The Hunger Games: Mashup

Chapter Thirty One

District 2

“Kino! Kino!” The man who rolled in Hermes looked very uncomfortable. He had an expression that held a mix of confusion, fear, and nausea. He saw Kino and gave her a nervous shrug.

“He was screaming in the middle of the crowd, asking to be sent to you...I couldn't refuse,” said the man uneasily. Kino could have laughed at his ridiculousness, but she gave him a small, gentle smile.

“Thank you, Colonel,” she said gently. Roy Mustang gave her an uncomfortable nod, a formal bow, and walked off to wait outside. After the door shut, Kino sat at Hermes's side and laid her head on his seat. His motor was almost purring with happiness at her close contact. For all he knew, it would be his last memory with her.

“Hermes, listen to me,” she began gently. “I'll send you back to Master in the woods. She'll take good care of you. I'll have Colonel Mustang take you there. I'll pay him with the last of my money.”

Hermes gave a small sigh. “I like Master, but I want you to take care of me,” he said, sounding so forlorn. Kino's heart was silently breaking, but the tears didn't come. Her voice was steady when she responded.

“I can't, Hermes. You have to know that.”

“But you'll try to get back here, won't you?” he asked her. Kino didn't want to admit that she wasn't. Hermes was technically only a child. Almost three. He was too young to understand the harshness of the world. He had yet to be corrupted by the harshness of the Capitol.

“Yeah...I'll try,” she mumbled. Hermes was too naive to understand the defeat weighing down her words, but he could tell that she didn’t mean it.

“You have to, Kino. I don't want another rider,” said Hermes.

“Hermes...”

“No! I won't listen to you unless you promise that you'll try to come home to me and Master!”

“Hermes, it's impossible. I'll be up against people three times my size and skill. I'm just a poor, skinny girl from District 2. I don't have a chance.”

“District 2 has the highest possibility of success, Kino! We manufacture weapons! It's impossible for you not to win! You've had more experience than most people have had in their entire lives!”

“Yeah...that's true,” she said weakly, but there was a small spark in her eyes that showed that she was thinking about it.

“So you can't give up! You'll come home to me, and then we'll run away into the woods!”

“Hermes, hush! You're speaking nonsense!”

“No, I'm making plans for the future! You're going to come home, and we'll be happy! We'll escape the Capitol together, Kino! Promise me, or I won't leave you!”

Part of Kino wanted to cry. Not from sadness, but from happiness. Hermes had been the best friend she could have ever hoped for. He saved her from her abusive parents and helped give her a new name. He was her companion, and she had to promise him anything. She owed him that much.

“I promise, Hermes. I can't promise that I'll return, but I'll give it everything I've got to do so.”

Hermes looked as if he was smiling, and then Colonel came back into the room.

“Sorry, Miss Kino, the time is up,” he said kindly. Kino gave him a smile.

“Thank you Colonel.” Kino reached into her back pocket and pulled out a piece of paper that she always kept with her—a map to her Master's house, in case she ever had to revisit her for some extra training.