A/N: Holy crap. This was added to the community "Amazing Cato/Katniss and Finnick/Katniss." I literally fangirled so hard. Thanks so much for all of the great feedback. It really is amazing to check my emails every morning and see what nice things all of you are saying. xD (I hate that face but doesn't really allow regular smilies). Sorry this took so long to post- I'd rather write you a good chapter that'll take a little longer than a bad chapter that only takes a day.
My nightmare is different tonight. At first I think it's a good dream – Finnick and I are walking through a forest, similar to the one in my games. But Clove pops out, wielding a knife. She throws it and misses- hitting Thresh who had jumped in front of Rue. Glimmer stabs both Clove and Rue, and then Finnick attempts to kill her with his trident, but Cato shoots arrows at both Finnick and Glimmer. Then, he kills me. I wake up right before my canon fires.
"Katniss." Finnick calls my name, trying to wake me up. "What just happened to you?"
"Nightmare," I groan. The clock on my nightstand says it's 2 o'clock in the morning.
"I figured as much," Finnick sighs, putting his hands behind his head. "But it was different. Usually your screaming. But this time you were just thrashing around and sobbing." I notice the dried tears on my face. I didn't even realize I was crying. Finnick pushes my hair out of my face, and strokes my cheek.
"I'm sorry. Did I wake you up?" I ask Finnick. Great, now other people are losing sleep over me.
"Don't be. I'm sort of glad you woke me up. I was having a bad one." Finnick covers his face. "I hate this so much."
I put my arm around him, not knowing what to say. There's nothing to say. I could tell him it'll get better in time, but we both know that's not true. Haymitch has been having nightmares for almost 25 years. "It was just a dream. Try to get some sleep, okay?" I lie my head down on Finnick's muscular chest, and try to get some more sleep.
I wake up to the sounds of my mother screaming. At first I think it's a nightmare, but I realize it isn't very quickly. She's standing at the foot of my bed. I would think that she knows we sleep in the same bed. Finnick sleeps topless, not surprisingly – but seeing me in that black slutty outfit must have set her off. She points to Finnick. "You're not welcome here. Get away from my daughter, you sleaze." He scrambles out of the room. I can see from my window that he goes to Haymitch's house. My mother turns to me. "What the hell was that?" She looks infuriated, to say the least.
I sigh and roll my eyes. "When did you actually start caring about me?" I realize how much I sound like Johanna. I kind of like acting... bitchy. "And it's not like you deserve an explanation, but nothing happened."
My mother looks at me, shocked by my attitude. "Now who do you think you are to talk to your mom like that?"
"You're my mother, not my mom." I'm quick to correct her. "You gave birth to me, and that's about it. Now would you mind getting out of my room? If it wasn't for me, you'd still be living in the Seam. And you'd be alone because Prim and I would be dead! God dammit." The look on her face is priceless. She scrambles out of the room, faster than a squirrel. I pack up all my clothes and things – there's not a lot of them – and go next door to Haymitch's. I can't be around my 'family' right now.
I open the door and see Johanna and Finnick having a conversation in hushed tones. I can tell it's serious. I drop my suitcase on the couch and cough loudly to make my presence known. "Hey there," Johanna says to me, before looking away to continue her conversation. I go upstairs to find Haymitch.
He's sitting on his bed, going through some type of book. He's quick to put it away when he sees me. "God, Sweetheart. Learn to knock?" Haymitch laughs, and I know I'm not unwelcome. "What brings you to my humble home?"
"Finnick and I are dating... as of last night." I tell him. Haymitch doesn't look the slightest bit surprised. "Snow wanted it, but we wanted it as well. At least some thing turned out right. My mother saw us sleeping in the same bed and flipped out." I worded that very carefully, to make sure he knew we weren't having sex.
Haymitch stands up. "Come on, sweetheart, we need to go downstairs. We need to have a group discussion." I follow him downstairs. Johanna and Finnick stop talking when they see us.
