152nd – Divinity Faust, District One
…
Stella often wishes she could go back in time. Just a few years, you know? When she was fifteen or sixteen and Ariella was eleven or twelve and everything wasn't good but it was fine. Nothing has been right since then. The house is too quiet, her parents too melancholy. Stella's only chance to make things right again is to win, even if she knows it can't bring Ariella back.
She never thought she would miss her sister. Ariella was a pain in her ass from the day she was born. Always stealing Stella's stuff and bothering Stella's friends. She just never quit, endlessly trying to one up herself and be even more annoying next time.
So Stella shouldn't miss her. Stella should be glad that she's gone. But, really, if Stella is being honest—she's here because of Ariella. She's standing in the ballroom of this ornate palace, facing down a tiny blonde girl covered in blood, because of Ariella. Ariella never made it this far. Ariella was never going to make it this far. But Stella is here because of her.
She trained, sure. Stella started training at ten, like most kids in District Four. It was just one of those things that everyone did, especially after their academy was revitalized by a series of wins. She wanted to win the Hunger Games in an abstract sort of way. And then Ariella died, and suddenly it was all very real to Stella.
And here she is. So close to Victory she can almost taste it. She wonders what Ariella would think, if it wasn't for that stupid quell.
In another life, the quell twist was something different. Nineteen-year-old tributes or disabled tributes or dog tributes. Ariella would never have been reaped. Stella would still be here, she thinks. Volunteering was always a given to her. She was going to win or she was going to die trying.
There's another world out there where Ariella is home right now. Fourteen years old and probably still a massive pain in the ass. But she's home. She's alive. She's not still twelve years old, not still buried in the Tribute Graveyard under nothing but a name and a placement.
Stella charges at the girl from One, intent on ending this now. There's no way she loses this fight. She has about a foot on the girl from One, years of training, and she's so desperate to get home and not end up like Ariella. This is supposed to be her redemption. She can't let it fall through her fingers.
She swings her spear at the One girl, who dodges, diving at Stella's legs. The girl slashes her thighs with her twin daggers, and Stella cries out, stumbling backward. Her spear narrowly misses the girl's shoulder, and suddenly there's a knife sticking out of her chest. Stella drives her spear into the girl's stomach, but somehow she knows it's already too late.
Stella collapses with a thunk that echoes through the ballroom. The girl from One is on the ground too. Stella just has to outlive her. She can do that. She just has to keep breathing until the cannon fires.
Did Ariella feel like this when Brookley stabbed his trident into her neck? Or was her death quicker than this?
Stella will have to ask her. It won't be long before they're together again.