56th Reaping [D12]

Anani Petros woke up once again in the pleasantries of a comfortable bed. Even after the many weeks that had gone by with the exact same luxuries, his appreciation had not lessened. In reality, Anani’s appreciation of a feather-bed, a television and a delectable repast three times diurnally augmented as each week passed. And as his appreciation grew proportional to the growth of his adoration of his own sister, the guilt grew as well. And the more his guilt grew, the more he tormented himself about the past as well as the future. He had been determined not to succumb to his sister’s begging… he had been determined to fend for himself, but this determination had fallen under his sister's gentle persuasion. He persuaded himself that it was just to keep his sister company and to provide her a loving family. Even so, Anani couldn’t stop the augmenting guilt that spread through his mind like wildfire.

“Damn it,” Anani muttered, “Look at me, leeching off of my younger sister… A great brother I am. But hell, I already knew that before when I left Nisa, didn’t I?” Throwing the blankets off of himself in disgust at his rather sardonic comment, Anani got out of bed and dragged his feet to the bathroom. After washing his face with a splash of cold water, he turned around and eventually made his way to the simple yet elegant kitchen of the grandiose house. As he pulled out a chair to sit down, he realized that he hadn’t seen Nisa roaming around yet. As big as the house was compared to his previous homes, it had become a habit of greeting Nisa every morning who would usually have a wide and cheery grin. With a yawn, Anani pushed the chair away and trudged over to his sister’s room to see if she was awake yet.

As he pushed the door wide open, he saw that the room was already tidied up, and that Nisa wasn’t there. With another curious scan of the room, realization hit him. The reaping. Oh shit. The reaping. That’s today, right? Wait… Nisa told me that she’d be out earlier because she’d have to prepare for the ceremony… Damn it, what time is it?! After frantically running to the kitchen to glance at the clock he saw the foreboding time. It was 12:50, which meant that he only had 10 minutes to get down to the square. Getting the thought through his mind that the peacekeepers would have his head on a stick if he wasn’t there in time, Anani quickly dressed out of his casual clothes and threw on a collared shirt and a nice pair of pants before sprinting out of the house.

Pumping his legs with all his might, Anani sped through the empty streets of District 12 as he approached the gradually increasing buzz of the district square looming up ahead. The bright sunlight glanced off of Anani’s gleaming face as sweat beaded his face. He wore down as each minute ticked down marking the time of the reaping. Even with the increased adrenaline, Anani knew that he wouldn’t have enough energy to make it in time.

As he approached the square, the buzzing had grown louder. Realizing that the increased discord meant that a name had been drawn, Anani took his sprinting up a notch. Running and ducking under smaller alleyways that would cut the distance by a small bit, Anani had finally reached the outer edges of the district square, only to just miss the last name that had been called.

For some reason that was unknown to him, the impending discord had suddenly cut short into a piercing silence. Trying to look over the edge of the crowd and onto the square to see who had been called, Anani got a couple grumbles from the people he had pushed in front of him. Anani soon gave up on seeing who had been reaped or whether Nisa was up there safe and sound because the stage was too far away to see clearly. Eventually, he stepped back and gave it a moment to see who would go and be mentored by his sister that year.

As the silence grew, Anani felt a foreboding feeling creeping up on him. He looked around to see a couple people staring at him with dread or pity. As more and more people started to stare at him, Anani came to a rather disturbing thought. Could it have been his name that he had missed? Would he be the one that would be mentored by his own sister that year? Soon, his fear had become realization as he noticed the narrow winding path the people in front of him had created. Without even thinking about or controlling his movements, Anani slowly walked through the path. As he got closer and closer to the stage, he saw the apprehension in Nisa’s face juxtaposed against the mayor’s misleading grin. So it had been him. He was District 12’s tribute for the 56th Hunger Games.

As he got up and shook the hands of the mayor he gave a stoic stare to his sister. Grief and sadness seeped into his heart as he saw that she was fearing for his life more than he was fearing for himself. For the first time in his life, Anani Petros didn't care about what happened to him. All he cared about was the small 12 year old girl on that stage who would lose her brother and all remnants of a family that year. All he cared about was Nisa Petros.

Promises. He would be breaking the promise he had told her not too long ago. The promise ran through his mind, crystal clear.

