Chapter 18: Growing Shadows (Warning: Implied Torture, and blood. If you do not want to read that part then you are welcome to skip to the part below)
When she opened her eyes, she was alone in a dark room. Her body ached and all the nerve receptors in her body were screaming at her brain 'Pain! We're in so much pain!' Everything hurt. She hissed softly as the door swung open and a light switch was flicked, letting a bright white light shine in the room. As soon as the light came on, her stomach churned. The floor was rusted red with blood, her blood.
"Did you miss me Veriska?" Glaring at the person walking towards her, she gathered all the spit in her mouth that she could muster. As soon as he came into range she spat the bloody mess right at him, staining his white suit. He scowled at her, his right hand lashing out and catching her across the face hard enough to jerk the chair she was chained to. She ignored the pain blossoming in her cheek as she looked up at him, her eyes dark
"Go to hell."
"I believe you're already there." He smiled pleasantly at her, leaning forward til the stench of blood and roses was the only scent in the room. She gagged some, forcing herself to keep down the bile rising in her throat. "But I do have a surprise for you...you get to go home today. But first..I promised Antonio that he could have his way with you." Her eyes narrowed in disgust as she glared at Snow, not noticing the door opening behind you.
"You're lying." Her head snapped to the side as the footsteps came towards her, and her hands clenched into fists sending pain shooting up her arm. They had broke her left hand, her dominant hand. It didn't receive medical attention because it wasn't life threatening, and as a result it had healed the wrong way.
"Didn't we promise not to lie to each other?" Snow gave Veriska an amused look, turning to who Veriska assumed was Antonio. "Break her. I want her spirit gone." Without another word Snow turned and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Antonio circled around her for a few seconds, suddenly moving forward and kissing her roughly. It was disgusting, he smelled like a mixture of booze and dog shit. She kept her lips closed stubbornly, her mouth opening as she let out a cry of pain when he pressed a finger against her broken ribs. His tongue forced its way into her mouth, she didn't want it, she wanted it to stop. He pulled away after what seemed an eternity and she spat onto the floor, gagging from the horrid taste in her mouth. He gave her a crooked grin leaning forward, whispering in her ear
"Don't flatter yourself, I don't fuck girls with open wounds so Snow saved you with that one. But there are other ways that we can play..."
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He paced back and forth, unaware of the sky blue eyes watching him. Running a hand through his darker blonde hair he growled softly, jumping slightly startled as the soft voice whispered
"Where's Veriska?" Rye paused and turned towards the younger boy. He frowned opening his mouth and closing it again, not knowing whether to tell him the truth or a lie. Crossing his arms over his chest he gave Peeta a firm look
"So you don't feel like killing her anymore?" Peeta shook his head slightly, his eyes never leaving Rye's
"I know how to distinguish between the shiny and dull memories now. I want to apologize to 'Riska."
"Well you can't." He furiously blinked back the tears rising in his eyes, 'Riska would be fine. If she wasn't, he would hunt down all of those Capitol bastards and-
"Why? Where is she?" Rye finally turned towards Peeta, and his slightly red eyes made Peeta more hysterical. "Rye! Where the hell is she?!"
"Gone Peeta! She's gone alright? The Capitol has her!" Peeta slouched back against the chair he was in, tugging on a piece of rope that Katniss had gave him. Rye leaned heavily against the wall, staring forward as it echoed in his mind 'She's gone'
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"In coming hovercraft with the Capitol's seal! President Coin what do you think we should do!?" Coin stood in the Command room, her hands folded across her chest as she watched quietly. As the hovercraft came into their airspace, it simply stopped. No weapons fired, nothing. After about 5 minutes the hovercraft disappeared. They tracked it until it left the airspace, and Coin turned to the back.
"Hawthorn, Mellark go check the outside levels and see if anything was placed." Both nodded and turned on their heels, walking out. After about 5 minutes, the normal time to get from Command to the outside they heard a scream, and everyone was up in an instant. Tapping her communi-watch Coin barked through the microphone
"Soldier Mellark, what is going on up there!" After a long pause there was a crackle as Gales voice came over the speaker for everyone to hear
"Veriska is back. Send medical, but do not include Prim in that. Hawthorn over and out." Katniss stood up right after Gale was finished talking and dashed out the room, running towards medical.
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She burst into the hospital doors, clutching the stitch in her side panting softly. Her eyes narrowed in on her mother and she ran over to her, quickly whispering in her ear.
"Medical emergency, Prim can't go I'll distract her." Her mother nodded as Katniss sidestepped a nurse, walking over to Prim who was monitoring a little girl. Just then the sirens went off, and about 5 of the nurses rushed out of the room with a stretcher. Katniss closed the curtain that showed off the rest of the hospital and bent down, tilting her head as Prim moved to get up.
"Prim this is for the professionals, I know you want to help but just stay here alright?" Prim gave her a weird look but slowly sat back down
"Fine."
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When he first saw Veriska, his heart stopped. His poor baby sister...He held her close to him, careful not to agitate the wounds that covered her body. Some still bleeding, some not. Pulling off his shirt he carefully balled it up and held it to the gushing wound on her side. Across from him he noticed Gale's face twist with disgust, and he knew it wasn't directed towards Veriska so he let it be.
"She's only 15." He looked up again, letting out a dark chuckle at Gale's spoken words.
"I know. But they don't give a damn who or what they hurt." Running a hand through Veriska's hair he sighed softly, standing up with her still in his arms as he noticed the stretcher come into view. He lowered her onto it gently, kissing an undamaged part of her forehead.
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Two weeks later she opened her eyes, staring up into the darkness. She was alone, and she figured it was probably sometime in the middle of the night. Shifting she hissed quietly, her body still sore but mostly healed. Sitting up slowly she glanced around again, forcing herself to stay calm. She was used to the darkness...So why did it hold so much fear? She ran a hand through her hair, needing to find something to do with her right hand. Her left one was in a cast and she frowned at it, suddenly seeing her reflection out the corner of her eye. Turning to face the small hand held mirror she frowned, not really able to see anything. But what she did make out was her eyes, and a lock of her hair.
They were both silver.
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Entering Veriska(74th Hunger Games FF)
FanfictionWhat if Katniss didn't volunteer for Prim? Not because she didn't want to, but because she didn't have the chance. What if instead Prim's friend volunteered for her? How would the games go on then?
