A/N: so this is the sequel to my story Bows and Arrows. I would suggest reading the first book first but I don't control your life so do whatever you want. Hope you Bows and Arrows fans enjoy this and to all you other people, hi!
Chapter 1:
Katniss walked back from the forest so rounding district twelve. It was the only place she felt at home now a days. Her Victor's Village house was to spacious for just her and Prim and she couldn't return to her old house. It felt like everything that took place there was a lie. The forest had always been her second home and for the time being it was her only one.
She had gone hunting, treasuring the hours before her prep team came knocking at her door and readied her for the Victory Tour, or as Cato called it, the Tour to Hell. That seemed more appropriate for the three victors. She hadn't talked to Peeta since the train ride, where she had told him she didn't feel the same way he did about her.
She walked into her house, discarding her bow and arrows in the front closet before Prim walked to her in the study. "Hey, Prim" Katniss smiled but Prim's face remained emotionless.
"You have a visitor, Katniss" she said. "He's in the study."
Katniss walked into the study to see Clove sitting in one of the plush armchairs with the President of Panem himself. "Hello, Katniss. It's a pleasure to see you again, please sit" Snow said, gesturing to the plush arm chair next to Clove.
Katniss sat and the President got directly to business. "I think it'll make this situation easier by agreeing not to lie to each other. What do you think?"
"Yes, I think that'll save time" Clove said. Clove might have been the second born but she was much better at handling these types of situations and handling things.
"What do you think, Katniss?" She asked.
"I agree completely" Katniss said. The President smiled, his lips overly full and the skin stretched to tight.
"My advisors were concerned you two would be difficult, but you weren't going to be difficult. We're you?" He asked.
"No" they said together. Usually this would be a time for laughs. The two twins speaking at the same time. Everyone would laugh and Cato would make fun of them. But now they just stared at their grandfather.
"That's what I told them" he said. "I said any one who goes to such lengths to preserve their lives isn't going to be interested in throwing it away. And then there's their family to think about. Their mother and sister. Not to mention dear old dad." He paused for a moment, letting the information sink in. To Katniss, John wasn't anything except for the man who raised her. She resented him, but to Clove he was the father she dreamed about meeting for sixteen years and loosing him wouldn't be easy, especially now that he was finally in her grasp.
"I have a problem" said Snow turning towards Katniss. "A problem that began the moment you pulled out those poisonous berries. If the Head Gamemaker, Saneca Crane, had any brains he would have blown you four sky high then and there. But here you are, can you guess where he is?"
Katniss nodded. He had made it clear that he had been executed. The smell of blood and roses had grown stronger now and both girls suspected poison. "After that you were pretty good, Miss Everdeen. The love-crazed schoolgirl bit, I almost believed it. And I'm not the only one who didn't."
Katniss froze in a silent panic as he turned to Clove. "You, on the other hand, Miss Snow, are very good. Even I believe your love for Mr. Hadley is true. You and Mr. Hadley will be in the clear for now, but as soon as one of you step out of line. You're fair game to the citizens of the Capitol" he warned.
"Why are you telling us this, Mr. President?" Clove asked, her composure staying true.
"I'm scared of an uprising, Miss Snow. They will fallow the little stunt of yours unless your dear sister here convinces the districts of her love for Mr. Mellark. Now keep in mind, if you don't the uprisings will turn into a revolution. Than hundreds of people will die and the conditions those left will have to face will be terrible. Do you want all the spilled blood and heartbreak on your hands?" He asked, but he didn't want an answer. He went on, "whatever problems anyone may have with the Capitol, believe me when I say that if it released its grip on the districts for even a second, our whole system will fall apart."
"It must be very fragile if be a handful of berries will knock it down" Clove answered.
"It is very fragile, but not in the way you think, Miss Snow" he said. Katniss was amazed at how the two weren't ripping the other's heads off because it was quite apparent that both wanted to do just that.
"I didn't mean to start and uprising" Katniss said, trying to stead the attention off her sister for a moment. She didn't want the death of the president to take place in her home.
"I believe you, Miss Everdeen, but it doesn't matter. Your stylist seemed to be prophetic in his wardrobe choice. Katniss Everdeen, the girl that was on fire, and her sister, the girl with this knives, have provided a spark that, left unattended, may grow to an inferno that destroys Panem" he says.
"Why don't you just kill us now than?" Clove said.
"Publicity?" He asks. "That would only add fuel to the flames."
"An accident then?"
"No one would buy it. Would you if you were watching it?" The two stared each other down again.
"Than just tell us what to do" Katniss said.
"If it were only that simple." He picked up one of the flower cookies Prim had placed on the desk before Katniss had came into the house. "Did you lovely sister make these?"
"Peeta did" Clove said. For the first time Katniss couldn't meet his gaze. She didn't have nearly as good of a poker face as her sister.
"Peeta? How is the love of your life?" The president asked Katniss. That's when she finally met his snake like gaze. She released Ellia had the same eyes as her father, only hers were softer and loving, while the man sitting in front of hers were cold and unforgiving.
"Good" she said.
"At what point did he realise the exact degree of your indifference?"
"I'm not indifferent" she lied swiftly.
"But not as taken with the young man as you let the country to believe."
"Who says I'm not?"
"I do" says the president. "And, trust me when I say I wouldn't be here if I was the only person who had doubts. It doesn't help that you are disappearing into the woods with that handsome cousin of yours every Sunday."
Katniss breathed in sharply. If he knew about her excursions into the woods what else does he know about? "Well, you have nothing to worry about, Mr. President, I will work out my feelings" Katniss said.
"Do what you wish, Miss Everdeen, but if you better convince the districts of your love. I could easily arrange an accident for your family" he said and paused letting the information sink in before standing. "I think I'll take my leave. But, Clove, Katniss, do you know if your mother is around?"
"I believe she went to town this morning, Grandfather. I doubt you would want to go parading threw town looking for them, that would be very suspicious, wouldn't it?" Clove said before Snow stood and left the study. He smiled his sickly smile, but his eyes had a murderus glint in them. That was clearly what he didn't want to hear. He stepped out the door and left Clove and Katniss alone with their thoughts.