G A I U S— had stormed into their house, throwing his fancy jacket onto the table, not long after the reaping ended, and it was no suprise, he saw Gelly crying at the dining room table, her head buried into her hands, as she desperately tried to wipe her tears.
"What was that?" Gaius shouted, nearing her, a furious look on his face, "you think you can just storm out of there?"
Gelly sniffled, "Gaius, please— im not in the mood." She told him, but Gaius angry expression didnt waver, not untill she looked up at him.
There was a large red handprint imprinted on her cheek, and small delicate tears ran over it. Gaius expression softened at the sight of it, and he dropped into the chair infront of her, taking her hands away from her face and holding them in his. He took in a sharp breath, scanning over her distressed face, "who—" he started, but he already knew the answer, "was this dad?"
Gelly let out a shaky nod, and Gaius wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into his chest. "Im sorry." She cried, so desperately, it made Gaius chest ache.
"Im going to kill him." Gaius said, rubbing her back, "I swear, if he ever puts his hands on you again—" the door flung open, and two tall figures walked in; it was they're parents, angry looks on they're faces, and Gaius shot up from his seat, almost imediatly shoving they're father back. "You think you can just hit her?" He shouted angrily.
"Gaius." The older man warned.
"No!" He shut him down, "dont Gaius me! First Geo? And now Gelly, you think you can just put your hands on whoever you feel like? Thats why Geo left!"
"Dont you dare speak of him!"
"Ill speak of whoever I want!" Gaius told him, and their father shoved him back, sending him stumbling back into one of the table chairs, right onto the floor.
Their father shoved his finger into Gaius chest, "No you wont! Not when you are under my roof! Under my rules! Ive had enough of the three of you, ruining our reputation, evertime you go out! Someone ought to teach you a lesson one of these days."
Gaius didnt answer, shrinking under his father's deathly gaze.
"One of you better win that Plinth Prize, to make up for all the stress you have cuased us!" He said, backing away from Gaius for a moment, "boy, go get me a beer."
Gaius didnt move, "I thought you stopped drinking?"
"Changed my mind." He shrugged, and Gaius pushed himself off the floor, heading to the fridge, and pulled out a beer, handing it to his father, who pulled him in by the oustretched hand. "And if you ever, decide to go against my action again, I'll make you wish you were never born."
Gaius nodded, swallowing harshly at the threat, and when his hand was dropped, he rubbed it tenderly, then turned to his little sister, frozen in the chair. He pulled her up, "lets go Gelly." He guided her into his bedroom, shutting the door behind them, before they just froze, staring at eachother emptily.
"Its gonna be okay." Said Gaius, "everything gonna work out in the end." Both of them knew it wasnt true, and by the look on Gaius's face, he was beggining to break, but he held it back, taking Gelly in his arms again, and holding onto her, but it gave none of the support she needed.
Gelly awoke the next morning, still in Gaius bed, the older boy being slumped next to her, and she scooted out carefully, hearing a small ringing in the other room.
It was the phone.
Gelly picked it up carefully, bringing it to her ear, "Hello?"
"Gelly?" Coriolanus voice sounded from the other side.
"Coriolanus? Why are you calling so early?" She frowned.
"Gaius filled you in on the games?"
"Yes?" Gelly frowned, what was he getting at.
"Great." He sighed, "you want to meet your tribute?"
"Yeah, but how? We dont know when they get here."
"But we know where." Coriolanus pointed out, "meet me at the train station in ten, dont get cuaght." And with that the line went silent, leaving Gelly to frown to herself confused, and she went into her bedroom, pulling out her bright red school uniform, and pulling it over her body. Her shiny blond hair was pulled up into pigtails, and she smoothed out her clothes before she left the house, without another sound. She knew Gaius would become worried if she wasnt there when she woke up, but eventually he would assume she had left early for school, just like she did every morning.
It wasnt long before she arrived at the train station, in the brisk cold air of the morning. She spotted Coriolanus by a few of the pillsars, and called out to him. "Coryo!"
Coriolanus snapped towards her with a smile, "I was starting to think you wouldnt show."
