This comes a bit early but I couldn't help myself. Last chapter was a bit dull but I needed all of those things to happen in that chapter so this chapter could happen... You'll probably understand at the end of this. I just needed to post this chapter, okay?
The 80th Hunger Games
Katniss stood on a side street with Talon, watching him run around while she stood in the shadow fanning herself in the heat. Next to her stood several equally pregnant women who seemed to feel the same as she did. This was one of her least favorite parts of pregnancy. Next to Talon stood Gale and Posy who were trying to engage him in some other play other than digging a hole in the dirt, but he refused to do anything besides the play that was currently completely soiling his pants. He was so concentrated on his digging that when Effie Trinket's voice started to boom out in the speakers he started crying immediately, and a few other kids did the same.
"Aw, did you get scared?" Gale asked Talon, stroking his back in hopes to calm him down. "Don't worry, it's just Effie Trinket." Just Effie Trinket seemed like lying to his son, but he was two and didn't deserve to know about death just yet. He was too young.
Gale and Katniss watched the screen carefully, it was Vick's and Prim's last year in the reaping bowl, next year neither of them would have to fear anyone they loved being picked. Posy wouldn't go in the bowl until the 82nd hunger games, which was two years away.
When a young girl was chosen, no one had time to see how old she was, something unexpected happened. A girl at the very back of the crowd ran forward shouting that she wanted to volunteer, a calm expression on her face, not at all looking as if she was about to enter the hunger games. From the whispers beside her she learnt that she was the smith's daughter, not quite a merchant but definitely not a part of the Seam.
People didn't know how to react, and the applauds where uncertain. Why did an 18 year old, who was otherwise free from the bowl, volunteer instead of a young girl who wasn't a part of her family?
The boy that was chosen's name was barely finished being said when an 18 year old boy rushed forward, also volunteering. Everyone looked around at each other, confused about what was going on. The district never had volunteers, and two volunteers the same year was hard to imagine. A smith's daughter and a merchant boy. Who would have expected it.
Up on stage both their names were announced; Petter Molinas and Hyacinth Nord.
Everyone stared wide-eyed, what had just happened?
That night on the TV the commentators were just as amazed by the volunteering couple from district twelve, and no one knew what to make of them. Neither did the people in the district. The peacekeepers were walking around on the streets much more than they usually would, people watched each other nervously from their porches, and several people wondered if they were dreaming.
"Maybe we'll have another victor," Katniss said after she had put Talon down for the night.
"Just because they volunteered doesn't mean they'll win Katniss," Gale said, pulling her back down to earth again.
"It's a much bigger chance than with two twelve year olds from the Seam." Katniss grew annoyed with him. Couldn't he, for once, have faith in their district? When they had been given such a change, a necessary change, why don't celebrate it?
"I don't want to get my hopes up, Katniss, in 80 years we've only had three victors." He sighed, resting his head in his arms.
"You don't have to squash my hopes just because of that," she grumbled, annoyed.
No one seemed to escape the fact that what happened in district twelve was unusual, it just didn't happen. A district like twelve was supposed to subordinate, weak, a certain victim in the games. Not providing what looked like career tributes, ready for a fight. At the chariot rides the following night the twelve tributes were dressed in the regular mining outfits, yet somehow they managed to stand out anyway. Everyone knew who they were, and everyone were amazed by their mere presence.
Katniss watched with fascination she hadn't had about the games before, wondering what had made them volunteer. She wanted to ask Vittor, but he was far away in the Capitol, working with these two kids who shook everything up.
Prim married the day after the chariot rides. Like a Merchant girl she wore a white dress to the wedding, and there was a ceremony to celebrate them. Katniss was dressed in the finest dress she had even worn, so unlike the rough textiles that she was used to, and instead of scratching her skin as she moved it glided softly over it. She felt naked in it, exposed. While it was nice to wear, it was uncomfortable in that way.
Prim was a glowing bride, hugging her groom as soon as she reached him at the end of the isle, and the two of them looked at each other like they had found gold. Unlike Katniss' reason to marry Gale, their reason was out of pure love, one that knew no bounds. While the love Katniss had to Gale now was in no way measurable, and ran such depths that scared the life out of her, they hadn't looked like that on their wedding day. Their love grew slowly over time, like a small fire in a fireplace that slowly started to blossom up enough to heat up a whole house.
