The Capitol's Tribute

I missed the targets on the head and chest, but caught the dummy straight in the neck. I guessed that was good enough for how unskilled I was at weapons.

The Gamemakers were having a heyday, writing things down, taking amongst themselves adamantly. It was hard to tell whether they were impressed or disappointed with all the bushy beards covering their faces and the surgical enhancements.

Malum’s deep, threatening voice bellowed, “Guess Capitol’s not as useless as she pretends.”

I could feel my cheeks burning as Brant hurried over to me.

“What was that?” He demanded, “What are you doing?”

I bit my lip in the same spot that I had damaged on the train, “I just needed to do something! I felt useless with all the dumb plants.”

It took me a few moments to register that Brant was furious with me. But, why? All I had done was shoot an okay shot. Just one shot. I hadn’t been pretending I was something I wasn’t; I hadn’t given away any secret. It was only one lousy arrow, how much could it hurt?

Apparently, very much.

“Do you have a brain?” Haymitch asked as soon as I sat down on one of the plush yellow chairs in the apartment. Brant had ratted me out about the incident in the Training Center and now, apparently, Haymitch, Katniss, and our stylists were holding an intervention. When I didn’t respond he asked impatiently, “Well, do you?”

“Yes.” I said shortly, not feeling like some man who wasn’t my parent should be scolding me. “I have a brain.”

“So, it must be broken then,” Haymitch said loudly, “Because you did exactly what I told you not to do!”

“I don’t see what the big deal is!” I shouted back, standing up to defend myself, “It was one arrow! It wasn’t even a good shot!”

Haymitch slammed his glass on the table, shattering it. “It’s a big deal because I gave you the plan you begged me to give you and you went and did whatever the precious little Capitol’s Tribute wanted to do! You don’t care for anyone but yourself! You just do whatever you wanna do so I might as well just let you go into that arena and let yourself and Brant get killed in the bloodbath.” He shook his head tauntingly, “I knew you didn’t care about your life, but obviously you could care even less about Brant’s. Why didn’t you just shoot that arrow at Brant and save him from having to even go into the arena?” He pulled something out of his pocket: a small, razor sharp knife. “Why don’t you just kill him now? Here’s a knife, finish the job you started today because I promise you those careers will torture your brother to death because of what you did. When Brant dies in the arena, it will be all your fault—”

And that’s when I lost it. I acted out the fantasy I’d been having since I’d met Haymitch and clocked him right in the jaw. All the anger I had built up toward Haymitch and the Capitol and Ma and Peeta and Katniss and Brant and everyone else in Panem transferred into my fist and Haymitch’s face got the blow. As Haymitch fell backward from the contact, I felt oddly relieved that I had finally acted out on my own, not mindlessly do everything others wanted me to do. But, when reality flew back and I realized what I had just done, dread filled my body.

Everyone stared at me shocked. Brant stood up, coming to my side, his face full of confusion at my outburst. We all stared silently, trapped in a strange sort of limbo.

Until, Haymitch laughed.

“What’s going on?” Peeta suddenly appeared, glancing bewildered between Haymitch on the ground and me nursing my fist.

Haymitch picked himself off the floor, chortling away. “You’ve done it again, sweetheart. In twenty-four years, you’re the biggest surprise I’ve had.” He put himself back in his chair and grabbed a new glass, “I can’t say that no ones wanted to hit me, but you’re the only one whose had the balls to do it.”

“You hit Haymitch?” Peeta questioned, fighting a smile. “Wow, Rix.”

“I can’t believe nobody has ever done that before.” I told him seriously.

“Katniss almost stabbed me last year.” Haymitch remembered, grinning grimly.

“Good times,” Katniss smiled fondly. “You deserved it.”

“No point arguing there.” Brant agreed.

“Well, look who’s all teaming up against Haymitch.” He snorted, guzzling his wine.

Brant shrugged, side glancing at me with a smile. He was done playing the over protective brother and was back on my side.

“Am I done being scolded?” I asked impatiently, “I think I should get to bed a decent hour tonight.”

Haymitch rolled his eyes. “You need to talk to your stylist before bed. They need to go over interview wear.”

I groaned inwardly, just wanting to be alone.

“And, don’t go near the weapons again, sweetheart.” My mentor finished.

I pursed my lips, “Whatever you say, sweetheart.” I lied. I was definitely going to be spending some time at the weapons tomorrow. What was I supposed to do for my personal training session if I couldn’t touch a bow or knife? Run around like maniac? Everyone knew that the highest scores went to those who could wield weapons, not the ones who could barely tie knots and pick out nightlock from a bunch of berries.

Cinna made his way towards me as Brant led Portia to his room. He held a book of his designs that I had seen hundreds of times. He led me to the kitchen table as Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta stayed in the living room, most likely to eavesdrop.

I plopped in the chair I had eaten breakfast in this morning as Cinna stayed standing.

