Chapter III: A Horse is a Horse (of course, of course)

A/N: And here is chapter three. I'm really on a roll! It's a fun story to write. Again thanks go out to TheReaper94 and anyone else who helped. Enjoy the chapter! SSD

Morning came all too soon when Isabel was awakened by Tylara's light shake to her shoulder.

"It's time to get up. If you move quickly, you'll have time to eat and watch the entrance into the Capitol."

With that, the older woman left, turning in the direction of Damon's room.'

Isabel stretched as she always did in the morning. The baby was not pressing against her spine this morning, which was a rare thing since the beginning of the eighth month.

The baby moved a little as she got up.

"Oh are you awake too? We'll be taking one of those hot showers again," Isabel cooed.

The hot shower felt as good as it had the night before.

After drying off, Isabel looked at the clothes from yesterday on the floor. She wanted to wear something new, unconnected with home. She would keep her shoes however.

So at the drawers, she programmed a pair of stretchy denim pants and a forest green top. However, Isabel put on her soft sandals from home. They felt good on her feet, which were not swollen. Yet.

Isabel went back to the bedside table, and put on the watch Mercedes had given her. It was black and blue, with a wolf's head under the hands.

She wrapped it around her right wrist, as she made her way to the living room car of the train again.

It was time for breakfast.

As soon as Isabel entered the car, Jade pressed an empty plate into her hands.

"Eat up. You likely won't get to eat until after the parade."

Feeling ravenous all of the sudden, she piled her plate high with bacon, sausage, watermelon, and eggs.

Damon walked in as Isabel was sitting down. "How did you sleep?" Isabel asked her friend.

"I slept like a hibernating bear, which surprised me. What about you?" Damon asked as he piled his plate high as well.

"Not too horrible. The bed was comfy," Isabel replied.

They were tearing into their plates when Tylara asked, "Do you want to be trained separately or together?"

Damon and Isabel took one look at each other and replied in stereo, "Together" and went back to their eating.

Tylara let them eat in silence for a while, as she was eating her breakfast too, before inquiring, "Do you two have any kind of talent with a weapon of some kind?"

"I am good with a whip and a machete," Damon replied.

"I can throw knives pretty well," Isabel said before taking a bite out of a piece of bacon.

"That's an understatement. You are better at that than pretty much all of the vaqueros from several area ranches!" Damon shot back to his friend.

"I'm a bit out of practice," Isabel directed at Tylara.

"Still, let me see what you can do with knives," her mentor replied.

Isabel got up, went to the table, and picked out three steak knives. In rapid succession, all three hit in between two panels very close together.

"If that's what you call being out of practice, I can only imagine what you can do with practice," Jade remarked.

Tylara felt a great deal of relief at seeing Isabel with the knives. The pregnant girl would have her way of defending herself.

"Okay, keep what you are good at for the private sessions with the Gamemakers. During training focus on things you aren't good at, and Isabel, nothing too physical."

All four of them went back to eating in silence. Both Damon and Isabel went back up for more.

"If you want to get a good look at the Capitol, now would be a good time for the best view," Jade noted.

Damon and Isabel scrambled to the window, and took in the beauty of the Capitol. It was a beautiful city, no one could deny that.

It was in that moment, it hit Isabel: She was competing in the Hunger Games, while pregnant. And she was nearing the end of the pregnancy, she would likely give birth in the arena!

"Izzy, are you alright? You look like a sheet," Damon's voice sounded far away.

Isabel was starting to feel that tasty breakfast rise in her throat.

Remembering how she had looked earlier in the pregnancy when suffering from vomiting (Isabel had called it morning, noon, and night sickness), Damon rushed and found an empty bowl.

Waving him away, Isabel said, "I'm alright. I just need to stay sitting down for a moment." She still thought,

"How am I going to do this? The last time the odds were in the favor of a tribute from 10 was in the 70th Hunger Games. Will the odds ever be in my favor?"

