District eleven is the first to be taken—and very, very swiftly, too. It goes like this:
"Well," Dorcas says slowly, "that was easy."
"Wasn't it?" Marlene mutters.
Dorcas coughs. "Do you think it'll be that easy everywhere? I mean, it can't be, right?"
"Yeah, I have a feeling that none of the other districts will surrender in the first fifteen minutes," Marlene agrees dryly.
"Right." Dorcas shakes her head and looks around the room full of surrendered Aurors. They literally just laid their guns down, because apparently they've been spread so thin and their working conditions are so shit that they had all agreed to surrender if rebels showed up. At least then they could have a break, was the general consensus. It's still baffling to think about, but district eleven has been rioting consistently since Marlene's interview before the games, and Riddle has implemented a harsh regimen that left the Aurors all over, but especially here, very fucking exhausted. So, they decided to just...give up.
"Right, uh, what do we do now?" Marlene mumbles.
"Minerva, what do we do now?" Dorcas asks.
Minerva stands there and looks around, and she doesn't seem to have the answers. She looks as lost as they feel.
As it turns out, a war not hard-won is just...awkward.
-
The next districts taken are five, nine, and ten. Alice is in five, Emmeline is in nine, and Amos is in ten.
Only one doesn't make it back.
Regulus wasn't very close to Amos, but Barty was his friend. In fact, Barty and Amos have hooked up at least once, but their time spent together went outside the bounds of just sex, which is how Regulus knows that Barty actually liked Amos as a friend to start with. For Barty, he'll have sex with anyone he finds himself even mildly attracted to or could have fun with; it's love and connection he's never really cared for.
Though it goes unspoken, Regulus knows he's the only person Barty has ever loved, and even that is a very peculiar form of loving. Barty had no desire for a relationship—and still doesn't have that desire—and while he never begrudged anyone the concept of commitment, he did once admit to
Regulus that it simply wasn't for him. It's been years, and that's never changed. Barty's
commitment and desire falls into the realm of friendship alone, and for so long, the only person that applied to was Regulus. But it hasn't been just Regulus anymore.
Now, there's Rodolphus, there's Asher, there's Rabastan. Barty gets on well with Alecto, adores Pandora just like everyone else, and has a rather solidified bond with Mary, Sybill, and Lily—all people he went on his first mission on, a bond forged in the fires of the sky. Amos was there.
Amos isn't here anymore.
Sybill cries into Kingsley's shoulder. Mary rubs Lily's back as her hands shake, and as her voice shakes when she says, "He was supposed to be fine. He was always fine." Rabastan holds Asher's hand as she hangs her head, and Rodolphus closes his eyes like the loss at the hands of war won't be there if he isn't looking, like he wishes it couldn't reach any of them.
Barty gets up and walks away.
"Reg," James says when Regulus stands up.
"No, just—" Regulus shakes his head and tugs his hand from James', stepping away. "We'll be back. I just need to be with him right now, James."
