Aquarius’s eyes fluttered open what felt like moments later. Not much had changed since his arrival outside the college, save for the dip of the sun casting the first signs of dusk over the silent campus that seemed to buzz with life only mere hours ago, be it the remaining tributes or the student body hustling to their first day of classes.
A little too silent.
He scanned the immediate area and then got to his feet; stretching and massaging his side where the mutts baseball bat recently struck and rotating his arm to alleviate the soreness. His impromptu “ally” followed suit in a similar silence. How ironic he had spent his time in the Arena among something that could have possibly been engineered by his parents given their history with the Capitol, that very relationship having impaired his own with them when he stumbled across the evidence of their handiwork a few years ago. It was that very truth that caused a storm to brew in the Justice Building which spilt into the Capitol during his private training session when their true colors were revealed. It didn’t deter him then and it sure as hell didn’t phase him now.
So, why did he find himself overwhelmed with a sense of apprehension?
Perhaps it was the eerie stillness of the grounds that evoked the feeling of trepidation. He couldn’t put his finger on it. Aquarius had danced with Fate on countless occasions back home, but given the unpredictability of both the Arena and his remaining peers, he wasn’t going to push his luck. Or, the door to the college, so it seemed. He tugged and pulled at the handle but to no avail.
“Is it locked?” Sherry piped up.
“Apparently.” Aquarius went to dig the remaining key out of his pocket when a sharp crack burst overhead, immediately drawing his attention upward. It was distinctive, certainly not a cannon.
Fireworks?
The loud noise and light show unnerved Aquarius, not because he was unused to such over-the-top stimulus, but because it seemed all too inviting, too out of place.
“Yeah, no.” He said aloud, abandoning the door and beginning back down the path towards the courtyard.
“Ooo, pretty!” Sherry cheered, her attention straying from the sky as Aquarius moved past her, “‘Rus! Wait! I wanna’ stay and watch!”
Aquarius paid her no mind as he began distancing himself from the college, more so when the cacophony of snaps, crackles and pops mixed with laughter that rose out of nowhere. It wasn’t before long that he found its source, rather, the source found him: a stream of students charging up the path towards the college. Aquarius tensed and did his best to avoid colliding with the enthusiastic youths-
“Oh, shit-” Aquarius barely had time to react before two distinctively scarred faces appeared in front of him, each of the mutts donning baseball uniforms hooking an arm under his armpits and dragging him back up the path.
He struggled against their hold, which only loosened once they were back in front of the college, the duo nearly throwing him to the ground as a very different scene lay before the boy. Crowds of students filled the area and continued to pour in as the distinctive voice of Game Maker Agatha boomed over their banter. This must have been what the announcement this morning was alluding to. A Game Makers party could only mean one thing. His suspicions were confirmed when the crowds began to filter out of the immediate area, leaving him standing only a few paces away from none other than his own District partner, who stood huddled to herself.
Aquarius exhaled silently through his nose knowing all too well what was expected of him...
Aisha was calm. She drifted into a sleep as Acaria soothed her paranoia by telling her a story about her mother. The visions of the woman she never fully knew felt real. That is, until the sounds of explosions and shouting spurred her awake. No, not explosions. A.J. remembers the familiar popping and shattering - fireworks. She and Acaria rose to their feet and left the creepy room. They walked through the hallway cautious of the over-excited students and when they stepped outside the high school, the exuberance only escalated. Suddenly, pairs of hands seized A.J.’s shoulders followed by giggling.
The girl struggled at first but soon realized there was no point. Acaria had vanished and the girls continued laughing, rambling on about the college and guiding through the crowd. When they finally settled, A.J. was unsure what to think. Her heart leaped. Aquarius stood a few feet away, obviously wrecked by the arena, but alive. It never occurred to her his welfare. The college students surrounded them, ecstatic and amused either off their booze or the situation. A voice cut through the noise of the party, causing A.J.’s blood to run to cold. Acaria appeared beside her instantly, visibly annoyed.
