Moves and Countermoves: Hannah
Chapter 15: The Victory Tour
Sunday 12th December
District 12
Winning the Hunger Games and becoming the Third Quarter Quell Victor was not exactly how Hannah imagined it.
The children of District 12 did not suddenly all want to become her friends, but Hannah found she was glad for it and avoided them more than they probably avoided her - much like the rest of the demographic. Since winning her Games, her desire for more inclusion in District 12 society, had changed to inclusion only by those who understood what she had experienced. Namely Victors at Victor's Village.
Although not entirely.
Much to what seemed like everyone's surprise and some amusement, she found friendship with Peeta's mother, Mrs Mellark. Hard and stern like her Sae, Hannah liked how the middle-aged woman didn't treat her like she was made out of glass, and every morning before dawn, she would accompany Peeta to the bakery and follow Mrs Mellark's strict instruction. Mrs Mellark would readily scold Hannah if she did something wrong, but she also fixed Hannah's hair in neat plaits every morning before they began baking, would pat Hannah's shoulder when she did something right, and sat right next to Hannah whilst she made sure Hannah drank all of her warm goat's milk and ate every bit of the eggs on bread Mrs Mellark would cook them all for breakfast after everything was prepared for the bakery opening. It was a routine and it was comforting.
Johanna, Enobaria and Finnick would always shake their heads laughing as they asked her about her mornings with Mrs Mellark; Katniss and Haymitch muttering under their breaths when the question was asked within their ear shot. But Peeta always smiled and placed a kiss on the top of Hannah's head whilst the others laughed and muttered, often placing a plated cookie or frosted cupcake in front of her.
Yes, what Hannah found most surprising about life after her Games was how the Victors she had always imagined she'd want to spend her time with, Johanna, Enobaria and Finnick, she mostly found too loud and pressurising, and avoided being around, particularly when they were all together. It was soft and quiet Annie and Peeta, whom she initially thought she would have nothing in common with, she much preferred to spend her time with and would seek out. They quietly involved Hannah in everything they did, without pushing her for questions or trying to force a smile or a laugh out of her - unlike the three.
Then there was Katniss. The other Mockingjay. The Mockingjay; Hannah her fledgling. But Katniss spent most of her time with her family and Hannah could only look on in silent awe, mildly envious of Katniss' relationship with her mother and her sister, with Haymitch, with Peeta, with everyone really. Everyone and everything seemed centred around Katniss in a mixture of respect, adoration or fear, and Hannah treasured the moments when Katniss would allow her to accompany her to the meadow - or on rare occasions, the woods. Hannah would stay quiet and to herself - especially when Gale joined them - but also keeping aware for when Katniss said it was time to go home.
Of course not everyone at Victors Village were Victors and Hannah at first avoided Mrs Everdeen and Primrose Everdeen like the plague, especially when Hannah found out it was Mrs Everdeen who had nursed her when she'd first moved to District 12, and although she was getting used to being around them, they were not Victors and would never understand. Their encouraging smiles and probing friendly conversations only made Hannah feel more guilty that she had survived.
She hadn't expected the night terrors.
She hadn't expected to be woken up at night by screams that weren't hers.
She hadn't expected the days that would pass where she wouldn't see a Victor because they needed 'time out'.
She hadn't expected the curfew.
She hadn't expected there to still be cameras in public places that she had to 'perform' for.
She hadn't expected not being able to regularly visit the woods.
And she hadn't expected there to still be so many peacekeepers with semi automatic rifles still patrolling District 12.
The only positives to these were that Victors Village was largely free from peacekeeper rules, and if she had a night terror, Haymitch would allow her to climb into his bed and he'd hold her until she fell back to sleep in his arms.
No, Hannah found the only thing that was exactly as she imagined it to be before she went into the Games was her and Haymitch spending all their days together. He was true to his promise and dedicated himself to her. He would collect her before the bakery opened, knowing that she did not enjoy the crowds, and with her on his back, he would walk her throughout the square, town, the Seam, Meadow and back home. Sometimes they spoke, but most of the times they were silent. He didn't like going into woods anymore and had forbidden her to go anywhere unless someone else accompanied her, which is why her visits to the woods with Katniss were so special.
