Chapter 3: Another world
The five of us are sitting on a long plush red sofa that's facing the side window. It's about 9:30 p.m. we're about 30 minutes from pulling into the Capitol train station. Effie and Haymitch have finally come back to join the rest of us after my father spent nearly an hour and a half apologizing mainly to Effie, she being a native of the Capitol she has never had to go through not only watching your child sent off to the games, but be the one that may be her only hope of surviving it. Effie eventually does forgive my father, Haymitch was quick to forgive my father and even sort of agreeing with my father's statement, after all that they rejoin us in lounge car.
Our train makes it over the final mountain crest that leads into Crystal Valley where the Capitol is located. When we see the Capitol Mine and Peeta's mouths drop open in shock at the size of the city. Crystal spire skyscrapers that seem to reach miles into the air and the city itself seems to expand on for miles and miles into the horizon, the lights from the city are so bright that it almost seems like it's daytime.
Peeta leans forward and looks at my father who is beside me and asks him. "That's the Capitol?" My responds to Peeta "Yes, that's the Capitol of Panem. Huge isn't it?" I ask my father "Dad how many people live here?". "Oh about thirteen million people, or about twenty percent of the entire population of Panem" he answers. Effie jumps into the conversation with your high pitch voice. "Oh you two are going to love it here it's so amazing, and just wait till you see your living quarters". Peeta scoffs "I doubt it'll compare to Katniss's house back home". Effie rolls her eye's "Please this is the Capitol". My father jumps in to defend Peeta "I don't Effie I did design the whole house, and I am the most popular designer in all of Panem."
We begin to enter city, as we pass through Me and Peeta notice just how huge the Capitol really is. When we begin to pull into the private tribute train station, we notice the thousands of people gathered outside shouting and applauding as we pull in. Peeta leans over and whispers in my ear "Maybe we should wave back, remember what your father said". I nod agreeing and we both get up and go to the window. We both sport our best smiles and start to wavy at crowds, the people outside seem to go insane when we do this. My Dad then gets up and joins us, he just gives a small smile and wave and the people are losing it, some of the women are even trying to jump over the barricades to get to my Dad. "Good thinking you two" my dad says. Our train makes it past the station where it then stops on a 12 track holding area where all the other tribute trains have arrived. "Alright, we all better head off to bed, we have a very busy day tomorrow, you two are going to meet your Prep teams and Stylist" Effie says. My father nods in agreement "Yes, the opening ceremonies are happening at three and you two have to be ceremony prep center by nine tomorrow morning and trust me your stylists will take up every last minute". Me and Peeta laugh at my fathers statement.
Peeta's POV
The room begins to clear out as everyone begins to head to their living quarters until it's just me and Mr. Blackhawk, as he begins to leave the room I tap on his shoulder and ask him quietly "Mr. Blackhawk can I talk to you about something?" He turns around and answers quietly back "Sure and call me Leo". We head over to the two recliners on the other side of the lounge car that are facing each other and sit down.
I begin to talk. "Uh I don't know if you know this, but for the past several years I've had what you say a crush on Katniss". Leo sits there for a few seconds "Yes I have noticed, you were actually one of the few boys I approved of dating my daughter, my question is why did you never come ask her or me before?" he says. I look down as my face begins to turn red "Well mainly because I was sort of scared of you sir" I say. Leo laughs at my statement, "Yes, I guess I can be intimidating at times especially after running off a few boys, but let me tell you this son, there will never be a man that is ever good enough for your daughter" her pauses "until there is one". I look up at him and realize what he means. "I just don't know what to do now" I say. "Ask her boy" he answers back sternly. I look at him confused, "Why, good chance in a week I'll be dead". He leans forward and says to me very softly "It's better to ask her and find then going the rest of your life not knowing, and if she says yes you get to spend the rest of your life with the person you love". I smile knowing that what he says is right "Do you think she'll say yes?" I ask him. He smiles at me "I think you have a good chance, now lets go to bed". We both head off to bed.
Katniss POV
That next morning we're up at 6 in the morning it's a rush for us to get ready, there's barely enough time to grab a quick breakfast before we're off in the car to the tributes center. It's a grueling hour an half drive through the streets of the capitol before we arrive. When we arrive it's about half past eight, we get out of the car and start making our way to the main entrance of the massive 15 story building. When enter into the lobby we are greeted by two Avox servants, My father gives us our final instructions. "Okay these people will escort you to you prepping stations where you'll meet your prep teams, so this we'll be this last you see of us until after the tributes parade" with that Effie, Haymitch and my father head off into the heart of the tribute center while me and Peeta are escorted to the remake center.
When I arrive at my prep station I'm greeted by my Prep team. Two women Venia and Octavia, and a man named Flavius. They're automatically overly excited to meet me, Flavius begins with what going to be done to me. "Okay darling we are going to just be touching you up and make sure you are presentable when we take you to Cinna, all we need you to do is to strip down." I head over to a long table in our prep room and strip naked. I stand in front of the long wall mirror next to my table. It's been years since I've looked myself over naked. Thanks to the years of hunting n my fathers woods I'm muscular for my age. I notice the features that fueled some of the boys comments back home saying that I'm well endowed and curves in all the right places.
