Maybe He Should Have {Sycamore Oneshot}

Sycamore Bluebell

When Sage volunteered for the Hunger Games, Sycamore didn't go in alongside him. Maybe he should have. When Sycamore had the opportunity to visit Sage in the Justice Building, he didn't. Maybe he should have. Sycamore never said his goodbyes to his best friend in the entire world. Maybe he should have.

The first day of the Games went by extremely fast, from what the boy could remember. Sage's boyfriend, Affron, was the first to fall of the fifty-one that would die. Sycamore could remember how much it destroyed Sage when he found out. He wanted to help his friend so badly, but he couldn't. There was absolutely nothing he could do about it. He couldn't even tell him who had killed the other boy.

Sage had made it through many days of the Games, and seen many tributes killed. None of them, however, had their lives taken at Sage's hands. The boy had remained innocent to the day he died. Sycamore remembered, on the fifth day of the Games, that he had had the option to leave Sage a message, but he never did. Maybe he should have. He realized that, however, Sage may have completely forgotten about him at this point. After all, they never even said their last goodbyes.

Young Mr. Bluebell remembered the seventh day of the seventy-fifth Annual Hunger Games quite well. This, however, wasn't something he wanted to be able to recall at such ease. The fight between he and the boy from District Eleven was quite close, but in the end, resulted in Sage's death. Sage fell, and he was never going to rise again. His last words were spoken for the entirety of the viewing Panem to hear, as he told the long since dead Affron that he was coming to him.

It made Sycamore almost wish it were him instead.

If Sycamore had went in, and Sage hadn't, Affron wouldn't have volunteered, either. If Sage, Sycamore and Affron all went in, Sycamore could have protected them. None of that happened, though, and both of District Twelve's beloved tributes were dead. There was no way to bring them back, either. Sycamore would have to live with the guilty pain of letting them both die without putting in an effort to even acknowledge his best friend for the rest of his life.

He never said a word to Sage after the reaping, before it all happened. Maybe he should have.

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