Volition
by FanficAllergy and RoseFyre
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Chapter 6 - Resolution
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Katniss woke with the dawn, her limbs delightfully languid, with a pleasant fullness deep in her core. Strong arms held her close, warming her, cradling her. Peeta's slow, comforting heartbeat thudded into her ear, the rhythm soothing. She shifted, losing the fullness, but feeling her joints and back pop in appreciation.
Peeta was still asleep, a little half-smile hovering on his lips. As much as she didn't want to wake him, that wasn't an option. They had to get up. The Gamemakers wouldn't let them stay like this for long.
Besides, she thought, her stomach rumbling, she was hungry.
She placed a kiss on Peeta's mouth.
His eyelids fluttered open. "Hey."
"Hey."
"You're real." His arms tightened around her. "I wasn't sure if last night was a dream."
Cradling his face in her hands, Katniss stared into his eyes. "It was real. All of this was real." She kissed his mouth with a seriousness bordering on despair. She knew they didn't have much time left together. "We need to get up. Get moving."
Peeta nodded. "Right. The Games." He paused, looking for the cameras they both knew were there. "Do you think they'd give us a little more time?"
Katniss shook her head regretfully.
They dressed slowly, fingers touching, teasing, stopping frequently to plant reassuring kisses on each other's mouths. They both knew the Games were coming to an end, and they were striving to make every last second together a memorable one.
The Gamemakers didn't give them long. Almost as soon as they cast their nets into the stream, an unearthly howl shattered the early morning air, followed closely by some spine-tingling hissing.
The noises, the voices, were coming from the west and north. Closer. And closer.
Katniss and Peeta immediately dropped their nets, letting the stream carry them away. They wouldn't need the nets again. They had bigger concerns. The two forded the stream to the other bank, casting nervous glances over their shoulders.
They didn't have long to wait. From the treeline emerged ghostly white things. Eerie creations. Unnatural creations. Muttations. Half-lizard half-man in appearance, but all monster. The mutts howled again, a vocalization chillingly reminiscent of human voices.
Katniss couldn't help it; she shivered.
Spotting them, the mutts' howls changed to names. Their names.
A chill flowed down Katniss's spine as she heard Rue's voice emerge from one of the smaller mutts' mouths.
No.
Oh please, no.
Peeta grabbed Katniss's hand. "We've got to go."
The two tributes took off at a run, trying to get distance between them and the Gamemakers' abominations. From behind them, Katniss heard splashing, then branches cracking and breaking as the mutts pursued. She wished she had her bow, but it was still back on the other side of the bank. All she and Peeta had were her knife, their wits, and a pocket full of nightlock berries.
Not nearly enough to make a stand.
So they ran.
And ran. Ran until their chests ached.
Breaking through the underbrush, they crashed into the clearing surrounding the Cornucopia. They shared a glance before pounding toward the multi-story metal structure.
Lungs heaving, hearts pounding, palms sweating, they clambered arm over arm up the slick metal sides. Peeta boosted her up with his strength, letting her scramble to the top. She lay on her stomach, her arms outstretched. He leapt up to catch her hand. Between them he managed to hoist himself up.
Lying on the smooth, cold metal, Katniss and Peeta caught their breath for a few moments before getting to their feet. They stood on the edge, staring back at the woods, waiting for the mutts to follow them.
They did. But they weren't alone.
Ahead of a different group of mutts, Thresh emerged from the forest at a dead run. In the morning light, the whites of his eyes were clearly visible. Behind him were even more of the muttations calling out his name. He reached the Cornucopia and started to climb.
Unsure whether she should help or not, Katniss froze, paralyzed with indecision. Beside her, Peeta crouched down, his hand outstretched.
But it didn't matter.
Thresh's grip gave out. He teetered, just out of Peeta's reach. He clawed frantically against the slick metal while his feet scrabbled for purchase. It only made his situation worse. One foot pushed off the side of the Cornucopia, sending him careening toward the ground. The force of his push twisted his body in mid-air so he fell shoulder-first onto the ground, landing on his neck with a sickening crunch.
The mutts stopped.
The whole world stopped.
Thresh wasn't moving.
Katniss gaped at the huge tribute, while overhead a cannon fired.
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Thump. Thump. Thump.
Her heartbeat slowed.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Peeta shifted, his footsteps ringing the Cornucopia like a bell.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The twenty-one muttations spread themselves out, surrounding the Cornucopia, effectively cutting off any chance of escape.
Penetrating the silent clearing, a mechanical buzz filtered in from overhead. The hovercraft was coming to retrieve Thresh's body. It didn't land, just dropped huge metal teeth to collect his body. There was nothing human in that hovercraft.
It left, and all was silent. Just her and Peeta and twenty-one muttations, standing and staring at each other in an empty clearing.
The muttations didn't attack. They wouldn't attack. They wanted her and Peeta to fight to the death, and they would stand there, menacing, until she and Peeta did.
This was the kind of tension the Capitol lived for, talked about for years. They wanted a good fight. A thrilling conclusion to this year's Games.
She'd be damned if she was going to give it to them.
"What do we do now?" Peeta's voice penetrated her consciousness. "I'm not going to kill you."
She turned to face him, her hand dipping into her pocket. "You won't have to."
His eyes narrowed. "What are you saying, Katniss?"
She pulled out some of the berries, cradling them in her hand. They looked so innocent. So unassuming. Who could guess they were so deadly?
"What are those?" Peeta asked, his voice wary.
"Nightlock."
"What's nightlock?"
"The solution to our problem."
His face twisted, understanding dawning. "It's poison, isn't it." It wasn't a question.
She nodded, her eyes still fixed on the cluster of berries in her hand. "It's the most deadly poison I know of. My dad used to say just a drop would be enough to kill a man." She lifted her hand toward her mouth.
Peeta leapt forward, knocking the berries out of her hand, scattering them across the surface of the Cornucopia. One flew past her to fall to the ground below. "No! I won't let you!"
Her eyes flew to his. "But I don't want to kill you!"
"I don't want to kill you either!" He grabbed her hands. "But that doesn't mean you have to die."
"The Capitol has to have a winner." She didn't need to say more. That was the whole point of the Hunger Games: twenty-four tributes entered, one left. Never in the history of the Games had a Victor died before their final interview. Early on in the Games, one had died during the final interview, but never before. "I don't want to live without you." It was the truth. Even though Cinna was her soulmate, Peeta was in possession of that soul. It didn't matter that she didn't have his mark and he didn't have hers. She loved him.
"I don't want to live without you either, Katniss. I love you." His voice faltered and broke. "I love you," he repeated.
"I know." She wanted to reach out, comfort him. But instead she disengaged her hands and took a step back out of reach, pulling out the rest of the berries. "I love you too. Which is why I have to do this." She lifted her hand toward her mouth.
"No! Wait!" He bent, picking up two of the berries which had fallen by his foot. "If you swallow those, I'm swallowing these."
"Peeta…"
"I'm not living without you. They can't make me."
Katniss felt the same. She didn't want to live without Peeta. But the Capitol could make them do anything. "But-"
"No." His eyes caught and held hers. "Either they take us both or they don't get either of us." He held up one of the berries between his thumb and forefinger. "You say it takes just a drop? This is more than a drop." He directed the last to the sky. To the Capitol.
"So we do this together?" she asked, struggling to keep the tears from overflowing.
Peeta nodded. "On three."
In unison, they counted down. "One. Two. Three."
The berries slipped past their lips, but before either of them could bite down, Claudius Templesmith's voice shrieked out from overhead, "Stop! Stop! We're pleased to announced the Victors of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games, Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen!"
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