#'a little hope is effective. a lot of hope is dangerous. the spark is fine as long as it's contained'

[agir1ukn0w]

sorry but snow is such a well written iconic villain and donald sutherland performs him so fucking good it's almost hilarious how i start practically foaming at the mouth every time the man opens his mouth to say something deplorable in those movies, like he's so utterly and despicably wrong about almost every crucial thing from katniss and peeta's relationship to human nature as a whole and yet the second he starts talking about how hope is the only thing stronger than fear and how you have to allow a little hope but control it so its spark doesn't grow into revolution and how it's the things we love the most that destroy us you bet your ass i am on the floor screaming crying throwing up because that is my psychotic mustache-twirling villain RIGHT THERE

[snowbairdd]

Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained.

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) dir. Gary Ross

[ravenclairee]

Hope. It it the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained.

THE HUNGER GAMES — 2012, dir. Gary Ross

[degloved]

snow talks to seneca about hope. a little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous. a spark is fine, as long as it's contained. contain it. etc. here i think about the ballad—about the newly introduced context behind most of snow's words and actions that we simply were never privy to before. katniss' skill is evaluated at 11 by the gamemakers, when most tributes barely even approach 10. matter of fact, 10 would've stood out on its own—and still she's awarded that 11. a pack of twenty-four children and one tribute already upstages her peers—the games haven't even started. a tribute from 12 makes a spectacle at her reaping; the volunteering, the 11, the snake released down the dress of the mayor's daughter, a catchy song to boot.

there are, as yet, no real parallels between katniss and lucy grey. the similarities stop there, if you could call them that to start with. but snow has seen this play out before: his own cautionary tale that follows him into presidency and old age, to the extent that the smallest suggestions of a something, an anything are enough to put him on edge. contain it. etc

[goodnightmemes]

THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) SENTENCE STARTERS

feel free to change pronouns / terms / tense as needed!

❛ It’s okay. You were just dreaming, you were dreaming. ❜

❛ We could do it, you know? Take off. Live in the woods. ❜

❛ They'd catch us. Cut out our tongues or worse. ❜

❛ I'm never having kids. ❜

❛ You need to get out of here. ❜

❛ Shh, I don't have much time. ❜

❛ No matter what you feel, you will be there for her. Do you understand? ❜

❛ Don't cry. Don't. ❜

❛ You're stronger than they are. You are. ❜

❛ They just want a good show. That's all they want. ❜

❛ You know if you don't want to talk, I understand. But I just don't think there's anything wrong with getting a little bit of help. ❜

❛ Embrace the probability of your imminent death; and know, in your heart, that there's nothing I can do to save you. ❜

❛ Now that's a good way to get killed. ❜

❛ Oh! Joy. Why don't you join us? I'm just giving some life-saving advice. ❜

❛ Give me a chance to wake up sweetheart. ❜

❛ That is mahogany! ❜

❛ You really wanna know how to stay alive? You get people to like you. Oh! Not what you were expecting. ❜

❛ Some water, a knife or even some matches can mean the difference between life and death. ❜

❛ That was one of the bravest things I've ever seen. ❜

❛ I'm sorry that this happened to you. And I'm here to help you in any way I can. ❜

❛ I'm gonna do something that they're gonna remember. ❜

❛ We are all anybody's going to be talking about! ❜

❛ Exposure can kill as easily as a knife. ❜

❛ They can be arrogant. And arrogance can be a big problem. ❜

❛ I hear you can shoot. ❜

❛ I have no chance of winning. None! ❜

❛ Those guys are looking at you like you're a meal. ❜

❛ I think you have a shadow. ❜

❛ Make sure they remember you. ❜

❛ Thank you, for your consideration. ❜

❛ You realize that your actions reflect badly on all of us, not just you. ❜

❛ I hope you noticed, we have a serious situation. ❜

❛ Loosen your corset and have a drink. ❜

❛ I would have given anything to see it. ❜

❛ I thought they hated me. ❜

❛ They must have liked your guts. ❜

❛ Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. ❜

❛ A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it's contained. ❜

❛ Don't you know how beautiful you look? ❜

❛ I don't know how to make people like me. How do you make people like you? ❜

❛ Just be yourself. I'll be there the whole time, and just pretend you're talking to me. ❜

