So, this is for Caesar's Palace's fic exchange. I was assigned to write one for Tokoloshe Monster, I hope you enjoy it. I haven't actually read Hunger Games recently so it was an interesting challenge to write for the fandom.
He watches her for a moment; she's reached the ladder to get out of the tunnel. In that moment he is taken by her. His heart is in his throat, adrenalin racing through his body. If he could, he would shout out to her, say something, but words won't help now. They would only limp out slowly, awkwardly. No, words won't help now. He knows he won't make it out of this tunnel alive, the muttations are closing in.
He sees her as a friend and as a leader, there is no other way he can see her. No other way he will let himself see her. He works with secrets yet there are some even he won't handle, like maybe, perhaps, in his heart of hearts he wishes he could see her in a different light. He won't touch that secret with a ten foot pole. If he were to consider this secret he wouldn't know what to think, what to do. Nothing could come of it, so there's no point in examining this secret. It has no worth. It's not connected to someone rich and powerful. It's just his own silly secret, not worth anything to anyone.
She's half up the ladder now, and he sees all the bruises and scrapes she has. He's seen them before, seen her mental ones too. Some of the bruises are ancient, but they shine. They've turned her into the woman she is today, a woman able to spearhead a revolution. She's a force to be reckoned with like the storms the raged over the oceans. Nothing could stand in her way and if he's honest with himself, he loves that. Loves that she is so totally unstoppable. Not even the Capitol could keep her down. She's just some scrap of a girl from a District no one really cares about and yet here she is, turning the world on it's head. She's incredible.
He shakes his head a bit, snapping back into focus just a one of the muttations leaps. He knows this is the end, there's no way he can win against these things all on his own. He won't grow old, won't go back to the sea, won't ever bounce a grandchild on his knee. He will be gone shortly, devoured by these muttations. But, he will go down fighting, that much is for certain. He will slow the creatures down long enough to ensure the others make it out safely. It's the last thing he can do for anyone and he will make it count.
This isn't the fate he dreamed of when he was young, this isn't what he wants, but he will die protecting those he cares about and that is an honourable death. Perhaps things could have gone differently, perhaps he should have considered that silly secret he kept from everyone, including himself but it's too late for that now. What would he have done? Left his wife and child to be with her? No, that would be the decision of the lowest sort of people. He made the right decision, but there was always that small niggling what-if? What if he had been with her? Would things have turned out better? Worse? Or stayed the same? He will never know now. There is no glory here, no one at home watching him fight for his life and yet he does so all the same because, perhaps he will survive. Perhaps he will see her again.