Crystal Sagittarius

Crystal Sagittarius is a tribute created by PoisonedPoetry. Please do not use her without permission.

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Name: Crystal Sagittarius District: 0 Gender: Female

Age: 15

Personality: On the surface, I’m a sweet and talented young girl with sassy and headstrong traits on my persona. I’m considered to be kind and slightly shy, yet I have a passion for some of my hobbies like singing and skating. However, my interior holds a completely different girl. Basically, I almost literally have a heart of ice – Cold and frosty. I can be hot-tempered and panicky at the worst of times, sometimes even acting on instinct recklessly. It's also a struggle to gain the entirety of my trust. My paranoia is obvious, as is the fact that something in my past changed me. I don’t know for how long it will continue, but for now it seems like this effect will last forever.

Height: 5’6

Appearance: My hair is naturally black, but I’ve added some blue highlights in. It’s also quite long and curly, reaching down to my waist. I’m usually seen wearing silver make-up to make my grey eyes stand out a bit more. My skin is quite pale, but blame the lack of sunlight for that. But what people really notice is my beauty. With graceful gestures and smooth movements, it would take a strong mind to snap out of looking at me.

Weapon(s): I may not have handled an actual weapon before, but there’s one that I’ll likely use – The bow and arrows. It’s always seemed like a beautiful choice, particularly for hunting animals and people alike. I can imagine seeing the shock on the other tributes’ faces when it impales their heart from behind. As a second choice, I would use a dagger. I’ve regretfully used a kitchen knife before, so I already know what to expect with a dagger.

Strengths: My time in district 0 means that I’m used to cold temperatures. I’ve also developed survival skills after spending more time than needed in the wilderness for reasons that will be explained in a minute. I’m also quite charismatic to attract good attention, but not so much that I seem like a wh*re.

Weaknesses: Due to my cold personality, it’s likely that I’ll say the wrong thing to my allies and end up being killed out of rage for it. In addition to this, I easily scar and feel pain. My skin feels paper-thin, and practically is paper-thin. Then there’s the case of how I quickly panic. When I do so I can end up making mistakes that cost lives, possibly even my own one.

Fears: I’m not usually scared, but the thought of drowning drives me round the bend. I’m good at swimming so it’s unlikely, but I’ve witnessed and nearly became a victim to the perils of large bodies of water. Not only have I nearly drowned, but my little sister ended up with that fate. It’s just… heart-breaking.

Training Strategy: In training, I will rush over to the weapons and train with a bow. Even if the careers are there and make fun of me, I will not falter with firing the arrows. I may even threaten to shoot one of them if the taunting continues. On the next day, I will further develop my survival skills. If I have any allies that are struggling with a skill, I will offer to help them out.

Private Training Strategy: In private training, I will say my name in a sing-song manner. Then I will grab the bows and arrows and fire them into the dummies all throughout the time. Even if the Gamemakers appear bored, I will still fire and hope at least one of them sees what I could do. I don’t care about my score, because they don’t matter in the end.

Interview Angle: In the interviews, I will try my best to be the sweet girl that people know me for. But if anything I say comes out mean or icy, then I will end up crying on the spot and apologising. Then I will mutter a few words like the names of my siblings and act hysterical. Hopefully, I will gain sponsors for sympathy.

Bloodbath Strategy: In the bloodbath, I will risk my life to get my hands on a bow and some arrows. When the gong rings out, I will run to the cornucopia as fast as possible. I will fight my way to one and try to escape with the listed items… and hopefully my own life. I'll try to escape with at least one of my allies if I'm in an alliance,

Games Strategy: I will probably try to keep quiet for as long as possible around my allies (if I have any). When it comes to the point where the alliance is splitting, I will kill one of them in their sleep whilst I’m on guard before running away. But before I do so, I will write a note saying ‘Thank you for everything, but we’re being torn apart like mental insanity. This is not only for my safety, but for yours. –Crystal’ If I have no allies, then I will hunt down tributes on my own and try to shoot them down whilst ensuring my survival.

Alliance: If anybody can get around how icy I seem then I’ll ally with them, even if they’re the careers. But if nobody will accept me, I will go in alone if needed.

Token: I’m bringing a gold bracelet that’s the shape of a snake into the hunger games. It used to belong to Reece, and I need something to remember him by. Something to remind me that there’s at least one person that would want me to win, or that I can join with soon.

Backstory
As you may now know, I am Crystal Sagittarius. Believe it or not, I am the eldest daughter to a pair of singers that were originally from the Capitol – Semolina Sagittarius and Scorpio Sagittarius. They made up two-fifths of a band known as ‘Steel Crown’. Whilst Mum was on female vocals, dad did both male vocals and played the guitar. We got on well with their other band members, Eccles, Pisces and Maple. They’re the ones who inspired me to start up my own band! And I had the perfect recruits…

My eldest sibling, Leo, was the least interested in the idea. He claimed it was because ‘He’s never held an instrument and would suck with one’, but I introduced him to a drum kit. Since then, he’s been playing them non-stop. It drives the neighbours crazy, both with irritation and with the urge to rock out.

Reece was the second eldest in the family, and he fully supported my idea. He’d already been sneaking quick practises on a guitar without our parents’ knowledge. He could pull off mean guitar riffs that pull you into our music, and it keeps his interests at heart and at work at the same time.

The last of my recruits was my younger sister, Virgo. Despite only being in her single digit years, she had precision and skill on a piano. She could even play a little bit of Beethoven and Mozart, although she still hadn’t finished with playing the entirety of their classical music.

The final member is me. Everybody has always said that I have a beautiful voice to match my beauty, so I decided to take up a few moments to sing. Everybody says I have the voice of an angel, but I can also throw it into the growling inner demon inside. It sometimes hurt to the point where I couldn’t sing properly for a few days, but I continued to practise and hope I could pull it off.

We came to be known as ‘Starry Sentinels’, because we didn’t want it to be obvious that me and my siblings were already performing at such a young age. Our parents would’ve been driven ballistic if they found us using their equipment without permission.

We had to record our music at the music studio in Leo’s school. When the school day ended for all of us, me, Reece and Virgo snuck over from our schools and would record our tunes before combining them to make one song. It did take a while, but we got there in the end thanks to Reece’s programming and editing skills. Then he programmed it into a CD, and we were nearly done. We just had to find a record company for children’s bands that would make copies and sell it, as well as come up with a cover and then we just had to wait to see if it would be released.

The mission bared no fruit to begin with. Most of the companies required the consent of the parents. In the end, we had no choice but to ditch our dreams and carry on with life as it was. We did, however, keep the CD and we would occasionally listen to it in private. The music, despite it being ‘rough and tough’ always made us feel peaceful. If there was ever a time that we were stressed, hearing us fulfill our passions was enough to get our spark buzzing again. We sometimes felt guilty about hiding it from our parents, but in the end we thought it was for the better. That was, until they caught us chilling out to the tunes.

At first, we were worried that they would figure out that it was us and that they would get mad. The first part did happen, but rather than get mad at us they praised us for putting together something so well. In the end, they agreed to sign us up to Edge of Paradise Records™. We soon got a call from them explaining that they were delightfully surprised by how well-made it was, and that they would release it in the Capitol in a couple of months. We didn’t need to sort out the advertisement since they would take care of that for us. Very soon, ‘Midnight Dreary’ would land us our very first time in the music industry alongside other bands.

Weeks passed. Everyday our family checked out the record charts to see what was hot and what was not. At first, there was no sign of our album. We were worried that the word hadn’t been spread. However it managed to creep to spot #83 on the charts. When they saw this our parents gave us a smile that showed how proud they were of us. For reaching the top #100 was not an easy feat, particularly for bands making their debut albums. That wasn’t the end of it though: The official Starry Sentinel website had gained many visitors, many of them making comments about how good our music was. Because we wanted to thank everybody who had been supportive, we made our own account on there and got editing powers. Everything felt surreal and good, until we got to the point where people were asking for a tour. Because we wanted to develop our confidence, we kindly let down our fans and announced our reasons. They never left our side, even after the let-down. That was all we could ask for.

The next year was spent on developing another album. This time we left it to our fans to decide what to include in it. What they wanted the most was a concept that remained consistent throughout. We were stumped for ideas until Eccles visited us. They suggested the tale of a person being dragged away from their lives by a seductive and manipulative shape-shifter. We all agreed, mainly because the possibilities of the storyline sounded interesting. This time, the album ricocheted to spot #17, later going on to #11. Seeing the massive improvement made us want to play live, so we announced our tour a couple of weeks after the release. There would be one to three shows in each district, depending on how impoverished it was. We tried to remain as close to the centre of the district as possible, so that the audience wouldn’t have to travel as far.