❛ I think someone here is a little nervous. ❜

❛ So, tell me. Is there a special girl back home? ❜

❛ Well, that's bad luck. ❜

❛ What the hell was that?! You don't talk to me and then you say you have a crush on me? ❜

❛ He made me look weak. ❜

❛ He made you look desirable. Which in your case, can't hurt sweetheart! ❜

❛ We are not star-crossed lovers. ❜

❛ Manners! ❜

❛ Can't sleep? ❜

❛ I just don’t want them to change me. ❜

❛ I just don't wanna be another piece in their game, you know? ❜

❛ I just keep wishing I could think of a way to show them that they don't own me. ❜

❛ If I'm gonna die, I wanna still be me. ❜

❛ I'm not allowed to bet, but if I could I'd bet on you. ❜

❛ You sure she went this way? ❜

❛ Are you sure we shouldn't just kill him now? ❜

❛ Let's just wait her out. ❜

❛ Run! Damn it. Go! ❜

❛ Get out of here! What're you doing? Go! ❜

❛ Don't just sit there! Look at me! ❜

❛ It's okay. I'm not gonna hurt you. ❜

❛ How long was I asleep? ❜

❛ So what happened when I was out? ❜

❛ Is all that true? You and him. ❜

❛ That sounds tempting. ❜

❛ We need a signal, in case one of us gets held up. ❜

❛ We're gonna be okay. ❜

❛ I wanna see if she's gonna figure out this booby trap. ❜

❛ It's okay. You're okay. You're alright. ❜

❛ You have to win. ❜

❛ Can you sing? ❜

❛ Don't kill her. You'd just create a martyr. ❜

❛ I know you know how to handle a mob, you've done it before. ❜

❛ If you can't scare them. Give them something to root for. ❜

❛ Everyone likes an underdog. ❜

❛ There are lots of underdogs. And I think if you could see them, you would root for them either. ❜

❛ I like you, be careful. ❜

❛ It's bad, huh? ❜

❛ I'm not gonna leave you! I'm not gonna do that. ❜

❛ We'll figure something out. ❜

❛ You feel hot. ❜

❛ I remember the first time I saw you. ❜

❛ Well, say something. ❜

❛ I'm not good at saying something. ❜

❛ You're not going alone. ❜

❛ You're not gonna risk your life for me. I'm not gonna let you. ❜

❛ You would do it for me, wouldn't you? ❜

❛ Now there's no way I'm letting you go. ❜

❛ Please. Stay. ❜

❛ It's too bad that you couldn't help your little friend. ❜

❛ Well, we killed her. And now, we're gonna kill you. ❜

❛ You shouldn't have gone. You said you weren't gonna go. ❜

❛ We could go home. ❜

❛ We should probably hunt around here. We don't have any food left. ❜

❛ That's nightlock! You'd be dead in a minute! ❜

❛ You scared me to death. Damn you. ❜

❛ I never even knew she was following me. ❜

❛ Go on. I'm dead anyway. I always was, right? I didn't know that until now. ❜

❛ I can still do it. One more kill. It's the only thing I know how to do. ❜

❛ One of us has to die. They have to have their victor. ❜

❛ Trust me. ❜

❛ They're not happy with you. ❜

❛ Well, I'm sorry it didn't go the way they planned. You know I'm not very happy with them either. ❜

❛ This is serious. Not just for you. They don't take these things lightly. ❜

❛ When they ask, you say you couldn't help yourself. ❜

❛ So what happens when we get back? ❜

❛ I guess we try to forget. ❜

❛ I don't wanna forget. ❜

[fionatheicicle]

I know that it is easy to lose hope, especially after todays supreme court fiasco. I know that it is easy to look at the news and say whats the point. “Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained”. Hope is what scares the shit out of those fuckers, so they are trying to contain it. Do not let them. Vote in November. Vote blue. 💙

[methethgfan]

Hunger Games Victor Directory

"Why do we have a winner? Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained."

