Fic: The Great Collide
Author: Angela_StJoan/Blaire023
Rated: T
Pairing: Chloe Sullivan/Peeta Mellark
Verse: Smallville(post season 10)/Hunger Games(spoilers for all 3 books)
Summary: Chloe Sullivan wakes up in District 12 just in time for the reaping. "She needed to protect him. And as she lay there, curled into him and listening to his breath even out under her cheek, she vowed she would do whatever it took to get them both back home."
Dear Reader,
If you follow my other stories you'll notice Brought To You By has not been updated...because of THIS monstrosity that invaded my brain and has kept me glued to Word writing and writing and writing. Now, I love a good Peeniss fic as much as the next fangirl/boy BUT I recently reread CF & MJ and I needed to do this. If Katniss could go back in time and save Prim would she give up Peeta and being the face of the rebellion and that whole chain of events? I'm inclined to believe yes. Yes, she would. And so she does. Ta da!
Prologue
Outside of District 12
Katniss, half of her body covered in scaly patches of scarred flesh, stares unblinkingly at the crone in front of her. "You said I could bring Prim back?"
Dessa grins at the young woman before her. The Mockingjay. "You can." She takes a rock, engraved with the Mockingjay symbol on it, and presses it into Katniss's hand. "You have to be willing to give up everything. But you can go back to that moment in time and change the outcome."
"And Prim will live?"
Dessa, who had been living in District 13 since the rebellion, had chosen to come back to 12 to be with her sister, Greasy Sae, after the assassination of Coin. "As long as you believe in the magic, Prim will live."
Katniss stares down at the rough stone and rubs her thumb over the top of it. She would be giving up everything they had worked for to become free. A tear gathers in the corner of her eye on the side of her face that was still partially numb. It rolls down her slightly sagging cheek and to the curve of her chin. If it would bring Prim back, it was worth it. "What do I have to do?"
"Sweet child, all you have to do is go to this place in the woods," Katniss studies the roughly drawn map. It is a 3 day hike if she were looking at it correctly. She would go home and pack and head out in the morning.
"I can do that." She folds the map and sticks it in her pocket and then looks at the old crone once more. "What else? What magic?"
"You place that rock right where that map says and you say those words that are written on the back of the paper." She pats Katniss on the hand. "That's all, dear."
"That's it?"
"This rune will take us back to a few days before the reaping when Primrose's name was chosen." Katniss nods to show she is listening, "The person who picks up this stone will take Prim's place instead of you volunteering. On the day of the reaping you need to be sure to not show up. You go into those woods and you lie and tell everyone you couldn't make it back in time." The look on Katniss' face makes Dessa reassure her. "I know it sounds like a cowardly thing to do, but it has to happen just like that."
"And there will be no Mockingjay." Katniss said, all the pieces coming together in her head. She thought about another pawn though, "What about Peeta?"
"I can't tell you about him, dear. Just Primrose." Dessa nods her head at the stone in the young woman's hand, "You do what I've told you to and Prim will be just fine."
Katniss closes her eyes for a moment, preparing to let Peeta go. It's for Prim. And she would do anything for Prim.
Somewhere in NY
Chloe frowns as she turns the smooth stone in her hands this way and that. There's a symbol etched on one side but it's very worn and she isn't sure what it is and she isn't sure if it's human. It might be Kandorian, but she's studied Clark's cave relics long enough to be fairly positive that this isn't the same. She can't be a hundred percent sure without doing more research so she slips the rune-like rock into the pocket of her suit jacket and she turns to look around her once more.
Chloe studies the rolling hills and the dipping plains laid out before her. This was where the new Justice League training facility would be built in upstate New York. As a prospective buyer on behalf of her team she had flown out here from Metropolis to survey the land and upon taking less than a dozen steps on the property she had stubbed a pointed toe of her pump against the hard stone in the ground. Chloe had immediately reached down and unwedged it from the earth to brush off the encrusted dirt and get a look at the etchings. The rock was about the size of her palm and couldn't weigh more than a few ounces.
