I lay katniss down on the couch she is still sound asleep. "oh hello gale, what can i do for ya" he looks up at me and then to katniss. "ohh,umm, she missed hunting today i was just checking to see if she was here or she just forgot." i highly doubt thats the only reason he is here, but i don't question. "there was a photo shoot for the capitol she's exhausted." his eyebrows knit together in confusion "photo shoot?" he questions "for the wedding" i answer he looks over to her again and holds his gaze on her sleeping face while he responds "is..is it real" i snort a bit "yes gale its real, but katniss really does care about you so dont leave her she really does need you." he holds his gaze on katniss and his eyes soften "well tell her i stopped in" he says "i promise" gale leaves and then i look over to katniss and realize shes awake just pretending "hes gone" i say and stifle a laugh as one i flicks open to look at me she gets up and wraps her arms around me. "weddings are hard" she whines. this time i don't stifle the laugh she looks up at me laughing and puts on a pouty face "what?" she questions " i look at her still laughing a bit "you are adorable when you're tired " she scowls then yawns and leans her head on my chest and closes her eyes "love you"
"i love you too kat"
***3 days later***
there is mandatory viewing for all of panam right now our entire world watching. Except me. they're showing the photo shoot and i still can't see katniss in her dress i wait up in one of the spare rooms while the dresses are being shown. Truthfully i am really excited for the wedding. Katniss is to but i know she would have prefered something small, however that is not an option when you're "the star-crossed lovers from district 12". several minutes and some ooos and ahhhs from and prim and a grunt for haymitch later katniss's beautiful voice reaches my ears "peeta its over you can come on down" i walk down the steps expecting to see everyone sitting in the living room chatting away. but, when i reach the living room it is silent all eyes on the illuminated television. "whats going on" i ask carefully "something about the games an announcement from snow" prim says the games aren't for months what would be happening "must be the reading of the card" i remember learning about something like this in school. On a quarter quell there is a reading of the card the determines the "flavor" per se of the awful games. i take a seat next to katniss who automatically curls up by my side and my arm goes around her and she takes my other hand. she is tense with fear about what will appear on our television in a few moments i rub small circles on her hand and she relaxes a little though still tense. President snow appears on the screen in front of billions of crazily dresses Capitol Citizens he reads the treaty of treason. He takes an neat white envelope with the number 75 on it from a box lined with other envelopes identical to the one in the president's hand besides the little number written on each for many quarter quells in the future. katniss tenses again when he starts to slowly open the envelope "shhh" i whisper into her hair for only her to hear. she looks up at me her face showing two things terror and worry. i gently kiss her forehead. she closes her eyes and melts into the touch we turn our attention back to the screen when we hear the president's voice say. "as a reminder that even the youngest were affected by the districts rebellion the tributes reaped will be in between the ages of 9-16" it takes a moment for it to register. for some it will be the same namly the 11-16 year olds but they're sending 9 year olds in there to KILL people. How could someone kill a terrified 9 year old. its barbaric. Then i remember. we have to train these kids. we have to train 9 and 10 year olds even 11 year olds. who are still extremely innocent to kill. or train older children to kill 9 or 10 year olds. it was awful when a 12 year old died in the average games. i look down at katniss who is stunned she jumps from my arms before i can grab her back and runs out the door in a split second i am on her tail "katniss!" i call after her. she collapses on the ground against one of the empty buildings her body wracked with sobs. I sit in front of her she looks up at me tears still streaming down her face. "im sorry you shouldn't have to deal with me you can go back inside" she looks down again and a lone tear drops off her cheek into the grass below us i put two fingers under her chin and make her look at me "hey" i say "for better or for worse, right" "for better or for worse" she repeats. we envelope ourselves in each others arms we sit like this for a while on the cold ground. our only companion silence and katniss's occasional sniff or whimper