My prep team comes in and has me lay down on the table, they head over to their work station and I over hear some of their comments. "I can't believe I get to work with Leonidas Blackhawk's daughter" I hear Venia say. "I wonder if she knows about the little secret relationship going on between him and Johanna Mason." I hear Octavia say. Venia shushes Octavia. I lay there and think my dad and Johanna Mason the supposed crazy girl from district seven who won the 71st hunger games at 18, that would make her 22 and my dad is 32, what is he think seeing and a woman ten years younger than him and that woman be Johanna Mason. Oh after this I'm tearing his butt up.
Leonidas POV Romance scene coming
I walk through the halls of lower levels of the tribute center and head to the elevator. When I reach the elevator I hit the button and it opens, the person standing in the elevator is Johanna Mason. I enter and stand next to her. "Hey Jo" I say. Johanna smiles at me. "Hey Leo, how's my lion of a boyfriend, you seem stressed" she says. "With everything that's happened lately very stressed." I say to her. "Oh yeah your daughter I'm sorry about that Leo, but if anyone can help her or prepare her for this it's you." She says leaning against me placing her hands on my chest.
At six foot six and two hundred and forty pounds I sort of tower over and engulf Jo's five foot eleven and hundred and forty pound body. I look down at her and say "Thank you Jo". She looks up at me and smiles, you wanna go participate in some stress relief theirs no one on our tribute floor". I smile and hit the stop button for tributes quarters seven.
When the door opens it's a rush to her room. Once inside strip as fast as possible and make it into her shower and close the door, blur it, turn on the sound blockers and turn on the shower. I pick Johanna up and place her against the wall and she wraps her legs around my waist. It's a blur of thrusts and grunts of desperate hunger as Johanna attacks my mouth. Johanna puts her hands on my shoulders and pushes herself off the wall causing me to fall on my back, Johanna begins to bounce herself up and down. Soon a blast of ecstasy washes over both of us, Johanna leans forward over me and says for the first in our 3 year relationship "I love you". I say for first time as well "I love you too Jo" and then I say something I though I never say, "Marry Me Jo". Johanna sits in silence for a moment and says, "Okay".
Katniss POV
After four and a half hours of steam baths, being scrubbed with and hosed down with gritty water and some kind of special soap, being waxed down and having every hair plucked from my body and my hair styled until my body and hair were at the peak of perfection. Flavius stands over me and says, "I think you are finally done and ready to be sent to Cinna". A fabric blanket is placed over me and I'm wheeled to a private room where I lay on cold metal bench.
After a few minutes of laying there a dark skinned man walks into the room. He is not dressed out of this world like the rest of the capitol, he is dressed in a regular black pants and grey shirt and gold eyeliner. He sits down on a stool and begins to talk, "I'm sorry this happened to you Katniss". I'm a little shocked, "Most people just keep congratulating me". "Not me, I share the same view points as your father, I guess that we work so well together" he says. "You work for my father?" I ask. "Yes, I'm one of his stylists for his clothing line, which is why when we found out you were the female tribute Me and my partner Portia Volunteered to be stylists this year for 12." He says. "Oh" I say. "Well lets talk about your tribute parade costume, they usually represents your district" he says. "Well out district is miners and refinery workers" I say. "Well I don't want to do that, I've got another idea. Come on let's go get you ready for the tributes parade." He says.
It's now about ten minutes before the tributes parade. I'm looking myself over in the mirror. I'm wearing black leather pants, a black leather vest with black coal leafs on the shoulders, black knee high boots and a black sleeveless trench coat that is tore at the bottom, the entire thing is dusted in fake coal dust. My hair is dyed black and flowing down my back and a half circle braid on the back of my head.
I walk out to the main assembly area where mine and Peeta's chariot is. I see Peeta walking up with Porita. He's wearing the same outfit as mine except his trench coat only comes down to his knees. I'm almost caught in a trance by how mystical he looks.
Cinna begins to explain to us about how he's going to set our costumes on fire. "It's not real fire it's just synthetic flames, so you wont feel a thing." I'm worried at first but I come to grips "Well you work for my dad so I'll trust you." We climb onto the chariot and prepare for the parade, Peeta leans over and asks me, "Are you sure about this flame stuff?" I look at him, "Well would you rather be humiliated or burn to death" I say. "Uh, I don't know which is worse" he says. "Well I'd rather keep my dignity before I die" I say. "Point taken Peeta says, we both laugh.
The trumpet sounds to begin the tributes parade, we see the first chariots begin to role out. Cinna hops on our chariot and ignites our costumes, I instantly grab Peeta's hand as the fabric goes up in flames waiting to be burned to death. I then notice that I don't feel anything, I look at my costume, my pants and vest have small flames popping off them and the leather is glowing orange and red and boiling, my boots and the bottom half of my trench coat is complete gulfed in flames. I look at Peeta and we both have the same expression of nervous relief. Cinna says to us, "You two are next good luck". Peeta utters my father's statement "Well, let's put on that great show".