"Forever, I promise."

Feeling of dread ran through his heart. Who will Nisa depend on now as a companion? Will she be alright by herself in that big house? Yes... she'll be alright... I'm sure... She had fended for herself fine, even after I had left her before hadn't she?

Memories flooded his mind of the past two months. It had been rough at first, seeing how Nisa had an extremely vague idea of who it was... He was surprised that she still accepted him to be everything he said he was. Eventually, she had come around and had remembered some of their memories together, however bleak it was. But even with those memories, he had fulfilled what he wanted, just to ask for her forgiveness and to prove that he'd be a better brother. But now, all those memories were for naught. He would go into the Hunger Games and die and leave his sister alone in the world once again. He would break his promises like he always had. His life would never find happiness. Those two months had been an illusion... Happiness would ultimately be ephemeral... He would have to realize that. And he just did.

"I accept."

Nobody would come and volunteer for him. Nobody would come to the aid of the brother of the last year's victor. The Petros family was doomed to be unhappy from the start. And worst of all, his sister would be there, watching her own brother die as she tried to the best of her ability to sustain him. The world had wrenched the Petros family apart once before, and now, the world was wrenching them away once more.

The only difference was that this time, they were doomed to be wrenched apart as all of Panem would watch in joy.

And then for the kids beneath the balcony
Who disregard the rain
To make sure the king won't grant
The dead man one more day

Arbor Halt—

Feeling a thousand years older and a million miles away, Arbor was little more than a statue on the stage that had been added to the town square. He'd done this before — stare out into the sea of children and wonder which two would be killed under his watch this year. Last year, he thought knew exactly what kind of hell they'd need to go through if they were to come back — after all, he'd done the same thing, hadn't he?

He'd been wrong, though. There were far worse things to be subjected to, greater pains, both physical and mental, that could be endured. The numbness in the tips of his left fingers reminded him of this — his hand's blood flow almost completely constricted by the anxious grip of Aranica Petros. She'd been put through so much more, he knew without a doubt. She'd made it home though, even if not entirely in one piece.

Whether making it out of the Games was a good thing or not, Arbor had yet to decide, but Ara seemed to be coping. The other victor had apparently been reunited with her older brother some few months ago, though Arbor had made a point of not meeting him. Didn't trust him. Who just disappears for a few years and leaves a little girl to fend for herself like that? And of all the little girls, Aranica, whom he found impossible not to like?

She seemed to be scanning the crowd for him, though, regardless, making Arbor feel a twinge of sadness for the other girl. He was lucky, he supposed — he didn't really have friends who were within the age constraint to participate in the Games, apart from the more recent victor. Hell, he didn't really have friends. Didn't have to worry about siblings, either, as his were all older and had moved out.

Arbor had been so caught up in his own thoughts, allowing the chattering of the crowd and the drone of the Treaty of Treason to become white noise, that he easily missed the names as they left the mayor's lips. It made the shock of the scream fall upon his ears that much harder. Oh, no, he thought hollowly. He didn't need the name he'd missed to be repeated. It was repeated once over in the scream, once in the impossible tightening of Ara's grip, once by the way the girl inadvertently leaned into him, once in the slight resemblance between the little victor and the older boy who made his way on to the stage.

And a thousand times in the way the girl flung herself at this year's male tribute.

There was nothing Arbor could do to make the scene — possibly one of the most heartbreaking he'd witnessed involving the poor girl, which was no small feat — that unfolded in front of him any better. Couldn't volunteer if he'd wanted to (and it was tempting, for Ara's sake if not her brother's) and couldn't insist that the Reaping was rigged, couldn't demand that the Petros boy be sent back in the crowd and they select again. It had to be rigged, he figured bitterly. How best to punish the little girl who shouldn't have won?

Not for the first time in his life, Arbor felt as though he didn't really belong in the scene. Doubtlessly, all of the televisions across Panem were broadcasting the footage of last year's rather popular victor giving her famous rock token to her older brother, one of the tributes she'd be mentoring (or, Arbor would be mentoring, anyhow; he didn't know how his partner would be able to cope with the pressure to aid in staving off the inevitable.) And he sat perfectly still in the background, unsure of what he could do, aside from nothing. Helplessness was the one thing he hated most about his role during the Games.