The pain in my neck is slowly fading away to become numbness, but nonetheless, the pain is still enough to make me see red. I feel my hands, slick with my own blood, drop from my bloody neck. My strength, completely drained away, fails me, making me fall mostly on top of the body of the District 11 girl tribute. She stares blankly at me, her eyes glazed over, but I can still see the vitality of life in them. The District 12 girl, Katniss Everdeen, shoves me away roughly and I flop over, way beyond caring anymore.
The edges of my vision are becoming black, making the world seem like I'm looking at it through a hole. But not only is the world becoming a hole, everything is becoming blurry as well. Do I hear singing? I think the Katniss girl is singing. Is she happy to have finally killed me? Or is she singing to the other girl? I can't even think clearly anymore. That thought makes me remember my mentor, Gloss, always saying, "Always keep a fresh mind and think clearly." Yeah, like that's going to help me now.
A soft, ragged gasp comes from my lips, and with surprise, I notice that it's laughter. Ha. What a laugh: I'm dying from an arrow lodged in my neck and I'm hearing singing that I think I might be imagining. I wouldn't be surprised if I'm cracked now.
My eyelids finally slide closed. The last thing I remember hearing before I black out forever is a cannon.
I feel the wind blowing through my blond hair. My neck no longer feels painful, and neither does the rest of my body. I move my hands, and I feel grass, but my head doesn't feel like it's lying on the familiar coarse texture of grass. In fact, I think my head is actually resting on something.
I slowly open my eyes, a part of me expecting the overhanging trees of the arena. But instead, my eyes are greeted with vast blue sky, dotted with small clouds here and there. After a moment, something comes into my view, obscuring the sky. I jump, thinking that a bear or something has come to finish me off once and for all, although that doesn't make sense since I don't see the arrow protruding from my neck. But my eyes soon adjust, and I see that it's a person, not a bear.
"Rue Jonquil," I whisper, the name of the District 11 girl I accidentally killed.
"Hush, Marvel," she whispers to me. "You took so long to get here."
"What?" I'm suddenly more awake than I was a second ago. "Get where?"
She laughs, a pleasant sound in the unnerving silence. I strain my ears to hear the rustling of animals, but I am only greeted with another breeze.
"Silly, this is where dead people go."
I struggle to get up, but I feel dizzy. I lie limp as Rue caresses my hair.
"Where am I exactly?" I ask, my voice sounding hoarse.
She glances up to look somewhere else. "Well, I think this is where everyone who dies goes. I'm sure we'll find other people that died in the arena soon if that's the case." Rue looks down at me, her thick hair hanging down over me. I notice with shock that her deep brown eyes are watery.
I reach up with a shaky arm. "Please don't cry, Rue."
She tries to blink away the tears, but they fall freely. "I was so scared, Marvel. At first, you weren't waking up."
I catch most of the tears in my hand, but some fall on my face. They taste salty. Before I can say anything, she continues:
"I know I died after you, because I heard the cannon, but then I woke up first here. The first thing I realized was that you were lying next to me, but you weren't waking up, no matter how much I shoved you."
I don't say anything. She closes her eyes and wipes away her tears. After a moment, she looks down at me.
"I marvel at how calm you are, Marvel."
"Please don't use that word and my name in the same sentence, or I'll make you rue your words, Rue."
She giggles. "I'm sorry to say, but I'm actually named after a small yellow flower. What kind of parents would name their first child 'regret'?"
Laughing with her, I feel odd with this conversation. I don't know why until I realize it's my first normal conversation with Rue ever.
"So what should we do now?"
"Well, you have to get over your nausea. I don't know why, but I also felt dizzy and nauseous when I felt woke up here. Perhaps it's because it's a transition from the harsh arena to this peaceful place."
Or perhaps it's because we're now dead, I say in my mind, but I don't say it out loud. I want to get up, but I know I'll be as dizzy as I was before. I lie on the grass as Rue continues to caress my hair. It almost seems too peaceful here, and my nerves are still jumpy, expecting something to suddenly come out at us.
As my nerves get a little bit less tingly, I suddenly think of something. "Rue, why do you think we were next to each other when we woke up here?"
Rue stays silent for a moment, still caressing my hair. "I really don't know, Marvel," she says at last. "Perhaps we'll come to understand this place the longer we're in it."
I laugh, the laugh sounding gritty. "You make this place seem like the arena."
She looks down at me again, her mouth contorting into a small smile. "I don't think it will be," she whispers.
I close my eyes. It was really peaceful here. But I don't think I will ever get used to it.
fin
Note from the author: Haven't updated in so long; bet you all thought I forgot all about this site! :)
Anyway, so Hunger Games! Two years after I read the entire trilogy, it's coming out as a movie! I'm soo excited about it, so I've been writing mostly Hunger Games fanfics lately. I think this Marvel/Rue was much better written than my first one (from deviantART, if you remember...), so I think my writing skill is getting better. Keep your eyes peeled, because I might be updating with more Hunger Games fanfics soon! (Although the majority of them will probably be Marvel/Rue and Cato/Clove…)
