Of Legacies and Lies [Carter/Ansgar VT!blitz]

[Tom]

Writing Thinking Saying Hearing

Carter Laws was alive.

Heart pumping, brain thinking, body moving, but inside he felt cold. Too cold. Too gone. Too empty. It wasn't anyone's fault, but his own and the capitolites that commanded the Yeti to take Mitchell's life. When he heard of Ansgar coming to the district. The very one that stood in the victor's way of winning, Carter knew he had to find the man. Mitchell would have if Carter had gone in. Mitchell would have approached him, even if he had killed his brother. This would be easier. Ansgar didn't kill Mitchell. Ansgar killed Hyacinth. A person that Mitchell seemed close to. A little too much from what he's seen. Nothing of love, but respect for her. Mitchell probably knew of her death now in whatever afterlife Mitchell lived in.

Finding the victor was harder than he had expected. Walking around the district lost and losing sight of anyone that could help him find the victor. That was until he caught up to the victor, not alone, but pretty much alone. No anger was in Carter. Ansgar Todd was just as creepy as he expected him to be. A man who believed in a god that wasn't real to anyone. Belief in a god that only took from what Carter's seen. He's silently watching the victor who is stopped in front of him. Carter was blocking the path he was taking. Voice rings from his throat. Confident and polite in every way he could be. No matter what, he had to speak to him. Mitchell would have.

"Welcome to District Twelve. I don't know if you can recognize who I might be related to. I wanted to meet you. Might as well introduce myself to you."

A small, but polite smile pulls at his lips. His heart beats angrily at himself. His brain tells him to scream some sense into Ansgar, but he knew that he couldn't. No matter what he wanted to do. He had to get information and give Ansgar something to hold onto that was Mitchell Laws. He was the legacy that Mitchell was stuck with.

"I'm Carter Laws."

[Kire]

Ansgar Todd

Throughout the time spent on the train he had built up his devotion again, stoking it with perhaps a little too much vigor like a freezing man desperate for the warmth of a fire he had let go out. He could convince himself now, and surely the world too, that his beliefs were as hearty as ever. Hyacinth's questions and his own had shaken him during that moment of finality but now he was rebuilding. He had a long way to go until he was home again, but he was sure that the moment his brother and he had reunited, and he had held his mother in his arms again, that his faith in Ripred would come back to him as strongly as ever. For now, though, he lived with a sense of emptiness that was both terrifying and refreshing.

"Welcome to District Twelve. I don't know if you can recognize who I might be related to. I wanted to meet you. Might as well introduce myself to you."

His one eye focused on the boy blocking his path. Scanning his face, he was unable to figure who this might be. He had mentioned being related to someone, but there was nothing to give away that relation in what details he could make out. They stood in a moment of silence before the boy seemed to realize that there was no spark of recognition. "I'm Carter Laws." Even with a name to place to the face it takes a moment before he realizes who this boy is related to. Mitchell Laws, the boy from district twelve who had fancied cards and taunting his belief in Ripred. He quelled the thought that perhaps the Laws boy had been right before it is fully expressed. He had to believe again, had to.

His face remains blank of emotion, as does his voice. "Laws, huh?" He shrugs.

[Tom]

Writing Thinking Saying Hearing

He's not what he expected.

Carter didn't expect the man to look so blank. A blank face for a blank canvas that they would paint to perfection. Though Ansgar Todd couldn't reach perfection. District Twelve saw what he had done to the Mortuus girl that Mitchell had favored over even himself. Carter knew his brother was going to die, no matter who killed him. The capitol just ended up doing it themselves. They made it easier on everyone, but his family. Carter had sat and stared at the screen with tears. Jack tried ripping him away, but no one could stop him from seeing his brother's death. The cameras zoomed in, microphones had taken the last words he had tried to say. His name upon a dead man's lips. Carter carried the legacy of Mitchell, but so did Ansgar. As much as Carter didn't like Ansgar, he still had to try and speak to him. Make sure Ansgar understood that he carried all twenty three names upon his skin.

"Laws, huh?"

He watches him shrug. An exaggerated sigh threatens to escape his body, but he couldn't let it. A conversation is all he wanted from mister Todd. The holy man who killed for his fake god. Carter wasn't going to call his god out, as it was Ansgar who had killed Hyacinth. The girl that was supposed to be District Twelve's savior. That was all a lie. They lived upon legacies and lies. Ansgar Todd was the man who ended up with the crown and a new fame that changed everything and nothing.

"Yeah. I'm not gonna curse at you or anything. After all, you didn't kill Mitchell. Though you would of if he got in your way. It would have been your god's wish."

His eyes scan the man who was holy. Everything about the world was painful. Mitchell's death. Hyacinth and Ansgar's fight for victory. The man who stood before him. The fake god that struck pain into the twenty four who would be reaped. A friendly smile pulls at his lips even though Ansgar Todd doesn't feel like a friendly man. His words escape his throat.

"That's none of my business though. I'm more curious about what your plans are for the future. Will you be someone who is worthy of standing alive instead of my brother or Hyacinth Mortuus? Or will you be another deadbeat victor who can't deal with it all and waste their life away? So tell me Ansgar, are you worthy of carrying their legacy?"

Arms crossed around his chest. Eyes staring blankly at Ansgar Todd. Carter would walk away neither pleased or upset. He could feel it in his bones. Everything he was stood before Ansgar. His strength standing before the man who lived over his brother. Unlike Mitchell, Carter had more on his mind than his older brother. At what cost does it mean to live. Carter wanted to know. What a man with everything and nothing would say to him.