The Living Games

A/N I just realized that the mist I'm using sounds a lot like the Mist. But I had no idea until I started writing this chapter. Then I was like wait . . . But anyway! There's going to be a big time jump here. Nothing unusual happens, and it's pretty boring. Since there's no Victory Tour to write, nothing interesting is going to happen. Sigh. I hate time jumps because I feel like there's probably a detail or event that happened that I missed. But I can assure you, nothing big goes on. If you want a four or five-shot with more detail on the events mentioned, I can do that. Then I looked back and realized I wrote a lot of detail for her and Zane on her birthday anyway, because I couldn't resist. He he, I just love writing fluff! This is rated T, so don't expect them to (I just realized how blunt this sounded Xb) start fucking anytime soon, or for me to go into great detail. They aren't even 16 yet. And she's 14. But whatever, I'm sure you get it. Onward towards the chapter!

Chapter Twelve: The Day Everything Went Wrong

Days passed by. Everyone denied that District Twelve had a Victor, and every time Aubrey tried to see if she could spark a memory, they just looked confused and walked away. There would be times where someone would mumble, "District Twelve . . . Victor?" But they'd just shake their head and fall under again.

She celebrated her 15th birthday, and her and Zane's one year anniversary.

Their anniversary . . . about their anniversary . . .

Let's just say, they kissed quite a bit and got caught making out on the dining room table.

It was about two or three months since her sister's victory. Zane, Arianna, and Josh had made it so it would be the best birthday ever. Meaning they smashed cake in her face, screamed happy birthday at 5 A., and made sure the candles wouldn't go out no matter how hard she blew on them because they were holograms.

Zane did make up for it, though.

He had taken her to the woods and, for once, it wasn't to train. They talked about anything and everything, and kissed a lot. But those small kisses had nothing on her last birthday kiss.

He softly caressed her face.

Aubrey rolled her eyes in a teasing way.

"You always do it so gentle, like you're afraid to break me, or you want me to beg you for more. Which I've come close to doing so many times."

Zane raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that a challenge?"

"If you're brave enough to take it. But I don't think you are."

"Hmm. Guess I'll have to change that."

Before she could react, Zane had pressed his lips against hers. This kiss was different, but good different. This kiss left her with more of an effect than the gentle ones. He kissed her deeply, and totally not soft. It was just the slightest bit gentle, so it wouldn't leave a bruise on her lips, but hard at the same time. When Zane asked for permission by flicking his tongue against her bottom lip, she didn't even hesitate to grant him access. They kissed hard and passionately before they had to come up for air. That didn't stop him from attacking her neck, though. He kissed, pulled, sucked, and maybe even bit a little. Aubrey may have moaned six or seven, or a million times—it was hard to keep count, he just smiled a bit each time. And Aubrey loved every second of it. It was more her style. Hard, intense, and living in the moment was how she liked things. Kiss now, assess damage later. Those gentle kisses had been driving her insane, and turning her into a bit of a good girl. But these kisses brought it crashing back down to step 1.

Aubrey had plenty of hickies by the time he moved back to her mouth. He pressed against her harder, and she pressed back with just as much, and maybe a little more, force. She noticed her back was against a tree, though how they had gotten there, she had no idea. This is what she had wanted for so long. To be able to kiss Zane while no one was watching. Don't get her wrong, she loved her sister, but some time alone with Zane was what she needed sometimes.

When he finally stopped kissing her, not that she was complaining about the kissing in any way, all she could say was "Wow."

After a long pause to catch her breath, she was able to say, "You're a really good kisser."

He just smirked and told her it was easy when he loved the person.

She rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "September 8th . . . I'll remember this as the best birthday ever."

Zane's birthday had already passed before she met him, as did his brother's, but Aubrey still made sure they had the best birthdays ever the next year. Arianna's birthday fell during December, and they made sure her birthday was epic.

She hadn't gotten called on any 'missions' lately, since she wasn't a Victor anyone remembered anymore, so no one wanted to have her entertainment anymore. Even if Snow wasn't against prostituting Victors, apparently just being a regular prostitute was wrong. Hmm.

