Thank you for reading and for all of the lovely reviews I've had so far, you lot are the best!
I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.
Chapter Forty-Nine
"Both of you. With me," I order and Peeta and Katniss follow me through the Justice Building. I'm amazed I can still remember my way around but the memory of first meeting Chaff and sneaking off to a quiet room for a long drinking session is still fixed in my mind.
We climb the marble staircase and I lead them in to a luxurious room that has everyone's evening clothes hanging up. I take their microphones off them, stuff them under a cushion on one of the sofas and exit the room, indicating that they should follow me.
We take many rights and lefts until we are finally high up in the dome of the building and in a dusty room that looks like it was last used when Chaff and I were here.
"What happened?" I ask.
"Katniss was finishing her speech and then an old man at the back of the crowd sang Rue's tune and then everyone gave us the three finger salute as if he had been giving them a signal. After the mayor finished speaking we came back in but Katniss forgot her flowers so we went back out on to the veranda and…and we saw one of the peacekeeepers…he shot the old man in the head." He pauses for a moment as if he can see the man being shot all over again. "What's going on, Haymitch?"
I turn to Katniss. "I think it will be better coming from you."
Katniss takes a deep breath and relays everything that she said to me on the train about her visit from Snow and the unease in the districts. The entire time that she's telling her story I can see Peeta's face growing in anger and I can't say I blame him. There have been too many secrets in that boy's life.
"Then I made things worse, too," he says, "By giving the money." He smashes a lamp on a small table next to him and I almost jump back in surprise. "This has to stop. Right now. This-this-game you two play, where you tell each other secrets but keep them from me like I'm too inconsequential or stupid or weak to handle them."
"It's not like that-" Says Katniss.
"It's exactly like that! I have people I care about, too, Katniss! Family and friends back in District Twelve who will be just as dead as yours if we don't pull this thing off. So, after all we went through in the arena, don't I even rate the truth from you?"
"You're always so reliably good, Peeta," I say, in a vague attempt to calm down the situation. The peacekeepers could be on us at any minute. "So smart about how you present yourself before the cameras. I didn't want to disrupt that."
He starts ranting and raving about how stupid he is and worrying about Rue and Thresh's families in a way that I've never seen before. I've seen people change once they're out of the arena but the sweet, protective boy that went in seems so distant right now. He even starts getting angry about the lack of gifts I sent him.
"Look, boy-" I begin, started to get annoyed, myself, now.
"Don't bother, Haymitch," he says, "I know you had to choose one of us. And I've wanted it to be her. But this is something different. People are dead out there. More will follow unless we're very good. We all know I'm better than Katniss in front of the cameras. No one needs to coach me on what to say. But I have to know what I'm walking in to."
"From now on you'll be fully informed."
"I better be," he says before leaving, avoiding Katniss' eyes.
"Did you choose me, Haymitch?" Asks Katniss.
"Yeah," I reply, thinking that that was blindingly obvious.
"Why? You like him better."
"That's true. But remember, until they changed the rules, I could only hope to get one of you out of there alive. I thought since he was determined to protect you, well, between the three of us, we might be able to bring you home."
"Oh."
"You'll see, the choices you'll have to make. If we survive this, you'll learn." I'm still learning, now. I thought my days of being on Snow's most wanted list were over but I'm suddenly back on there and I'm sure I'm in the top five. "Come on. We've got a dinner to attend."
I head for my assigned changing room and dress in some sort of deep green suit that Cinna has designed, if I was bothered by clothes I would probably be going crazy for this right now. I have a couple of glasses of wine before going off in search of Peeta, I'm partly annoyed with him and feeling guilty at the same time. This mix of emotions is becoming far too regular for me, now.
I can hear him talking to Portia behind one of the doors so I open it without knocking, after all, we're not meant to be keeping secrets from each other now.
"Oh, it's you," says Peeta.
"Were you expecting someone else?" I say and Portia makes up some excuse about needing to see Cinna so she leaves us alone.
"Never mind," Peeta says.
"I know you're mad at Katniss and me but you shouldn't have shouted at her, you know what she's like. She's just doing what I tell her to. You've kept things from her before, too, remember. If you want to be mad at anyone you should be mad at me, not her."
"I am mad at you," he says and I give him a smirk in return. "But you're right, I'm just fed up of being seen as the stupid, weak one all the time."
"Trust me," I say as I put my hand on his shoulder. "I have never thought of you as weak."
"I've been thinking…I'm going to have to marry Katniss, aren't I?"
I take in a deep breath and nod, unable to give him verbal confirmation. "It's the only way to protect her, to protect both of you."
"I know," he says but there's no happiness to his voice. The prospect of marrying the girl he loves doesn't bring with it the euphoria and excitability that it should. If only Katniss could just forget about Gale, maybe she'd see how lucky she is to have a boy like Peeta.
As soon as the celebrations begin I hit the booze hard and try to black out the little voices in my head that keep nagging at me. Tell them, don't tell them, tell them. As the tour goes on I find it increasingly difficult to quieten them but I know neither Katniss nor Peeta need the extra stress right now, who knows what Katniss would do if I told her about the rebellion?
The tour is miserable but some districts seem genuinely happy to see Katniss and Peeta, mainly 8, 4 and 3. Visiting 4 is the most difficult because all I want to do is talk to Finnick and Mags to see what the feeling is in the district and, more importantly, what they think of Katniss. However, the crowd seems so elated to see her that I can't help but think an uprising is just around the corner.
