This is legit the longest fanfic chapter that I have ever written! Probs because I've rarely been so excited about a fanfic before. You guys should all be proud of me ;) Hope you enjoy! Lots of love, AC x
P.S. I don't own any characters except my OC's: Vivera, Dakon, Gren & Carlen Traymor. Suzanne Collins, however, is a literary goddess and all other characters are borrowed from her amazing works – The Hunger Games :D
I made my way through the crowd of youngsters, all of whom were chatting with their friends, excited at the prospect of coming back to District Four and living like a Champion. After all, most of the people here were 'proper' Careers. They took advantage of the extra-curricular activities offered at schools across the District. Oh no, there was no time for art class when you could learn how to camouflage yourself in a desert…and archery was for wimps when you had Crossbow Club! Meanwhile I had joined my father in his trade. As a result I could wield a fishing spear, net and swim a great deal faster than my peers in District Four. And that was no mean feat, I tell you!
"I'm surprised you're wearing something vaguely akin to clothing Cresta," sneered Liliane, her fine violet tulle dress swishing around her ankles. "Though your mother couldn't afford to dye it, hmm?" Her cronies laughed alongside her before moving away, leaving me wallowing in my humiliation. I'd wanted the dress to be white but they didn't need to know that. They didn't, I told myself, scrunching the fabric up in my fisted hands while I willed myself to stay calm.
"Ignore them Annie!" My younger brother Gren took my arm in his and led to off to a more sparsely populated area in the town square. Gren, though only 15, seemed older than his years. It had begun once Dakon had stopped coming to our house for a cup of coffee in the evenings…then he didn't come to Sunday lunch anymore…and we received a letter that he'd moved to the Capitol and was living well there. Dad had thrown the letter away and it was an unsaid rule that we were to never mention our older brother again. Strange then, wasn't it, that I could now hear his voice calling my name?
"Eyannia! Over here!" I cringed inside. I hated my full name. So naturally my older brother always abused me with it. Even when I was young I couldn't, and later wouldn't, say it properly. It was a Cresta family tradition to name all the children in alphabetical order. Dakon was the oldest, then myself and finally Gren. Missing a letter, right? For some strange reason my mother didn't want a child whose name began with F. My father, being the very unorthodox person he is, agreed without any resistance. Though I didn't escape being gifted with the name Eyannia. Annie, though simple, suited me just fine.
"What the fuck are you doing here?" I hissed angrily at my brother, ignoring the pleas of Gren to leave him alone. "You have no right showing your face to me, o 'brother' of mine.' Dakon grimaced.
"I felt you finally needed to know the truth about everything." I grinned bitterly, despairing at how it had come to this.
"I know. About the Hunger Games and how they never made it past Training. She died there so that she wouldn't die a painful and humiliating death in the Games; shamefully broadcast onto all of our screens. I'm sorry you don't understand that." All the hurt building up inside me is exploding in this painful, but necessary, outburst. "Frankly, I'm not surprised you don't. Anyone who abandons their family wouldn't know a loving action if it hit him in the FACE." Dakon doesn't expect this and the shock on his face confirms the fact that I've stolen the only thing that he could lord over me. I am not the sister he left behind. No more meek and mild Annie Cresta.
"Quieten down pips!" the booming voice of Carlen Traymor fills the Square, immediately quieting the Square. "Are you ready for the District Four Reaping for the 70th Hunger Games?" A hearty cheer erupts around me, children and adults alike clap their hands and scream.
"Now, shall we start with the fairer sex?" a subservient attendant approaches Traymor with a sparkling coin on a cushion. Yes, there are so many entries from the District that they have to be split between two containers. A coin toss determines the container from which the candidates will be chosen. Everyone waits with bated breath as the small round piece of metal twirls high up into the air, glinting in the sunshine. It falls silently onto the plump cushion.
"Tails," he cries, moving towards the box on the left. Traymor dramatically rolls up the sleeve of his rich emerald green coat and delicately rummages around in the container and takes out a piece of paper. At least, I presume it to be so as I'm so far away from the Main Stage that I can barely see anything.
"Ee-yan-ee-ah? Is that how you say it? Cresta? Cresta! That I can say." The people closest to me swivel on their feet and stare at me, causing a Mexican wave/ripple of people to turn their eyes towards...
Wait. What? Me?
"Go up there you idiot," snarls Liliane. "This must be a record for making a fool of yourself so quickly." Someone pushes me but I only realise it was Gren once I reach the steps.
