Grace Xu || District Nine || FIN

Outside, a cool spring breeze blows, rustling the leaves of trees few and far between. The moon shines, bright and full, bathing its light upon all not enveloped by shadow. Assorted stars blink across the endless stretch, twinkling faintly through a thin haze of factory smoke. There is hardly a sound to be heard aside from the awkward dance of tree and wind and the quiet hum of insects from a far off wood.

The breeze blows through an open window, disturbing the stillness of a pair of thin curtains and gently caressing the soft, warm cheek of a sleeping form. Her face scrunches in response to the chilly intrusion, but her eyes remain shut, and with a quiet sigh the form shifts in her sleep.

The breeze dissipates, the curtains still, and the girl slumbers on.

The night wore on without incident. Slowly but ever so surely, a ray of moonlight penetrated the shield of the curtains, shining its silvery glow upon the pajama-garbed girl, her blanket cast aside unconsciously in her sleep. 

The light reveals a small, slim form, somewhat lacking in muscle and fat alike, yet noticeably healthier than the poor malnourished souls that occasionally frequented the street corner. Bare feet rest towards the bottom edge of the bed with scant inches to spare, a rough, if someone accurate, indication of the girl's above-average height.

Though the moonlight has not yet shifted the bulk of its glare to her face, one can still make out the relaxed, youthful features that look almost angelic in sleep. It is a face, that, in consciousness, is often fraught with worry and nervousness, a face that barely looks her age while awake and even less so while asleep. 

A spindly arm flops into the moonlight, lightly tanned skin illuminated with silver. The girl mutters something incomprehensible in her sleep, shifting yet remaining in her slumber. Ever so slightly, thin lips curl into the beginnings of a smile, as if she is dreaming about a pleasant memory. 

---

Before that evening, the girl had never known life without her sister. 

Though the two of them had looked noticeably different - the latter had sported pale skin and white-blonde hair as opposed to the dark hair and tanned skin of herself and her parents - one would be hard pressed to find a closer pair of siblings in Nine. As there were mere months separating the two, they did nearly everything together, acting more like twins than adopted siblings. 

The two couldn't have been more different in terms of personality, either. The girl was quiet and shy, speaking in a soft voice that sounded like it had never been raised before in her life, while the sister was anything but. She was the victim of nasty rumors growing up, calling her a bastard and an illegitimate child, yet she carried herself strong and proud, deflecting not only herself from the rumors, but the girl as well. They were as different as fire and ice, between the girl's cautiousness and the sister's brashness, yet they were as close as thieves, regardless. 

Grace and Natasha Xu, sisters without blood. That's what they called themselves growing up, and many agreed that it was an accurate description of their bond. 

Growing up, it was a life of fun and games and adventures, usually initiated by Natasha as she dragged her around to social gatherings, abandoned factories, and the fence that bordered the forbidden woods alike. Grace would have no choice but to agree, for there was no arguing with Natasha when she had set her mind on something. 

Besides, someone needed to make sure that the hotheaded blonde was kept in line, after all. 

It went on like this for years. The two of them would participate in their daily routine, until Nat got bored and found some risky, exciting thing to do, before telling Grace about said plan and dragging the protesting girl along for the ride. 

It was a life of games and adventures indeed, made better by loving parents, a reckless but ultimately loving sister, and a fairly easy life in a world of hardships. The girl had thought that that would be how thing would go until they aged up out of the Reapings and went their separate ways, and even then, life would be simple and normal. 

Then, one day, the two girls met Leif.

---

Grace had known little about her sister's origins, only that she was given up for adoption by a local woman that lived across town, and that she had had a son before having Nat. 

She had never expected to meet him, let alone with his own blood relative by her side. 

It had started one fine summer day. The Reapings had come and gone and had spared both of the fifteen year old girls, and Grace was being dragged along on yet another of Nat's crazy adventures.

This one had resulted traveling to the other side of town to explore one of the few abandoned factories in the district. Said factory in question was due for remodeling soon, but for the moment had been unused and unoccupied. 

As long as they avoided the Peacekeeper garrison, Nat had said, they would be able to explore to their heart's content. 

They had been so focused on their conversation and journey that they had both completely failed to notice the white-blond boy until Nat had quite literally run into him, knocking him to the ground.

Grace had watched, barely suppressing a fit of laughter, as Nat had apologized profusely and moved to help the boy up.

Only instead of  accepting her offer of assistance, he had merely gaped at her, eyes and mouth open in shock.

Before the oddity of the boy's behavior could really sink in, he had spoken. 

"You're Natasha Xu, aren't you?"

That had been enough to wipe the grin off of Grace's face in a heartbeat. 

When her sister hesitantly nodded in confirmation, the boy had closed and opened his mouth wordlessly, as if he was trying to process that. 

Finally, after what had seemed like an eternity, he spoke again.

"I'm Leif. Leif Alder."

It had been Grace herself that had gaped in response, this time. 

---

Things hadn't ever really been the same since. 

Armed with the confirmed knowledge of each other's existence, her sister and her sister's brother by blood had taken to each other quickly, becoming fast friends within weeks after their fateful encounter. 

After repeated attempts to join in on their excursions had ended in her ending up akin to a third wheel, Grace had gone to her mother in frustration, fifteen years of wisdom failing to provide answers as to how some random boy had suddenly became a bigger part of her sister's life than she herself had become. 

In frustration, she had gone to her mother, explaining the situation and seeking out advice from a wiser source. 

Her mother had smiled knowingly, only increasing her frustration. 

But only for a moment.

