This one-shot was written as my entry for the April Writing Challenge: One-Shot Hunger Games, which is hosted by the forum Starvation (the link is, minus the spaces: http : / forum . fanfiction . net / topic / 71918 / 23125541 / 1 /).
Prompt: Inescapable.
Due Date: April 30th, 2012.
One-Shot Entry Title: Just a Little Longer
Author: TripleMelody
Summary: As he lies camouflaged, slowly dying, Peeta has only one reason to stay alive - to see Katniss, one last time. One-shot for Starvation's Writing Challenge: One-Shot Hunger Games.
Date of Posting: April 17, 2012.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.
Peeta was going to die. There was nothing he could do about that fact, and nothing anyone could do to change that. Death was his fate, and it was approaching rather quickly. It was inescapable.
Most people, if they were in Peeta's situation, would have been depressed by this thought at the very least. But Peeta had accepted this from the moment he had recovered from the shock of hearing his name be called as the male tribute for District 12. When they shook hands and he had held Katniss' hand in his own – the first time he had ever made physical contact with her – he understood that he must die.
So that she could live.
Most people, Peeta thinks, if they were in his place, would feel some resentment towards the person whose life they were sacrificing their own for. But not Peeta. And this was not because he was a selfless person – though, if he gave himself credit, he was a fairly decent person who lived by a set of strong morals and ethics.
No, this did not have to do with being selfless – quite the opposite, actually. Peeta was doing this because he couldn't stand the thought of living, while Katniss was dead. If he had somehow won the Games – not that he had ever believed that was a real possibility – he knew he could not withstand the accompanying survivor's guilt, or the anguish of being permanently separated from Katniss.
Peeta could not stand the thought of living in a world without Katniss. He loved and treasured Katniss above all else. Even if she would never love him back, he was always comforted by knowing that, somewhere, her heart was beating, and she was alive.
Death was only a matter of time now. As he lay, covered in his organic camouflage, Peeta kept wondering whether or not he should just shout out, in the hopes that a nearby tribute would hear him and come end his misery quickly. But one thought kept surfacing each time he engaged in this internal debate - that if he hung on for just a little longer, maybe Katniss would miraculously cross his path.
Peeta was filled with one last, longing, regret-tinged wish. He wished so much that he could see Katniss one last time before he passed away. He wanted to see her eyes burning with the determination to stay alive and return to Prim, her mother, and their district. He wished so very much that he could hold her hand one last time. He wanted the chance to apologize for the way he had acted when he was with the Careers. He wanted to explain that he had done it all for her, and that he had always been on her side. He wanted to tell her that he honestly, truly, and completely loved her - that he had been in love with her for so long, and he loved her so very much.
And that was all that kept him clinging to life, and fighting to stay alive. Death may be inescapable, but Peeta would continue to evade its clutches until he knew Katniss was alive and fighting.