Hey. I have a prompt for HADS that just popped into my head. Can you do one where it's during the rebellion but chaff is alive I don't know how. Like they rescue him with Katniss and fi nick and obviously haymitch is there too. But Effie is still in the capital. So can it be like chaff watching him throughout that time and seeing how much Haymitch actually loves her. Pretty please xxxxx
And
Prompt: Hi!I have a prompt idea for you: The chaff survives in the arena(can be continued 627 of the story) and he witnesses how Haymitch and Effie officially became a couple(maybe they are married) And he says he is very happy for them and they deserved their happiness. PS. Very sorry for my English,because do not speak the language and I write with translator:)
Survive, Live, Thrive
1.
The silence in the hovercraft's small medic bay is almost shocking after the screams and the explosions in the arena. It takes Chaff several long minutes to finally relax and stop staring at Beetee's rapidly rising chest.
He's not hurt.
Not like Beetee. Not like the girl who's lying a few feet away.
He's not hurt.
He's alive.
He's alive.
So many aren't.
He looks down at his hand, almost surprised to see the clotted blood. He doesn't know why he's surprised. He remembers trying to distract the Careers, to buy the others time to put the plan into action – assuming the plan was still the same one they had roughly agreed on before the Quell started. He remembers Brutus jumping on him with a battle cry. He remembers thinking "I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die. I'm gonna die." even as he raised his cutlass.
There's a long deep gash on his stump from when he used it as a shield. If he still had a hand, Brutus would have cut it clean off. Again. There's probably poetic irony in that. The nerves in that part of his arm have long gone dead though and he didn't even feel the pain. The mistake has cost Brutus his life though. Blade between ribs. Perfectly angled. Blood everywhere.
He doesn't understand how he can be alive.
The plan has always been for him to join the others – and he tried – but he was trapped on the other side of the arena from the start.
Brutus dead. Enobaria roaring with rage in the distance, calling for her former mentor, promising revenge…
The cannon still ringing in his ears…
He remembers running to the tree, remembers spying Everdeen's long braid in front of him… Beetee's shouted warning…
Too soon…
But the girl panicked when she didn't find the boy there – and so had Chaff because that wasn't the plan. Peeta had ran off in the woods to find her, Finnick on his heels…
He's not sure where Finnick is now. He stormed out of the small room almost as soon as they had checked him out.
Chaff hadn't followed him.
He met the startled grey eyes of the girl back then… Understood she made her own conclusion about that last canon…
He tried to tell her to wait because it was too soon…
But then the arrow flew.
And then…
The doors slid open and Chaff looks up at the tired face of his best friend. Haymitch stops next to Everdeen first, makes sure the blankets are tucked properly, that she's not cold… Then his fingers brushed the black hair that came loose from her braid away from her face. There's a tenderness Chaff isn't used to seeing there. There's self-loathing on Haymitch's face too.
"They've got the boy, Jo and Enobaria." his friend says, grim. "It's confirmed."
He closes his eyes. "They're not dead."
The way he says it is neutral. He's not sure it's such a good thing. He has a good idea what the Capitol has in store for them.
A hand falls on his shoulder and he startles, instinctively reaching for the cutlass that used to be at his belt and that they confiscated as soon as he put a foot on the hovercraft. Haymitch's grip is firm and it goes a long way into grounding him though.
"We're in the clear. They gave up pursuit." Haymitch adds. "You're okay?" He laughs because that's probably the only good answer to that question. Haymitch's lips stretch into a smirk and he snorts. "Yeah. Guessed so." Twelve's victor squeezes his shoulder hard before letting go. "I'm glad you made it."
Chaff nods because he's not really in any state to make a joke. "What's happening out there?"
"Chaos." Haymitch shrugs. "If you're up for it, we can use your input in the tactics room. Finnick's already pacing a hole in the floor."
"No news from Four?" he guesses. "Cresta was supposed to be evacuated, right?"
"We don't have com with Four yet." his friend explains before adding, almost apologetically. "Or with Eleven."
He nods again, not quite surprised. He's less worried for his own family than for Cresta though. He's been working with the rebellion for years. He knows the rebel cell in Eleven, knows their leader, knows their agents… He knows they will have taken his sister and her sons to safety at the first sign of troubles. He trusts them. He trusts them a lot more than he trusts Thirteen's people in Four to get Cresta out.
He follows Haymitch to the main room, shaking Heavensbee's hand out of reflex when the former Gamemaker outstretches his and tells him it's good to see him… There's a lot of talks about Districts rioting and Chaff can only understand half of it because his ears are still ringing so he eventually settles on forcing Finnick to sit down before he collapses and on listening quietly.
News from Four comes a little after that.
