{Goodbye} to a {World} {Mitchell's Death}

”Red is more of your color”

It’s more of my color now.

The sky gleams down upon them. Their weapons clashing into the flesh of the monsters that surround them. Hairy, smelly, and so evil in everything that they do. Eyes stare at him, but a beast lies within wanting to tear him to shreds. Everything around him is slowing. The beast’s teeth are sharp above his head and he can feel his heartbeat shutter in fear. This was it. This was the day that he was born for. Glass meant to be shattered into millions of pieces, never to be fixed again. This was the moment that he was meant to leave the world with a legacy behind, but what was it? What would he leave behind for the world to know who Mitchell Laws was. There was nothing, but jokes and laughs. At least he got to smile one last time before his death.

Everything slows down before your death. There isn’t a sound that you can hear in the surrounding area, only background noise that seems to mix into a static. Mitchell wasn’t ready for death, but he could feel his heartbeat telling him it was time. A weak man wasn’t meant to live in a world full of strength and power. A weak man was meant to perish if he were to live in the world. Mitchell Laws was meant to perish, but this wasn’t what he had expected to go out to. In his mind, it would have been the queen of hearts who tore his throat open. Her crown resting softly upon her hair as she cries for Mitchell. A smile upon his face as she cried over his body losing life by the second. This was only a fantasy. A fantasy that he wishes were true, so she can make it home to her family. A family that needed her more than anything. The world wasn’t meant for once upon times. It was meant for endings with gritty deaths and unfinished business.

”Mitchell, Come home please.”

I can’t.

Mitchell Laws had no once upon a time nor a happy ending, only suffering that people endure for the entirety of their lives, until their time’s up and the world takes them away. Their souls forged into a different use like Mordecai Wu and Myara Lowe. The ocean’s tide and a field of pink and red flowers. They would become something beautiful in the end, but Mitchell. Mitchell was different. He wasn’t a calm tide that brought citizens to sleep, a gentle caress to soothe a soul. He wasn’t a field of pink and red flowers that can impress the world with it’s beauty. He was just Mitchell Laws, a boy born into a good life, to end in catastrophic way.

The teeth cut at the skin and he can feel the air in his lungs disappear. The blood flowing swiftly out of the wound. The monster leaving him to die with an open wound exposed to the air like his broken walls. A scream itches to come out, but the blood won’t let it. He can hear still. He can see still. He can feel still. The pain. The suffering. The horror that sticks to his skin like a coat of sweat. Everything hurts inside of him. Screams of his allies can be heard from the field around him. Only a sky above him give him the comfort he can get. A pretty blue of the calming sky, a gentle breeze teasing his face. The day was a beautiful day, just like the day he met Jasper. Just like the day he met his brother. Just like the day where his life went downhill.

I’m so cold.

Their screams echo in his ears.

”For the love of Ripred, no!”

"Mitchell-"

"How dare you rip him away from me!"

Their words only add to the regrets of his life. The regret of dying on everyone that needed him. Desimae. Asha. Jenoah. Hyacinth. Jasper. Jack. Mother. Father. Carter. He’s let them all down. He’s broken so many promises and he didn’t want to break anymore. Tears well at his eyes as he lets his emotions crawl forward. The walls shattering with the reality of the pain. This was the man Mitchell Laws was under all the guarded cement. A broken boy who had a dream of being someone that his brothers could look up to. A dream of living a life that he would become proud of. All of it ripped away within the teeth of a monster. This was the capitol’s might. This was their way. Tearing dreams out of the living. Only for someone like Mitchell Laws to lose a story and become nothing more than a person of the past. Forgotten by all, but the few he affected in his measly life.

I’m so cold. Help me. Please.

In death, all he can hear are their words. The words he’s heard from them all. Every conversation. Every sentence. Every breath. Every smile. Every feeling. He can experience it all. The threatening smile on Desimae’s face when they first met. The way her hair glowed with the sky above, the passion within her tired soul. He could feel her real smile. The gentle one everywhere. And he lets the tears fall as he coughs blood trying to speak. ”D-D-De-Des…” The way she would walk with bravery, the thing he never truly had in his life. The bravery to speak his mind. The bravery to face whatever came his way. He was weak. A coward. The words of the day before find its way into his head, pushing memories of Desi around. The memories of the long flowing red hair that she had cut herself in a show of the new Desimae that was fearless and a warrior. The words of her reply echoing in his head.

"Thanks meat head, I did it myself."

Red is more of my color.

Jenoah’s the next to come across him. A mystery of a man, but without a mystery anymore. The god that he once believed in was gone. Mitchell would tell him once he passes. A joke would be teasing at his lips, just like he day before when they were laughing about a joke that they had come up with. A small chuckle escaping from both of their bodies. A relief from the pain that they were enduring. The words begged to come out, but the blood was flowing too much. Soon enough he would be dead. A dead body that would be a joke like the lame ones in the book that Jenoah carried. ”J-J-Je-Jen…” His eyes carry so many words upon his shoulders and Mitchell wanted to learn every single one that he could, but it was too late. Too late to learn anything new. Too late for anything else. Jenoah was more of the silent leading type. A man whose skills to kill and communicate. Jenoah could keep a calm head in every fight they had been in, even when he had killed both Myara and Mordecai. The sorrows were eating at him, but Mitchell watched as he kept his head high with the strengths he had inside of him. His words ring in his ears again, but only the ghost of a memory.

