The Capitol's Tribute

Brant’s interview was short and painful. He gave short, curt answers and didn’t even mention Madge.

Before he had even answered the first question I knew I was fighting a lost battle. Nobody wanted Brant to win, not even Brant.

I was at a loss for why the hell they were trying so hard to make the hopeless, spoiled Capitol’s tribute to be the victor—because I wouldn’t make it and then 12 would have two less citizens.

As I stood backstage, Finnick stayed faithfully by my side, begging me to talk to him. I ignored him, whether out of fury or resentment, I didn’t know. All I knew was Brant was ruining his chance to get hundreds of sponsors and no one seemed to care. I was all alone in this fight.

Brant walked off stage triumphantly, waving to the off-put audience. As soon as he was backstage I made my way towards him and slapped him as hard as I could.

“You’re angry.” Brant commented, nursing his cheek.

“No, that was a slap of encouragement.” I laughed humorlessly. “Of course I’m angry!”

“Rixa,” Finnick tried stepping in. I whirled around, only seeing red.

“No, Finnick, you don’t get to talk anymore!” I growled, backing him into a corner, “I was okay with the star-crossed lovers bit, but this—” I held up the finger chained to the ring. “This was too far!” I screamed in anguish and began beating his chest, tears of pure fury bled down my face, ruining my perfect makeup.

“Rixa!” Someone cried, “Rixa, stop! STOP!” Someone pulled me away from Finnick, dragging me out of the backstage area and down a secluded hall. I thrashed my body, trying to release myself from my captor. I was done playing nice.

Once I was released, I curled my fist and swung, only to have it easily caught by Peeta.

“Rixa,” He breathed, pushing my hands to my side, “Calm down.”

My heart was beating rapidly and I glanced around the hall he had dragged me to. It looked familiar.

I had been here before.

“This was where I went after you confessed your love to Katniss.” I informed Peeta quietly, glancing up at him.

Peeta looked taken aback. “You were here?” He choked.

I nodded calmly, “Of course I was here, Peet. I thought I was never going to see you again so I came to visit you in the Capitol.” I chuckled lightly at my absurdity, “I wanted to surprise you, to spend one more night with you before you were gone forever.”

Peeta took in a deep painful breath, furrowing his brows. “I didn’t know.”

“I never told you.” I said plainly, “Why would you?”

“You should have come to visit me afterwards.” Peeta turned and leaned his back against the wall. “I could have fixed this.” His voice was thick as his bright blue eyes pleaded to me.

“Fixed what?” I sniffed, crossing my arms uncomfortably. “We were over the second your name was pulled out of the glass.”

Peeta looked like he wanted to tell me something, but something was stopping him.

“I could have fixed us.” He whispered. I glanced over to him, not fully understanding.

“How?” I pleaded.

Peeta shook his head. Something was stopping him again.

“Keep your secrets.” I told him, walking back down the hall, leaving him alone, “Some day, they will be all you have left.”

When I arrived back to the staging area, Haymitch and Katniss were in a heated conversation. Actually, it was more of a screaming match. Finnick stood in the corner, arms crossed, looking stoic and unmoved by his surroundings.

“You don’t know what it’s like, Haymitch!” Katniss shouted furiously, “How could you do this to them? To us?” She shoved him angrily. Haymitch looked like he wanted to push back but caught me watching. He cleared his throat and pulled down his jacket.

“Hey, sweetheart,” He muttered, “When’s the big date?”

My first reaction should have been to grab something pointy and shove it through his chest cavity.

But, for some reason, I laughed. It was a cruel, mechanical laugh that didn’t suit me.

“You’ll have to ask Finnick.” I answered once I had calmed down enough.

Finnick shifted uncomfortably, trying to get me to look at his face, to see who sorry he really was.

Katniss looked at me with sympathy. I was sure it was sympathy, not pity this time. She turned and glared at Haymitch once last time before walked towards me. Katniss stopped, her eyes ablaze with too many emotions to separate. She had that same look Peeta had, the one that desperately wanted to explain themselves but something was stopping them.

Instead, Katniss settled for embracing me in an awkward hug. “I’m sorry.” She muttered gravely. Before I could respond, she disappeared into the shadows.

Now it was just Haymitch, Finnick, and me. Great.

I stood still, eyeing my mentor, waiting for him to do something—apologize, beg for mercy, kill himself (I really wasn’t picky).

“I did this for you—” Haymitch started.

“Well isn’t that sweet.” I said coldly. “My mentor sells me to the Capitol whore for some sponsors. Heartwarming.”

Finnick flinched but I was past caring for his feelings.

“Rixa, please,” Finnick implored, inching toward me, “I’m trying to protect you here.”

“And what about Annie? Have you thought twice about her since you agreed to do this insane engagement?” I fumed, “Has anyone thought about my feelings? About what I want?”

“No,” Haymitch said honestly, “We’re thinking of the best approach to bring you back.”

“And to protect you.” Finnick stressed.

“Shove your protection up your Capitol tainted ass, Finnick.” I spat, “You should be protecting Brant like I told you to! Like you both promised to.” I hissed, “But, no one seems to be taking their promises into consideration so I might have to break a few of mine to get even.” I said pointedly.

Haymitch’s jaw clenched, “Well, sweetheart, you caught us. We’re all a bunch of liars trying to get our way. What are you going to do about it?” He sneered.

I pressed my lips together, glancing mockingly at Finnick and back to my mentor.

