Hello everyone! And thank you for still showing interest in this. I mean, this is still getting favourites and been put on alert. It's amazing! I also want to give a big love and shout-out to the lovely people who reviewed this:
Princesspooka, thank you! Gentlefurable, I don't want things to get worse either. I hate to be a 'downer' here but I'm afraid they probably will. Baahbisaggio, Haymitch will continue to be sweet to Effie in this chapter, but he and Katniss aren't exactly getting along in this update. Scyfy girl, that's good to hear. I hope you enjoy this. Savysnape7, thanks for that. I'm glad you like this, and I hope you like the bit of Haymitch and Effie in this. McMuffin, I'm sorry for making you sad, but I'm glad you like this. I want to put more Katniss and Finnick in this, but that will have to come in later chapters. Same with Finnick and Effie. And about the Katniss POV thing, I do have it planned out, so I hope when it unfolds it will make sense. But all events I've added feature Effie and Katniss been together. And if it was impossible to place Effie in a situation (Like you will see in the beginning of this chapter) I have mentioned it or had the characters talk about it so you have an idea about what I'm talking about.
Somethingnotreal, thank you for both points. Characterization is a big thing for me, so I'm glad you hold that view. And I have taken the final note from you and used it in here, so I hope it improves things for you. Thanks for pointing it out! Distrcit11tribute, here you go. It would have been up last night, but I got kicked of my laptop.
Finally, I have written my first one-shot (Hayffie of course) and would really appreciate it if you read it, reviewed it and what-not. It is called 'Stay with me, don't let me go' and I am looking at doing a few more like it, so I'm not constantly writing gritty, angst-y stuff all the time, if you have any ideas, it would be amazing to hear them!
"She just ran off, not a care in the world"
"But… it worked out… right?"
I try not to move as I awaken from my sleep. Since the District 8 bombing, I have been here. In the hospital. Gale had to wheel me up, and I ended up in a bed next to Effie. It's okay during the day, when you can have half a conversation with her and she doesn't zone out. But at night, she tosses and turns and whimpers until Haymitch comes to visit her and wakes her up. Or Finnick walks over to her bed to shake her to safety from the nightmares. She used to scream too, apparently. They gave her medication to stop her from doing so. Other patients were complaining.
"That's not the point Effie, she could have died"
"But… she didn't…"
Haymitch! And Effie, talking about me. I think it's me anyway; who else in 13 would disregard orders like I did? I open one eye and glance over at them. Effie is sat up in her bed, propped up by a couple of pillows. Haymitch is sat next on the bed, not too far away from her. They are talking in a whisper, but not quiet enough seeing as I can hear them. I turn to look at the clock on the wall, and this movement alerts both Effie and Haymitch. Now they know I'm awake. Haymitch throws something over to me when he sees me. I don't catch it, but it lands on my bed. When I do pick it up I see what it is and gulp. This will not be a pleasant experience.
"It's your earpiece. You know, the one you pulled out" Haymitch says, pushing himself up of Effie's bed and walking over to mine.
"Don't Haymitch" Effie says, quiet yet determined. I wonder what she is telling him not to do, but I'll probably find out. The glint in his eye tells me that he isn't listening to her protests. He pulls out a device I immediately label the head shackle. When he shows it me, I hear a sigh and look across to see Effie shaking her head. It's nice to know she's on my side in this. Whatever this is…
Apparently the head shackle isn't the worst thing Haymitch has brought up to the hospital. A silver chip is in his hand too, and he is warning me that he'll have someone put it in my head. So I'll be listening to his voice twenty-four hours a day. It's enough to give you nightmares.
"I'll keep the earpiece in" I tell him.
"What was that sweetheart?" He asks me. I'm sure he heard me; the small smile on his face backs up my point. I wouldn't call it a smile, more like a smirk.
"I said, I'll keep it in" I tell him, folding my arms and choosing to look up at the ceiling and not his face.
"You sure? I'm fine with either option-"
"Haymitch, just leave it" Effie says, her voice a little stronger than before but still broken. He turns to look at her and nods, standing up and walking back to her. I can't begin to thank Effie for getting him away from me. For supporting me in a way I guess. I take a deep breath and turn to look at the two of them again.
"Are you okay Katniss?" Effie asks me cautiously when she spots my eyes on her. I nod and sit up, feeling slightly ashamed. I mean, I'm been asked if I'm okay by a woman who has been locked up and tortured under all our noses. A woman whose once, bubbly, energetic voice constantly sounds strained and cracked. She looks like she's close to tears every time I see her. And I can't help but wince when my eyes land on the scar running the length of her cheek.
