Disclaimer: I own nothing except the new plotline and all that jazz. Suzanne Collins is our god, and everyone knows what's hers and what's mine. Also, sorry if the parts from the book are a bit tacky, I have to translate it from the finnish version.
Thank you for every single review, favourite and story alert, each and every one of them is greatly apprecciated. GREATLY. I love you all C:
KE. There was only one thing those letters could mean. Katniss just stared at the tiny heart in the corner until Effie came rushing back in.
"Katniss! Have you seen one of my papers? It's very-" she was cut off after seeing what she was looking for in Katniss' hands. "-important.." Effie's face turned a deep crimson red and she nearly tore the paper from Katniss' hands and ran out of the room.
"Effie, wait!" she shouted, but Effie was already gone. Katniss cursed and got up to find her. The first place she checked was Effie's room, of course, but she wasn't there. Then she made her way to the bar car, moving on to the clothing car.
'Where did she go?' Katniss thought once she had raided the whole train. She re-checked every single corner of the train, but still no sign of Effie Trinket and her pink wig. Katniss was getting tired, and as much as she wanted to just find Effie, her body needed rest. She gave up for now, but she would engage Effie about the subject tomorrow, that is, if she would turn up at all..
The bed looked deliciously comfortable when Katniss got back to her room and she gave in to the temptation of sleep. Her dreams were haunted by the Hunger Games again, her screams were probably loud and clear to everyone who happened to wake up to them. It was a long night of waking up and falling asleep to another nightmare.
Finally the blissful morning came. Katniss groggily opened her eyes to look at the alarm clock on her left. '10 in the morning..' She took note of the time and the fact that Effie hadn't come to wake her up for breakfast. Suddenly last night's events hit her like a brick. Katniss mentally slapped herself for not remembering earlier and hurried to take a shower and go get some food. If the odds were in her favor, Effie would be there as well.
Everyone was in the restaurant car, including Effie. Katniss greeted Peeta and Haymitch, who were chatting about something not so important. Portia and Cinna were talking about fashion with the styling team. Finally, there was Effie, who was sitting by herself in the corner of the car, fixing the accessory on her head and using the window as a mirror.
"Effie?" Katniss said in a small voice that made Effie freeze. She quickly turned around to face Katniss' searching eyes. Much to her surprise Effie was the first to say something.
"Good morning, Katniss! Sleep well?" She asked with that familiar smile on her face. Katniss wondered why she hadn't tried to run away from her again, but then she figured that everyone was there, and it would cause a lot of questions. "Morning. Of course I did." Katniss lied with a straight face. She sat in front of Effie and did her best to keep the small talk going.
"What about you?" Katniss asked. Effie let her gaze wonder on her feet before coming up with an answer. "I think you already have a good guess." She sighed and looked out of the window again. "You know.. about that paper-"
"Well morning to you too! Couldn't sleep any longer now could you?" Haymitch shouted and sat next to Katniss. 'You have got to be kidding me!' Katniss thought and nearly slapped her forehead. "Morning.. Haymitch.." Katniss said, trying to hold in whatever was left from last night's dinner. Haymitch obviously hadn't taken a shower and his breath smelled strongly like alcohol.
"Now then, we should be arriving to District 11 soon, am I right? I tell you, this place is gonna be big." he continued and it was blatantly obvious that Katniss couldn't care less. She looked at the view outside, seeing only golden fields with a plenty of workers.
"Well then" Effie stated and pointed Cinna towards their table, "It's time to get you dressed up." Cinna took Katniss away, leaving Haymitch with Effie, who was clearly uncomfortable. Katniss frowned and wished she could get back soon.
It didn't take long until they had arrived and both Katniss and Peeta were ready. Effie recited their schedule for today and made sure they remembered it by the word. The train stopped and tiny changes were made in the outfits before leaving.
"Come on, now!" Effie said and let Haymitch take the lead. The moment they stepped outside the train, a bunch of peacekeepers arrived and took them to a van. They were basically locked inside the trunk of the car.
"You'd think we're all prisoners!" Effie huffed unsatisfied. She was used to the glamour of Capitol, so no wonder a ride like this would make her feel a little sour. The ride was bumpy and Peeta even fell off his bench once, but other than that everything went pretty nicely.
They were let out of the van behind the court house of District 11 and were ushered inside. Nobody was allowed to look around and Peeta and Katniss were taken to the veranda straight away.
"Smile!" Effie says before the doors close behind them and Katniss gets a look at Effie's eyes one last time. Why didn't she notice earlier how beautiful the light blue shade of them was? Katniss didn't have time to think about Effie's eyes, as much as she would've wanted to. She had to focus on the current problem in front of her and Peeta.
"Don't worry, I'll take care of this." Peeta said and gave Katniss a reassuring look. She protested but Peeta shushed her and took a step forward, pointing her to the chair in the back of the veranda. Katniss had no choice but to sit down and watch as Peeta talked his way through the situation yet again.
On the other hand, she got a chance to look at the surroundings. The place was crowded with people and some were watching from the nearby fields because there was no space left. In the very front there was a platform for the tributes' families. On Tresh's side there was only an old lady and a muscled girl- probably Tresh's sister. Then there was Rue's family.. She couldn't face them. Not yet. Not after what she'd done to their sweet little girl.
