Note: I changed Iridescent's District to D12. Hope you like the chapter! More coming soon. BTW long chapter. Oh and no, I do not own the Hunger Games. (Sadly)
OOOH and sneak peek for the final chapter (no I haven't written it yet, but I have some ideas):
"We all fall in the end. Some of us are luckier, and some aren't. I wasn't lucky. Winning seemed like the ideal option, but it isn't. The victor is the most unlucky of them all. The victor has to carry the burden of all those moments in their mind, never free from the endless cries of the fallen. The ultimate loser in the end, is the victor."
"Iridescent, get up." A woman with purple hair and yellow eyes ordered.
I got up, robotically. I didn't care anymore. The woman whisked me away to another room, where four extravagant-looking stylists and a prep team waited for me. My face remained blank as I was ordered to lie down. I did so, splaying my natural blueish white hair and closing my eyes. The stylists left the work to the prep team, and I was scrubbed and cleansed. I didn't feel it, I could only feel the empty heartbreak.
After my skin was completely ripped off, the prep team showered me down, but I didn't even wince as the cold water stung my raw skin. I was toweled dry and left for the stylists to do their so called "magic."
I was stark naked as the stylists introduced themselves. I felt so exposed. I could see the male stylist examining my body and I shuddered. Creep. Then I noticed that the others were doing the same thing and I felt even worse.
The first stylist, who called herself Shimmre was in charge of fixing my hair. The second, a tall man with blue streaks in his purple hair was named Magnifi and was in charge of my costume. The other two, identical sisters named Rose and Thorn, were in charge of makeup and touch-ups. They plop me down in a chair with a thud.
"Ooooh DARLING, you have SUCH amazing eyes! They're so silver!"
"And you have such lovely breasts!" Rose exclaims. I look away, disturbed.
"So perfectly rounded!" Thorn felt them as she squealed in excitement. An involuntary blush forms upon my cheeks.
"Oh. My. PANEM! Your blush is so CUTE!"
The stylists continue to fuss over me as they floated past me, examining my body. Shimmre took my still wet hair and rubbed oozes of cool, silky shampoo into it, massaging my skull and lathering my hair. She pushes the chair towards a sink, designed for washing hair and begins to wash out the shampoo as Magnifi ponders over my costume, flipping through dresses with a extravagant flair.
After rinsing all the shampoo out of my hair, Shimmre applies a generous heap of honey-scented conditioner and I almost retch.
I giggle as Shade scales the tree, knife in his teeth, burning torch in his hand. He reaches the thick branch, where he scoots across it towards the active beehive buzzing gently with the hundreds of bees. He thrusts the burning torch fowards, and the bees magically disappear.
"Capitol tricks..." I think to myself, laughing.
Shade hacks into the top of the beehive, sending it flying down to me, where I wait with a silver net to catch it. I catch it, and it bounces off, but lands back on the net. I set it down gently to the ground, and Shade shimmies down the tree and runs toward me.
When he reaches me, I rip apart the beehive, exposing the sweet and sticky honey inside. I look at Shade and shove my hand in the hive, and retract it, now dripping gently with the honey. I lick my fingers as I watch Shade stick a tentative finger into the hive and eat the honey that glops upon it.
We devour the honey from the beehive, quenching our hunger for the day. We both smelled like honey for the next two days.
The honey scent reminds me of Shade and I don't want to think about him. Shade's dead and he'll never come back. There's nothing I can do about it. Shimmre ignores my disgusted look and looks at the clock. She nods and rinses the conditioner out, then dries my hair in seconds with this weird contraption. She then shoves the chair forward, where some type of metallic visor thing descends and styles my hair. The visor ascends, Shimmre examines me, shakes her head and presses some button.
The process repeated itself ten or so more times until Shimmre finally liked the hairstyle and she set to work upon it.
She applied some pale purple gel to my natural bluish white streaked hair that cascaded down with navy black streaks on the bottom.
The hairstyle was simple, gentle blue curls tumbling down to my chest in a flowing motion. It was pretty, but not to my liking.
Shimmre handed me over to Rose and Thorn, who adorn me with gops of makeup, completely concealing my natural face. I look like one of the Capitol dolls. Now they decide to plaster some sparkling gems on my face, near my eyes.
Rose giggles and Thorn squeals, "You look so CUTE!" My eye twitches, and a disgusted look forms upon my face.
I hate the look. I hate everything about the Capitol.
"Three. Two. One." the Capitol announcer states through the microphone. The gong sounds and we all take off.
"Damn the Capitol" I think to myself as I dash to the Cornucopia, dodging a silver knife whizzing at my throat. I stoop down at the nearest backpack, snatch it up and run towards the forest, grabbing a silver spear and knife on my way there.
I enter the forest and keep running until I reach a bare clearing. A boy dashes in from the side, having the same intent as I did. To get away from the Careers. I whip out the spear instinctively. He sees me and grabs a knife. But I'm surprised at his words.
"Allies?" He says.
"What?"
"Do you want to be allies?" He repeats.
"Ummm...sure. My name's Iridescent, by the way. I'm from District Twelve."
"Shade. District Nine."
I felt a pang of emotion as he said his name. He was so nice and cute too...his smile was adorable. Shade. Even his name send me twirling through emotions...Shade.
My eyes looked pained as I remembered. But the Capitol ruined it. It ruined my first love. My only friend.
