Okay so here's the 2nd chapter, as you can probably see.. by the fact it says chapter 2. I don't intend this to be a long story and it won't have more than 100,000 words. I think I'm going to limit myself to 25 chapters, but that will probably be thrown out the window ^-^ For the people that were wondering, yes, Finch is foxface. Well done.


Chapter 2 – The Parade

'Wake up! Wake up! It's a …..big big big day Ivory!'

I am awakened by the very shrill voice of Tyrin, and I regret not locking my door last night. I slept solidly through the night, but now I'm starting to regret that, because I'm going to need to learn how to sleep light for the arena. Tyrin stands impatiently in the doorway, so I sigh and pull myself out of bed, making my way to the bathroom. I step in the shower, slamming my hand onto the complicated pad of buttons that presents its self to me, and I eventually end up stepping out the shower smelling of lavenders and some flower I can't quite recognise. I step forward and a small box drops around my head, blowing my hair dry straight away, and untangling it of all knots.

I let my hair hand loosely over my shoulders, and go back to my room having dried off. I walk over to the wardrobe and fiddle around a bit until I manage to find something that fits my taste. A dark blue pair of high waisted, skin tight jeans, a small white and fitting crop top with the Panem symbol printed on the front and a pair of yellow, strapping stiletto heels are delivered to my room, and I put them on. My logic is that if I put on too much of an effort, my prep team will have a hard time trying to make me over, and if I don't make enough effort, I won't put on a good enough show for the thousands of Capitolites that will be awaiting my presence at the train station.

I exit my apartment to see that nobody is in the living room, so I walk into the dining cart. Everybody is sat silently eating breakfast, and nobody is dressed yet.

'You're late for dinner Ivory! You need to set an example to that district partner of yours!'

moans Tyrin again, jeesh what is with that man. I look over to Joshua, who is sat staring down into a bowl of cereal. I walk over and take a seat next to him, before reaching over and taking a piece of bread from the basket, smearing butter all over its still warm insides. I take a bite and moan in sudden delight. I completely forgot how this stuff tastes.. It's so much better than the brownish bread made from tesserae rations that we've been having to buy for the last few months, as the baker went out of business. Joshua stares longingly at the bread in my hands, clearly to scared to ask for some himself, so I hold my bread out to him. He takes it from my hand feebly, and takes a small bite out of its warm fluffiness, instantly grinning with delight.

'Mm this stuff is delicious.'

he groans. I smile and take another piece for myself.

'It's much better than the tesserae bread.'

we both say at the exact same time. I look at him, and he looks at me, and we both burst into a fit of giggles, which earns us a glare from Tyrin. This causes us to laugh more, and by the time we've finally calmed down it's time for us both to stand at the window of the train and wave to people, so, we do just that.


As soon as I peer out the window, I'm taken aback by a sea of greens and blue's and yellows. It's clear that district 4 has the majority of sponsors this year...great. With a big, fake smile on my face, I get ready for the train doors to open. Just as I expected, they open, and I'm greeted by the constant clicking of cameras. I strike my best poses for them, and then Elena comes out and pose with me. For 41 years old, Elena doesn't look half bad. The cameras are loving the mother/daughter pictures, so when Vincent and Joshua step out, it's obvious why they don't give them any attention.

After what feels like forever, I finally relax as we step inside the remake centre. The muscles in my cheeks ache from me smiling too much, and my legs are pretty much dead. I fall back onto the sofa, but have no more than a few seconds rest before Elena and Vincent sit down next to me, Joshua tailing along behind them. As soon as Joshua sits down, they look at us both sternly.

'Ok, I'm not going to lie to you. What you're about to experience will make the games sound like heaven. But don't object and do as you're told, or you'll regret it, trust me. Also, don't say anything mean to your prep team.'

Me and Joshua exchange a nervous glance, before turning back to our mentors and nodding. A few minutes of silence pass, before Vincent and Elena stand up.

'They're on their way... good luck.'

She says with a pitiful tone.

The pair quickly shuffle out the room, and are soon replaced by two peacekeepers, who take one of us each, and walk us off seperate ways down the corridor. The peacekeeper shoves me into a large room, and tells me to get changed into the robe that is on the hard metal table that stands in the middle of the room. I do as he says, and soon I am standing infront of a full length mirror in a very revealing robe, that doesn't leave much to the imagination. I barely have any time to think before 3 overly excited women race into the room, pushing me onto the table and stripping me of my robe.

