Author's Note: Hey, guys! I want to say thanks for all the wonderful comments, you guys are awesome! :D Here's another chapter for you. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement intended. I don't own the Hunger Games series.
Hiraeth
Chapter 4
"Katniss, look!" Prim called out, laughter in her words. She pointed at a large, blue butterfly that was fluttering just a little out of reach.
"Oh, it's beautiful, little duck." I said affectionately. I laughed as I saw her chase it languidly down the path.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion, the sun cascaded over almost everything, tinting it gold.
My eyes were instantly drawn to one small patch of shadows. My stomach lurched. In the shadows stood a man dressed in white, cradling a white rose in his hands. He was laughing.
I suddenly realized the butterfly was a trap. Prim hadn't noticed, she was still following it. The butterfly settled on a white rose in the meadow. She began to reach for it.
"No, Prim, don't!" I screamed, but I was too late. I saw her body collapse to the ground, an arrow protruding from her back.
"Prim!" I screamed, sitting up in my bed, I was panting, body heaving with the effort of every gasping breath. I wiped my sweat slick hands on the bed sheets and I put my head between my knees, hoping that the world would stop spinning.
"Just a dream." I whispered to myself, hoping that the words themselves would bring some kind of relief. But it had been so vivid.
A part of me wanted to go and crawl into Peeta's bed and have him to hold me, comfort me, tell me it was all alright. But I knew that I couldn't do that. Things had still been much too tense between us.
I'd hardly seen him at all the night before, both he and Haymitch had disappeared not long after we got off the train and they only showed up for dinner. So I'd busied myself with watching videos of the other tributes during their Hunger Games. That probably didn't help with the nightmares…
I sighed, dragging myself out of bed. The sun had already settled significantly above the horizon, hinting that it was about time to be starting my day.
I dressed myself in the first shirt and pair of pants I could find in the drawers, knowing that I'd be stripped out of them again soon enough. I made my way out to the dining room of the penthouse.
Haymitch was sitting at the table cradling a silver goblet. I plopped myself down on the seat across from him, greeted by the familiar scent of the hangover tonic.
"Where were you last night?" I asked.
Haymitch just answered with an evasive wave of his hand. I noticed he looked quite tired and more sober than I'd ever seen him.
"Haymitch-"
"Oh, there she is! My girl on fire." It was at the moment that Effie burst into the room. Haymitch turned back to his goblet and plate of food. I didn't know what he was up to, but I swore to myself that I would find out.
Effie made sure that I had a full breakfast and watched as I ate every bite. After that she led me to my prep team.
They worked on polishing me up from my head to my toes. Almost all of the hair on my body was either plucked or waxed. I was scrubbed over with various scented sugar scrubs until all of my skin was pink and felt quite raw. They worked on getting me all ready for Cinna. Like a blank canvas ready for the painter.
Seeing Cinna again was like taking a fresh breath of air after being underwater. He was one of the few people I felt like I could trust. He wasn't as emotional as the prep team, he was strong, sturdy, like a rock. I needed that. He did my makeup, hair, and dressed me in a deceptively simple outfit. When I looked in the mirror, I could barely recognize myself.
I looked older.
Stronger.
Colder.
"It's amazing. Thank you, Cinna." I said, feeling truly grateful. It was just what I needed.
"I think someone wants to talk to you." Cinna said with a smile that reached his eyes lined with gold. He placed a soft kiss on my forehead before he left the room.
"You look beautiful." Peeta spoke quietly. I turned around and saw him standing in the corner of the room.
"Thank you." I whispered in response.
"Peeta, I-"
"Shhh…" He stepped forward and tentatively brushed a stray strand of hair behind my ears. I caught his hand and held it to my cheek.
I didn't want him to leave. I didn't want to go out there and stand before President Snow and the cheering Capitol crowd.
His breath smelled strongly of mint, the closer he leant, the more intoxicating it grew. There was an electric current passing between us and I found myself growing a little bit dizzy. I'd never felt that way, leaning in for a kiss with him before. But that was because every other kiss had been staged, I realized.
We leant closer and closer, his left hand fell to my hip the other still rested on my cheek. The dim light reflected on his soft crystal blue eyes giving them an almost watery appearance.
Everything else began to fade away, President Snow, the Hunger Games, we were only a breath away and then…
Bam!
The door slammed open and Effie walked in
"Katniss, dear, it's time for-... Oh, I'm sorry." Peeta and I stepped back away from each other, the moment was severed even quicker than it had begun.
She cleared her throat awkwardly. Peeta took that as his cue to leave.
He grabbed my hand and placed a soft, formal kiss on it. He met my eyes with an intense gaze as if he was trying to communicate something to me. There was something he wanted to tell me, something he wanted me to understand, but I didn't know what. Peeta sighed, broke his gaze away, and with that he walked out of the room.
"Are you ready?" Effie asked, she walked towards me and straightened out nonexistent wrinkles in my costume. I gave a small shaky nod. What was he trying to tell me? It ate away at me more than it probably should have. I worked on composing myself on the ride down the elevator to the Remake center.
All of the chariots were already lined up but most of the tributes weren't at their chariots, they were busy chatting amongst one another. It made me feel nauseous to think about the fact that in only a few days, they wouldn't even think twice about killing one another. It took me a few minutes to find Haymitch, but when I did, my mouth fell open.
To say the prep team did a good job with Haymitch would be an understatement. The makeup crew must've spent a long time working on him, for he looked like he couldn't have been ten years older than me. His sharp features and angular eyebrows made him look cunning and dangerous.
He wore a costume identical to mine, a fitted black jumpsuit and a heavy, black metal half crown. It seemed like something that would've looked ridiculous on him, but it didn't.
I raised my eyebrow.
"It looks good on you, Haymitch."
"Not looking too bad yourself, Sweetheart." He said with a chuckle and we began to walk to our chariot together.
He waved back at the District 11 tributes he had been talking to when I'd arrived.
"Chaff and Seeder." Haymitch said, noticing my stare. The guy, Chaff, waved at us and blew a kiss in my direction accompanied by a dramatic wink.
"He's… friendly." I muttered, feeling a little bemused. Haymitch laughed.
"Yeah, he's a good guy."
I could tell that Haymitch was quite fond of him, which made the idea of both of them going into the Hunger Games together seem so much worse. My stomach twisted at the thought of them being pitted against each other in the arena.
The music began and the wide doors of the Training Center opened for the first chariot. We climbed up on our chariot, I refused his offer to help me up onto it.
"We should probably turn our costumes on." Haymitch hinted. I pressed the button on the wrist of my costume and he did the same.
We glowed, our costumes gave the illusion that we were burning embers in a fireplace. I mentally thanked Cinna. We would certainly be remembered.
A few of the other tributes had craned their heads around to look at us. There was one of them that openly stared even though he knew I had noticed. Finnick Odair. He just smiled at me and gave me a rather large wink. If I hadn't had all of that makeup on, I probably would've been blushing.
When the chariot started I lost my balance slightly.
Haymitch grabbed my hand to steady me, and I found myself wishing for one selfish moment that it was Peeta standing beside me, and not Haymitch.
He released my hand almost instantly and we stood looking straight ahead as if the crowd was beneath us, just as we had been told to do, which wasn't hard for either of us.
The applause was thunderous. The crowd roared, screamed, and somewhere out there in all that noise I could've sworn I'd heard people chanting my name.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading! :D Remember to review and let me know what you think!