"Katniss,"
She shakes her head, but her whole body is trembling uncontrollably. Peeta's blond hair is strewn across his fevered forehead, like the cross of death.
"No," she says hoarsely, croaking and clasping Peeta's hot - much too hot - hand. Sores from the bakery sill remain etched into his muscled hands. Peeta smiles, a peaceful smile.
"Yes," he says gently, like he always was. Gentle.
Katniss coughs, tears running down her dirt-stained face. "You're not going to die,"
.-
-.
Oh, if life was endless, I'd let you stay with me forever.
-.
.-
"Peeta, it's not your time to die," she croaks, a blank look crossing her face, and it was scary, like she couldn't feel anymore. Even at this moment, when she would lose him forever, she didn't realise...but it was coming.
Why did the Capitol do this to us? Why do we have to lose so many loved ones? Why are we forced to forget?
Peeta nods. "It wasn't meant to be this way, love," His blue eyes focus in on her, sad.
.-
-.
I don't want to feel, but will you help me feel again?
-.
.-
Katniss gives a short gasp. Her mind is full of Peeta. Why? Why did he have to die? Why him?
"I'll be alone. Don't leave," in that one moment, Katniss realises something...she loved him.
From the moment that he gave her that bread, to now, in the Games. He'd always looked out for her. He would always have died for her. For keeping her alive. His whole life was dedicated to her. A whole life...wasted to saving someone like her. But Peeta loved her. And Katniss loved Peeta. Even now. Forever...and always.
"I love you," she says, gazing into Peeta's blue eyes. So blue. The exact colour of the sky, mixed with hues of darker blues, and lighter blues, as if he had painted them himself. His remarkably blond curls, so pretty yet so ruined by the Capitol's Games. His jaw, so perfectly chiselled. A hand placed on his cheek, stroking it.
Katniss would remember looking into his eyes for the last time for the rest of her short life.
Peeta is smiling still. "I love you," he says. "I love you. I always did. I will forever,"
Katniss says nothing, but smiles too, tears still streaming silently down her face.
Silently, Katniss takes the berries. The ones that killed Rue. The ones that killed Cato. Clove. Foxface.
She takes one. One is all she needs. She swallows it without crushing it, but she tastes the sweet, sweet poison. Like sugar.
.-
-.
You and I will dance in death.
-.
.-
Katniss leans in, and Peeta kisses her. They smile into each other's lips, savouring their last moment, in this dark, cruel world. It's soft, and real, so unlike the fake kisses for the Capitol. Romantic and innocent. Soft. Gentle. The last for the boy with the bread. And her. The girl on fire.
They never pull away.
Their eyes are blank, the silence deafening in the cave, their smile and the shape of each others' lips forever drawn into their own.
.-
-.
Those who wish for death, receive it.
-.
.-