Happy New Year, Hayffie fandom! To celebrate 2015, here's the first chapter of Divortium :) I hope 2015 will be good to you and the fandom, and that it'll be filled with happy things, new fics, fan arts and Hayffie appearing in the epiloque for Mockingjay Part 2.

If you are new, Divortium is a sequel and you would have to read Consortium before this, and I hope you don't find the 74 chapters daunting.


Chapter 1

Every marriage has a script.

He never raised his hand at her and he never argued with his fist but each time she said something nasty – and she said it often because there was always something she would squabble with him about; the lights he left on when she wanted off, the door to their bedroom that he never bothered closing or the milk that she left out of the fridge when he wanted them put away – he would fix her with a smoldering glare as he clenched his jaw to stop himself from doing something he would regret. She would tell him to 'fuck off' and he would tell her that nobody will love her with that kind of attitude before walking out on her, never to come home until morning the next day, and she would sleep alone in her room just the way she liked it. When the opportunity presented itself, she would take the train away from wherever they were staying at the moment and sometimes, she would call Felix to ask him along because she knew that would only anger her husband more.

That was the script of their marriage.

But that morning, the norm was broken. Sunlight filtered through the open windows and the smell of fresh earth and wood wafted in from the nearby forest in District Seven. The house was peaceful, so unlike the scene that was always present. There were no biting remarks from Johanna directed at her husband and there were no doors slamming in Gale's wake as he stormed off. Posy wasn't peeking out from the small crack of her bedroom door to see what was going on and Hazelle Hawthorne was not pretending not to hear them fighting again.

That kind of morning was rare. It was unlike any others because that morning marked the end of the marriage law. Johanna could already smell her freedom. There was a grin on her face and a glint in Gale's eyes after President Paylor addressed the nation to announce the abolishment of the law. Johanna's bark of laughter filled the room while Gale lifted Posy up in the air to spin her around in circles.

"You're never gonna be forced to marry," he grinned at his little sister.

"It's over," Johanna gave a little whoop.

Gale set Posy down and she quickly ran out of the house to join Vick outside.

"The annulment makes everything easier," Gale said, folding his arms across his chest as he focused once again on the screen. "No need for a divorce proceeding – no hassle – faster that way."

"Knew you couldn't wait to get rid of me," Johanna gibed.

"And we have no children to complicate any custody issues. Guess it's a good thing you went for that botched surgery or we would have little babies dragging us down."

"Whatever," she muttered. "Let it go already."

"You could have died that day if it wasn't for the raid," he retorted. "I nearly lost – "

"What do you care?"

Gale shut his mouth. He glanced around the house, taking everything in for what would be the last time.

"This is your house," he said, and she rolled her eyes at the obvious. "We're not married anymore so I'll take my family back to Two within the next few days."

Had the law not been abolished, Johanna would have followed him back to District Two at the end of the month because that was their arrangement - a compromise they agreed on since neither of them wanted to make the move to another district completely – a month in District Seven and another month in District Two.

Johanna said nothing to him. Her eyes strayed over to his younger siblings playing outside the house with the friends they had made in Seven.

"They can come back here to this house anytime they want," she said, nodding towards where Rory was showing Posy and her friend how to climb a tree. "We – You and I might not have made it work but your family… your family are not strangers. Not anymore."

His lips stretched into an amused smile and for a moment, Johanna was struck with an unwarranted thought – she wondered if she had ever made him smile – but before she could dwell too much on it, she shook her head to clear it away.

"Posy would like that. My mother, too. She's grown fond of you – don't ask me why, I don't see anythin' about you that's likeable," he mumbled and Johanna was about to snap at him when she realize he was attempting to make a joke.

She huffed and snorted.

"Does she? Didn't think I was the kind of wife she wanted for her son."

Still, when the day came for them to leave, Johanna who thought the hardest goodbye was in seeing Ari being taken away found herself unprepared for the waves of emotions and sentimentality.

It was always the little girls, Johanna thought as she shuffled uncomfortably, watching Posy trying hard to control her sobs.

"It's okay, Posy," Johanna patted her back awkwardly when the girl gave her a hug. "We'll see each other again some time."

"Johanna, you are always welcome to our home in Two," Hazelle said, her eyes glistening. Johanna looked everywhere except at Hazelle before settling on their joined hands. "When you married Gale, you became a part of our family, and although I wished that you both had married under better circumstances because who knows, you and him could have made it work then, you will always remain a family, you understand?"

