The Princess Of Panem
Chapter Three: In The Darkness With You
By BluebirdBrigade
Aurora
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"There she is!" cries Effie Trinket as I enter the dining carriage. The train doesn't even jostle like I've seen carts do when they take the miners to work. You can barely feel the train moving, and its only when you look out of the window that you realise it is. "You're late. Not the best start."
I fight the urge to stick my tongue out at Effie Trinket.
Christian is already sat down at the table, Haymitch is pouring himself another drink. I resist the temptation to smack it out of his hand. I seat myself opposite Christian, and immediately my plate is full of food that has been brought to me by person dressed in scarlet clothing and scarlet lipstick. Food that looks so beautiful, I don't know if I dare to touch it in case it's actually a painting. I end up not being able to resist it for long because my stomach growls. I haven't eaten since the early morning and the effect has taken its toll on me. I eat what I can and begin to feel queasy from the rich food. I gulp down the cold drink of what appears to be orange juice in an attempt to settle my stomach.
Christian says nothing throughout the meal, as do I. As Effie twitters on about this and that in the Capitol and how amazing it is, I begin to notice the redness that circles around his eyes. I want to hug him and tell him everything will be alright but I can't.
"Have you decided yet?" Haymitch asks me gruffly, startling me. I look at him confusedly and he sways his cup around. "Are you giving up?"
The whole table goes still, even Effie has shut up. Christian raises his eyes to meet mine and I breath in deeply.
"No." I mutter, taking more of my cold orange juice.
"Good." Haymitch laughs loudly but there is no humour to it. "Now. Christian." He looks up apprehensively. "We'll need to figure out your strengths before the games and use them to attack from within. Usually I don't give such a shit what you do, because it was easier that way. You ask and I answer, that's how it used to be. But unfortunately, you have Rory here and she's a stubborn lass so I'll have to be the interrogator." This is about as friendly as Haymitch gets. I roll my eyes at his behaviour but Christian soaks it all in like a sponge.
"I can fish." He says after a while. I raise my eyebrows in surprise. That is really useful. If he knows what to do with a hook and can get himself food then he is pretty much raring to go.
"Fish? Are you sure you're not from district four?" Haymitch mumbles grudginly. "Okay. You can fish. What else?"
Christian goes red. "I guess I'm strong…for a thirteen-year old. And I can throw with good aim."
"Now we are getting somewhere." Haymitch leans back in his chair and picks up a sharp knife. Effie gives a horrendous gasp and Haymitch rolls his eyes at her. He hands the knife to Christian who gulps noticeably. "Throw it."
"Where?" He asks apprehensively. Haymitch looks around the room at a suitable target. There is a picture of President Snow hanging on the wall and I see Haymitch grin maliciously.
"His head." Effie shakes her head in dismay but says nothing, she looks intrigued. Christian gives the knife a strong flick in President Snow's direction and it lodges itself right in his forehead. Haymitch mutters some praise.
"Ooh!" Goes Effie loudly, clapping and giggling. Christian goes red again and I give him a smile and a nod. Haymitch notices, and eyes us both.
"This is probably the first time I've seen tributes even acknowledge eachother." Haymitch flicks his eyes between us and I suddenly stiffen. Maybe I'm doing this wrong? Maybe I shouldn't be so warm to him. I try to glare at Christian but I can't. He's just a boy, a helpless little boy. He's an innocent. It's unfair. "Now, Rory."
"Haymitch." I say back, and he rolls his eyes.
"I know you're a skilled potions maker." Now it's my turn to roll my eyes.
"I'm Amateur at best." I say, looking away from the table and out of the huge windows that lay on the side of the train. I can't see anything but rubble, so I'm guessing we are passing through a certain district. I let my mind toy with which one it could be, but before I get very far Haymitch has reeled me back in.
"Your self-confidence astounds me." He mutters dryly. "What else can you do."
"I can use a sword. But I'm still pretty much powerless to combat—"
"Hang on we'll get to that. What's this about a sword." Haymitch leans onto his arms and for some reason, so does Christian. I glance at Effie but she's busy giving some order to an Avox, her hands moving so fast they are like a blur.
"My brother once found a sword, in the forest behind our garden. He taught me to sword fight, although I'm average at best." Haymitch scoffs and mutters something like, 'we'll see about that.'
"Fine. If you're going to be an idiot about it." Haymitch says scornfully to me but I brush it off. It's usually around now, after a couple glasses of gin that he gets mean. "When we get to the Capitol tomorrow, you will receive stylists. From what I'm I've heard they are the best the Capitol can offer and so you'd be an idiot to question their judgement. You will do everything they tell you to, even if you don't like it."
