Chapter 1: Crash Landing
The ceremonies were just beginning to get underway and Echo Odair leaned against the chariot assigned to his district. He didn't know anyone else in the tributes area except for Jay Mellark, but even at that, it was only from association to his parents. Jay was too busy talking with another male tribute so Echo didn't even consider approaching him. Echo really disliked the games, his parents had taught him to dislike them. His mom had lost most of her sanity and his dad spaced out a lot, sometimes going off on random little rants about the most random of things. He supposed it was better than nothing, he could deal with his parents oddness, his parents could have been in a lot worse shape as could have Jay's, their parents had just gotten lucky.
Echo's mother Annie and his father Finnick had joined forces with the thirteenth district of Panem along with Jay's parents Katniss and Peeta to try and overthrow the capitol. The capitol had once again crushed the second rebellion and the key people of the rebellion had stood trial for their crimes, President Snow personally choosing their punishments. Snow had found out that Echo's mother Annie had been pregnant and knew of Katiniss' fear of having kids and decided to use the information against them. Their kids were to have their names entered in the reaping drawings five times for every one entry, the two family's were to have their food and money cut off so they were an average couple living in victor's village, struggling for every coin in their pockets and fighting for the food on their tables, thus forcing their kids to have to enter their names for tesserae and even if their name was called and they won, they still had to have their names in the bowl for the chance to have to return to the competition all the way up until they were too old for the reaping.
Katniss threatened to never marry or have kids, putting a bit of a damper in Snows plans for all of five minutes. Snow forced Katniss and Peeta into marriage, a not so difficult task since they loved each other and Katniss' other love interest Gale was killed for his part in the rebellion. Snow could tell that Katniss wasn't going to go down without a fight after the forced marriage and certainly wasn't going to willingly have kids and so he did what he did best, he threatened to kill Katniss' sister and mother if she didn't have a baby in a timely manner. Katniss couldn't deny Snow's wishes because she loved her sister and mother very much and she conceded, giving Snow what he wanted. Snow had complete control over the Mellark's, Everdeen's and Odair's, a grip he could never lose.
So there they were, Echo and Jay, children of rebellion yet so loved by the capitol because of their parents. Excuses had been made for the rebellion and their punishments covered up so the capitol people were as oblivious to the truth as they had been since day one. Their parents stories were the stuff of fairytales here. Annie and Finnick married in a televised event during the rebellion, their son's birth major talk since the two had never hinted of their love before the rebellion. Their story had been they only joined the rebellion because Annie had been rescued district thirteen so Finnick had no choice, especially after Annie had found out she'd been pregnant with Echo. Katniss and Finnick on the other hand had a whole other story…
Katniss had been kidnapped from the games and they had threatened her life if she didn't help their cause. She had been pregnant with Peeta's baby, but the baby had been lost, the district blaming it on the capitol even though it had been their plan all along to take the baby away, one way or another. Peeta had been helpless and have been brainwashed by the rebellion upon his rescue, but in return for the cooperation of Katniss as the mockingjay of the rebellion, they were going to give her Peeta in return. The two did as they were told and survived, but were left heartbroken by the loss of their unborn child. Snow, being the generous man that he was offered to help mend this broken heart, throwing them a huge wedding in the capitol for all the districts to watch in on and when Katniss got pregnant, huge parties were thrown in hers and Peeta's honor, their sons birth televised and celebrated throughout the districts and capitol, just like Annie and Finnick had received with Echo. What Snow hadn't expected was for Katniss and Peeta to name their son Jay, their little mockingjay and their own form of a mini rebellion.
Really it was a miracle that Jay and Echo were still alive. Echo had been to the capitol many times in his seventeen years of life, at least once a year for his large birthday celebrations that Snow threw for him. In those trips, he made a mess of things, throwing fits, insulting the capitol citizens, leaking out small bits of the truth. Snow disliked this and had his own way of punishing Echo, telling everyone that he was too sick to leave the capitol just yet after his celebrations and Echo was forced to stay a while longer than his parents with Snow lecturing him about what behavior was expected of him. Still Echo would take such treatments any day of the week over what Jay had to put up with.
