Stop to Smell the Roses [Riordan/Elettra/Castor Day 6 Feast]

The moment Eszter's cannon rang across the sky, Riordan Einfallen could see them falling apart.

It started with a mutual trust to protect one another. Emotions and feelings grew over time, until they realized they no longer could protect one another. They had been separated after they fled from Elettra and Castor. Tears pulled at his eyes as he imagined how much Elettra must hate him. The sand moving underneath his feet, Sage close behind him, at least he thinks the boy is. Elettra was partially right, if he had to, Sage would have been the one he thrown under the bus to a mutt. If it were a choice between Cassie and Sage, it was obvious. All he could do was try to ignore the instant pounding of words that Elettra spoke to him.

There's nothing left but a rose that he pulled off of his hand.

The deep red rose staying with Eszter's body, until she would be taken away to go back to a hole in her home. They were mad in the mind. A king who was losing it faster and faster. Everything moves around him and he can't tell where he is. Cassiopeia could be heard in the distance, but he doesn't get any closer as he continues walking. Everything seems to just be a fake noise in his mind. That was until he stumbled upon the woman who seemed to tear him to pieces every single moment he's known her. His voice escapes first.

"Cassie! I'm here. We're here. Everything will be okay."

Only a one word reply escapes from her lips, like venom.

"Go."

This wasn't going to happen.

"But Cass-"

She speaks before he can finish. Her words strike him down and shatter him into pieces. The crown upon his head feeling like the weight of the world on his shoulders. There's no place for others in the arena. Madness would swallow them whole. The tower had fallen. Kings have fallen. Gods have struck terror in them. Now, even the strongest were breaking.

"I said. Go."

A gulp of air fills his throat as he's ready to let out a sob, but he fights it.

He's stronger than this.

"No. I am not leaving you, Cassie."

Silence is deafening. The weight of the world falls upon his shoulders. Jequirity would know what to say. Theseus would have known how to comfort her. Naveen would have gotten her to get up and stay. Riordan wasn't any of them. Riordan was only a boy who pretended to be king and was giving in to the madness of the arena. The gods want to see him to shatter. Glass heart shattered across the floor to allow the fighter in his soul out. The next words sends him spiralling father down.

"GO! NOW! Before I kill you both."

Cassiopeia Shaw was a fighter, unlike himself. A life is what she's taken and now everything was spiralling. There's no escape from the madness that lies within their blood. Riordan knew this. The madness is what they would have to give in to eventually. Bloody weapons and mangled bodies of the ones who fall. He's not scared, but he's surprised that Cassiopeia Shaw says that she would kill him.

"I gave you one chance Riordan. I am giving you a second but you better go now, cause I won't be giving you third"

All he wants to do is hug her. Hold her in his arms as he comforts the demons that lurk underneath the surface, but he knew better than that. It'd get him bashed in, skull cracked open, and crown upon a new head. Cassiopeia Shaw was something more than just an ally. A friend isn't what he would consider it. There's something about her that makes his heart skip a beat. Something that sends him into a fury if she were to get hurt. Everything about Cassiopeia was something to remind him of the pain he was suffering, but gave him the strength to fight through it. Cassiopeia had been there from the beginning. A woman who gave him so much. She was the reason that he kept fighting for so long. She allowed him to live and fight for himself. There's nothing that he would change. All he could do was watch her in disbelief.

"Don't make me count to ten."

One. Cassiopeia Shaw was so much more than what he originally thought she was.

Two. Cassie and Anarchy were his friends and brought him back to life in a place filled with death.

Three. Cassie was the only person he felt he had left that experienced everything that he had.

Four. There was no reason to fight without her.

Five. He would have to learn eventually.

Six. Riordan Einfallen speaks up on last time.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you Cassie, if that's what you want."

The sands, that held the last person that knew everything he was going through, disappeared behind him as he walked. All he had left was himself and the throwing axes that he held carefully. The anthem went up that night with no delays. Eszter Summit was the only face in the sky that he recognized the most. Everyone else seemed to blur together, until they were gone.

Everyone vanishes eventually, he just didn't expect to be alone so early on.

