Hey guys! Sorry, i feel like i haven't posted in ages, so here's Chapter 11, it's a lot longer than usual. Also, i've got another story; It's called Unforgettable Summer, it's still The Hunger Games, but it's AU, so please check it out, review and let me know what you think about it so far!
/s/8568801/1/Unforgettable-Summer
-Brooke
When we reach our quarters I'm dumbfounded to find my old prep team awaiting me in the dining area. Three people I'd never seen, however, sit in place of Peetas. This all feels too much like the Games and Peeta must sense this too, because he quickly wraps his arms around me and kisses me, which makes Octavia let out a small squeal. My team spends much of their time taking, as usual, but Octavia asks about Peeta and I, "oohing" and "ahing" at all the rights moments. Apparently, they're going for a very simple look this time, my hair pulled to one side, forming a neat line down my shoulder. My makeup is minimal, only small highlight over my cheekbones, and my eyelashes are now considerably longer. When they show me my dress it's gorgeous, but nothing compared to what Cinna could create. It's red, but overlaid with a white lace that forms patterns down the length of it, where it stops just above my knees. My look tells me that they're still subtly going for the Girl on Fire effect. But let's not forget it was the same Girl on Fire who caused much of Panem to perish.
They each stand back and inspect their work, adjusting things here and there. And before long they're hugging me good bye and wishing me all the best for tonight. I wander out of my room in search of Peeta, finding him in the living area, seated on the lounge. He's resting his chin on his finger tips, his elbows rested on his knees, one of which is quickly bouncing up and down, setting a nervous pace. He stands up as he sees me and grins. Then he presses his lips together and slightly shakes his head from side to side. He takes my hand and spins me slowly around, catching the other as I stop.
"You still have no idea" he begins and then smiles "the effect you can have"
He's dressed simply too - a white shirt, grey suit, and black shoes.
"Are you sure you're going to be ok?" I ask quietly, resting my forehead against his chin.
"I really don't know" he sighs, running a hand through my hair.
A moment later Haymitch walks out with a glum look on his face. He's dressed in a black suit, blue shirt and black shoes. He greets us with a forced smile.
"Wait; is there anything I need to know before we do this? Anything I might not remember?" Peeta asks. Haymitch and I both think for a moment.
"Everyone thinks you two are married, at least that's what you told them last year." Haymitch says pointing between the two of us. Peeta frowns considering this for a moment.
"OK. Anything else?" he asks
"Not that I can think of, but I'll let you know. You need to be careful in there, kid -that place, all those people - it could bring up some bad stuff, ok? And who knows what they'll ask you about." Haymitch says, placing a hand on Peetas shoulder
"I know." he says quietly.
Just then Effie appears in the elevator, ushering us inside.
"Oh, look at you three!" she squeals in excitement. At least someone's excited.
Once we reach the studio we're ushered into a room filled with other victors. I feel Peeta grip on my hand tighten as we look around at the room full of glum faces. But at the same time, I see too many faces missing. Finnick, Wiress, Mags.
"Hey, Brainless! Loverboy" I hear. I turn to find Johanna Mason, the District 7 victor standing next to us. She wears that smug smile she so often sported, but in 13 our relationship shifted a little, maybe we're friends? Her hair has regrown in spikes across her head and she's in a pale green dress.
"You finally got your marbles back, Peeta? Or maybe not, 'cause you're still with her?" she says, pointing between the two of us and raising an eyebrow.
"Nice to see you too, Johanna." Peeta laughs
"How's your cousin, Katniss?" She laughs, bumping her hip against mine, the way she so often had done to Gale in 13.
A hush falls through the room as Paylor enters, accompanied by another woman whom I've never seen before. Paylor introduces the woman, telling us her name's Nielsen. She has a very stern appearance about her that makes me that whatever she says goes. Nielsen addresses us all, assuring us these interviews are a once off, they only thought it was necessary to hold some form of recognition. Each victor will have a 7 minute interview with Caesar across the duration of the night.
"The end of each interview, the recap of your games shown will be played. This will serve as a reinforcer of peace through the districts. To show them how far we've come." Nielsen says. During this time Paylor stands awkwardly to the side of the room, which makes me think that she had very little say in this at all. Perhaps she disagreed with the whole thing initially.
"Things must be that great if, after only a year, the Districts need reinforcing." Haymitch says, voicing my exact thoughts. His words are met with calls of agreement from the others.
"I can assure you, Mr. Abernathy, that that is not the case" Nielsen says sternly
Paylor and Nielsen turn to leave the room, but I catch up to the two of them before they have the chance.
