Hi guys! This chapter is a bit shorter than usual, but I wanted to get one up for you guys! This chapter marks the end of the Games, and the beginning of the war!
Also, I have some news for you guys! I got my A Level results on Thursday, and I got into the university that I wanted! :D So most of the rest of this fic will be written at uni! I'm so excited about it!
Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter! :)
Haymitch
In the morning, Effie and I carry on watching. There's only four left, two of them our own. It's so easy to believe that we have already won, but it's not that simple. We haven't won yet.
The kids finish the rest of their food, with a rather funny remark to Effie. The kids remember her persistence with their table manners, and eat their stew with their fingers, making a mess. They call Effie out and laugh, saying that they miss her.
Effie, despite her knowing that they're making fun of her, gets a tear in her eye.
"They miss me…" She trails off, wiping her eyes.
"Of course they do."
The kids go out and get food, and we decide to get ready and go down to the Square. It's a shame, letting Effie go and losing her natural side to the Capitol. She looks so much nicer natural.
When Effie's dressed in a sickeningly bright canary yellow dress and wig combo, and I've stuffed myself into a damned monkey suit, we head down to the Square. People are crowded around the screens, eager for the finale of the Games. Brutus is looking particularly smug, standing with his arms crossed next to the bar.
As soon as I appear, some Peacekeepers come towards me.
"Come with us, Mr Abernathy." One reaches out to grab my arm.
"Where are we going?" I pull away, my instincts telling me to run.
"Protocol suggests that the mentors of the last four tributes should sit together. It's happened every year since the Games began. I wouldn't expect you to know it though." He gave me a smug grin, and led me away from Effie. I reluctantly followed.
Brutus arrived at the same time as I did. Atomia was already sitting down, watching the screen intently.
"Abernathy, fancy seeing you here. You're not in this position a lot, are you?" Brutus smirked, sitting away from Atomia. I don't answer him; I refuse to give him the satisfaction.
On the screen, my star-crossed lovers have split up, looking for food. Katniss gives the signal after some time of there not being any communication, but Peeta does not respond.
Katniss does what I would have done, she runs for him. She gets back to his coat and sees berries lying on it. I shoot up, sitting right on the edge of my seat. No, this couldn't be! The berries are nightlock, the most poisonous things in the arena. Peeta was so stupid!
Katniss finds him, alive thankfully, but with a handful of nightlock. They argue, but in the end they forgive each other and go back to the food. It is then that they play footage of Medea, Five's girl, stealing some of the food from Peeta's pack, including the nightlock berries.
When they return, Katniss notices some of the food missing, and turns to Peeta.
The footage cuts to Medea again, who is looking at the berries wistfully. By the look in her eyes, I can tell that she knows what they are. So why is she still holding onto them?
Suddenly, she looks right into the camera, whispers a quiet "I'm sorry" to the camera, and then eats the berries. Her cannon goes off before she could even swallow them.
Atomia sighs, and gets up. I grab her arm before she can leave.
"Wait. She did that on purpose, didn't she?"
She turns back to me, and nods slowly.
"Why?" I had an idea, but I needed confirmation.
Atomia's face screws up in confusion and indignation. "Why do you think? Medea couldn't hurt a fly, yet she was in the final four with three brutal killers. How would you feel if you were in that situation. She did it so she wouldn't have to die in a more painful way. She would have died anyway." With that, she pulls her arm from my grasp, and walks away as the hovercraft lifts her tribute's body into the air.
Katniss and Peeta watch as they take the body away. Katniss explains how she is Peeta's kill, but it's not true. She may not have eaten the berries if she didn't want to. If she thought she had a chance. But she didn't, so she ate them.
Brutus looks over at me, a grin on his face. "Looks like it's just you and me now, Abernathy. May the best tribute win."
"Tributes, Brutus. My two may just win." I gave him a smirk to rival his own, and then turned away, looking back to the screen.
Peeta wants to go back to the cave, but I see the flickers of doubt in Katniss' eyes. I realise then that she hasn't been particularly nice to Peeta today, shouting at him and disagreeing with everything that he's said. She needs to be more romantic!
