AN: I've been so excited to post this chapter. It's been mostly written since chapter 2. I hope you enjoy it as much as I hope you do. First time I've been a little apprehensive about posting too…this one's my baby.
Little Bird
She stood in an immense round room, her finger absently tracing the smooth surface of the reactivated bracelet. Peeta's visit, one she didn't doubt was commanded, had destroyed any resolution she'd regained. She hated how fragile she'd become. She would have thought that she'd eventually become numb to her treatment. Maybe she would if the tortures remained constant but the perverse diversity made it impossible. They'd reactivated it when they pulled Peeta away from her. She'd never even seen Gale or Haymitch again on the train. She was impotent to do anything more than hope they were ok. She couldn't have asked someone if she'd wanted to. Right now, she was so completely alone.
The rotund man from yesterday, who had delivered the footage of her rape, had entered her room just as she'd finished putting herself back together. She'd spent several minutes lying on her side, trying to feel nothing, before belatedly performing her cleansing ritual.
The man refused to look directly at her once more while escorting her to Peeta's side at the exit of the train. Peeta gave her a quick, pained sidelong glance before looking straight ahead again. Once she stood by his side, he reached out and grasped her hand. As if on cue, the door opened to the station platform revealing the throngs of screaming, horrendously dressed onlookers gathered, all vying for the best position from which to see the star crossed lovers exit the train.
For the first time ever, it was she who held up appearances better. She's the one who managed more convincing smiles and little waves. The man at her side obviously struggled with the task. Every step they took, his grip tightened on her hand as though he were clinging to her in order to draw the strength he needed to keep from breaking down. Whenever she chanced a glance at him, his lips formed more of a grimace than a smile. If the crowds of vacuous people noticed, they gave no indication as they shouted their congratulations and other excited utterances. It was a relief to finally escape them in the luxury transport that would take them to their newest cage. The moment the door closed, Peeta had pulled her into him. He'd just held her the entire time, shaking, his breath erratic. He didn't have to tell her how much he feared what would happen to her once they reached their destination. Neither said anything, desperately holding onto this rare moment of being left alone together like it was a precious gift.
There was no fanfare when they finally arrived at their destination, an imposing, sprawling, ancient looking stone building, and exited the transport. They both entered the large building, escorted by several men that looked far deadlier than any of the peacekeeper from 12. Once the large metal doors closed them off from view to the outside world, they were pulled apart.
That's when everything got so much worse. She closed her eyes at the memory, as the cool sensation spread through her arm, pushing away the ache at recalling Peeta trying to hold onto her. He was strong but no match for the two brutes that managed to tear them apart after a well place punch to the gut. It had taken a punch to the face to finally subdue the blond. Then he was gone, pulled into a different part of the building and she'd fallen to the floor, unable to hold herself up under the pressure of his loss.
It became something of a blur after that. She'd cried and screamed. She'd torn at the faces and bodies of anyone that came near her before she'd felt the prick of a needle on the back of her neck.
When she woke, she was laying on a bed of obscene proportions, alone, in the immense room she now found herself. The domed ceiling towered 30 feet above her head with thick stone columns lining the room's periphery. The floor beneath her feet was a massive mosaic of stone, gems and metalwork depicting some ancient scene of a man in odd robes being stabbed to death by of circle of other men. The image unnerved her and the room made her feel small and powerless. She wondered if that had been the intent behind its design.
She stood from the bed and rubbed at the back of her neck, feeling a small lump where they had drugged her. Some fifty feet away she noticed a large set of double doors. Above it was a lighted panel filled with ascending numbers. She knew what this was, an elevator like she'd seen in the training center. The final number in the row was 23 and the light was quickly approaching it. Puff after cool puff came from the bracelet the higher the number rose.
Finally the light reached 23, Katniss heard a quiet tone announcing its arrival and the door opened to reveal a woman, a strikingly beautiful woman. She sauntered into the room with her hands clasped demurely behind her back. She embodied the manufactured beauty of the Capitol that Katniss had come to despise so much. Like the water pitcher on the train, this woman's exquisiteness was a product of this shining city. The only difference, the decanter paled in comparison to the perfection had stopped ten feet from her.
She wore all white, a shade that would have blinded her if they'd met in the midday sun. The ornate, suggestive costume left little to the imagination. Her arms and legs were completely bare while a severely uncomfortable looking corset decorated in delicate lace and beadwork covered and shaped her mid-section. From the front, a long gossamer train, connected to the lower back half of the bodice, framed her hips and legs, trailing on the floor behind her.
Her hair was a silver-white and styled high on her head and had to be some kind of headpiece. There was so much already piled on top her head that the massive amount that fell down her back seemed humanly impossible.
Unlike her hair, the color of her skin did seem natural. The flesh that looked as though it had never been touched by the sun was accented with highly stylized, silver and white patterns. Whether they were merely painted on or a permanent part of her visage, Katniss couldn't be sure. Everything about her, her clothes, her makeup and jewelry were shades of white or silver. Everything was colorless except her eyes: a vivid crystal blue, the bluish shadow above them and her lips: the small portion in the center was blood red.
