{we don't fight fair} Topaz, post-BB standalone.

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baby seasons change but people don't
and i'll always be waiting in the back room
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It was no surprise that Topaz Ross was still deep in dreamland when the gong rang out, signaling the start of the Bloodbath. Even the noise from the television in the sitting area of floor one of the training center - where Carmel and the prep teams were sure to be watching the start of the Games, waiting for the stylists to return from the arena - wasn't enough to wake her. She'd been tossing and turning the previous night, trying to get to sleep, and had eventually decided to fuck it all and get to the root of her insomnia: her sister, Sapphire. Shortly after this decision, the victor found herself knocking on the door of Saph's room and wishing her luck the next day. She'd definitely need it.

She had no desire to watch the Bloodbath, anyway, so sleeping through it was a wonderful excuse to miss it. She wasn't going to watch her sister's pitiful attempts at wielding a weapon properly, failing even though all the while she could've accompanied Topaz to training when they were growing up, picked up just a couple of combat skills, and maybe she might've stood a chance. Wasn't going to watch to see if Saph had been smart during training and found a couple of competent allies, preferably Careers, who would be able to help her survive for at least a little while. Because deep down, Tope knew for a fact that her sister was going to die. Saph knew it, too. Everyone knew it. She just hoped that she would last at least a little while, and give the audience a good show.

"Are you...Topaz, wake the hell up!" The redhead was jerked awake by the angry sound of someone's voice and the feeling of something kicking the side of her mattress. Angrily she buried her face in her pillow, knowing exactly who it was. "Go away, Kaiser, I'm busy." There was a pause, and then another kick. "You slept through half the bloodbath!" Topaz rolled her eyes, even though her face was still deep in her pillow. "And why would I want to see that, anyway? I take it they're all hacking away at each other, as usual. Nothing special. I'm going back to -" but before she could finish speaking, she turned her head and caught sight of the expression on her stylist's face. It was one she'd never seen before. And it scared her to death.

"Kaiser, what..." her voice trailed off and she sat up, looking at him expectantly. In answer, he grabbed the remote for the flatscreen television that was mounted on the wall across the room and clicked it on. The Bloodbath began playing immediately, but it was nothing particularly astounding; a bunch of male tributes she didn't recognize were in the process of killing some girl, maybe the one from District Three. Why should this mean anything to her? She shot a quizzical look at Kaiser, and in response, he pressed rewind. A moment later, play. Just in time for her to watch the arrogant brute of a male tribute from her district shove a cleaver straight through her sister's eye.

"What the..." Virtually unaware of what she was doing, Topaz jumped out of bed and ran out into the hallway and down it to the sitting room, still in her pajamas and looking utterly sleep-disheveled. She didn't notice the tearstained faces of the district officials sitting there as she snatched the remote from Carmel and pressed rewind. Then play. But she hadn't been mistaken the first time; just as it had on her own television, the cleaver went straight into Sapphire's head and she fell to the ground. Rewind, play, watch again. Rewind, play, watch again. Over and over Topaz repeated this process, in some sort of a stupor, as if desperately praying that it would be different, one of these times. Maybe one of these times it wouldn't happen, proving that the horror she'd watched unfold was, in fact, entirely imagined.

This process continued until Carmel hesitantly placed what was probably supposed to be a comforting hand on the nineteen-year-old's shoulder. "Topaz..." But it was at that moment that Topaz decided to believe what had happened. And a second later, she was up on her feet, a flurry of swears flying from her mouth. "He killed her! The bastard killed her!" she screeched, accidentally knocking over a vase on one of the end tables next to the couch. It smashed on the floor; she liked the way that sounded, so stalked over to the other end and knocked over its twin. No one tried to stop her. "I'll kill him! I'm his mentor! I'll send him a fucking bomb in a silver parachute instead of an actual g..." But nobody had stopped the television from rolling, and suddenly Topaz snapped her head around just in time to watch as the girl from District Twelve landed the final, killing blow on Michael Smith, and then proceeded to disfigure his body in as many gruesome ways as possible. Well, that made her job easier.

But there was a nagging sensation still present; it took Topaz a moment to pinpoint it, but when she did, her jaw dropped and she turned to look at Kaiser, who was standing right beside her looking ready to grab her if she started on another vase-breaking frenzy. "Both my tributes...just died in the bloodbath. That never happens to District One." A short pause. And then - "Why am I such a fucking awful mentor, Kaiser!?" Suddenly it was all too much to handle, and the victor collapsed to her knees, right on the shards of glass from the broken vase. Everyone started shouting at her at once - she heard Carmel's voice above the rest of the mob, "Oh, Topaz, you're bleeding!" - but she ignored the voices and the pain of the glass slicing into her skin and began sobbing. "He killed...my sister..." she managed to get out between sobs. "My sister...Saph..."

Even though she'd been refusing to speak to her through all of prep, Topaz had been attempting to mentally prepare herself for her sister's death ever since the Reaping. But she'd figured she'd have some extra preparation; Saph would probably make it a couple days into the Games, then get herself into a fight against some tributes that were just too strong for her to take on. But this early? What was the Capitol playing at, taking first her Nash and now her Saph? Was she not allowed to love anyone anymore? Were they all condemned to death as soon as Tope decided she cared for them?

"Are you done, Topaz? Will you let me clean up those cuts now?" The grieving champion felt Kaiser grab her arm, but she immediately yanked it from his grasp. "No, I'm not done!" Ignoring her wounds, and the fact that she was still barefoot and in her nightclothes, Topaz stormed out of the room and to the elevator, down to the ground floor and out of the training center, ignoring the incredulous stares of the avoxes, mentors, and various other officials crossing the floor. The concrete of the sidewalk outside was cold on her bare feet, but she didn't care. She just kept walking.

About five minutes later she arrived around the corner at a bar she frequented, often with Arbor Halt, the victor from Twelve who'd won two years before her. The windows were dark and the door was locked, so Topaz resorted to banging on it loudly and obnoxiously until the bartender, a man who knew her well from previous visits and didn't particularly like her, opened it, clearly irritated. "It's eleven in the morning, we don't open for another hour!" And then, upon catching sight of the state of who was pounding on his door - "What the hell is wrong with you, girl?" It took Topaz a few moments to formulate an answer. "I...I really need a drink. Please." Perhaps the bartender had seen what had happened in the Bloodbath and had put two and two together. Or perhaps it was just a rare stroke of kindness. Either way, though, he allowed her inside, and a few minutes later the victor was seated in a bar stool, sobbing over a half pint of tequila.