Bound By Shadow
Summary: In which two halves of a whole question the legitimacy of a Rebellion.
Note: Haha, my twentieth story! Anyways, this is a oneshot. Will it stay that way? Possibly. Depends on you all, so review . . . if you think so.
Can any of you guess what I did to the names? There is a secret word hidden in both of my OC's names...combined.
The Apocalypse is coming. The Capitol will fall. A note is written on a small slip in neat, graceful swoops. Though easily discarded – whether by eating it or throwing it into the nearby flames – it is evidence. (How can something so small be so useful?)
A Mockingjay is stamped onto a cookie – a delicacy, a rarity – and is in the hands of Damien Aeropo, one of Two's miners in "the Nut." His scowl deepens as there are three knocks, then two, a five-second pause, and then four. The door creaks, and a woman steps in, careful.
"You are a fool," he says to Poppy le Tal, a woman he hoped – and still hopes, though in vain, he knows – to marry.
"And you are believing in false truths, Damien," she replies evenly. "Look me in the eye and tell me you like the way we live."
"I am content."
A deep grown would emit from the woman's throat if it could. "But I am not! The Hunger Games, the wedge between poor and rich – it's a cruel, heartless game! It's not . . . fair, not right. The Resistance is going stronger, Dame. People are tired of the unjust. And with the Quarter Quell so soon approaching! . . . Our own Victors being taken away like that." Her voice turns into a whisper. "It's almost as bad as the Games themselves."
"We're not Victors, Pop, nor are we the Capitol. We cannot rule this world; it would be chaos." The woman looks up defiantly.
"But we can try, Damian." A pause for a long moment. "I'm going, Dame, will you go with me?"
The answer is cold and hard and blunt. "No."
"Fine."
.
.
.
She leaves her District, hangs on with her dear life to that small piece of home: a locket given to her by Damien.
She wishes he chose to go with her.
.
.
.
Days after making it to Thirteen, she finds out the shocking truth: Damien Aeropo is dead. He died in the Nut during an "unfortunate mining accident," as they call it.
Hell, they can call it whatever they want.
But Damien Aeropo is dead, and so is most of Poppy le Tal.