She didn't go to school. Haymitch said she didn't have to if she didn't want to, and she didn't. She was homeschooled. If that was what yard work and chasing the geese he had recently purchased could be called, with a few bits of reading aloud from Haymitch, and lessons from Annie when she was feeling well.
Sometimes she would watch Mrs Everdeen with her patients through the window.
Sometimes Johanna would take her off. Sometimes just for a walk where Johanna would talk at length about anything and everything and Hannah would just listen until the woman finished. Sometimes Johanna would set up drills with her so Hannah didn't 'get soft'. Katniss, Finnick and Enobaria would always gravitate and join in. It usually started out fun before it got angry and serious, leading to the Victors stomping off in their own directions and Hannah not seeing them for hours if not days. Again this was mostly Enobaria, Finnick and Johanna. It seemed like they had lost the most.
Sometimes when they were all sat up in someone's house for the evening and they thought Hannah was fast asleep in someone's lap, the Victors would sombrely talk about those they had lost. Whisper angrily about rebellions and District 13, free districts and international help. Madam Coin and President Snow. Uprisings and Mockingjays, and a Panem where everyone was free. Whispering even quieter about the Third Quarter Quell not going to plan, and how Hannah setting off those explosives in the Cornucopia had ruined everything.
'But who knows, it could have been for the best. At least we're all still here. Who knows how many we would have lost?'
Someone would always end the anger with that, and they would all hum in agreement.
~xXx~
It was the morning of the Victory Tour. Her mother and the District 12 team would be arriving on the train this afternoon. They would prepare Hannah, Katniss and Peeta for a short interview with Caesar outside of Hannah's house, before they left for the rest of the tour. She had followed Peeta to the bakery at dawn as usual, and as usual Haymitch had picked her up just before it opened. As Haymitch trudged them through the high snow in the meadow, he warned her - nicely - that it was very serious that she was on her best behaviour during the Victory Tour and did everything she was told. He said that he was being honest and trusting of her, treating her like an adult when he said that her mother was potentially in fatal danger and faced execution for committing the crime of giving birth to her. Her mother's life depended on her performance, on everyones' performance.
"Did Haymitch speak to you?" Katniss asks. They had managed to sneak into the woods. It was just the two of them. "About Effie?"
Hannah swallows and nods. Katniss and Peeta would also be accompanying them for the Victory Tour.
"On the second day of my Victory Tour, a peacekeeper shot this old man in the head, right in front of me. Right in front of everyone. They didn't care who saw, or if the cameras were still rolling. They didn't care who he belonged to, who was depending on him. We were in District 11 and Peeta and I didn't follow the script. We spoke from our hearts about the injustice of their tributes' death. Peeta promised a month of our Victor's wages to the families indefinitely and I ... spoke about Rue, said what I thought I should say, what I wanted to say. But my words got that man killed and many others I'm sure. It's something I have to live with".
"What did you say?" Hannah asks the ground. She could hear the hurt in Katniss' voice and didn't have to look to know she was most likely crying.
It takes a while for Katniss to speak. "I said that she was too young, too gentle, that I couldn't save her, and that I was sorry. The old man whistled mine and Rue's tune and then gave me the three finger salute. The whole of the square copied him. I hadn't expected it of course... It's one thing to have your own District do that for you, but another District ...
Pig Boy had explained to her the three finger salute. "They did it because they respected and admired you. You had their love and their gratitude", Hannah says.
"Well, that was when the peacekeepers attacked the crowd. They brought the old man who had started it to the front of the stage for them all to see and shot him in the head. We followed the scripts after that".
Like they did with her Sae...
'They try to divide us by having us compete against each other, but I'm sure you'll agree, we're the same', Hannah remembers the words Madam Coin told her.
"Do you think that is what they're going to do to Effie - to my mother?"
"Not if we all play the Game by their rules".
Hannah felt sick, but she likes how Katniss always tells her the truth.
"Effie ...", Katniss continues, "I know she's your mother and that's reason enough to want to protect her, but she's also a good person ... for a Capitol. She worked hard to save all of us, so we have to do the same for her".
