CHAPTER THIRTEEN!

SHATTERED ILLUSIONS.

SHE TRULY HAS NO IDEA HOW LONG she has been resting in the arms of a boy who she barely knows. His comforting whispers and sweet words are beginning to break through her shell, helping to dry up the tears that seem to be a constant occurrence. In a way, she's never felt safer — there is something about him that is just so compassionate, supporting. Elena knows that he isn't just a stranger anymore, he is a true friend, one she has grown to count on and appreciate in such a small period of time.

The screeches of Prim, Annie and Everett still fill the air, each one is more painful than the last. Katniss and Finnick are still yet to return, both of them chasing the voices of their loved ones whilst Elena stays behind — thinking herself a coward for not going to rescue the boy she loves. She's very much aware he's not really there, but that does nothing to ease the guilt that is bubbling within her.

"Everett," she whimpers his name once again and feels Peeta's arms tighten around her more if it's even possible. Hearing his cries all over again only bring back painful memories, the same ones she's been trying to hide away in the back of her mind for years now.

"It's not real," Peeta's voice is soft as if he's talking to a hurt child, which in reality is exactly what she is. Seventeen and having to see such things is unfathomable. "He's not really here, I promise you nobody is getting hurt,"

"T-they already hurt him. It's just replaying for me," Elena sobs, her eyes beginning to hurt from the amount of tears she's cried. "Why can't they leave him in peace?"

For the last two years, even more so before Katniss and Peeta won their games, all the Capitol did was broadcast his death and their final moments together. The two of them were the original star-crossed lovers, the teenagers who stupidly fell in love with each other in a horrible situation — one they knew would not end with both of them alive. It makes her envious of the District Twelve victors, the both of them getting to come out together whilst she had to watch Everett die in her arms. Why were they more important?

Why didn't Everett matter as much to them?

The birds seem to be getting closer, her eyes moving to where she sees Katniss and Finnick. Both of them are frantic as they try to flee but they're blocked by a force field, it stops them from returning to their allies. Peeta tries his best to console his district partner as he keeps a hold of the small blonde — he knows she needs Finnick and yet he cannot grant the request.

The older man looks at the distressed blonde and places his hand against the force field. Elena sniffles and lifts hers to the other side, if there was no barrier they would be touching.

"It's not real," Peeta says in an attempt to soothe both of the girls but it doesn't bring about much of a result, both still too distraught to pay much attention.

Eventually it falls quiet, the sobs the only noise echoing in the area. Peeta reaches out and touches Katniss who flinches, gently manoeuvring her so that he can wrap his arm around her as well. Finnick is almost instantly on his other side, his hand grasping Elena's, the small blonde looking over and practically flying into his arms for more comfort.

"The whole country loves your sister. If they tortured her or did anything to her, forget the Districts, there would be riots in the damn Capitol," Johanna speaks to Katniss, almost trying to be comforting towards her. Her gaze flicks to Elena but no comforting words fall from her lips, she doesn't have any — Everett isn't here anymore.

Elena gently rubs her hands together in the water, washing away the dirt that has stuck to her skin. It's simply a way to distract herself from what had happened not that long ago, Everett's scream still bouncing around in her mind. What she would give to go back and save his life, so those screams never had to be heard by anybody — especially his family who are still struggling to come to terms with his death now. They should hate her, it's her fault after all.

"You alright?" Peeta asks as he crouches down beside her.

"I lost the pearl," Elena sniffles, the realisation that his small gift was gone only coming to her mind moments earlier. It was no longer in her palm, probably at the bottom of the water right. "You have me something and I couldn't even keep it safe. Why can't I keep anything safe?" The last time part is a quiet mumble.

"Don't worry about that. I'll find you another one," he promises and she shakes her head. "You don't want that?"

"Don't bother, I'll probably just lose it again. I don't know if you can even kill a pearl but I'd probably do that too,"

"Is this about Everett?"

The question almost knocks her over, the name sending ripples through her. The way he says it is with such care and understanding that it confuses her. Their eyes meet before she quickly looks away, opting to sit on the sand instead of crouch. He follows suit.

"This is kind of our thing now, isn't it?" Peeta says, subtly changing the topic of conversation to stop her from being uncomfortable. "Talking on the beach,"

"I guess it is," Elena responds.

Peeta seems to sense her emotions, her voice full of sadness even though their conversation is casual. He slowly reaches over and then connects their hands which makes her jump in surprise, her gaze moving to them.

"Hey! Get over here," Johanna calls to the two of them and on instinct, Elena jumps away from the boy.

They walk over to the group as they begin to discuss their plan moving forward. Elena cannot help but steal glances at the blonde boy who always seems to notice when she does, yet she can't stop.

