Disclaimer: Characters and setting belong to Susan Collins, not me.
A/N: First fanfic ever, so please be nice and review with tips and so forth. I just wanted to explore the how things would be different if it had not been Katniss and Peeta in the arena the second time through and I hope I do an okay job of imagining it. Thank you.
I watch Effie fish around the girls' name bowl, trying to catch hold of the one slip of paper, tiny, folded, and bearing my name that flutters around in the bottom of the glass. She unfolds and reads it almost unbearably slow. That I was going to be called was obvious, I'm the only possible female victor in district 12, but for the two stiff men in the roped off area opposite mine there is still a question.
My palms are sweating as I climb onto the stage and stare out at the solemn faces of district 12 and I will Effie to move faster as she begins reaching into the boys' bowl. She snatches up one of the little bits of paper and walks slowly, so slowly to the microphone and reads, "Peeta Mellark."
Almost before the words have left Effie's gold painted lips Haymitch has stepped forward. "I volunteer," he says in a flat, toneless voice that sounds wrong coming from him.
I feel dizzy and weak with relief. It will not be Peeta and I in the games again. Peeta will live no matter what happens in the arena and I won't have to work to keep him alive. I glance down at him as Haymitch makes his way to the stage and have to quickly look away again. His shoulders are slumbers and he follows the other man's path to the stage with panic stricken eyes and he grasps the velvet ropes of his pen. He can't do anything to change what just happened.
Haymitch and I are then ushered from the stage and into the peace building where we are hurried out the back door and into a car that takes off toward the train station, all in what seems like the blink of an eye. I register as we drive that this means that the rules have changed and I will not get to say my one last goodbye to Gale, my mother, or Prim and my chest begins to ache.
I don't have time to mourn long however as we pull up to the station and are shoved aboard the train by a handful of peace keepers. Haymitch and I have just enough time to look at each other and share each other's anxiety for a moment before Effie and Peeta are shoved in after us.
Peeta's face has change during the car ride. The alarm has left his eyes, probably because he is resigned to this turn of events, but now his face has hardened into one of intense, molten anger. He affixes his searing eyes tightly on Haymitch.
"Bastard!" he yells and knocks into Haymitch with all of his might and they both tumble to the floor. Effie shrieks and I am too stunned too react. Peeta pulls Haymitch up slightly by two fistfuls of the man's jacket and barks into his face, "You promised me! You told me it would be me! You goddamn liar, it should be me!" Peeta snarls like a wild dog and drops his hold on the jacket letting Haymitch fall back to the floor. There is dead silence in the car for a moment as he continues to shake in fury. Then the train creaks and starts forward and the spell is broken.
Haymitch sits up and Peeta lets him. He doesn't look at the younger boy and frowns for a moment before saying in a deadly quiet voice, "I guess I lied then."