Hannah watches the young woman as she talks, it sounds like Katniss is telling herself as well as telling Hannah.
"Did I really ruin the rebellion by blowing up the Cornucopia?" She asks after some time of silence between them. It had been on her mind since she'd overheard... How Pig Boy would be ashamed of her. How they would all be ashamed of her.
"How do you ... Did Haymitch tell you?" Angry.
Hannah shakes her head, no.
Katniss continues scowling at her.
"I overheard you all talking about it when you thought I was sleeping".
Katniss nods, but her scowl doesn't disappear. "Good, because he didn't tell me either. First I heard of it was from Johanna right before Peeta and I were ordered back to the Capitol". She spares a glance Hannah's way and her frown disappears. "It's probably a good thing that it didn't happen. So many things could have gone wrong... Besides, why after 75 years would the free Districts suddenly decide to help us? And if District 13 is as powerful as Johanna and Finnick boast them to be, why did they retreat?"
From what Hannah had overheard, District 13 had the strength to overtake the Capitol because they specialised in nuclear weapons and military arms.
"Who knows who we would have lost if we did go to war. Those of us who survived could have been rebuilding Panem on an endless mass of graveyards. Right back to where we were during the Dark Days".
"You think the rebellion would have lost?"
Katniss shrugs. "No point thinking too much into it. ... But, it would have been nice, a Panem where everyone is free. Where children are born and grow in peace... But no, at least we're all here together now. And after you blew up the arena, more than half the peacekeepers left District 12 to protect the Capitol. At least we could all breathe a bit more easily after they left".
"So, no more Mockingjay?" Hannah asks, looking up at Katniss again.
Katniss pauses for a long time as she stares out at the snow-ridden evergreen scenery. "If they don't make good on the rumour of a Hunger Games where the Tributes are selected from the existing pools of Victors ... then yes, my wings are hung up. For the sake of Peeta. For the sake of Prim. My mother, Gale... For the sake of all of us".
~xXx~
'Hannah!' Her mother's voice rings out from the hall in Haymitch's otherwise quiet house.
Her mother grabs her, enveloping her in her arms as soon as Hannah approaches her in the hallway.
It was only because Hannah had been watching the District 12 teams' approach from the upstairs window that overlooked Victor's Village that she knew her mother was already in Haymitch's house, because the woman hadn't knocked or anything. Hidden behind the wooden spokes of the landing after having seen her mother breakaway from the rest of her team towards her father's house, Hannah saw her mother burst through Haymitch's front door without preamble.
"I missed you so much my darling", it almost sounded like a sob. Smelling - as always - overly sweet, but her skin underneath the bear fur-like coat she is wearing is soft, warm and comforting. "I tried to call many times", she whispers, as she places kisses all over Hannah's face.
Hannah hadn't heard the phone in Haymitch's house go off once. Maybe she had tried to call Hannah's own house, but Hannah had never set foot in there. She lived with Haymitch.
Her mother holds her for long time until she eventually stands with Hannah in her arms.
Haymitch now standing close to them.
Hannah watches her parents' eyes exchange one of their silent conversations but they don't touch or say anything to each other.
"My, you've gotten heavy", her mother puffs breaking their contact, smiling wildly at Hannah. "Now", setting Hannah back down. "We have so much to do".
~xXx~
It was quite the operation. The two people Hannah hadn't recognised from the District 12 team were 'make-up artists'. She found one with Portia at Peeta's house and another with Cinna at Katniss' house. When Haymitch - dressed in his Capitol clothes - arrived at Katniss' house, Portia and one of the make-up artists - having finished with Peeta - 'worked' on him. Hannah had watched closely with interest - almost sitting on Haymitch's lap - as the two did things to Haymitch's face, hands and hair that she had never seen done.
All her mother had done to her was scrub her face raw with a flannel and a special soap that stung her skin, re-wet her hair - she had told her mother, she had washed not even half an hour before - dividing it into plaits and then helped her into fancy Capitol clothes. Hannah had wrinkled her nose at them at first but then had remembered what her father had said... At least they were warm.