"Have you not thought about what this might do to Peeta?" I ask somewhat frantically. There are only a handful of people who know the extent of Peetas hijacking, and quite frankly, we'd all like to keep this number at a bare minimum. Potentially exposing it to all of Pamen doesn't seem quite like the way to go about it though. In a moment, both Haymitch and Peeta are by my side.
"Showing him footage of our games? You can't make him go through that."
"Katniss, Peeta will be perfectly safe. It will be fine." Nielsen says, which only makes me think that she evidently is not a member of the select few who know.
"You can't guarantee that! Peeta can't even guarantee that!" I plead with her.
"Is there something you'd like me to do to put your mind at ease then?" she asks, raising an eyebrow at me as if I'm some small child who doesn't understand what's going on.
"Don't make him do it" I retort
"That's out of the question" Nielsen says
"Let me be interviewed with Katniss. She'll help me keep a grip on things." Peeta asks, a sense of desperation in his voice.
"It isn't necessary for you two to keep up the whole 'star-crossed lovers' act now, you know that?" she questions
It's all I can do not to storm out of the room right there and then. I give her look; one that Effie would say is 'un-lady-like'. Though right now ,I don't care because, her thoughts that despite everything Peeta and I had been through together, the possibility of us being together, even as friends, seems almost unthinkable to her.
"OK. I'll have Caesar interview you together. Katniss you'll be called first, and Peeta, you'll be called out a few minutes in. Because they'll be combined, your interview will go for longer. I'm sorry, that's the best I can do for you." Paylor says sympathetically, placing her hand on my shoulder.
"It'll have to do." Haymitch sighs, shaking his head ever so slightly
"Thankyou" Peeta says hurriedly before she leaves the room.
Slowly, but surely, each victor leaves the room to have their interview, many of whom are not looking particularly happy about doing so. District Twelve is last so after quite some time, it's just Haymitch, Peeta and I left in the room. We all exchange empathetic looks.
"What do you think they'll actually ask us about?" Peeta asks
"I don't know, given the roles you both played in the Revolution and the chaos you incited before hand, I can't imagine it being too in depth. Probably just about life after the war. Who knows really" He frowns.
"Haymitch, you don't think they ask about her do you?" I ask, suddenly feeling sick at the thought of bringing up my sister.
"I doubt it, if we're really reinforcing peace, they won't bring up unjustified deaths." he says giving me a half-hearted smile.
Suddenly a studio worker is at the door, telling me they're ready. Haymitch gives me a half-hearted-smile, while Peeta holds me tightly for a moment. The door closes behind me and I can hear Caesar Flickerman's voice booming across the stage. He announces my name and I walk out to greet him, taking his extended hand. I take a minute to adjust to the lights and take a seat next to him. This year he's sporting light pink hair with a matching suit, his skin is a bright orange colour, and between now and our last meeting, his teeth have manage to stay a perfect, bright white.
"Ahh, Katniss, how lovely it is to see you again!" he exclaim.
"Thank you, Caesar and you" I say, trying to avoid looking out at the crowd of thousands before me.
He makes chit chat for about a minute, during which he congratulates me on my dress choice and tells me how excited everyone in the Capitol is tonight. Of course, they don't have young children dying on television for their entertainment. No one's lives to place bets on, no Victory Tours to anticipate. I wander my eyes over to the crowd, I can see how desperately starved for entertainment they are. Ceaser follows my eyes and takes my hand in his, vying for my lost attention.
"Oh, Katniss, I can just tell you want him out here. Let's bring him out, ladies and gentlemen, Peeta Mellark!" he announces, his voice echoing throughout the studio.
Seconds later Peeta comes out and my hearts beating so quickly, any sane person would come to the conclusion that something's not right. But in all honesty seeing him incited a smile that I can't possibly wipe off. I walk over to him and head straight for his out stretched arms, locking mine tightly around his neck.
"Don't let me go." he whispers in my ear, trying to hide the shaky edge to it.
I take his hand and lead him over to Caesar, who both shakes hands and I can't stop my mind from revisiting one of their last encounters; Peeta's hijacking was at its worst and his health was diminishing quickly, yet he still found the strength to come to my defence, yelling madly at Caesar.
"Katniss and Peeta! Believe me when I say I never thought I'd interview the two of you together, again." he sighs. "But here we are, back to where it all began. Tell me, how are your lives now? Obviously still madly in love." he smiles to the audience.
"You have you idea, Caesar. Every day, she opens my eyes to how unbelievably lucky I am." Peeta says staring into my eyes.
"However, there is some sad news" Caesar begins, and now I'm worried that maybe he really will bring up my sister. What an interview that'd be.
"The loss of your unborn baby, Katniss, during your last games. That must have been hard on you both." Caesar sighs sympathetically. Though the horribly high death count caused by the war he mentions the death of an unborn child that never really existed. One that Peeta probably won't remember.