They trained a lot. Pretty much everyday, they were out in the woods training. Arianna and Aubrey became masters at knife throwing, and Zane could beat anyone in hand-to-hand combat. Well, as long as they didn't try to kiss him (Aubrey may have done that once, and pinned him faster than he could blink). Josh could successfully use a sword, well, a wooden one. Aubrey was pretty good with hand-to-hand combat even without kissing the person. She could pin Arianna in 5 seconds. They all put on weight in muscles, Arianna shared some of the tips she got from training at the Capitol, and they all learned to climb trees. Josh and Zane had a bit more trouble and couldn't go as high because of their muscles. It was fun to watch them fall from the branches and complain about how it was unfair. One time, they all sat in a branch together and it broke because Josh was bouncing on it.

The reaping slowly crept up on them until it smacked them right in the face.

Aubrey's mother had shaken them awake, telling them to get up. Aubrey untangled herself from Arianna and stood up, stretching her limbs out. Arianna had had a bad nightmare about them dying in the games, and Aubrey, being the amazing sister she was, comforted her.

"Don't take too long. Breakfast is ready," her mother told her gently. "Wake your sister up, and help Cady get ready."

Aubrey nodded, not wanting to—gasp—upset her mother. She already had enough to worry about, and this was Cady's last year being safe from the Reaping.

She didn't ask why they were having breakfast at 12 o'clock.

After her mother left, she successfully woke Arianna up. Well, after getting kicked in the face, and almost having her eye poked out, but successful nonetheless.

Breakfast was tense. Arianna was trying not to look conflicted, and Aubrey was worrying about her friends.

What if you and Zane get chosen? What will you do? Her mind asked. Shut it. She told it.

As far as she knew, President Snow hadn't forgotten about them. He was just merely letting them live before he pulled out his cards and annihilated them.

"Where's uh, father?" Arianna asked.

Their mother pursed her lips. "He insisted on getting enough alcohol to last him through the week. That fool."

Aubrey sighed one again.

"Why don't you just leave 'em ma? Why stay? He doesn't care for us. It should be him and all his bottles all alone." (A/N He he, Nicki Minaj song quote a bit changed)

Her mother sighed. "I . . . I can't seem to leave him. Every time he comes back from the store with bottles, I keep thinking to myself, Why do I love you the way I do? But I can't keep away. When we were younger, he was a handsome man. Nice, smart, charming too. Then he started getting into alcohol to hide the pain. His father used to beat him when he was younger. He'd come to school almost everyday with bruises. He started drinking more and more throughout our marriage, until he couldn't control it and he let the pain overcome him. Then Arianna came, and he made an effort to stop. He started having nightmares, and he went back to step one. From then on, he saw life through the bottom of the bottle."

Aubrey was shocked into silence. She never knew that about her father. She remembered a time when he wasn't as bad as he was now, and she had asked him to tell her a story. It was ten years ago, but she remembered it like it was yesterday.

"Father?" Aubrey asked. She was laying down in her parents' bed. It was a thick cotton blanket they had gotten half off from the shop. She had just woken up from a nightmare and rushed from off her blanket to her parents' room.

"Yes, Bre-Bear?" he asked. He hadn't had a sip of alcohol all day.

"Can... Can you tell me a story?"

He turned over on his side to face her. "What kind of story?"

"Hmm . . ." She thought about it for a second. "A story . . . 'bout when you were a kid. I never hear about that."

His face darkened. In the small light of the antique lamp they traded for, it looked like he was struggling to keep his relaxed composure.

"I-I'm sorry. I can't tell you any stories."

She pouted. "Oh, come on! You have to have at least one story!"

He looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Well, there was the day I met your mother. I was just a kid, about 12 or 13. It was the first day of school, and we were informed that we were getting a new student. She was home-schooled since she was 5 years old. Anyway, I was excited. Every one in the school already knew each other. We had grown up together, along with a few stragglers who came along over the years. It was getting a bit boring.

"She walked into the classroom, with her bright blue eyes, and light brown hair. Back then, it was more common for the Merchants to have dirty blond or brown hair than it was to have just blond. She was looking around nervously, and her eyes locked with mine. Then she smiled at me and sat down in the seat next to me. She said, 'Hey. You come here often?'I laughed and told her, 'Unfortunately. What 'bout you?' She giggled and said, 'Oh, silly you. Today's my first day.' And from then on, we were best friends. Well, up until we were 17, and we kissed at a school dance. We were dating ever since then."

