Crazy Messed Up World
Chapter 3: Restraint
Tris
After fleeing back to their new home Tris began pacing back and forth throughout the kitchen. When Max had called them that morning and told them to tell Katniss and Peeta that they were their new security detail they hadn't questioned it. They knew that there was a reason for this and that Katniss' intuition was probably the cause but the minute she saw that painting all of the previous logic had gone out the window. "There was no way that he should be able to paint Chicago Eric, I don't know what they have thrown us into here but something is amiss."
"Tris, shut up and come out back with me." She followed Eric out the door and to the corner of the yard where they knew it was clear. "I know that this is not exactly what we signed up for." Tris scoffed loudly. "We didn't sign up for anything Eric and if they figure out that we were lying she will not hesitate to kill us. Did you see those paintings? I am positive that those were death scenes. I know Max tried to explain what the Hunger Games were but I didn't believe him. Do you think that we are in danger here?"
Eric looked down at her with a kind of worry she had never seen in his eyes. "If someone did try to harm either you or myself we are sufficiently trained but I am starting to believe that the reason that we were brought here, though it may be valid to President Snow, may not be the exact side that we should be on. If they are trying to stop what happens to those people in those games we might not want to help in his endeavor." I think that we may need to come clean to Katniss, Peeta and the others. Do we have surveillance pictures of the home they meet in because I am positive that there is something going on there tonight. Honestly if our arrival is making her this worried than I am positive she would not want to prolong it."
They made their way inside and went over the file finding the picture of the Hawthorne home. Eric stuck it in his back pocket and against everything they were trained to do they headed out. Katniss really only showed them the town square so finding the area known as the seam was difficult. Eventually they turned into an area that looked like the houses like the one in the photo would be. Pulling the picture out of his pocket he held it up to her once again so they could get any distinguishing features from it.
The only difference either of them saw was a series of clotheslines that hung in the righthand side of the yard. When they found it Tris raised up on her tip toes and pressed her lips to his hard. "If this goes the wrong way please remember that I love you." He wrapped his arms around her and pressed one more deep kiss to her mouth. "As I you." With that he raised his hand and knocked calmly on the door.
A dark haired man opened the door with a look of confusion on his face. "What." He said his tone clipped. "We need to speak with Peeta and Katniss and we were told that they would be here." The man who Tris recognized as Gale Hawthorne screwed his face into an even deeper scowl. "No one knows they are here, so I am positive that no one told you that. If you're going to continue to lie to me you can leave."
Tris pulled Eric aside as her worry grew. "Maybe we shouldn't do this." He pulled his arm back and turned to Gale once more. "Gale, please we need to speak to Peeta and Katniss, we know they are here can you please just send them out." Katniss pushed past Gale anger clearly written on her face. "What do you want!" She practically yelled. Eric stepped up his leader stance in clear view, not that any of them knew what that was but if they were correct all of them were just as dangerous as the two of them.
Tris stepped up and cut Eric off before he could speak the last thing he needed to do was make the current situation worse. "Please Katniss we need to talk to you and Peeta somewhere private and unmonitored. We know that this does not help the trust thing, but we want to help you. At this point we are your best chance of getting what you want." Katniss opened her mouth but apparently was unable to find the words she wanted. Gale looked down at her as another male who she knew was Finnick came to the door.
"Come in, there are not monitoring devices in here." Tris stayed rooted to the spot she was in and crossed her arms. "If it's all the same what we are about to tell you will be a shock and we would like to be somewhere where we have a chance to defend ourselves." At this Johanna Mason came barreling out of the room. "You don't make the rules here. We are Victors. You should be cowering where you stand!" Eric laughed and the action made Johanna stop and look at him.
"If we knew what that was I am sure that we would be scared, but as it turns out we don't..." Everyone's eyes got wide as Eric continued. "...so are you ready to listen now?" Gale stepped forward after they all had a whispered conversation. "We have a place but we won't have long, the ideal situation would be for you to come in. If we promise to restrain ourselves would you still be opposed to coming inside." Eric grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to the fence.