Johanna nodded.

"You two were friendly in Thirteen, are you sure there is no chance of reconciliation? You don't have to make the decision now but perhaps this time, your marriage will work if you give it a try. Learn from each other's mistakes."

She sincerely doubted that very much. Thirteen was different. It was true that they had become somewhat friends during the course of the war but that was all they would ever be. They were not made for a life together.

"We've talked it over, Hazelle. This is what we both want," Johanna said firmly.

The older woman sighed. "Very well, then. But it doesn't change anything. You're still family, you are as good as a daughter to me. I hope you don't forget that."

Hazelle had no cause to worry. Gale's family were not people she would likely forget. She actually liked them, which she found surprising, but they had been nothing but nice to her since she married Gale. There was never a quiet moment in the house with them around. Whenever Gale's siblings visited Seven during school holidays, they filled the silence of the otherwise empty house with their laughter and joke, and when Johanna stayed in Two, they were always there to fill her days. Hazelle always made sure there was food on the table and it had been so long since Johanna had gone home to a good home cooked meal. They couldn't in any way replace her own family whom Snow had murdered but they came close.

For a long, long time, the Victors that she had befriended came the closest to people Johanna considered family. There was Chaff and Haymitch, the two old men who looked out for her as an uncle and a father would. There was Finnick who was like a brother to her which made Haymitch frequently complained about how they were thick as thieves. Annie treated her like a sister and Mags reminded Johanna of the grandmother she lost two years before her name was reaped. They were dysfunctional but they were all she had until she married Gale and became someone's wife, someone's sister in law and someone's daughter in law. It was not something she would forget.

"Hey, Jo, you'll visit us once in a while, right?" Vick asked.

"Yeah, I will," Johanna nodded and offered him a small smile.

"I'll see you in three weeks' time," Gale said, passing by her on the way to the pick-up truck, "at the City for the dissolution certificate."

"Yeah," she agreed. She watched his family entered the vehicle as he arranged their luggage at the back of the truck.

"See you," he nodded at her.

"Wait," she called out to him before he could climb into the driver's seat. "Here, you should have it back. I don't know, pawn it or something."

Johanna slipped the wedding ring from her finger and placed it on the palm of his hand. His mother had chastised him and Gale had bought the rings for them at the last minute, presenting it to her moments before they signed their marriage certificate. Gale looked down at his hand before his fingers closed around the plain wedding band.

"Goodbye, Johanna."

XxX

The ticking of the wall clock in their kitchen felt like an ominous countdown to what seemed like the fracture in their marriage. Effie sat on the floor, hugging Tristan close to her chest as she rocked back and forth.

"I am married, I am married," she whispered. "I am Effie Abernathy, and I am married to Haymitch."

Tristan sat stilled in Effie's arms, his grey eyes wide as he stared up at his father.

"Effie," Haymitch called her name gently. He knelt in front of her as he tried to coax her back to him. "Sweetheart, you're choking your son."

Effie blinked and loosened his hold. Haymitch extracted Tristan out of her arms but the boy remained close, standing next to his father. Ethan ambled over and for once, the child was quiet. He stood next to his mother and stroked her hair, the same way she stroked his hair when he had a stomach ache.

"Keep doing that, tiger," Haymitch nodded and smiled at Ethan. "Hey, hey, sweetheart, look at me."

She did as he asked. Her eyes were filled with anguish and they were red from crying.

"I know it sounds bad," he tried. Comforting people wasn't really his forte but he was learning. The boys always needed comforting and he had gotten some practice. "But crying won't do you any good. You're making the boys worried. We'll talk this out, a'right?"

"They can't do this to me," her voice was a strangled whisper. "They can't make me someone's wife and then take it away from me overnight. They can't."

Haymitch brushed her hair back. "I know you're shock. I am, too. I didn't wake up expectin' this. I never considered this possibility, none of us did. But it's done, Eff, and now we have to learn how to…live with it."

"Do you think people are happy with it?"

"I – I don't know."

"Are you happy? This is what you wanted."

Haymitch sighed. He sat next to her on the floor, stretching his leg in front of him. This scene was reminiscent of the scene before the twins were born when he had sat next to her on their bathroom floor as she moaned and groaned about her morning sickness.

"The truth?" he asked.

She nodded.

"I'm not happy," he said. He glanced down at her, hoping she understood the meaning behind his words but it didn't seem like she did. Effie leaned her head on his shoulder. The boys came to sit at the other side of him. He tried again. "I wanted the law to end, that's all."

