3
"The dead woman from earlier is on the couch." Rory said, sounding almost blasé about it.
Maybe there was a limit to what you could freak out about in one day, Katniss mused, and maybe she shouldn't have sent the kids in the living-room without checking it first. She watched Haymitch drag his feet away from the kitchen and toward her and Gale. He really didn't look good.
"Do you want an aspirin or something?" she asked.
Haymitch made a strangled sound that could have passed for a laugh, his grey eyes roaming over her once, checking for injuries more likely than not. He hadn't asked about wounds yet, which really wasn't like him. Then he looked at Gale and winced. "You broke something, boy?"
"It's fine." Gale grumbled. "Ribs hurt but… It's fine."
She doubted it was fine but he wasn't coughing blood so she was counting her victories. She dropped her bow and went to business. "I'm out of arrows."
"There's a stock in the basement, I think." Haymitch muttered. "Bring me back the good tossing knives if you go down."
She nodded and hurried downstairs to retrieve the items, ignoring Gale's question about why they needed weapons inside and if they weren't safe there – she presumed he wanted to make sure Rory wasn't in danger, she also presumed Haymitch didn't actually tell him they were planning to go to hell because she heard no yelling the whole time she was down there. And she was counting the minutes, wondering how long it was for Peeta and Effie…
She grabbed the case with the good tossing knives Effie had ordered online not too long ago because she had declared Haymitch's set was blunted and then rummaged around until she found the arrows. She preferred to make her own. Those weren't as well adjusted or, at least, not to her satisfaction and she would have liked to test them before taking them off to battle but there was no time to lose and beggars couldn't be choosers.
She was almost back to the ground floor when she felt a whoosh of magic pass over her.
"Haymitch!" she shouted, alarmed.
It didn't feel light or like a tickle at the back of her mind. It felt like hitting a wall at full speed.
"Just Cinna." he called back. "Temporary wards on the Village."
She relaxed but not much and followed the sound of voices to the living-room where, Rory was right, a dead woman who had probably been very pretty was lying on the couch. Prim had clearly manhandled Haymitch in an armchair and was poking at his shoulder, trying to pry his shirt away from his skin to take a look… He wasn't having it.
Gale was perched on the coffee table, Rory was sitting on the floor, his eyes lost in the distance…
It was almost a relief when Cinna poofed back inside in a cloud of purple smoke, his arms full of vials of herbs and… magic stuff.
He paused a second when he found them all there, glancing at the dead woman with raw pain on his face before looking at Haymitch. "I am going to need something to track them with."
Haymitch had already pushed Prim away – gently but firmly – and was back to his feet. "Something precious to them, yeah?"
"Yes." Cinna confirmed, stepping closer to the Watcher with a frown. "I am really not good at healing spells. Stand very still." He pressed his hand flat against the wound on Haymitch's shoulder and Katniss clenched her jaw, trying to remind herself they were trusting Cinna. Even if he had almost bled out Effie earlier. There was no light show like when the witch did something similar, no halo of gold, just Haymitch groaning and wincing. "That's the best I can do."
The warlock took his hand off Haymitch and the Watcher rolled his injured shoulder back and forth a few times. It was still painful, that was obvious, but it didn't seem to be bleeding anymore.
"Can someone tell me what we're doing?" Gale asked, sounding tired but alert. "And are we safe here?"
"There are a lot of hours of daylight left." Haymitch muttered, strapping the tossing knives to various parts of his body and handing her what was left so she could do the same. "And under Cinna's protection, you should be perfectly safe until we're back. Might be a good idea to keep a hand on your bow though."
It went to show that Gale was more affected by what happened that his first reaction was to shake his head and answer "I don't think I can shoot with my side" before he realized what else Haymitch had said. "Wait… What do you mean until you're back?"
Katniss glanced at Prim but her sister's features were strained into a determined expression. She had got it from the start, probably.
"Something precious to them, what does that mean exactly?" she asked Cinna, already mentally reviewing objects she knew Peeta cared about.
"Something they have a strong attachment to." the warlock clarified. "The more they love it, the better."
"Not hard to pick, then, is it?" Gale snorted, gesturing at her. Then he seemed to regret it and shook his head. "You're not serious. You're not going to jump through a portal to hell for…"
"For the boy who saved your brother less than an hour ago?" she snapped.