She realises this as I do, and gives Peeta a kiss, agreeing to go back to the cave.
Nothing happens for hours. Cato lays low, trying to work out how to kill Katniss and Peeta, and mourning over the death of his partner, Clove. Katniss and Peeta stay in the cave and work out how to kill Cato.
The Peacekeepers let Brutus and I go in the evening, but insist that we return in the morning for the finale.
Effie corners me on the way out.
"How are you?" I ask, leading her away from the Square.
"Alright. I stayed with some of the other escorts. I missed you though." She whispered the last bit as we entered the elevator.
I wrapped my arms around her as soon as the doors closed, and pressed my lips against hers. She tasted like one of those fancy cocktails that the Capitol serves, sweet and boozy.
"You're not exactly helping with my abstinence thing, Eff." I mutter against her lips, and she laughs, emitting more of the alcoholic aroma into my mouth and nose.
"I only had two, shut up." She presses her mouth against mine harder.
It's times like this when I'm glad that we live on the top floor of the building; Eff and I have more time to do this.
When the elevator reaches our floor, we detach ourselves from each other and walk into the apartment. It's empty, as usual. The Avoxes are dismissed during the Games; they're not really needed.
We stay awake and watch, as the three remaining tributes get ready for the finale. I sprawl on the sofa, and Effie lies next to me with her head on my chest. I wrap my arm around her and press her against me.
Katniss and Peeta eat their spoils from the day, knowing that it may be their last meal in the arena. I could remember what was my last meal in the arena; it was far less than they had.
Effie was shaking, I could feel her quivering beside me.
"Are you alright?" I asked, clasping her hand in mine.
"I'm scared for them. What if Cato kills them?"
"He won't. They'll be fine." I knew that it was a lot to promise, but I wanted to make Effie feel better. Huh, that hadn't been top of my list before.
She didn't question my promise, just carried on watching. I felt her body move up and down rhythmically as she breathed. I realised how long it had been since I had been with someone for this long; only my relationship with Nadyah could match the length of my relationship with Effie.
In the morning, the kids leave the cave to find Cato. This was it, the finale.
Effie shifted her position so she was sitting beside me, leaning her head on my shoulder. Her makeup was smeared from not taking it off all night.
"We should go down to the Square now, they'll want our reactions." I said, feeling bad at having to move from Effie's side.
"Give me a minute." She zipped off, obviously to get changed and to fix her makeup. Instead of leaving her to go, I followed her quietly. I peeked into her bedroom just as she was lacing up her horrific corset. She winced as she pulled, but she accidently let go of the strings and cursed.
"Need help?" I asked, and she whirled around to face me. She looked surprised, but then she smiled and nodded.
I went over to her and took hold of the strings.
"Just pull them and tie them together. Not too hard please." She whimpered, as if she was afraid I would pull too hard.
I pulled, but not very hard, and then tied the strings in a little bow, which I didn't know that I knew how to do. Before Effie could move away, I leant in and kissed the bare skin of her neck. She moaned and leant back into me.
"Stop it, you tease." She pulled away from me, turning around to face me. "Let's go down to the Square."
When we got down, the Peacekeepers came and ushered the both of us to the front of the crowd, by the screen. Brutus and his escort, Betany Lyle, were sitting in the front section. Looks like the escorts were allowed here now.
On the screen, Katniss and Peeta were walking through the forest, and then went to the lake to get water. The mockingjays start singing, so Katniss gives them Rue's four-note tune to sing. Within seconds, it was a chorus of singing.
"How pretty!" Betany trilled.
But suddenly, the camera shifted to Cato, who was running for his life. Behind him, the ground was shaking with the force of the footfalls of about 10 muttations. They're shaped like wolves, large hideous wolves.
Back with the kids, the mockingjays sense the mutts, and shriek out a cry of alarm. The kids look around and see Cato shoot past them. He could have killed them on the way, but he seemed more focussed on getting away from the mutts.
Katniss took off after him, leaving Peeta to fend for himself. I cursed her stupidity; she should have grabbed Peeta and ran, not just tried to save herself.
