Content Warning: Sexual language and non-consent.
I know this is a weird place for that warning – in the middle of Midnight offing himself – but just roll with it.
If you wish to skip this chapter, there will be a summary at the bottom.
Chapter 27
"NO!"
Corvid and Izzie both yell at the same time. They can't see why I would want to snuff out a tall, glowing candle like myself.
Izzie catches the blade as it plummets towards my broken heart.
Blood seeps rapidly from her hand, but she strains against me regardless. She pins my other arm so I keep pulling the knife downwards, determined to kill all three of us.
"Let me die!" I whine.
"And kill us, too? Hell no!" Izzie retorts.
"You got Rubis killed! You could have helped him!"
"Would you stop being delusional for one moment?!" Corvid rages.
"Sorry, but I think it's to be expected that I lose my mind, when I'm forced to kill the only person I ever loved!"
"Corvid, help!" Izzie whimpers.
Her hand is slick with her own blood. With all my might, I manage to inch the blade towards me.
Corvid grabs hold of our hands, wrenching upwards.
Overpowered, I take another approach.
I slam the back of my head into the tarmac.
Once, twice.
"I can't go on without Rubis!" I cry.
The dizziness distracts from the pain.
"Stop it, you idiot!" Corvid shouts.
They try to grab my head, but I am no match for them.
Corvid groans, as though they really don't want to resort to what they are about to do.
They step over me and – with some effort – flip Rubis onto his back.
Corvid begins chest compressions.
Rubis jolts with every hard push.
One, two, three, four.
His eyes are still glassy.
Five, six, seven, eight.
"He's been out a while." Says Izzie, gritting her teeth through the pain in her hand.
"The cannon hasn't gone off yet." Corvid insists.
They keep pumping.
Corvid huffs to the rhythm of their compressions. But no breath comes from Rubis.
Why would they give me false hope?
"He's dead, damn it!" I scream.
I wrench the knife from Izzie's grip and prepare once more to embed it in my heart.
Maybe I won't die. You can't break what's already broken.
"And soon we'll join him." I say, determined.
Izzie has given up. She holds her lacerated hand to her, stemming the blood-flow with her shirt.
Corvid ceases chest compressions and bends over his face.
They pinch his nose and tilt his face upwards, looking sickened.
I am on them in a flash, pinning them to the ground with my forearm. My dagger lies forgotten.
I snarl, with more venom than I have ever possessed, "Only. I. Get. To. Kiss. Rubis."
I prod them in the chest.
"Me." I growl.
"Then get on with it, twat!" They exclaim.
Hastily, I scramble back to Rubis and lean over his beautiful, oxygen-drained face. My head pounds and my vision swims, but I won't let that stop me. I press my mouth to his, hard.
Air rushes from my lungs into his.
I exhale, take a breath, exhale again.
His chest inflates with each breath.
But no life returns to him.
Corvid resumes chest compressions.
Between breaths, I say, "I will never forgive you for trying to kiss my Treacle-Muffin!"
"I reckon we've got bigger problems." Corvid pants.
"Yeah, like Midnight's tragic pet-names." Izzie says, weakly.
Rubis coughs violently.
Corvid stops performing CPR and massages their wrists.
"RUBIS!" I cry with ecstasy, "You were saved by true love!"
Tears fill my eyes. Every cell in my body inflates with relief, wiping despair away completely. I no longer crave death! I want to shout, and dance!
Instead, I lift Rubis' head and kiss him passionately.
His eyes widen as I force my tongue into his mouth, never wanting to waste another moment with him again.
Corvid yanks me backwards and I could kill them.
Rubis continues to cough and splutter.
"Let him catch his breath, you moron!" Corvid slaps me in the face, "He's just got circulation back and you want to suffocate him?"
Rubis pukes onto the road beside him. He looks terrible.
When his breathing finally steadies, Corvid lets go of me.
I fly at Rubis and embrace him again.
"Corvid! Keep hold of- Mmph!"
Rubis' sentence is cut off by a kiss.
The clammy sweat sticking us together and the taste of fresh barf will not deter me from my passion.
I pin Rubis to the road and express my exultation until my lips start to bruise.
I take the muffled noises he makes as moans of pleasure.
"This is so gross." Says Izzie.
"Agreed." Corvid replies, "But at least we still have these two to shield us 'til the end. Look at them; they'll be easy to take out."
I don't even listen to them. I don't care if I die in the next ten seconds, so long as I am wrapped in Rubis' arms… or around his neck.
