The Capitol's Tribute

“You ready?” Finnick called as the train came to a stop. I wished Finnick could come with me; it got awful lonely on the two day ride back home with only an Avox to keep me company. But, Finnick had to go back to District 4. He was a mentor in the games after all.

“No,” I answered truthfully. “But I don’t have any other choice, do I?”

Finnick didn’t speak. He hated this annual trip we made to the train. He had come to see me off every year since I was twelve. If I was being honest, I was one of the few things Finnick cared about since he’d won the Games and been showered with anything his heart desired. He was rewarded greatly for his time in the Games but he would never wish them upon anyone else.

“I’ll be back before you know it,” I promised, standing on my tip toes and giving him a quick peck on the cheek. “You don’t need to worry about me.”

Finnick sent me a look, clearing pretending he wasn’t worried, but I knew better.

“Oh, I’ll miss you, too, Rix,” I muttered sarcastically. The next thing I knew I was being suffocated in Finnick’s arms, crushed under his immense strength. He rested his slender face on top of my head, sighing deeply.

“Only one more year, Rix,” Was all he said, but I knew what he meant. Only one more year and the looming threat of being Reaped into the Games was over. I would truly be safe.

I held on tighter, burrowing my head into his suit. The train was waiting so I had to pull myself away. I picked up my small suitcase and hopped on. Setting my suitcase by the door, I turned back around to face Finnick.

“Only one more year,” I repeated with a small smile. He returned it, stuffing his hands in his pockets. The train had started and the Capitol was passing by. I sent him a wave but was gone before he could return it.

I turned around to pick up my suitcase but it was already gone. An Avox must have slipped by when I was saying goodbye to Finnick. I followed the familiar hallway to the room I always stayed in on the train. For the next two days I would be sleeping and eating, not necessarily in that order. But on a train, there wasn’t much else I could do.

The two days were excruciatingly slow. I didn’t want to go back to District 12, knowing that the lovesick power couple would be there. My family was there, though, and I had missed them terribly. Madge, my neighbor, was there, as well as Gale (who I had become close to during the Games last year). Other then them, my list of reasons to come home was very short.

The train slowed to a halt and I left the train without packing up my things. I would be back on in a few hours. It was only ten. The Reaping wasn’t until two and then I would be back to the Capitol.

I stepped off the train, feeling the warm sun hit my skin immediately. I loved the warm months in District 12 but not much else. I loved warmth. The cold months were brutal and I no longer had anyone to hold me through them, to keep me warm. The Capitol was always warm; I suspected it was climate controlled.

I took in a deep breath of the humid, coal filled air before releasing it in a scream.

“Hey, sis,” A tall, white-blonde haired boy said casually, leaning against a wooden post on the train station. His dark brown eyes were almost black in the sunlight, similar to mine. His pale skin was a bit tanner than mine, but still quite pale.

“You almost gave me a heart attack, Brant!” I sighed, ruffling my hair a bit, glaring at my older brother. Brant was eighteen, on his last year of Reaping. After our father and brother, Jay, died, Brant took over the head of the house. Instead of quitting school to work in the dangerous mine, I arranged a deal with the few Capitol contacts my mother still had and made sure we had money for Brant to keep to his schooling.

With the money I got in the beginning, we bought the house next door to the Undersee’s and I befriended Madge, a girl I had only seen briefly at school. Before I dropped out of school I would sit with Madge during lunch. She was one of the few friends I had before I left for the Capitol and the only one, besides Gale, I had left.

“Maybe if you came back more than once a day a year I would be nicer.” Brant smirked. Though he was joking, I knew he wished I would come back more. But I just couldn’t.

“I can only take so much of you,” I joked before he started messing up my hair.

“Poor little Capitol princess. Where’s Cinna when you need him?” Brant snorted, grabbing my hand and dragging me down the path to our home. I let it slide, not wanting to talk about Capitol stuff when I was home.

“How’s everyone?” I asked, though he knew who I was referring to.

Brant shrugged, “Fine.”

I nodded, not really wanting the details of the lovers. “Good, good. Good. That’s...”

“Good?” Brant answered, smirking. “He keeps to himself mostly. To be honest, I haven’t seen them together much since they got back, besides the Victor’s Tour.”

I made a noise, trying to sound nonchalant. “Hmm.”

Before I knew it, we were back in front of my home. Brown in color, it was similar to Madge’s in design, one of the biggest houses, aside from the ones in the Victor’s Square. The door opened with a creak and the next thing I knew I was on the ground, tackled by two small bodies.

“Rixa!” They shrieked in delight.

I struggled to sit up, laughing at my younger siblings’ excitement. “Koel, Ruby, I missed you!” The brunette siblings grinned identically, their gray eyes glittering. Their small arms wrapped around me again, squeezing tight.

“Alright, alright,” Brant chuckled, helping me up with Koel and Ruby still attached to my body. “Let’s give Rixa have a chance to breath.”

I grinned down at the twins; my heart ached that I would be gone again in a few hours. Whenever I came home, I realized how much I missed them. Sometimes, when I was younger, I would ask for a longer visit. But after Peeta, the last thing I wanted to do was stick around to run into him or Katniss.

