I am SO sorry you guys! I haven't updated in so long, I know. Life's been conspiring against this fic. I've had family issues, and then I went camping, and I've had to work to get money for university, and all that jazz. But that's no excuse, I know! Here's the next chapter! I'm hoping to finish THG in at least 2 more chapters. And then I'll get onto Catching Fire, which should be a lot more interesting, I promise! :D
Enjoy!
Haymitch
At about midnight, I stopped fiddling with Effie's hair, and propped myself up onto my elbow to look at her.
"You should get some sleep, sweetheart," I commented, my fingers grazing the bags under her eyes. Her makeup covered them well enough, but now that she was natural, the purple stains were evident. She hadn't gotten enough sleep.
"I'm fine, really." She mumbled, smiling.
"You're not. I felt you yawn earlier."
Her fingers found mine and laced through them, squeezing tight. "I'm fine, Haymitch. I don't want to miss anything."
"I'll wake you if something does happen. But I doubt it will. Just sleep, Eff."
She sighed, and relented. We adjusted our positions until I was lying with my back on the headboard, and Effie's head on my lower torso. I wrapped my arm around her and continued to watch the Games.
Katniss continues to care for Peeta. I can tell that my message sunk in, as she's trying to be as loving as possible; tending his wound, feeding him the broth, checking him for fever. But only kisses will win sponsors. I wanted a chance to push them together and shout "Kiss!" at her. But that wasn't going to happen any time soon.
As I promised, nothing of import happened that night, just the Careers getting ready to go out and search for Katniss and the other tributes. They were talking about taking down Medea, the fox-faced girl from Five, who was still in the Game, surprisingly. But she was stealthy, so the Careers would have a tough job catching her. They would have an easier time finding Katniss and Peeta, who were tethered to the ground by Peeta's illness.
In the morning, it was clear that Peeta was getting worse. He seemed hot and sweaty. When Effie woke, she gasped at the sheen on Peeta's forehead and the way that Katniss recoiled when she touched him.
As the morning went on, the fever broke, which was a huge relief. Katniss made Peeta some food when he woke up, and I implored her to lay on the romance.
Luckily, Peeta initiated it, and then caught her hand and kissed it. I could hear the screams of the Capitol women as they gabbled on about how romantic it was.
Effie stirred in my arms. "We should get ready and go down to the Square. They'll need more sponsor gifts."
"Don't I know it? Don't want you to leave though. Don't want you to put on your mask." I spat the last word, and Effie sighed.
"You know I have to." And with that, she kissed me on the cheek and slipped out of the room.
Drinking while dressing is a usual thing for me. I just put myself on autopilot as I slipped into yesterday's suit and tie. It smelt a bit, but who cares? Everyone's used to it.
The cameras shifted from Katniss and Peeta to Thresh, hiding in a meadow full of long grass and flowers. Something about the look of that meadow sparked a memory from the back of my mind.
"Haymitch, slow down. I've got a stitch." The blonde haired girl exclaimed from behind me.
"We need to keep moving. I'm not feeling up to another battle with Careers right now." I shouted back to her, trudging through the tall grass.
"Seriously, can't we just take a break? For like two minutes?" She was panting hard, probably from lack of water. It hadn't rained in so long, and we couldn't drink from the poisoned streams that the Capitol had laid out for us. Many had succumbed to the poisons.
I sighed. "Fine, we'll take a break. Five minutes only." I slowed to a stop and crossed back to where she had flopped to the ground.
I carefully sat down beside her, noticing how the grass stretched above us, covering us from view.
"See? We'll be okay here." She smiled, and then got out some beef strips from her backpack, handing me one. I took it gratefully, and bit into it.
Time passed, more than five minutes, but it was so good to just sit and relax for a while. I had been leading her for so long, almost days. I don't know what I was looking for, but I wanted to get away from the other tributes, to take Maysilee and I somewhere safe.
"Tell me about your girlfriend." She suddenly said, turning to me.
"Nadyah? Why do you want to know about her?" I asked, registering the glimmer of gold on her chest, coming from the mockingjay pin.
"Do you love her?" She asked, completely ignoring my question.
