A/N: Thanks for the awesome reviews, you guys are officially the cat's pyjamas. Unfortunately I'm back to updating every week or so because I'm back at college, but I'm still really enjoying writing this so I'll try to keep 'em coming at a fairly swift pace. This is a bit of a filler but I thought it was time for some fun seeing as the last few chapters have been kinda heavy. Hope you enjoy, please continue to let me know what you think - it's so helpful!
Chapter 7: Action Needs An Audience
The early hours of the morning after the Reaping are spent tweaking the last part of Gale's song and transferring it to manuscript paper. It's unlike anything I've ever written before, and some silly part of me worries that if I don't write it down it will somehow escape the confines of my exhausted mind. Hours (and hundreds of scrunched up pieces of paper) later, a knock at the door cuts through my feverish scribbling. I flush thinking it might be Gale making good on his promise, then kick myself when I remember it's the weekend – hunting time. I walk a little slower to the door and don't quite catch it before my father does. Assuming its some client or a delivery I turn to wander back upstairs only to stop when I hear my name being called.
"Madge sweetheart, it's for you,"
Intrigued, I hop down the last few steps coming face to face with a Peacekeeper.
My eyes widen in terror. How did they find out? It HAS to be about the slips. He and my father are beaming inexplicably and I'm about to bolt when Dad pipes up,
"This charming young man has just asked to escort you on a turn about Town. I gave him my approval of course." I roll my eyes, no wonder he's beaming. He's been trying to set me up with a Peacekeeper for years.
I survey the situation quickly as I've been taught, my head cocking to the side as I search the stranger for any sign of malicious intent. My gaze catches on the white uniform, sending my mind into blind panic until I force myself to meet his eyes. I admit grudgingly to myself that he's handsome. His hair is an unusual deep red and his face is boyish with just a hint of scruffy stubble. His blue eyes are lighter than mine and something that seems awfully like amusement dances in their depths.
Sighing, I decide I have no choice. I'll let myself be commandeered by this stranger but if he's arresting me I won't go quietly. I smirk at the thought and grab a sweater from the back of the chair, motioning with my hand to the balmy outdoors.
"Shall we?"
His eyes flash in amusement as he offers his arm.
"Certainly." I take it and we step outside.
"Enjoy your fading youth...be home by supper!" my father yells after us and I cringe, noting the easy way the strange man I've linked arms with laughs.
He says nothing as we wander through town, and instead seems to pay suspiciously apt attention to the minutiae of D12 life. I notice quickly however, that his arm is leading me out of town towards the meadows that contain the Seam/Town boundary. I shiver, working hard to keep my face an impassive mask. The border is known for being the place where dirty deals are made. Cray meets the most desperate women of D12 in this part of the District, and moonshiners sell white liquor and opiates in broad daylight because no one lingers there. It's also well covered - the perfect place for an attack. I hold my tongue and my ground until we reach a small copse of trees and he pulls me gently and silently into their suddenly sinister boughs.
With a loud cry intended to confuse him I aim a punch to his throat, but he's quick. He moves deftly to the side and with one fluid motion his temple avoids my other fist and he darts out of reach of my kicks, grabbing both of my flailing hands in one of his and forcing them behind my back. His hand covers my mouth as I try to scream but I bite it, hard. Over my screams and his yelps I hear him shouting,
"It's me Undersee, it's me!" I stop screaming and freeze.
There's only one person who has ever had the gall to call me by my second name.
I wrench my hands out of his firm but gentle grip and whirl round to face the man now doubled over with laughter, shaking the life back into his bleeding hand.
"Jeez Undersee! You've got some right hook. I know the 'escorting you around town' thing was a bit much but seriously..."
"D-Darius?" I venture, scowling as my confused questioning prompts more raucous laughter.
"No wonder you freaked out, I thought you knew who I was! Are you in the habit of wandering the streets with strange men?" his eyes sparkle with humour as he eyes me incredulously.
"You...you're not how I expected you to be. In your letters you seemed..." I stammer, my brain still recovering from fight mode.