Koel and Ruby were ten. They had one more year until their names were entered in the Reaping. But I wasn’t worried about them being picked. I wasn’t worried about Brant, either. He had been in the Reaping for almost seven years now. It was unlikely he would ever be picked since I never allowed him to sign up for tesserae. Signing up for tesserae gave us a meager supply of grain and oil. Not even good grain or oil. It also put more slips with our names neatly printed on the back into the Reaping bowl, increasing our chances of becoming tributes.

I couldn’t let my siblings sign up for it. I wanted our chances of being Reaped to be as slim as possible. So far, my plan had worked.

“Rixa,” A soft, fragile voice called. I glanced up from my joyful younger siblings to see my mother’s beautiful, yet, broken face. She hadn’t been right since my father passed. “You’re home.”

“It’s Reaping day.” I answered. Coming home to my mother was always difficult. I loved her but I hated her. If she had just moved us back to the Capitol there would be no Reaping for her children. We’d all be safe, watching the Games in the comfort of our homes, not watching our friends and loved ones die. They would be strangers, no one of importance. And for that, I hated her, because they weren’t strangers. I knew all the District 12 tributes and watched them die for years, until Peeta and Katniss.

“You look beautiful.” She commented. I knew I did, I got my looks from her after all. My mother was a beautiful woman and I never questioned why my father had fallen in love with her. I assumed at one time she wasn’t as glum and broken because I knew first hand looks didn’t keep a relationship together.

“Thanks, ma,” I said back quietly.

“I miss you,” I could see her dark eyes filling with tears. She expected me to say it back but I couldn’t lie to her. She deserved more than that.

“I know, ma,” I nodded. She did the same and went to off her room to cry in peace.

“Go play,” Brant urged Ruby and Koel. They obliged, knowing that mother was having one of those days again: a day where she shut herself out from the world and cried.

I heard the back door slam and the twins had gone into the yard.

Brant heaved a sigh and I knew what was coming.

“I don’t know,” I answered before he could get the question out.

“You’re last Reaping is next year and its going to be Koel’s and Ruby’s first. Ma’s going to be catatonic. We need you to stay.” He argued quickly.

“I can’t stay here, Brant.” I said stubbornly, shaking my head.

“Is it about money? I’ll be done with school and off to the mines next year! I’ll make money and if you start saving up your money now we could be set for awhile! Just until things are okay again. Ma and the twins need you! I need you.” Brant raised his voice, frustrated.

“Brant,” I shook my head stubbornly.

“Oh, Rixa, come on! Stop being so selfish!” He slammed his fist on the wooden table.

“Selfish?” I remarked, laughing humorlessly, “I gave up everything for this family! I quit school, I gave up friends, and I stopped you from adding your name to the tesserae list! Everything I’ve done is for this family so don’t you dare call me selfish.” I seethed.

“Maybe in the beginning it was for those reasons.” Brant said in a quiet voice, knowing he was about to enter into dangerous territory. “But I think, now, you’re just running away…”

“From what?” I shouted fiercely.

“Peeta.” He answered simply. I narrowed my eyes, pulling in all the anger and hate I had bottled up in the years since my father died into them.

“You want me to stay. Then, fine.” I breathed through my nostrils, trying to calm myself down. The twins were within hearing reach, I was sure of it. “But when this family starts to starve off of the crap you get paid by the mines, that’s on you.”

Brant felt the weight of this decision. He couldn't support this family, not without my job or our mother getting one. But, since she had never worked a day in her life, it had always been me who had to fill that hole.

“We can make it work,” Brant promised but I knew it was empty.

“No, we can’t! Ruby and Koel will have to sign up for tesserae to keep food on the table. But I suppose if one of them gets chosen for the Games, that’s one less mouth for us to feed, right?” I said callously, only thinking of my anger at Brant for making me feel guilty for leaving to support this family.

Brant looked shocked that I could even think such things, “How can you be so cruel?” He cried.

“I’m being realistic. If that’s what you want, then I’ll stay.” I answered emotionlessly.

“I don’t know who you are anymore.” Brant spat, rubbing his red face angrily.

“I’m your sister whose trying to show you reason, the reason why I can’t stay.” I could feel my own eyes welling up with tears like my weak mother had done moments ago. “I can’t stay here, Brant.” I sniffled, biting my lip to stop my foolish crying. Crying never solved anything.

“Oh, Rix,” Brant sighed, pulling me in comfortingly. Our heated fight slowly faded away. “I think we’re both being a bit selfish here.” He said, smoothing down my hair as our father used to do when we were upset.

I nodded into his nicely cleaned shirt, “I think we need to find some middle ground.”

“How about this,” Brant asked, pulling away and setting me straight again, “You come home more often then just the Reaping and I won’t speak of him ever again.”

“That doesn’t seem like a fair bargain,” I chuckled, “But I’ll see what I can do.”

“Good girl,” Brant smiled. “Knew you’d do the right thing.”

I rolled my eyes as I glanced out the window, seeing the metal fence that surrounded the district. “What time is it?”

“’Bout noon.” Brant answered, “Why?”

“I’m gonna go visit.” I stated, giving him a quick kiss on the cheek. “See you at the Reaping.”