I could build a castle
Out of all the bricks they threw at me
And every day is like a battle
But every night with us is like a dream
The hot air is causing sweat to build at her temple as she walks through the town square towards time square with Peeta at her side. Haymitch is walking behind them. Their families are behind him as Peace Keepers surround them; escorting them to the reaping.
As soon as they all get to the square they are all roped off into separate pens. The women that are family are roped off in one area, the men that are family in another and the male and female victor and victors in another area. Katniss audibly gulped; as the whole population of District Twelve was waiting in the heat for the reaping to start. Katniss already felt uncomfortable; she was the only female victor; she snuck a glance over at Peeta to see him looking straight ahead.
Effie soon takes the stage and Katniss can tell that she is having a hard time with the heat herself. She was dressed in a wig that was a strange gold color and lacks her usual enthusiasm. They show the video and Mayor Undersee reads the Treaty of the Treason. Katniss looks over the crowd; they all have fear lingering in the air; it just isn't as obvious; with parents now knowing that their children won't have the chance of going into the arena.
"Ladies first," Effie says plastering a smile on her face. She claws around almost pathetically in the bowl until she gets to the single slip in the bowl. She finally is able to get a hold of the single slip and holds it up.
"Katniss Everdeen." She says solemnly but with a slight tone of pep. Katniss steps forward slightly; it felt odd to her to be reaped rather than to volunteer. When she volunteered it was her own choice; now she was being forced in by the Capitol. Effie smiled at the camera again before walking over to the other ladies glass bowl.
"Primrose Everdeen." Effie says and Katniss can feel her stomach drop to her feet. She knew that it would happen; but it is different hearing Prim's name being said than imagining it. Prim walks up to the stage with a straight back and her eyes focused forwards, she was the spitting image of her sister the year before.
"Now the gentleman," Effie says with another smile; she walks over to the glass bowl and says the name clearly and for a second time Katniss' stomach drops to her feet.
"Haymitch Abernathy." Effie says as she glances over at the men.
"I volunteer as tribute," Peeta says and Katniss watches not daring to give them the emotion that Snow and the Capitol wants. She won't give into their satisfaction. Peeta steps up and shakes off Haymitch when he tries to hold him back. So much for that promise.
Effie walks to the second glass bowl for the men and spends no time grabbing a name. Katniss holds her breath and watches as lifts the slip of paper to her eyes.
"Gale Hawthorne." Rings out across the square and he walks to the front and stands stoically beside Peeta.
In a move of rebellion and annoyance she lifts three fingers to her lips and raises her arm. Soon the whole population of Twelve and other tributes are doing the same. Katniss is holding onto Prim's other hand tightly.
A harsh grip grabs onto Katniss' arm and she doesn't put up a fight when Head Peacekeeper Thread pulls her and the other tributes lined by Peacekeepers to the trains.
"What about goodbyes?" Gale asks roughly as all of them are pulled away.
"New procedure." Thread says shortly. All of them are taken through a back door to two cars waiting. They split everyone up and Katniss and Peeta are in one and Prim and Gale are in the other. There are no cameras around them but Katniss grasps Peeta's hand tightly to help her process the whole reaping. The car ride was short and before they were ready they were at the train station.
Haymitch and Effie appear on the platform; with no cameras or crowds to send us to the Capitol. The Peacekeepers escort everyone onto the train and slam the doors behind all them. Katniss can hear Prim and Gale's intake of breath at the grandeur of the train. Katniss and Peeta walk further in; still pretty used to the train. The train starts up; surprising Katniss causing her to stumble at the force of the train. This helped her effectively fall onto Peeta.
"Sorry," She murmurs and walks over to the window. She stares out the window as District Twelve fades out of view.
"I'll show them to their rooms. You two remember where everything is?" Effie asks. Katniss gives her a blank nod and Peeta gives a quiet 'yes'. "Dinner's at seven don't be late." Effie adds as she leads Prim and Gale away.
