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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 12, 2019 15:20:26 GMT -5
Oooh exciting!)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 16, 2019 18:21:43 GMT -5
Also I might possibly do some writing idk what I wanna do yet but yeah)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 17, 2019 5:07:15 GMT -5
I’m the best person to do this, they told me. I’m the most likeable and charismatic, at least of those of us who are left. Macaria could have taken a shot at it if she’d still been here, but since the whole persona she invented pre-Games was kind of destroyed by her actions within it, it would have been a lot harder for her to get people to like her again, since she was pretty brutal in the Arena. Ari is very likeable too, a really nice kid, and smart, but he might lack in the confidence area a little, and he’s younger so I feel like it’s just safer for me to do this. Because me? I’m older, I wasn’t a career, I’m charismatic, I didn’t really do anything vicious or bad in the Arena so my reputation is clean. It just works better - I’m the best person for the job.
It doesn’t stop me being nervous as Ari messes with my hair to get it to look a little fancier.
“Don’t be nervous,” he tells me as he busies himself with my hairstyle “everything will be fine.”
Everything will not be fine. This is our only shot of getting the others back, and it’s all riding on me. Holly is depending on me, and I need to do for her what she did for me in the Arena. I have to put myself at risk for her safety. The problem is, this plan, if it goes wrong, puts them all at risk too. Not to mention that if I get caught that’s another one of us the Capitol will have. It’s like some kind of sick collector’s game or something, and god knows what Louden will do if he gets his hands on all of us.
The contacts feel very strange, they’re taking a while to settle. And it’s weird seeing myself in the mirror without my usual brown eyes. But I’ll get used to it, I’m sure. Or at least they’ll be tolerable, because I really need to be able to function while doing this and not be distracted by these lenses.
But suddenly the TV changes, and everyone’s eyes go to the screen, including mine. When the Capitol wants you to see something, everyone watches. Everyone. Always.
The static on the screen starts to clear, and I suck in a breath. It’s a noose.
“What?-“ I mutter
But there’s Louden, and there’s Alessandro. Instantly I feel sick. Alessandro’s mother calls in the background, and there’s a twisting in my chest. This can’t be real, this can’t really be happening. It’s another one of Louden’s tricks, right?
But I know it isn’t, and that’s why I’m rising from my chair and rushing out of the room before I can even really see anything more.
I’m running, I’m running, and I know that what I’m doing is stupid. There’s no way this is going to work. I mean, I’m just a terrified teenage boy. I just watched Alessandro go to his death, and he is stronger than me, a better fighter than me, probably braver than me. My chances of this working? Of surviving this? Very low.
But it sure looks like I’m doing it anyway.
Someone has to do something, otherwise Louden is just going to kill more people. Someone has to show him that he can’t just treat us like this, that he can’t just use people as pawns like he did Alessandro. Like he has with Amadrya. Like he has with all of us from the very beginning. Someone has to stand up to him, someone he can’t control. At least someone he doesn’t control quite yet.
I’m going to get my friends out. Louden can’t do whatever he wants, and I’m about to prove that. Holly, she’s so resilient and strong and brave and smart. I remember when I caught the words she had mouthed to the crowd at our reaping. And I thought to myself - ‘that girl is going to be important’. She had an important message and she was brave enough to say it. Her fate is riding on me.
Macaria, who made so much effort to change and to try and be good. Amadrya, who cares so much about her friends, who sacrificed so much to protect Everest. These people depend on me too. And Alessandro? He’s already beyond any help I can give, but that makes me all the more determined. He won’t have just died for no reason, he won’t have died for Louden’s twisted games. I will make his death worth something.
I know my sisters and my parents will be upset, I know they’ll be scared. I know they might lose me all over again - and for good this time. But I also know they’ll understand. At least this way, if I die I can be satisfied that I died doing something important, rather than dying in the Arena for the Capitol’s satisfaction. At least I’ll have earned my rebel status.
I’m at my limit with standing by and watching my friends suffer and be hurt. I can’t wait anymore and do nothing. Because I don’t anger easily, but if you mess with my friends? Well, that’ll do it.
Someone has to do something, and it has to be me.
I’m the best person for the job, right?
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 17, 2019 17:47:25 GMT -5
They say there are five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
I say bullshit.
I denied it at first, sure, but ever since I’ve been stuck with a mix of anger and depression. Because why should I have to accept it? Why should I ever just accept Alessandro’s death? Why am I expected to move on?
