The woods feel more cramped than usual, as Merida stomps through the trees, bow in hand. They seem so different, and yet, a sense of familiarity hangs on the branches of the pines. Her feet ache and a sharp pain throbs in her calf muscle; a painful reminder of the events past.
The entire world seems to have gone quiet. The wind doesn't rustle the leaves that paint the sky orange and red. The branches don't creek, the animals have ceased their scuttling. It almost feels unnatural. Uneasily, Merida holds her bow in front of her, ready for whatever the silence threatens to release.
The twig that snaps under her feet makes her cringe and stand still. She's better than this. In all of her years of hunting, why, all of a sudden, has she slipped up and made a noise? Something moves behind a tree that catches in Merida's peripherals. She turns and steps, gingerly, toward the trunk of the towering oak.
She takes a deep breath and pivots around the tree, ready to let an arrow fly at her mystery stalker, but when her eyes meet the culprit, panic grips her throat and she nearly drops her bow at her feet.
"Poor form, Red, letting yourself off guard like that."
Merida doesn't have to think twice about firing the arrow. It whizzes through the air but before the arrow can even reach the tall, brunette, she is already dead.
Oceana lays at her feet, a broken, bloody mess. But instead of pride, Merida feels petrified. Her entire body quakes with fear.
Don't turn around. Don't turn around!
But it's too late. She turns, faced with a site that has haunted her for the past 11 months.
Jack, lodging a spear into his own chest, as he crumbles to the ground. Only instead of silence, he looks up at her and whispers her name.
"Merida..."
The guilt floods through her veins.
I should have stopped him! I should have saved him!
"Jack!" She screams, running for him, something that she had only wished she had done back in the arena, but every time she seems to draw closer to him, a huge gust of wind blows her back.
White light blinds her as she fights her way to her dying friend and she calls out his name again.
"Jack! Jack! Hold on Jack!"
The light is too strong for her now and she feels herself jolt upright.
Her mother stands on the far side of her bedroom, drawing back the curtains and letting in the sunlight. She wears a frown as she turns to face her daughter.
"I'm sorry," she says, softly. "I didn't mean to wake you like that. You were talking...I just assumed you were awake."
Merida blinks to take in her surroundings. The room is still unfamiliar to her, and as comfortable as her new bed is, Merida can't seem to get a restful night of sleep in it.
For winning the Hunger Games, Merida had received a brand new, fairly extravagant, house for her and her family to live, in what was known as Victor's Village. Her brothers had taken to it quite easily, and so had her mother. It was definitely much more modern than the mildewy shack where they had once abided. Her father, however, was indifferent to it all.
Merida shifts under her comforter and pushes her tangled mess of hair out of her face.
"I was talking?" She asks, giving her mother a curious look. The woman only shrugs and draws back the second set of curtains.
"Nothing important..." She trails off, rubbing her hands together, once the windows are open, letting in the cool, summer breeze.
The world outside was a brilliant green and sandy brown, contrasting wildly with the white walls that surrounded her. Everything was clean and everything was white. She hated it.
"Nothing important," Merida mutters, repeating her mother's words, but she knows that they are lies. She knows what name she's called out in the middle of every night; which familiarly, nightmarish scene had plagued her sleep for the past year.
And he was anything but "not important".
"I made breakfast," Merida's mother says, turning to face her. "Eggs and toast." The look of pride in her eyes always made Merida feel a little bit better about winning the games. Her family was now very well off, as food was never an obstacle anymore. She had even been generous enough to take extra food down to the other citizens of District 10, but mostly, it went to the owner of the stables, Mr. Haddock, Hiccup's father. She feels like it is only right that he should share in their wealth, seeing as he's lost his only son.
The food was one thing the Merida doesn't mind being given by the Capital.
Well that, and immunity.
The most important thing in her life, since returning from the Games, was making sure that her brothers never have to face another Reaping, ever again. Pitch had complied, only once Merida promised to do something she never dreamed of doing in a million years.
Merida had promised President Pitch that she would mentor the next round of Tributes from District 10.
"Are you coming?" Her mother snaps her back into reality, as she begins to exit the room. Merida nods quickly and folds her hands on her lap.
"Erm, yeah. I'll be down." She smiled weakly. "Could you give me a minute?"
Her mother nods and walks out, closing the door shut behind her.
Merida is left alone in the familiarly, unfamiliar bedroom. She rubs her temples before tossing off her blankets and throwing her legs over the side of the bed. Stretching, she stands up and moves toward the window to soak up the sun.
The view of Victor's Village is very much unlike the rest of District 10. The road is paved and there are several large houses lining the street. The hills are nowhere to be seen out of this window. Merida had always walked past the village as a child and daydreamed of what it would be like to live in one of the extravagant houses, but now that she was actually doing so, she wanted nothing more than her old, rustic, shack of a home.
Merida strips out of her night dress and underwear, letting them drop in a heap on the hardwood floor. She stands there, naked, in front of the large mirror that hangs on the far wall. There are scars that paint her body like abstract art. The most noticeable of them is the one on her leg. It flares a brilliant, bright pink and stretches the length of her calf. Merida doesn't care about hiding any of her other wounds, but this one...
This one makes her relive the most painful memory of her entire life. Whenever she sees the inflamed skin, her mind races with images of Oceana's dark eyes that flash with bloodlust.
The door to her bedroom swings open with a great force and Merida's face flushes in panic. She quickly lunges for the bed, ripping off the sheets, and throwing them around her naked body.
