84 Afterlife!AU, Part 6

Raoul Keaton of District 10 knew where he was. 
He had lost the fight. He had lost his chance at getting back home to his District, his friends and family, his fiddle... He's lost it all. Not that he really had too much to get back to. His distant parents, no brother... He really wished he could have gotten back, to talk to Vera and maybe someday tell her how he felt about her for so long... That was all a distant hope now. There was no going back. If he wanted to see any of his friends or loved ones again, he'd have to wait. Hopefully it would be a long wait, he would hate for his friends to come to him too early. 
He knows that his friends and family are thinking about him, and the thought is just as sad as it is comforting. He knows they must be hurting. He'd certainly hurt if he'd lost a loved one. Hell, he had, the second Reuben walked out that door. It was a hard adjustment to make, that was for sure. Losing someone you loved to leaaving was hard enough, let alone to death. There was no hope of reconicliation, no chance that he'd ever come back. 
He didn't feel much like crying. He felt kind of numb, not really like doing anything. It was a calm kind of numbness, not a panicky sort, which was at least a relief. 
Raoul knew what he really wanted. He wanted to play music. 
It didn't take long for the girl from Eleven to appear in the room, and Raoul quickly left. He didn't want to look at her or risk talking to her right now. He got up and briefly stretched out his wings before leaving the temple. 
The outside was warm and soft, up high in the clouds. It really was beautiful. 
"Raoul!" Edgard slipped out from under Callum's arm and ran to meet him, giving him a big hug, that was quickly returned. 
"Hey Edgard," Raoul said quietly. He really was just happy to see the Eleven boy, who had become a good friend as well as an ally. 
"You fought really well," the boy from Eleven says quietly. 
"It doesn't feel like it." 
"That's normal. You'll see in time, though. There's nothing else you could have done." 
Raoul didn't believe it, but seeing someone familiar and warm calmed him. 
"You placed well, you did your District proud." 
"Thank you." 
The friends stayed in the embrace for a while before Raoul gave him a pat on the shoulder and they separated. 
"Angels play harps, right?" Raoul asked. 
"Eh, that's just the stereotype. C'mon, I'll show you around and we can get your hands on a fiddle." 
Raoul grinned. "Sure. Sounds great." 
~.~. 
Martina was beside herself. 
The thoughts of her family and friends just depressed her. They felt warm and cozy, but it wasn't really her home. It wasn't the same as having them there, in the flesh. She wanted to be home. She had gone through so much shit and just like that she's lost. 
She had so much depending on her, and she let them all down. She couldn't believe she'd done this. How could she? They were all thinking of her. Her father, mother, Tristan, Mariah, Leah, Trey, Marlene... Jackson. Oh, Jackson. She was all he had and now she was gone... She suddenly was worried about him. Was he going to be okay? Would her family take him in? Surely they would. They loved him, they wouldn't let him destroy himself... And without Martina, he certainly would destroy himself. 
Tears streamed down her cheeks, pouring out of her eyes. She couldn't help it. She felt so homesick and sad, disappointed, even angry because she had lost it. Now was not the time to dwell on the past. She couldn't do anything to change it, after all. 
She stayed there for a while, soft wings wrapped around herself, sobbing quietly, hurting. Soon, the sadness started to fade, replaced by that warm calmness that everyone is going to be alright. They would keep going without her. 
She stood up, finally, drying her cheeks and wiping her eyes. 
She couldn't do anything to change the fact that she died. She would just have to find a good way to spend the time until her loved ones joined her. And for that, she was ready to wait. 
~.~. 
District 9's Kade Fields wasn't alone.
Rachel sat with him in the temple, holding his hands. His eyes were slightly glassy, but he knew that he was in a better place. The only person he had down there was Sophia. Leaving her alone hurt Kade, sure. He could feel her thinking about him, and that made him upset. She was probably hurting so much. He fought so hard to make it back to her, and he had made it to third place. God, he was so close to winning...
But there was nothing he could do to change it now. 
He stayed in Rachel's arms, hugging her tightly. They hadn't known each other for too long, but she had become a close friend anyways. They just clicked, and he was glad that she was his ally. 