When I finally break away, breathless, Rubis says, "Ugh, everything hurts."
"Did I break any ribs?" Asks Corvid.
"Don't think so."
"Aw, shame."
Rubis asks, "Is my eyesight still skewed from being throttled, or are you two even paler than normal?"
The Goths look at each other and at their own hands.
"Huh. We are pretty white, aren't we?" Says Corvid, "Do you think Blue did something to us?"
"I'd just attribute it to stress or malnutrition." Izzie says with a shrug.
"It fits your aesthetic, anyway." Says Rubis, "The paleness and the malnutrition."
When neither of them laugh, he changes the subject.
"So, I assume Blue's dead?"
"Yeah." Replies Izzie.
"Sound. Let's go then." Says Rubis.
He manoeuvres onto his knees and then stands.
"Just like that?" Says Corvid, "You just experienced torture. And Blue nearly killed you. Don't you want to rest?"
Rubis scoffs, "Out in the open? Yeah, right. Besides, rest is for losers. Izzie looks like she could do with some."
"Hey!" Says Izzie.
"Am I wrong?"
"Well… no… But I'm not a loser."
"How did you slice your hand open, then?"
"I was trying to keep Midnight alive!"
"You're not helping your case." Rubis says, with contempt.
Izzie brushes him aside.
"Whatever. We don't all heal like mutants." She looks pointedly at Rubis' shoulders, "The college must have a nurse's office. I need to find a first-aid kit."
With that, we follow Izzie back to the college campus. We eventually find the nurse's lodge, and Corvid helps Izzie to wrap a bandage around her hand.
"Psst." Rubis hisses to me.
I give him a questioning look as he stands in the doorway.
He conveys everything to me in a wink, before slinking into the corridor of the lodge.
The Goths pretend not to notice as I follow him, pre-emptively unzipping my jacket.
Rubis leads me into another office.
I shrug off my jacket. I am already excited.
Rubis whispers, "We need to do something, before it's too late."
"Yes…" I sigh, "I agree with you. Let's not waste another second."
My heart isn't the only thing throbbing, now.
"We need to be quiet though; if the other two hear, it will ruin everything."
"I don't know about that…" I say, "It might make it more exciting."
Rubis looks at me with that superior, scornful gaze that makes my insides steam with lust.
He says, "More dangerous, you mean. We're already at a disadvantage. All we have is the element of surprise."
"Wait, what? What are you talking about?"
"Taking them out, obviously. What did you think I was talking about?"
"Er… nothing. I knew what you meant."
I turn away from him, stepping behind a desk to hide the part of me that did not know what he meant.
Too late.
"Wow." Rubis says, "I didn't know you had a kink for plotting murder."
"I don't!"
"Then why does it look like a pencil is trying to poke out of your pants?"
"Because you're here! Because I thought we were going to…"
I trail off.
"To what?" Asks Rubis.
He raises an eyebrow.
"No, never mind."
"I don't know what you meant. Explain."
"Well, we are boyfriends, so…"
"I don't follow. Could you spell it out for me?"
"We've kissed, and I'm ready for the next step… So, do you want to…?"
I thrust my pelvis against the desk, making it rattle.
Rubis says, "Ok, mocking you has officially become too painful, even for me. Let's talk murder, instead."
I do my best to calm myself down, as Rubis and I talk strategy. The pencil that Rubis described becomes flaccid, the more I think about taking on the lethal duo.
"My blowpipe has got lodged at a weird angle." Rubis says, "Can you put it up straight again for me?"
"Is that an innuendo?" I ask, hopefully.
"No." Rubis replies.
He uses his eyes to indicate the blowpipe in his shirt pocket.
I move over to him and put my hand in his pocket. I feel his collar bone and have to force my fingers not to tremble.
To distract myself from our closeness, I ask, "Are you sure your plan will work?"
"Not at all. But we have to go all-in, before they kill us."
The door bursts open.
"Before who kills you?" Corvid appears in the doorway, "Us?"
They and Izzie stand there together, weapons levelled at us.
"You're nuts if you think you can pull one over on us." Izzie says.
"Actually, I was hoping to pull Midnight." Says Rubis, "I think you two have got the wrong end of the stick."
Corvid says, "Ugh, don't tell me by all-in, you meant with each other."
As though the two have just seen how close Rubis and I are standing, me with my hand on his chest, their expressions turn to discomfort.