"Alright." Johanna says, putting her feet up on the table. "So the victory tour starts today. You and Haymitch have a lunch to go to. It starts in an hour. Your district escort: Effie, I think, is gonna be here after to get on board the train to 11. We're going in reverse order until we get to the Capitol, where there will be ceremonies and what-not. Finnick and I have to go back to our districts for a little bit, but we'll see you when you stop by." Johanna stands up and gives me a small, awkward hug.
Finnick kisses me on the forehead, says he'll be in touch, and they both leave, almost forgetting their bags. Once they've left, I turn to Haymitch. "I guess that group discussion didn't exactly go as planned."
He shrugs. "Whatever. Snow says that you two can't be official until after you go back to the Capitol to mentor for the Quell." Thats it? I honestly was expecting something more.
I go change into a tight knee-length black skirt and a white draped shirt. I look professional, but appropriate. My makeup is simple. I have pale pink lipstick and black eyeliner. I look pretty, but simple. I feel more like Katniss Everdeen, District 12 Victor, as opposed to Katniss Everdeen, Capitol Whore. Even though I'm both, I'd prefer to be known as the former.
The lunch is at the Mayor's house. I've been there before because it's also Madge's house, but I've never been to the Banquet Hall. It's much less fancy than the ones in the other districts, but it's the nicest thing I've ever seen in 12. It's a room with high ceilings and a large glass table that looks like it could seat twenty people comfortably. There's the Mayor, his wife (who luckily isn't having one of her headaches), Madge, Haymitch, me and some 12 officials I've never seen before. There's a lot of good food (but not so much as to be wasteful) and after I give a speech to the whole district.
I stick to the script- how I'm so happy to be back, and hopefully I'll be able to bring back another tribute next year when I mentor. When it comes time to mention Peeta, I wasn't given a script. I tuck a piece of my hair behind my ear and take a deep breath. "I had every intention of bringing Peeta home with me. He sacrificed himself so I could live. And I can never repay him. To his family- I'm truly sorry. He should be the one giving a speech right now, not me." My district does not clap. They do the three-fingered salute just like they did when I volunteered for Prim.
Haymitch gives me a small smile when I get off the stage. "You did well, sweetheart. Now we gotta get on our train." Prim, my mother, and the Hawthornes are waiting for me at the train station. I hug Rory, Posy and Hazelle. Prim kisses my cheek. She tells me not to worry, and to try to have fun seeing all the other districts. Gale just waves at me. He tells me he'll keep everyone safe. My mother tries to hug me. I shoot her a death glare that Johanna would be proud of, and dodge under her arm to board the train.
Effie's waiting for me on the train. She's wearing high heels and one of her pastel-colored wigs. At first, I wanted to hate the Capitol woman. But now, I think of her as almost a friend. To her surprise, I hug the Capitol woman when I see her. "Hello, Katniss." She smiles at me.
"I missed you Effie." I tell her.
"Come on, let's go get you ready." 11 is right next to 12, so the train ride is only an hour. Cinna gave me a short, dark blue dress to wear. It's very hot in District 11, so there's spaghetti straps. I'm not sure why it has that name. I braid my hair, as usual. Effie offers to help me with my makeup. She seems very eager. "I promise you'll love it." I can't be bothered to say no. I wonder if Capitol girls do their makeup
When she's done, I look stunning. I look as if my whole prep team has been here and more. I'm speechless. "Wow, Effie. I don't know what to say. Why aren't you a stylist?"
She smiles at me. "Originally, I wanted to be. But I really wanted to see the Districts and I figured being an escort would be better. You get very attached. I can almost put up with Haymitch. And I was offered a position as escort for District 8, but I chose not to take it."
Effie looks at her watch. "Well, we have to be on time. Good luck, Katniss."
District 11 is huge. It has to be at least be ten times the size of 12. Most of it is fields but I can see a few small towns. On the right of the stage are the families of Thresh and Rue. I can't bear to look at them. The mayor says a few words about the history of the games, and then it's my turn.
