Modern AU: Peeta and Katniss were on vacation in Argentina. Their days are up now and they're on their way back to the US, however, a tornado alert gets them stranded in Lima, Peru. It's Halloween and they were supposed to go trick or treating with Finnick and Annie and now here they are. What they didn't know, is that in Peru they celebrate something called Día de la Canción Criolla, and they get swept into the joyous atmosphere. Dressing up as the locals, Everlark celebrate Halloween in a different way
(This was the original prompt if you were curious)
Worth the Wait – Part 1
Katniss tosses her suitcase into the trunk of her car, irritated that her flight was cancelled. She promised her sister she would be home tomorrow, in time to see her niece and nephews' costumes for their very first Halloween. If there was one thing in this world that Katniss despised, it was disappointing her baby sister.
"A tornado? Seriously, a freaking tornado in Peru! Just wonderful!" She mumbles to herself, securing her seatbelt in place. Before leaving the parking lot she reaches for her phone, browsing for somewhere to stay for a night or two; at least until she can catch the next flight home. "Great, no service." Could anything else go wrong today? She thinks to herself, tossing her phone back into her purse.
After being stuck in traffic for nearly an hour, only going at a speed of ten miles per hour, she tries to summon the courage to call her sister. Gripping her hands firmly around the wheel and tapping her fingers nervously, she finally speaks to the car's navigation system. "Call Prim."
"Calling Prim" The car responds. Prim answers on the second ring, the excitement laced in her voice.
"Oh my gosh Katniss, I am so excited for you to see the twins' costumes! Are you in the states yet? What time is your flight? Do you have an estimated arrival time? I can come and get you, or…or—"
Katniss cringes at her sister's questions before deciding to interrupt her. "Prim, I um…there was a problem- no, there is a problem." Katniss looks out the window, noticing how crowded the streets are, and the people seem to be dressed rather…vivaciously. 'I wonder what that's all about?' She thinks to herself.
"What's wrong, are you okay?"
"Yeah, of course, I'm fine. It's just that…my flight…well, it got cancelled. I mean…not 'cancelled,' cancelled, but more like…delayed. There's like…a severe tornado warning or something and they've grounded all flights until further notice."
'Are they…dancing?' Katniss thinks to herself, seeing a woman be twirled around in an immaculate dress, the dress fanning out to reveal the beautiful colors.
"Seriously? Katniiisss…." Prim whines like a toddler, elongating Katniss's name.
"Give me a break, Prim, you'll take a zillion pictures, we'll face time, and you can dress them up when I get home. They're babies, they won't even know the difference."
"But I will." Katniss despises it when Prim does this. Looking out the window again, Katniss sees a group of small kids dressed up in costumes.
'How adorable.' She thinks to herself, smiling.
"Come on Prim…This is totally out of my control. You know I would be there if I could. Plus, don't you have a wonderful husband to keep you busy?"
"Yeah…I do—" Katniss can hear the smile in Prim's voice and that always makes her happy. Even after being together for five years, Prim and Rory are still so sickening in love with each other; it would make Katniss sick if she didn't love her sister so much. "But he's not you. No one can replace you, big sister."
"I know Prim—" Katniss cranes her neck out the open window to see what all the commotion is about. "Prim, I need to go…there is something…I don't know what it is, but I'll call you later. Take lots of pictures for me!" She says just before ending the call, not giving Prim the opportunity to make her feel any worse. As if that is even possible.
A month ago when the company Katniss works for asked for someone to take an impromptu trip to Argentina, just before the holiday's no less; to be the mediator in an attempt to merge their company with one of the hotshot rivalry companies nearby, Katniss was the first to volunteer.
With no life other than her sister and her sister's family, Katniss had no obligations which left her the perfect candidate to leave the country. Everyone else had families they didn't want to leave, not knowing how long it would take to do the negotiations, they did not want to risk being in another country for the holidays.
It had been almost ten years since she lost the love of her life and she had accepted the fact that you only get one of those per lifetime. She was secretly hoping for better luck in her next one. He was beautiful and he was perfect, and she thought their love transcended time and space. So what if they were only teenagers, and so what if she had not seen him in almost ten years. It did not seem to matter how many times she tried to find love, it just never felt right.
At seventeen years old, she and her sister became orphans. Social Services came to her house early one morning and loaded her and Prim into a car, refusing to allow them to say goodbye to anyone.
Katniss no longer cries from the anguish of losing him, but the agony from missing him is still as fresh as that first night. When she turned eighteen, she could have gone back to Panem, but she was too scared. What if she went back and he had moved on? Found someone else to love, got married, and…no, not knowing was better. Rejection would be worse.
Katniss hoped this trip would give her some insight as to what she might do with the rest of her life. She cannot continue to lean on Prim forever; she has her own family now.
