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It's District 9 Reaping Day again. There was a delay in this year’s ceremony because of a problem with the tech so the weather was only slightly more bearable than the previous years due to their later start. Small favors. The sun is already going down.
The first Tribute has already been chosen. She's standing stiffly up on stage next to their District’s only two Victors, Momo and Changbin, but at least she hasn't cried yet. Jisung thinks he recognizes her from some of his classes, but he couldn't really care less. It wasn't his sister Yuna, so it didn't really matter who she was. Yuna will be alright this year, no one can hurt her now.
What matters now is the next name, the second victim. Tribute. Same thing.
A silence has enveloped the town square once more, holding its breath until the always glamoured Capitol representative Nayeon handpicked the second kid they will be sending to their almost guaranteed doom. She picks a paper from the very bottom of the large fishbowl. She reads it silently first to herself, her smile never wavering. Then she reads it aloud.
It wasn't Jisung’s own name that echoed through the town square, but it might as well have been.
“Lee Yongbok.”
The crowd a few rows in front of Jisung parts around the boy in question, equal parts relieved and devastated at the outcome. And Yongbok, to his credit, appeared calm if not uninterested in the happenings around him. He steps out of the line with a modest flick of his hair out of his face and makes his way to the stage with an easy gait. Without saying anything, he commands everyone to look at him, the most beautiful and sweetest boy ever to have graced the District.
And the Capitol is taking him from them, from Jisung.
The sun is still shining bright above and the winds are breezing gently past their skin, but Jisung’s entire world has tilted wrongfully on its axis as Yongbok walks away. To The Games. To his death.
Jisung wants to cry. He's one tick away from running up to Yongbok, standing in front of him protectively, saying his thoughts of the Capitol to go fuck itself, and escaping back to their forest. Was it really only this morning when they saw each other last? A few hours before their worlds were to collapse in on themselves and leave nothing but a cold, dark void. It’s a hilariously unfunny joke. Jisung wants so badly to cry.
Of all the people in this village, Yongbok was the one who deserved to be far away from The Games as much as possible. And it wasn't from the lack of a capability to kill, Jisung isn't ignorant enough to deny that Yongbok should be able to take down a handful of other kids in the arena if it comes down to it. Jisung himself has witnessed Yongbok take down multiple large animals with nothing more than a handcrafted arrow and sharp projectiles.
But this is Lee Yongbok.
Lee Yongbok doesn't hesitate to give out hugs or his hand to hold to people who need it. Jisung himself is no stranger to being a recipient of these forms of physical affection from him. Yongbok seems to just have a sixth sense for when someone needs a shoulder to cry on. He's always looking out for you.
Lee Yongbok greets everyone they encounter on the way to school with a smile as brilliant as the most precious mineral. He has even been late to homeroom on multiple accounts because he keeps helping the grandmother with one arm in taking the many deliveries inside her house. Kind to a fault.
Lee Yongbok gives away his own food to others like it's nothing, as if he himself wasn't near starving on a daily basis. He even routinely saves at least two mouthfuls of food for that aggressive, black cat underneath the Lee family shack that refuses to let anybody but Yongbok himself pet him. It's really all so fucking stupid.
Lee Yongbok is so damn kind, and that's why The Games will break him.
A burning ocean of desperation washes through Jisung, replacing the cold fear that had nearly consumed him just moments ago. His legs finally moved, walking towards the center aisle, pushing past anyone that stood in his way. He thought he saw his own sister look at him in alarm, and from the stage even Changbin was signaling him to stop, don't be stupid .
But Jisung can't stop, he won't stop. He needs to keep moving. He can't let Yongbok step foot on that stage or anywhere near The Capitol. He can't let them take any more from him.
His older sister’s last words to him a few years ago to be strong and take care of our youngest, okay Sung-ah sound from the back of his mind but he doesn't stop.
I’m sorry, noona—
Yongbok is walking along the center now, with two Peacekeepers flanking either of his sides. And Jisung is so close. Almost there. Not Yongbok, please.
—but I was never going to be as strong as you hoped.
His insides are free from the clog that's been holding him back from cursing out the world to hell and back. And he takes a deep breath to shout.
“Yongbok-ah!”
It's not Jisung’s voice that echoed through the town square.
But the desperation might as well have been.
Jisung turns his head along with everyone else as Minho steps out of line from near the back of the crowd and onto the center aisle, being held back by three Peacekeepers from disturbing the ceremony further. His eyes were the wildest Jisung has ever seen, and his face the most determined since the day Minho decided that he will begin hunting in the forest.
There was a piece of advice Jisung heard from one of the old hunters of the village when they first started their gimmick.
If you ever encounter a young cub in the forest, you're better off leaving immediately…
Like a storm, Minho shakes off the Peacekeepers with fluid and practiced ease. Jisung would have laughed if the situation was anything else but this nightmare.
Who would have thought it would come to this?
But, in hindsight, of course Minho would have been the first to speak up between the two of them. When it came down to it, Minho would stop at nothing to protect those he cared about. He wasn't always the most outward in expressing his feelings, but he never failed to show how much he cared for him and their other friends. And if there was any other person in this cursed world aside from Jisung that would willingly give up their own life for the sake of keeping Yongbok safe, it was definitely going to be Minho.
… because their guardian is never too far away.
“I volunteer as tribute!”
Peace was a funny feeling, Jisung doesn't feel it often. He hasn't ever really felt peace from the moment he gained an awareness of the world and his fate as a citizen of Panem, so he can't be so sure of it. But he thinks he feels it now.
Even as he holds back a screaming and sobbing Yongbok, he feels that thing they probably refer to as peace. It was accompanied by cold but not bitter acceptance.
Lee Yongbok is kind, and Jisung is too.
But Jisung is also selfish.
And this, he thinks, is his own brand of strength.
Jisung holds back with all his strength (all his selfishness) an utterly heartbroken Yongbok from stopping his brother from taking his place as Tribute of District 9.
“It will be okay,” Jisung says to Yongbok, loud enough to hear over his now weakening protests and sobbing from fatigue. “Your brother is strong, he can win. And Changbin-hyung will get him home no matter what, you know that.”
“The games will never be in our favor,” protests Yongbok, still trying to pry Jisung’s arms off him, still trying to reach for his dear brother. “I can't watch him go through all of that.”
Jisung gets it, he understands it very well.
Around them, the citizens of District 9 lifted the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and saluted their Tributes off. It was a symbol rarely used anymore, especially outside funerals.
Yongbok once more collapses in on himself, beyond agony at this point. Minho was only looking at his brother, his face determined. He did not waver.
Powerful. Minho is powerful. Jisung believes in him. He has to.
There was no turning back from this.
“Just close your eyes,” Jisung whispers, finally catching the eye of Changbin on stage. “I’m here, and I won't leave you.”
They nod in understanding.
Whatever it takes.
You and I’ll be safe and sound.