Disclaimer: The Games Have Begun.
The crowd is in absolute chaos now. Peeta saying he's going to commit suicide for Prim I think shocked everyone. Gale grips my hand tightly as the people flood the area, screaming and shouting and it's chaos.
Escorts are trying to get their tributes back to the elevator and we end up on a elevator with Prim and Peeta also. Peeta is looking down at his feet, Prim looks like she's so close to crying, I know I am, and Gale will not release his grip on my waist, as if someone in the crowd is going to take me. His breath and heartbeat are frantic, I can feel it.
Prim locks eyes with me and I can see more unshed tears. Once in the penthouse, we find an empty floor. "She must not be here." Gale speaks, talking about Effie.
We all lock eyes, Peeta finally lifting his to meet Prim's and Prim collpases in his arms, crying softly.
"I guess this is goodbye?" Peeta asks, keeping it together. I nod and Prim runs to Gale, giving him a hug. He tells her something softly that I can't hear. Peeta turns to me and I embrace him quickly and my tears seep into his jacket.
"Promise me you'll fight, Peeta. Because we'll be fighting here for you." He nods into my shoulder and let's out a shaky laugh.
"Madge, if I don't-"
"No, Peeta. Don't."
"If I don't," he continues anyways, "tell Katniss I love her."
"Oh, Peeta..." I pull away and see that his eyes are teary.
"Please, Madge. I have for a while and didn't get to tell her. Please tell her. Promise me."
"I.. I promise." I pull him for another hug and he holds me tight.
Prim's next. She collapses into my arms this time, sputtering words out so inconherently I can't understand them.
"Prim, calm down. You are going to be fine."
"I'm going into the Hunger Games tomrrow morning. I'm not fine." She stutters out, tearing up.
"Listen to me. You will be fine." I kiss the top of her head. "When that gong rings out, find Peeta. Find someone you can trust. District 8 or something. Find Juniper. You're going to be fine."
"Thank you, Madge. For helping me. For everything."
I shake my head and hold her to me quickly. Primrose Everdeen, a 13 year old girl going into the Hunger Games because she was forced. I know damn well that if Katniss could've volunteered, she would've. She would be here right now saying goodbye to us. Not Prim.
Prim and Peeta go off to their rooms and we stand for a minute before I'm in Gale's arms. They wrap around my shoulders and tense as mine wrap around his waist. My head goes to its usual spot over Gale's heart and he sighs, his breath tickling the top of my head. I start coughing quickly.
"This sucks." He murmurs out and I nearly snort. It pretty much sums up this entire situation. We stand like that for a bit before finally going to bed, even though neither of us are going to get a wink of sleep tonight. There's no way.
I fall onto the bed and run my hands through my hair while Gale showers. I hate being sick. I hate the Hunger Games. I hate President Snow. I hate the Capitol. God, I hate everything right now. I can only imagine what people with children going into it are dealing with. Ceceila, and Seeder. I wonder how they're taking it. Now if my child, if one even existed, had to go in the Games after I had already gone through the hell of it, I'd be furious and crushed.
I want to have children, I really do. Not now though. Not when he or she would almost be guaranteed a place in the Hunger Games. Not when the world is a mess, not when I'm only seventeen. I honestly don't know if I would get through that, even with Gale with me.
Gale comes out of the bathroom and pulls me into his arms quickly before I go to take a shower. I pry myself away and he smirks quickly. Once in the bathroom, I strip down and step in the shower which turns on icy cold and I yelp before changing it a inch to the left and it turns on like it's fire. Hell, I'm on fire. Oh the irony.
I finish quickly after and hop out of the shower, drying and changing into pajamas. I'm freezing again. I shiver as I walk into the room and immediately launch myself into the bed to ease the shivering. It doesn't help one bit.
Gale crawls next to me and wraps his arms around me. Usually, I get warmer when I'm in Gale's arms. It's different. I can't stop shivering for some reason.
Gale puts his hand on my forehead again. "You're still warm, Madge."
