Chapter Two
Leanne DiMera
"You will be placed into pairs according to how you were called out, you will then ride the chariot together wearing costumes that represent a certain aspect of your personality." The announcer called to the tributes, standing atop a large platform as she spoke.
"This should be fun." One of the tributes muttered.
"Let's get started then." I heard somebody mutter, I decided that I would keep my head low and my voice lower, no point in drawing attention to myself just yet. I could have been a fierce person to fight with, but I didn't want anybody to know that until we had gotten to the arena.
I guess you could say I was well prepared for this, I had done archery and fencing in the capitol as well as rock climbing and horseback riding, which meant I could use a whip pretty well.
I knew I had a good chance of winning from the start, but looking at the actual prospect of killing people did my head in, I seemed like the kind of girl who would be passive, but I would definitely say that I would be the underdog due to my size.
"Come on children! Let's go with your designers!" The woman chirped, and we were dragged by our escorts into a separate room each.
In the room stood my fellow tribute, a tribute I was actually worried about, one of the only people who I would fear in the games due to his incredible size.
"Benjamin." I said coldly, acknowledging him and semi-greeting him at the same time.
"Leanne." He said even more coldly.
Things had been like this between us for the past two years, two years earlier we had been best friends going to high school together, we had done every thing together despite i'm been sixteen and me been fourteen, I had always been mature for my age and he was one of the only down to earth people I knew in the whole capitol.
What had changed everything was one awkward night when he had been drunk and all of his friends had pressured him into kissing me, I didn't return his feelings and he got mad at me for 'leading him on.' But I really didn't think that was him talking, I thought that was the booze talking or even his friends words because before that night I could not recall me giving him one instant where I had lead him on or where he had shown he had liked me.
After that things changed between us and we never spoke again, so been here now with this man was very hard and awkward to contemplate.
"Ohh buurrrr! I can feel the tension between you two from a mile away!" The designer said as he walked in. I couldn't help but smile at the way he presented himself, he was so obviously gay that it made me giggle a little. "Now that's what I love to see!"
"Okay, here's the thing. I don't want to be here so if we could get this over and done with quickly." Benjamin said rather rudely folding his hands over his chest looking like he was annoyed.
"We will take as long as we need to make you look presentable!" The stylist yelled at Benjamin. I saw him cringe slightly.
"Fine, whatever." Benjamin said sounding hostile and dangerous as he spared a glance at me.
"So, what are we wearing?" I grinned, because we were capitol citizens, we didn't need the preparation of waxing and polishing us up to look our best because we already did all of that ourselves before we were reaped.
"Amazing clothing that represents the dangerous and enigmatic side of both of your personalities! "The man squealed, "I'm Tyler by the way."
"Well, Tyler, I like the sound of that." I half smiled, something about this man just made me feel like I should smile.
"What do you mean by luxury items?" Benjamin asked with a frown.
"You will be wearing a suit, and this beautiful young lady will be wearing a ball gown, but what lies in store with those will be magnificent!" He laughed and I followed him into the changing room.
"Now, this is your dress, it is made of the finest silk you can buy, spiders silk! It's the colour just magnificent?!" He exclaimed and I felt tears come to my eyes.
"It's beautiful." I whispered as I reached out to stroke the soft material of the dress, the colour was beautiful, it was a rich black with many other colours shining in it as it moved in the light.
"Watch this." Tyler said as he moved the dress back and forth. From the jewels on the dress came beautiful spectacles of light reminding me of the northern lights.
"Tyler it's amazing!" I gasped as he continued to move the dress slowly, colours bursting forth from the bejewelled dress like there was a million rainbows and stars shooting out of the dress.
"You like it then." He smiled slightly, "Benjamin's suit is made out of the same material, but you will be the belle of the ball tonight!"
"It's amazing, but I don't get how something as beautiful as this," I motioned to the dress, "Could represent something like this." I motioned to myself.
"You doubt yourself dear, tonight you will be the most beautiful woman out there, and I already arranged with the escorts that you and Benjamin would be on the last chariot, they will be letting tributes out in the backwards order they were reaped." He smiled at his own arrangement.
"Thank you." I whispered, going last made me feel a little better. Going last, people always seemed to remember you the most, especially if I was wearing a dress that shot a beautiful array of light out of it that was like magic, the northern lights, fire, shooting stars and lightening all in one.
Tyler helped me pull the dress on, pulling the corseted back tight around my waist, and I smiled at my reflection in the mirror. "I'm thinking smoky eye make up and your hair braided back off your pretty face." I felt myself blush a little at his compliment.
"That sounds amazing, Tyler." I said with a lump in my throat, I felt that for once I might even upstage the other beautiful girls who had been reaped, that I might be able to be a winner for once.
"Now, you're going to go see the make up artists in that room," He pointed to a door that undoubtedly led to the makeup room, "And I'll get Benjamin into his suit."
"Okay." I half smiled at Tyler and then walked through the doors and into the make up room, it was much like the dressing room, but with more draws, more than likely filled with make up to make me look like some capitol clown, but the way I imagined my make up, I thought that I would look beautiful.
Three plumper women started to bustle around me, pulling my hair back, splashing powdered on my cheeks, pulling my small body in a hundred different directions at once as if they knew what to do even without asking me.
I felt like whining, telling them all to get off me as I usually hated people doing stuff like this to me, but I was prepared to do whatever it took to win the games I would do, because if there was one thing I refused to do, it was die. I didn't want to die and I refused to die.