The boy goes white as a sheet when it's confirmed Annie Cresta was taken before the rebels could get to her. Haymitch spares him a sympathetic look but there's no time for Twelve's victor to take care of Finnick, not when Heavensbee keeps asking for his opinion, so that falls on Chaff. He tries to keep his tone light, to tell the boy they won't hurt his girl because she doesn't know anything and it will only take two minutes to figure that much out. Annie's only a trump card they have no reason to play until they actually get their hands on Finnick. She's insurance, nothing more.
Finnick looks at him like he's stupid.
Chaff feels stupid saying that shit.
Everdeen shows up not long after that, screaming like a banshee and attacking Haymitch like an enraged animal once told they don't have Peeta. He doesn't know what's up with that. The love story was for show, that much was pretty much agreed on between all mentors but maybe reality caught up with fiction at some point. It's a little heartbreaking to watch the girl fall apart like that. Or it would be if he didn't feel so… Too much happened in a short time, he doesn't feel much of anything, truth be told.
He watches Haymitch cradle her sedated body to his chest and carry her back to her bunk. When Haymitch comes back, he looks like he aged ten years.
The news about Twelve come as they are nearing Thirteen and it's an off comment about how they have to avoid that air space at all cost because Capitol hovercrafts are still patrolling. Chaff leaves Finnick to move to Haymitch at that point because the images on the screens… Twelve isn't in ruins. It's destroyed. Erased.
"Survivors?" Haymitch croaks out, his jaw clenched.
Heavensbee checks and then shakes his head. "We don't know yet."
Haymitch is quiet after that, very quiet.
Chaff sticks close anyway, hoping Eleven isn't in the same state of destruction, hoping Fay and the kids made it to safety.
Thirteen is… Not what he expected and everything he dreaded.
Grey, deep underground and full of soldiers.
President Coin meets them in front of the hovercraft and Chaff's been hearing about her for years but it only takes a few seconds for him to decide he's probably not going to like her much. Then again, she doesn't look like the sort of women who worries about being liked. He exchanges a brief look with Haymitch and that look says it all.
"I need to know what's going on with Twelve." Haymitch demands once the introductions are out of the way.
"Let's move to Command." Coin suggests, her milky grey eyes sweeping over the rest of them. "All of you need medical attention."
That's a dismissal if he ever heard one and it's on the tip of Chaff's tongue to protest.
"Okay, yeah." Haymitch nods before he can say anything. "The second hovercraft arrived, right? I need my escort to stay with Katniss. If the girl wakes up and there's no familiar face…"
"Effie Trinket was not on board of the second hovercraft." Coin cuts him off. "Her status is unclear."
You could have heard a pin drop.
Haymitch took the news about Twelve with stoicism but, right now, Chaff sees the panic kicking in. The last drop that will make the bucket spill.
"What?" Twelve's victor asks faintly. "She was supposed to…"
"She wasn't there." the President repeats, dismissive and uncaring. "It is unclear if she defected to the other side or if she was taken and, frankly, it is not my priority."
"But…" Haymitch argues only to be interrupted by Heavensbee's comforting hand on his shoulder.
"We'll find out what happened." the former Gamemaker promises. "My agents were supposed to get her. Perhaps there was a complication and they had to go underground. In any case, I told you… She is a Capitol citizen and she never gave any cause to doubt her loyalty. She will be safe."
Chaff scoffs at that because if there is one thing Trinket won't be alone in the city, it's safe. Everyone knows she and Haymitch are sleeping together. They can deny it all they want, it's obvious to everyone with eyes. And what's even more obvious, in his opinion, is that they're in so deep they've got each other under their skin.
He doesn't get the whole story about Trinket until later, once he's lying in a hospital bed and Haymitch staggers in his room and drops on the chair next to the bed only to grab his head between his hands and start rocking on himself.
"What did I do?" Twelve's victor whispers with horror.
"The right thing." Chaff swears because it's no time to wonder if they should have gone to Snow instead. There are always deals to be made, after all. Deals that may have save the boy, his District and his escort.
"They're gonna torture them." Haymitch says quietly, still with that touch of horror in his voice. "Peeta. Jo. They're gonna torture them for sure." Chaff remains silent because there is nothing to say. Yes, they will be tortured. Annie, he doesn't think so. Because she doesn't know anything useful and that much will be obvious. She will probably not have a good time but she will be as safe as can be given the circumstances. He spares a thought for Enobaria and hopes, despite the fact they're not exactly friends, that the girl will be smart enough to keep on playing the Career card and that it will be enough to save her. And then there's… "They have Effie. Plutarch's team was too late." Haymitch continues. "They got her."
"You knew the risks, buddy." Chaff reminds him, not unkindly.