Katniss walks past Peeta muttering something about taking a shower. She walks down to her room; Effie was long gone from the hallway and Katniss wasn't exactly sure where Prim and Gale's rooms were. She walked down to her room and opened the door. A flow of cool air welcomed her and she was thankful; she tore off the jumpsuit Cinna had her wear and threw it on the floor. She went into the bathroom and turned on the water to a scalding level. She stepped in and hoped to get rid of the horrid events of the day. Her, Prim, Peeta and Gale were going in the arena along with forty four other competitors.
When Effie knocks on Katniss' door to let her know about dinner; she had finished her shower and was lying on her bed in a simple pair of pants and a sky blue shirt. She walks out to find everyone but Gale at the table Katniss takes the seat in between Peeta and Prim as Effie takes a seat across Katniss.
"Where's Gale?" Prim asks quietly; Katniss' head turns to her sister and then looks up to Effie.
"He said that he'd be here in a minute." Effie says and Prim nods lightly; accepting the answer. Gale walks into the dining car thirty seconds later and sits on Prim's other side.
The conversation is bare; Peeta attempts at conversation with Effie. Prim and Gale are eating like there is tomorrow.
"You might want to watch how much you eat, the food is rich." Katniss says speaking up to warn Prim and Gale. Prim nods as a thanks and slows down. Gale glances at her acknowledging it but not listening to her.
"I love your new hair, Effie," Peeta says and Effie smiles. Katniss glances up at hearing Peeta's voice.
"Thank you. I had it especially done to match Katniss's pin. I was thinking we might get you a golden ankle band and maybe find Haymitch a gold bracelet or something so we could all look like a team. Including Gale and Prim of course." Effie says looking at each person at the table. Prims face shows some excitement at the idea, Gale shows disgust, Peeta looks like he doesn't mind either way and Katniss doesn't care about what they do.
"I think that's a great idea," Peeta says. "How about it, Haymitch?" He is obviously trying to keep the conversation going and makes Effie feel better from earlier where she wasn't the ball of sunshine and pep that she was the year before.
"Yeah, whatever," Haymitch says. He looks miserable; anyone could tell that he wants to be drinking. But for Peeta's sake he is not; he must feel like he owes Peeta since Peeta volunteered for him.
"Maybe we could get you a wig, too," Katniss says to try to lighten the mood. A small giggle escapes Prim and Katniss feels like she has completed her mission. Gale is silent not willing to add to the conversation. Haymitch looks at Katniss as if yelling to leave him alone.
"Shall we watch the recap of the reaping?" Effie says dabbing at her mouth with the napkin. After nods from everyone at the table they all make their way to the other car. Peeta walks off to find his notebook on the victors. Katniss sits with Peeta on one side so she can see the notes he takes and have already taken with Prim holding her hand on the other side.
The recap starts and Katniss watches as the District's start. Many are wasted and have done terribly over the years. She can recognize some of the victors from Peeta's tapes that he played on an endless loop. Peeta crosses off the victors that weren't reaped and Katniss keeps an eye on the list. He adds to the list the family members that were chosen. The Career Districts have the largest pool of possibilities and Katniss is amazed by the possibilities.
Katniss sees that Haymitch's face is a blank slate as he watches his friends get reaped. Effie makes small comments about the Victors as they are chosen and Katniss tries to pay attention to both. It is heartbreaking to see a Victor and their child reaped; the victor themselves were heartbroken and Katniss was thankful that she never planned to have children herself. Gale looks a little green from how much food he had eaten and Katniss resisted the urge to smirk.
Not many of the Victors stand out to Katniss similar to the year before. There is the brother and sister from District One who are reaped as the victor tributes and then some old victor's grandson and another victor's cousin. A volunteer from two that must be forty as his own daughter is reaped with him and a woman that had her teeth filed into fangs to go along with her games. In four there was Finnick Odair whose games were ten years ago at fourteen and then a hysterical girl until an eighty year old woman volunteered in her place. Then the only living female victor from seven who won a few years ago by pretending to be weak. The woman in eight had to leave a couple of her kids and then one of them was reaped. In Eleven one of Haymitch's friends, Chaff are reaped. Watching the reaping from twelve made Katniss feel like her heart was ripped out and stomped on.
