Chapter 41:

Calisto Flowers, Rescued Tribute of the 137th Hunger Games

Formally known as Pascal Flores

"It's me…Pascal."

Calisto stands there staring at Elin, hands raised up in the air and not making any move that might make Josefine shoot him. And it's so weird to even call himself that anymore, the boy who was Pascal might as well be dead for how many years it's been. He watches so many emotions pass over Elin's face, confusion, denial, anger, and he just waits to see what they will settle on. "That's…" they start and shake their head at him. "No, that's not possible. Capitol lies! That's all you do, you lie and kill us, just like you did to Pascal!" They shut their eyes for a moment, squeezing out a couple tears that has Calisto taking a step towards them, until they open their eyes and give him a stare cold as ice. "He was my brother and you took him away from me!"

"I know they took me away from you," Calisto says as Elin keeps shaking their head, muttering no under their breath repeatedly. He has to get them to believe him, he might be their only chance at getting out of this alive. Surely prison is better than death, right? Then he could at least still see them… "I've wanted to come back to you for fourteen years. I missed you."

"Don't listen to him," Josefine tells Elin and Calisto glares at her for a moment. Oh he absolutely hates her guts right now, for lying and turning on the Capitol and now for trying to turn Elin against him. "They keep him on a short leash. Bet they sent him here to lie and kill you. We should just kill him and Xavier already and be done with it."

"Would you just shut up?!" Calisto bitches at her and she just raises her gun at his chest again, making him back off a little bit before turning back to Elin. At least they look conflicted right now and don't make any move, just staring at him. And he knows them – at least, he knows who they used to be. They want to believe him. And so he has to convince them it's really him, even if bringing up the memories of the good times hurts so fucking bad. "When you were six, you broke your toe and cried on and on and on until your father gave you a big popsicle that you spilled all over yourself."

"Stop that," Elin says quietly, shaking their head at him.

"You made me pull out your front tooth with pliers when it was loose," Calisto continues, digging deep into the memories as he gets a little teary thinking back to when life was so much easier. "And then you had a lisp and blamed me."

"No…no, no, no," Elin mutters as their grip starts to loosen on Mendalius, yet the man stays still, just watching Calisto carefully.

"You have to have last shower because you'll use up all the hot water for everyone else," Calisto says, taking another step closer to them and holding his hands out cautiously. "You like the orange flavor of candy the best, which I hate and so I'd always give it to you. You think you look hideous wearing pink."

"Shut up! They could have learned this from Khaya, don't believe him!" Josefine tells Elin, snapping them out of it and Calisto frowns at that. He thought he was getting through to them.

"I…I don't understand," Elin says as they slowly lower the knife away from Mendalius's neck. They shake their head, eyes teary, and so much confusion and hurt on their face. Calisto lets out a sigh of relief at them moving the knife, but it's short lived as they move it back as they get angry once more. "Pascal went into the Games. He died in there, they sent back a charred body!"

"A fake body so people wouldn't know," Calisto says slowly, knowing he's on a precipice right now. He has to say the right thing to make them understand it's truly him. Something Khaya or the others wouldn't know to tell him. "I…" he runs a hand through his hair and lets out a frustrated sigh, trying to think back on memories that were from so long ago. He bites his lip ring for a few seconds as he looks at Mendalius, just at a loss. "That pool day, a week before the Reaping. You wanted to swim and they made me babysit all of you, and I was pouting about being in the pool with all the dysphoria of puberty. We went inside because you wanted to ask your mother if I'd be safe from the Reaping. Instead, we overheard your parents arguing." He pauses at that, seeing the hurt at the mention of their mother. Even if Vera was a raging bitch, she loved Elin with everything she had and treated them like the most spoiled child ever. And Elin loved her just as much. "And we overheard them arguing about your father having a kid with another woman. And you know who that son was – is. It's me." He falls quiet at that, just giving them a pleading look and so desperate for them to believe him. But he doesn't know what else to say. "It's me…Pascal…"

Elin drops the knife at that and lets go of Mendalius, taking a step back from him which makes Josefine point her gun at him instead. And Calisto can see the moment on their face when they start to believe him – or maybe they don't really, but rather they so desperately want to believe him. "It's not possible," they say through tears and Calisto takes a couple hesitant steps closer. "I've been so alone for fourteen years…"

"And you don't know how badly I've wanted to be with you again," Calisto tells them honestly, even as he sees the guilt on Mendalius's face at that. "But I couldn't. She would have killed me for real if I came back to you."

"What? Who?" Elin asks, tilting their head in confusion and wiping snot on their sleeve. "Mom?! No way."

"She rigged me in, Elin…" Calisto says cautiously, knowing that they might not believe that and could ruin all the progress he was making.

"It's true," Mendalius speaks up, talking slowly and not making any movements besides turning to look back at Elin. "We collected the slips after and every one had his name on it. He cooperated with us before the Games and so I decided to spare his life. It wasn't his fault he was born in your family and under those circumstances."