"But I'm f-f-reezing." I stutter and he pulls another blanket over me, trying to keep me warm. Thankfully, it works a bit. I'm still cold and I have goosebumps, but I'm not shivering.
"But you have a fever."
"Then why are you lying in bed with me?"
"Do you honestly think I care? I'd rather be sick than you." He sighs, buring his face in my hair. I drift off. Big mistake.
I wake up screaming and crying and now it's extremely hot. Gale was being tortured. By President Snow. His screaming echoes in my head.
"Madge," a voice says, "Madge, breathe." I can't breathe. I'm crying out and tears are all over my face. I'm thrashing around and I can't breathe.
A hand takes my chin and forces me to look at them. The only thing I can see is Gale's tortured form and his screaming is the only thing I can hear. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry!" I choke out and I'm pulled into someone's arms. I feel protection. I feel protected; like no one's going to hurt me.
"It was only a dream, Madge. It wasn't real." I can finally focus on Gale's soothing voice, the non-screaming one. The one I know. The one that will protect me. Gale pulls me closer in the protection of his arms and I register that it was a dream. Gale's here, safe and sound. The Capitol isn't going to get him. Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.
"It was you," I choke out finally, my sobs echoing in the room, "they had you. They were torturing you and you were screaming and-" Gale shuts me up by pressing a frantic kiss to my lips.
"I'm right here." He tells me gently, his fingers skirting across my cheek and brushing my sweaty hair out of my face. "You're right here. They aren't going to hurt either of us." He presses gentle kisses on my neck as I try to calm down.
"They had you." I choke again and he rests his forehead on mine.
"They aren't going to get me. I'm not letting anything take me away from you. Or letting anything take you from me. No one's going to hurt me or you, Madge." He flattens my hair and holds me close to his chest as my crying starts to slow, eventually my tears dry on my face.
"Don't leave me, please." I whimper and his muscles tense around me, forcing me to look at him.
"I love you, Madge. Nothing on earth can make me leave you, okay?" He presses a gentle kiss to my forehead and he pulls me more into his lap. "And nothing is going to happen to you, okay? I won't let anyone hurt you again."
I can't get the picture of Gale's tortured form out of my mind; it's like it's branded there, in a place I will always see.
I don't sleep the rest of the night, and neither does Gale. I'm afraid that if I sleep I'll see Gale being tortured, or Prim and Peeta in the Games. Gale just holds me the rest of the night, making sure I'm okay. But I'm not. I'm absolutly terrified.
The next morning is subdued. I'm still freezing and coughing. There's no noise at the breakfast table, not even Effie who usually talks forever. I push my food around, occasionally sipping some orange juice.
The clock dings and it's nine. The Games start in an hour. I don't want to watch it. Not today. Not ever. Effie sighs, as if she doesn't want to watch this Games. I know I don't.
Effie tells us to go down to the mentoring room and we leave. She gives us each a hug beforehand, and then, we're on our own in the elevator, going down to where we will have to keep Prim and Peeta alive. Gale pulls me into a hug once we're in the elevator and rests his chin on the top of my head.
"It'll be okay, Madge. Promise me something." I look up at him and he meets my gaze. "Promise me that when I tell you not to watch or something, you won't."
"Why?"
He tightens his grip around me. "Just trust me. Promise?"
"I promise?" I tell him, still unsure about it. He drops his arms from around me as the elevator comes to a stop. We walk into the room and notice the tension between everyone. Usually, Finnick is cracking jokes or something, but now, he's sitting silent as a stone with Mags next to him. She doesn't look too good.
Quickly, we cross to the District 12 room and look inside. Prim's line is on. So her tracker must be in. They're still on the way to the arena. Peeta's blinks on as we walk out.
When we sit back down, Mags gives me a gentle smile and then turns back to the blank screen which flickers to life with Ceaser and Claudius beginning to start commentary about the tributes and such.
We must have maybe thirty more mintutes until the Games actually start. I remember how I felt at this time last year: scared out of my mind.
