I know I was worried about this chapter being uploaded today because I was very busy. But, I managed to finish it in time! I hope you like it! Please read and review. Thank you, reviewers and readers. I love you all! Enjoy! All characters belong to Suzanne Collins except for you know who. :p
Effie opened her eyes to the blinding light that came through the window into her room. She stretched herself and felt something next to her. Something warm. She turned her head. Haymitch? She sat upright and looked at him for a moment. Ah, of course. Effie remembered what had happened last night. They had made love, and it had been amazing. She remembered they both had fallen asleep shortly after. She rubbed her eyes and took in her surroundings. She saw a bowl of soup on her night stand. The children must have brought that in, she thought. She threw off the covers and then froze. The children. She let out a groan and put her head in her hands. How embarrassing. She shot a quick look at her alarm clock. It was 8:30 in the morning. "Shoot!" Effie leaped out of the bed, grabbed the clothes that Magnus had given her and put them on. A black V-neck T-shirt, khaki pants and brown boots.
She glanced at herself in the mirror. Great outfit to die in, she thought sarcastically. She turned around to look at Haymitch, who, of course, had slept through it all. The corners of her mouth twitched. She would probably never see him again. After a few attempts of waking him up, without any result, she pressed a kiss onto his lips, wishing it could last forever. "Goodbye, Haymitch." Effie whispered, and turned around before her tears had the change to spill.
After a quick breakfast she was escorted to the hovercraft with Magnus and Eden. She sat down in one of the seats in the hovercraft and looked at the other tributes. How was she ever going to kill these people? Lucius, her high school sweetheart, who was obviously eyeing her up. Felix, the young, innocent boy. Flavius, Octavia... her friends. She closed her eyes and let her head fall back. She felt extremely nervous. "Give me your arm." she heard a lady say. Effie opened her eyes and stared in the direction of the voice. The lady injected a tracker in Eden's arm. Then she turned to Effie. "Give me your arm." she said demandingly. Effie reached her arm out and closed her eyes once again. She was never a fan of needles. Before she knew it, the giant needle was in her arm. She pursed her lips and opened her eyes as she heard the beep of the tracker. It lit up for a second. She crossed her arms and stared at the ceiling.
As the hovercraft landed she clutched onto Eden's hand tightly. This is it, Effie thought. All tributes and stylists stood up and made their way underground with the rebels. Suddenly she lost Eden's hand. "Eden?!" she turned around quickly. One of the rebels had pulled them apart and was holding onto Eden's arm firmly, leading him into another corridor. Eden gave her a small smile before he disappeared around the corner. "Effie?" She turned around. Magnus held the door open for her. She stepped in. So this was what a launching room looked like. It looked old, small, and a little scary. It reminded her of her prison cell. She shuddered at the thought. "Are you alright? I think you need a jacket." Magnus grabbed a dark green jacket from a hook and helped her putting it on. "That's better." He said. He then turned Effie around, pulled the black hair elastic from her hair and braided it rapidly. Effie looked at it shortly in the mirror on the wall; it looked exactly like Katniss' signature braid. "Magnus, I don't know-" He shushed her.
"1 minute to launch." a female voice called. Effie darted her eyes around frantically. She was shivering and she felt like she was about to throw up. Magnus placed his hands on her arms and rubbed them gently. Then he pulled her in for a hug. "30 seconds to launch." the voice called again. "It's alright." Magnus tried to comfort her a little. "Take a deep breath." Effie nodded, closed her eyes and took a deep breath as told. "10 seconds to launch." Now Effie really wanted to shut that voice up. Magnus loosened his grip on her and Effie stepped back, into the tube. "EFFIE!" she heard a voice. It wasn't just any voice. It was Haymitch. "Haymitch!" Effie managed to yell back before they were separated by a wall of glass. Haymitch put his hand against it, Effie placed her hand on the glass to cover his and looked him in the eyes. The tube started rising slowly. "No! Wait!" Effie called out and crouched down. She looked at him, uselessly trying to stop the tube from rising. I love you, she read on his lips before he got out of view. Stay alive.
She let out a few quiet sobs before realizing she had to stay focused. She blinked her tears away and stood up. A clear blue sky came in view above her head. She looked around. The arena was beyond beautiful. The Cornucopia sat in the middle of a sweet-smelling green meadow, and the sky was azure blue, with fluffy, billowing white clouds. The meadow stretched for miles, and far in the distance there were woods and a snow-capped mountain. It was gorgeous. It reminded her of an arena she had seen before.
"Oh good heavens, look at that!" Caesar exclaimed. Katniss and Peeta sat on the sofa in the viewing room, watching Caesar and Claudius give their commentary about this year's arena. They sure had recognized this one. "Ladies and gentlemen, this is the arena of the Second Quarter Quell; Poison Paradise! It was one of the best years of the Hunger Games. In honour of this anniversary, twice the number of regular tributes were sent into the arena, giving a total of 48 tributes. The Games were won by District 12's very own Haymitch Abernathy!" Claudius took over and gave the viewers a quick description of the arena. "Everything in the arena is lethally poisonous, including the food growing in the arena, the water in the stream, the butterfly stings, and even the scent of the flowers when inhaled too directly. The only sources of safe food and water in the arena are the rainwater and the food from the Cornucopia." Peeta's eyes widened and he turned to Katniss. "Did we ever teach her how to distinct poisonous plants from edible plants? Because I don't think we did!" Katniss shushed him. "I did, don't worry about it. And for all we know, she might even recognize the arena and know what to do."
She certainly did. Horrifying mages of the 50th Hunger Games she had seen when she was only a few years old flashed before her eyes. "Let the 76th Hunger Games begin! And may the odds be ever in your favour." How sick. "60, 59, 58, 57.." Claudius Templesmith began the countdown. Effie looked around for Eden. There he was, a few platforms away. He nodded at her and then looked at the woods. He wanted to tell her she absolutely shouldn't run to the Cornucopia, it would probably cost her her life. "46, 45, 44, 43.." Effie nodded at the bow that was lying on top of a few backpacks. Eden put up his thumb, careful not to show it to anyone. He should get the bow before Tax did. "28, 27, 26, 25, 24.." Effie took a deep breath. "17, 16, 15.." Haymitch had quickly managed to get back to the Penthouse, he had had quite the argument with the pilot of the hovercraft because he had wanted 'the damn thing to go faster'. He ran towards the viewing room. "What did I miss?" he asked Katniss. "Nothing, sit down." "10, 9.." Haymitch digged his nails into the sofa once he saw the arena. "8, 7.." His knuckles slowly started turning white. "6, 5, 4.." Effie closed her eyes and felt the soft wind caressing her cheeks. "3.." "I love you too, Haymitch." she whispered, hoping he would notice it somehow. "2.." she clenched her fists. "1." She forgot what Eden had told her, and with the sound of the gong she started running towards the Cornucopia.