Chapter Text
Invisible: Tessa
“Just back away from the door, as quietly as you can-” Tessa Rourke whispers in Satin’s ear before retreating herself into the darkness of the building, ducking behind a crate. Oh, no, you idiot - don’t just stand there! The boy can’t get his breathing under control - or his legs to move, come on, we have to hide! She can’t bring herself to call out to him - not with how the sound seems to carry so clearly around here. So she waits - her ally stays frozen. A crunch on the gravel outside nearly sends her flying out of her skin - whoever it is, they’re getting closer. The next crunch comes from right outside and this time, the boy makes a move - In the wrong direction! No! WHY WOULD YOU GO OUT THERE?! The door swings open and smashes against the wall outside sending a loud metallic clang rattling through the whole building - Tessa stays still.
Then she hears the first scream, running - a sickening crunch - Oh no, oh no, oh no oh no, oh nononononono! The screams that follow make her sick to her stomach, another scuffle on the gravel and then a familiar voice yells out - “What the fuck was that all about!?” That’s the loud girl from training, which must mean…
“Shhhh!” She has her scary friend with her - Anything else they might be saying is drowned out by the agonizing screams of Satin outside. Tessa still waits - Are they still out there? More wailing answers, she flinches - I can’t go out there! She’s already on her feet, sneaking towards the open doorway. It’s too dark to make anything out yet, so she creeps closer - Now I’m the idiot. No sound but screaming - she reaches the doorway and sees the outline of her ally on the ground - Okay, I can do this. I just have to see what they did to him and get him quieted down. The others can get medicine at the Cornucopia and we’ll all be fine, right? Another crunch of gravel - she jumps backward, but realizes it came from the boy on the ground writhing in pain - I could just run, couldn’t I? Nobody really notices me half the time, maybe I can just… disappear? Ugh… why am I like this?. She sneaks forward again, peeks around the door - I think they’re gone, okay, I can do this. - and bolts out, clasping a hand over Satin’s mouth to muffle the screams- “You have to be quiet, or someone worse is going to find us.”
The sound recedes into choked sobs and Tessa finally gets a closer look at the damage - Oh… thats… that’s really bad. There’s a handaxe wedged several inches deep in the tissue of his shoulderblade - oh no that’s blood! No, breathe, it’s just… It’s like a big papercut, yeah. His shirt is soaked from what she can feel of it, though it’s hard to make out just how much bleeding there is in the dark. Nonononono, stop bleeding! I have to fix this- In a panic, she rips her own jacket off and wraps it around the head of the axe to apply pressure. “Satin!” Weaver’s voice echoes off the metal containers - she can’t tell how far away she is, just that her voice is followed by the tell-tale crunching of gravel. “Tessa!?”
“Over here!” Tessa flinches at the sound of her own voice echoing back at her. If anyone else follows her, I still have time to run - She’s not as reassured as she’d like by the thought - Who am I kidding? I’m just as dead if I run. When the small, jogging form rounds the corner she almost bolts anyway-
“Where’s my - NO!” Weaver slides next to her and chokes on a sob - her brother lets out a small moan of pain - “How bad is it?”
“Help me keep pressure on it, my arms are getting tired-” Tessa grabs one of the girl’s hands and pulls it to the wound - “Okay. He’s alive, but we have to get this wound treated or he’s not going to be for much longer. If there’s any way we can get him back to the light to pull this axe out… maybe we can ask- wait - where’s everyone else?! Don’t tell me-”
“The survivors are back at the Cornucopia, but I had to come running when I heard the screams.” Even in the darkness, Tessa can make out the pained expression on the usually grim girl’s face - I didn’t even know she could be scared, she always seems so… bold - “We ran off the last of the Careers - I don’t know what we would have done if they weren’t half as busy fighting each other as us. But we’re down by half now. Raila to the mines, Elian went down trying to get out to that freak with the knife. Then in the fighting the Two’s took out Orren and Gavro… I’m sorry. I know Gav was your partner…”
Gavro’s death surprises her more than anything. In part because he was her partner - she hadn’t known the boy before they’d been reaped together but he was the only thing left of District Nine she had in this place. But also because - “He was stronger than I was.”
“You’re the one helping me save my brother, give yourself more credit.” Weaver looks down at her twin, his eyes slowly fluttering shut. Tessa checks his pulse - Really erratic, that’s not good - “We have to move him! He’s dying!” She lets go of the wound, grabbing the boy by the shoulders and trying to lift him - the axe shifts and he screams. “Shit! I’m sorry! I-”
“Go get the others.” Tessa cuts her off. This next part is going to be horrible and she’s not going to make it any easier -
“But I-”
“Weaver, Neither of us are big enough to move him and keep the axe steady. Which means we need help, because we can't just take the axe ou- NO WAIT STOP!” Before she can stop it, Weaver rips the axe out of her brother's back and tosses it to the side, pulling off her own jacket and using it to tie Tessa’s in position over the wound. The screaming is back in force - then Satin faints.
“Let’s go, no time!” Weaver lifts the boy again, Tessa running to grab his legs, as they pick him up off the ground. She’s not sure if it's the adrenaline, all the training, or just having enough to eat the last week, but they move quicker than she’d expected. Weaver finally asks her - “Who did this to him? Because I’m going to fucking kill them!”
Tessa briefly considers lying, fearful of Weaver doing something just as idiotic as her brother had just done - but I’m a terrible liar - “It was the girl from Five, I think - I heard that loud girl from Seven yelling at her after.”
“Voltaea?” Is that her name? That’s a terrible name. Tessa nods. “Where did she go?”
“I didn’t see, just that her friend dragged her off before she could finish him off. We got lucky.” When they round the next corner, she can finally see the light from the Cornucopia - Thank the gods, I think my arms are about to fall off-
“She’s not going to be half as lucky when I get my hands on her.” Weaver says it with all the conviction in the world - like it’s set in stone, I wish I was half as confident. Tessa doesn’t mention it, but she can’t get the image out of her head - I saw how she laughed at that dummy she fried in training… and the way she smiled after she bit that girl from One - I don’t think we should be going anywhere near that psycho…