Haymitch walks out without saying anything. Effie says goodnight to them all trying to wipe away a few discreet tears. Gale gets up and waves at them before heading down to bed. Prim yawns as she sits up by Katniss' side.
"Go to bed, Prim. We have the opening ceremonies tomorrow." Katniss says. Prim stands up and stretches; she leans down and kisses Katniss' cheek before walking down to her room. Katniss sits there as Peeta rips out a few pages of his notebook
"Why don't you get some sleep?" Peeta says phrasing it as a question but means it closer to a statement. She knows that she wouldn't be able to handle the nightmares without him; but her pride stands in the way. They have barely touched since the one night where they went too far. Since then they have seemed to have gotten back to being friends.
"What are you going to do?" Katniss asks as she faces him.
"Just review my notes awhile. Get a clear picture of what we're up against. But I'll go over it with you in the morning. Go to bed, Katniss," Peeta says waving his hands as if to prove his point.
Katniss gets up and heads to bed. She sleeps for a few hours at most before having a nightmare of the old woman from four turning into a mutt dog and eating her. She knew that she had screamed; no one had come to her aid; not Peeta, Gale, Prim or an attendant. She gets up and pulls on a robe; knowing that she can't stay in the room any longer than she already has. Maybe Katniss can get some hot chocolate or tea. Haymitch might be up; he is not one for sleeping during the night.
She orders warm milk; it sounds the most calming at that moment. She continues to walk through the halls of the train, passing Gale's compartment hearing his snoring through the door. Katniss passes by the television room and can hear sounds. Peeta sits on the couch holding tightly onto the notebook with the box of the tapes. She can recognize the tape as Brutus's games. Peeta looks back and turns off the tape rising as she walked in.
"Couldn't sleep?" Peeta asks simply.
"Not for long," Katniss says tugging on the string to the robe.
"Want to talk about it?" He asks. Occasionally talking about it can help; but most times Katniss just wants to forget it all. When Peeta holds out his arms for her she walks straight into them. His arms wrap around her and she inhales his scent and she wraps her arms around his neck. Peeta pulls her close and buries his face into her hair. Katniss can feel him press his lips against her neck; she can feel some type of warmth spread to her toes. For some reason she does not want to let go.
The Capitol attendant with the warm milk causes them to spring apart. He sets the tray down with a pitcher and two mugs on the table.
"I brought an extra cup," The attendant says. "Thanks," Katniss says in response.
"And I added a touch of honey to the milk. For sweetness. And just a pinch of spice," The attendant adds. He looks at them like he wants to say more but he just backs out of the room with a plastered on smile.
"What's with him?" Katniss asks Peeta watching the attendant's retreating form.
"I think he feels bad for us," Peeta says his brow wrinkling.
"And not feel bad for the others going in." She mumbles, thinking of Prim.
"I mean it. I don't think the people in the Capitol are going to be all that happy about our going back in or the other victors. They get attached to their champions." Peeta says. President Snow's plan might backfire; did he consider the people of the Capitol's reactions.
"I'm guessing they'll get over it once the blood starts flowing," Katniss says flatly. She doesn't want to worry about the people of the Capitol but if they get upset enough it could start riots in the Capitol.
"So, you're watching all the tapes again?" Katniss asks looking down at the box of tapes.
"Not really. Just sort of skipping around to see people's different fighting techniques," Peeta says shrugging. Katniss nods and looks at the large box.
"Who's next?" Katniss asks looking at the many tapes.
"You pick," Peeta says holding out the box for her to look at. Katniss looks through the box and starts digging through the box. She finds one marked fifty; the second Quarter Quell.
"We never watched this one," Katniss says pulling out the tape; looking at it. Peeta shakes his head for a moment.
"No. I knew Haymitch didn't want to. The same way we didn't want to relive our own Games. And since we're all on the same team, I didn't think it mattered much." Katniss nods, she understands where he is coming from. She would never want to watch her games again.
