Chapter 1 : Nikita is ten.
Nikita loves her brother more than anyone. Her father doesn't care about her, and while she loves her mother, even she knows that she is beautiful, but stupid and clueless. Her brother is only three years older than she is, but he already takes care of her more than her parents do. He takes care of her younger brother and her new born baby sister too, but she knows that she is his favorite, and she loves it.
She had an older sister too, but she died a few months ago bacause of the famous family illness. Nikita is terrified of this illness. It can strike at any time and it has already claimed the life of and aunt, an uncle, her sister and seven of her cousins.
She knows that Paradin, her brother, is still grieving Dinie, her dead sister, and sometimes she feels guilty for not doing the same. But truth be told, Nikita never really liked Dinie, because she had to share Paradin with her. And even if she knows it is selfish, Nikita does not like sharing one tiny little bit.
Its why she doesn't like her little brother Wain very much either. He is jealous of her position in Paradins heart, and she knows that he would really like to take her place. She doesn't really know what she thinks of Pambi yet, but she's just a baby, so she's not that much of a threat.
But Wain,... she is a bit afraid of her eight year old brother. She wonders if he would organise a way for her to catch and die of the family illness. Because you don't randomly catch this disease. It has to be given to you. And you always die. She's briefly considered trying to find a way to give it to him, but gave up on the idea for two reasons : one he's her brother, and two Paradin loves all his younger siblings, and has already told her and Wain on many occasions that if either of them ''knock the other off'' then they will be dead to him.
Nikita isn't sure if he means that literally or figguratively, but either way she doesn't want Paradin to stop loving her, so she leaves Wain alone. And Wain leaves her alone for the same reason.
Which is why she is so shocked the day she finds Wain, poor eight year old little Wain, lying on his red-soaked bed staring at the ceiling with unblinking eyes, and a horrible red line on his little neck.
The family illness has struck again.
Nikita screams, and screams, and screams, she can't seem to stop.
This is when she really realises that she never could have killed Wain. Because he is so little, and it hurts her heart too much.
Her screams alert Paradin, who is never far away, and he comes running into this nightmare of a room. A dead baby brother on the bed, and a screaming baby sister staring at the bed as if her life depends on it. He freezes. After a moment once he has his emotions back in check he calls an Avox and tells him to take Nikita away, so that he can call his parents and explain that the family illness has claimed another child.
Everything else happens in a blur for Nikita, and before she can truely understand what is going on, Wain is in a box in the ground, and she will never see him again. Just like Dinie. Only Wains death hits her harder, because Wain is (was) younger than her. He was eight. Dinie was fourteen. In Nikitas mind, she was old. Wain was just a baby. And he is gone forever.
So Nikita cries, and cries, and cries. And to make things even worse Paradin isn't speaking to her. He's not even looking at her anymore. She doesn't understand why, until she overhears him speaking to one of his friends a few days after Wains funeral.
''I know they didn't get along very well, but I never thought she would kill him. I should have known. In this family even ten year olds aren't innocent''
He thinks that she did it. Paradin thinks that she killed Wain. He doesn't love her anymore. She can actually feel her heart breaking. Paradin, the one person in this world that she knew she could count on, doesn't love her anymore.
This is when Nikita proves for the first time that she is not a regular innocent child. Because a regular innocent child would have cried, and begged for forgiveness, and wept about their innocence.
But Nikita is not an innocent child. She is one of Snows grandchildren, and she is isn't going to weep. She is going to get her revenge. Because Nikita is very, very angry. And she did not kill Wain.
Although, technically, no one did, it was the ''Family illness''. Pssh. Well she was going to find the ''virus'' that killed Wain and she was going to distroy him. It. She was going to distroy it.
Besides finding out who had done it wasn't going to be difficult. All she would have to do is find out who was acting smug when the subject of Wain was brought up, and spy on them. No one would notice. Nikita, after all, is just a small ten year old girl with long brown hair, and big green eyes. The picture of innocence. There's also the fact that no one thinks she is very smart. In her world that's obviously an accet.
So she puts her plan into action, and it takes her two weeks to find out who did it. Two weeks that feel like forever to Nikita because Paradin is still refusing to acknowledge her existence. But it's ok, she tells herself. Vengence will soon be her. Because now she knows who did it. And she hates him. She hates him so much.
