death valley

The Hanging Tree Games: Revisited - Lee's Death and Other Thoughts

If only killing Chael went as planned out in Leander's head: With his sword pierced cleanly into Chael's abdomen and the air growing clearer to his nostrils without his older brother's looming aura of fear that haunted him to this day. Instead, Lee found himself touching foreheads with Chael, and while he managed to impale his brother in the stomach—he, too, had a blade forced into his gut. Both brothers held their breath in anticipation, and finally the two boys realized what their relationship had become. The Blackburn brothers finally saw the monsters that both of them have turned into, and now it was seconds before they died without ever fixing their relationship. With hot tears streaming down his cheeks, Lee choked on blood and his breath hitched, sensing that the end was near—

"I never told them...." Chael choked out, and Lee stared at his older brother in the eyes as they spent their last few moments together—not as brothers or even friends, but as tributes against each other, as enemies whose struggle will never be resolved. Chael gazed back, and when he finally glanced down Leander saw something different in his dark irises. Torment. A swift change in character, a flicker in the cold-hearted projection of his sadistic half-smile and taunting exterior.

"I never... never told Mom and Dad that I-I loved them. Eighteen y-years and I never said anything to the-em."

"Then I will. If I make it to Heaven, at—at least," came the softest of murmurs. Chael's eyes darted to Lee, whose anger and hate had disappeared only to leave behind a soft-looking young man that just wanted a happier childhood. Leander's black eyes were drooping, his eyelid slowly sliding shut; since Chael was simply a reanimated, healthy corpse, Lee had less time to live. As the younger Blackburn brother slid backwards, accepting the oncoming darkness that was death, the last thing he heard was Chael chuckling quietly. Then his body slipped away, quietly thumping against the dirt, and his sword, too, slid out from his brother's torso.

"With th-those words—you'll get there."

And Chael crumbled as well, stumbling forward to join Lee in death as they laid side-by-side, their souls departing from their bodies to go to entirely different places: One that offered perpetual prosperity, the other with eternal damnation.

The Blackburn line was dead, and it didn't even get to go down in glory.

• • •

Chael's Background With Lee: Lee's story is as described in my entries and form for him, but it also goes just a little deeper than a simple tantrum that wounded him to the point of being unfixable. Once upon a time, Chael and Leander actually tried to get their relationship to work. Like mentioned earlier, there was no true connection between the brothers, especially when one considers the factor that Chael was a bit of a hard person to work with in terms of relationships. However, Chael was always one to ruin thing early in time without even knowing. He always had a strange fascination with damage and the effects it had on a person, especially in the Games. When he was old enough to work as a police officer, around the age of sixteen, Chael often studied Peacekeepers and how they functioned within Panem's society. Once, he threw rocks at people to see how they'd react—angry? Sad? Annoyed?—and he'd always push that information deep into his memory. At an early age, he was considered a good tactician and was offered to move up in the ranks early. As most of you already know, however, Chael didn't care for his job and turned down the offer; this was one of many unsaid events Lee referred to in my Quarterfinals entry when he said, "Papa always said you were crazy." It was because Chael had sights on other goals than to be a part of the elite police force—and when he got drawn to be a tribute, he really smiled about it like it was an opportunity he'd been waiting for. Other than that, Chael was quite normal, save for his short temper and tendency to smile all the time.

Lee's Influences: Now, you may have already guessed that Lee has gotten most of his characteristics from Chael and the trauma from the fireplace accident. That much is true, but whereas Lee is intelligent and thoughtful, Chael is actually very sadistic. It's proven when Chael merely walks away from his burning little brother and ignores his pleas for help. As for the reason I had Leander suffer emotional and physical trauma? To be honest, I have a soft spot for characters that have scars. It's why a lot of my tributes have them. Saphaia has a scar on her eyebrow from when shrapnel from an explosion cut her face. Teresa has no visible scars, but glass from a lamp chimney cut into her eyeballs and therefore she cannot see. In fact, two of my more recent tributes, Diana Sawyer and Valen Serkquet, have scars all over their bodies; in Diana's form, it's explicitly stated, but Valen is merely hinted to have scars from his time in school. Anyways, back to Lee. I especially love characters that have burned at least slightly—Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender is a notable one. I was also inspired by Queen Levana from the Lunar Chronicles series, especially with the dark auburn hair. (Fun fact: Levana's family name is also Blackburn, although this is entirely by coincidence.) I decided to make Lee's story a little mix of both, with a little bit of my own resent thrown into the mix to make him feel like he was human in a sense that he wasn't entirely cruel and two-faced.

EDIT—7/15/17: I forgot to mention that for the password, we were to say what song described our tribute. My song was "Are You Satisfied?" by Marina and the Diamonds.

Final Thoughts: I'm quite proud of Lee for making it this far, and for those who are wondering: He might be another one of many tributes that I will have come back in a story of his own—same background and all, since I have a tendency to pull some strings that normally just resides in comic book reboots. (Looking at you, Crisis On Infinite Earths.) You might see him around other stories on my profile in the future, but for now he rests in peace. But you know how I am. I like to bring up the past. I might reference him a couple of times in future writings. Maybe, if I decide to have Lee come around again, I can finally have him be happy.

Or maybe not. I like to make my characters suffer.

:)

~ Renn