Chapter 4: Upgrade acquired

With a groan I give up my tossing and turning and rise from my bed. The bed is huge and soft, with pillows in all shapes and sizes. Just laying on it is enough to make one want to sleep, but just the desire to sleep is not enough. Not tonight anyway.

The realisation that both Gale and I will be thrown into an arena with bloodthirsty Careers and other scared children has had me up worrying all night. That and an intense longing for Prim have not made it easy to even close an eye for a few minutes.

Even though I showered yesterday evening before bed, I am determined to make use of this luxurious train as much as possible, and the promise of warm water possibly washing away my worries is too tempting.

As I walk into the huge shower, I groan as I see the multitude of buttons and knobs. I shriek softly as I turn a button that releases a hot dribble of water from above. More shrieks manage to escape my lips as I am being subjugated to varying degrees of cold and hot water, in dribbles or jets or icy fog coming from the sides of the shower. When I finally manage to find a drizzle that is relatively warm, I huff in relief.

My sudden comfort is disrupted when I hear the room to my door open. In horror I start to wonder who it is, flinching slightly when I realise it might be Effie come to pick out my outfit for the day.

"Having trouble with the buttons, Catnip?"

I manage to stifle a soft shriek as I hear Gale's voice emanate from beyond the bathroom door. Even though he is in the other room, I flush slightly and feel the immediate need to put some clothes on.

"There's just too many," I manage to call out in a relatively irritated voice.

"Just try turning the blue knob on your left, all the way around."

I narrow my eyes in suspicion, reluctant to relinquish the somewhat comfortable drizzle of hot water. I brace myself and turn the knob completely around. Gale is awarded with a series of high shrieks coming from my mouth as jets shoot up from the shower's floor, both hot and icy cold.

Once I have managed to turn the jets off, I shoot a glare at Gale that he will never see.

Gale is still laughing outside the bathroom and, by the sound of it, probably crying from laughter.

I've had enough of all these complex waterworks and turn the shower off as best as I can. I step out and reach for a fluffy white towel to dry my hair. I decide that I do not care if Gale is still in my room or not and slam open the bathroom door. He is not there anymore, though, and I stalk off to the large closet. No doubt it harbours more clothes than I ever saw in my life, and I do not look forward to searching for something comfortable.

I reluctantly open a drawer and tilt my head slightly as I find it full of socks in all sizes and colours. The drawer below it holds a variety of frilly undergarments that I refuse to touch. It feels like it takes ages until I finally find some black trousers that feel both light and comfy. I match it off a dark green shirt that seems to accentuate my chest a little too much, but I put up with it for it's the best I could find. I leave my hair loose to dry.

When I arrive in the dining compartment I find Gale squatting next to Haymitch who lays sprawled on the floor, face-first in a small pool of vomit. Gale shrugs when our eyes meet, and when the smell hits my nose I grimace in disgust.

"He must have been here all night," I manage to mutter while I wrinkle my nose.

Gale nods solemnly. "We should probably.."

We both reach for Haymitch's shoulders and haul him upright. He doesn't wake up, though, instead he seems to mumble something incoherent. Together Gale and I manage to drag Haymitch to his sleeping compartment.

"I'll take it from here," Gale says. I am about to protest, thinking it's unreasonable to leave him to deal with Haymitch's odour on his own, but Gale cuts me off. "Really, I got this. The vomit has stained his clothes. They'll probably have to be removed."

I grimace again. I do not want to have to deal with Haymitch, nevertheless a naked Haymitch. I nod wisely and leave Gale to it.

When I return to the dining compartment, I notice the large table set with food. There is a large basket with freshly baked buns and several cakes, either filled with fruit or filled with nuts and raisins. There's yoghurts and fresh fruit and small breads in all kinds of sizes.

I stare at the food with a mixture of delight and disgust at the display of wealth while I know that people are starving back in District 12. Probably not only in District 12, but in the others as well. The image of an emaciated Prim flashes before my eyes, and I cringe a little.

It's a little while yet until breakfast, but I cannot resist a big can of delicious smelling stuff. After overcoming my initial reluctance about drinking something I do not know, I am rewarded with the sweetest thing I have ever tasted. The dark brown liquid seems spicy and sweet at the same time and seems to melt on my tongue. I have downed my fourth big cup when Effie walks in, and I have to fight the urge to lift up the can and huddle it close.

Effie raises her eyebrow at me and says: "For a moment there I thought you were going to hiss at me, Katniss dear."

I shrug at her and take another sip of my delicious new favourite drink.

"What is this stuff?" I ask Effie, who is now parading across the compartment and settling at the head of the breakfast table.

"That, my dear, is hot chocolate." She frowns at me. "And though there are many fine surgeons in the Capitol, I would not recommend drinking any more than you already have. Gives you horrible skin issues. Very unpleasant if they have to remove that."

