Heaven is Falling (The Hunger Games x Male Reader)

The Night Changes

But then I'm bleeding too heavily, and Portia leads me off for medical treatment.

Tomorrow at dawn, we will be roused and prepared for the arena. The actual Games don’t start until ten because so many of the Capitol residents rise late. But Katniss and
I must make an early start. There is no telling how far we will  travel to the arena that has been prepared for this year’s Games.

I know Haymitch and Effie will not be going with us. As soon as they leave here, they’ll be at the Games Headquarters, hopefully madly signing up our sponsors, working out a strategy on how and when to deliver the gifts to us.

Cinna and Portia will travel with us to the very spot from which we will be launched into the arena. Still final good-byes must be said here.

Effie takes both of us by the hand and, with actual tears in her eyes, wishes us well. Thanks us for being the best tributes it has ever been her privilege to sponsor. And then, because it’s
Effie and she’s apparently required by law to say something awful, she adds “I wouldn’t be at all surprised if I finally get promoted to a decent district next year!”

Haymitch crosses his arms and looks us both over.

“Any final words of advice?” asks Katniss.
“When the gong sounds, get the hell out of there.Neither of you are up to the blood bath at the Cornucopia. Just clear out, put as much distance as you can between yourselves and the
others, and find a source of water,” he says. “Got it?”
“And after that?” I ask.“Stay alive,” says Haymitch.

It’s the same advice he gave us
on the train, but he’s not drunk and laughing this time. And we
only nod. What else is there to say?

When I head to my room Katniss lingers to talk to Cinna. I take a quick shower, wear some comfortable shorts and shirt kept for me and jump into my bed. It  takes me about five seconds to realize I’ll never fall asleep. And  I need sleep desperately because in the arena every moment I
give in to fatigue will be an invitation to death.

It’s no good. One hour, two, three pass, and my eyelidsrefuse to get heavy. I can’t stop trying to imagine exactly what terrain I’ll be thrown into. Desert? Swamp? A frigid wasteland?

Finally I run down the hall to the door to the roof. It’s not only unlocked but ajar. Perhaps someone forgot to close it, but it doesn’t matter. The energy field enclosing the roof prevents any
desperate form of escape. And I’m not looking to escape, only to fill my lungs with air. I want to see the sky and the moon on the last night that no one will be hunting me.

The roof is not lit at night, but as soon as my bare feet reach its tiled surface I see Katniss's silhouette, black against the lights that  shine endlessly in the Capitol. There’s quite a commotion going

“You should be getting some sleep"i say. She startles alarmed but relaxes again when she realizes it's just me.

I come up beside her and lean over the edge of the rail. The wide streets are full of commotion. "Couldn’t sleep, either?”
“Couldn’t turn my mind off,” I say.

"Thinking about home"

"No, about tomorrow " I say guiltily.  “All I can do is wonder about
tomorrow. Which is pointless, of course.”

"I am sorry about your hand"

"It's fine ,knowing you I'm surprised you didn't tear it off"

Katniss smiles"Oh no I've given you enough disadvantage, when you have only helped me so far I think I'll never stop being in your debt."

"You are not in my debt remember all the times you saved me while hunting if anything I'm repaying you"

The mention of hunting makes us both homesick