Crash [Aeryn/Stella VT]

[Tom]

♛

Ava's words don't click into place quite right anymore.

Promises of something better than a sinning boy who worked in their drug business comes from her lips, but it didn't mean shit to her. No one knew Aeson like she did. Their false god picking Aeson Kight's name to be taken from her for the final time, leaving her in a despicable world where children play the game of saints and sinners. A dance that they all participate in with fearful eyes and unknowing minds. Ava's been harder on her than she's ever been before. The idea of Aeson Kight's no longer existence is making them all braver in messing with her heart like she was nothing more than a doll to the family. Dressing her up, toying with her emotions, and worst of all, acting like nothing had changed in their family. Good riddance is what she could hear whispered upon the tongues of sinners behind shut doors.

Good riddance. Two words that she had told Aeson about their mother and father. Foolish children with smiles of death painted black upon their lips. Thank their false god for taking them away from her and Aeson. Life would have been worse if they were still alive. Things would have been drastically different for them both if their foolish children for parents had still been alive in this world which doesn't treat it's children right. A gift of god is what their real mother had told her when she asked about having a children as a child. Would a god force the gift of life to fight for that right? No. The answer was always no when it came to the idea.

Aeryn knew that Ava wouldn't know where she was going when the words left her lips of going out. Ava might have known what was in her head right then. Aeson's only died a short amount of time ago, with words of a killer in his veins. Killer. The word she hears the most coming from the nobodies of District Six that are glad to never have to deal with Aeson Kight's violence anymore. Pathetic children that didn't know their story. Their life that had been hidden away from the public for years, not because the Peacekeepers kept it hidden, but because Aeryn and Aeson didn't talk openly about their past before Ava. All the other Kights had known were the fact that they came from an orphanage and were adopted by a sort of kind woman named Ava who threatens her to call her mother. She's shattered about it all. Aeryn didn't have a mother. And if Ava considered herself one, then she didn't want a mother.

Six is quiet with the whispers of both happiness and sorrow that resides in the streets. Druggies taking in more sins than their pathetic brains can handle. Animals in the streets praising their newfound freedom that wouldn't last long, but their main offender is now dead. Aeson Kight, the fearsome man, was dead now by a pretty girl from Twelve. Pretty girl had a mouth that all Aeryn wanted to do was shut up the entire time she watched Aeson losing everything. Losing everything to a falsehood and the idea of her own brother believing that there is a special place in hell for him.

A special place in hell for the both of them from their disconnected god that doesn't exist.

A hand brushes through the curled locks that resembles an ocean of emotions that she floats through. A never ending stream of suffering that doesn't grow smoother, but only grows rougher and rougher with time. A small lifeboat that only she sits upon as a god's fury is sent upon her for burning a false text. This suffering was their own doing from the name that they carry with them. Aeson would be buried in a grave marked as a killer among the living. A party for the death of a violent man that won't create suffering anymore, but he would be replaced. Debts were to be paid. Debts that a false god wouldn't let be reality, but it is.

Another Kight cousin would take over with violent acts and savage words to break man and woman.

Pretty girls weren't meant to be like Aeson Kight. Ava made sure that she could be a pretty girl in pretty dresses that were uncomfortable. Makeup done up by an older woman who doesn't know what youth is like anymore. Focused on making her adopted daughter into the model woman with looks that could kill as she believed. Aeryn hated it so much. The idea of makeup and pretty gowns have never been in her dreams. Growing up, things like that had never been available until Ava decided to take them and make her the prettiest girl that she could. That's why she's already thrown the gown that Ava put on her away and wiped off all the makeup from her face. Importance was already in her skin as she wears the sweater and pants that are comfortable for her. Easier to move around in than a gown that touches the ground and is way too old to be any sort of typical for District Six.

After all, she needed to be comfortable for the person that she was going to see.