"Tell me, sweetheart, if the situations had been reversed and the Alder boy had ended up being your half brother instead of Nat's, then how would you react?"

She was silent for a moment, frustration evaporating as the question sunk in and was processed.

"Probably the same way, honestly." she responded, unable to come up with an alternative. 

Her mother had drawn her in for a hug, nearly smothering her in her warm embrace. "Natasha hasn't forgotten about you, sweetheart." she whispered soothingly. "She's just taking time to connect with what could be the only part of her blood she ever gets to meet."

Not even the most stubborn parts of Grace could find a fault with that.

She gave the two of them space for a few days, as agonizing as it was, operating on her own for the first time that she could remember. The two of them had been virtually attached at the hip since they were children, doing everything together that could be done, acting not only as sisters but as best friends.

Never before had someone come between them like Leif Alder did. And though with her mother's help she empathized, though with time Natasha returned the majority of her attention on her, she couldn't stop the flames of envy flutter throughout her system whenever she laid her eyes on the white-blonde haired boy.

It would have been easier if he hadn't been so goddamned nice, either.

And thus, a barely noticeable fracture had been dealt to the bond of sisterhood and love that the two had shared. It wasn't enough to sever it completely - far from it, actually.

But for a bond that had survived for nearly sixteen years unbroken, it was devastating.

She wondered if Nat had taken notice of it herself, and if that had been part of the circumstances behind her subsequent disappearance two years later.

---

Her sister had been late from work one evening the autumn after the girls turned seventeen. The two girls had had virtually the same job at the same factory, with only the shifts being different: Grace headed over at the conclusion of each school day, whereas Natasha spent that time hanging out with Leif and occasionally a group of assorted acquaintances, choosing instead to work the evening shift. 

The lateness wasn't the only oddity of the evening, though it certainly was the first and among the most notable. Natasha had a reputation for rushing to complete things, a sharp contrast to Grace's own more lax behavior, so to see her arrive home late especially after work was strange on its own. 

Add in the sudden inability to meet her gaze and the lack of her usual snarky retorts, and Grace had instantly figured out that something was up. 

But repeated questions were met with silence or the occasional "I'm fine," and Grace had chalked it up to a bad day at work, which was not unheard of. 

That had been her first mistake. 

Her second had been opting to go to bed early that night, drained from a day of school, work, and homework, instead of staying up and conversing with Nat like she often did. 

When she had woken up the next morning to sunlight, her sister had vanished, seemingly into thin air.

After confirming with her parents and her own two eyes that it was not an elaborate prank created by her sister, Grace had stormed out of the house with a mixture of fear and anger, completely ignoring the small piece of parchment placed on the dining table.

She searched for the better part of two hours throughout the streets of her home to no avail. 

She had next searched for Leif Alder, thinking that maybe Nat had ditched the Xus for her half brother. Yet the boy was as clueless as Grace was in regards to her whereabouts. 

It was as if Natasha Xu had simply dropped off the face of the district. 

Though she eventually called the search off for the day, the next day she tried again. And the day after that. And the day after that, and so forth for nearly a month before her parents and Leif alike convinced her that it was pointless.

It didn't help that Nat's letter had been incredibly vague, offering only a few short sentences thanking the Xus for all they had done, and to not worry about her, a tall order given her unexpected departure. 

As the months passed by and autumn turned into winter, she hoped against hope that her sister would reappear, in an ultimately futile prayer that fell on deaf ears.

Natasha Xu was gone, and for the first time in her life, Grace Xu was truly....

Alone. 

---

Moonlight drew across the sleeping girl's face, causing her to grimace and roll away from its piercing glare. Gradually, the silvery beam fades away, the moon beginning its daily descent behind the factoryline that was her home. 

As the moon sank and the first hints of sunlight began lighting up the landscape, the pair of curtains rustle again, yet the air is perfectly still. 

They split down the middle, revealing a pale face adorned by a head of white-blonde hair. Sky blue eyes blink, taking in surroundings that have gone largely unchanged in the months since two became one. The figure smiles slightly as her eyes fall upon the sleeping form now sprawled out across one of the beds.

She'd given up her family name months ago, renounced any previous family ties that she might have held, and yet here she was.

Her code  was adamantly clear on one thing, a phrase that was her new family's mantra: Sisters before Blood.

The sleeping girl is not blood, never was blood, and yet they had shared a bond that had been stronger than any forged through blood alone. 

Her own birth mother had been proof of that. 

Of all of the regrets she carried from her old life, this was by far the largest, leaving behind a girl she had loved like a sister since she was capable of conscious thought. 

She'd flirted with the idea of approaching her about her new life, convincing her to join her in it, yet each time she'd gotten cold feet, thinking about the shy, cautious girl she had grown up with.

That girl would never be able to leave her parents for any reason, wasn't suited for the life she now lived. 

And yet....

That girl had often followed her into risky activities that even she herself would have never thought she would have done. That girl had been virtually inseparable from her ever since they were children. 

That girl, according to her former parents, had gotten jealous over her own half brother, as if she felt that she deserved just as much recognition as her blood relative.

Which, she admitted, she did. 

She stored the internal debate away for later, choosing instead to focus on the peaceful rise and fall of the sleeping girl's breathing. 

She stood there, head poking through the curtains, until the first rays of sunlight warmed her back and peeked into the room, lighting it up with its soft amber glow. 

Her personal mission fulfilled, Natasha Delacroix withdrew her head from the curtains, before starting the long, stealthy journey back to her new home.

A journey filled with a sense of urgency, for she had a proposition to bring to her leader regarding a potential new recruit.