Chapter Text
Jinx had never been a lucky person. She supposed that’s why they all called her Jinx. But so far, she’d never been so unlucky to be one of the two teens from her area chosen to be Tributes during the Reaping.
She supposed it was a long time coming. Each area of Zaun, which had been sectioned off by Piltover so that they could reap as many teens as possible—The Lanes, the Undercity, the Fissures, and the Underground—offered up two teens every year, and there were only so many teen girls in the Undercity. The worst instance of her unluck had been looming over her head for the five years since she’d turned twelve and became a potential Tribute.
Nobody batted an eye when her name was called, and she had to walk up to the front to be taken into custody by the Enforcers. Nobody cared about her enough to even give her a sympathetic eye as she walked past them. Not even Silco. He would be proud that she was chosen.
She caught his eye as she walked past him to take her place just behind the announcer. He stood off to the side of the stage, as the current leader of Zaun, his presence required for the Reaping. His face was carefully neutral, as expected, but his one good eye bored into her, as if to say, “Don’t you dare disappoint me.”
But the second name.
Oh, the second name almost caused a riot. There was a beat of silence after it was called.
Ekko.
The name echoed in the silence. Pun intended. And then people erupted. Ekko had narrowly avoided the Reaping every year, just like her. The only difference was that Ekko was beloved through most of Zaun, whereas Jinx was barely tolerated in her own neighbourhood.
The Piltover council would say the names are chosen randomly, but Jinx knew. They’d finessed this on purpose. Ekko had to have over a hundred entries of his name by now. The chances of him being Reaped were high. Having the boy saviour participate in the Hunger Games this year, the ten year anniversary of the beginning of the games, would triple their revenue, bringing in views from even outside Piltover. The Hunger Games were meant to be a show of power from Piltover, a way of reminding Zaun of it’s failed rebellion, of the massacre on the bridge, where hundreds of Zaunites had risen up in protest, and almost all of them had died to the guns of Enforcers.
She glanced at Ekko as he was escorted up to the stage—untrusted by every Enforcer who’d ever enlisted—and the pair of them stood behind the announcer who had called their names. Ekko didn’t look at her, his gaze fixed on the crisp red and white suit of the announcer, the Man of Progress himself, Jayce Talis. He had brown skin, straight teeth, a fairly decent mug to look at, and Jinx could guess from his physique that he might have been part of the working class before reaching his current status. Jinx knew he was a victor, and was basically Piltover’s golden boy, so she didn’t know what he’d done to be demoted to announcing the Reaping in the Undercity.
Behind her, she could hear the click of a cane, the slight drag that comes with a limp, a soft cough. She tilted her head slightly, catching sight of a man whose face she easily recognised.
Viktor, surname unregistered. Only four Zaunites had ever won the Hunger Games, and he was one of them. The other three… only one of them was present today: Sevika, Silco’s second-in-command, a woman built like a brick wall and with a personality to match. It was no surprise that someone vicious enough to keep up with Silco had won the Hunger Games. The other two victors hadn’t been seen in a long while. And, well, as much as Jinx didn’t trust anyone who abandoned Zaun for Piltover, she was grateful it seemed to be him who would be their mentor rather than one of the other three.
Jinx fixed her Shimmer-pink eyes somewhere vaguely past the announcer’s shoulder and zoned out while Silco was called up to read out the Treason Treaty until the Enforcers had to shove her off the stage behind Ekko to get her to the train that would take them to Piltover.
She was shoved into a booth up against the windows of the train, and then Ekko was pushed in next to her. Across from her sat Jayce Talis, and next to him, Viktor. An Enforcer with blue hair kept watch at the door of the train carriage. Otherwise, the carriage was empty.
“Please, eat.” Jayce said. His voice had the typical Piltover accent. “The journey to Piltover is not a short one.”
“It would do you well to maintain your energy.” Viktor murmured in agreement to Jayce. He had a different accent, one she recognised from the Underground area.
Jinx eyed the two men sceptically, and then picked up a fork and prodded at the food on the plate in front of her. It smelled good, and she hadn’t eaten breakfast that morning. She doubted anyone would assassinate any of the Tributes on the way to Piltover, when it was apparently so much more fun to watch them all kill each other in an arena, so she began to eat.
Ekko apparently had more self-restraint than her, defiant and stubborn as ever, because he crossed his arms over his chest, and glared at the wall.
“I’ve never met anyone from the Undercity with such good table manners.” Jayce commented lowly to Viktor at one point as Jinx ate.
Jinx saw Ekko bristle at the same time irritation flared within her own ribcage, so she dropped her fork, stuck her fingers in her meal, and ate with her hands like the Zaunite savage she was. She saw Viktor roll his eyes, whether at Jayce or herself (or both of them) she didn’t know, and she saw Jayce grimace. Good. Stupid stuck-up Piltovans who thought they were better than her.
Ekko let out a sigh beside her, his gaze flicking towards her, and then back to glare at the wall again. So no show of solitude from him. Not that she was surprised. Ekko wasn’t her friend.
At least, not anymore.
She remembered a time when they had been friends, before, well… before Silco had taken her in. She swatted away the voice in her ear that called for help, ignoring the way the three others gave her a funny look. She hadn’t seen Ekko in person in ages, since she stayed with Silco and Sevika, and he lived on the other side of the Undercity, heading up the newly formed Firelights gang. Silco hated them, because the rowdy group of teenagers were surprisingly well organised and threatened his business trading Shimmer. As the head of the gang, Ekko was Silco’s least favourite, and every time there was news of a Shimmer warehouse being raided and sabotaged, Jinx had to listen to Silco’s speeches about how much better off she was being estranged from the boy.
Jinx fixed her eyes on the passing scenery, choosing to ignore Ekko’s presence next to her.