As the tours drew closer, Leo suddenly begun to suffer panic attacks. He would have trouble breathing, due to the nerves that got hold of him. The biggest worry of his was that we were going to get booed off the stage due to one small-yet-simple mistake. We all comforted him the best we could, but Virgo was the only one who succeeded. Her child-like innocence was soothing for most people, despite her being reasonably mature for her age.

Just one day before we were due to visit the Capitol for our first ever show, we found Virgo widening her eyes at a section of the newspaper. Me, Leo and Reece were all puzzled until slipped a small peak at the section she was staring at. Eyes turn grey like her face in the paper. 

Suspected Starry Sentinel Slaughter

''Yesterday, a message from an anonymous user was posted on Starry Sentinel’s official website, following the release of their highly acclaimed album ‘Succubus’. Included in the post was a set of death threats for each member of the band. Examples of these include telling Virgo to play with her dolls and saying that Crystal is nothing but eye candy for middle-aged men who have a lot of spare time on their hands. Because of this, extra security has been hired to escort the band elsewhere.’ ''

Once I finished reading the article, I felt sickened inside. Who would want to annihilate a young child band? All we ever wanted to do was bring a smile to people with our music. Maybe they were just an extreme hater… or maybe they would keep true to their word. Even with extra security, I didn’t feel safe at all. Not even in my own household. In the end, the only choice I had was to play on in defiance of the troll. In spite of my fears, the show must go on.

We took a train to the Capitol for our first three shows. They were a massive success. Everybody there rocked out like a champion. The autograph sessions lasted through a few hours, displaying the love our fans had for us. A lot of money was made, but then again that was to be expected: Practically everybody in the Capitol had plenty of money.

Much like the gigs in the Capitol, the other ones throughout Panem were a major success. Even though not many people attended in the more unfortunate districts, we still got as much applause as we did in the career and Capitol districts. Even then, we still had our lows. Leo was becoming increasingly paranoid, sometimes even accusing one of us of posting the message that earned us the protection we might’ve needed. Virgo’s efficiency of calming him grew weaker. At one point, he nearly punched her in the face because he wanted to be left alone. There was just one last performance we had to do though, before we could get him to a psychiatrist: The one in D0 itself. The reason why we left this particular one to last was so that we had less of a distance to travel in order to return home.

On the night in question, we gave the performance our all. Leo was a bit sluggish at times, but other than that it went reasonably well. That was, until he had a major breakdown the instant we finished our final song. He flipped off the crowd, calling them a bunch of mean names and tossing them the finger before he stormed off. Virgo chased after him, whilst I froze there on the spot. I had to apologise to the fans for Leo’s rash behaviour and quickly dash off to find my brother. Behind me I heard the footsteps of Reece following me. We had to hurry though: If we went at a slow pace, we may not have been able to track down our siblings.

We ended up in the wintry woods where mist and fog shrouded the night sky. We could no longer see Virgo or Leo in the distance. Regardless of the possibilities of all the perils, we trekked further out. I didn’t know about Reece, but I was certain that if we continued on we would be able to reunite. Though our chances were limited to being slim, I wanted to defeat them. The only I could do that was if I used my determination.

Unfortunately, we had no results for where they had gone. It was almost as if they vanished in mid-air… like a spectre in the night. Every fragment of hope I had fluttered away as no leads were provided. I was well on my way to give up, so I sat and slumped down into the snow. I buried my head into my knees and did the only thing I could do at that point: I wept. Leo and Virgo may not return… and if we stayed out any longer, neither would we. Either the cold would get us, or the person who threatened us would keep their promise.

“Crystal,” Reece mumbled, taking his spot next to me. “We can’t just stop now. Heaven knows if Leo and Virgo need us. They might run into danger, they might perish… I refuse to turn back until we know what happened to them.”

“You’re right,” I responded glumly. “But I don’t think I can go on if I have no hope left.”

“Yes you can!” All of a sudden Reece grabbed my hand and pulled me up with him. “As long as I’m here, you have nothing to fear. Come on.” With no other choice I followed Reece further into the woods. By then the sky was swarmed with purple clouds in many shades. It was like a gothic novel, a fairy tale with an unhappy ending.