The next morning comes faster than he could imagine. Restlessness and a boy stuck in his own mind until dawn had kept him from sleeping very much. Mornings used to be his favorite time. Pastries of all types that he could eat by himself as he read some play that he had to study for his role. Mornings used to be filled with laughter and small talk, until the games took that away from him. It started years ago when he first joined it. Now there was nothing more than a thick layer of dust and himself to Tempus. Alone and stuck in the thoughts that sends his body in shock.

Walking as far as he can, he enters the mansion that was a maze of stairs and rooms. There's no one around. Alone, a king could not stand. There was nothing more than madness stuck in his mind. His next meeting with Cassiopeia Shaw could be bloody. The girl that made his heart skip a beat for a moment. There was only fear in his mind as he knew what Cassiopeia Shaw could do. There were no third chances for Riordan. This was the games. Die or kill. There was no escape from that.

As he walks into the garden of roses, they are all white. The rose on his hand turns white as he enters, just like the ones around him. Fingers rub the rose upon his hand gently as he can feel Iris connected to the thing upon his palm. The lopsided crown sits upon his head still. A mutt stands before him making a noise at him. Attention towards the weapons in his possession. Confused on what the creature wants and how adorable it looks, he hands the weapons forward. The mutt consumes it and Riordan feels himself freak out for a moment. Then the panic vanishes before him as he follows the mutt farther into the garden. The items that are piled on the table seem like a dream. It couldn't be real, but it was.

He grabs the one party favor and stuffs it in his tote bag, saving it for later. Eyes catch the tea for a second, he pulls the cup up for a moment, but doesn't drink. He can see other tributes around. A glimpse of some of the others. Salome was around somewhere, but he wasn't going to look for her. That's when he noticed Elettra and Castor around. No one was fighting. Everything was calm for the day and he swears that he was dreaming. Something was going to happen. The fire that would burn them down and ruin the perfect moment. He whispers to himself for a second.

"Am I dreaming?"

There's no response. It had to be real, but what was real. Fantasy and reality seemed to mix together into one. Instead of trying to question it, he goes with it. A frown pulls on his face as approaches the two with the teacup in his grasp. Terror in his stomach as he speaks to them individually. Apologies threatening to come forward on his tongue.

"Elettra. Castor."

He doesn't wait for the inevitable looks of anger at him. After all, he helped kill Eszter Summit. Violence was not what he wanted. Fear of the mutts that surrounds him keeps them from fighting, or that's what he thought. A moment seems to last for hours, until he speaks again, a longer answer on his tongue. The tower had fallen. The gods had punished them. Kings had fallen. All he could do was keep moving forward.

"I'm sorry. It's not much of an apology, but I'm sorry."

A gulp of air and eyes scanning Elettra and Castor just in case one attacks.

"Castor, I'm sorry you lost your brother. Elettra, I am sorry for everyone you lost. There's so much I wish I could have done for either of you. You both probably hate me, but I truly mean everything I say. I'm losing myself here. I'm losing everything here."

Hearts shatter. Roses bloom. Towers fall. Riordan Einfallen is lost.

Memories of his family arguing with one another in everything. He knew the truth of everything. There's nothing he can do to make them forgive him. Even if he wanted to. They shouldn't forgive him. He helped end Eszter Summit's life. All he could do was fight though. Instigating the worst of things. Mistakes were made. There's no going back from the point of no return. The show must go on. All he could do was wallow in the pain of the things he's done so far.

"I'm sorry for Eszter. It's kill or die in here. Except, it's so much more than that. There's feelings and emotions that take over. I'm so sorry for everything."

In the end, he's broken and there's no repairing a broken man. He's learned that the hard way so many times. The dead kept climbing up, more and more coffins that held people that he knew. Kings and queens that had fallen to their doom. People who made him better and worse. Their deaths still fresh in his mind. All he could do was try and hold himself up now. Alone and afraid, Riordan stands before Elettra and Castor because he was too afraid to approach anyone else.

"Elettra, I'm so sorry."

Tears came after that.

Arms embrace the one person who was all he had left of home.

Never wanting to let go of the only good thing left in his life.