Around a corner where she's seen Aeson light up a cigarette and burn it into a poor guy's face, she stops as the world feels colder than before. Pieces of him lay in the streets where work was done and she could feel his past bleeding into her memories. He didn't know that she's seen some of the horrible things he's done, but deep down, she knew that he didn't care. He cared about her, but he didn't care if she knew the things about him. She knew who he was and why he was the way he was. No one could see the aftermath of the false god upon their skin, burnt like a scar of a past that forced them to be stronger or else be crushed by the world. A special place in hell waited for them, but she prayed to whatever false god was out there that Aeson found something in the end.

Suffering wasn't a good look on him.

She would know.

The place where she waits for the dancer who crushed Aeson's life from his lungs is quiet and calm. There's a breeze that blows her hair into her face, which she bats away. Arms crossed around his chest in order to hold her stance and seem tough. A tough girl who wasn't breaking on the inside and hoping her brother found peace in violence. Anger coursing in her veins, but she's letting herself relax. Understanding was what she wanted and not anger towards someone who didn't know Aeson Kight like she had. Brown eyes catch the shine of hair that resembles the victor who had killed her brother. Silence of false gods ringing in her ears as she can remember her real mother telling her to be submissive and never speak up. She shoves that thought into the ground and pushes forward.

"Well hello, pretty girl, welcome to Six."

Lips turn up in a smile that wasn't so friendly, but still enough to ease her chest as her hands threaten to come up and hit the victor, but she wouldn't do that. Violence wasn't her thing. Aeson Kight had to do enough of it for her that she wouldn't even dare to yet. Though, things change, but for now, she'd listen to Ava and not cause a commotion when she told her that Stella Blakesley was going to be in town. Though, Aeryn's already caught the eye of a Kight cousin somewhere around a corner, even if they were thinking that she'd never be able to see them. Words fumble from her lips as she speaks out.

"Stella, you're such a pretty girl. No wonder Aeson wanted to make you suffer. I'm his sister, Aeryn. Nice to finally meet the girl who ended his reign here in Six. You made a lot of druggies pretty happy."

Silence.

"How about we take a little walk and talk about things?"

[alex 🐺]

s t e l l ablakesley; 

Heavy lies the head that wears the crown, but she had never asked for this. She had never wanted the notoriety, the fame, the infamy that had come with the mere act of surviving. A girl torn asunder, destroyed, rebuilt, fashioned in their image, and she had never wanted anything more than a life, a dance studio, and normalcy.

Well, she could kiss that life goodbye. It was gone the moment her name had come out of that glass bowl and here she was left to pick up the pieces of herself, wear a fake smile, and tour the districts of the tributes who deserved a victor far more than District Twelve.

Today they were in District Six and Stella knew that she would not make it through the day without the bile rising up at the back of her throat. She had failed Vesper and killed Aeson, the former too good for an ally of a solitary dancer and the latter whose darkness had poisoned everything that Stella had thought she had known about herself.

She hadn’t been sleeping, which was no surprise to anyone, let alone Stella’s stylist. The daily checks of the bags underneath her eyes and the sallow look of her skin was punctuated by a slap to her cheek, which she bit back with a roll of her eyes.

The introductions had been made, the presentation of the gifts to the district had been made, and Stella was standing around the dignitaries, biting her lip. She was not the right person to mingle with mayors and victors, wealthy and the elite. It tasted like ash in her mouth and her heart ached for the solitude of her train car. Her escorts were keeping a close eye on her - she knew that Snow hated her, his plan for a Career to win the Games had nearly come to fruition, and his abject loathing was palpable in every interaction that he and Stella had.

She needed - she itched to get out of here, away from the prying eyes of the Daisy family or worse, the Kights come to lobby threats and insults just as the Izar family had done in District Eleven.

A voice, soft and melodic, filtered through the static and Stella turned, confronted by curls and the most beautiful eyes that she had ever seen. It was as if this girl was crashing into her the way waves crashed into rocks, and Stella had forgotten momentarily what it felt like to be broken.

"Well hello, pretty girl, welcome to Six. Stella, you're such a pretty girl. No wonder Aeson wanted to make you suffer. I'm his sister, Aeryn. Nice to finally meet the girl who ended his reign here in Six. You made a lot of druggies pretty happy."

Stella’s heart sinks in her chest, and of course, of course this girl would be Aeson’s sister. They carried themselves in similar ways, but where Aeson was harsh lines and darkness, this girl was light and soft, her words comforting Stella as they left her lips. Nervous eyes danced around the street as people lingered around them and for a brief moment, Stella was afraid for her safety. The girl who had braved the terrors of the Arena afraid of a city block in District Six.

Silence stretches between them before Stella answers.

”The byproduct of your brother’s death was not my intention, as I’m sure you know.

I never meant -" She pauses, swallowing hard before the darkness can overtake her vision. "I am sorry for your loss, Aeryn.”

The words were forced, superficial, artificial and Stella wanted to instantly take them all back. She was not sorry for what she had done to Aeson, the venom that fell from his lips even as he stumbled and fell in front of her, her boots, her legs, her body covered with his blood, the warm liquid splattering on Euley’s coat. Copper, iron, metal in her mouth as she spit out Aeson’s essence. She had met the devil in the Games, had faced him head-on, and now his sister was offering kind words and smiles.

"How about we take a little walk and talk about things?"

A laugh - a real laugh escaped Stella’s throat as she studied the brunette.

“A walk, Aeryn? Is this some plot to murder the victor for retribution? I wouldn't put it past the Kight family to even the scoreboard.”

[Tom]

♛

Disconnection from the body she bears as Stella Blakesley looks different from what they all saw.

Tiredness in her eyes that holds a shine of something different than Aeryn was expecting. No god among her eyes like other have had before. No childish smiles playing a dangerous game of life or death in her eyes. Only a pain that no one could ease. Aeryn didn't care either way, but something twists in her mind that threatens to break down the walls she carries now that he's gone. Now that she's on her own playing daughter for an insane woman. Walls that she has to put up in order to survive without him. Kights would soon throw her low on the tiers of strength where she belongs. All she feels is the disconnect from herself and the false god that she once believed in with foolish lies. The words of her real mother still stuck across his ears like a whisper of a chill that doesn't escape.

Do it.

Inner demons be damned, she now walks among mortals and gods. All of them were no longer like herself. A being higher than a god, higher than mortals, higher than everyone else because she was better than them and had gone through hell twice already. Losing Aeson Kight was nothing, but a memory of the past vanishing. Comfort in knowing that he'll find some place where he can stomp his foot into the heads of weaklings again. A sigh falls from her lips as Stella Blakesley speaks words. Disconnection from her body as if she's listening from somewhere else in some other world. The Kight cousin around the corner is still hidden, but she can sense his place from here. Desperate for something to happen, but she's better than that. A test of sorts to see if Aeryn will become the next Aeson Kight, another pawn among the family's dynamics. Kight wasn't even her real name. She could care less of children playing dangerously stupid games.

”The byproduct of your brother’s death was not my intention, as I’m sure you know. I never meant -"

A moment to let it sink into the air as Aeryn just lets the words pass by without even glancing up at them. Aeson's death was just apart of Stella's journey to a better place. Just another pawn to step on and send to his place in hell. If only Stella knew what she's taken away from Aeryn, but pretty girls were dumb after all. Never one to stop and think, but then again, Aeryn would have killed him herself if it was meant to live longer and not join her pathetic parents in their hell. A sigh falls from her lips as Stella says the one thing that doesn't matter anymore.

"I am sorry for your loss, Aeryn.”

A chuckle comes from her chest as her arms uncross and air comes through her lips. No one was sorry for his death. All she wished was to see him succeed, but he was careless. Aeson Kight killed himself and she knew that deep down. Blame still sits on the tip of her tongue for Stella Blakesley, but deep down she knew the truth. Deep down she knew that Aeson was a prick and that someone was bound to take him down. A false god would have told her so ages ago like they told her parents to play with poison. Either way, she's left those beliefs in the past. Words fly from her lips quicker than before.

"I don't like liars, Stell."

Raising an eyebrow as Aeryn rolls her eyes and then speaks before the silence gets to them.

"You aren't sorry. Hell, most people wouldn't be. He was in your way. Shit happens."

A shrug from her shoulders as she doesn't believe the words coming from her own lips. Stella's already laughed at her comment about taking a walk. Words that come out as a joke that Aeryn breaks a small side smile for. Pretty Stella didn't know what she was talking about. The city block's hustle and bustle ringing in her ears as she thinks of her brother and what he would have done if it were flipped. Aeson wouldn't have even thought twice about beating the shit out of Stella, but now she's there before herself and all Aeryn wants to do is just talk about life for now. Someone who knew Aeson just a little bit through the anger and violent acts making her feel at ease, unlike Ava's own lies in her ears.

“A walk, Aeryn? Is this some plot to murder the victor for retribution? I wouldn't put it past the Kight family to even the scoreboard.”

The Kights. Just another name in the district that strikes terror into the population. Rumors of killings and beatings that reach even the own victor's ears of their family. Her family. Except that never felt right to her. Aeryn Kight was never her name and all she wanted was to be Aeryn. Aeryn was the only name that didn't have baggage and corruption on it. No false beliefs or violent men. Just Aeryn and who she truly was. Never the dressed up girl that Ava wanted to her to be, but the girl who stands in front of Stella like everything was in her control.

"Funny. Thought you were smarter than that. If I wanted you dead, you would have already been dead the first step you took into District Six."

A silence as she remembers the Kight cousin around the corner waiting for something and Aeryn decides to speak up just barely a bit louder to get his attention too.

"Besides, I'm not a Kight. Neither was Aeson."

A smirk plasters itself onto her falsehood face as the beliefs of what to be ring in her ears. Ava's words flying across like a smack to the face. Her real mother and father's childlike smiles splayed out in her vision. The Kights whispered words of Aeson burning to her skull. The way that the Kights look at her as if she were nothing more than Ava's doll to be played with chilling into her spine. A moment before she reaches out and grabs Stella's hand pulling her gently along with her into the district.

"You know, I thought I would spit on you. Kick your ass or something when I saw you."

Silence as Aeryn continues to hold the pretty victor's hand as they walk along. Not caring if anyone sees them because everyone else could fuck off. The glare at them would keep them quiet anyways if they did say shit. Her skin felt warm against Stella's hand. Stella always seemed to look cold among the snow, just like Aeson. Deep down maybe both had been the ice to her fire. A silence that resides in Aeryn before she breaks from the disconnect.

"That's not me though. I've never been like my brother after what happened to us."

Disconnect before things get too deep.

Before she lays her heart out for Stella Blakesley to see.

"After everything we knew become just the two of us. Aeson and Aeryn stuck in a world with only the clothes on our backs and each other."

Silence.

"All that's left is me now. Me and some pretty dancer from twelve."

All she wanted was to disconnect again. Break free from all of the emotions in her chest that threaten to bubble up and explode. Tears shed too long after his death and Ava telling her that pretty girls don't cry. She never had been one. All she wanted was to feel like life could still go on with no guard up, but shit happens. Aeson Kight would have a grave somewhere in the same graveyard as their fucked up parents. Aeryn Kight would have to become the worst of herself as a Kight and begin something new. Something terrible that would only bring terror and flush out who she truly was. Eyes glance up at Stella connecting in some form. Or Aeryn was connecting with her. Insanity in her veins from false gods and dead bodies.

Fingers tremble against Stella's as Aeryn's internally collapsing on herself, but grounds herself in that hand. No disconnecting from the world like she's so used to. The last person who saw Aeson before she became alone in this cruel and cold world.

"Can you bear to stand there knowing you left me alone in this cruel and fucked up world?"