Katniss and Peeta's relationship seems to be taking a strange turn, too. Neither of them speak about their impending engagement but every night Peeta climbs in to Katniss' bed and I have no idea what happens, then. Knowing Katniss I think she just wants the company while she endures her nightmares, I know I did. I know I do.
When we arrive in the Capitol we stay in the same apartment that we did for the Games. I hate coming here; the whole place just reminds me of death, even when we're on the Victory Tour.
Katniss suggests that Peeta proposes live on stage during their interview with Caesar that night and we all agree that would be the best way to show Snow how much they're trying. Peeta disappears in to his room for the rest of the evening in an attempt to psyche himself up for the whole thing.
"I thought he wanted it, anyway," says Katniss.
"Not like this," I reply, still wondering how she can be so socially dim at times. "He wanted it to be real."
Cinna, Portia, Effie and I all take our seats in the audience and wait for Katniss and Peeta to appear on the stage. When they do the applause and cheering is deafening and I can't help but groan at the idiots that surround me. As if reading my mind Effie shoots me a look of disdain.
Caesar asks them about their experiences on the Victory Tour and, of course, how it's affected their relationship.
"Well, it's definitely made us closer than ever," says Peeta and, as if on cue, Katniss gazes in to his eyes with such a sweet smile that she almost has me fooled, too.
"Isn't that great?" Caesar asks the audience and they all cheer. "So, tell me, you two. What are your plans for the future?"
"I'm glad you asked that Caesar," says Peeta with a smirk and proceeds to get down on one knee. The whole crowd gasps, as does Katniss, but I just breathe a sigh of relief. "Katniss, I love you so much and, even though I knew it before, the past six months have convinced me that I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I try to imagine what would have happened if I'd lost you in the arena and every time I do it just makes me feel cold. Now that we can be together I don't ever want to let you go. Will you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me?"
The whole room is silent as they stare at Katniss. She strokes the side of his face and smiles.
"Of course I will," she says and the levels of cheering become so high that I'm worried I'm going to punch someone.
The cameras swing round to me, Portia, Cinna and Effie and we're all smiling and hugging each other as if we hadn't planned this all along. Well, to be fair to Effie, she hadn't and is looking suitably shocked.
Suddenly, the doors on the stage swing open and our snakey president saunters on stage with a big grin to congratulate the happy couple.
"What do you think about us throwing them a wedding right here in the Capitol?" He shouts and Katniss manages to look ecstatic at the thought but I know this must be her worst nightmare.
"Do you have a date in mind, Mr. President?" Asks Caesar.
"Oh, before we set a date, we better clear it with Katniss' mother," this gets a huge laugh. "Maybe if the whole country puts its mind to it, we can get you married before you're thirty."
"You'll probably have to pass a new law," giggles Katniss.
"If that's what it takes," says Snow and his blown up lips curl in to a sinister smile.
The party at Snow's mansion is even more over the top than it was on my Victory Tour. The amount of food has tripled as have the decorations and the number of scary looking Capitolite guests. The music is loud and everyone is having a good time, apart from those who this this party is in aid of, despite their attempts to look overjoyed.
I order a very large glass of wine and help myself to some of the delights that are on offer but I'm in no mood to eat, no matter how delicious everything is.
It doesn't take long for Plutarch to spot me moping around in a corner and make a bee line for me, he probably wants to talk before I become too inebriated.
"That was quite a proposal," he says.
"Yep, poor kid," I reply and take another large gulp of my wine.
"I suppose you haven't heard about the districts using the mockingjay?" I just shrug, completely oblivious as to what he's talking about. "A lot of the districts, particularly Three, Four, Eight and Eleven have been using Katniss' mockingjay symbol to spread the word of rebellion. They've been baking it in to bread and crackers and so on so that it can be eaten before the peacekeepers see it."
"Should we be talking about this here?"
"It's fine, I may or may not have someone who has temporarily disarmed the bugs in this area of the room," he chuckles. "Anyway, using the mockingjay as a symbol only goes to prove how important Katniss is to us. There's even an uprising going on in Eight as we speak!"
My head snaps around at that point, I knew people were angry but I didn't think there had been any uprisings. I urge Plutarch to go on and he tells me that during the interview this evening the residents of 8 put on masks and took over the main buildings in their district and it looks like they're outnumbering the peackeepers.
"The fighting is still going on as we speak," says Plutarch, "And extra peacekeepers are being sent in right now so I doubt it will lead to anything. Not unless we can get the word out."
"But still, I think it shows that the hour may be upon us," I say, hoping that this long waited for rebellion is finally on the horizon.
Plutarch nods and shows me a pocket watch that when tilted reveals a mockingjay design before disappearing again. There are mockingjays everywhere in this room, it's become the latest fashion trend but it's not a symbol of rebellion like it is in the districts.
"I'm going to show this to Katniss, it's a hint about the arena. Maybe it will help her to trust me." I nod, thinking that he's got a lot of work to do if he wants Katniss to trust a Gamemaker. He moves a little closer and whispers, "It's going to be a clock, a new horror at each hour."
This is the first time he's ever told me what the arena will be like before the Games, which only makes me think that the rebellion is around the corner. Why else would he reveal such crucial information that I could use if I were to be a mentor? I could easily be one step ahead of the game, showing that someone had told me the plan before and why would they do that?
"It could only be a Quell arena," is all I say. It's been twenty-five years since my win, which means our third Quarter Quell is upon us and this arena sounds even more deadly than the last, if that's possible.
Plutarch says goodbye and heads over to a dancing Katniss and Peeta in order to attempt to gain Katniss' trust. Good luck with that one, I think.