"You didn't have to sacrifice yourself for me," he said quietly. All of the images of seeing her silhouette in the Arena came back. 
But this Rachel was different. She was soft, warm, she was real. She was the real Rachel, not whatever fake version of her was projected in the Arena. 
"I wanted to. I never intended on leaving the Arena alive. I gave my chance for someone who deserved it. And you really made me proud. You made her proud, too. Sophia. And your home. Third place is amazing." 
"But it's not first."
"Someone had to get third. It sucks, but you fought hard and did your best."
Kade just sighed quietly as Rachel let him go with a pat on the shoulder. 
His sadness didn't last long, though, as soon he saw two little girls running towards him. 
His sisters. 
Gabby reached him first, jumping into his arms and hugging him tightly. Lydia arrived soon after, joining the hug. It was a tight, warm hug, and Kade never wanted to let go. 
"God, I missed you," he said quietly, tears pooling in his eyes. 
"You did well out there," Lydia said. 
Gabby nodded. "We're so proud of you." 
Kade managed a small smile. "Thanks. I really just did my best." 
The siblings didn't talk after that. They just stayed in the tight, warm hug, and Kade felt like he was home. 
It wasn't totally complete, though. Kade let out a small sob when he heard his mother's voice say his name. 
His sisters let go so that he could run over to his mother, hugging her tightly. 
"You did so well down there," she said, sniffling and wiping her eyes. 
"Don't cry," Kade said quietly, biting his lip. 
"They're proud tears," she said. "You did everything you could." 
"I tried. I wanted to make you proud." He stayed in his mother's arms for a long time before both of his sisters joined the hug again. 
They were complete. They were whole. They were a family. 
They were together. 

84 Afterlife! AU, Part 1

Seven tributes woke up in a room. They didn't know where they were or what had happened. 
The first to wake up and notice her surroundings was District 8's Felicity Johnson. The girl sat up and stretched, looking around. The first thing she realized was the lack of weight on her front. When she looked down, she was just as thin and beautiful as she remembered being before. She rubbed her head and suddenly the memory came back. She was... Dead. She blinked at the others and stood up slowly, not realizing the wings on her back until she stood. She had slight trouble balancing, but once she did she felt light as a feather. She felt radiant and beautiful. Though she missed her family, and her boyfriend, she didn't have any worries now. She saw a little wisp of a child that whisked past her just then, eyes that were blue like her father's shining, hair long and wavy like her mother's. Felicity followed the child, not sure where she was going, but ready to find out. When she looked up, there she saw her father, a young man that resembled her even more than she remembered. 
"You're back so soon," he said quietly as he took her into a hug. Felicity hugged back, suddenly feeling quite emotional. 
"I tried," she said quietly. "For Mom. For John. For that thing I was carrying."
"I know you did, Sweetheart." 
"Will they be alright?" 
"Of course they will. If you close your eyes and concentrate, you can feel every time someone down there is thinking of you. I bet there are lots of people right now..." 
Felicity closed her eyes, and the thoughts of her friends and family, of people she didn't even know, filled her. 
Felicity grinned a little bit through her tears. She had so much attention on her, and that was how she liked it.  
.
Not too much later after, Felicity and her little girl had left, District 3's Ductor Romilly woke up. He knew exactly where he was, he knew he was dead. Something in him knew it. His mother... His sister... His nephew... His friends... And, of course, Cyra and Hamilton... He had left them all behind. He sat up, the wings on his back throwing him off balance, and looked around, waiting to see which other tributes joined him in the unfamiliar room. The place may have been unfamiliar, but it felt like home already. Even though his heart was broken at the loss of his friends and family, he felt an odd sense of peace here. He stretched out the wings on his back, startled at the action but not afraid. He was relieved to find that neither of his allies appeared here yet. He was at peace with the fact that he had taken the spear for them. Sure, he had a lot to return to, but it was hard for him to find hope in the first place. Hamilton could set some things right as a Victor. If Cyra won, she would feed his family. He knew that Volt and his family would get on without him... That didn't take away the hurt. Ductor's breath started to shake, and he let out a small, soft cry.
