Chapter 8
Last Time:
Alex closes her eyes tightening her arms sniffling. "Just give it one more try
To a lullaby
And turn this up on the radio
If you can hear me now
I'm reaching out
To let you know that you're not alone
And you can't tell
I'm scared as hell
Cause I can't get you on the telephone
So just close your eyes
Well honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby."
Katniss whispers the last two lines as she feels Alex relax so much that she fell asleep. "Well honey here comes a lullaby
Your very own lullaby."
Katniss looks up at Coin to see her smile. She looks at the guy that just stared and watched, to see the look that scares her safety and Alex's... the look of death.
Now:
The train arrives to the Capitol, and Coin gets Katniss to wake Alex up. Alex groans in Katniss' arms and shifts so her arms are around Katniss' neck and her forehead is resting against the older girl's neck.
"Come on Ally, it's time to wake up." Katniss tickles Alex's stomach, making her giggle and jerk back.
"No." Katniss continues to tickle Alex until Alex jumps out of her arms and sits cross legged on the ground. Alex's eyes are red with her eyes sparkling and she has a giant smile on her face.
Katniss vows in her mind that she will do everything she can to keep Alex alive.
"Come on Alex, time to go." Coin smiles at Alex and holds her hand out.
"Why?" Alex asks keeping her legs crossed as she puts her feet flat on the ground and stands up.
"We're at the Capitol now. You and James are in the penthouse with Katniss and Peeta." Coin explains.
"Who's Peeta?" Alex looks at Katniss.
"He's the male tribute from my District." Katniss explains as she stands up and kisses Alex's cheek, "I will see you later ok sweetie?"
"Ok. See you soon." Alex whispers as she gives Katniss a hug before she takes Coin's hand and Coin leads her and James off the train.
~A&K~
Alex sits down on the bed with James next to her after they got pampered and are wearing gowns.
"So how old are you?" James asks Alex looking at her.
"Uhm... twelve." Alex answers nervously, "How about you?"
"Fourteen." James smirks. Alex sees that look in James' eyes, "Do you know how to hunt and use weapons?"
"Uhh... no." Alex bites her lip.
"That's good. That means it's easier for me to kill you." Alex stares at James terrified.
"Do you know how to hunt?"
"I'm a Career. I'm trained for this." James eyes Alex and smirks greatly seeing her tremble and sees fear written all over her face.
"Hello District 13 tributes." A male's voice breaks out. Alex looks at the door to see a guy with black hair, brown skin, and brown eyes. The guy looks at Alex and smiles knowingly, "My name is Cinna and I work with both District 12 and 13 for interviews, the tribute parade and getting you guys ready for when you first go into the arena."
"My name is James Dane." James introduces.
"I'm Alex Russo." Alex says softly. Alex begins to play with her fingers. Cinna looks at Alex and sees the fear on her face and sadness in her brown eyes.
"I am going to get you both ready for the tribute parade. My team is getting the two District 12 tributes–" James cuts him off.
"Peeta Mellark and Katniss Everdeen."
"–Ready." Cinna finishes shooting a glare James.
"Will you stop cutting people off James?" Alex snaps.
"Shut the fuck up Russo." James pushes Alex off the bed and Alex lands on her wrist wrong, all of them hears a snap. Alex cries out in pain as Cinna rushes over and pulls her into his arms.
Alex bursts into tears as she buries her face into Cinna's shoulder. Cinna rubs her back and rocks her side to side. To his surprise, Alex begins to panic and hyperventilate.
"Come on Alex calm down." Cinna feels Alex tremble as she gasps for air, "Screw it." Cinna picks Alex up and carries her out the door and into Katniss' room. Earlier Coin told him if Alex panics or anything, take her to Katniss.
Cinna steps into Katniss' room and holds back his own fear as he sees Alex beginning to turn blue.
"Katniss?" Cinna calls. Katniss steps out from behind the curtain wearing the black suit for the tribute parade.
"Alex?" Katniss rushes over and takes Alex out of Cinna's arms. Cinna watches Alex relax in her arms and the tears begin to fall slower, "What happened Cinna?" Katniss asks rocking Alex side to side.
"James, the guy representing District 13, pushed her off the bed and she landed on her wrist wrong. It's broken." Katniss' eyes widen.
"What do you know about him?"
"He's a Career. It means he is trained to kill." Katniss blinks and keeps rocking Alex side to side.
"Go get 13 ready. I will keep calming Alex. Then when you are done, I will come in with you to get Alex ready and to cast her wrist."
Cinna nods and heads out, leaving Alex and Katniss alone.
Katniss walks over to her bed and sits down on it before lifting Alex into her lap. Alex tucks her head under Katniss' chin as Katniss rocks them side to side humming.
Soon Alex calms to just sniffling before she falls asleep.
~K&A~
Cinna returns carrying Alex's outfit, makeup and casting supplies. He looks at the bed to see Alex fast asleep in Katniss' arms.
"How is she?" Cinna asks walking over.
"She's calmer now." Katniss smiles stroking Alex's hair soothingly.
"Good. I have different colours of casts." Cinna points to a white, purple, pink, green and blue casts, "Do you think you can wake Alex up?"
"Sure." Katniss rubs Alex's arm to bring her out of her sleep before Katniss begins to tickle her, "Alex sweetie time to wake up."
Alex's eyes snap open as she giggles and keeps her left arm close to her and pushes Katniss' hand away with her right.
Katniss stops tickling Alex and introduces her to Cinna.
"So Alex." Cinna smiles pulling up a chair, "I will have to do x-rays to see where your break is. Is that ok?" Alex nods and Cinna takes her to get a quick x-ray. After the x-ray, Cinna takes Alex back to Katniss' room and goes to get the x-ray. The door closes as Cinna leaves and Alex climbs into Katniss' lap.
"I can't do this." Alex whispers, "I don't know how to hunt. I don't know how to use a weapon. I don't know anything."
Katniss hugs Alex close to her and kisses her forehead over and over again.
"Sweetie, we will learn how to use weapons in the training center. It is obvious that you don't know how to. But you will learn to, and you have me here to help you."
Cinna arrives back shortly later and tells her that her wrist is cracked, not broken, on the right a little. All that it will take is 2 weeks in a cast and that's it. Alex ended up picking the purple cast and Cinna puts it on before Katniss helps Alex in her black long-sleeve dress with sparkles that glow red. Alex's high-heels are the same way and as soon as Alex put them on, she complained.
Alex's hair is put in breaded pigtails hanging down her back. Katniss laces Alex's right hand with her left and leads her out to the chariots. She helps Alex into the chariot, next to James before she kisses her cheek and climbs into her's next to Peeta.
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