“I’m not going to stay long. I know when you want to be alone.” He smiled knowingly. “I just thought I would show you some ideas I had for your dress for the interview.” Cinna opened the book up carefully and flipped through pages of gorgeous dresses that had lace or glitter in all the colors of the rainbow. I nodded at the right moments and made noises of agreement but I wasn’t really paying attention.

Cinna chuckled quietly and I glanced at him curiously, “What?”

“I also know when you’re not paying attention to anything I say.” He told me.

“Whatever you put me in will be dazzling and perfect, Cinn.” I smiled lazily, “I have complete trust in you.”

He sighed in exasperation, “At least give me a color to work with.”

“Black,” I said. Black was sexy and sheer. You could never go wrong with black. And, also, it wasn’t red, like the Girl on Fire.

“Black,” He repeated. “I can work with that.” He gave me a kiss on the forehead and disappeared.

I pulled myself off the couch and walked through the living area to get to the bedrooms.

“Going to bed so soon?” Haymitch said smartly.

“Yeah,” I said loudly, “I’m exhausted from learning all about pretty flowers and that one arrow I shot.”

I heard Haymitch cackle as Katniss scolded him. Peeta told him to be kinder or he’d have me punch him again. I smiled lightly as I stalked down my hall and entered my room.

I turned on the forest and threw myself into bed, not even bothering to take off my clothes.

***

“You heard what Haymitch said.” Brant scolded. We were standing in from of all the tantalizingly dangerous weapons in the Training Center that I couldn’t use.

I rolled my eyes, brushing a stray hair away. “Look but don’t touch. Got it, Ma.”

I earned myself a brotherly eye roll and a few chuckles from our new companions.

“You guys are too funny!” Narina, the dirty blonde haired tribute from District 4, declared.

Reid, the male tribute from 4, snorted loudly, playing with a silver, expensive spear. He shook his curly bright yellow locks and chucked the spear at the training dummy an impressive fifty feet away and hit it straight on the bull’s eye.

He sent me a cocky smile as I raised a brow. Where all careers this self-obsessed? When I thought of Finnick, I knew the answer was yes.

I was still unsure why I was stuck hanging out with Brant and the careers from 4. Yesterday, Brant had spent all his time with the careers, specifically the ones from 4. I had my suspicions that Finnick was behind this set up but I had already planned to tell Brant we couldn’t ally with them before personal sessions tonight.

I walked away from my companions and fiddled with the knives. Apparently I was followed.

“So,” Reid asked in his deep gravely voice, “You’re dating my mentor?”

I glared up at him. “Is that what Finnick told you?”

He shrugged, “I’ve heard the rumors. I’ve seen it for myself.”

“Seen what?” I asked suspiciously.

“You in,” Reid grinned at me mysteriously, “Compromising positions.”

I nodded, not wanting to comment. I kept moving along down the line of weapons until I was stopped by a large body.

“Shouldn’t you be over by the dangerous berries and your little friend?” Malum jeered.

I bit my tongue, not wanting to start a confrontation.

“Do I scare you?” He grinned maliciously.

“No.” I told him fearlessly, though—on the inside—I was terrified.

He smirked, “I don’t believe you.” Malum leaned his stubbled face in close to mine, “It’s a shame I’m going to have to kill you. Such a beautiful girl as yourself...” He shook his head shamefully, “Shame.” He played with my stray hair.

“Hey, asshole.” Reid pushed himself between us, “She’d got a boyfriend.” He glanced Malum up and down in a condescending voice, “And aren’t you just so sure of yourself, thinking you’re just gonna take Rixa out without a fight?”

Malum clenched his jaw, his fists by his sides, ready to slug one of us in the face. And, all because Reid was questioning his masculinity. Boys were so juvenile.

But, it wasn’t Malum who made the first move, or Reid. It was Freddy. Little Freddy Mason who was half Malum’s size and a fourth of his weight. He threw his small eleven-year-old body smack dab into Malum’s tree branch legs and knocked him to the ground.

“Leave Rixa alone!” He told Malum fearlessly, pushing himself off the ground before Malum could murder him.

“Freddy!” I cried, hurrying over and grabbing Freddy out of Malum’s reach, “Stop! What are you doing?” The look on Malum’s face told me that he wouldn’t forget this anytime soon.

“I was protecting you like you’re going to protect me!” He told me simply. Freddy’s big brown eyes glared at Malum as he scrambled off the floor.

Malum shook his head, smiling mechanically. “Look at Capitol’s little posse. Guess I know who I’m gonna take out first in the field.” He raised a blonde brow in the direction of an unphased Freddy, spat, and swaggered away.

“Freddy,” I grabbed his shoulders roughly, “What were you thinking? I was handling it. There’s no reason for you to get killed over some stupid confrontation!”

