1) The Hunger Games belong to Suzanne Collins and Red Rising to Pierce Brown. I just borrowed the characters and the world. Song lyrics are from the folk song "Down in the Valley"
2) A big, big thank you to my beta roseymama on tumblr she is just the BEST!
I just finished "Red Rising" and was so fascinated by the novel, the whole world. When the new prompt was announced I had to think about the contrast between the different colors in the book and this small drabble happened. I will maybe write a second chapter or even more, about Peeta´s journey through the Institute, but first I have to work on my idea for the last PiP round. Hope you like it and you are welcome to send me your thoughts!
We are the dominant color.
We are superior to everyone else.
We Aureate, we Gold, are like gods. Faster, stronger, smarter, just better in everything else than every other color that exists.
Pinks are only good for pleasures, Greens are there to develop new things, Browns are our servants and the Reds are not better than dirt.
We were born this way, created, bred for it.
We are born to rule.
These words, these rules, this view I've heard since my birth. I sucked them in with the milk of my wet nurse, also a Gold, because after all, my mother would never allow some lower color to suckle her son, not that she would ever feed her child herself. She is too important for that.
So my wet nurse was also a Gold, but a low one, from a low family, without an ancient history, a big powerful family name. She was someone in the duty of my family, the grand house of au Mellarkus.
I grow up, hearing the views, the rules of our Society every day, from my wet nurse, my parents, my cousins, uncles, aunts, and everyone around me. Everyone lives by these rules; believes them. Except me. Except my nanny, Mags.
She was a High Red. A strange choice for a nanny, but she raised the children of other High Gold families for her whole life. She was the nanny of the children of our Archgovernor Snow.
My aunt told me my mother was excited when she heard Mags was available and she bragged for weeks that the governess of the famous Snow children was my governess.
A boost in the ego of my mother, an honor for my family.
But Mags was different than my mother thought. She saw something in me no one else saw. A gentleness others in my family don´t have, maybe even rare in other Golds everywhere.
She told me stories, sung me songs, and taught me dances, all originating from the Red. She showed me so much.
I learned about the Low Reds, living under the surface, never seeing the sun, lied too, slaving away for our comfort.
I learned about the forbidden history from earth, the tales and beliefs of other colors. When we were outside of the estate, Mags took me to meet children from other colors, I played with them, befriended them and had the time of my life.
She showed me the real world.
But every time we came back to my home, shortly before we got to the gate of the estate, or after we sung a forbidden song, or heard a forbidden story, Mags would stop, pull me aside and ask me,
"And what will we not do Peeta?"
"We will not talk about it!" was always my smiling, happy answer.
In the beginning I just thought it was a game. I didn´t understand the seriousness behind Mags words. But I learned their severity quickly when my cousin Marcus tried to protect a Red servant that spilled tea on the carpet. My aunt struck the servant as a punishment and Marcus pushed her away. The servant was his friend, always playing hide and seek with him, and giving him extra sweets from the kitchen.
My uncle flogged him for it, ripping the flesh from his back, telling him he was a shame to his color with his behavior and that attacking his mother for a worthless Red was disgusting, that he deserved this punishment.
He was 6.
After that I understood why Mags always said to me not to talk about our outings. And I never talked about it.
And then Mags died when I was 10. It was a natural death, she was old, but I was still heartbroken by it. And it just got worst.
2 years before Mags death my grandfather died. I had been to his funeral. His funeral was a big thing, full of speeches and stirring tributes. When I asked my mother when Mags' funeral would be, she just laughed.
"A funeral for a miniscule Red? Prime! What a joke my son! A Red will not get a funeral. Only the Aureates, only the better colors are allowed to be rested in the earth of Mars."
She hit me for my crying and my words against her. I said that she was heartless and Mags was more a mother than her. She had hit me before and also after this day, whenever I was doing something beneath my standing, but this day was a turning point for me.
I know what happened to Golds who talked about equality or Golds that helped Reds, so I didn´t show my emotions to anyone, and didn´t say a wrong word. But my thoughts were full of revolutionary things, full of hate against my brothers in color.
I never forgot the songs, all her stories from words. And I promised myself that I would never be like my parents, full of bigotry and full of biased opinions. Especially after a Red snuck into my heart.
It happened years later, after Mags' death. I walked through our garden, something I did every time the house was getting too constricting for me. Too much noise, too many prejudices, too much hubris.
The expectations of my family were high.
I, Peeta au Mellarkus should become an imperator, the first in my family. More powerful than the rest, not like my father.
My father was the leader of our family but a weak person in the eyes of my mother. She only married him because of his money, the respect he gained from the big families Snow, Augustus, Bellona through favors and the prospect of achieving more than she ever could without him. Both my parents were at the Institute, but both did not reached the rank of a Peerless Scarred, and they barely survived. My upcoming survival of the Institute is assured.
My cousin Markus was in the Institute 2 years ago and he told me, against all rules, what happens there. I think he only did it to frighten me, and it worked. I was shaken by his stories, but at the same time I knew I didn´t have a choice. I had to go to the test, and if I passed it I would have to go to the Institute, with the Passage as first test and then all the horrors that can follow.
