Stay Alive • The Hunger Games

STAY ALIVE

[Just a one shot to fill in a gap towards the end of Catching Fire for all those Hayffie shippers out there]

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Cold wind swept through the penthouse, causing Effie's spine to tingle with chills. There she was, curled up on the vast leather lounge, watching The Quarter Quell. This year's games were quite different from the rest - not just because the tributes were past victors. These games had a special feel to them, like something big was about to take place. Effie knew several possibilities that were causing the feeling but she pushed them aside, not wanting to think about all the whispers she had heard travelling around the Capitol. Picking up the remote beside her, she turned up the volume of the games, focusing her attention to the happenings on screen.

Katniss and the others were huddled on the beach, listening to Beetee explain his plan to electrocute the water. Effie was not entirely sure on how the plan worked but Beetee was from District Three, it was his job to be intelligent. Effie watched as each member of the newest alliance nodded in agreement. It was then that Caesar Flickerman and Claudius Templesmith overtook the screen, giving the audience their views on the latest gameplay.

"Effie?" A familiar rough voice followed the sound of the elevator doors opening.

"What is it Haymitch?" She questioned in her light-hearted tone, unaware that what Haymitch was about to say would change her life drastically.

"Sweetheart," Haymitch began again. "I want you to listen to me very carefully."

Confusion flickered across her face. Standing up, she turned off the screen so her attention would be focused fully on Haymitch. She stood across from him, studying his hardened face and grey eyes that were filled with worry. "What is it Haymitch?"

"I need to leave now, to go finish off a few things I need to do."

"When will you be back?" Effie's innocence shone through brighter than the summer sun.

"I," Haymitch began, quickly cutting eye contact so he wouldn't have to look in her innocent blue eyes. "I won't be coming back."

"Haymitch..." Effie began but he cut her off promptly.

"I need to do this," Haymitch insisted. "If I'm going to get our two out alive then I need to do this."

Effie stood in silence for several moments, piecing together Haymitch's news with all that she had heard over the past year. "Then the rebellion..." She started softly, "all of that is real and you are part of it?"

"Exactly," Haymitch couldn't help but smile at the bundle of colour that stood in front of him. Effie had donned red today, with a curly white wig that matched her powdered white skin. She looked as pretty as a Capitol citizen could be but Haymitch always thought that Effie looked her best in the shades of pink.

"Where will you be going?" Effie brought up a new question, her eyes began to water, and she had to bite her tongue to warn away the tears. It was no secret that Effie was overly sensitive on top of being overly emotional.

"I can't tell you that, I don't want to risk you knowing too much. It's for your own safety," Haymitch reached out to squeeze Effie's hands; he sensed that she was on the verge on one of her emotional outbreaks.

Effie closed her eyes and breathed slowly several times. Not once had her life been in danger yet now... she could no longer say the same. "They'll take me captive won't they? I know next to nothing yet they will imprison me."

"I don't know that for sure. They may not; you are a Capitol citizen after all-"

"They will kill me!" Effie broke Haymitch off with a wail; she had finally reached her breaking point. Her ghostly white face gleamed with streaks of salty tears as she rambled on about how she was going to die.

"Hush now," Haymitch intervened, letting go of Effie's hands in favour of enveloping her in a hug. Effie gladly let her tears and dampened makeup stain Haymitch's pale blue shirt. "No one is going to kill you Effie; you are too precious to kill."

"Says the slovenly drunk that only sees me as an over organised freak," Effie murmured into his shoulder. Her tears had turned into sniffles and she tried to regain her composure.

"I may be a slovenly drunk but I don't see you as a freak," Haymitch couldn't help but smile. After the past few years of working together Haymitch realised that was how he portrayed himself to her: a drunk who wasn't so peachy towards the Capitol.

"Haymitch..."

"Yes?"

"You're honestly not as bad as either of us make you out to be. The way you look after Katniss and Peeta when they are both in and out of the arena never ceases to amaze me," lifting her head up off his shoulder, she continued. "I must look like a mess! I left half my face on your shirt!"

Biting his lip, Haymitch studied the wreck that was Effie Trinket. Her left cheek showed a slight hint of her natural creamy coloured skin and the reds and black that decorated her eyes has smudged onto the other places of her face. It was this type of Effie that Haymitch never saw very often. Maybe he would catch a glimpse when the districts tributes that she had warmed up to died or maybe even when a she did not get invited to the elite Capitol parties. It was this Effie that Haymitch was drawn to. "You still look like someone from the Capitol," Haymitch joked, making Effie scowl.

"I hope this rebellion of yours ends up in your favour. Not only for my life but for Panem's as well," Effie's voice turned as cold as ice as the seriousness of what Haymitch was about to try and pull off.

"It will work," Haymitch nodded. In that moment Haymitch did not believe his own words. Doubt was natural on the eve of battle but it was because of doubt that his next actions occurred. Haymitch moved his hands from behind Effie's back to each side of her face. The thought of kissing Effie had crossed his mind many times through the years but never had he taken action. Knowing that it may be the last time he would lay his eyes on the organisation freak known as Effie Trinket, he closed the gap between them and lightly kissed Effie on her ruby red lips. Effie was surprised by his actions but did not pull away. Instead she kissed him back, new tears threatened to spill. The few kisses they shared made up for all unsaid words that they had wanted to say over the years, both positive and negative towards each other.

Slowly Haymitch pulled away, keeping a hand lightly on Effie's cheek. "I'll see you again, I promise."

Nodding, Effie placed her own proposal on the table. "Haymitch, promise me that you will stay alive?"

Haymitch smiled at Effie's use of his advice he had told Katniss many times. Letting go of Effie, he took a step towards the elevator, nodding a final time at Effie. "I Promise."