Hello, thank you for reading my story! It's so nice to hear that so many of you are enjoying this, it's so encouraging! A few of you have asked me if I'm going to write up until he meets Katniss and Peeta and the answer is yes! I'm hoping to write all the way through until the end of Mockingjay unless everyone gets bored before then.

I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I'm at the train station and hugging Vieve so tightly that I'm worried I'm hurting her but she doesn't seem to mind. Her body feels so warm against mine and the thought of not seeing her for a month is more upsetting that I had anticipated.

We've not hidden our relationship from the rest of 12 but, at the same time, we've not been flaunting it. I'm still worried that if Snow finds out something awful is going to happen, although I suspect one of his spies has already filled him in. When you live in a district that is as poor as 12 it's very tempting to give away information at the right price.

"It's okay," she says, "It won't be long."

"It will, I wish you could come, too."

"I know. Just try not to drink too much," she jokes. I know she doesn't mean it, though, I've hardly been drinking since I met her and when I do it's usually only when I've had a really bad panic attack. She just seems to understand the pain or, if she doesn't understand, she's sympathetic, which is more than most people are.

"I'll try," I say and kiss her.

"I love you," she says.

"I love you, too." It's been about four months since we said those words to each other and I never get tired of hearing them. They make me realise that there is something worth living for in this is wretched place, the only reason I haven't ended it all is because I know that future tributes will have no one to mentor them but now that I have Vieve I have a more solid reason to stay. She's real and so is the love we share.

I give her one more kiss before I board the train and wait in the living area. I help myself to a decadent sandwich filled with cheese and meat and think about what strategies could work this year.

My tributes are both seventeen and the girl, Thea, looks strong enough to actually be a contender this year. Her family own the carpentry shop in Town so I'm hoping that this means she knows how to use a knife or a saw. The boy, on the other hand, is called Felix and, although he has some muscles, he looked terrified when he walked up on to that stage. I just hope that the shock wears off soon so that he can start concentrating on what's ahead.

Half an hour later Marsella bursts through the door with the tributes in tow, shouting about how great the train is. I didn't notice it earlier but her skin has been pulled tight across her face, which makes her mouth looked stretched and ridiculous. I guess she must be starting to get old by Capitol standards, although she only looks to be in her early thirties.

Thea and Felix sit down in the ornate chairs and an avox pours them a glass of orange juice, which they meet with confusion. Oranges are a rarity in 12 so orange juice is basically unheard of, after I explain that it's safe to drink they gulp it down.

"So do you have any ideas about strategy?" I ask, "What can you guys do?"

"I'm not taking any advice from a drunk, I'll be fine by myself," snaps Thea and I can see, out of the corner of my eye, Marsella is pursing her lips.

"Thea, maybe we should listen to him. He is our mentor," says a timid Felix.

"I don't care! All of his tributes die and I'm not going to be one of them!" She stands up and asks to be shown to her room, despite Marsella's protests.

Felix looks up at me with wide eyes, like a puppy waiting for its trainer to teach him. He really does think I can save him and I'm not sure I'm going to be okay if we get too attached, I've been burned too many times, now.

"Okay, kid, why don't you just chill out for the time being and we'll talk in the Capitol tomorrow?"

He nods his head and I grab a glass of wine before retreating to my room. It's going to be a long train ride just locked in here but I can have food brought to me and, hopefully, I'll just sleep for most of it. The less time I spend with Felix, the better.

As usual, once we reach the Capitol the tributes are whisked away to the Remake Centre to endure hours of waxing and remodelling. This is where I usually go to the Sponsorship Room or just straight to my bed depending on how much I've been drinking but a small man with hot pink hair comes running up to me.

"Hello, Mr. Abernathy, I'm Talbot Dion, twelve's new stylist," he says, shaking my hand a little too enthusiastically.

"Oh, what happened to Elerrah?"

"She got a job on another television show," he says, almost guiltily. I guess she got fed up with us losing every year, I can't say I'm too bothered about her leaving but she has been here ever since I won so I'll always feel some sort of connection to her.

"First year?" I ask and he nods. Poor man, twelve always gets the new ones because we're so awful. "Just don't make them look too stupid."

I spend the rest of the day hanging around the Sponsorship Room but very few people want to talk to me. Surprisingly, the male tribute from 5 looks like the one to beat this year and all the Capitolites are clamouring over each other to sponsor him.

I go to the Victor's Box and indulge in some of the food that's been put on for us while I wait for the victors that I can actually stand to arrive. I go to pick up a piece of fruit but Brutus, a monster from 2 who won the year before me, gets there first and looks like he might strangle me if I don't let him have it.

"Jeez, just take it," I say and he just grunts as he saunters away.

"Haymitch!" Mags' voice shouts across the room and my mood instantly lifts as she walks towards me, pulling me in to a hug. "How is that girlfriend of yours?"

"Girlfriend?!" Chaff says, walking just behind Mags. "Haymitch actually got himself a girlfriend?"

"Hilarious," I say. "She's fine, thank you, Mags." What I really want to say is that I wish Vieve was here right now, holding my hand, but there's too many ears around. I also have a miserable brute image to uphold.

"I'm glad to hear it, maybe next year Chaff will have got himself loved up, too."