"You asked me too, didnt you?" Coryo nodded, and Gelly let out a brief forced smile, to reassure him, but it always a lie, nobody had seen her sincerly smile in years, not after the incident, but nobody spoke of it again, in fear of upsetting the girl. Nobody had every brought up the name Leto again.
The train neared them, halting to a quick stop, but they're was no movement, and Gelly was begining to think they had gotten the wrong train, untill twenty minutes later, a scream occured, in one of the farther carts, and the peacekeepers began shoving young children out.
"Thats my cue." Coriolanus sent her a reassuring smile, before he left her alone for his tribute. Gelly glanced over the tributes, before her eyes landed on her own. He was tall, probally stood a good half foot over Gelly, and he had dark curls cascading over his forhead, just spilling out of his grey hat. His face was forced into a glare as he stepped out of the cart, turning back to help a redhead girl down.
"Treech?" She called out softly, and the boy snapped around at the sound of his name, his eyes scanned over her, but the angry look never faded.
"Who are you?" He snapped, pushing the redhead behind him, protectivly.
Gelly flinched back at the harsh tone, but she composed herself quickly, and stuck out her hand for him to shake, "Im Gelly, your mentor for the games."
"Mentor?" He raised an eyebrow, making no move to embrace her hand, he glanced at it with disgust, leaving Gelly to drop it quickly in embarrasment.
"I help you in the games." She told him, "try my best to get you out alive."
Treech scoffed, "thanks but no, I dont need help from some stuck up capital girl." Treech almost felt bad for the words, as he took the time to fully look her over, she looked hurt by his words, and she swallowed timidly.
"Oh, ok." She nodded, more to herself. She wore a red school uniform, but it was too striking against her delicate features, almost like she didnt fit into the role she was supposed to be protraying. Her blonde hair was pulled into pinktail, with small red bows, tied around them, and her soft face was stained with tears, her cheeks flushed a light pink, and her blue eyes were glazed over, as they stared into his, like at any moment she'd be crying again. Treech couldnt help but wonder what made such a preety girl cry, to the point where it made her look so helpless and innocent. He felt the urge to protect her, but hesistantly he ignored it, she was capital. Suddenly she perked up and reached into her red coat pocket, "I brought you a cookie?" She said carefully, so softly, that Treech had to strain to hear it, he frowned at the timidness.
"What?" He asked her, looking down at the cookie.
Her eyes widened, almost as if she was too scared to repeat herself, "Its for you." She told him, only a little above her quite voice before.
Treech glanced back down at it, and snatched it from her hands, breaking it in half, and giving it to Lamina, he gave the young girl a nod, and pushed Lamina forward, toward the van.
Coriolanus appeared next to Gelly right after Treech had disspaeared, putting his hands on her shoulders, cuasing her to flinch back. "Sorry." He mumbled, but he didnt remove his grip, only pushing her forward, he didnt even tell her what he was doing, waiting for the opportunity, and when he found it, he dragged her forward, into the van where all the other tributes had gotten in.
"Coryo!" She squeked, as he pulled her to the back of the van, aware of all the tributes eyes on them, since they stood out with they're brightly colored clothing. Coriolanus protectivly pushed Gelly behind him, hiding her from the peeking eyes.
The van doors slammed shut, and a dark loomy shadow filled them, "whats the matter Preety boy, You in the wrong cage?"
"No, this cage is delightfull." The tall boy, didnt like Corialanus's remark, and pressed forward to slam him into the wall. Gelly escaped out from behind him just intime, almost falling into one of the tributes.
"Sorry." She whispered, and the boy sent her a warm smile.
"Your good." He reassured her. If the tributes hadnt taken notice of Gelly before, they had now.
Treech's eyes were staring into her, watching her, and as she met his eyes, he sighed shaking his head at her, he had a grip on one of the railings above, as he stood protectivly infront of Lamina.
"And whos this?" A redhead stepped forward, towards Gelly, who shrunk away as she neared her.
"I wouldnt tease her." Coriolanus warned, not afriad to make teasfull remarks even under the boy's strong grip, "we just got her to stop crying."
