it's only forever {beatrice/cassius reunion thread} {closed}

It is a long established fact that dying was the gateway to your true nature. When you passed from one world to the next, all of your mistakes were wiped away and you were left with the most raw, most perfect version of yourself imaginable and every ill-will and violent act you committed forgotten like it was nothing but a brief dark spot in an eternity of happy words and joyful action.

My death had been sudden. It had overwhelmed me with the wave of memories of my previous life and the quickness of transformation. No longer was I the broken girl from district two with the dead brother but now an angel in the purest of forms and in the purest of places. At least, that is what I had to tell myself as the light washed into my eyes and the finality of it all took control of my every sense.

Life wasn't over. I hadn't disappeared into nothing like I expected, but I had fallen into something so innocent that I would have never dreamt it in my craziest fantasies. This was a place I could call home, even if it wasn't the land I was born into. But how much was Panem my home, with its enslavement of the games and deep control over its people? I was nothing more than a number, a sacrifice so to speak, thrown onto a stage for the entertainment of fools. I had bought into the game and put on the self-consuming mask of a gladiator. I had killed simply because I could, because I wanted to. Killed in revenge and in a hungry bloodlust I would have never imagined possessing.

I was the monster of the arena, I had proven that much through my treatment of my alliance-mates (were they still alive?) and my enemies (they had already died - I made sure of that).

I could feel their eyes on me, even from afar. They knew my sins and they knew my bad deeds.

So why was I here, in this place of all places? My vision cleared and the world swam into view. A white room with spotless walls and just a single door. Was this my new home, or was this my prison? Had I gotten what I deserved and been locked away for all of eternity, or aws this simply the first chapter of something I would never be able to describe?

Two, perfectly healed hands rise before me. Unblemished, pure, healthy. I am no longer the child of the arena, consumed by the thread and needle and lustful blade. I pull this unfamiliar, perfect limb through the air and let my fingers feel, touch, realize my wholeness. Two ears, ready to listen for the first time in many years.

What was I doing here? Was there a reason that I had landed in this room, of all places, so soon after my death? Or was it merely chance that had deposited me on this hard, unyielding floor?

I push off of the ground that I had been sitting on so placidly, and walk towards the only way out. Should I open it? My heart thumps a rhythm of confusion and nerves. What could be on the other side?

I have to open it. I just have to, I couldn't spend eternity locked away. I had spent my whole life trapped in the expectations of my parents, of my country, and of my peers. For once, I needed to make my own choices.

I grab the handle and turn it, firmly. The door swings open and I am face-to-face with somebody I would have never expected to see.

Three, two, one. I didn't take it in at first, but in a second I am tackling the intruder to the ground and covering them from head to toe with butterfly kisses. "Cassius!"

Word Count: 638