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Mahk.
So that was his name then? –It didn’t matter; socializing with him was out of the question. As soon as his mother left they directed us to another room in the train and our journey began to Capital One. The whole ride took about three days and not once did he even speak to me, though it was probably best he kept quiet, I wasn’t sure what his voice sounded like and if it was too deep for a girl, he would arouse suspicion.
We were given our instructor though he didn’t pay too much attention to us; he occasionally made small talk with me at our dinners. Dean, that was his name, he was a fairly approachable guy, very kind-hearted and he was as excited for the games as the next person. He was friendly and even tried to get Mahk to join our light conversations, but he too got the cold shoulder. He didn’t seem too fond of this attitude.
“What’s your deal, missy?” He snapped finally at the last dinner we would be having in the train, Mahk’s cold eyes turned from the window to look at Dean’s face, he grimaced after a moment of staring. “I’m going to die and you’re asking me what my deal is?”
I choked back my food; the voice was almost identical to Rai’s, just slightly deeper and harder. He really could pass for her!
“It’s a great honor to be part of the games though!”
I decided to but in, Mahk’s face was dangerous and I could tell his next words would certainly bite, “She just doesn’t like the idea of her twin watching her die! They were incredibly close you know?”
Mahk’s frightening gaze was then fixated on me, I shivered and swallowed down a sip of water from a nearby glass. His gaze faltered and his paled lips pursed slightly, it appeared I had hit the nail on the head. Mahk sharply turned away again; he was probably going to drift back into silence for the rest of this ride. I looked back over to our mentor and smiled at him, he seemed to be at a loss for words, “I…I see.” He whispered and his tone made me doubt that he actually did, “Well don’t worry missy! I saw your Academy records and your scores were pretty impressive-“
A lie.
“…I believe you two can win it this year!”
Another lie.
A snarl sounded before me and Mahk’s knife and fork clanged loudly against the china. He had slammed his fists to the table and slid his chair back; he was exiting now muttering dark words under his breath.
Scores…It was something our Academy would give us during training, Rai’s had always been so low. At this moment, I couldn’t recall Mahk’s, mine had been fairly high, only because I got top marks in hand to hand combat. It brought me a slight comfort, but I of course knew that other districts such as twelve and eleven would have the strongest tributes. The children there were trained much longer than children here and they were injected with bitterness.
“Disgusting.” I barked.
“Excuse me?”
“This water.”
I too pushed myself out of my seat, only more civilized than the male before me, slowly I stalked after him, and glowering at the door he had steered out of. What was this little shit playing at? He had to act like this was the greatest thing in his life! I didn’t want him acting like this, it could jeopardize us, and it could make more than just the other tributes target us.
The door slide open and I quickly shouted down the hall at his retreating form, “Hey!” He turned sharply to me, appearing frightening, but his clenched muscles relaxed at the sight of me, he exhaled slowly, “What do you want?”
Now his voice was familiar, it was much deeper, almost grating, and much colder than the light and airy voice of his sister Rai. Rai’s voice was like a summer day and this boy’s was a winter chill. Instantly it pissed me off. I was inches from him, he faltered and his foot fell back, my fingers wrapped into his shirt and I slammed him against the wall, pressing him tightly between the cool metal and my body’s heat. He grunted and his slender fingers soon came to claw at my clothed wrists,
“Let me go!”
He was snapping now, like a pathetic toy dog. I wanted to just kick him.
He pissed me off.
He looked like her…He could almost imitate her exactly. He practically was her and this fact angered me.
“You do realize we have to make our instructor like us, right?!”
His eyes narrowed to slits, if looks could kill.
“If he doesn’t like us, he won’t instruct us and help us get out of this.” My body pressed closer to his, crushing him even more into the wall, I felt as he writhed and tried to contort his body into a new and probably less painful position. “Look, your mother came to me before we left.” His shifting instantly ceased, he now gazed up at me in horror,
“W-what did she say?” The voice whispered to me now was pathetic…It had lost all the bite it held earlier.
“She wants me to get you back to her…” I sucked in a deep breath, “I am going to, trust me, but you have to start acting more like your sister would. This attitude will make people in the Capital One dislike you and we need sponsors, it’ll help us with supplies once in the Games. Smile, be kind, you know like what they usually do?”
His head nodded and I could tell by the look in his eyes that he understood, I stepped back and let him crumple to the ground, “Good night.”
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Arriving at Capital One was what I expected it to be, crowds of people screaming and cheering in their fanciest clothes. Mahk was nervous about stepping off this train and going out to great his new ‘fans.’ As he we out his fingers somehow wove their way around my hand and clutched tightly as he walked through the crowd, I didn’t protest, I tried to think of him as Rai and it wasn’t that hard with the way he looked and his outfit for today. It seems he’d be sticking to frilly outfits in hope of appearing more womanly.
We didn’t get to rest; first we would be registered then interviewed in pairs, as districts went. Mahk and I would be last of course. The registration went fairly quick; a few questions and we got a small pin with our names on it and the symbol of our districts. I watched Mahk play with the small dog shaped pin as we waited for the other tributes to finish their interviews.