“…Bitch.” The girl mumbled as she crossed her arms. The gamemaker began to explain heir predicament as the crowd parting, revealing the final tributes. Were there really that few? Suddenly A.J. was feeling small.
“Underdog. Underdog. Underdog. Underdog. Under God?” She heard.
“No,” Acaria said. “Don’t go there. Not right now, of all times.”
“She never said it. But it what she wants. A fight. With him?” She was unaware Aquarius was pacing, a conflicted but seemingly decided expression replacing his usually steely composure.
“A.J.,” Acaria began, but she was cut off by a finger pressing on her lips. The unnamed girl. Acaria dragged the palms of her hands down her cheeks in frustration.
“What is with you?” The unnamed girl snapped, her eyes cold. “I thought I made this clear to you earlier. Do everything necessary to live. Stop being such a baby.”
“This isn’t like. Swimming and we.”
“We what?”
“Nothing, it’s - I just - He’s from- I”
“Spit it out already!” She screamed. A.J. recoiled, fear evident in her expression.
“Why are you so mean…” A.J. cried, unable to hold back the hot tears that fell down her cheeks.
“Because you’re stupid. He’s going to kill you if you don’t do this. And you’re so obsessed with not doing anything wrong - It’s pathetic. Wake the fuck up. This is what you get. Take it or fucking die.”
“You’re being too hard on her.” Acaria said. A.J. breathed heavily, keeping her gaze locked on the two girls.
“No! Stop!” She said harshly. “I’m tired. You telling me what to do all the time! You’re the voice. The fucked up one. The whispers! I hate it. This is the line! I’m not crossing it!”
The unnamed girl’s eyes lit up, aggravation exploding inside her as she lunged for A.J, screaming.
“Justice, no!” Acaria quickly grabbed the arm of the fuming girl who simply stared at A.J. intensely.
‘Wait what -” A.J. said, her eyes wide. “What did you say?” Acaria look at her, mouth open but she was stuck. The unnamed girl’s head tilted to the side and her anger vanished into a smug smile.
The name rang in her ears over and over again. A dimmed room, a younger A.J. distraught over something she couldn’t remember, men and women in uniforms, loss, loss, the phrase “Justice is on the move.” Always when she was around, always when she was moving. It clicked. A hard slap to her face broke her focus, stinging in waves. She touched the spot.
The girl, now free from Acaria, stood in front of her. “You’re not remembering anymore until you’re out of this place.”
“I was ‘Justice…’ ” A.J. responded. Her chest grew hot. “Why? Who called me that? Why did they call me that. Secrecy? But why?… “ Her face fell. "Did you just… hit me?”
Justice grinned slowly and ran a hand through her black hair. She wasn’t going to surrender any information. “And why are you Justice?”
“… None of that matters unless you live.” Acaria said.
“And right now - that’s not happening.” The now named girl added.
“A.J.?” a deeper voice asked. A.J. blinked and realized Aquarius was talking to her.
In part he was surprised she had made it this far, having assumed her own inner turmoil would have led her down a more hazardous path, if their time training together was anything to go by. Unless her withdrawals were working in her favor rather than against, Aquarius recalling her initial comments on the train about the unpredictability of her mind and how, in her words, sobriety made her, “obsessive, highly emotional, and unstable.” In short, volatile.
He came to regard her with an air of caution as much as a sense of ease given their common origins and rapport they developed. However, Aquarius knew there was a possibility of facing off against her in the Arena and he didn’t expect her to put up anything short of a fight to ensure that she, not him, came one step closer to returning to District Four. The stains on her clothes attested to her determination, though, her injuries seemed to pale in comparison to his.
On the surface, at least.
“Shit.” She said. Acaria and the now named girl were gone. “Shit! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.”
“You okay?” The boy asked.
“… I- No!” She started. Her face was burning now. “It shouldn’t be us. I didn’t want it to be.”
“Yeah…” Aquarius agreed, a reluctant expression of his face. He was obviously frustrated. The gamemakers were cruel placing him against his district partner. But when it came down to it, he would do whatever he needed to make it out alive. He thought, possibly, he could make it quick. He would just wait for the girl to preoccupy herself in her stress.
A.J. shook her head, looking around the crowd of college students. None of them seemed concerned. Guilty. Nothing beyond happiness towards their “party”.
Even in her trance A.J. still longed for the truth, longed for home and longed for those who cared about her. Acaria. Nile. She wasn’t a burden to him. She loved her brother, the chord that she held dear, just as much as she loved the sea, the water.
But, she wasn’t the only one longing to return to the ocean.
“This isn’t real. It’s not real.” She murmured, her grip tightening along her spear.
She dismissed the thought, finding Aquarius still before her, still scarred, still unmoved. Something about the look in his face bore resemblance to Calliope. Was he not afraid? He was armed, the bat in his hand dragging against the ground as his feet began to move slowly beneath him, setting him in a circular motion around his District partner.
No, he wasn’t afraid. His silence attested to that, the steely gaze in his eyes. The boy’s limits had been tried and tested well before he stepped foot into the Arena, and he had passed thus far, but was far from being full of himself. The same could be said of his District partner.
Whether her brief distraction was a feint or not, Aquarius wasn’t going to chance losing the attack of opportunity against her. He pushed off the flat of his foot, drew back his arm and swung. The bat cut through the air and struck A.J. in her left shoulder, the force nearly throwing her off balance but nonetheless snapping her back to reality, leaving the nerves in her arm stunned. With a muffled shout she let her rapier fall from grasp and lunged forward with her spear, the tip nearly skewering Aquarius as he bounced back and swung again. This time, A.J was ready for him, bringing up her spear to deflect the strike and snapping the pole of the weapon downward without fault. The blade sliced through Aquarius’s shirt, leaving a line of red under his ribs.
Aquarius wasn’t like Elijah. He didn’t plea, he didn’t cry, nor did he run. Instead, he pressed forward. He grit his teeth feeling metal press into his flesh, and before A.J could withdraw the weapon back, his hand lashed out and wrapped itself around pole, just below the blade. A.J was stronger than she looked, but his own might surpassed her. He jerked his elbow back, pulling A.J forward to collide with a kick to the stomach. The girl gasped feeling the air leave her lungs as she doubled over, more so when the bat made contact with her chest.
The wood made contact with the girl, causing her to fall over as the crowd of party goers cheered and catcalled.
A.J.’s world spun. The impact brought disorienting pain in her chest, but she stumbled to her feet, gripping on the spear in preparation. She knew the boy could be relentless when it counted. She remembered how willing he was during their training session. When she got to her feet, Aquarius was already taking another swing at her. She held her spear at a diagonal in defense, squeezing her eyes shut just as the sound of metal striking metal cracked between them. She recoiled, giving herself space before ripping the air in front of her in attempt to catch Aquarius in his wounded leg.
The boy doubled back in time and as A.J. recovered from the inertia of her missed attack, he moved forward. His bat swung once again but A.J. as prepared. The feeling, shock and power necessary to withstand him was known to her. Now she had to put in a little more to make it offensive. A.J. held her spear in the opposite direction, using the thickest part of metal as her protector, as Aquarius, energy surging through him, swung his bat again. The two met with a sharp crack. Aquarius stumbled on his bad leg Shit, he thought. He ran through his options once more and made a decision.
Suddenly, the boy from four moved forward and slammed his fist into her cheek, causing her to become disoriented. Immediately after, he grabbed the spear and violently yanked it from her grasp.
A.J.’s head snapped backwards from the impact, her jaw tingling from the assault. She back pedal with the force of the blow to prevent herself from falling as she regained her senses.
Just in time to see the spear coming straight for her heart.
Disoriented A.J. stumbled forward slightly which, proved to be a fortunate loss of balance as her hand grasped onto the first thing she could reach: Aquarius’s tie and bat.
