So this is my new WIP. It started by talking about parallel universes with my Dad one night and wondering how I would get along with any potential other Me. It grew into this idea from there. I can't promise it will all be scientifically accurate but I have been doing tons of research on the science. This first prologue will be split into two parts because yes, there will be two pairs of our favorite couple. I'll have notes for the chapters posted so you know which one is telling the story. Hope you like it!
Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark, aged 28 years.
Occupation: Agents of the Order of Worlds
Mission – Unknown
The sound of a knock on the front door startled Katniss. It was late at night and she and Peeta lived in seclusion, purposefully in the middle of nowhere. Only two people besides themselves knew the location of their home, and one of those people was dead. Her own family wasn't even aware of the exact location of where they lived, a necessity given how dangerous any outsider knowing that type of personal information could be for not only themselves, but for Peeta and Katniss as well.
She locked eyes with Peeta from across the room, their eyes only meeting for a brief second before he began to make his way towards the door. Her hands, which moments before had been busy folding clothing to place in their packs stilled, as her instincts took over and she became a living statue, listening for any signs of trouble.
When the door closed and Peeta returned moments later, she released the breath she had been holding. He looked utterly confused, not a good sign, and was holding what looked to be a white packet in his hands.
"Well?" She asked, cocking an eyebrow in his direction.
He held up his finger, jerking his head towards the secret panels they had installed in the house themselves upon buying it. He walked over towards them, before pushing in the security code, effectively turning on their own version of a home security system, jamming any and all signals that would allow someone to listen in, watch, or record their activities.
"We got a letter." He said when he was satisfied it was all right to speak openly. He held the white package out to her, and she flipped it over, feeling as confused as he looked. In plain handwritten letters, it read simply "K. Everdeen and P. Mellark." She had seen mail before, and realized the lack of markings – postage it was called – was odd, not as odd as receiving a letter in their technologically fueled world, but odd nonetheless.
"Who brought it?" She asked Peeta, beginning to feel uneasy. Unexpected events – no matter how insignificant – always worried her, and with her experience it was a rightfully justified unease.
"A boy. He was mute. Tongue cut out I think. It doesn't add up." Peeta had begun to move around the room as he answered her, checking out all of the windows, but apparently finding nothing.
"How did a boy find us? A mute one at that?" She watched him, rooted to her spot, waiting for him to come up with a reason. He didn't, instead walking towards her, taking the envelope from her hands.
"I told you; it doesn't add up. Should we open it?" He held the letter between them in his open palm and she nodded her ascent. Peeta sat down on their bed and pulled her down with him, both never taking their eyes off the letter.
He carefully opened it, waiting to see if something was amiss before pulling the letter out slowly, just in case. When it was opened they both let out silent sighs of relief. So far, so good.
"Read it out loud." Katniss whispered and Peeta nodded his head.
"Katniss, Peeta. I know this is a strange way to communicate, however the current situation makes it necessary. You are both needed immediately. Do not talk to anyone, don't tell anyone you are leaving. Follow shut down protocol for your house. Pack according to Level 7 guidelines. (But feel free to add some extra weapons since I know it makes sweetheart feel more at ease to have that damn bow). Meet me at 40.302 N, -77.0569 W at 1 A.M. Do not teleport, stay off the damn grid. Drive the car, don't let the car drive, and destroy this letter. See you soon. Haymitch."
When Peeta was finished reading the short letter he handed it over to Katniss, allowing her to read over it herself with her own eyes. When she handed it back to him he stood and placed the letter in an empty trash receptacle. Dousing the paper with alcohol he lit a match, tossing it in quickly. They both stood and watched as the flames licked up around the rim of the metal container, dying down when there was nothing left to burn. When the container was cool enough Katniss picked it up and walked it into the bathroom, flushing the ashes down the toilet, watching as the black and grey swirled in the bowl.
When she returned Peeta was already at work packing the medium sized work regulation black bag with the contents of the safe they had hidden in the bedroom wall, filling it with things like food capsules, medical equipment, emergency fail safes (or as Katniss liked to call them the "kill yourself if you fuck up so we don't have to" pills), and other life essentials.
She silently made her way over to their bed, pushing the frame with her hip to reveal a line of the floor tiles previously hidden from view. Kneeling down she ran her finger tips over the grout of 8 tiles, finding the hidden catch at the end. She pushed down to release the catch and watched as the section of tiles slid under the ones next to them, allowing a metal case to slowly and silently rise from underneath.
The steel box was menacing to look at and stood 4 feet tall. She and Peeta had decided against using any type of keypad or fingerprint technology to access the contents and at the moment she was glad the only technology she had to use was the mechanism that revealed the case.
Pulling a set of keys out of her pocket she located the correct ones and opened the set of locks on the heavy doors. When she was done she pulled the doors open by the top of the case, revealing the heavily stocked personal armory she and Peeta had amassed over time. She paused to run her fingers over the bow mounted on the back wall of the box as she did every time. She preferred it to guns when she had to use a weapon, and was glad Haymitch had said she could have it with her on this mystery mission.