She watched her mother closely too, she didn't look like she was worried that she was in danger.
When Cinna had eventually announced Katniss was 'ready' it was dark outside. Her mother and father had walked her to her house. Haymitch had the key and once unlocked proceeded to turn on all the lights in the house whilst her mother undid her now dry plaits and again went through the structure of the interview.
The house was colder than it was outside, and despite the warmish clothes her mother had dressed her in, she needed more layers and shivered as she listened.
When she heard Cinna's and Portia's 'we're ready' from her mother's smart watch, she started shaking more.
"It's alright", her mother - stood behind her - hands rest on Hannah's shoulders. "You only have to stand by yourself for one minute. You don't even have to speak until Peeta and Katniss join you. Just smile and wave until they do", placing a kiss on her ear. "Go on", directing her towards the closed door. "Remember, keep your back straight and look straight at the camera, just like we practiced".
Then her hands were off her and Haymitch's hand was opening the door.
"There she is Ladies and Gentlemen, our very own, Hannah!" Caesar Flickman voice echoes through the mobile camera.
Hannah smiles and waves at the lens, walking closer.
The audience cheer loudly through the speaker.
She hears the front door close behind her and turns to see if her parents are outside with her - they're not. But before mild panic can start to creep in -
"- And there they are, our soon-to-be-married star-crossed lovers, Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark! Let's hope there are no slip ups this time!"
Katniss and Peeta leave their households and walk towards her together. Katniss supporting Peeta as he didn't have the staff he'd been using to support himself through the snow and ice.
Hannah decides to go and help.
"Need we see anymore gentlefolk? Need we see anymore?" Caesar Flickman when she, Katniss and Peeta are back at the front steps of her house. "What a glorious picture the three of you make!"
Peeta guides her to stand in front of he and Katniss. They both rest a hand on her shoulder, and she feels Peeta place a kiss on the top of her head.
The audience cheers even louder through the speaker.
"So, how have you all been?!" Caesar Flickman.
Hannah had forgotten how loud and excitable Capitols were, especially this one.
"Amazing, we've all been amazing, and now that we have Hannah with us too. It's just been so much better", Katniss.
"Yes! We see you've gotten yourself a little helper down at the bakery, Peeta! We are all so looking forward to seeing more of Hannah's talent when you all return. Tell me Katniss, has Hannah been helping you with your dress making?"
"She's been trying, but she doesn't quite have Katniss' talent yet", Peeta laughs, briefly moving his hand from her shoulder to her head. "But Katniss has been using Hannah as her own personal dress-up doll and making lots of beautiful summer clothes for her, which you'll all get to see very soon".
"We all wait in heavy anticipation! Until then, we'll be checking in on you three throughout the Victory Tour! Thank-you Hannah. Thank-you Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark!"
After that the mobile camera collapses and her mother is hurriedly ushering them all towards the awaiting peacekeeper vehicles that would take them to the train station.
~xXx~
District 11
They hadn't even left Victor's Village before the troubles started.
Sat inside the large peacekeeper vehicle, Hannah had heard the growing commotion outside and frowned out the window to try and see what the problem seemed to be.
But it was dark and all that could be discerned was confrontational noises.
'What's going on?' Cinna.
Hannah felt her mother take her off her lap.
'Touch me and I promise you, you will regret it', her mother warned the peacekeeper that tried to stop her from opening the vehicle door.
Hannah quickly accounted who was missing. Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta were still outside.
'What seems to be the confusion. We are on an extremely tight schedule', her mother's voice clipped.
'Effie', her father, 'don't make a bigger scene. Katniss, I ain't going to tell you again, get in the car', his voice growled.
Hannah stood and peered past her mother's form to see Peeta holding on to Katniss, who was holding on to Haymitch, who was being blocked by a peacekeeper.
'Not without you', Katniss determined.
'New orders. Mr Abernathy is to stay behind'. Not just any peacekeeper. Head Peacekeeper, Thread, turned his smile on her mother.
'I'm not going anywhere without Haymitch', Katniss defiant.
'Katniss, let's just go', Peeta pleaded.
'Of course you're not going anywhere without Haymitch. None of us are', her mother.