"Tallen Zander, make your way up to the stage."I recognise the boy from visits to the main market in District Four, he often helps out his family in their grocery shop. He can't be older than 14. Then again, Finnick Odair was only 14 when he won the Hunger Games. So scared that he's in shock, Tallen's eyes dart nervously and he trips over the hem of his trousers as he ascends the stairs. We are ushered to either side of Traymor who takes our hands in his and raises it above our heads.
"Citizens of District Four, give a large round of applause for your entrants – Eyannia Cresta and Tallen Zander!"
20 minutes later
I am nervous under the gaze of 5 very enthusiastic attendants, eager to pander to my every need. I gulp anxiously, waiting for my last audiences with my family and friends.
"Some water, Miss Cresta? Or maybe a cake?" A well-groomed young man, obviously Capitol trained, holds out a crystal glass to me.
"No, thank you," I wave him away. "I should be in Renwood's now, enjoying my escape from the grasp of the Hunger Games," I think. "But I am here now. And I may never be in District Four again."
"Oh Annie," shrieks a voice, and it's Vivera and she's hugging me so tightly that I can barely breathe. "I can't believe this. I thought...I thought you would be safe!." I laugh bleakly.
"I'm as safe as can be. Why look, I have people waiting on my every need. " Vivera glances at the line of uniformed attendants and her face sours.
"It's like they're fattening you up before your slaughter." She realises her mistake almost immediately and claps her hand over her mouth, tears beginning to pool in her eyes."
"It's alright Vivi," I hug her again. "Listen, you're going to be okay. Everything is okay. I know you've always felt the Cresta guilt more than I have ...but please don't feel that you have to compromise anything...do you understand?"" It's the first time I've ever approached this territory but why not; this could be the last time I ever see her. "And anyway, once I'm Victor I'll be able to get you whatever you need, even if that's a move to a District where no one knows who you are."
"We don't deserve you Annie, you know that don't you?" It's Dakon, and upon hearing his voice I steel myself for another verbal assault. He reaches out to hug me but stops short, seeming to sense my animosity. "I'm sorry," he says. "I didn't think it through. My actions show that I really don't deserve to be in this family." This time he doesn't stop, and Dakon enfolds me in the first hug he's given me in years. I can't resist it anymore and I hug him back, but not a lot. He needs to earn my trust and respect again.
"But I'm going to redeem myself. That's why I'm taking Gren back with me to the Capitol. He'll never even have the possibility of being reaped ever again. I hope that makes up for how dickheaded I've been." He nervously chuckles, inviting me to say something, laugh, do anything in response.
"Most people with penises act better than you did," a determined giggle escapes me. "But it's a good start. Thank you." He moves aside, leaving space for my younger brother. We stare at each other for a while before Gren and I fall into each other's arms, his body racking with sobs that have not yet come to me.
"Try and get some of your new friends' families to sponsor me when I'm in there alright?" I squeeze him tightly. "And don't worry Gren. There's always a District Four who's in there till nearly the end." He suddenly leans back, eyes blotchy but bright.
"Finnick will help you! You can't lose with him there for you!" My brother adored Odair, and would probably idolise him to the end of the world. I really didn't have the heart to tell Gren that as Mentor, Finnick hadn't helped anyone win the Games. Yes...I don't think even I had the heart to hear it myself. Anyway, I'd have the female Mentor, so it wasn't as if it would be that much of a problem.
"All the best, daughter," my dad says gruffly. This he says after civilly acknowledging Dakon's presence with a curt nod, but I see a lot of love in his eyes. This may be the only opportunity.
" I understand, Dad," I say quietly, holding his hands close to my chest in a traditional District Four sign of close affection. "Your sister is so happy now...and I know she'll be supporting me." He chokes up and pats me on the back.
"Show Panem what a Cresta is like!" He moves aside to reveal my mother.
My mother is a strong one. She would not hear of not being married to the younger Cresta boy and didn't care that she'd have to abandon her position in middle class society to be a fisher wife. She was also prone to visions, and did psychic readings on the sly . She never asked us to take the things she saw for granted, but they were usually right.
"You'll come back to me and I'll have my F," she smiles before hugging me gently.
"What?" I mumble. I am so confused.
"Exactly that. You'll be back and I'll have my F. Now Annie, remember this. Someone who is for you will always be with you."
"That's it now, move along," the Peacekeepers open the door wide open and one by one all of my family members leave. They close the doors on my warm, smiling mother and suddenly I can't take it anymore because...because...
Now I am all alone.