"Of course." I answer straight away. "Why do you want to know?"
"And if you lost her, would you ever love anyone else?" She ignored my question again.
"I don't know. Why would I lose her?" I was getting really confused, where were these questions going?
"For some reason or another. Like, I lost my boyfriend to the Games last year. I thought I loved him, but now I'm falling in love with someone else. So could I have really loved him, if I love someone else?" She looked at me eagerly, as if expecting me to answer.
"Do you really love this other person?" I ask, not really caring, but thinking about the fact that we should be moving on soon.
"I think so. I mean, he's pretty much saved my life for the past week or so, so it'd be hard not to."
My head snapped around to face hers. She was talking about me?
"Well, I'm not sure if you should love that person, considering he might not always be around to save your life. He may be the one ending it." I got up and walked away, leaving her sitting there. I heard her get up and follow me, as I hadn't really broken the alliance yet.
Somehow that interaction between Maysilee and I seemed relevant now. Was I really in love with Nadyah, if I could safely say that I am in love with Effie? Could you really love twice? Or could humans only truly love once?
All I knew was that I love Effie, truly love her, and Nadyah would be happy to see me happy. She was always one of those people who liked seeing people happy.
I remembered the time after that conversation. It was rather awkward for the both of us, but Maysilee didn't mention more about her supposed love for me. We just kept going, until we reached the edge of the arena, and Maysilee broke the alliance.
I remember her last words to me before she left.
"Don't want it to come down to the two of us." Her voice filled with hurt. She didn't want to have to kill me, or for me to have to kill her.
And I just let her go. I said okay, and then let her leave me. I let her walk away to her death.
Katniss came up again, and I watched the mockingjay pin on her chest. I remember it was covered with blood from Maysilee's neck when I found her dying. I remember the way Maysilee's hand fumbled for mine, and how I held her hand as she died.
Her dying words were "I love you, I'm sorry."
She knew that I didn't love her back, but she just had to say it; to get it out before she died. I only thought of her as a friend, or maybe a sister that I looked after for so long. And I had failed her; betrayed her trust in the most damaging of ways.
"Haymitch?"
Effie's voice pulled me out of my reverie, and I turned to look at her. She was all decked out in her finery, a bubblegum pink wig on her head and a fuchsia skirt-suit covering her curves.
She looked down at my tie and tutted. In my thoughts, I had screwed up my tie, pushing it out of alignment. She walked over to me and adjusted it so it was nice and straight.
"There we go."
I studied her face. She had smothered it in white powder, and outlined her eyes in pink. It brought out the blue in them, but I didn't like that it made her look like she had been crying.
"What are you thinking about?" She asked.
"About how silly your face looks with all that stuff on it. You?"
She smiled, and opened her mouth to speak. However, no words came out for a second.
"I... I'm thinking about them," she nodded to the screen, "how both of them can come out now. Do you think it's real, or just a trick?" Her eyes sought out mine, and I could tell that she doubted the validity of Templesmith's announcement.
"I'm wary too, sweetheart. It could be either. But somehow, I doubt Snow will allow two Victors. Only one can come out. I'd say it's for the viewers." I ran my fingers along her face, cringing as they came away smeared with white.
"Stop it." She snapped gently, moving my fingers away and smoothing out her makeup. "I'm scared. What if it comes down to just them, and then they take away the rule? What will happen then?"
"I suppose Peeta will let Katniss kill him. It'll be his final act of love, or something. The crowd will love it." I snarled, thinking about how the boy will probably stab himself to save Katniss' life. It's sick, twisting their hopes like this. But I was the one who wanted this, wasn't I? To protect Katniss for just a little while longer? So wasn't I as bad as the rest of them?
We stifled our fears with a small kiss, and then went down to the Square to sort out sponsors. We got a list of people that were still willing to help out, but even with a dozen of them willing, we still couldn't afford the medicine to save Peeta.
By the time we had worked that out, it was late afternoon, and suddenly Templesmith told the crowds that he was about to make an announcement.
I found Effie in the crowd, clutching her clipboard, and added some names to the sponsor list before we found a seat to listen to Templesmith's announcement.