'Effie. Katniss you promised you weren't going to cause any trouble', her father.
'I'm not going anywhere without you and that's final!'
Hannah went to move out the vehicle because she also wasn't going to go anywhere without Haymitch.
'Hannah sit', her mother blindly pushes her back down on the seat with surprising accuracy. 'You are mistaken, peacekeeper. Mr Abernathy will be joining us. Haymitch, Katniss, Peeta, get in this vehicle this instant or else the train will leave without us'.
Head Peacekeeper Thread with his automatic rifle turned on her mother. 'My orders supersede your passions, Dollface'.
Her mother waited a beat before replying. 'It is most unwise of you to make an enemy out of me', boredly. Sounding to Hannah, not the least bit concerned about the peacekeeper's gun. 'Now, either Mr Abernathy join us as schedule or-'
Desperate voices enveloped each other until a collective - '- Katniss no!'
Hannah - and she saw Cinna do the same out the corner of her eye - went to stand to see, but whatever happened was quick as she quickly had to sit back down as Haymitch, Katniss and Peeta swiftly entered the vehicle almost all at once and sat. Haymitch sitting next to Katniss put his palm under Katniss' mouth and she spat something into it, before he emptied it into the handkerchief in is jacket pocket, wiping his hands with it before pocketing it.
'Let's move', Haymitch ordered aggressively, and Hannah realised this was the first time she had heard him sound or seen him look angry since they had returned from her Games.
'Effie Darling, what happened?' One of the make-up artists asked.
'Oh you know. There is never a dull moment when in the company of Victors, Flavius dearest', her mother laughed joyfully.
'Quite'.
'That peacekeeper was positively scandalous!' The other make-up artist exclaimed.
'Yes, well I should say he won't last very much longer', moving Hannah back on to her lap. 'Now, what cocktail shall we sample first on the train? I am personally dying for a Neapolitan. And I made sure they stocked ...'
Hannah is still replaying what she'd witnessed as lies in bed with her mother trying to sleep. They wouldn't tell her anything about what had actually happened. The only suggestion that anything was amiss was Haymitch's whispered warning to her before they had dinner that the make-up artists were not to be trusted.
'They're most likely Snow loyalists who will report everything they've seen and heard'.
'But how come Head Peacekeeper Thread said you weren't supposed to be with us?' Because that was all Hannah really cared about, and whatever it was that Katniss had done to get her parents and Peeta to react like that.
'He was mistaken. Look Shorty, don't worry about it. You just concentrate on playing your role the best you can. Being Hannah before the Games, who was excited and wanted nothing more than to be the Third Quarter Quell Victor, because that is what you are. Nothing else'
Hanah thinks she is playing her role right. On stage earlier today in District 11, overlooking the district's citizens, she had read out the words her mother had given her to say clearly into the microphone. She took Katniss' advice and looked only at the words printed on the cards instead of looking at the audience in front of her. When she had finished, Peeta had said thank-you into the microphone and walked her, Katniss and himself off the stage.
She'd heard a uniformed whistle, she'd felt Katniss and Peeta's hands grip tighter on her shoulders as they hurried up their walk. It took immense self control for Hannah to continue looking at the buckle on her shoe and not turn on look. Haymitch had given her a pat on her head for her pains: 'Well done Shorty'.
"Hannah, you must sleep darling", her mother whispers and Hannah relaxes herself more into her embrace.
Haymitch is in his own room sleeping. Perhaps, if he was in the bed too, she would sleep more easily. 'Haymitch won't be sleeping with us?'
'It's will just be the two of us for now', her mother stroked a finger down her nose.
She didn't ask why as she thought she knew why. Because they were being watched.
'I miss him too', she heard her mother whisper much later, perhaps when she thought Hannah was asleep.
~xXx~
District 6
By the time they had reached District 6, they were nearly a week into the Victory Tour and Hannah had already noticed the pattern. When the District crowds behaved whilst she was giving her Victory speech, she and the rest of the District 12 team would get to join the feasting festivities in said district's town hall along with the district's Victors and 'VIPs', and although segregated, regular citizens. When they did not behave, they were escorted back to the train which immediately continued onto the next District.
