Catching Fire: The New Story

Chapter 64

Katniss's POV










The giggling of my pre team was back in my ears, a headache forming. I closed my eyes and let them take me to strip my clothes. I carefully do so, my breathing gets a bit heavy, and I think I might faint. I clear my head of everything and pretend what I was doing was normal. Like always when I'm with them. I remember the Victory Tour, that was normal. Like this time. Just, normal.

My thoughts break when they gasp. Possible at my stomach. I grab my robe and slip it on. They don't say anything more, just work. They remove the makeup they had placed on me before. Redoing my nails and hair. No voices fill the room. It's so boring without them talking about a Capitol party or celebration. In which entertained me fully, about something disastrous happening like boas ripped up or a cake ruined. Their sniffs come and go, slowing them. Without looking, I knew they were sobbing. No questions, no words. Just work. Which bores me. As you can tell.

I hear a snip and turn to Flavius. Scissors in hand, and strands of my hair on the floor. Not too much, maybe about two inches each. I don't care much of it. It was time to cut it anyway. I don't ever do anything to my hair but put it up in a normal braid. I should've let Prim do it more when she asked to. I should've done a lot of things before the games.

Millions of things came to mind. Why didn't I do anything about these things? Was I too scared? Too tortured by the games to even think about ideas besides the new things in my life brought to me? Or was the thought of being pregnant not helping my anxiety about, about everything? In general, I don't think I could've done anything besides be with Peeta.

That's what I did. And I'm glad.

I sit there, allowing Octivia to smear dark makeup on my eyes and cheeks, Flavius curling my hair, and Venia painting my nails a dark something. Maybe black. My focus is only on the dry wall in front of me. Nothing on it. It's plain and boring. But it has somehow removed all my thoughts and worries. My mind is now taken over by the light blue they carry. It's calming. So calming, I close my eyes and take in the light noises my pre team make. Not sure how much time passes, I keep my eyes close but my breathing a heavy one, showing I'm not asleep. Just relaxing. I might not ever relax again. No matter what happens.

"Katniss." Someone says. I open my eyes and see Venia. I smile and let her help me off the chair. Cinna enters the room, with Flavius. Octivia is cleaning up and I realize I was probably asleep. I don't care anyway. It was probably easier to apply makeup on me that way.

"Hi." I say to Cinna. He smiles.

"Hello, Katniss."

My pre team take turns hugging and kissing my cheeks. I feel warm with their arms around me. They walked out and Cinna pulled a black dress from a hanger. I raised my eyebrow at him, he laughed and helped me change. The dress is long, past my feet, and drags behind me a little. The flow of it starts at my ribs, hiding my belly. It's short at the shoulders, all black. It feels a bit heavy. Probably something spectacular hidden behind it.

"Anything special?" I ask. My interests are risen at the thought of something about the dress.

"Yes. Just wait, Katniss." I groan. I'm not good at waiting. Patience isn't something that's in me. For Peeta, patience is his middle name. Cinna laughs. I shake my head and step into my shoes. The heels are about three inches, a ribbon starts at my toes and twirls up all around my leg, almost to my knee. All black, like the dress. And my makeup. Deep shades of brown have gone under my cheekbones. Black covers the top lid of my eyes. Lipstick, a light natural color. It looks perfect. Like always. An applause to my pre team.

*

Why are horses so tall? The one I'm brushing is taller than me. Taller than Haymitch and Peeta. Even Gale. My father too. It is at least six foot five. Like all the other horses in front of the carriages. But, this one is all black. The others a light or dark brown to gray to white. Ours is the only black horse. It's hair is cut to a perfect length, enough to brush with my fingers. But I have to stand tall to reach the between its ear.

I turn when footsteps come to my ear. Finnick Odair's famous sea green eyes are inches from mine when I focus forward. He pops a sugar cube in his mouth and leans against my house, pushing the space between us away.

"Hello, Katniss." He says, his voice is so relaxed. Like we've been friends for years, when truth is we've never met.

"Hello, Finnick." I say, carrying the same tone in my voice. I feel uncomfortable thought, his closeness, more than me and Peeta have ever really been. I mean, by just talking. Especially now, he is so bare.

"Want a sugar cube?" he says, offering his hand, which is piled high with little boxes of white sugar. "They're for the horses, but who cares? They get them all year round, whereas you and I ... well, if we want something sweet, we better go at it quickly."

Finnick Odair is a god in Panem. He won the Sixty-Fifth Hunger Games when he was just forteen, one of the youngest in history. From District 4, he was made Career instantly, so odds were in his favor at hand. But no one could claim giving him his extraordinary beauty. Tall, athletic, golden, sun kissed hair, bronze skin, glistening in the sunlight, and his unforgettable eyes. While every other tribute were hard-pressed that year for grain or a match, Finnick never wanted anything. Food, medicine, weapons. Nothing. After a week or so, the others realized he was the one to kill, but they were all too late. He was an excellent fighter with spears and knives he gained at the Cornucopia. He received a silver parachute with a trident - which might be the most expensive gift ever given in the arena. District 4's industry was fishing, so gaining a trident was his best way of winning. Boats was his life, along with swimming and dealing with water. The trident was an extra power upgrade to his body of strength and muscle. He wove a net with random materials he found and lured his enemies into it, then killing them with his trident, spear, or knife while they begged for mercy. After a matter of days, the crown of victor was his.