We soon found out that there would be a feast at the Cornucopia. Katniss actually waved away the offer before Templesmith went on to insist that each tribute needed something desperately.
The medicine.
Effie's eyes flashed to mine. We both knew what this meant. Katniss was going to go in there to help Peeta. She could get killed in the process.
We watched as Katniss and Peeta argued about Katniss going to the feast. He's adamant that she's not to go, or he'll follow her, screaming her name so that someone will find him. It's a cold piece of blackmail.
There's no way that Katniss is going to get to the feast now, Peeta will just follow her. So she promises not to go.
Suddenly, an idea flashes into my head.
"Eff, give me the sponsor sheet."
She does so, giving me a look that wants to know what I'm up to. I don't answer her as I scan the names and pick out one of the wealthiest sponsors we have, Nolan Mantra. He'll get me what I want.
I find him in the crowd. He's pretty easy to spot, what with his golden spiky hair and silver suit.
When he sees me walking over, he grins at me. "What do you need, Abernathy? Something to send Lover Boy to sleep?" His perfect white teeth flash in the dying sunlight.
"It's like you read my mind, Mantra. Can you get it?"
"Of course!" He laughs, and we shake hands, sealing the deal.
On the way to the control room, we chat about the Games, and about Katniss and Peeta. I'd say, out of all the Capitol freaks here, Nolan Mantra is the only one, aside from Effie, that I don't despise. He has my sarcastic sense of humour, which I like.
Crane looks bemused when we order sleep serum, but doesn't complain. Mantra pays a plentiful sum for the syrup. This stuff is cheap normally, but in the final six of the Hunger Games, the price skyrockets.
As I authorise the parachute, and Crane sends it down, I turn back to Nolan.
"Much obliged." I nod at him.
"Are you sure that your girl will survive the battle?" He asks, raising an inquisitive eyebrow.
"She'd better. I have faith in her."
"So do I. Nice doing business with you." He shakes my hand and we leave the control room together.
"By the way, it's good to see you sober for once." Nolan comments when we reach the Square.
"I'm not stone cold, but as cold as I'll ever be. Don't count on this happening often." We shake hands once more, and then part ways.
As I walk away, I remember when I woke up after my own Games.
The pain hits me first, but then a smooth sensation filled me, driving the pain away mostly. I hear a chuckle, and slowly open my eyes to meet a strange face.
Gold spiky hair adorns the face of a young man in a black suit sitting by my bed. He's twirling a pack of clear liquid in his hands, tugging slightly on a tube that leads directly into my arm.
"Who are you?" I ask, groggily.
"The man who saved your life, Twelve." He smirked, and pulled on the tube again. I felt it leave my arm slightly, and the pain slammed into me again. I cried out, grabbing at the tube and pulling the pack out of the man's grasp. It fell to the floor, where I quickly pulled it up and inserted the needle back into my arm. The pain was washed away again.
"Morphling?" I asked.
"Yep. It was fun watching your face contort when I pulled it out." The grin seemed to be permanently etched onto his face.
"What are you doing here?"
"I came to receive your thanks for saving your life. I was the one who sent you that water when you were dying from thirst. Remember?"
I did remember. I remember my parched throat, how I begged the sky for water, and then Balthazar relented and sent me some water in a bottle and iodine so I could purify rainwater. It was like a gift from the gods.
And now the god was sitting before me.
"Thank you..." I trailed off, not knowing what to call him.
"Nolan Mantra. Look out for me sometime. I may just save one of your tributes' lives someday." And with that, he left the infirmary, leaving me baffled.
And look at that, he may have just saved Peeta's life. Or, he may have just ended Katniss' and Peeta's, if Katniss was killed at the Cornucopia. But I hoped that it was the first.
I watched as Katniss studied my gift. It took her a while to understand my intentions, but she finally got there. To my relief, she got there before throwing the vial into the river. I could imagine Nolan's anger if she had thrown the vial away.