"And what happens at midnight?" Elena is brought out of her thoughts as Beetee speaks, her cheeks flushing red when she realises she must have missed some of the conversation.

"Lightning strikes that tree," Katniss responds as she gestures to the big tree.

"Here's what I propose. We leave the beach at dusk. We head to the lightning tree. That should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire from the tree to the water. Anyone in the water, or on the damp sand, will be electrocuted,"

"How do we know the wire's not gonna burn up?" Johanna adds her input which causes the man to look at her.

"Because I invented it. I assure you, it won't burn up,"

"Well, it's better than hunting them down,"

"So what can we do to help?" Finnick asks.

"Keep me alive for the next six hours. That would be extremely helpful,"

Within minutes, Elena has returned to her spot on the sand so she can be away from talk of the games. Every now and again she just needs a few minutes, some time where there is only nice talk or even better, silence. However, that's never the case.

"You're back?" Elena questions softly when she feels somebody behind her. "It really is our thing, isn't it?"

Peeta chuckles and nods, sitting down beside her once again. She smiles a little bit, his presence actually rather comforting. She's grown to like him, quite a lot and anybody watching could probably pick up on the fact. It embarrassed her deeply, she's never been one for feelings — the last time she had genuine love, it was ripped from her within seconds.

"Finnick was going to check on you but I told him I'd do it," Peeta comments and she nods her head, accepting of his conversation. "He worries about you. A lot,"

"Understatement of the year," The blonde chuckles.

"I think it's nice, having people who would do anything for you. It's pretty rare these days,"

"Yeah,"

Her mind is instantly drawn to her games and guilt plagues her mind, how can she even be thinking about having any sort of feelings for another boy when Everett died for her? He should be the only boy in her heart, the only love of her's that is not platonic. Peeta Mellark could never replace him, Everett was her true love, her first love.

"Katniss is like that too. Fiercely loyal but she's a lot more closed off than Finnick," Peeta says the last part with a laugh as he thinks about the time they've spent with each other.

"She seems okay to me. We've never had a problem," Elena defends and Peeta smiles at her.

Finnick and Katniss are more alike than people would even notice, Peeta and Elena have put that much together. Yet Peeta and Elena are probably even more alike — loyal, caring and yet more broken than their surface shows. Both have experienced things at seventeen that nobody should ever experience in their lives.

"My brother always says loyalty is an important trait to possess," Elena adds to which evokes a nod from the boy.

The two allow silence to wash over them for a few moments, as if neither knows what to say. Then Peeta finds the courage to speak up, his eyes wandering over to her.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want to but who is Everett?" Peeta's voice is soft, supportive almost as he asks the delicate question.

"Everett Taylor. My District partner," Elena answers quietly.

Peeta recalls when they'd watched the reapings with Haymitch and how he'd mentioned that her partner had stepped in front of a spear for her. He gave his life for her and she was left behind to watch him take his final breaths. Their connection make sense.

"But it wasn't just a normal 'Districts stick together' sort of thing, we were in love. The first time I'd ever been in love and I was stupid enough to do it when I knew we'd be ripped from each other," The cracks in her voice evoke a sadness he didn't even know he possessed.

"You can't help who you love," Peeta says sincerely.

"Maybe not but we acted on it. I had my first kiss in an arena whilst I was being watched by thousands of people as they rooted for other people around me to die. And yet when it happened, I didn't care about any of that. All I could think about was him,"

"There's nothing wrong with that,"

"Naively I thought that maybe they'd let us both leave, you know? Then we could spend the rest of our lives together,"

Peeta looks away at that, the fact that he and Katniss got to do just that only a year after she'd lost him must have torn her to pieces. Katniss doesn't love him how the world thinks she does and he himself, he doesn't know how to feel anymore.

"I'm sorry," Peeta doesn't know what else to say, not wanting to cause her to feel even worse than she is currently.

"You don't have anything to apologise for, you did what you had to in order to survive. There's no reason to feel guilty for that," She responds. "Besides, he may have not been physically dead by the time we got to the final two but he was too close to save,"

"You both made it to the end?" He is almost surprised at what she'd said.

"Yeah. Final two really but he stepped in front of an oncoming spear whilst I had to fight off the last girl. I just stayed there with him until he died. I still question why he did what he did,"

"Because he loved you,"

"That's another thing I don't understand. What's there to even like about me?"

"What's there to not?"

Elena snaps her head to look over at him and finds he's already staring at her. Her eyes are filled to the brim with tears as his comment runs through her mind, a way with words he has. Their gazes don't move from each other as Peeta slowly leans closer to her, the blonde's breath hitching when he nears.

As their lips touch, the illusion of the star-crossed lovers from District Twelve shatters into a million pieces.

NOTE!

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