so you seek revenge?

The time for vows brought wide briefly nervous eyes flickering over Kaelen’s features, and whilst no one would ever define her as soft, in that moment she felt like melting just a little as she heard Kaelen speak. Her own thoughts however, were not as concise as she tried to sum up a decade of feelings and emotions surrounding them and the things that they had done together from the moment she shrank away from him on that stairwell, terrified that he might try and touch her in an effort to help her up, to now where she didn’t even flinch when he made a sudden movement. It was hard for her to put into words what he, this, was to her. It always had been. 

She glanced down at their kids for moment, before finally she glanced back up to speak. “I’ve never regretted a moment with you,” she admitted quietly, and she knew it was true. She stood by every decision she made, and every thing she had done. Had it turned out the way they hoped? No, but deep down she knew she still had hope there for the future they’d once thought they fought for. If it wasn’t them bringing it, then she knew the two rebels they created stood a better chance. “And, as long as it’s with you I’m all in. Always.” she managed finally. 

The kids didn’t know what anything they said meant and were starting to bounce from foot to foot. He was distracted, briefly, by how much sand and seaweed they were about to track through the new house. The clerk remained quiet for a few moments before realizing that the brief exchange of words were it for Kaelen and Electra, so they pushed on with the bland script until the final question came.

“Do you...”

“I do.”

“I got it after the second Games. It seemed like the right thing to do,” he spoke, suddenly startling himself. It was odd to hear his own voice speaking something that was neither flattery nor an empty taunt. “I should give you my boat. You should have something from me, at least one thing. And I get bored of things anyway. It’s gonna end up burned in the middle of the sea. So… maybe take it as my parting gift for you, since neither of you is coming back to the Capitol in January?”

Hunter shrugged, suddenly feeling too empty for a joke. That was normally the moment to insert one, though, but he could think of none as he threw his cigarette into the water, watching it float away. 

Kaelen immediately started shaking his head. He didn’t know where to begin with taking care of a boat, and he didn’t want to take anything from Hunter. The idea of a ‘parting gift’ made him uncomfortable. It wasn’t a parting, just a change. “I won’t take that fire from you,” he said, trying to be funny but finding humor in the moment was difficult. “We’ll be back. To see you, my family... Just not the Tower.” He watched the cigarette floating in the water for a few moments before turning with an actual smile to Hunter. “And if you’re really missing a Tyr, Daisy would always love a lunch date.”

“Without a doubt, and the third…” she added teasingly, and her smile brightened as she saw the shake of his head. They were really doing this. It began to sink in and she watched Kaelen swoop in to pick up Charlie as she instinctively brushed the sand away from Jett’s eyes so that at least they wouldn’t have any incidents with sand in eyes until after they were done. As he trotted off, she managed a frown at Charlie’s reaction before she joined her brother, their daughter was too much like them it was scary. 

She glanced up as the kids came running over, and she realised it was perfect. Just the four of them, it was all she needed. She smiled down at the kids, both of them covered in seaweed before switching her gaze up at Kaelen as he spoke, “Yeah, let’s do this.” she replied, nodding to the clerk that she was ready. 

Kaelen tried to brush some seawood off Jett’s hair as the clerk began. It was dry and drab, the same thing heard a hundred times over on television, in movies, and even a few times in person. Nothing about Panem’s marriage rhetoric was particularly exciting, but Kaelen couldn’t help the giddy feeling as he looked across at Electra. This was really happening. All this because he saw her trip on a stairwell ten years ago.

There was a pause as the clerk asked if Kaelen and Electra would like to exchange vows. Unprepared and never one for a speech even among his family, Kaelen only gave a small nod. “I’m happy it was all with you,” he said, sincere and quiet as he considered what that ‘all’ really was with them. It wasn’t just their family, or their home, or even their friendship. It was the rebellions, the funerals, the arrests, the amnesia, the Games when neither brought anyone home. 

With a gesture that resembled a flicker’s first sparks of fire, Hunter took out a cigarette and lit it up from in between his teeth. Looking into the distance, he dragged from it and shrugged, ”I don’t know. I must get bored of it eventually. And that’s when I disappear.” Then, he returned the question, more interested this time when they weren’t talking about him. ”Are you really staying here for good?”

“So how long have you had this boat?” It wouldn’t have struck Kaelen as odd at all if Hunter had it for years without sharing. Everyone needed their own space, even the man who’d captured the heart of Panem twice. Kaelen took another sip of his beer and shrugged when the question was turned on him. “Maybe. We’ll see. If the kids are shit swimmers we’ll probably have to move.”

The spark in his eye, a genuine moment of fondness and gratitude for being in the middle of the sea with Kaelen still, faded as he pouted theatrically. ”You think I am a drug addict,” he gasped, seemingly sad but not truly thinking it.