She mixes the syrup with berries and mint, and then brings it to Peeta. She lies through her teeth about the taste of the berries, but he gets it after stating that they taste like syrup. The look on his face as he drifts off into sleep is unforgivable. If he makes it out of this, he may not forgive me for sending Katniss the vial, for being on her side and not his. Maybe she is my favourite. But for now, all I care about is helping Peeta, and helping Katniss to help Peeta. So he can hate me all he wants if he lives; I'll know that I saved his life.
Katniss sits back after Peeta slips into unconsciousness, and then starts camouflaging the cave, so that Peeta will be safe in his vulnerable state.
It's clear that Katniss isn't going to go to the Cornucopia tonight, which I curse her for. She should go to the Cornucopia now, and wait there until the morning. She could get her pack first and then leave before the others can get to her. Stupid girl for not realising that.
But she's not the only one who hasn't realised that. The Careers don't go for the Cornucopia, and neither does Thresh. Only Medea goes for it, doing exactly what I thought. She hides in the Cornucopia and waits until morning.
I can hear a slight chuckle from behind me. Atomia, District Five's mentor, is standing behind me, watching her tribute's smart moves. I don't say anything; just nod my head at her. Atomia will register my approval of her tribute, but she'll know that I can't root for Medea, what with both of my tributes being alive still.
It's only in the morning that Katniss leaves. By this time, Effie and I have returned to the apartment and have slept little. I didn't sleep at all, only drank, but Effie got about two hours sleep at my insistence.
The cameras show all of the tributes making their way to the Cornucopia, aside from Peeta, who is still unconscious, and Medea, who is already there. As the table is being lifted, I see the Careers poised and ready, Katniss staring at the table, ready to go herself, and Thresh looking around for any of the other tributes.
Medea gets the upper hand though; as soon as the table has risen completely, she's in there, grabbing her pack and running away swiftly. The other tributes are baffled by her speed and intelligence, and I can see Katniss kicking herself for not going in last night.
Katniss runs in before the others can, but she's already being followed by Clove. Clove's knife comes out of nowhere, and Effie screams as it narrowly misses Katniss. Katniss looses an arrow that hits Clove's upper arm, but it's the wrong arm, so it's relatively useless. It does slow Clove down, giving Katniss enough time to get to the table and grab her pack.
But it's not enough time. Clove's second knife comes, and slices Katniss on the forehead. Effie screams again, and I shift forward, watching intently on the battle that's unfolding. Luckily, the knife only scratches Katniss, but Clove is on her in the time it takes her to recover.
Clove must be strong for such a little girl, as she pins Katniss to the ground. She starts taunting Katniss, as a cat might taunt her prey before killing it. She starts talking about Peeta, and then Rue, which fills me with anger. It's filled Katniss with anger too, but it's not just us. Thresh comes in out of nowhere, hearing Clove's comment about her killing Rue, and grabs her. He holds her off the ground in his huge hands, watching as she writhes and screams.
"What did you do to that little girl? You kill her?" Thresh snarls, throwing her to the ground, and I'm surprised. He's hardly ever spoken before.
"No! No, it wasn't me!" Clove screams, crawling away from Thresh, seeing the rock in his hand.
Thresh comes closer, snarling about cutting Rue up, by which point Clove is screaming for Cato. The cameras pan out to Cato running for Clove, shouting her name.
Thresh brings the rock down on Clove's head, denting it beyond repair. The girl isn't dead, but she's barely clinging on to life. Thresh knows that she'll die, and he turns to Katniss, rock raised. I close my eyes momentarily. This is it. Katniss will die at the hands of Chaff's beast of a boy.
But when Thresh pauses, and then talks to Katniss about Rue, I can tell that he's wavering. Katniss tells him about how she killed Marvel for her, and how she buried Rue in flowers, and how Eleven gave her bread. Conflicting emotions cross Thresh's face, but eventually he admits that he'll let her go this time, for Rue.
The shouts of Cato bring the two of them back to reality.
"You better run now, Fire Girl." Thresh says, and then takes off, grabbing his and Cato's packs on the way. Katniss leaves too, heading back to Peeta.
The cameras zoom in on Cato finding Clove. Templesmith and Flickerman are talking about how sad it is that she has to die and leave him alone.
"Clove!" Cato shouts, dropping down beside her and taking her hand. "Please, Clove, don't leave me. I don't know what to do without you."
