Wonderful Creature

“Ah, a while ago then” Luca said with a nod. “I mean, if you have any questions, I’m all ears, I can try help with the differences” he said then, because he felt bad, for all of them, to be just woken up and thrown into another game cycle, it couldn’t be easy.

“How old were you twenty-four years ago?” She asked him, honestly bad at telling what someone’s age was just from looking at them. “Do you even remember what things were like back then?”

.

“What?! Are you high? Granola bars are great!” he argued, waving the extra in her face as if it might suddenly make it more appetizing to her. He tried to remember whether or not he thought granola bars were good at 18– and genuinely couldn’t recall. “What sounds good, then?”

“No, definitely not.” Artemis said as she wacked her brother’s hand, trying to get the bar out of her face. “Oh my gosh, you really have gotten old on me, how could this of happened..” She said, sounding like she was in distress but only playing around. “Hm, let’s see.. Chocolate cake, donuts, chocolate chip cookies, chocolate milk, a chocolate bar.. any of those.” She listed off.

“Would you like to go on an adventure with me?” Artemis asked, sweet smile on her face. “I was thinking we could sneak out of the tower. Get some fresh air, see the Capitol life in year 120, and be back before anyone notices. Are you with me?”

.

He cleared his throat, hugging her back briefly, but ultimately kept going down the hallway. Focusing on it too long still hurt, though he was able to talk about her now without crying. That was improvement, right?

“She would have loved you. I mean, she did, but through the screen, you know? She knew you were important, too, didn’t get mad about it, I had pictures of you in the house…” He cut himself off, he was rambling now. “She, um. She got sick. Not even the kind Capitol magic could fix.” It only occurred to him then that they could bring back his dead sister, but not save Andie. How fucking unfair was that? “Hard to know what to do without her. You used to keep me in line, then she kept me in line, you know?” He laughed, but it was sorrowful, hollow.

Artemis smiled at him when he was talking about his late wife. “She sounds like she was amazing, Apollo. I’m sure I would have loved her, too. I wish I would have gotten to meet her. Two years too late, I guess.” She couldn’t help but wonder if cloning was going to become a permanant thing in the Capitol. “Who knows, maybe one day they could find a way to bring loved ones back.” Artemis suggested. 

She knew one day the twins were going to separate and have families of their own but Artemis couldn’t help but feel she had quickly been replaced when she died. “Well, now I’m back to keep you in line again.” Artemis smiled. “I’m going to win this, Apollo. I don’t have any distractions going into the arena this time.” 

The girl made her way over to the axes. She wasn’t a fan of close range weapons. Bow and arrows were what she had perfected and swords and throwing knives were a close second. Axes? Never used it before, she wasn’t from District Seven. The blonde grabbed the axe and looked at the girl who was standing close by. “You ever use one of these before?” She asked the girl.

He hadn’t expected the praise, as just about everyone else (Marino especially) had been upset about what he’d done. It didn’t sit right with him, to get praise, but that was the Academy way. He’d never been a Career but in One and Two, kills were currency. Kills got you power. (Kills kept you alive until they didn’t.) “Well… thanks,” he said. “The guy I killed doesn’t seem as congratulatory, though.” She was lucky that she didn’t have that on her conscience. It was a bitch.

Artemis laughed a bit. “First off, who cares what he thinks? He’s a nobody I’m sure. When you enter the games, it kill or be killed. Do these people honestly expect you to do nothing?” She asked him. Once entering the games, all morals go out of the door. “Second, it think I would be pissed towards the person who killed me also. If someone killed you, are you mad at them?” She asked curiously.

“Have you seen your family?” With a history like Artemis’, there was obvious room for questions and curiosities. And it was no secret that Vidia felt already too deep in all their backgrounds and stories. And she had a right to know.

Artemis smiled at the mention of her family. “I have, actually.” She started. “Both my brother and my niece are here in the tower. “They were very excited to see me. Apollo even met me at the train station.” She told her.

“No one?” he asked. She was District One, right? That was unexpected, but he supposed it happened. Cain being case in point. “Four, for me.” For some reason the sentence ‘I killed four people’ was too difficult to say. It had been a past life. These hands had never seen their blood. But to pretend that it didn’t weigh on his conscience was to lie to himself.

“Nope. Like I said, I got distracted. That won’t be the case this time.” She wasn’t going to let anyone distract her this time. She was going to kill and she was going to win. “Four?” The girl repeated. “That’s really impressive! That number will probably keep some tributes away these games. You should be proud of it.” She smiled.

“Ah so we were both taken out by arena animals” he said with a smile, as if finding this thing in common was brilliant. “At least we’re not walking around with our murderers lurking the halls, right?” He said then, thankful he hadn’t been killed by another tribute, or victor. “Apollo? You’re his sister, right?” He asked then, remembered them vaguely from watching the games, an avid fan.