I stick to my script that's the same for all districts. And then I have to talk about Rue and Thresh. I turn to their families. "First, Rue. We met in the Training Center. We had only exchanged friendly smiles, but I knew that I liked her. When I was hiding up in that tree, she showed me the tracker jacker nest and gave me the idea to drop it. She saved my life by protecting me after I got stung." I'm worried that I'll begin to tear up. So I take a deep breath before continuing. "And I couldn't save her. To that, I'm truly sorry. And Thresh, he saved my life when the girl from District 2 attacked me. My condolences to their families, and I wish them the best. And to the whole District: thank you for the bread." A man whistles my tune, and I hear a gunshot. I'm dragged off-stage by a Peacekeeper. I hear four gunshots. The dinner is canceled.
Haymitch pulls me down onto a chair once we get on the train. I'm shaking. "W-what was that?" I ask him.
"District 11 is very strict. They're worried about rebellion. They'll kill anyone without a second thought if they might possibly do something rebellious." My mentor explains. I can tell he's choosing his words very carefully.
"Rebellion?" I ask. "Aren't the districts too scared to go into rebellion?"
Haymitch shakes his head. "Not now." I can tell that there's more to this. I push it aside. Like there would actually be a rebellion, with the Quell coming up.
The districts blend together in my mind- I say the same thing in 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, and 5. I didn't know any of the tributes so the speeches were shorter. Johanna lives in 4 now, so I didn't get to see her in 7. However, the Mayor of 7 did ask me to send his regards to her when I get to 4. In 5, I learned that Foxface's name was Finch. I get to District 4 three weeks into the victory tour. I'm immediately breath-taken by the beautiful water. This has to be the most beautiful district I've seen so far.
Effie finds me when we get close. "Katniss, we're almost there!" She tells me. She sounds excited. This is her first victory tour, and she's ecstatic to see all of the districts. "You know who lives in District 4? Finnick Odair." She sighs dreamily. Seriously, who doesn't love him? Even Prim was starstruck by him. And me, Katniss Everdeen- out of all the people in all of Panem- I'm the one who has privilege of being his. I'm honestly not sure why. I dress a little bit more promiscuous than usual just for him. I put on a short pink-orange dress, that isn't very revealing in it's style, but just covers my butt. According to Cinna, I have great legs and it's sinful to not show them off.
I'm greeted to applause - apparently District 4 has a policy where they greet all victors with applause, unless they killed one of 4's tributes. In which case they just clap politely. I didn't kill anyone from 4, so I was greeted with the former. It's nice for a change. I give my speech, but instead of heading straight to the mayor's house after, Haymitch leads me down a street and to District 4's victor's village. The dinner is 3 nights from now because the Mayor is on a business trip. We're going to Finnick's house.
We ring the doorbell and a tall, bronze-haired woman opens the door for us. She's beautiful, to say the least. At first I assume she's Annie, but when I get a better look at her face, I can tell she has to Finnick's older sister. She has to be at least ten years older than him. She hugs Haymitch. "How are you? It's been too long." Then she turns to me and grins at me. "You must be Katniss." She kisses my cheek. "Finn never shuts up about you: Katniss this, Katniss that. It's adorable." I blush. "Well, you two should come in."
The Odair household is similar to mine in layout, but the design's totally different. It feels very beachy, and the design reflects that. Johanna's sitting in the living room, chatting with a few other people. She stands up and hugs me tightly when she sees me. "I missed you." She says, just quietly enough that only I can hear it. "You met Finnick's sister, Adrienne already." She motions to two women who are drinking coffee at the table. "This is Finnick's half-sister, Dahlia and her mother Juliet." Dahlia looks like she could be my age. Even though they're half siblings, she looks totally different from Finnick and Adrienne with her straight, black hair, red lips, and pale skin. Something about her is off-putting, and I'm not sure what. Juliette looks similar to her daugher- she's a little shorter than me and has dark black hair, with pin-straight bangs. Her red lips are too dark for her pale skin. They both smile at me in a very polite fashion. Something tells me they are icy. Johanna walks me to the living room. There's a girl who looks like a cross between Juliette and Adrienne- tanned but with dark hair, sea green eyes but blood-red lips. She's furiously tying knots in a string. "Katniss, this is Annie Cresta. Annie?" Johanna tries to get her attention.