Katniss couldn't take her eyes away from the display but there was something about the creature in front of her that made her desperately want to run as far away as she possibly could. The reactivated bracelet went to work once again.
They just stared at one another, one woman frozen the other almost predatory. Then the woman's eyes took on an intensity that Katniss couldn't describe but could feel as it washed over her like ice water. Sadly, it reminded her of Peeta's eyes of late. Katniss became more and more unnerved around this impossibly imposing woman who was surprisingly no larger than herself.
"Do you know who I am little bird?" She spoke without the affected Capitol accent; her voice deeper than Katniss would have expected. It reminded her of the few times Buttercup purred in contentment in the lap of her sister. It only added to her unease.
"No." Katniss whispered out.
"No?" A single silvered eyebrow lifted as though surprised but the eyes stayed knowing. Her lips pursed almost imperceptibly with the hint of a smile. "Are you sure?"
Katniss's mind raced, trying to know how to act with this woman of the Capitol who she couldn't possibly know. What made her think someone from District 12 would know who she was?
"I'm sorry, I don't know who you are." She whispered, her gaze trapped in the other woman's eyes.
"Hmm. Maybe you require a closer look, my lovely." The false endearments this woman kept using made Katniss shiver with disgust. She didn't know her. Had never met her. This woman made Haymitch's sweethearts sound… "How about now? I've left so many hints."
Katniss swallowed hard as confusion and an increasing sense of dread filled her. She just shook her head. She felt the cool breath of medication.
"Hmm." The white clad woman's head lilted to the side and a small, false frown lit her lips but never made it to her eyes. "Oh, I almost forgot the most important clue of all." She said as she let a hand that before had been clasped behind her slip down the back of her leg. Then, with a move so startlingly quick, a tiny knife materialized in front of Katniss's eyes in the hand that had only moments ago been trailing down the woman's thigh. It was silver, curved, and no longer than her pinky, narrower and impossibly sharp looking.
What the woman with the red lips did next made Katniss step back and gasp in shock. She raised the knife, Katniss believed to cut her but instead the woman opened her own mouth and let the blade slide across her tongue. No pain registered on her face as she did this. She closed her mouth for only a second before pursing her lips and gently breathing out into Katniss's startled face.
Katniss dropped here eyes away from the woman's eyes for the first time. Then she saw the 'hints'. The woman wore all white. The lace-covered bodice was covered in delicately precise needlework in the shape of roses in all states of bloom. The blood, the scent of it on her breath...
The words that left Katniss's mouth were barely audible. "Snow… you're his…"
"Daughter." The woman finished for her. A small, devilish smile formed on her lips. "Very good little bird."
Thankfully the woman stepped away from her then. Katniss didn't think the bracelet had enough chemicals in it to keep her calm if she had to remain so close to this new anathema. Snow's daughter turned and walked to a panel on one of the large pillars, her high heals clicking along on the stone mosaic. Katniss saw her press a button. She turned and waited, leaning seductively against the pillar. A moment later, a side door to the room that Katniss hadn't even noticed slid open. Through it, stepped one of the most handsome men she had ever seen, she knew the face well, having seen it broadcasted a hundred times.
Finnick Odair. The tall, perfectly proportioned man strode into the room. He didn't miss a beat and he didn't even seem to notice Katniss. All of his attention was focused directly on Snow's daughter. His eyes looked like Gale's would right before he made love to her in the forest. The woman stayed where she was as the powerful man purposely and unreservedly made his way over to her. She tilted her head down slightly to stare hungrily at the man approaching her.
Then he was on her. He pressed his entire body against hers, trapping her between the unyeading marble of the pillar and himself. Both of his hands cupped her cheeks as he delivered a kiss the likes of which Katniss had never seen. He looked like he was going to devour her. One of his hands moved into her hair while the other coursed down her body starting with her neck, then unsubtly over a clothed breast, his fingers purposely hooking into the edge of the corset for a moment before deciding to continue in their downward journey. It traveled over her waist and then moved back to grip her thigh before hoisting her leg up over his hip.
Katniss watched in bewilderment as he ravished the terrifyingly beautiful woman right in front of her. The victor of the 65th Hunger Games then easily lifted the lithe woman off the floor to allow his hips to settle and grind against her core. Katniss swallowed, she'd never seen anything like this before. He'd abandoned the woman's mouth and had moved lower to press demanding kisses and nips to the woman's neck and collarbone. Snow's daughter moaned then, her hands in his hair before she looked over at Katniss and smiled. It was colder than the breath of medication she simultaneously felt enter her arm.
"Thank you Mr. Odair." She said huskily and a moment later she was back on her own two feet and the bronze haired man took two measured steps away from her. Within a second, both man and woman seemed completely composed despite what Katniss had just watched transpire between the two. Snow's daughter then addressed the man but her icy eyes never moved from Katniss's.
"All truth now Mr. Odair. Do you love me?"
