thelastbecket | The Hunger Games (Aftermath of War Edition)

The war ends and Raleigh's still alive. It's a surprise to him. He didn't have any plans for after because he hadn't planned on there being one for him. He was sure something in the war would kill him, but he had things to do like protecting Chuck and Mako without them noticing, so he fought against those things, coming out on top, and then...then it was over and he wasn't dead so he had to keep living.

He thought about being done with it while they were still sorting things out in the Capital's ruins. He still had a gun and he was so tired of everything. There wasn't a need for him anymore. His body was rendered nearly useless by scars and nerve damage. His limbs didn't do what he wanted them too a third of the time and his mind didn't cooperate most of the time. He was obsolete.

But then Mako showed up and asked him to stand with her and Stacker, just to be seen, not to say anything. Apparently, he had uses he hand't thought of. Mako keeps asking things of him, so he keeps delivering. Then they're settling down. He follows Mako to a part of the country he'd never seen before. There's forest and ocean, a beautiful combination that doesn't remind him of any games, just home and a new start. They fix the remnants of a town not far into the forest from the beach.

Raleigh elects to turn what looks like an old fishing station on a jut of the beach into his home. It's a long walk from the town, but not an unmanageable one for any of them. It's a much shorter distance to the cabin Chuck's built for himself in the forest. It's away from the town, but Mako says he travels into it often and works there.

Raleigh wants to see him, but he can't bring himself to leave the beach and the edge of the trees near his new home. He swims a lot and wonders what would happen if he just stopped treading water one day. He doesn't though, because Mako brings him food in exchange for the nets he makes and the fish he catches, the crustaceans he hauls out of the water. He feels like she'd be disappointed in him if he was gone one day.

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From:

suicidemission

Raleigh retreats and so does Chuck. The war left irreparable damage on all of them and Chuck’s not without his scars – physical and mental. He’ll never get over the things he did and the things he saw and the things he said while in the arenas, and then after, when the war really started. Sometimes he thinks he blanks out, pieces of his memory temporarily vanishing because sometimes it’s difficult to remember where he is and who he is – sometimes he forgets his own name.

But he builds a house with Herc’s help on the outskirts of town, refusing to let himself fall into a pit of despair and nothingness. Chuck’s a fighter, he’s always been a fighter, and he refuses to let this get the better of him. Instead, he throws himself into rebuilding the town and making sure the people eat. He helps with the reestablishment of the government but declines to make any speeches or appearances.

He stays in touch with Mako and with Herc, who tell him that Raleigh lives, and he isn’t far from Chuck. He’s relieved, but can’t bring himself to visit or see him. He’s never fully understood the older man, and he still remembers – the one thing that’s the most vivid in his mind – when he almost ran Raleigh through on the beach right after he’s saved Chuck’s life.

So he doesn’t go see him, doesn’t reach out. He asks about him occasionally but beyond that, there is no contact.

From:

thelastbecket

Mako is happy. She is scarred and damaged like her friends, but this result, this aftermath is what she and her sensei devoted their lives to. This is why she entered the games and used the Beckets' plan as the weapon to start the war. Chuck and Raleigh, though, this life was not what they had wanted or expected for themselves and she can see them struggling to live it when she works with Chuck or trades goods with Raleigh at his silent home. She has not heard him speak since the last bomb fell.

She is afraid for them, afraid that one day she will go to Raleigh's seaside home and not find him there. Never find him again. She is afraid that he has nothing to keep him on land and breathing. With Chuck she has different fears. He works so hard, struggles so violently and vehemently against the past, she is afraid he will burn himself out.

She needs to do something for them. So one day as she works with Chuck, she attempts to set a plan in motion.

"Raleigh asked about you." It's not strictly the truth, but he does pay the most attention, stopping whatever he's doing and looking right at her whenever she discusses the younger Hansen.

From:

suicidemission

Chuck has the same fear, but he can't stop himself long enough to dwell. Chuck can't dwell -- if he does, it will consume him.

"Did he," Chuck replies shortly, pausing briefly in his work before continuining on as if she hadn't said anything. He spends a lot of time with her, and maybe if he were less fucked up and damaged, he'd have made some kind of move on her by now, because down on a fundamental level, they're pretty fucking similar.

But war fucks people up beyond recognition and Chuck can never see Mako as anything other than a friend.

From:

thelastbecket

Mako dislikes lying to her friend, but she has done much worse for lesser fears than the lives of her friends, so she will keep lying until something happens.

"You're the only one he ever asks about." She pauses a moment debating what to add, but she has never been one for gestures too small, so she hits hard with something that probably hasn't occurred to Chuck.

"He is ashamed that you know what he did in the Capital. He never intended you to find out, but, Sensei asked him to go on screen."

They haven't talked about the games, or the war, or any of the spaces in between, but Mako thinks they should be talking about it. At least, among themselves.

