❝ he wasn't much, but he was from h o m e ❞

TW: blood, death

Remus felt a horrific chill travel down his spine as Sirius uttered those words. He’d known it would end like this, with his heart in his throat and the taste of blood in his mouth and the idea that his mother would have to watch as the broadcast displayed his demise. He’d known his cattle-fed frame wasn’t strong enough to come close to winning even with a battle-bred Career by his side, and yet it had never seemed real until this moment.

He took one last look at Sirius - beautiful, brave, terrified Sirius - and stepped out from behind their hiding place, praying to anything or anyone that his end would come painlessly.

Fifteen Days Earlier.

Remus had never realized that one could be attracted to a stranger like opposite sides of a magnet. He’d learned that attraction was borne out of friendship, and friendship borne out of mutual trust - but the first day of training for the 51st Hunger Games was teaching him more than just how to tie a good knot.

He and a District 2 Career had been making eye contact far too often for any normal pair of individuals - and every time they did, Remus could see the laughter in the other competitor’s eyes and feel the right corner of his mouth quirk up into a half-smile.

Upon meeting Bellatrix’s bloodthirsty gaze, her fellow brutes not too far behind, they’d realized too late that there was nothing they could do. Not for themself, not for Remus. 

❝  We were never gonna win this. ❞

It had happened so quickly, his death. Sirius hadn’t even seen it - just the aftermath. 

The cameras did. The Districts did. The Capitol too. 

It wasn’t long after that they were watching Sirius’ own death. 

Fifteen Days Earlier.

The staring hadn’t been intentional. The kids from most of the Districts seemed so scared - and if they’d focused on how half of them were so much younger that year, it’d make them nauseous. So they’d focused on the boy (from 10, Bella had told them in a vicious whisper, glaring all too menacingly). 

They didn’t think much of it, the glances, only noting things like how they’d like it when he smiled. 

And it wasn’t until Sirius was towering over him that they’d decidedly liked that he so boldly walked up to them the way he did.