Finals

5: new rules

6/25/3000: DAY 2

Kalista was so shocked that she let go.

Only to have him grab on to her again.

She stared up into those eyes. Almost ten years later, they still looked the same. She remembered the warmth and comfort that they used to bring her, that warmth and comfort that came to be replaced with anger, and then that burning urge to forget. She remembered now. She remembered now, and she wished that she did not.

"What are you doing here?" she spat with as much venom as she could manage while holding onto his hand for dear life.

Sighing, Asher pulled her up and set her lightly on the ground. For a moment, she was speechless as she took him in. His hair was still that golden shade of sunlight, resting in a tangled wavy mess, but he was now taller than her, and his face has gained a solemnity that could only be brought on by pain. She knew it well. It marred her own features, as well as those of everyone at the Academy. Where had he been? What had he gone through?

Eyes wide, he took her in as well. They stood there for a moment in silence before he opened his mouth to speak-- only to be cut off by the loudspeaker.

"Attention, Finalists," came Aeternum's familiar voice. "Congratulations on making it to the second day!"

Kalista forced her eyes away from Asher's and turned to lean against the railing as she listened. She couldn't bear to look at him and face that conflicting war of emotions in her mind.

"You might have noticed some... new contestants in these Finals. Being President will require a wide variety of skills, including one that you may be unfamiliar with: teamwork. There have been some complaints from viewers about making you 'heartless', so this is your chance to prove them wrong."

Kalista rolled her eyes, thinking about the implications of the word "viewers."

"You will be assigned a partner to work with for the rest of Finals. If either of you die, you will be eliminated. And these partners... are the children who orchestrated the attack on the Capitol."

She froze.

Asher was silent and still beside her.

"This time, you must work with the rebels, not against them." She could practically hear the smugness in his voice, satisfied with giving them yet another impossible challenge that would give him more time at the #1 spot.

"Your partners have been sent to your phones. Good luck."

Kalista could feel what was coming, but she pulled her phone out to check, anyway. In the millisecond after she turned it on and before her screen lit up, she already knew.

Your partner is Asher Wayland.

"Oh, fuck it," she growled, and pulled the knife out of her pocket. In two seconds, she had Asher on the ground with the sharp blade at his throat. She was just about to push down when--

"K... they're lying to you."

And then a bullet caught her in the leg.

"Shit!" She turned around to see Martin Ether at the end of the hallway, holding one of the pistols from the training center. The pain bloomed and then flared in her thigh, and she bent over, wincing. He was already preparing for his next shot, and she started to run, only to have her leg crumple beneath her. Her vision was blurring and all she could see was the vibrant red of blood, so much blood...

And then the gun fired.

She braced for impact, but it never came. There was another pop, and then another, but she didn't feel a thing. Maybe she was dying. Maybe she was dead. What...?