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AFTER THE STOP IN DISTRICT TWELVE, OCTAVIA HAD TRAVELED FROM TEN TO SIX. The speeches in these districts went similarly to that of Twelve. The meal with the Mayor of those districts and the living Victor's was awkward to Octavia, thankfully Seeder and Chaff did most of the talking. She had remembered that Seven and Nine had tributes that lasted a few days, she felt sick at the thought of having fought through all of the bloodbath just to die on the third day. Octavia wonders if Augustus and Layla had felt the same way.
Octavia and her team were in between Six and Five. The train whirred beneath her as she picked the skin around her fingernails off, which Brandi scolded her for. She found that her addresses of each district went easier if she just removed herself from her body. Her consciousness was often somewhere else completely. She would imagine that she was at home with her brother or in the fields with Dimitri. Removing herself from her body was the easiest way to get through the tour, and was the best option to keep up the Victor role that she was playing.
District Five's air was polluted which made it hard to breathe for Octavia, but what made it even more hard to breathe was the thin layer of white snow all across the district. From the second the border was crossed, Octavia was hyperventilating and trembling at the memories that flooded her mind. Her fellow Victor's tried to console her by distracting her, Chaff handing her a drink and Seeder telling her a story. All that Octavia could think about was the red blood soaked into the snow in the Arena. She knew that Seeder and Chaff could relate to the traumatic memories, but it was hard to listen to what they had to say.
Brandi and Lionia watched Octavia's meltdown in silence. It was one thing to send tributes into the Games, but to see what they go through when they come out makes the two question their loyalties to the Capitol.
Octavia eventually stopped crying, she forced herself to look out the window until she felt nothing. She decided to take Chaff up on his offer, taking a long drink of the harsh liquid that burned her throat as it went down. She coughed at the sensation and her face scrunched together. The drink would hopefully distract her long enough to deliver the speech to District Five. Chaff let's her hang on to the glass, ignoring the remarks from Brandi.
Octavia gets up and refills the glass. None of the adults make any moves to stop her. Seeder sends Chaff a look, but doesn't reprimand him or Octavia. The three Victor's have an understanding that they were in this together for the rest of their lives. One's pain is all of their pain. Octavia nurses the glass until the sight of snow means nothing to her and evokes no emotion. She successfully delivers the speech, looking sober enough that the audience didn't question her voidness.
Octavia is told that their next stop is Four, Layla's district. They would be spending a night there to take a break from the train ride. Octavia wondered, maybe hoped, that Finnick would be there. She needed to ask him questions. Questions about what Snow makes him do, and what he'll make her do.
