In This Together (The Hunger Games Fanfiction)

Chapter 4: The Parade

On our way into the building we passed several other tributes, all who barely gave us a second look. We were lucky enough to get in an elevator by ourselves, not that the ride was long.

"Tomorrow you'll be using the training centre, which is on the ground floor. Your suites are just one floor up," Tally explained and led the way out of the elevator.

"Is that the tributes?" Two unknown people came out of one of the rooms.

"Yes it is!" Grim smiled.

"Celia and Tristan, meet your stylists, Sona and Paradox!"

The female stylist, Sona, had fiery red hair and nose ring. Paradox had green hair and eyes that looked almost yellow.

"Oh, Celia, you are just too cute!" Sona gushed and immediately began playing with my light brown hair.

"We have some AH-mazing ideas for the Tribute Parade!" Paradox added, slapping Tristan on the back.

"Speaking of which, it's getting late! We need to start getting you ready!" Sona exclaimed after checking her watch.

"Prep team!" Paradox clapped twice. Six Capitol citizens came running through the same door Paradox and Sona came from. Three ran to me and guided me back towards my room, and the other three dragged Tristan towards his room.

"Hmmm... Where should we begin?" Sona walked in and closed the door behind her.

"How about... from the ground up?" One of the prep team ladies suggested.

"Sounds good!" Sona agreed.

After what felt like hours of waxing and plucking, I was finally declared hair-free. Then two of my prep team members handled my makeup while Sona and the other member tackled the hair on my head.

Sona curled my long, light brown hair and put half of it up, securing it with a clear elastic. She left the other half down and placed a big purple flower by my ear.

My makeup was done fairly natural, as they said they wanted my youth to show through. I had light shimmery eyeshadow, a touch of peach blush, and pale pink lipgloss.

"Now it's time... for the dress!" Sona clapped twice excitedly. She had me close my eyes, and helped me step into the 'mystery' dress. "Ta-da!" She whirled me in front of the mirror.

I gasped. The floor-length, royal purple gown had several layers of tulle, making it puff out when I spun around. The ruffles tied in with the pearls on the short sleeves perfectly. All in all, it was the perfect princess dress.

"How's our little princess?" My prep team high fived over another successful transformation.

"It's... It's... amazing! Thank you so much!" I twirled around and around my room. As I was spinning, someone knocked on the door.

"Where's my princess?" Tristan's voice could be heard through the thick wood door.

"I'm in here! Come in!" I giggled.

Tristan walked in. He wore the same colour jacket as my dress, a royal purple, with black pants. His whole outfit was completed by a golden crown that was fit for a king placed on top of his head.

"You two look perfect! Now come on, we don't want you to be late!" Sona and Paradox pushed us down the hallway, and we took the elevator down to the main floor of the tribute building.

It wasn't long before we arrived at our chariot. Two white horses were harnessed to our glimmering purple chariot, which was designed to resemble a palace. I could definitely feel the glares of envy from a lot of the female tributes. From where we were backstage, we could hear the Capitol anthem begin to play. Tristan and I hurriedly got settled in our spots; chariots ride out in order by District number.

Moments later, we felt the lurch as our chariot rolled into motion. Plastering a smile on my face, I began to wave at no one in particular. Bright lights shone all around me, and every where I looked there was a crazily dressed Capitol citizen. And they were all cheering for me.

Oh, and Tristan of course.

All of the tribute's chariots gathered in a semi-circle as President Snow walked out onto her balcony. A hush fell over the crowd.

"Welcome to the 200th Hunger. Games!" Her voice boomed.

"This year's Quarter Quell was created in mind that the Capitol knows best, so all of you tributes were hand selected by the Gamemakers to represent your districts. You should be proud! Happy Hunger Games!" Dellya Snow raised her arms in salute, and then disappeared off of her balcony.

.............

After the tribute parade, Blooming, Tally and Grim gathered with me and Tristan in the lobby of the tributes building. "Right this way!" Blooming called, leading us to the elevator.

Tristan and I rode in silence up to our floor. There really wasn't much to say.

"Good night," He waved to me, before entering his room across the hall from mine. My room was just as nice as the one on the train. Even though it was late, I couldn't resist having a quick, hot shower after my hectic day. And tomorrow was training.

Just the thought of having to enter the training room caused burning panic to race down my spine. Turning the shower off and wrapping a towel around me, I blow dried my hair, a luxury I normally didn't receive, even in the district of luxury, and got ready for bed.

Laying beneath my soft sheets, I allowed my mind to wander, and tried not to focus on the fact that there was a very real possibility that I would be dead in less than 4 days.

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