I was alone with my own thoughts a lot when I was growing up in the academy, and I came to the conclusion that I couldn’t get close to people. That was weakness, it was bad. If I wanted to survive and succeed in life, I couldn’t let my own emotions get the better of me. No, emotions were for me to prey on, which was exactly what my original plan had been in the Arena with Alessandro, until I went and fell in love with him.
It was the dumbest thing I had ever done in my life.
I remember one day when we were in the Arena, sitting by our fire with the fake stars hanging above us. My knife caught the light as I idly turned it between my fingers.
“Do you ever wish you weren’t a career?” Alessandro asked out of the blue.
I put down my knife beside me, and put my hands behind me as I leaned back, stretching my legs in front of me.
“I don’t know,” I said “I wouldn’t want to be at a disadvantage like the others. And it’s refreshing that we understand one another.”
We didn’t have to lie to one another. We could use dirty tactics, of course, but we all ultimately knew that the others planned to kill us. I was sure that Alessandro had planned how he wanted to kill me a hundred tones over by then.
But I looked at his face illuminated by the gold of the flames, his eyes brightening in the light and seeming to bore into me and the night sky behind. It had been harder and harder since I got to know him to think about killing him.
“No,” he sighed “I mean, I want to win the Games, of course, I’ve spent my whole life training for this. But after this, what next? I mean we’ve spent our whole lives chasing this one victory. Only one of us is going to win anyway, and even then is it really worth it? When you think about your life, if you died now and didn’t make it out of here, would you be satisfied?”
No, I wouldn’t. I knew that. I’d spent my whole life as a pawn of the Capitol, and of course I knew it. It wasn’t like I had never had any inkling that my districts were under the Capitol’s thumb. I had seen the tributes from the lower districts, how malnourished they were. Some things didn’t lie. I knew the Games were dumb as well. But I’d always played by whatever rules I needed to so I could get ahead, and I was not ashamed of that. Because after all if you don’t let yourself get close to other people, there’s nothing else to do but look out for number one.
“Let me give you some advice,” I replied “right now you’re not aiming for satisfaction in life. You’re aiming for survival, and that’s the mindset you have to get into. You have to take it day by day; there’s no room for the bigger picture here. There’s no point worrying about if you don’t make it out, that is only going to distract you and make you more likely to die in here. If you win, that’s when you start aiming for happiness.”
That sounded a little sad, I supposed, but I knew it was true. I’d been fighting for survival all my life, I’d never been happy. All I’d done is aim towards some future happiness I knew I may never achieve, because that’s all I had.
Alessandro just gave a ghost of a smile, and looked at me
“I’d rather be happy now,”
Alessandro taught me a lot. And I’m so glad I knew him, I’m so lucky I knew him. Without him, I don’t think I would be the person I am right now, even though I’m likely to die because of it. And I regret so much that I had manipulated him at first, that my original attraction to him was a lie. All I can hope is that he didn’t die wondering whether I really felt anything for him. Because I did, and I do, and I always will.
I miss him terribly, and I’m mainly just angry that he’s gone. That’s why I have to carry on, that’s why I have to make Louden pay for what he did. If the rebels break us out and they ever take the Capitol, I want to be the one to kill Louden. Because he killed Alessandro.
And I’ll do what every career does; I’ll watch the light drain from his eyes.
But in the meantime? I plan to defy him any way I can. The worst he can do is kill me, which honestly I’m not that afraid of. Death never scared me anyway. It’s been after me for years, it has to catch up sometime. And if I can die knowing that I was fighting for a good cause for once in my life? Well, that’s all I need.
As far as I’m concerned, I can’t lose
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 19, 2019 16:47:30 GMT -5
(Okay I found some prompts that I feel fit the characters and idek Macaria @ Holly Macaria (but also Robin) Probably half the charries lets be real Macaria Holly/Amadrya/Macaria Macaria and maybe Holly |
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 19, 2019 16:57:01 GMT -5
(Not gonna lie.
Totally going to write some of these.)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 19, 2019 17:00:54 GMT -5
I mean I’d love to read that)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 19, 2019 17:09:34 GMT -5
Holly/Amadrya or Everest  Macaria/Holly/Amadrya  |
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 19, 2019 17:11:52 GMT -5
Oh my god those are all accurate and I love them)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 19, 2019 17:14:08 GMT -5
Okay but if I wanted to write a cute domestic scene in our happy ending au do you have any ideas?