After what felt like hours, we came across a river with a quaint stone bridge over it. The stream gurgled as it passed through, several bubbles rising to claim a glimpse at the world above. A few chunks of ice floated by, bobbing up and down as it followed the direction of the river. That wasn’t the only thing I could see though: There were skid marks on the snow on top of the bridge. Almost as if somebody sprinted away. It could only mean one thing: Our siblings were somewhere close.

“Keep moving!” Reece instructed me. I took my first few steps onto the arch that connected the two sides together. I peered into the river from there, where I saw something under the surface. I squinted closer and a sense of dread pierced my heart. Blonde hair, sweet little face, quite small. It was a body. There’s a girl sleeping under the river… and that girl was none other than Virgo herself. Her face was almost peaceful, but when I squinted my eyes I saw a red mark on her head… she must’ve been knocked out before she was thrown in. In pure terror I screamed my lungs out. Reece immediately faced me and almost jumped in surprise. Once I had calmed myself down slightly, I pointed at our dear departed sister. Though I was hyperventilating he didn’t need words to figure out what had happened.

“Wait, if she’s there then where’s Leo?” I gazed around me, seeing nothing but a brown sheet of paper sheltered in a gap in a nearby tree. As I pulled it out, I could hardly believe what it said.

''‘She’s out of the light; she’d thought it’d be safer… She’s out of the light, she doesn’t remember… She said ‘I wanna go home’ but home was impossible for her to reach. Tonight, the ones who love her shall die.’ ''At this point I was unsure of whether I should go on or not. Obviously the killer who threatened us was nearby, but could we really turn back when Leo might need our assistance? Then again, we didn’t know who or what we could face.

“There’s something in the dark and I wanna go home.” I whimpered, checking my surroundings in case our stalker was nearby. “There’s someone else here, we’re not alone…” 

“I know that. But still, we can’t go without Leo.” I shuddered to think what kind of torture he could be enduring now. And even if the killer couldn’t kill him, the cold might.

“There’s a girl that we watch and we’ll soon be with her…” I couldn’t bring myself to look away from Virgo’s corpse at first. To see and innocent life go to waste… it felt awful. But at the same time, it was life. The way the bells tolled. Nothing could stop that. We had to move on. And as we did so, I took one last peep at the river. I could see my face was paler than usual. ‘Face turns white like a sky in December…’

We further hiked into the heart of the woods. By this point night time had fallen over us like a black cloak. As we did so, we came across more and more notes. Thankfully we found a pile of unused lamps and a box of matches. Most of them were a load of random babble about ‘the old times’ but there were other notes mocking us. One, for example, said ‘Do you wanna go home?’ I knew I did and so did Reece, but we had to find Leo beforehand. There was nothing of interest to us, until at last we found a house made jet black by the effects of the lack of light. With nowhere else to go, we approached it slowly. ‘We’re standing at the door and there’s no one in sight…’ Ominous thoughts swarmed my mind as if the killer lived in there. It was entirely possible, after all. Nonetheless the door broke down when we knocked, so Reece stepped in. I followed soon after, too afraid that the murderer was watching us from outside somewhere.

It was a horrible mess. The floor was entirely wood, which was all rotting away from the gaps in the ceiling that let the rain in. There was no carpet for bare feet, which only made sticking-up nails harder to detect. Everywhere files of paperwork were strewn about the floors. The furniture was all battered and torn, none of it which was allowed to shine in prestige. The walls were the only remotely normal thing, having been covered with plain grey wrapping paper. Leo and I agreed to scour it all.

Even though we ransacked all of the rooms, there was no sign or Leo or the murderer anywhere. I was about to give up when I found a gap in the wall that had been covered up with wallpaper. I presumed it was a small useless room, mainly because I could see no silhouettes hiding behind it. I tentatively poked a couple of holes in it so that I could look in. Instead of being met with a warm welcome party or nothing, there was something more gruesome in view.

