Guy O'Nyle D8 Fin

"Snap back like a rubberband, Guy!" Klein says.

The words feel like a slight ache, but he doesn't mind. The world doesn't revolve around Ike anymore. Despite Klein's effort to tell him that he was not going to replace Ike with him, Guy couldn't help but feel that was what was happening. A replacement for the boxer known as Ike O'Nyle, just because he watched his cousin in those flurry of fists. Ike's always been a kind and gentle soul, but no one could have prepared him for the games he watched. His own cousin, punching and breaking people. A sight that had made him feel on edge the entire time. Ike O'Nyle was family and despite it all, he still wanted his cousin to have the legacy he left behind.

A legacy that he was going to follow.

Klein was the one who approached him on the street, claiming he knew Ike's boxing style. Untrustingly, he didn't believe the guy, until he was grabbed and dragged along to the underground arena where photos glimmer on shelves and a gym filled to the brim with boxing gear fills his vision. Guy O'Nyle wasn't a fighter like his cousin, but he knew from the moment he saw the place, he wanted to try it, even if it was just once. Up and coming rookie, Guy O'Nyle is what they called him.

That's how he got here in the first place, Klein dragging him to train like Ike used to do. The word replacement screaming in his head as he ignores the voices of other boxers in this place. All of them having their own style and method of winning. Klein had found him in that heartbreak of a day Ike O'Nyle died. O'Nyles weren't hard to find in Eight, but apparently, Klein had trouble with it and of all the others, Guy had to be the one to be found. The tears were hard to say no to and here he was now. A boxer preparing for his first match under the coaching of Klein. As if he were Ike, but everyone knew he was nothing like him.

Ike was kind. Ike had more heart. Ike was special.

Guy was just like his name. A guy with no redeemable qualities.

Growing up in a home full of siblings, fighting over attentions, food, and all sorts of other things, Guy's always been average and selfish. Giving up more than most, but selfish enough to survive. Nothing special about Guy O'Nyle in school, just average grades and a quiet kid. He's never had many friends, besides his siblings. Up until Ike's reaping, he's lived a life behind the scenes. Always smiling, but never truly reaching his eyes. Despite his average life, there's more to him than meets the eye. Attention has never been what he wanted, always just wanting peace and quiet in a chaotic world. There's a fire under his eyes for something real, something Guy, and not someone else.

He was not supposed to be a replacement.

Guy was his own person and he'd show Klein that. While Ike was powerful in the boxing ring, Guy's slimmer and shorter. A little quicker, but not as strong. His punches are faster than his cousin who now resides in a coffin under the ground. A stone grave being made in the shape of a fist just for Ike O'Nyle as if his secret underground life was some positive thing. Guy met the boss, the corruption in this competition, he's seen it now for real. This was never some hobby, but a corrupt system set up to give them money and knock them down and leave them dry.

Guy wasn't going to end up like that.

Ike O'Nyle had a record that Guy was going to break.

The legacy would continue under his name, even if it killed him.

The boxing ring would get a new fighter. One they've never seen before. Training for days and days on end since Ike's death. Who needed Ike O'Nyle anymore when his cousin was still around. If Ike was good, he could be too. Fuck what anyone else says, he's got the drive to do this. His life was worth coming into the scene and making more money so his siblings and parents wont have to worry about him. The cash would be helpful to live better, but he could handle not having it. After all, his family was nothing more than a poor seamstress family. Selling hand me downs and sewn items like the rest of the damn district.

Klein pushes him harder and harder, expecting him to be just like Ike. The expectations of being someone he's not sends him into a fury of quick punches, fists colliding with the protection Klein wears on his hands. One, two, three, right, four, left, right, left, duck, weave, punch. District Eleven took his cousin, but never again. Love doesn't matter. Ike didn't deserve death. The world no longer revolves around Ike O'Nyle. This was now his story. His life. His legacy. Everyone would forget about Ike O'Nyle withing the year.

Guy O'Nyle would be remembered forever.

Whether it's from crushing his opponents or becoming something new.

Snapping back like a rubberband wasn't possible anymore.

No, he needed to break the rubber and become something better, stronger, and newer than what Ike was.