Rose and Thorn passed me to Magnifi, who examined my (still naked) body, murmuring something about how lovely my figure was. He had me wear some undergarments before he ordered me to slip into a musty yellow dress, which I did quite ruefully, my mind still on Shade.
"No...too yellow."
I try on a silver dress, but he shakes his head violently, saying that it "clashed with my eyes." He hands me a disgusting magenta dress, but his look is priceless when he sees me in it.
"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" He shudders.
He shoves a black dress at me, and when I put it on, I realize that it shows off practically my whole body.
"Hmmm...looks wonderful..." He runs his hands down my slim figure, then shakes his head vigorously.
"Nope. "
He does this for a while, until he finally settles on a rose-colored dress that poofs out on the bottom.
Magnifi shoves me in front of a mirror, where he and the others examine me and fix any imperfections. Shimmre sprays a layer of smelly hairspray on my hair to keep it from frizzing, while Rose dabs this clear lotion on my face to keep the makeup on. They all step back finally, examining me yet again.
I look at myself. A different person stares back at me. It's not me. It's a girl fashioned in a rose colored dress that's much too short for my fancy, with defined silver eyes, rouge colored cheeks, and lips as bright as blood. I shiver as cold memories float through my mind.
The Careers are below us, and I have to restrain myself from retching. They're gutting a twelve year old girl and she's screaming her lungs out. A pool of crimson blood surrounds her limp body and the liquid seeps from her ripped open chest. You can see her faint heart beating. Her hand has fallen to the side, resting in her own blood.
Her eye catches mine and all I see is agony and despair. Blood trickles out of her mouth, and her hair is matted and soaked with blood.
I mouth, "I'm sorry." and send a knife flying towards her head.
A timer beeps and the stylists rush me out of the room and into the hallway, where I'm escorted to the podium for interviews.
"Iridescent, what's it like to be the victor?" Fans scream, but I am silent. I am ever silent.
I walk robotically up to the podium, where the interviewer, a man clad in a bright pink fluffy suit with bright violet eyes named Petrare Melina greets me with a charming smile. Just like Shade's. My eye twitches.
I wake up to birds chirping, and my vision is slightly blurry. Then it clears and I can see Shade beaming down at me with his charming smile as he whispers in my ear.
"Iridescent, wake up."
"Shade, will you do me a favor?"
"Sure, anything for you."
"Call me Shadow."
He grins and shakes his head, "I like Iridescent much better. It's so much prettier, don't you think?"
"I guess."
A smile tries to form itself on my face, but I shove it away. My cold glare replaces it within seconds. I know what Shade would say right now. He'd say, "Lighten up, Iridescent. The day is still young. There's nothing to be sad about."
I almost broke out in a grin at the thought, but then I was quickly reminded that Shade was dead.
We were in a tree, hiding from the Careers (who were out hunting at that time) and Shade looked so magnificent, and I guess there was some type of a romantic feeling in the air, because Shade pulled me towards him and kissed me.
It was sudden, but it was pure bliss. Time slowed down as we kissed, but then we remembered that we were in the Hunger Games and pulled away. It was the spark for our fire. The beginning of our relationship. It was the best moment of my life.
Petrare motions for me to sit down, and I do, my icy stare firmly intact on my face.
"So, Iridescent, lets go with the fans' question; What's it like to be the victor?"
I glare at him and remain silent, shaking my head violently. I don't want to be asked questions. I want to be alone. ...I want to be dead.
"Come on Iridescent, cheer up!"
"No." is what I think.
"Tell me, are you excited to see your family again?"
I shake my head, and he feigns a gasp.
"Why not?"
Silence.
"What about your friends?"
I glare at him, as to say, I have none.
"Are you glad you won?"
I give him the most venomous look I can muster and he looks away.
"Guess not!" He laughs. There's an awkward silence in the crowd.
The interview goes as such, him asking me questions and either I shake my head, nod or remain silent. My face is plastered with hatred and silent rage.
I glance up towards where Shade points at a bright green vine sprouting with lovely violet blossoms. I gasp.
"They're so pretty!"
"Just like you."
I blush. Shade climbs up a tree, reaching for the vine. He plucks a single blossom from it, leaning away as the vine tries to attack him.
"Shade! Be careful!"
He drops down from his branch, strides over to me and plants the blossom behind my ear.
"Oh Shade."
"Iridescent."
His hand snakes behind my head and I grasp him by his shoulders as we kiss passionately. Bliss. Pure bliss.
The interview concludes after a while longer, and I step down from the podium, ignoring the roses being tossed at me.
A disturbingly young looking President Snow awaits me in the hallway, smelling faintly of rancid blood and roses.
"Keep this up, and you'll be experiencing a living hell."
I give him a cold glare and whisper in his ear softly, "I'm already living one."
I stalk off, ignoring his cruel shouts and promises. I break off into a run, dashing down unknown hallways, not caring where I go, just as long as I get away from here. Shouts ring out from behind me, but I don't stop. I keep running, running, running until I reach a dead end. I rattle door after door, until I find an open one, and I slip inside it. Darkness envelops me.
The light flickers on and I shield my eyes. Dark smoke fills the room, and I feel myself choking on it.
My vision blurs and I can faintly hear yells from the hallway. A familiar figure approaches me.
"Shade!" My mind screeches, but instead of being greeted by his warm body, rough hands grasp me and I try to scream, but can't.
Something hard hits my head and I find myself tumbling into the darkness.
Author's note: Oh my god guys, thanks for such amazing reviews! I love you all!
~Ashy.