It comforted Katniss to see that Prim was loved just as much as she deserved, and that was all that she could ask for. Whatever came after this, her sister had pure love once, she had that to fall back on, a husband who worshiped her. They would handle it, she could see it on their faces. Their love was strong, and she didn't have to worry. Not as much, at least.
The morning of the interviews she was woken up early by Talon who had crawled out of bed and was playing on the floor. She watched him for a while, trying to get the sleep out of her eyes, but was much to lazy to get out of bed. He turned two that day, and started to look so big.
"Here," he said, giving her one of his toys. "Mommy sing," he said with a lisp. She smiled groggily and sat up.
"What do you want me to sing?" she asked, picking him up and sitting him down in her lap, but he immediately squirmed out of her lap.
"Happy!" he exclaimed, and began trying to sing the song he had requested, but few words were right, or words at all. She joined in with him, whispering the song so that Gale wouldn't wake up. When the song was finished she was asked to sing it again, and again, and again. After a while she asked Talon if he wanted to help prepare breakfast for daddy instead, which he happily agreed with.
Together they made breakfast, the boring flat bread made out of the cheap grains that they got in the tesserae before. Prim had left her some cheese the night before for them to eat with their bread. Her goat's cheese was the best thing in the whole district to eat, and she was always looking forward to tasting them. She hoped that Prim would keep her goat, maybe get even more, now that she lived in town. She could even open up a shop with these cheeses, she was that good at it.
She gave Talon a piece of cheese for him to chew on while she prepared the bread, it always tasted best when it was still hot out of the oven and didn't have a chance to grow hard. It only had to be in the oven for little over fifteen minutes, so if Gale woke up soon he'd be down just in time for the bread when it was at its best.
"Can you imagine, Talon, you're two years old!" She bent down as far as she could, placing a kiss on top of his head, her fingers had dough stuck to them so she couldn't hug him as she wanted to. "You know what, two years ago your mommy was in really bad pain."
"But you did great, despite it," Gale said, coming down the stairs.
"That's what it looked like, yes." She rolled her eyes at him.
"Happy birthday baby," he said, picking Talon up and giving him a big hug. "You're a big boy now, huh?" He shook him in his arms, causing him to giggle loudly. "You're looking big, too," he said to her.
"Yeah, but not the right kind of huge." He brushed her stomach as he kissed her cheek.
"I think so," he said.
"Mhm, sure."
Gale had to work, but both Katniss and Prim had the day off so they went a bit away to a part of the district where there was only grass to have a picnic. Talon ran over the grass chasing butterflies and small birds having the time of his life, while Prim shared some of the food from her Merchant house. They ate freshly baked bread with cheese and bell peppers, it wasn't dry or tasteless like the food they ate usually was. The bread was moist and the bell peppers tasted fresh and sweet. It was the perfect lunch for a second birthday.
Prim played with Talon in the grass as Katniss watched in the shadows. She wondered how Prim would be as a mother, how her children would look and if their children would have a good relationship. She hoped so. If their children grew up and didn't like each other she would be sad, she knew she'd love Prim's children just as much as her own. They would be just as wonderful.
She was lying down on the floor with Talon asleep on her chest as she watched the watched the final interviews before the games began. She was more focused on Talon's puckered lips and Gale explaining what he and some men had been talking about at work that day, and how Vick was doing down in the mines.
District one through four were charismatic, blinding with smiles, seducing or drawing you in with their mysteriousness. The others were bleak messes, some barely able to speak loud enough to be heard, and some watching the crowd with a terrified expression covering their faces.
Caesar was joking with the district eleven boy, who must have been fourteen or fifteen, no older because his face looked so much like a child, and his body was gangly. When he laughed it was nervous, almost bordering on a cry. It pained her so much to see him, just a boy, someone's son, sitting there knowing that he might be dead by the same time tomorrow.
She brushed Talon's hair out of his face, wishing so bad she could keep him two years old forever. She could deal with the tantrums, waking up at night, the hardships in communication, as long as he would remain young, innocent and oblivious of struggles forever. She would give anything for that.
