Hey guys! Here's Chapter 21 :) everything belongs to Suzanne Collins! Pleaseeeee leave me a review if you like it or if you don't! I write for you guys!
We decide to stay on the other side of the river for the night, and when the sky begins to lighten, Blake shakes me awake. I was dreaming of the first time we kissed after Finnick broke up with me. In the dream, Blake decided not to volunteer for the Games, and when I won, I came back to him. He volunteered the next year, and we shared a house on Victor's Island. The dream was so impossibly sweet and when I saw Blake's gentle face hovering over me, tears came to my eyes.
"I wish I could stay here forever," I whisper. "I would kill children every day for the rest of my life if it meant I could stay with you."
"I'll always be with you, Annie," he murmurs into my ear. When he says those words, I break down. I've cried so many times thinking about his death, but this is different. He's damaged be beyond repair. If he dies, I'll never leave the arena. Not really.
The tears roll down my cheeks and the sobs shake my body, and Blake begins to cry, too. We sit, wrapped in each other's arms, allowing the gravity of our situation to overcome us. For the first time. My heart is breaking piece by piece, falling into the river and washing out to sea somewhere. Please, God, don't take him from me. Please don't take him away. I'll do whatever you want me to do.
I think of Finnick. He doesn't want me to die in here; he doesn't want me to sacrifice myself for Blake. But Finnick's life will go on. He'll love again. He has Mags, he has Cashmere. He'll get over my death, and eventually he'll be fine. I think that I'll never see his green eyes again, and a whole new wave of sobs take my body, but they don't compare to the ones inspired by Blake. If he dies, I will never get over it. I will be wishing for death every day for the rest of my life.
Blake cries, and every part of me that I thought was vicious and confident breaks down and explodes.
I don't know how long we sit there, entrapped in our own grief, but it's past dawn when the sobs finally subside and we look at each other. I look into his blue eyes and I see that the resolve behind them has hardened. I don't want him to die. He doesn't want me to die. With both Finnick and Blake rooting against my goal, the odds feel insurmountable. But that doesn't mean I won't try.
I take his hand and we walk, emotionlessly, to the river, where we dive in and swim back to our island. I'm not fully recovered from earlier, so my shock when I see a figure trapped in one of our nets is palpable. It's the fourth day of the arena, and we are so close to the end. I push the thought out of my mind as I walk up to the net.
"Ah, 2. Where's your little partner?" I ask her, and even though I liked her, I hate her now. My heart is screaming for her blood.
"Hunting you," she spits. "I'll scream right now and he'll find you. He'll cut your pretty little head off."
"Shut up," Blake growls, and the girl's eyes widen. She doesn't want to die, I know.
"Blake, how about we cut her down?" I ask, and my voice is filled with bloodlust. "I want a fight today." Blake looks at me hesitantly, because he doesn't want me to take risks when I could kill her easily from here. But I know I'm more skilled than this girl, and so does he. He climbs up on a branch and cuts the net down. Instantly, I see that the girl from 2 walking with a limp. I roll my eyes. This will be easy.
She doesn't have her spear. She has a short sword, and I sheath my knife, taking out my axe. I move around her, studying her form. She protects her ribs well, I see, but her footwork is shoddy. I smile at her, and she glares at me. She swings at me with the sword, and I duck. I flip the axe in my hand, and jab her in the stomach with the handle. She exhales and backs up a few steps. I glance behind me to see Blake leaning against a tree casually, watching our fight. I block a punch from 2, and take a swing with my axe. She barely gets out of the way, and I see her back up and try to throw a knife at me. I laugh, shoulder rolling out of the way. The knife whizzes into the distance, and I pull out a knife and throw it at her leg. She screams in pain, and I sneak up behind her, kicking her down. She tries to crawl away, but I stab her hands into the ground so she's stuck.
"Any last words?" I ask. She whimpers and tries to move her body. She screams when she tries to move her hands. "I'll take that as a no," I say, my voice low and deadly. I slam my axe into her back, and when I try to pull it out, I see that it's stuck in the ground underneath her. Her cannon goes off and I turn to Blake. "Can you help me get the axe out, please?" My voice is still filled with venom, and I feel like a psychopath. I stabbed her hands into the ground so she couldn't move. What kind of monster am I?
Blake still smiles at me like I'm still the same girl he fell in love with, though. I give him a weak smile, and take my knives out of her body. I wipe them on my pant legs and regain my composure. How many have I killed now?
Eight. I've killed eight people. But I know it's necessary. Either they die, or Blake dies. Either I kill them, or they kill me. I can't let either of them happen.
Blake and I walk to the riverbank and just sit there. I feel drained. I haven't slept much since we entered the arena, but I almost don't want sleep to find me. I want to stay awake, with Blake, until one of us is pulled from this place. I look over at him, and he looks out at the river. I look at his profile and thank whatever made this universe for him. For his soul, for his goodness and kindness, for his bravery, for his selflessness, for the person he is.
"I've killed eight people," I whisper, and he glances over at me. His eyes are serious as he studies me. "Eight, Blake. It's too many."
"I've killed people, too, Annie. You have to kill people to win," he says, trying to console me. "I know who you are. Annie Cresta is tough, but sometimes kind, and deadly smart. She's got this tough exterior, but when you strip it away, you find a beautiful soul underneath it all. Annie Cresta is the best person I've ever known, no matter how many people she's killed." The words are soft and sweet and I look up at him. His eyes are glowing, and they don't leave mine. "I just want to thank you for everything you've given me over the years. You were the best friend I ever had and loving you saved me. I just want to tell you in case I don't have the time to later."