she ends up crying herself to sleep my arms. i carry her back to the house in the dark bring and tuck her in bed. alot of nights have ended like this haven't they. i look at my fiance tucked warmly into bed. I walk over to the everdeens and inform her mother that katniss is fine just upset and tell her she had a bit of a melt down. to my surprise she throws her arms around me "thank you peeta" "your welcome " i reply she looks at me and a smile crosses her lips "call me lily, mom, or nothing darling" i return the smile."i better get back to kat before she wakes up and freaks out because she's alone" i say "of course, of course" we bid each other goodnight and i head home to katniss and climb into bed with her. she melts into me ad relases a sigh "i love you so much" she says "always" i reply
AN i'm gonna skip straight to reaping day. the wedding is right after the quell begins like the day after so prepare for that,also i think this is gonna be a really long story that you continually follow for a long time. because its basically what would have happened if there was no quell no rebellion and the love story was real
**reaping day**
it is terrible. some of the children are so small and terrified they're sobbing quietly in their spots. katniss and my family are off to the side of the stage including prim because technically shes already been reaped so she can not be reaped again. effie has lost some of her original spunk but its still there. "alright ladies first" she says she fishes around in the reaping bowl for a moment then pulls out a name she clicks over to the microphone and pipes out "charlotte annersten!" they locate her in the crowd a 14 year old (at least she's not extremely young) with straight very red hair a little longer than katniss's. pale under her freckles even more so now that she is white as a sheet with fear. she makes her way to the stage. a pretty blue dress with a bow around the waist hanging on her shoulders. thats when i notice them her eyes they are piercing green deep deep green not that it is dark or light its just they can only be described in one word fierce. her shock is quickly replaced by a look of determination. katniss squeezes my hand i give her a reassuring back and wrap my arm around her waist she doesn't notice but out of the corner of my eye i can see that we are on screen i ignore it and look over to effie. "now for for the boys" she says she fishes out a name from the bowl and once again clicks back over to the microphone she opens the paper "nicholas setin" they locate him as well. he looks to be about 14 too. Strong build already has some muscles, handsome, normal height. he has jet black hair and olive skin no doubt from the seam. everything about this boy is dark even his eyes which are so dark they are could almost be all pupils except the little white flicks around the edges. he looks shocked but not anymore than anyone else does when they are reaped. they shake hands at the stage and then are escorted into the justice building. we are brought into a different room. by we i mean katniss, haymitch, and I. as soon as we sit down on the couch haymitch speaks up "ruba's nephew" he says "what" katniss asks "ruba" he replies "the butcher, that nicholas kid is her nephew. i've seen him in there he works there" i nod "wait, he's a town kid" it doesn't make sense. town kids are all light blue eyes blonde hair like prim and lily. nothing about that boy is light "yup, stick in the mud just like prim and lily" he says "what about the the girl, charlotte" katniss asks "town" he says "but i know her father from the hob. took over the apothecary after katniss's mothers family sold it a few years back. They say she has healers hands like her mother, Jenniveve. I'd be surprised if she didn't know loads about plants." katniss and i knod in aggrement. after an hour of comfortable silence a peacekeeper walks in to inform us that the hour is up. we make our way to the car that will take us to the train. we all pile into the car and a moment later charlotte and nicholas come out of the justice building. the cameras and reporters swarming like bees on a flower. "dont answer the questions" haymitch says out of no where to the two of us. I am confused for a moment the i see that as the tributes enter the car the reporters begin spitting questions at the two of us we do as haymitch said. we dont answer the questions but we do smile and wave katniss smiles and waves a little but is clinging to me like a lifeline so i simply hold her. the kids get in the car. the ride is silent and as soon as we step onto the train the kids faces light up at all the fancy things around. nicholas looks around in amazement, but charlotte only is momentarily amused then her face returns to its determined state its