'Oh my isn't she beautiful!'

'Oh she's magnificant!'

'She's a little hairy though..'

'Maybe we can enlarge those'

one says as she gently pokes one of my breasts. It takes everything I have not to slap her hand away, and I just lay there, wincing at every chance I get as they remove all the hair from my body, and bath me in some sort of creepy liquid that peels away about 3 layers of my skin, until I'm stood there as bare as the day I was born. They hand me back my robe, and I gratefully slip it back on, sitting in the chair they pull out for me.

'We better go and get Jasten.'

The 3 women hurry off, but I can hear their excited chatter all the way down the hall until it finally quietens down to just a whisper.


I hear him before I see him, I hear the faint tapping of high heeled shoes from down the hallway, gradually getting louder until the door swings open, and in comes a very flamboyant man who looks like he belongs in an old fashioned disco club. He has a head of large, afro like hair, tied round the middle with some sort of polka dot bandana, and some big, luminescent shades, which cover most of his face. He wears bright yellow flared trousers, and a matching pair of platform shoes, and an orange tye-dye top.

If this man is my stylist, then I am one and truly screwed. The man introduces himself as Jasten, and then asks me to stand up, taking off my robe. Do I ever get any privacy? He makes me spin around, and then shoves my robe at me again. Sooner or later the 3 women rush back into the room, and literally drag me onto the chair. They instantly start attacking my face with foundation, eye liner, mascara, eye shadow, blusher, you name it and it's on my face today. They say I'm not aloud to look until I'm in my dress, which worries me slightly. I can feel them doing something to me hair but I'm not entirely sure what.

After what feels like hours, I hear Jasten come back in the room and upzip something. This gets a few gasps and a round of appreciative applause from my prep team, who I've now come to know as Castella Anastasia and Astraea. I am told to stand up, and feel my robe being taken from me again.
'Put your arms out.'

I put my arms out, feeling my fingertips brush against the hair of one of my prep team. I notice that Jasten is pulling a piece of fabric around my torso, and I feel it brush against one of my legs. Suddenly, I'm unable to breath, as somebody tightens the corset on my dress, tying it up as tightly as they possibly can. Still, I am yet to complain. Astraea takes my hand, and leads me over to stand infront of a mirror, or so she says, and tells me to open my eyes, I am lost for words. Who I see infront of me is not Ivory Mason, the person I see in front of me is beautiful, picturesque, stunning, captivating, the person I see in front of me is a victor.

My hair is curled loosely, and falls over my right shoulder, and the front pieces of my hair have been braided tightly and are pulled back around my head to keep my hair in place. My face looks like the epitome of beauty. I have large, bright blue eyes, porcelain skin and thick, black eye lashes. I have smokey grey eyeshadow, which nicely compliments my eyes, and full red lips that stand out on my face. My eyebrows are perfectly shaped, and my skin is immaculate. My now jet black hair makes my skin look deathly white, it makes me look elegant, delicate.

The dress that Jasten has put me in.. Oh the dress.. I'm wearing a floor length black gown, made entirely of silk. The dress cuts off just above my thigh, and slopes all the way down my right leg, leaving my left leg exposed. The dress fits my figure perfectly, and has a white ribbon that ties round the waist. The dress has one sleeve that goes all the way down to my wrist, and leaves my right arm bare, apart from a single bracelet, encrusted with little transparent gems.

Jasten goes to the other side of the room, and turns the lights off. We are stood in complete darkness when I feel something being put on my head, and then suddenly the room is illuminated. Not from the light, but from my dress. On my dress, is thousands of tiny little lights, that glisten when I move. The item Jasten put on my head, is a small tiara of the same effect, and my bracelet also has the effect. Me and my prep team gasp, before the lights are turned back on and my dress turned off. My prep team burst into a fit of delighted squeals, and I sigh, before being lead out to the room of the remake centre.


The first thing I notice is how adorable Joshua looks in his outfit. It is a suit which is entirely black, but I'm quite sure it has the same add-ons as my dress does. Elena and Vincent return shortly after, and take a look at us, beaming.

'You look so stunning darling, I'm so proud of you!'
Elena runs over to me and wraps her arms round me, to which I quickly step back before she kisses me.
'Woah woah woah mind the masterpiece!'

