—The Last Goodbye—

Persephone forgot how cold the night would get in the Capitol. She hadn't gone out after dark in so long, the bite of a gust of wind sent a thorough shiver through her body. She tugged her Academy uniform blazer around her body and hoped the warm sandwich hidden in a pocket inside wouldn't lose too much heat.

Only a streetlight gave enough vision for her to settle in front of the fence and squint to find her friend. "Reaper!" She shouted in a harsh whisper. "Reaper!" Persephone heard shuffling before he appeared in front of her.

"Capitolite." He greeted her, a slight sense of relief washing over him when he noticed she wasn't badly injured. "You should have run in the Arena. Save yourself and not that loverboy of yours, Snow. Really stuck by his side even if it was the end, didn't you?"

"We saved him, though. Coryo's back is burned, but that couldn't be prevented." Persephone pursed her lips and sighed. "Thank you for helping me, Reaper. Even if you didn't know him."

"Figured dying before the Games to save some Capitol filth could get me some honor. Maybe a little glory." The girl chuckled and shook her head. Reaper didn't want to make the night before the brutal Hunger Games too somber.

Something he hadn't shared with his Mentor just yet was the fact that he made peace with his impending death. To never breathe at all was better than knowing every breath after he survived was at the expense of slaughtered children.

Death was better than guilt.

"Listen, Reaper," Persephone's gaze darkened as a serious expression appeared on her face, "nothing matters right now. Not until they push you into that Arena and the countdown is over. When you're in there, never forget who you're fighting for. It will push you to survive so you can see them again. You're fighting for your family, right? And Dill, to protect Dill?"

He nodded with his face cold as stone.

"If you have to kill Wovey or Lucy Gray or even Dill, I am begging you," her voice cracked as tears pooled in her eyes, "please give them merciful deaths. Let them die in as much peace as you can grant them. Please."

"I was already planning to, Capitolite. But you've gone soft." Reaper pointed out, though proud of her shift in character. "You helping me as my Mentor or as a friend?"

"A friend." Persephone admitted without hesitation, then dug into the inner pocket of her coat and pulled out the food she bought for him. "Sit down, Reaper. I know you're starving."

She found herself on the verge of breaking down when she realized this was most likely the last time she would ever come face to face with Reaper Ash, District 11's male tribute, alive. Persephone lowered herself to the ground and sat across from the boy with a zoo cage fence separating them.

From two different worlds, a Capitolite and District scum bonded as friends.

"What's that?" He pointed to a small wrapped rectangle.

She had to hide her excitement. "Chocolate."

Reaper's eyes widened. He only heard of chocolate, a rich and sweet treat, within whispers among his District. Nobody outside the Capitol ever got a lick of it in their life, yet he was offered the little rectangle for free. "Is it real?" Was the only thing he could ask, mind hazy in disbelief.

"Yes, it's real." She furrowed her brows, partially amused. "Cost me a little, but I figured it was your last night where your life will still be yours. Where you won't have to worry about another tribute murdering you or being the Capitol's property."

"I can't accept this."

"Don't be humble right now, Reaper, just eat the damn chocolate." Persephone snapped, irritated with his constant selflessness. He seemed to fight for everyone but himself—she was sure it would follow him to his grave.

Unwrapping the small bar as if it was the most precious thing he ever held, Reaper placed it in his mouth and waited for the taste to kick in. The girl watched as his face melted against his will, unable to hide her chuckle.

"Oh, I know. It just dissolves on your tongue." She basked in her few memories of eating the delicacy. "I remember when I first had chocolate, it was the sweetest thing I think I ever tasted. It's usually a dessert for a special occasion."

"When was the first time you had chocolate?" Reaper wished he could witness the taste again, but instead opted to unwrap the sandwich and take a bite.

Persephone thought back to the special moment she was first given chocolate. "It was the anniversary of my mother's death." She recalled, a warm feeling filling up her chest when she remembered how the day played out. "He gave it to me to make me feel a little better. I remember just crying so hard, missing the mother I could hardly remember. Chocolate was his solution to my sadness."

He swallowed his bite. "Did it help?"

"I suppose. The rest of the times I had chocolate were from him when I was crying so much I could hardly breathe." Persephone picked at the cuff of her blazer, uncomfortable with the memory of breaking down in her youth. She successfully avoided doing so in recent years, but since she gained sympathy for the tributes to the Games, her walls had been crumbling.

Persephone Ignis was no longer perfect.

And it was all because of her dear friend, Reaper Ash.

The boy scarfed down the sandwich and dusted his hands off. He leaned the left side of his body onto the fence, as she did with her right. His head rested on a singular vertical bar, eyes heavy at his lack of sleep and exhausting days. "You ever thought about having a family, Capitolite? What's after all this?"

"Well, first," Persephone began to think, "University is my next step in my academic career. Maybe study economics or even business to take over my father's company when he retires. He owns a transportation company that takes the mined materials from 12 to 2 for building. After all of that, I'm gonna be honest, I have no clue."