been in since she stepped onto the stage. katniss and i decided we wouldnt "connect" per se with the tributes but we would still be not as distant as haymitch was. "well this is it" i say trying to lighten the mood a bit. the children turn to us "so why dont we show you two to your rooms." i smile a little at the pair then turn to katniss "katniss, would you show charlotte to her room" "its actually charlie" charlotte says as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "ohh well then, katniss would you show charlie to her room" she looks to charlie "come on" she says with a smile and leads her off i the oposite direction. i turn to nicholas "so is it nick or nicholas" i ask the young boy he shoves his hands acwardly in his pocket he looks up "ya nick is fine" his head goes down again "hey" i say "im sorry that this happened to you. but trust me, its for the better" i look off into katniss's direction he knods and i show him to his room. i walk back to the main compartment where i find katniss walking in form the opposite direction her eyes watering tears threatening to spill from her stormy gray eyes. i open my arms and she gratefully enters we stay like this until katniss composes herself. we seperate and i give her a peck on the nose just then haymitch walks in. "shes just like joanna mason. he states and slumps down in the green armchair across from us "excuse me" katniss says. we take a sat on the couch katniss leaning on me while i have one arm around her. "the red head, shes just like joanna mason" he finnishes joanna mason the rude loud inaproprote slightly mean victor from district 7 "the woman from 7" i ask. he knods "so you mean we should pull a joanna mason with her make her seem weak and scared the whip her out to kill everyone" katniss asks impatetently "no" he retorts "just a comment. he takes a long swig from his bottle. how he finds the alchohol so fast is beside me. "oh and by the way the girl wants to be called charlie and the boy nick" haymitch gruts and katniss lies down with her head on my lap while i play with her hair haymitch and i talk for a while until effie appears to inform us that it is time for dinner we eat in mostly silence with a bit of chatter here and there. when the meal is finnished i look to haymitch and he knods. "so you two" i look the kids who look about green from the rich food "do you have any special skills or anything" theyt look down "basicaly whats you best point" haymitch finnishes impateintly katniss reaches for my hand under they table i take it and a little smirk appears on my face "dont be affraid to brag" katniss adds the kids think for a minute. then nick pipes up "umm ive got fair aim with a knife and i can whittle i guess" we knod then look to charlie who is scowling at her drinking glass. "What about you Charlie any special talents of any sort" she looks up at us "we'll naturally I know loads about plants and and well um my father taugh me how to jut and skin wild animals that helps with food I'm also fast. and like katniss" she knows her head towards katniss "I can climb trees" "what about weapons you know for defense" she closes her eyes for a moment she must be thinking what katniss and I were thinking at this point last year, how can I kill someone, "um I have good aim you know I can throw a ball or something at a target fairly well I guess it shouldn't be too much different from throwing a spear or knife." "Ya that's good" I reply. Effie looks at the fancy watch in her pocket watch "ooh the recap of the trappings begin to start. Katniss cuddles up next to me again. We sit and watch the reaping i take note of only a few in district one there are two sixteen year olds one scary looking girl with straight bleech blonde hair and blood thirsty eyes named gemmi and a boy with bronze skin named shard. In 2 there's a girl around 15 this time with short black hair and black eyes named curin. And a boy a little younger than curin with red hair and blue eyes who looks so strong he could snap a neck with a finger like Cato named kenndel. There's a 13 year old girl and a 16 year old boy from 4 named allison and dennis. everyone seems to be at least 12 or over until we get to 5 in district 5 there are two 9 year olds how ever that happened. a little girl with her blonde hair in pig tails who when her name is called cries silently named elizabeth and a boy with brown hair and blue eyes who doesnt cry but looks as if he is about to named jake. then in 6 theres a 14 year old and a ten year old in 7 another nine year old boy named charles and a 13 year old girl. in 8 15 year old and an 11 year old. in 9 another nine year old this time a girl named tessie who climbs onto the stage with a small ragdy old stuffed bunny claiming she wont let go of it because its