Jasten interrupts, and I smile sweetly at him. The doors open and in come two peacekeepers, who usher us all out of the building. And into a big, grey spacious room, with 12 chariots in the middle, going from one end to the other. We make our way over to the chariot which says "5" on it, and take a look around.

I instantly realise that not a lot of the tributes are here yet. There's districts 1-4, us, district 6, the girl from 9 and both from 12. The second thing I notice is that district four are practically naked. However good Emilana looks, I'm almost certain that this look was meant for Finnick, because he's wearing nothing but a golden fish net and a golden crown. And he looks god-like. Distrist 2 are looking as terrifying as expected. All dressed in red and black, they look like true warriors, they both have war paint printed onto them. The girl looks so powerful and so beautiful that it's hard to believe that she's real. That is until I see district 1.

The girl is wearing a long dress, made entirely of what seem to be diamonds. She has her hair flowing n loosely round her shoulders, but her back is turned to me so I can't quite see. District 3 are dressed up in some sort of strange wires, it's heard to believe that this girl so plastered in make-up and bad costumes looked so beautiful at her reaping, I notice that her and her partner are holding hands.

My eyes sweep the room one more time, and I see that Georgia is having an argument with her mentor. I can see from here that he's obviously drunk. They seem to be going at each others throats until the point the district escort has to step in between the two, to the annoyance of the girl. The boy from their district is stood on the chariot already, dressed as the usual coal miner. The outfit looks so big on him that I can tell they haven't bothered to change the clothes from last year. He is clinging onto the side of the chariot like his life depends on it, and just proves to me that he will die in the bloodbath.

'Oh what are you going to do, drunkie? Throw a bottle at me? Oh I'm /so/ scared.'

That's weird.. I can hear that girl a lot more clearly than I could from the district 5 station. Oh.. I appear to have subconsciously wandered over to the district 12 station. Georgia and her mentor start laughing, until she catches my eye.

'..What are you staring at?'

' Excuse me?'

'I said.. what are you staring at?'

Wow, for a 14 year old from district 12, this girl has some serious balls. After a while of silence, the girl and her mentor just dismiss me and continue with there argument, which appears to be little more than banter between two friends. Crap. If I had any chance of being in an alliance with her now.. I'm not sure she wants me. I absently saunter over to my station, feeling as deflated as ever. Great. I always mess things up.

Soon enough, I feel Elena rest a hand on my arm, enthusiastically dragging me over to the chariot. In the time it's taken me to walk round the room, every single one of the tributes has arrived, and most have taken their places on the chariots. I can't help but smirk as I catch sight of district 7's traditional tree costumes. Our chariot is a pale blue colour, with two matching horses that are clearly in the Capitol. I mean.. Blue horses? Really? I take my place next to Joshua, and he smiles at me. I see that underneath the adorable child they've made him look like, he's terrified, and I can't say I feel any different. Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I get ready to face the crowd.

Just as I thought, the second I regain my composure the big grey doors swing open, and the room is hit by an impenetrable wall of screaming, clapping and cheering as the district 1 chariot goes out into the open. Too soon, our chariot suddenly jolts into motion, causing Joshua to tumble over and into me. We are about a quarter of the way round the circuit when he finally manages to scramble to his feet, and I see that every camera has been watching his little mishap; much to the annoyance of the other tributes. Jasten must see this as only an opportunity, as both our garments suddenly come to life with light. I can hear many gasps coming from the easily impressed Capitolites, and then they start throwing some of their roses and love towards district 5. Not that we are any competition for the attention that district 1 are getting.

When we finally reach the end of the circle, we all gather in neat rows, by district order. The lights on my dress patter out, and I see why. Every camera is now fixed on the man that is stood on the balcony above us. This is President Snow, and he looks even more horrific in person. Even from here, I can feel my district partner tense as the presidents snake like eyes bore into him for a split second, and I start to wonder if we weren't the only ones who heard Joshua's little lecture to Tyrin. I try not to listen to the words the president is saying, as I've heard the same thing every year of my life. Eventually he finishes, wishes us all a happy hunger games and leaves, and our chariots kick up again, causing me to instinctively reach out to grab Joshua's forearm. We don't want him embarrassing our district any more than he already has, do we?