From:

suicidemission

Chuck doesn't say anything to confirm that he heard her, but he's listenting.

At that, though--

"What? That he did what at the Capital?"

Chuck doesn't want to talk about this. It's obvious in the way his knuckles turn white when he clenches his fists.

From:

thelastbecket

Mako actually pauses her work for a moment to look at Chuck evenly. She's not talking about what Raleigh did for Chuck, because she knew Raleigh did that for Herc, and for himself so he didn't have to watch another young victor fall like he had as much as he'd ever done it for Chuck. That's not what she's talking about.

"The things he did for the war." She eventually says and turns back to her work. "Before he even knew there was going to be one. He traded himself in many different ways for all of us, and then when he would have rather taken that knowledge to his grave, he allowed us to shine lights and cameras on him and use him to expose the world."

She's lost the thread of where she was going with this. Her goal was to make Chuck want to see Raleigh, not make him wish to see him less.

From:

suicidemission

"It's not --"

Chuck scowls, frowns and looks back down at his hands.

"Yeah. Well. It's not...like it's my problem, yeah? It doesn't..." He doesn't know how to word what he wants to say.

Finally, he comes up with--

"We all had to do shit we didn't wanna do, Mako. Not gonna get judge him. Alright?"

From:

thelastbecket

It seems Chuck is going to leave a door open for her by accident. Mako takes advantage of it.

"No, Raleigh is not your problem, but he is our friend. One of the last of the dying race of victors."

She hesitates, not sure how to bring this about, or how much to reveal about Raleigh before she has crossed a line and invaded his privacy by exposing him to Chuck.

"I am going to visit Sasha and Aleksis. I wish to see their baby, but I will be gone for more than a week. Raleigh has the food he needs, and he insists he will be fine, but his mind--I am afraid he will forget and when he doesn't see me next week he will step into the ocean and not be home when I return."

From:

suicidemission

"Your friend," he corrects, shifting and sitting back, avoiding her eyes. Raleigh and Chuck aren't 'friends'. They're...acquainted.

Chuck nearly killed him on a beach.

"...and you want me to check on him." He says, scowl deepening. He's ntoa fucking babysitter but--

"Whatever. I'll take a look, remind him you'll be back."

From:

thelastbecket

Mako feels relief flood her chest and she smiles at Chuck, it's brief like most joyful expressions nowadays are, but it's real and bright.

"Thank you."

She thinks, hopes, that if she can just bring them in contact with each other they'll respond in better ways and help each other where she cannot.

From:

suicidemission

"Yeah, yeah."

He rolls his eyes and just shakes his head.

Mako leaves on her little journey and Chuck, true to his word, shows up at Becket's house, scowling like he'd smelled something disgusting.

"Hey, Becket!"

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh isn't inside his home, he doesn't spend a lot of time in it during the day. Instead he's on the far side of it stretched out with a tarp in the sand, and a he's weaving ropes, tying knots into a net. He jumps at the sound of Chuck's voice, heart racing in his chest at the sudden loud noise, but the he knows who it is and he relaxes again.

He pushes himself out of the sand and comes around the corner to check for himself, not really sure can believe his ears. He remembers the jabberjays.

"Chuck?"

His voice is quiet, rasping even though his throat isn't dry, but because he hasn't used it for more than muttered curses at fish and other sea creatures since since everything was over.

From:

suicidemission

"Yeah, mate." He's standing there on the front porch, rocking on his heels with his arms crossed. Raleigh rounds the corner and Chuck smirks at him, though his face is, as always, drawn and pale and weary. He looks older than his years, they all do.

"God you sound like shit," he says cheerfully, carefully picking his way towards Raleigh, hopping off the porch to meet him at the corner of the house. "The fuck've you been doing?"

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh wants to answer Chuck with words, he really does, but speech isn't a thing that comes easy for him anymore and even more than that he's out of practice. Mako never expects him to actually talk to her. Chuck obviously wants a response. So, Raleigh waves behind him, around the building towards his tarp and net, as well as the fishing lines embedded in the sand and the lobster floaters out a ways from shore.

His eyes are locked on Chuck, though. Drinking in his face, and the way he looks healthier than the last time they saw each other, even if the effects of everything are still prominent in his face.

From:

suicidemission

Chuck's eyes follow his hand; nets and floaters and all that shit indicates fishing. He settles his hands on his hips and nods, approving.

"Right. Well--"

He hesitates. Mako asked him to check on Raleigh, not sit around and keep him company, but he doesn't feel right leaving just yet. There's some things he needs to say, but the time -- it's not right, just now.

"--show me around?"

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh's lips turn up at the corners ever so slightly and he ducks his head in a nod, as though that's going to help his vocal chords. He tries again though to speak.

"Yeah, sure."