I was already preparing for the test and the Institute for months now. Not only was I learning new war strategies, but also was I preparing my body, learning to fight with the simplest weapons.
But today I just needed a break. My parents were fighting once again about my workload. In my mother's opinion it was not enough, while my father thought I would exhaust myself before the test even starts. So they started screaming at each other again and I took off.
Our garden is gigantic, I can walk through it for hours without reaching the end. The nature always calmed me, I just wished I had my paints with me to capture the beautiful colors and atmosphere.
I was lost in my thoughts when I heard it for the first time, quietly, almost not recognizable. But I am a Gold, so I hear better than other colors and I knew this song. A song my beloved Mags sung to me. The Valley song.
Down in the valley, the valley so low,
Hang your head over, hear the winds blow.
Hear the winds blow, dear, hear the winds blow.
Hang your head over, hear the winds blow.
Down in the valley, walking between,
Telling our story, here's what it means.
Here's what it means, dear, here's what it means,
Telling our story, here's what it means.
Roses love sunshine, violets love dew,
Angels in heaven know I love you;
Know I love you, dear, know I love you,
Angels in heaven know I love you.
Build me a castle forty feet high,
So I can see him as he rides by;
As he rides by, dear, as he rides by,
So I can see him as he rides by.
Writing this letter, containing three lines,
Answer my question, "Will you be mine?"
"Will you be mine, dear, will you be mine,"
Answer my question, "Will you be mine?"
If you don't love me, love whom you please,
Throw your arms round me, give my heart ease.
Give my heart ease, dear, give my heart ease,
Throw your arms round me, give my heart ease.
Throw your arms round me, before it's too late;
Throw your arms round me, feel my heart break.
Feel my heart break, dear, feel my heart break.
Throw your arms round me, feel my heart break.
When I reached the source of the sound I found a Red girl kneeling in the bushes weeding around the roses that my mother loves so much.
Her dark red, almost brown hair was pulled back in a single braid, her hand swiped a lose strand away and left a streak of dirt on her cheek. Her lips were full and she still hummed the melody that captivated me.
She was the most beautiful person I had ever seen.
"I like this song. You have a really beautiful voice," I started to say.
Her whole body froze up and her head whipped around to see the person that caught her singing at work. Something my mother without a second thought would punish, hard. Probably with the whip.
When she saw me, her eyes, a brilliant red, like the surface of this planet, grew wide and she threw her body down, bowing, shaking, full of fear.
"Master. I am so sorry! Please, I can work faster with a song. I just want to do my work good. In honor of the family au Mellarkus."
I could hear the fear in her voice. I was shocked. Did I personally merit such a reaction? Or was it the normal behavior from other colors in contact with a Gold? I have kept mostly to myself and our house servants are practically invisible. I never saw them. She was the first Red I had seen in a long time
"Please don´t," I started and grasped her shoulders to help her up. When she stood in front of me her body was still shaking and her eyes looked down to the ground.
"What is your name?" I asked her.
"Katniss" she mumbled, with barely suppressed tears in her voice.
"Hello, Katniss. I am Peeta. Please don´t let me impose on your work. I just wanted to say that I like your voice and that I like this song. My nanny sung it to me when I was little." This was something that I never told anyone. But I didn´t think Mags would have minded that I said it to the girl.
Katniss looked up with surprise.
"The Valley song, Master?" She asked carefully.
I just smiled. "Yes the valley song. She was also a Red and sung many songs from her color to me. It was our little secret." A grin came to me.
"And now it is ours, so shhh." I moved my pointer finger to my lips to mark my words.
A slow smile spread on her lips. Before I could talk more with her, I heard my mother screaming for me. I just sighed, lifted my shoulders and started to move in the direction of the house.
"It was really nice to meet you Katniss. Maybe we will see each other again in the future." I said looking over my shoulder. She just stared at me, still confused why a high born Gold would talk to a little Red.
This was the story of how I met Katniss.
I needed time, so much time, to win her friendship. In the beginning she mostly ignored me and only answered to direct questions, with monotone sentences and general information. She understandably didn´t trust me, and thought this was a trap to punish her in some way. She saw it before with others, treacherous games my color played with lower colors.
She hated it. I hated it.
But after a while, I won her trust. We talked, laughed together, and were just happy. After what felt like a lifetime, I found happiness again. Something I thought I lost after Mags' death. I didn't feel like a Gold with her. I felt colorless. Just a boy talking to a girl. I think she felt the same.
Time flew by and our relationship changed bit by bit, for me. I can´t really explain when I started to love her, but one day I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her, waking up beside her. Kissing her. Just loving her. But that was not possible.
I was Gold, she was Red. Our lives were too different. No one would except it, allow it.
She would be killed I was sure. And me? I didn't know, but I just didn't want to live in a world without her.
The time for the test for the Institute came and went. I passed with a high score and she was so happy for me when I told her in our hideout in the garden, a place we always met.
She knew as much as everyone else about the Institute and she was sure I would earn respect and praise.
"You are strong Peeta! You will be excellent, become a Peerless Scarred, be honored and be powerful. No one will be able to tell you what to do. You will be the leader- no one else. No one can touch or harm you anymore," she said. "Even not your mother," she added with a scowl.
