A Part to Play // Hunger Games

13 // Killing

"This wasn't the plan, but things have happened so things have to change" - Void
(-acciohorcrux)

***

TW: murder, blood 

"These flowers are called dandelions, you know? Where I'm from." She stared at the lone flower held in between her thumb and pointer finger, ready to be spread open and deliver its seeds all over the field. 

"We have a lot of those in my District. They reek of home." The young girl smiled, but not a sweet, innocent one, like she used to before all of this happened, no, this smile was spiteful, full of fear, hate and other unshed emotions that bottled up inside the girl's head.

"They're smart plants these ones. They form a kind of parachute of sorts to be able to spread their seeds as far as possible, infesting whole lands at once, not willing to give up their place in nature, fighting for it every day." The young tribute opened her hand, holding the fragile flower on her palm, blinking slowly, yet steadily.

"Their name: dandelion, means lion's tooth, because of their toothly shaped leaves. But in Swedish they're called maskros. It means worm rose. And in Czech they're called pampeliška, and it can be partially translated to fox. You see, it all depends on your perspective." She continued, not once looking up at the tribute standing right behind her, eager to end the small girl's life once and for all and go back home, yet too curious about where this was all going to simply end it.

***

If he was being completely honest, the older boy was dreading this moment as much as Aria was. It didn't matter that the girl was the only one left, no one would be so heartless as to willingly want to kill a small and scrawny twelve year old. He was just putting up a brave façade, knowing that if he won, the Capitol would never leave him be if he showed any disinterest in killing their public 'enemy'.

The boy needed peace, and he so desperately wanted to live. If that meant putting up some walls and having to kill an innocent girl, so be it. Of course he'd be sad about it and blame himself later on - after all, she was his best friend - but better to blame one's self than to be dead, right?

***

"I have a theory that we're just like them, the dandelions... well, at least I like to think that I am. We have layers, you know? Just like this small, petty, ignorant flower, like it goes from yellow to orangey, blooming during the day but closing up at night, only to change to white once its life spam is over so it can make more life. I believe that we all have good and bad in us. None of us are born pure evil, but also, nobody is born an angel. The way I see it, we're all given a choice, the choice of whether or not to wake up every day, or go back to sleep, the choice of whether or not to bully someone just because they're different, the choice of whether or not to fight for our freedom and the choice of whether or not to kill other kids for someone else's fun and enjoyment." The tribute added, finally turning to face the older boy, who was looking weirdly at her, emotionless from taking so many innocent lives, numb to the world, just another perfectly planned and positioned pawn in their death Games, just another broken kid who had built walls so high up around himself, that she didn't even know if they actually had a top anymore.

"We don't have to do this. We can choose our own destinies, our own fates. I don't want to be a killer Royce. Do you really want to be a pawn in their idiotic Games? Do you really want to be the person you're becoming?" She asked the boy, looking straight into his eyes, a pleading expression etched onto her face, the desperation practically leaking out of her eyes.