—
in the end;
he was the one bleeding, his body shaking as he took each hit for her. The water suffocated his innocence away as he felt himself turning more into a monster. He couldn't be a monster, not when she needed him.

Published: December 5th, 2023

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snow always lands on top, those words were engraved into raven's skull the very second his name was read aloud for his entire district to hear. He remembered the way the crowd grew silent and looked at him as he broke down into fear and shame.

His mother didn't cry nor beg for his safety as he walked along the gravel approaching the stage. He could hear the screams of the young girl who was reaped before him. The ten year old shook his hand, her lips quivering as he promised he'd protect her.

The hardest part wasn't the goodbyes, or the pain of fighting for his life. It was the killing that stripped away his innocence, took away his freedom and hope of ever being safe from the hunger games.

He was so close to escaping it, so close to running away from the capitol and all of the districts. Instead he was killing innocent children with an ax as he screamed and begged God for it to end.

The blood coated his skin every waking moment as he tried to survive the worst of the world. As he tried protecting the little girl who was from home. Her tiny little hands gripped his arms so hard as she choked on her own blood, the ax bent in her chest as she cried.

Only one winner could be crowned Victor and he knew this little girl wouldn't have made it outside in the world again. It was mercy, after the games he tried his best to forget what happened but it always came back. Always haunted his dreams and skull.

Then he meant Johanna Mason, the girl who was reaped the year after him. He mentored her, kept her alive for the most part, and when she won he watched as her world crashed when snow killed her family.

When she lost who she was before the games, her innocence was gone and so was his. They were quite a duo, both alone as they latch onto each other in secret. Hidden away behind closed doors as they ache for any reason to flee district seven. To be together without the fear of snow having them killed.

When they have a sense of comfort and some hope of a rebellion due to the two victors from district twelve. It's ripped away from them when snow announces previous victors from each district must be reaped for the 75th hunger games.

His name wasn't mustered once at the reaping yet he couldn't bring himself to watch Johanna lose herself again inside of those cracked walls. So he wasn't surprised when he volunteered or when he helped the mockingjay rise out of the ashes of his fallen friends.

Adam Brody as Raven Corven

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authors notes:
holy shit, this was sitting in my drafts for like 3 days, I was suppose to publish this days ago. I literally had December 2nd as the planned day to publish this. Oops, I guess I totally forgot about it. Besides all of that I literally can't wait to write for this, it's gonna be interesting due to the fact that Raven won't be with Katniss in the games like all the other fics I see. Aside from the blood rain and Johanna saying they were in the jungle, we don't really know for sure what all she did in the games so that's where I work my magic. Anyways I'm literally gonna binge write tf out of this story, my friends coming over today so likely no update till either late asf or the following day.