Deep in the Meadow - Peeta Mellark X Reader

10. Devastating Loss

"I have never known a silence like the one fallen here
Never watched my future darken in a single tear
I know we want this to go easy by being somebody's fault"

𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊𖡼𖤣𖥧𖡼𓋼𖤣𖥧𓋼𓍊

The night is long, but we keep moving. We still had not formed enough trust to sleep near each other, and the exhaustion was starting to catch up, but neither of us spoke on it, not wanting to seem vulnerable or weak to give the other a chance to attack.

I had seen how easily he took care of that boy from ten, and I did not want to share that fate. I could only hope that after this alliance is over, Cato will handle Thresh for me.

We move quietly, working our way through the forest trying to gauge where Rue might be. Thresh shares that he suspects she will be in a tree somewhere, as being high up gives her an advantage of being tucked away from sight, so it would be hard to find her.

We can only hope that the sight of him will lure her down as she has the knowledge that they could both go home. We take a break from walking, deciding it would be best to finish this in the morning when Rue would be sure to be awake to spot him. This proves to be useful, as in the morning, sure enough, Rue spots us walking. She's so tiny, I wish I could keep her safe.

With her around, the atmosphere feels slightly more at ease. The tension between Thresh and I loosen slightly as we inform Rue of our plan to find Peeta. She's more than willing to be of help, explaining everything she had seen.

Rue shares that Peeta had been with the careers, and one night, when they had taken camp under a tree she had been staked out in, she had overheard them talking and everything that went down.

The careers had scouted Peeta for his strength, and decided to use him to try to find me. A girl from twelve who volunteered, and got a decent score in training, was apparently sure to have some tricks up her sleeve, and they wanted to take care of me quickly. On this night, Peeta had convinced them that they should stop and rest.  Glimmer had first watch as they did not trust Peeta to watch as they slept, and as soon as the other careers fell asleep, Glimmer seemed to have dozed off, and Peeta took this to his advantage, killing her. Cato woke up and hunted him down, but the lack of a cannon or his image in the sky the next night proves that Cato hadn't been successful. It could only be deduced that Peeta wasn't going to be in the best of shape after Cato was done with him.

I am shocked to know any of this. Peeta was helping them find me? He killed Glimmer? He said he didn't want to do anything like that. Why would he kill her? Did he change his mind?

My mind whirls with questions, but this information was quite helpful, and Rue is more than happy to be rewarded with a heaping chunk of rabbit and water for her help.

"Did you see what direction he went in?" I ask as we walk and Rue nods.

"He went that way." she points in a direction. "It was a few nights ago... so he could be anywhere now. I don't know what happened to him." she admits softly.

What a sweet girl.

"Thank you, Rue." I smile to her and she grins back, nodding to me, her eyes big and innocent.

My heart aches just looking at her. She's made it so far.  She must feel safe around Thresh and I. She has no weapon on her, yet managed to stay alive this long.

Thresh and Rue begin to talk, and their entire interaction is entirely sweet. He speaks to her as if she were a younger sibling, and the way she looks up to him hurts me.