Tidal ~ Hunger Games [2]

one

+ home +

The train came to a stop at the train station of District 4, the sound of the crowd who had come to see me and welcome me home roaring out cheers and calling my name. I stood at the door, a white dress on that stopped just under my knees, the long sleeved flowing by my side before scrunching at my wrists. My hair was done up in eloquent twists, my face covered in makeup and my heart pounding out of my chest as I let out a deep breath.

"Smile and wave, you've done great so far" Mags said to me, setting her hand on my shoulder as she stood behind me a little bit. I smiled at her, nodding my head as I stared at the door once again, my family on the other side as they awaited our reunion. Along with my family there were also cameras, ready to capture this moment to air for the whole of Panem, the victor reuniting with their family.

"Wish I had a drink" Talisa said to me, standing to my other side as I let out a small laugh, nodding my head at her. "They'll be plenty of drinking tonight anyway"  I told her, referring to the district wide Holiday that would consist of street parties and loads of good food from the Capitol to celebrate my winning of the games.

"Strong stuff from the Capitol as well" she said to me as I let out a small laugh, turning back to the door as I heard the Peacekeepers asking everyone to take a small step back, the station presumably crowded with people. "Can I cry?" I asked quietly, looking down at my hands which were smooth, my nail perfectly painted a completely different colour to what they were yesterday in the Capitol.

"You know when I see my family" I clarified, not looking at either of them as I waited for an answer. The fact that I had to ask if I was allowed to cry tore something within Mags, who put her arm around my shoulder, pulling me into her as she kissed the top of my head quickly. "Of course you can" she told me as I looked up at her, nodding my head quickly as I closed my eyes for a moment.

I didn't know when I was allowed to show my emotions anymore, as the past few weeks I had told myself I wasn't allowed to cry under any circumstances. "Okay, cool" I replied quietly and quickly as I heard the lock of the doors unlatch on the outside, Mags letting me ago as I stood up straight, smoothing the bottom of my skirt.

The doors slid open, the crowds cheering at they saw me, the cameras zooming in on my face as I smiled at them, letting out another one of my fake laughs as I waved at the crowd. I could see them standing there on the platform, my family in the smartest clothes we owned, my mothers eyes filled with tears as I leaned down off of the train. I tried to control myself as I ran into my fathers arms, his hair neatly trimmed and his shirt ironed flat as he held me close to him, the tears already pouring from my eyes.

"Hi there, pumpkin" he said to me, running his hand up and down my back as he kissed me on the top of the head, my eye squeezed shut tightly. I pulled away, my mother setting her hands on either side of my face as she stared at me, tears streaming down my cheeks as she shook her head at me. "You're back" she said to me through sobs, as I nodded my head at her, putting my hand over hers.

"I'm back" I said to her as she pulled me towards her, burying my head in her shoulder as I stained her blue dress with my tears. "You look ridiculous" Kai said to me as I pulled away from mom, looking over at him as I laughed, his top shirt button undone and his hair messy. "Speak for yourself" I said to him as he hugged me tightly, bending down as he positioned his mouth near my ear.

"They tried to make me wear a tie" he whispered to me as I laughed, shaking my head at him as Zale wrapped his hands around my waist, hugging me tightly as I rubbed my hand on his back. I would have picked him up if it wasn't for the amount of weight I had lost in that arena, the idea of setting him on my hip would probably snap it. "You won the prize" he said to me as he looked up at me, my hand sitting on the back of his head as I smiled down at him, wiping a tear away from my cheek. "Of course I did" I said to him as Kai pulled him away from me, scooping him up in his arms as Haf took a small step towards me, trying to force out a smile.

"Hey" he said to me as I saw him turn towards the camera, looking back at me cautiously as I smiled down at him. "How long will they follow us for?" he asked me as I hugged him tightly, looking over at the cameras as he did, seeing them being manned by quite a few people, the angles coming from all over the train station.

"Not for long, I promise" I said to him as he pulled away from me, nodding his head as mom let out a small laugh. "Don't even try to get out of this family hug" she said to us as Kai and dad groaned, making us all laugh as mom pulled me into her, once again everyone wrapping their arms around each other as we stood in a small huddle on the platform, the cameras probably eating this up with huge crowd cheering around us.

"The Odairs are at the house" mom said to me as we all pulled away, the Peacekeepers coming over to me as I nodded my head at them, happy that Firth's and I's reunion wasn't going to be as public as my families one. I could see Marius, the head Peacekeeper of 4 coming over to me his gun in his hand as he nodded his head at me.

"We shall escort you and family back to your house, but you may want to greet some people from the crowd first" he said to me as I nodded my head at him, barely actually having heard his voice before. I had never spoken to Marius before, only having seen him a few times a year, just at the reaping and occasionally seeing him in the market getting some cod cooked for him.

"Yeah, sure" I said to him as I nodded my head at him, making him back away as he went back over to the crowd. "Okay, I need to go see them" I said to my family, still gripping onto my mother's hand as Mags came up from behind me, a small smile on her face. "Talisa and I will stay with your family" she said to me as I nodded my head at her, not really wanting to leave my family but knowing that the cameras were expecting me to see some of the people in the crowd.

I let go of moms hand with a final squeeze, making my way towards the crowd of District 4 citizens who were cheering loudly for me, staying behind the rope as I shook their hands. I was shooting them smiles and waves left and right, knowing that currently, every single citizen in the Capitol was watching me right now.

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A/N: the reunion we have all been waiting for
it's been a trademark in my books (my marvel series and gilbert blythe book iffff you wanna go check them out) that o put a gif at the beginning of my chapters but I never did it for Wave so I decided to start it up for Tidal
please do not forget to vote and comment and I will see you all again soon!