Like the first room we came across, there were random sheets of paper coating the bare floors. Against the wall opposite to mine was looking clown. I didn’t really care for them in all honesty. But the terrifying thing I was met with was a giant rabbit costume. It was sat there in the corner, facing the floor as if it was a schoolboy ashamed for something wrong it did. There was also a pile of fake fur around it, and chunks of it were missing from several body parts. One of the ears had nearly been cleaved off with a bite mark showing what kind of weapon had reduced it near to nothing. Worst of all was a grotesque smile on its face. It was similar to a case where somebody was unable to feel pain, whether it was mental or physical. In this case it was both. Other than through birth defects, how could one not be able to know they were dying until it was too late? Though it felt unrealistic, it didn’t segregate me from the essence of horror I felt freezing my heart.

Then slowly, silently, its head twitched and glowered right into my soul.

I screamed. It screeched. I sprinted. It charged. I ended up heading to the living room, hiding myself behind a bookshelf. I hoped that it would save me for now and that Reece would know what was happening before it was too late.

Tentatively, the living rabbit begun to tread onto the floorboards. I noticed how its movements were jittery, almost robotic, even. Its paw clutched something tightly and as it pulled it out I got a glimpse of the knife reflecting the moonlight that gleamed upon it. The murderer… they had been the ones to end my sister. And here I was, facing them in the same room. I wanted to avenge her but even then I knew that I would have no chance. After all this time, I had just been reduced to a nervous wreck.

Without warning, the rabbit stumbled over to me and shoved the bookshelf out of the way. I wanted to scream, but I could utter no sounds. As I glanced up into its soulless eyes, I felt the iciness pierce my mind. Hidden within it though was a very tiny amount of compassion. Almost as if they identified me from a previous life. Having no confidence in my survival I clamped my eyes shut and waited for me impending doom. A few seconds passed and nothing happened. At first I believed they were taunting me, but then I heard several thudding sounds. Once I opened my eyes I could see the figures wrestling each other: Reece and the killer.

I watched on in anticipation as Reece kicked the knife out of the rabbit’s hand. Already many bruises had formed on his face, and much of the rabbit’s fur was torn. In all honesty I had no idea what to expect, until Reece got overpowered. He tried to squirm out from under the rabbit in a futile attempt. I could feel my adrenaline pump through my veins. In a random spasm of what could be bravery or foolishness, I tacked the rabbit away from my brother and tried to rip off its head. Even without putting my physical strength into it, it came away with ease. Inside of it was a human head and as I peered further down the suit I could see there was an entire human body in there. And they were still alive. I could tell from the way their back slowly raised and lowered itself.

“Get off me!” The person mumbled. I almost fell over in shock as I heard it. Despite being muffled by the floor I already knew who the killer was. It was a shock to my system, but the one who had stabbed and drowned my sister was none other than Leo himself.

“Leo? What the hell?!” Reece floored Leo with a punch, just as the latter got onto their feet. “Why did you have to slaughter Virgo like that?”

“She was getting in the way of what I wanted!” He snapped. “I never wanted to be famous! Heaven knows if the president could’ve used me as free prostitute meat! I didn’t want to be forced into anything I didn’t want to do!”

“But why didn’t you say so earlier?” I gasped. I was still recovering from the revelation. “We would’ve allowed you to leave.”

“No, you wouldn’t have. Crystal, all you are is a fame seeker with no real ambitions. Don’t you get it? I only chipped in to make you happy! But you wanted to take it further, as if you were the limelight. You thought you were the leader of us all. It was supposed to be a team effort. But no, you just had to make us gain all the success that you would claim for yourself.”

“Leo, stop making all these allegations!” I whined. “I just wanted to make music for enjoyment. Reece suggested making it public which we all agreed to. Face it; I’m not the diva here. You are.” Leo had no response to that. He just stared blankly at me as if he were expecting an ambush. Tension spread like the plague. Reece flinched slightly, showing he wanted to smack Leo once more. However I had to hold him back. To do so I wrapped his arm around me. I had to make sure Reece retaining what was left of his love. Even if Leo had been treacherous and lied to us, he was still a family member.

“So you also posted that comment which threatened to have us all put down.” Reece growled.

“I did indeed.”

“Why?”

“I had to make you suspicious that something was gonna happen. It was foreshadowing what would come up next in case I felt remorse about what I might’ve done. Strangely, I never felt anything with Virgo when she met death head-on. Yeah, she was sweet and all. But she still would’ve died, regardless of whether I intervened or not.”