her token and a 16 year old boy is called after her. in 10 theres a 13 year old and a 15 year old. in 11 theres a 14 year old and a 10 year old boy. then of course nick and charlie in 12 two 14 year olds. when the screen goes black i speak up "alright kids why dont you two hit th hay we have to talk for a minute. nick stands up and charlie after they are on there way out the door when charlie calls behind her "you know your not that much older than us you cant really call us kids" haymitch and katniss laugh i smile and effie mutters something about manners i smile and call after her "come talk to me when your engaged!" this brings more laughter from the group and even effie cracks a smile. we were all laughed out i get right down to business "so what do you think" everyone thinks for a moment then katniss blurts "its barbaric" we all know "sending poor innocent children in there its awful" she finishes "im with sweetheart on this one" haymitch adds "i mean that little girl from 9 who said her bunny was her token its crazy" we know again katniss leans her head on my shoulder and her eyes fall closed "hey kat wanna head to bed" i whisper into her hair. she nods sleepily "alright we're off to bed good night guys" we stand up and walk to our cabin which we haven't yet seen we've never been in a couples cabin before. we enter the room. its just like our old ones just a bit bigger with two closets and two dressers and a larger bed "cozy" i say katniss smiles then yawns i go over to my dresser and to get my pajamas on she goes to hers. i open the drawer and then hear a gasp from behind me i whip around to see katniss backing away from the drawer. i bolt over and look into the drawer its the dress katniss wore on reaping day. the capitol kinda took it i guess when she left it in the room last year. katniss must be having a kind of freak out i look behind me towards her her eyes are frantic and she has a hand covering her mouth to contain the scream that is about to escape her lips. i wrap my arms around her and she takes her hand off her mouth to hug me back we stay like this for a while then head to bed.
The next day we take the kids to the remake building where we say hello I cinna and poshe "so more flames this year" katniss asks cinna "no flames is your thing I've got something special in mind for these ones" we bid our goodbyes and head to the training center we get another couples room in the training center. We are prepared to spend the day doing nothing while the kids get made up. But as we walk into the sitting area we see haymitch "come on we're going socializing" he says. We walk to the elevator and haymitch pushes a button with a B on it. i never have been to any other floors than 12 and the training floor. when we arrive we hear lots of noise talking chatting drunken singing. like a bar sure enough there's a bar when the elevator doors open a bar with lining the walls showing videos of old games and reapings clips. katniss reaches for my hand i take her tiny cold one in mine and we advance forward out of the elevator. i expected to sit down at the bar but haymitch kept on pushing deeper through the crowd until we reaches a door labeled MENTORS ONLY we push through its a lot quieter in here. plush chairs and mahogany tables effie would love them avoxes walk around handing out drinks to the chatting mentors. we follow haymitch to a group chatting in back "kids" he turns to us "meet well everybody" he says then falls into a fleshy orange chair he motions to one of the avoxes for a drink and she scurries off to get it. a man stands up he has bronze hair and is very handsome obviously finnick odair he holds out his hand "finnick odair" he says i take his hand and shake it "peeta mellark" he holds his hand out to katniss "katniss everdeen" she says "i guess soon to be katniss mellark" she says with a weak laugh finnick smiles and takes a seat we sit on a purple couch next to haymitch. he speaks up "this is joanna" he motions towards a scowling woman obviously joanna mason. "annie cresta" he adds motioning to a young red headed woman holding hands with finnick who seems to be in another world. "this is mags" he says motioning to an old woman who is on the other side of finnick "and this is chaff" he geustures to a man sitting beside him taking a long swig from a bottle of alcoholhe doesnt lower the bottle from his lips but he holds up his arm as a hello but instead of a hand at the end his arm ends in a stump he pulls the bottle from his lips and stands up to shake our hands we do the same i shake his hand and katniss puts out hers for him to shake it but instead he gives her a big kiss on the mouth the entire group guffaws at first i feel utter hatred for the man then relize it was just a joke but am still appaled