reprise // zaya one-shot

Z A Y A

Drift down into the new dark light
Without any reservations
You found my breaking point
Congratulations

Standing in front of the training center once more, Zaya Reine feels at odds with themselves. When the letter had come through the post they weren't sure whether to celebrate or toss the paper in the garbage. They were haunted by dreams of past tributes, of deaths caused directly by their own hand.

Yet the hunger for another round, the honor of shaping another games. It was a hunger that could never be sated.

They'd spent the better part of the day burrowing into their closet, looking for outfits the old Zaya would have worn. After years hiding from cameras and avoiding public appearances they were less than prepared for a Gamemaker announcement.

Their eyes fell on tall, sleek black heels. Once they accepted the position there would be no turning back. They couldn't cry themselves into nothingness over the lives they ruined if they kept jumping at the chance to desecrate more.

They could apologize to Stella and Ansgar. They could turn their life around. If they truly believed the Games is an evil, they'd reject President Snow's offer and openly campaign against the practice. They'd disappear, as all the critics do, but they would have had an opinion. Would have died for a cause.

Their fingers twitched.

It was an addiction they could never recover from.

After a morning relying on the muscle memory of swiping on eyeliner, Zaya had arrived in front of the training center. Black heels pressing her tall frame even further towards the sky. Red lips curled into a smirk as a man kneeled before her to snap her picture. She ruffled her fur wrap around her shoulders.

"Miss Reine where have you been?!"

"Zaya turn this way!"

"Miss Reine! Miss Reine!"

"Excuse me," she said, reeling on the desperate papprazzi crowding around her. "It's Gamemaker Reine."

song: Heel Turn 2