The Reckless And The Brave - Chapter 17
Pairing: Jalex, Riassadee, slight Rydon.
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Each year, the Capitol of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death on national TV - until Alex Gaskarth, of District 11, and Jack Barakat, of District 7, change everything.
Warning: Character death.
Disclaimer: Fictional. Title credit to All Time Low. Based on The Hunger Games.
Dedicated to: broken_capulet, who followed this story from the beginning. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Masterpost
Rian comes with them despite his injury. He's using Cassadee as a crutch again, hopping on his other leg as she walks slowly behind Jack and Alex.
They stop just outside the Cornucopia clearing, hidden by the trees from killers' eyes. The entire clearing, even the air seems to glow with the sun's reflection in the Cornucopia's gold weave. There's the starting line, the lifters that carried them into the arena. There's a table in the mouth of the giant golden horn, spread with black and red velvet and four capsules. 1, 2, 4, 12.
Cass picks up a few small pebbles and almost lazily fits them to her slingshot and fires them at the horn. They glance off the rim, making sounds like elfin church bells.
"I'll go," says Alex, looking around at the others. "I'm the fastest."
"Here." Jack draws an arrow and fits it to his bow. "If anyone tries to kill you... I'll kill them first." His voice cracks slightly.
Alex reaches for Jack, wrapping him in another one-armed hug until he feels the taller boy relax. Then he steps back, preparing to run.
"No, wait!" Cass grabs Alex's shoulder.
It takes a few seconds for him to notice movement on the opposite side of the clearing. Zack Merrick's jacket is unzipped to reveal his bare, chiseled torso, but his skin is sickly pale. He walks almost casually up to the table, picking up the capsule marked 4.
Suddenly, John and Hayley charge at him out of nowhere, and it's hard to say who's more eager to kill. John draws his rapier menacingly, while Hayley clutches a knife in her uninjured hand, poised to pitch it. A second later, a darker shadow darts out from the mouth of the Cornucopia. Sierra, the rogue Career, grabs her capsule, taking advantage of the fight to slip away unnoticed.
They all reach the starting line simultaneously - John and Hayley from outside the semicircle, Sierra from inside - and the ground bursts open to douse them in fountains of flame.
The Careers float, weightless in the explosions. Then they fall to the ground, charred black. Three cannons fire.
Alex is frozen, his ears ringing from the blasts.
He can't tear his eyes away from the broken bodies. The air tastes like scorched meat and soil.
And don't step off the starting point before the clock runs out, or you'll be blown sky high.
Jack pulls him to his feet. They circle around the edge of the clearing to the other side, Jack and Alex running, Cass supporting Rian.
When they finally come into the open space, Jack lets go of Alex's hand and runs across the clearing, towards the Cornucopia, to grab the shoulders of an unconscious Zack, knocked down by the explosions, and drag him towards them. When Jack sets him down, Zack stirs, dazed and white, and then turns over and throws up on the grass.
Alex hasn't stopped shaking since the land mines buried under the starting line - and apparentl reactivated - exploded. It's like he's inside the glass tube again, the outside world silent.
He's vaguely aware of Jack's eyes connecting with his frozen ones, Jack's arms wrapping around his shoulders... Jack's lips crushing against his.
The glass tube breaks.
Jack presses his warm, dry tongue against the seal of Alex's lips, and he finally shuts his eyes and allows him entrance, drawing breaths from Jack's lungs. Alex's whole body feels electric. Hyper-aware of every cell. Whole constellations of sparks dancing behind his eyes an so beautiful.
Finally, Jack pulls away.
"Yeah! Yeah, that just happened!" He's yelling into the sky now. "What are you gonna do about it?"
The Capitol doesn't answer, doesn't send in fightercrafts to blow them up. "You wanna winner? You're not FUCKING getting one!"
Then he takes Alex's hand.
"Together?" Alex is newborn after the kiss. He can end his short new life happy.
"Together."
Jack extends his arm to Zack, pulling him to his feet. Rian takes Cass' smooth hand in his rough, solid one. Cass sobs into his lips.
If we go down, we go down together.
The five tributes begin to walk across the clearing. Back to the starting line. Into the mines.
Brave.
"Stop!"
The familiar voice startles them. But Travis McCoy's next words stop their hearts.
"Ladies and gentlemen... the winners... of the 74th Annual Hunger Games!"
They stare at one another in shock.
"This is a trick, right?" Cass' eyes narrow.
But then the shadow swoops over the clearing. The hovercraft lands slowly in front of them, alongside the Cornucopia.
It's over.
District 1 Hayley Williams
District 1 John O'Callaghan
District 2 Sierra Kusterbeck
Rating: PG-13.