Snatching the bat, she reeled him forward like a fish hooked on a line and brought the bat down on his shoulder, the strike reverberating through his body. Aquarius’s hiss of pain was cut short by a cough for air as he fought to remain on his feet as the now noose around his neck tightened. He jabbed his unarmed fist forward, busting A.J’s lip open and yet, her hold on him did not falter. If anything it strengthened, her knuckles visible as a relentless flurry of strikes bore down on Aquarius. She screamed and shouted, the bat cracking against Aquarius’s hip just after his hand wrapped around hers to afford him some semblance of control in their movement. After that moment, the two jumped back, putting some space between them.
A.J. panted. Aquarius walked backwards, keeping his eyes on the girl as he searched his surroundings. Something had to be useful. Something.
“He’s just buying himself time to think,” Justice said, fading in next to A.J. Her heart was racing. “Don’t give him any time. Go.”
Why did it have to be him, A.J. asked herself. Why did I have to be so weak? Twice already, I shouldn’t care anymore! She was angry with herself, angry that she was still afraid. Afraid of what? She knew what she wanted.
The girl began her stalk on Aquarius who was guarding himself by standing on the opposite side of a table. Bottles upon bottles of sodas, beers, and alcohols sat on its surface. She crossed to his side, not expecting him to bring a bottle crashing down on her head. The swift movement startled her and she found herself dodging. He still made impact, hitting the girl square on her shoulder. The bottle shattered sending alcohol, glass and something much more warm and much more thick, pouring down A.J’s left arm. She swallowed the pain, picked up a bottle from the table and threw it at Aquarius’ face.
With the boy reacting to her display, she grabbed another bottle and lunged on him, shoving her knee hard up between his legs as she smashed the bottle onto face with the most strength she could manage. Aquarius screamed, dropping his switchblade and buckling to the ground as A.J. tackled him. The bottle shattered, cutting up his burned and bruised face as the alcohol poured all over his face. His eyes burned, along with his nostrils and the burned flesh on the side of his face.
Taking advantage of his temporary stun A.J pushed Aquarius onto his back and threw the knife in his hand from grasp, fumbling around him to snatch up the spear, her spear, the weapon resting comfortably in her hands. Whirling around to bear down on Aquarius, she froze, the sight of his face once again triggering memories-
“Yea, you did that. Stop stalling. You need to survive, remember?” the unnamed girl’s voice sang in her head.
Fortunately for Aquarius the girls pause gave him enough time to regain his senses, his vision returning him just in time to see A.J hovering over him. Before he could roll away, A.J snapped back to attention. The boys hands wrapped around the poll as A.J pressed down with all her might, the intended fatality now becoming a battle of contested strength. Aquarius’s muscles flared and arms shook as he held the tip at bay, until his hands, slick with sweat and blood began to fail him. The spear slid down and he rolled his head to the side, but not in time to avoid the blade entirely. It glided against his burnt cheek, over his ear…
…And then, right through it.
The boy’s scream startled A.J, the noise echoing in her mind as countless voices encouraged her to press on, just a little further, but it was too late. Aquarius was already in motion, withdrawing his switchblade and rolling his body to the side, his arm soaring in an arch and bringing the knife down on A.J’s foot, the blade piercing through the oxford and flesh.
The girl shrieked and hobbled backwards, her shoe beginning to dampen with blood. Aquarius got to his feet, a familiar intensity beginning to course through his veins over the throb of physical pain. However, he knew raw adrenaline alone wouldn’t be enough, his body bearing more of a toll today than yesterday.
Suddenly he found himself thankful for stumbling upon Breanda Song.
He quickly chugged the contents of the vial and threw it to the ground, then scooped up his fallen bat. Within seconds he felt wired, alert, but was not about to take the boost for granted. Surely he would have to pay for working on his injuries later, but with the threat of A.J. recuperating faster than he anticipated, he was willing to take a twirl with Fate.
