Just to get it out of the way now: Treech isn't dead. Spoilers lmao
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
REAPER ASH WAS SOMEWHAT OF AN ENIGMA TO CARI. The boy from eleven was top of the leaderboard, expected to win by most. He seemed well fed and capable; even the other tributes held him high in their minds.
Yet he had not killed. While the boy armed himself, he mostly fended off those who neared Dill, he didn't use his weapon to take another life. Now Dill was dead.
Reaper picked the girl up gently, one arm under her knees and the other supporting her back as he carried her over to the fallen bodies of Lamina and Marcus. He laid her down next to them, crossing her hands over her stomach.
He moved over to Lamina, turning her over to do the same.
The broadcast room was silent as one by one, Reaper collected the bodies of the fallen around the arena, placing them into two rows. He shut their eyes and tucked their hands gently together.
A tear streaked down Araucaria's cheek. Both the knowledge that her friendship with Coriolanus was over, as well as the compassion in which Reaper was acting, tugged at her heartstrings.
Reaper carried little Bobbin over to the pile. Cari glanced back at Coriolanus, hopeful to see any flicker of remorse in his blue eyes. She saw only confusion and shock. Not at the revelation that he had taken the life of a boy who was only fifteen, but that Reaper was caring for the dead, showing them more humility than they had been shown in life.
In what most considered an act of rebellion, Reaper stormed over to the Capitol flag, tugging it down and dragging it behind him. The audience in the risers stood, shouting in protest at the 'disrespect'.
Disgust flooded Araucaria's veins. For years she had brushed off remarks from her fellow students about those in the districts being less than, being heathens and animals and revolting creatures. But for her classmates to be more enraged over a piece of fucking fabric than they were at the murder of children— people their age?
Araucaria would not do it anymore. She would not pretend she wanted to be one and the same with those vile people. She would not try to convert herself into the perfect citizen of the Capitol.
She would leave that hellhole the second she could.
Reaper turned from his makeshift morgue, eyes finding the camera focused on him with ease. He jutted out his arms in a challenge to the Capitol. "Are you gonna punish me now?" He was met with silence. "ARE YOU GOING TO PUNISH ME NO-"
Dr. Gaul's face took over the screen, "Capitol citizens, I'm afraid I must interrupt our Games to announce a tragic loss, one that affects us all."
What loss could affect me more?
"Felix Ravinstill, son of our beloved president..." The image of a pale, bloodied Felix graced the screen. "has, this morning, succumbed to his injuries sustained in the rebel bombing."