When she reached the Cornucopia, she looked back for Peeta, who was running as fast as he could with his bad leg. She tries to shoot the pack, but that won't do any good.
Peeta helps her get up onto the Cornucopia, where Cato is. But they don't attack each other yet; they're all worn out from the running. The mutts stand on their hind legs, paws on the Cornucopia, and look up at them.
At this point, Flickerman and Templesmith decide to tell the audience about the modification to these mutts.
"They're engineered to look like each of the dead tributes. See, that one looks like Glimmer from District One."
Katniss realises this too, and reels back in horror. She looks around all of the mutts, realising who each of them were. She screams when she realises who the smallest mutt resembled.
She explains to Peeta about the mutts' appearances, at which point they start a new assault on the Cornucopia, splitting up and jumping up the side of the Cornucopia. One of them grabs Peeta, and Katniss tries her hardest to keep him on the Cornucopia while Peeta stabs it. But the fight isn't over. As soon as Katniss hauls Peeta up onto the back of the horn, Cato pulls him away from her. He holds Peeta in a headlock, and edges to the edge of the horn, where the mutts are gathered.
Effie shifts beside me, her body leaning forward. I can tell that she's holding her breath.
Katniss holds her bow up, tempted to shoot Cato, but he just laughs.
"Shoot me, and he goes down with me." He snarls, tightening his grip on Peeta's neck.
I immediately see how she could get Peeta out of this; shoot Cato's hand so he would let go. Peeta's face was turning blue now, from lack of oxygen; she would have to do something fast.
It's Peeta who saves himself. He reaches up to Cato's hand and draws an X with his finger on Cato's hand, indicating where to shoot. Katniss follows his instructions and fires her arrow.
As I thought, Cato instinctively let go of Peeta, which gave him a chance to push Cato over the Cornucopia. Katniss lunges forward to grab hold of Peeta as Cato goes down. The mutts close in on him and start attacking.
Brutus roars in anger as he watches his tribute fight the mutts. He storms away from us, parting the crowd in his wake. I don't know why he's leaving. Cato could still win this thing; it's a small chance, but its still a chance.
The mutts eventually overpower him after about an hour, and drag him away, but they don't kill him. They drag him into the horn, and then simply circle him, biting away tiny chunks of his armour and eventually skin. After a while, their orders change, and they start biting away at his flesh, in bigger chunks now. Any attempts at fighting them are in vain, as the mutts disarm Cato and one bites his arm off to teach him a lesson. He cries out in pain, tears dribbling down his cheeks.
"Why don't they just end it?" Effie whispers, pain contorting her voice.
"It's entertainment." I say, simply. The Gamemakers won't end it yet, the crowd behind us are loving it. I can hear their excited screams, and as usual it makes me sick.
Eventually, the mutts get different orders, and leave the Cornucopia, leaving Cato in a bad shape. He is just a hunk of what he used to be, an armless, bloody haunch of himself. Katniss takes the last arrow from the tourniquet that she wrapped around Peeta's leg to fire at Cato. It's an act of pity, and it's obvious that he needs it. He wouldn't survive in this pain, and every minute that he lives is just causing him more pain.
Katniss shoots Cato, and the cannon fires.
Effie looks at me, elation in her eyes. "They won!" She squeals, launching up to hug me.
I stiffen, knowing that everyone is watching. I push her away and grab my glass of liquor.
"They haven't won yet, Princess."
And as if to confirm my suspicions, Templesmith leaves the screen. I don't know who he's going to talk to, but I can't imagine that they're very happy.
When he eventually gets back, his face confused, I know I'm right. They're not going to let them both win.
"Greetings to the final contestants of the Seventy-Fourth Hunger Games. The earlier revision has been revoked. Closer examination of the rule book has disclosed that only one winner may be allowed. Good luck, and may the odds be ever in your favour."
There it is. One of them will have to kill the other.
Effie shrieks, a real shriek this time, and the crowd behind us scream and groan. Such bad luck, they're all thinking. For me, it was inevitable.
Peeta and Katniss look at each other in disbelief, and then Peeta speaks.