He could hear it. 
He could hear himself again. When he stood up, he could hear his feet finding the ground. When he hummed his vocal chords, he knew what it sounded like... He could hear here. His eyes filled with tears, and this time they weren't entirely sad. He missed his loved ones, true, but he knew that he would rather wait for them here than see them right away. They would reuinte someday. And while being apart from them was tough, Ductor didn't have any major issues with his fate. Maybe he could've changed it. Maybe they could've run away from the Bloodbath. Didn't change the fact that he was a mostly deaf 15-year-old from District 3. DIdn't change the fact that he saw his allies as friends. Ductor didn't regret dying for them. Maybe he should've, but he didn't. It was just who he was and how he felt. 
When he heard the next tribute's groans, he looked over, a strange combination of miserable and giddy. 
.  
When District 12's Wren Ponderosa woke up, she noticed Ductor from 3 staring at her.  She rubbed at her eyes. She wasn't in that dark, scary place anymore. Instead, this place was bright and inviting, peaceful and warm. Wren knew what that meant. When she closed her eyes, she could feel the thoughts of her siblings, parents, of Tansy and Emberly, all of them thinking about her. Probably mourning... Wren's eyes filled with tears. She hadn't made it to them. She had failed. She thought that she had found the best ally, and yet she had ultimately lost her fight. She hoped Serafina Anya was alright. Wren squeaked a little and small sob escaped her. Ductor glanced over, not sure what to do. Wren just wiped at her eyes. She felt at peace, but she felt guilty for being alright. It hurt to be away from them, and Wren knew that she would constantly be missed. That didn't matter though. She couldn't exactly do anything to get back there now. She bit her lip to keep in cries thinking about Robyn and Jay, Tansy and Emberly, Ma and Pa... What were they going to do? Wren knew that they would keep on living, keep going without her, but she knew that they would never be the same. Tansy still had one more reaping to live through, Emberly two, Robyn four. What were they going to do? They would be paralyzed with fear. The reality of what the Games were had become so much more real. Every day it was going to affect them. Wren cried quietly, not looking up until Ductor lightly put a hand on her back. 
"It's hard." 
Wren couldn't make herself speak and just provided a whimper and a nod.
Ductor glanced up just then and bit his lip. What Wren didn't know at the time was that it was about to get even harder. 
. 
District 4's Serafina Anya Lecter was just confused. She wasn't in the Arena anymore, but... Where was she? She noticed Wren and Ductor and the realization hit her. 
She really was dead. 
Serafina Anya suddenly wished that she had taken the hhumiliation of not volunteering. At least that way she would be alive. She had regretted volunteering as soon as she'd done it, but now she realized that it was the dumbest thing she'd ever done in all her life. And now, she had caused her friends and family so much pain. Vandala and Ohen were probably lost right now. Her whole family would be in mourning. Every day they would have to get up without her and know that she was gone. Serafina Anya felt horrible. 
Vandala and Ohen had a weird relationship. It was because she was 20 and he was 14. Vandala and Serafina were close in age and did girly things together like talk about boys and paint each other's nails and do each other's hair.  Serafina was closer to Ohen in age than the rest of the family, and they two of them played sports together and teased each other and pulled pranks and told jokes. Ohen and Vandala never really interacted without Serafina Anya around. Now they would have to do it all the time. Now the Lecter house would always have a ghost in it. And her friends. Camilla probably shut herself off to everyone... Lowel's laidback, easy personality would be gone. And Sessa probably had no idea where to go because neither of them would want to see her in a time when they were so vulnerable like this. Serafina Anya thought about this and knew that she was the cause. If she had only decided to stay quiet and face the chastisement and humiliation before it came to this. She could have dealt with the family name being scorned, if it meant she still had her family and they still had her. It was far too late for that now. She had failed to get back to them. She was up here and they were down there and it would be years and years before they were able to talk again. Serafina Anya sobbed quietly into her knees. She only looked up when she felt warmth of soft, feathery wings around her and looked up through tears to see her ally. 