Here is an overview of my Hunger Games fanfiction.

Here is an overview of all Hunger Games arenas and their respective winners.

This list was created for entertainment purposes only and is not canon.

[camyfilms]

THE HUNGER GAMES 2012

Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained.

[fionatheicicle]

“Hope, it is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective, a lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained. “ (president snow, the hunger games 2008) We can win this! don’t lose hope, don’t let them win!

"The Don't Say Gay Law has been cut down to size in more ways than this.

- LGBTQ+ students and staff may now be protected by anti-bullying and anti-discrimination measures

- Libraries are free to restock LGBTQ+ books

- LGBTQ+ topics may be discussed freely

GO CRY IN A CORNER RON

Florida teachers can discuss sexual orientation and gender ID under ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill settlement

[tintysun]

The Hunger Games (2012) ↳ Quotes

• "Listen to me. You are stronger than they are. You are. Get to a bow." - Gale Hawthorne

• "You really want to know how to stay alive? You get people to like you." - Haymitch Abernathy • "My advise is don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes. 10% from infection, 20% from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife." - (Pre-games Trainer)

• "Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it's contained. So contain it." - Coriolanus Snow

• "Well, I'm sorry it didn't go the way they planned. I'm not very happy with them either." - Katniss Everdeen

[dcbicki]

Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained. The Hunger Games 2012, dir. Gary Ross

[gerec]

2022 Fic Year in Review

Total Word Count: 89,420 (new fics and wip updates; does not include stuff I’ve written but not posted)

I'm always surprised when I do a tally at the end of the year and see just how many words/stories I've written; it never feels like very much but it's always more than I expected. I also wrote a lot of Erik/Shaw and Erik/Other this year, and a lot a lot of bottom!Erik lol. Who knew I would fall in love with omega!Erik 10 years into this fandom? :D :D :D

-----

Cherik

Bad Love (a/o, infidelity, just an excuse to write morally dubious pwp)

Summary: Out celebrating with his colleagues, Erik finds himself enthralled by a sinfully gorgeous omega named Francis.

Trust Me (At Your Own Peril) (dark!Charles mind whammies everyone including Erik)

Summary: Erik Lehnsherr – Shaw’s ward, lover and most potent killer, warped from a young age and tragic circumstances to follow him obediently and without question. It really was a thing of beauty, how Shaw was able to shape Lehnsherr into a finely honed weapon, with nothing but blunt and clumsy tools like fear and intimidation.

But Charles would make Erik love him, and own him utterly in a way that Shaw could never hope to accomplish.

never give all the heart, for love (these stars were meant to burn remix) (regency era, prostitute au!)

Summary: Charles Xavier is the most sought after courtesan of White Manor, New York's top brothel catering to the city's wealthy elite. Erik Lehnsherr is a businessman newly arrived from Kraków, who sees Charles from afar at a party hosted by General Stryker. His attraction to the omega is immediate and all-encompassing, and when they finally meet, sparks fly between two people who deem themselves too pragmatic to fall in love.

CX-01 (Learning Remix) (android au where everyone deals poorly with the real Charles' death)

Summary: Charles’ unexpected death has a profound effect on the people he loves.

Each of them deal with it in surprising - and sometimes unhealthy - ways.

Lies We Tell (prisoner!Erik + psychiatrist!Charles au with a dark!Erik this time)

Summary: Dr. Charles Xavier thinks he knows everything there is to know about Erik Lehnsherr - renowned terrorist, fellow mutant, and his patient of the past six months. Their relationship blossoms into something intimate and wholly unexpected, and Charles finds himself fantasizing about a life at Erik's side.

