50. Spade
Call a Spade a Spade
"Last one, Katniss," Peeta said, as he opened it. He scanned the letter briefly and removed a card of spades. "You may want to read this one."
Katniss took the letter and read the top portion with Cressida's handwriting. "'Pollux insisted on writing his own letter to you both, although it's mainly addressed to Katniss'."
"That's interesting. What did he write?"
"Let's find out," Katniss started.
"'To the Girl on Fire with the beautiful voice: I earned the nickname 'Spade' because I love the card game 'Spades' and because I tell it like it is. So my nickname fit me to a tee. Where to begin? I'll always remember your beautiful song "The Hanging Tree". If I still had my voice, I would've sang along you that day in District 12. I still hear you singing it when Cressida and I go from District to District filming and documenting the after-effects of the war.
I speak for all of us: Cressida, Messalla, Castor, and myself when I say it was truly an honor to fight alongside the Rebels—to be on the side of Katniss Everdeen during the war. President Snow made it punishable by death to be your friend, and at that point, what more could the Capitol do to me? They cut out my tongue for telling it like it is during the 64th Hunger Games. I would be your friend to the end, Katniss, even if it meant my death.
True, I lost Castor, but I know he's never truly gone—he's always with me just as I know Prim is always with you. I'm sure they both would've wanted all of us to keep fighting until the Rebels were victorious. And we were—we won and there are no more Hunger Games. Now, for the first time in more than seventy years, the Capitol and the Districts are actually a united nation. I never thought I'd live long enough to see that day and now it's here. It's real. It means Castor's death wasn't in vain. I hope you feel the same way about Prim. It means all the tributes' lives, all the Rebels' lives, everyone who fought to bring about change—it was meaningful.
So I just want to say, thank you, Katniss, and thank you, Peeta, for being in my life. For making it worthwhile to be in the rebellion so we can live to see a better Panem. A Panem where Capitol and District citizens are treated equally. I would do everything all over again if it meant we would have the same result. Thank you."
Katniss put the letter down.
"He once had a voice and then they took it away," Peeta said, quietly.
"That shows how awful the Capitol is," she paused and then amended her thoughts "or was."
"Who would've thought a bunch of nightlock berries would change the face of Panem."
"Not me…I just wanted us both to leave the arena alive."
Peeta looked thoughtfully at Katniss as he reflected on the final second line in Pollux's letter. "If you had to do it over again…would you pull out the nightlock?"
Katniss met Peeta's eyes and then shifted away as she focused her attention to the spade card. "I'm not sure…I want to say yes because there are no more Hunger Games. Then I feel it's more of 'no' because I lost Prim, you lost your entire family, Pollux lost his brother…so many losses…"
Her voice trailed off. She tried to look at Peeta again and started crying. Sometimes Katniss felt overwhelmed when she thought about all they had lost in order to gain their freedom. Peeta joined her on the couch and held her close to him. After some time, they fell asleep in each other's arms. The letters with the corresponding cards lay on the floor.
oOo
At the end of week, Peeta completed four separate portraits of Cressida, Messalla, Castor, and Pollux. He painted them as playing cards. He then made a full one with all four in the same picture. In the corner of each individual portrait is the playing card symbol they are associated with. Heart for Cressida, Diamond for Messalla, Club for Castor, and Spade for Pollux.
Author's Notes: I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who is reading! We've reached the halfway point. 50 down and 50 more to post. I hope you will continue to enjoy the ficlets/drabbles/one-shots/vignettes!
