2nd generation Victors (A Hunger Games fanfic)

Chapter 5

We are all formally introduced to each other. It's so weird being introduced to your Mom and Dad. It's crazy. We sit down around a table, which looks like mahogany. I pipe up.

"Before we start, I would like to announce something. I'm engaged. To Fred." Mom looks more shocked than she did this morning.

"And when were you going to tell us dear?" Mom says.

"I was going to tell you when it felt the time was right. But circumstances change. First there was the reaping. And then the fight to the death. I was wondering if we could stop and get married somewhere. Like before we get to the Capitol."

"Then you're in luck." I'd recognize that voice anywhere. "It just so happens that a weddings officianado is on your train. I plan, I decorate and even officiate weddings. Because I'm here, you can have it now."

"I didn't think you'd get your hands dirty decorating Effie!" Haymitch remarks.

"Shut up!" She quips.

"Well thats that. In two hours, meet back here and lets have a wedding." Haymitch says. Effie whisks me off, talking about the lastest trend in Capitol fashions for weddings. Until I tell her all I want is a white dress. Then she remembers the tribute parade.

"Your district is medicine. All lab coats and that thing. White is the key. Lets have a wedding dress for your parade. We can put Fred in a tux. What colour flowers would you like. Lets have Primroses as your bouquet, red Primroses for your aunt. I shouldn't have said that." She regrets it immediatly. She knows how hard Mom's taken Prim's death. She never says anything about her, if she does, I see her in tears.

"No. No. Primroses will be fine, we may aswell remember her in this way. It shows that we have not forgotten her. After all, she was the one who has got us in this mess in the first place." Effie laughs. She gets to my wardrobe and tells me to pick something. I gasp in awe. A rainbow is infront of me. But my favourite colours are green and blue. Out of the corner of my eye, there is a dress with a gentle blue top and that faded into a grass green colour. I reach for it.

"This one. It reflects me perfectly."

"Well then. I'll go and pick out Fred's suit to match. I think that will do for the interviews aswell. Let's do a wedding theme! Stay in here. Don't sneak out. Remember: I'm always watching!" She says exiting the room. She's using the wedding to play a game. A game I don't want to play. The wedding will be forever tinged with a sadness I cannot reconcile. The bed is made of water, so lie down on it.

Soon after, I wake up and see Mom hurrying around in my room.

"Hello Mom."

"Hello Willow. I hope you're ready for this. Marrying your dad was the best thing I'd ever done. I hope that you realize that this will be the best thing or worst thing you've ever done. Just say now if you want to turn back. You won't be able to get divorced. You'll be stuck with him forever."

"I know what I'm doing."

"Well lets get you dressed then." Mom signals for me to sit down and I do so. She picks up a hairbrush and starts plaiting my hair. It ends up in a bun. She then does my makeup and puts the dress on me.

"If I could only take a picture of this moment." Mom says proudly. "Well then, lets go."