"If you think about it, it's not that surprising." He reaches for his knife in his belt and pulls it out.
Instinctively, Katniss loads her bow and aims at Peeta. She must have thought he was going to stab her, but he wasn't. He threw the knife into the lake, and raised his eyebrows in surprise at Katniss' actions.
As she lowered her bow, he spoke, "No, do it."
"I can't. I won't." Katniss whispers, pain in her eyes.
The two of them argue about who should kill the other, and Peeta insists that she should kill him.
"Listen we both know they have to have a victor. It can only be one of us. Please take it for me." He goes on about how much he loves her, but I can tell that she's not listening. She's thinking. I can guess what it's about.
Suddenly, her fingers fumble with the pouch in which she put the nightlock berries.
"No, I won't let you." Peeta grabs at the pouch.
"Trust me." Katniss insists, and drops the berries into his palm, and some into her own.
Suddenly, I realise what she's doing. No, she can't risk it! I jump up to my feet, imploring them not to do it.
Peeta realises what they're doing, and kisses her softly.
"Haymitch, what are they doing?" Effie says from behind me, but I don't answer. I just stand there, watching the screen, wondering why they would be so stupid to risk it. Did they really think that the Capitol would stop them from eating the berries? They did have to have a victor, but this was good television. Would they stop them? I prayed that they would.
The kids raise the berries to their mouths and push them past their lips, when Templesmith gets his orders. He shouts out into the arena for them to stop, and announces that the both of them are victors.
I let go of the breath that I had been holding, and slowly relax.
There is silence in the crowd now, after that tense scene, but Effie eventually breaks the silence. She leaps up, squealing, and launches at me, hugging me tightly.
"They won, Haymitch! They did it!"
The crowd burst into applause as the hovercraft drops down to pick them both up, and I detach Effie from me.
"Come on." I try to lead her away, but suddenly people saying their congratulations swamp us. I don't bother saying anything; I just want to get to the kids.
After a while, the Peacekeepers disperse the crowd and lead Effie and I to a hovercraft that will take us to the infirmary where Katniss and Peeta are.
However, when we get there, meeting Cinna and Portia along the way, they won't let us in.
"I'm their mentor, I need to see them!" I insist, but the doctors tell me that both of them need intensive care, and so I'm not allowed in.
What happened next wasn't one of my proudest moments. It essentially ended with me threatening to kill the doctors if they didn't let me in, and having Peacekeepers and a disgruntled Effie leading me away to my room.
"Why won't they let me see them? They're my kids! I have to see if they're alright!" I rage, storming around the room, throwing things.
"They have to be treated. They'll be fine, calm down." Effie insists, coming over to hug me. I let her hug me, stiff for a minute, but then I relax into her.
"Look on the bright side, you've got victors! Two of them!" Effie said, smiling up at me.
"True. But if Peeta dies, I'll only have one."
"Why would he die?" Effie says, confused.
"Did you see his leg? It's terrible. They'll probably have to amputate it. If he lives." I turn away from her.
"He won't die. They won't let him." Effie insists.
"You're right." I say, not wanting to argue with her. But I knew that there was a chance.
That night, Effie and I stayed in the apartment, waiting for news about the kids. But none arrived, so we ended up in bed.
"You can finally sleep now." Effie remarked.
"I guess." I said, offhandedly.
"You've got to sleep, Haymitch. You haven't slept in a while." She ran a hand along my face, under my eyes, where I knew there would be bags.
"Fine, I'll try, okay?"
Try I did, and eventually, after much thought, I fell asleep next to Effie. My last thought before sleeping was the fact that I had two victors, but both of them were in precarious positions. Peeta was fighting for his life, and Katniss… well, Katniss had another battle to fight. Against the Capitol, and Snow's probable resentment. Because she showed him up, and he must not be able to stand that.
Even though the Games were over, I knew that we weren't out of the woods yet.
It's not the best, but it'll do. I need to make it up to you guys, there wasn't much Hayffieness in this chapter. Next chapter, there will be! Promise!
Please review, it makes me happy! :D