May The Odds

Chapter 6

I can't believe this is happening, but I am laughing at the Gamemakers. They're so transparent. Okay, so this is the new – if you can call it that – rule:
Two tributes can now win and survive, as long as they come from the same district.

They're desperate to milk the star-crossed lovers thing for all it's worth. (Which isn't much.) Now the audience will all be rooting for Katniss and him. Just not me. I'll admit, I hope that he dies soon, and Katniss becomes the sole victor. Not the most favourable odds there, though.

The Gamemakers control it all, and they can give him whatever medication needed and kill all the other tributes in three seconds if they get displeased. It's a shame most Capitol citizens and district residents haven't figured that out yet.

'Cos, come on, it's a frigging rainforest. Snakes, poisonous berries, the options are endless. They can make a purposeful murder look quite accidental with almost zero effort.

But just because I'm laughing doesn't mean the universe and I are on good terms today. Guess what Katniss did the instant that announcement was made? That's right.

She's with him even now.

She found him camouflaged with mud and in bad shape.

I can't help thinking that it would have been a lot smarter to focus less on disguises and more on defense. Pathetic.

But Katniss has taken him to a cave and is doing the best she can to make a hopeless case less hopeless. And then there is yet another announcement, loud and blaring:

Katniss sits up, as I do.

"Attention! There will be a feast at the Cornucopia at dawn. All the tributes need something, need it to stay alive. And we are prepared to be generous hosts." Claudius says.

I know what Katniss thinks, knows.

There will be the medicine he needs to survive.

Just like that, it all changes.

"Katniss, I'm not gonna let you risk your life for me! I won't let you!" He yells at her.

She pulls away from him. "You would do it for me. Wouldn't you?"

I would do it for her.

The coward doesn't answer.

"Why are you doing this?" Right, that's what I'd like to know as well.

At last you're talking sense.

And she leans in and kisses him.

Prim and Mrs. Everdeen are looking at me like they asked a question and I didn't answer.

Are you broken yet, dear?

But I just sit there. If I just sit here, then this won't be true and Katniss won't be kissing the son of a bitch on screen in front of a million viewers. Yet she is.

And it breaks me. It breaks me and all I am... except for the part that still loves her, still loves Katniss, no matter how much I wish I didn't.

Love isn't a choice. If it was, who would choose it?

I can feel something within me splintering, cracking, like I'm made of glass. And who knows, perhaps tonight I am. Pieces of glass on the floor, Katniss stepping on them.

It's amazing how someone can break your heart and you can still love them with all the little pieces.

A/N

I think this is where Gale stops watching the first time, and you?