"But she didn't." he counters. "And she doesn't know a fucking thing… They're gonna rip her to shreds and she doesn't know a fucking thing… I just told her to follow Plutarch's agents, I told her to be ready… I… Fuck Heavensbee. Shouldn't have trusted him. Should have kept her with me."
"She doesn't know anything… Yeah, she might have a hard couple of hours but they might leave her alone after." he points out.
Haymitch chuckles and it's dark and bitter. "Sure. 'Cause they won't use her to make the boy talk, yeah? They won't use her to torture me, yeah? She's a traitor. You get that? She's a fucking traitor now. She went and got those stupid tokens, she's got that stupid Mockingjay braid under her wig…" His voice breaks. "They're gonna rip her to shreds. All because of me. It's happening again… It's…"
"You need to get a grip, Haymitch." he interrupts. "Trinket's not the priority. She never was. She's an escort, she's gonna be fine." His best friend looks at him then and Chaff barely recognizes him. The defeated expression on his face, the haunted look in his eyes… They can't afford that. "She's gonna be fine. They're probably gonna release her in a few hours." he insists and the lie tastes like lead on his tongue.
2.
Sometimes, Chaff wonders why he always ends up sitting on a chair next to Haymitch's hospital bed, waiting for him to wake up.
That's how they met in the first place.
The kid had no mentor and while no Gamemaker has ever blinked an eye at sending kids in an arena without a mentor to supervise and only a clueless escort to make deals on their behalf, they find it dangerous to leave a brand new victor to his own devices. Or maybe it was Haymitch they found dangerous.
Chaff liked the boy's style from the first moment it became obvious he was looking for the limits of the arena.
Mags would have stepped up if he hadn't claimed it would make more sense for him to do it. After all, he's only five years older and he didn't have a victor to take under his wing yet. So he sat in the Games Clinic, waiting for the Quell's victor to wake up and when the boy finally opened his eyes he lied about having pulled the short straw.
Chaff couldn't say he had planned on Haymitch becoming his best friend, the little brother he never wanted and the best kid he could have hoped for all rolled into one. They're friends first and foremost, equals, their relationship not tainted by the instinctive respect a victor always develops for their mentor… But there are times when Chaff feels like his mentor, not his superior but…
He loves Haymitch, it comes down to that in the end.
Maybe he's only five years older but Haymitch's his kid. He's the one who showed him the ropes, he's the one who hugged him when the sixteen years old finally broke down one night on his Victory Tour, he's the one who offered him his first whiskey – on retrospect maybe not the best decision he ever made – he's the one who taught him to always use a condom, he's the one who was there every step of the way when Haymitch started his slow but steady descent into alcoholism, he's the one who comforted him every time he was sold – and it might not have happened often and Haymitch might like to pretend it hadn't at all but it had – he's the one who watched him get in too deep with his escort and warned him, time and time again, that it wouldn't end well…
Haymitch's his kid, his brother in everything but blood, and he loves him.
And it kills him every time he ends up waiting on a chair for him to wake up. How many times has he ended up there during the Games? How many times has Haymitch drunk to the point they had been forced to pump his stomach? How many time has Haymitch ended up injuring himself by accident? At least he hopes it was accidental. With victors it's always hard to tell.
And now this.
He's not entirely sure how long he's been sitting on that chair. Thirteen isn't exactly understanding with addicts. He knows just how much Haymitch has been dreading getting sober and he thinks he was right to be wary. Chaff's been expecting medical care not… this. If he hadn't made a fuss, they would have just tossed him in a padded cell and waited for him to either crawl out or die.
The hospital room has been stripped to the bare minimum as it is: a bed, no sheets in case Twelve's victors tries to kill himself with them, and a chair Chaff has to take out of the room every time he leaves. It kills him to see Haymitch strapped to that bed.
It kills him and they're past the worst of it.
Haymitch fought so hard against his bounds for days that, padded or not, they left nasty bruises and shallow cuts around his wrists and ankles. He's been calmer for a day or two, out of it still but less likely to scream himself raw, scared by imaginary fire or hallucinations that torture him.
What Chaff hates the most, though, is the disrespectful way the medical staff treats him. With loathing. As if he is weak to have gotten addicted in the first place. Nobody gets addicted in this District. They don't have enough of a personality for that. They're… drones.
He believes in the rebel cause.
But he's not sure he believes in Thirteen's.
"Effie…" Haymitch mumbles.
And, like every time this has happened in the last week, Chaff reaches out and pats his leg. "She's not here, buddy."
He's not sure he understood before.
Sure, he knew Haymitch was getting in too deep, that feelings were developing and that it was not only stupid but dangerous – and he was proven right because Trinket's now in the Capitol, probably being tortured – but he didn't know it was… He's been listening to Haymitch screaming her name for days, begging for her when he wasn't begging for liquor, sobbing her name in the worst of the delirium…
He's been aware Haymitch has feelings for a while…
But this… This is more than just feelings. This is…
Haymitch's in love with her.