"No family? Marriage? Kids?" Reaper raised his brow with curiosity. "You ain't gonna settle down?"

"Oh, I'll be coaxed into marriage by my father and his expectations. Kids are only if I'm truly happy with whomever I feel happy enough with. If I feel they will have a good life with that person as their parent, I would be eager. But most likely, I'll get married to some guy I grew up with who's smart enough and has many assets for a traditional life. I wouldn't be happy enough for kids, but I know I'll get forced to shove a few out as my duty. A simple yet unhappy life. What about you, Reaper?"

He lifted his hat off his head and placed it down in his lap. "I always knew I would never have a kid. I won't bring any new life into this cruel society just to starve every day and die. The simple life is sad, but it's better than District treatment."

A comfortable silence settled between them, Persephone mulling her thoughts over in a way she never had before. Capitol life was better than District, that's for sure, but it still wasn't perfect. There were secrets traded in whispers, tension between everyone as they all fought for each others' approval and respect. Capitol life was just a constant battle for power among narcissists.

An unsettling truth fell upon her that she never truly felt content in the Capitol—was it better to be rich and sad or be poor and happy?

"Ever since I met you, I think something has changed." Persephone quietly spoke, her fatigue clouding her mind to spill her truth. Sleep sounded like a nice pillow she could lay her head on and rest. "I can't go back to Capitol life anymore. Not when I know what the Districts endure out there. It's gonna eat me alive, knowing we send children to their deaths each year."

He stayed soundless with the intent of listening to ramble.

"You changed me, Reaper." Their eyes connected. Something in the back of her mind told her she would never find another friend like her tribute for the rest of her life. "You're just one in a million. I thought I knew everything on my graduation day. That Coryo was gonna get the Plinth Prize. That we would graduate and move onto University. I'd get stuck with a rich slob and have his children. I thought my dead-end existence was just around the corner."

A child who dreams should expect disappointment.

Growing up, Persephone carried a wild imagination and hoped for a great future. She would attend the Academy, pass with high grades, go onto University to study political science or sociology, then apply her education to become a great politician to prevent wars like the one against the rebels.

She hadn't realized how foolish she was until she got a taste of Capitol society. Everyone mingled in a competition of money and status. Another bitter truth? Every single one of them despised the other.

"You mean that blonde guy you're always with? Coriolanus? Are you gonna marry him?"

He meant it as a genuine question, for he wondered how a girl as loving as Persephone could let herself be persuaded and pushed around by another man. However, the girl only blinked back tears with a dry laugh. "Yeah, right. He doesn't see me as anything more than a friend like Sejanus."

"Have you seen the way he looks at you?" Reaper furrowed his brows and shuffled to sit up. Was she really that blind? "I saw the way he hurt you in the Arena and I don't trust him, but he's got this look in his eye when he watches you, I've seen it."

"How does he look at me?" Persephone forced out, breath caught in her throat. She, too, straightened up her posture as her heart pounded.

For a moment, he pondered encouraging her obvious love. He saw the tight grip he held on her arm just before the bombing started. The girl was vocal with her pain and he didn't stop. He should have not fed into her little hope, but he did—just to see her happy before his death.

It was a cataclysmic mistake.

"He looks at you like he just found out what love is, Persephone." No use of her nickname. No bite in his words. Reaper meant it every last word.

It was true. Of course, Coriolanus believed he held love for his grandmother, cousin, and a select few others, but it wasn't at all true. He did not love them the way he loved the beauty of a girl from the moment he saw her.

Coriolanus Snow fell madly in love with Persephone Ignis, but not in the way she did for him. He loved the power he felt around her. He loved the way she would melt for him and shiver under his touch. Her rosy cheeks when he eased out a compliment or special name. He assumed he would also love the day he would sink into her as their lips pressed together, naked bodies rubbing and connecting with each other.

As much as he refused to admit it, not a peep, was that somewhere in his heart, he was most ardently in love with her. But love was alarmingly similar to obsession.

He did find out what love was with his darling Persephone.

And he knows it will make him do crazy things.

"I'll see it to believe it." Persephone brushed off and attempted to ignore her racing heart. She had the sudden itch to see the boy who supposedly loved her—but she ignored the temptation. A sharp realization froze over any giddy thoughts she had of Coriolanus Snow when she remembered Reaper's fate around the corner and the slaughterhouse of the Hunger Games.

Oh, how she wished they had more time.

Her bones froze over, a bitter memory merging into her mind.

"During the Dark Days of the war, the rebels cut off all supplies to the Capitol for two years. I remember the way all of us starved, whether we drowned in money or hit a stroke of luck when we found a quarter on the ground. We starved and none of us talk about it." Her eyes drained empty as she whispered her next sentence. "Some of us became cannibals."

A shiver racked Reaper's spine as he suddenly grew sick. District 11 starved more often than not, but none of them resorted to eating other people.

"I know, right?" Persephone noticed the way he clammed up. "We truly are monsters. Every last one of us. It's written in our bones. We shame the Districts for their savage behavior, yet some of us ate humans. What a bunch of bullshit." Another gust of cold wind nipped at the bare skin of her face. The girl cuddled herself with her blazer just a little tighter. She almost wished a blonde boy was there to do it for her.

"I didn't know that," was all he could mutter in shock.

"Don't worry, nobody does." She reassured, sniffling as she felt her nose was cold to the touch. "Usually, it's this cold during winter. When there's snow, my father always likes to light our fireplace to warm us up. He used to tell me that whenever the snow got too cold and close to freezing me over, I should start a fire to keep me warm. Maybe to even melt the snow away, but he was just jestering when he said that."

Still silent. Reaper was still trying to process the fact that he would never get to see the girl in front of him again after tonight. She was his only friend—but he would have to leave her behind to fend for herself among rabid wolves.

He would try to support her for the rest of the limited time before his death.

What else was he supposed to feel knowing he would die tomorrow?

"You really did try your best to make yourself the best tribute, didn't you?" Persephone thought back to the interview he had with Lucky Flickerman. "You racked up some good donations, I'll give you that."

The boy shook his head with a frown. "I didn't do that for me."

"Then who?"

"You." Her brows furrowed in confusion, eyes beckoning for him to explain. Reaper slouched even further against the fence, fighting the tears gathering in his eyes. He forgot aside from his shielded soul, he was still mortal. "I heard about the Plinth Prize when they were getting some other tributes ready. I figured even if I don't make it out alive, I could at least help you win it. Seems important and all."

"But I don't care about the Plinth Prize-"

"No, you care. Too many of the Mentors were talking about it. You care."

No matter how much she denied it, Persephone had a slight desire for the Prize. Not for the money, her father had enough of that. She wanted the Plinth Prize to prove something to everyone. She longed for people to know her name, just as her father wanted her to do.

Every Capitolite craves power. She wanted validation.

Or maybe Persephone Ignis just wanted to survive.

She is a mess, you can see it in her eyes.

Reaper had yet another thing to point out about her. "You're not like the rest of them. The Capitol." Somehow, he knew if it were up to her, she would have never thrown the District tributes in a zoo cage to perform like animals.

"I suppose the compassionate bones in my body come from my mother." Persephone thought back to every little memory she had of the woman. She only heard whispers about the woman—that she was a kind, Capitol sweetheart. A white swan. "That's what people tell me." Nobody actually told her that except High-as-a-Kite Bottom.

"Keep every last one of those bones." Reaper instructed her, earning a nod from the girl. "I know my sister is the kindest soul you'll ever find. She makes up for the two of us, I ain't got no compassion in me other than the instinct to protect."

"She sounds nice."

"Oh, she's the sweetest angel to walk the Earth." The District boy felt a genuine smile crawl on his face. "Her name's Barley, like the grain. She loves to tell everyone that over and over, once said it makes her feel like a celebrity. Like everyone says her name all the time."

A chuckle escaped the girl's lips. "I wish I could meet her. She sounds like the life of the party."

"You could. She's back in 11 and turns twelve next month." Reaper made peace with the fact that he would likely never get to witness his sister's birthday.

"I probably will visit her someday." Persephone voiced her new question. "When's your birthday, Reaper?"

"March 11. You?"

"September 28."

She only asked so she could have a way in remembering the tribute who changed her life.

Once a harsh wind blew over the two of them, Persephone painfully shuddering at the cold, she knew it was her time to leave. The girl almost didn't want to stand up and leave the friend she could never have again, but both of them knew one thing: if she didn't leave now, she never would.

As she brushed herself off and tugged her blazer around for more heat, the boy accepted the end to their bond. "Even if you die in the Arena," Persephone's gaze hardened to keep her emotions at bay, "I will make sure your family is safe. I'll tell everyone that you were human until your last breath. Not District filth."

The small recall to one of their first interactions, when he told her of his desire to prove his worth to the oppressive Capitol. A painful, heavy grin replaced the frequent scowl of his.

Two different people from two different worlds found solace in each other—and this would be the last time they would ever see the other before them.

Persephone made sure to note his clothes, his hair, his face, the way he breathed, every little feature of his with the hope that she would never forget any of it. He would continue to shine in her memories as the closest friend she ever held.

Against her will, she stood up from her position. A tear escaped her eye when she tucked her hair behind one of her ears. Her gaze never left his. She made a humorous gesture to stretch out her hand to him for a handshake. "Goodbye, Reaper Ash." The girl's voice cracked in pain.

"Goodbye, Persephone Ignis." He took her hand in his for a firm shake and dropped it away from hers first.

In another life, they were friends for eternity. Hand in hand, like brother and sister living a simple, quiet life away from all the terror of the Capitol and the Districts. However, in this life, neither would know a version of them survived in peace across the stars.

Before she left his vision and walked too far, Reaper called out one last thing to his Mentor, his dearest friend. "Don't lose your humanity when I'm gone, Capitolite."

"I wasn't going to." Persephone responded, unable to help the tears streaming down her cheeks.

She would keep it until her death.