"She's fine Effie. Worry about your recovery, not her's" Haymitch tells her. I agree with him on that point totally. It's the first time in an age I've agreed on him on anything come to think of it. "So get some rest, and I'll be back later sweetheart" He says, squeezing her hand and placing it carefully on the bed before standing up. I'm thinking about how he can make the word 'sweetheart' sound so different when using it to Effie. When he calls it me, it's full of sarcasm and slight malice. With Effie, it's soft and affectionate. Quite the change. He also uses this tone when talking to her, and goes back to his gruff self around the rest of us. At least it shows he cares about her recovery, which is good especially if his suspicions regarding Coin are correct.
I hear my stomach rumble and it makes me sit up, looking for a tray of food to eat from. Seeing as I have been asleep for seven hours, I'd have thought that a tray would be waiting for me. Effie's tray is on the desk next to her, so surely mine should be next to me too…
"Looking for your dinner?" Haymitch asks when he is close to the door.
"Yeah"
"I got hungry, I ate it" He says, walking out of the hospital. I think I hear his laugh from down the corridor.
"Have mine" Effie says, picking up her bowl and holding it out to me. The fact her arm is shaking under the strain of holding the bowl out to me makes a lump in the back of my throat rise.
"You need it more than me Effie" I tell her, trying hard not to look at the hopeless look in her eyes.
"I'm not hungry" She mumbles, still holding it out to me. I lean over and take the bowl before her lack of strength results in her dropping it.
"Come here Effie" I say, moving up so Effie can sit on my bed. When she finally stands up, she shakily makes her way over to me. Perching on the edge of my bed as if she is too scared to come any closer to me. I pick the spoon up from my tray, hoping it isn't the one Haymitch used when he shovelled my stew down, and put it in the bowl. Holding it up once it has a generous amount of stew on it, holding it out to Effie. "Eat it" I tell her.
"Katniss, I'm not-"
"Just this one spoonful, then if you still don't want it, I'll have it" I tell her. Hoping she will cave in and swallow. Then maybe eat the rest. She starts to shake her head at me, but I shove the spoon up in her face. Slowly her hand reaches for the spoon and she takes it, swallows and shoves the spoon back in the bowl. I think she is going to carry on eating. But she doesn't. Before I can pick the bowl up for myself, Finnick has joined us with his tray. When he sits on my bed, both Effie and I move upwards slightly, making him laugh.
"What's this I've heard about you finally leaving this place Eff?" Finnick asks, ripping of a chunk of bread with his teeth.
"What?" I ask him in shock. Effie is nowhere near strong enough to leave. The fact she is shaking now, despite only sitting on my bed, only backs this up.
"Haymitch overheard two doctors talking about it. Apparently Coin thinks I'm ready to leave" Effie tells me. I begin to shake my head. "Katniss, what's wrong?"
"Effie, are you sure you're ready to leave here?" I ask her. She looks down and stares into her lap.
"Well, I want to leave here" She admits, "I mean; I don't think the doctors like me"
"Well, they're stupid then" Finnick says with a mouth full of bread. The comment makes a previously subdued Effie smile a little.
"I'll talk to my mother about it if you want? See if you really are ready, and if you are we can try and get you a room next to mine" I say to her, trying to give her a bit of hope. Whilst she isn't ready, if Coin wants her out I want her close to me. She doesn't say anything, she doesn't need to. The smile on her face is enough for me. I haven't seen her like this since she arrived. And whilst the smile doesn't last long, the small shimmer of something in her eyes reminds me just how genuinely happy Effie was at such a small comment. It's a good feeling to see Effie happy for the slightest of moments.
"Let's watch the promo shall we?" Finnick says, picking the remote on and turning the TV on. "I heard Haymitch talking to you about it, let's see if it's as good as he pretended it was"
I snort at this comment and have to compose myself before I take another spoonful of stew and Effie begins to smile once more. Images flash onto the screen, and I don't bother to pay much attention seeing as I saw it twice in the Command Room. Effie and Finnick however, watch with slight interest, and when the propo finishes, neither of them applaud like earlier, but both turn to look at me.
"How bad was it out there?" Effie stutters out.
"Bad. There was a makeshift hospital for those injured in the first bombing. There were hundreds inside, all dead. But Haymitch probably told you that" I say, placing the half empty bowl of stew to my side.
"He did. He also said you disregarded all orders and ran up onto the roof to shoot at the hovercrafts" Effie says. Her voice is weak, but you can tell she finds this a little amusing.
"Well, I got threatened with having Haymitch in my head all hours, but I won't say I regret it" I say, leaning backwards. "Thanks for telling him to leave me alone by the way"
Before Effie can reply music is blaring up from the TV and I find myself staring at the face of Caesar Flickerman. I know all eyes are on the screen, and I hear all three of us gasp when Peeta is shown. He looks nothing like the boy I saw previously.
