Shade Colresse

A/N: I'm back! Would you believe me if I said I had to do 5 assignments over Christmas break? I wouldn't, either, but it's true. I was going to post yesterday, but it didn't work for some reason.

Thanks for reviewing, Steady Silence! It's nice to hear some advice. :)

The metallic yellow light of the streetlights illuminated Shade's face, and twinkled in her electric green eyes. She leaned back onto the stone wall of Le Pompeii. Dinner had been amazing. The spicy food of the heat-themed restaurant had made her tongue tingle with heat, but not enough for it to be unnerving. The voices of people going out to eat the night before the Reaping echoed all around her, and the black sky signaled nightfall, meaning that Shade had broken curfew, again.

Next to her was Lumiere, her boyfriend, a handsome boy with deep, brown eyes, pale skin, sandy-blonde hair, and a slim figure. He had been the one to ask her out to dinner, and Shade was glad that he did. By the way his eyebrows were knit, Shade could tell that something was wrong.

"What's wrong?" she asked him.

Lumiere turned to her, his face full of worried desperateness, but he didn't respond.

Shade made the connection. "You're afraid that I'm going to be Reaped, isn't it?"

Lumiere sighed. "Yeah. But, you know what I mean, don't you? How do you think I could deal with losing you?"

"Lumiere, I'm probably not going to be Reaped, anyways."

"But what if you are?" Lumiere replied, his tone of voice becoming serious and tense.

Shade leaned closer to Lumiere. Shade was somewhat tall for her age, so she stood at eye-level with Lumiere.

"You know that I could win, 'Lumi'. You have no reason to doubt that I could come out of the arena alive."

Lumiere had started to become frustrated. "Why did you even volunteer?!" He looked at her with concern.

"I have the capability to win," Shade explained. "It's not like I'm trying to leave you."

Lumiere was silent. He walked over to Shade, and she looked right into his eyes.

"I love you, Shade. I just don't want anything to happen to us."

He leaned in and kissed her, and Shade slowly wrapped her arms around his neck. His lips were soft, and her whole body tingled when they touched hers.

After a few seconds, Lumiere slowly pulled back.

"Good night," he told her, and began to walk home.

Shade watched him turn the corner and disappear behind the restaurant. Only then did Shade begin to make her way home.

On the way home, she passed a sign stapled to a wooden telephone pole. She stopped to read it.

"Parents, why are you letting your children volunteer for their own demise? Stop the volunteering, stop the heartbreak," she read. Shade shrugged, and continued home.

The cool summer night air hovered all around Shade as she reached home, the moon just peeking out into the sky over the horizon. Shade reached the back door of her house pulled out a silver key, gently placing it into the lock and turning it clockwise. There was a tock sound as the door unlocked, and she went inside.

Shade was immediately met by her parents, who were standing by the kitchen counter. Her mother, Roxanne, a tall woman with reddish-brown, curly hair, wearing a loose, orchid-colored top and jeans, had her hands on her hips, her green eyes staring directly into Shade's. Her face showed general annoyance. Her father, Claude, seemed more worried than mad.

"Where have you been?" Roxanne sneered. "It's an hour past your curfew, you know."

"Lumiere took me out to dinner," Shade responded, not showing any sort of fear or worry as she looked at her mother.

"Where?" her mother questioned, not trusting Shade's words.

"Le Pompeii."

"What time?"

"Seven."

"Why are you back so late?"

"It was a busy night."

"Was it, or were you just getting busy with Lumiere?" Her voice was as sharp as a blade, and it cut deep into Shade's train of thought.

It hurt that her mother would accuse her only child of something so… immature. But, that was her mother; always accusing her daughter of having rowdy, kinky, or some other type of obnoxious behavior on the frequent event of a broken curfew.

Thus, the verbal standoff continued.

Later that night, Shade tossed and turned in her warm bed covers, trying to coax her body into sleep. Her argument with her mother ended in silence, without any sort of punishment, as it always did, and with no intrusion from her kind, but timid father.

The creaking of the wooden stairs signaled that someone was coming up the stairs, and her bedroom door opened, her father stepping in.

"Shade?" Claude whispered. "I know you're still awake."

Shade, being on better terms with her father than her mother, turned on her bedside table lamp with the flip of a switch.

"What is it?" Shade yawned, getting a better look at her father as he sat down on the bed. His black hair was messy, and his eyelids were drooping, which covered part of his blue eyes.

"Can I talk to you?"

"About what?"

"Your mother."

"Oh, dear."

Claude chuckled. "Look, Shade. I don't believe that you intentionally break your curfew. You're seventeen, and you're a lot more mature than your mother sees you as. You can have your freedom, but you still need to let us know where you're going before you go out with your friends, or Lumiere."