“You are one twisted psycho.” Reece muttered. Taking no notice of Reece, Leo continued.

“Unfortunately, the two of you must go. I’ve had no qualms over Virgo’s death, and I’m sure I won’t have any when I kill you too. However it would feel strange for a pack of four to be separated.”

“Just what are you talking about?” Nothing Leo said made sense to me.

“There’s a place we can all be together,” He responded, looking up at the sky from a window. '“Where the moon and the stars reside. There’s a place we can go where we’ll sleep forever. 'As a whole. If you want to see your sister again, then you must die to find her up there. And since you both clearly miss her, I can offer to, you know-“He was cut off from another punch at Reece’s hand.

“What makes you think we would die to see her again? That’s not what she’d want! She would want us to live life as happily as possible, no matter the circumstances. Leo Sagittarius, you must pay for your sins!” I watched on helplessly as Leo charged straight towards Leo. I didn’t know what to do, but I did notice a wicked gleam in Leo’s eye.

“Reece, don’t-“It was too late. My dear brother might have been prepared to fight Leo, but he didn’t imagine a knife plunging through his stomach. As Reece’s corpse slumped onto the floor I found myself crying out in anguish. It was down to me… and the murderer of my siblings.

“Don’t cry Crystal, this will all be over tonight…” Mutely I saw Leo as he pulled out a canister of some kind, seemingly out of nowhere. “Now, I don’t know if you noticed, but there’s quite a bit of gasoline all over the house. It’s mainly on the floor, but there is some on the furniture too.” Without warning he pulled the cap off and threw the container towards me. I was splashed and begun to splutter when some of it went near my mouth. “We can both die together. We can finally meet our siblings again, minus the music making. It will be the perfect life.” I refused to believe him. What was he to believe that he would join me, Virgo and Reece? If there was a heaven or hell, he would be going to the latter. He wouldn’t be with us…

I swiftly began to make a beeline for the exit, when I heard the sound of fire whooshing through the air. Leo was laughing in the background as if he believed the fire would catch up. It never did. I barely managed to evade the flames behind me, and when I did I continued to run. Facing the house one last time, I watched on sadly as the inferno engulfed it. There’s a black house burning in the moonlight… All of my siblings were now dead… I was the only one left.

I had sped through the forest when I suddenly slipped on a piece of ice. Forced to careen in its direction, I ended up landing in a river. Whether it was the same one my sister’s corpse lay in, I didn’t know. Either way I felt my heart pounding. My brother might not have been the one to end my life, but the river could. Escaping fire just to drown? It was almost ironic. I kept trying to reach the slope but it was too slippery for me to hold onto. I was either going to freeze or drown, so I ended up giving up. No point in fighting to survive if it’s all going to be worthless.

Miraculously, I felt two pairs of hands grab mine. I was pulled out of the river by none other than my parents who embraced me tightly when I was finally free. A blanket was wrapped around my shoulders as I got taken back to my home town.

The house felt hollower with Virgo, Reece and Leo there. Granted that one of them went insane, but I still had affections towards them all. Somehow I managed to recite the story to my parents, who merely nodded. I was glad to see that they understood. They even asked if I wanted them to adopt a new sibling, but I told them they didn’t need to. No matter what, nothing would seal the gap in my heart.

The rest of my pre-hunger games years were very lonesome. I had suddenly developed a bubble of ferocity that would come on at random points. Many of my school friends faded away like a dream because I was more snappish than usual. Many times I jumped whenever somebody made physical contact with me when I least expected it. This often led to me slapping other people by mistake. In the end I did all my work isolated because I was too far on the edge to be with other students. My parents made me visit a therapist every three weeks. Not much process was made but I became a fractionally calmer. The frost continued to build up, however. Nobody managed to retrieve the pearl inside that contained all I had left of my kindness. In the end, I tried to put a stop to this myself. To further remind myself of what I felt inside, I styled my hair so that there were blue highlights.

