Disclaimer: None of these characters belong to me.

Chapter 26

The next time Effie saw Haymitch was when he slipped into her hospital room looking extremely harried and out of breath. He stayed for less than five minutes - enough time to tell her that he had to leave for the Capitol and that he would see her there soon.

As he made for the door, Effie went after him and threw her arms around the surprised man. "Be safe," she whispered.

"I'll see you there," he told her, while avoiding any eye contact with her.

Without Haymitch, Effie had fallen into her old habit of inconspicuously picking up and eavesdropping in on conversations as well as gleaning information from the careless whispers down the hallways. When news of Primrose's death reached Effie she was in too much shock to shed any tears. She tried looking for Mrs. Everdeen but the woman was nowhere to be found. Effie wasn't sure what she would have said to the older woman – she was sorry? She was the one who picked Primrose's name from the Reaping Ball after all. Her youngest daughter was killed and her eldest daughter was the face of the Rebellion; whatever words of apology Effie wanted to convey would not have been enough.

XxX

Effie sat alone at the corner of the hovercraft watching Katniss' prep team as they talked in soft whispers. She could tell that they were as nervous as her. Effie would have sat together with them but she wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

She slipped both her hands underneath her thighs, sitting on them to prevent anyone from seeing the tremors. She wasn't just nervous, she was afraid. In her mind's eyes, there were a thousand ways in which everything could go wrong from here on now to the Capitol. The hovercraft could be attacked by Snow's air fleet, or they could be killed by Rebel soldiers when they landed – they were after all known Capitol citizens. But that was the crux of the matter; Effie didn't feel like a Capitol citizen anymore, hadn't felt like one for the longest time. She loved her city and the first time she realised that she was ashamed of being a Capitol citizen was during the Victory Tour when she saw the state of the districts.

A jerk from the hovercraft as it landed jolted Effie back to reality, signalling their arrival at the Capitol. She rubbed her hands on her long grey dress and disembarked. Haymitch stood there waiting for them and with just one glance Effie could tell that something didn't sit right with him. His clothes were rumpled as usual, but his eyes had lost the focus which Effie had grown used to while at District 13.

When she stepped closer to Haymitch, the smell of liquor wafted through her nostrils and she reeled back in surprise. Images upon images of him invaded her mind, and she remembered him from the time they spent together during the Games. She blinked and shook her head. The visions were sharper and –

"Effie? You gonna stand there all day or what, sweetheart?" he asked rather rudely.

"No, I – Are you okay, Haymitch?"

"Yeah, they've got alcohol here, and I've been –", he paused and fished a silver flask from his jacket pocket. He beckoned for her to follow him as he took a swig of the liquor from his flask.

Effie turned around to make sure that the prep team were not left behind and she saw them trailing behind looking warily at Haymitch.

He's back to his old self – drunk.

XxX

Effie sat rigid in a chair waiting for Katniss, absentmindedly tapping her pen on the clipboard in her hand. She had on her a metallic gold wig, a skirt that would have had fit her if she had not been so malnourished from her imprisonment and 4-inch high heels that were made out of leather.

When she saw the clothes that had been laid out for her, Effie pursed her lips and counted down to ten, her eyes stung as she tried to hold back her tears. Her armour was right in front of her; she could put it on and be the Effie Trinket that everyone else had come to know. But she didn't want to be known for her role as a District Twelve's escort anymore – that role died when she agreed to go with Haymitch to District Thirteen. She was a – Effie didn't even know who she was anymore.

One last time, Effie. For Katniss, her fingers trailed across of the blouse, feeling the material under her skin. She got dressed easily enough but the heels were a problem. Her ankle was still weak and she still wobbled when she tried walking in them.

She stood now in front of the vanity staring at her reflection. The person that stared back looked the same; she looked like Effie but her eyes were different. There was no glow of life in it, just an empty blue - lost, haunted and vacant.

Effie inspected herself. Satisfied that no healing bruises on her face or scars peeking from under her blouse could be seen, she made her way to Katniss' room to wait for her.

She had not seen Katniss ever since that night before the Quarter Quell and it hadn't occurred to her to ask Haymitch when she had landed if Katniss knew anything about her time in prison. It was highly unlikely that Katniss had even asked about her – Effie wasn't exactly Katniss' favourite person and she was probably the last person Katniss thought off – but Effie just wanted to be prepared for Katniss' reaction when they met later.

