☆°.˙ ▍𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐘𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐃𝐀𝐘

⎰𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐧𝐞⎱

⊱ ────── FLASHBACK ────── ⊰

          𝐅𝐋𝐄𝐔𝐑' 𝐒 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐊 as a cannon had sounded. She and her brother were the last two tributes standing and one of them had to die. Fleur immediately decided that she would be the one to die, not Jonah, seeing as he had a son who didn't have a mother and couldn't lose his father.

          Jonah turned to look at her with an unreadable expression before he pulled Fleur into a hug and kissed the top of her head. After the two pulled away from each other, Fleur shakily took out a knife and met Jonah's gaze.

          "Make sure Ben knows who his aunt was, please." Fleur requested softly as she tightened her grip on the blade, getting ready to slit her throat.

          Jonah nodded as he looked at her with an expression that Fleur couldn't read, however she thought nothing of it. "Don't worry. He will." Jonah promised cryptically.

          As Fleur closed her eyes and felt the cool blade prick her skin before she was roughly pushed to the ground and felt her arms being pinned down. Her eyes snapped open and saw that Jonah had pinned her down and grabbed the knife from her hand.

          "What the hell are you doing?" Fleur questioned as Jonah held Fleur down with one arm and brought the knife to his own throat using the other.

          "I will not let you die." Jonah replied as he swallowed thickly, drinking in his sister's every feature for the last time.

          "No! What about Ben?" Fleur asked, desperate to stop Jonah from sacrificing himself as she tried to get out of Jonah's iron grip.

          "You'll take care of him." Jonah answered just before in one quick motion, slit his throat open and fell to the ground as the grass became stained with his blood.

          "No!" Fleur exclaimed loudly as her eyes widened.

          Fleur quickly sat up and turned towards her brother who was bleeding out and attempted to stop the bleeding and save her brother's life, but in vain. A cannon was heard and Fleur broke down, hot tears pouring down her cheeks as her brother's dead body laid limp in her lap.

          "I promise you, Jonah, I will keep Ben safe. I promise you that." Fleur whispered softly as she let the tears fall.

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          Fleur's eyes opened immediately and her eyes darted across the room and to the window before coming to the conclusion that it was extremely early in the morning. She sighed softly before getting out of her bed, knowing she will not be able to fall back asleep. She quietly walked past Ben's room, making sure to not make any noise as to not disturb him from his sleep.

          When she got to the kitchen, she jumped slightly once she saw Ben sitting on a chair, holding a mug. Ben turned to look at her and gave her a smile. Fleur sat down next to him and looked at him in confusion when he handed Fleur a mug filled with hot chocolate.

          "What are you doing up? And why'd you make hot chocolate?" Fleur questioned softly as she took a sip of the drink.

          "You were mumbling which means you were having a nightmare. And when you have a nightmare, you don't feel so good. You give me hot chocolate when I don't feel good so I wanted to make you some, to make you feel better." Ben replied as he put his mug down.

          Fleur's heartstrings felt has they had been pulled at Ben's explanation. Not knowing what else to do, she pulled Ben into a hug and kissed the top of his head.

          "I love you." Fleur whispered softly.

          "I love you, too, Aunt Fleur." Ben replied as he wrapped his arms around his aunt.

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

⊱ ────── FLASHBACK ────── ⊰

          It had been five years since Fleur's Games. Five years since Jonah had sacrificed himself for his sister. Five years since Ben became an orphan.

          Fleur rarely associated herself with any of the Victors. A simple hello was all she said to them. The guilt of her brother's death ate her from the inside. She became quieter and wasn't the happy person she was before her Games.

          To say Fleur hated to going to Capitol parties was an understatement. She didn't want to leave Ben alone for a long period of time. However her mentor, Cecelia, promised her that her husband would watch over Ben while they were gone and wouldn't take no for an answer. So, for the party thrown for the Victor of the 68th Hunger Games, Fleur attended the party, much to her distaste.

          Fleur wasn't watching where she was going and crashed into someone. She stumbled back and looked at the person she had crashed into. The person she had crashed into gave her a dazzling smile that he gave to many of the other women.

          "Why, hello there. You probably didn't watch where you were going beuacse you were busy looking at me. I don't think I've seen you around. I'm Finnick. Finnick Odair." The man, well he could still be classified as a teenager, stated.

          Fleur just gave him an unimpressed look which caused him to frown. "Fleur." Fleur introduced not bothering to say anything else.

          "So, you don't talk a lot? You're not from the Capitol are you? What District and what Games did you win? I'm from Four and I won the Sixty–fifth Games." Finnick questioned causing Fleur to blink in confusion.

           Fleur looked at Finnick in confusion before sighing. "Eight and Sixty–third." Fleur replied causing Finnick to grin. This was the most she had ever talked to another Victor.

          "You're Fleur Astor, right? You won when you were thirteen." Finnick stated causing Fleur's breath to hitch which made Finnick frown. "Oh, sorry. I should know. The Games are horrible, right?"

          Fleur nodded as she tried to blink away the tears. Finnick, sensing that Fleur was becoming uncomfortable with his 'interrogation' stoped talking and grabbed her shoulders before pulling her away from the party. He took her to the terrace where they just stood there in silence for sometime.

          "In your Games, your brother killed himself so you could go home?" Finnick stated in a tone that suggested that it was a question.

          "Yeah. I still wish he didn't do that. He made his son an orphan." Fleur said as she held a sob.

           "What happened to the mother?" Finnick asked softly as both he and Fleur looked at the view.

          "She died during childbirth." Fleur replied.

          "What about your Games? Do you talk about what it did to you? To anybody?" Finnick questioned.

          Fleur shook her head. "No. I don't. I don't have anyone to talk about it with. Well, I have Ben, but I would never talk about that with him."

          "Ben's the kid, right?" Finnack asked causing Fleur to nod. "I thought so, what about your parents?"

          "Don't have any. Jonah and I were raised in the orphanage." Fleur replied.

          "I'm sorry. You know, you can talk about it with me. Well, if you want. I talked about with Mags. It helps. You and I were in the Games at around the same age. It's not going to do you any good to keep it in there. You have to get it out." Finnick stated causing Fleur to let the sobs escape.

          Finnick caught her before she hit the ground and let her cry into his shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and held her in a tight embrace. He remembered that his mother used to say that hugs were meant to be protective and caring. Finally when she stopped crying, she wiped her cheeks and blushed lightly when she realized she had just cried in front of someone she barely knew.

          "It's okay. It's nothing to be embarrassed about." Finnick stated with a genuine smile. He looked at his watch and scowled. "I have to go somewhere. I hope we can talk later, Fleur." Finnick stated before turning to leave.

          Fleur frowned and grabbed Finnick's arm to stop him. "The party isn't over yet. Where are you going Finnick?" Fleur questioned causing Finnick to avoid her eyes. "Finnick, you can tell me. I promise, I won't judge."

          I'm an attractive Victor. Snow sees me as a way to make money. He sells my body to the wealthy people of the Capitol." Finnick said bitterly. "A couple other Victors suffer the same fate."

          Fleur pulls Finnick into a hug, surprising him. "I'm sorry. No one deserves that. Snow is the devil incarnate. He truly is."

.: ⋆*･ﾟ: .⋆

          Fleur and Ben looked out the window and saw that there was no one outside. No noise. Nothing. That only meant one thing. The peacekeepers had executed people and had placed the entire District on lockdown. No one was allowed outside their house unless they wanted to be shot at sight.

          Fleur sighed as she pulled Ben away from the window before they both sat down and switched on the TV to watch the Quarter Quell announcement. Fleur glared holes into the screen once Snow's face appeared.

          Ben grabbed Fleur's hand softly and snuggled closer to her causing her to wrap an arm around the young boy protectively.

          "Aunt Fleur, it's going to be okay. Whatever twist they do, it's going to be okay." Ben whispered softly as he tried to assure his aunt that all would be well.

          "Ben, it's your first year eligible and it's a Quarter Quell. Who knows what cruel twist will be put into place that will put you in danger. Keeping in mind of what happened last year, I doubt it's going to be pretty." Fleur replied softly. "But, I will not let anything happen to you." Fleur promised just before Snow started talking.

          "On the twenty-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, every district was made to hold an election and vote on the tributes who would represent it." Snow stated causing both Fleur and Ben to look at him in disgust.

          "That's the year Woof won." Fleur stated softly as she recalled her old Mentor saying that to her during her Games.

          "On the fiftieth anniversary," Snow continued, "as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, every district was required to send twice as many tributes."

          "Haymitch Abernathy from Twelve won that year." Fleur informed Ben whose eyes were glued on the screen.

          "Forty-seven kids died that year." Ben stated sadly.

          "And now we honor our third Quarter Quell." Snow said as a little boy in white clothes stepped forward, holding out the box as he opened the lid. You can see the rows of yellowed envelopes, enough for centuries of Quarter Quells.

          Snow removed an envelope clearly marked with a 75. He ran his finger under the flap and pulled out a small square of paper. Without hesitation, he read out what was written on the card.

          "On the seventy-fifth anniversary, as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol, the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors."

          Shouts were heard from both of the other Victors homes as Fleur stared blankly at the screen. Her mind was running from flashes of her Games to the fact that she had a fifty percent chance of going back into Games.

          Tears were streaming down Ben's face as he buried his face into Fleur's shoulder and held onto his Aunt tightly as if she was going to disappear in a second. Fleur wrapped her arms carefully around Ben and held him in a protective manner.

Ben and Fleur's relationship is so heartwarming.