The Black Widow | A Hunger Games Fanfiction

The Survivors

Annie's body had begun to rot by the time the door to our cell opened again.

After my outburst, they had dragged me back to the cell, still in the horrific dress, stained by the splatter of Annie's blood. The door had opened no more than an hour later and Creed had tossed her body in.
'To see what I'd done' he'd told me. But really, it had been a gift. It let me feel like in death, I was protecting her in a way that I hadn't been able to do when she was alive.
"Forgive me, Annie," I'd said as I'd arranged her body in a pose of resting, closing her eyes and straightening her hair.
But death wasn't pretty and as the days had gone by, even I hadn't been able to get close to her. It was ironic that in all the death I'd caused, I'd never been around long enough to see the body decay.
I wished I had had been allowed to bury her. Or at least to go with her when they had taken us from the cell.

The opening of the cell door had been preceded by the ground shaking. And the ceiling. And the walls. But then it had happened again. 2 blasts. 2 bombs.
They had come for us later. I had heard the sounds of the guards being shot before a man appeared infront of us. He was wearing the same outfits as Finnick and the others had worn in the Capitol before... before they...
"Don't worry," he reassured me- us, "You're safe now. We're going to get you out of here." He had fumbled with the keys for a minute before opening the cell. When Annie didn't move, he turned to me uneasily, "Is she..."
"She's dead," I answered blankly, too desensitised to give any more emotion, "I killed her." Because I had: I'd known what would happen to her. I might as well've pulled the trigger myself.
He led me from the cell and placed me in a room similar to the one I'd first been in. I wondered if they all looked the same or if this was the same room I had first woken in.

The TV was on in the room. Coin stood center stage, reading off a speech to the crowd. I didn't hear the actual words but I got the general gist of it: she was announcing herself acting president until an election could be held. But something felt... off. Would there ever actually be an election? Would anything actually change?
"Rose?" a familiar voice said from the doorway. My head whipped around,
"Finnick?!" How? He was dead. I had watched him die. Was I dead too? He approached slowly, reaching out a hand, which I took.
He was warm and real and alive. He still smelled like the ocean.
"I thought you were dead," I whispered as he hugged me to his chest,
"I know," he said gently, "But I'm here now."
"Annie..." I said, my voice breaking, "I k...k...killed her. It's m...my fault... I couldn't save her."
"Shh," he said, stroking my hair to calm me, "It's not your fault. It's okay." But it wasn't. Even I could hear the pain that he was trying to hide. He had lost his best friend. And it was my fault.
"I'm sorry," I said, "I'm so so sorry."
"So am I. I never should have let you go."
"Then don't. Just hold me forever."
"I will," he said, tracing down my arm to take my hand, "But right now we're needed somewhere else."

Finnick didn't let go of my hand as he led me to the meeting room. It was the same place I had spoken to Snow as he was eating breakfast. Coin was waiting for us there. The speech on TV must've been a rerun.
"Rose," she said, smiling fondly, "I'm glad to see you could join us. Now that everyone's here, let's sit."
I glanced around as Finnick and I took a seat. There were 7 people other than Finnick, Coin and I, all victors. My heart lifted to see Johanna and Cashmere seated there and I wanted to say something to them but I couldn't. That could wait until there wasn't an audience. The other victors were there. Although it felt like there should be more than 9 representatives for 75 years of Hunger Games. Were there really so few survivors? The victors were Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, Johanna, Cashmere, Beetee, Lyme from 2, Finnick and me.
"I have called you here," Coin said, "to discuss a very urgent matter. Now that the rebels have seized the Capitol, there will be executions. But I fear that once they begin, the bloodlust of the districts will never be satiated. So instead, I propose a symbolic hunger games. I would like for the remaining victors to vote on it. A majority of five wins."
"Are you kidding?" Finnick exclaimed at once, "We do that and we're no better than Snow. Those children are innocent. Punish their parents, but not them."
"He's  right," Beetee agreed, "It seems unnecessarily barbaric."
"No worse than what fate we would have suffered had we not succeeded," Lyme contradicted, "They should be grateful we're even offering them this mercy."
"Mercy?" Peeta asked, "This is what you call mercy? Killing 24 more innocent children? I thought this is what we were fighting to stop?!" Johanna laughed,
"We've won a war: I think we deserve to be brutal for a bit. Snow has a granddaughter- I'm in." I couldn't say I hadn't expected that. But I had hoped for better.
"I agree," Cashmere said, "We've suffered enough at their hands. Let them suffer." I stared intensely at the woman who had been there for me when no-one else had. I had expected this from Johanna, but not from Cashmere. It hit like a betrayal.
"How could you say that?!" I said, "After everything they've done to you, to Gloss, to me?! Do you really want to become the very thing that you hated." Cashmere fixed her eyes firmly on me,
"If it stops it from ever happening again, yes." I had no reply.
All eyes went to Katniss.
"I kill Snow," she confirmed with Coin. Coin nodded and Katniss stared back at her, "Then I'm in." A 50/50 split. It all came down to Haymitch,
"I'm with the girl on fire."