Against the Odds (A Crossmare Fanfiction)

The Reaping

"How much for this rabbit?" 

"£5.00."

"Is that all?" Cross asked, staring at the old woman irritably. "Catching these isn't easy you know."

"I don't care, it's small and young, not enough meat to feed my family. Five is all you get."

He groaned, muttering under his breath as he passed the rabbit over. "Done."

She grinned a toothless grin, handing him over the money. "Pleasure doing business with you."

He rolled his eyes, glancing down at the random bits of jewellery and old antiques that were laid out. Nothing really caught his interest at first, but as he went to leave something caught his eye.

Hidden under most the other bits of old junk, something golden was shining. He leaned down and brushed the other things out of the way to see it better. It was a locket, shaped into a heart with a piece of string coiling round it. He immediately thought that Chara would like it.

"How much for this?" He asked, curling his fingers around it's cold smooth surface and holding it up so she could see.

The woman squinted, looking at it through narrowed eyes. "That old thing? I didn't even know I had it, keep it."

"Really?" He looked up at her in surprise.

"Yes, not scram before I change my mind." She waved her hand irritably at him, shooing him off.

"O-Of course! Thank you." He said quickly before scurrying off and out of the market. White dressed guards were already swarming the main square, setting up everything for the Reaping.

He tried not to make eye contact with any of them, keeping his head down as he hurried back to the house. He was already late, he knew it.

Changing to a jog, he sped up for the last couple of yards until he reached the familiar sight of his crooked house. He pushed open the door quickly, stumbling inside of the house clumsily. "I'm here!"

"Cross!"

He yelped as something barrelled into his side, hugging him tightly. "Huh?"

From his side, Chara glared up at him. He was already in his best clothes. "I thought you'd ran away and left us all alone! Do you have any idea how scared I was?!"

"Hey, Hey." He cupped the smaller's cheek softly, resting his other hand on his shoulder. "You know I'd never do that, I just went out to see what food I'd caught with Epic."

"Oh, and did you catch anything?" He asked curiously.

"Yeah, a rabbit and two squirrels. Sold one rabbit and one squirrel, kept another for us to eat tonight after the Reaping."

"If one of us isn't picked." He muttered.

"We won't be Chara, we won't be." He shook his head.

"How can you be so sure?"

Cross sighed, crouching down so that he was level with his brother. "Because I bought you a good luck charm."

"A good luck charm?" He perked up, curiosity clouding his expression.

"Yep." The taller smiled, reaching in his pocket to pull out the heart locket. "I saw it and thought you might like it."

Chara looked at it wide eyed, gently reaching a finger out to trace over its cold surface. "You got this for me?"

He nodded softly, brushing Chara's messy hair away from his eyes and hooking the locket over his head. "There you go. Now you'll be safe."

The smaller looked down at the locket resting on his chest for a moment before grinning widely, his eyes sparkling. "Thanks Cross! I love it!"

Cross laughed softly as Chara hugged him, returning the gesture before pulling back and standing as their mum walked into the room.

She stared at the two boys, her gaze lingering on Chara's new locket for a moment before she looked over at Cross. "I put out your clothes for you..." Her voice was soft and weak, broken from so much crying.

He nodded softly, offering Chara another quick smile before trudging moodily over to his room. He didn't get why they had to dress up for something so morbid. It was a waste of time.

——————

"Right now Chara, you're going to be sorted into your age group after this, okay?" Cross whispered, shuffling along the big queue everyone had formed. "They'll prick your finger, and then you go find your friends in that section, okay?"

Chara nodded timidly, his hand gripping onto Cross' tightly. His breathing was uneven, forced.?"C-Cross I'm scared." He gasped, suddenly stopping and letting out a whimper.

"It's okay Chara, it's okay. There's nothing to worry about. Your name is only in there once okay? One out of hundreds."

The small boy sniffed, wiping his nose with the corner of his sleeve. God Jakei wouldn't have been happy if she'd seen that. "O-Okay..."

Cross smiled, gripping onto his hand tighter and pulling him along. "Now c'mon, lets get into our sections, okay?"

He nodded again, giving Cross a nervous glance as they reached the front of the que.

"It'll be fine." He reassured, watching as his brother stepped over and held out his hand for the prick. He saw his face contort in sight pain for a moment, but then he was pulled away into the crowds, lost from his vision.

"Next."

Cross jolted, snapping out of his thoughts and quickly stepping over to have his finger pricked as well. It stung like always, but the pain was dull.

Following everyone else in his age group (sixteen) he shuffled in line, standing next to a few boys he recognised from the rare times he'd wandered about the village.

Pushing himself up onto his toes, he could see the figure of Epic stood in his section, staring blankly up at the stage. Forty-two times his name was in...

Everyone was muttering to each other, talking about how many times their names were in, and even some making bets on which one of them it was most likely to be called up.

No one noticed the man trot on stage until he suddenly spoke up through her microphone. "Ladies and Gentlemen of District Twelve can I have silence please?"

A hush washed across the courtyard and everyone immediately went silent, looking at the man.

He was dressed rather inappropriately for the occasion in Cross' point of view. He wore a black sleeveless leather jacket with a blue fur hood and a black tank top underneath. They wore long black leggings that lead down to a pair of black leather boots that went up to his ankles. He was a skeleton as far as Cross could see, his pupils having been surgically altered to look like hearts. Apparently it was the trend these days.

He smiled softly, giving a little bow. "And now that I've got your attention."

He cleared his throat and started reciting the same thing he did every year, droning on and on for a good minute.

Cross zoned out for half of it.

"And now I shall choose the first Tribute!" He called, snapping him back to his senses and sending everyone else into internal panic.

Because of their populations poor ratio of boys to girls, all the names were just jumbled up together in one big jar where two names would be picked from. It could be a girl and a boy, two boys or two girls. Though the last one was unlikely. 

Everyone held their breaths as his long fingers dipped into the jar, stirring the paper around for a moment before grabbing onto one at random.

He pulled it out, flashing everyone a sickly smile before breathing in and reading it out.

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ClIfF hAnGeR????

HAHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Lmao who am I kidding we all know who's name it's going to be.

Anyways I hope you're all lieking this book so far, cuz I have lots planned >:3

-Jess-