Perfect Illusion // [VT Teddy + Delilah]

[Baby Wessex d9b [earthling]]

DELILAH TRIUMVIR

The day Teddy Ursa's victory tour came to his home district, it was raining. Had been, all night, in fact. Storms weren't that unusual in Six, but this one had a ferocity usually reserved for the dead of winter. My sisters, on the bunk below and single bed across the room, slept right through the cracks of thunder. I gather I was expected to as well. So much for expectations, am I right? Instead I drifted between every flash of lightning, growing dark bags beneath my eyes and a tic in my upper lip.

Nevertheless I was the first one out of bed. I staked my claim to the shared bathroom against the complaints of my sisters; I'd learned in the last week that if I wasn't quick, there wouldn't be any cold water or clean wash cloths left. More things I should have already known.

A long, hot shower later and the door nearly broken in, I emerge looking like... someone else Whoever this new someone is. The brunette hair dye one of my sisters rubbed in is already fading back to the shocking white blonde. I pin back as many strands as I can find, trying to look more like my sisters, more like this family, more like... whoever I was before the coma.

While the rest of my family scrambles to prepare, I quietly slip out the backdoor. I don't know where they keep the umbrellas so I've just got my hoodie and sneakers. They're both soaked within minutes of the long walk to the District Center. Then, a few minutes later, I'm damp and cold clean through. It's a good adrenaline rush and I try to appreciate it for that. God is in the rain, after all.

Now where did that thought come from?

I queue up at the town square. Despite the weather, I am far from the only person waiting to see our very own victor. I shove my back against a brick building, the awning offering a scant amount of cover. Hours pass. The rain comes down in sheets. My family arrives. The winds gain strength, ripping umbrellas from cold hands. My family leaves. The train whistles as it pulls into the station. The wind buffets sideways, pressing me against wet brick. The square is nearly empty. The Peacekeepers form up, signaling the victor's arrival.

I slip into the alleyway, which howls for a moment with the force of the storm. Then, suddenly, it goes completely quiet and still.

So here I go to the eye of the storm,
just to feel your love.

"Here I go," I whisper. Blink. Teddy Ursa, with his handlers, is there. It's the fastest way to the Square and it's dry, almost warm. I step aside, let a pair of Peacekeepers pass. Then, I throw back my sodden hood, hair matted to my face. I don't know the names of my sisters or how old my mother is or the last class I took in school. "You ever think about how hello sounds like goodbye?" I ask, words that aren't my own - but so much closer to my heart than anything else in District Three.

I take a step towards Teddy Ursa, offering my hands to him.

[Tom]

☾

The sky rains down from the heavens like tears knowing of the sorrows that he's committed. Siblings, families, friends, and lovers upset with him for the acts that he's committed. Hands gripping his pockets as he climbs down into Six remembering that it was home. A home that he belonged in, even if it was cold and alone like everything else. Mother and Father would be somewhere there and that scared him. Guilt. Sorrow. All of them upon his skin as he remembers the fists of Saffron Lowe. The venomous words of Benito Aita that stick to his mind. Killer attached upon his skin by people that he would never know.

Home was meant to be the place that most victors felt safe in, but all he could do was let himself hide in himself. No emotions. Stone faced because of the sorrows that still cut into him from it all. Lux's last words ringing in his ear again and again. His own words of how he wished to have known her better. Everything happens for a reason, but he still didn't understand it. He made it out because of them. He made it out to be able to carry them all. The only question was who would carry him through it all.

A deep breath as he moves off the train that he called home for so long. District Six was exactly the same as when he left it. Sad. It was sad with rain splattering against brick. Dark circles under his eyes from lack of sleep as he gives a small smile to the few people around him. Peacekeepers forming a perfect form to signal his arrival. The square was nearly empty which didn't surprise him one bit. Who wanted the man who wanted to save lives than take lives. A pathetic man who didn't deserve the crown that he carried.

The memories that hide in his skin. They didn't want a broken victor. A victor who could barely sleep at night, but the stylists putting makeup to hide the bags under his eyes. All he can do is give a small smile and try to make it out of the district square. The cool feeling of rain upon his skin makes him feel like he's okay, even if it's just for a moment. The air's thick with tension as he feels his heart beating in his chest. Hands shaking slightly as he curls them into his sides.

Everything freezes just like it had when Adelaide spoke to him. A tingling sensation along his hip where she had touched comes out of nowhere. Words that he's heard once before under the light of a moon. Lips that made his skin crawl with emotion as he knew it would be one of their last. Everything stops as he hears the voice that he was worried he was imagining.

"You ever think about how hello sounds like goodbye?"

A woman steps forward and his breath catches. A stranger. Not Adelaide. The sinking feeling of emotion falls in his chest. No one knew about what Adelaide and him spoke except them. How did a stranger know about that. A small frown comes from his lips as looks at the girl who comes forward offering her hands. His own hands accept them as his whispers under his breath the same words he said under the moon to Adelaide.

"I hate saying goodbye."

Breathing comes back as he finally realizes what is happening. Curiosity upon his tongue as he remembers every little detail about Adelaide. Then he falls from reality as his mind fills up with emotions and the day he saw her face in the sky. The empty vial in his pocket that had been hers weighs heavier than it had before. Words fall from his lips as he greets the new girl that approached him with words that remind him of Adelaide.

"W-Who are you?"

A deep breath of air as he feels his skin shaking. Barely a whisper now to her.

"And w-where did you hear those words?"