"Do you think we can trust that they won't do anything to us?" Tris looked up at him a threw her hands in the air. "As you pointed out before we are more than capable of defending ourselves, but yes I think that they want our help bad enough that at least Peeta will keep us safe." They turned and quickly made their way into the house.
After all of them were seated at the dining room table Eric took a deep breath and began to speak. "Tris and I have some questions before we get started and I know that at this point the right to ask anything is probably not on the table but we feel like we need to know why we are here. I know that sounds off but Tris and I were commissioned to help one side and we would be grateful if we had both sides before making a rational decision." After Johanna had gone off once again Tris placed her hand on his thigh and took her turn.
"Before I ask our first question I think we can all agree that the fact that we even showed up here tonight means that we have decided that we would like to be on your side. Something about this mission has felt off ever since we got here. That being said what are the Hunger Games?" Gasps filled the room at the question and Eric grabbed her hand and waited for commotion to die down. "What do you mean what are the Hunger Games, have you been living under a rock?" Finnick asked his curiosity obviously peaked.
Tris tore her eyes from the handsome man and looked at Peeta. "That painting that you did today. I didn't lie it is a place called Chicago and that is where Eric and I are from. We don't have Districts we have what are called factions but we all work together as one city. I know that this may seem off to you but before we got this assignment we had no idea that anyone outside our city existed either. Now please can you tell us what we wish to know."
"There is a whole city outside of the Districts that could help us fight!" Gale boomed his voice reverberating off the walls. "Unfortunately no, not everyone is equipped to fight and your President Snow has already got his paws into the leadership which is why we are here. Not everyone is as easily ready to listen as Tris and I are... Well, Tris really she knew as soon as she met you that something was up. She has amazing instincts. We can't be here all night. Our house is being watched there are things we need to know before we help you, President Snow knows we know nothing and we would not blow our covers we are too professional for that so we can steer him in the wrong direction for you. In return we will ask to not be left within reach of him once the plan goes into action but we need to know what we are dealing with."
"Every year for the last 74 years the Districts are required to lose at least 2 children one male and one female to fight to become a Victor of the Hunger Games. It is a fight to the death which I am sure you gathered with Peeta's paintings earlier today. Every year there is only one Victor with the exception of last year because Peeta and I gave them a choice in the form of poisonous berries. They could either have 2 Victors or they could have no Victor..." As Katniss continued speaking Tris felt bile rise in the back of her throat her longing to go back home growing with every word.
If they thought what Jeanine was capable of was bad what this President Snow did was worse. No wonder they want to start a rebellion and no wonder the President wants them stopped. Fear is a great motivator and it seems he has it in bucketloads. "...does that answer your question?" Tris was up and out of the house before anyone could blink she heard footsteps behind her but they were unfamiliar so she knew it wasn't Eric. As she lost the contents of her stomach she felt a hand on her back and as much as she wanted to shy away she also wanted to lean into it.
She turned around and was face to face with the green eyed God. If she wasn't impossibly in love with Eric she could see herself easily falling for this man. "I know that was rough to hear is it not like that where you are from?" Tris shook her head and wiped her mouth. "We did have a form of genocide a while back, do you know what that is?" He shook his head. "We have what are called factions and when you are 16 years old you take a test to tell you which faction you fit the best with. The test is supposed to tell you where you will be the most beneficial. Some of us are called divergents what that means is that you don't fit into one category and the leader of one of the factions was killing anyone who was divergent because she was threatened by what we meant for the faction system."
When she looked away from his face she found that they were not alone. Everyone was nodding their heads in succession and Eric was walking towards her. "We do understand in a way what you are dealing with and trust us we do want to help and now that we know better I believe I speak for both Tris and I when I say that you can count on us." Upon returning inside Tris was offered a cup of tea from Gale's mother Hazelle. After thanking her she listened to the chatter as they tried to decide the best course of action with the new developments.
