eternal night.

MOCKINGJAY PART 2 ( 2015 )  sentence starters

‘ give me one reason why i shouldn’t kill you.  ’

‘ did you have a nightmare? i have nightmares too. ’

‘ don’t trust them. do what you came to do. ’

‘ are you still trying to protect me? ’

‘ our lives were never ours. ’

‘ they’re afraid of you. ’

‘ anybody can kill anybody. you just have to be willing to sacrifice yourself. ’

‘ it’s war. sometimes killing isn’t personal.’

‘ we keep each other alive. that’s what we do. ’

‘ i’ll say this for you, you don’t disappoint. ’

‘ home. we go home. ’

‘ nothing good is safe while ____’s alive. ’

‘ one way or another this war is going to come to an end. ’

‘ it’s not your job to ask questions. ’

‘ i’ve been watching you. and you’re watching me. ’

‘ i guess there are no rules anymore about what a person can do to another person. ’

‘ oh, that speech you gave. oh, man. i mean, i still have goose bumps.  ’

‘ he needs to see my eyes when i kill him.  ’

‘ we’re facing an enemy that will not change and will never surrender.  ’

‘ and if it really came down to it, you think you could shoot him/her? ’

‘ if your immediate answer isn’t “yes,“ then you’re dangerous. ’

‘ they promised me that when the time came, you would help me.  ’

‘ if it gets to that point, i’ll kill you myself.  ’

‘ we’re gonna get through this. i promise. ’

‘ everyone that’s dead is dead because of me. i lied. ’

‘ i never meant for this to happen. i failed. i… ’

‘ she/he needed you to be there and take care of her/his family and you did.  ’

‘ no, i’m not losing you again. ’

‘ shoot me! ’

‘ you really think i gave the order?  ’

‘ i’m afraid we’ve both been played for fools.  ’

‘ all I know is that i was supposed to take care of your family. i’m sorry i couldn’t. ’

‘ it balances the need for revenge with the least loss of human life. ’

‘ may your aim be as true as your heart is pure. ’

‘ i’m sorry so much burden fell on you. i know you’ll never escape it. ’

‘ if I had to put you through it again for this outcome, i would. ’

‘ you came home. ’

‘  we’ve all suffered. but we owe it to their memories to do our best with these lives. ’

‘ i hope you're finding some peace. ’

Daon's smirk carved deeper, slow and almost predatory, as though Baekhyun's defiance was nothing more than the sweetest provocation he had ever encountered. He relished every spark of defiance, every hiss of mockery that spilled from their lips. His grip tightened, bone and sinew straining beneath his hand, a punishing hold meant to remind them where strength truly resided.

"Be my guest." He breathed, each syllable a coil of smoke against the vampire's mouth. His thumb pressed harder against the hinge of their jaw, forcing their head back until the pale line of their throat arched, exposed like a sacrament. "Steal from me, bite me, bleed me dry, but tell me—" his voice dropped to a husky rasp, teeth grazing the air between them, "—how long do you think you can last before your body betrays you, trembling under the very hands you pretend to despise?"

His lips brushed the shell of Baekhyun's ear, not a kiss but a threat dressed in affinity. The potion burned hot through his veins, stripping reason into raw want, twisting arrogance into something more personal, more dangerous. Selfish, maybe? Gluttonous, even. He pressed in, chest to chest, hips pinning the other firmly against the wall with a brutal intimacy that left no space to breathe. His breath ghosted hot across their skin as he leaned closer, brushing a loose lock of hair behind their ear.

"I will never submit to the likes of you, wolf." The words, however, lacked bite, betraying what he failed to convey as his head tilted all too willingly, subconsciously, when warm lips pressed against his skin. A cold shiver crept down his spine, jaw clenched and fangs threatening to pierce his own lips in an attempt to conceal the want coursing within his veins. He couldn’t — would not. Baekhyun refused to crumble, even though the touch was warm, tender even.

"You will need much more than that if you want to see me crumble..."

He let the lie hang between them like a silk thread, ever so fragile. Heat pressed into him and something primal tried to answer the summons, but Baekhyun folded that urge into the careful discipline he had learned to wield as well as any weapon. His fingers curled against the stone at his back until the knuckles blanched, the ache steadied him, turning want into a sharpened instrument.

The laugh that rolled out of him was low, sharp, and utterly without warmth,  the kind of sound that cut through silence instead of filling it. He didn’t back away when the other pressed forward, didn’t flinch under the threat humming in his voice. Sapphire eyes narrowed instead, sharp and suspicious, the flicker of something colder curling deep in their depths. ‘Well now,’ he drawled, words edged with deliberate mockery. ‘You slam a door in my face, you rattle off my name like we’ve been on first-name terms for centuries, and you look me dead in the eye like I should just swallow that without question. So here’s my question — how the fuck do you know it?’

The smirk that ghosted over his mouth never touched his eyes, all mask, no mirth. If anything, his suspicion sharpened in contrast to it, every line of his body taut, calculating. He shifted his weight forward just a fraction, enough to press into the tension without breaking it, shoulders squaring, presence looming. ‘You’ll forgive me if I don’t usually hand over confessions to strangers who pop up in hallways and play at theatrics. Patience isn’t exactly my strongest virtue.’ His tone dropped lower, rougher. ‘But since you’ve gone to all this trouble, calling me out, barring my way; let’s start simple, shall we?’

His head tilted, gaze cutting into the figure before him, unblinking, like he could peel the skin back and see what crawled beneath. ‘What is it you want from me?’ The question hit the air heavy, not soft curiosity but a demand, teeth behind it, as though daring the other to answer worth the intrusion. ‘And think carefully before you speak,’ he added, voice sinking into a growl, eyes starting to glow dangerously. ‘Because I don’t play games unless I know the stakes.’

