The Girl From The Ashes (A The Hunger Games fan fiction)

Nightmare or Dream? (Chapter Four)

Diana had the weirdest dreams after falling asleep within two minutes of the train taking off to the Capitol.

Her dreams started with her mother, Katniss Everdeen leading an army of people with a bow and arrow in her hands. Diana recognized some people in the army, starting with her father and some old friends of both of her parents- though she'd only met them a couple of times. Haymitch, who Diana had actually seen only a week earlier- he'd had to come back for The Reaping. Others included Johanna Mason and Annie Cresta- the two of them had stuck together since after the Uprising, but another person Diana didn't recognise joined them, a man with a trident. Then there were people in military wear, and thousands of everyday people after that.

It was as if Diana's body was currently being held back by invisible arms- though she didn't fight them as she watched her mother go forward, taking an arrow and lighting it on fire before shooting it into what Diana assumed was the Capitol before the Uprising. Within minutes the fire she was shooting was growing and burning brighter- Diana could feel the heat from nearly five hundred metres away. Screaming and panic and fighting emitted from everywhere, and now Diana was struggling against her invisible binds.

"Mother!" She screamed as she thrashed around, watching as all of the buildings slowly crumbled and melted into piles and piles of ash. "Father!"

But soon they had disappeared, their cheering echoing in Diana's ears as they walked away from the ruins in victory. But it felt so wrong, and Diana was sure there was bones in the ash. Suddenly the arms let go of her and Diana tumbled forward, falling into a pile of ash. The ash was light grey though and sparkling like pixie dust. Diana watched as the ash fell through her fingers, and soon was digging frantically for some reason she couldn't remember after she woke up.

With panicked breathing she dug many feet deep, until she came to a pocket of air with an ash covered bird in it. It was a Mockingjay. With shaking hands she took it and held it close to her heart, crying over how it was surely dead. But then the ground starting vibrating, and soon shaking fully.

Birds starting shooting out of the ground. Mockingbirds, Jabberjays, and Mockingjays all covered in the glittery ash and flying upwards towards the sun. The ash filled the air in a mystical way as birds filled the sky, all of them shaking the ash from their feathers.

Suddenly she remembered a past afternoon in her dream.

In a sudden burst of boredom Diana sighed. From where she lay in the dirt, Diana had a perfect view of where her mother was laying, and if she looked very carefully she could make out the shape of her behind the bush. This was a new hunting technique Mrs. Mellark had decided she wanted to try out- deeming Diana the only one with enough skill to join her on the mission. So far they'd been waiting hiding for an hour and a half. She'd only made it this far because it was late and she was so tired just sitting there felt amazing.

"Diana, do you hear that?" Her mother said softly- though the forest was so quiet that Diana could hear from the twenty feet she was away. But that was exactly it. Furrowing her eyebrows Diana stopped and strained to listen, calling back that she didn't hear anything when she confirmed that she couldn't.

"It's the Mockingjays Diana. They're always making noise when I'm hunting by myself, but they never sing when you're with me."

Katniss Everdeen did have this huge reputation around being able to make the birds fall silent when she sang, but Diana didn't inherit an amazing singing voice. With her mediocre singing voice the birds were silent, but at the same time they didn't sing at all when she was around. Not once in her lifetime had Diana ever heard the Mockingjays sing.

"They hate me don't they?" Diana questioned, wondering if they were upset because she couldn't produce the same amazing song that her mother could. Maybe they were disappointed because she couldn't live up to the Everdeen name.

"No sweetie." Her mother said, more loudly than she should of been speaking. "It's just that they now you're so amazing, that they're staying silent so that they don't want to miss a word you say."

Her words scared the deer that had been coming along, the one they'd been waiting for hours for. But later Diana's mother had said she didn't regret losing the game. Not for what the moment was worth.

Diana was staring into space with wide tear-filled eyes, slowly noticing the bird in her hands was twitching and wiggling. The birds flying away were so mystifying it took her multiple moments just to tear her eyes away and look down at her little bird.

She gasped and quickly set it down, where it wobbled around a bit before trying to take off into the air. It couldn't. Wither it was injured or tired or just couldn't- there was no getting this bird in the air. Diana felt like screaming at all the other birds to come back and get their brother, but they were already little dots in the sky.

"I'll keep you safe..." She mumbled as she gathered the bird into her arms, rocking it side to side like a mother would do to her baby. Suddenly the bird was asleep, and soon sleep was pulling on Diana too. She lay slumped on the pile of ash with her little Mockingjay, falling asleep within her dream.

But she was still conscious that she had the bird in her arms, and she was still awake in a way- just with her eyes closed and not moving. At the moment she realized that she was inside a dream, but she still kept still as she considered this.

Could I control it? Do anything I wish? She thought, still staying still. But what would I want to happen? What would I do? Her mind was so blank, and so tired that she just couldn't answer. There was nothing she wanted more than the beautiful emptiness of the dark, and some wonderful silence. No. she thought, continuing her dream. A soft dark that is filled with warmth, and the feeling of my brother and my parents lying beside me- or just the feeling of being safe, with people who'd protect me and stay with me- being all around me. I'd want to feel at peace, and just be in a moment that I wouldn't want out of. Ever.

Suddenly she felt empty, and found she couldn't open her eyes and all- the same with being able to move. Very slowly she lost feeling, until she couldn't feel the bird in her hands, or the pillow of ash. She was just floating, in an empty void. Then she was falling, and falling and falling. That was all she felt until she woke up. And oddly enough, she wasn't scared. She just wanted to hit the ground- and she didn't care if it was on her feet or not.