ást og stríð [treech]

p r o l o g u e

Maizelynn Dal had seen a lot in her brief eighteen years of life. She grew up in District Nine to loving parents. When she was three, she lost her father in a tragic machinery malfunction. Though she was young when the accident happened, she could still remember what life was like before. After that, things were never the same for Maizelynn Dal.

Her mother, Kornelía, became closed off and unresponsive to the needs of her daughter. She was remarried less than a year after Byggur's death, to a man called Flaxen Sativa. The couple welcomed a daughter into the world not long after. Life was good again for Maizelynn. She had two parents and a baby sister. And Maizelynn loved her sister. The two were like peas in a pod, never one without the other. But then, the war started.

District Nine was poor. There was no denying that. But due to the supply of grain that traveled from the district to Panem's Capitol, they were hit the hardest. The Capitol needed to ensure their surrender to survive. After four years of war, the Dal-Sativa family knew they had to leave. If District Nine refused to surrender, which it was unlikely to do, they would be decimated. And so they left.

Only two made it.

Maizelynn and her mother fled to District One, the richest of the border districts. Flaxen and his daughter tried to join them, but they were caught by Peacekeepers. Gunshots were fired and screaming could be heard. A bullet had grazed Maizelynn's left calf, removing a sizeable piece of flesh. But Maizelynn and her mother couldn't stay behind. They had to keep going, even if it meant leaving family behind.

Maizelynn didn't know what happened to her stepfather and sister. She assumed they were dead. But Maizelynn wasn't, and that was all that mattered to her.

District One was different than Nine. It was much smaller, but it had the money to make up for its size. The first district to surrender to the Capitol, it had received only a small punishment. Unlike in Nine. Though they didn't know the extent of the damage, Maizelynn and her mother had heard rumors that the population of District Nine had been cut in half. No one received mercy, not even the children. It made Maizelynn happy to live in District One. She liked it there, though she dreamed of one day returning to Nine. However, she never brought it up; she knew her mother would be upset.

Kornelía had trouble coping with the disappearance of her husband and youngest daughter. After losing not one but two husbands, she returned to her old self, the person she was before she met Flaxen. She was heartless and irrational, constantly leaving Maizelynn alone at home for days on end so she could escape her problems.

Maizelynn wondered if that was what love did to people. Built them up to be the best version of themselves, only to tear them down when it ended. Maizelynn had only ever loved four people in her life: her parents, her stepfather, and her sister. She had lost all of them, and there was no space in her cold heart for one more. Maizelynn vowed she would never fall in love. She couldn't risk experiencing what her mother went through.

But Maizelynn Dal was her mother's daughter, so naturally, she encountered it all, only worse.

...

an: here's the prologue of the 'icelandic treech fic' as we've decided to call it! just as a heads up, this fic will be very different from venus as far as characters and plots go. it will be a lot darker, with a lot more violence. here are some trigger warnings: violence, gore, death of family members, death in general, alcohol use, possibly mentions of sex. I'll try to leave trigger warnings before relevant chapters, but here's a whole list if that is a need for you. have a wonderful day! -willow <3