Freddy gulped and looked up at me with those big, sad eyes, “I was looking out for you! If our paths cross, we’ll look out for each other, remember?”

I let out a sigh, chewing agitatedly on my lips. “What am I going to do with you?”

Freddy gave me that winning smile that he greeted me with every time I looked at him. “I’m not afraid. I could take him again.”

A small smile fell from my lips as I ruffled his unruly locks. Reid looked at me like I was insane. And maybe I was, taking care of this kid was proving to be suicidal. For both of us.

“You know we have no choice but to ally with you and Brant,” He peered cautiously at Freddy, “And apparently the little Mason. We can’t be with the careers this year. Not with targets on our backs.”

“I’m sorry.” I told him sincerely. What could I do now? Reid was right. They were social outcasts from the careers because they were fraternizing with Brant and me. I had no choice but to ally with them (even though every fiber of my being told me they’d kill me at first chance). But, I didn’t want their blood on my hands as well as Freddy’s.

This was all Finnick Odair’s fault.

“Don’t be.” Reid said gruffly, “Narina and I trust Finnick and he told us to trust you. So, we trust you.” Yes, this was definitely all Finnick’s fault.

I nodded firmly as Freddy tugged on my arm. I peered down at him and he pointed to something across the way. “Come on! I wanna introduce you to my new friend!”

I inwardly groaned. I didn’t need another person to take care of. Reid snorted and headed back off to Narina and Brant as I followed Freddy. He led me all the way to some fire lighting station on the other side of the training room and showed me a small, blonde girl. She was maybe twelve. Another kid with no hope of survival. She peered up at me, her face frightened, her hazel eyes watering. It was obvious.

“This,” Freddy gestured to the girl, “Is Anna. She’s from District Nine. They make grain.”

That seemed like unnecessary information because I knew District 9 made grain but Freddy was trying to make this girl feel welcome. I didn’t know what he wanted me to do about it. I couldn’t let her in my little posse as Malum dubbed it. As terrible as it was to even think it, this girl wasn’t going to last through the first day. I wasn’t even sure if Freddy would. But at least there was some small chance, some hope that he could. He was a tough kid and had a smart sister who also happened to be a victor. Freddy would go somewhere; I just didn’t know how far he would go.

“Hi, Anna.” I smiled kindly, “I’m Rixa from District 12. We make coal.”

For some strange reason, she giggled. It was some strange high pitched giggle, but I was glad I could momentarily take away the pain.

“You’re the girl from the Capitol.” She whispered, looking at me like I was some sort of idol. I was becoming less and less proud of the fact that I was from the very place that sent us to barbarically murder each other to become some name they wrote down in the books.

“My Ma’s from the Capitol.” I corrected her. Freddy tilted his head.

“Your Ma?” He questioned. “I thought you said you were from the Capitol. That’s why you’re the Capitol’s Tribute.”

“Well,” I sighed, “My Ma was born in the Capitol and my dad was from District Twelve. I was born in Twelve and moved here a couple of years ago to work.”

“Oh,” Freddy nodded as if my complicated family history made any sense whatsoever. “What do you do in the Capitol?”

I wanted to laugh. How could I explain what I did to an innocent eleven-year-old boy? I was basically a prostitute like Gale had said, just not for sex per say. I was more of a companion.

“I’m an entertaining.” That was the safest route. Because—on paper—that’s exactly what I was.

“That sounds amazing.” Anna sighed mournfully.

“It’s alright.” I smiled lightly.

“Rix!” Brant’s voice shouted. “Hey, Rix!”

I glanced over to the sparring area. Narina was waving me over as Brant called out my name again. Reid was in conversation with the dark-skinned boy from District 11. I nodded quickly, not wanting to shout and draw more attention to us.

I turned back to Anna and gave her an encouraging smile. “It was really nice to meet you, Anna.”

Her cheeks burned and she sent me a shy smile. “It was a dream come true to meet you, Rixa.”

That choked me up a bit. But, why was this her dream come true? What was so exciting about me? If they lived my life, I didn’t think they’d be that thrilled to meet me. But, since this was the last conversation I would ever have with this girl before she was murdered in the arena two days from now, I just grinned appreciatively back and swiftly made my way across the training room.

Freddy stayed behind to comfort the girl. That boy was a total sweetheart and it almost made me want to root for him. But, I had Brant to think about. Maybe if Brant wasn’t here. No, then I would try to win and make my way back home. The only thing I was certain of was there was no way I would hurt Freddy. But, there was no way I could let him win, if he made it that far.

Why did he have to be so much like Koel?

Damn that little Freddy Mason with his big brown eyes that forced you to promise foolish things. Part of me hoped that our paths wouldn’t cross in the arena so I wouldn’t have to make good on our deal. The other part prayed that I would so I could keep him safe.

Oh, the dilemma raging in my mind. I guessed I would just have to wait until we were in the arena to see which part I favored more.