"Don't start, Seeder's been trying to fix me up with her cousin for months," he moans.

"Mags, are we going to meet Plut-"

"Shush!" She snaps and puts her hand over my mouth and then laughs so that it looks like one big joke. "Not here!" I nod and she removes her hand, still laughing so I join in, too.

Eventually, the Opening Ceremony starts and the tributes ride in on their chariots, the Careers looking as terrifying as usual and the tributes from 4 look ridiculous dressed as giant fish. Mags hangs her head in shame, cursing the stylist.

Thea and Felix are the last to arrive and, to my great astonishment, they're not half naked. Talbot has dressed them in simple vests and shorts, which may be a little tighter than I'd have liked, but, still, they don't look as ridiculous as previous years.

Over all, they don't make much of an impression but until the stylists stop dressing them like coal miners, they never will.

The next three days are dedicated to training and while Thea avoids me at all costs, Felix hangs on my every word. He, somehow, manages to get himself in to an alliance with 10 and 7 and tells me that he's been practicing with a spear. Their training scores aren't great, either, Thea gains a six and Felix gets a five. By the time the interviews come around Thea comes across as an egotistical know it all and Felix is average at best. All I can do now is hope.

When I see Chaff in the Control Room on the morning of the opening day of the Games, we both down a shot of white liquor and then sit at our stations. This has become our ritual over the last few years and is frowned upon by most of the other victors apart from Mags and Seeder.

I sit at my station and wait, the arena this year is covered in snow and there's a large mountain just to the right of the cornucopia so I'm guessing that if the tributes don't get supplies straight away they never will as they'll be covered by avalanche pretty soon.

Just as the announcer tells us that we have thirty minutes until launch the mentors from 6 stumble in. They're both morphling addicts and they just look pitiful, although I can understand, I mean, isn't alcohol my drug of choice?

The tributes rise in to the arena and the countdown begins. They're all wearing large jackets with fur rimmed hoods so it's difficult to work out who is who but I eventually find Thea and Felix. The gong sounds and they're away.

Thea grabs a small knife and rucksack from the outskirts of the supplies and heads off in to the wilderness before anyone can notice. Felix grabs a fair sized rucksack and begins to run away but the boy from 2 wrestles him to the ground and I have to close my eyes as he slits Felix's throat.

Thea trudges through the snow for hours, putting a lot of distance between her and the other tributes but as night falls I can see the Career alliance heading her away. She's pitching a tent for crying out loud!

"Move!" I shout at the screen. "Move you stupid girl!"

It doesn't matter, they reach her within minutes and begin to taunt her with their many weapons. That's what I hate most about the Careers; they won't just kill their victims, they have to make a show out of it for the Capitol.

"I can't watch this," I say to Chaff and leave my station. I can hear the screams and the cannon firing just as I reach the door.

Marsella is waiting for me in the apartment with a look of exasperation written all over her face.

"I tried!" I shout at her.

"I know, they just weren't good enough, quite frankly."

I clench my fists, it's almost as if she's glad that they died. I feel like a fool for thinking she might actually care about the kids she's sending to their deaths each year.

I spend the following two weeks drinking white liquor and eating, mainly in my room. Marsella has gone home to her place in the Capitol so I have the whole apartment to myself but I feel safer in this room for some reason; I can turn the walls in to a calming day time scene during the night and then sleep in the day.

I'm awoken one day by someone nudging me quite aggressively and I can hear them jump away when I pull out my knife. It's like an extension of my arm, now.

"Go away, Chaff!" I groan in to my pillow, lowering the knife.

"It's not Chaff, I'm afraid," a strange, Capitol sounding voice says.

I look up to find a Gamemaker sitting at the edge of my bed with a nervous expression on his face. Is he scared of me?

"Plutarch I'm guessing," I say.

He nods. "Pleased to meet you, Mr. Abernathy. I'm sorry for waking you but this is the only time I could escape from my duties." I just groan, calling what he does 'duties' is hardly appropriate. "Anyway, I haven't got long, but I felt that the sooner we met the better. I'm on your side."

"So I've been told."

"I know you probably don't believe me but I will prove it to you. I can't talk here but when we meet next year we can discuss it more. Goodbye."

He quickly leaves the room and shuts the door behind him. I'm not entirely sure what the point of that small encounter was but all I can think is that I need another drink and quickly.

When the day comes to leave the Capitol, I could not be happier. Mags tells me that I need to give Plutarch a chance as we say goodbye at the station, she's got a lot of faith in him. If Mags trusts him I suppose I should too but, still, it's difficult to trust someone who wears a Gamemaker's uniform.

The journey home seems to take an eternity but as soon as I step off the platform Vieve is there waiting for me with tears in her eyes. My first thought is that something awful has happened but before I can ask she's running towards me and burying her head in my shoulder.

"I don't want you to ever leave me again!" She says.

"I'll try my best," I say, kissing her head. "I'm sorry I didn't call, I didn't want to risk it getting back to Snow."

"That's okay. I'm just glad you're home." She lifts her head and gives me a kiss that I've been dreaming about for weeks.

"I drank way too much."

She laughs and gives me another kiss, "Oh, well. You can spend the rest of the year redeeming yourself. I've got lots planned."

That may just be the most perfect sentence I have ever heard.