Liberosis - The Hunger Games

24

The months had passed since the games, Addison had grown from stiff glares and crying whenever in the same vicinity as me. Now it was a small smile and a tentative 'hi' followed by awkward conversation.

My family had decided to keep their home, deciding it would be better to live outside of the victor's village. I now had too much space and zero clue what to do with it, Finnick practically lived at my house for the first two months, taking up residence in the spare bedroom until the late-night screaming started. After I woke up crying the first week, he would sit in my room, stroking my hair until I found peace with myself.

Andante and Asher visited regularly, often staying overnight and taking up another of the many spare rooms I found myself to own. This morning they sat at the large dining table with steaming mugs of tea, chatting animatedly about the various activities they were undertaking at school. A knock sounded at the door shortly after which I opened to find a heavily pregnant Ophelia who waddled in exhaustedly. "I'm just about ready to rip this little thing out of my body," She remarked, collapsing on a chair at the dining table with a steaming loaf of bread in her hand.

Over the months, Ophelia and I had grown quite close- she and Mags would come over quite often to enjoy cups of tea and talk together. Often, we would walk on the beach but since Ophelia reached the third trimester, she had been getting more and more exhausted. "Ophelia, I wasn't expecting you!" I smiled, hugging the girl around her shoulders. She turned around and kissed my cheek as Asher stood up to make the woman a cup of tea.

"I had to see you off before the tour," She explained, "I wasn't exactly sure how strict Sylvia would have made the schedule,"

"Knowing Sylvia, I'm never going to catch a break," I chuckled as Asher reached the table again with a steaming mug of tea for Ophelia and a knife for the bread, "You two better be off to school then, Reign was going to pop around shortly, he'll walk you there," She told them. The perks of being a victor in District Four meant that if you were stable enough for it, you were hired as a trainer within the academy. I had been instated about a month ago, the same time Ophelia had taken maternity leave, Mags had left as well, now with constant doctor visits and bed rests. She was healing, however slowly and had been working hard on her sign language, both Reign and Ophelia had learnt the language to communicate with her.

Reign arrived shortly after, giving me a strong hug and a ruffle of my hair, he beckoned Asher and Andante to walk ahead before turning to me. Reign's voice was interesting, in his games he had inhaled a severe amount of gas that had affected his voice box, he spoke with an eerie whisper that was comforting in a way, "Aurora," He said kindly, "This tour, it can bring up some bad memories, I want you to be prepared for that,"

Ophelia nodded in agreement, "Just remember, Mags and Finnick will be right there with you, you'll be back home in two weeks, he'll be out by then," She smiled, patting her stomach fondly.

"She'll." Reign corrected, giving his wife a tender kiss, "Safe travels Rory, I'll see you soon,"

I waved him off as he walked out of the victor's village, my younger siblings bounding ahead, Ophelia kissed me on the cheek and wandered across the street to her house. I was left alone until I spotted a flash of blue, "Aurora, my dear! Oh, how I've missed you,"

The capitol accent, the outrageous blue hair, "Sylvia," I breathed, "You're here early,"

"Sylvia's never early- just on time is far too late," Another voice mused from behind her, carrying dress bags and makeup boxes was my prep team, Venus, Titan, and Blaze. I grinned at Blaze's voice, tackling the man with a strong hug.

"I missed you so much," I smiled as he squeezed me in return, this tour would bring back many unpleasant circumstances for me, but if anything, it brought me Blaze, and for that I was grateful.