She patted her pocket and headed back to her car, picking her way across the stone-laden ground in her heels. She fired up her bluetooth and was immediately connected to Oliver.
"What do you think?"
Chloe started the car and shrugged, "It's a little uneven, probably have to level it out a little but otherwise, it's not bad. It's the best prospect we've had so far."
"Secluded?"
She smiled and looked around the tree lined highway. "Not a coffee shop for miles." She could practically hear Ollie thinking so she said, "We should make a deal on it."
Oliver shuffled some papers around and then tapped them together on his desk. "I trust you. I'll get in contact with the realtor."
They said their goodbye's and hung up. Chloe drove the rest of the way to her hotel room. She'd have to sign a few papers before she left and she'd like to take an afternoon to just enjoy being away from Watchtower.
It wasn't long before papers were signed and the JL were proud owners of a parcel of land. She was walking down the nearly empty streets of the town she was visiting, smiling because she had been a part of their newest acquisition. Her hand rested against her pocket, the warmth of the light rock seeping through the material of her jacket and into her palm.
Chloe turned at what sounded like a cannon blast and ducked. She stood back up slowly, hand pressed to her thundering heart. Her breath came in shallow pants and she looked all around for the source of the noise. As something flashed in the sky she turned her face up and barely made out the picture of a young white girl, her hair impossibly red against the light blue of the midafternoon sky. "What the hell?" Chloe narrowed her eyes as the picture faded and turned around slowly, taking in the rooftops of the shops all around her. It had been some kind of projection, but she had never seen anything like it.
Chloe ventured a look to the other people walking along the sidewalks. None of them had stopped to look. None of them had heard the cannon blast. Was she hallucinating?
Peeta came to a stumbling halt and stared up at the sky as the cannon blasted. "Please don't let it be Katniss." His words were barely a whisper. As the girl from District 4 flashed against the sky he let out a stuttering breath and continued to move. He wasn't the most lithe and he most definitely wasn't the most stealth-like. No matter how hard he tried to step quietly he almost always sounded like he was crashing through the forest.
Chloe heard the rustle of wind and the smell of greenery blow past her, felt a hand brush against the arm of her coat. She turned at the sound of a sharp exhale right behind her and jumped as she heard a whispered name, "Katniss."
Her breath stuck in her throat but she managed to barely speak up and say, "Who's there?"
Peeta drew up short and turned his head this way and that. Had he really just heard a disembodied voice? They were in the arena after all so maybe it was just another trick. Probably a speaker hidden in one of the tall trees around him. Maybe a trained mockingjay looking down at him. His eyes were slanted against the sunlight as he looked around carefully though. He wanted so badly to answer the scared voice but unless someone was even better at painting themselves invisible than he was, he was pretty sure he was alone. Couldn't hurt though. "I'm Peeta. Who are you?"
Chloe jerked her body away from the spot that had grown cold at the mouth of the alley. She turned to where the voice had practically whispered in her ear. Her eyes filled with tears and her body shook as she looked at the brick walls on either side of her. Was she dealing with a spirit? And why did the boy whose name was Peeta make her heart tighten in her chest. She answered even though she was shaking and even though she thought she might be going crazy. "I'm Chloe."
Peeta stood absolutely still as his right arm went numb with cold. "Chloe?"
Chloe laughed and then covered her mouth with her hands to stifle the sharp sound. She backed up until she was pressed against the brick side of the alleyway, a dumpster just to her left. "Yes. And you're Peeta?"
Peeta's eyes darted around him and he huffed out a noise. "I don't have time for this." And with that thought echoing through his mind and out of his mouth he turned and ran through the woods toward the stream.
Chloe slumped against the wall at her back as the breeze blew past her. She could still hear the crunching of leaves beneath boots. She could still smell the pine and moss and air of forest. Most of all, she could still hear the masculine voice, gruff and impatient saying he didn't have time for whatever was going on before she felt his absence. She felt him leave her.
And all she really wanted was to call him back and hold him to her.
TBC?
(This is where you let me know if you're interested in reading any more of it.)
