father's day | ky

He finally made it there the day before they were supposed to go home. His suitcase was packed already, then unpacked, then packed again. Bambi had insisted on sending him home with some new clothes just in case there were going to be cameras on him again. Ky felt bittersweet.

He'd met so many interesting people in the past few weeks but only accomplished half of what he'd set out to do when his mom had told them that they'd be going to the Capitol for the first time in ten years. Some things had been worth the sacrifice for the relationships that he'd formed but as soon as his mom had left the room that morning to spend a few final hours with her new girlfriend, Ky had taken the chance to slip out again.

This time he'd worn no disguise at all, he hadn't needed to. The Capital was in its final day of celebration for Beck and Ky had found it easy to sneak through the crowded city circle. The museum was pretty much empty when he entered but for one bored-looking woman at the front desk. Ky'd looked up the entrance fee before leaving the training centre this time. He had money on him, exact change that he'd asked to borrow from Teddy with promises to pay it back next year.

The lady waved a hand at him, sending him in without even looking at him and Ky already felt more comfortable, always happy not to be noticed. It felt like that was the moment that he could have changed his mind, could have turned around and headed back out into the setting sun and the festivities and the people that were preparing for one, final party.

But Ky also knew that if he left before accomplishing what he'd set out to do, he would regret it all year until the next games and their next visit and he wanted to stop having regrets. He'd pinky promised Opal that he'd try to be happy and to do that, he had to actually try.

Ky sighed and wrapped a hand around the heavy ring hanging off his neck, a habit that had formed too quickly in only a short amount of time. For a moment he was scared, afraid that this would be something that would hurt too much and wouldn't be as healing for him as he'd hoped but it was too late, his feet were moving forward and Ky was in the exhibit.

A large hall, void of anything really stood empty in front of him, a single post sticking out of the ground in the centre of the room. He made his way over to it, a small shake to his hands. His heart jumped a little bit inside of his chest, the nervousness of approaching disappointment clawing at him.

But he didn't pause, he punched the correct serial number into the keypad and upon the pressing of the last button, the room filled with motion. The sun rose, then set, then rose, then set again and the tile turned into earth that cracked rapidly beneath his feet in a way that only a lack of water could make it do and the sun beat down and set again, and stars formed into the ceiling above him, slowly fading into a twinkling night sky until the beams of the room were lost altogether and all that there was for what felt like miles was an endless galaxy of stars.

And Ky heard the crackling of a small fire as if it were in his ear.

He looked down slowly, and stared at the back of the head of Potato Earnest, who was bent carefully over the small flame, warming his cold, wet clothing after letting his friend go in the river of the sixty-seventh arena.

A small breeze pushed the flame gently and Ky felt it on his cheek too.

But he knew it wasn't real.

"Iffin' yer just gonna stand there, yer could at leas' sit with me a' 'while," came the gentle voice of his father from in front of him. His father stood up then and Ky realized that he was tall, but not that much taller than him. His shoulders were maybe broader though and he was injured here, body aching, the night before the day he died. Ky hadn't expected his dad to speak first, he figured the programs had to be prompted and he had no idea what to say at all.

"Uh," he said quietly, "Hi" and his father turned to face him.

He was smiling, not like the way he'd been in the picture Ky had carried with him since he was little, but tired looking, worn out. The happiness that he remembered, that should have been there, was gone and his dad just looked sad. Still, he was smiling. "Sit with me fer a bit iffin' yer like it," said the hologram and then he turned back around to face the fire and sat there.

Ky realized that the programming was prompting him.

So he sat down across from him, watching the way that the light of the fire lit up his father's face. It danced off the shine of the ring that he wore on his left hand as well and Ky reached up to hold the ring around his neck, as if to check that it was still there. There were so many things that he wanted to ask his dad, so many things that he knew that the program wouldn't be able to answer. So he tried to stick to what it would know.

"Um.... how are you feeling?" he asked.

"Well, I reckin' I seen better days than this," his dad said, "But I'm livin' another night, can't complain." His accent was strange, something Ky had never really heard before. Sometimes his aunt Nightshade had let it slip into her voice a little bit but she'd always tamed it back. It was friendly, unassuming.

"And... and Opal, do you miss her?" he asked.

"Yeah, 'course I do, don' reckin I ever missed 'nyone so much," came the simple reply, "When I get back tuh her, we gonna live in One, plan' a big ol' gardin an' raise a big family." Potato looked gleeful, almost at peace and Ky couldn't help wondering if he had truly believed it that last night or if he'd succumbed to fear.

And he could have sat there for hours, just watching his dad sit at the fire and then eventually sleep as the night waned but Ky also knew that he couldn't, that the sun would rise and his dad would get up and eventually run into Leon and die. That was the time that he had with him, a few short hours next to a dying fire.

He'd never get anything like this with him, never have a quiet night by a fire. Maybe they could have, there was space in the backyard for a fire pit. They could have set up a tent, pretended to go camping and his mom could have come home from the training centre early that night and maybe brought marshmallows for them to roast. They could have stayed up late telling ghost stories and Potato maybe could have told him some things about growing up in Eleven and Ky could have fallen asleep at the fire maybe but never get cold because his dad would have put him to bed in his sleeping bag and been there beside him in the morning and Opal would call for them both and there would be pancakes maybe and his dad would laugh and ruffle his hair and the-

"Don' be sheddin' no tears on a nigh' like this one here, frien'" came his dad's gentle voice, "Look, I reckin up there, yer can see the big dipper."

His dad was laying on the ground now beside the dying fire and Ky blinked, cheeks wet with tears. He looked serene, hands behind his head to support it. He had to have known at that moment how uncertain the next day was for him but he hadn't let it stop him from taking in the beauty around him, the fear, the pain of missing Opal, hadn't stopped him from living in the time that he had left.

Ky laid down beside him on the dry earth and stared up at the holographic stars, realizing that maybe that moment was the very last that his dad might have felt okay.

He pointed at another line of stars and rattled off another constellation. "I didn't know you knew astronomy," Ky murmured softly to himself. There was a lot he didn't know about Potato, a lot he'd never know.

"Ain't yer heard?" came his dad's cheeky reply, "A wise man don' be showin' all his cards a' once."

They lay there for a while like that, Ky pointing out the stars that he knew and Potato filling in the rest.

Ky stayed until Potato fell asleep, staggering to his feet after two long hours in the exhibit. He left his father's form sleeping there beside the smouldering fire, a grin playing at his lips.

"See ya, dad," he whispered quietly before making his way back down the long hallway.