"Ugly? A pansy? As opposed to the dashingly handsome man you see before you with the huge guns? Tut tut Undersee, you wound me..."
I cut him off by throwing my arms around the man that has been my only hope for the past year - the man whose father got me out of the Capitol in one piece and back in 12 where I belong.
"Well that's more the reaction I was hoping for," he mumbles into my hair gruffly.
I release him and give him a good thwack on the shoulder. He exaggerates a pained face and grabs at his arm.
"What the hell are you playing at? I thought you were some random Peacekeeper coming to arrest me...I could have murdered you!"
He snorts with laughter but swiftly turns it into an enthusiastic cough when he catches my unamused expression.
"I'm sorry, I really thought you'd put two and two together. I brought you here so we could talk more freely, I didn't mean to scare you. Shall we start over?" He holds out his hand. "Darius Buckley, at your service." He grins.
I take it, shaking my head.
"I can't believe it's really you. What are you doing here?"
"I finished my Peacekeeper training early." He shrugs, and his eyes drop to the ground. "They sent me here six months ago for my two-year probationary period."
My jaw drops open.
"You've been here in 12 for six months and you never once saw fit to mention that in one of your letters?" He scratches the back of his head looking exceedingly awkward.
"Don't look at me like that Undersee," he shifts uncomfortably. "I just didn't think you'd want to hear about what a jolly old time I was having here while you were still stuck in the Capitol." He's right, I would have hated it.
A sudden realisation hits me like a ton of bricks and I feel myself turn bright red.
"So...you saw?"
"Yes." He answers simply.
"I failed everyone," I sigh. "You brought me home to make a difference and I let you down. I let everyone down." I mutter bitterly.
He grips my shoulder somewhat tentatively and bends his knees until his eyes are level with mine.
"I didn't bring you home to get Reaped Undersee, that plan was bullshit. You're much more use in 12, that's why I didn't kick up a fuss when I was posted here. You and I, we're going to give this place a well-needed shake up." He grins, winking and I let out a reluctant laugh.
"You really are different from your letters, you know."
"Oh really?" he folds his arms, smirking.
"Yes! You're a lot more serious on paper, and you're way younger than I imagined."
"Yeah well, your violent tendencies aren't exactly apparent in your delicate hand."
I huff. "I already told you I didn't-"
"Yeah yeah Undersee" he cuts me off, ruffling my hair annoyingly. "You thought I was a baddie." He throws an arm around me and I immediately shove it off which makes him laugh again.
"So, what are we going to do? Now that I know what little I learnt in the Capitol I can't just do nothing. It's bad here Darius, and it's getting worse."
He nods. "I know. I had no idea how many kids have to take out tesserae here, it's usually only one or two of the boys."
This makes me think of Gale, but I'm not quite ready to explain the circumstances around my dangerous slip up.
"That's not even the half of it." He nods his agreement.
"Thing is," he rubs his stubble covered jaw, "D12 just isn't a priority right now. District 8 has been teetering on the edge of rebellion for years, that's where the main focus is. After that they're mostly concerned with District 1 and 2 because of their links to the Capitol."
"Then why were they up for sending me on the inside?"
"For that exact reason. No one pays attention to 12, including the Capitol. The people are poorer here than in any other District but I can't believe how lax the security is. I met the girl who got Reaped, she's been hunting in the woods over the fence undetected for years!"
My heart contracts at the mention of my absent friend.
"You met Katniss?"
"Yeah, I tried it on with her. Was she a friend of yours?" I roll my eyes.
"Yes, my best friend."
"I'm so sorry Madge." He says, suddenly serious.
"It should have been me." I whisper, and he somehow knows to say nothing.
"Hang on...was it you who gave her the pin?"
"You saw that?" I cry, elated.
"Yeah, my Dad was really excited about it, says he's been calling round the sympathetic sponsors"
"Oh, that's exactly what I'd hoped for!"
"Nice work Undersee, but we can't control what goes on in the Games now. You know that right?"
"I know." I lower my head.
