The Direction Games: A One Direction Fan Fiction

27

27

   The Capitol anthem enters my ears and I heard Kaius Evans’s voice greeting a roaring crowd. And soon, the crowd booms when the prep teams float up onto the stage – all fifteen people there that helped shape us before our stylist could get their hands on us. Then Katy and four other escorts are zoomed up onto the stage in front of the crowd. Every stylist receives huge bursts of cheers too. Caroline definitely deserved it. Another minute passes and Simon and the other four past victors are given loud applause that lasts a good few minutes. And I begin to brace myself for when the blazing boys would be introduced. And I can feel the plate lifting under me.

   Lights shine in my face and nearly blind me and the roar of the Capitol crowd is deafening. My brothers are beside me, not far away in a semi-circle facing the crowd. Each of them are in black suits like mine; exactly like mine. I was just relieved I wasn’t matching with Taylor again.

   I find myself running to them all, and they in turn do the same until we’re in a group. Louis is there at my side, and we all embrace each other in relieved hugs. The crowd is going nuts at seeing the flames spring up from our outfits, and our heartwarming reunion which I’ve waited for days to happen.

   Simon has to pry us apart after a good few minutes of this, and leads us toward the victor’s chair. Normally, yes, it would be a chair built for a single victor. This time, it’s a long, burgundy leather couch with trimming and silver studs dotting patterns in it. And together we sit. Our friendship is shown immediately; Niall and Liam intertwined their legs, Zayn’s arm is over Louis’s shoulder, and Louis’s arm is over mine.

   Kaius makes a few jokes about our closeness, and how it could’ve possibly developed from everything that had happened, and then we were right back to the three hour show before us.

  The lights grew dim and up on a screen they showed us every death from those first killed in the bloodbath to the last death of Claire being mulled by the mutts. Our reactions were shown on all of them on one side of the screen in small boxes. There are also some of the better parts, which told the story of five talented boys being brought together by alliances and working to defend each other. They showed all the tragedy and all the joy and condensed several days into one long visual storybook.

   The first half hour is the prep before the games, and how mostly I had made an imprint on the Capitol, but the other tributes, dead and living were shown as well.

   And then there are shots of the bloodbath, the death, and all the disasters we had to face. Some parts were edited out; anything that showed a hint of our rebellion and anything that would make the Capitol seem like fools.

   Then, they begin to end with Claire’s death, then the moment we have arrows touched to our chest, and they show our countdown in full before the announcement. And they end with our tears of joy, and us floating up into the Capitol hovercraft.

   Then, the anthem plays as President Snow, the ruthless ruler comes on stage with his assistants – five young girls – carrying five plush, red pillows with five glittering crowns on them, one for each victor. We’re already standing in a line, first Zayn, then Niall, Liam, Louis and I. With a smile, he places a crown on the head of each blazing boy, but his expression hardens when he gets to me and, with eyes like a cobra, he gives me my crown. He blames me for the idea of a suicide back in the arena, only because it had been my idea.

   And, after bows and waving, we’re taken away to the president’s mansion for our Victory Banquet, where there’s not much eating between posing for pictures and smiles and thanks exchanged with everyone who sponsored us and helped us to win.

   It is nearly dawn when we’re taken back to the Training Center and again separated so we can rest before our official interviews at two in the afternoon. I get into bed and sleep again until I’m awakened by a tapping; just Katy making sure I’m awake for another big, exciting day!