Chapter 2


To the sound of a heartbeat pounding away.

Re-education, Rise Against


Posy and Vick make slow progress down the Justice Building's hall, Peacekeepers standing at their backs and watching their every movement.

"Stop," one of them commands gruffly, opening a door to their right. He taps Vick's shoulder. "That's your assigned room."

"Posy and I can share it," Vick says, holding Posy's hand and starting towards the entrance.

"Sir, I know you're siblings, but protocol says-"

"I say that we're going to say our goodbyes in the same room."

"I don't want to start a problem, so if you'd please just go into-"

"Hey! What's wrong over here?" A new voice interrupts the Peacekeeper. Vick turns to see another person approaching them. Darius. Gale told Vick and Rory once that you can never fully trust the redheaded guy, but he's a good person, as far as Peacekeepers go.

"They'd like to say their goodbyes in the same room," someone tells Darius.

Darius waves him off. "Let them. What difference does it make?"

No one argues. In the nine or so years Darius has been a Peacekeeper, he's gained authority among the younger recruits. On his trips to the Hob with Katniss, Vick has heard that Darius is going to be promoted to District Seven soon, making this year his last in Twelve.

Vick tugs lightly on Posy's arm, and Darius steps to the front and opens the door for them.

"I'm so sorry, kid," Darius says in a low voice as Vick passes by him. Vick looks back and thinks he sees regret, of all things, on Darius's expression. The door closes.

Posy walks straight to one of the plush armchairs and collapses onto it, while Vick wanders around the room, taking in all of the decorations. Passing by the sole window, he reaches out and touches the curtains hanging in front of it. Actual silk. The curtains by themselves could probably feed a family for two months. He shakes his head, contemplating sitting down when their mother bursts through the door, followed by Rory.

"Gale?" Vick asks.

"He wanted to come in alone," Hazelle replies. Vick nods, and from the chair beside him, Posy jumps up and runs into their mother's arms.

Hazelle pulls away from Posy after a few, long moments, her eyes watery. Vick, not knowing what else to do, opens his arms for his mother, and she clutches him.

"My two youngest," she whispers shakily. There's a long momemt of silence before Hazelle pulls away, and she has to crane her neck to look directly at Vick. "Take care of each other, alright? That's all I can ask of you." She averts her gaze then, swipes at her eyes and holds Posy, who's started trembling.

A heavy silence settles over the room, wrapping itself around Vick and prodding at his heart. He wants to scream and take Posy and run into the woods like Gale had talked about doing sometimes. Vick hates the weight that's suddenly on his shoulders, because he knows that he has to bring Posy back home from the Games. There is no other choice. Her life's completely in his hands, because although Posy's a fighter, there's little skill behind her exterior. No one's gotten around to taking her hunting yet, and the only thing she has basic knowledge in is healing, gleaned from sitting around with Prim at home all of the time.

"No strategy talk?" Vick asks lightly Rory, disrupting the quiet. He knows their allotted time is coming to a close.

"That's Gale's job," Rory replies. He hesitates, and then pulls his younger brother into a hug. "Stay safe, both of you."

A Peacekeeper knocks on the door, and suddenly Hazelle becomes frantic, pulling Posy even closer to herself, and reaching a hand out to Vick. Once he's grasped it, she says, "Remember, I love you both so, so much." She squeezes Vick's hand, eyes shining. "Your father would be so, so proud of how you two have turned out to be."

"Ma'am, your time's up," the Peacekeeper says, opening the door and coming in.

Hazelle looks back at him. "Just one more minute, please-"

"You have to go now," he says firmly, stepping forward.

Rory takes Posy in his arms and swings her around once before pulling her close and tapping her nose. "You'll be alright Posy, okay? You'll both be alright."

The Peacekeeper comes closer and pries Posy away from him, setting her down on the ground and grabbing Rory's arm. "You and your mother have to-"

"No, just one more min-" Hazelle starts, but the Peacekeeper roughly pulls her out of the room, another one coming in to force Rory out. The heavy door slams shut, and only a few seconds pass when the door bursts open again, and Gale comes in.

Never having been an overly sentimental person, Gale gets right to the point. "Listen, both of you have to stick together. At all times in the Arena. You got me?"

Vick opens his mouth, about to say that does Gale really think he would leave Posy all alone, but Gale goes right on, not leaving any time for comments.

"Vick, you can hunt, right?"

He nods even though it's a rhetorical question. "But, Gale-"

"Find wire or rope or anything to make snares with, and hopefully there'll be some animals around for you to catch. If not, just use them for protection," Gale says, his expression darkening.

Vick doesn't like to think of the fact that he might have to kill other kids.

"Stay away from the Cornucopia. You'll be killed in seconds. As soon as the gong sounds, just get the hell out of there."

He crouches down to Posy's level and wraps his arms around her, forcing a smile onto his lips. "Stay strong, both of you, alright?"

He stoops down and kisses Posy softly on the head. "Love you, Pose." Posy wraps her arms around his stomach, and Vick looks on from the side.

He stands up and hugs Vick briefly. "You'll both be alright."

That's the second time in five minutes that someone's told Vick that lie.

"Time's up, sir." The Peacekeeper comes in, ready to force Gale out the door.

"Remember what I said, Vick." And he's gone.

This time, Posy and Vick get a few moment to collect themselves before the Everdeens come to visit them.

Prim undoes Posy's braid, brushing it out with her fingers, and then redoes it, making it more elaborate. Mrs. Everdeen perches on the edge of an armchair, not talking. Katniss repeats most of what Gale said to Vick, rephrasing some things and adding a few sentences, but keeping the same basic ideas. Prim refreshes Posy on how to identify different healing herbs and edible plants. Their time is up quickly and Prim and Katniss hug both of them, trying and failing to reassure them.

"Show them how good you are," Katniss says to Vick, and leaves them with that.

The rest of their visitors are all a blur of faces and sorrys, ranging from people who know them in the Seam and the mayor's daughter. The baker's youngest son, Peeta Mellark, even stops by, leaving Posy a packet of frosted sugar cookies. Two Hawthornes having been reaped at the same time seems to have caused quite a stir in the district, maybe not because everyone particularly cares about Vick and Posy themselves, but because it's left people wondering how the hell this happened, and it's left them even more afraid, because siblings getting reaped is now an all-too-real possibility.