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" IT'S SO EASY TO BE HONEST WITH A BIG ENOUGH AUDIENCE. YOU CAN SAY ANYTHING IF ENOUGH PEOPLE WILL LISTEN. "
JULY 5TH, THE CAPITOL
"Stop freaking out."
Elide shook her head at her brothers request, because truth be told she couldn't just stop the way she was feeling. The Thornton siblings couldn't be more opposites, Niko was cold as steel and prone to bloodshed, while Elide, who's name meant fighter, didn't quite fit that mold like her brother. Hell, the girl hadn't even attended District Two's elite "killer academy," as the girl liked to call it. She wasn't immaculate with any weaponry, and couldn't behead dozens of dummies within a span of a minute. She wasn't bred to kill like Niko was, and unlike him, she didn't want to be here.
"I'm trying, okay?" Elide told her brother, adjusting the tight fabric around her neck that was lined with spikes. Which, were actually sharp, and the young girl was worried she would take out someone's eye before she could step onto the chariot.
"I can practically feel you vibrating, so try harder. The second anyone sees any emotion on you, you're done. And I need you to act like a career before you lose us sponsors," Niko hissed, looking around to make sure no one could see Elide on the brink of a heart attack. They had an image to uphold, and Niko would be damned if his sister ruined it for the both of them.
"That's easy for you to say, isn't it? You're just a pot of molten metal, ready to be shaped and formed into anything The Capitol wants you to be," Elide started. "Any type of killer they can make out of you, yeah?"
"Yeah," Niko agreed. "I will, because that gets us sponsors, which means that we have even more of a chance to win."
"You mean more of a chance that you'll win."
Niko and Elide looked at each other, the girls eyes full of tears she was trying hard to hold back, because she knew her words were true. So true that he couldn't even deny them.
"Ellie..." Niko whispered, unable to deny the accusation, but also knew this conversation was doing nothing to calm her down. It hadn't been the original plan, of course. On his path to becoming a victor, and training hard for ten years, his little sisters name had never meant to be called alongside with him. But there was nothing he could do about the situation. "I never meant for this to happen, you know that."
"It doesn't make it any easier, Niko. And you wanna know the worst part of all this?" Elide questioned.
Niko gave a questioning look, as his sister closed her eyes to try and get rid of any tears that threatened to fall. She had always been scared of the Games, they both knew this. Their entire family knew it, which was why she had never been admitted into The Academy, but Niko has never seen her like this. So worried and defeated, because even though she was never one to really learn how to wield a weapon, she knew everything she needed to know about surviving, and she had always been strong. Just in her own way. Seeing her be so helpless almost made Niko rethink the plans he had, but he couldn't.