Katniss finally makes out what the commotion is ahead of her and a smile forms on her lips when she catches sight of the herds of people dancing in the street, causing her to remember their dance competition. With him. "Dammit Katniss, stop it. Why do you keep thinking about him today?" She scolds herself before spotting a hotel across the street. She pulls into a parking space, crossing her fingers they have a vacancy, but by the looks of the massive hoards of people crowding the streets, she is not very confident.
She reaches up to her neck where her collar bone dips in, and with her thumb and forefinger, she pinches the pearl that hangs from her necklace. From him. It is the necklace he gave her on her sixteenth birthday. 'As long as you wear this necklace, you will know how much I love you. Always.'
'Always.' It was their 'thing.' Some people made promises of forever, but not them. No, they promised for always. She remembers his exact words, and for some reason, he feels closer than ever. Close enough to touch. Something in the back of her mind says.
Shaking her head to rid her mind of the penetrating thoughts, Katniss decides to make her way into the hotel to see if there is a room available before unloading her suitcase. She locks the rental car and pushes her way through the crowded streets and into the entrance of The Holiday Inn.
Upon entering the building, Katniss is greeted by a beautiful woman with perfectly golden hair and a smile bright enough to light up the entire building. She says something in Spanish that Katniss cannot understand, confusion written all over her face.
"Crap, I left my translator in my car" Katniss mumbles under her breath after reaching over and checking her purse.
Realizing that Katniss does not understand her, the woman speaks again, this time in English, laced with a heavy accent. "Welcome to The Holiday Inn, can I interest you in a room?"
"Oh, you speak English!" Katniss says, more excited than she should be.
"Effie does not allow any of her employees to man the front desk unless they are fluent in English. We get a lot of tourists." Madge says, explaining to her.
"Effie?" Katniss asks, finding the name strange. Like she's one to talk.
"Effie is the boss. This is her hotel. She's more of a designer if you ask me, but she's famous for dressing people up for the Dia de la Canción Criolla! She will be knocking on your door within the next hour!"
"Dia day what?" Katniss asks, not hearing what Madge said due to how fast the words seemed to escape her mouth.
"Dia De La Canción Criolla. It is a celebration of Criolla music. There will be dancing, lots of dancing! And music, yes…beautiful music! You should come, it's so much fun!" Madge tells her with stars in her eyes, as if she is remembering a heartfelt moment.
"Oh, well…I'll think about it." Katniss says timidly, giving Madge a smile.
Katniss is thrilled the hotel has a vacancy and hands Madge her credit card to confirm her room for the night. While she waits for the transaction to process, she and Madge make small talk. Madge returns her credit card and ID along with the plastic key card with the numbers '12-13' displayed on the front, as well as a brochure.
"If you take these elevators up to the twelfth floor and make a quick right, room thirteen will be on your left. Here is a list of amenities as well as numbers if there is anything you need. And Katniss?"
"Yes?"
"You should come out for the night. You only live once."
With a polite smile, Katniss nods her head, turning her back to Madge to retrieve her suitcase from her car.
Nearly half an hour later, she returns to the hotel with her suitcase in tow and steps onto the elevator. Just as the doors begin to close, she spots a man running, trying to catch the elevator before the doors close. Katniss presses the button to keep the elevator open, but she is just a moment too late. With a mind of its' own, the doors seal themselves shut, rising her up to the twelfth floor.
'Why do I keep thinking about him today? Why does he feel so close to me? I'm in Peru for Heavensbee's sake!' Katniss says smiling to herself, reaching for the pearl again. 'Heavensbee's sake' was one of 'their' inside jokes. "Perhaps this 'Dia De La…whatchamacallit is just the thing I need to distract my mind from him. And who knows what'll happen." She mumbles to herself, entering her hotel room.
When the door slams shut behind her, she hears the distinct 'ding' from the elevator. 'Whoever that man was must have made it up.' She thinks to herself, recalling the flash of blonde hair, with those bouncing blonde waves, just like him. 'No, stop it. He is not here Katniss. It has been ten years. Ten years. You should be over him by now. So, just…Get over it.'
But she's not, and she can't.
Freshly out of the shower, with one towel wrapped around her body and another one on the top of her head, she reaches for the phone and proceeds to call the number Madge had given her. She needs to do something to distract her mind. She is going to celebrate Dia De La Canción Criolla like a Peruvian.
"Give me a break Dad. It's Halloween, it's not even really a holiday. The bakery will survive if I'm gone for another few days."
"I know kid, I know. I'm sorry…I just…you know…I miss you. You've been gone for like—"
"Two weeks. I have been gone for two weeks. And I will be home in a few more days. Control over the weather is not a power I have homed in on as of yet." Peeta's dad chuckles at his words but is still disappointed. "Listen dad, as soon as they open the flights back up, the airline promised to call me, and I'll be on the first flight back to the states. Now look, I've gotta go, the streets here are insane and I need to find a place to crash for the night. I'll let you know when to pick me up."
"Okay, son. Oh, and Peet?"
"Yeah, dad?"
"Try to have some fun."
