A/N: This is my first fanfic, so please don't judge so harshly, I have no idea if it's good or not (probably the latter). Hopefully I actually finish this. Oh and by the way, my writing style usually isn't like this, but it seems appropriate for this story somehow. Thanks to anyone who actually reads this, and feedback for my first attempt at fanfiction writing would be amazing! :)
Disclaimer: Strangely enough, I do not have the copyrights of The Hunger Games, though I wish I did.
Chapter One: Falling
Eleven letters. Four syllables.
One name, out of thousands of slips.
That's all it takes, and he's falling. Falling into a pitch black abyss of nothingness. He falls and he falls and he doesn't seem to stop. He feels numbness swallow him whole, envelop him on all sides.
Through the dream-like haze, he watches her approach the stage.
Head held high, but he can see that she's an earthquake, her body trembling, her breath quivering.
He has the vague awareness of a warm hand—perhaps Mag's—upon his shoulder. All he can think of is how much he hates her sympathy. Loathes her pity.
Suddenly, she looks up, eyes wildly searching the crowd.
And then their eyes meet, the ocean with the forest, and the terrified fear in her look is enough to wake him from his frozen dream. He feels anger replace numbness instead, surging and rippling, a hurricane roaring inside his body.
He feels like screaming, or punching something, or maybe both.
For no matter what, the universe seems to be bent on keeping them apart.
He remembers the helplessness, the desperation, the fear that consumed him in the arena. He remembers hating himself more and more for every heart he stopped, for every life he ended. But he remembers seeing her pleading look, hearing her say, Please come back to me. Him saying, I will.
He remembers being forced to wrap his arms around countless women's bodies every night, their Capitol accents rolling as they whisper, So strong, so handsome, so beautiful, and he remembers falling asleep and dreaming of another girl in his arms instead.
But all that would never be enough for the world. For he is the sun and she the moon, and for eternity they would chase each other around and around the earth, an obstacle of stars between them. That was the way it had been; it is the way now; and it is the way it will always be.
He feels stupid for even thinking that the odds could ever be in his favor.
For thinking that she would be safe.
With difficulty, he blinks back the tears that threaten to fall.