"Is the person who won in twenty-five in here?" Katniss asks starting to look through the box again.
"I don't think so. Whoever it was must be dead by now, and Effie only sent me victors we might have to face." Peeta says holding Haymitch's tape in his hand. "Why? You think we ought to watch it?"
"It's the only Quell we have. We might pick up something valuable about how they work," Katniss says. In a way it felt like they were invading something of Haymitch's. It was public; but the games were similar to a haunting that would never go away.
"We don't have to tell Haymitch we saw it." Katniss reasons as she looks at the tape.
"Okay," Peeta agrees. He puts the tape in and sits back; Katniss curls against him and grabs her mug of warm milk.
The anthem plays and President Snow is shone drawing the envelope for the Quarter Quell. President Snow was quite younger but Katniss saw no appeal in the younger version or probably any version. He reads from the paper to inform Panem that the Quell will have twice the number of tributes. They cut straight to the reaping and there are so many children that it is overwhelming. In District Twelve there is another woman other than Effie calling the names but she has the same peppiness that Effie has. When she calls one of the names Katniss knows that she has heard that name somewhere.
"Maysilee Donner." The woman on the screen calls out.
"Oh! "She was my mother's friend." Katniss says as she remembers where she had heard of her. The cameras pan out to find her in the crowd. She was being hugged by two other girls; that were definitely merchant children.
"I think that's your mother hugging her," Peeta says quietly. And Katniss is pretty sure that he is right. She watches as Maysilee walks up to the stage with determination; the other girl that was hugging Maysilee looked familiar to Katniss and she wasn't exactly sure where until a light bulb flashes in her mind.
"Madge," Katniss murmurs in awe watching the display.
"That's her mother. She and Maysilee were twins or something," Peeta says and adds. "My dad mentioned it once."
Katniss nods and tries to think back. Madge's mother spends half of her time in bed with pain. When Madge showed up to help Gale or the mockingjay pin had a different meaning than Katniss had thought. When Katniss sees Haymitch after he is called; she is surprised. He was young, strong even; he just smirked at the camera as he walked up to the stage.
In the chariots the District Twelve tributes are dressed in a horrible coal miner's outfit. They spend time to show Haymitch's interview. He plays a snarky angle pretending to be indifferent to the games.
"He didn't have to reach far for that, did he?" Katniss says and Peeta nods in response.
The tape flashes forward to the games and it shows a utopia almost. Even Haymitch looks surprised for a minute at their surroundings. Katniss couldn't help but gasp at what she saw. It is placed in a green meadow with patches of beautiful flowers; the sky is pure blue with white clouds floating above. A shot of the arena shows that there are mountains to one side and woods to the other. The look of the arena stuns several tributes because most of them don't move from their pedestals. Haymitch runs to the Cornucopia before most of them have touched the ground. He runs headfirst into the woods and Katniss is amazed watching him.
Eighteen of the forty eight tributes are killed in the bloodbath. Other tributes begin to die off showing that anything that would be considered pretty is deadly. Only rainwater and the food provided is what was safe for the tributes to eat. There were ten well fed Career tributes searching the mountains for tributes. Haymitch was having some of his own problems in the woods; he was attacked by deadly squirrels and butterflies. Though he kept moving forwards scouring for anything to help himself.
Maysilee Donner is resourceful herself; she had made a blow gun to shoot darts dipped in poison at her enemies. After four days in the arena a mountain erupts and the volcano kills a dozen tributes; including half of the career pack. The thirteen alive tributes have no choice but to hide out in the woods. Haymitch runs into three of the Careers and is able to kill two of them before a dart takes out the third. Maysilee and Haymitch decide to form an alliance. They work well together; they work out a sleep system and are able to get the necessary resources. Katniss sees a rift formed between them when Maysilee wants to rest and Haymitch want to find the end of the arena. When they get to the end of the arena it is just a cliff leading to jagged rocks at the bottom.