Not infatuated, not just attached, it's… Love.
"News?" Haymitch asks feverishly, his grey eyes focused for once.
It's the most lucid Twelve's victor's been for days.
"Not many." Chaff denies. "Katniss's still pretty much catatonic. They're talking about bringing her to Twelve, let her see for herself…" He shrugs. "Not sure what good it's gonna do but it's been made clear I'm not her mentor and I've got no say. No news from the Capitol."
Haymitch blinks slowly, tries to lift his hand, probably to rub his face, and finds it impossible because of the padded cuffs. He doesn't ask Chaff to undo them and Chaff doesn't offer.
He argued against them in the beginning but Haymitch got violent and dangerous – for others and for himself.
"Your family?" Twelve's victor asks next.
"They're safe." He smiles. He can't help it because there's little joy to find around here but this at least is his own personal ray of sunshine. "They're still in Eleven, in hiding. But they're safe. The rebels almost secured the District. It's a matter of days at most."
"Good." Haymitch mutters and then closes his eyes only to open them again. "Can you call Effie? I need her… I need…"
His friend's grey eyes are clouded and Chaff doesn't want to add to the pain and misery he must be in. So he lies. "She's been with you all night. She's sleeping now. She needs to rest too, yeah?"
"I miss her." Haymitch whispers and Chaff winces when he realizes the younger victor is tearing up. Haymitch is never very open with emotions and he's been watching him cry and sob for the last week or so. Withdrawals destroy a man.
"I know, buddy." he sighs. "I know. She'll be back soon."
Hopefully.
"I'm tired." Twelve's victor confesses, his eyelids drooping.
"Get some more sleep." he advises.
"Not safe." Haymitch argues.
"I'm staying right here." he swears. "You're as safe as can be."
3.
It takes him hours to track Haymitch down after the victors' rescue.
He watched the stylists and the prep team as well as a few Capitol agents being executed in Command but Haymitch has ignored his insistent staring, his own eyes riveted to the screen. His friend held his breath. The whole time Haymitch has hold his breath, waiting for whom they would bring next.
Then, Heavensbee dragged him to talk to the boy's doctors and Chaff lost him.
He finds him eventually, in the compartment they share, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall, in a mess of broken furniture and ripped up clothes.
"Love what you've done with the place." Chaff comments, picking up the one chair that doesn't look too broken. He straddles it carefully, making sure it will hold his weight. "You destroyed my stuff too or just your own?"
Haymitch doesn't answer but Chaff wasn't expecting him to. The fight left his friend, that's plain to see. The younger victor toys with the golden bangle that hasn't moved from his wrist since Finnick gave it back, a hollow look in his eyes.
"She's not dead." Chaff says because someone needs to say the words aloud.
It's been in Haymitch's head since the rescue team came back without his escort. Boggs promised Haymitch if they found her and if it was doable, they would grab her but they didn't find her. And now Portia Rose and the boy's prep team have been executed on live TV as retribution for the rescue and if there ever was a good timing to publicly deal Haymitch a fatal blow it has been it. Executing Trinket right then would have made the most sense.
And since they haven't, it might mean she's already…
"Haymitch." he insists. "You don't know she's dead. Maybe that's the point. Keep you guessing. Distract you."
"It's my fault." Haymitch says. So quietly he almost doesn't catch it.
"No." Chaff sighs. "Snow's a sick bastard. You know that, buddy. He's toying with you, that's all. He kept Cresta in case he got his hands back on Finnick. It's probably the same thing."
Haymitch shakes his head and drops it against the wall with a painful thud. "Staying alone is the only way to stay safe. That's what you taught me."
"Yeah…" He looks down. "Not much of a life though."
And he wishes Haymitch hasn't taken that advice so close to heart. He has never made the mistake of settling down. There have been women – countless women – and one or two who could have made his life that much sweeter, one or two he wouldn't have minded marrying and having babies with… But never has he made the mistake of dragging someone else in this life. He already has his sister and his nephews to look out for and that's enough, the knowledge that they would be the ones to pay for his deeds…
But he has Fay and the boy. Who does Haymitch have? It's no wonder he took so fiercely to those kids. Mentors always are protective of their tributes but it hasn't taken Chaff very long to figure out Haymitch adopted those two like they were his own well before they even actually won their Games. The girl… The girl is so much like a young Haymitch used to sometimes, the things she would say or do, that Chaff has to do double-takes and stop himself from asking the mother how long she's really known him. And the boy… He hasn't had a lot of chances to get to know the boy before the Quell started but from what he's been told… He's impossible not to like, too genuinely kind to be dismissed or ignored.
