AUTHOR'S NOTE: This Chapter was co-written by @TheSillyCoWriter

Chapter Twenty One: O'Death 

 Lucy breathed a sigh of relief when she heard the cannon. This meant that Cato, her worst enemy, was dead and all that her and Marvel had to do was kill Katniss and Peeta in order for both of them to go home. Relief flooded through her. 

Marvel approached the edge of the Cornucopia then slid down to join her as all the muttations wandered off, leaving the remains of Cato which made Lucy's blood go cold. Marvel put an arm around her and handed her Cato's sword. 

"Good work," Marvel smiled. "Shall we go and finish off the other two?" 

"Yes, then we can go home..." Lucy sighed as she gave Marvel a hug. 

"Oof!"

"Sorry," she laughed as she let go of him and he jumped down from the Cornucopia and she followed him. 

"It's OK." He smiled. 

"Hey, where's my bow and arrows...and my bag?" 

"Katniss has them!" Marvel yelled and pointed at Katniss and Peeta desperately trying to run off. "Lets get them!" 

Lucy nodded and tried to hold the heavy sword. Marvel ran towards the woods and Lucy followed closely behind him. She didn't want Cato's sword, she wanted her bow and arrows and in order to get them she'd have to chase Katniss...and then kill her and Peeta. Then her and Marvel would be able to go back home. 

"YOU CAN RUN BUT YOU CAN'T HIDE!" Marvel yelled at the two, Peeta turned around while he was running and was terrified. "WE'RE GOING TO KILL YOU, 12!" 

Lucy and Marvel chased Katniss and Peeta halfway across the arena and it was only when they had made it to a part of the arena they had never been before did Lucy and Marvel stop, because they had lost sight of the District 12 tributes. 

"Come out, come out wherever you are!" Marvel laughed and held up his spear at the ready. "Show yourselves!"

"Where are you!" Lucy demanded. "Show us where you are!" 

"Right here..." someone said and Lucy turned around to find Katniss holding her loaded bow and Peeta was holding two of Marvel's spears. 

 "Give them back!" Lucy hissed. 

"Give me a good reason why." 

"Because they're mine!" 

Lucy ran towards Katniss and flung the sword at her but Katniss shot the arrow and it landed on Lucy's arm. She yelled out in pain as she stabbed Katniss in the leg. Katniss was about to hurt her when Marvel grabbed her and threw her off Lucy. Peeta tried to attack Marvel but he took hold of Peeta's spears and snapped them as though snapping a pencil. 

Marvel took his own spear and then aimed at Katniss' chest and tried to stab her but she ducked out the way just in time, and the same with Peeta when Marvel tried to attack him. 

"We're going to kill you," Marvel growled. "Me and Lucy are going home and not you two!" 

"I don't think so," Katniss shook her head and Marvel stepped back as Lucy stood up. His foot hit something but he ignored it. 

"You're not going home, we are. We deserve to go home more than you." 

"I'm positively certain you won't go home..." 

"Yes we — " Marvel suddenly screamed out in pain and Lucy gasped. Marvel yelled out again and Lucy saw that what he had stood on was a tracker jacker nest. 

"RUN!" Lucy screamed and grabbed Marvel's hand, she dropped Cato's sword and Marvel dropped his spear as the angry tracker jackers chased them all the way back to the Cornucopia. They lost Katniss and Peeta on the way but they knew they hadn't died because they didn't hear the cannon. 

Lucy ran alongside Marvel as the tracker jackers chased them, they were both determed to out run the creatures. They had outrun big muttations, so nothing stopped them from outrunning a swarm of tracker jackers. 

Lucy screamed suddenly as a tracker jacker stung her hand and almost immediately in the place where she's been stung, it swelled up. Lucy noticed that Marvel had been stung on his neck. Then suddenly the hallucinations began...

Tears streamed down her face as all the dead tributes began attacking her and Marvel. Then the tree roots seemed to be moving so she had to jump over them to avoid tripping. But just when she thought she was free she tripped over a tree root and she screamed as the tracker jackers stung her. 

"MARVEL!" Lucy screamed out and saw him running off into the distance. But in the next moment he was right by her side. Holding her hand, helping her sit up. 

"Shh, It's OK," he whispered. "I'm here." 

Lucy closed her eyes and wished so desperately that the hallucinations would stop. They were driving her crazy and she couldn't take it anymore. 

"I promise it's going to be OK," Marvel said as he tried desperately to focus on Lucy. "Everything's going to be fine." 

Lucy held onto his hand as he bent down and suddenly the tribute muttations came back but then they turned into her parents and tried to drag Marvel away from her, so she held onto him tighter. 

"Marvel! Marvel!" She sobbed. Marvel turned his pale face towards her. 

"Lucy...I need to tell you something," Marvel mouthed as he too experienced terrible hallucinations. He tried to separate right from wrong as he spoke. "You’ve been my friend all my life, you’ve always looked after me. But..." he didn’t finish her sentence as he screamed out in pain. Lucy felt a powerful surge through her body as Marvel grabbed her arms to calm her. She instantly quieted.

"Please stay with me...let me tell you now before...before anything happens to us, if anything happens to us." He pleaded. "Just, please..." 

"I promise. I promise, Marvel. I'll do anything for you..." she whispered slowly as he held her closer, in a protective manner as the tracker jackers slowly began to fly away, they seemed almost pretty for a minute and Lucy swore they turned into Mockingjays and sang her tune as they left. 

"I-I..." Marvel stuttered and he gulped. "I love you," he said in a voice almost mute. Lucy was stuck in a hazy dream as all life was blocked out. Did she hear that right?

"I love you too," Lucy trembled and by the look on his face came to the happy conclusion that she had heard him right. She placed a swollen hand on his arm. "Marvel." Lucy trembled. "Marvel, how long have you loved me?"