When it happens, it's nothing at all like he imagined.

Erik/Shaw, Erik/Other

Forbidden Fruit (Erik Lehnsherr/Sebastian Shaw, master/servant regency au)

Summary: Erik and his mother Edie live and work at Bridlemere, stately home of the wealthy and charismatic Sebastian Shaw. Things take a dramatic turn when the Master makes his interest in Erik - and his intentions - known.

In Your Mind, Where I Belong (Erik Lehnsherr/Sebastian Shaw, XMFC au where Emma knocks Erik unconscious instead of overboard)

Summary: Erik wakes up on the Caspartina after his attempt on Shaw's life goes dangerously awry.

Between Brothers (Erik Lehnsherr/Sebastian Shaw, regency au where omega Erik finds out his new alpha has a twin aka dirty pwp)

Summary: Erik is newly married to Sebastian Shaw, the wealthy owner of Hatfield Manor. He knows that Sebastian has a brother named Klaus; he does not know that they are identical twins, or that the brothers have a complicated history of sharing everything in their lives.

Wicked Vice, Secret Indulgence (Erik Lehnsherr/William Stryker, very dirtybadpornz, my favorite kind lol) - chapter update

Summary: Stryker is a human who hates all mutants. Erik is his favorite mutant whore.

The Kindness of Strangers (Erik Lehnsherr/Other, exactly what the summary says)

Summary: Erik is a teenage runaway who has to rely on the 'kindness' of strangers.

City of Light (Erik Lehnsherr/Other, part of my Legacy of Sin series with omega!Erik)

Summary: Shinobi takes Erik to Paris for a romantic getaway.

Little Girl Lost (Erik Lehnsherr/Wanda Maximoff,part of my Legacy of Sin series with omega!Erik)

Summary: Wanda's feelings for her bearer are complicated. Her feelings for her twin are not.

Fathers and Sons (Erik Lehnsherr/Other, part of my Legacy of Sin series with omega!Erik)

Summary: Sebastian Shaw leaves a permanent mark on the lives of his children, none more so than on Shinobi and Jacob. That doesn't change even after his untimely death.

All That Glitters Is Not Gold (Erik Lehnsherr/Brian Xavier)

Summary: Erik is 'Maxine, Mistress of Magnetism' and the star of the New York's most popular drag show. He catches the eye of wealthy industrialist Brian Xavier and gets an offer he can't refuse.

Patterns Repeating (Erik Lehnsherr/Other, part of my Legacy of Sin series with omega!Erik)

Summary: Sebastian has been dead now for almost three years, and Erik is finally settled - and happy - in his life with Shinobi and the rest of the children. But the growing bond between Erik and Jacob takes them down a painfully familiar path, and threatens to up-end the uneasy peace between the eldest Shaw siblings.

Charles/Shaw, Charles/Other

Your Rightful Place (Sebastian Shaw/Charles Xavier, Cherik, fantasy/historical a/o au) - multi-chapter update

Summary: Sebastian Shaw attacks the kingdom of Genosha while its monarch Erik Lehnsherr is away at war, capturing omega Consort Charles Xavier as he flees with his subjects towards Westchester.

Shaw is determined to right a perceived wrong by taking an unwilling Charles as his mate.

Oh Daddy (Jakob Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, modern au, written because there are so few Jakob/Charles fics in this fandom and it's a damn shame)

Summary: Charles has always been attracted to his best friend's father. A slip of the tongue leads to the revelation that Jakob feels the same way.

Want You To Want Me (Jakob Lehnsherr/Charles Xavier, as above)

Summary: Charles embarks on a new relationship with his best friend's father.