Katniss looked everywhere except in front of her, until it was her turn to speak. Luckily Effie had made sure she'd remember her lines in her dreams, so it was no trouble to do it, but it was still uncomfortable. Peeta came back to speak after she was done and added something he certainly shouldn't have.
"We can't replace your loss, but we want to show our gratitude. We will give one month's amount of our reward once a year to both tributes' family for the rest of our lives."
Katniss was horrified, to say the least. This would only make things worse, but maybe.. just.. maybe she could fix this. The mayor came with two little girls to present Katniss and Peeta with two tablets, far too big for their own size. One of the girls, obviously Rue's sister, stared at her like she was waiting for something. 'Of course.. I haven't thanked them yet.'
"Wait!" Katniss said loudly and Peeta looked at her in confusion,"Wait! I still have something to say." She gave her tablet to Peeta and stepped forward. She gave a speech she hadn't planned at all. She had been thinking about giving a quick thank you to Rue's family, but this got a little out of hand.
Once she was finished she had aniticipated clapping, maybe some cheering, but not a whistle. Not the whistle. Some old man from the crowd had whistled the remarkable tune Katniss and Rue had agreed on being their signal for 'safe'. The man kissed his three fingers and ilfted them to air.
One by one, the entire crowd was doing the same and this wasn't good, not even near good. What would president Snow think? This was a catasthrope, and there was no fixing it anymore. As much as the gesture honored Rue, it shouldn't have been done. Two peacekeepers came from the doors behind them and took them back inside the building, but Katniss got a quick peek of what was going on outside. The man who had whistled was being ragged on the veranda and a gunshot was heard.
"What have I done.." Katniss whispered. The peacekeepers were a little rough on them when they pushed them through one more pair of doors and they instantly closed behind them. Cinna, Haymitch and Effie were looking at them, and none with a pleased face. Effie was the first to say something.
"What happened out there? The connection was cut after Katniss' beauiful speech, and then Haymitch said he'd heard a gunshot and I said it was ridiculous, but who knows? Madmen all around the place!" Her voice was quite frantic, although she had tried to disguise it. Katniss couldn't really say anything about the situation, she just looked at Effie, trying to apologize without saying anything. Two more gunshots pierced the pressing silence and Haymitch motioned Peeta and Katniss to come with him.
They walked and climbed dozens of stairs and finally arrived in a room that was covered in dust and obviously hadn't been used in years. Katniss explained the situation and Haymitch agreed on the fact that this was indeed bad.
"What's bad? Just because they give a blessing shouldn't-" Peeta started but Katniss cut him off.
"You don't know the whole thing." Peeta looked confused as Katniss and Haymitch exchanged looks. This was the moment to tell him. They told him about president Snow, about the rebellion, even about Katniss' kiss with Gale a year back. Once everything was out, there was no going back.
"So.. Why didn't you just tell me sooner? I only made things worse by making that promise about the reward." Peeta said and the look in his blue eyes was heartbreaking. He ran out of the room with Katniss on his tail.
"Peeta, please! You know we couldn't risk a thing with this!" Katniss yelled, but Peeta jus tkept on going. They arrived back to the room with Effie and Cinna in it, who were intensely watching the argument.
"Really? You know I'm good at acting, you know I'm good with the cameras! Was it really that hard to tell me? I could've dealt with it! I'm sick of you two keeping things from me!" Peeta screamed at her face.
"Peeta, I already said I'm sorry!" Katniss tried.
"Don't you dare! Why don't you just go back to Gale, he's so important to you anyway!"
Those were his final words before he stormed out to god knows where. Katniss just stood there, shocked. The second Peeta's footsteps were no longer heard, Effie and Cinna rushed to her side. They made her sit down on the couch they previously were on and asked several times if she was alright, with no answer. Cinna trusted Effie to deal with the situatioin and left to find Haymitch. Effie looked a little unsure, but eventually got over whatever was keeping her from hugging the girl unbearably tight.
"He'll be back, he has to come back really, we can't finish the tour without him." She babbled and Katniss wrapped her own arms around Effie. She knew very well what this felt like to Effie, and couldn't help but feel a teeny bit happy about it. Effie tightened her grip a little when she felt something wet drop on her neck and wished that Katniss woul cheer up, as helpless as her effort felt like.
"Thank you." Katniss whispered and made Effie blush a bit.
They let go of each other when they heard Cinna come down with an outraged Haymitch.
"What the hell? Where did the kid go?" He asked and looked over the room. Katniss swallowed the heavy lump in her throat and answered as loud as she could at the moment.
"He just burst out of the room.. But you'll find him, right?" Haymitch looked worried, who knows what Peeta will do when his emotions have a hold on him. Haymitch nodded and ran out of the door with Cinna.
Effie sighed and Katniss felt like she was in a trance.
"Men." Effie huffed and rolled her eyes, making Katniss giggle lightly. A smile made it's way on Effie's face when she knew that she'd helped at least a little bit.