I shrug again and down the rest of my cup. Effie simply shakes her head at me, mumbling softly about uncultured swines.

"Come take a seat, Katniss, it's almost breakfast time."

I bring over the can of hot chocolate to the table and slump down on my chair, resulting in a dissatisfied cough from Effie. As I pour my sixth cup, Gale walks into the compartment, followed by Haymitch.

My eyes linger for a moment too long on Gale before switching to Haymitch. Haymitch is looking fresher than he did when we found him, which only shows that removing vomit from one's face does wonders. They both take a seat across the table and I exchange a short look with Gale. He rolls his eyes at Haymitch, indicating that he is not happy that Haymitch is our only help in the arena. I give him the tiniest nod to show my agreement.

I fill a cup with more hot chocolate and slide it across the table to Gale. He gazes at the cup in suspicion, and then he shoots me a glance that I know means something along the lines of 'How dare you try to get me to drink Capitol liquids'. I ignore him and motion towards the cup.

"You have to try it."

He stares at me for another long moment, then grabs the cup and downs it completely. For a moment, his expression is horrid as he expects the liquid to burn him or something. Then a sheen of delight comes over his face and he slightly licks his lips. He smirks.

I return his smirk and continue to gaze at him for a long time. He's not had too many expression of delight lately. They've always been laced with pain, anger or sadness. I feel a stab of longing for home. For Prim.

My longing is interrupted when I hear Haymitch remove the top of a tiny flask with a soft pop and pour some clear liquid in his orange juice. If he keeps it up, he'll be incoherent before we reach the Capitol.

I scowl at Haymitch. I do not like him and everything he stands for. He is the one that survived his Games by killing all of the other tributes. He's one of the Victors of the Capitol, pampered, a puppet. And now this drunk is supposed to help us survive in our own Games. This weak man is supposed to help me save Gale.

Haymitch sees me scowl at him and he laughs. "If looks could kill, you'd be the Victor in no time, pumpkin."

I winch as he calls me.. pumpkin and my scowl darkens. "I can't believe you are supposed to help us."

"What did you expect, a prince come to save you? A wise old man with a white beard?" Haymitsch scoffs. "You'll be grateful for my help yet, girl."

Gale snickers and comes to my defence. "Grateful? For the help of a drunkard that might drown in his own vomit? Much help that is."

Haymitch narrows his eyes at Gale and considers him for a moment, then rises in a flash and lunges at him. He pretty much tackles Gale across the table, sliding plates of food and cans of drink from the table. Effie lets out a high-pitched scream as orange juice spills over her bright pink dress. I quickly rise as well and run around the table, only to see Gale and Haymitch rolling across the ground.

Gale manages to roll on top of Haymitch and deflect his blows coming from underneath, and brings back his free arm to land a powerful hit against Haymitch's face. The time it takes for Gale to pull back his arm, he grabs his collar and pulls him down underneath him.

Pinning Gale to the ground with one arm firmly pushing against his throat and the other hand pinning Gale's left arm to the ground. He smirks at Gale.

"Lesson number 1, boy. Never favour brute strength above speed. You will find yourself pinned and killed before you have a chance to utter another complain."

Gale still struggles a bit, but Haymitch simply applies more pressure on his throat. "Now, before you insult me again, I would like you to get me a nice fresh bottle of this train's finest whiskey. And no dawdling. Hurry as fast as your little feet can take you."

Haymitch rises from Gale surprisingly swiftly and returns to his seat at the table. I suddenly notice that I have a knife firmly clutched in my fist. I look at Gale, who is looking stunned, and strangely enough also pleasantly surprised, judging by the wondrous look on his face.

"What are you waiting for, boy! We ain't got all day!" Haymitch calls. I watch wide-eyed as Gale rises from the ground, ruffles his hair and grins at me. He then starts to walk out of the compartment towards the bar, fetching Haymitch's whiskey like an obedient pup! For a long moment I stare at the doorway Gale disappeared through, then whip myself around and walk back to my spot at the table.

Once I am seated, I scowl at Haymitch, who is looking at me and the knife still clutched in my fist. "What about you, pumpkin? You want to fight too?"

With a growl, I slam the knife into the table, about half an inch from Haymitch's outspread fingers.

Effie gasps loudly as she comes walking back into the compartment and sees one of her silver knives embedded in her mahogany table. She has traded her pink dress for a bright orange one and has matched her wig in the exact same shade. She softly shrieks something about the table being mahogany, followed by fruity words that are normally not considered profanities, but really do sound like curse words coming from her mouth.

Haymitch leans backwards in his chair as he narrows his eyes at me. "What do you know.. we actual have a pair of fighters this year."

Effie gives up on straightening the havoc Haymitch created when he knocked everything on the table to the floor and she leaves with a deep sigh. On her way out, she runs into Gale, who is holding a large bottle of whiskey. Gale sits at the table and slams the bottle of whiskey down in front of Haymitch, then waits expectantly.

