Here's the summary again, for those of you on a mobile: Bonnie and Twill are two textile factory workers from District 8. After an attempted rebellion, a week of lock-down, and then finally a disastrous factory explosion, the two are forced to run away to a last hope: a certain District 13, and the rest is history from there.
So I've decided to give a little background story to Bonnie and Twill, because they don't get as much mentioning as they should.
Oh, and one huge thanks to xsuchsweetnothingx, my betareader. You're wonderful. Thanks to Zias as well, for bringing a couple of mistakes to my attention.
Aaand as of 2/13/14, I've gone and re-wrote this whole story, just so you all know.
Roben stands at the kitchen sink, beneath the spotlight of a single light bulb, tapping his foot as he washes dishes almost mechanically. He can see that the skies are getting dark, and he can almost sense the panic that's beginning to creep up at the edges of his mind as if it's a tangible thing.
He couldn't help but wonder, where is she?
He heaves a sigh, letting the plate he's scrubbing for the past five minutes clang back into the basin. Soapy hands clutch at the edge of the counter. He counts to ten in his head, takes deep, slow breaths, but that still doesn't work.
Twill does have two jobs to uphold, but he couldn't remember her ever being this late in the past.
Being a factory worker himself, Roben knows the schedules; he knows that her shift had ended about an hour ago, at seven. He knows that she would never go anywhere without telling him first.
He knows that she's fine, because isn't she always fine?
No no no, no, not always.
The tension in his shoulders melt away when he hears the familiar click and groan of a door opening then shutting from the front of the house.
He stays in place with his hands clutching onto the counter top, head bowed as he hears her light footfalls approach from the hallway.
"Peacekeepers holding you up?" He asks, listening to the way her shoes click on the floorboards as she makes her way over to the kitchen table and places something down. Listens as she comes up right next to him to rub soothing circles on his back. Feeling the way her hair tickles his forearm when she props her chin up on a shoulder. It's comforting.
"No," she says quietly, now tracing patterns along his shoulder blades. "But I got something for the both of us."
That catches Roben's attention.
He turns around, eying up her gleaming smile. "What?" His stare soon wanders over to the table, where two Peacekeeper uniforms are neatly folded and placed next to each other, then gives his wife a confused tilt of the head.
"We still need the shoes, but-"
"Wait, you... We're... going to be Peacekeepers?" He questions, the crease between his eyebrows deepening more and more.
Twill's smile only grows brighter. "Roben, we're gonna run away. We're gonna spread word of the rebellion!" She beams to her dumbfound husband. She traces the wrinkles creasing his forehead, wordlessly studying his face and kisses him.
She takes his hand in hers, gives it a tight, reassuring squeeze.
Silence falls. He can hear the ticking of the clock in their living room as the seconds pass.
"That wasn't part of the plan," Roben says at length.
"It's new, I know, but we can pull it off." When he doesn't respond, her smile wavers. "Hun, you can travel the world, just like you've always wanted," she says half-heartedly.
Even so, there's just too much room for error, and it sets him on edge. "At what cost? We'd be dead before we could even get over the fence."
"Not with those on." She alternates glances between her husband and the white and blue uniforms. "No one will notice with the uprising in full-swing."
Roben sighs, because she does have a good point there. "Thursday, right?"
"Yeah, that's the plan." The district rebels have been planning this for months, since the 74th Hunger Games had come to its, unique conclusion.
"And you're sure this is going to work?" He gazes into the warm, light brown eyes of his wife. Twill is probably single-handedly the most optimistic person he's ever had the pleasure of meeting. She's the bright spot on his rainy days.
"Positive." She says it with such conviction, and it makes him smile.
So he realizes that it's kind of a stupid question to ask. Of course she thinks that this plan of hers is going to work.
He may not fully agree with it, but then he looks at her again, really looks at her. She seems to passionate, so willing, so honest. That's when he decides that he would go through with it, if only for her.
He wraps his arms around her brings her close. "You don't think this is dangerous?"
"Oh, I do," she replies instantly, pulling away from her husband to look up at him. "But this will be our time to fight back. We can't just pass it up, who knows when the next uprising will be?"
Roben knows that she's right. He knows that she's thought every step through, and there isn't any good reason for him to be so wary.
Then he thinks, even if District 8 has some pretty lenient Peacekeepers milling about, that doesn't change the fact that it's their job to stop and prevent uprisings. They're supposed to keep the peace, and there couldn't be any peace in Panem with a rebellion going on.
Yet, with all that confusion and panic swarming around them, the real Peacekeepers would be too preoccupied to notice two more suits slip past the fence.
And then Roben remembers a moment from about a month back, and everything makes sense.
Twill had came home with one of her students for a tutoring session; a sweet little girl named Bonnie, and Roben just so happened to get in on a piece of their conversation.
"Well, Jamine told me there's a rip in the bottom of the fence near the library..."
"How big is it?"
Bonnie's reply came after a few seconds of silence, "Big enough for you."
"And my husband?"
"Uh..."
By that point, Roben had gone to a different part of the house and tried to tune them out. Any rebellious or treasonous words could be overheard by the wrong pair of ears, and if that happens... Well, let's just say it's not something he likes thinking about all too often.
Roben just sighs and hugs her tightly. "Okay."