Our chariot begins to roll out of the assembly area, we both hold on for dear life as the chariot jerks forward. When we roll out onto the road of tributes it's like another world, hundreds of thousands of people on either side screaming, clapping and cheering us on. "Let's hold up our hands together and wave, they'll love it" Peeta says. We raise our entwined hands and smile and wave at the crowds, the people in the stands begin to lose it. They soon begin chanting our names and throwing flowers at us. I catch one of roses and blow a kiss to the crowd and see hundreds of men and women faint.
We arrive at the end of the road and pull into a round-about until all the chariots are facing a elevated balcony at the back of the presidential mansion. President Snow a medium height man about in his mid seventies steps up to a enclosed podium, Snow has been President of Panem for over forty years. Snow waves to the crowds and they begin to quiet down, he then speaks into a microphone, "Tributes welcome. We welcome you to the Capitol. Happy Hunger Games to you all and may the odds be ever in your favor." The crowds erupt with cheering.
We arrive back in the assembly area where two avox's put us out. We get off the chariot and head for the elevators. There standing at the back of assembly area is Effie, Haymitch and my dad. I stop myself before I can scold him, I still haven't forgot about that mess between him and Johanna mason. "That was exciting" Haymitch says. "Yes, we are all anyone's going to be talking about" Effie says excitedly. My father walks up to us and puts a hand on mine and Peeta's shoulders. "You two were amazing, now lets get upstairs and get you two out of these getups and talk about tomorrow.
We enter the elevator and head up to district 12's living quarters. Our living quarters consist of a large dinning area, a lowered area where the main living area is, hallway to the side of the living area where all the bedrooms are, at the end of it is a sitting area that leads to a outside balcony. I'm shown to my room which is at the end of the hall across from Peeta's. I head inside and strip my costume off and toss it into a chute. I head to the bathroom and wash all the makeup, hair dye and fake coal dust off me. After I slip on a pair of loose black pants and a yellow blouse and head back to the dinning table where everyone else has already seated. I take a seat next to Peeta.
"Ok, now that we've gotten through the tributes parade we need to talk about what starts tomorrow." My father says. "Tomorrow begins the training, you two and all the other tributes will be there for the next four days. There will be numerous stations there to pick from. Now I would advise not to go straight to the station your best at, go for the survival stations, save you're the skill your best at for your private lesson to show to the gamemakers." Haymitch jumps into the conversation, "Be sure to do your absolute best on the private lesson, the higher the score you get the better chance you have of getting sponsors."
That night after dinner what I heard from my prep team was still bugging me, so I leave my room and head to my fathers room. There I find him in a recliner staring out his window, I go up beside him and I can feel the anger welling up inside me. "Dad we need to talk" I say angered
He looks at me with a concerned look on his face. "What's wrong Katniss?'' he asks. "Well this morning I over heard my prep team saying that you are in a relationship with Johanna Mason, I need to know is that true" I say. A look of shock appears on my fathers face, then he exhales looking down and rubbing his hand over his face. "Is it true, Dad!" I yell at him. "Yes!" he says.
I stand there shocked. "Dad, do you know she's sort of considered the craziest of all the victors and not to mention she's 22 ten years younger than you are, how long has this been going on?" I ask. "Three years now." He says still staring into the floor. "Three years! So you thought you a then 29 year old father would hook up with a 19 year old girl from district seven who turned into a crazed killer in her games." I'm now furious that he hid this from me and Prim for 3 years.
"Katniss it's more than that. When you become a victor you're a damaged human being, and the only thing you can do is try and find a way to survive day to day. I found a reason to live again when I got you and Prim, but it didn't stop the nightmares, it didn't stop the nights of hopelessness as my own mind screamed against me. The leg, the hand, the eye they're gone but I can still fill them, the new mechanical heart they had to give me, I can feel every beat. It's like ghosts that haunt me every second of every day. Then I met Johanna, another damaged human being, another person haunted by ghosts of the games. We've been able to heal together and find something both of us never thought we'd find again, love" my father stares back into the floor as I stand there shocked.
Later that night I'm sitting in the back sitting area thinking about what my father said when someone enters the room. I turn around and it's Peeta, he sits down beside me. "Katniss we need to talk" he says. "Your father told me that if there's a person in your life that you love, but you know that you'll never have a future together it's better to ask them so that if they say yes you can spend what time you have with in love instead of living the rest of your life with regret." My heart begins to race a mile a minute in my chest. "Katniss that person I want to spend what little time I have left with is You".
AU: Sorry about the wait, I've been on vacation. I want to talk about the romance scene, I didn't want to do it cause I really don't like them but it fitted good with these two characters and the proposal scene, yes it's a little early but it will play critical in later chapters. As always thank you so much for the reviews I will try to upload quicker, and the Hunger Games is sole property of Suzanne Collins Enjoy!