Haymitch took to those kids like a fish to water and after so many years alone wasting away…
He's not stupid enough not to have realized Trinket's been the only guilty pleasure he's been allowing himself on that front. Haymitch had plenty of women before but none with whom he connected like he has with her. Short of another victor to share the burden with, he let Trinket fill that role, be his partner, his support…
It hasn't stopped Chaff from thinking it wasn't a great idea.
It's perfectly alright to fuck an escort as long as it's all about fucking the Capitol… Getting attached, now…
"I love her." Haymitch whispers, swallowing hard. "I didn't know… I love her." He's not quite sure what to say to that. He's guessed already but to actually hear it from his mouth… It's not something Haymitch would admit to anyone else either. Not to Finnick. Certainly not to his Mockingjay. Haymitch closes his eyes, licks his lips. "It's gonna kill me. If she's dead… If… It's gonna kill me. It's all my fault, Chaff. I love people and they die. But her? I can't… If she…"
"She ain't gonna die." he cuts him off firmly and he hopes, he fucking hopes this isn't going to come back to bite him in the ass because he doesn't do promises he doesn't keep and this feels too much like sending a tribute in the arena and promising him he will come back a victor. "She's Effie Trinket. She's too fucking stubborn to die."
And she loves life too much to give up. She's full of it. That's part of what he hates so much about her. How alive and vibrant she always is when the rest of them are half-dead inside. He resents it. He laughs and jokes and is always in a good mood but only because it's the only way he's found to keep on. She laughs and jokes and is always in a good mood because she's full of bloody sunshine and he doesn't find that as attractive as Haymitch does.
"She's alive." he persists and the more he says it, the more he believes it.
She has to be.
He's too scared Haymitch won't survive the alternative.
4.
He waits by the truck outside the Capitol prison, taking nervous drags of a cigarette he nicked from a Peacekeeper prisoner inside and he keeps his eyes on the clear blue sky overhead. The prison's walls are all smooth stones, almost inconspicuous amongst the other buildings in the street. Hidden in plain sight.
Well…
It must have been inconspicuous before the rebels invaded the Capitol.
Now it's all ruins. The prison's wall's blown up, matching several buildings down the streets, there are huge craters in the road and it's taken them almost an hour to get there with the truck from the Presidential Mansion even though Chaff's pretty sure it wouldn't have taken them more than twenty minutes before the war.
The destruction makes him sick to his stomach.
It's not that he particularly likes the city although he has some good memories in it and he doesn't have any love lost for the Capitols but he can't help but feel sorry for the innocent people who got caught in the middle. He's always made a difference between the assholes in the known – escorts, Gamemakers, sponsors: the elite – and the guy behind the bar at his favorite club or the waitress in that little café that must have been blown to smithereens by now. They're innocent. Stupid, yeah. Brainwashed, clearly. But innocent.
And now the rebels are murdering them in the streets for the smallest offense.
Not Thirteen's soldiers. Those are disciplined, a well-oiled military machine too used to obeying orders… But the rebels from the Districts, those whose hatred for the Capitol as an entity has been simmering for years… They are dangerous. They're bloodthirsty and high on their victory and Coin can keep calling to a ceasefire all she wants, it's not enough to cull their thirst for revenge.
Then again, Coin can pretend she's above this, Chaff knows the truth of what happened at the City Circle and that too makes him sick.
More dead kids.
And the whole war seems worthless now.
He flicks the ash off and takes another nervous drag, wishing Haymitch had let him come with him. He doesn't trust Heavensbee to handle Haymitch if he loses it – and if that Peacekeeper doesn't stop taunting him with everything he's done to Trinket or if Trinket's dead, he is going to lose it in a spectacular way. He should have insisted, maybe. But Haymitch told him he wanted to do this by himself and he respected his wishes. Stupidly. Because that's what best friends do.
He hopes Trinket's not dead. Fuck, he really hopes Trinket's not dead.
Katniss is alive for now but the doctors warned it's still touch and go, the burns are extensive and it's not guaranteed she will survive them. The girl's sister is dead and Haymitch didn't say but Chaff can tell he liked the kid a lot. Finnick… He's not even going there. He's not even going to think about that because he will march into the prison and beat a random Peacekeeper to a pulp if he does. The Circle's bombings… Watching those kids die…
Chaff feels on the edge himself but for Haymitch it's personal and painful and it won't take much more to push him over the cliff.
And when he spots his friend marching out of the building with a small dirty thing in a tattered prison uniform, tightly wrapped in his jacket, cradled close to his chest… Eleven's victor's next breath remains stuck in his throat. He tosses the cigarette and automatically crushes it under his boot, not daring going to meet him.