"You'll be able to tell the nation after you win," I whisper. He shakes his head, and the motion is desperate.
"No, Annie. I just want my words to reach your heart and never leave you. No matter what happens in here, I want you to know how amazing you are. I want you to know that I've always loved you no matter what."
"Blake," I begin. "I'm not worth it. I didn't even realize I loved you until recently."
"I don't care," he says heatedly. "Don't you understand that I don't care? Every day I've spent with you since we were nine has been a gift. Every day I get with you until I die is a gift! I wake up just wanting to see your smile, wanting to hear your voice, wanting to know what's inside that mind of yours! It doesn't have anything to do with you reciprocating my feelings, because I would've loved you until the day I died anyways, regardless of the Games and how you felt about me!" The words are loud and desperate, and I stifle them with a kiss. I try to tell him through the kiss how much I love him, how thankful I am for him, and how badly I wish we could leave together. I don't want to cry any more, even though I'm positive the Capitol loves it. I'm sure they can't get enough of our love story, but I don't care. It's ours, not theirs.
"I love you, Blake," I say. "I will always love you, until the day that I die." He looks into my eyes, and I feel the familiar sensation of drowning. I almost drowned once, when I was little. It wasn't nearly as pleasant as looking into Blake's eyes. When I die, I want his eyes to be the last thing I see.
His eyes shift down to my arm, and his eyebrows furrow. I glance down and see the seashell bracelet his little sister gave to me as a token. I redden.
"Did Tallie give this to you?" He asks, touching it with his fingers. I nod, and his eyes look a little teary. "I don't know how I didn't notice it before."
"I figured since I didn't have a token, I could take it. It reminds me of you."
"Annie, I love you," he murmurs, and the moment is heavy with emotion. I take the bracelet off and hand it to him, but he shakes his head. "It's yours. Plus it would make me look a little girly, don't you think?" I laugh at his joke, but only for a moment, because the ground begins to shake.
"Shit!" I yell. I hear Blake swearing, too, and I grab his hand, slamming my axe into the ground. His hand is gripping mine like a vice. This earthquake isn't as short as the last one, lasting for at least two hours. As far as I knew, natural earthquakes didn't last this long. The Gamemakers must be trying to achieve something. When the shaking subsides, I look at Blake, and his eyes are wide with fear. The expression looks foreign on his face, and I wonder what's causing it. I spin around and see nothing. "Blake, what's wrong?" I ask urgently.
"These Games will be over soon," he replies ominously. He points at the dam as I had done a couple days before, and the crack that formed after the first quake now has water spurting out of it. Shit.
"They're going to flood the arena," I whisper quietly so the cameras don't catch it. "They want Four to win this year." Blake nods, but there is still fear in his eyes. "Why are you afraid?"
"Annie, who are the only tributes who can swim?" He asks.
"Us," I reply, and I wonder what he's getting at. Obviously we're the only ones.
"They're saving us for the finale," he whispers. It all comes together. They want us to be the final two, and this terrifies me. Blake and I, treading water for days and days, forced into killing each other by the Capitol. They must not realize that it'll never happen. I'm afraid for the first time since we entered the arena.
I hear a large rumble and my head snaps to the right, looking across the river. The white tower, which served as a compass in this arena, has a wide crack running down the wide of it. The tower begins to shake, and soon comes falling down, shaking the arena as it hits the ground with a thunderous roar.
Nothing else happens, so we walk back to camp and curl up underneath the tent. We both fall asleep, unconcerned about any tribute that might walk into our camp. Nobody would fuck with the both of us. One on one, maybe, but not two on one. We are too formidable. I fall asleep quickly, my head lying on Blake's chest, hand curled tightly around a knife.
When I wake up, it's raining. I reach my hand out of the tent and find that the water falling down on us is warm rain. I shake Blake awake.
"It's raining!" I exclaim, and he laughs. "I feel dirty. Do we have soap anywhere in our supplies?" I ask, and he gets up and crawls from the tent. I hear him rummaging around in our supply pile.
"Yes!" He shouts, and I laugh under my breath. Who knew this person could bring me so much joy? He pokes his head inside the tent, and laughing, drags me out by the hand. I see a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of conditioner laying on the ground, and I laugh, too.
"We can finally get clean!" I shout, and I know we're being childish, but I don't really care.
"And we can give Panem another show!" He yells at the sky, and I push him over. I kiss him on the lips, and strip down. I lay my clothes out under the tent I made and Blake does the same. We'll just have to be a little naked for the time being. I let him shampoo my hair and he massages my scalp with his hands. After I do the same, we let the heavy rain wash the soap out of our hair and then he puts conditioner in mine, letting the rain wash it out, making my hair silky smooth and soft again. I lather his body up with soap at the same time he does mine. I lean up and kiss him, trying to ignore his nudity, and he wraps his arms around me, kissing me back fiercely. Like plenty of other moments in the arena, I'm sure the cameras are on us right now. I laugh and feel the slip of his nose against mine and we let the rain soak our bodies, and his eyes never leave mine. Not even when the roar of thunder shakes the ground beneath our feet.