We do one more lap of the city circle, before going back inside the giant grey room. The second I step off the chariot I am greeted by an overexcited Elena.

'Oh my, darling you did wonderful! The sponsors are just going to eat you up aren't they?'

'Well I should hope not, that sounds rather painful.' I retort, receiving a warning frown from Elena, which is shortly changed to a full on scowl when Tyrin runs into the room, grabbing both me and Joshua by our forearms and dragging us away from the room.

'Come come darlings, lets go back to the room, get all comfy and then watch the recaps of the tribute parade. Then we can have dinner and...go..to sleep.' Wow. This man really has everything planned in advance. I turn to Elena to protest, but Joshua beats me too it.

'Why do we have to go to bed so early?' He whines, despite how overly tired he looks. This just gains him a shake of the head from Vincent, who decides to speak up for the first time since his little encounter with Joshua.

'Because you need to sleep early. If you look tired in training you won't be able to concentrate, and the other tributes will see you as a target.'

Joshua cuts in before he has time to finish 'Why do I have to train? What's the point of training me up when I'm so obviously going to die? What will knowing the names of a few plants help me when a careers sword is going through my heart?'

This causes everyone to fall silent again, as we solemnly file into the lift, pressing the button for the district 5 quarters. When the lift comes to a halt, I race out, determined to claim the best room to myself. I run through the door of the room that is closest to the dining cart, and shut the door behind me, locking it. Almost instantly I strip myself of my dress, undoing the intricate braids that my prep team have so willingly tied my hair into. Too tired to scrub all my make-up off, I take all my clothes off, stepping into the large shower and slamming a bunch of random buttons. This time I come out smelling of apricots and vanilla. Strange combination if you think about it.. I fiddle with the wardrobe a bit until it comes up with some wearable night clothes, and flop on to the bed.

By the time I make it to the sofa, the recaps are almost finished. I can see that Joshua has fallen asleep next to Elena, and nobody is really paying attention to the recaps. They are all too busy talking among themselves I guess. I walk straight past everyone, and pick up a warm bread roll from the table, turning right around and walking back to my room. I close the door quietly, so nobody notices that I'm not there, and slide myself in between the sheets of the giant, four poster double bed. I quickly finish my bread roll, and rest my head against the velvet soft pillow, sinking right down into it. No sooner have I closed my eyes, I find myself drifting into a long, uninterrupted sleep. Damn, I really need to work on that.


Thump. Thump. Thump. 'Wake up wake up wake up!' Thump. Thump. Thump.

From down the hallway, I can hear Tyrin banging on somebodies door, but I'm just thankful that is isn't me.

'Shut the hell up Tyrin!' Vincent. He's banging on Vincent's door. I feel so sorry for that man. Today, when we go to training, Elena and Vincent have to follow Tyrin to some sponsor meetings, to try and keep me and Joshua alive. The thought is kind of daunting.. We aren't even in the arena, yet Elena and Vincent are already fighting to stop us from dying. I hear a very quiet knock on my door, and a small whimper.

'Come in..' I whisper, sitting up in my bed and smoothing down my hair. The door creaks open, and in steps a very tired looking Joshua. He patters over to my bed, and perches on the edge of it, looking down at the floor.

'Can I help you..?' I say, slightly confused to why this child is sat on the edge of my bed.

'I'm scared..' he sounds very defeated, It's kind of.. It's kind of worrying.

'Why?'

'I don't want to go to training.. The others will laugh at me.. I know I'm a bloodbath, I can't do anything and the careers are going to notice how useless I am and they're going to kill me!' He's rambling now, overcome by fear.

'Shh shh, you're not suppose to be in here, be quiet!' I hiss at him, and he instantly shuts up. I look at the alarm clock that's by the side of the bed, and notice that it's only 4:56am. We still have about 3 hours before we have to go to breakfast, so I gesture to Joshua to come over.

'Come here.. I take it you couldn't sleep?'

