𝑳𝒂𝒅𝒚 𝑹𝒆𝒅 || 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑯𝒖𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓 𝑮𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒔

𝟓𝟔 || 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑬𝒏𝒅

FOR A MOMENT, EVELYN JUST SAT THERE, STARING AT THE LAST PLACE SHE HAD SEEN SASHA. There was no air left in her lungs; everything around her was moving in slow motion, and the only thing that told her she actually existed was the fact that she was trembling slightly. Everything was going so well – at least as well as things could go when they were in the middle of a war. Sasha had been right there, and Evelyn was trying to stop the blood flowing from Apollo's leg, all three of them were so close to the end. He was so close to seeing the end of Snow, but suddenly, he started saying something about selfishness, and then he was gone. She didn't even have time to say anything, to try and convince him to do something. Gone. Gone. Completely gone. Katniss and Finnick climbed up the ladder, and as Evelyn made eye contact with Everdeen, she knew that she didn't even have to ask the question. Katniss's lips were pressed into a thin line, and she seemed a little shaky. And there was no holo in her hand. Gone. Everything was gone. Everything around her was falling apart, and part of her hoped that the floor under her would crumble and send her tumbling down to the center of the Earth.

She could hear shuffling around her as everyone scrambled for the exit before the Capitol sent more mutts, but Evelyn couldn't bring herself to move. She was frozen to her spot. Frozen in time. She couldn't move, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't think. It felt like she didn't even exist anymore. She went with Peeta to stop this from happening, but instead, she had sat back and watched as Sasha went to his death. Death. Dead. He was dead. He was dead like Evan, like Joshua. Like everyone she had ever known.

Apollo sat up with a groan, clutching his leg as his face scrunched up, "Evelyn, we have to go."

"What did you tell him?" Evelyn whispered, slowly turning her head to look at him. "He looked at you when he said he was selfish. What did you tell him, Apollo?"

His face fell momentarily, but he kept eye contact with her. "Don't ask questions you know you don't want the answer to."

"What did you tell him," She repeated, her voice a lot more stern for a second.

"It was a stupid argument a couple of weeks ago. I didn't think – I didn't know he would take that to heart. You know Sasha, you can beat something into him with a hammer, and he still wouldn't listen to you. That's not the point. Evelyn, listen to me, we've got to get moving, the squad is already far ahead."

Evelyn just sat there and stared at him for a moment, debating on what to do. Part of her wanted to scream at him, to break down, to do anything to get her anger out, but another part of her knew that would never end well. She had two main arguments. One with her brother before he died, and now she was arguing on and off with Sasha before his death. Everytime she argued with someone she actually cared about, it didn't end well.

Apollo was starting to get impatient as he put both of his hands on her shoulders and spoke in the same stern town she talked in before. "Evelyn, please. We've got to go. If we sit there, we will die. Everything everyone has done for you will be for nothing, do you hear me? Everything your brother did for you, his death, Sasha's death, it will all be for nothing. Sasha made his decision okay, he didn't make your decisions. He didn't save Finnick so you could sit here and let yourself be swallowed by your own self-pity." He put his hands on both sides of her face now, forcing her to maintain eye contact. "I can't say for sure what Sasha wanted, but I know he wouldn't want you to do nothing for the rest of your life. I'm sorry that I told him that, okay? I didn't think he was going to take it personally. I didn't think it would cause this. You can scream at me all you want; you can say you never want to talk to me again, but not here. We're falling behind."