• Athena Spring has spent her entire life carefully curating the perfect image. Perfect grades, a proud family, and the Plinth Prize nearly within her grasp, Athena has it all. However, when her plans are derailed by an unexpected twist of events, s...
اوووه! هذه الصورة لا تتبع إرشادات المحتوى الخاصة بنا. لمتابعة النشر، يرجى إزالتها أو تحميل صورة أخرى.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Athena's breath comes in ragged gasps, each one laced with the bitter taste of betrayal. The chains, Brandy's mutilated corpse, the tributes' eyes wide with fear - it all burns in her memory, igniting a fury so potent it threatens to consume her whole. Worst of all, she cannot shake Treech's panicked face, every time she closes her eyes it reappears. The Academy's empty hallways blur as she storms through them, her footsteps echoing off the marble floors like the distant claps of thunder. Her temper is ready to boil over, bubbling out of control with no sign of stopping.
She bursts into an empty classroom, the door slamming shut with a resounding thud that mirrors the pounding in her chest. Athena's gaze falls upon a vase of white roses, delicate and unsuspecting on the professor's desk and utterly infuriating in a moment like this. Her fingers curl around it, the cool porcelain a stark contrast to the heat of her anger.
With a strangled scream that rips from her very soul, Athena hurls the vase against the wall. It shatters, pieces flying like shrapnel, her allegiance to the Capitol fracturing with it.
Athena stands amidst the debris, chest heaving, eyes blazing with a newfound resolve. The Capitol's façade has crumbled in her eyes, revealing the monstrous truth beneath. She's been complicit in their own savagery, a puppet dancing on invisible strings she hadn't seen until now. But no more. Athena's rage is not just for the tributes' suffering; it's for herself, for being blinded by those stupid, glittering lies.
The room is silent now, save for her heavy breathing. She can feel the rage slowly seeping out of her as she tries to calm herself. The air smells pungently of those roses she had decimated in her wrath, nausea overshadowing her fury.
She then hears a worried voice, frantically saying, "I think she's in here, come on!"
The door bursts open and Persephone rushes in, her eyes wide with concern. To Athena's surprise, Sejanus follows close behind, his expression furious.
"Athena," Persephone breathes, rushing to her side, "Are you alright?"
Athena whips around to face the two, sucking in a breath in an attempt to keep her cool.
"How could I be alright?" she yells, a tremor in her voice, "How could any of us be alright? Did you see what they did? They had them chained up like animals!"
Sejanus quickly rushes to her side, gently guiding her to sit down in the professor's chair as he agrees, anger flushing in his own expression, "You've seen it now, haven't you? The cruelty... it's not them," he gestures vaguely towards the direction of the procession, "It's here, with us."
Athena meets his gaze, a silent understanding passing between them. Sejanus has been right all along, if only Athena could've seen it earlier.
"I have," she admits as her heartbeat begins to slow, her voice barely above a whisper, "And I don't know what to do anymore".
