Hey...
It's been a while...
I'm really, really, really, sorry.
Would it make it better if I told you I love you all for the lovely feedback you gave me?
Yeah?
No...?
Okay... I understand.
Would it make it better if I told you I had really good reasons for taking 3 months to update?
Speech team? Jazz band? Marching band? Musical wrapped up? Now I'm in a play? Finals just happened?
No.
Okay...
What if I told you Katniss was in the next chapter? Would that be better? :(
I'm so sorry...and I can't say that this chapter will make up for the wait (because it probably won't) but...hopefully some Everlark fluff in the chapters to come will?
Yeah?
Okay...Enjoy this thing I wrote.
...I'm sorry.
His eyes snap at me.
I crouch low, ready to fight. The hairs stand up on the back of my neck, that animalistic side of me creeping out once again. The corner of his mouth twitches, revealing a sliver of fang.
A bass rumble emerges from my chest – a noise I didn't realize I could make.
Cato lowers to the ground to match my height.
What are we?
The anger drains from his face as soon as the thought flitters through my mind – almost as if he heard it.
"Not me," he says, straightening up. He shakes his head, ashamed. "I can't. Someone else is going to have to."
He doesn't have to say it. I know what he's implying.
Killing me.
Cato isn't going to kill me.
He runs a hand through his hair, letting out a shaky breath before turning to face me.
"Go find her," he demands. "Before I change my mind."
I've never ran faster.
I'm not sure where I'm running – I don't actually know where Katniss is, but there's a tugging feeling - a pulling in my chest as if my body knows where she is.
I don't look back once.
I'm not dumb enough to call out for her – but damn, is it tempting. I've been searching for hours; darkness is closing in, the sky fading towards my orange. Should I keep moving? Should I set up camp? I don't have any tools – all I have is a single, dulled dagger. I'm not too sure if it'll do me much if I get cut off guard.
For now, I keep trudging along.
When the sky is finally dark enough to the point where I no longer feel safe moving, I listen for humming mosquitoes – there always lurk by stagnant water.
But all I hear is a gentle rumble – not like thunder or the sounds of a brawl – but...
A river?
And then something else catches my ear...
"Are you, are you, coming to the tree -"
Before I have time to turn around – no, before I have time to blink,an unimaginable pain pierces the skin on the back my thigh. I collapse against the searing agony and shudder to the ground. I flip over onto my back to face my attacker, but he swiftly gashes a matching mark to the front.
Marvel.
His face is unrecognizable – a giant, swollen mess of red, oozing, lumps. His eyes are mere pale purple slits in his face.
The sight is almost as upsetting as the red running down my hand.
Blood is rushing through my head, the sound of the river –
But even over those, I can hear him singing his death march.
"Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it seem -"
I pull my dagger out of my pocket. The blade is already dripping in rubies from my own wounds.
I take a cheap shot at his foot through the top of his boot, hoping that the knife still has enough bite in it to give some sort of injury– and it does.
But Marvel doesn't cry out – he keeps singing, his lips look like they're barely moving beneath his Tracker Jacker wounds. He swings again, slicing my side by my ribs, but not deep enough to destroy anything vital.
I try to run, but my leg protests in a shriek of fire and I collapse on top of it again just as my world starts to spin – the blood loss, the tears, both are clouding my vision as I try my hardest to crawl away.
His large boot steps on my ankle, and I can hear it, feel it, giving under the pressure.
I scream. The blackness is closing in on me. My skin is clammy with sweat and blood and my mouth feels suddenly dry.
Is this what it feels like to die?
I take a swing at his calf and plunge it to the handle – this time Marvel shows a sign of pain. His barely-there eyes widen in shock, puffy mouth drops open.
I'm proud of myself, thinking I did this – that I might come out on top.
But then his eyes roll back into his head and he slumps to the ground, an arrow in his back.
And then, once again, the blackness takes me.
I love reviews almost as much as I love you!
Oh! And side note. This story WILL be finished by June. Pinky swear. I estimate another 10 chapters MAX. And the more I brain storm outlines for a sequel, the less and less likely it is I can actually WRITE a sequel. The way I plan on ending this story there won't really be a way to continue it...so...how about I drop a few other Everlark ideas? Or better yet, you give ME ideas for other Everlark stories? Yees?! :D
I love AU :3
Ones I've had in my head since I started writing this:
"Peeta doesn't know her. And he knows that she'll never tell him who she is. All he knows is that her eyes are gray, she hates cats, and that she likes to put vodka in anything she drinks. Her words cut, yet her voice is like a lullaby. Her heart is "cold," but yet she flushes hot when you ask her about sex. She gives the best hugs you'll ever get, but she can snap your neck like a twig.
Yet, he still can't help but love her"
*Secret Agent Everdeen* - "Silver"
"She doesn't speak. She won't play with the other children. I don't know if that's what you want."
Katniss has heard the social worker tell all the parents that come to adopt her say that, but it doesn't matter. She has a guardian angel. The only person she needs to be happy."
Dumb summary...still working on it.
*Peeta Pan/Guardian Angel* - "Time Feelers"
Look up 'Prelude for Time Feelers' by Eluvium if you haven't heard it. I think that describes a couple of the scenes I've panned out.
"I've heard that she killed her parents so she could keep her sister to herself. I've heard that she ran away from Colorado to come live with her druggy boyfriend who we've never seen because he's over eighteen. I've heard more idiotic ones than those about her – but these are the ones that made her cry. I don't know where she came from, but I want to take care of her. That's all I want."
*Dark Katniss/Angel Baker* - Threnody
(If you go listen to the song Threnody by Goldmund, you will understand EXACTLY why this song inspired this idea. It's heart wrenching. Even though it's just a piano.
Tell me what you think! I'd love to hear from you!
