Against the Odds (A Crossmare Fanfiction)

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Mmmmmm I'm thinking, goal of 15k💜❤️

"Chara Penaloza!"

In that moment, Cross' whole world froze. He stared in shock at the man stood at the large stage, his eyes fixated on the small piece of paper held in his long thin fingers. It had Chara's name on. His little brother.

On the other side of the dirt court, where all the youngest children were stood, Chara was frozen. He was only twelve.

Everyone's heads had slowly turned to face the shaking boy. Some of them looked sorry for him, others just looked relieved that they weren't the first chosen.

"Chara Penaloza?" The skimpily dressed man called again, his eyes scanning across the crowds before resting on the small boy that everyone was staring at. "Come up now, don't be shy."

Cross stared as a guard pushed forwards, grabbing Chara by the arm and starting to pull him harshly over to the stage. This couldn't be happening. Not Chara. Not his brother. His twelve year old brother. The boy that was always so kind to everyone. The boy who could secretly be a little sneak when he wanted to and act as angelic as possible whenever he wanted. No. It couldn't be. He couldn't let it be.

Before he could even consider what was happening, he'd stepped forwards, raising his hand and calling out with a strength he didn't even know he had. "I VOLUNTEER!"

Everyone froze.

The man blinked, turning his head to look over at the small skeleton as he pushed through the shocked crowds. "You what?"

Cross gulped harshly, his soul hammering so loud in his chest that he could have sworn that even Chara could hear it from the other side of the dusty court. "I-I volunteer as tribute!"

Chara looked horrified, his eyes wide with shock as he stared at Cross helplessly. Tears had built up in his eyes, sliding down his pale cheeks and dripping to the floor. "C-Cross..."

The skeleton raised a pointed brow, glancing at the officers behind him who merely nodded in response. "Well, we normally wait till after to ask for tributes, but okay. Take him up."

Immediately Cross felt strong arms grab him and two guards dragged him harshly up the through the crowds and to the stairs to the stage.

Never before had he felt so small. Everyone was staring at him in shock. District twelve had never had a tribute before. Never in the history books. And I mean, why would there be? No one here trained to become vicious killers. Here people just did whatever they could to survive. Killing and fighting was the last thing on their minds. And getting mauled to death in an arena didn't really appeal to them either. People here weren't like people in District one. They weren't like the infamous Joku Brothers who purposely trained for this.

"What's your name sweetheart?"

"Hm?" Cross jolted, whipping round to look up at the skeleton. He'd completely lost all focus.

"Your name." He smiled sweetly, the overpowering smell of floral perfume wafting over him like a cold breeze.

"Oh, C-Cross Penaloza..."

"Oohh." He let out a coo. "So that little boy you volunteered for was your little brother?"

He nodded, biting his lip and clenching his hands into tight fists.

"Ah, sibling love. The watchers will love that, wont they?"

He didn't answer, too afraid that he'd break down on the spot. He was so terrified.

"Anyway, moving on!" He called cheerily, moving back over to the bowl of names. "Our next hunger games candidate from District Twelve."

He glanced across the crowd and giggled, as if he enjoyed everyones sick fear. His long fingers slipped into the bowl, stirring around for a minute before pulling out a name and holding up up to his face.

"Daniel Winters?"

Everyone that wasn't Daniel let out a loud sigh of relief, immediately relaxing. They could go home to their family, they could relax. They could sleep at night knowing that they weren't going to die. They could all sit back and relax, watch their fellow district members get ripped apart in a macabre blood bath. They could wait until next year before they needed to feel such fear again.

"Where is Daniel Winters?" The skeleton called.

From the crowd, a small boy with messy dirty blond hair was dragged, letting out cries of protest. "N-No please! Not me please!"

Everyone looked away uncomfortably, not wanting to meet the boy's desperate stare as he was dragged up onto the stage.

Daniel wasn't well known across district twelve. But anyone that spoke of him only ever said good things. He was known for forever helping others and going out of his way to do things he wasn't really needed to do. He was a really nice guy honestly.

The skeleton sighed softly, walking over to his side and placing a hand on his shoulder. "Don't be sad, you now get to represent your district in such a highly watched event."

The boy flinched, staring down at the floor while tears dropped down his cheeks. "But I-I don't want to represent m-my district..."

"Oh." He rolled his eyes. "Well there's still hope. Does anyone want to volunteer as tribute?" His gaze scanned across the crowd, eyes narrowed.

No one spoke up. Of course they wouldn't. Asking was practically a joke.

"No? No one wants to be tribute for this poor boy?" His hand rested in his blond hair and he flinched even more, on the verge of sobbing.

"No, oh well what a shame." He hummed, going to close the final deal before suddenly a figure pushed through the crowds.

"I VOLUNTEER!"

For the second time that day, everybody froze, whipping their heads round to face whoever had called out.

At the front of the crowd, a cloaked figure stood. They were dressed fully in black, their face covered by a large hood that cast a dark shadow over them. Long black trousers covered their legs and a pair of equally black trainers were worn on his feet. They looked far better quality than the old ones Cross had on his feet. Maybe they were new? As far as he could see, the figure was also wearing a pair of black gloves to cover their hands.

"You?" The skeleton looked at him in surprise, glancing over at the guards. "Well come on up then."

The stranger pushed the guards ready to escort them away, striding up the steps and onto the stage. They ignored Daniel's sobbing thank you's.

Cross stared at them in shock, not quite understanding. No one ever volunteered. And Daniel had no family members young or old enough to volunteer. So who was this person?

The man seemed to be thinking the same thing, because he stepped over, his eyebrows raised incredibly high. "And who might you be?"

The stranger kept their head down, looking at the floor with a low chuckle. "Just call me Nick. Nick Smith."

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I tried every possible way to try drag this chapter out, but it didn't really work lmao Ric meeeeee

Zjhzhsjsuxjzusjxududj Cross is gud boy and volunteered for his baby brother uwu

And Nick? He's just nick lmao. I wanted some differentiation from the normal plot line cuz otherwise I'll get bored

:3

-Jess-