The two stared down at the lifeless body of the girl from district two. Their eyes met. The inevitable… the impossible was about to happen.
Annabelle stared at him, and grasped the spear tightly. Blood from Magdalene slowly dripped off of its tip. It was still such a short time after they had killed her. Together, they had killed her. As instantly as they could possibly imagine. Her arms began to shake as she stared at him.
Rellion couldn’t face her. He couldn’t look at her. He knew what had to happen. Why hadn’t they thought this through? Why hadn’t they come up with a plan if they made it to the final four? The final two? He couldn’t… He wouldn’t kill her.
“Rel… look at me.” She took a cautious step forward. He tossed his swords to the side.
“I can’t. I won’t. I can’t do this to you.” He turned his head.
She let out a small laugh. “I know.”
Laugh? Was he hearing her correctly? She wasn’t crying… she had laughed at him. He turned his body to look at her, to see that she had raised her spear. “Anna… what are you…”
“There has to be a winner, right? I can’t let that change.” She said. Her words were straightforward, but her legs were shaking. He knew she didn’t want to do this, and she didn’t.
“Anna, stop. I know what you’re doing! It’s not going to work!”
She lunged at him, and he turned just as she bypassed him to avoid the blow.
“Don’t make this easy, Rel!” She turned toward him once more. Her eyes shimmered with unspent tears, just as they had their last night in the Capitol. She didn’t want to do this—but she had to. She had no choice. She lunged at him again and he avoided it just as easily.
She wasn’t trying to kill him. She was trying to get him to kill her. He could tell by the way she wasn’t using her flexibility against him. She was much more flexible than he was—and she knew that.
He snagged the spear from her grasp and threw it into the ground several feet away. He grabbed her arm and pulled her toward him.
“I can’t… I can’t do this. Not to you. Why didn’t we plan for this…” He whispered as he pushed his hands against her back. He felt her shudder in his grasp.
“…Don’t be such a baby. You knew going into this that one of us would have to go. You knew that the moment you volunteered. I never imaged making it this far—to be the final two. I never thought I could. I would have died so long ago if it hadn’t been for you, Rel…” She whispered as she collapsed into his embrace and allowed herself to cry. She was done with faces. It was too late for that. She was finished with appearances. She was tired. She couldn’t keep up with it. She didn’t know what to do. Fighting him was useless. She didn’t want to kill him. She didn’t want to die, but…
His hold tightened on her. He knew the Capitol would force them to kill one or the other. But why did it have to be them? Why? He wanted her to go back home…
“Rellion…”
“What?”
“We can’t prolong this. The longer it takes, the more impatient they’ll get. They’ll send a mutt. I don’t want to die by a mutt, Rel—“
“I am not killing you.”
A brief smile flashed across her lips. “…I love you.”
The sudden confession startled the seventeen year old boy. “…Anna… Don’t…”
“Why would I lie? After this I have nothing. Like I said… one of us will have to live without the other.” She whispered. “My life… wouldn’t’ be the same without you in it. I can’t imagine you not in my life…”
“Anna… you are my life.”
A surge of electricity shot down her spine, and her smile returned. “Such a sap.” She leaned up and pressed her lips against his. She honestly did love him. She loved him with all of her heart and soul. Everything she did, everyone she had ever manipulated… it was all for him. All so he could have a better life.
He was lost in the kiss. This girl that he had been pining for much too long was giving him the attention he never had imaged would happen. This was their fifth kiss. Their fifth kiss in the entire time they had known each other. Almost ten years they had known each other. Five kisses. Five different times that he realized feelings for this girl he held in his arms.
The first was innocent, when they were children. Ten years old. Behind her grandmother’s house. He had found her pet cat and she thanked him with a kiss. He didn’t appreciate it then, but he did now.
Their second kiss was when he was thirteen. His birthday. He had found out his parents died not too long beforehand, and Annabelle had baked a cake with her grandmother. She threw him his own birthday party. Just the two of them. His birthday present was a kiss. Something he appreciated more than when he was ten.
