Author's Note:

I'm actually really terrible at updating when I promise to. I'm not doing it on purpose; maybe it's subconscious? Ahaha. Well thank you to everyone still sticking by me! You really are the best. :)

Lorea won in terms of votes. Though... barely? I don't know, haha, a lot of people recommended their own character (which is totally understandable). My goal is to get to everyone eventually. Hopefully. No promises because, as I've shown, I'm terrible at keeping them.

Semper Fi
"Always Faithful"
a Hunger Games (© Suzanne Collins) fanfiction

Intermission
Lorea & Lewis Carnet

Opening Song: "Keep the Streets Empty for Me" - Fever Ray

They're twins, but even from the moment of their birth you can tell them apart. Their features are almost identical — fair skin, gray eyes, blonde hair — but his are darker and hers much lighter. Lewis is more pronounced, exaggerated, and defined; Lorea is more likely to blend in, disappear, and fade away.

As they grow older, the discrepancies between them increase. Lewis is social and charismatic, easily loved and immediately embraced. He fits in with the crowd, makes friends with little to no trouble, can strike up a conversation and keep it with no discomfort. His classmates adore him, his friends love him, and their mother holds him up on a pedestal. He's what every boy his age wants to be and what every young girl yearns for.

Lorea is quiet, preferring the calmness of her own mind than the worthless chatter of her peers. She hides away in the corner, her nose tucked in a book, while her brother thrives in the crowd. She rarely speaks, and when she does it's with a sarcastic remark. Lorea isn't the most popular girl in school, but few people can claim to hate her. If anything, she's just invisible. She's used to hearing people, even classmates she's been with since kindergarten, whisper, "Who's that girl?" Even her mother doesn't recognize her most days.

But it doesn't matter. She doesn't need the approval of her peers or classmates or even her mother, because none of them matter. Lorea doesn't need to justify her existence by being well-liked or voted most popular; she's strong enough to exist on her own.

Lewis is her friend, her best friend. (Her only friend.) He listens to her and she listens to him, though admittedly he has a lot to talk about and she stops caring at some point. They have a sibling bond, but it's not the magical twin bond that novelists write about. If anything, it's a relationship based on convenience — they're friends because they have to be, because they're siblings and siblings are supposed to love and care for each other. They're friends because, without Lewis, Lorea would truly be alone. (Not that it matters, she tells herself. I don't need anyone. I don't need anyone. I don't need anyone.)

He loves his sister, and she cares for him more than anyone else, but Lewis can be mean. He's popular and he has a lot of friends; he's scared of being alone and losing them, so he tries to make them happy. And teenagers can be needlessly cruel.

Randy nudges Lewis and their group of friends, pointing a finger at Lorea, who's sitting at her desk with her head down. "Randy," Lewis says meekly, trying to get him to lay off, but Randy's voice is stronger than his. A whole group of them are crowded around her desk now, but she doesn't bother to look up at them. She already knows they're there. Lewis wants her to look up so that she can read the apology on his face.

Randy slams his hand down on the desk in an attempt to get a reaction. She jumps a little, but otherwise remains unfazed. He sneers. "What's up, Baby Carnet? Still too good to talk to us, huh? C'mon, don't you wanna hang out with your brother and his friends?"

"Randy," Lewis says again, but the addressed ignores him and no one else can hear him.

"Oh, that's right. Maybe you're embarrassed. Damn, that whole thing with Diego... Maybe you should've seen it coming, though." Lorea's ears turn red, giving away her shame immediately. Randy knows he's struck a nerve, and that brings a grin to his face. "Who the hell would wanna go out with you? You can't even look someone in the eyes without looking like you're gonna piss yourself. No one wants to date someone without a personality. 'Ey, Lewis, why don't you give your twin some lessons?"

Everyone turns to look at Lewis, who says nothing and merely shakes his head. Lorea, who steals a glance in his direction (hopeful and stupid, she'll think later), feels her lower lip tremble because of her brother's silence. (She repeats to herself I don't need anyone I don't need anyone.)

Randy teases her some more, until he gets bored. Everyone gets bored with Lorea eventually, even her own brother. Why else does he always walk away with his friends? Why else does he always end up leaving her behind?

He comes up to her after school, when she's packing her things and ready to run back to her dorm, and quickly grabs her before she can leave. "I'm sorry," he says, but it's like a whisper, a secret between just the two of them. Like no one else can know that he actually cares. "I shouldn't've told them about Diego. I didn't think Randy would bring it up."

Every time he messes up, he apologizes. And Lorea knows that he means it, that his words aren't entirely hollow even if they're meant to be a secret, that he really does love her. So Lorea forgives him each time, because he's her brother and her only friend, because she understands. She understands that teenagers are mean and need someone to torment, that she's the ideal target because she won't fight back, that her brother has to do what he can to be happy. She understands that sometimes she has to be collateral damage. She understands and she takes it every time, suppressing it and convincing herself that she doesn't care and that she doesn't need anyone.

Lorea does her best to ignore the pained voice in the back of her head, the one that reminds her of his constant betrayal. It surfaces every time his friends make jokes at her expense and he does nothing to stop them, every time he stands her up to hang out with them instead, every time he tries to apologize. It grows stronger with each incident, but Lorea stays quiet and makes sure that it does as well. Because feeling a sense of betrayal and pain means that she cares, and she doesn't.

Lorea is the social outcast, the loser, the family disappointment, the daughter her mother never wanted. The world chooses to ignore her when it doesn't want to slander or mock her, and she fades into the background without much complaint. She doesn't want to stand out in a crowd of unintelligent bullies, who've tormented her only for being alive.

And Lewis knows that this is wrong. He knows that no one should be this way or feel this way, that he should do what he can as her friend and twin to make her feel like she belongs. But Lorea is quiet and withdrawn and uncomfortable, everything that he's not, and sometimes he doesn't even know how to talk to her. Besides, he internalizes at some point, she will always forgive him and take him back. She has to.

Closing Song: "Trash" - The Whip

I wanna be trash, and I have become the trigger for your gun

I was really excited when I got the twins as a submission, and I'm glad I got to expand on their personalities and dynamic here, even if it's short. I hope it gave some insight to them and their complex relationship (even if it doesn't necessarily make you like Lorea more, haha).

I'll see you in the next installment, hopefully soon!

may the odds be ever in your favor,
der kapitan