"He looks terrible. What have they done to him?" Effie says, her eyes not leaving the screen. Whilst Peeta's deteriorated state is shocking, I can't help but think that compared to Effie he looks practically healthy. Which isn't saying much. You could put a starving child from the seam next to Effie and they would be the picture of health.
But still, I don't want to think about what the Capitol as done to Peeta. I'm scared about the methods used to get him looking so ill in health over the space of a few days. When Finnick turns the TV off I couldn't thank him enough.
"Katniss, we never saw it okay?" He whispers to me, full of determination. I nod my head, trying to keep thoughts of Peeta getting tortured away. But the more I try not to think about them, the worse they become. Trying to get information out of him he doesn't have… "Effie! Effie, we never saw it yeah? We turned the TV of after the propo" Finnick is saying to Effie, who doesn't seem to be able to tear her gaze from the screen despite there been nothing on it.
"Effie!" I yell at her, my cracked voice making her jump. I take a deep breath to hold back the tears and repeat to her what Finnick said. She nods, but I'm convinced she has no idea what is going on. But before I can drill it into her we hear footsteps thudding on the corridor, damage limitation heading for us.
"Carry on eating the stew Katniss, just act normal" Finnick tells me. I follow instruction, and pick the bowl up. Sticking a one tasty, now sickly, spoonful in my mouth. I haven't even swallowed when Plutarch and Fulvia are walking over to us.
"Hello Plutarch, Fulvia" Finnick says with a smile, whilst me and Effie remain silent. "Well done on the propo, we were all impressed"
"Good to hear! Very good" Plutarch is saying. He turns to look at me, and I quickly shove another spoonful of stew into my mouth to avoid questioning. "What about you Miss Trinket, did you like it?"
"I think it… highlighted the cause well…" Effie says. Surpassing both mine, and probably Finnick's, expectations on her answer. This was why she was a good escort back in the Capitol. She may be shutting down again, but not only have her words made both Plutarch and Fulvia happy, she's also managed to avoid suspicion.
"So well we could barely finish it" Finnick adds, "Katniss especially took it hard. Not surprising since she's totally exhausted"
I shove another mouthful of stew in my mouth, not ready to talk to either of them.
"I can't wait to see the next one" Effie says quietly when the silence begins to become a little overpowering.
"Yes, we have a lot of ideas! So watch out for them!" Fulvia says, a lot happier than the last time I saw her. "We'll be on our way; you'd best get some rest Katniss if you're so exhausted"
I nod, the spoon in my mouth without my hands holding it. None of us talk until we have heard the last of their footsteps and the opening and shutting of elevator doors.
"That went better than expected" Finnick says, speaking for all of us. Standing up, he makes his way back to his bed.
"Katniss?" Effie asks me, her voice quieter than usual. This makes me suspect she wants no one to overhear what she is going to say, which isn't really a problem seeing as she can barely be heard when she talks normally.
"What's wrong?" I ask, going to take another spoonful of stew but finding the bowl empty.
"I promise I'm going to get better. To help you fight them" Effie says, her hand reaching over to mine. "I want to help…"
At this, I make a note to not leave the Command Room without getting Effie assigned to a room next to mine. I reach over to her and take her hand in mine. The bandages have been taken of her wrists now, and all that remains is deep, dried scars around them. "You get better Effie, focus on that" I tell her.
"I want to help" She tells me, "I don't just want to-"
"Get better Effie. Then focus on the rebellion. You need to think about you" I say, mirroring Haymitch's words from earlier today. She nods before going back to bed. Hours tick by; my mother comes to check on my wounds. I tell her that I want to talk to Coin about Effie moving next to us, and am I told I'll be allowed tomorrow. Prim comes by too, and goes to say hello to both Effie and Finnick before coming over to me. And when the afternoon turns to night, and other patients are snoring, I can't sleep. I can toss and turn just fine, thinking about Peeta, what he is doing now. Or what people are doing to him now.
It is then I hear the thud of feet. And as silently as possible I turn around to observe the new arrival. As I am beginning to worry about why there is someone here so late at night, I see Haymitch. Well, I see Haymitch's back, hunched over Effie's bed. I thank the dark from shielding me. Glad Haymitch doesn't know I'm watching.
"Effie?" He's whispering to her, "Are you okay?"
I hear sniffling and a short reply that I can't quite make out. Then I hear muffled noises and before I can begin to wonder what is happening, Haymitch is sat on the bed. It doesn't take long for him to be laid down on it. I can't see from here, but I think his arm is wrapped around her.
My eyelids begin to finally droop, but not before I hear him say a final sentence to her.
"Don't worry, I won't leave you princess"