☆ CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR !☆
044. what cannot be replaced
|| FLAMES ||
❝oh my love don't
stop burning, gotta
send them up
in flames.❞
➳
THERE WAS A slow, high pitched beep that brought Remy Titan back from his long slumber.
The noise irritated him; it was the kind of noise that he'd heard a thousands times a day when he worked at the power plant, slaving away to the tune of the reactor core cooling in it's metal chamber. Only he couldn't feel the excruciating heat that flew off the reactor in waves, and he didnt have the knowledge in the back of his head that dampened his moral until it was soaking from his place in the hospital bed. He, in fact, had no real knowledge settled in his mind until he opened his eyes. Even then, everything seemed fleeting.
At first glance, Remy though that there was some kind of snake on his arm. He jolted up from the sheets he was tucked under in panic (only partially hinderd by the cuts that screamed for attention) until he realised that it was a plastic tube attatched to him and not some kind of reptile. To his left a screen kep up to date with his fluttering body, and a low dull thudded in the air to enact the same rhythm of his heart. It was perhaps a cruel exercise for the boy who'd slowly recalled his time in the Hunger Games - a nurse would be able to specify the exact moment he'd remembered something particularly traumatic from his week in the arena. If they were especially skilled, they'd catch the exact second he considered his sister.
The bright light utterly frightened him.
Remy had always told Lorna and Lillian that there was a place after death for those that were good enough to get there. It wasn't because he was particularly religious - the mere concept had been long murdered - but it seemed to always make the younger girls feel better. As if to mock him, he felt the sickening dread that settled so formally in his stomach grow with each passing second that he considered he hadn't been lying. But then, if this was the end of his life, why would he still be taped up to a heart monitor?
It was obvious he could've died in the games. In a way he wished he was; he recalled Lorna thrusting a blade deep within her body moments before his eyelids became to heavy to bear, and took a quick glance around the sterile room for his sister. When she was nowhere to be seen, he settled on the fact that most of him wanted to be alive. The selfish part that knew that he would handle it better, because he'd had far more practise than either of his siblings.
The door to the bright room opened without a creek or loud bang to reveal a set of Peacekeepers, and Remy's heart monitor began to jump. He'd gotten his answer despite ever verbally asking - he was still alive, with the President gently sauntering between two of his most trusted men.
The only Titan boy had never seen the President in person, it was important to note. Not even before his games did he get to glance at his white hair, which was just as polished in person. He had no reason to be in the old man's presence; when he thought about it, there was no reason mighty enough besides winning the Hunger Games which called for a personal meeting with the leader of Panem. Everything seemed to look the same as the winner's ceremony on TV (besides the overly large crowd), and the President continued to smile as if he hadn't sent children to their deaths for sport. Remy's heart monitor was consistently high as he finally got a good smell of his surroundings.
It was a crude smell that made Remy curl his nose up in disgust.
"You're awake." The President noted as another man closed the door. Behind the President, was Remy's mentor.
Alec looked solem as he followed after the leader of Panem. The many studs in his eyebrows were taken out, and the tattoos that were always on show had been respectuflly covered up. Most noteworthy, was his inability to look Remy in the eye.
"Lorna." Remy stated immediatly to Alec. He ignored the President in front of the broad man.
Alec looked different, his face was more hollow than he'd ever seen him (not that Remy was particularly familiar with his mentor before the start of the games) and yet, he managed to pick up on Alec's different stance beside the door. It was funny how Remy could distinctly remember the way Alec slouched forward slightly under his own weight last time they met. Now he stood tall, with his shoulders back and his chin up.
"Don't worry Mr. Titan, your sister is with us too." Snow stated as he sat in a plush white chair beside the bed.
Remy released a sigh that made his chest ache.
"That, is my exact problem." Remy was tense once more; staring into the eyes of the leader of everything.
"You were in a similar condition when we brought you back to the Capitol. I'd say it would've taken her another minute to bleed out; you, I'm surpirised you woke up at all. Most people would've already called you dead."
Remy shuffled in the thin duvet so that he had his back against the metal wire of his bedpost. There was something about the man he barely knew that put him on edge, particularly the underlining threat, which hadn't gone unnoticed.
"But I'm not." Remy replied with a tight lipped smile.
"No." The president agreed. "You're not."
"But, there can only be one winner Mr. Titan. You must understand that. To suggest you both win would throw the whole Games into uproar; next year, whose to say three of you wouldn"t try your luck?"
Remy nodded, barely following the President's trail of thought between the bushes of cloudy memories.
"Unfortunately for you, the Capitol have taken a liking to your sister. She's just the more exciting Victor: most kills in the Hunger Game's history; beautiful and most of all; she's the one who killed the District One boy. The Capitol is screaming out for Lorna Titan to be crowned- that requires your death."
Alec didn't have the time to formulate his suprise. Remy did; he glanced at the man so many times that he was sure he would get whiplash from the speed at which he begged his mentor for salvation. And yet, he stood like a robot without a care in the world.
"So. . . you're going to kill me?" Remy asked, barely able to contain the shiver than ran through his limbs. Beside him, his monitor began to rise.
He was unable to snatch his composure back from the grasps of his panic; he tried his hardest to look unshakable as the pair closed the space between him further. Snow, in his powerful position, simply chuckled at the boy's question.
"No. I want you to help me."
There was a distinct taste of bile in the back of Remy's throat. It didn't seem to matter as the President pulled out a remote from the inner pocket of his blazer and turned it on. It was silver and white, with ten buttons on the top side of the object which were all unlabelled. The man pointed it at Alec and pressed the third button down from the top; Alec's shoulders seemed to rise, before he advanced further towards the hospital bed. Remy's mentor wasted no time in grabbing him by the neck and gently applying pressure. There was nothing the 18 year old could do except grab at his fingers as Snow stood with the remote raised, his hand on another button.
"You can agree to aid me Mr. Titan, or Alec can kill you on this very bed."
Snow pressed the remote again, and Alec stood back again. He looked as still as before his unexplainable attack, while Remy was left heaving right before the President's hands.
"I nearly lost all my Victors this year; did you really expect me to present Panem with two? No. There is only ever one winner. Alec gets it, you see. He was so very sorry for his mentee's action; the young man even went as far as offering his body up to my scientists as repayment."
Snow gestured to Alec, still unmoving.
"Doesn't he look better now? With no emotions getting in the way- no heart? We replaced it all with wires and coding before stitching it up so tightly, nobody could take it out with him alive.
He isn't gone, per say. When I need his services - like now for example - Alec just gets to take his hands off the wheel for a little bit. In a few years, maybe he'll be a full time hit man, but I wouldn't want to overwork the system just yet. I want you to do the same Mr. Titan, or your blood will be the first he'll have to clean up."
What else was the boy to do?
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