"Could you knock!" She yells, turning back to see who the culprit is. Esmeralda saunters into the room and raises an eyebrow, before tapping her knuckles against the doorframe, almost sarcastically.
"Oops," she says flatly, entering, despite not getting a direct answer. Merida blushes, embarrassed and glares at her.
"What the hell, Es!? Don't you understand the concept of privacy?" Esmeralda only shrugs and steps into the room, folding her arms across her chest.
"I've seen you naked, during Mal's dress-up sessions, Merida. It's not something I'd willingly see again." Her smirk makes Merida roll her eyes and move quickly to her dresser, still holding up her sheet.
"Don't remind me of those," she groans.
During the Victory Tour, Maleficent had decided to tag along and dress Merida, for each District, in different apparel. Usually, the dressing would happen in the main room of their train. It was as if she had never even learned what "privacy" meant.
Merida throws on fresh underwear and pulls out a t-shirt with a decent sized, brown stain on the front. Out of her peripherals, she can see Esmeralda frown.
"You're not going to wear that, are you?"
"Why not?" Merida narrows her eyes and wrinkles her nose at her former mentor.
"Have you forgotten already?"
Forgotten what?
But Merida doesn't need to ask. The quizzical look on her face must be enough, because Esmeralda is already rolling her eyes and moving to dig through her dresser.
"You're meeting with Pitch and the other mentors today at four o'clock to be briefed on your duties this year." She pulls out a deep red, short sleeved dress and eyes Merida curiously. "I think you're the only new one this time, so I take it you'll actually have to pay attention."
"I'm not wearing that," Merida snorts at the gown in disgust. "I stopped wearing what you people tell me after I got out of the arena."
Es shakes her head in annoyance and tosses the dress at the stubborn redhead.
"You might not always have to listen to me," she says, crossing her arms, "but you'll always have to answer to Pitch."
"To hell with him."
Whenever Merida hears his name, a shiver of rage runs through her body. She has never loathed a human being as much as she loathed him. But as angry as she is, she knows that it's pointless to take it out on Esmeralda. After all, she had been the only person in District 10 who understood what Merida was dealing with after the games, and for that, she is grateful.
Feeling humbled by that realization once again, she steps into the red dress and sighs.
"Tie me up, would'ja?" Merida ask, presenting her back to the woman, who smiles, triumphantly.
"You should wear red more often," she says, pulling the strings of her gown, tightly. Merida rolls her eyes and doesn't reply. She has never been one to take compliments sincerely.
"What time are we leaving?" She asks, straitening up, as Es finishes tying her dress. Her former mentor frowns a bit and averts her eyes.
"You have to be at the train by one." Merida turns and give her an uneasy look.
"Why do you mean 'you'?" Es crosses her arms and sighs. "You're coming with me, right?"
"I have other obligations," she mutters, not looking Merida in the eye. The redhead is about to protest, when she cuts her off. "But Tooth will be going with you." Merida frowns.
"I'd rather go alone, than with Toothiana."
"You know, as annoying as she might be, she really does care about you." Esmeralda moves across the room, toward the door. "And Hiccup too."
Merida is caught off guard by the mention of the boys name. She turns her gaze to the floor and chews on her lower lip.
"Yeah," is all she can manage to say.
As much as she can't stand the Capitol-bred, rainbow-haired woman, she knows how hard it was for her to lose Hiccup. He was kind to her and polite. After Merida's return, she remembers hearing Tooth's muffled cries, late at night, on the Victory Tour. Every now and then, she could even hear her humming that old lullaby that she'd taught Hiccup and her. And it broke Merida's heart to know that the petite, normally cheerful, lady was crushed by the loss of one of her closest friends.
"All I can do is wish you luck." Esmeralda interrupts her private thoughts, and raises an eyebrow at her. Merida fakes a smile.
"Thanks."
She looks at her dresser and wrinkles her nose. Glistening, beside her hairbrush, is a small, golden, horse pin. She traces her fingers along the figure and sighs. She scoops it up in her palm and pins it to her chest, in plain sight. The memories that flood through her brain make her head pound.
Esmeralda lets out a heavy sigh and stands in the doorway, playing with her bracelets. She looks disgruntled, but doesn't say anything. Merida clears her throat to fill the gaping silence in the air.
"I should probably get to breakfast..." She moves to slide passed Es, and out the door but is stopped by overwhelming emotion and instead, pulls her into a hug. The raven-haired woman is clearly shocked at first, but eases up and returns the hug after a moment.
"You're on your own this time around," Es says, her voice, muffled by Merida's tangled mess of hair. "And it's not any easier on the other side of the Games."
"I know." Merida pulls away from the hug and whisks her way out of the room, without another word. As she turns to head down the steps, she takes a quick glance back to see Esmeralda standing against the doorframe, rubbing her temples. For the first time since Merida has known the woman, she looks, almost fragile.
Author's Notes:
*fanfare*
Hello all! And welcome back for another exciting installment of the Hunger Games AU series! :D
I'm so thrilled to be writing a sequel to We Could Be Heroes!
I hadn't expected to be writing it so soon after ending the first, but I was feeling drawn to it and was having some post-fic-withdraw and just HAD to keep going.
I have a lot planned out for this fic, and it's gonna be longer than WCBH.
Can't wait to have another adventure with these characters!
Next chapter, to be updated soon!