This isn't a prompt but I needed to get angsty feeling out and the song was soooo screaming hayffie to me. It's "you" by Keaton Henson. This is a series of drabbles precisely 100 words each.

Ghosts in a Graveyard

If you must wait

Wait for them here in my arms as I shake

Dust everywhere : on the ground, in the air, in Haymitch's lungs. He tries to cough it out but it doesn't relieve the oppressive burning in his chest, it only makes it worse. The hiss of more bombs and the deafening sounds as they touch the ground.

There is no world anymore, Haymitch thinks, only the shaking of the earth and this disturbing dust shaped fog. And the precious body cradled close to his. Effie doesn't weep, doesn't cry out, doesn't speak. She keeps her eyes wide open and she stares at him, waiting for a help that might never come.

If you must weep,

Do it right there in my bed as I sleep

Haymitch wakes up to the sound of his bedroom door softly closing. He doesn't stir or acknowledge the quiet footsteps in any way. When she climbs into his bed, he pretends to still be asleep. She doesn't reach for him, she doesn't call his name, she just huddles against the headboard. He doesn't know what kind of comfort she gets out of those nights spent in eery silence, not touching. He doesn't know why she came to Twelve in the first place. She doesn't talk much anymore. She doesn't cry either. He thinks it would be easier if she did.

If you must mourn, my love,

Mourn with the moon and the stars up above

The Victor Village is a graveyard.

There might not be any corpse buried there but each little house left standing is like a grave marking the death of a dream or a hope. He doesn't know why he came back, perhaps because he has nowhere else to go. Perhaps because he's too afraid to find out.

He thinks he knows why she is there now, though. His house is like a tomb and she sits on the front steps every night like others would sit in front of a grave. She watches the starry sky and she still doesn't cry.

If you must mourn,

Don't do it alone

He sits beside her every night without fault.

He drinks and she stares at the night sky, then they go back inside to different bedrooms until the screams wake him and she climbs into his bed. He wants to help her, he truly does, but the words elude him so he remains silent. Silence is their main companion. Sometimes, they don't talk for days, when she does speak it's in murmurs. He's starting to forget the sound of her voice.

He thinks they're already dead but have failed to notice. He thinks they're only ghosts haunting their own makeshift graveyard.

If you must leave,

Leave as though fire burns under your feet

The fight takes them both by surprise.

He shouts and she yells and, for the first time in a long time, Haymitch remembers how it feels to be alive. It's too easy to fall back on old habits, the familiar accusations pass his lips so quickly he only remembers too late than nothing is like it used to be. He calls her a monster and she doesn't retort with her usual drunkard, she only nods. She is gone with the next train.

The house feels empty. He ransacks it to obliterate every trace of her. It's useless. Her ghost lingers.

If you must speak,

Speak every word as if it were unique

Her breathing at the end of the line is labored, her voice is nervous and the phone feels strange in his clammy palm. She doesn't say why she's calling or what she wants. They wait for each other's breaths and something coils and uncoils in Haymitch's guts, warning him that something isn't right.

When she does speak she grants him a forgiveness he never had the balls to request and she asks for an absolution he has no right to give.

She's crying when she whispers her goodbyes. There is a lump in his throat when he calls an ambulance.

If you must die, sweetheart,

Die knowing your life was my life's best part

He sits next to her hospital bed and he waits for her to wake up.

They say he saved her life but he knows he only let her down again. He was never there when she needed saving. He could have saved her from the Capitol, he could have saved her from her demons… Three words would be enough to heal her, he thinks, like a fairy tale.

He longs to be her knight in shining armor but his armor is rusty and he's too weak to battle dragons, no matter how much he would like to rescue the princess.

If you must die,

Remember your life

She wakes up and they argue.

She's angry with him but he's even more angry with her. Giving up isn't an option, it has never been an option, not for him and not for her. He tells her it isn't who they are and she replies she doesn't know who they are now.

He isn't sure either.

They aren't lovers anymore. They have never been friends. They have never been enemies either.

We are ghosts who don't know how to live out of hell, he thinks, but he doesn't say it. He lies instead and tells her they are survivors.

If you must fight,

Fight with yourself and your thoughts in the night

He stays in the Capitol.

He hates the city. He hates the stupid fashion that survived the rebellion. He hates the stares. He hates any reminder of the Games. More than anything, he hates the way people treat Effie. She's either a monster or a traitor, there is no in-between. Nobody remembers she's human, not even her.

He does.

Something changes. They don't call it love, neither of them believes in love anymore, but he feels it burning in his chest nonetheless. When the doctors say she's doing better, she asks if they can go home. Home is with him.

If you must work,

Work to leave some part of you on this earth

They empty the house until there's nothing left and their voices echo from the walls when they talk. She buys new furniture, new carpets and new curtains; she hangs pictures and she paints the kitchen in a bright yellow.

She puts colors in the house until it looks like a home rather than a tomb. She puts colors in his life but he doesn't tell her that, he doesn't need to.

He kisses her when he's covered in paint and she shrieks and chides him about her dress but she laughs too and kisses right back. It's never silent anymore.

If you must live, darling one,

Just live

They fight everyday and their shouting keeps the silence at bay. He still drinks but less than before; she still insists on proper manners but it's a mask she wears less and less.

He doesn't ask her to marry him and she never hints at wanting a wedding. They toast some bread in the fireplace, one night. He doesn't tell her what it means, she already knows. He makes a point of wearing the battered bangle under his sleeve, she never goes anywhere without his mother's ring as plain and old as it is. It reminds them they aren't ghosts.