The Hunger Games: Staying True. (Completed)

Chapter Thirty-One; The White Door. [Edited]

"I dunno, the outside is different to the arena." He doesn't want to talk, but Silver has a face that seems to coax the words out of you. "I know things happened... In there. But that might have changed. It's a different environment. She hated me at first, whose to say she won't go back to that?"

She lets out a snort that isn't very gentle at all. "Please. I've never seen her look at anyone the way she looks at you. I know she tried to punch you in the face for coming after her," She winces, "But like... She did then fight a bear for you. Emerald kinda goes overboard when she's trying to make up for something."

He tries to laugh, but the sound gets tangled in his throat and dies quickly. He's too panicked to laugh. Too tired. Too distracted by that stupid fucking door.

Though, the thought of Emerald looking at him differently to everyone else... For it to be noticed by her best friend... It makes his stomach twist uncomfortably.

"Emerald may be reckless, and wild, and too brave for her own good, but she certainly isn't stupid, Peeta." Silver touches his wrist very delicately with her middle and forefinger. "That's how I knew something was different. Throwing herself into action against a bear, for Panem's sake? She knew the chance of surviving was minimal, and she did it anyway. She didn't take a calculated risk, she didn't think about it, didn't plan, didn't analyse. She saw you bleeding on the floor and she didn't even hesitate."

"Why are you telling me this?" Peeta's eyes are squeezed tight. His hands are shaking they're clenched together so hard. Because this will hurt. This will hurt so much more if they come out of that room and tell him that she didn't make it.

"Because when she wakes up, and she will." It's the first time he's detected any kind of force behind her words. "She won't ask you to stay. She won't fall into you and proclaim her love and beg for your everlasting loyalty. I'm telling you this so that you don't walk away because she doesn't want you. She does, but she's lost so much and been hurt so often that she won't dare make her feelings known."

"So what do you propose I do?" He asks through gritted teeth and shoves his blood-soaked hands through his messy hair.

"I propose that you stay. You convince her. You gain her trust. But only if you're sure. Because once she loves you she'll love you forever. She's all or nothing. No one will ever love you as fiercely as her, no one will ever fight for you harder. So you be careful, Peeta Mellark, because despite all that she's suffered and all that she's survived, I don't think she'd live through the loss of you."

"That somehow sounds like a threat."

"Oh, it is." She gives him a smile that makes his skin crawl. "I won't lose her again. If you take her from me, I'm going to have to take the life from your body."

He squints at her. "That's fair enough. You don't seem all that keen on me actually staying, so why tell me to?"

Silver sighs and looks ahead at the white door. "You're a good man. She deserves someone... Good. Kind. She needs it. You're not my type, but I suppose you'll do for her."

Despite himself, he lets out a small laugh. "Not your type?"

"I prefer women." She informs him with a slightly awkward cough.

"That seems sensible." He muses, and nudges her lightly with his elbow. "Men are idiots."

Silver grins, her pale eyes warming just slightly. "Obviously." She agrees.

***

Silver left a little while ago. She had to, she told him she needed a shower, and food, and needed to keep her family updated. She promised to be as quick as she could, and also to bring back new clothes and some food. He said he didn't need it. She assured him with a scathing glance at his ruined clothing that he did.