“Run.”



No one was going to be getting any sleep tonight. Not with how things ended between us all. I mocked Finnick, slapped Brant, screamed at Haymitch, and walked out on Peeta. I even snapped at Cinna when he tried to undress me. It seemed the only person I was on good terms with was Katniss and I could practically taste the irony in that.

I was too upset to do anything but crumple onto my bed. I had no energy left to turn on the forest or get under the covers. I just wanted to crawl into a ball and die. Nothing could make me feel worse than I already did.

Everyone was only trying to help me survive the Games. I was the only one who didn’t want me to survive the Games. I knew what would happen if I survived and maybe that was why I was hardest on Finnick. When I came back, I would be forced to prostitution like him. How could he think that was best? He was being selfish, only thinking of himself and how alone he’d be in the Capitol without me.

Finnick Odair. I hated him more than anything at the moment. And that was impressive considering the amount of hatred I held towards Haymitch. Haymitch with his schemes and conniving plots. As far as I was concerned, he was no better than the Capitol, than President Snow himself.

I just laid in bed, wallowing in my fury and self-hatred. I wanted it all to end. Tomorrow I would get my wish. Tomorrow I would run into that cornucopia and be reckless. I would do the opposite of what ever Haymitch told me, just in spite. It was childish, but it was my last defense.

Tears of anger silently fell down my face. I didn’t bother to wipe them. I was all alone and probably going to die tomorrow. I could cry all I wanted.

A soft knock echoed around my room. I sat up rigidly, staring at my door. In confusion, I slipped off my bed and padded my way to the door. Slowly, I opened it to reveal a very upset Peeta Mellark.

Before I could say anything, he pushed himself into my room and shut the door behind him. Peeta turned back to my bewildered frame and smashed his lips hungrily against mine. I was too stunned to react and he was hugging me before I could do anything. I heard him sniffling in my ear, rocking me back and forth.

“P-Peeta?” I questioned softly, “What’s wrong?”

Peeta released me, glancing up at the ceiling, laughing cruelly. “How can you even ask me that, Rixa?”

“I don’t know,” I mumbled, “It was just the first thing that popped into my head.”

He tilted his blonde head, staring at me in awe. “You never cease to amaze me, Rixa Hart.” He shook his head.

“That’ll get me through the Games for sure.” I joked lightly. All humor was erased from Peeta’s face.

“That’s what’s wrong.” He shivered. “The Games. You and Brant being Reaped. Me and Katniss. You and Finnick. It’s all wrong.”

I knew that. Everything was wrong and there was no way to fix it. Not anymore.

“Everything’s wrong.” He whispered, pushing back my blonde hair. “We’re wrong.”

“Wrong about what?” I gulped, feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze. “Peeta, you’re starting to scare me.”

That internal battle was going on in his mind again. I could see it raging in his eyes; he so desperately wanted to win.

Peeta leaned his forehead against mine, closing his eyes as he grabbed my hand.

“I love you.”

I had to be dreaming. This only happened in my dreams. Peeta Mellark would never utter those words to me again. Not when he was so fully in love with Katniss.

I backed away shaking me head, making my way to my bed. “No,” I wrapped my arms around myself. “No, I need to wake up.”

Peeta caught up easily and wrapped his arms around mine. “You’re not dreaming, Rixa. If you were, you have pretty messed up dreams.” And he flashed me that cocky smile that made my heart melt. I never thought that smile would be for me again.

“You’re just saying this to make me feel better before I die tomorrow.” I pushed him away, “I don’t need your charity.”

Peeta frowned playfully, “I never realized my love for you was charity. I guess I’ve been loving you wrong for years now.”

“Stop it,” I begged, fresh tears falling, “Just stop, Peet. You love Katniss. You’re just feeling guilty for what happened and trying to make up for it.”

“I don’t love Katniss.” He confessed, glancing around the room quickly as if someone was watching us.

“Don’t say that.” I muttered, “Yes you do.”

He shook his head defiantly, “I think I know myself better than you and I’m saying I don’t love her.”

“Peet,” I tried.

He smashed his lips against mine again and I didn’t have the strength to fight him off. If this was going to be my last night alive, I wanted to spend it pretending that Peeta was still mine, that we were just back home in 12, kissing like we used to.

If this was a dream, I never wanted to wake up.

I ran my fingers through his nicely cut hair. It felt familiar. I pulled away, resting my head on his chest, listening to the way his heart beat and his chest raised with every breath. It was like I was reliving our old life.

Peeta grabbed my hand and led me to my bed. I lay down on the far left side, staring at the window overlooking the Capitol. It was soon replaced with the forest. Peeta got in and scooted himself towards me. Our bodies fit together perfectly, like nothing could ever tear us apart.

“I used to think that, when we’d lie in bed together, that I was going to marry you one day.” I smiled sadly, though he couldn’t see it. His arms wrapped around me protectively.

“One day we’ll run away and do it.” He promised. Peeta sounded so sincere that I made myself believe him. Maybe when he met me in the afterlife we could do it. “Just get through the Games, Rix.”

With Peeta’s warmth and lies, I felt sleep begin to overcome me. My eyes sagged as Peeta’s free hand began to play with my hair.

“Will you be here when I wake up?” I asked weakly.

“I’ll take you to the arena if you’ll let me.” Peeta promised. I nodded, shutting my eyes.

“I love you.” He whispered again as I fell into unconsciousness.