'No.. I had nightmares, and then Tyrin started banging on my door and I got scared. I think he had the wrong room..' He is whispering so quietly that I can barely hear him, so I just hold my arms out to him. After a few minutes of hesitation, Joshua crawls over and gets into bed beside me, settling into my arms. I don't know why I allow this child to sleep in my bed, but I suppose it's the fact his death is imminent. I feel obliged to give this boy a good few days before he is sent off to die.. I guess it's just the sisterly instinct that has been hidden away all these years since Bonnie and Twee were taken away from me, I finally have someone to use it on. After about 15 minutes, I notice Joshua's breath become slower as he falls to sleep, but I realise this boy has taught himself to do something I could never do. He seems to be a very light sleeper, so I guess it's a trait that comes with living in the slums of district 5, whereas I've always had a comfortable bed to sleep in. Whatever it is, I envy this child, and I also regret sitting up, because I know as soon as I stand up I will wake him so, I close my eyes and fall to sleep sitting up.


When I wake up, for the first time since I got to the Capitol it was not by Tyrin but from the alarm clock that rings noisily around my room. I press a few of the complicated buttons on the clock, and notice that there is a similar sound coming from Joshua's room. Joshua. I look around and see that some time last night Joshua has left my room and gone back to his own room. Either he is more sneaky than I give him credit for or I'm just a very heavy sleeper. Somehow I strongly doubt the former. I see that there is some folded up clothes at the end of my bed, ugh. I forgot today was the first day of training. I unwillingly slide out of the silky soft bed, and stand up, heading straight for the bathroom. I take a look in the mirror, I never was a morning person. My hair is all frizzy and awkward. It's 7am, so I have an hour until breakfast. I decide that this will be enough time to take a quick shower, so I do just that. This time I come out smelling of vanilla and plums, it smells really nice. I dry myself, and scrape my sleek black hair into a tight ponytail, before walking over to my bed and peeling off my night clothes. I have been provided with a pair of bright red, skin tight leather trousers, and a matching pair of boots that fit my calf perfectly, along with a stunningly black shirt which extenuates every curve of my top half.

I step out the door of my room, only to be instantly noticed by my prep team and shoved back inside, being angrily attacked by a million hands, applying make-up in every visible part of my body. When they're finally finished, I take a quick look at myself in the bathroom mirror. My skin looks immaculately smooth, and my face has just been done up so it looks flawless, but natural. I can live with that. I dismiss my prep team and step out of my room again, shutting the door softly behind me and heading over to the dining room. I notice the only person there is Tyrin, who quickly explains to me that Elena and Vincent are at their sponsor meeting still.

I take a seat at the table, taking a bowl from the neat stack that's closest to me and pouring myself some porridge, squeezing some thick, golden liquid into it, as Tyrin tells me it's 'Absolutely positively mouth watering!' and I also take another bread roll. An avox girl wanders over, and pours me a nice warm mug of coffee. I smile thankfully at her, and she nods her head, walking back to where she was standing. I sit and eat my food, making some small conversation about the newest Capitol styles with Tyrin, when a very lost looking Joshua stumbles into the room.

'Sorry.. I couldn't find the dining room. I had to ask this lady to show me where it was.' He gestures to the avox that is slowly backing away from him, before walking over to sit next to Tyrin, grabbing a bread roll and sinking his teeth into it.

'So.. I was thinking. Tonight, can we sit down and watch some recaps of other games? I want to know some possible arenas, and some strategies on how to survive, maybe pick up some fighting techniques.' he turns to Tyrin.

'It is possible, right?'

'Well.. I don't see how it's …...against... the rules so.. Sure. Just don't tell anybody I had anything to do with this.' Tyrin responds, shaking his head.

'Well we have to go to training in a few minutes anyway.. Any idea of who you want to ally with, Joshua?' I say, I'm not really interested in what he does in the arena but I suppose it's conversation.

'Not really.. I don't think I'll make any allies. But at least I have you right? I...I do have you..right?'

'Yeah.. Of course.. I wouldn't leave you..' I say uncertainly. Great. I don't want Joshua to follow me round in the arena, he's nothing but a burden, yet I don't have the heart to tell the kid so much. We both know he's going to die in the bloodbath so.. What's the harm in pretending? We do it every year don't we? Pretend we're celebrating the games, pretend we're proud of our tributes for going as far as the bloodbath, pretend we want to celebrate the victory of the man or woman who killed two of our own once a year. This is no different, we can just pretend that he isn't going to die. It won't do any harm to anyone.


Don't forget to review! And be sure to give plenty of constructive criticism, I mean, after all it's my first fanfiction, it's bound to be rubbish! :D I'll try update again by tomorrow but no promises. The only reason why I updated so quickly today is because I already had half of this chapter written when I posted chapter 1. (: