Chapter Nine: Goodbyes are such Sweet Sorrow

Maize had been led to a beautifully furnished room, one of the like that she hadn't seen since her first life, as she waited for her family to arrive. Tributes were given an hour to say their goodbyes to their loved ones, before being marched to the train station where even more camera crews would be waiting to film their departure.

The door opening made her whip her head around to see who was entering. Her mother's tear-stained face rushed towards her. "Maize! My sweet baby!" she cried out as wrapped Maize into her arms. She was careful as she wrapped her arms around her mother, in an attempt to not bother the sleeping twins wrapped onto her mother's back.

"Why would you volunteer Maize?"

Maize looked up at the familiar gruff voice of her baba. He looked... heartbroken. Her eyes burned but Maize would not cry. She wasn't afraid of death, but she had come to love her second family and she worried for their futures.

"How could I not baba? It was Amla?"

He pinched his eyes shut, "I know. But Amla is older than you Maize and you- you are just a child."

She stepped out of her mother's arms before tentatively hugging her father, "Everyone that goes into the Hunger Games is a child. Besides, Amla is getting married. She has someone that loves her. Baba, you can't get mad at her. It was my decision. The moment I heard her name... The Games took Aloe, her whole family, they shouldn't take his sister too."

Her mother choked on a sob behind her.

"Mama, don't cry. We have to be strong for Birch, Brier and Piper, Hibis, Lilac, and the twins. Don't let them watch the Games mama. It will kill something inside of them." she whispered. Her mother raised her hand to cup Maize's cheek before pressing their foreheads together.

"My wise strange child." she murmured making Maize giggle wetly. It was practically an inside family joke that Maize was strange and often knowledgeable about random things. They'd labeled it as a weird tic of Maize's personality when she was a child, when she'd had less control over her mouth as she did now. And, heavens, if that didn't make Maize love her family even more for accepting her oddities.

Her father enveloped them both in a warm hug, "You can't give up Maize. You are strong. And you have what it takes to come home. Use that big brain of yours to make your way back to us."

A shudder ran through her body, "Yes baba."

The door opening ended the hug as a Peacekeeper announced that their time was up, her parents were reluctantly escorted out before Maize's tearful siblings burst in.

"Maize!" Birch wailed as he ran into her arms, followed closely behind Brier and Piper.

She wrapped them up in a hug, gently rubbing their backs, "Lay me down gently, lay me down low/ I fear I am broken and won't mend, I know/ One thing I ask when the stars light the skies/ Who now will sing me lullabies..." Maize sang softly until their tears stopped.

"Why did you do that Maize?" Brier asked with a sniffle as she gripped her twin's hand.

Maize smiled softly at her sisters, "I would do it for you too if I could so that you'd never have to go."

"But why did you have to!" Birch snapped.

"Amla is pregnant." Maize stated calmly before speaking in a graver manner, "You cannot tell baba. He wouldn't understand like you three would."

Their eyes widened comically, "Really?" Piper gasped.

Maize nodded, "You have to take care of Amla for me, just like she has always taken care of us. Promise me?" she demanded softly as she locked eyes with her conflicted little brother.

"I promise Maize." he spoke softly before his eyes hardened, fight barely hidden in his hazel eyes, "But you have to make me a promise too."

A lump formed in her throat. Maize wouldn't promise her brother something that she couldn't control. It was very likely that she would be dead in less than a month and she wasn't the type of person to throw out empty promises. Especially not to Birch. "What?"

"You have to try." he demanded, "Really try to come home. Even if you have to kill other tributes. I need you to come home."

A small pained gasp escaped from her lips. Maize shut her eyes, not wanting to meet her brother's, it killed her that Birch's innocence was taking a hit right before her eyes. He was growing up right in front of her. It wasn't fair.

She wasn't afraid of death.

She was afraid of how the Games would change her.

How they would change her siblings.

"I promise Birch."

The Peacekeeper opened the door once more, making her siblings clutch onto her desperately.

"No! Let go!" Piper shouted as she was lifted.

Brier cried out, "Please! No!"

Maize pressed one more fevered kiss onto Birch's forehead, "Take care of them for me Birch! You're their big brother! Don't lose your temper! I love you!"

"I love you too!" he sobbed as he was dragged out, "Just keep your promise!"

The room was silent for a minute. Maize had to breathe in and out deeply five times before she was able to force the tears from stopping. The door opened again and she was suddenly 'eating' curly black hair.

"You stupid idiot!" Amla sobbed, "Completely stupid! Self-sacrificing imbecile!"

Maize hugged her cousin tighter, "All this stress is not good for the baby... It'll be alright Amla."

"No it won't!" she snapped before peppering her face in kisses, "Thank you! Thank you!"

She smiled brightly at her cousin as Thorn kneeled down beside them and let Hibis and Lilac go from his arms. The five-year-old was quick to throw his arms around her neck, while her youngest sister shuffled closer. Hibis was afraid, it was plain to see on his little face, but he was also clueless to the events around him, not fully understanding what it meant for Maize to volunteer in their cousin's place. To go to the Capitol. To participate in the Hunger Games. Maize peppered him with kisses. Lilac was even worse, fear wasn't quite present on her features but her confusion and frustration was palpable. Maize pressed sweet kisses onto the girl's cheek making the toddler smile up at her widely.

"You have to be good for mama and baba, promise me Hibis." Her little brother simply nodded. "I'll be going away, so you need to be extra good, be nice to Lilac and look out for her. I have a very special mission for you: Birch, Brier and Piper might be a little short with you but that's because they are sad, so I need you to make them smile for me. Can you do that for me little fleur?"

Hibis sniffled before nodding seriously, "Yeah."

That only seemed to set Amla off into another round of sobs, startling Lilac into tears of her own, "Maize I can never repay you for this." Thorn spoke softly, his voice full of gratitude.

Maize smiled at him, "Just keep doing what you're doing. Take care of my cousin. And watch out for my brothers and sisters for me if I don't make it back."

"You have my word."

Words: Around 1,190

Edited: Oct. 23, 2019