And fun sibling-type things where we have lots of room for banter and stuff?)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 20, 2019 3:57:41 GMT -5
Okay but imagine something like this but with our characters. Very tempted to write an au. Since Alessandro died in the fic, he can be Cassius. Maybe Everest could be Harry? Holly could be Hermione, Burton could be Ron, and the others could be general students |
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 20, 2019 23:04:28 GMT -5
(I never cared much for Harry Potter.
But if that was the plot I’d so read it.
I think that’s an amazing idea for an AU :3.)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 20, 2019 23:37:03 GMT -5
 This correlates with a potential AU where half human/animal creatures exist or rare people with powers exist and mst of our characters are either human/these creatures and one gets into a tussle with the guard who kills any rare people out of fear. Shenanigans follow. And this:  |
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 20, 2019 23:45:23 GMT -5
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 21, 2019 2:04:54 GMT -5
I might do it then if you like it but I’m not sure
I love all those prompts they’re amazing)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 21, 2019 4:22:29 GMT -5
We can’t have a Slytherin champion, everyone is shouting. It’s not right, everyone is yelling.
But I just remember watching as Alessandro Rune calmly stands and takes his place alongside the other champions. He’s heard this all before, none of it is new to him. People hate Slytherin, and that is an unavoidable truth.
And besides, they aren’t much happier with me being a champion. There aren’t meant to be four, and I hadn’t even put my name in. I’m concerned, and I could swear even Dumbledore himself looked worried for a moment when I told him that I hadn’t put my name in. That’s even scarier.
——
Once the tournament starts, I’m warned of the first task by Hagrid. Dragons. I guess they’re starting us off easy, then.
I don’t want Alessandro to go into this task completely unawares, that wouldn’t be fair. He’d be killed. But it’s almost impossible to get a chance to talk to him because he is crowded by so many fellow Slytherins, who are proud to see their house have a potential Triwizard Champion. Especially Macaria Slayte has been hanging off his arm for the last few weeks. Younger Slytherins, like this girl I know called Halina, crowd around him constantly.
But I manage to talk to him alone. Grab his wrist in the courtyard and pull him behind one of the pillars for a second. I know I don’t have long before his entourage seeks him out again, and I know he hates me - can already see the anger building on his face - so this has to be quick. I can’t get caught telling him about the tasks we’re not meant to know about.
“It’s dragons,” I say “the first task.”
And I don’t even see his stunned expression, because I’ve already turned and walked away, melting back into the groups of students in the hallways as if I was never there.
——
It’s a couple of weeks later. The first task went well, or at least I was successful, but now I’m kind of stuck.
I’m sitting in the library with my best friends, Burton and Holly. Burton and I are both staring at the golden egg I’ve been given, while Holly flicks through a book to try and find some information on it. I’ve tried to open it, but all it does is make an ugly screaming sound, so that clearly isn’t the solution here.
If I don’t figure it out I’ll be in serious trouble for the second task. The creatures they use for these tasks are obviously dangerous, and so if I’m unprepared I run the risk of dying in this next task, which is only a few days away.
I hear footsteps, and look up to see Alessandro and his friends pass by. As they do, I see him stop and say something to his friends before coming over to approach me.
Instantly, reflexively, Burton and Holly rise. They draw their wands and have them aimed at Alessandro before he can even react. I see his friends behind assuming a similar position, anticipating a fight. Macaria’s blackthorn wand rises against Burton’s cedar and Holly’s cypress.
But Alessandro is unruffled, and just stops, looking at me for a moment.
“Put it underwater,” he says with a nod towards the golden egg “the prefects’ bathroom should do the trick.”
Confused, my friends lower their wands, as do Alessandro’s. Before I can thank the other boy, he just turns, wraps an arm around Macaria’s waist, and walks away.
————
“Kill the spare”
The words ring in my ear as I appear back on the grounds of Hogwarts. I drop the triwizard cup that was the portkey that brought me here, and cast a glance at Alessandro. He’s dead, of course. You can’t survive avada kedavra, unless you’re me apparently. I’ve never seen it before, though. There isn’t a mark on him, at least not from the spell. The marks and dirt from the maze are separate altogether. He looks strangely peaceful. The moments before are a blur. I found Alessandro in the maze and we helped one another, and decided to take the Triwizard Cup together at the end, a Gryffindor/Slytherin win all of Hogwarts could celebrate.
But instead we appeared in a graveyard, and my worst nightmare was there. Voldemort. He killed Alessandro, and almost killed me. I escaped, but not before Voldemort for what he needed. A new body. Strength,
We’re truly in danger now.