"If children were allowed to dig for coal, would they still be miners?"

They are allowed to dig for coal.

Asha’s towering form comes into his mind next. The crazy look of a strong man. A killer, a survivor, a monster, and a broken boy. There was a secret that Asha Lumiere had. Mitchell wasn’t the type to guess, but slowly pieces were put together by his words. By the way that Asha Lumiere looked broken since the first time he met him. The cocky attitude was a front, a wall, a secret that locked Asha Lumiere away, just like Mitchell Laws’ walls. They had a similarity in something, but never would he truly know why Asha had walls of his own. The way of strength and fierce looks strikes the name Asha Lumiere like a lightning bolt. A storm that can’t be held down, but only grows and grows with frightening tendencies. Asha Lumiere was a fighter and would die a fighter, unlike Mitchell Laws. Mitchell fought for everything he could, but only determination gets a person so far. Asha Lumiere’s words are a frightening memory of the people he would leave behind. ”A-A-As-Ash.”

"It doesn't matter, we'll all be free in the end either way."

Free or dead?

"What's the difference?"

Hyacinth Mortuus is a voice he never thought he would hear. A voice he would never expected to listen to again. The girl who had been walled off from emotions, a girl who was like him, broken, but she was different than him. She was strong. Stronger than anyone he had ever met. He would have given his life for her, even if it meant that Carter wouldn’t see him again. Someone in District Twelve needed their sister. Someone in District Twelve needed someone as strong as her, not someone as weak as Mitchell Laws. The last thing he had told her was not to die. Promises were things he broke all the time, but in the end. Even on his last dying wish, he prays that she keeps the promise to stay alive. Hyacinth Mortuus was a girl who could rule the world with a heart of gold and a strength that would come from her heart. Hyacinth was a piece of his home and he prayed that she makes it home, not stuck in the past with him heavy upon her heart. Her words echo against his skull like a whisper.

”I have a family to protect.”

I hope you make it home to them.

Samira Hart was even more surprising. A girl who had stolen something different from Mitchell without him knowing. She had strength that could get through anything. Her strength was overwhelming and he could see the fire that burned in her soul. He could see the girl who had told him that she would cut his fingers off if he tried stealing from her. He could see the image of the blonde haired girl in front of him. A look of determination to survive within the rocky arena. The last thing he had told her was he wanted her dead. How much he regrets the words that had fallen from his lips. There was a soul within him that was itching to leave and let the cannon fire, but Samira Hart had been the person to bring out the good in him, even if she never realized it. Never once did he want her dead. Everything about her was in a way that he looked up to throughout his time. He’s failed her, even if she didn’t know he was doing things for her. Myara’s corpse was on his hands, just like Mordecai’s, but both live on with the people who carried them close to their hearts. He can hear Samira’s voice, a tease within it.

"So what's your secret, pick-pocket?"

I hide myself from reality and build walls to hide behind because I’m a coward.

Their words echo through his brain. The cold deepens and he can feel himself letting go soon. The cards are by his side. Hands reaching for the last goodbyes he can give. The only way he can truly say goodbye to anyone. Their cards already made the first night that they were trapped within the rocky place. Boots upon his feet feel heavy without his strength to push them up. The blood was everywhere. Pooling around his body as it leaked more and more. His death would be painful, just like his sins. The cards were set out. Hoping they would grab them. Hoping they would see it. Hoping they would feel him, just like he could feel them. After he hands them the cards that he can. He feels his heart slowly begin to stop. The blood blocks his lungs, the air gone from his chest and all he can see is Jack’s smirk and Carter’s smile.

”Mitchell, I love you.”

”Mitchell, I’m sorry.”

”Mitchell come home, please.”

”Mitchell I never meant to. I’m sorry.”

They come forward. Images upon the sky of their relaxed forms. Memories of them both fill his head. The time Carter made a fun little game of annoying their mother and father, until they both told them to leave the house. Carter and Mitchell’s rough housing as they would hear laughter of their brother. Jack would sit watching as he laughed harder and harder at the elbow that would strike Mitchell. The times Jack and Mitchell both worked together to clean dishes of the giant family that they had. The night of tears that Mitchell and Jack shared of old memories and broken promises. Nights filled with loneliness gone within a second of a few words. Carter’s childish games always filling all of their free time. He can feel Carter’s smaller form hug his body. The warmth and the love behind every single touch that came from Carter. He can feel Jack’s coldness and yet something a little more behind it. A feeling of pride towards Mitchell. Their smiles filled his life with a light that guided him through the darkness, but in this moment. Jack and Carter wouldn’t be there to guide him. It would be himself. Only himself that would be there to take him. ”Ca-Ca-Ca-rt-er”

“I love you, Mitchell.”