"Wren..." she choked out quietly. 
"Sh..." 
"I'm so sorry!" Serafina tackle-hugged her ally and friend, sobbing. "I'm sorry this happened... It's all my fault... Everything is my fault... If only I'd just been smarter... If only I had made a better strategy..." 
"I don't blame you," Wren said quietly, her voice still teary. "I really don't."
"I'm sorry..." Serafina Anya said, quieting down slightly. She really was. She had never meant for any of this to happen.
"Both of our District partners are still alive," Wren said. "There's still hope that things could end up well after all." She was reaching pretty far but Serafina Anya appreciated the positivity. 
"Sure," she said. 
"Why don't we go out and explore a little bit? Maybe we can get our minds off of it for a while. I know they'll all find out how to keep going." 
"Yeah... They'll keep going." 
"Let's not worry then. Even if it's only for a little bit." Serafina Anya gratefully took Wren's hand and went with her into the great beyond. 
. 
District 6's Billie West woke up with a start. 
She was alone in the room, as far as she could see. She stretched out and looked around the new space. 
"What the hell?" she muttered to herself, before she froze. 
She... She heard her voice. With both ears she heard it, clearly. She put her hands over her ears, jumping when the action made a noise on both sides. She had once been able to hear out of one ear, but had lost that. And now she had it back. 
Her initial, split-second thought, however, was not I can hear, it's a miracle! Her true first thought was, Oh God, do I really sound like that?! 
She looked around her surroundings warily and had a feeling that she wasn't anywhere near where she had just been. Her heart felt peaceful, her body warm, but not too warm. She felt sad, but a peaceful kind of sad. If that was even possible. Billie had never felt peacefully. She was always passionate with her emotions, and when she felt something she truly felt it. When she was mad, she screamed. When she was sad she howled. Those rare times when she was happy, with her sister Mirabel or her best friend Lucie, she laughed. Now, she felt quietly. She was sad that she left her sister and friends and family, but at the same time... She had hope. She knew that she wasn't going to be like this forever. It would get easier. She had never had this feeling before. 
Billie got to her feet, feeling light as a feather. She didn't know how to use the wings on her back, but she had a feeling if she found someone they could teach her. But first, she would have to get used to hearing, to making sense of words people said, just like she had as a child. She knew it was possible to do. 
She would learn to be happy here, until the day she'd reunite with her friends and sister. She hoped that day was far out, though. She knew she could wait. 
She walked out of the room and into the great brightness, knowing that even she was upset now, it wouldn't last forever.  
~.~.
District 8's Nautica Martinez knew where he was as soon as he woke up.  
Well, he knew he was dead. He'd just expected to go to hell. Not this place. Wherever it was. 
Dying had been painful. And even more painful was the knowledge of his own failure. He didn't take that lightly. Not to mention he left his mother on her own (well, not totally on her own, she still has that damn tailor and any breathing man that will look her way to console her), and though he couldn't help but be mad at her for her overprotective nature, and the fact that she gave up on his father so quickly, she did still care about him, and she probably was in pain. Nautica wasn't sure what his father was doing, but he did know that his Dad was thinking of him. It was fucking weird, this feeling. It was something he couldn't put a name to. Probably because it wasn't ever felt in life, only here. He just knew they were thinking of him. It came with a feeling of warmth all over his body, and an unmistakable feeling of peace. Sure, it sucked that he was here. He was still pretty ready to fucking punch Rachel Turner in her fucking face. But at the same time, he knew that he couldn't change fate, and that his family was strong enough to go on without him, and Ralph... Would find a way. Nautica could only hope his friend didn't go around picking fights with innocent people, even though part of him knew that Ralph would cope that way. Nautica wouldn't be there to stop him. 
Nautica got to his feet and rubbed his eyes. It was a new beginning for him. He already felt changed, and knew that he would only change more as time went by. Whatever happened to his mother and father would happen. It wasn't his job anymore. He was about to leave the room when he heard a groan and whirled around to see the girl he'd killed opening her eyes for the first time in the Great Beyond.
~.~.
The only thing Rachel regretted was leaving Kade. 