I acted friendly around everybody in order to save who I wanted to be. Slowly I begun to get some of my friends back and eventually, I was able to return to the classrooms. Although it felt good I couldn’t keep up the act for long. Whenever I got back home I hardly ever uttered a word to my parents. Instead I spent much of my time on my computer to look at the news of my siblings’ disappearances. They later managed to find Virgo’s body and two scarred skeletons that they thought to be Leo and Reece. The news concluded that the anonymous person who had posted the message slaughtered the three of them and failed to eliminate me. If only they knew the truth…

Another place I would look on is the band’s official website. I found many comments of our fans sending their best of wishes to me and my parents. They also hoped that my siblings were at peace and that everything would be back to normal soon. I wanted to believe them but somehow my heart didn’t feel that way. Instead I felt like something else big and bad was going to happen.

Eventually, that time came. I was in line at the reapings, when I heard my name being called out. To be honest I didn’t react that much to being announced as the new tribute. However I began my descent to my new hell, when several people volunteered. I didn’t want to be responsible for the death of another human life, so I quickly dashed up to the stage. The escort whispered to me that they knew who I was. Their mood seemed to have been dampened. Despite this they tried to maintain a positive mood and asked why I denied the others volunteering.

“Well,” I started. “I don’t want any more people around me dying because they wanted to help out. I just want to do things my way without putting possible friends at risk.” Half-truth, half-lie. Whilst I truly didn’t want an innocent soul to die, I chose to remain as tribute in order to see whether I would pay for the blood of my siblings.

(Total words: 5,189)

Backstory Summary
Crystal was born to two members of a band and had three siblings: Her eldest brother Leo, her other brother Reece and her younger sister Virgo. Because she felt inspired by her parents, she recruited them as a 'band' to play music together. She was on vocals, Leo was on Drums, Reece was on guitar and Virgo was on piano. After learning to play their instruments they would often sneak over to Leo's school to play the music and record it. Their original plan was to make it into a CD and possibly publish it. Once they had finished they came up with a conundrum: Most of the record companies required children's bands to have permission from their parents. In the end they just listened to it in their spare time.

Eventually their parents discovered this and managed to get the CD released publicly. It managed to reach #83 on the Capitol charts and already a website had been created for them. Later on they released a second CD. This time they were going to tour Panem for it. However Leo's behaviour became a bit iffy. He still performed, but he often got anxiety attacks. It didn't help at all when a news report was seen saying about a hater who threatened their band. They shrugged it off and managed to perform almost all of the shows. However at the last one Leo ran away. The other siblings chased after him, with Virgo having the closest distance to him.

Crystal and Reece wandered together through the woods where they eventually found a corpse in the rival. It was Virgo, and there was also a note in a tree about her. Wanting to find Leo the two siblings trekked on until they found a house in the dark sky.

After searching through the house Crystal and Reece were ambushed by a person wearing a rabbit's costume. This turned out to be Leo who never wanted to be famous. His mind had snapped and he wanted all of his siblings dead. Reece tried to attack him, only to find himself on the receiving end of a knife. Afterwards Leo pointed out the gasoline on the floor and Crystal ended up being doused with a spare cannister Leo had. He lit up the house and Crystal barely escaped. However whilst trying to return home she fell into a river and nearly drowned. Her parents managed to rescue her from there.

Tributes were made to the siblings in the news and on the website. Crystal however became a bit more anxious and afraid of death.She lost a few of her friends because she behaved a bit more icily. She tried to make it up to them by being friendly in order to hide her new persona. Though she got her friends back, it tired her to fake the friendliness. She seldom spoke to her parents because of this.

She was later chosen at the reapings and a few girls tried to take her place. However she didn't allow them too and went on stage, the escort noticing who she was.

Song Inspiration
Leaving Tonight by The Birthday Massacre

 'There's a path, we can walk through the loss and the pity' - The siblings overcoming several obstacles they faced.

 'There's a girl sleeping under the river' - Virgo after being drowned.

 'There's a girl that we watch and we'll soon be with her' - Reece and Crystal feeling like they might die.

 'Face turns white like a sky in December' - Crystal's fears.

 'There's a black house burning in the moonlight' - Reference to black being an 'evil' colour. Leo's mind is the black house, which is being destroyed as he further kills his siblings.

 'We're standing at the door and there's no one in sight' - The source of Leo's insanity being obscure.

Trivia

 * Crystal is semi-based on my dreams to become a singer
 * There are two main references to the album 'Epica' by Kamelot
 * Edge of Paradise Records comes from the song 'The Edge of Paradise' which is the 5th track on Epica
 * The concept album for Succubus is roughly inspired by the concept of Epica