Alright, Chapter 2 because I couldn't stop writing. I hope you enjoy. This picks up right where the last chapter left off in the flashback. There will be more Hayffie to come in later chapters, but first you need to find out what happened to Effie. Enjoy!
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Hunger Games? What? Effie tried to remember what had happened last as the minute countdown ticked on the cornucopia ahead- Caesar said she was going to the basement- not the arena! But here she was, was this real? Was she really going to have to fight for her life? Effie looked at the other tributes. 30 seconds left.
The arena was a grassy plain, with no visible trees anywhere. The only structures that stood above ground level were the platforms and the cornucopia.
She scanned their faces, hoping not to see a familiar one, but the odds were clearly not in her favor. The first face she spotted was Portia's a few platforms to the right of her. Portia wasn't looking back. Would she ally with Effie? Effie's stomach churned at the thought of having to actually ally with someone, with actually being in the Games. 10 seconds.
Effie shifted slightly, trying to decide whether to run to the cornucopia or not. 8 seconds. Clearly this was all a Capitol trap, but was it really happening? Or were there electrodes plugged into her head making her think she was here? Was this just a punishment, a way to conveniently get rid of the escort who sent so many kids to the exact same place. The irony. 4 seconds.
Effie knew, even if it was all in her head that she needed to survive. She was going to run away in the opposite direction. Then she saw the most familiar face directly across from her and her heart dropped. Haymitch. 0 seconds.
Effie stepped off of her platform and ran away from the cornucopia, but she kept looking back. Why was Haymitch here? He was at the cornucopia, already with an axe and a backpack in his hands. He spotted her from across the battleground and started running towards her. Effie started running towards him too, she was going to stay with him until the end. He would know what was going on, and he would protect her.
Haymitch quickly closed the distance between them, dropping his backpack onto the grass. Before Effie reached out to take his hand, but that's not what Haymitch wanted. Before Effie could react, he swung his axe around, sinking it deep into her left shoulder.
Effie cried out in pain, stumbling backward, clutching her arm. Haymitch continued towards her, raising his axe to swing again, "Any last words, Miss Trinket?"
Effie shook her head- Haymitch would never call her Miss Trinket. She was always "Princess" or "Eff" to him. What was happening? This couldn't be real! Effie darted to the left, Haymitch's axe landing in the ground. As he lifted it back up, Effie stole his backpack off the ground and started running in the opposite direction.
She stumbled, trying not to scream in pain and draw attention to herself. Most of the tributes were in combat with each other, but she still hadn't heard a canon yet. She just kept running, afraid to stop and catch her breath. She looked behind her, still running, and saw Haymitch sprinting after her.
Effie ran faster, still looking behind her at Haymitch. She turned her head forward again and saw that she was at the edge of the plain. She tried to stop, but she couldn't in time and tumbled down the steep cliff ahead of her, into a bed of purple flowers, reminding her of the ones she wore during the reaping for the 74th Hunger Games.
The flowers had softened her fall, but Effie still hurt all over. It was only a matter of time before Haymitch would find her again. She ran over to the base of the cliff a few meters over, where it was slightly hollowed out at the base. She tucked herself in as far as she could, trying to cover herself with flowers.
She could hear footsteps above her, and Haymitch's heavy breathing. "Where'd you go, Trinket?" he growled. Effie turned her head, into the cliff, not wanting to see what happened next. This wasn't Haymitch- this had to be the Capitol. They were messing with her. But was everybody in here like him,or were they prisoners like her? Should she try to find Portia?
The Haymitch above cursed and stalked off, clearly unable to see Effie. She let out a breath and turned back around. The backpack was a pillow between the rocky cliff and her back. Effie considered getting up, trying to devise a plan. But her arm hurt too much- it was excruciating . She took off her jacket to inspect the wound fully. It was a deep gash that wasn't going to close any time soon.
Effie looked in the backpack, finding a few packs of crackers, a canteen filled with what she assumed was water, a spare t-shirt, and a roll of gauze. She poured a capful of water onto the wound, cleaning it out. Effie took out the gauze, wrapping it carefully around her arm. She knew it was likely to get infected without medicine, but there was nothing she could do about it now.
Once her wound was taken care of, Effie sat back, defeated. She didn't want to move, or breathe, or exist. Without hope, Effie fell asleep, wishing she could go back to the time when she was ignorant and stupid and happy.
…
Effie woke up quickly, her eyes blinking open to a distorted scene in front of her. The edges of her vision were hazy and she couldn't quite focus on a particular part of what she was seeing. Haymitch walked towards her, swinging his axe back and forth carelessly. Vines started to grow out of the ground, tying themselves around Effie's legs and arms, rooting her to the spot. She half-heartedly tried to move but it was no use.
Effie turned her head to the right, seeing Caesar Flickerman, sitting on a stool in the middle of the field of flowers. He looked at her with a mock sadness, "Well, folks. It seems to be the end of the road for our escort , here. I wish I could say she will be missed, but I would be lying. Now all we need is the sound of that canon and Effie Trinket will no longer matter." Caesar started to laugh, harder and harder. With each laugh, monarch butterflies started flying out of his mouth. He started choking as more and more escaped from him.
The butterflies circled around him as he fell off of his stool, clutching his throat. Once he stopped moving, the butterflies flocked to Effie. They started landing on her face, covering her vision. Effie shook her head, trying to get them to move. She saw Haymitch in front of her, just starting at her, his axe no longer in his hands.
"Haymitch!" she called out. "Please, help me.
Haymitch just stare back. "Goodnight, Princess." he responded. The butterflies covered her entirely, their wings turned into scalding hot metal, burning every inch of her skin. Effie screamed out, closing her eyes to keep the butterflies out.
Then, she felt something heavy cover her mouth, muting her screams. When Effie opened her eyes again, she could see clearly. There was no Haymitch, no Caesar, no butterflies. Only Portia. She stopped screaming.
Portia hesitantly took her hand from Effie's mouth, "I heard you screaming and I figured you needed help. You were having a nightmare or something."
Effie shook her head. She shuffled through her backpack, her hands closing on the canteen. She dumped the contents onto the grass, which immediately shriveled up. "It wasn't a nightmare. It was tracker jacker venom." She paused, then took the gauze off of her wound, now swollen with the venom.
Portia gasped then took out a flask from her backpack. "Don't worry," she told Effie, "It's water. I filled it myself."
Portia poured the water over Effie's wound and it immediately went down in size. Effie took the spare t-shirt from her bag and, after thoroughly inspecting it, tied it around her arm. "Thank you,Portia."
"Of course," Portia nodded. She pulled a pack of crackers out of her bag and offered one to Effie. Effie didn't know if this was really Portia, but she did just save her life, so she figured she could trust her for now. She would ask her later, once she could push the tracker jacker scene from her mind. As they ate in silence, Effie wiped at her face, where she could still feel the butterfly wings beat against her.
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So, a fake Haymitch and tracker jacker venom. All will be explained in chapters to come. Please let me know what you think of the story. It might be a little confusing at the moment, but hopefully it will all make sense soon.
