Shhhck. Shhhck. Shhhck.
Arrow after arrow flew and buried itself deep into the bark of the tree, faster than she had ever fired them before. Katniss reached over her shoulder and found no more arrows left in her quiver, resolving to throw her bow at the tree instead with as much force as possible as she fell to her knees and let out a scream into the cold winter air.
She had been out there in the forest, all day, ever since the sun rose, just firing arrows at that same tree over and over again. Pretending it was some Gamemaker. Pretending it was Snow. Pretending it was herself.
Katniss hadn't cried like this since Rue. Hadn't felt this angry at herself since Rue. No. This was worse than Rue. This was emPrim/em. And now, just like Rue, Prim was dead. Just like Rue, she would never see that face again. But there were no flowers for her little Primrose. Not like with Rue. Katniss didn't even know where the Capitol had taken her body. They probably hauled it off somewhere to be burned, just to spite her. A sister on fire for the girl on fire.
As the tears fell, Katniss ripped each and every arrow out of the tree, not even caring that she was tearing her palms on the fletching of each and every one. She deserved it, and much worse, for not being there for her sister when she needed her.
"You understand that whatever I do, it comes back to you and mom? I don't want you to get hurt."
"I know. But things are different now because of you, Katniss. You can't stop. Even I can see it."
"What can you see?"
"Hope."
What a joke. What hope? Hope for Prim? She did let her get hurt. She hadn't been paying enough attention to the person who had mattered most. The one she volunteered for- was prepared to die for, back in the Arena. She would never forgive herself for not being able to save Prim. It didn't matter to Katniss if she was Panem's hope. She had been her own sister's hope, too, and she had failed her.
Katniss angrily wiped at her eyes and stood back, quick firing all the arrows back into the tree once again. All of them were buried deep into the trunk before a single tear had the time to fall down her cheek. She reached out to pull an arrow out of the bark and stumbled as her mind traveled back to Prim.
Prim. Little Prim. The healer. The baby who never made one upset peep, even if she needed something. The child who would have given up everything to save that that damned, stupid cat, and that goat, too. The blonde girl who looked so pretty and scared on her first Reaping day. The sister who had helped bring her back from her darkest place.
Because I couldn't.
She was gone. Ripped away like a band-aid from a wound that Katniss knew would never heal. Katniss' eyes stung with tears and rage. They would pay. She would make them pay. Every single one of them. They would all burn.
Katniss loosed one more arrow into the tree, her face distorted with fury. If they wanted a girl on fire, they sure as hell had her now.
A/N: Wow-ee, first published writing since I decided I hated everything I wrote and deleted it. I wrote this little oneshot for an old roleplay of mine and I figured "Why not just put it out ther?" This doesn't exactly fit with the way the books go, yeah, but I was going for the character of Katniss so I just wanted something that felt authentic to how she felt about her sister. I'm not ready to be emotionally compromised next year with Mockingjay pt 2. :c