Especially after the fall he took reminded him of a pack content he had neglected up until this point, it having been embedded into the small of his back during A.J’s assault with the spear.
Panicked, A.J flinched when her back pressed against a solid surface, a long wooden table piled with food and drink. In the blink of an eye she was once again standing in the cafeteria, Elijah beside her. Calliope’s mangled body on the floor. The screams and shouts of children just before the comical food fight. The slight smile and innocent laughter she shared with the boy from Three flooding her memory only to fade into pleading eyes and desperate sobs as she stood over his body in the parking lot. She wanted to scream, would they ever stop? Would the memories ever fade? Would she ever be able to see clearly again?
Not if Aquarius had it his way.
“Aisha!”
Her heart jolted hearing her full name. That was Aquarius’s voice. The girl whipped her head around-
FLASH!
A.J’s eyes clenched shut as a burst of light erupted before her, the flash of a polaroid camera held outstretched in Aquarius’s hand going off in repetition. A.J pushed back against the table, her spear soaring through the air in an attempt to strike Aquarius, but to no avail. Her vision was spotty, her balance and perception was off, and each time she thought she was regaining sight, the flash went off again, adding to her hysterical state As she knocked into the table her hand grasped at anything she could-
“There’s plenty around.” She heard Calliope’s voice, causing her to whimper.
“Fight, girl!”
“Don’t you want to remember?”
“I push, you throw.” Elijah suggested.
“SHUT UP!!!”
The scream finally burst from A.J, her hand grabbing the neck of a bottle of alcohol and hurling it at Aquarius, the glassware striking him but not causing him to slow. He had both the elixir and his own will to thank for that, his own soundness of mind guiding him as much as the boot coursing through his veins was.
And, the vow to ensure his survival, by any means necessary.
He snapped the camera off one last time to disrupt A.J’s line of sight, and then, with both hands now around the base of the bat, swung with his full might, cracking A.J. across the side of the face with such force it finally sent her off balance and slumped onto the table, blood bursting from her mouth like water from a geyser.
He didn’t pause, and rather, brought the bat down again - before A.J could regain her senses, the volume in her head rising and falling in sequence, her vision darkening - right onto the back of her skull, once, twice, three times, provoking a sickening crack that began to rob her of her consciousness. A.J’s legs crumbled beneath her, sending her sprawling to the ground, her eyes beginning to gloss over and blood pouring from her mouth and a slight pool collecting behind her head. Aquarius knew that wasn’t going to be enough, her cannon had yet to fire, nor was he about to let up now.
But, that didn’t mean he had to make A.J suffer more than she already has.
Without a second thought Aquarius withdrew one of his throwing knives and plunged it into the girl’s heart, twisting the blade for both reassurance and to hasten her death. A.J’s last breath was barely audible as she stared up at the girls who had found her when she longed for a friend most, and the twilight sky overhead that no longer caused her distress, fear - only a sense of peace as at long last her mind fell to ease…
Her cannon firing overhead signaling her eternal silence.
Aquarius’s body was still buzzing with energy as he withdrew his weapon and rose to his feet, the sound of the partying students now enveloping him as his tunnel vision on A.J widened in scope. He grit his teeth as he circled the area retrieving anything he had dropped during the fight, A.J’s spear being the newest addition to his inventory, and perhaps his most comforting. It didn’t bring him back to the training center, to the stationary targets and holographic images. No.
Aquarius folded his legs beneath him and sat hunched over on the ground, the spear resting flat across his lap as he dug out his first aid kit to begin attending to his injuries, beginning with his wounded face.
The tool brought him back to Four, to the beach and rocky shorelines where he stumbled and cursed under his breath at his inability to skewer a fish, hearing his friends poke fun at him for being a “lousy shot” when he came back inland empty handed. It was a means of survival, just as much as it was in the Arena. At this point it didn’t matter if it was a fish or a person; partner, friend acquaintance or otherwise who it was used upon.
What mattered was that it brought the boy one step closer to returning home.