They had never been on a Level 7 mission before. A Level 6 mission was rare enough, and those were always nerve wrecking. Very few had ever actually been on a Level 7 mission, she could actually count those she knew of on one hand, and they always returned a tad different, changed by the experience and what they saw. How would this change them she couldn't help but wonder. Who would they be when they returned – if they returned?
Pulling out the folded black bag from the second shelf she laid it out on their bed and immediately placed her bow and a sheath of arrows inside. After some consideration of the Level 7 rules, she added two handguns, a roll of knives, a scoped rifle and plenty of ammunition. She was about to zip up the bag when Peeta joined her, placing his hand on her arm to stop her movement.
"Katniss we have to. Level 7 rules." He said to her quietly, his gaze directed at the handgun box at the bottom of the safe. She shuddered at the thought of having to use a Level 7 approved weapon, but reached into the safe anyways, setting the box into the bag carefully before zipping it up. When she was done, Peeta pushed the black button on the side of the safe, and they both watched as it disappeared back into it's hiding place.
They stood stock still for a few moments, the lightness from their evening gone. Katniss swallowed loudly as her stomach twisted in knots.
"Is shut down set?" She asked. Peeta nodded, not saying anything.
"Peeta, the last time someone went on a Level 7 they didn't come back." She said shakily. They both knew what she was talking about – or more specifically whom she was talking about – but they avoided saying their names.
Instead of responding Peeta pulled her into him for a tight embrace, and she could feel his heart pounding behind his chest. He was terrified just like she was. After a few minutes she felt him place a kiss to the top of her head before pulling back.
Taking both bags in one of his hands he reached for hers with his free one, which she took gladly.
"You ready?" He asked her, his voice shaky. She nodded her yes, afraid that if she spoke again she would say something that would wreck them both, and they headed out towards the garage together.
The roads were fairly empty, which was to be expected. Only four types of people drove cars anymore thanks to the development of home and personal teleportation devices some odd years ago. Really now the only people on the roads were those making large deliveries, those who still didn't fully trust the technology, those trying to stay off the radar, and those who were too poor to afford the teleportation technology.
Katniss had always insisted on having a car because for most of her life she was a part of the latter group. Peeta didn't mind, he actually liked driving he had told her once, and so when they could they would take long drives to relax.
This drive however was anything but relaxing. The car was silent, they had been too nervous to even flip on the radio, and Peeta's eyes only left the road when he had to glance down at the hastily sketched map he had made with Haymitch's coordinates. Katniss had made sure to scan the automobile to ensure there were no listening or tracking devices attached to it before they had left. Her hands had shaken the entire time.
Now they sat folded in her lap, as she was forced by the silence to contemplate the endless possiblities of what lay before them. There was no telling where they were being sent or why, and even if she rationally knew they would be finding out those pieces of information soon, she still couldn't quite calm herself down.
She would never vocalize it, but Peeta's silence didn't help the situation. He was rarely quiet – annoyingly talkative actually – but his lack of words tonight was setting her on edge.
"We were supposed to be going on vacation." She finally whispered, breaking their silence. It was a trivial thing to say, but it was all she could muster. She had been looking forward to just spending some time away from all of this. At 28 she couldn't remember the last time she had gone away, ahd their work was aging her quickly. She was too young to feel this way.
"Or maybe we were supposed to think we were." Peeta offered up after a few long moments, his voice flat.
Katniss sighed. He was probably right. After all, their lives hadn't been theirs for a long time. It had been a little easier than normal to get the time off they had requested, but she had just assumed it was a sort of belated commitment gift for she and Peeta.
"Well this keeps getting more weird." Peeta murmured catching her attention. She looked out the windshield as they came to a stop. Their lights shone out onto an empty corn field, and she could see Haymitch standing out a distance, alone.
"Peeta something isn't right." She said, knowing full well he was thinking the same thing. This wasn't how things were done. There was a protocol to follow and rules set in place, but neither she nor Peeta could deny Haymitch anything.
Peeta sighed and cut off the car's engine.
"Katniss if it was anyone but Haymitch I wouldn't let us do this." He looked over at her then and she reached out to grab his hand, giving it a tight squeeze. She knew what he was saying was true. If there was one person they both trusted it was the old man waiting for them in the dark field. When she released Peeta's hand she made sure to school her features. Haymitch had a lot of fun at her expense, and if he knew she was afraid he would probably have a field day.
She waited by the car while Peeta collected their bags, taking his hand when he joined her. They walked together towards Haymitch, and when they reached him she watched as his eyes darted to their clasped hands. When he didn't make a remark, Katniss felt her stomach drop. He never passed up an opportunity to chastise them for any type of PDA they showed, most likely because it was so rare. At that moment she realized he was nervous too.