“Only the cool kids get taken out by arena animals.” The girl laughed. She always knew she never wanted to be die by a tributes hand. Even if she was dead, she never wanted someone to get to parade around getting to claim to have killed her. “I guess that would be pretty bad. Then I would just want to murder them then we’d just get in trouble, huh? I guess that’s why we have these Peacekeepers. In case things like that happening.” She did hope to see some drama go down between tributes that were in the arena together. “I am. Twin sister.” She added. “We were in the same games and he came out as victor.”

.

Her words sliced at wounds that never seemed to fully heal over. There was something about it coming from her that ached worse than the usual misplaced comment. Apollo wanted more than anything to declare yes, yes I have the most wonderful wife, she can kick my ass and I want you to meet her right now, but instead there was only a sinking feeling in his stomach.  He swallowed hard, avoiding her eyes. “I got married. She was…” He shook his head, looking up at the glimmering chandeliers dangling in the Tower hallways. Always such a waste, he’d always thought, chandeliers in halls barely used. “She was amazing. In charge. Fierce. But sweet, too, she loved more fearlessly than anyone I’ve ever met.” He swallowed hard. “She died. A year and a half ago next week. I wish you could have met her.” 

As he said it, the thoughts about what had happened with Surya three months prior seeped in, the guilt sickly and heavy with it. How could he have done that? How could he ever admit to Artemis just how much of a fuck up he had been and still was? Where to even begin with Rory, the daughter that hardly looked at him, hardly spoke to him, that he was failing so completely?

Artemis knew the second after she asked him about his wife that she wasn’t going to hear good news about it. He avoided eye contact with her and it was never a good sign. She listened carefully to what he had to say. A small smile grew on her lips as he described his wife to her. “She sounds like she was wonderful, Apollo.” Artemis said she pulled her brother into a tight hug. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that. I wish I could have been there for you.” The death of his wife was still so soon. She wasn’t expecting to hear that she died less than two years ago. “I wish I could of met her, for sure.” She had always imagined being close to Apollo’s wife and Apollo being close to her husband. Unfortantly that didn’t happen and she even with being brought back as a clone after dying, she still didn’t get to meet her. “What happened to her?” She asked him softly.

She never knew was it felt like to lose someone close to you. The only death she had expierced was Atlas and at that point it was only puppy love. The thought of being married and losing your loved one seemed so haunting. It matter her wonder if she did win, would she ever get married? Or would she try to avoid in the heart ache later on.

“Are you okay, Apollo?” She asked him, really worried for her brother.

it was odd, being hugged by a girl her age, with the appearance and attitude of a teenager, like herself, while full-well knowing this was her father’s dead twin. that the blonde was the reason for her middle name, was her aunt, and rory now realised she looked quite a bit like her. “did dad not.. tell you yet ??” rory asked, panic in her voice as per usual, though she noted it would’ve also been perfectly valid for artemis to know about the existence of her niece, and not assume any random blonde would be the girl in question. “i do.. i do look like you, don’t i ??” rory was turning red now, because the girl in front of her was beautiful, and to agree that rory looked like her was, on some level, to say she herself was, too.

Artemis couldn’t stop staring at her niece. She was so beautiful. She had always wanted to be aunt to a niece. She always knew she would have a close relationship to her niece. A relationship where she knew she could to Artemis for anything and she would help her through it. She hoped this time she could win and fulfill that dream. “He hadn’t told me.” She started. “I’m sure he was just waiting for the right moment.” She said to her with a reassuring smile. “Please, tell me all about yourself. Tell me everything.” She said excited to hear everything about her niece.

“It wasn’t the best feeling, I’ll tell you that” he said with a laugh. In all honestly, he could barely remember, most likely died at the first bite, which was probably a good thing. “Sure look, a brutal death is more entertaining at least, isn’t it? How did you go? The first time?” He asked then.

“I’m sure it wasn’t.” Artemis laughed along with him. It was such a sick thing to laugh over but maybe it was a good way to cope. “I suppose it is but pain sort of sucks, doesn’t it?” She asked as if the answer wasn’t obviously. “I got killed by a zombie tribute mutt.” Artemis started. “They brought tributes back from the dead. I should of ran, trusted my instinct. Apollo wouldn’t run though. Next thing I knew she bite me and.. now I’m here as a clone.” She shrugged.

He looked down at himself, his body, as if gauging whether or not he was evil, like it was something he had to think about. But maybe it was. He had killed people, after all. Probably a lot of them had. “I don’t think so,” he said. “I hope not. I mean… I did kill people in the Arena, I guess. Did you?”

“How many did you kill?” Artemis asked him curiously. It didn’t really matter if he had killed someone, it was the whole point of the games. “I didn’t kill anyone. I had full intentions of killing but got too distracted in the arena.” She rolled her eyes are herself. Embarrassing.