He gestures for Chuck to follow him up the small porch and into the house. The door opens into the small living room and kitchen combo. The only furniture is a small table with two chairs. There's a third in one corner of the room, though. The building itself may look careworn but everything inside of it is obviously meticulously clean and cared for.

Raleigh waves his arm around with a wry look. His house wasn't very big. He opens the door to the small bathroom, barely large enough to hold a tub, a sink, and the toilet. It's as clean at the other room. The second door, the last one is his bedroom. There's a soft cot rolled up in the corner with a neat stack of pillows and blankets, and a hammock strung from two corners of the room.

The only decorations, or signs that a person really lives there are the shells and pieces of sea glass on the window sills.

From:

suicidemission

'S nice," Chuck says, strolling with him, hands jammed into his pockets. "Kinda like mine. Got a little bigger kitchen but my bedroom's smaller."

He wanders over to the window and eyes the shells, the pieces of glass and he plucks on up, holds it in his hand and then up in front of his face.

"This is pretty."

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh nods along with Chuck's description of his house. Watching Chuck there, in his home made Raleigh both nervous and excited in good ways. Ways he wasn't sure he'd been excited in since before his first games. He picks up one of the shells, not even one of Raleigh's favorites and calls it pretty and Raleigh's heart surges in his chest.

"You can have it." His words are coming back to him slowly but surely. "I've got a bucket."

He does in face have a small bucket of shells and sea glass each. Mako had promised him some wire for the next net he made and he was going to attempt to make jewelry out of some of the pieces if he could. He wasn't sure how good of a chance he had, but it was a new idea, one he liked.

From:

suicidemission

He brings it down, thumb idly rubbing over it and he glances at Raleigh, brows up.

"You sure?"

Raleigh doesn't seem to be fucking with him though, and he grins, cheek dimpling as his lips spread into a slow smile.

"Thanks, mate. It'll look nice, in my kitchen."

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh nods at Chuck's question, and the slow smile that steals over the younger man's face sucks the breath from Raleigh's lungs. If he had known Chuck would smile like that for a shell Raleigh would have swallowed his panic and taken all of the shells he found to Chuck's home.

He smiles back, the tips of his ears turning pink.

From:

suicidemission

Sometimes it's the simplest things that garner the most emotional reactions. Chuck's smile is fleeting because his happiness is, but for a brief moment he glows like a sunrise, all orange and fiery and radiantly burning.

"Find anymore like this, lemme know, yeah?" He slips the shell into his pocket, fingers rubbing over the ridges.

He's not sure what else to say beyond 'thanks', so he shuffles a little, and heads to the door.

"I'll come back tomorrow to check in, okay?"

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh swallows and nods at Chuck. He's pretty sure he's got a few of those in the bucket already, and if not, he's got plenty of time to look in the ocean for them. If he finds more, he'd have motivation, something to shore up against the panic and he could try and visit Chuck himself, even after Mako got back.

"Sure." He says to both questions. He half wants to Chuck to stay, but he can't. He's already overwhelmed, just by ten minutes and one smile. He remembers the propaganda. The Girl in Blue and the Boy on Fire. Mako and Chuck had led the charge after busting out of the arena while they tried to brainwash him against them.

It's still rough going some days knowing which way is up and which down, whether or not he's supposed to trust Mako when she shows up at his door, but the thinks that smile, and the shells might help him remember.

From:

suicidemission

Chuck cants his head in Raleigh's direction, then saunters out the front door, letting it bang shut behind him, leaving the house one shell less but somehow still resonating with his presence.

Raleigh's presence sticks with Chuck, too. Chuck spends the rest of the afternoon running laps, pouring sweat, trying to evict the sesation of loss he felt when he'd left Raleigh's house. He's not sure what it is, why he feels like he's left a piece of himself back there, but he wants the sensation gone, immediately.

Running does nothing and so when the sun sets and he's in danger of tripping and breaking his ankle he ventures the distance to the beach and scavenges a few oysters, digging them ouf of their shells and eating them raw, and finding a shining, black pearl in the process.

He takes it to Raleigh tomorrow, clutching it in his hand and calling Raleigh's name until he appears.

"Found something for you," Chuck tells him, holding his hand out. "Last night."

From:

thelastbecket

Raleigh goes back to the net when Chuck leaves, using the repetitive familiar motions to sort out his head and put everyone and everything in back in it's place. It makes him feel better than he has in a long time. It feels like a step towards something rather than hiding.

He sleeps through more of the night than he usually does, and looks forward to Chuck coming back when he wakes up.

When Chuck appears, calling his name and holding his hand out, Raleigh's cautious about approaching him. He does it slowly, not because he doesn't trust Chuck, but he because he doesn't trust himself. They attempted to reprogram his brain, and sometimes he thought they might have succeeded for a few minutes here and there. He stops with a semi-close, but safe distance between them and holds out his own hand.