"We have to get started here. Put D12 on the map so that our contacts in the Capitol take notice."
"You mean I can still help?"
"Of course Undersee you're smart, I need you. You're the brains and I'm the brawn, we'll make a good team." He claps me on the back as I raise my eyebrows at his distribution of roles.
"I have to get back to the base now, but I'll be in touch in the next couple of days. What's say we can't stir up some trouble for Big Brother?" he grins.
...
The sky turns various brilliant shades of pink as the sun sets during the long walk I take to avoid going home. I'm still getting used to the fact that I will be here for the foreseeable future instead of preparing for the opening ceremony alongside Peeta Mellark. It's the oddest sensation to accept your own death only to be given a new lease on life. Fitting myself back into life as the Mayor's daughter feels a little like trying to squeeze myself into last year's winter clothes...I just don't quite fit. The thought of working with Darius makes things a little easier but my guilt over Katniss is always in the back of my mind. I reach the imposing front gate of my house wondering idly what Gale Hawthorne would think of me being the reason for his hunting partner's potential demise, when a familiar dark figure emerges from the shadows created by the large oaks lining my street. I hurry to open the gate pretending not to see him but a low, lilting Seam accent cuts through the growing darkness.
"I know you see me, Princess." The smirk his voice both angers me and sends shivers down my spine.
"What do you want, Hawthorne?" I turn to glare at him folding my arms across my chest, partly against the cold and partly against his imposing presence. He stops a few feet away from me, mirroring my stance.
"I want in."
"In on what? I have no idea what you're talking about..." I lie, fiddling with the edge of my skirt – a nervous habit I was sure I'd left with my eight year old self for safekeeping.
He snorts. "The hell you don't. You said you have contacts interested in changing things around here. I never thought I'd see the day, but you and I have a common interest."
"We have nothing in common," I snap.
"Maybe not, but I can still help."
"I don't think so," I turn to leave but with impossible speed he is inches away from me, one of his large hands resting gently but firmly on my shoulder stopping my progress towards the gate. I shiver slightly as his thumb burns a hole in my collarbone through my dress and his silver eyes bore into my downturned lashes.
I nettle because I hate that I'm so affected by his hulking proximity, plus this is the second time today I've been manhandled.
"What do you want Gale? Nothing is even happening yet. We had a plan but it went wrong, everything went wrong. Now we have to start over and there's so little time..." my voice breaks and my face turns red as my eyes moisten.
"Let me help Madge," he says softly. He drops his hand from my shoulder and walks a few paces away, dragging a hand through his unkempt hair.
"I'm so sick of it. Everything's changing and there's nothing I can do to stop it! Katniss is gone, Rory's talking about taking out tesserae and soon I have to leave school to seal my fate inside those damn mines. I can't do nothing anymore, I can't." His eyes are wild and his unruly dark hair adds to the effect.
"I have a family, Princess. Little brothers and a baby sister. If there's anything I can do to make this crappy world better for them, you have to let me help. Please." His eyes soften and the arms he's been flailing to make his point drop to his sides with a dull thud.
I startle at this tiny, unexpected glimpse into the stoic hunter's life, and at the love and desperation that permeates his short speech. Perhaps it's that love, or the passion in his eyes that makes me consider his case.
He's smart, I remember from school. He's honest and loyal, according to Katniss. I suppose we could use all the help we can get and besides, he's right. Who am I to stop him fighting against the establishment we all hate? So few have the guts to do anything about it anymore.
"Fine." I whisper eventually. "Meet me here tomorrow after school, we'll talk then. My Dad's waiting for me."
His grey eyes flash like steel, and his breathless expression is more beautiful than I can say.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Princess." He flashes me a rare grin and turns swiftly on his heel, disappearing into the darkness as suddenly as he appeared.
I watch his retreating back, wondering for the second time this week what the heck I've just gotten myself into. For once I smile at the offensively apt nickname that cruelly parodies the day we met, as I climb the steps to my castle, my prison, my home.
A/N: Hope you liked it! Next chapter to follow soon.