Paxton Luke, Victor

Paxton woke up to an odd smell. It was artificial and frankly, just too…clean. He sat upright, and took in the room around him. Light yellow walls, large white-framed windows with sunlight streaming through. A solid, wooden floor beneath the large bed he'd been lying in. It was all so strange. And then it hit him.

He'd won the Hunger Games. He was a Victor. He, Paxton Luke, was a champion of District Two.

Where was Peter? He'd seen Peter take Elle down. He'd heard the cannon. Peter was going to pay for what he'd done. Paxton jumped from his bed, only to be met by the sharp sting of skin against wood. He'd fallen, and he was nearly naked. How long had he been here, unconscious? In a matter of seconds, two women rushed into the room and helped him to his feet.

"You need to take things easy, Mister Luke. You're very weak right now." A third woman came in holding a robe, which they helped him put on before sitting him back in the bed.

"Where's Peter?" He demanded. The three women looked at each other, then back to him.

"Mister Luke, you need to rest. You are not fully healed just yet."

"I said, where's Peter Cooper?"

"He…I'm sorry, Mister Luke. Peter Cooper is dead. He died in the arena." Paxton nearly collapsed at her words. If they hadn't been holding him up, he would've hit the floor a second time. Peter was dead, and that meant…

"Where's Elle?" He tried walking towards the door, but the women held him back again.

"She is down the hall, resting. Which is what you should be doing, too!"

"I need to see her," he said, trying to pull away. The woman closest to the door called for someone named Brahcus, and a man brought in a wheelchair.

"If you really must go see her - "

"I need to."

"Then sit down. I'll take you to her." Paxton allowed them to help him into the chair, and then they took him down the hall to her room.

She was sleeping, or just unconscious. Either way, she was alive. He'd done it. He'd kept her safe through the games, and now they could go home together. He waved the nurses away and rolled his chair over to the side of her bed.

"Elle. Elle? It's me. I'm here." There was no response. For a moment, Paxton panicked. He quickly took her wrist in his hands and checked her pulse. It sounded perfectly normal. And she was breathing fine.

"She's sedated, Mister Luke. She suffered some serious wounds in the arena, and we don't want to wake her until they are fully healed."

"What 'wounds'?" He asked. The nurse came in and lifted the middle of Elle's blanket. Her torso was wrapped completely in gauze, and part of it was a dried-blood-brown. Peter had hit her with his knife. How had she survived and he hadn't? What had happened when his vision went?

"How long until she wakes up?"

"I'd say another day, day and a half at most. She'll be perfectly alright, Mister Luke. You, though, should be fine to go home later today. I'm sure your mentors have this huge celebration planned for you." Paxton didn't care. He didn't want to think about the mentors, all of whom, except maybe Auila, probably hated him at this point. He didn't know what he'd do when he had to face Anastasia and Robert. Would they even speak to him after what had happened?

Paxton stayed with Elle the rest of the day, and told the staff that he was going to come back first thing in the morning. Then they gave him a change of clothes to wear and sent him to the elevator. Apparently, the hospital was stationed in the tribute center, off to the side on the main level. He stood there, waiting, for whoever was standing on the other side of the doors when he arrived back on his floor.

To his surprise, Baro, Cyricus, and Auila all embraced him as he stepped into the tribute apartment. Auila hugged him so tightly that it hurt his arms. Robert, Anastasia, and Luke all stood behind. He wasn't shocked. Luke had been close friends with the Cooper family since his games. The prep team stood waiting behind the mentors that were suffocating him, and the moment they released him, this next group grabbed him.

"Congratulations, Paxton." shouted Prudence, as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Eziquiel and Efficus offered their congratulations, too, followed by Elle's prep team. Alejandro and Flair were the last to hug him, and then they all settled in for dinner.

It wasn't the feast that the nurses had told him about, but rather just a normal dinner. Auila told him they were waiting for Elle to return from the hospital before they truly celebrated. Paxton noticed that Anastasia wasn't present, and Robert and Luke sat at the far end of the table..

"They're just grieving. Peter's loss hit them hard. They can't blame you. You were just doing what you had to, and Peter knew what to expect in the arena." Auila's words isn't comfort him as she meant them to.

"No. But they'll hate Elle. What Peter said was what everyone had been thinking in the beginning. Elle wasn't meant to survive that first day, and now she's gone and outlived Rob and Anastasia's own son." Paxton thought of something. "How exactly did Peter die? I was too out of it at that point to see anything."

"He managed to stick Shantelle with his knife, but she shot him in the neck. He bled out before she did. It was all a matter of outlasting the other." Paxton was proud that Elle had had the will to hold on that long in the end. He wanted to go back to visit her now, but the mentors forced hims to stay in for the night.

Paxton escaped to his room as soon as he could manage it. He mostly wanted to escape the glaring eyes of Luke and the Coopers, but also, he wanted to sleep. He knew that he'd been sleeping for the past three days, but this bed here in his own room seemed so much more welcoming. He was asleep within minutes.

Paxton was back to the hospital first thing in the morning, sitting beside Elle's bed while the staff examined her injuries. They were looking a lot better since he left yesterday. The doctor said that they planned to take her off of the sedatives within a few hours.

He sat there with her, holding her hand, for what seemed like days. But, finally, he felt movement in her fingers.

"Elle? Elle? I'm here. " He said softly, holding her hand up to his lips." She moved slightly in the bed. She was alive, that's all Paxton needed right now.

The staff sent Elle back with Paxton that afternoon. The same people went to congratulate her, although Paxton told them not to hug her. She needed more time to heal than he did. At the elevator, she'd refused the wheelchair and allowed Paxton to help her move. He sat her down next to him at the table for dinner, and Baro called out the feast. He told Paxton that this would be nothing compared to the fare they'd have at the Victor's reception dinner at the President's manor. Paxton really couldn't imagine anything more. He just wanted to go home.

That night, after the mentors and the stylists had stopped celebrating, Paxton helped Elle to her room.

"Thank you," she said, as he pulled her blankets up for her.

"My pleasure, Shantelle Lester, District Two Victor." He couldn't help but smile as he spoke.

So, Elle is the other Victor! Big surprise? lol not really, huh. What did you think of this chapter? Please review? The Victors are prepping for their final days in the Capitol before returning home to Two!