst themselves, in a confused shock.

"You know me, I'm a regular Mary Poppins", I whispered back as he helped me up the step.

In my peripheral, I could see him smile.

The rest of the night turned out to be very eventful, with wedding dresses and screaming obscenities (which I fully supported) and my favorite part; the baby.

Peeta walked nonchalantly up the stage, with the austerity of a tall, boisterous man, even though he was quite short and round. Suddenly my mind jumped to the time Finnick was ranting on how he didn't believe the district 12 love existed, "It's all a play, Katniss is just too tall for him, it'd never work!" In the moment, I'd punched him lightly on the shoulder, tried hopelessly and halfheartedly to prove he was wrong. Now, secretly, even with the obvious falsity of the "I'd rather die than be without you", I still disagreed that it was all a lie. I thought they cared about each other, at least in some way. 

Peeta conducted his interview with an annoying amount of charm, and I was about to side-eye Finnick when I suddenly noticed the stage had grown dead quiet.

"If...if", Peeta stammered.

"If what Peeta?" Caesar questioned curiously, tilting his head even closer to Peeta's.

Peeta took a long, exasperated sigh, "If it wasn't for the baby".

Finnick and I immediately turned to face each other with disbelief. Wide-eyed and on the verge of a laugh, I was about to make a remark when I felt the person next to me, the boy from district 5, take my hand in his.

I took a quick glance at the rest of the tributes, including Peeta, who had just recently puttered up the steps, as they grasped each others hands and started to put them in the air, triumphant as ever.

I grasped Finnicks hand and he pushed our arms up to the sky.

Within a few seconds, the lights boomed out, but the noisy incredulity of the audience still lit up the room.