As the train slowed down in the station, Tylara gave them an instruction: "Let the stylists do what they want, don't resist, no matter what."

For the past several hours, Isabel had undergone getting her eyebrows tweezed, and her legs, arms, underarms, torso, and pubic area waxed. The nails on her feet and hands had also been shaped and cleaned.

Apparently the stylist wanted her cleaned up before meeting her for the first time.

Isabel had used the time to take in what her prep team looked like. They all looked to be on the younger side of things, but that did not mean anything in the Capitol. Domitia had bright blue hair, black eyes, and many tattoos. Esmerelda had green hair, cat-like contacts in her eyes, and dyed white tiger skin. Last, but by no means least, the only man in the group, Vothan, had silvery blonde hair, yellow cat-like contact lenses in his eyes, very pale skin, and fang like canine teeth. He was quiet and watched the proceedings in silence.

She was quite thankful that the women had done most of the waxing.

"Just one more swathe and we are done, your legs were a jungle of hair!" Domitia squeaked.

"Well I haven't been able to see my legs, much less shave them," Isabel smiled tightly.

All three of the flitted around her looking for any stray hairs.

"We can't wait to see what Antonio has for you!" Vothan grinned, his fangs showing.

Isabel was wearing a light blue robe. She was going to be keeping it on for as long as she could.

As the minutes wore on, Isabel got even more nervous. The baby moved, sensing her anxiety.

The robe barely fit over her large belly.

"But it's better than nothing," Isabel thought as she rubbed it.

The door opened, which made her jump, well as much as she could anyway.

Isabel looked her stylist over for the first time. He was very tall, and decently muscled. She was surprised he had not gone into the Peacekeeper Corps, as some Capitolian men occasionally did. His skin, which looked to be its natural light brown color, reminded her of Mercedes and the rest of the Frades. His hair and eyes were also dark. His shirt and pants were a dark red and black respectively. There was some embroidery on the shirt, but it was still a mostly understated outfit.

"I have always thought that there was a time and a place for being flashy, and now is not exactly the time. Let me take a look at you please. My name is Antonio Sand," the man stated.

Isabel was surprised that he had said "please" when he asked to take a look at her.

"Do I have to take my robe off," Isabel asked, praying to whomever would listen that she would not have to do that.

"You can keep your robe on, I've seen what I want to see. Please sit down, I'm sure you want to."

Isabel had to fight to keep tears from her eyes. Very few people, outside the Martells, the Frades, and her little brother Tristan had been kind to her or given her the time of day. And here her stylist was, being nice to her.

"Why is he being so nice to me," Isabel wondered.

Her emotions must have shown on her face, when Antonio said, "I have always made it my personal policy to be decent to the tributes." A beat later he asked, "Would you like anything to eat?"

"Just some water please." Isabel wasn't feeling hungry at the moment. In fact, she felt rather nauseous.

After she had taken a few sips, Antonio began with, "As I'm sure you're well aware, it is traditional to dress tributes according to what their district does for the Capitol for the Parade."

"District 10 is livestock. Sometimes that means cowboy/cowgirl costumes, other times it means dressing up as the animals. Please, whoever is listening, don't let me be dressed up as a cow or pig!" Isabel could feel the blood running out of her face at the thought.

"Dressing you as a cow or pig would be trite, given your present condition," Antonio had not stopped speaking while she'd spaced out.

"Thank the Maker for that!"

"Do you like horses," Antonio asked all of the sudden.

"I love working with horses. That's my job in my district." Isabel began to get the feeling that she was going to be dressed as a horse. Which she did not find too upsetting.

"This could be a lot worse. Could be a lot better, but could be *much* worse," Isabel thought as she looked in the mirror at her parade costume.

The dress she was wearing was silvery white, with a black vest with silver horses embroidered on it, covering her chest. The dress went to a little below her knees. Her costume shoes were flat soled boots that went up to her knees, and looked like the legs of a grey horse. On her head would go a hat that was pretty much a horse's head with a black rope net that could pass for reins, which connected to a black and silver bridle. All in all, Isabel wasn't particularly upset.

