sixwordstories | (no subject)

Ugly, ugly... Red is not a nice color when it spills from someone's heart and lungs and everywhere.

Concisely put- and true.

Very true. Not a nice color at all.

((Her little lips twist as she looks down at the ground, using the tip of her shoe to draw a small heart in the dirt.)) But things can get happy-happy again if everyone smiles. No frowning, all smiling~ It would be nice, maybe.

Life is a long word. Liiiiife. So life should be long too.

Never gets easier, does it?

Life should be long. Impossibly long.

Life is the longest thing in the world. At least, that is what Piper thinks. Life is about one person. You. No one else should stop you. That's not fair.

But war is so sad~! You know what is happy? The sky! ((Her eyes are wide as she animatedly tells him this.)) The sky is happy because the sky is forever~! It never stops. Never ever.

While it's ongoing? No. But after- well, I wouldn't say that.

It doesn't easily get easier, I suppose.

Someone once told me struggle lets you know you're working toward something important. Makes sense-- that healing is a process, not an instant.

It's not meant to be pleasant.

[Katniss sighs.]

Uglier when the soldiers are forced to fight.

[And she curls her legs to her body.]

Is it better to die for a cause?

Guess you're right. War never claims to be anything than what it is.

If it's one you believe in.

This...I don't know how anyone can believe in this, Peeta.

And what it is I'm sure everyone knows, whether they've participated or not. [And Edmund is sure this boy has seen his fair share of it.]

Are you a soldier?

I don't either... ...and yet here we are.

[Katniss swallows, looking to Peeta out of the corner of her eye, and she tenses slightly.]

...what are we going to do?

I suppose that... I was made one.

Peeta Mellark.

We continue to do the only thing we can, Katniss. We survive.

But only one of us will--

[She stops talking before looking away from him. This is a nightmare. It is.]

Never mind.

Look at me-- hey, look at me. We both know how this is going to end. Somewhere in the back of your head, and in the deep of your chest... you know what I'll do. But until then, until that finally moment-- we survive.

[She shakes her head, not wanting to face the facts. But she can't avoid him when he reaches out for her like that and reluctantly, she meets his gaze.]

...we survive.

You don't deserve this, Peeta. None of us do, but you--

You're just different. That's all.

I'm no different than anyone else.

When we get in there, you have to promise me you'll remember that. That I'm no different than anyone else in there.

[She almost snaps at him right there. She can't kill Peeta. She only hopes that someone else gets to him before she does. Or that no one gets to him at all. Maybe he'll kill her first. Right now, the last thing she wants to think about is killing anyone. And the last thing she wants to do is promise him that.]

Why don't you sleep, Peeta? We've got a long road ahead of us.

A name I shan't soon forget. [considering its likeness to Peter. Edmund takes the hand with a disarming smile, or what he hopes passes for one, and a firm grip.] Edmund Pevensie.

[And to take the conversation away from unpleasant things,] You remind me of my brother.