Maysilee insists to go back and leave it alone; but Haymitch wants to stay. They decide to break their alliance and Maysilee walks away as Haymitch continues to study the arena. He doesn't look back to see Maysilee walk away he looks to be unaffected by it. When Haymitch accidentally kicks a pebble over the edge and a moment later it come flying back up. Haymitch stares at it clearly trying to figure out what had happened a grin lights up his face. He grabs a large stone and throws it over the edge; when the stone flies right back into his hand he starts to laugh. That is when the screaming starts; Maysilee's screaming. Haymitch could ignore it and no one would blame him; but he ran towards the sound. He had arrived as some bright pink birds with long beaks were flying away. They had skewered her through the neck and Haymitch held her as she died; similar to how Katniss had done for Rue.
That same day three of the five tributes die in combat or from obstacles; it goes down to Haymitch and a girl from District One. She is bigger than Haymitch and the fight is bloody and disgusting. They have already been wounded fatally from each other and other fighting. When Haymitch is disarmed he moves as fast as he can while trying to hold his intestines in he moves through the forest as the girl follows him with an axe. Haymitch seems to be moving for the cliff and has reached the edge when the axe is thrown. He falls to the ground and the axe goes over the edge. She seems to think that she could try to outlast Haymitch; but he knows more than she does. The axe comes flying back and buries itself into her head. The cannon sounded and her body is removed causing the trumpets to blow announcing Haymitch's victory.
Peeta turns off the tape and they sit in silence for a few minutes. Katniss is trying to process all of what Haymitch had done and how he used the Capitol to his advantage instead of fighting.
"That force field at the bottom of the cliff, it was like the one on the roof of the Training Center. The one that throws you back if you try to jump off and commit suicide. Haymitch found a way to turn it into a weapon." Peeta says as he rubs a hand down his face. His wedding ring glints in the moonlight and Katniss looks down at her own ring. They had been provided different room on the train; as a just in case.
"Not just against the other tributes, but the Capitol, too," Katniss adds.
"You know they didn't expect that to happen. It wasn't meant to be part of the arena. They never planned on anyone using it as a weapon. It made them look stupid that he figured it out. I bet they had a good time trying to spin that one. Bet that's why I don't remember seeing it on television. It's almost as bad as us and the berries!" Peeta says and Katniss can't help but smile. Haymitch was more like them than they had originally thought. Katniss couldn't help but laugh at the absurdness of it all. Peeta just looked over at her like she was crazy and maybe she was.
"Almost, but not quite," Haymitch says from behind them effectively scaring them. Katniss wasn't sure what to expect; would he be angry? He ends up just smirking and taking a swig from a bottle he found. Apparently he decided against staying sober. Haymitch looks over them and after a minute he stumbles away.
Katniss looks over at Peeta to see him glancing at the tapes again. She stands up and stretches; seeing that he is considering whether to watch more or not.
"Come on, you need to get to bed. You don't need to fall off of the chariot tomorrow." Katniss says. He just shakes his head before standing up. They walk through the empty corridors; Katniss tries to think what it will be like fighting other victors and their family. Gale and Peeta will be combined into the world of the Hunger Games with her.
Katniss and Peeta are able to get almost down to Katniss' room before they hear the sound of heavy footsteps on the carpeted hall. They look up to see Gale coming down the hall; his gray eyes alight with shock.
"Hi Gale," Katniss says quietly. What was she supposed to say to him? Hey, I know it's my fault you're going to go into the Hunger Games and probably die.
"Hey, what are you guys doing up?" Gale asks suspiciously.
"Watching previous games," Peeta replies. Katniss is thankful that he left out the nightmare. For some reason she thought that Gale learning that she needed Peeta to get through nightmares seemed like a weakness almost.
"I was just gonna get a glass of water." Gale says walking past them. Katniss can feel the warm buzz she had been feeling from being around Peeta for the past couple of hours fade away as Gale past her.
She bit her lip and tried to ignore the feeling and kept walking further down the hall. They got to Katniss' room and she barely noticed her movements as she prepared to go back to sleep for at least a couple more hours.
A/N: Thanks for reading and reviewing. The song is New Romantics by Taylor Swift. Please follow, favorite and review.
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
