Homecoming [Fiona/Fable- Post Argos]

[*]

"Fiona Zachariah?" The voice from downstairs bellowed with an aggressive voice. It was enough to startle me into an awakened state as the next moment a booming knock almost shook the apartment just as the explosives had just two months prior. I jerked from the bed. My heart raced only to run outside my room just in time to see Quest running downstairs to look through the door. Two months, this place had become a second home and despite the company, I felt a void that was inaccessible to anyone in this district. I was scared. I needed Fable back in my life but the nights that were filled with wants and feelings of comfort I couldn't get from the company of the friends I’d made here. No, I longed to have his arms around me and and to hear his whispers in my ear. It was only a matter of time before I would get to go home, if I could. I’m pretty certain that day came. But as I reached for my robe and tied it around my body, the men in white stomped on each step until they were within the threshold of Quest’s apartment. Quest’s voice screaming for them to stop all the while. Had something happened that they needed me for? If so, what was it because I had tried to stay compliant with the rules here in district six. It wasn’t my fault I was forced to stay with what had been going on. I began to wring my hand in anticipation. "What's going on…? Has something else happened?" Two of the men immediately stopped in front of me and while one pulled out a slip of paper and a photocopy of my image on it. I tried to read what was on it. My peeking to devour every word was cut short when they folded the paper up and away from my sight. I mentally cursed. “Fiona Zachariah. You are under orders to return to your district immediately. You’ve got five minutes to gather your things or you will be arrested.” The taller man with wrinkles upon his cheeks growled. The other man stood in front of Quest while I felt my blood run cold. My fingers began to tremble and I looked at my host, pleadingly. “Please help me pack?” I said with the utmost calm of voices pretending to be compliant with the men. I turned back into my room and waited for Quest to join me. Their advances on Quest kept her from joining me and I knew at that moment, it was something else. Maybe after all this time, they finally decided to shut down inter-district mingling. Which if that was the case, I was no longer going to see Quest or any other survivor from the eightieth games. I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. “I need to get changed, if you’ll excuse me.” I turned to face Quest before shutting the door with a gentle turn of my lips. Behind the closed door, I turned to look at everything I’d acquired while I had been here. The clothes that Quest had let me borrow since I had only originally only brought in a few days worth unknowingly to have my stay go from three days to two months. Even the personal belongings that had been purchased over the last two months to accommodate my longer stay in district six. My heart yearned to stay now that something was forcing me to exit. How could I even express my gratitude to Quest for everything she’s done? Before I could reach the drawers, the forceful knock of the peace keeper came booming with an urgency to rush my packing. I stayed silent, unwilling to let them know they’ve given me a reasonable amount of questions running through my mind and what of district nine? Were they okay? Was Fable and Spencer doing well and out of harm’s way? I looked at my hands for a moment and noticed how all the spots the glass had bit into my skin had disappeared. My foot had healed completely leaving behind a thin trail of a scar that had penetrated my foot. I slipped my feet into the shoes after putting on my dress. Its ribbon tied behind my back with ease. When I began to gather my things, I noticed the dog tags that Quest had given me on the dresser. It was a simple design. But it was something she’d given me with some words written on it and her name. I sighed as I squeezed it in my hand. Then I jumped. With another forceful reminder of my hesitance to hurry, the door burst open and I quickly shoved more into my bag. The man in white started shoving things into the bag for me regardless of its ownership. “That’s not mine. It’s Quest’s!” I tried to tell them and grab at the items to put them back but the other man came in and wrapped his chubby fingers around my upper arm harshly. I felt the amount of fucks he had to give when he jerked me a few steps back to accommodate his partner’s actions. I pulled my arm from his grip, unafraid to fight him. “Hey! That hurts… I have more in the closet. Give me five more minutes, please.” I begged them and stumbled as the peacekeeper zipped up the bag and jerked it in my direction for me to take. “You had your time. Train’s leaving in ten minutes and you are obligated to be on it one way or another. Let’s go. Quest…” The man nodded to her while I felt the man jerking on my arm again as we descended the stairs. This was it. I was going home, finally. It just wasn’t the way I wanted to remember my time here. “Let go of me!” I demanded. Upon my release, the sore spot on my arm was massaged to alleviate any more discomfort. I rushed back to Quest with a hug and a whisper. “Thank you for everything -I’ll miss you. Please, keep in contact somehow. I don’t care if we have to find some Words…” I winked at her and before I knew it, I could smell the distinct smell of burning coal and hot metal. The train was almost ready to go and several others were being accompanied with peacekeepers. It made me realize that I wasn’t the only one that had been held in district six against their will. My bag bounced against my leg as I boarded the train. The keepers found no more use to escort me, so they turned without as little as a goodbye. I sought out a seat near the window for the long ride home. I flinched as I bumped my arm and looked at the bruising with finger like dots. “Fucking keepers…” I kept my fingers over the area until the train had started to move. Hours had passed and while a nap had taken occupancy for a portion of the ride home, I kept my eyes drawn out to the window and the districts that we stopped in. With each stop to seven, ten and two, I was able to get a glance at the lifestyles there in each. Each one seemed to have the same safety measures in place with keepers at the doors of the trains to make sure that no one else was dropped off other than the assigned who lived there. I watched as they pricked their fingers for positive identification and my heart skipped a beat. It was the reaping all over again and my eyes fell to a close once more. The harsh sound of the brakes came to greet my ears, jostling me along with it. My bag dumped unceremoniously on the ground. The moment the train came to a complete stop, I sat there dumbfounded. Which district had we stopped at now? I wondered, looking