He sees that it's futile, that she'll die, and there are tears coming from his eyes. "We were supposed to win together, Clove! We were both supposed to go home! And now you're leaving me. Please, stay with me. I love you."
But Clove's heart rate drops to nothing, and the cannon fires, before the girl can even tell Cato that she loves him back. Cato screams, and lays his head on Clove's chest.
"I'll kill him for you, Clove. I'll kill him!" Cato snarls, lays a kiss on her forehead, and then leaves, going to search for Thresh.
In the aftermath of the battle, Effie and I relax.
"I thought she was going to die." Effie mumbled.
"Me too. But she's okay. She's safe." I rubbed my hand over Effie's back, and she leans her head onto my shoulder.
However, we haven't noticed that the loss of blood has taken its toll on Katniss. She barely manages to get the medicine to Peeta before she passes out.
About an hour after she passes out, Peeta wakes up and freaks out, seeing Katniss out cold beside him. He bandages her head and tries to get her to wake up, but realises the futility of that, and eventually leaves her alone.
"Will she be okay?" Effie asks.
"Probably. It's only a small cut. She'll be fine."
When she eventually wakes up, she and Peeta talk about food, and I come into the conversation at times. They kiss too, but it's mainly Peeta initiating that part of the conversations and anything romantic is often said by Peeta too.
I want to throttle that girl; can't she feign fake love and force a couple of kisses? Or at least smile?
A few days pass without much event. Katniss and Peeta stay together, just talking together. It's mildly romantic, but not overly. I want to bang their heads together. They know I'm their only hope of finding food in the current downpour of rain, so why don't they start kissing or something?
However, in the deluge of rain and thunder, a battle ensues. Chaff happened to visit our apartment at the time, and both of us sat rigid, watching as Cato and Thresh battled it out. Cato must have still been angry about Thresh murdering Clove, and he was going to seek his revenge. Eventually, he did, stabbing Thresh in the heart. Chaff moaned, seeing his last hope of a Victor this year bleed to death, while the psychotic Career leered over him. I had to console him by opening a bottle of whiskey and splitting it with him.
On the same day as Thresh's death, our kids finally do something romantic.
Chaff had left, staggering back to his apartment. Effie watches me as I pace around the room, watching them and snarling about them not being romantic. Eventually, she speaks up.
"What do you want them to do, sleep together?" She says tentatively, watching my face.
"Anything would be better than this, Eff. Besides, it'd be a good show." I wink at her.
"Haymitch!" She throws a pillow at me, but she's laughing too.
After about five more minutes of pacing, Katniss says something that throws me.
"Peeta. You said at the interview that you've had a crush on me forever. When did forever start?"
"Come on, Effie, let's go." I say, and I drag Effie down to the Square, where we are literally bombarded by Capitol people who want to sponsor them.
The story unfolds, and as it does, it gets more and more romantic. Effie's smile grows wider, and sometimes she lets out a little "aww" at something that Peeta says. The Capitol women all join in too.
By the time they've gotten to the good stuff, I find myself in the control room with ten Capitol women, all who want to contribute to buying a hamper of food, including lamb stew, Katniss' favourite food of the Capitol.
"You have a... remarkable memory." Katniss states.
"I remember everything about you. You're the one who hasn't been paying attention." Peeta moves a strand of hair from Katniss' face to behind her ear. At least two of the Capitol women swoon behind me.
"I am now."
"Well, I don't have much competition here." Peeta says, and I twitch in anticipation. She has to say it, it would be perfect. Say it!
"You don't have much competition anywhere." She says, finally.
"You can let that go now, Crane." I say, authorising the parachute.
But as I'm authorising it, the women scream at the television, one even fainting. I whirl around after sending off the authorisation, and see them kissing.
The landing of the parachute knocks them out of their kiss, but everyone loves it. In the Square, nearly every Capitol citizen was flipping out. I caught the grin of Nolan Mantra, and nodded at him. He was the reason that we were in this situation, so I owed him.
"The star-crossed lovers of District Twelve, forcing smiles."