“No, just an enthusiast,” Kaelen remarked, taking another sip of his beer. He wasn’t quite sure how to recline on a boat, but he did his best to settle into his seat more and look out at the water. “How long you staying here?”

This wasn’t exactly how they had thought for this moment, though she really hadn’t prepared for this moment ever. It wasn’t that she wasn’t amenable to the idea, she would have said no regardless of what Jett had been saying if she was, but it really rarely crossed her mind. She was committed to him, to their family. If this was the next step, and to regain temporary family peace once more, then she’d do it. That and well, she believed in them. She was no longer scared about committing to them, the way she had been when they first got together, when she found out she was pregnant with Jett. It all seemed so stupid now.  

A small smile curved her lips slowly, hazel hues risking a glance towards him as they made their way to the beach, only to quickly return to observing their children in case she needed to dive in quick and separate the two. “I mean, shit for a first husband you’re not that bad a choice, Tyr.” she managed, “I could’ve done worse.”

Still, she relented from the sarcasm for a moment and reached out to take his hand, giving it a squeeze as she nodded, “Yeah, you? I can diffuse them if you wanna back out.”

“Hold it over the second one that I was so great,” he muttered. When a way out was offered, he shook his head and gave her hand a squeeze. It lasted only a moment before Charlie was full-on trying to throw sand in her brother’s eyes. Kaelen swooped in to picked her up and place her down several feet away from Jett. He asked if she could get seaweed since they had no flowers, to which she spat on the sand. Jett was more than happy to run into the water, in all his clothes, and start scooping up dripping piles of seaweed. He seemed to be having so much fun that Charlie then seemed angry she was missing out and waded in after.

“Quick, let’s do this before they come back and ruin it,” he offered as they came to a stop. It was just a joke. If this was happening, he wanted his kids to be there and not off trying to drown each other in the water. The clerk was already getting ready with opening a couple different administrative books. One with a certificate they’d eventually sign, one with some words he apparently had to say. Without pause, the clerk started to rattle off some words about the concept of marriage, which startled Kaelen into whistling to get his kids’ attention so they’d come bounding over, soaked and covered in seaweed. “You ready?” he asked Electra.

“Okay, so… what I learned so far is that the most difficult part is where you buy it. Too much money. I had to save up,” Hunter started off, taking a shy sip from that awful beer Kaelen kept drinking. Suddenly, he stopped the show that was explaining things he didn’t know about the boat, with a disgusted face. “I don’t know how you drink this poison.”

“Guess I’ll just make rich friends.” The thought made him chuckle a little. Like Kaelen was known for his ability to make friends. He reached a hand out to take the beer back if Hunter wanted to get rid of it. “I like it. I brought some other stuff in a cooler. But none of it’s a pill or powder, so I don’t know if you’ll like it.” He said it with absolutely no judgment. Kaelen’s vices were just different than some others. 

“Teach me all you know about boats,” Kaelen said. About all he’d managed to learn how to do so far was drink a beer on Hunter’s boat. “Don’t know a thing, probably gonna need to know to live here.”

It started with going to the District’s main administrative building to update their new permanent address. The kids were going a little stir-crazy after the packing and train ride and hauling boxes of their toys into the new house. They were starting to shove each other by the door, and seeing them get antsy made Kaelen antsy. He was ready to get the fuck out of there, tired of looking at pages of difficult to read letters. The hold up was because of a couple in front of them, newly married right inside the building. 

Jett asked if it took that long when Kaelen and Electra got married, to which they then had to reply they weren’t, to which their son replied with non-stop chatter. Charlotte looked ready to punch her brother. The situation had to be diffused with a split second decision. 

So here they all were, trudging their way down the beach near their new home with an administrative clerk in tow. “You really want to do this?” Kaelen asked Electra quietly while Charlotte and Jett were busy trying to kick more sand at each other.

Azrael’s eyes followed to where Kaelen had nodded before making an approving expression and then flagged down the bartender to order the whiskey Kaelen was drinking neat. “When you finish that one would you allow me to buy your next round in exchange for some conversation.”

Kaelen bit his tongue before telling the kid he’d need to buy a whole bottle for conversation. “Sure,” he conceded. Azrael was lucky he’d already been drinking heavily. “’Bout what?”

“Of course, I understand completely.” Lying was a language Max could recognize at quite the distance, a language being spoken right to him. He would ignore it due to not truly caring about who made it out to the wedding, only that there had been guests in droves. “Moving where? Between you and your lady, your little family must have more vacation homes than even I have.” 

Something about the way Max said ‘your lady’ just rubbed Kaelen the wrong way, and he stretched out his shoulders as he shifted his stance a little. “No,” he replied simply. Electra technically still had her house in Three, but aside from that, all they had was the apartment in the Capitol that his sister was taking over. She was already detailing plans to turn it into a bachelorette paradise. “But we’re going to Four. Something new.”