I love you too, Carter.

Tears flow down his face. The water soaking his cheeks with something different, blood and tears mix in the pool around him. His last breath of air escapes his lungs. Eyes stare forward into the sky as he can see his brother’s smiles in the skies above. Carter’s embrace around his body adds a warmth and glow to him. The images in the sky begins to fade. His heart beat slows. His breath is gone. His eyes feel dark as they begin to close for the last time. He’s warm and yet so cold. An emotion of the love that he had given to the world floats with him as he passes. They weren’t with him, but they were with him in his soul. Carter. Jack. Mother. Father. Jasper. Hyacinth. Desimae. Asha. Jenoah. Samira. Myara. Mordecai. Every single soul seems to be intertwined like a web. His emotions and memories of them all seem to combine into one and he feels himself at peace. His eyes close. The world he once knew gone within a flash of peace and warmth.

”The End, Carter.”

The End.

_____________________________________________

The sky’s a clear blue with the bright sun blazing out. Two boys sit on the porch of a home with faces full of tears. Their hearts beat with their sorrows. An older boy sits higher up with a guilty sorrow upon his soul. The echoes of a grief that’s filled with a past that the boy regrets. The younger one sits with a heart full of kindness that turns cold with what he’s seen. A childish boy at heart and the sorrow that fills his soul is plain sorrow. They sit with tears coating their cheeks. The sky’s clear blue only comforts them with the sun’s glowing rays above.

Their hearts are heavy, but their minds are filled with the memories of a loved one. The memories of a dead man who wasn’t meant for greatness, but tried to achieve it for them. They missed him with every gentle breeze that touches their faces, trying to wipe away the tears. The breeze almost feels like a caress of the hand trying to comfort them from the pain they were feeling. The two boys hold onto the feeling of the caress, but tears pour out with their soul mourning for the loved one that had been lost. The gentle sun rays comfort them like an embrace of the one that they miss. A hug from the world that they knew of. An embrace that only brings more memories of the one that was gone form their lives. The eldest speaks first with a tongue that had once been used to say sharp words.

“Carter, we’ll be okay.”

The youngest looks at the eldest with his heart upon his sleeve. His heart shattered from the death of a man who never truly thought he was going to make it home. The pieces of glass that were once a piece of his heart lay scattered upon the ground. A hollow ache could be seen in his body and the wind pushes harder, trying to hold the youngest together. The hollowed eyed eldest looks to his brother with grief and secrets under his tongue that will never be heard of by anyone. They’ll eat away at his body until he crumbles from the pain of it all, giving in to his desires, but for that moment, he lets the emotions fall even if he was a terror to the fallen, he still loved him with every piece of his heart. The youngest speaks with sorrows upon his tongue.

“Don’t lie to yourself. I won’t ever be okay.”

The sun’s warmth finds its way around the youngest’s body. A pleasant feeling embraces the youngest brother with everything. His body burns from the sun’s rays in a comforting way like something was trying to keep the boy whole and remind him that someone was always there. That someone was always there for him, even if he was gone from the world that they once knew. The youngest wants to cry, the sun can feel it with it’s rays, the wind can see it with it’s breeze. Everything that the youngest had known feels so far away and yet so close. A voice whispers with the wind and the two feel themselves sob with everything in their bodies. Sorrows taking them all with the ghostly feeling of a boy who once was alive and tried to achieve greatness.

I will always be here. My life before is gone, but a new story begins.

The two stand up as they enter the home full of chaos and sorrows, but a whole family. Their sorrows still aching at their souls, but there’s still a piece of him residing within each of them. A new piece to hold onto that they would never know about, but he would. He would always know what was inside of them. A piece of himself for each of his brothers who needed him the most. A thief who tried to achieve greatness, but somehow became the sun, whose rays comfort the sorrow filled people, and the gentle breeze that comes with to wipe the tears away from the broken hearted.

_____________________________________________

As the sun sets, stories are being told all over the world that he had once lived in. Stories of heroes, villians, anti-heroes, lovers, killers, monster, and so many more. A little boy who was a part of the family asks his grandmother to read him a story. A story that had been told once in their lifetimes. The grandmother only smiles and nods in agreeance as she pulls open a book full of empty paper with no words written upon it. The memories of his smile teasing her brain. The memory of his warm hugs filling her entire body with a peace that she had made long ago. Her eyes glowed with the words that she always started with.

”This is the story of a thief who tried to achieve greatness, but became the sun’s soft rays and the gentle breeze that eases the souls of the living.”

A story that is told by her every day as she fondly remembers her son. Mitchell Laws who had become something greater than she could possible imagine. A belief that she had only shared with her eldest as he was the only one who truly needed it more than the others. As she smiles and continues remembering the story fondly. The little boy falls asleep, in his bed, dreaming of becoming a hero like the ones in the stories that his grandmother reads. Her lips are soft as she kisses the boy’s forehead, only a few words escaping her lips.

”The end.”