"You know, it could work…" Haymitch told Cinna, completely ignoring the argument. "The boy… He does love her. I think he loves her more than anything else."
Katniss flushed red. "That's not true."
"I'm grateful to Mellark." Gale retorted, standing up. "Fuck, Katniss, I am. But that's plain stupid. We're talking about going to hell. You think he would want you to do that? To risk your life like that?"
She stared at Gale and then shrugged. "I don't think he would want it, no. But I think he knows I would do it and he's waiting for me. Haymitch?"
"Ready, sweetheart." he said impatiently.
"Does Effie love you enough that I could establish a connection to her through you?" Cinna asked him, matter-of-factly. "It would make it easier if I had two points of anchor."
Haymitch flushed too. "I don't know. Don't think so. It's not… We're not…"
"Try." Katniss ordered.
Cinna nodded once. "Move aside." Prim, Rory and Gale all moved away at the same time, Gale more reluctantly than the others. He wanted to offer to come with, that was obvious but Rory was clinging to his arm. "Two minutes on this side. Three top." Cinna reminded Haymitch.
"Ain't planning on retiring there, Cinna." Haymitch snarled, glancing at Gale. "Hawthorne, if this goes to shit and we don't come back, you grab Prim and your family and you get out of town. Madge too, if Snow sees her she's gonna be a target."
"You're coming back." Prim answered before Gale could. "You're coming back and you're bringing them back."
Haymitch looked at her and then at Cinna who was quickly and efficiently drawing a circle with herbs and what not. "If we don't make it, the Council will probably know as soon as a Potential activates. But if the next one's a rogue, it's gonna take time… If we don't come back, call them. They need to know what happened." The warlock acknowledged that with a nod and stood up in the middle of his circle, outstretching both hands toward Katniss…
Again, she felt his magic slam into her, wrap around her, tearing her apart…
She vaguely heard the incantations, distantly heard Haymitch tell her to get ready…
She kept her thoughts on Peeta, hoping this would work, hoping…
There was a pop in the air, her ears went deaf, and there, in the middle of their living-room, there was an oval… tear in reality, a ball of pure magic energy hovering in the air. She had never seen a portal before. She never wanted to see one again.
She could guess at vague shapes on the other side.
It looked… not good.
Haymitch didn't hesitate though.
He ran straight at it, a knife in each hand.
She ran right after him, hopping into the portal with her eyes closed – which was probably a mistake.
She hadn't expected the velocity with which she was expelled from it.
She instinctively tucked herself into a ball, rolled over on landing… Haymitch hadn't managed that as gracefully and he picked himself off the ground with a wince. Katniss made sure he was alright, then she surveyed their surroundings in search of possible enemies and then she finally let herself take in the place they had arrived in.
"Are we sure it's the right dimension?"
It was deserted.
It was all grayish.
Grayish stony plains with equally grayish and stony hills in the distance. The sky was a cloudy orange. There were pools of green something that bubbled and smoked in various spots. The air reeked of rotten eggs. Sulphur, she realized after a moment.
"That's where the spell leads." he mumbled, looking around, on his guard.
She glanced back at the portal that still hovered in the air. She could guess at Cinna's vague shape. The warlock had his hands outstretched but he looked… frozen.
She pointed at him. "Guess that means time does go faster here?"
Haymitch barely spared the portal a glance. "That was really likely. Question's how fast? And where they are…" He took a few steps in the direction of the closest hill, weapons still at the ready. "The spell dropped us here so we should be close enough… Let's get to higher ground, try to get a sense of what we're dealing with here…"
He was looking at the ground when he wasn't scanning the environment and Katniss wondered if he was looking for bones.
"We'll find them." she promised.
"Sure." His tone was flat, hopeless.
"Haymitch." she snapped. "We will find them."
"You're aware that what we should be doing right now is find a way to dispatch Snow while he's still weak, yeah?" he scoffed. "That what we're actually doing instead is completely selfish and stupid cause chances are they're already dead and we're wasting time and energy that could help save actual people out there?"
The guilt was swift but she didn't have too much trouble pushing it aside.
Like she hadn't had too much trouble choosing Prim over the rest of the world.