katniss pulls back and looks to me appalled i pull her a little closer we sit down and when the group stops laughing we start to actually talk. katniss not very often directly to chaff me neither im still pretty peeved at him. Katniss doesnt seem to like joanna to much but her and finnick hit it off. not in a romantic way but a big brother, best friend kind of way. plus him and annie cresta seem happliy involved. she doesnt speak much etheir and seems a bit weird though very sweet. we talk and eat and drink for the whole day but never alcohol for us. at around six we go through the bar to the elevators that will bring us down to where the tribute chariots are. when we arrive cinnia is there "i already talked to them i want you to see the costumes with everyone else. we and up sitting on a high balcony where we are shown on camera multipul times. finnaly we humor one reporter and let him interveiw us. "how are the preparation for the wedding coming along" the reporter asks "well the capitol is taking care of most of it but it will probably be amazing" katniss says "what about you peeta what do you think of the dresses" he asks pointing a microphone at my face "you know what i think i'm the only one in the entirety of panama to have not seen the dresses" i say smiling at katniss "well its bad luck" katniss says "i don't need luck" i say looking deep into the katniss's stormy eyes she rolls her eyes and gives me a short but loving kiss. i think by now the reporter is in tears. the anthem begins to play and we all look over the balcony and see the chariots rolling out followed by the others. i see that some of the stylists used the idea of illuminating their tributes. the kids from 3 had costumes with LED lights covering them. at least that makes sense because 3 is electronics. district 6 were cows with flaming belts what were they doing broiling themselves. when the district ten chariot rolled out i got antsy to see what cinna had done for them. the eleven chariot rolled out and on their tail was twelve…..
they were breath taking. nick was in all his darkness was wearing a black coal miners outfit he was covered in coal dust and was wearing makeup that made him look very dark and tough. next to him charlie was in a black dress a plain black dress i was confused for a moment when all of a sudden there was a bright light. so bright we couldn't see her then it dimmed and her dress had been transformed into a yellow dress covered in feathers. she lifted her arms and out sprouted wings. she was a cannery a canary in one of our coal mines. she was smiling and waving but on the inside she was bored to death. they aren't holding hands this year like kat and i did. i look over to katniss she has a splitting grin on her face . i squeeze her hand and she looks to me and lifts our hands to her lips and says one word "awesome" and turns her attention back to the chariots. The reporters and commentators are going nuts over how strong and tough they made nick look and how amazing charlie looked.
when the ceremony is over we are directed down to where the tributes and their chariots are. we walk over the the district twelve chariot where the children are climbing off the chariot effie porsche and the stylist are raving about how much of a hit we were while cinna just tells the kids they did amazing. katniss runs over and gives cinna a hug "that was amazing" she turns to the kids " you did great" i walk over and thank cinna and complement the kids.
we go up to our floor and katniss and i go to our room. Just as we're about to fall into bed when the t.v clicks on. that happens here when theres mandatory viewing. i get in bed with my back against the headboard. Katniss gets in bed and crawls over to me. she kneels down next to me and grabs my hand. the voice of ceasar flickerman comes through the speakers. "this is ceasar flickerman your master of ceremonies" the crowd applauded obviously fake. "if theres a peeta mellark out there he better close his eyes." i laugh and look at katniss she laughing a little too. "you saw the dresses, you picked your favorite and you voted for it now its time to seeeeeeee which dress katniss everdeen will wear at the altar!" katniss looks uninterested but excited by the suspense "uh uh uh now wait wait wait are peeta's eyes closed" i give an exaggerated sigh and walk into the bathroom and shut the door. after about ten minutes katniss opens the door "come on" she says with a laugh. the t.v is off and its time for bed. shes about to walk around to the other side of the bed but at the footboard i grab her hand and spin her around until her lips connect with mine shes momentarily shocked but kisses me back after a second. we climb into bed, whisper our good nights and both are fast asleep within minutes.