I frown at this, because I most certainly will not just sit back and watch as they sell me off like a slab of meat in the Hob. "N—"
"I don't care what you think." Haymitch hisses at me, and I know I've gone a bit too far. I don't shrink back but I look at his eyes that show deep deep hardship. "You will do as you're told for now."
I read his eyes for a few more seconds, and he mine. And then I look away and he leans back. One look up and I see that Christian looks petrified.
"Don't look so afraid." Is all I can manage. Christian doesn't say anything but his features loosen up and he nods determinedly. This simple gesture does enough to raise a smile to my lips.
"Finally, a smile." Comments Haymitch, but I ignore him for the rest of the meal out of pride.
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They send us to our rooms, so that we get some rest before tomorrows 'Big, Big, Big Day!' (as Effie puts it) although how they believe we'll sleep is beyond me. Its 12 am and I'm lying awake in bed, with only the moonlight from the window as my friend. I take shelter in the fact that wherever we are, we'll always be under be same sky as everyone else. Maybe my brother is looking up at the sky tonight, maybe…
I can't stand lying down on the bed anymore. I take a walk around the room, but after a while I begin to feel sick. The heat is stifling and my lungs feel as if they were sandpapered. I open the door to my room slowly and carefully so as not to disturb anyone at this late an hour. I step out into the cool corridor, revelling in the loss of heat off my flaming skin. My bare feet relish the icy floor and I take a couple more steps. I close my bedroom door and walk down the corridor quietly. At the end of the passage I move through the dining carriage and through into the next one, which I don't recognise. It's dark, really dark, so I feel my way around the edges of the carriage in hope that I might find another exit. I keep looking, finally smacking my palm against a large metal door. I pull it open, only to find it's even darker than the first.
Now I start to really panic. If there is anything I'm afraid of, it's the darkness. You never know what is lurking within, friend or foe. I lick my parched lips and feel slick with sweat. I take a couple of breaths and carry on through. I wasn't going to stop until I was well away from my obnoxious room. Halfway down the dark, never-ending corridor I stumbled over something rigid and camouflaged.
"Ouch." I yelped instinctively, only to have another hand that wasn't my own to slap down on my mouth.
"Shh." Said the voice and I almost wet myself in absolute fear. "It's Christian."
I felt my body sag in relief as I gave out a quiet, high pitched laugh. Squinting in the darkness, I saw him and his eyes peeking curiously out at me.
"I'm guessing you couldn't sleep either." I mumbled aloud and he stood up. I was suddenly afraid he was going to leave me, stranded in this dark hall, all by myself. I reached out and tugged on his shirt for him to stay as he clicked on a light that was hovering above my head.
Our eyes met and I blushed as he realised that my hand was pulling his shirt. I let it go and looked at the floor.
"Sorry." I murmured, "I'm scared of the dark."
Christian nodded curtly at me and then sat down beside me politely. I had just revealed to him a major weakness of mine and he hadn't laughed at me. The lighted hall was a relief, as was the coolness in the air. I leaned my head back against the wooden panels that lay behind me, hearing a hollow clunk as it made contact with the back of my head.
"I don't like my room." Christian spoke, watching me out of the corner of his eye. I knew what he meant. It was lovely on first glance, beautiful in fact. But over time the more you looked at it, the angrier you felt. How can the capitol afford such luxuries when we can barely survive a week in District 12. "It's so…"
"I know." I gave a nod of my head at his confession.
Christian remained quiet for a moment, tapping his fingers against the hard floor and instead of annoying me, it soothed me. I brought my knees up to my chest.
"Are you okay?" His voice echoed slightly around the corridor and I jumped.
"No." I replied honestly and he let his gaze slide over to face me. "But is anyone?" I let out a dry chuckle and he joined in.
"Nope." He shook his hair and rubbed his left eye sleepily. I noticed the deep black marks under his eyes that indicated his sleep deprivation. I considered his age, wondering whether or not he was as old as I thought.
"How old are you?"
He looked back at the wall infront of him, his jaw tightened. "13. My birthday is in 2 weeks."
"Young." I replied bitterly. It was so unfair for him, I was older more experienced and I had lived longer. I wasn't going to live much longer…
"I guess."
"Is Haymitch right? Should we be ignoring each other?" I asked aloud, because I didn't know the answer in any context. I knew that I didn't want that to be the case because Christian was the closest to being human and pure in this demonic place. Haymitch wasn't there anymore and Effie was so garish.
