The Living Games
A/N Omg When I wrote this chapter, I still hadn't written chapter 7. I managed to write two chapters ahead instead of just writing chapter 7. I'm thinking about doing a chapter in Arianna's POV, but idk, so let me know what you guys want. I added in a little Zubrey in for you too! (Btw, that's Zane and Aubrey's ship name. Either that or Aane, which sounds weird. Zanbrey, Aubrane . . . yeah, let's go with Zubrey.) I love the moment at the end between the two sisters. Their relationship is amazing to write, and so fun! If you have any problems with the story, feel free to say them! I'm posting this like three months after I wrote it . . . gosh, I'm ahead.
Chapter Nine: You can Tell Me Anything ( Or, I Ain't worried 'bout Nothing . . .)
Today was the day Aubrey got to see her sister. It was a Tuesday, which also meant no school since it was the day the tributes came home, dead or alive. It made no sense to Aubrey why they canceled random days instead of just canceling school for the whole event. Maybe sometime in the future.
She had gotten the best sleep of her life last night. She slept knowing the next day she would see her sister, and even though their impending deaths were on her mind too, that could be dealt with later.
She jumped off her 'bed' on the floor and went to the kitchen by following the smell of breakfast.
She gasped when she saw what was on the table. Fresh eggs scrambled to perfection, non-expired milk, slices of toast, and . . . orange juice?
"Ma!" Aubrey said, forgetting that she was supposed to be mad at her. "What is this?"
"Well, since we'll be moving into the Victors' house today, we won't need the money we have. I spent the rest of it giving us a good breakfast. We'll be in the house with the money by the next meal, so it won't matter anymore. I believe lunch will be more extravagant."
She was so happy she almost hugged her. Until she remembered the whole Arianna situation.
"Mhmm. Seems weird to me how you can use her money when you gave up hope on her."
"We didn't have a clue as to what she would do. Looking at those other tributes, she didn't stand a chance and you knew it. District Twelve doesn't teach anything other than mining and country history. Or, what they allow us to hear about it, I should say."
She did have a point. District Twelve doesn't teach you for you to become smart, they teach you so you can become a miner or a shop keeper. There's not much to mining but hitting rocks and hoping you don't die, and shop keeping is mostly taught by your parents. You're either born smart and you don't realize it, or you teach yourself to be smart. Aubrey always knew Arianna was clever, and when she wanted to, she could be sneaky.
Cady walked out of the bathroom and saw the breakfast.
"Oh my! Ma, this wasn't necessary!" She was just about screaming at the top of her lungs.
Aubrey laughed and was happy she still had one oblivious sister.
They sat down to eat. It was the quietest breakfast their family had ever had. Their father was also nowhere to be found.
"Where's . . . dad?" Aubrey asked when they finished.
"He went to go get some more food. He should be back in a few."
Aubrey cleared the table and excused herself.
After changing into an almost knee length white dress with short sleeves, she opened the door.
"I'll be back to meet you guys at the station. Bye."
She left before anyone could say otherwise. Zane would usually be trading that day, but with the trains coming in and the Peacekeepers, he didn't think it was safe.
Smart guy.
Just at the mention of his name, Aubrey's face twitched up into a bright smile. She was actually happy for once, and the day was going good. The sun was shining, and there was a cool breeze running through town. The sunlight made her feel giddy, and the weather couldn't have been better. She was going to see Zane, her sister was coming home against all odds, and she would no longer sleep on the floor in her run down house. That day was a good day.
A great day.
She started skipping as she neared the edge of town, and she just smiled when people gave her weird looks. She saw Zane coming out of the Seam, so she went up to meet him.
He looked up and smiled as he saw her coming towards him.
On the way there, someone bumped into her and dropped all the apples in their crate.
"Sorry," they mumbled and started picking up the apples.
"S'okay."
She giggled and helped them pick up the apples and told them to have a nice day. They looked at her weirdly before thanking her and walking off.
"Okay," Zane said as she hugged him. "Who are you and what have you done with Aubrey? Skipping? Smiling? Giggling? Helping strangers? Not getting pissed off when bumped into? Oh, you are definitely not Aubrey."
She laughed at him.
"I'm just in a really good mood. I get to see you, my sister isn't dead. I'm not poor anymore . . . Today is just a good day. And I love the sunlight." Zane raised an eyebrow at her. "I know, I know, it seems like I should like hail and thunderstorms, but every time I see the sunlight shining through the windows and everywhere else, I just get so happy, and I just know it's gonna be a good day. I also love rain. I love to play in it and feel the cool water against my skin."
"So . . . you're a plant, that's what you're saying."
She slapped his arm.
"No! Why would I be a plant?"
"You love rain and sunlight . . . sounds like a plant to me. Maybe a sunflower or a daisy."
She scoffed.
"Yeah, well I'm not a plant, or a sunflower, or anything else . . . you know what, let's just go."
"Go where?"
Hmm. Where to go?
She had the perfect idea.