She's dead, he thinks. She must be. The woman in Haymitch's arms… Her hair is brown with muck, her skin is covered with dirt and he can guess at wounds where the jacket doesn't keep her covered… But, above all, she's still and limp. Her face is pressed against his neck as if it fell there when he picked her up…
Heavensbee is trailing after him, his face closed. It takes Chaff a second to realize the former Gamemaker's shaking.
There's blood on Haymitch's hands and on his forearms. Somehow, he doesn't think it's all Trinket's.
He doesn't ask though. Not his place. If it were his sister… Hell, if it were his woman… That Peacekeeper was looking for it anyway. You don't go and taunt a victor like that.
"We're going back to the Mansion." Haymitch snaps at the soldier who's been driving the truck and who's been lurking not too far. "And make it faster than the trip in."
Chaff opens the door to the back seat without questioning his friend's orders, finally breathing out in relief when he spots the telling rise and fall of her chest. It's small and it doesn't look promising but it's there and as long as she's breathing, it's not too bad.
"I will stay to check with the other prisoners." Heavensbee announces suddenly. "Some of my agents are in there."
"Whatever." Haymitch spits out without a look and climbs in. The moment he adjusts his grip on her, Trinket curls up on his lap, leaving an empty seat.
Chaff climbs in too and shuts the door just in time for the soldier to start driving.
"How bad is it?" he asks, trying to get a good look at her.
"Bad." Haymitch grits through clenched teeth. "Something's wrong with her eyes. I think she was in the dark too long. And I hurt her when I picked her up. Her shoulder feels weird. Like it was put back in its socket the wrong way. There are infected wounds, she's got a fever and…"
She reeks of death.
Chaff doesn't say it but she does. It's a dozen different smells all into one: body waste, clotted blood, pus, unwashed flesh…
Haymitch's breath is quick and he holds her tighter, prompting her to whine.
She's conscious.
Chaff sees her blink quickly and then press her face against Haymitch's neck as if she can't bear the light.
"Could be worse." he points out. She looks like a skeleton and it's not a hard leap to make to guess it's been a while since she last had a decent meal. All of that can be made right though. She's alive. She doesn't look on the brink of death – not too much at least…
"She ain't talking." Haymitch says quietly, burying a hand in the bird nest that's her hair and pressing a long kiss on her forehead. "She ain't… She ain't here."
It really must be love, Chaff thinks, because he wouldn't have put his mouth anywhere near her at the moment.
"Give her a minute, yeah?" he advises. "Take it easy."
"You don't get it." Haymitch growls. "That cell… It was a hole. I had to crawl to get her. They buried her alive. They fucking…"
"Buddy." he cuts him off firmly because she's curling up into a small ball and she's shaking. "Easy. You're frightening her."
Haymitch lets out a long deep breath and rests his cheek against the top of her head, gently coiling a hand around her nape. "Sorry, Princess… Didn't mean to get angry… It's alright. I've got you now. I've got you. You're safe. You're with me. I've got you."
She's a pitiful little thing and he still doesn't like her much but he still reaches out and takes her hand.
"It's okay, love." he promises in a soft voice. "We'll keep you safe."
5.
The day he finds Haymitch passed out drunk for the first time in months is the day he finally visits Effie Trinket's hospital room.
He's been in and out during the first days, when she was still completely out of it, unable to utter a coherent word and jumping off the bed to curl up in the corner every time she woke up. He stopped going when Haymitch finally managed to coax her into saying his name for the first time and gradually brought her back to sanity. They're not friends and he doesn't want to impose when she's obviously struggling to recover.
He can't imagine the pain she's in – well, he can actually because he lost a hand once and surprisingly the cutting isn't the most painful part of losing a limb – the doctors had to take her apart to make her whole again: dislocate the shoulder to pop it back the right way – apparently the first time was Jo's hasty handiwork – several surgeries to thoroughly clean the infected wounds before it could morph into gangrene – and it came close – dimmed lights to help her eyes readjust to normal lighting… It's been difficult and she's frustrated with a body that won't respond to her the way it used to.
He knows it's not totally her fault but he can't help but resent the way she treats Haymitch.
One second she clings to him, the next she pushes him away.
She's angry, confused, scared and traumatized.
He gets that.
He does but… When she screams at Haymitch that everything's his fault and that she hates him, it breaks his friend to pieces and Chaff's on his side, always and without question. It doesn't matter that he gets she also has a right to that anger. Haymitch's barely hanging on right now, he spends all his time in hospital rooms when he's not working with Heavensbee to make sure Trinket escapes the Purge.
As far as Gamemakers, escorts, stylists, prep teams and Games staff go, it's a bloodbath. Mockery of public trials, live executions…
It's too easy to remember victors could have been judged the same way if Katniss hadn't secured immunity for them.
