Under a Clear Sky [CLOSED]

[peeta_mellark]

For the second day in a row, Peeta watches the sun rise from the roof of the rebel apartments.

He knows that Daine has been sticking close to the base and made the decision - for both of them - to stay away as much as possible. He even begged off his normal duty in the kitchens - or attempted to, anyway. Before he had the chance to even open his mouth to ask off, he'd been told to take all the time he needed. None of the kicthen staff would quite meet his eyes, and he knew that as much as he needed the time, they did, too.

So he spends most of his time out in the city. He can't quite bring himself to linger in the park - even the areas far removed from where it happened - but between the library and the museums, there are places for him to go. And he finds himself here, on the roof, for every sunrise and sunset. It's as quiet as the city gets, and he finds some measure of peace there, up above the streets, at the beginning and end of the day.

This morning, he arrived extra early. Unable to sleep, pulled into horrible dreams every time he closed his eyes, he abandoned his quarters in the dark hours of the morning and headed for the roof. Now he sits in the same nook where he and Daine watched the fireworks on a night that feels like a lifetime ago, and watches the sky lighten.

Comments

[apidae]

Bee has kept to herself lately. Something so catastrophic had happened two days ago, and no one has told her what. She has been afraid to ask. She'd felt it instantly, like a bomb going off, even at such a distance; no specific, discernible patterns, but a definitive arrival, a crackling burst of destructive energy from the Rift, and then Aziraphale's sudden sharp panic, palpable down the hall. She has never considered herself a telepath - she's never been able to feel things without being in the direct presence of people before. It was terrifying. Aziraphale had been so unnaturally forceful when he commanded her back into her apartment, she hadn't questioned it. She'd gone back in and waited, sat upright and waited for any more sudden senses, but there had been nothing, until she'd seen the birds, and gone to the window. Animals everywhere, everywhere she could see. She'd gone at once to the roof and seen her darlings swirling around the hive in a panic, gone straight into it and been stung by a few, nothing worse than she'd been through before. She sat there and waited with them until they settled again, and realized she was crying, without knowing why. Only knowing that something horrible had happened.

Andrew's text asking after Daine had made her feel sick. She hadn't been able to respond. She hadn't been able to text anyone or leave her apartment. She'd felt frozen. And no one came to see her.

She is still so afraid to find out. She is sure Daine is dead. She spends an entire day holed up inside, alternately crying and staring numbly at her phone.

She has to check on the bees, though. She gets up early, unable to sleep. When she sees Peeta alone on the roof, her heart plummets. Oh no. Oh no, no.

"Peeta?" she all but whispers as she approaches him gently. She can feel herself trembling. "Peeta, is... is she...?"

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta is surprised to hear a voice, and for the space of a beat his heart thinks, Daine. But it's Bee, and she looks about the way he feels. His first reaction to her question is confusion, followed swiftly by horror. Has she spent the past two days thinking Daine was dead? Why didn't anyone tell her?

"No, no Daine isn't - it wasn't her," he quickly says. He almost reflexively adds, She's fine, but he's too tired for polite lies. And Bee deserves only the truth. She would immediately see it in Daine, anyway.

[apidae]

"Oh, oh, thank god," she breathes, gasping from the sheer release of tension. She feels overcome by it; she collapses to her knees and throws her arms around him. "I didn't - I was too afraid to ask anyone what happened, I just saw the animals and I thought-" She breaks off and hugs him until she feels a little calmer, then pulls back.

"But the animals... something did happen," she says in a low voice. She can see it there clearly, the deep anguish, having lost someone close. She feels a pang of guilt, being so relieved that one friend lived while another has died.

"Who was it?" she asks quietly. "If... if you're all right to talk about it. It's all right if you don't want to."

[peeta_mellark]

When Bee wraps her arms around him, Peeta returns the favor. It is nice, for the moment, to let relief block out everything else he has been carrying around. He's been so overwhelmed by guilt and grief that he hasn't really been able to appreciate the fact that he and Daine survived, even if it was only because the thing had no interest in them.

But when Bee asks who it was, Peeta's stomach drops. He isn't sure if she knows, if she knew Edgar and Almondine, but he hates that he has to be the one who tells her what happened to them.

He looks away before he answers her, not wanting to see if her expression shifts into the one everyone seems to wear now when they see his face.

"It was Edgar and Almondine."

[apidae]

She quirks her eyebrows at the names - she didn't know them, but they're familiar. Daine had mentioned them - a boy and a dog? The boy with-

"Oh," she murmurs. "Oh, was he the one with... the one who looked like...?"

She doesn't need to finish. She frowns sorrowfully, and reaches out to take his hands. "I'm so sorry, Peeta."

[peeta_mellark]

"Someone - something came through the rift. It was attacking people in the park. Daine was trying to drive people away from it when she ran into me." Aside from his initial report to the rebels, Peeta hasn't spoken of what happened. He didn't plan to tell Bee the details, but now that he's started talking, it seems he can't stop.

"We saw Edgar and Almondine, and then the thing showed up. He - it just appeared out of nowhere. We were too far away, but Daine tried to go to them, to save them." He's shaking his head now, though he barely notices. "I held her back. It would have killed her. It killed Edgar, and then Almondine. And then it disappeared."

The explanation sounds simplified, even to his own ears, but he doesn't feel the need to relieve the experience in detail. He's given Bee the outline of what happened; he knows she'll be able to fill in the emotions herself.

[apidae]

Bee watches him sympathetically, the memories clearly painful to him, wrapped up in guilt and regret and the impotent frustration of knowing there is nothing you can do to change anything that has happened. She understands this so well.

