I laughed so hard while writing this, and for a good reason. XP
Chapter 35
The ceremony, held a week after the arena exploded to allow their wounds to heal, was unlike any of the others. Instead of one victor, or two, there were nine. The entire thing had to be rethought, like it had been for the nightlock incident.
In the space below the stage, where everyone was still going through their last-minute preps and finishing touches, Petronius waited nervously. More crowds. More cameras. Great. He looked down at his black and blue suit and straightened it. It looked almost identical to the other five boys', except for the blue. Each had gotten a specific color that seemed to correspond with their preferences –– excepting Caius who didn't like colors, in which case his suit was just black and white; also excepting Marius who just had an all-black suit –– and his was blue.
He jumped at least three feet into the air when he felt the hand on his shoulder. "Juno!" he exclaimed when he turned around. He wondered how his stylist was able to sneak up on him like that, and was about to voice the thought when she said, "I guess you didn't hear me over the crowds."
Yes, that was likely. The crowds were very loud as they waited for their victors –– or perhaps targets? –– to emerge. "So, do you know how this is going to work?"
"Oh, it's simple. You'll go up one at a time for the ceremony, and since they're condensing the interviews and the crowning ceremony into one event –– "
"That's…not really what I was talking about. I meant with the rebels. Do you think they'll handle this?"
"Rebels rebelling against rebels?" Juno considered this with a smile. "Of course they will, especially after Artemis publicized the filmed footage of her conversation with Head Gamemaker Heavensbee. And President Paylor passed a law to protect you and the other victors."
Petronius couldn't hide the fact that he was shaking. "I'm… I'm just not sure if it worked," he admitted. "If it didn't, the rebels aren't going to take being defied very well."
"The rebels," Juno repeated thoughtfully. "Petronius, you do know that in this case, you are the rebels?"
"What do you mean?"
"It's as Artemis said. The sides have switched. You are the rebels now, not the current controllers of the government. Think about it."
Petronius did, and when it sank in, he looked up and met Juno's big blue eyes. She was so pretty, he realized, and…what had they been talking about? Oh yeah, the rebels.
"Thank you," he whispered. She nodded, straightened his dark blue tie, and strode away.
Petronius watched her until she vanished into the crowds, then exhaled. "Wow," he marveled. And as if in reply, he heard a whistle from behind him and spun around. Caius was perched on a stack of wooden crates as if he had been there the entire time –– how long had he been there, exactly?
"Cute girl," he remarked, absentmindedly fingering his loose black tie. The sleeve of his white shirt peeked out from under his black sports jacket and he tugged at it with his teeth. He caught the eye of Artemis across the room, froze, and then waved with the uplifted hand. She laughed, rolled her eyes, and turned back to her stylist.
Caius kept his eyes trained on Artemis a bit too long but it was obvious why –– Artemis's knee-length and strapless dress, which was mostly black and shimmered with faint rainbows when she moved, outlined her slim, girl-like figure perfectly. Her chin-length hair was brushed out smooth and a shimmery rainbow feather had been braided in on the side. She wore her token, the pearl pendant, around her neck. Her makeup had been done subtly, but so as to make her eyes wide and her smile softer, and with this combination she looked like a much younger, much more innocent girl. Which she definitely was not.
"You're not doing so bad yourself," Petronius replied after watching the silent exchange.
Caius let go of his sleeve and started fidgeting with his limp tie again. The top two buttons of his shirt had come undone, and the bottom was half untucked, but he didn't seem to care. But someone did, apparently, because right at that moment a heavyset, red-haired woman stormed over. "Caius Adrian Angelico, you stop messing up your outfit right this minute!" she bellowed, and Caius audibly groaned.
"But Lyrica, it's so tight…" he protested weakly as she tucked in his shirt, retied his tie, and whipped out a brush and hair gel to fix his hair.
"I won't have you looking like the ragamuffin you did at your interview!" she snapped. "Now hold still, and I'll brush out that spiky mass on your head that you call hair."
Caius mouthed Help me to Petronius, a message of desperation written across his face. Petronius was holding his hand over his mouth in a futile attempt to hide his smile. And it was when Lyrica started applying concealer to hide the bags under Caius's black eyes that Petronius was forced to turn away completely, lest he suffer the thoroughly irate glare that the younger boy was pointing at anyone who dared to glance in his direction.
"A small, sympathetic part of me tells me to help him," remarked Artemis as she approached Petronius, "but the rest of me, the amused part, is having too much fun to agree."
"That's my line," protested Petronius.
At that moment, Lyrica stepped back, revealing the finished product. Caius, or someone who was vaguely Caius's size, glowered at Petronius and Artemis as they stared open-mouthed. The scowl was the only thing that told them that Caius was still there, underneath that layer of civility his stylist had forced upon him –– tucked in and buttoned up shirt, neatly tied tie, brushed and gelled down hair (which was not in the least spiky and completely out of his face), shadowless eyes, and… was that glitter lip gloss?
"Now, you promise to stay nice and neat for the ceremony?" inquired Lyrica, her hands on her hips.
Caius nodded gravely. "I will."
"You won't mess it up?"
"I won't mess it up. I promise."
"Good." Lyrica nodded and sauntered off, bellowing to one of the assistants for him to please get her relaxing herbal tea. Caius sat calmly, watching Lyrica stride away, but the second she was gone he leapt off the crates, darted across the room, snatched a half-empty water bottle from a nearby table, and dove behind the crates. A few minutes later, he emerged, looking as disheveled as before with his untucked shirt, loose tie, tangled bedhead (which was made even spikier than before by the remnants of hair gel), dead eyes underlined with their natural shadows that evidenced lack of sleep, and no lip gloss.
"Aw, you promised her that you wouldn't mess it up," Artemis whined playfully as he approached them, with the now completely empty water bottle in hand.
"I didn't mess it up," replied Caius flatly. "I improved it."
Artemis rolled her eyes and ruffled his hair. "You're insufferable."
"Guys, we have go soon," called Iris, skipping up to them. She looked petite and elfin in her soft yellow, gauzy dress. The enormous, quiet Marius, who had gotten somewhat attached to the tiny girl since he had carried her as she was dying, was by her side. "The ceremony's starting soon."
They followed the very strange pair to the metal plate that would bring them up to the stage. "One at a time, one at a time," a woman called. "All right, all nine of you are here! Let's have Julius Kane first here, yes, good, followed by Cynthia Bell, good girl. And next, Lucius, then Marius, followed by Cornelius. Petronius, come. You're next, and Iris is after you, and then Caius –– ooh, I like your suit! Cute and casual! –– and Miss Gossamer, you are last."
The line moved forward, each victor stepping onto the plate and lifted up to the stage, only for the plate to come down soon after for the next. As Artemis, last in line, stepped onto the plate, she felt a sense of déjà vu as she realized that this plate was no different than the one that had taken her up into the arena.
But unlike the arena, she could not construct a control disk to handle this battle that was about to ensue.
Anyone here a Death Note fan? Have you seen that pic of L in a suit? Yup. That's Caius.
Second to last chapter will be posted Saturday…