"Come on."
She grabbed his hand and laced their fingers together. She would make this day a good day, no matter what happened. If the world was trying to bring her down, she would fight harder to stay up.
They arrived in the meadow a few minutes later.
It was beautiful.
The flowers had sprouted, and colors ranging from red, blue, purple, yellow, orange, green, pink, and even white, were littering the grass. The sunlight was perfect against the colors, and the grass was a bright green. It was even better then when they had first seen it that day they kissed . . .
Oh, they were going to have so much fun.
They ran around the meadow, chased each other, played tag, guess the flower, and charades. They laughed and kissed and screamed like children. It was the best day they'd ever had together.
Later, at almost noon, they just lied in the grass holding hands and looking up at the blue sky.
"Today is the best day of my life . . . ever," Zane told her.
"Same. I wish I could stay here forever, but the train should be pulling up in a couple minutes, and I need to greet my sister."
"Oh, yeah. I almost forgot about that."
"You wanna come?" Aubrey really liked the idea of him properly meeting Arianna, seeing them get along, gossiping about him to Arianna . . .
"Yeah. I have to go with the district anyway. We can stop by my house and tell my mom not to wait for me."
They stood up and brushed themselves off. Just as they were about to start walking, Zane took his hands from behind his back (had they been there the whole time?), and handed Aubrey a handful of different color flowers, but mostly yellow ones. They were all so beautiful.
"Oh my . . ."
Zane blushed.
"I know they aren't nearly as beautiful as you, but I want you to have them."
It was Aubrey's turn to blush.
"This is so cliché. But thanks. How'd you know yellow was my favorite color?"
She tucked the flowers behind her ear.
She entwined their fingers together and they were off.
"I didn't, but I guess mother nature did. And I always thought your favorite color would be something aggressive like red."
She shook her head. "No, I like yellow the most because I feel like it's the most underrated color. People are so obsessed with the beautiful blues and reds and blacks of the world that they don't take the time to appreciate yellow. Yellow represents peacefulness, warmth, happiness, all good things. But a deep yellow can also radiate irritation and annoyance. I feel like that describes what I think I am. Peaceful on the outside and a bit within, but also ready to attack."
Zane chuckled.
"And here I thought you'd have some small reason like 'because the sun is yellow' which can be argued because we're seeing it from a distance and it's a ball of energy which would mean lots of varying colors—"
"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Science Explanation. We get it. What are you gonna explain next, why the sky is blue?"
"Well it's actually a reflection off of the—"
"Okay," she laughed, "chill. There's no school today and I'm taking full advantage of that."
As they fell into a comfortable silence, she had to admit she was nervous about possibly seeing his mom. After that day of eavesdropping in the woods, she knew his mom didn't like Merchants, even though she used to.
She took a deep breath and soldiered on. She didn't want to appear weak, even if it was just Zane.
In a few minutes, they were at Zane's house. It was a one story dark blue house, with the paint chipping and peeling off in places. It looked run down like all the other houses in the Seam, but it also looked better. You could actually see what color his house was painted with. It also had two windows in the front.
"Wait here. I'll be right back."
Zane went inside the house and closed the door behind him.
A few seconds later, she saw a small head peaked out from behind the curtains. The girl had long brown hair, with big . . . brown eyes? Every one in the Seam usually had grey, but a few had blue and other colors. Aubrey guessed she was one of them. It was like how some of the Merchants had light brown hair, especially the older ones, the ones with kids.
The girl looked no older than six. She waved at Aubrey, and Aubrey waved back. The little girl smiled and giggled, and disappeared from view.
Zane came back out again, and the little girl was hugging him.
"I'll see you later, Kiona."
"Kiona?" she asked when the door closed.
"Yeah. She's my cousin. My great-great grandparents were really into mythology. They studied it, but they didn't really believe in it. All their old books were lost in the war. I only have what stories they told my parents to go off on."
"Mythology?" She was sure he mentioned it before. "Oh yeah, gods and goddesses and stuff. We don't learn this type of stuff in school."
"Yeah. It was bigger back before the dark days. My mom used to tell me stories about them."
She didn't ask him about the 'used to.'
"Who was Kiona? Was she Egyptine, Romana or something like that?"
Zane laughed. "Egyptian, and Roman. And no, there are many forms of mythology for different beliefs. She was named after Khione, the goddess of the North Wind, and winter. Daughter of Boreas. At least that's what my mom told me. No one really knows a lot about it anymore."
"Cool." She'd heard a lot about what people used to believe in back before the dark days, but she'd never heard about mythology, except from what she knew from Zane.
(A/N As some of you know, I've recently finished the two Percy Jackson series. As in recently, I mean two days ago. Ugh, dammit. I really hate posting prewritten chapter A/N's because the dates don't match up. Well, if you care, today is September 20th, 2015, so I finished the book on the 18th. Anyway, I just had to. Even though Khione was a bitch, but she was still how *SPOILER* Leo met Calypso. Oh, spoiler. lol)
They walked to the square. It was filled up with the District, but they parted for Aubrey.