She puts down the knots, but doens't turn to look at me. I sit down next to her. "Hi, Annie." She turns to look at me, and she flings her arms around my neck. The way she smiles at me makes me feel like I've known her forever.
"Hi, Katniss! Wow, I really get to meet you. I watched your games and they were nice. I like your hair!" She's very hyper. Before I can say something, she's back to tying knots and staring off at nothing. While Annie is a bit odd, going from hyper to spaced-out in a moment's notice, she doesn't seem quite as mad as people claim she is. Haunted from her games, would be a better description.
Johanna sits me and Haymitch down. "So let me get this straight. After she passed, Finnick's father married Juliette?" Haymitch shakes his head in confusion. "Something about her is off." Johanna shrugs in partial agreement.
Juliette and Dahlia leave to go to some type of spa. Henry's out fishing and Annie went to collect sea shells.
"Where's Finnick?" I ask Adrienne. She grins at me, expecting me to ask. We've been playing cards for the past hour against Haymitch and Johanna.
She sighs. "Some VIP Sponsor from the Capitol came to talk to him about sending types of medicine. I dunno." I can tell she's annoyed by this. I look at Haymitch- we both know what that really means. "Apparently a few are even coming to talk to you." Bile rises in my throat, and I have to swallow uncomfortably to keep it down.
Haymitch rolls his eyes. "Don't you just love Capitol people?"
Adrienne shushes him. "Juliette and Dahlia are from the Capitol. They're always trying to get us to move back there, but Finnick won't let it happen. He hates it there." I don't blame him.
"You said I'm meeting them as well?" I ask her.
"Yeah, Finnick left this list." She hands me a piece of paper. Written in neat blue pen is a list of clients.
1. 5 Ocean Street, 2:00
2. 14 Shell Street, 4:00
3. 23 Main Street, 5:00
I pass the list to Haymitch and Johanna. They're as disgusted as I am. I quickly compose myself. "That's pretty cool, three potential sponsors in one day. I look at the clock on the wall. It's 1:30. "I better get going, I should be back for dinner." I hug all three of them.
Johanna says. "They're from the Capitol, you should touch up your makeup." I understand the meaning behind her words. In her room upstairs is my large bag filled with slutty lingerie. I thought I left it back in 12. I mentally remind myself to thank her later. I put on a red lacy set and my sunset colored dress back over that. I put on short, tan high heels and touch up my makeup. I yell goodbye, and half-sprint out the door. I'm terrified about what'll happen if I'm late.
Luckily, I'm not. I get there a few minutes before my first "date" does. He's younger than what I'd expect, maybe in his late twenties. I take a deep breath and turn on my flirtatious side. And he believes it.
As soon as he's done, I'm onto my next date, and then the one after. I try to remove myself from the situation. This isn't me, it's the Capitol's Katniss Everdeen. It always starts with them politely kissing me on the cheek- its a Capitol thing, and me smiling flirtatiously. And it ends with them thanking me. "It was worth every penny." They always say. If only I got to keep that money for myself. If only.
By the time I get back to Finnick's house, my eye makeup is smudged beyond belief and my hair is loose instead of in it's braid. I fix my hair and try to make myself look normal, but it doesn't work. I feel worthless. I even smell like a whore. I open up the door and everyone's home. Juliette and Dahlia are talking with a very bored Johanna and Annie. Adrienne, Haymitch and Henry are all drinking. Finnick's sitting next to Haymitch, but I can tell somethings on his mind. Everyone stops talking and stares when I close the door behind me. Finnick and I make eye contact and suddenly it's just the two of us. He rushes towards me and I hobble over to him. My feet are blistered from walking around in my heels and I'm sore beyond belief. But when he puts his arms around me, all of that seems to go away.
"I missed you so much." I whisper. He justs holds me tightly, not saying anything.
"We can talk after dinner, okay?" Finnick asks me, walking over to the dinner table with me. I nod. He takes my hand with his. I know I won't be the first to let go.
A/N: Wow, that really took forever to write. Anyways, thanks for being patient!
Reviews = Love.
Also, I'm having some difficulty deciding what the 75th Quell is gonna be (whether it's the canon one or not). I'd really like follower input!