It's her seventeen year old cousin Wilford, and he doesn't know it yet, but he is going to die.
He took Wains life, so she will take his. He must be punished. An eye for an eye as they say.
And the worst thing, the thing that fills Nikita with a blinding rage that ten year olds shouldn't feel, is that it was all an elaborate plan to hurt Paradin. Because Paradin is dagerous. He is ambitious and he wants to be Panems next president, just like all of Snows grandchildren. To hurt him, Wilford killed Wain knowing that Paradin would belive it was Nikita. Who else, after all, had anything against tiny Wain? But what makes Nikitas blood run cold is that Wilford might do it again. Stupid horrible Wilford might kill Pambi, baby Pambi! Or maybe even Nikita herself.
There is no such thing as mercy in the Snow family. So the family illness would have Wilford as its next victim. The real question is how to do it? Nikita gives herself no false illusions : Wilford is both bigger and stronger than she is, so she won't beat him will strength. That would be suicide. No. She would have to use cunning instead. And how, she asks herself, does a small stupid girl kill a big stupid boy using cunning? With poison of course! The answer is so obvious to her that feels a little dizzy. She ignores the feeling.
So. Poison. Yes. It will be quick and she will be far enough so that he doesn't hurt her with a last burst of energy. She isn't stupid enough to die like that. She will need to chose the poison carefully though. She doesn't want him to die too quickly... he needs to know that she, and not Paradin, is the one punishing him.
And so begins another two weeks of preparations, at the end of which Nikita is very depressed. It's been a month now, and Paradin still hates her. He won't let her near Pambi either. She didn't realise how much she loved playing with her until now. And even if she succeds and Wilford dies, there is no garentie that Paradin will love her again, because maybe it is too late. But at least once Wilford is dead she won't have to be afraid of him anymore. Once he is dead he won't be able to hurt Paradin, or Pambi. Or her. It's funny how she thought of herself last like that. She usually outs herself first. She shrugs it off. She has a job to do.
She decides to use herself as bait. Wilford is a bastard, and he really wants to be Snows heir. She knows he won't resist knocking off some competition, especially if it is weak. And weaker than her is hard to find. Plus there's the added bonus that killing her would be a way of taunting Paradin.
She knows he won't resist trying to kill her.
So she pouts and whines and makes herself seem as annoying and weak as she can, and one day he follows her home. He's so careful about it that if she wasn't keeping an eye out for him she wouldn't have noticed. She pretends not to notice him and acts as carefree as she can, with her heart thumping away the way it is, and lures him to a bedroom (not hers. She doesn't want a dead body in her room). In the room there is a bed, and in the bed there is a dummy where she would be sleeping. She hides in the shadows of the room, with a needle full off poisen in her hand, and waits. When he sneaks into the room ( and again he really sneaks! She never would have heard him!) she is so tense she can't feel her legs. He moves to stab the dummy, and the moment he does she darts forward and plants the needle in is arm and runs back so fast she trips over herself. She flinches and closes her eyes : her will kill her for sure now, but at least she got him first. After a few seconds she realises that she's still breathing so she opens her eyes. Wilford is staring at the needle in his arm in amazement. He looks at Nikita with something like a mixture of awe and fear and respect. And then he sinks to the floor and stops moving.
She just sits there, feeling hollow. She thought that knowing that Wilford was gone would make her feel better. It doesn't. It just makes her feel sick. So she calls an Avox, and orders him to fetch Paradin. And she waits, hoping that he will come that he doesn't hate her enough not to. So when he does come she bursts into tears. He came, Paradin came, and she is so relieved because he must still love her a little bit and it's better than nothing, oh its is so much better than nothing. And then she almost laughs because the situation must be so familiar to him : a dead body and a crying Nikita? Twice within a months time. It's almost funny. Almost.
Paradin aits for a while, for her to calm down a bit, before sitting down next to her and asking her why Wilford is dead on the floor. ''He killed Wain, whispers Nikita staring at the floor. He killed Wain so I killed him. Was it the wrong thing to do?''. She feels sick with fear. Was it wrong? Should she have done it? She was so sure of herself while she was planning it out, but now she really thinks that she might just throw up. And in most families the answers to her questions would be : yes, it was wrong, and no, she should not have done it.