"What the fuck have we just walked in on?" Says Izzie.
She shields her eyes and hurries away, looking nauseous.
Corvid glares.
They say, "If you two are pretending to have sex on national television to cover up a scheme against us, I will kill you; consequences be damned."
"We're not pretending." I say, suddenly hopeful again.
I trail my hand down Rubis' stomach to his fly.
He doesn't resist as I unzip his pants.
Rubis says over my shoulder, "You can stay and watch if you want, Corvid."
"No thanks." They say, "But just because I won't watch doesn't mean people all over Panem won't either. Think about that."
My erection returns.
"I don't see you leaving." Rubis teases.
"Only because I still think you're plotting." They spit, "And I feel kind of sorry for you, Rubis."
"We're serious." I say, "We both want this, don't we, Rubis?"
"Oh, definitely." He mutters.
"Said with the conviction of a child alone with a priest." Corvid scoffs.
I run a hand lovingly through Rubis' hair. A clump of it comes out in my fingers.
Rubis appears unsettled, but says nothing.
A beeping sound outside draws our attention.
I turn away from Rubis to see what it is.
Corvid squeals, "Ugh! Midnight, I did not need to see your pointy little boner!"
I cover my crotch with one hand.
Corvid goes to the window and opens it to grab the parachute that is drifting down.
"Wonder which of us this is for?" They say.
They pop the cap off of the steel canister and tip out a singular lemon.
Realisation dawns on their face and they throw the lemon across the room.
"It's definitely for you two!" They exclaim, "Right, that's it. I'm off. Enjoy getting fucked, Rubis. Not that you'll feel something that small."
"Thank you." Says Rubis, with mock sincerity.
Corvid slams the door behind them.
They reopen it a second later to say, "Izzie and I will be back in the lessons block – as far away from… this… as possible."
They gesture to both of us with disgust, then slam the door again.
We see the two goths striding away through the window.
"Why is your hair falling out?" I ask Rubis, pulling out another large clump.
"Trauma can do that to you." He replies, appearing more concerned than his tone lets on.
"What trauma have you endured?" I query, "You've had me to protect you all this time."
"That would do it." He responds.
I ask, "What do you think the lemon meant? And why did Corvid freak out over it?"
"Have you never read any fanfiction?" He replies.
"No."
"I've never heard such a sacrilegious thing." He scorns, "I'm sorry, Midnight, but after you admitting that, I can't go ahead with this."
"What? But I was about to show you fifteen whole seconds of ecstasy! Twenty, if you were lucky!"
"What a shame, I'll have to pass. But maybe if our plan goes smoothly, we could celebrate together then?"
"Ohh, I see… You're playing hard-to-get. Well then, I will make sure our plan goes off without a hitch."
"Good. Let's kill them now, before they realise I would never actually have sex with you."
I grouch, "Trust those two to come to the wrong conclusions."
Then Rubis surprises me.
He says, "I do actually have something for you, before we go."
"You do?!" I say, like a puppy hearing its owner arrive home.
Rubis says, "Look in your pack. I put it in the front pocket, because I can't get to my own pockets."
I do as I am told, to find a crudely-carved chunk of wood that could be interpreted as a heart.
"Is this what you were carving with your feet, this whole time?" I ask, flattered.
"Yeah. I put as much work into it as I've been putting into our relationship."
"It's just as beautiful as you!" I sigh.
"None taken." Rubis grunts, looking at the knobbly wedge of wood in my hand.
"Ouch! Splinter!" I say, "Why is it so sharp? And it's pretty long, for a heart."
Rubis says, "Er, well; of course, it's because our love is unconventional, and it stands tall, above all others."
"Aw, Angel-Pie! You're so sweet!"
I stand on my toes and kiss him, yet again.
He cranes his neck backwards and manages to splutter, "No time. Later, maybe."
"I'll hold you to that." I whisper, sensually, in his ear.
I boop him gently on the nose and hold his smouldering gaze, before turning to exit.
I open the door.
"Midnight?" Rubis says, "Before we go-"
I turn around hopefully.
"-do my trousers back up."
"Oh yeah. Of course."
Chapter Summary
Midnight tries to kill himself, Corvid and Izzie try to stop him, ultimately resorting to performing CPR on Rubis and reviving him. Midnight is overjoyed and flings himself onto Rubis before he can catch his breath.
The four return to the college campus, where Midnight tries to seduce Rubis. Rubis has other ideas, and they plan to kill Corvid and Izzie.