The clock ticks down much quickler than I would like. Pretty soon, it's around ten minutes until the Games begin. Cecelia sits down next to me. Gale laces his hand with mine and squeezes lightly.
Five minutes. I start to nibble on my nails until they're stubs. Pretty soon it's three minutes. Then two. Then one.
"Ladies and gentlemen, let the 75th Hunger Games begin!"
Sixty seconds. That's it. Sixty seconds to wait. Sixty seconds to find out if you're going to die or live. Sixty agonizing seconds.
They are in a city, that looks oddly familar. There's all of these bright colors. The cornucopia is right in the middle of it, shining and bright. The tributes are spaced in even intervals away from it and each other. The camera shows flashes of other parts of the arena. A place with red mulch. An area covered in sand. Another that looks really, really, familar...
"It's Panem." Gale chokes out and he's right. It is. There are twelve sections, besides the Capitol portion, where the cornucopia is situated. Inbetween each section is an unruly jungle and in between the Capitol section and the other section, is more unrly jungle.
There's about thirty seconds left on the countdown clock on the cornucopia so I focus on the tributes. They all have on grey t-shirts and black tight pants. A sturdy belt. The girls have on white jackets and the boys have black jackets. Prim is stationed next to Juniper and Delia. The youngest of the three, Delia, is trembling so badly I think she might fall of the plate.
Peeta isn't so lucky. He's surrounded by Careers, but is luckily only seven spots from Prim. Now there's twenty seconds. Then ten.
Five seconds. Prim begins to shake.
Four seconds. Peeta braces himself.
Three seconds. Juniper takes a deep breath.
Two seconds. The three of them lock eyes.
One second.
Begin.
People are already running to the cornucopia. Juniper grabs Prim and Delia and pulls them away from the horror of the boodbath. Peeta manages to grab a backpack and a sword. When he's running from the cornucopia back to Prim, a body slams into him and knocks him flat on his back. The person is preparing to shove a knife into his eye when Peeta rams his head into the girl's head, effectively dazing her and only suffering from a cut going from below his eye to the top of his mouth.
There's already one person on the ground, dead, head chopped off and all. I close my eyes quickly, trying to clear the image from my head. Juniper goes back in and grabs a backpack once Peeta is back with Prim, Delia, and now Sayer, Seeder's son. Her daughter is no where to be seen. Sayer must be around 19, I would think. As Junier runs back to them, she slips on some of the blood of the person's head and falls next to it and screechs. It's the man who's wife is pregnant. I haven't seen her.
She struggles to get up, slipping again on the blood and landing face first into it. She screams again as her pupils dialate and shrink.
"My poor baby.." I hear Cecelia murmur under her breath and I reach out and squeeze her hand quickly. Peeta won't let her die. I know he won't; it's Peeta for God's sake. Juniper lugs herself up and starts running again, the blood trailing down her face. The women from 1, who's determined to kill everyone to win, starts to chase her and the boy from 4, named Linus, stabs her in the arm quickly and she shouts out a string of curses I have never heard before turning around and flipping off the boy from 4 as he runs toward our little group.
There are people screaming and fighting and there's people lying on the ground, and I can't tell if they're dead or not. Juniper makes it back to the little group and with one last glance at the cornucopia and the fighting insuing there, they run through the jungle.
A/N: MUST READ: The games have started, and let's just say they aren't going to be exactly pretty. They're going to be pretty gruesome. Heads up. OH! This is really important, so you MUST READ this: So pretty soon in this story, things are going to take a turn for the worst, and a lot of people have given me grief about stuff that happens in this story, and I just want to say that if you wish to be forewarned about it so you don't completely want to kill me then PM me. I don't want to lose followers or anything because of what I'm planning. If you do PM me, I'll try to dumb it down a bit so I don't completely give it away, but I want you all to be warned.
Anyways, this is like the longest authors note ever, but please review. I never realized how many people read this and don't review. I really do love your reviews and they really help you as a writer, so if all you lovely people could review, it would really mean alot to me(: