I Know My Soul Believes {Alistina Oneshot}

When those you care for start to fade from view, it can be difficult to keep going. Alistina Ranger-Heart was starting to come to this realization, now that her friend was leaving her. Although, there was a certain feeling she had, too, of which seemed to be telling her that this goodbye wasn't forever. She knew Oliver Wren was strong, and that he would try his best to fight and come home. She believed that he could do it, but she just hated to think about the fact that he had to fight to come home. No one should be ripped away from their friends, family, loved ones and everything they knew; especially not in such a way. Being taken away from District Eight by force to go fight to the death in the Hunger Games, even if it was often considered the 'honorable' thing to do by the people of the Capitol and the career Districts, it definitely wasn't something that  appealed to her.

Unfortunately, Oliver would be having to go through that, now, and he had no choice in the matter. His fate was sealed as soon as his name was announced to the District and he told Jory not to volunteer for him. Jory listened to him, and the promise that Oliver made his brothers make not to take his place if he were chosen to the Games wasn't broken, either. Therefore, he'd be fighting, and there was no turning back now. Alistina felt entirely helpless, as she couldn't take his place.

"Damn rules," she thought to herself. "Why can't a girl take a boy's place? It's not fair!"

The Reaping was one of the scariest days of the year, every single year, for most of the teenagers in the country of Panem that they all lived in. Sometimes, it made Alice (as she was often called) wonder if there were other countries out there, despite being told for almost her entire life that Panem was all that was left. The girl wouldn't put it past the Capitol to lie about something like that, after all. They'd always been cruel people, those who lived in the Capitol, running the country of Panem however they wanted to without giving the Districts surrounding them a say in any part of it.

---

When Alice went to say goodbye to her friend Oliver in the Justice Building once the Reaping for the 80th Annual Hunger Games had concluded, she wasn't sure what she should say to him. She wasn't one to lie or say things that she was unsure of, so she couldn't tell him that she was positive that he'd make it home. The girl could, however, tell him what she did know, and that was that he was strong. She would make sure he knew that she believed in him and that strength he had, too.

As soon as she entered the room, she was embraced in a tight hug by Oliver. Her heart skipped a beat when he did this. He truly was a kind soul. His words showed this, too, as it was as if he were trying more to comfort Alice than she was trying to comfort him.

"It'll be okay, Ranger," he said. He was one of the very few people that she knew who still called her Ranger. She liked that nickname, and he was the one that had given it to her.

"I know, Olive. I believe in you. You're a strong dude, alright?" She said this to him as they separated from their hugging embrace, all the while giving him a genuine smile of reassurance.

Oliver nodded in response, but he seemed quite nervous in doing so. Alice was going to say something more, but he spoke first, instead.

"It probably sounds funny, Ranger, but..." he trailed for a moment before continuing to say the words that he was trying to let out. "I really like when you call me Olive. It's a fun nickname for me. It makes me smile."

When he said this, Alice smiled.

"I'm glad you like it." She told him this with a gentle smile across her lips. "I'd hope you would've told me if you didn't though," she laughed. "I've called you that for years, after all.

Oliver laughed a bit as well, although it was a weak laugh. She wouldn't expect much more than that, either, though, since he'd just been told that he had to go fight to the death in an unknown, unforgiving arena that the Capitol had created and kill other people who were selected (or volunteered) for the same fate if he wanted to come back home. Alistina always wondered how people could volunteer for such a thing unless they were taking the place of someone they cared about as a way of saving them. It just seemed horrendous to her. Surely, the volunteers who did it for the hell of it had to be crazy.

Then again, she didn't really need to be told that. C'rizz Moon had volunteered for the 78th Hunger Games a couple of years back, and everyone that knew him already knew he was crazy. Anyone who didn't know him, such as Alice, had likely either heard he was crazy second-hand, or learned that he was when he went into the Hunger Games as a willing victim tribute, somehow completely unafraid of death. It was like C'rizz had welcomed death, from what Alice had seen when watching those Games. The fact that someone would so willingly die scared her.

Now she just hoped that Oliver wouldn't give up and just let someone kill him because he didn't want to fight anymore. Alice believed that he friend was much stronger than that, though. He wouldn't just give up. He had things to fight for. He had his home in District Eight. He had people to fight for. He had his parents, his sisters, his brothers, his friends and his boyfriend. When it seemed like both Oliver and Alice had been lost in thought for a moment or two, Oliver spoke again.

"Hey Ranger?" he asked of his friend.

"Yeah?" she asked, hoping she could help him with whatever he might need or answer any question he might have for her.

"Can you keep Jory company for me? Can you make sure he knows how hard I'm going to fight to come back home to him- to all of you guys? He could use a friend in this, I'm sure, and you're always a great friend." He paused. "You two can help each other through this, until I come home," the boy with a seemingly-sealed fate elaborated.

"Of course. I'll do that for you. I'll reach out to him, and see what I can do until you get home." Alice said this to her friend with a smile. The words 'until you get home' made it sound like she was positive that he would return home alive, but that wasn't entirely the case. It was a good thing it sounded like she was one hundred percent confident in his ability to survive, but in all actuality, 'until you get home' didn't necessarily specify if he'd be alive when he got home. Of course, she certainly hoped that it meant that he would come home alive, rather than as a lifeless corpse like so many tributes before him.

District Eight hadn't had a male victor in Alice's lifetime, after all.

The last District Eight victor was Shelby Levaine, who won the Seventy-Fifth Annual Hunger Games, which meant that she'd be mentoring Oliver. Alice hoped that Shelby could help Oliver build some confidence before the Games. That would be good, Alice thought. Oliver wasn't someone with a lot of self-confidence. Then again, neither was Alice. Usually, all the confidence that she had was placed in other people.

Right now, the person she had confidence in was Oliver.

Before Alice could speak another word, however, the Peacekeeper who'd brought her to Oliver's room in the Justice Building (which wasn't even really just his room, given the many tributes who'd come before him and spent their time saying their goodbyes in there) arrived and entered the room to tell her that her time saying goodbye to her long-time childhood friend was up.

"I'll see you when you come home, Olive. You can do this!" She said this in a rush, giving him one more, quick hug before the Peacekeeper insisted once more that her time was up and that she needed to leave.

"Thank you, Alistina Ranger-Heart. I'll see you soon."

He said these words as she departed the room, and Alice knew that they would linger in her mind for ages.