Tonight would be their second feasting in the whole Victory Tour.
District 8 had been the only other district where their crowds had behaved and Hannah had to say she had enjoyed the feasting that followed. Meeting the past Victors in person who had seemed to be so overjoyed to see her with their continuous smiles and pats on her shoulders, seeing the District 8 citizens getting their full on food, meeting their happy Mayor... it had so far been the only time since she'd left Victor's Village for the tour that Hannah had felt relaxed and not so on show. Because she knew she was very much being put on show - the mobile cameras followed her every move. And it wasn't just her. It seemed - to her - that the feasting was also the only time she has seen the rest of the District 12 team relaxed and seemingly enjoying themselves.
Hannah - wearing a white fancy dress with a 'tiara', 'wand' and wings similar to the ones Madam Coin gifted her - makes her own way from hers and her mother's bedroom compartment towards the dining cart and lounge. Her mother still had to finish getting ready. On entering their room with a selection of ties, shirts and jackets still on their hangers, her father had told Hannah that as she was already ready to go wait with everyone else.
But everyone else was not in the dining cart. So guessing that they like her parents were still getting ready, Hannah made her way to her favourite part of the train, the terrace at the very end of the locomotive, and was delighted to find Peeta and Katniss already there.
They were still in the clothes they wore earlier on stage and Hannah knew that her mother would not be happy about that as they were supposed to be getting ready and dressed for the feasting.
She was about to go and throw herself on Peeta, knowing that he'd catch her easily in his arms and hover her about in the air, when she stopped herself.
From the look on his and Katniss' faces, whatever they were talking about was serious and Katniss was anything but happy.
Hannah had noticed that Haymitch, Peeta and her mother were still angry at Katniss for whatever she did back at Victor's Village. They were subtle about it and if Hannah hadn't known how they usually acted around her she wouldn't have noticed, but the three of them weren't as warm or easy with their smiles and soft gestures with her, and Hannah found that Katniss spent a lot more of her time with her.
She caught the word, 'baby', and then, 'can no longer hide behind Hannah', and, 'it is the only thing we can do Katniss to protect the ones we -', before Peeta noticed her hovering by the door and stopped his whispered angry words and smiled at her.
~xXx~
District 3
Hannah thinks her favourite District so far has been District 4. Finnick always speaks highly about it and now Hannah knows why. The citizens don't seem so angry, Hannah would go as far as to call them happy - although no where near as happy as Capitols. Perhaps relaxed is a better word. Hannah felt deeply at ease in the district not to mention the great wide ocean. The beautiful, calm, rolling waves. Blue as the sky. Blue as her mother's eyes.
'District 12 eventually leads to the ocean too'. Her father said whilst the three of them sat watching the sunset; Hannah still enjoying the lingering taste of salt on her lips. 'But it's not like the waters here. It's tumultuous and wild, and cold. Very, very cold'.
'I think I remember my father telling me about the ocean off District 12 once too', Katniss. Hannah didn't know how the rest of the District 12 team had decided to spend their time between the Victory speech and the feasting, but this is where Haymitch had insisted the three of them spend their time and Hannah - and from the permanently fixed smile on her face, it seemed like Katniss too - couldn't fault him on the decision. 'When I was a little girl'.
"And this must be, Hannah", the man her father had been talking to smiles down at her and she returns a genuine smile of her own.
"This is she. Hannah, every electronic equipment I have ever given you has been specifically designed for you by this man. I'd like you to meet the mastermind, Beetee".
"It's a pleasure to meet you".
"It's a pleasure to meet you too", the man says, patting her shoulder. Everyone seemed to like doing that. "Haymitch", drawing his attention from her to her father. "We'll talk later".
"Sure", and with that the man left and Haymitch went to steer them someplace else.
Ever since they had left District 6, Haymitch had seemed a lot more clingier with her, and by contrast, her mother more distant when Haymitch was around. She didn't know why. She suspected that maybe Haymitch had said something to her when she had left them in the bedroom together, but that was her parents business, not hers.
