This is a fanfic about Glimmer's family's thoughts as she dies and when they receive her body. Won't make much sense if you haven't read my other story, Glimmer's Games, but is not AU, unlike that story.
Not a Glimmer of Hope
Aurora's POV
Watching the Hunger Games, in the middle of the night, with my daughter crying at the image of her sister on the screen isn't exactly my idea of a good time.
Sparkle's crying because of her rage at the Capitol. She doesn't want Glimmer in the Games. Of course, I'm angry at the Capitol too at this point.
I thought that things would work out differently. I gave Glimmer the poison ring for a reason. I thought that, if the poison spike were discovered, she would be eliminated, and would die quickly. If not, she could use it to win. But no, it was just confiscated. And now she's in the Games, without an advantage, and she might die slowly and make Sparkle upset. I don't really care, personally. She doesn't matter much to me. She's not my child.
But now, as we watch the Career pack sleeping under the tree, with dawn on the horizon, the camera cuts to Fire Girl, sleeping in the tree- but she's not sleeping. She whispers something, and a pair of eyes appear in a nearby tree. She makes a sawing motion, and the eyes disappear.
Then she takes a knife out of her pack, and she begins sawing at a branch. The camera shows a large object hanging on that branch. It's buzzing slightly.
When she gets through the branch, she shoves it away from herself- and it falls onto the Career pack. They awake to a tracker jacker attack.
Sparkle's POV
When the first scream comes out of the TV, my eyes snap up. There's the Career pack, screaming "To the lake! To the lake!" And there's Glimmer, shrieking and twitching in the ground. She calls for help, but almost everyone is gone. All but the District 4 girl, who has almost stopped moving.
Tears start to stream down my face as tries to stand, but falls. She begins to twitch. After a few minutes, in which the camera shows the other Careers running to the lake and submerging themselves, she goes still.
Then I see Katniss Everdeen, running towards Glimmer. Her cannon fires just as Katniss reaches her. She breaks Glimmer's fingers with a rock, and grabs the bow out of my sister's death grip.
Another cannon fires. Then Katniss does something odd. She flings herself over Glimmer's body. As she does, the camera shows the girl from 4 being lifted by a hovercraft. Then she sits up, without explanation, grabs onto Glimmer's side, and flips her dead body onto its side to reach the arrows. She pulls on them until they come free.
Footsteps are heard, and Katniss clumsily attempts to put an arrow in the bow. Then Peeta, her District partner who joined the Careers, crashes through the trees. He's about to throw a spear, but he drops his arm to his side, shock on his face.
I can't watch anymore. I can't stand it. My sister is dead.
TWO DAYS LATER
Aurora's POV
We walk to the square as a family to collect Glimmer's body. Her body hasn't arrived when we get there, so we wait. Soon, a hovercraft, flying low, appears. A simple wooden coffin is lowered, and the hovercraft flies away.
Sparkle is hiding behind me, afraid. I suppose I would be, too, if my sister had died in the Games and her body had just arrived. So I walk over and pry the lid open.
Glimmer's looks peaceful. Her eyes are open, her arms curled on her chest. There is no sign of the tracker jacker stings that killed her. In her Arena clothes, and her body in total perfection, she looks like she did on the first day in the Arena- unhurt and unscarred.
Sparkle's POV
When I see Glimmer, I half expect her to get up, laugh, and tell us that she never died, or even went in the Arena. She looks perfect and normal, just like she did when she left for the Capitol.
I walk closer, slightly afraid. I so desperately wish she were alive. When I touch her gently with my index finger, I leap back. I know she is dead. Her body is stone cold.
She will never hug me again. Never kiss my hair, tell me I'm beautiful, comfort me when I have a nightmare or let me cry on her shoulder again. But again I walk forward, overcoming my sorrow and fear, for another reason.
I put my two index fingers over her eyes and pull them down. My final act for her. Now she is asleep.
Now she is at peace.