Winds of Misfortune (Sebastian Shaw/Charles Xavier, rule 63, WW1 era au)

Summary: When Erik Lehnsherr heads overseas to join the War effort, he leaves his beloved wife Charlotte and daughter Anya in the trusted care of his friend and landlord Sebastian Shaw. An incident of mistaken identity has an an injured and amnesiac Erik presumed dead, which leaves his family destitute when his company and assets are taken over by the government. To keep Anya enrolled at the prestigious Genoshan Academy for Girls boarding school, Charlotte is forced to sell all her jewelry and personal items, and when that's not enough, work as a maid for Shaw to pay for both her own room and board and her daughter's tuition.

Shaw takes advantage of her desperate circumstances to make Charlotte his own...

Lives Lived For You (En Sabah Nur/Charles Xavier, XMA canon divergent au)

Summary: After a thousand lifetimes, En Sabah Nur rediscovers his long lost love.

Ficlets

AU-gust Challenge 2022

Summary: X-Men AUs with various pairings.

The Hideaway

Chapters 42 and 43 added

[buffysummers]

Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained. So contain it. THE HUNGER GAMES (2012) dir. Gary Ross

[bitch-biblioklept]

The Darkling x f!oc

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 <you are here> Part 7

Chapter-6: Amplifiers

Chapter Summary: Frustrated with Alina's lack of improvement, the Darkling finally found a way to use her powers for his thirst for revenge.

Word Count: 2.1k

(My gif)

The Darkling knew what he had to do, and went to the bitter old woman his mother had become to inform her of such. He still cared about her opinion, no matter how old he’d grown… even if it had bothered him a lot. She wouldn’t react, most likely.

“I have decided to give Alina an amplifier,” He declared once inside the heat of her hut by the lake. “Hopefully we will find the stag.”

Her head snapped in his direction at the mention of the stag. Her dark eyes looked livid. “Of course,” she muttered, half to herself. “I was a fool for thinking for a second that you’d let her have it.”

“The girl is naïve, she can’t control her powers.” He explained. “She will do better with that.”

“I’m not going to let you take control of her powers.” She said with the certainty of a decision. “I know what you are planning to do.”

“How would you?” The Darkling asked, his lips set in a sneer.

“I gave birth to you, boy.” Baghra said. “I know you better than you think I do. She wouldn’t have wanted this.”

“But she isn’t here to stop me now, is she?” Aleksander said. The lump in his throat was suddenly too much. The lakeshore was a bloodbath again. Baghra was silent for too long. “Well?”

“She isn’t,” His mother agreed slowly. “But the least you could do is honor her memory, her mannerisms.”

“She wasn’t a saint mother,” He reminded. “By all means she was the viler and crueler one of the two of us.”

“Not to someone who hadn’t wronged her,” Baghra added.

“I shall avenge her, whether you like it or not, mother.” The Darkling said. He still had a vague memory of the last time he had addressed her as such. Aleksander had been too distraught, everything had happened just so fast… there was no time to tell if it had been reality or a nightmare. Serephina had been assassinated, found lying with her throat slashed, there were others too, her attackers, only one of them was barely breathing by the time he had gotten there.

That was the first time he had used the Cut in the Little Palace grounds, the first time all the young Grisha realized why everyone was so afraid of him. It was the first time his mother looked terrified.

They were supposed to be happy, it was supposed to be a celebrations filled night. But like Serephina used to say in her Suli sayings, some had jinxed their joy. They were to be a family, they were to become parents.

But all of that had been taken away because he was the Darkling and she was Lady Kirigan, and not Aleksander and Serephina.

A light knock at the door brought him out of his thoughts.

Alina appeared in the doorway a second later, looking awkward on finding she interrupted their conversation. “Sorry,” she said.

“In girl, don’t let the heat out.” Baghra declared instead.

The Darkling bowed as a show of courtesy. “How are you Alina?” he asked to be polite.

“I’m fine,” Her voice sounded forced.

