Chapter Seven- Attempts
This year was the 74th year of the Hunger Games. Haymitch would be coming to the Training Center again, as would Lila. Lila found the Reaping very interesting this year, an older sister volunteered for her younger sister. This year's tributes for District 12 are Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. Everdeen. Everdeen. The name sounded so familiar to Lila's ears, but she couldn't remember why.
As usual, Lila cleaned the 12th floor any of the tributes entered.
Later that evening, when Effie Trinket, Haymitch, Peeta, and Katniss came, Effie was obviously delighted at how the two tributes made a splash at the opening ceremonies.
At dinner, the Avoxes we being serving, and then Effie made a comment to Lila, "I've always wondered," she started while Lila was pouring her some wine, "Your hair, is it its natural color?" Then she continued to touch her hair. Lila nodded with a smile.
"Wait," Haymitch said when Lila was turning around, "Come here, I want to see…" Obeying a command, Lila went over to Haymitch and he touched her hair as well. Lila couldn't help but notice the usual softness his voice had when talking to her was still there.
After a couple of moments feeling her hair, Haymitch finally was satisfied and Lila went back to her room.
A couple of nights later, Lila met Haymitch who was sitting on a couch, surprisingly sober. Lila couldn't remember the last time she saw him sober.
"I think I have a couple of fighters this year, Lila," he said and Lila raised her eyebrows at him and smiled. "I really do! I promise!" And Lila smiled even more. Were they… were they connecting again?
At that exact moment, Katniss walked in the room, and Lila shot up, not wanting her to think anything. Katniss hesitantly stood where she was wondering if she should say something or just leave. "Wait," Haymitch was the one who spoke, "Katniss, come here." Katniss did as she was told.
Then he motioned Lila to come over. What is he doing? She thought, but she trusted him and went to stand in front of the young girl who looked just about as confused as her.
"This is Katniss, Lila. Lillian's girl," Lillian! Lillian and Harper had children! "Katniss, this is Lila. She was your mother's friend."
Lila smiled with tears in her eyes, and shook Katniss's hand fondly. Now that she knew who the parents were to this girl, memories came flooding back: hours spent in front of the bakery, eating delicious bread, hours of girl talk with Lillian, Mary Kate, Maysilee and Lila, and hours spent with each other laughing.
Katniss looked like her father that was for sure: his eyes, his hair, his skin. Then she remembered the other girl at the Reaping… Primrose, was it? Well, she was a spinning image of her mother! But when she looked at Katniss's smile, it was exactly like her mother's. It had the same compassion and love in it.
Katniss said it was nice to meet Lila and Lila smiled.
When Katniss and Peeta won the Games, Lila felt the pride of a mother.
…
One day, in Victor's Village, Katniss and her mother were home alone, and Katniss remembered the Avox that Haymitch introduced her to. She was her mother's friend, right?
"Hey, Mom?" She asked and her mother looked up, "Did you know a Lila?"
Her mother thought for a moment, and then she smiled, "Yes, I did. She was one of my best friends. She got taken away by the Capitol, though. Dead, probably. How do you know about her?"
"Oh, I just her name once or twice."
…
The next year for the Quarter Quell, Katniss and Peeta were both going to go back into the arena. To study, they began to watch Haymitch's games, because his was a Quarter Quell as well. They both found the Reaping odd when a girl ran up and kissed young Haymitch. Katniss recognized the young girl, but she couldn't put a name to the face.
When Haymitch came in and realized what they were watching, he knew he was busted. He knew they saw the Reaping where Lila went and kissed him. He really didn't want them to find out. Luckily, though, they didn't mention anything.
A couple of nights later, in the Training Center, she overheard Haymitch talking to someone in hushed whispers, "This is the year, Lila, I promise. I'm gonna get you out of here, I know it." That's when Katniss made the connection between the girl at the Reaping: it was the Avox Haymitch introduced her to. She wasn't only her mother's friend, she was Haymitch's girl.
She wondered what he meant by telling her he was going to get her out of here. She shook it off and told herself it was probably just something he said to make her feel cared about.
The night that they broke into the arena, all hell broke loose. Lila was watching it with the other Avoxes when the television blacked out. She wondered if Haymitch had anything to do with it. All of the Avoxes were instructed to stay there until further notice, and half of the Peacekeepers left the room.
Hours later, an angry Peacekeeper came in and grabbed tightly around the arm, "What do you know?" He hissed in an evil tone. Lila shook her head furiously and then the Peacekeeper dragged her out of the room and then continued to knock her unconscious.
When she woke up, she found herself in a room very similar to her cell at the Avox Headquarters, except the floor was tiled here.
She looked across the bars and saw another cell with a blonde boy in it. Peeta. The boy saw her and asked, "Aren't you an Avox?"
Lila nodded, but as she did, her mouth felt heavier. She reached into her mouth, and there it was, welcomed back after missing for 25 years, her tongue.
…
Haymitch was with Plutarch, Katniss, Gale, and some other members of District 12 on a hovercraft. Right when they couldn't get Peeta, he knew this wasn't going to end well. He had a breakdown when Plutarch said they couldn't go back for Lila. How could they not go back for her? After years of waiting, they were going to finally have their happily ever after, but now who knows what's going to happen to her? They made her into an Avox last time, what's next?
13 was a bad place for Haymitch. No alcohol and no Lila. He needed one of the two to survive, and he had neither. No one could understand him. He had no one to listen to him.
…
The People in the Capitol had Lila tape a video today, saying how the people in 13 were being ridiculous and how they just need to give up and surrender. That's when Lila knows that Haymitch is one of the masterminds in this, because there are plenty of other people here who could do this. Peeta, everyone in Panem recognizes his face, but they're having Lila do this. Peeta had done come tapes too, though.
She knows they're going to use this against 13. She heard that 13 had broken into the District's television programming, and that set them off. That was why they needed Lila: to try and stop 13.
…
Last night, Peeta's public torture was held, and he warned 13 about a bombing. Now, all of 13's population is deeper into the ground. Haymitch, Plutarch, Boggs and Coin meet in a special room and turned on a television, wondering if the Capitol has done anything else with Peeta. To Haymitch, it was a shock when he saw Lila on the screen and an even bigger shock when she started talking.
"District 13," Her voice sounded just as angelic as it did twenty-five years ago, "We have bombed your town once. We are not afraid to do it again. Give up now, surrender. Your people are going to wither away, and innocent lives will be shed."
Her eyes looked pained as she was forced to talk more, "We are not going to stop unless you do, and I can assure you that we have plenty resources to last longer than you." Then she got quiet, but the shot was still on her. She was supposed to say more, it was obvious, but she wouldn't.
Talk, Lila! Haymitch thought, half of him just wanting to hear her voice and half of him not wanting her to suffer the consequences of disobeying the Capitol.
Lila stays silent, and it airs just enough for Haymitch to see Lila get backhanded by a Peacekeeper. Then blackness.
"Who was that?" Coin asks.
"Lila," Haymitch manages to choke out. "We need to get her—them. Now."
The whole room seems shocked, but it's Boggs that answers next, "Then let's make a plan."
A/N: Yay! I hope this is better than the last one, I think it is. The only thing I apologize for is all of the skipping around between Lila, Haymitch and even the random Katniss bits.
Phew… I think I'm back(;
Review! Madii :P