I feel his grip tighten on my hand, and he takes in a deep breath. I gently place my spare hand on his knee, doing my best not to lose him. It's all he can do now not to burst out with questions, He's fighting, but right now I just want to draw the shutters, block the rest of Panem out and explain everything to him.
"The new was very sad, Caesar, I think we both had a lot to take in during those times." I say, trying to leave the details as vague as possibly.
"I'll sway a little off topic here, but Katniss, run me through what was going through your head, that last night of the quell?" Caesar asks. I take a deep breath and consider my words for a moment.
"Caesar, I was just trying to do all I could keep Peeta alive. The moment that wire was cut, I knew something was wrong and I tried to get back to him, and I heard the cannons, but he was calling for me. I didn't know what to do; I did what I could to get him out of there, alive." I say quietly
Caesar sits in complete silence listening to my recount of the Quell. "Hmm. And Peeta? how about you?" Caesar says holding his index finger to his chin. Peeta takes a moment, too, to consider what he'll say, and then looks to me.
"Trying to keep each other alive was only going to last so long, right?" he says quietly
"And what about now days, how have your lives changed since the Revolution and your Games?" Caesar asks
"We've lost a lot of unreplaceable people and I won't lie; it's not easy. But we've got each other... For good this time" Peeta smiles at me. His eyes are clear when they look into mine, but I can still see the confusion in them.
"Well, Katniss and Peeta I wish you both the very best for your future, it's been great getting to see you again." Caesar sighs
Before we leave, however, the giant screen behind us lights up and the decals of our games are being shown.
It's like I'm reliving the whole thing and I can only imagine it's ten times worse for Peeta. I see myself and Peeta at the tribute parade, at our interviews - the moment when he tells everyone how he really feels. Then we're in our cave, working our way through a mix of emotions, which only leads us away from the Mutts and to the cornucopia and the fight with Cato. Incidentally the part with the berries is cut out and it goes straight to me yelling for Peeta from inside the hovercraft. There aren't many segments of footage from the Quell though. Only us on the beach and me crying over Peeta as Finnick restarts his heart. Then the screen goes blank, and we're ushered off stage. I can feel Peeta grip on my hand tighten more as we head past Haymitch. He gives us the same half-hearted smile as he had earlier. We're directed into a room a short distance away from the first one and as we enter we find it to be full of the other victors. I lead Peeta to a quiet corner of the room and enter his outstretched arms. He feels tense and his breathing is shaky at best, so I insist he sits down while I explain to him everything he wants to know. He does what he's told and takes a seat, resting his chin on the tips of his fingers. He doesn't talk for a while, only sits there with a painful look on his face as he tries to unravel the reel of questions and memories the interview incited. He finally looks up at me, his face a little calmer but his eyes still somewhat distant.
"You were pregnant? Real or not real?" he asks
"Not real. You only told people I was so maybe they'd stop the Quell. People think I lost it when I blew up the arena." I say.
"You risked your life more me, so many times, Katniss. " he says raising an eyebrow
"You've risked yours for me just as many times" I tell him sincerely
"But, why would you do that though? I don't get it. Why?" he begins, bringing his hands up and rubbing his eyes. I take his hands in my own
"Because that's what you and I do, we protect each other, ok? You know that, Peeta." I tell him gently.
"Ok" he says, accepting my hand up and pulling me into his arms.
"You did good, kid" Haymitch says from behind us. "Is everything ok?"
"I think so" I tell him
Only a few moments later Paylor and Nielsen enter the room to debrief us all before were allowed to leave. They congratulate us and express their gratitude for our efforts. Were told we can leave as early as tomorrow morning which, really, is the only good thing I've heard all night. The sooner we get out of here, the better. We head through the maze of corridors and Victors in order to find the one room from which we can leave. The room seems to be under the rest of the building and a chilly; eerie feeling seems to be ever present. In my short, sleeveless dress I can't help but shiver and cross my arms over my chest. Only a few Victors have left and already the hairs on my arms are standing on end.
"You're cold" Peeta says noticing Goosebumps decorating my skin. He pulls of his jacket and hands it to me with a slight smile
"I'm fine" I insist
"Katniss" he says, raising and eyebrow, in a way that says he and I both know this isn't the case. I accept his jacket and he smiles with satisfaction as he leans against the wall behind him. By this time only three other victors have had the opportunity to leave, so I figure I might as well get comfortable; I rest backward, leaning against Peeta, pull his arms around the front of my waist and take hold of his hands.
"Thankyou" he says quietly, kissing the top of my head. I hold his hands tighter and gently kiss one of them as Peeta rests his chin on my head.
