10/4/14

Hi again! I'm going to warn you guys ahead of time that if you're having a bad day you might not want to read this.

Yeah, I won't beat around the bush here. Someone's dying.

Before you start bawling your eyes out, let me just say that I've been putting this off for a long time. They were originally going to die much earlier, and Deidra was going to die at this point. However, I'm a little more attached to *spoiler* than I was Deidra so I switched the death order.

Thank you gameshungry91 for following.

Reviews-

Lya200: What can I say, I was missing iCarly :)

Annabeth- TheTributeThatLived: Don't worry about it. When I was in the Teen Titans fandom I only updated once or twice a month. Besides, the reason I update so much is probably because I have waaay to much spare time on my hands. That may sound like a good thing, but trust me it's not.

ArtemisCarolineSnow: Thanks :)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or anything else I may mention

…..

Chapter 36: Revenge's Inferno

"Come on Maple, we're already behind as it is!" I yell as Maple rushes to catch up to me.

"Sorry, not all of us are victors of the Hunger Games!"

I shake my head and keep running before accidently bumping into Blight. "Whoa! What are you doing here?"

"Um, walking home?" Blight says.

"Where's Ivy?" Maple pants.

"She saw that dirty ex of yours and went to give him a piece of her mind. Why?"

"Nothing, I just thought she was with you," Maple says, finally catching her breath.

"Did Oleander say anything?" I ask. "You know, anything obviously suspicious."

"Suspicious enough for Ivy to keep following him? Yeah, I guess so, why?" Blight says, before his eyes widen in such a way that it could be comical under different circumstances. "You don't think-"

"No, just… Mom was acting weird, Ivy's been acting weirder, Oleander starts stalking Maple, I just don't feel right about this whole thing," I frown.

"Plus, it fits perfectly with Snow's current attack pattern," Blight says.

"Attack pattern?" I ask.

"Snow doesn't just attack. He has a pattern, a method of sorts. So far, he's offered you a second chance to accept his deal before striking-"

"Wait! You know about that!"

"What deal?" Maple asks.

"We'll tell you later," Blight assures her. "Right now we need to focus on the problem at hand. Why are you girls out here anyways?"

"Mom went to Town Hall to pick up some papers or something, but she was acting all sentimental like you wouldn't believe, and I think she thinks… no, knows it's a death trap and-"

"Stop rambling Hanna! Come on, we need to get to Town Hall," Maple says, sprinting towards the general direction of the old building.

"Right," we say in unison before following her. We're quite a bit behind her, but we're close enough to hear Maple's scream when it happens.

"Maple!" I yell, running towards my fallen friend. My heart starts pounding in my chest as I think about what could be wrong.

"My ankle! I think I broke it!" Maple uncharacteristically whimpers.

"How?" I ask, hoping the panic in my voice isn't too noticeable.

"I-I don't know," Maple whimpers.

Blight takes a closer look at her ankle and lets out a relieved sigh. "Don't worry Maple, it just looks twisted to me. We'll get you to the apothecary, okay?"

"Y-yeah. But you guys need to get to Town Hall!"

"Don't worry about that, we'll get there eventually," I reassure her. Blight and I both take one of her arms and help her up. Pain flashes in her brown eyes as she holds back a scream. I exchange a worried look with Blight and we help her limp all the way to the apothecary. Lucky for us, it's pretty close to both where we are and the town hall.

"You're gonna be okay," Blight reassures her as we set her down on the bench.

"What happened?" one of the workers asks.

"We think she twisted her ankle. Can you fix it?" I ask.

"Don't worry, we've got it covered. You might have to wait a bit though. We might get a couple survivors from that fire."

"Fire?" I ask.

"Down at town hall," the worker says. "What's wrong? You seem pale?"

"I-it's nothing. Look, we're in a hurry. We'll pay you when we get back okay?"

"Fine with me."

Blight and I exchange another look, this time one of pure fear rather than something as small as worry. We take off to town hall, a million thoughts racing through our heads. Was Mom in the building? Will she be okay? Where's Ivy? What will happen to Maple's leg? Is Mom… dea-

No, I refuse to think like that. After all I've been through, it's not even possible. It's like a monster. A scary thought, but it's not real, right?

Of course, as long as there's a creature known as morte pisces, there will be monsters in this world. And as long as a man with the name of Coriolanus Snow, a true monster will be in this world.

When we get to Town Hall, it's barely recognizable. It hasn't been reduced to a pile of ashes, the way you'd picture a burned building, but instead most of the siding has been burned off and you can see the skeleton of part of it.