He doesn't bother knocking before walking in Trinket's hospital room. Maybe he should have because she's wearing only a sport bra and the ridiculous purple leggings Haymitch thought would cheer her up, and she tenses as soon as she sees him. Recognition flickers in her eyes and she relaxes a little but she still reaches for a sweater only to toss it away with frustration when she remembers the sling her arm is trapped in.
"Have you come to gloat?" she hisses.
It's unwarranted and so far from her usual polite tone that he's taken aback for a second.
"I've come 'cause whatever you said to Haymitch today, it drove him back to whiskey." he shrugs and closes the door behind him. "Didn't get much out of him. I'm guessing your physical therapy didn't go well."
She has sessions twice a day and Haymitch always makes sure he's there for them because… It's not going well and Trinket tends to cut them short. He knows Jo stayed once or twice and that it didn't end in a better fashion.
She flinches at the accusation and tosses him a guilty look, hugging her legs close to her chest with her good arm. She doesn't lean against the pillow at the head of the bed, he notices, but, then again, given the state her back was in a few weeks ago only, it must have become habit to avoid putting pressure on it.
The scars he can see aren't pretty and he supposes she's self-conscious about those but he refuses to avert his gaze and, after a few seconds, she juts her chin in the air. That's a good sign. That's more like the Trinket he knows.
"My apologies." she says eventually. "I was rude to you."
"Yeah. But I don't care." he shrugs and drops on the free chair without waiting for her to invite him to. "We need to have a talk about our boy, you and I."
"I did not mean to shout." she sighs and she looks defeated. She looks old. "I just… I do not like him coming to those sessions. I told him but he comes anyway and…" She lets her voice trail off. "I do not like him seeing me like this."
"If he doesn't come, you don't even try." he points out.
"I am tired." she whispers, begging him to understand. "I am so tired."
"You want to be able to use that shoulder again?" he challenges. "'Cause from what I've been told, heavy physical therapy's your only shot at getting back a decent range of movements."
"I know." she snaps. "I do not need you or Haymitch or Johanna to tell me. I am perfectly capable of understanding what the doctor says. I just… It is too difficult. Why can't you all understand that? It is too difficult and I am tired. I am tired. I do not want Haymitch seeing me like that, I do not want him to hold my hand while I struggle to lift my arm an inch, I do not want…"
"That's all it's about?" he cuts her off. "'Cause if you blame him for what happened to you…"
"I don't." she says but she's not looking at him. "He and Plutarch explained everything."
"Doesn't matter." he counters. "You were hurt. You were scared. I'm guessing they said nasty things about you and Haymitch back there…"
"I won't betray him." she almost snarls. "I did not lose faith in that cell, I won't betray him now. I just… I need space. I need space but sometimes I need him. And I know it is unfair to him. I know I am horrible sometimes. I do know." She shakes her head, her eyes shining with tears. "I just want…"
"You want everything to go back to how it was before." he finishes for her. "But that won't happen, love."
"I do not mean to hurt him." she confesses. "But those sessions… I am in pain and…"
"Yeah, I get it." He thinks it over and then he shrugs, a bit reluctantly. "I'll do it with you. The sessions."
She frowns. "I beg your pardon?"
"Look… I don't care if you shout at me and I won't let you quit." he offers. "I can be your physical therapy buddy." He clears his throat awkwardly. "Besides… We better learn to get along with each other now, Trinket. For Haymitch's sake if nothing else. What do you say? Truce?"
She studies him for a second and then forces a small smile. "Truce."
6.
Chaff averts his eyes when Haymitch hugs Trinket, glad to have hung back a few feet away to give them their privacy.
They're in front of the Training Center. He and Trinket aren't allowed to pass the doors and once Haymitch is inside, he won't come out again. There's a hovercraft on the roof, ready to pick him and Katniss both up and bring them to Twelve as soon as Heavensbee would arrive. To say that Haymitch isn't keen on the idea is an euphemism but he will do what he must for the girl and it's either exile to Twelve under his supervision or life imprisonment.
Whatever they whisper to each other, it doesn't carry to him. They said their goodbyes already, Chaff guesses, but it doesn't make it any easier. Haymitch is torn over this. He asked Trinket to go with him but she declined. She wants to stay with Peeta. She wants to try to find her footing back by herself.
When Haymitch comes toward him, Chaff smiles and offers his hand, using the grip to pull his friend into a bear hug. He claps his back twice.
"Keep in touch." he demands.
"Take care of my girl." Haymitch requests.
