Liberosis - The Hunger Games

35

Plutarch said nothing instead he eyed me warily, lifting himself from the chair and walking towards the exit. He paused, turning his head slightly to face me "There will come a day, Aurora Hartley, in which the districts will burn at the Capitol's hand, I hope to see you by your family's side, and not standing beside the President, holding the fuse,"

"Enough!" I yelled, throwing the empty glass next to me at the barren doorway, a loud shatter erupting through the room. My rapid breathing quickly subsided into nothingness as my nails pressed into the meat of my hands, hard enough to draw blood.

Plutarch had killed Thorn's parents and I quickly realised that I was sentenced to spend the rest of my life as a pawn in these games.

To the President or to the resistance.

I was as good as dead either way.

My mind wavered back into the present as I was met with Finnick's concerned expression, his hand resting gently on my shoulder, "You've done nothing wrong," I whispered to him, standing up and wrapping my arms around the taller frame of the man.

"I made you upset, love," He whispered, "Of course, I did something wrong,"

"The empty macaroon platter made her upset this morning- if anything I think she's still hung up on that," Atlas' tired voice said from behind us. I scoffed a poked my tongue out at the older man, who flipped me off in response.

"How're our kids doing?" Finnick asked, sliding into the chair beside me and I ignored the way the phrase our kids made me feel inside.

"Annie's asleep, Pluto's on watch," I caught him up to speed. Night had fallen over the arena, with only six tributes left the game was drawing to an exhausting end. Five Careers and one other tribute remained, tonight would be the last night the Careers stayed together.

They sat on the edge of the clearing, Pluto's head was leant back on a tree, twisting a knife in his hands. The red-haired girl sat beside him, rested on his shoulder and she snored gently, her pinkie finger wrapped around his. Pluto's eyes had a familiar darkness, a bloodthirst that I had recognised from training- "He's making a move," Finnick recognised, leaning forward in his chair, "This is it,"

The grand finale.

Finnick's hand slid into mine as I chewed on the inside of my cheek, "Come on kid," Haymitch muttered, rolling his chair over to our screen, his hand resting supportively on my shoulder. Atlas and Lorelei had joined us too, "Look's like he's taking a leaf out of our dear Lorelei's book, killing all the competition in their sleep," Haymitch nudged the girl who rolled her eyes and slapped his shoulder.

"Focus," She hissed.

Pluto shook Annie awake gently, "An," He whispered, into her hair as she straightened herself up groggily, "This is my chance," He whispered, helping the girl to her feet.

"What are we going to do?" She responded quietly, taking his hand in her own.

"You are going to climb that tree as high as you can go, don't come down until I come to you- do you understand me?"

"Pluto no," Annie whispered desperately, "He's too strong,"

"I can't let you get hurt,"

"I can't let you die!" Annie whispered back a tear falling down her face, Pluto brushed it away with his thumb.

"I don't have a lot of people waiting for me back home," he told her quietly, "If I win, I'm just another rich career boy who got lucky- you deserve to go home, you deserve to live the rest of your life, get married, have a baby and name it after me or something like that," he whispered, she choked out a giggle, "go and live, Annie, give Rory and Finnick a hug for me. When you've lived out a long and beautiful life, I'll be waiting for you in whatever comes after, to thank you for making me feel like a human again,"