FF: It's Too Late

HEYYY. So, in my previous post, I was ranting about cliches. As a side note on the end, I said how I once wrote a fanfiction that sort of put love-triangle cliche from The Hunger Games to rest. And I'm posting it here, for you enjoyment if you want to read it. Also, if you want a taste of my writing, go ahead and read. But before I get started, let me just say that I don't own any characters. They belong to Suzanne Collins. This fanfiction takes place in Mockingjay, which at the time I wrote this, hadn't came out yet. So I didn't know if something like this would happen in the book or not. It didn't... but still. And if you haven't read the books; this might be a little confusing so I'll sum it up in a nutshell: Peeta and Gale are both in love with Katniss. There's basically a war going on and Peeta, Gale and Katniss are all on the same side, opposing President Snow and the Capitol. The three of them are on a mission to invade the Capitol (in my fanfiction, not in Mockingjay) and bomb the Capitol building, but they aren't able to escape in time.

So here it is! Again, I don't own any characters, nor do I own the song Katniss sings to Peeta in this:

BAM! My world fills with black as I am thrown backwards. Screams penetrate the air, and the scent of explosives and smoke fill my nostrils. I land onto something hard and sharp, and I can feel the warm blood trickle down my skull.

My thoughts instantly take me back in time. Each new memory brings more throbbing to my already pounding head.

"Remember, stealings punishable by death." Katniss says in a small voice. She looks up at me, her features so young… so helpless. Her gray eyes, wide with excitement and curiosity. My Catnip.

Her lips. Her soft lips against mine. "I had to do that. Just once."

Posy and Vick, tugging on my Mother's skirt. "Mommy, whens daddy coming home?"

The memories pool up behind my eyelids. I've heard stories on how people's lives flash before their eyes as they're dying. Is this what's happening to me? Am I dying?

"PEETA!" a voice screams, shattering the stream of my memories. It's Katniss. I await my name to be called but it never does.

She called his name. Not mine.

I will myself to open my eyes. Splotches of random colors dance across my sight. Smoke is everywhere. Small fires are lit here and there, and there's no sign of President Snow.

The smoke eventually clears up a little bit but patches of bright green and yellow disrupt my vision. I can just barely make out a darkened figure through the ashy debris.

"Katniss?" my voice is hardly audible. "Katniss?"

My head and my heart are pounding, but I have to get to her. It takes several tries to get my legs working again, and by now I've lost so much blood I feel dizzy. I'm so discombobulated. I clumsily approach Katniss to see her kneeling down next to some burnt, mutilated object on the ground.

It's Peeta Mellark.

His singed hair adds a new scent for me to take in. Mellark's face is bloody and I can't make out anything on it besides his two bright blue eyes, which are now damp and full of pain. Even after seeing him this weak, possibly on his death bed, I still feel no sympathy towards him.

"Catnip?" I whisper. My anger towards her instantly vanishes. Her being so desperate melts my angry bravado. She's never desperate. She's always been so strong. Besides, my head aches too much to even be worth getting angry. "Catnip?" I whisper again. She doesn't look back, can she hear me? I notice that she has one of Mellark's hands in hers.

"I'm so sorry," she says quietly, her voice is so close to tears. I'm not sure if she's talking to me or Mellark. I put my hand on her shoulder, but she doesn't notice. She's ignoring me. Doesn't care. Her attention is fully on Mellark and I'm just a minor thing that can be dealt with later.

Isn't that how it's always been? It's always been about Peeta, ever since after the first Hunger Games. It's useless to think about what could have been. What could have been before the Hunger Games. Before I was her 'cousin'. Before Peeta Mellark took everything away from me. I'm reminded of how much I actually loathe him. I hate him for taking Katniss like this, and I hate myself for not doing enough about it.

Quietly, a small sound squeaks out of his remains. "Kat…niss?"

"Peeta?" she squeezes his hand harder. "Peeta!"

Mellark says something back, but I'm not able to catch it. My grip on Katniss's shoulder is all I have left to hang on to as the world spins around me.

Katniss sniffles. She brushes the singed hair out from his face. His blue eyes close, and I wonder if they're closing forever.

She begins, "Deep in the meadow, under the willow. A bed of grass, a soft green pillow. Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes. And when again they open, the sun will rise"

The song. I recognize the song. It's the same one she sang to that little girl in the 74th Hunger Games. Her voice cracks and falls and it's like she's whispering the words rather than singing them.

"Here it's safe, here it's warm. Here the daisies guard you from every harm. Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you. Deep in the meadow, hidden far away. A cloak of leaves, a moonbeam ray. Forget your woes and let your troubles lay. And when again it's morning, they'll wash away.

"Here it's safe, here it's warm. Here the daisies guard you from every harm Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you."

Where I love you.

My legs give out and I drop to the floor behind her. Hadn't I'd known this all along? I'd been a fool to deny it for so long. She loves Mellark. Katniss loves Mellark. She doesn't love me. I don't know if she ever has.

"Peeta," her voice shakes.

There's a trace of a smile on Mellark's ash-ridden face. "love…you, Katniss... always," I watch as he goes limp.

Katniss begins to sob, and I'm surprised to feel tears on my face too. Not because the death of Peeta, not because of Katniss's pain, but because I know now that there is no future for me. I feel like knives are being crammed into my skull as well as my heart. With Mellark gone, she'll never be the same. She'll live in depression and remorse, until her own life is taken as well. I know her, and that's what she'll do.  My heart paces, speeds up until it's the only sound that fills my ears. A metallic taste fills my mouth. This is it. Mellark won't be the only one dead. This is it for me as well.

"Catnip." I mutter quietly. My goodbyes are on my lips but I can't say them. My world floats in and out of focus and I have no choice but to leave her completely alone in the remains of the Capitol.

Oohhhh, betcha didn't see that one coming, now did you Katniss?! Anyways, yeah. There's a sample of my writing, and it had to sort of do with my last post about cliches. I hope you enjoyed reading that, even though you probably didn't understand since you haven't read the book. Again, I wrote all of that, besides the song she sings. Every other idea was mine, and no, Mockingjay didn't end like that. *SPOILER* Katniss ended up with Peeta.

Also, if you wanna read some more of my fanfictions, I have a fanfiction profile thing. www.fanfiction.net/~bigcitylights. Read them if you wish!

~secondsfromdisaster
:)