Liberosis - The Hunger Games

34

One more night.

It was our last night together, Finnick, Annie, Pluto, and Me. Perhaps either Pluto or Annie's last night alive, a terrifying fact that none of us wanted to think about. None of us could sleep, none of us wanted to, instead, we sat in the living room in silence, ignoring the cheers of the Capitol below.

"I can't sit here like this anymore," Annie whispered, gripping my hand tightly, "Can we dance?"

A smile broke onto my face, "What?"

"As we used to in District Four, with the water on our feet, I just want to remember it one last time," She explained quietly, "I want to remember home, just for one night,"

Pluto was the one to break the stunned silence, "I think that's an excellent idea," Suddenly it was a rush to fill our apartment floor with ankle-deep water, every single tap was placed on full and before we knew it, cool water covered the entirety of our level. The stereo began to play one of the traditional songs of District Four, it was originally composed as a wedding piece, not that any of us cared.

Pluto and Finnick bowed as we curtseyed, their right arms outstretched, the dance was a flurry of complicated spins changing partners, every movement caused the water around our ankles to splash, drenching the clothes we were wearing in cool water. We made mistakes, we slipped and tumbled, purposefully splashing each other with more water. Laughter rang throughout the entire building until our prep teams and Sylvia ran out with terrified expressions.

It wasn't long until they had all joined us, awkwardly swayed, and turning around in the water, Sylvia, of course, had lifted her skirts to prevent them from getting wet- it was a motion I had once teased Finnick for, but now even he was accustomed to the sensation. I stared at the man I loved, who was spinning me about the room with as much grace as the two of us could muster- I could tell even her was fighting a tear from his eye.

Just a moment like this, before everything fell to pieces.

Just one night for Annie and Pluto to be children.

One more night.

...

Annie gripped my hand for the entirety of the preparation in the morning, Gaia, and I both assisted in dressing her as she closed her eyes and tried to steady her breathing as I'd practised with her. "Most of these clothes are made to adjust to your body heat," I told her calmly, "I would expect a colder climate, especially in the night-time,"

"Don't make a fire," Annie answered robotically, shaking her head, "Smoke can signal position,"

"Good girl," I responded, "Stay away from the Cornucopia, Annie, Pluto will come and find you,"

"Do you believe that?"

"I trust him," I responded, hoping I had correctly placed my faith in the boy, "This is where I leave you, An, I'll get sponsors through to you both as soon as I can, we'll both be watching, I promise," I wrapped my arms around her fondly, cradling her head with my hands as her arms squeezed my waist.

I heard her whimper with fear as I left her behind, Lorelei and Atlas were waiting at the side for the three of us to make our way to the Mentor's station. It was a bleak-looking room, filled with bright blue technology for us all to use, each District had its own tables and multiple large televisions would project the games overhead.

In the centre of the room was a sunken living space, with multiple grey lounge chairs and mahogany tables filled with food. A self-serve bar stood in the corner, which Haymitch was fully taking advantage of already. "Want a drink?" Atlas asked both Lorelei and me.