a/n Is it weird that I'm really craving bread right now? It's been a few days since I last updated, I think a week… ? So I'm going to update today, since it's Good Friday and I don't have school to worry about. I have to give a speech about best friends… for this Tropicana speech contest thing… and I'm forced to do it. It kind of sucks. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm supposed to be doing homework right now…
"Katniss!" I hear a voice call. It's Prim. Somehow, I'm back in the arena of the Quarter Quell, cutting through the jungle with a knife, it's dark out and the only thing illuminating the way is the unusually white and bright moon. I'm running and running, I'm alone, and just as I'm getting closer to Prim's voice, I hear Peeta's go off in another direction.
"Katniss!" I turn around. I start frantically turning about trying to figure out which way to go first. Prim, or Peeta? I start heading towards Peeta's voice once Prim's has stopped, and just as I see his silhouette far into the distance, standing there, the saltwater lake creating an artistic looking masterpiece behind him, I hear my father. My father. I haven't heard his voice in so long, but I still remember. I take off in the direction of his voice, and as I get closer and it starts getting clearer and louder, instead of seeing my father, I see a jabberjay. A jabberjay.
"Katniss!" I hear Rue scream. It's Rue and I have to save her before the boy from District 2 kills her again. I run and run and run, but only find a pile of flowers where her voice is coming from. They were picked by hand, no doubt, and I see my gold mockingjay pin glimmer in the moonlight.
"KATNISS!" Prim sobs again. I'm not thinking with my brain, and I take off in her direction again. And when I see her, blouse forming a duck tail from her skirt, she's standing next to my mother and Madge, who are both smiling at me. What adds to the insanity of this all, I hear another voice call out my name, and my feet take off in its direction before I have the chance to realize whose it is.
It's mine.
"KATNISS!" The voice shouts. I am finally close enough to see myself, standing there, sobbing. I run towards my clone, and just as I start shaking her shoulders to get her to stop crying, POOF!
She turns into a mockingjay, small, black and white, and it starts to whistle Rue's four note song. As if this was some sort of cue, all the voices I had heard earlier start screaming my name, and I'm confused as to which way to go.
"KATNISS!" Peeta, Prim, my father, and added voices such as Gale, my mother, Madge, and even Johanna, are screaming out in pain. And just to add to all the eeriness of it all, the mockingjay that was me, suddenly turns back into me, and I see President Coin and President snow appear next to her. I run to president Coin, hoping to somehow make everything disappear, but instead of falling into her, I fall through the air, right through her, so whatever this is, it seems like a hologram of sorts. I step back, and watch what happens.
My clone is in the Mockingjay outfit, Snow is tied up, ready for execution, and Coin is watching the audience, which right now, is me. I count down the seconds until my clone shoots Coin in the head with the arrow, and I watch President Snow die again.
"you killed the wrong president, Katniss." My clone looks directly at me, stepping towards me as Coin and Snow disappear.
"Katniss…" I hear a faint voice whispering. It's not my clone. It doesn't sound like Prim, or Madge or my mother, and that's when I realize who it is.
Peeta.
My mind reflexively assumes that he is dying, he is in pain, and that is his final word. I try to run back to the saltwater lake, to sing to him as he dies, because that's all I can do now. Just like with Rue. And it would be even better because Peeta loves my voice. But as I try to take off, my feet stay planted on the ground. I struggle, trying to run back to Peeta, but I can't.
"Katniss…" Another whisper from Peeta. I close my eyes for mere moments, when I feel a hand stroke my face. My eyes shoot open to see myself, smiling eerily at me, with strange black and white tattoos over my face, which make me look like a mockingjay, stroking my face.
"Katniss…" She strokes my face as I hear Peeta again. I can't move my limbs and I begin to sob.
"KATNISS!" Prim screams. I am exhausted, now, it is impossible for me to move and struggling doesn't help a bit. The Mockingjay version of me strokes my face again as I hear Peeta's final words.
"Katniss…"
"PEETA!" I scream, instantly hugging whoever is in front of me. My eyes are still closed and for a moment I believe it is me, my mockingjay self, I am hugging. I pull away for a moment, and rub the tears from my eyes so I can see clearly who I was hugging. I smile is brought to my face as I see those beautiful blue eyes that I love so much.
"Are you alright, Katniss?" He asks before I tackle him in another hug and start sobbing into his chest. When I don't answer he tells me, "You were flailing around and I woke up…"
"Thank you, Peeta." I hiccup, because my sobbing had become too harsh.
"Always." He says quietly.
Later, after I apologize for waking Peeta and ungodly hours of the morning, I tell him about my book. I also call Dr. Aurelius and tell him about it. Peeta draws pictures of Prim, Finnick, Johanna, Beetee, his family, my father, President Snow and Coin, Rue, Glimmer, Cato, Foxface, the redheaded Avox girl, Lavinia; Darius, and even mulitiple images of me: in my normal clothes, a fairly provocative looking outfit, the candlelight dress and crown from the first hunger games, me and the tracker-jacker hive, in my wedding dress, in a red and white dress that makes me look like a target, a mutt version of myself, my house next to his, in my hunting gear, in my outfit from the first and second games, and me in my mockingjay dress. He scribbles down two to three words underneath each of them.
The one of me in my normal clothes – Friend. Real.
Me in the provocative outfit – Lover. Not real.
The candlelight dress – Victor. Real.
The tracker jacker hive and I – Enemy. Not real.
The wedding dress – Fiancee. Not real.
The target outfit – Target. Not real.
The most painful one of me, the mutt – Mutt. NOT REAL.
Our houses – Neighbors. Real.
My hunger games outfits – Tribute. Real.
And finally, the mockingjay dress – Ally. Real.
I smile when I realize what this page is for. He flips the page and continues to write some explanations on the back.
"Friend – Always. We take care of each other, because that's what we do.
Lover – Although it wasn't real from the start, we've had our moments, but it's important to take things slowly.
Victor – She won the 74th annual Hunger Games. Along with me.
Enemy – although she dropped the tracker jacker nest on me, it was intended for Cato and the others. The Careers.
Fiancee – I did ask her to marry me, but it was forced, so although the world still thinks we're engaged, although we aren't leaving each other any time soon, we are not getting married –until further notice-
Target – She was never a target. I never had the intention of killing her. Unless I was having an episode.
Mutt- She is not a mutt, no matter what that hijacked part of me wants to think. She's saved my life more than threatened it.
Neighbors – this doesn't need much of an explanation. She lives here, and I live next door.
Tribute – she was a tribute in the 74th and 75th annual Hunger Games. Along with me.
Ally – We've always been allies. Partners. Ever since we were reaped. We protected each other, whether the other knew or not."
Just before he hands the book to me for my explanations and such, he scribbles something on the top of the page.
"Katniss Everdeen – The girl of fire"
I grab the journal with a smile. I write down the important things about Peeta, his favorite color, his blue eyes, and even a brief description of his hijacked-eyes, bread, cakes, paintings, the hunger games, and even a dandelion. Although it makes Peeta feel a bit awkward, he doesn't mind drawing these things for me. And I'm glad.
When we are finished, Peeta goes to wash his hands from the paint and pastels and pencil-lead he had been smearing across the pages for hours, and just as he does, I grab the book, flip to the very back, and do my best to draw a heart and a dandelion.
Because it would be a crime to forget that I love the boy with the bread.
a/n It would be a crime, wouldn't it, Katniss? Okay, so I just finished reading Mockingjay for the umpteenth time, and I cried multiple times. …
I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I had fun writing it.
-Tori-
That is MOHAGONY!
