Our Love Could Be Lethal

Act II: Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow

Bet you couldn't guess this at all based on the title, but the song for this chapter is "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow," by Rex Allen. It gives off creepy-vibes when you listen to it during Octavia's POV (and also Victor mindset insanity-realness). 

At the end of the chapter is a question I really want to hear from you guys on, I think it's also a really cool thought experiment!

Haymitch POV

After the transports set off, I have to go and try to figure out how the hell I'm going to start stringing together enough money for Katniss and Peeta. That is assuming that they're not stupid enough to get themselves killed at the bloodbath but with Katniss' irrational thinking and behaviour, things are still up in the air.

I go to grab a drink at the bar in the outdoor courtyard where the bartender already has a glass of whiskey ready for me. Nothing like a few early morning drinks to get the day started. I'll need it if I have to keep talking to these pompous marshmellow-haired assholes all day. Chaff will probably join me in my misery at some point before noon.

Even this early, the Caesar Flickerman show is live and on the air, how his face doesn't hurt from smiling so much, I'll never know. But what I do know is I can never trust someone who smiles too much. It's creepy. I raise my eyebrows and return to my drink, trying to block out all of the chatter coming from the big screen overlooking the courtyard.

Something tugs on my ears, and eventually I decide to clue back into the television, and when I do, I can't believe my ears. This must be some strong whiskey, either that or I am royally screwed. "We've just received word that reporters are waiting for a special announcement from District 2 Mentor and one of my personal favourite Victors of all time, Octavia Jones to make a special statement from the lobby of the Tribute Tower."

That little shit. I leave my whisky glass behind and begin to speedwalk towards the lobby. Whatever Octavia has planned, it's not going to be good for my guys. She's had some sort of grudge rivalry with me this year that I hate. Sure I like pissing people off, but usually, she would partake in the pissing off of the people. It's like suddenly, two of the Victors who probably couldn't care less about things suddenly started to care at the same time. What are the odds?

I make it to the lobby just in time for the start of whatever, press conference has been called. I didn't even know that was a thing you could do. There's a long table set up with a white draping over it. Octavia sits in a lone chair and Seneca Crane is standing behind her. All of the cameras and reporters are parked right in front of the table, ready to record and write down every single little annoying twitch her face makes. Octavia clears her throat and begins to speak, I can see her pressing down on an earpiece feeding her a cue. "Thank you, Caesar. Before I begin I'd like to thank everyone for tuning in and wish everyone a Happy Hunger Games." Caesar must be speaking to her through the earpiece because so goes silent for a second and then nods. "Yes, it just so happens that I do have a surprise for you all. In case the Games aren't interesting enough for all of you at home, there's something that's been hiding just under all of your noses. You see, Cato Smith isn't who you think he is. He's my half brother."

Oh, shit. This is bad. This is really bad. And I've messed up royally. I've been actively campaigning against and messing with Octavia's brother. No wonder she's been so pissy lately. But it's too late, I've already become attached to Peeta and Katniss no matter how hard I try to deny it. Seneca must have an earpiece in too because he presses on his ear to try and hear over the crowd. "That's right Caesar. We wanted to make sure the playing field was as equal as possible this year and keep the integrity of the Games intact. Look to Cashmere for example who was targeted because people knew who her brother was. We wanted to try and keep it a level playing field and make sure that comes down to who is the best player."