𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗼𝗶𝗮 ♛ ꜱᴇᴊᴀɴᴜꜱ ᴘʟɪɴᴛʜ

♛𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗻♛

After the events of the previous few days, the mentors were to take their tributes on a tour of the arena, for some reason.  Aurelia, personally, thought it was a little ridiculous, that there were better ways of showing their resilience and lack of fear, but went along with it in case they would do something to her family, or even Jessup's. 

The amphitheater where the games were held was a huge expanse ringed by rows of seats elevated above the ground.  Aurelia had faint memories of a childhood before the war, watching sports and other events go on, giggling madly with her cousin and brother as they shared jokes they wouldn't remember three days later.

Now, the grass on the ground had died, even before the bomb hit, creating craters in the ground and crevices in the walls.  The walls were what, ten, fifteen feet tall?  The cracks would provide stable enough foot and hand holds if someone were to climb up, assuming they chose the correct spot.

Taking her spot next to Jessup, Aurelia caught her brother sizing up the tributes around him.  She rolled her eyes, glancing up at her tribute.  He raised his eyebrows, and she just mouthed my brother.  He smiled, clearly amused, and looked towards the ground.  

As they were walking into the arena, the two teenagers, mentor and tribute, kept brushing shoulders on accident, but neither moved away.  It was nice, Aurelia supposed, that they both had someone to count on in this.

But not for long, the horrible voice in her head muttered, before she could shut it out.  He's going to be dead in a week and you'll just be alone again.

"Shut up," Aurelia muttered, barely audible along with the crunching of the grass, but Jessup heard her and turned to her.  "Sorry, just talking to myself."

"I get it," he said.  "Sometimes you just need to remind yourself to be quiet out loud, when saying it in your head just doesn't work."

Aurelia didn't understand how he did that, summarized everything she was thinking into just one short sentence, but he managed to make it sound so simple.

She smiled just as everything around her burst into flames with one deafening boom.

♛

In Aurelia's opinion, the bombs were the worst part of the war.

Sure, the fighting and the straight-up killing were bad, but hearing the whistle of a bomb incoming, knowing that nobody in the vicinity is safe for sure, had to be the worst feeling in the world.

They called it PTSD, post-traumatic stress disorder.  Aurelia didn't like saying that, because it wasn't as if she had gone through trauma herself.  She wasn't out on the streets fighting for her city and her life.  She was just a frightened child huddled in the corner of her home, with her only three remaining relatives crowded around her.

She felt like she wasn't worthy of having the fear of the bombs when they never even touched the family, not physically.  But mentally, whenever Aurelia heard a whistle or anything that sounded even a little bit like a explosion going off, her mind shot right into a panic.  Eyes wide, Coriolanus or Tigris normally had to calm her down.

Aurelia didn't understand why it affected her so much more than them.  Maybe she was just weaker than her family, or maybe they were just better at hiding it.

It didn't matter, because the fear took over in moments just like these, leaving Aurelia completely unable to understand why.

♛

The blonde girl was vaguely aware of someone on top of her, shielding her from the explosion.  Everything was fuzzy, and her whole body felt like it was tingling with some combination of adrenaline and shock.

"Aurelia, Aurelia?  Hey, are you okay?" said the person who was now kneeling over her, leaning to look into her face.  The manic frenzy from the explosion still lingered in her head, but the presence of someone helped her relax a little bit more.

Her eyes opened, and Aurelia processed that it was Jessup who was there, Jessup who had protected her, Jessup who could have died to save her life.

You would be dead if you had been mean to him, she realized with a jolt.

"Yeah, yeah," she croaked, her vocal chords slightly damaged from the smoke.  She went to sit up, when she realized she was too weak to even move a little bit.

"No, I'm not really," she muttered in realization.  

"Hey, it's okay, I got you," Jessup spoke.  He pulled her shirt over her mouth the same way his was and leaned down to grab her shoulder and haul her up, when a voice behind him yelled frantically, "Lia?  Lia?!"

"Get away from her," the voice almost growled, angrily.  

"What? I-"

"I said get away from her," the voice sounded definite.

"Look, man, in case you didn't notice, I just saved her damn life, and I'm trying to finish the job, so can you stop being all defensive while the girl you're being so protective over is literally dying?" Jessup argued back to the other boy, getting up and walking over to the sound.

"You were-  I thought you were hurting her," the boy sounded apologetic.

"Yeah, well,"  Jessup continued, returning to Aurelia and pulling her up, "maybe think twice before you assume that just because I'm a tribute."

"I'm from the districts, you know."

Aurelia knew who was arguing with Jessup now, and her eyes snapped open once again.  "Sej..?"

"Hey blondie.  Was worried about you for a minute there.  Don't worry, you're safe now."

And with that, Aurelia drifted off, the last ounce of her energy sapped right from her body.

♛

I FINALLY WROTE AGAIN 🎉🎉🎉

thank you guys so much for 2.25k reads on this, it means so much!!! also about to hit 6k on anthophilia which is wild cause we literally hit 5k a month ago, and almost 150 on alemurity!

sejanus calling her blondie has me weakkkk

also the new trailer for the movie AHHHHHH im obsessed and literally cannot wait to watch it

i doubt this will be done before then but who knows?

QOTC: what scene from the book (if you've read it) are you most excited to watch in the movie? for me im so torn cause i want to watch everything, but i cant wait to watch sejanus's little rants about how much the capitol sucks <3

also i did make a tiktok and its just preciselyconfused if you want to follow it! (if you cant absolutely no worries i totally get it)

i love you all so so much, drink water or jessup will come after you >:(

-jess