“Rai Sinna and Avon Sierra.” A mechanical voice called from the ceiling, Mahk’s fingers tightened around mine,
“It’ll be fine.” I whispered into his ear, I felt him give a small shiver. I lead him up the stairs to the area behind the stage, there were jeers all around, and it was just a huge wall of noise, yet over all that a booming voice rang out, “Please welcome District Fifteen’s tributes! Rai Sinna and Avon Sierra!” I lead Mahk to the stage, he was trembling now, and the crowd broke out into hysterics when he walked out and the host of the show, Rondo waved his hand as a greeting. “Oh my, you two seem close!” He said once we were seated from the corner of my eye I noticed that Mahk’s cheeks had flushed. I took a mental note that seeing him flustered was cute.
“Do you two happen to be, ya’ know?”
Mahk twitched and opened his mouth to protest, but I quickly answered, “We’re just good friends, she’s extremely nervous right now, so I’m holding her hand.” I gave Mahk’s hand a painful squeeze; he slowly sat back down and nodded his head with a smile.
The crowd didn’t seem to believe us and neither did the host who raised his eyebrows and leaned back, “So what does it feel like?! Being tributes?”
“Uhhh-“
“Exhilarating!” Mahk had piped up before I could answer! I shot him a look that he didn’t notice, “It’s been so much fun being here! And the train, oh my god, so much delicious food, I kinda think I gained some weight.” He was doing it again, imitating her voice…And apparently her behavior as well! This shouldn’t have surprised me, they were siblings after all.
I leaned into him, “You look the same to me.” He let our heads touch, they would certainly like this. The more people who liked us the better. Mahk’s flushed an even darker shade of red, I wondered for a moment if I should back away, but he played along, “You would say something like that.”
A familiar pang ran through my chest.
Rai.
He had her face. I grit my teeth together and turned away, back to Rondo who was smirking playfully at the two of us. “You two are quite adorable.”
Mahk giggled beside me and the butterflies started in my stomach.
It was almost exactly like the laugh I had grown to love.
“T-Thank-you, but you know we aren-“
Rondo waved his dark skinned hand to us, “No, no! Don’t be so bashful!”
A buzzer sounded off from above, the crowd ‘Awed’ up at us, “That’s the time sadly.” He shook my hand and reached for Mahk’s, but he kept his hands close to his chest and shook his head apologetically. “I wish you two the best of luck!”
We were now allowed to return to our complexes, we’d only be there for three days though…Then the games would begin and I’d really have to watch over my partner. I swallowed a pool of saliva that had welled up in my mouth. This wouldn’t be easy. I ran over any possible route that I could take for the games that would guarantee safety only there was no way of being sure…The arena’s landscape changed every year.
“You two have separate rooms, get some sleep; the games begin the day after tomorrow.”
A night and two days, so that’s all the time we had to mentally prepare ourselves.
I started to my door, but was soon met with weak resistance; Mahk’s hand had woven itself into the fabric of my shirt and wasn’t planning on release. I shifted my gaze to him and made a guttural response to this action, I wondered momentarily what it was that he wanted then I saw it. He had come forward and wrapped himself around me, “I don’t want to be alone tonight.” He whispered, it was barely audible in this silent complex, “Please, let me stay with you.”
He was probably homesick…
“Alright.”
I wasn’t sure what I was feeling or maybe the more appropriate text would be what I wasn’t feeling, the attendants had left out an outfit for slumber upon the bed, I took the pants and set towards the shower, “You’ll just have to deal with the shirt.”
I wondered only briefly once in the shower if we would actually be sharing the bed, though it was no concern to me…I ran my hands quickly throw my hair and tried as fast as possible to remove all the suds, he needed the shower after me…
With a sigh I stepped out once all rinsed.
“Mahk!” I called, he slowly opened the door and peered through at me, I nodded towards the shower as I straightened the silk pants around my waist; I let my fingers rub a patch of the soft fabric between them, “Open.” I brushed past him; he gave me one last pleading look then stepped in.
I didn’t wait for him; I shut off the light and laid down. I yanked the sheets up over me and listened seemingly without breathing at the pouring water in the bathroom; I couldn’t help, but imagine Rai actually in that with me. But it wasn’t her…it was her brother so those fantasies were nothing to me.
The water stopped, the door soon opened and the bed shifted under his light weight.
I swallowed and turned over to look at him, my eyes long since accustomed to the darkness of this room. He was over my body now, his hands by my hips, I watched as his lip quivered then he spoke, “Y-you like my s-sister right?”
I answered despite this being none of his business, “Yes.” My eyebrows furrowed and my eyes narrowed, I didn’t want to speak with him in this posi-
“I can pretend to be her for you!”
I blinked at his biting tone.
He…he wasn’t suggesting something…like that?
“I know I’m missing a thing or two,” His body crept closer, he straddled my midriff and crouched over so our faces neared one another, “I could give you something she never would…I could give you want you wanted…Before you die, that is.”
He thought we were going to die…
His breath danced over my lips, my eyes traced over his hard features once again. He looked like her…He really did, my hands reached up and ran along his smooth skin and my hands slipped under the small shirt, “Anything I want?”
Mahk faltered here, his bit his lower lip then nodded.
I breathed out a laugh, “You know…Sometimes I thought Rai was watching me, but…that was you wasn’t it?”
Mahk didn’t answer me, his lips met mine after that and silenced every thought I had beforehand, surely this was what it meant to be a good kisser or something along those lines, his lips parted mine gently and he took me in completely. I couldn’t think…
God Mahk.
No.
Rai…this was Rai.
“Rai...” I breathed out the name slowly.
A violent shiver then went through Mahk.
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This story will have to be cut in three parts it seems o-o