"So he has been your Capitol lackey all this time!" Josefine complains to Mendalius, tightening her grip on the gun pointed at him. She looks over at Elin, letting out a noise of disbelief at their face. "Elin, you cannot believe them!"

Oh, but they do. Calisto can see it on their face. How torn they are over what happened to him, the mother he knew versus the mother that they knew. "Why are you fighting like this?" he asks them quietly, the question he's wondered all this time. "What drove you to this?"

"Losing you," Elin says through a sob, but stays rooted in their spot. "Losing you, and then Mom, and everyone told me this is the way we get revenge. The way we get payback for the lives they stole from us." They shake their head rapidly as they take a couple steps further back from all of them, in such denial and confusion that has Calisto a little worried for them. How badly has their mental state suffered since he's been gone? "Dad and Uncle Anton said it's the only way."

"And you actually listened to them?" Calisto asks in disbelief and gives them a look, but of course they did. They loved their family with their whole heart.

"Of course they listened to them, and not fucking Capitolites like you," Josefine spits out and scoffs at him. "He's probably been brainwashed. Or maybe he's a mutt they made just to manipulate you! I wouldn't put it past them, look at what they do to us."

"Oh yeah? You really think they make human mutts?" Calisto asks her and rolls his eyes as he scoffs. "You don't even know what you're talking about, shut up."

"Stop," Elin tries to say over their bickering, but of course Josefine doesn't listen to them.

"Oh we know enough about you to know that you would if you could!" Josefine retorts and turns her gun to point at him instead, and Calisto holds up his hands. "Where's that Jared or whatever the fuck his name is?"

"Julian," Calisto corrects her because he has to. "And he's saving the tributes in the arena that you lot tried to kill instead of rescuing. That's fucked up, y'know."

"STOP!" Elin yells over them and the two of them shut up, caught in a silent stare down for a long moment. Elin is breathing heavy, close to hyperventilating as they grab at their hair. Oh they got real fucked up mentally while he was gone. "Stop, I can't think! Stop, stop, STOP!"

None of them move or say anything as Elin is pulling at their hair, pacing the room a little bit. And in that silence, a call comes through on the radio to them. "Elin, Josefine, they're surrounding the place. Finish up now and get out of there."

"Fuck," Calisto says under his breath, seeing the look Josefine gives Elin just before she turns her gun back to Mendalius. "NO!" he yells as he starts to lunge towards her, only for her to turn to him and shoot him in the chest. He collapses to the ground, not bleeding from the armor, but still gasping for breath from the impact and unable to move. He reaches over towards Mendalius, tears falling as crippling fear washes over him. He can't lose the one parent he actually had in his life.

"It's okay," Mendalius says to him gently, looking only at him as Josefine steps closer to him, gun aimed at his head. "It will be okay. I'm proud of you."

Mendalius shuts his eyes just before Josefine pulls the trigger and the gun fires with a loud bang that has Calisto squeezing his own eyes shut as his body falls to the ground. He can't look at him, he can't breathe, he can't move. No, there's no way Mendalius is dead.

"Let's move it," Josefine says as she heads to the door before stopping. "Elin, we have to go!"

"I can't leave him," Elin says as Calisto curls up on the ground, letting out a painful scream over what Josefine just did. Even as he hears footsteps coming closer to him, he can't open his eyes, he can't see him like that. "I can't lose him again."

"Fucking hell," Josefine mutters before getting out her radio as Elin puts a hand on Calisto's shoulder. He slowly opens his eyes, squinting as he tries not to look but he can still smell the blood.

Elin's face terrifies him, that crazed look in their eyes as they look at him. "They can't take you away from me again."

"This is Josefine, come in," Josefine says on the radio as Elin starts to grab Calisto, pulling him to his feet. He tries to fight them, but Josefine fires a shot at his foot and he screams out in agony as he goes limp, letting them drag him with them.

As he's getting dragged out the door and rebels are running over to them, he catches one last look inside the room and starts gagging at the sight he sees, along with the pain in his foot. He never wanted to see Mendalius laying cold on the floor, blood pooling around his head, an image that is going to haunt him forever.

"We have a prisoner coming with us."

Whoop there it is. An end of an era within the Engineering Verse with the death of Mendalius who's been there from the start. And now poor Calisto is going to realize he's going back to a much different District Seven than it was when he left fourteen years ago.

Wish I had a tally for how many chapters left, but I don't lol. I keep changing and moving things around so it really is up in the air still. Maybe less than 10? I don't know, guess we'll find out soon enough lol. Next chapter is written, gonna try making a dent in the following one so I can have at least a little bit of a stockpile to get me through the next month aka my busiest time of the year (I say as if the last three months haven't been just as crazy busy lol). But hey, hopefully then in May I can get whatever is left of the story cranked out and we can wrap this up.

Guess I'll be aiming for every other weekend updates for the next month or two, then if I have a good stockpile we'll just get them Out. So see you in two weeks as we go back to the arena!