Jay was a definite hit in the capitol, just like his parents had been. He had Katniss' fierceness and Peeta's charm, he was almost born to live in the capitol and it was hard to believe that he was from district twelve. Jay had already had his name called once for the games, he'd only been twelve at the time, his first year. Everyone had counted him out since no one that young had ever won; even Echo's own father had been a little bit older when he'd won his games. Jay had won the games by himself, hadn't teamed up with anyone and his parents hadn't even had to intervene much as his mentors, he was a fighter. Jay had returned as a mentor every year after that that his name hadn't been called and the capitol ate him up. He was the life of any party and Snow took a special interest in his life, trying to prep and control the boy to be his second in command and one day is successor.
Echo couldn't imagine such a life and thus pictured it as far worse than anything Snow had ever dealt him. Echo had been so lucky to just have his name called this one time, but Jay had been called a second time and was sure to be the favorite. Echo was expected to make allies with Jay, a boy he had never met but knew quite well. His parents had hopes that it would help with him getting more sponsors so who was he to deny them? His parents both had been victors, they knew what they were doing with giving him the valuable advice.
Echo had gotten lost in his musings of the past and his and Jay's lives and hadn't noticed Jay walk towards him until he was leaning with him against the chariot. " So what's with the seaweed skirt?" Jay asked nonchalantly with a small smirk.
Echo's brow furrowed as he laughed a bit, shaking his head. " Honestly I have no idea. My stylist Cotia is just a ditzy girl who thought to try and make me follow in my father's footsteps." He told Jay with a small laugh. Echo's father Finnick had been somewhat of a heartthrob of the capitol, a sex god almost, his stylist had mentioned that it had worked for his father so why not him?
Echolooked just like his father, none of his mother's traits seemed to take to him. He was tall, muscular in and athletic way, evenly tanned skin from hours working on the boats in the sun. His hair was a golden bronze that shimmered, even in the dull lights of the stables and he had green eyes that were deep, the color of the ocean and stood out. There was no denying he was Finnick Odair's boy, especially when dressed in nothing but a skirt made of seaweed
" Well it looks ridiculous on you. Seaweed though works since you're from district four, but still couldn't she have given you a fish tail or scales or something to cover up a bit more skin?" Jay joked. The two of them were talking and acting so easy around each other, like they were old friends even though they had never spoken before.
" Look who's talking. Your stylist looks like he was trying to make you into a sexy miner!" Echo pointed out, getting a laugh out of Jay.
" Yeah my stylist went with sexy look as well. She just kind of went off of past costumes since district twelve is still mining but most haven't gotten the hang of it yet." Jay told him as he ran his fingers through his hair.
After Katniss had been kidnapped from her second games, district twelve had been bombed, completely destroying it. After the failed rebellion, those who had fled to thirteen and were allowed to live were returned to the destroyed district to try and rebuild it, citizens taken from other districts to help boost population and thirteen survivors were sent there as well. It was still hard to tell what the actual industry of twelve was since so many new industries had kind of popped up.
Jay was dressed up in a pair of pale grey miner pants, a faded yellow hard hat. His cheeks, neck and chest had what looked like they had lipstick marks on them, but the lip shapes were made up with coal. The pants looked worn and slightly ragged but with his tasseled blonde hair and green eyes, Jay easily pulled it off and looked almost dazzling in it.
" Seems to be a theme… Think us being sexy is what's going to sell us this year?" Echo asked in a bored tone of voice, easy to tell that he really didn't care.
" Seems that way. Can't say I can complain though, have you seen the girl from one? I think she said her name was Sapphire, but I can't be positive. That girl though is going to be a distraction, I can already tell. She's in this dress made of clear plastic, diamond and sapphire flakes speckled in the material making the dress sparkle and shine with every movement, but there are regular sized gems clustered in certain parts of her dress to leave a little something to the imagination." Jay told Echo with a devilish smile, a small, almost dream like sigh escaping his lips.
Echo couldn't stop himself from trying to find the girl, curious about if Jay had been lying or not. " You do realize that it's pointless to try and make a move on her right? First chance she got she'd try and rip out your heart." He pointed out, giving up since it really didn't matter to him.
" Yeah I know, but still I can admire the work of her stylist. Sure she'll flirt with me now, but it was her brother Onyx who I killed to win my last games. I'll be lucky to be able to make it back into the careers pack with her in it. It is a shame though that I can't hook up with her, she's a true gem." Jay said shaking his head.
" Eh who knows, maybe you can bring her 'round, woo her and make games history by crossing into a whole new world of romance just like your parents." Echo suggested with a small shrug.
" Oh wouldn't that be something. To be able to hook up with Sapphire on the games, I wouldn't even want to face Flickerman at the end and see that footage. My mom would shoot me in half a heartbeat for deflowering a girl on camera." Jay told him, a wicked smile crossing his lips.
" If Sapphire is as beautiful as you make her sound, I doubt you'd be deflowering her." Echo joked. He really didn't remember Sapphire from the reaping highlights, he'd slept through most of them so it was still a mystery to him who everyone was.
Before Jay could respond to Echo's comment, everyone was being ushered to their chariots. With a huff, Jay wished Echo luck and went to his own chariot. Jay's partner was dressed up almost similarly, but Jay paid her no attention. Jay knew the girl quite well and didn't get along with her so he said nothing to her and didn't look at her. It was amazing that Jay got along better with the people of the capitol better than he did the people from his own still broken district. It wasn't uncommon though for the tributes from the same district not to talk or get along very well at first, most of the other tributes weren't talking to their partners.
Stylists came through and put their final touches together as the chariots started to roll out. It seemed normal enough, Echo was among the first to roll out since he was in district four. He smiled and waved at the crowds as they went wild. His fellow district tribute was in a matching seaweed skirt, but had starfish to cover her breasts, a bit of a cliché in Echo's opinion, but surely something someone like Jay would enjoy. Echo got bored rather quickly with the ride past the capitol citizens and had started to block them out. Well that was until he hear the sound of a wheezing whoosh mixed with the sounds of crashing and screams.
There was an explosion of dust just in front of Echo's chariot, the horses spooked and jerking away, knocking him and the girl beside him out of the chariot. Echo coughed and gasped for breath as he tried to stand up from being knocked flat on his back. Everything had fallen silent except for the cried of the horses and the crashes of the chariots, the horses trying to get away. Echo was shaky on his feet but peered into the settling dust, not prepared for the strange sight in front of him.
Just a couple of feet before him loomed a tall wooden box. It was blue and read ' Police Box' on the top. It was something he had never seen before and it took his breathe away a look of awe crossing his face. Jay dashed to his side and looked just as amazed by the box. All the tributes seemed to gather around it, no one daring to breathe let alone speak a word.
Jay looked at Echo for a moment before shrugging a bit and taking a step forward, his hand reaching towards the door since Jay felt no fear. At the particular moment however, the door swung open and a strange man and dark haired girl looked back at them with surprise.
" I take it that this isn't Tishus Eight…" The man said, reaching up to adjust a red bowtie around his neck.
" Doctor, where are we?" The dark haired girl beside him choked out, Jay stumbling backwards.
" That I don't know Beata…" The man named Doctor told her with an amused smiled as if it were a joke to him.
" Uh sir you're in the capitol." One of the female tributes whispered, her voice shaky.
" Capitol of what exactly?" The Doctor pressed eagerly.
" Panem. This is the opening ceremonies of the ninety-third Hunger Games." Jay spoke up, his voice steady and strong.
" Oh. Bother." The Doctor hissed just before peacekeepers rushed forward to swarm around the blue box and blocking the tributes from the man and woman within the strange box.