When she looked up at the TV again Caesar was introducing Hyacinth, with a loud cheer from the audience.
But it wasn't Hyacinth that stepped out on stage.
Up on the stage stood Vittor, a guarded expression on his face. He walked quickly towards the center of the stage as the audience gasped and erupted in loud conversation of wondering what was going on. Katniss and Gale stared at each other in shock, knowing something awful was going to happen.
"Hyacinth and Petter won't be participating in the hunger games, they have escaped to district 13, along with the rest of the tributes, district 13 still exists, it is.. ." Before anything more could be said, Vittor was being dragged off of the stage, the crowd could be heard shouting.
Before the screen turned black Panem got to see Vittor Myle be shot on national television. Something that most probably was never intended to bee seen.
Katniss looked at Gale with wide eyes, wondering how Vittor could do that, how he could sacrifice himself like that. He didn't just end his own life, he put other's lives in jeopardy. How would the Capitol react to this? They would surely become even more strict, imposing themselves on people's lives even more, setting up more rules. And how were they able to escape, they were just on TV a few minutes ago, everyone but 12? And what about the images of 13, those they were shown regularly? How could anything still be there?
"Shit," she said. Gale nodded, unable to process what it was that just happened. Up until that moment everything had happened like it should, nothing betrayed their plan. How many was in on it? Was it just a fluke, something they had decided on a whim? It couldn't have been. Hyacinth and Petter must have volunteered because they were going to do this, because they had no intention of returning.
Outside on the street she could hear people screaming at each other, some upset other joyous. There had never been this much noise in the district.
"Go look," Katniss said to Gale. He walked to the window to look out and see what was going on, and then turned back to her.
"They just seem to be talking now," he said. "But it's probably best to stay inside, wait and see what happens."
He sat down next to her on the blanket, leaning down to kiss her.
"It's going to be alright, he spoke kind words about you, people won't turn you down… they won't be Vittor, but they will give you a job." He stroked her cheek, and then rubbed their son's back. "We're going to be fantastic. Vittor was an idiot, he knew what he was doing and he should have given you some sort of warning…"
"Yeah… can you take Talon? I have to sit up." He picked Talon up and rested him in his arms.
"Maybe we should put him in bed." Gale chuckled.
"No, not yet," Katniss said, stroking her son's hair. "Remember when he was a little baby, he fit so easily in our arms, and now he's so big, I get scared of how quickly he grows." She kissed her son's forehead. "I don't ever want to be alive to see him die."
"I love you Katniss," Gale said. "Regardless of what happens, thank you for giving me my son."
"I love you too." She smiled sadly. Hardships were coming, they both knew that. Without Katniss working and two children, things would be incredibly hard, but they would just have to do it. They had no choice. There was no option to not do it. It was doing it or die not doing it.
"Come on, let's go to bed," Gale said, awkwardly standing up with his son still in his arms. Katniss followed, just as awkwardly getting onto her feet. She looked at the two of them, reaching for Talon again, and pulling him into her arms. She was addicted to his smell, to his heavy head against her chest.
They hadn't even reached the stairs when they heard it, and felt it. The ground shook beneath them, only seconds after the blast. It sounded like a mine explosion, but far more shallow. It happened again, and both of them knew that it wasn't a mine explosion.
Quickly they ran across their house, and out of the door, seeing hundreds of people like them running. Some people were carrying several children in their arms, others were trailing behind wailing in fear. Everywhere it was chaos, people were trying to run but no one knew where they could run. The fence was on, no one could get through it, they were trapped.
"Gale, Gale," Katniss yelled, the explosions growing closer and hovercrafts looming not so far away. "Take Talon and run, run to grass, run and hide under trees, run quick!" She gasped. Gale didn't need to be told twice. He pulled Talon from her arms, roughly, and he ran ahead. Talon had woken up by the explosions. There was too much noise. As Gale ran she could see Talon screaming mommy as tears ran down his cheeks, his arms reaching up and out towards her when Gale disappeared ahead of her. She couldn't hear anything but the wailing of everyone around her, the deafening sounds of the explosions.
She never wanted to be alive to see her son die, she had said.
