legacies. d10 train !

The universe is a cynical bastard. 

Emerson Emberstatt is born and he is beautiful, warm, healthy, good. He's something good in this god-awful world. The son of Paige Lowe and Kieran Emberstatt makes the front page of the Capitol news for a single day, destined for greatness before he tastes his first meal. Saffron holds him in her arms and smiles. Quinn blinks down at her nephew and grins, finger wrapped up in his tiny hand. Mace is beside himself. Things are good, for a moment.

But a gift can also be a curse. Saffron knows that. The victor watches her sister unravel slowly after she gives birth and it's all she can do. Watch. Paige slinks back into her old ways, transformed into a hermit, a shell, holding her infant son in her arms and staring, staring, staring into nothing. 

It's terrifying, but she keeps reminding herself that Paige has Kieran. Kieran, who healed her sister once. Kieran, who did what Saffron couldn't. Kieran, darling Kieran, who did the impossible. Before Saffron leaves she pulls him into a hug and whispers quietly in his ear a reminder.

"She still loves you. Even if it doesn't seem like it. Remember that, alright?"

It's what Paige told her, after the first time. That she had never stopped loving Saffron. And even though her sister had been cursed once more with that dark emptiness, she knows in her heart that Paige is still in there. The Paige that loves Saffron. The Paige that loves Quinn. The Paige that loves Kieran. 

When it's over, she'll meet the Paige that loves her son. 

Kieran is the only reason she'll board the train to the Capitol, Quinn's hand wrapped in her own. Her daughter is six years old, half-way to death's door, but Saffron stays in the now. Helps her read books, spell words, colour in maps and pictures and answers her questions. Even the hard ones.

"Mommy," the little girl begs before she goes to sleep. "Can I meet them?"

"Who?" Saffron asks - though her heart knows exactly who.

"The kids that're gonna die?"

Quinn already knows they're dead and gone. Saffron does too. 

"If they come back," she promises, kissing her daughter good-night. 

It's all she can offer her. All she has is the truth.

Saffron's never been good at mentoring. What advice could a victor that barely spoke for half of her life offer anyway? Words may come easier to her now but she's no better at confronting these kids seventeen years later than she had been when she didn't speak. 

At least she has Mace, squeezing his hand tightly as they entered the carriage to face the latest batch of damned children. There's no secret to winning the games, no magic method, no easy answer. It's the truth - all she has. 

She'll give it to them, if they're willing - but the truth can be hard to swallow. She waits for their questions, their tears, their grief, ready to give the same answer.

The universe is a cynical bastard, but he's no liar.

Neither is Saffron.

this is
my kingdom come ;