I own none of the original and everything of this fanfic.
Rowan – District 12
I can feel Skylar's growing horror before I even begin to speak. "Snow killed a lot of people in his day, some for his growing army, others for revenge. Our parents had been in league with Thirteen officials for quite some time before he noticed. When he captured us, he decided that he would kill us first, making our parents suffer for it. And then he made us watch their deaths, to ensure that we wouldn't turn against him. That what was Skylar here hated most – wasn't it?
"We were still training when Skylar ran away. Snow had me track her, but she was clever, leaving several false trails. I knew she was heading for Thirteen, to finish what her parents had started, and so I told him about the hovercrafts in the district. This was all still during the war; those hovercrafts weren't used until after Presidents Snow and Coin were dead." Katniss' indignant expression faltered a bit. I rushed on before anyone could stop me. "They transported refugees whose homes were destroyed, soldiers returning to their own home districts, and others who were looking… visiting, I should say. Most of them crashed somewhere in the Wilds. Your own family was on one of them, Hawthorne. And Skylar has known about it since it happened."
His rage toward me turns into confusion as he faces Skylar. "You never told me?" he rasps.
Katniss spends no time balking over the information, even though she knows her family is dead as well. An arrow is fixed into place, her bow pointed right at my chest. "Move," she growls. I dig into her thoughts, find that she and Gale want to help heal Skylar, and shake my head.
"I can't do that, Everdeen. Retreating right where I have an advantage." I make a tsk sound. "Now where's the fun in that?"
"The fun is not dying," she flashes back, "again."
Still shaking my head, though my gaze never leaves her bow, I summon some of the dead, including her family. The recent additions cause her hand to tremble, her aim wavering until she finally lowers her weapon. Gale stops interrogating Skylar when he sees the sudden appearance of a few of my friends. I turn all my attention to Skylar, leaving the two former friends to their relatives.
"Come with me," I order softly. "I can teach you how not to be afraid – how to be yourself again."
Something resembling pity flickers in her blazing eyes. "I am myself. You're the one who needs help."
"We can do this the easy way… or my way," I warn. "How would your friends feel if I left them to suffer while I took you in myself? This is one battle you cannot win, little girl. It's your freedom" – I glance back at the frozen images of Katniss and Gale – "or theirs."
"Leave them alone," she snaps, but her face becomes hollow as she realizes it is not much of a choice.
"I've known you for how long?" I continue to taunt. "I know how to get you to submit."
Skylar lowers her eyes. "Fine," she mutters. When she locks her gaze on mine once more, they are fierce with the desire to protect. She would have made a great fighter, had she stayed. "But you won't hurt them afterward."
"Unless you run away," I compromise, still keeping my voice deadly soft.
"I won't run away." She crosses the slight gap in distance between us. "Not anymore. Call them off."
Not letting triumph hide my guard, I jerk my head at the spirits. They disappear back into nothingness, letting the two prisoners move again. Gale's eyes find us first; Katniss is not far behind. Both of them pull their bowstrings back almost at the same time, betraying their many years of friendship before the war broke them apart. "Call your own warriors off, little girl. Our deal is cancelled if they strike me." Her face hardens as she glares at me, but she moves back to her friends and whispers urgently to them.
Shock appears on both their faces. I drink in the emotions, smiling wickedly when they glance between me and her. He can't hurt you. If he does, I'll rip his heart out.
Brave words, Hawthorne, I think after that memory is over. Challenge accepted. May the best warrior win.
Underneath the darkness that has settled permanently in me, I sense a spark of my old self, the hunting partner to the weakling in front of me. I couldn't hurt her if I tried, I realize, pushing the past away. To be truly free of it, to completely become what I should, I have to break the curse that Skylar has put on me. Gale and Katniss might love each other somewhere in their pathetic hearts, but Skylar and I have no such connection. We never will, I tell myself, knowing I will have to hurt her eventually.
"Part of the reason why I chose you," Snow had said, "was because I feel you must prove yourself. It is easy to see you once cared for the girl. Now it is my job to destroy her, and I cannot have any turncoats in my midst."
Skylar watches them head back into the house with a look of longing on her face. An unfamiliar jump in my heartbeat causes me to inhale sharply when she turns back to me, her eyes cold, no longer filled with friendliness and tolerance. "No matter what you do to me," she states, walking up to stand toe-to-toe with me, "I will never be one of you."
"We'll see," I murmur, pulling her with me through a portal the World of the Dead allegedly "offered" for our use.