His decision to stick around in the city for a while isn't exactly subtle. Haymitch can't be here and Trinket isn't entirely recovered yet. It makes sense for him to stay given that everyone else is leaving. Annie decided on going back to Four and Jo left with her. Beetee hasn't been the same since the City Circle's bombings and left for Three as soon as he was able. Haymitch doesn't want Trinket to be left completely alone and after weeks spent helping her using her shoulder again, Chaff's a little too invested to just abandon her to her fate. So he's sticking around. At least until he's sure she'll make it by herself.
Most days, even if it kills him to admit it, he thinks he understands what Haymitch sees in her now. He even thinks they're friends.
"Irather think I will be the one taking care of him." Trinket huffs from the side, a pout on her lips. "I am usually the one making sure the two of you behave."
"Goes without saying, sweetheart." Haymitch snorts, letting go of Chaff to frame her face in his hands.
Chaff rolls his eyes when his friend kisses her – because Haymitch has a nasty habit of doing that every time he thinks he can get away with it – but he can't deny them this goodbye.
7.
Twelve is a small District compared to others but rebuilding and expansion never stops and Chaff is still completely lost despite having been there a couple of times. He stubbornly keeps going at random until he finally gives up and asks an old woman the way to the Victors Village. Five years of peace were enough that most people don't automatically put a name to his face and he reaches Haymitch's house without being recognized.
There are fat geese wandering around the yard and he can't help his chuckles, pretty sure Trinket isn't fond of Haymitch's pets.
He tosses his travel bag on the swing seat on the porch and knocks on the door. He's smiling wide long before it opens on Trinket who squeals in obvious surprise.
"Chaff!" she exclaims with delight and tosses her arms around his neck.
And if one day you had told him he would ever be glad to see Effie Trinket, he would have laughed at your face.
He hugs her back – and keeps his hand and his stump in proper places because it's one thing to rile up his best friend's escort and another to fondle his girl – frowning a little in confusion."You weren't expecting me?"
"Should I have?" she asks, frowning too when she steps back.
"Sorry, forgot to tell you he was coming." Haymitch lies smoothly, stepping out of the living-room. "Chaff wanted some holiday. Told him he was welcome to stay a few days…"
"Well, of course, he is welcome." Trinket huffs as if it's obvious. "Do come in."
He's ushered inside and settled in the living-room before he can say anything, Trinket immediately disappearing into the kitchen to fetch something to drink – because it won't be said that she's not a good hostess.
"Care to explain?" he asks Haymitch in a low voice, once he's sure she can't hear them. "'Cause you said come as soon as possible and here I am but I sure ain't here for a holiday…"
He hopes there's not any trouble in paradise because he doesn't want to deal with a brokenhearted Haymitch. His friend's been happier than he's ever seen him since Trinket moved to Twelve and as far as he knows everything's fine – never perfect but fine.
Haymitch doesn't look brokenhearted though. He's smirking hard when he drops on the couch next to him. "I'm gonna need a best man."
Chaff's face lights up and he clasps his friend's shoulder, laughing in genuine joy. "Finally found the balls to ask her, buddy? Good for you. Good for you…"
"Haven't asked her yet." he denies, shaking his head. "Annie and Jo are coming tomorrow. When everyone's here… I'm gonna ask her then. And we get married the day after. No fuss, no press. Nobody knows except you and the boy."
Chaff lets out a long whistle. "You're sure of yourself? 'Cause your girl, she's fussy. She's gonna want a party."
"All taken care of." Haymitch dismisses. "Peeta's been working on the cake. I've got Sae ready to cook a feast. Once the girls get here, we've got all our family in one place. And I've got a tux ready. She's gonna bitch about the dress but I've got a deal with one of the shop girls in town… She's gonna make sure she gets the shop all to herself for a few hours tomorrow night."
He can't help but actually be impressed. "And I'm the best man?"
"Who else?" Haymitch snorts. "But don't spill the beans before tomorrow, right?"
"You've got a ring?" he asks because that seems like the only thing Haymitch didn't think about.
"Yeah." His friend chuckles then and Chaff can't remember the last time he heard Haymitch sound so carefree, so happy. When he was sixteen probably, before he learned what had happened to his family. "I know it's a bit crazy and stupid… We're too old to get married and it won't change much anyway but… I know she wants it so… Whatever, right?"
"Right." he approves and clasps his shoulder again because as crazy and stupid as it is, he's happy for his friends. "You deserve this. Both of you."
"What is it we deserve?" Trinket hums, coming back with a tray loaded with stuff they won't drink or eat.
"Being happy." Chaff shrugs.
Trinket's face softens, her lips stretching into a fond amused smile. "How sappy but very right of you."
Chaff rolls his eyes at her teasing but can't help smiling himself.
It's in moments like this he's really happy to have survived that Quell. He loves spending time with his sister and nephews but he never feels like he belongs as much as when he's with his adopted family.