Capitol citizens have been drooling over him ever since.

His age protected him for a year or two. Since his sixteenth celebration, he was in the Capitol, dogging people wanting his love. He goes through maybe five or six at his time there. Rich, poor, young, old, beautiful, or just too plain annoying, he kept many people company and takes their extravagant gifts. Yet, he never stays, once he leaves, he never returns.

I'm not arguing, Finnick is one of the most handsome men there is. Hands down. But honestly, to me, he has never attracted me in any sort of way. Maybe he's too pretty, or too easy to get, or yet, to easy to lose.

"No, thanks." I say to him. "I'd love to borrow your outfit sometime, thought."

He's draped in a thick golden net across from his waist to one knee. Showing off on whole leg and thigh muscles. He's not technically naked, I bet his stylist were about to let him go naked. But wanted to tease people with his body.

"You are absolutely terrifying me in that getup. What happened to your sparkly dresses?" he asks. His tongue slides over his lips ever so slightly. It probably distracts many in the Capitol. Wondering why I think this, it reminds me of Cray with a poor, starving young women.

"I outgrew them."

He takes the sleeve of my dress and runs his fingers over it. "Too bad about this Quell thing. You could have made out like a bandit in the Capitol. Jewels, money, anything you wanted."

"I don't like jewels, and I have more money then needed. What do you spend all yours on, anyway, Finnick?" I spit back. It offended me at what he said. Did he intend to hurt me by saying I could have anything, yet I choose Peeta.

"Oh." He laughs. "I haven't dealt with anything close to money for years."

"Then how do they pay you for the pleasure of your company?" I ask, backing up a bit, before his body brushed against mine.

He leans in close to my ear and says softly. "With secrets." He brings his head back to mine, ever so closely and tilts his head, almost like he was going to kiss me. "What about you girl on fire?" He flings a piece of my curled hair in the air. "Do you have any secrets worth my time?"

I laugh. For some stupid reason, I blush though most of my make up, but force the pink back. "No, I'm an open book." I whisper back. "Everybody seems to know my secrets before I know them myself."

Besides one.

He smiles. He actually believed me. "Unfortunately, I think that's true." His eyes move behind me. "Peeta's coming. Sorry you have to cancel your wedding, I know how devastating that must be for you." He plops yet another sugar cube in his mouth and walks off.

I sigh and turn around. I jump when I see Peeta as close as Finnick was. He laughs. He is dressed in an outfit identical to mine. "What did Finnick Odair want?" He asks.

I put my lips close to his and close my eyes, like Finnick. "He offered me sugar cubes and wanted to know my secrets." I say in my best deductive voice.

Peeta laughs. "Really? Well, he'll have to get in line."

"Really." I say in a small, normal voice. "I'll tell you more when my skin stops crawling."

"Do you think we would have ended up like this if only one of us had won?" He says, looking around at the other victors. "Just another part of the freak show?"

"Yes. Especially you."

"Oh. And why 'especially me?'" he says, mimicking my girl voice. But his smile shows it was a joke.

"Because." I start. I look back to the horse and brush it's hair. "You have a weakness for beautiful things and I don't." My voice sounds of superiority. "They would lure you into their Capitol ways and you'd be lost entirely."

"Having an eye for beauty isn't the same thing as a weakness." Peeta points out, brushing the horses hair with me. "Except possibly when it comes to you." I stop and look at him. He turns to me and I smile. I close the space between us and kiss him. My hands reach to his cheeks, holding him in place for a few seconds. I let go and keep my face close to his.

In the corner of my eye, I see some victors watching, or gagging. Young love. Some hate it. Some love it. Only because they have it.

The beat of drums startles me and I see wide doors opening, allowing the first chariot to exit out. The roar of crowd is much more than I've ever heard. "Shall we?" Peeta asks, holding out his hand for me. I grab it and let him enter first. He kneels down and grabs me from under my arms and pulls me up. I never knew Peeta had such strength. If he could carry me, then he has strength.

"Hold still." I say. I straighten his crown, it was bugging me. "What do our suits do?"

"Not sure. Portia said it was amazing. Just click this." He points to one on a sleek of fabric on his wrist with a button. "And it goes. She also said to be above it all: no waving or anything. Not like last year. Where are they anyway?"

"Don't know." I eye the other chariots. "Maybe we better go ahead and turn them on by the door." He nods and we wait until were close to the door to turn on our suits. Once on, we begin to glow. People start to point and chant at us, and I know, once again, we are the talk of the ceremonies. I look back for Cinna and Portia, and see no one. "Are we supposed to hold hands this year?"

"I guess they've left us with that, too." Peeta says.

I look up and see the beautiful blue of his eyes that no matter how much dramatic makeup is placed on him, can make deadly and remember how, just a year ago, I was prepared to kill him. Convinced he was trying to kill me. Now, everything is reversed. I'm determined to keep him alive, knowing the cost will be my own life, the other victors, possible my family, and our growing child. Our hands find each others, like the do every night in the dark. Of course, we will go into this as one.











Updating like three flipping times tonight because I have the best idea for the next chapter. XD get excited people. You're gonna love it. c:


~Jez