"We probably should." Says Christian, shrugging his shoulders. Then he tenses and looks me in the eye. "But I don't see why we should follow rules."
I liked the sound of that. I wanted to disobey in every way possible. If I was going to die, I was going to do it my way. And with this is mind, I rationalised my next move. "Allies." I say nervously, turning to Christian.
He blinks at me in a bit of shock but then he smiles a cheeky and warm smile that I'm sure would have melted my heart if I were years younger. He shakes my hand and said, "Friends."
We smiled at eachother for a couple of moments. We talked for ages, just hitting topics and I found it was easy to have a conversation with him. He was such a sweet boy, and I felt as if he were my younger sibling. I imagined what it would be like to have a younger brother, someone to boss around and protect. I'd only ever been the little sister of Apollo. It's nice not to feel so weak. I needed all the strength and courage I could muster. Christian had a large family and he was the eldest and looked after his 3 younger siblings a lot. When he was little he learnt from his father how to fish using a sharp stick. It was one of his favourite past times, but the fish in District 12 were often tiny little things and not very good for eating. Our discussions soon got onto what the Capitol was going to be like.
"You'll do fine in the Capitol." Christian assured me after I had voiced my worries to the young lad. It turns out Christian, or Chris as he likes to be known by his friends, had a heart of gold. He was so innocently sweet beneath his boy exterior. It was heart warming and heart breaking at the same time. How can such a child be swallowed up into the capitols darkness?
"I won't." I say stubbornly. "I'm awful atgetting people to like me. I'll get stage fright and faint or something." I moan, voicing my biggest worry. What if I vomit on stage? That'll make a great impression.
He shook his head and then added in a serious tone, "You wait, when we get there the Capitol stylists will be clawing each other to get you as their tribute."
"Huh?" I was confused.
He went a pretty pink, "You're really pretty. They'll all want you as their tribute."
"That's total rubbish." I said folding my arms, and my voice got quiet. "I'm the witch of District 12."
Christian probably knew all about my little nickname. Everyone did, a bad day was when girl would shout abuse at me from the side of the street and laugh at my hair. I always thought it was a curse and would constantly request my brother to dye it somehow but he would get very angry and tell me how precious my hair was. I didn't understand this at the time, maybe he wanted me to sell it? But now that I thought about it, my brother loved my hair. It was 3 shades lighter than his own blonde hair and we was always ruffling it whenever he got the chance or stroking it when I was upset.
"The witch of District 12? That was just jealous wives spreading rumours." He insisted but I didn't believe him. Why should I? It was untrue and he was just trying to make me feel better.
"You're the cutie pie in this team." I pinched his cheek as I said this and he flushed a little and jerked from my grip. I was in a good mood from this conversation with Chris. He made me feel normal and liked. He didn't seem to be afraid of the fact that I was known as a witch at all which was lovely and made me feel warm.
"Aurora, you are so blind." Christian tittered, giving a small laugh.
"Rory. You can call me Rory." I say immediately. I didn't dislike being called Aurora but it was like an unfamiliar word. Everyone called me Rory, except my parent but they had been dead for a long time. Anything else sounded like a foreign tongue.
"Rory." His tan features stretch to accommodate his youthful grin. "That fits you."
"Really?" I frown, nervously wringing my hands in my lap. It's become a habit now that I play with my fingers, twisting them in my palm and often painfully squeezing them. It feel like a wake-up call to reality. But it's a dead giveaway. "I always believed that I should have a bloody awful name. Aurora sounds like…like…you know what princesses are?"
He shakes his head.
"Back then, before Panem, before everything, there lived these cities called kingdoms. Each kingdom had male kings and female queens who ruled over the land. They bore princes who would become kings and princesses who would become queens. My brother used to tell me those stories. I still believe every word. I don't think anyone can tell me otherwise anymore."
Chris nods, his mouth opens as if to ask a question but he decides against it and shuts his mouth. He stands up suddenly, suprising me.
"We should go back now." He murmurs quietly and I bring myself to my feet. "Effie will have our heads tomorrow if she realises how late we stayed up."
"She'll say something like, "Bags under your eyes! And on your BIG BIG BIG day too!" I mimic her and Chris gives a short laugh.
We head back to bed in silence but wave as we enter our rooms. Friends. Allies. Comrades. Chris.
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Then I heard your heart beating,
you were in the darkness too,
So I stayed in the darkness with you.
I'm glad you guys like it so far, please review or give feedback. I love knowing what you guys think about the story.
Lex