"It is an odd feeling to know that our marriage have been annulled because I still feel married to you," she admitted. "I still feel that nothing has changed but everything has."

"We're still their parents," he rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. "That'll never change."

"I wasn't prepared for this, mentally or emotionally," she admitted. "I thought… that it would be up to us, that we would have time to work things out after the law ended. This is just shocking. I wonder… I wonder how everyone else is taking it."

"Nobody was prepared for this," he said. His hand never left hers and Effie held on to it, afraid that if she let go, he would leave. "Not once, for the past five years, during any of the appeals did Plutarch or I mention anything about an annulment. I don't know, sweetheart, it feels like a big fuck you from the Government."

"Haymitch! The children!" she admonished him.

Effie thought about what he said and the more she thought about it, the more it felt like the Government was throwing what they wanted back in their faces – nobody wanted the law, so there was no point in any of them being married.

It wasn't fair. Not all of them wanted an end in their marriage. Not her, and not Plutarch or Fulvia, she was sure. They only wanted the law to end in order to help the people. For weeks leading up to the Referendum, Effie had spent sleepless nights thinking about her choices. She was fixated on the third option; mulling the thought of being married to Haymitch for another ten years over and over again. She wanted the ten years to change his mind about her but with this marriage dissolved so suddenly, all of that was for naught. Now, there was no need for her to try and change his mind about a divorce – it was already done.

But there was something she could change his mind about. Effie frowned, remembering a piece of news she had briefly read about in the papers - marriages could be renewed if the couple so desired.

Her eyes widened. This would mean that there was still a chance for her to persuade him except… Effie wasn't sure if that was right. She wouldn't do right by him if she did that.

Effie, we were forced to get married, his words echoed in her mind.

Would persuading him be just like forcing him into a marriage? Was it her trying to manipulate him?

Her eyes darted to him but he was oblivious to her internal struggle as he tried to placate Tristan and assure the boy that "mama's alright, just a little a sad."

Maybe… If I had the choice, it coulda been you I wanna marry.

That was what he had told her. She remembered the entire conversation.

Haymitch had been so angry because he had been backed into a corner with only two ways out; get married or leave the country. That wasn't a choice, it was an ultimatum. It was no surprise to her that having a sense of control over his life and having the freedom to make his own choices was so important to him because for years, the Capitol had been the one controlling him and even after he had helped topple President Snow, the marriage law was no different.

The annulment was no different either now that she thought about it. The annulment was imposed on them.

Effie remembered Exton's words of advice during their sessions, something he repeated to her again and again – wherever possible, always try to find silver linings – and maybe, maybe this was it. With them no longer bound to each other, if he leaves or if he stays, that would be his choice. She could ask him to renew their marriage, persuade him as much as she could but at the end of the day, the choice was his, just the way he wanted it. She would know then, once and for all, how he truly felt about her, and how important she was to him. If he leaves, she would finally have her answer and she would learn to move on with her life.

"What's going to happen now?"

"We think of the children – you said so yourself – whatever we do, we have to take into account their interest first and foremost," he said. "We have twenty-one days to inform the Courts of the custody arrangements. There's nothin' we can do 'bout us now – not immediately – and we shouldn't… we shouldn't rush into anything."

He didn't outright reject her. He didn't tell her to leave his house. He said that they shouldn't rush things which meant that he was asking her to prioritise and they would think about what would become of them after they had settled the children.

Effie nodded, burrowing further into him. If time was what he needed, she would give it to him.

They sat together on the floor of their kitchen until the sun had wane. At some point, Tristan had brought his colouring book over from the table to the floor and he sat in between his father's outstretched legs, colouring. Ethan sat on Effie's lap, playing with his mother's necklace absent-mindedly.

"Whatever happens, we're a family, Haymitch. We'll always have them," she whispered, running her fingers through Ethan's long locks.

Haymitch nodded and squeezed her shoulder. She relaxed slightly and tried not to think about what was happening outside. The phone was still unplugged and the world outside was a distance away.

At some point, Katniss came over to check on them. She peered through their kitchen window to see them huddled together, and she couldn't find it in her heart to break that moment especially since she herself knew what the Government had decreed so she left quietly only to stop by the geese pen to feed the fowls that had started to make such a racket at the sight of her.


As with Consortium, I will update Divortium every Saturday. So see you next week, and before you go, please do leave a review :) Thanks for reading!