"They got it put out before it could cause much damage to the building," I hear a citizen say to a Peacekeeper.

"How did it happen?"

"There was some kind of chemical explosion in the basement. We have no clue what triggered it, but-"

I quickly interrupt the conversation. "Is it safe to go in?"

Cue laughter.

"What?"

"If you have a gas mask. But you'd need to be an authorized-"

"I'm a victor of the Hunger Games. I'd say that's good enough!" I say, grabbing a mask from a pile next to the Peacekeeper.

"Johanna, wait!"

I ignore Blight and run into the building. Sure enough, the top floor has been mostly burned, but I know Mom would most likely be in the basement. My heart starts pounding worse than ever as I pile through rubble to get to the stairs. I run down and gasp when I see the wreckage.

"Johanna, you need to think things through next time, what if-" something keeps Blight from talking, and it takes me a moment, but then I see it.

Next to a large hole in the floor where who knows what crashed through, is a human being. More specifically, my mother.

Even from a distance, she's painfully recognizable. The explosion must've blown her backwards into the wall. I stand there in shock, unable to form a coherent thought. It's a while until either of us can.

I-is she dead. No, no… she can't be… she… she can't be!

"Oakley?" Dad yells, his eyes wide in fear. He runs towards her and cowers over her body. "No! No, you're not dead! You-you can't be!"

"Mom!" I whimper, running to her. "Come on, wake up!"

Nothing.

Tears are spilling down Blight's cheeks like a waterfall, but it's still so surreal to me. I- I can't even…

"No! Oakley! Y-you promised th-that…"

Blight collapses on her body, his body raked in sobs. "I'm so sorry Oaky, I couldn't save you! I promised I'd…"

I still can't even cry. My body wants to cry, my brain wants to cry, but my eyes won't let me. Instead a small squeak escapes my mouth as I collapse next to Blight.

"I'm so sorry."

"Blight?" a small voice says.

Blight's head shoots up like a rocket. Mine does too. "Ivy!"

"D-down here," she whimpers before a fit of coughing starts.

I look down the hole, only to see my aunt's tiny frame, her blood seeping into the carpet. It's a wonder she didn't die from the impact.

Like Mom did.

No, I can't think like that! I have to focus on Ivy!

We jump down into the hole, careful not to trample her more. "Don't worry, we'll get you out of here," Blight says, chocking over his own voice.

"Blight-"

"No, Ivy, I- I can't lose the love of my life and my baby sister on the same day! I refuse to! We'll get you out of here! I can't live without both of you!"

"You'll have to," Ivy whispers.

"You're not dying. You can't die," Blight says.

"But I am. Johanna?"

"Yes Ivy," I stutter.

"The thing your mother came back for is in the file cabinet. It's enough information to start a rebellion. You- you need to stop the Games, okay?"

"Okay," I say, trying to stay strong. "I will."

"Thank you 'Hanny. That's all I need to hear."

"You knew this was coming, didn't you," Blight whispers.

"I-I tried to warn Oakley, but… she's Oakley, you know. She told me that… sometimes we just have to accept destiny. I didn't understand it then, but… I think I understand it now. Goodbye Blight," she says as life drains from her leaf green eyes.

"Ivy!"

I allow myself to cry.

…..

Sometimes I really hate myself for writing these things -_-

If anyone's confused on what happened, it goes something like this:

After Oleander got kicked out of Johanna's house, he ran into Ivy who knew that Nero was planning to kill Johanna's mom. Ivy put two and two together and discovered that Oleander was working with Nero. She decided to follow him to make sure he wasn't up to something.

Meanwhile, Johanna's mom remembered that she left some important rebel files at Town Hall. Oleander made sure that she forgot them the day before. When she got there, she found Oleander and Ivy in the middle of an argument as to whether or not Oleander should be there. Upon her arrival, Oleander admitted that he probably shouldn't be there and started to leave.

On his way out, he "accidentally" bumped some chemicals which caused a small explosion, although it was big enough to throw both of his targets backwards, killing Oakley on contact and fatally wounding Ivy.

Unfortunately, even though the explosion caused the rest of the building to catch on fire, our least favorite dirt-bag managed to escape, although it almost cost him his life. Don't worry though, I have a much worse way for him to go all planned out (the little jerk).

Quote of the day!

"Stupid tourists." -Teen Titans, Raven

May the odds be ever in your favor,

Spectrobes Princess