The women finished attacking me with powders and creams, and then they pulled me up of the chair I was sat on and they placed some kind of tiara on my head that had the same kind of artificial crystals that the dress was encrusted with, the crystals that shone and glimmered and shot rays of light off them.
"There, done." Said one of the women, and I turned around to look in the mirror.
A long silence followed.
I stared at the beautiful woman in the mirror.
She was like something from a story book, something beautiful, admirable and completely enigmatic and mysterious. She was desirable and dangerous looking.
"I look so…" I whispered.
"Beautiful!" Tyler's voice rung from behind me and I turned around to meet the eyes of Tyler and surprisingly Benjamin who looked mesmerising himself in his dark suit and dark shirt. His hair was freshly cut, shortened into a fashionable style which accentuated his cheekbones and his magnificent dark eyes.
"You both look amazing, now it's time to get onto your chariot!" Tyler said excitedly. I placed a half smile on my face and composed myself, walking out of the door and following Tyler and my escort at the side of Benjamin.
"You look amazing." I heard Benjamin say to me, and those words shocked me.
"You look nice too. I like your hair." I said in reply, those were the most civil words we had said in a very long time to each other.
We walked in silence after that to our large black chariot that was drawn by two black stallions, the horses were beautiful and very powerful animals.
"Prepare your tributes!" The games maker called and we began to walked even faster towards the chariots.
"Now, I want you to stand on this chariot and I want you to half smile, look forward and make no eye contact with the crowd. I want you to hold hands and-"
"Woah, we're not holding hands." I growled slightly, making it known I was not happy with this arrangement.
"You need to, think about how popular it made Katniss and Peeta-"
"We're nothing like Katniss and Peeta." I felt my eyes narrow to dangerous slits.
"Yes, but it shows you are allies and that you are not just in this to kill. Don't you get that?" My escort asked me, and I sighed.
"We better just do as they say." Benjamin grumbled as he stepped up to the chariot and held his hand out to me, helping me into the chariot and keeping my hand in his.
His hand was large and warm, and easily engulfed mine. I felt him give my hand a squeeze and then his fingers entwined with mine and I heard him let out a small sigh.
I looked up at him and I noticed he was looking at me too, our eyes met in one intense moment, I don't know what I saw in his eyes at that moment as our chariot began to move, but his eyes locked with mine and I couldn't escape his gaze, it was only when I heard the cheer of the crowd and I heard my escort yell, "It's time!" That I managed to drag my gaze away and notice my dress was in an amazing array of colour, the crystals were now lit from within, possibly by lights beneath them, but they gave my skin an unearthly glow and I knew I must have looked like some kind of goddess, because Benjamin certainly looked like a god.
It was now our turn to move forward, our horses trotting forward at a brisk pace while we stood atop the chariot. I looked straight forward, all at once I was aware of the crowd shouting, cheering, screaming and waving at us, I spared a small glance at the screens and I saw myself from the screen, I did look like a goddess.
I looked like the most beautiful tribute there had ever been. Forget Katniss Everdeen the girl on fire, I was Leanne DiMera the girl made of rainbow lightening.
The camera seemed to sweep the tributes again, but all of the time they seemed to flash back to us, clearly we were stealing the show, and I could tell as we pulled into the dock for the presidents speech that we would all listen to and then we would be on our way to the training centre for the next three days where we would learn vital survival skills for our time in the games.
"Today marks the beginning of the end of the hunger games. After this games we will begin to embrace a new way of life, a way of life where everybody will live as equals, a way of life where anything is possible." President Paylor spoke, I sensed the authority in her voice, though she couldn't be much older than her early thirties I could sense why people had no problem with her been the new president of panem.
"This arrangement was set by the council in a democratic way, and we have decided that the treaty of peace will be signed after these games. I would like to wish every tribute good look, and I will say this now, only one of you will survive, and you must make your time in the arena count." The president finished and turned around, and then all of the tribute's chariots turned around one by one and we made our way into the building again, with the crowd cheering our names as we went.
My hand was still tightly attached to Benjamin's as he walked off the chariot. I walked to the edge of the chariot and was about to jump off but I felt strong hands slip around my waist, "Let me help you." Benjamin said as he picked me up and placed me on the ground beside him.
"Thank you." I said with my trademark half smile.
"Come on, I need to find somebody." He took my hand in his and without another word he was dragging me towards a little girl I identified as his cousin.
"That's Aida, I wanted to make sure she was okay." He told me as he let go of my hand and I felt a small pang in my chest.
"Okay, you do that." I nodded to him and he walked over to his cousin who was dressed in the sweetest dress ever with a braid down her back that reminded me a lot of Katniss.
I watched as they interacted and I couldn't help but feel a little sad because I knew that I wouldn't be able to make allies as easy as that. They would be allies because they were related by blood. There was also a set of siblings in the games, they would obviously be allies because they were related by blood too. I had nobody though, and I knew nobody would want me as an ally because I Was one of the smallest tributes here not including the twelve year olds who had been reaped, I would be underrated unless I could prove myself in the training, but I wouldn't show them my full strengths, just a few and if I did use my strengths I would play them down a lot, I would only show my skills at the private session with the gamemakers and I would hopefully get a very good score to prove that I would be a good ally.
It was time to let the games begin.