The familiar voice caused me to turn. Talia was standing behind me, her eyes red ringed and bloodshot. The smell of alcohol wafted around her.
"What happened to you?" I ask, placing my hand on her elbow to steady her shaking frame.
"I drank. You drink." She shrugged, taking another mouthful of liquor.
I grabbed her wrist and tried to coax the glass out of her hand. Her hand clasped tight around it, reflexively.
"Hey! Get off! Just because you're on the 'straight and narrow' doesn't mean I have to be." She snarled, pulling away from me.
"You remember what I told you? This isn't good for you. If you drink too much, it could kill you." I moved closer to her, which only succeeded in making her stumble away.
"Don't care. I don't see why I need to live anyway. Life is overrated." She downed her drink.
I couldn't help feeling guilty for this sudden shift in Talia's attitude. I was the one who introduced her to alcohol, and I did see some of my own attitude in her. So maybe it was my fault that she was like this.
"You shouldn't think like that." I insisted, snatching the glass away from her before she could order another. "You won the Hunger Games, in the place of 23 other kids. 23 kids died so you could live, including Elijah and Mikhail. I don't think that they'd appreciate your death wish."
Her eyes flashed up to mine, pain swimming in the emerald irises. But the pain hardened to anger, anger at me.
"You're a hypocrite. You hate life too. And yet 47 kids died for you, including the girl from your district. Maysilee. That's right, I watched your Games the other night. You just let her die, and now you drink your life away. You do what you want with your life, don't tell me how to live mine." She slid down from the barstool and flounced away, wobbling a couple of times. She was drunk, that was evident.
I tried not to let what she said get to me. She probably didn't mean it. I had said many things that I didn't mean when I was intoxicated. Yet, it was still the truth. I drunk my life away, so why shouldn't I let her?
I felt a delicate hand on my shoulder, and smelt the familiar scent. I turned, and Effie was looking up at me.
"Are you all right?" Her beautiful blue eyes look up at me in concern.
"Just dandy." I look away from her, towards the screen. Katniss and Peeta are sharing bite-sized bits of food. It's a good idea, rationing it.
They talk some more, about their romance, about me; which irks me greatly. They could be grateful, but Katniss insists that I'm never sober, which is quite an insult. I'm mostly sober now, and if I wasn't, they wouldn't have gotten that basket. I push down an overwhelming urge to send down some Nightlock berries to tell them what I think of their comments.
The anthem plays, and it is then that Katniss and Peeta realise that Thresh is dead. Only four more left to play.
"Two of them are ours." Effie mumbles. I nod, but I don't want to get my hopes up. Cato could easily kill both of them, and Medea too. He was very vicious, and he had it out for Katniss and Peeta.
"If Cato found Medea, then Katniss and Peeta could take out Cato, and then they could come home. Think about it, Haymitch, two Victors!" She sat beside me, trying to sound Capitol in front of everyone.
"Yes. Two Victors. But will they let them both come home? I doubt it." I push her away, trying to keep up the image, but I hope that she understood my meaning.
"Let's go back up to the apartment." Effie mumbled. "It's getting dark."
I let her lead me back up, but as we try to leave, reporters crowd us, trying to get our opinions on our tributes.
"What do you think of their romance?"
"Do you think they'll win?"
"How do you feel about their taunts?"
I push the nearest freak away, and drag Effie through the crowd and into the elevator. I will refuse to give an interview until the kids win. If they win.
"Why don't you want to talk to them?" Effie asks.
"Because they're just going to twist my words. And anyway, why should I talk to them? I've got an image to uphold, remember?"
"I remember." She placed her hands on my chest and gave me a small kiss on the lips. I press her to me for more, but she pulls away.
"Later." She insists.
And later, I get what I want. What I need. What I hope she wants and needs. And as we lie in bed, limbs tangled and hair mussed, I feel a strange emotion. Longing. I know I love Effie, but now I know that there's a part of me that doesn't ever want to let her go. And I pray that I never will have to let her go.
Okay, well that's that! Not too happy with this chapter, but I didn't want to leave you guys without a chapter, so here it is! Next chapter will be better, I promise!
Please review, it makes me happy! :D
I love you all! :)