when the summer ends — tumblehoes.

[napoleon, d2m ₊⊹ 🐁 ɢʀɪғғɪɴ.]

I've been searching
The fossil that once was a fawn
I've been waiting
For the sun to rise up with the dawn

They were both titanium and steel – raging amid the fire and brimstone, battling for a home that they did not know, was secured for them. Bette's spear moves as riptides would, lapping at Anatalia's skin savagely, and the latter's targets never miss their mark, staying true to her aim and unyielding spirit.

A phantom flash of searing pain rose in my left eye as the charred knife drew scarlet-red from Bette's cheek and I watched as the stars in her gaze crumbled, each one falling in a cometary nature.

A lone draft rushed past Anatalia Morrisen as Bette toppled over to the broken altar of her feet.

It was over.

She, with her myriad of knives and iron skin, unbreakable heart and upheld promises, had won. The denouement had come. There was a tear of light at the horizon and it had come to rescue us all from the darkness.

We're the recycled goods of the capitol. A warm bath, infused with soft lavenders, clears the grime and soot beneath my nails and washes away a layer of guilt, of trauma. They give me a choice in attire and I point my index finger at an oversized sweater. A simple red that is intricately-threaded and should last for several winters. When everyone is resurrected in terms of fashion, we make a singular line before the train's doors hiss open with smoke and gas.

Then, the boarding starts.

It's nostalgic, for some reason, to watch the backs of each tribute as they climb up the stairs, heading back to where some yearned to return and some escaped from. I am the latter. The capitol citizens chant Annie's name as if it is a golden prayer and I suppose, for them, it is. Some utters my name as feet pitter-patter onto the train and, despite the protest, the guilty conscience and the hard feelings astir inside my heart, I smile.

The end of this chapter does not denote the end of our existences, only the beginning. Soon, the metal wheels roll onward in a unified movement, taking us along its course, parting through the sea of cheers and applauses that's begun to overflow. The neoned skyline of the capitol, dappled with fluorescence and synthetic glow, thins and thins and thins until it is nowhere and no more.

Others stare at her, the victor, for a moment's worth before settling into their compartments but the three of us remain, stoic at first, and then as mellow as the wild flowers in the weeks of spring.

I sink into the warmth of Parson's chest, readjust my eyepatch in the same way Hellion does, and flash a smirk at Anatalia, pearly whites acting in recompense for an embrace that these bones are too sore for. By some blissful twist of fate, everything comes full circle. We are back to where we began: four souls, interlaced altogether as a distorted whole, a motley crew, white teeth teens.

“It'a nice to see you again, Annie.” I grin and I greet.

For once, there's a sillage of hope that does not fade.

Oh, sweet surrender
Collapse to my knees
Beg and plead
Fill me with everything


[ lyrics : rebirth — vancouver sleep clinic ]

[ryan]

She stood behind peacekeepers as she looked onward.

She does not know what is going to be waiting for her on the train, but she does know that she is going to have to ride back to her home with people that probably wanted to gut her on the spot. She tried her hardest to take a deep breath as they instructed the group of them to behave while they were on their train ride.

Annie would be stop number four on the train, but something told her that she could easily be attacked in that short amount of time.

She tried to clear her mind, but that didn’t work, and instead, with each glimpse of the tributes that joined her on the train, she thought about seeing their faces in the sky. From the boy from eleven, to Bette Sublino. Each one of them were here, and Annie could feel bile rising from her stomach.

She took deep breaths as the train doors opened and Annie was ushered into what they called the victor cabin. Annie could only imagine what it was like for the rest of the tributes. Her eyes shot open when she saw just how immaculate the train car was on the inside. Food piled high to the heavens, and a luxurious looking bed that she admittedly wanted to lay in until she was ushered off the train.

However, she knew that she couldn’t enjoy any of this, because she had the others on her mind.

---

Angel’s death kept replaying in her mind like it had just happened yesterday, but in reality, it was actually four days ago.

The moment he died was the moment Annie realized that she truly was the killer that her father trained her to be. Her attacks up to that point never did the final blow, but the moment her knife sunk into his eye, Annie could finally see the fruits of her fathers labor.

And she hated every fucking minute of it.

So she walked over to the cart of food and grabbed a pastry from the cart. She tried not to think about what she really needed to do while she was on here, mostly because she didn’t want to make a fucking scene out of something that should be so simple.

All she had to do was sit in her car until she was called to come off the train.

She took a couple bites of the pastry and realized that maybe it was too sweet for her. She put it to the side and looked out the window as the people of the capitol began to wish them all a goodbye that Annie didn’t want from any of them.

Hopefully it would be the last they would see of each of them, except for Annie.

---

She asked to exit the car they placed her in but the peacekeepers wait until most of the tributes had meandered into their own cars. Annie didn’t realize that the capitol was still offering them that luxury, but she shouldn’t have been surprised due to the nature of the twist.

As much as Annie wanted to hope that all of them would be free from the games, there was still a chance for some of them to be reaped, which meant that they were still the capitol’s property.

At least they were spared from being officially branded like she was.

She asked where each of them were, the people she had been dying to meet herself.

Wander was quickly escorted to her cabin with Leon at ver side, but Annie knew there would be time for them to talk. Right now she had something she needed to do.

And so the peacekeepers guided her throughout the train until she finally found that godsend that she was looking for.

---

And the sight of them brought a joy to her face that she did not know existed.

However, they were all different in some sort of way. A bandage over Parson’s neck where a spear had found its home. Eye patch’s adorning both Hellion and Angel’s eye, one of which was put there by Annie herself. And a missing hand that Annie brought to the table.

All of them experienced so much together, and while Annie had a thought about her being ostracized by the people that kept her sane through her ordeal, all she could do was smile, just as they did.

”I could say the same to you Angel.” Annie said with a small smile, bring forward an ice bucket that she carried along with her while the peacekeepers helped her find the home she was looking for. ”I could say that to all of you.” She spoke quickly, realizing that all of them were there, alive and breathing.

It truly was a miracle.

”But happy isn’t the right word to describe how I feel Angel.” she paused for a moment, opening the ice bucket to reveal an assortment of pastries that she took from the cart she was on to give them something to snack on while they all chatted. ”I’m ecstatic.” Annie couldn’t help but smile, something that she didn’t think she would ever do again.

But leave it to Parson Cham, Angel De Costa, and Hellion Mo to bring the joy back into her life.

And no, she did not mind it one bit.

Not one single bit.