The Victor -Pollux-

Chapter 40

The war was over.

Snow had surrendered. He didn't have any supporters after what happened. Carson wasn't sure what the death toll was. She didn't want to know. In fact, she didn't want to know anything.

After the second round of explosions, she was thrown back. The force had momentarily knocked her unconscious. Luckily, she wasn't badly injured—a few scrapes along her arms, neck, and face. Nothing that wouldn't heal in a week.

The same couldn't be said about Charlie.

Charlie was eleven years old when she died. She was a week away from her twelfth birthday. An age she would never be. Coin had sent a child into a war zone. A place she should never have been. Charlie wasn't properly trained. It wasn't right. It wasn't supposed to happen.

Everything Carson had done had been for Charlie. What was the point of it all? She spent so long fighting, wanting to better the world, only for Charlie to die in the end. Charlie was dead. She had died.

She was only eleven years old.

It didn't make any sense. Carson couldn't wrap her mind around what had happened. Charlie was supposed to be safe with Annie. What went wrong? Why did Coin send her? She was just a child, a baby.

Carson didn't understand. Nothing made sense anymore. Charlie was dead. Finnick was dead. Everyone was dead. She lost her entire family because of Snow. Who did Carson have now?

Katniss had survived the explosion. She was receiving medical treatment. It would take her a few days to heal. Unfortaunly, Prim had been lost in the explosion. She had been sent alongside Charlie to help.

Prim was fourteen.

Nothing was the same. Everything felt different. Charlie was gone. Finnick was gone. Carson lost everything. She gripped the necklace around her neck. It was all she had now. Her family was dead. They were all gone.

Carson was in a different medical tent than Katniss for unknown reasons. If things had been different, she would have argued against it. But Carson didn't have the energy to fight anymore. There was nothing left for her to fight for. Charlie and Finnick were gone.

Suddenly, there's rustling outside. Instantly, she's on high alert. Her legs swing over the side of the bed. Carson gripped the railing tightly, eyes wide. Before she could blink, Pollux rushed inside. His eyes desperately searched the room. Once he saw her, his lips parted in shock. He had run across the camp the moment Plutarch told him where she was.

Carson looked small, almost cowering into herself. "Pollux?" This was the first time she had seen him since she left Tigris's. They had been separated.

But that was yesterday.

For a moment, they just stare at each other. Then, they move across the room. Carson threw herself into his arms, clutching onto his sweater as if her life depended on it.

Carson had been on her own since Charlie died. Typically, her first instinct was to push people away. It wasn't like that with Pollux. If anything, she craved being near him. Right now, he understood her better than anyone. He lost Castor, his last living family member. He understood her pain. 

Although, he had yet to learn about Charlie. Nobody had told him.

Neither were sure how much time had passed. They stood in the center of the room, holding each other. Pollux, Cressida, and Peeta were being picked up in the transport vehicles when the first set of bombs went off. From five blocks away, they could feel the shift in the earth. The fear they felt was overwhelming. They knew there was nothing they could do.

After the second wave went off, Pollux felt his world shift once more. He knew something had happened to them, to Carson.

"Carson," it was Cressida.

They pulled away from each other. Pollux touched her cheeks, wiping away her tears. "Are you okay? What happened?" He only heard pieces. A Capitol hovercraft had dropped parachutes containing bombs. There were two rounds of explosions. One killing the crowd, a second killing the first responders. Gale had been detained in a Capitol truck, but Katniss and Carson were nowhere to be found.

Several searches were sent out, but there were too many people who needed help. They waited all night. Nobody cared to update them. "It was-" Carson's lips trembled. "It was so bad, Pollux." It would haunt her forever. "There were so many kids." She couldn't forget what Snow did in order to win the war. "And Charlie-" her voice cracked.

"Charlie?" This was the first they heard about the young girl. "Charlie was there?" That didn't make sense to them.

"What happened?" Pollux felt his stomach twist. In his heart, he already knew, but Carson had to say it.

"Coin sent her with Prim as a medic." Carson could barely say the words. "She was right there when-" her voice faded. Cressida placed a hand over her mouth in realization. "She was right in front of me. I was right there, Pollux. Right there." Carson should have done something. Screamed at her to run. A sob escaped her. Her legs crumbled. Pollux was quick to catch her. Slowly, he lowered them both to the floor. "I was right there." Cressida watched the two before deciding to leave. It wasn't her place, not right now. Carson needed Pollux, not her.

Pollux held her, trying to calm her down. There wasn't much he could do besides hold her. Charlie was dead. He didn't understand. It made him sick, but he had to think about Carson right now. She needed him.

She had been there for him after he lost Castor. It was his turn now.

Nothing about what happened to them was fair. They had suffered at the hands of the war while Coin coasted by.

Pollux wished more than anything that he could talk to her, tell her everything was going to be okay. Knowing he couldn't destroyed him inside. There was nothing he could do other than hold her, gently rubbing her arms to stop her from crying.

Carson Sage, the unbreakable girl, was entirely broken. She had lost everything. Her family. Her home. Finnick. It was all gone.

Nothing would ever be the same again.