But Nikita and Paradin aren't from a regular family, are they? Their names are not Nikita Jones, or Paradin Millard. Their names are Nikita and Paradin Snow. And in their family murder is hardly an unusual thing.
''Wilford killed Wain?'' Paradin asks Nikita. She nods. ''Then you did the right thing'' he tells her.
Relief fills her up so quickly she feels positively dizzy with it. She still feels sick though. She wishs it would just go away.
Paradin looks at her again, smiles, and asks her to leave. ''But... what about the body? She whispers.
Pardin takes her into his arms and kisses her forhead. ''I am so proud of you, he tells her. Go find mum. I'll take care of everything else''.
So she leaves the room, and goes to her mothers room. It's actually quite reassuring to spend some time with this clueless woman. Nikita feels strangely safe with her. It's odd, because this woman has never protected her in any way. She loves her, Nikita knows that, but she's just so stupid. Thats what's nice really. This woman will never, ever know that Nikita is a murderer now.
Later on Paradin joins them and explains to their mother that Wilford Snow has died of the family illness. The silly woman immediatly gets up to go call Wilfords mother to offer her condolences. Nikita feels cold. His mother. Wilford had a mother. She really is going to be sick. But before she can run out, Paradin has his arm around he shoulders and starts taking her somewhere with him. No. Not just somewhere. The gym. His own personnal gym. He's never let her come in before! And when she walks in she is absolutely gobsmacked : it's huge! There's a boxing ring, and a shooting range with real guns, and there are swords, and so many weapons that she doesn't even have a name for!
Suddenly the doors slam shut, and she whips around, noticing for the first time than the room is soundproof. Paradin puts a hand on her shoulder, and she starts in fear. He laughs at her, but not unkindly. ''Don't be scared, he tells her. I would never hurt you, you know that. You're my Diamond.'' Diamond. He's called her that ever since she can remember, she hasn't heard it in over a month, and she realises how much she has missed him, and how important he is for her happiness. So she makes her fear go away, and trusts her brother.
He starts out by explaining to her that now that she has entered the ''family tradition'' of killing off fellow family members, she will be a target. Because everyone is after the trone, thats is to say that everyone wants to rule Panem. Including Paradin, and apparently, including her. This confuses her. She didn't kill Wilford to rule Panem. She killed Wilford to avenge Wain. She tells Paradin this, and he nods. ''I know, he says to her. But no one else knows that. Or has to know that.'' He continues on by telling her that he will take the blame for Wilfords death. ''It's safer that way'' he says. This fills Nikita with fear. Will he be next? Because of her? But before she really has time to panic, he is already reassuring her that they won't get him that easily. ''This is why I brought you here Diamond. I train here everyday just like those kids who go to the games do. So if I ever went in I would win.''
''But you can't go in, Nikita argues. You're Capitol. Only people from the districts go.''
''Yes, he grins. But if I did, then I would be able to kill them all with my bare hands. And so I'm very capable of protecting myself from the Family. It's why I'm still alive. And now you're going to do the same thing.'' At this point Nikita is completly bewildered. What in Panem is Paradin going on about?
Her confusion must show on her face, because Paradin quickly explains that he wants her to be able to defend herself properly, so from now on she will train in the gym every day, just like her does.
''Because in our family, he finishes, it's kill or be killed. So we are going to kill. Because I am going to be the next leader of Panem. And you are going to be my right-hand girl. Just you wait and see. All we have to do is survive.'' Nikita nods. Yes. It makes sense. She will learn to fight. That way she will be able to stop being afraid, and no one else she loves will die. No one else will join Dinie and Wain. Paradin and her will make sure of that.
Meanwhile, in district 12, Gale is twelve years old, and he has survived his first reaping. And as he watchs his districts tributes get hacked to death on his television screen, he feels a surge of hatred towards Snow and his entire family. They have it easy he is sure of it. On one day, he vows, they will pay.
Yep. So that was chapter one. I'm not sure Nikita turned out the way I wanted her too. Because I quite like her, but I'm afraid that I'm passing her off as a hateful person. Hopefully I'll be able to fix that later on. After all, she is just a spoilt ten year old here. I think she'll be easier to handle once she's grown up. Please tell me what you think. I don't mind criticism as long as it's not mindless hate. And if you spot any grammatical errors please point them out to me. I don't live in an english speaking country so it's hard for me to see them sometimes.