Summary: Each year, the Capitol of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to fight to the death on national TV - until Alex Gaskarth, of District 11, and Jack Barakat, of District 7, change everything.
Warning: Character death.
Disclaimer: Fictional. Title credit to All Time Low. Based on The Hunger Games.
Dedicated to: broken_capulet, who followed this story from the beginning. May the odds be ever in your favor.
Masterpost
Rian comes with them despite his injury. He's using Cassadee as a crutch again, hopping on his other leg as she walks slowly behind Jack and Alex.
They stop just outside the Cornucopia clearing, hidden by the trees from killers' eyes. The entire clearing, even the air seems to glow with the sun's reflection in the Cornucopia's gold weave. There's the starting line, the lifters that carried them into the arena. There's a table in the mouth of the giant golden horn, spread with black and red velvet and four capsules. 1, 2, 4, 12.
Cass picks up a few small pebbles and almost lazily fits them to her slingshot and fires them at the horn. They glance off the rim, making sounds like elfin church bells.
"I'll go," says Alex, looking around at the others. "I'm the fastest."
"Here." Jack draws an arrow and fits it to his bow. "If anyone tries to kill you... I'll kill them first." His voice cracks slightly.
Alex reaches for Jack, wrapping him in another one-armed hug until he feels the taller boy relax. Then he steps back, preparing to run.
"No, wait!" Cass grabs Alex's shoulder.
It takes a few seconds for him to notice movement on the opposite side of the clearing. Zack Merrick's jacket is unzipped to reveal his bare, chiseled torso, but his skin is sickly pale. He walks almost casually up to the table, picking up the capsule marked 4.
Suddenly, John and Hayley charge at him out of nowhere, and it's hard to say who's more eager to kill. John draws his rapier menacingly, while Hayley clutches a knife in her uninjured hand, poised to pitch it. A second later, a darker shadow darts out from the mouth of the Cornucopia. Sierra, the rogue Career, grabs her capsule, taking advantage of the fight to slip away unnoticed.
They all reach the starting line simultaneously - John and Hayley from outside the semicircle, Sierra from inside - and the ground bursts open to douse them in fountains of flame.
The Careers float, weightless in the explosions. Then they fall to the ground, charred black. Three cannons fire.
Alex is frozen, his ears ringing from the blasts.
He can't tear his eyes away from the broken bodies. The air tastes like scorched meat and soil.
And don't step off the starting point before the clock runs out, or you'll be blown sky high.
Jack pulls him to his feet. They circle around the edge of the clearing to the other side, Jack and Alex running, Cass supporting Rian.
When they finally come into the open space, Jack lets go of Alex's hand and runs across the clearing, towards the Cornucopia, to grab the shoulders of an unconscious Zack, knocked down by the explosions, and drag him towards them. When Jack sets him down, Zack stirs, dazed and white, and then turns over and throws up on the grass.
Alex hasn't stopped shaking since the land mines buried under the starting line - and apparentl reactivated - exploded. It's like he's inside the glass tube again, the outside world silent.
He's vaguely aware of Jack's eyes connecting with his frozen ones, Jack's arms wrapping around his shoulders... Jack's lips crushing against his.
The glass tube breaks.
Jack presses his warm, dry tongue against the seal of Alex's lips, and he finally shuts his eyes and allows him entrance, drawing breaths from Jack's lungs. Alex's whole body feels electric. Hyper-aware of every cell. Whole constellations of sparks dancing behind his eyes an so beautiful.
Finally, Jack pulls away.
"Yeah! Yeah, that just happened!" He's yelling into the sky now. "What are you gonna do about it?"
The Capitol doesn't answer, doesn't send in fightercrafts to blow them up. "You wanna winner? You're not FUCKING getting one!"
Then he takes Alex's hand.
"Together?" Alex is newborn after the kiss. He can end his short new life happy.
"Together."
Jack extends his arm to Zack, pulling him to his feet. Rian takes Cass' smooth hand in his rough, solid one. Cass sobs into his lips.
If we go down, we go down together.
The five tributes begin to walk across the clearing. Back to the starting line. Into the mines.
Brave.
"Stop!"
The familiar voice startles them. But Travis McCoy's next words stop their hearts.
"Ladies and gentlemen... the winners... of the 74th Annual Hunger Games!"
They stare at one another in shock.
"This is a trick, right?" Cass' eyes narrow.
But then the shadow swoops over the clearing. The hovercraft lands slowly in front of them, alongside the Cornucopia.
It's over.
District 1 Hayley Williams
District 1 John O'Callaghan
District 2 Sierra Kusterbeck