AN: I took a quiz to determine districts, Elena got 12 and Elijah got 11. So I set it in 12. Human! Elena and human! Elijah. Also Marcel was the only person who I thought Elijah could deal with in this who wasn't blood related.
He physically couldn't do it. He stayed behind in District 12 while the other victor took the pair this year. He should have come with them. But he knew the girl. She was kind, and smiled at everyone, even him. He got all kinds of smiles from people, mostly uncomfortable ones-but hers were always sincere. He had talked to her a few times, he mostly stuck to trying not to fall apart in the relative privacy of his own home.
She had volunteered, for one of her friends. The blonde his brother had been in love with before he died. He had never talked to the girl with genuine smiles about it, life was already a heavy weight. He wondered somedays, how she stayed afloat. He always felt like he was a few stones away from sinking. She had lost her parents and aunt, and almost her brother. She had a hard life, and she was so soft. He wasn't trying to be rude, but he had no idea how someone so kind could survive the Games. She wouldn't be manipulative, and he doubted she harmed anything in her life. He couldn't see her harming a bug, let alone another person. She had been so close to being too old to be reaped, just one more year.
He didn't watch the Games, the thought of having to watch the first person to talk to him like he was just a normal person after he had won die a brutal death made him want to drink. Not just a glass. A bottle or two. He doubted even the Capitol could fix him then, even with their technology and intelligence. He hated it all. He hated the entire system and the celebration of death. He had been her age when he had first learned what other people's blood drying on his skin felt like.
He does seek out her brother, and her uncle. He gives them a package each week, wordlessly. He knocks, they open the door and try to ask why he does it, but he leaves too quickly for them to ask more than that.
He accidentally hears news, a few weeks in. They mention him, by name. He knows he looks fine when he goes out of his house, really he only goes to the tribute to the home of the girl who took her friend's place anymore. He can't bring himself to think of her name. Elena. The name of a possibly soon to be dead girl. Elena Gilbert.
But the announcers mention that he's been visiting her family, a possible sign that he thinks she'll win. He wants to give a bitter laugh, he wishes she'd win. But he's not sure if she can make it that far. He can't tell if it's good or bad that he didn't talk to her as much as he wanted to.
He's with her family, for the minute he sees them for the week. She's announced the victor of the Hunger Games and all of the air in his lungs disappears.
He is not one for hugs, and most are wise enough to avoid physical contact with him. He did have one of his fellow tribute's hearts in his hand. People usually aren't too keen to be in close proximity to people who had killed others with their bare hands and been rewarded for it. He's just happy he got to stay out of the Capitol. But he can't avoid the hug of two people he's barely managed to speak a handful of words to.
He's stiff, and Elena's uncle, Alaric, thanks him. She got sponsors because of him, his visits every week made people speculate about her possible victory. He thanks the victor, and Elijah realizes, distantly, that he's about to have some new neighbors.