 "Since the very first day I saw you," Marvel smiled and Lucy's face went numb. "Since I saw you I couldn’t define it. I love you." 

Lucy couldn’t smile as the venom flowed through her veins continuously. She wanted to fall into his arms but instead was looking upon her dying friend. Marvel's face was covered in bumps but as long as he was still here, it didn't matter. The precious moments that they had with each other should be treasured. 

"Listen..." Lucy begged as he turned to her.

"Yes?" He sounded distant even though he had pulled himself closer at the sound of his name.

"If we ever get out of this, I won’t kill you." Lucy said tearfully as she felt his golden hair.

"Of course," he smiled and stroked her cheek and felt the heat erupting of her from the stings. "You're the prettiest girl I've ever seen in my life...no doubt the prettiest girl in Panem." 

Lucy blushed and she wanted so desperately so stay something but it was as though her body shut down for a moment then it re-focused again, letting her see Marvel again. 

Lucy leant into Marvel and sighed sadly, she was in unbearable pain everywhere except her heart. Her heart was the only thing that felt complete, it was as though Marvel had lifted her spirits by saying three simple words. If only they could live forever...

Then it struck her. They could live forever! People loved a good romance and surely the richer people of Panem would take pity. She turned to Marvel and he looked at her thoughtfully through his hallucinations. 

"You really love me, don't you?" She asked. 

"Of course, I always have but I never told you because I knew it was an inappropriate thing to say..." 

"But it isn't inappropriate, it's fantastic...it's wonderful..." 

Marvel smiled. "But...we're not going to — " 

"Shh, we are going to survive..." 

"But — " 

"Don't argue, we're going to be OK." 

"Are you sure about this?" 

"Don't worry..." 

Lucy looked into his eyes but he obviously wasn't getting it, so she left it and let Marvel speak. 

"We're going to be OK, we'll survive this and go back to District 1. We'll show them that The Hunger Games is more than a brutal game, just like you said." Marvel whispered. "There's a lot more to it than that, agility, courage and slyness...you've shown me that there's more to The Hunger Games than this...more than death." 

"But somedays we have to embrace death, somedays we have to..." Lucy said as she closed her eyes as they were getting too heavy. "And even though I hate to admit it...our time is up." 

"I don't want to die today, we don't deserve to." 

"But...this is The Hunger Games. Marvel, we're not getting out of here. You do know that, right?" 

"A minute ago you were trying to tell me we were going to get out of here...what option are you going with?" 

"The one where we don't make it out...I knew I was going to die, it was obvious...with a training score of four, it couldn't get me out of the arena." 

"But we got so far!" 

"I know..." Lucy shook her head. "I have no idea why the Districts haven't rebelled on the Capitol again since the dark days...people are starving and they're just living with being bullied by the Capitol...it's terrible..." 

Marvel's eyes glittered dangerously. "You’ll get us killed for saying that." His face was full of worry but Lucy felt no threat now.

"Marvel I don’t care, we're both almost dead anyway..." she told him and then looked up. "You hear me, Districts! There’s hope when there’s darkness! You’ve...you’ve just got to keep looking." She finished and it went quiet. But Lucy could swear right now all the Districts were applauding her, she could feel an eerie boost in confidence; like it wasn’t just them fighting anymore. 

"It is unfair but there's nothing we can do, not now anyway..." 

"I know we can't do anything but if only we could change the way Panem works. If only we could change the Capitol's minds and make everything fair." 

"War, terrible war," Marvel whispered. 

"The Capitol make The Hunger Games seem like a good thing, it's as though they're making it a great thing when it isn't. All it's doing is killing off children and destroying peoples lives." 

"I agree with you, if I was one of those parents who'd lost my child to The Hunger Games I would be so angry at the Capitol..." 

"That's why I'm never having kids, it's not worth putting yourself through pain that's not needed. There's no good have children and raising for them for the slaughter. Because that's what it is." 

"Huh..." 

"You were raising yourself for the slaughter too. You desperately wanted to go in the games but I begged you not to because I knew the truth. Because I cared about you, because I didn't want to lose you. But now my nightmare has come true..." 

Marvel looked at her sadly as Lucy's vision went blurry. Marvel went to grab her but Lucy could feel herself falling down a bottomless pit in her brain.

"Lucy...stay with me!" She heard in an echo voice as Marvel pleaded with her.

"I'm trying," she winced as Marvel felt the bite on his neck get worse. Both looked at each other before gruesomely realising something they wish not speak aloud. They were doing to die...and they both knew it. 

Like reading each other’s minds, Lucy and Marvel leaned in closer to each other. They locked lips and kissed softly. Lucy didn’t care if Panem was watching; all she cared was about dying with somebody she...loved? Everything was happening so quickly to keep up with. Marvel placed a hand on her cheek as both separated with their eyes closed.

Lucy placed her head on Marvel's shoulder as both felt themselves drift away...Marvel held Lucy's hand as she put an arm around him carefully as Mockingjay's surrounded them and whistled Lucy's tune to them. 

"Mockingjay's..." Marvel whispered. "They're singing your song..." 

"I'm not hallucinating that?" 

"Well if you are...we both are...it's beautiful..." 

"I wish I could hear them for longer." 

"Me too. When you sung to me that day when you killed the two District 9 tributes, it was beautiful. Same as the Mockingjays." 

"I told you they were beautiful birds." 

"I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner..." Marvel said almost mute all of a sudden. Lucy made a noise of agreement as the lights faded around her softly...the green trees blurred out of view slowly and the last thing she saw was Marvels peaceful face in a sleeping state beside which comforted her to slip away with him...

And then Lucy was gone.

Like someone had blown out a candle.