“She’s fine!” hooted Baghra. “She’s fine! She cannot light a hallway, but she’s fine.”

The Darkling had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at her words. “Leave her be,” he said instead.

The old woman narrowed her dark eyes at him. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” she decided.

He ran his fingers through his hair in an attempt to alleviate his frustrations. This was not going well. He turned to Alina. “Baghra has her own way of doing things.” He explained to stop himself from snapping at his mother at the moment.

“Don’t patronize me, boy!” she screamed at him. For a second, he was eighteen again, afraid of his mother’s wrath upon finding about his and Serephina’s marriage, and stood up straighter.

He stopped himself in time, remembering he wasn’t the same boy he had been then, not anymore. “Don’t chide me, old woman,” he said in a low, dangerous voice.

There was an intense stare down between the two of them, the tension so thick it could have been sensed even by a donkey. That was until Baghra turned to Alina and said, “The boy thinks to get you an amplifier. What do you think of that, girl?”

He watched as Alina’s face brightened with a smile as if she had heard the most brilliant idea. And for a second, a brief moment, she reminded him of Serephina again, with the curve of her smile and the way her eyes crinkled with joy.

“I think it’s brilliant!” She nearly squealed. And the similarity was gone. Alina was not Serephina, and the differences got more evident as he got to know her better. Serephina’s face had always had a cold mask, much like himself, but he knew how to read her, where to look for in those brown eyes to find the answers. She was a book meant to be read just by him, and him only. Alina’s face was an open book left for everyone to read.

Baghra let out a disgusted sound, and the sound inspired an odd sense of pride in him. Alina was right where he needed her to be.

“Alina, have you ever heard of Morozova’s herd?” he asked.

“Of course she has. She’s also heard of unicorns and the Shu Han dragons,” Baghra said mockingly. If this woman wasn’t his mother, he would have kicked her out by now, but alas.

The Darkling took Alina out of the hut instead, wanting to have one conversation where Baghra didn’t interrupt him at every utterance that came out of his mouth. Though he was aware that she was keeping an eye on everything he was going to do.

“That woman,” he muttered to himself, running his hands all over his face. Then he ran his hands through his hair again, but this time to get the embarrassing image of him hiding behind Serephina to be safe of the rage Juris had upon finding out about the wedding.

“What?” he asked; half-embarrassed by the humor on Alina’s face.

“I’ve just never seen you so … ruffled.” She said.

“Baghra has that effect on people.”

“Was she your teacher, too?”

She was. Of course she was, she was his mother. But she wasn’t just a mother or teacher, she had been through a lot with him, suffered as bad as he had. Perhaps she was the only person alive who would bother to understand Aleksander and not the Darkling. “Yes,” he said in its place. “So what do you know about Morozova’s herd?”

Again she talked about how she had heard children’s stories. Again he told her what he wanted her to, making a passing remark about forgetting how new she was to all this. He was keenly aware of the raven-like gaze Baghra kept on both of them, but he ignored it. Again he was nice to Alina, listening to her talk by the lakeshore when the image of the bloodbath resurfaced. He turned his thoughts to less painful things like how things would have been different had Serephina been here.

After a while, he had had enough and he left. He was desperate for a glass of kvas, or even better, a glass of strong whiskey. The memories wouldn’t just stop invading his head.

So he focused on the night he thought Serephina was going to die.

It was a cold night after a snowstorm, a village in central Ravka that had once been free of the abomination of creation that most people called the Shadow Fold or the Unsea. They had stopped by the village while they were on their way to Fjerda.

 There was a pack of large wolves tormenting the villagers, and they had warned them against going out at night. But Serephina had wanted to see them, the wolves. She said something was calling out to her, and that she needed to see the wolves.

And refusing to let her go out in the danger all alone, Aleksander had accompanied her. He was scared, of course. He had always been afraid of the dark but he never showed it, but she knew. He knew that she knew. That was why she had been holding his hand, warming the both of them up to keep them through the night.