Haymitch removes the cap from the bottle and takes a long sip of the whiskey, sighing happily once the liquid is down in throat.

"Good. You know how to obey when the time is right." He points at Gale. He then points at me. "You, however, are going to be a little bit more difficult."

He rises from his seat once more, and I follow him with a scowl that grows darker and darker by the second.

"Both of you, go stand over here," Haymitch says, motioning vaguely to the area in front of him. I rise reluctantly, following Gale to the spot and we stand side by side as Haymitch beings to prod and poke us. He examines our muscles and our build, our posture and our reflexes.

"Not bad.." he mutters from time to time. "You two are pretty fit. Could be better."

He stands in front of us and gazes at us from one to another. "You two have that Seam look, that's for sure. That's good. The stylists will be able to work with that."

He tilts his head slightly. "Even better, you two look very alike, with the dark hair and the skin and the eyes and stuff. Or.. even better.." He walks around us for a moment. "You two would do even better if you were to represented as lovers."

I feel a grimace come over me, and a slight flush come over my cheeks. "That's ridiculous."

Gale sputters in protest as well, but I notice his protest only comes moments after I have uttered my own.

Haymitch gazes at us with a stern expression. "You said I was your only help in the arena, and I can confirm that. I will be the one to get you sponsors. I am the one how to gain the crowd's favour. So do you want my help or not?"

I growl at him. "You do not help us by introducing us as lovers!"

"Of course it will! You two will be doomed in the arena, but still connected by the ties of love! And you two certainly look the part for your district. It all ties neatly together. The crowd will eat that up like crazy, and you'll have no shortage of sponsors."

I am about to protest again when I feel Gale's arm around my shoulders. "We won't be represented as anything we are not, Haymitch. It's not how we want to represent our district." I feel grateful for his support, and convey that with a slight glance and nod.

Haymitch ignores him and grabs Gale's other arm and wraps it around my waist. Both of us are so surprised that it takes a moment for us to pull apart. "That's it!" Haymitch yells. "That's what we need. The star-crossed lovers of District 12. The crowd will eat that up, just you watch!"

I pull away my arm that was still wrapped around Gale's waist and stomp out of the compartment. I am at my bedroom's door when Gale has finally caught up with me.

"Katniss, wait." He grabs my wrist and slightly pulls me back.

"I can't believe it! He would have us put up an act in front of the whole Capitol! He would make us a puppet to the crowd!" I snap, as I turn to face Gale, who still holds onto my wrist.

"I know, Catnip, I know. But we have got to take some chances."

I stare at him, anger still boiling up inside me, and feel confusion mixing with anger. "What are you talking about?"

Gale's expression is hesitant, careful, even. "You've got to know that I will do anything to get you back home."

I nod gravely. "As would I to get YOU home."

"Well, in both our best interests, we might have to agree to Haymitch's plan. It will get us sponsors, help us to survive. You know even a small sponsor may mean the difference between life and death."

I stare at Gale for a long moment. What he says makes sense. I really would do anything to get Gale home. But pretend to be his lover? What if I want it to be real? I feel my pride swelling.

"I can't, Gale. I'll never convince anyone in the Capitol that we are together. Nor do I want to. I do not want to represent District 12 that way. It deserves more honour than being the home of a pair of doe-eyed lovers." I feel my struggle weaken, but I cling to the slight struggle I still feel.

Gale smiles at me with a challenge glinting in his eyes. "So you won't set aside your pride to save me? I would throw my pride so far away for you, it would disappear forever."

I scowl and scoff at him. He's manipulating me and I know it. Still, he leaves me no choice.

"Fine! If you think.. If you think t-that I can pull it off.. Then s-sure. Why not," I manage to choke out.

Gale smiles at me, but I am too shaken to answer his smile. I pull my arm from his grasp and quickly go into my room, slamming the door shut before Gale can follow me in. Then, I press my back against the door and try to regain a regular breathing rhythm. I feel overwhelmed, pained, embarrassed. I feel like my pride has suffered a severe blow.

What changed in the world, that I would agree to something like this? What in the world forces me to? I shake my head in confusion and throw myself on the bed and lay there. I lay there for such a long time that the landscape starts to shift. I gasp in disbelief as buildings as high as mountains appear in the landscape.

The buildings grow in their numbers and once again I feel overwhelmed, but now by the physical presence of the Capitol. I want to hide. I want to run to Prim and hide my face in her hair. I want to run from Gale and our newfound status as fake lovers. But I cannot hide, nor run. Not truly.

Instead, I grab the blanket and throw it over me, reminding me ever so slightly of the softness of Prim's hair.

A.N. Was the upgrading of Gale and Katniss' relationship too fast? Not sure, but it seemed to work well enough. Please leave reviews, they really do a lot for the speed I write! Thanks for the continued support!