Work Text:
May the odds be ever in your favor.
Fuck this shit, Eugene thought. The recording of the Reaping was played in a loop on the TV beside his bed, and he hated it. The worst thing was that he had lost the remote and couldn't even mute the damn thing.
He hadn't really been surprised when his name had been called, his bad luck preceding him, but the sobs of his mother still rang in his ears.
"Your heart! Think of your heart, Eugene! Edward, do something!"
They had had the possibility to ransom Eugene, paying money to not have his name in the lottery. But Eugene had refused, as had his brother until he was too old. And now it was too late.
"You're only seventeen, I will not allow it!"
"The minimum age is twelve, mother. Twelve. Children are going to die, would you stop feeling sorry for yourself for once?" his brother snapped, giving Eugene an apologizing look afterwards.
Eugene shrugged. Edward Jr. was just as devastated as his parents, but there was nothing to be done, and they both knew that. And yet...
Two more years, and he would have been safe. Two more years, and the unpleasentness of the Reaping would have been just that: unpleasentness; not desperate fear, but pity for the ones that were unfortunate enough to still be of the right age.
"It's not fair!" his mother wailed, and Eugene finally found his voice.
"It's absolutely fair, mother. It's a lottery."
"If they hadn't done away with that rule of Reaping one girl and one boy each, this may have not happened!"
"You know why they abolished that. The Capitol people almost revolted because their government didn't accept the existence of transgenderism and this non-binary business, and to satisfy them they just threw all names in one big pot and drew them at random. Makes it more exciting, too, I reckon," Edward fumed.
Eugene tuned them out and just stared at the TV, where the loop had reached the Reaping in district 12 once again. They had had their very first volunteer, and the Capitol was smitten with the scrawny boy with the dark skin and curls who had heroically saved his little sister from certain death. Said sister was just as emaciated as her brother and had to be carried away, kicking and crying for her brother. When the boy was asked to give his name, Eugene looked away again, locking eyes with his father.
Edward Sr. was an stoic man, therefore as Eugene detected tears in his eyes he knew that nothing was alright anymore, nothing would be the same ever again.
He prayed that the odds would indeed be in his favour.