Enzo Krearns D4 | Resub Fin

Legacies mean nothing compared to the warmth of family and love.

A hard lesson that he had to learn over the years. He wasn't always the greatest of people. Once a stubborn set career with a big mouth that used to get him into trouble. The training he pulled was some of the heaviest any of the Krearns had done, but he was convinced at the idea of being the next Someith or Jay. Prove to the capitol and four that the Krearns stood taller than the rest. It's a ugly time to look back on, but it was him.

Hell, it's still him some days.

Except, everything's evolved over the years. A heart can change with experience and time. He's not that same kid who once tried to hurt his little brother out of anger issues. Enzo was no longer than kid who stood next to careers, taunting their lack of skills. He's not into throwing knives as much as he used to be, instead he's replaced those knives with aprons from a diner and calluses on his hands. A silence fills him as he remembers the days of waking up early, running around the docks of four, training his endurance. Days spent on the beach, pushing himself to his limits so he could be the best.

His cousins all proved him wrong. Enzo wasn't the strongest. Nevah and Niven seemed to prove him wrong all the time. Everett even beat him over the years. Nemo was smarter than him and by the time life was moving forward, his training was moving farther back. Never quite up to par compared to the rest. All of them were better than him, except one. Newt Krearns was a failure as a career. Their uncle would tell him so every time. A silence always filled him as he would listen and turn his attention to Nevah. A smile on his face as he used to ignore his cousin's pain.

If only he knew back then what would happen.

Everett and Nemo were his life. Brothers who he always relied on and they always relied on him. They worked together almost perfectly when it came to anything. Everett saving him from bad dates. Nemo helping him with regular homework. And he helped them with chores and training. All three of them were as close as can be. Things were still the same there. Everett will always be his older brother who was both reliable and a liability. Nemo will always be his little brother who gets lost all the time and has the brain of a genius.

Nowadays the three of them lean on one another for support.

The tsunami was the change for him.

How a simple giant wave could wash away the skin of his own beliefs and turn them into dust was beyond him. The wave was the cause, but Harbinger Rhodes was the effect. Enzo Krearns had never felt pain until that wave collapsed their home, killing mom and dad. Leaving behind a shattered heart amongst the rubble buildings and seaweed-clad bodies. A grave brought back to shore by the ocean. Rumors of Mason Krearns being sent to sea instead of buried in a grave.

The grave of Mason was back ashore and the belief of legacies was the strongest in that moment, until it crashed down with the pile of rubble that he fell down to. Like a fallen star from the sky, his leg broke as did his days as a career in four. All that was left behind was a broken husk of a man that threatened Harbinger Rhodes, despite the kindness Harbinger brought to him. Upon that day, the change happened in slow ways. A change that would bring about the Enzo of today and the Enzo of tomorrow.

Rebuilding after the tsunami took time. A lot of time that was spent healing in a tent for him. Time spent thinking of what he wanted to do once he got out of there, but it would take months before he was healed completely. Days and days passed with Everett and Nemo coming in and telling him of the progress they all had made on the house. He had laid back and watched the clock's hands turn and turn, until he wanted to rip them out by the screws and throw them across the ocean.

He was burdened by his own weakness for so long that it cracked around his edges.

A collapse that could only be told as the worst mental breakdown in his life.

Broken hearts and angry words thrown at others for days, no months, until he felt better, but he was broken. No days spent training. No friends to talk to. He had been alone for days on end, stuck to his crutches. Nevah and Newt had become his solace in the anger, a place to run away to when he couldn't handle the pressure his brother kept putting on him. Their father had tried to get him to train, but with a casted leg and nothing more than crutches, there wasn't much he was allowed to do.

The words spouted at Newt got worse from then on.

Enzo healed eventually, learning that his place was at the side of his siblings, working to keep them living.

The jobs he had moved to were labor intensive. Dropping out of training was the best and worst decision he had made back then. They called him washed up. They called him weak. He called himself strong back then. Strong enough to know he didn't need training to tell him he was worth living and being himself. Instead of throwing knives, he cleaned tables, instead of trash talking, he made friends. Life got better from then on, until he missed the one person he should have been watching.

Family had become the most important thing to him then.

Newt Krearns had came and reminded him of that again.

Rocks tied to an ankle and the ocean's tide pulling him out to sea. Enzo didn't even remember thinking back then as he plunged into the ocean, swimming down and down into the dark blue expanse, pulling on ropes until it snagged free. Luck had became a strength that day. Lucky enough to have not drowned. Lucky enough to have saved Newt. Lucky enough to even be alive. Newt had become part of his family and soon enough, it took only a cigarette and the truth of change to bring him to their home.

The memory of how Enzo felt a true smile pulling at his lips stuck with him.

Hearth Joyval was a surprise.

Nothing more than a boy who worked across the way at a rival diner. A pretty smile and friendly presence, he fell for the guy, but family took over his head before love did. The first time of hanging out at a party and getting drunk had been the best night of his life in all eighteen of his years. Everett had laughed at him as the smile they both shared during the retelling giving away the truth behind his own feelings. Redness blooms on his face from the embarrassment he remembers. A crush on a guy he knew through friends, but it wasn't anything serious.

Just a crush he had said.

How wrong he would be.

Hearth seemed to pop up everywhere from that point on. Enzo can remember the way he'd appear in the diner or on a dock or at different parties with that smile that lights up his world. Hearth would be there with some sort of positivity that Enzo never truly knew he needed. Realistically, it was all chance, but for Enzo it felt like something more. A tsunami took everything away from him, but the change of it gave him something new, something fresh, something worth it.

A new life.

Enzo can remember the way he gushed over Hearth. Every time he came home, he would spout to Nemo or Everett or Newt. All of them would roll their eyes and smile with sheer pride of him. A silence would fill the room every time, until they all said the same thing to him over and over again.

You deserve happiness for once, Enzo.

And he did.

Until he didn't.

Until his name was pulled from the glass bowl like he had wanted for years. The reaping had torn him to pieces. His name shouting to the world until he was drowning under a sea of pain. The world didn't want Enzo Krearns to be happy. He swore it back then. Swore that he would end up dead in a grave after the games. Hearth was all he screamed in his mind that day. Hearth was all he wanted that day. Instead, he had tears and the brave facade he put on attached to his name, but luckily for him, Hailsham Academy had other ideas.

After that, he found Newt and Nemo and Everett and held on as tight as he could. Words burned into their throats. Tears shed and hugs performed. They were family and legacy didn't mean anything to their respect and adoration for one another. Hearth had been the first one he hugged, holding on for dear life as if his body was going to melt in the middle of the crowd. Everything spun from that day, until he was engulfed in love.

After the reaping, Hearth and him had found each other. Arms around one another and dreams spreading in their hearts. Enzo remembered the way he had stepped outside with Hearth, a smile upon both of their lips that ended with a kiss and a new part in their lives. A light red brushing his cheeks from that day forward until Enzo wasn't embarrassed of wanting to live for once.

Hearth had been a surprise.

But as they lay on this couch, Enzo's head in his lap and Hearth's hand gently running through it, he knew.

This was the next step in his life, even if Hearth didn't know it.

Enzo already decided that this was where he wanted to be.

Where he'll always want to be.

Legacy means nothing to him anymore.

All that's left is the warm red of his heart beating.

Home.

He had found his home;

finally.