It was a little past midnight when Sere had lost hopes of seeing the wolves and they were about to head back, when a deep growl sounded somewhere to their left.

A pair of bright red glowing eyes were fixated on them dangerously. She let go of his hand and shoved him behind herself and then reckoned the alpha wolf closer. Aleksander’s male ego would have been hurt if he weren’t so scared.

The wolf was one of the biggest animals he had ever seen, standing taller and either of them. For a moment he was certain the wolf was one of the Grisha of the old stories, the shape-shifters who couldn’t turn back into their human form after being in their animal form for too long during the first Ravkan war.

Before Aleksander could think of an escape route, Serephina had moved forward, studying the animal. Its dark black fur was blacker than anything he had ever seen, but it gleamed against the white snow under the moonlit canopy. The wolf and the girl regarded each other, assessing the danger.

The wolf leaped in the air with its jaw spread open to attack Serephina faster than he could say, “Stop!” She didn’t leave her ground and raised her hands, shoving them forward with all the force. The wolf fell to the ground as if hit by an invisible wall.

And when her flint sparked up from her sleeve, the cold blue flames scared the large animal. But it got up, shook the snow off its fur and got back into the battle.

Ice, air, fire all of the three elements helped Serephina in her conquest. She even used a bit of the heart rendering powers that she had mastered and paralyzed the wolf, after some of their blood had splattered on the snow, frozen like red pearls.

She walked to the laying wolf, limp in her step from where the wolf had bitten her leg, her hidden knife in hand and stabbed the wolf right where it heart would be. And strangely, the wolf looked proud when she did it, and then raised its paw and scratched it through her chest, right where her heart would be.

Aleksander’s soul left his body in that instant.

The soft glow of moonlight that came from Serephina showed her face, bloodied and contorted in pain, as both their blood flowed freely to the ground, freezing instantly on the snow. The wolf was the first one to close its eyes, the glowing red disappearing.

She fell on the snow next, her breath escaping with a sigh.

He rushed to her side, almost blinded by the brightness of the light she radiated, and cradled her head in his arms, regretting not staying back at their little cave, not being able to convince her to stay, not being able to protect her because of his own fears.

Then her eyes opened, and her thin lips moved, muttering his name. Her eyes glowed bright red, like the wolf’s but the voice was hers, for no one else could ever speak in that musical voice that made him want to drop everything and just listen to her talk all day.

“Sere…” he softly said, tucking her black hair behind her ear.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, and then stood up. Her hair was a mess, her eyes looked tired, but they were back to their brown, and her clothes were ragged, covered in her own blood and the wolf’s, but to him she had never looked more beautiful.

“But the wolf-” he started.

“The wolf is one with me now,” She calmly explained. Her eyes changed to the bright red once again. “I am the wolf and the wolf is me.”

“Like the amplifiers,” he realized.

She smiled. “Let’s go. I’m starving.”

“I hope you don’t eat Grisha for meals now,” He joked.

“I might eat someone if he gets too annoying,” she winked at him and walked away. Aleksander was frozen in his place.

The wolf was old, she knew everything. Serephina had always had an answer to his problems. Things would have been so much better had her and their child were with him right now. He would have been so much happier and maybe they would have been done with the fold by now.

But fate always had other ideas.

[thehungergamesrenaissance]

The Hunger Games Renaissance. The Hunger Games (2012), dir. Gary Ross

"Seneca, why do you think we have a winner?" "What do you mean?" "I mean, why do we have a winner? I mean, if we just wanted to intimidate the districts why not round up twenty four at random and execute them all at one? It would be a lot faster. Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. Spark is fine, as long as it’s contained."

[villanaelle]

Hope. It is the only thing stronger than fear. A little hope is effective. A lot of hope is dangerous. A spark is fine, as long as it’s contained. So contain it.

happy birthday @tunissan ♡