The costume also actually fit pretty well over her belly.

"We aren't going to be overtly advertising your pregnancy just yet, but it won't be hidden either," Antonio had explained.

Isabel felt her baby wriggling inside her a little bit.

"Hey Izzy. You don't look completely tacky," a familiar drawling voice came from behind her.

Isabel turned around with a real smile on her face. She saw Damon in a black and silver cowboy outfit, complete with a hat.

Before they could say anything more, their stylists came forward.

"It's time to get you two arranged in the chariots," Damon's stylist Octavia said.

With that, Isabel put on her hat. Damon held out his arm for her.

Isabel was looking forward to seeing what the other tributes were dressed up as!

"Okay, I am not the worst dressed tribute in the Parade," was Isabel's thought as she took her first look around.

Districts 1, 2, and 4 looked good as per usual. District 1 was dressed up as gemstones, a sapphire for the boy, and an emerald for the girl. District 2 was dressed up as gladiators from Ancient Rome, according to Antonio. Both outfits for those districts covered most of their bodies.

The same could not be said for the two from District 4. All you practically saw of them was skin. They were dressed up as sexy sailors.

The District 5 tributes were dressed in black suits covered in wires that connected to the round things on their heads. They both looked extremely nervous.

The next couple of districts weren't much to look at. District 6 had puled a pair of Morphlings again.

"If anyone is more Bloodbath bait than me, it's those two," Isabel observed.

District 7 was dressed up as trees, which almost never changed. District 8 looked like blobs of silk, which was quite unflattering to both tributes from there.

District 9 was dressed up as farmers, but the outfits were a bit more form fitting than usual. The District 11 tributes were dressed up as fruit, an apple and an orange to be precise.

"An orange sounds really good right about now," she mused to herself as her stomach rumbled.

District 12's costume made Isabel's eyes go wide. They were covered coal dust, and were only wearing what looked like black swimming suits to cover strategic areas. They were nearly more naked than District 4.

"Thank the Maker, I'm not naked!"

Isabel shuddered at that thought. She was also well aware that while she was looking over the other tributes and their costumes, they were staring at her in turn. Or more accurately, they were staring at her midsection. Isabel had felt the eyes of the Careers gleaming at the thought of an easy kill.

"I won't make an easy kill, not if I have anything to say about it!"

The Parade had started. Districts 1, 2, and 4 came out to the predictable roars of the crowd.

As District 5 came out, their wide headdresses began crackling with electricity. Isabel did not want to get cooked by it!

As 9 began to roll out, Damon turned to her and whispered, "I'll hold on to you. Don't be scared, I'll protect you."

Isabel nodded. She did not feel like opening her mouth at the moment. Nausea was climbing in her throat.

Once they rolled out, Isabel was temporarily blinded by the flickering lights and the flashing of the cameras. She and Damon seemed to be getting their fair share of attention from the crowd.

Isabel was quite thankful for the semi-concealing attributes of her costume, and the high front of the chariot.

Once the chariot came to a stop in front of the mansion, Isabel did not really pay much attention to the speech. She was looking at the screens that were showing the tributes during the speech. The Careers were getting a lot of air time, along with District 5, along with her and Damon.

When the chariots began moving back to the Training Center, Isabel thought,

"They'll be seeing me in all my pregnant glory soon enough!"

A/N 2: That went a bit longer than I originally planned. I thought this was going to be a short chapter! I've actually casted a few more of the characters in this story.

Isabel Storm: Emilia Clarke

Damon Martell: Ian Somerhalder

Antonio Sand: Joe Manganiello

If you want to know where I got the inspiration for Isabel's costume, go to your favored search engine, and type in "Jacqueline's Horse costume from Ever After". Isabel will also become more active in the next chapters. Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'd love to hear what you think of it! SSD