"I'm sorry," she says again, though it is so woefully inadquate. She squeezes his hands gently. "You did the right thing, holding her back." Knowing Daine, and the way Peeta seems to be avoiding her, she might feel angry with him for having done so, but Bee is certain she'll get past it.

"Thank you for telling me," she murmurs. "Does anyone know what the thing was? Or where it came is now, what happened to it?" Now she's worried others may have died. She hasn't seen Aziraphale since that morning either.

[peeta_mellark]

"Daine doesn't think so," Peeta murmurs, giving Bee a rueful smile.

He nods when she thanks him. He can't imagine what it would have been like if he had been in her position, knowing that something terrible had happened, but having no idea what. He gives her hand a comforting squeeze in turn.

He frowns faintly at her questions. "I'm not sure," he admits. "I don't think anyone has seen it since, otherwise I'm sure we would know. But I've made myself scarce since it happened, so my information is probably a little out of date." And that makes him feel guilty, too.

[apidae]

She pats his arm soothingly. "Everyone's been through a lot," she says. "I'm sure it'll be a while yet before we're all up to speed again."

She settles a little closer and puts an arm around his shoulders - he seems like he might need it.

"And she'll come around, too," she says quietly. "I know she will. It might take a long time, but she'll realize that you did the right thing."

[peeta_mellark]

"Yeah." Peeta's grateful for the hug - and the assurances, even if he doesn't fully believe them. Even if Daine comes to understand that he was right to hold her back, he isn't sure she'll ever forgive him for it.

He wraps an arm around Bee's waist and gives her a light squeeze before letting go.

"Have you stayed here in the apartments for the past two days, then?" he asks.

[apidae]

"Yeah." She settles back in the nook, pulling her knees to her chest. "I didn't know what else to do. I feel so dumb for hiding." She sighs and rests her head on her knees. "I just didn't want to hear the bad news, I guess. So I tried to pretend like nothing had happened. My momma used to get after me for that. Said I couldn't pretend the world wasn't bad. I had to be part of it." Think of her momma makes her unexpectedly sad. She tilts her head down and wraps her arms around her legs. "It's just so hard sometimes."

[peeta_mellark]

"It's good that you hid," Peeta says emphatically, but gently. "You were safer here." Relatively speaking. He doubts being inside a building would much safer than anywhere else if the thing decided it wanted to come after her.

He doesn't miss her shift of mood, and he's astute enough to understand its cause. Trading roles, he turns comforter, wrapping an arm around her and leaning into her a little. "Sometimes you need to take a day or two off and hide from the bad things for a little while," he says, the tone of experience in his voice.

Nudging her a little and waiting until she looks up, he waves a hand to encompass the rooftop. "And I think you're doing a pretty good job being part of the world."

[apidae]

She smiles a little at his reassurance, and nods her head. "Yeah," she says. "I guess so."

For a while she says nothing, just listens to the faint buzzing of her darlings.

"Do you want some breakfast?" she asks after a moment. "I could throw something together if you like."

[peeta_mellark]

"That would be nice, actually. I haven't eaten yet."

He stands, stretching a little, feeling better than he did when he first walked onto the roof this morning. "I can help, too, if you want."

[apidae]

"That soungs great." She smiles brightly and stands up as well. She wonders what kind of things he can make - she gets a vague sense that he has a fair amount of kitchen-based skill. "Do you know Sunshine? She gave me some flour a while back, but I haven't really made anything worth note yet. I was thinking of trying to make biscuits. Otherwise I've got some eggs, um... not much else." She giggles sheepishly as they make their way to the rooftop door. "I actually need to go grocery shopping."

[peeta_mellark]

"Yeah, I know Sunshine. We met in the base kitchens, actually." He smiles. "Both bakers."

Peeta holds the door for Bee to go in first. "If you feel up to getting groceries, I can make biscuits. Or muffins. Or something else, if you'd like."

[apidae]

"Oh, that's great!" she gushes excitedly. TWO bakers for friends. She is the luckiest. She practically bounces over to the elevators, pressing the button to go down.

"I have enough ingredients for biscuits, I think," she says. "And I can scramble some eggs to go with them." She'll have to go out sooner or later, but she's still working her way up to that level of activity. "That would be enough for me, unless you want something specific?"

[peeta_mellark]

"That's fine with me," Peeta says. Bee's enthusiasm, as always, is infectious, and he finds himself feeling lighter than he has in days.

[apidae]

The elevator comes and bears them the short trip down to the 18th floor. Bee passes Aziraphale's door without a glance, though inwardly she feels another pang of nervousness. She still has so many people to check up on.

"Sorry, it's... well, I've sort of been locked up in it for two days straight," she says a bit sheepishly as she lets Peeta into her apartment. It's quite tidy, if a bit dim. Not much smell. Bee doesn't sweat anymore. She doubts she'll ever get used to that.

Still, though, the air is a bit stuffy. "Let me open some windows," she says, hurrying in and pulling all the shades up as high as they'll go to let the light in. "Kitchen's just there, all the stuff is in the cupboards next to the fridge - I'll be right there."

[peeta_mellark]

Peeta blinks in the sudden brightness and takes a moment to survey the tidy space. At Bee's direction, he heads into the kitchen, rummaging through cabinets to find everything they need.

[apidae]

Bee comes into the kitchen area and pulls out a pan and the necessary tools for egg-scrambling, and helps Peeta find the necessary ingredients. "Got everything you need?"