"Hard to miss someone with your face for so many centuries, don't you think?" The words carry no bite, steel-blue hues too occupied tracing the all-too-familiar lines of the taller's features. Handsome, he can admit, attractive by society's shallow standards.

"It would be stranger if I didn't know your name. I make it my business to remember the prominent ones, especially those who reek of wet cat." A faint scoff slips free, nose scrunching in a brief grimace. The scent is unmistakable, unforgettable. And Baekhyun would know as someone who can bend fragrances to his will. "I was born into blood royalty, sweetheart. There's very little I don't know." He pauses, shifting away from the door in order to free the path as slender fingers comb through jet black locks, though his gaze never quite leaves the other man. "If you're worried about your identity, I have nothing else on you. You were hard to find as it is."

The ancient fragments of memory he acquired through the last god knows how many years were enough of an explanation, he reckons. Not much information is available, but enough to acquire a whispered name in the dead of night and a general location. Mostly because he was looking for it and well, a phenomenal tracker may have aided along the way.

With a dismissive wave of his hand, Baekhyun lets the distance stretch between them once more, an audible sigh breaking the stillness. "I need information on someone you might know, someone I once saw you mingle with centuries ago." A blurred face in a swirl of silk and candlelight, lost in a vivid ballroom, a voice too faint to hold onto.

“Bold little thing, aren’t we?” He rasped, his voice thick with a dangerous amusement. His free hand slid up, catching their jaw in his palm, forcing their chin higher with a bruising kind of tenderness. Crimson smeared across his thumb as he dragged it slow over their lips, marking them with his own blood. “You bit me like you want to own me, too.”

His eyes burned, fever-bright, as if the potion roared through him like a wildfire, twisting loathing into something akin to hunger. Daon leaned in until their lips barely touched, his words searing against the vampire’s skin.

It was dangerous, painful, and yet he reveled in it.

"I don’t beg." He bit back, a breath ghosting over the other's lips as his tongue rolled over his own, savoring the lingering strikes of blood. The scorching warmth flourishing beneath their skin was all but suffocating, and yet the vampire did not attempt to gasp for air, to break from the godly shackles now bruising his porcelain flesh. "I take."

A cunning smile painted his features beneath the shadows, as though the tension between them amused him as much as it provoked. "Try to make me remember, and I'll teach you a new way to forget." Crimson bled over steel-blue hues in an instant as his gaze shifted to the glistening line of blood adorning the taller's neck.

He would die before admitting just how delectable it tasted.

A truer statement has never been choked out past the host’s Cupid-stung lips. 

He stumbled where the other remained upright. Hands, rod and pendant meet golden grains, now tanned from the expansive night. He climbs to his feet quickly.

It’s too silent all of a sudden. Case refrains from pouring out the lava-like heat smoking within his chest and observes his surroundings. He’s not quite sure where they ended up but it’s not somewhere they should be. Time works differently here. Like a wonderland barring the living. That’s fine. He’s certain dying and resurrection and serving as an underworld god’s host should buy him some leeway. 

It’s dark above. Around. Nothing but the sand beneath his feet that he has come to hate so much. It’s a running theme. Briefly, he considers Set. Then the vampire’s austerity tears him out of his thoughts. He stares, eyes unforgiving and critical. He deeply desires to tear into the other but the need for clarity overpowers his vengeance. 

How very Osiris of him. It’s not conscious but alleged-Ace’s nuance hits him as unfamiliar. It’s Ace’s face, Ace’s voice but not as he remembered. Too sophisticated, like and unlike the man who ended him. 

His fists clench at the painful memory. That leads him to partially consider the other as not-Ace. Crazy as it sounded and Case has testified to crazy. 

Pianist fingers clamp his neck but Case doesn’t feel wanted. Quite the opposite. It does ground him though. Masochist. 

His hand finds the other wrist, covering it in an unsteady grip. The air isn’t circulating well to his brain. Don’t threaten me loops in his brain while reality murmurs, “Can’t - back - if ‘m dead”. He won’t actually die for good. Not when gods weren’t done with him but the vampire doesn’t need to know that. 

Whoever this is may just be his match. 

He heaves, desperate, face burning, turning blue-red. 

“Who are you looking for?

When his hand abruptly releases its hold on Case, the vampire forces himself back to ground, snatching the pendant into his possession as though anchoring his resolve. Or perhaps because it remains the only tether to guide him out of this fresh Hell.

It belongs to him, after all.

There is no guilt when his gaze returns to the other man. He only observes the flushed face deprived of oxygen by his own hand, the desperate gasps that still fail to fill those lungs. "You talk too much for someone already dead anyway." The words carry bite, yet they spill more casually than before, the sharp edge of hostility blunted to something colder, almost dismissive.

Baekhyun considers it for a moment. On one hand, he could conceal the reason behind his journey and attempt the blind path out of a pocket in No Man's Land. On the other, he could provide the honest answer, hoping that whoever this man is might lead him out — or offer insight the eyes of the living cannot perceive in this realm.

The latter is far more beneficial. Pride is hardly worth the cost.

"I am here for my sister."

The words weigh heavier than intended, as if the vampire's defenses falter for only a moment. But he catches himself, and steel blue eyes are quickly overtaken by the blazing shade of crimson, slender fingers brushing the soft bangs that hang heavy over his lashes.

"And you… who am I to you?" His head tilts, curious, leaning forward, the distance between them shrinking. This time, however, Baekhyun keeps his hands at bay, locked behind his back to ensure impulses do not threaten his composure.

"You look at me as if you've seen death itself." His brows furrow, inquiring. "I am flattered, but also confused, considering we've never met."