Katniss had to weather so many changes in her life ever since she won the Hunger Games that Effie decided that it was best to treat her the way Katniss had expected from her.

It was then that Katniss walked in and called out Effie's name, almost sounding surprised.

"Effie," Katniss said stopping short just in front of her.

Effie stood up and walked over to her, kissing her on the cheek.

"Hello, Katniss," she greeted warmly as if nothing major had occurred from the time they parted the night before the Quell.

XxX

The hallway where Effie stood waiting for Katniss as the prep team worked on her was long and bright with the wall lamps lighting up the length of the hallway. It must be spooky to walk down that hall way at night though, she thought to herself.

Craning her neck, she inspected a framed picture hanging on the wall showing President Snow and group of Gamemakers. The date at the corner of the picture told Effie that it was taken three years after Haymitch won his Games.

"Effie," someone called out her name and she turned towards the sound of the approaching footsteps.

She clutched her clipboard and waited for the person to approach her.

"Haymitch," she greeted him. He stared hard at her and looked her from head to toe taking in her appearances. Effie cleared her throat uncomfortably at his scrutiny and his eyes snapped back to look at her.

"Ah, listen - this came from Coin herself. When Katniss is ready bring her down to the second floor, fourth room on the left – some kind of meeting," Haymitch informed her, a bottle of whiskey in his hand.

Effie nodded and went in to collect Katniss.

XxX

The clothes she was wearing were suffocating. Never before had she felt like this but for the first time, after weeks of being dressed in loose grey clothes, her Capitol fashion seemed foreign on her. Effie tried not to fidget and put in effort into standing straight as she waited for the meeting to conclude. Her ankle hurt and ached the longer she stood waiting for Katniss.

Just then the door opened and Coin marched out looking exceedingly pleased and important. Plutarch who had come by just as the meeting concluded motioned for Effie to enter the room and he went over to Katniss for last minute instructions.

Effie glanced around and saw the Victors. Peeta looked distraught, while Annie and Beetee looked like they had swallowed something bitter. Haymitch stood to one side, an unreadable expression on his face. When he felt her gaze on his, his eyes flitted up to look at her. The silver in his grey eyes looked darker as he stood in the shadow. What worried her was that he looked as though he had aged 10 years from the last time she had seen him.

She tore her gaze away and moved towards Katniss. There would be time to figure out what was wrong with Haymitch but now, she had a schedule to keep. Effie directed Katniss to the front door of the mansion and when President Snow was marched outside and tied to a post, Effie stepped down and took her place beside the Victors on the street.

"Are you okay, Annie?" she asked out of the corner of her mouth, her eyes focused on Katniss and Snow. The woman was shaking so Effie slipped her hand in hers and gave it a gentle squeeze. Effie dismissed Annie's trembling as nervous jitters at the prospect of seeing the man who had made you suffer executed as you bear witness.

Haymitch was with Plutarch, his grip on the bottle of whiskey so tight Effie could see his knuckles turning white.

"They made us vote," a soft voice whispered.

"What?" Effie asked, turning around to focus her attention on the trembling woman beside her. Annie's grip on her hand tightened and Effie hissed in pain, but Annie seemed oblivious to it.

"President Coin, she made us vote."

"Vote? Vote for what, Annie?" Effie was confused. Her eyes kept flitting from Annie to Katniss who stood poised with her bow and arrow.

"For the last Hunger Games."

"I don't – Annie, what are you talking about?"

It was a well known fact that witnessing her District partner beheaded in front of her during her Games had drove Annie Cresta mad but there were moments when Annie actually made sense. Now was not one of those moments.

"A final game – with Capitol children," she whispered and her wide fearful eyes darted around.

"Annie!" Beetee reprimanded her and stared at Effie.

Effie reeled back and clutched her chest. She felt like she had been punched in the gut and had the wind knocked out of her. The blood roared in her veins, and she heard screaming. For a moment she thought she had screamed out loud but as she looked around trying to make sense of her surrounding, she realised that the chaos happening around her at that moment mirrored the ones currently raging in her mind. Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw a body plunged down from the balcony to the ground and she barely registered the fact that that body once belonged to Alma Coin.

A final game with Capitol children.

Annie's words echoed in her head even as she felt someone's fingers closed around her upper arm in a death grip and dragging her to safety, away from the mob.

Oh, now Effie knows about the vote. Will she ask Haymitch about it?

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