Caged Nightingale [Hunger Games Fanfic]

The Seven Stages of Grief

The Death:

He watched her as indecision warred visibly on her face. Cato of District 2 was ranting while holding onto charming and loveable Peeta, whom the public had come to adore along withher. The poor boy looked absolutely terrified, but it is her that he watches.

The Girl on Fire.

She's trembling slightly, eyes darting between Pitiable Peeta and Callous Cato. He can see very clearly, and he knows that the public can see it just as clear as he does, that she doesn't know what to do and she hadn't made a decision yet on what path to take.

Shoot Cato and risk the two toppling over.

Lay down her bow and risk Cato's wrath.

But Peeta makes a red X on Cato's hand and she understands. So does Cato. And before she can let loose an arrow to strike true, Cato uses momentum and surprise to topple the two boys over the ledge and into the jaws of the waiting wolf mutts, who descend upon them eagerly. She cries out and rushes to the edge and sees them, swallows heavily, and restrings her arrow.

She aims.

Her aim is true.

Her arrow takes out both boys and puts them out of their misery. Katniss Everdeen is this year's winner of the 74th Hunger Games. Her heart breaks. So does his. For her, it's for a boy who loved her and she couldn't save. For him, it's for the girl who lost even though she won –his heart clenches at the heartbroken look on her face.

She cries for the fallen boy and he wants to cry for her.

She's picked up, crowned, and he is approached by President Snow. The President looks at him with cold eyes, mouth set in a stern line, and it's obvious that he's unhappy, even though a single winner has been made like usual and the almost-double-win-never-happened.

"She's a danger," Snow says softly. "I want it taken cared of."

"What do you want me to do?"

"...I think it best she stays. Here. In the Capitol. No use for her to return to her home in District 12, I would think...Yes, I do believe that Katniss Everdeen can just as prosper here."

He understood. The Girl on Fire was to remain here, caged within these walls like a nightingale in a gilded cage, to be held hostage from her home. She was to be imprisoned in the Capitol, in a strange society she didn't belong in.

Seneca Cane hoped her fire didn't burn out.

Shock and Denial:

Her smiles are forced and laden with grief. The public is appropriately sympathetic and understanding, willing to be considerate while also eager to watch her emotions and just her, waiting for the next installment in the drama for their own entertainment.

They're bloodthirsty.

Whether it be actual blood or the emotional and soulful spillage, it was what they wanted to see. It was the Roman era all over again, and the Hunger Games were just revisiting the gladiatorial games of old. And Katniss was the latest victim.

Seneca didn't like the lost look on her face the days following the end of the Hunger Games and the male tribute Peeta.

The train goes on, they celebrate at each district, and every day that passes, the more clear it is that Katniss hadn't quite comprehended her companion's death and that she'd won.

She was quiet, remarkably intelligent, and unflinchingly straightforward at most times. She was uncomplicated, undemanding (it was amazing and strange to meet someone so inclined to be simple and preferred simplicity –nothing too extravagant and she would be easily pleased), and unproblematic about things. She didn't whine or complain or demand anything from anyone. She was as high-maintenance as a goldfish really.