The Reaping. /Oneshot/
The Reaping.
Victoria stirred slightly, nuzzling further into her comfy pillow and smiling at Sulli.
"Yah! You're so silly!" She giggled, watching as the younger stuffed full with what was now twelve chocolate bars. "Omo Ssul, you're gonna get fat and we've got training in under an hour!" Victoria tugged on her arm but couldn't stifle her laughter. She just looked so comical, her cheeks inflated like a little hamster and a blissful look in her eyes.
"Arghagahhaa!"
"...What?" Victoria burst into giggles again. "Seriously Ssul spit that out!"
Sulli frowned at the elder and placed her hands on her hips, showing that she had every intention to finish what she'd started. Victoria raised an eyebrow humorously and shook her head.
"Right well, good luck with that, I'll meet you there then." She grinned and waved, leaving Sulli's house for the training centre.
"VICTORIA!" She spun around.
..Who was that? She stared at her surroundings, waiting for someone to reveal themselves, but no one did. The voice was far off and distant, and didn't ring again, so she passed it off as a figment of her imagination and carried on walking.
"Annyeong!" She bowed low for the employees who greeted her kindly in return. Selecting an axe and throwing it heftily into the target painted on the wall. It stuck in the centre and she smirked. She hadn't missed since she was seven, and that was the way she liked it. Applause sounded, and a figure appeared behind her. He smiled and patted her on the back as a tinge of pink stained her cheeks. "Morning dad."
"VICTORIA!" This time she jumped, turning back to where the voice had come from. Her eyes were wide and alert - it sounded desperately urgent - but she instantly calmed when her best friend bounded in, chocolate smears all over her face.
"Unnie! I finished it! I told you I would!"
Victoria chuckled. "Was that what that was?" She replied, thinking back to Sulli's muffled words.
"VICTORIA!"
Her shoulders were shook violently and Victoria gasped, the bright light shocking her. She was being shaken...by who? She looked up and into the face of a worried girl, a girl she'd never met before but was dressed smartly with her hair tied ba-
"OH MY GOD." She inhaled sharply. This was the reaping. This was the girl who'd been stood next to her. Her eyes darted around the town square, waiting for the Capitol guards to come and take her away for falling asleep, but no one did. Instead the girls in her line were looking at her, some bewildered, some sympathetic, some relieved.
Before she could ask the terrifying question of who'd been selected, the girl in front of her dug her nails into her skin. "Victoria! It's your brother!"
dropped slightly and her bottom lip quivered as she looked past the shoulder of the girl, fully awake now. Her little brother...
"JASON!" Victoria lurched forward instinctively, stumbling out of line and into the walkway. He looked back over his shoulder and her heart dropped. His eyes, filled with such terror. He turned and held an arm out in the gap between the two guards taking him to his ultimate death. He was only twelve.
"TORI!" He screamed and his desperation got the better of him as he struggled past the guards and ran for her. Her feet pounded against the gravel and she could think of nothing that could possibly keep her from him now. Not the guards, not the whole Capitol.
Her eyes shut tight as she buried her face into his shoulder and his little arms practically strangled her, his legs wrapping themselves around her waist. Her legs buckled and she fell to her knees. "I won't let them take you! You're mine, you're too young-" She spoke hurriedly in his ear as his breath quickened and his shoulders rose and fell faster than they should. He was so scared.
But their moment was short, because guards were on them faster than they could think.
"NO! I VOLUNTEER!" Victoria was desperate and the representative from the Capitol coughed awkwardly into the microphone.
"Yes well, according to the rules a female can only volunteer for a female and a male may only volunteer for another male...that's just how it-"
"NO! NO I WON'T LET YOU! LET ME VOLUNTEER!"
"I have already asked for volunteers for the female tribute, if you wanted to so badly you should have spoken-"
She thrashed as hard as she could, the Capitol voice drained out by her screams. She wouldn't make this easy for them. She did everything she could, but to no avail. Her hand yanked free for a second when a guard repositioned his grip and she reached out for him. He was screaming too, screaming for his sister. But soon it would be too late, he was already on stage.
"I LOVE YOU! JASON!"
Normally the newly selected tributes were taken to the stage, where they shook hands and were lead off by the guards to the Justice Building, but this was too much of a scene. Never had this happened in the history of District 2, and so Jason was dragged off, disappearing out of sight in the arms of strangers, leaving Victoria and her weeping sisters beside her, not wanting to believe what had just happened. This part was the dream, she would wake up soon.
She would wake up.
A/N: Wow that was a spur of the moment XD I figured I'd just sort of write a oneshot to explain what had happened to Toria five years ago, and how it contributed to her hate for the Capitol. I might write another one day about when her brother died, but idk ^^ Lemme know whatchu think~!
Comments