"Yeah, okay, I'll try. I've gotta go, bye dad." Peeta ended the call before giving his father any more fuel to drag the call on longer.
Peeta woke up that morning with an uncanny feeling that something was wrong. When he got to school that morning and she wasn't there, that feeling in his stomach intensified. They talked to each other every day before and after school. She was his best friend, and he was hers. They told each other everything, so when he still had not heard from her by dinner that night, he knew deep in his gut something was wrong. Really wrong.
The next day, Magnolia, one of her sister's friends came to him asking if he had heard anything from either of the girls. For two days now, both girls have been missing from school. Magnolia did not know it, but she had just confirmed the gut-wrenching fear in the pit of his stomach.
For days, Peeta hounded the adults to no avail, questioning anyone he could as to her whereabouts. She would never just up and leave without telling him, at least not without saying goodbye.
After two weeks, Peeta's father realized that Peeta needed answers, that he would not be able to rest until he knew what happened to her, so using his connections he was able to obtain some information. Peeta cried in his father's arms as he told him what happened. Social services came that morning, came before the sun was even up, and basically kidnapped the girls. Both of their parents died in a car accident and at sixteen and a half years old, she took over the role of mom and dad to her little sister. Apparently, someone placed an anonymous call, claiming to be "worried," about the girls, hence social service ripping them from their lives.
For years, Peeta tried to find her. But when his father lost his job, they had to relocate to another state. Peeta did not want to leave if by some chance she came back looking for him, but he was only a kid himself, so, he didn't have a choice.
At one point, he hired a private investigator, but so far; nothing has come up. All his friends and family keep insisting he "move on," But he just couldn't, he can't. "You don't just move on from your soulmate, from your one true love" he told them all. There is no one else, only her. If I am not with her, then I will just be alone. One day, he will find her, he is certain of it.
"I know I'm probably asking the impossible, but would you happen to have a room for one?" Peeta asks once he reaches the desk, giving the beautiful girl his most charming smile.
"Oh, don't let the streets fool you, sir. It's Día De La Canción Criolla, the Peruvian festival of Music. And to answer your question, yes, in fact we do." The receptionist, Madge, proceeded to tell him with her heavy accent and dazzling smile, staring at the computer screen in front of her, typing away.
A few minutes later, Madge hands him his plastic key card to his room in the penthouse along with a brochure filled with amenities, phone numbers, and information about this "Dia De La Canción Criolla."
"Since you are already here sir, you should come out tonight and check it out. Have some fun." Have some fun, those were his father's exact words.
But dancing…especially that kind of dancing brought him back to memories of her. She was the captain of the dance club in high school and she convinced him to enter a couple's dance competition with her. Never able to tell her no, he agreed. He was never as good as her, but where he lacked, she excelled. It was like that with everything they did. They picked up each other's slack. When one was weak, the other was strong. Always.
As he is scribbling his signature on the consent form to bill him at checkout, for just a split microsecond he thinks he sees her. Heading onto the elevator is a woman with the same shade of hair, in that same over the shoulder braid she would wear, and the same olive complexion. It had been almost ten years since the last time he saw her face, ten years since the last time his lips touched hers, but he is certain that one-hundred years could go by…no, a thousand years could pass, and he would always know her. Always.
Once his 'T's' are crossed, he politely excuses himself from the receptionist, and runs to the elevator. He couldn't make her face out as the doors slid shut, but he could tell she tried to hold the door for him, but it was too late. The elevator has a mind of its own and she slipped through his fingers.
"It's not her, it couldn't possibly be." He tells himself, his head hanging down as he presses the button and waits for the elevator. He rides up to the twelfth floor and as soon as the doors open, he hears a door slamming from around the corner. He finds his room, walks into it, and plops down on the bed.
Lying back on the bed, something in Peeta's pocket begins poking his thigh. He reaches into his pocket and grips firmly onto the pocket watch that he always keeps with him. From her.
At fifteen years old, he began saving his earnings from working at the bakery for eight months in order to buy her that necklace. When he first saw it hanging in the shop, he knew he just had to have it. He knew it was made just for her. It had been sitting in his underwear drawer for almost two weeks before he gave it to her on her sixteenth birthday. His gift brought tears to her eyes because of what it meant.
She wanted to give him something too, but he insisted that it doesn't work that way. You do not give a gift to someone because they gave you something. That was the first time she said those three magical little words. She told him, "I'm not giving this to you because you gave me this necklace, I'm giving this to you…I want you to have this because I love you." It was her father's, a gift from her mother. It meant the world to her, so he knew what she was saying before she even said the words.
"Dammit Peeta! Get a grip. It isn't her, I'm in Peru for Heavensbee's sake! An entire country away!" Peeta yells at himself, confused as to why she is on his mind so hard today.
Peeta jumps into the shower, having decided that maybe he will join the festivities, if for nothing else, then to distract his mind from her. He picks up the brochure and places a call to one of the names Madge had recommended. If he is going to a Peruvian festival…or is it a party; he is going to need something to wear.