"Katniss. Peeta." He addressed them both with a nod of his head. They returned the gesture, and he ran a hand through his hair.
"I know it's not normal to meet me like this, but you're going way under the radar on this one." He shrugged as if that explained any of what was going on.
"Where exactly are we going" Peeta asked and Haymitch looked up towards the sky. Katniss followed his gaze, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
"Follow me. I'll tell you when we get to the thing.'' He answered, and Katniss rolled her eyes.
"Could you be more vague?" She asked and he grunted in response. When he began walking towards the edge of the field, she and Peeta followed silently.
When they reached a tree stump that had been unnoticeable in the tall grass, Haymitch stopped, and Katniss frowned. A tree stump in a corn field was weird. What was even more weird though was how this one opened down the middle to reveal a set of stairs descending under the earth when Haymitch placed his open palm on the side.
"Normally I would say ladies first, but you aren't a lady so fuck it." Haymitch said as he turned to her, and with that he began to descend down the stairs.
"Asshole." She mumbled and Peeta chuckled. She followed Haymitch with Peeta bringing up the rear and heard the stump close above them after a few moments.
The sound of the old wooden stairs as they creaked under the weight of people was the only noise any of them made until they reached the bottom. While Haymitch shuffled around turning on lights, Katniss took a moment to survey the small room.
The walls were made of steel as was the ceiling. The floor was wooden much like the stairs, and to her right a small hallway led to what looked to be sleeping quarters by the bunk beds she could see. There was a metal table in the middle of the room, covered in maps and papers with folding chairs set out around it. Along the far wall there were built in shelves, packed to the brim with boxes of supplies. The only part of the room that seemed normal to her was the wall nearest to where she stood.
The panels that lined it looked dated, but usable, and the WalkThrough Device was dusty, but true to regulations stood six inches out from the wall, 8 feet tall and 5 feet wide. The bottomless steel box comforted her momentarily until she remembered it would be taking her towards a still unknown location.
Haymitch brushed past Peeta and began to pull the heavy steel door behind them closed, shutting them off from the staircase. When he was satisfied it was shut he held his hand out, indicating they sit around the table.
When he joined them he took a moment to look them over.
"Alright kids. There isn't much I can tell you right now, most of it you'll learn when you get over there."
"And where exactly is "there" Haymitch?" Katniss asked, her tension at not knowing growing by the moment.
"It's a place not too drastically different from here actually. A little slower tech wise, comparable to us about two hundred years ago in that regard, less an alternative world and more a parallel universe, but kind of in between. Land is the same as here, a lot of structures are similar in design. Government is fairly diverse across the entire world, there isn't much unity on that front. You'll be going to what they call "America", or more specifically you'll start out in a type of sub state called "Pennsylvania". You guys familiar?"
Katniss could feel her nerves getting the best of her, and looked to Peeta who stepped in.
'Yeah we've kept up on it. Uh… Finnick went there I think."
Haymitch snorted.
"Finnick's there now. He'll help you two acclimate."
Katniss almost choked on the air around her at the mention of Finnick's name twice in a one moment, and she looked at Haymitch cautiously.
"Haymitch, Finnick died. Two years ago." She said the words softly, because saying them out loud was still a torturous thing. They had all known and loved Finnick, but Haymitch just shook his head.
"No, he's not. That wasn't real. He's been over there for two years gathering intel. Why do you think you're in a bunker at 1:30 in the morning? This mission isn't exactly Order approved, but it's important for our future. And not just our future, but every future of every world and every universe."
"A Level 7" Peeta whispered next to Katniss.
"See? The Boy gets it." Haymitch smirked at Katniss.
"Why us?" She gritted out in response. Haymitch sat thoughtfully for a long moment, looking off into the distance. When he pulled out a flask, she felt her fear expand. He only really drank when what he had to remember was too haunting or too close.
"Because you two… I know I mess with you a lot, but there is something about the two of you when you're together. I should know. You're about the same in every damn universe." He muttered the last bit under his breath and Katniss felt her breath hitch.
Had she heard him correctly?
How many other Katniss and Peetas had Haymitch encountered?
Both Peeta and Katniss were rendered momentarily speechless and Haymitch took the opportunity to speak again.
"Look I'm just saying there's a reason you two are the only romantically involved pair that the Order has ever allowed. You're a force to be reckoned with." He shrugged and took a drink.
"When you get to the other side, there'll be a car." He fished around in his pocket before tossing a key to Peeta.
"There's an envelope inside with identification, money, personal information, keys to your living quarters and directions on how to get there. Finnick will fill you in on the mission."
Both Katniss and Peeta nodded silently, still too shell shocked to speak. Haymitch grunted and stood up, walking over to the paneling on the wall.
"Alright. Let's get going." He said, and Katniss shuddered.
Time to go to work.