"How do you remember this so well if it was . . . what? Awhile ago?"

He laughed and kissed her nose. "Oh, Bre-Bear, you never forget the day you met your first love."

"—Cady ready." her mother said.

Aubrey reached her fork down to pick up more food, only to realize there was no more, and everyone was looking a her.

She shook her head to clear out her thoughts. "What?"

"I said, Arianna's going to get ready first, then you can after you get Cady ready. I trust you can handle it by yourself."

Arianna went upstairs, and Aubrey followed and pulled her into a hug. "It'll be okay. I won't let him take you from me."

Arianna smiled, and hugged her back. They stood in the hallways for a few seconds before going their separate ways.

"Cady?" Aubrey knocked on the door. Her younger sister had been up before them and had already eaten breakfast by the time they had gotten up.

"Come in."

Aubrey pushed the door open and saw Cady sitting on the bed waiting for her.

"Come on," she said in a gentle voice. "Let's go get you an outfit."

They walked to the closet, which was full of dresses, skirts, fancy shoes, ribbons, bows, headbands, and jewelry boxes.

"Got a dress in mind?"

Cady's face lit up. "Yeah! It's this pretty blue dress, and there's this matching bow, and there's these white shoes I just adore! And these—" she went on about her discovery.

The dress was knee-length with a flowy skirt, and the top was sleeveless and decorated with white lace flowers, and a white belt separating the top from the bottom. It was a light, sky blue, which went perfectly with her eyes, with were also sky blue. The bows were white, which went with the flowers on the dress, and the white shoes, which had small heels on them.

Her little sister was growing up. Oh, it'll only be a few years until she started liking boys . . .

Aubrey tried no to think about it.

"If it looks as beautiful as it does by itself, it will look even more so on you." she tapped Cady's nose while she giggled, and made sure the dress was on and tied, and her long light brown hair was in two braids with the bows on them before leaving to get ready herself.

When she got in the room, her sister was wearing a white dress, with a sweetheart neckline, which had a lace top part. The long sleeves were lace, and the bottom ended a few inches above the knee, with a lace bottom edge. She had a white pearl bracelet on, with white heels.

She was brushing her hair, and when she saw Aubrey staring a her, she smiled.

"Hey. I got a matching dress for you on the bed if you want it. But it's black. Thought you'd like that more."

Aubrey smiled. "You know me so well."

She walked over to the bed, and picked up the dress. There was a black pearl bracelet and black heels. (A/N Look in my profile for the link of Aubrey's dress if you wanna see it. Arianna's is just going to be white, so just imagine it's white if you wanna see what Arianna's looks like.)

After putting on her outfit, she brushed her hair, which had grown to her mid-upper arm, and slapped on some strawberry flavored lip gloss. Zane told her it tasted the best out of all the flavors.

Don't ask how he knows.

Aubrey fingered her hands nervously. She didn't know why, but she had a bad feeling in her stomach. And she'd learned to trust her stomach when it was trying to tell her something. Like when she ate too much pizza that one time and got sick.

"Come on, we're leaving now!" She heard her mother yelling from downstairs.

Aubrey sighed, ran her hands through her hair, and grabbed Arianna's wrist, pulling the reluctant girl downstairs.

After a few minutes of having their clothes being checked by their mother, they finally left the house for the Reaping.

She felt two hands slide into hers, and smiled as she gripped both of her sisters' hands tighter.

Aubrey barely registered the name stand, and she gave her sisters one last squeeze before they separated. She could see their escort, Kerri Klark walking on stage.

This year, she was wearing a white and black zebra print body suit, with a mane and a tail.

Aubrey smacked her face with her hand so hard the people around her gave her weird looks.

"Ahem." The mayor cleared his throat and began his long, boring speech about how they rebelled, and the Capital won, and how they're all gonna die, blah blah blah, whatever. Snow's a creep, that's all that matters.

Aubrey started tuning back in when his speech was over.

"Now now!" Kerri yelled. "Time for the Reaping. Let's go to the boys first. Everyone always does the girls, so I think we should switch it up."

She pranced over to the boys' Reaping ball and plucked out the name on top.

"Oh, looky here! Come up to the stage. . ." She paused for effect. "Oh my! Why are there two last names?" she shrugged. "No matter. The first is the only one that matters, anyway, but whatever! Zane Vison–Mellark!"