She saw Gale running as fast as he could, towards the grass where Prim and Katniss had celebrated Talon's second birthday earlier that day.
Just as she thought they were going to be out of her sight, seconds before he turned around the corner of a house to take a shortcut towards the grass in a shallow wood area the bomb hit them.
Katniss was almost thrown backwards with the blast, and with the realization that not only was her husband in there, so was her precious baby boy hit her straight in the chest, toppling her over. Her innocent son who was her world, who was everything. They boy she had wished would stay little forever.
The pain hit her like nothing else, crippled her legs, they wouldn't move. The pain clawed at her heart, the scream that tore from her mouth didn't even feel like it came from her. Her body was detaching itself from her brain. She watched the houses burn not so far ahead of her. Eaten by flames as people around her ran around, not knowing where to go. Not having anywhere to go.
She didn't hear the bomb that struck down next to her, gone long before it could reach her senses.
"Promise you'll never leave me." She rose up on her elbows to look down on him.
"I promise Catnip," he said, stroking the hair out of her face. He loved seeing her without the braid, seeing her hair wild and free, with her cheeks still rosy after sex. "I promise I will do everything in my power to never leave you." He reached up and kissed her on her lips.
"That's all I'm asking."
"You have to promise me the same, to not leave me."
"I promise that I will do everything in my power to always stay with you," she said and kissed him.
I hope you don't hate me now... hehe. Epilogue will be up sometime next week. I wrote it earlier this week. If there are any question I haven't answered in that epilogue that a lot of you ask I will try to incoporate it into the story. If that isn't possible I'll either reply to you personally or I will answer them at the end of the epilogue :)
END NOTES:
Initially I began this story because I itched to tell the Hunger Games from a different perspective and explore the universe that Collins left open. I was taking a class at university that brought up many of these struggles for women, where the society was pro-natalist, even at the expense of women's lives, because they wanted a strong population to protect and provide for them (aka men). This along with the general opression from the Capitol brought this idea. After writing for a while I realized the ending this story must have.
The rebellion would have happened, even if Katniss wasn't in the games. She sped the rebellion up by doing what she did, but ultimately someone had to take that role. This story hints at certain times that there are uncertainties in other districts, which is why the fence gets turned on, the rules get stricter and the inspection for weapons happen. Because none of them are privy to information that would make them connect the dots, they are left in the dark. I suspect that in the end of Catching Fire few people knew exactly why their district was being targeted, after all it was a joint effort between many people, and few understood the grander scale of what things where happening on.
As I wrote the last chapter I honestly felt my heart break. I have a nephew who is only a little bit younger than what Talon is at the end of this story and it hit too close to home to have Talon die. However in this story I felt that it was necessary to tell it right, not to tell it… too unrealistically.
The beginning poem I used might have spoiled this ending a bit, if you think of it along with the title. In the end of the Mockingjay Katniss talks about people being buried in the meadow, and in this story she turns out as one of those people buried there. The poem, in relation to this story, means that this fire (rebellion) would have blossomed up regardless, and would have happened even without the aid of the star crossed lovers.
I hope you enjoyed the story, and I hope you don't hate Vittor too much. You know that he meant well, just as those who rebelled in Catching Fire did when they organized their "breaking out" of the arena. Vittor did indeed work the way Finnick did. He was also a rebellious part of the Hunger Games. He was happy when he got picked, and shook up the dynamics. The reason he smiled was because he understood what Peeta did, but much earlier: it was a game in more ways than one. During his games he showed the kindness that Katniss showed in her Hunger Games, which was a part of the reason why Katniss seemed so… rebellious. It wasn't just the berries with her. Katniss and Gale were too wrapped up in their grieving process to see everything and see what Vittor did in the Games.
When Finnick came to the district he asked Katniss what she thought about Vittor to see if Vittor could be included in the plans of rebelling against the Capitol. Finnic was happy about what he heard and introduced Vittor. Since Vittor already was a rebellious spark, and had little to live for, he sacrificed himself. He couldn't live with what he had done, and decided to take the fall. He didn't know that the Capitol would target his district, he was too caught up in his plan of revenge.
I hope that explains some of it.
I hope you enjoyed the story.
Please don't hate me.