They still had a few minutes to wait, so she rested her head on Zane's shoulder and sighed contently. Life was good right now, and she knew it wouldn't last forever.
The train pulled up a few minutes later, and Aubrey squeezed Zane's hand in excitement.
She saw her sister waving from the window, and as the District cheered for her, Aubrey was the loudest, and the happiest by far.
The train doors opened, and Arianna ran towards Aubrey. She let go of Zane's hand and met her sister halfway.
They spun each other around, screaming and crying. She didn't care how they looked, neither of them did. All that mattered was that they were together, and nothing would tear them apart.
After screaming for a few more minutes, they met the rest of their family. Aubrey had whispered to her how they didn't believe in her, and all Arianna did was nod.
She hugged her mother and father hesitantly, but warmly, and she picked up Cady and spun her around as she squealed in delight.
Zane joined her again, and they set off the go move their stuff into the Victors' Village.
After moving into their new house and receiving a tour, Zane went home. They had already eaten lunch, and they had been in the room for about an hour. Aubrey and her sister still lay on the bed together upstairs. Despite the house having five gazillion rooms, they decided to room together. They lied next to each other on their backs, holding hands.
Arianna drew patterns with her finger on her stomach where the shirt revealed her skin. Aubrey saw her scar from when the boy from 3 stabbed her, although it was barely there, just enough to remind her of what happened.
They lied in silence until Arianna said, "It's good to be home."
Aubrey sighed. "It's good to have you home."
"I missed you guys so much, and I was only gone for two weeks. I don't wanna leave again."
"Don't leave again, then. Problem solved."
Arianna laughed with no humor. "It's not that simple. I've gotta mentor. Well, I might not if he goes through with his plan . . . And . . . they've . . . offered me a choice, which I took to keep you guys alive . . ."
"What kind of choice?"
"You really wanna know?"
"You can tell me anything."
"You're only fourteen."
"I've seen too much, heard too much, and been through too much to be only fourteen. Spill."
Arianna could tell Aubrey anything. They had always shared their secrets with each other, and they were very close, even with the two year difference.
"They . . . They want me to . . . entertain guys. They said if I didn't they'd kill you all. President snow said I made the right choice. I was just the age limit to do it."
"Entertain? That's a load of bull."
"I know, right?"
"So . . . you're saying they want you to—"
"Aubrey, don't say the really blunt version of what I said. I know you get it."
Aubrey sighed. "But that's crazy! Why would he want you to do that? He's a sick bastard, that's what he is."
"Damn right."
"Have you already . . . ?"
"One guy. It was horrible, but not bad enough for me to not be able to joke about it. He acted all nice and shy at dinner, then we we went to his house he was all mean and commanding. And that little shit made me pay for dinner."
Aubrey knew she shouldn't, but she laughed. Oh, she missed her sister. She turned a bad situation into a... less horrible one. She didn't hide her pain and feeling behind her words, though. She let you know how she felt, and she didn't sugar coat.
"How rude. Did he at least put out?"
Arianna laughed, but with her usual humor this time. "Oh yeah. It doesn't mean I liked it though. The whole time I kept imagining what it would be like if it was with . . ."
"With . . . ?"
"Two people, actually. It's complicated."
Aubrey remembered the guy from District One, and how he and Arianna both said they had no one at home, but people at the games . . .
"Was it . . . Wine?"
Arianna scoffed, but smiled. "Shine. He was sweet, and not at all like the regular Careers. He was willing to die for me. He was the only person I told about the plan, and he even helped me on it. It was so fun to sneak around the training room and the building we were staying at with him. I wish I could bring him back, wish I didn't have to do what I did. But he told me to win. To win for him, and win for you guys."
Aubrey stayed silent, but squeezed her hand.
"And?"
"That hunk, Josh."
"Josh?"
"Yeah. I think his real name is Joshua, though."
Aubrey almost choked.
"Does he have brown hair? Brown eyes?"
"Yeah. How'd you know?"
"He . . . He's Zane's brother!"
Arianna blushed. "Oh. Oh. Wait, who's Zane?"
Aubrey smirked.
"He was just at the tour. That guy was Zane."
"Okay. Josh just seems like a jerk sometimes."
Aubrey laughed. "Oh, he is. But he's a good jerk. He is kinda cocky at times, but when you get to know him, he's funny and sweet."
"That's good. I just hope he makes me feel as good as Shine."
"Did you guys . . . ?" Aubrey asked.
Arianna blushed a bit. "It was a desperate moment. We both thought we were gonna die, so we did it."
Aubrey poked her in the stomach. "Oh, you player, you."
The silence came back, but it was a comfortable silence, the kind that wasn't weird.
After a couple minutes, they started talking again, until they talked for hours.
They both ended up falling asleep either really late at night, or really early in the morning. Good thing they had already eaten dinner.
Kinda.