Hi. I'm alive. Huge thanks to Cacatuidae and , who encouraged this chapter, I wouldn't be doing this so soon without you.
Percy shot up in bed, panting heavily. He shivered, the sweat previously dotting his arms and neck turning ice cold in the chilly October night. His hand instantly flew to the side of the bed, and to his relief, he found a little bundle there. Wrapped up in all the blankets they could spare lay Estelle, his little sister.
Percy didn't know what he would do without Estelle. Sure, to some she would seem like just another mouth to feed, nothing to be grateful for in District 12, but Percy loved her with all of his heart. She would be there for him when he came back from his backbreaking work in the mines, which he managed to secure by talking bribing, his mind chimed to the head.
It wasn't like the wealthy managers cared about people in the Seam anyway. The only reason the people who kept the entirety of 12 afloat were even tolerated was because they did just that - keep the entirety of 12 afloat. Or at least that's how Percy saw it.
He knew, just like everyone else, how District 13 was destroyed, and even though that was done by the Capitol to prove a point, he was sure they could do it just as easily to people they didn't need. And of course, it would be blamed on the person who "accidentally" let the missiles fire.
The guys framed would lose his job and likely be exiled to District 11, since 12 would cease to exist anymore, and all of District 12 would "relent" lives to "ensure the prosperity of the people".
Percy's resentment for the Capitol bubbled up for what had to be the thousandth time, and he did his best to suppress it, for the thousandth time for one simple reason - who will take care of Estelle if you're taken by the Capitol?
Percy rubbed his palms tiredly across his face, trying to create at least some sort of heat. It didn't work. Deciding he wasn't going to get anymore sleep that night, Percy sighed softly, and retreated from the relative warmth of the dingy mattress cautiously, not wanting to wake Estelle.
Percy's feet touched the freezing ground, and even though he was expecting it, it was a shock to his system. His feet treaded lightly across the floor of his house. It's really a shack, his brain supplied unhelpfully.
He realized he'd have to go right back to where he started, because if we were to go outside like he had planned, he would need his leather jacket. The very leather jacket that was draped over Estelle right now in an effort to keep her warm.
Resigning to the will of the Fates, Percy made his way over to Estelle, and physically cringed when she subconsciously wound up tighter to preserve body heat.
He quickly readjusted her blankets, then draped his over Estelle's tiny frame. Painfully small. Percy knew it was because she was malnourished, unlike what the Capitol seemed to think.
The running joke between Caesar Flickerman and his Capitol adorers went something like "being short must run in 12's blood!" and it never failed to make Percy grit his teeth.
Perfectly innocent children were starving, to the extent their bodies couldn't grow to their full potential, and those people had the audacity to-
Just then a cold breeze blew away the plank that hastily covered the window. It lifted a lock of hair that covered most of Estelle's face, and it made Percy freeze in his tracks.
Percy paused and took a moment to study Estelle's face. What he saw made his chest constrict. Every part of her screamed "impoverished".
Her face, newly illuminated by moonlight, looked pale and sickly, her dark lashes sticking to her skin. The grime that had collected on her face stood as a stark contrast to her normally tan complexion, dust that she couldn't wash off if she wanted, because of the lack of clean water. And perhaps most disturbing of all, her cheekbones stood out over her tightly stretched skin, with little fat to soften her face.
Percy didn't know why his hands were shaking. He knew this. He knew that Estelle was dirty, he knew that she didn't have enough to eat, hell, he knew that she had a cold that could very well kill her at only four years of life.
Percy took a shaky breath. But he also knew he didn't have the means to pay for the scarce barrels of water that came to the Seam, and he was having a hard time getting food on the table, and he was barely making the ends meet without having to worry about expensive medicine to treat a cold.
He wasn't enough. Even from the start, he had known that he wasn't, and he never could be. From the day their mother died, he knew it was impossible for a ten year old boy to raise and support himself and a two year old girl on his own.
He had to do something. He had to do something fast. And that, is when he decided to wait till daybreak and meet with the discreet group that met at first light and had fuller cheeks than anyone else at school. The Dawn Dealers.
SO. The Dawn Dealers. I actually have no idea who I want them to be so far, I could definitely use some suggestions.