She was going to die, she already knew she was. It was either die quick and save at least one life in the process, or die slowly on the streets. It really wasn't a hard choice for her. She never intended to win. Instead, she took the place of another girl, close to her age, who was probably innocent and hadn't done anything wrong, nothing to deserve the fate she had almost been given. Rachel couldn't just sit still and watch it happened. Death was always far too real for Rachel, and yet the girl never feared it. 
Rachel had intended, though, to stay alive a little longer to be there for her ally. That plan was ceased quickly. It was the single regret she had. Her brother may have been thinking of her, but that feeling was slightly repulsive to her. He never cared about her. He shouldn't start now. He was the one that left her to die like this, after all. 
He should be damn sorry, Rachel thought. Well, it's too late now. I did what I did. I don't regret it. 
She wanted to know how her ally was doing, though. The truth was that they had grown quite close in their time together. He was someone that shared some experiences with her, after all. He was pretty nice, too, and really down-to-earth. Just a kind of person Rachel could root for. She hoped he succeeded making it home. She knew he'd keep fighting without her. 
The feeling of his thoughts on her was warm and soft, unlike the thoughts of her brother. He truly missed her. He truly felt bad for what happened to her. Rachel could only hope he could collect himself, realize that it wasn't his fault and move on before it ate away at him. 
Kade was familiar with death like Rachel was, she was confident in his ability to keep going without her. That's why she'd chosen to stick with him in the first place, after all. 
The District 10 girl stood up, taking a deep breath. Here she was. She'd made it up here somehow. When  
Suddenly, she locked eyes with her killer. She'd killed him on the way down, the second after she knew she was done  for. 
Nautica looked different. His eyes were softer. He was quiet was quiet and not running his big mouth. He wasn't saying anything at all. 
"Hey," she said, awkwardly putting her arms behind her bacback and feeling them rub against the soft, feathery wings.
"gains"Hi.." There was no feeling of hostility between them like both were expecting. They knew that what happened couldn't be changed. They were both dead, they were even, and there was no need for hatred or seeking revenge. Rachel hadn't ever wanted to live, and Nautica quickly realized he probably didn't deserve to. It was a very surreal moment between them. They exchanged a slightly sad expression, and, with an unspoken agreement between them, both turned toward the door that would lead them out of here and into new territory. "Rachel!" the girl from 10's eyes widened as an angel that was so familiar, yet so alien, fluttered towards her and threw her arms around her. Behind the older girl stood a man and a women, Rachel's parents. At seeing them, the girl from District 10's eyes pooled with tears of joy. She didn't realize how much she had missed them until she was wrapped up in their embrace, knowing that they would never be separated again. They were sorry to hear about what happened to Rachel, but not surprised. They had been keeping an eye on her, of course, and knew that Rachel was so bold that she would not heaitate to throw herself into a situation like that. They were glad to have her back, of course, but still upset that death had taken her from the world so quickly. When the 10 girl turned around to introduce Nautica, she found the boy laughing and chasing around a little wisp of a girl, who was laughing and teasing him as she fluttered away with the laughter of a child. "Can I see Kade?" Rachel asked. Her family could see in her eyes that she was set on this. "You can," her sister said, taking her hand and guiding her to their looking glass to the realm of the living. Rachel looked into the shimmering portal and saw Kade there, sitting by himself and taking survey of supplies. Physically, he looked well. Emotionally, he was a mess. His thoughts sent warmth through her, but she knew he was hurting. She knew he was sorry. She knew he was blaming himself. She reached out a hand and brushed her fingers across his cheek, the image rippling like water of a pond. "It wasn't your fault," she whispered quietly. "Please... You have to win."
She could've sat there all day and watched, but her father squeezed her shoulder. "There's plenty more to see. Why don't you come with us and we'll show you around?"
Rachel swallowed hard, tearing her eyes away from the image of her ally. "Alright," she said. However, she made a secret promise that she'd be there, watching, rooting for him, supporting him, thinking of him, as much as she possibly could, for as long: or as little: as he may live.  lithosi"" """back"gm, awk,