𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐋 | Hunger Games

xʟᴠɪɪɪ

     AELLA HADN'T GIVEN MUCH thought into having children of her own.

She had always wanted to be a mother. Deep down there was nothing she wanted more than to feel that love for a child of her own, to raise and nurture a baby that was hers, but the world she lived in changed all that. She didn't want to bring any child into a world where she knew they would one day have to stand in the District Squre on Reaping Day.

She still recalled the agonising scream her mother had made when she had been reaped. It was a sound she would never, ever, forget. The agony, the fear... it was the sound mothers made when their child died. But that's what her mother thought would become of Aella. She never expected her to win the Games and at the time of her reaping Aella never expected she'd win either.

The day she heard her mother's soul destroying cries was the day she decided she didn't want to raise a child in a world where the Hunger Games and President Snow still existed.

She had made her peace with that without even giving it much thought. It didn't change when she met Finnick either, not as their relationship blossomed into love. Not as they became refugees in District Thirteen. They were in the middle of a war... a war that could've lasted years.

Aella didn't want to bring a child into a place of uncertainty. An underground world where he or she would never get the chance to see or feel the sunlight on their face. Where they'd never get to look up at the sky and see thousands of stars during the night. She wanted her children to know what the wind felt like as it kissed their skin, or to feel the heavy downpour of rain soak them. She wanted them to be able to jump into big puddles or make snowmen and have snowball fights outside with their friends.

They wouldn't get to experience any of that as long as the war was still raging on and they were still refugees in District Thirteen.

Then she met Piper and everything seemed to change after that.

She had seen a child in need. A child who had no parents and was still so innocent. She saw herself when she was that age sitting in those pyjamas clutching a teddy bear to her chest. Most importantly she saw a child who needed love and care and Aella wanted to give her that.

She had been so ready to make such a life changing decision without so much as a second thought. Then, all of a sudden, she was thrown into captivity and forced to learn how to re-adjust to life after her rescue. But Piper was always a thought in the back of her mind. She was still willing to make that change to her life and take Piper in knowing there was a chance she wouldn't be marched off into the Hunger Games.

She and Finnick hadn't even talked about having children together. She didn't know his thoughts but she had come to learn he had been ready to take Piper in even while she was still captive in the Capitol. They hadn't talked much about her decision after her rescue either. Finnick had merely told her that he trusted her decision and he would support her in whatever she did.

But their own children? No, they hadn't talked about that. Hadn't even had the chance to give it much thought. It had come up in conversation only once and that was when they'd been trying to think of any way to prevent Finnick from joining the star squad on the front lines. They had thought that just maybe Coin wouldn't be able to send him if Aella was pregnant and even if that were true they didn't have the time to actually make it happen. Finnick had been given a thirty hour notice.

They didn't talk about it again.

Even finding out about Clio's pregnancy didn't stir up any feelings within Aella about having her own children. She didn't know what it was.

But she knew that sitting in Tigris' apartment above her boutique knowing what could've been while Finnick was in the basement below hanging on to live with both hands was soul destroying.