InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "You set the tone"

withsecrets (withsecrets) wrote in thereincarnates,
@ 2011-05-21 13:39:00

Entry tags:

benjamin macmahon, cassie macmahon

Who: Ben and Cassie MacMahon
What: Cassie tries to give her older brother a surprise visit, but she ends up with a surprise of her own...
Where: Ben's apartment in Los Angeles, California
When: Saturday night, May 20th, 2011.
Warnings: Violence, mentions of death, swearing

For the past ten years, Ben had been plagued with violent nightmares about his reincarnation's life, and tonight was to be no exception.

In his dreams, he was back in the arena, running as fast as his feet would carry him away from the jabberjay's that were imitating Annie's voice - Annie's screams of pain - because he couldn't bare to hear it and know All my fault, it's all my fault, she's in pain and it's all my fault. But no matter how fast he ran, he couldn't reach the beach at the end of the jungle that he had hoped would offer him sanctuary from the birds. Instead it transformed to a sewer system, and jabberjays became huge, white, rose-scented, lizard muttations that were intent on ripping flesh from bone and devouring his body. He could still hear Annie screaming all around him, and the screams of the people who had been caught by the muttations, and the gurgling screams and muffled sobs of the people he'd killed.

Pipes and dark water became trees and dirt again, but this wasn't a damp jungle. It was the arena, and he was fourteen years old and hunting. A fisher of children. It had been so easy, almost too easy, to entangle them in vine nets and plunge the blade of a weapon into their bodies. He needed to win so that he could get back to his family, so that the Capitol would feed the people of his District and everyone could be healthy and strong, so that he could live. He was closing in on another one of the tributes, weapon in hand, going in for the kill-

Sounds snapped Ben from his dream so quickly his mind was left reeling, still caught up in the dream. There was no distinction between Ben and Finnick - Finnick's life was his life, and therefore so were the dangers that accompanied it. His heart was beating a bruise against his chest as adrenaline was pumped through his body. Between fight or flight, he would always choose fight. Someone was here, someone was here to kill him. It wasn't even instinct anymore - it was a move as natural as breathing as he reached out from his hammock and wrapped his fingers around the cool metal of the trident Beetee had given to him. If someone thought they could sneak up on and kill a man who had been trained from childhood to be a mass killer and had won the Hunger Games against twenty-three other children when he had only been fourteen, they were in for a nasty surprise.

Slipping silently from his bed, Ben crept down the hall and into the room he'd heard noises coming from. He shifted his grip on his weapon as he went, making sure that every step he took would keep his body in the right position to throw the spear with a deadly accuracy that few could dodge or defend against. Ben took no joy in killing, but he wouldn't even hesitate about doing it either. And if someone was after him, he'd kill them. The light had been turned on and it spilled through the corridor, and a small part of Ben wondered how arrogant this son of a bitch had to be to turn on the light if they were trying to assassinate him. It was hardly subtle. Still, it gave Ben the advantage of being able to see his target.

As he peaked around the corner, he was surprised to see that the person in the room was not a man, but a woman. Not that it mattered, really. Either way, they'd be dead in a matter of moments, and he would be safe again. Dying wasn't an option; not now, not ever. Annie needed him. Even now, walking around his own home and seeing everything that belonged to his life in the real world, every thought belonged to Finnick's life in Panem.

Taking a deep breath through his nose, Ben stepped out into the light and sent the trident flying with a speed and grace that almost seemed unnatural, aiming it straight for the woman in what he hoped would be a killing blow.

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lostmyshoe
2011-05-22 12:14 am UTC (link)

Six years. It had been six years since Cassie last saw her brother, and she couldn't even remember the last thing they had done together. She felt like she should have. Isn't that what people always talked about when they discussed their last moments with a person they loved? That fight they regretted, or the moment everything was forgiven, or just the normality of the last moment that made the death so shocking. She couldn't remember theirs. It was like an entire year of Ben before her mother's reaction to the note had just erased itself from her mind. She didn't forget him all-together; Ben was too much of a presence for her to ever forget him entirely, but she remembered snippets of Christmases, a fight or two here, some laughter there. Nothing concrete that she could point to and say 'that was the last time I saw my brother.'

And then he had shown up on the boards, and she had immediately wanted to run and hide. Years of wondering and missing him had been replaced with the overwhelming fear for her family that came with Sam. It was also Sam that had made it impossible for her not to comment. His brother was the most important thing in the world to him, and it wasn't the first time Sam's personality and emotions had been too much for Cassie to combat with her own. He wanted her to come clean with Ben about anything, to train him to be a hunter much as Sam had tried with Adam. The only reason he hadn't forced her to do so with Ben was that Cassie pointed out very quickly just how well things had worked out with Adam. It shut Sam up incredibly quickly.

Still, she wanted to see Ben. The smart thing would have been to call and let him know she was coming, maybe even come at a reasonable hour, but both of those options didn't leave her much in the way of an escape plan if she chickened out--and she really felt like chickening out. Instead, she used Sam's skills to break into the apartment, figuring turning on the light would be enough of a wake-up for her brother to keep him from freaking out. But apparently not.

The movement caught her eye just in time, and Cassie hit the ground unceremoniously into a sloppy roll to avoid getting stabbed by a flying trident. Normal people would have seen the attack for what it was; she had startled her brother and he thought he was attacking an intruder. Instead of logical thinking, her train of thought went instantaneously to one thing: demon. The son-of-a-bitch was possessing her brother. She knew it was a bad idea to contact him.

"Fucking..." She cursed under her breath, quickly tugging her flask of holy water out of her pocket as she jumped to her feet. She couldn't hurt Ben too much, not if he was possessed, but she couldn't give him a chance to fight back, either. She crouched quickly and slammed her leg against the back of his knees in an attempt to take him down.

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withsecrets
2011-05-22 12:54 am UTC (link)

When the woman - the assassin - managed to dodge the trident, Ben could have cursed if that wouldn't have been a waste of breath. Without that element of surprise on his side, things were going to get that much more difficult. Not to mention that he wasn't wearing the arm-cuff that could have the trident soaring back into his waiting hand with just the push of a button. There were several weapons hidden around the room, but getting to them would be difficult. Still, he'd rather that then doing the deed with his bare hands.

His eyes zeroed in on the flask she pulled out of her pocket. Acid. It had to be. It would probably harm him enough for her to get the upper hand, if it didn't kill him on contact. He had to get the flask away from her, and fast. Unfortunately for Ben, the girl was quick on her feet and had managed to slip behind him, kicking the back of his knees with a strength that someone that small shouldn't possess. Ben didn't waste time trying to stay upright. Instead, he moved with the fall, tucking into a quick roll that sent him across the room and away from his attacker. He slid his hand under the ratty old armchair and came up with a boning knife - long, slender, and too sharp for it to have ever been used for kitchen purposes.

Scrambling to get upright as quickly as he could, he planted his feet firmly against the floor and half-launched himself back across the room, aiming his blade for the hand that clutched the supposed-acid in the hopes that he could get her to drop it. Worrying about that while also trying to deliver a death blow could end in disaster. Better to take care of one thing at a time.