"No." It was even and measured, like he'd been asked if he wanted sugar in his tea. He was looking at Katniss as he answered.
"Do you desire me?"
"No." This time he shook his head slightly, still looking at the District 12 victor.
"Do you hate me?"
His brow furrowed slightly then. "More than anything in this world." Katniss knew he wasn't lying.
"Good. Now teach her that." She pointed at Katniss. "All of it. Especially the part about hating me." Then she walked back to the still startled woman. "How many times did this inject you?" She asked as she took Katniss's arm in her hands and studied the bracelet.
"I…" She tried to answer but being so close to this woman took everything away from her.
"It's alright, little bird, I'm not going to hurt you." She fingered the edge of the metal band before letting her silver nailed fingertips slowly drag up Katniss's arm. "How many times did it medicate you?" She asked again.
It medicated her again right then and the feeling of it gave Katniss the push she needed to answer. "Maybe five or six. I think." She said, swallowing hard as those fingertips made their way to her shoulder.
"Hmm." The perfectly painted nails trailed up her neck and into her hair. She pulled her forward until Katniss could feel the woman's warm breath on her cheek. "We'll have to get you a more decorative one. They won't want to know that we have to drug you. It will ruin the experience, the illusion. And the illusion," her lips were now lightly touching Katniss's ear, "is what you will maintain at all costs. I look forward to working with you Miss Everdeen."
The dark haired woman trembled and swayed when Snow's daughter finally pulled away from her. She watched with still bewildered eyes as the woman walked away from her. She moved toward Finnick, her hand caressing his chin as she passed by him and out of the room.
OoOoO
AN: If you haven't seen it yet, my avatar on my profile page, and the little pic you see at the top of your screen right now has actually become relevant. This is a visual mock up for Snow's daughter. It's not exactly her but it's something for you to use as a visual reference. Yes, this is an OC as she did not exist in any of the books. You'll have to excuse me, this is my first fan fiction, I usually write original stuff so keeping strictly the cannon characters was going to be nearly impossible for me to do and write this continuation alternate reality. I have been DYING to introduce this character. I hope you'll find her as interesting to find out about as I have in writing her. If you've ever wanted to leave a comment but didn't know what to say, here's your opportunity. Tell me, based on what you've read so far, if you are intrigued or not.
blossom-angel-child: I can't help myself. I'm addicted. And it is time consuming to write the responses but I love doing it. You're welcome. :)
Ambrosia: I think you can handle it. Pfff, chores can wait until you get your fix. Peeta is not the same Peeta he used to be at the moment. The revelations of the last few days (that's all the time that has elapsed) have been a bit tough for him to handle. Don't worry, Gale will be back but I hope Finnick was an ok stand in for him this chapter.
Carla: Good luck on your exams! Peeta didn't get any because it would have ruined Snow's fun with Katniss being forced to keep it a secret but now that he knows… You hit the nail on the head for that scene, physically intimate but emotionally distant. Woot! A Haymitch fan! No worries, I'll keep it up.
Loli-pop0394: Yeah, I'm not weaving a feel good tale here. If you're heart isn't breaking or at least affected, I'm failing. The note… still ambiguous though Katniss believes it was an order to sleep with her. Was this ASAP enough for you? :)
catie8: Thank you for leaving such detailed reviews that I can discuss in detail! I like to write and I didn't want to make a one dimensional story. Well thank you for appreciating the voyeurism angle. Even though I did use it in order to see scenes Kat wasn't directly involved in, it does fit the idea of what the capitol does, I mean the Games are an act of snuff voyeurism in and of themselves, kids killing kids, I don't think it gets more extreme than that… and I'm told this story is too mature… lol. I guess sexual manipulation is worse than death. Might well be. I might rather be dead than face this kind of life. I do the 'fade to black' because I want the idea conveyed more than the sex acts themselves. I don't want to write porn… I could go to a different site for that. Gale… oh Gale. I guffawed when you pointed that out. I alluded to it being slightly comical back in "Don't Deserve Him". Reread that and see if you catch it. When I wrote it originally I chuckled but I liked the literary effect enough to leave it in. Love that you caught it.
pokips: If someone does die, it's not going to be me killing them. ;P
CYBERKAT2: I'm so flattered that I received a review from a rare reviewer. That's always such a cool compliment. And now I'm sad. I'll just go ahead and say it. The beautiful Mr. Crane. Did not survive. I know that's not revealed until the second book, that he's dead, but I had Snow say, "former Gamemaster" and I don't think 'my Snow' would have done anything different in that regard. So I will be unable to achieve perfection… Wes Bently is amazing looking though, isn't he? You're welcome, thank you for the review.
Chocolatte: Anything is possible concerning exactly what the note said but obviously the basics of it were the sex. I actually didn't anticipate how much people's curiosity would be peaked by that line… lol. The generic people, the masses, think she's happily married. Hopefully that was cleared up with my description of the crowd in this chapter. The masses don't know her reality, just the one Snow shows them.