{ G R O U P } effort (Will, Wanderlaust) :blitz:

"That kind of lux just ain't for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler"

I hear his name called, "Cystine Crystal."

No. That's impossible. Cystine can't get reaped. The odds are slim to none! I must have heard that wrong. I had to have. I peer over the crowd, craning my neck to get a better look, trying to see who walks up to the stage. A boy. He steps out. He's around my age. He looks an awful lot like Cystine from behind.

Accept it. are the two words that just keep rolling through my head. Like thunder. Like booming thunder in an apocalyptic storm. They crash and scream in my head, but I plug my ears. I can't hear them. I won't hear them. My best friend cannot be gone. He cannot be ripped away from me to fight and murder! What if he loses?

I nearly slap myself as that thought travels through my brain. What if he loses? He can't lose. He won't lose. This isn't even actually happening! The boy shakes hands with the girl onstage and then they travel into the back. I search the crowd desperately for Cystine. He has to be here. Who I find instead of Cystine is Keshak. She is crying. She is running into the back of the stage.

Of course. How could I be so thick? I know it's him. I know it. But I can't let myself believe it. I tell myself that I'm going back there to comfort Keshak. Not to say goodbye, perhaps for the last time, to one of my dearest friends. I slowly maneuver through the crowd of people dispersing, all of them with renewed hope within. They didn't get reaped. Nobody they cared about got reaped. They're home free. The reaping hasn't, and probably never will, affect them. That's what I thought. That's the one thing I counted on.

I get back into the Justice Building and find Keshak slipping into a room. I look around for Peacekeepers or any officials. I can't see any. I fast walk myself over to the door and make my way in. Being sure to shut it behind me, just in case.

"You can call me Queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule
Let me live that fantasy"
- Lorde, Royals.

"But every song's like:
Gold teeth, grey goose, tripping in the bathroom
Bloodstains, ball gowns, trashing the hotel room
We don't care"

Keshakk stood in the doorway uncomfortably as Myrick walked in. What was she going to say to her friends. Maybe: See you around! Your definitely going to die! or maybe: Goodbye for now! I'm wishing you good luck to your most certain demise! Keshak sighed in her head. She swallowed as she could barely look at her friend. She knew he was going to die and this was the last chance she could see him ever. "Um... hi." She said uncomfortably.

She couldn't think of what else to say. She felt like she was going to break into tears again but she held her own composure. She turned to Myrick looking stricken, hoping he had something with more depth to say. Myrick was much braver than her. Surely he would know what to say.

"We're driving Cadillacs in our dreams
But everybody's like:
Crystal, Maybach, diamonds on your timepiece
Jetplanes, islands, tigers on a gold leash
We don't care"
- Lorde, Royals.

"That kind of lux just ain't for us
We crave a different kind of buzz
Let me be your ruler"

I look at Keshak as she finishes her message, tears welling up in her eyes. I know what she's thinking. She's thinking of all the ways that Cystine is going to die. I'm doing the same thing. Will he die quick? A knife to the heart? Decapitation? Or will it be slow? Drowning? Bleeding to death? Dysentery? It's pains me to think of him not alive. Not looking into my eyes. Not breathing. Not running and talking and standing. Is that really possible? Is such a thing actually true?

I've dealt with so many awful things in my life. But never death. And I hope that I won't have to deal with it for a long time.

"Yeah." I say. "What she said." These are the only words I could muster from my throat, strangled as throats are just before they begin to cry.

"You can call me Queen Bee
And baby I'll rule, I'll rule, I'll rule
Let me live that fantasy"
- Lorde, Royals.