The third… the night he had returned after a prolonged absence. He was fifteen and so was she. It had been raining, and he found her in his train car home. She was curled up in a blanket and shivering. She cursed at him, hated him for leaving her for so long. Even when she was angry, she was beautiful. She kissed him in anger, to upset him, to make him jealous of Ray, but it melted into something more. Something that had been growing between them for too long.
Their fourth was the last night in the Capitol. They were arguing. She was winning. She always won. She never backed down. She used anything she could to win at an argument. They calmed down… and she gave him a little bit of her heart that night. A little bit of her that he had been wanting for such a long time.
There was more to this kiss than he could think of, more to her than he could describe. She hid behind masks to everyone but him… he was the only one that knew her. No one else did. Not like he knew her. She wasn’t the angel Ray played her out to be. She was a girl, a girl that fought and wanted to win.
She didn’t want to win this time.
She pulled her lips away from his and pulled a dagger that was tucked between his belt and jean into her hand.. She backed off and held it tightly in her hand while he stared at her.
“Anna… Don’t try this again. I can’t do this. I won’t do this. I…” He stared at her as her hands shook. They shook in fear, in frustration… in commitment.
“Don’t take this the wrong way. I love you, I really do. I have for a long time… I never wanted to tell you. I never wanted to tell you how much I hated Ray kissing me when all I could think about was you. How much I hated you hating him because he had me and you didn’t…” She brought the knife to her chest.
He moved quickly. His eyes were wide in fear. He couldn’t lose her. Not after just getting her… not this soon… Why did he allow this to happen? Why couldn’t she have simply admitted herself to him so long ago?
“It’s already hard enough, Rel!” She shouted at him as tears ran down her face. “Don’t… please don’t… I want you to have the life I’ve always wanted you to have. The life that you deserve. The one I could never give you.”
His hand grabbed hers that held the dagger and he tightened his grasp. “I can’t. I can’t let you go.” Even after all this time, knowing he loved her, he didn’t want to say it. Her saying it was painful enough. It wasn’t something they’d say. Not to each other. Only if one was going to die…
It was the Hunger Games.
She offered him one last smile. “Have a wonderful life, Rel. I—“
“Don’t say it.”
“I wasn’t going to.”
“Don’t do it. Annabelle, I swear to God if you do this I—“
“You’ll what, kill yourself? You wouldn’t dare. Not if I gave all this up for you. If I gave up jewels… life… and you…” She looked down to their hands. His knuckles were white, and her hands were sore from his grasp.
“Anna, please…” He pleaded her. Tears welled up in his eyes as her stared at her. His throat was strained with the very thought of what she was planning to do.
“I’m sorry, but I love you more than I love those jewels.” She turned and struck her stomach and forced his hand to pull it up into her ribcage. A small scream left her lips from the pain that resonated throughout her body. She hadn't expected it to hurt so much...
“Annabelle!” He shouted, and she fell into his grasp. “Annabelle, you…!” He laid her on the ground and pushed hair out of her face. “You can’t… no…” He felt tears roll down his cheek. He hadn’t cried in so long, he had almost forgotten how it felt. He had almost forgotten how terrible he shuddered when he cried. The shortness of breath… the ache and pain… The defeat…
He knelt over her body and held her head. “I love you, Annabelle…”
“I’ve known…” She was able to choke out before her heartbeat faded. Blood pooled around them and he let himself go. He didn’t care that he won. He didn’t care that he didn’t have to live in his train car… all he cared about was her. She was all he had ever cared about.
The girl that he would steal jewels for.
The girl that stole his heart with her words and actions.
The girl that could hide herself from the world… but not from himself.
The girl that he loved unconditionally.
The girl that loved him in return.
The girl that would never know heartache as much as he did in that moment.
I just saw that ask about the chords for Dream by Jim and the Povolos, and my guitar teacher actually tabbed it for me a few weeks ago! I don't know if the chords are exact, but they sound pretty good. It's done with capo 1. Verse: A E A E A E B E Chorus: A E A E A E B C#m Bridge: G#m C#m F#m A. The feel is a little hard to explain, but if you play around with the tempo of those chords it'll come to you. Hope I helped!