Was she doing her duty right then? Clearly not. Just like she hadn't been when she had rushed after her sister instead of attacking the witch.
But, then again, even now, even knowing the consequences, the choice wasn't that difficult.
If the Powers That Be had wanted a selfless Slayer who always did her duty over making sure her family was okay, they had picked the wrong girl.
"Yes. I'm aware." She pursed her lips and kept her gaze straight ahead.
"Good." Haymitch snorted. "Just checking."
They walked past one of those bubbling pools and the smell was so bad they started coughing. They covered their noses with their arms and ran for the safety of the closest hill…
"What the fuck is this place?" she grumbled.
"Hell." Haymitch deadpanned. "Which brings the question… Where are the demons?"
She could have killed him.
Every time one of them asked that sort of question, it jinxed them.
And this time wasn't an exception.
Because suddenly, as if they were popping out of nowhere with war cries, they were surrounded by a small army of them.
Katniss fell into motion without even realizing it.
She shot three arrows in quick succession.
One of them missed its mark because it wasn't her arrow and the weight was off. The other two hit two demons in the chest.
Haymitch had beheaded one and was on his way to chop off another one's arm with his sword when they came too close for long ranged weapons. Haymitch's sword did a good job at keeping them at bay but Katniss had to drop her bow for the knives, which was not her favorite combat style.
It all went so fast all she could do was fall back until her back was to Haymitch's.
There were at least fifteen demons – thirteen now because she stabbed one in the eye and gutted another one. Humanoid shaped. Grey scaly skin that blended with the decors and explained why they had crept up on them, they had probably just been laying in wait on the ground. They were wearing clothes. White rags so dirty they looked just as grey as everything else. They were armed with batons and moved with unnatural synch.
"Katniss." Haymitch warned, out of breath.
She couldn't see him but she could feel it behind her: his movements were slowing down, they were less fluid. The initial adrenalin boost was gone, he was feeling his exhaustion and his injuries, she figured.
She kicked the two demons that were on her left side to make a hole in the fray. "Get behind me!"
He did and, for a second, they were facing the group of demons, with Haymitch slightly behind her tossing his knives and missing one time out of three. Not the worst odds but bad enough nonetheless.
It was unmanageable.
Down to eleven demons, they were forced to back away. She took a hit from a baton in the leg that brought her down to her knee… Haymitch switched back to his sword and dispatched another one.
Down to ten.
They wouldn't make it.
It was glaringly obvious.
They were being steered toward one of the green puddles…
One of the demons got Haymitch on the side of the head with its baton and she watched, horrified, as her Watcher went down like a sack of potatoes, knocked out.
She managed to kill another one but took a hit to her kidneys.
One of them jumped on her back, forced her to the ground…
Then, they were all on her. She struggled, trying to wriggle free before they could snap her neck or bite her or whatever that particular brand of demons did…
It didn't occur to her until they forced her arms behind her back and she felt the coarse rope around her wrists that they weren't going to kill them, that they were going to capture them…
She was pondering what that might mean when one of the demons closest to her suddenly hit the dust, eyes open and unseeing, a crudely fashioned spear protuberating from his chest. She couldn't see what was happening but demons were fighting…
She had a moment of hope that it was Effie, Effie and Peeta riding to the rescue as improbable as it sounded – and how they would both make fun of them for being the ones doing the rescuing after being stuck in hell for so long…
But when the fighting stopped and despite her best attempts at wriggling free of the ropes, it wasn't Effie or Peeta who stepped into her line of sight. It was another demon, more womanly-shaped than the others, a female clearly. Unlike the others, her skin was a rich dark brown. She was wearing a crude armor of furs and leather rather than the white-grey rags… They were from the same species though, they had the same scaly skin, the same small bumps on the forehead…
Their eyes met.
Katniss felt like she was looking into a mirror somehow.
It took her a moment to realize it was because the she-demon had the same kind of inner strength, the same kind of charismatic power a Slayer did.
In many ways, Katniss confusedly felt they were alike.
Then the demon brought down her boot on her head and everything faded to black.
It's not Kansas anymore... :p They made it to hell... Barely... With a convo about what Peeta and Effie love most that wasn't embarassing at all... Care to bet on who's the female demon? I hope you enjoyed this! Let me know your thoughts!