I had to smile at her words. My beautiful Katniss, acting hard and emotionless but always concerned about the welfare of others, of me. She hated my mother with a passion. Something she said to me in the beginning of our friendship. I still remember her shocked face, getting white after the words "I hate Lady au Mellarkus" slipped out of her mouth. Then her surprised look after I laughed and replied with, "You are not the only one".
She knew about the abuse against me, and saw the cruel acts against the Red and Brown servants from my mother. But we both knew we couldn't do anything. We were both powerless.
Now with the passed test and the invention that will surely come, Katniss saw a way out of living with the terror of my mother.
I wanted to let her keep this belief but my conviction not to lie to her was too strong. So I told her about the Institute, about the Passage, about all the horrors. I didn't see her for a week after that. When I saw her the next time she didn't said a word. She just hugged me, held me, when I started to cry. I was full of fear and she was the only person I was able to show my fears.
She, like me knew it was against the law to not accept an invitation from the Institute.
And it came 4 weeks later. On this day we visited the small lake were I taught her to swim, almost 2 years prior. We sat at the shore looking at the sun vanishing from the sky and Phobos and Deimos appearing. No words were spoken, just hands held tightly, trying to stay strong in the face of an unsure future.
So now I am here, sitting in my room, the day before I leave for the Institute. I couldn't spend it with Katniss. My mother expected a feast with all my family.
I just wanted to look in the red eyes of my friend, my beloved, trying to find the courage to say what I feel. Maybe it is better this way. I don't know how she would react and if, against all Odds she feels the same. Would it be right to burden her with my feelings? I don't even know if I will return. I could die during the Passage or the "game".
And if I come back, will I be changed? Is surviving better than death? If I die, I want to still be me. Not changed, not turned into a beast by society.
I'm pulled out of my dark musing by a noise at my window. When look at it I can't believe my eyes. Katniss! She hangs outside at my window. I sprint over to it, open the window and pull her in.
"Katniss! Bloody hell! What are you doing here? If someone saw you..."
She just shakes her head.
"They are still celebrating your acceptance into the Institute. I can't really believe how they can be happy about this. They attended it too. They know what happens there!"
"Katniss!" I have to stop her before she talks herself even more into a rage. "What are you doing here and how did you reach the window? Did you steal GravBoots?"
"Oh please" is her only answer. She pulls two long knives, called slingBlades, from her back. They are used by Low Reds in the mines to cut off extremities if they get bitten by a pitviper. The High Reds us them in the garden to cut trees or bushes. She showed me them a while ago and also explained their original use.
"With these I can climb better and faster than an Obsidian moves." She is right, her control over the blades is impressive.
"That still doesn't answer my question. What you are doing here?"
Her face falls, and she can't look into my eyes.
"I just..." she starts slowly. I can see her swallowing, trying to collect all her bravery. She brings her head up, and I am happy that on my last night I really get the chance to see her brilliant red eyes.
"I wanted to say goodbye. I will miss you so much, Peeta." she says and I can see tears gathering in the corners of her eyes.
"I will miss you, too." I can barely whisper. I hug her, smelling her hair and trying to imprint all these sensations into my brain. Her arms are wrapped around me, her hands buried in my clothes.
I have to tell her.
These are my only thoughts. If I die, she has to know how I feel. Slowly I release her body with our hands still knotted together.
"Katniss, I have to tell you something, something I wanted to tell you for a long time now," I take a deep breath. "I want to you to know what I feel. You are my best friend. You are my shoulder to cry on. I can't imagine not seeing you every day, hearing your laugh and seeing your smile. The thought breaks my heart into pieces. You are my anchor in this world, I would be lost without you. What I want to say is, Katniss I lov..."
Before I can finish the sentence, her full lips are on mine. Kissing me, first with a shyness but after I get over my shock and respond to her kiss the passion grows. Her lips get restless, we are both lost in the kiss.
After a while, we have to separate, needing air again.
"I love you too, Peeta," is her reply and my heart explodes. I feel more alive than ever before. My mouth descends back to hers, my tongue plays with hers. We let our hands wander, pulling on clothes, stumbling through the room to my bed. When we tumble on it she giggles, a wonderful sound in my ears.
Tenderly, I put a loose strand of hair behind her ear. I smile at her, and she smiles back. I can't believe this is happening. Her lying here in my bed, naked, nothing is important anymore except this moment. I lower my lips again, her arms loop around my neck and we get lost in each other.
I can feel the sun shining in my face, the new day has come. When I open my eyes I am alone in my bed. I am not surprised. She has work to do and I can't imagine what would happen if she is found in my bed.
I can still feel her warmth and smell her scent on the sheets. It was not a dream.
Something red on my pillow catches my eye. It is a strand of hair, Katniss' hair. She left it for me, a piece of her so I don't forget her, like I ever could. I take the hair in my hand and close my fist around it. I can hear the house waking, getting ready to see me off. It will not be a Farewell, I will come back.
Not for the pride of my parents, not for the honor of family or even myself. I will come back for the Red girl that captured my heart with her song.