"Hey, come on, I want to show you this", Haymitch says, unclasping his hands from hers and carefully unwinding his arms from where they had been draped over her shoulders, before immediately clutching her hand in his. 'It's this District's local delicacy, but I want you to tell me whether you love it or hate it, OK?" He smiles down at her.
"OK", she smiles back up at him.
Maybe Haymitch's behaviour was because they were in what Haymitch had called, 'the Home Run'. Before they had arrived in District 4, Haymitch had told her that the tour would go smoothely from now on. People had more to loose in these districts and they weren't so careless with their actions or their tongues.
~xXx~
The Capitol
The train arrived in the Capitol the day before the celebration of 'Christmas'. Her mother had been shocked and angry - at Haymitch - that Hannah couldn't recall having celebrated the holiday before. To which Haymitch had replied he had been 'too busy worrying about her surviving the Cornucopia to indulge the girl in such soft frivolities'.
The train station had been as packed as she remembered it the first time she had arrived at the Capitol, and again Haymitch had carried her through the crowds with Katniss instead tucked into his other side.
But first was her Victory Ball at Presidents Snow's mansion.
Although Hannah had already seen how large President Snow's estate was, in her mind Hannah had always imagined the Victory Ball to be similar to the Victory Dinner that was hosted in the Training Centre.
It was not.
It was so so much more ... frightening. Nothing Hannah would have ever imagined possible. She spent the entire night firmly fixed to Haymitch's side over the uncertainness of everything new, loud and in her face that was going around her. It was like she was having a bad dream.
She liked Christmas though. It almost made up for the horror of the Victory Ball. She liked everyones' faces as they opened their gifts. She liked the boardgames they played all day and of course she liked the food.
However when she awoke mind clouded and confused in a strange - comfortable - bed the next day, the day after they were supposed to be on the train back to District 12. She had searched the overly-sweet buttercup-yellow room filled with pretty looking things wondering if she was stuck in some sort of dream. She had pulled open the drawn curtains and inspected her surroundings outside, confused even more so when she saw a multitude of skyscrapers cluttered and reaching as tall as they could into the everblue sky, and realised that she was still in the Capitol.
The next step was the door, which she opened with trepidation, not knowing what to find on the other side.
Certainly not her mother.
Certainly not her mother and Madam Coin who pause whatever conversation they were having and turn to smile at her.
"My darling, you're-"
"- where's Haymitch?" She asks immediately. Not really knowing why because this was only a dream and she would wake up soon.
"Haymitch is back in District 12", her mother smiles sweetly, walking over to her. A very small segment of Hannah's brain does register how beautiful and normal-ish looking her mother looks as she pushes hair off Hannah's forehead and kneels before her kissing her on the lips. Kissing her cheeks, kissing her forehead, before holding her tight.
Hannah's heart is hammering in her chest. "Why aren't I with Haymitch?" She asks, pulling away from her mother and her soft, eluding trap.
Her mother's eyes fill slightly with tears before it disappears. "Because this is where you live now, Hannah. With me. In the Capitol. Just like you were always supposed to".
In the years that followed, Hannah could berate her mother until she was blue that she never at least asked Hannah what she had wanted. That her mother didn't even care that Hannah didn't want to live with her in the Capitol but with her father in District 12. But the truth was that it all made sense. Her mother's distance. Haymitch's clinginess. Katniss and Peeta before she had gone to bed that last night in the Capitol. Haymitch, her father, how he had held her tight, the words that he had whispered to her before she fell asleep.
"No", Hannah backs away first, before lunging at her mother.
But her mother must have anticipated her reaction and quickly grabs Hannah's hands in hers to stop her attack.
"Hannah", she tries to warn, but Hannah doesn't want to listen to anything this woman says. Never ever will she trust this woman again, and Hannah starts thrashing her body against Euphemia Coin's, throwing her legs all over the place. "Hannah my darling, you need to calm down ... Alma".
Hannah only pauses her thrashing when she feels the pin prick to the side of her neck but she does eventually feel herself start to slow down as her mind clouds over again.
"I'm sorry Hannah", her mother's voice is the last thing she hears before nothingness.
Finally, a new chapter ! Until next update! Just 2 more chapters to go! :D