I wanted to bring Alessandro back because I know there are people who care about him here. No parents arrive, though, to mourn him. And I know they were deatheaters. I know they were there. I hope they felt proud standing next to the body of their son.
But his girlfriend, Macaria, rushes down with a heart-rending cry, kneeling beside him. She’s closely followed by other Slytherins, who gather around their fallen friend. Burton and Holly are running over to make sure I’m okay, and I’m not, of course I’m not, but that’s not the point.
The Slytherins are begging for help from the other houses, but many people seem too scared to move. Everyone has realised that this isn’t a game anymore. If Voldemort is back and he’s killing, it’s obvious he doesn’t care whether or not you’re pureblood. A spare is a spare. A pureblood like Alessandro or Burton is no safer than a muggleborn like Holly or a halfblood like me.
——
It’s the day before Alessandro’s memorial in the Great Hall, when I see a figure standing outside the Slytherin common room. It’s Macaria. But instead of her usual proud expression she looks pale, and has dark circles under eyes red from lack of sleep and from tears. She hasn’t coped well, especially since we all know that her parents are deatheaters themselves. Perhaps she’s realising that she isn’t safe anymore.
But I feel so sorry for her, so bad that I couldn’t protect Alessandro, that I veer away from Burton and Holly to give her a hug. A long hug. Unprepared, she tenses at first, but she doesn’t seem to mind it all that much.
“I’m sorry,” is all I can say “he wanted to win for you - you should know, you should know he won. He did it for you.”
When I break away, Holly meets Macaria’s eyes.
“We’re never going to forget this,” she says “they’re not going to get away with it.”
And the way Macaria looks at Holly has Burton and I nervous, laying our hands on our wands but not quite drawing them yet. She looks angry, staring at Holly with that sharp gaze that has us all pretty terrified. The sharp gaze I’ve definitely seen under a Deatheater mask before.
But what she says surprises us both.
“Do you promise me?” she asks, lifting her chin as she looks Holly up and down as if seeing her for the first time
Holly nods firmly
“I promise.”
And that’s when we see Macaria Slayte, the scariest Slytherin witch I’ve ever seen, daughter of deatheaters, collapse into the arms of our friend Holly in floods of relieved tears. She has forgotten all about the fact that her parents hate non-purebloods like Holly.
————————
It’s the next day, and we’re all sitting in the great hall, great black banners drifting in the draughty air. Dumbledore has just made his speech, but honestly I’m a little angry that Dumbledore has glossed over the fact that Alessandro was a Slytherin, and even more than that, he was a great person.
But I’m astonished to see Burton rising to his feet, though he honestly doesn’t look like he has any kind of plan.
“Professor,” he says “I need to say something important.”
Dumbledore is surprised, and a little flustered, but allows Burton to speak.
He talks about how he didn’t really know Alessandro, not as well as Macaria or their friends. But he wanted to speak out because he saw what Alessandro was like during the Triwizard Tournament. He was brave, and clever, and he supported me during the Triwizard Tournament. He was a Slytherin, Burton says, and as ambitious as any Slytherin was. But he never tried to undercut me so he could take the glory for himself. He was honest and good and stood by me.
“I think- I think its important that everyone knows that he died being what a champion should be,” Burton says “Because he could have abandoned Everest and instead he stood up with him and played the game the honest way. And he gave his life for that. And- and Slytherin house should be proud, and we should be proud, because Alessandro was a good bloke.”
And then he sits down, cheeks red and looking very shaky. He is normally a confident boy, but he obviously hadn’t been at all prepared for making a speech.
A girl sitting next to Macaria, Halina Flynn, rises to her feet. She’d always been an awful bully to the witches and wizards in the other houses, but now she’s taking control before Dumbledore can start to speak again.
“I want to tell Acton thank you,” she says, before promptly resuming her seat.
And all of Slytherin raises a glass to Alessandro, to Burton, to me. And the other houses follow suit, the entire school as one for the first time ever.
———
Things changed a lot over the next few years. When I formed the DA in Dumbledore’s absence to protect Hogwarts and teach students the Defense Against the Dark Arts spells that they weren’t being taught under Umbridge. And it came as a shock to everyone when some Slytherins joined, Halina among them. Macaria did not, likely out of fear of what her parents would do if they ever found out.
Over the next few years house relations improved a lot, with Slytherins actually being sort of friendly to the rest of the houses. Alessandro really did bring us together.
And the summer before the Battle of Hogwarts I received gifts, given by very well-kept owls. They were obviously from Slytherins. A note with the curses used by the Death Eaters on them, a strange locket, a note from a potions book. I keep the potions page for myself but am sure to teach the others how to brew it, give Sirius the locket, and give the spells page to Dumbledore.
It wasn’t long after that everything started.
——
It’s the Battle of Hogwarts, and the Deatheaters are fast approaching. I catch a glimpse of Sirius leading a group of Slytherins I don’t know.
“When we go in there, it’s going to be hell,” he admits “Some of you are probably going to die. I might go down too, and if I do I want your best curser in the front.”
The Slytherins nod, and a girl steps closer to the front of the group. She’s obviously their best curser.
“But I want you all to remember one thing,” Sirius continues “there are no spares.”
That ignites the Slytherin group, who charge into the battle chanting ‘NO SPARES! NO SPARES.’
I don’t see Sirius again until the end of the battle. And he’s right, it is hell when the Deatheaters come.
In the battle in the Great Hall, Holly sees a light flashing towards her out of nowhere, a curse heading her way as if in slow motion. But a Slytherin girl called Amadrya pushes her to the ground, out of the way of the curse, and fires off three of her own in quick succession with her wand; fir with a dragon heartstring core.
“Stay alive, Alandria,” she is heard to warn Holly “we need you.”
And she’s off, running into the fray. She isn’t seen alive again, but her fir wand is found snapped next to her body at the end of the battle.
McGonagall allows Macaria to duel a deatheater in her stead. A deatheater with Macaria’s same sharp eyes - her father.
She doesn’t survive the battle either, but her father wasn’t responsible for her death. At least as far as we know.
———
After the Battle, while the students are still mourning their lost friends, Halina Flynn approaches Sirius, who is injured on the floor, and offers him a hand. He takes her hand but is distrustful still.
“How are you willing to trust me?” Sirius asks
“You’ve got my godfather’s locket.” Halina replies, with a nod to Sirius’ chest.
Halina is too young to be in the battle, it is meant to be 7th years only, but obviously it hasn’t stopped her. Nobody had the heart to turn her away, it would seem.
When I talk to Sirius later, we agree immediately to return to locket to Halina. She is grateful to have it back, looping it around her own neck straight away for safekeeping.
“You probably saved my life, giving Everest that,” Sirius mutters
He doesn’t thank Halina, but the smile suggests she takes it as thanks anyway
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 21, 2019 4:38:42 GMT -5
All the sections are short and not very detailed so I could fit everything in but I’m reasonably happy.
I also had to make Amadrya a Slytherin when she’s clearly the most Gryffindor girl ever but it was worth it
Also I could see so many of these things happening in our fic universe too. Like ‘do you promise’)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 21, 2019 10:44:58 GMT -5
(I mean, that just gave me a heck of a lot of inspiration.)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 21, 2019 10:46:06 GMT -5
Hahaha is it weird that I kind of suspected it might?)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 21, 2019 11:22:21 GMT -5
(Yes and no.
Oh my goodness though the next chapters almost done, yay.)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 21, 2019 11:25:45 GMT -5
Ooh oh my gosh I’m hyped
Also this is just a thought: when more of us are online again in the summer, if people would like something like a discord to keep in contact more easily with I can totally set that up)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 21, 2019 11:40:23 GMT -5
(I could totally make one now regardless.)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 21, 2019 11:42:14 GMT -5
Ooh let’s do it)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 21, 2019 12:22:48 GMT -5
Here’s the server link. I will spruce it up and make it look nice later. probs rename it and give it a new picture discord.gg/jVGcYVT)𝐸𝓁𝑜𝓆𝓊𝑒𝓃𝓉𝒟𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓇 Leo Sparky Hawkeyes258 and I don’t need to tag you Chaos cos I know you’ll see this) |
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Post by Hawkeyes258 on Nov 21, 2019 14:56:28 GMT -5
Oooo)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 22, 2019 18:09:46 GMT -5
Ugh I was writing something but I lost it I hate when that happens
I’ll do it tomorrow)
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 23, 2019 17:27:10 GMT -5
It’s winter, not too long after we were all busted out of the Capitol. I’m... not great. I still have nightmares every night, I have days when I just feel empty. I’m scared of the dark now, which is fun. Not that I’ve admitted that to any of my friends. But I am on my way towards... something. Maybe not completely being back to the way I was, but I know I’m healing anyway.
I woke up particularly early that morning because I’d had an early watch the night before but also because sleeping isn’t really going great for me in general. I’m sitting on my bed in the rebel base when there’s a knock on my door. On the other side is Burton, looking particularly excited as he drags a bleary-eyed Holly into the room after him. She’s clearly not been awake long either.
“You guys!” Burton’s saying “it’s snowing outside!”
Holly just raises an eyebrow.
“Thanks for the update,” she replies
She’s about to leave when Burton catches her wrist. She groans as he pulls her back towards us
“Come on, it’s the first snow this winter. Can’t we just go and have some fun for once? Oooh what should we do first?”
“You could start with calming down maybe?” I chuckle as I rise to my feet “you’d think it never snowed in District 8.”
Holly and I share a knowing smile as we follow him outside, exasperated but also kind of enjoying Burton’s antics. We missed his excitement and optimism in the Capitol. And so we go with him as he wakes everyone up. Halina and Ari need little coaxing, excited about the snow and looking forward to some time outside. Alessandro and Everest took a lot more convincing, but they eventually agreed to come, mainly just to get Burton to shut up. In the nicest possible way, of course.
The last person we woke up was Macaria. Now, believe it or not, she’s not particularly a morning person. She might have trained herself to be a very light sleeper but she really does not enjoy waking up early. I learned that as part of the career pack in the Arena. I used to fear for my life if I was on last watch and had to wake her up in the morning. I mean, she slept with her knife next to her.
But Burton knocks, and she opens the door with a groan.
“What?” she asks
“It’s snowing!” Burton replies excitedly
“Oh!” Macaria replies, pretending to be excited, before letting the expression drop “I don’t care.”
“Listen,” Holly says “we’re all doing this, you’re not getting out of it. It wouldn’t be fair if we all were out in the cold while you slept in.”
“Actually, that would amuse me intensely, but fine,” Macaria agrees
So she follows us outside. It was clearly snowing last night, because there’s quite a lot of snow on the ground. The sky is a clear icy blue, and there’s a crisp chill to the air as a few stray flakes drift around us. And for a moment, we all seem to take it in as if seeing it for the first time again. The silvery glitter of the snow in the sunlight, the way the flakes rest in our hair. We’ve all changed into something warm, and so we barely feel the cold. It’s wonderful.
I watch as Burton picks up some snow, concentrating unnecessarily hard as he fashions a snowball. Holly is distracted, and so he takes aim for the back of her head. But as he hurls it I can already see it’s missed. It flies through the air.
And hits Macaria. In the side of the face.
There’s a moment when she turns to look at Burton where we all think she might actually, genuinely kill him.
“You asshole,” she says, but she starts to get this weird expression on her face.
Is she... if she actually... genuinely smiling? Is she... laughing?
“Oh, it’s on, District 8!” she says with a grin as she starts to fashion her own snowball.
Burton looks worried.
“Please don’t say she throws them like she throws knives,” he mutters
Spoiler alert: she does.
But when her snowball nails Burton square in the face, Holly steps in to protect him, and Alessandro to protect Macaria. And then the rest of us? Eh, we kind of just get involved because it’s fun.
Ari hits Everest pretty hard, and Everest chases after him but it’s a lost cause. Ari’s pretty fast, and - as it turns out - good at throwing snowballs over his shoulders.
And soon it’s a huge snowball fight outside the rebel base, and we’re all laughing. Soon we split into boys against girls, and build up walls of snow to hide behind, occasionally popping up to throw a snowball at the other group. Until Alessandro falls forward when he’s throwing a snowball and completely demolishes the wall on the boys’ side.
And we’re all laughing, and having fun, and cold and covered in snow. We don’t even notice the TVs light up inside the base, as images of scenes from the fighting in the districts flash a cross the screen. Buildings in flames, crowds of people in the streets.
We’re a million miles away from that right now. We might be broken and scared but we’re still kids. And kids who’ve never had it easy, either. We learned a long time ago how to keep being kids despite everything. Right now? We could be normal teenagers. Hell, a group of teens in the Capitol could be doing the exact same thing right now.
We’re going to be okay.
(Okay this was fun. Obviously in this au some of the events in the fic never happened because I wanted this to be happy XD)
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Post by Sparky on Nov 23, 2019 17:35:20 GMT -5
[ it's heartwrenching but in a really good way ]
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Post by ƤαƖƖαѕ ✧ on Nov 23, 2019 17:38:45 GMT -5
Aww I’m glad you liked it x)
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Post by 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕠𝕨 on Nov 23, 2019 19:09:41 GMT -5
(When the fic continues.
I am going to sob unconditionally.)
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