"That doesn't mean that she has to go all crazy on me when I come back."

"She does it because she's afraid for you."

"Then, why does she accuse me of rebelling when I'm just late home?" Shade was beginning to get frustrated with her father. He wasn't making much sense.

Claude looked down, sighing. "You know Uncle Micah, right?"

"Yeah," Shade replied, not getting the point. "Mom's brother. He got killed by Peacekeepers when he was twenty."

"Do you know why?"

The reason hadn't ever come into Shade's mind, so she shook her head.

"He got drunk with his two friends and they thought that they could take on a guy with a gun; show 'em who's boss."

The information started to come into place like the pieces of a puzzle.

"Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that your mom is a bit paranoid. She thinks that you're going to end up like Micah if you keep breaking curfew. Do you get it?"

"I get it, but it still seems absurd," Shade admitted.

"It is," Claude agreed. "But I can't do much about it." He kissed Shade on the forehead. "Goodnight, Shade."

"Good night," Shade yawned, turning off her bedside lamp, darkening the room. Slowly, she nestled herself into her bed covers and drifted off to sleep.

District One had a hot climate, located in an area that, Shade had learned, had once been the state of California. It was a good thing that her Reaping outfit, a beige blouse with a matching skirt that brushed against her calves, was comfy and breathable.

She walked to the District's Justice Building with Lumiere. Not much was said, but Shade could tell that Lumiere was nervous by the gentle, steady shaking of his hand, which held hers. They separated into their sections separately, sharing a kiss before they left.

Shade had never really liked how the Reaping had been set up. Could the government at least provide some chairs for the ceremony? Standing kept her on edge.

She found herself next to April Thryton, a prissy, stuck-up girl that was always talking about how she'd be Reaped for the Quell. She had certainly dressed up for the occasion, wearing a champagne-gold evening-gown that complimented her platinum- blonde hair, along with white four-inch heels.

If she were Reaped, it would be good riddance.

After an over-exaggerated speech from Levi, a treaty reading, and a film, Levi turned to the female volunteer bowl. April leaned forward in expectation. No doubt that her millionaire mother had bribed a few more slips with her name on it into the bowl.

"Shade Colresse," Levi read.

Silence.

Shade looked at April. Her jaw hung open, and her back was curved forward in a primitive fashion. She then turned to Shade, giving her a piercing death-stare.

Shade quickly made her way to the stage before April could say anything. Her introduction was quick, and she tried to look as mature as possible throughout the rest of the Reaping, even though she was in shock about her Reaping.

The other three tributes were Reaped, but she only identified Trip, who was in a couple of her classes at school. At least, to Shade, they all looked formidable.

The goodbyes were the hardest hour of Shade's life. The first to enter the room was Claude, his eyes watering up with tears.

"Where's Mom?" Shade asked, immediately concerned.

Claude froze, shutting his eyes in regret.

"She… didn't want to see you. She thinks that you did this on purpose, to rebel. I didn't know how to explain it to her, and she left."

Shade, disappointed, closed her eyes and shook her head, pressing her fingers on her forehead.

"She needs help, Dad," Shade explained.

"I know," Claude sighed. "How am I supposed to tell her that she needs mental help, though?"

"Don't you know your own wife, Dad?!" Shade raised her voice.

"I didn't marry her when she was ill!"

"I don't care!" Shade yelled. "Take some responsibility and get her some help!" She breathed heavily. A chill came over her, and she felt bad for yelling at her dad.

But he didn't care. Embracing Shade in a hug, he whispered in her ear with the raspy voice he got when he was solemn, "I just want you to come back."

He gently placed Shade's token, a crystalized rose petal, shimmering and sharp, in her hand. She knew what it meant. The Peacekeeper stationed in the room signaled the end of the meeting, and, then, Claude kissed her forehead, and exited the room.

She watched the door shut, cherishing her moments with her father. She didn't have much time to return to reality before a grief-stricken Lumiere entered the room.

Propelling herself forward, she wrapped her arms around him. The heat from their bodies warmed her, and Lumiere pressed his lips against hers.

This was all that mattered for Shade. She knew that this is where she would be weeks from now; their lips pressed together, their arms holding each other, Lumiere's warmth engulfing her; when she pictured herself coming home as victor.

To her, it was inevitable.

I'm not good with legitimate romance, so Shade and Lumi's relationship may be a little… strange. This is why most of my tributes, as you'll see, are single.

I finally figured out how to do page breaks! No more awkward, warningless transitions! Next up, Angel Geniva! You learned something about her in this chapter…

-Emblem