into the station and the longer I looked, the more it felt familiar; more like home. “District Nine. Any residents of District Nine, please step to the nearest unloading dock for positive identifications.” I stood, gripping my bag and my hand rested against the dog tags that were around my neck. It was quiet as I stood, being the last one in this part of the cars. The moment I took the three steps down to enter into my home town again, I got a breath of fresh air and my heart began to hammer against my chest again. “Am I allowed to go home now?” I wondered and asked the keeper next to me who glared at me through his visor. I couldn’t see his face, but he glanced in my direction with a head shake before pointing to the justice building. I stopped in my tracks. “Why do I have to go there?” “Orders. Now go. Third door to the right once you go in. There will be someone there to assist you.” HIs orders were grunted with displeasure. The bag now felt thirty pounds heavier than before upon meeting the threshold again to the one place I dared not to go back to. Even the location of the room was something I dreaded but with a sharp intake of air, I had to coach my mind into knowing that I wasn’t going back into the games. That Fable was safe. That everyone was safe for the moment. The games were not even happening. That was some time away still. Though I wondered more if whatever happened during the lockdown, did something happen to Fable or his brother? Why all the secrecy? The door opened simultaneously to me reaching for the knob and I entered to see a rather larger man, a beard plastered to his face and hung down three inches from his chin, yellow from smoking but grey from age. “Fiona… Zachariah, I presume?” I nodded and kept my distance from the man who clearly reminded me of the doctor we had in town. Though, this voice was much more demanding as he brought out a tiny machine and grabbed my hand before I could resist and promptly poked it, bringing a drop of blood to the surface and shoving my finger onto a paper while scanning the sample. “So it is you. I remember your games. Glad that someone was finally able to make it home more than one of you, at least. It was a shame about Max though, what happened to him. I’ll bet your glad to be back home now. There’s been some talk about you since you’ve been away but that all cleared up once we heard the news.” “What happened? If I may ask…” I wanted to know exactly what had happened and by the looks of the man, he wasn’t going to answer my question willingly because he didn’t reek of district nine but he’d already opened his mouth. He looked more poised and proper as he cleared his throat. He looked up at me instead of the meter and adjusted this clear headpiece that settled against his ear and covered one eye. “What happened?” He clarified. “Yes. With the lockdown. And in district six with the explosions… I’ve heard some things. What happened here while I was gone? Is everyone okay? Did anything like that happen here?” My mind seemed to flow with fear as I asked those questions. It’s the last thing I wanted to know if someone had been killed like in district six. At least there, I knew no one so my heart didn’t yearn to spend another moment with the dead. However, I had heard nothing from my own home. With it being two months since the shutdown, anything could have happened. “Please?” “Not much happened here, Ms. We were shut down for safety reasons that I’m not obligated to tell you. However, there is rumor that President Snow is dead and from what I’m not able to disclose. Just know that any travel right now is still suspended and for your safety, Ms. Zachariah, I’d be best to go home and stay for a while. Interdistrict travel isn’t safe. Now, please answer these questions and then you’ll be released to go home.” He began to spout of some health questions that were just simple ones about sickness. He didn’t once mention anything else and ten minutes later, the door opened and I pulled my bag behind me as I finally was able to leave the justice building. My mind whirled with disastrous thoughts. The president was dead, or rumored to be. What could that hold with the games coming up or the travel through the districts. What of the eightieth games survivors since this was the first time any game ever let the tributes survive. I felt completely useless as I stumbled through the roads. A dozen or more people recognized me immediately and began asking me all sorts of questions about where I had been. The rumors that they’d heard and my well being was also brought up to which I promptly replied that I just wanted to go home. And then it finally did. I dropped my bag on the porch and wiggled the doorknob hoping that it would be unlocked. It was not. I reached into my pocket to find it empty and then the bag to search for my house key before realizing it was probably still in the top drawer of the chest in Quest’s brother’s bedroom. A curse ushered out of my mouth and under my breath when I brought my hand up into the flowerpot that hung beside the door. Pulling it up, underneath the dirt was a bronze key covered in soil. Gently, I brushed it off and used it to open the door before putting it back where it previously was, packing the dirt back on top. “FABLE? SPENSER?” My eyes glanced immediately to the kitchen as a smell caught my senses. Chicken, maybe or it was something similar. Something so erotically sweet also seemed to drown my yearning for home like a memory. It had to be that one recipe my granpa made for me growing up. I would recognize it anywhere. Maybe Fable had thought to teach Spenser to cook it in my absence to make him feel more like family? There was something that caught my attention, a noise like shuffling or muffled voices that scuttled down the hallway or maybe from upstairs that made my heart soar. They were home and I felt my throat start to burn with so much anticipation until I turned to face a shadow from the kitchen. The fear was nulled the moment I laid eyes on him. Of course there had been the pocket knife he never left behind, blade out ready to attack, but at the same time I couldn’t blame him for being overly cautious. My voice might have been an intruder coming in just as the looters once did. Had he forgotten my voice already? “Fable… it’s me.“ My eyes welled up and I could immediately see the tense look on his face drop without hesitation. So much I wanted to tell him and explain what I’d been through. I wanted all of the hardships I had to face in Six without him to be spilled out leaving no detail untouched but at the same time, it was all just in the past like a storybook closed for all eternity. “I’ve mi...missed… you so much!” I close my eyes the moment I come closer to him, terrified that this was all a dream until I felt my arms wrap around him. My heart plummeted in my chest and the air in my lungs escaped in a heaping fashion as the tears began to fall. I was finally home.