Promised Reunion
"I… I love –"
In between the tears and the put-off goodbye she's been meaning to tell him, it begins to slip out without her discretion. He stops her, and at first it hurts worse than hearing her name called for the Games the second time.
"Don't say it. Don't you dare…" And his voice breaks, and she realizes how unfair she's being.
She knows why she wants to tell him she loves him, even though she doesn't know if it's true. She wants to tell him because she feels awful to leave him again, wants to tell him so he doesn't run off with the ethereal governor's daughter, wants to tell him because she doesn't know what else to say that means as much as those three words.
But it's wrong because she doesn't know if she means it, doesn't know if she'll come back, doesn't know how badly it will break his heart.
"When you come back… if you still…" And his words are lost as he hugs Katniss close, biting his tongue to keep from begging her not to leave. The night air is cold yet it wraps around them like an invisible blanket, shielding them from the outside world.
She pulls away and nods solemnly, taking a deep breath and wiping her tears with her hand, leaning forward to kiss him one last time but then stops.
Because, she reminds herself, this is not goodbye.
"I'll see you soon," she tells him, her voice not quite as desperate as before yet not quite convincing either. But it is enough.
He whispers, "Be careful."
And then there was one alone to dance in the moonlight, the weight of the world seeming just a bit easier to carry on her shoulders.
.
.
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xx I wasn't planning on this. The flows kinda messy, but it works.