The redhead sent him a confused look, and Treech frowned from behind him, glaring at Coriolanus, "I'd shut your mouth, blondie."
Coriolanus's graze snapped towards Treech in the back of the van, who's arm dropped from the railing, like he was going to kill Coriolanus himself
"Shut up! All of you." The boy slammed Coriolanus harder into the wall. "Ill kill you!"
"Get him reaper!" One of the tributes called out.
"He'll do it too." A girl called out, looking towards reaper. "He killed a peacekeeper back in eleven, they never found out who did it."
"Shut up, Dill!"
"Whats the point now." Dill shrugged.
"Lets all kill him." A tiny boy spoke up, "cant do nothing worse to us now."
Several other tributes murmured in agreements, and the redhead faced Gelly again, "and what about her?"
The tributes remained silent, exchanging a few glances.
The redhead moved some of Gelly's hair off her forhead, frowning at a mark on her forehead, and another one on her cheek, coming clearer in the dark, "How'd you get that, capital?"
Gelly visible tensed, but she didnt answer, silence flooding in through the van.
"Shes not much of a talker." Coriolanus explained, sending Gelly an annoyed look.
"I wasnt talking to you." The girl snapped, "why dont you talk?"
Gelly didnt answer, only shrinking away from the heavy gazes.
"Your scaring her, Coral." Treech stepped forward pulling Gelly out of the corner she was pushed into, and behind him.
"I was just asking!" Coral defended herself, but made no move to Apolagize, as Treech pushed Gelly beside Lamina, and stood infront of them them.
"Well dont." He glared.
"Fine." Coral rolled her eyes.
"So were not killing her?" Another boy spoke, cuasing Treech to scoff.
"Like to see you try." Treech didnt know what was coming over him, he hadnt been thinking, when he decided to help Gelly, he just did it. He felt the need to protect her, even if he didnt know her.
"We'll settle on him then." Reapear turned back to Coriolanus.
"You got a family back home?" Gelly spoke softly, not looking up from her lap, as the tributes heads snapped towards her again.
"Whats that gotta do with anything?" Reapear asked.
"They cant do nothing worse to you all here, but they can to them." She said, "and im guessing thats not something you want to risk."
Reaper nodded for a moment, then pulled back from Coriolanus, "your right."
"Besides, hes my mentor. I might need him." Coriolanus tributes spoke up, Lucy Gray.
"How come you get a mendor?" Dill asked
"Mentor." Coriolanus corrected, trying to sound ontop of things, "you each get one."
"Where are they then?"
"Not inspired I guess."
Suddenlly the van tipped forward, making them all crash into the wall, Treech had grabbed onto Gelly at the last moment, pulling her upagainst him so she wouldnt fall, but as soon as the doors flung open, both of them fell to the ground. Gelly groaned, as the sharp rocks hit her skin, Treech fell beside her, shooting up quicker than expecred to help Lamina. Gelly pushed herself up, and Treech stood infront of her, he went to go say something, but paused. "I—"
Gelly waited for him to finish, but he didnt say anything, only just stared at her.
"I dont want your help, or any of this mentor stuff." He told her, licking his lips.
"You told me." She said, dusting her uniform off as best as she could.
"Gelly!" Coriolanus called out, and the girl turned to him, he pointed out something past the bars, as he stood talking to lucky. Just a few feet away from the bars stood a tall figure, in a red uniform, glaring into the cage. "Its Gaius!"
Gelly paled slightly, at the sight of the older boy, and shot Treech a final glance, before walking to the bars. Gaius shook his head at her, but walked a few steps forward. "Are you insane?" He called out to her, just loud enough for the tributes watching them to hear.
Gelly was released from the cage, and he reached out towards her, pulling her away.
"Dads going to kill you." He whispered, not meaning to scare Gelly, but the panicked look on her face said diffrently, as Gaius led her foreward, rolling his eyes at lucky who tried to talk to them both.
AUTHORS ANNOUNCEMENT
POOR GELLY AND GAIUS, I swear I dont mean to put them through so muxh trouble... ok thats a complete lie, its only going to get worse.
Treech is being so silly with not accepting her help... its okay tho!
Dont forget to vote and comment!