(007) one day, they will pay



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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act one.

(chapter seven, one day, they will pay)

tribute centre, 72 ADD.

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JUNIPER WAS RIGHTLY EXHAUSTED. She had spent the entire day learning about Capitol customs and manners with Nadine and then practising with Lucy about what she was going to say during the interviews. Safe to say, Juniper didn't try very hard. 

But she was on her last legs by the time she went to sleep that night, her feet still sore from the numerous heels Nadine tried to slip on her and her tongue vibrating from the different answers she had given to Lucy. So, when Juniper tried to rest and was abruptly interrupted by Nadine the next morning, she wasn't in a good mood. 

"Up, up, up!" Nadine squeaked as she hit her knuckles amongst the bedroom door. "Interview day!"

"Up, up, up!" Juniper mocked as she pulled a face, slowly getting out of her bed as she did. Her joints ached and her muscles were incredibly sleepy as she tried her best to walk out the room. If it were up to her, she would just lay back down in bed and sleep until time wouldn't let her anymore. 

But she couldn't and so, when Juniper reached the dining room, she internally groaned when she saw Yara sitting beside Lucy and Brent. That would mean more prepping. That would mean she would have to get dressed up again and whilst she didn't mind the first time, she simply was not bothered to do it again. 

"Morning, sunshine." Brent smirked as he sipped a glass of juice of some sort. "Don't you look ravishing?"

"I'm going to get coffee, and pour it on your lap, and then you won't be able to have k—"

"Leave her alone, Brent," Lucy whispered slightly. "Today is the interviews, I hope you know."

"Goodie." Justice entered the room, sitting down beside Nadine and an empty chair. Juniper stayed standing. 

"Yes." Yara rolled her eyes. Juniper hadn't seen her since after the Parade. That was nearly five-days-ago and she didn't look any different except for the new leather dress she was wearing. It did not suit her plastic surgery body. "The other stylist and prep teams will be here soon. Hope you two are up for another round of polishing."

"I am so excited," Juniper said nonchalantly as she sat down. 

But she didn't have enough time to scoff down her breakfast as the team of polka-dot men rushed through, nearly tumbling from their lankiness and Juniper groaned once more. She was whisked away by the males before she even had a chance to scoff. 

Taking her into a separate room, the three men were alone with Juniper as they began to prep her again, but it wasn't nearly as painful as it was before. Instead, they rubbed moisturisers into her face, oils into her hair, and massaging creams into her legs. There were no whimpers or cries that left Juniper's mouth. Instead, she was deathly quiet.

When they were finished, Juniper stared at herself in the mirror. Her face was done lightly, the makeup so faint you could barely see it. Her flesh had a shimmer to it as her hair glowed in the loose bun the men did. She looked exceptionally different from what she did at the Parade. 

"Well, look at you." The door opened to reveal Yara walking through, eyebrows raised as the men walked out quickly. The woman was carrying a white bag which held the dress the girl from Ten would be wearing. 

"Yara." Juniper forced a smile. 

"I don't apologise for my absence," she said as she walked closer, surveying the girl's face. "Nadine is an annoying pain in my ass sometimes."

"Really?" Juniper smirked. "I figured you loved her so much."

"Shut your mouth." Yara scoffed as she began to unzip the bag. "Here's the dress, you demon."

When Yara pulled out the attire, Juniper wasn't surprised to see the shoulder blades still having animal fur on them, but she was shocked that it was much more toned down than the last dress. 

This one was made out of a silky material, the whole concept being a wrap, silver dress. But the shoulder blades were of an animal fur type, much like a wolf, wherever the Capitol got that, and it wasn't as big as the last attire Yara made. It still dropped down and was large, but they didn't stick out. But what made Juniper sick in the stomach was the dangling neckline that would show a majority of her chest. Not enough to reveal anything, but one slight move could have Juniper traumatised. 

"Better than the last one?" Yara asked as Juniper walked closer to it. 

"Sure..." Juniper mumbled. "Is this real fur again?"

"Of course." Yara shrugged. "You're from Ten... now, in the dress you get."

Being put into the silky attire, it should have been memorable considering Juniper was only a day away from death, but it didn't feel like it. She had accepted her death long ago and whilst she didn't want to die, she had to. It was a thought that had plagued her thoughts since the Reaping. But Juniper felt a sense of numbness and longing. This was all the Capitol's fault. This was all Snow's. 

"Look at you," Yara cooed when she finished and Juniper did feel slightly pretty as she stared at herself in the mirror. She seemed... soft. "You don't look terrible."

"Thank you?" Juniper raised a brow as Yara walked away, heading towards the door as she opened it. 

"Well, come on." Yara disappeared into the hall and the girl had no choice but to follow her. 

And so, going through the winding hallways and trying not to trip on the silk dress in her heels, Juniper had a million thoughts go through her head, her heart racing. There was no reason for her to be nervous considering none of this mattered, but for some reason, Juniper was, especially when she saw the others standing at the elevator all decked out in silver, silk attires. 

"Hey, June." Justice smiled, wearing a suit that was a replica of Juniper's dress. His hair was gelled back and he wore a massive grin. The older Hale twin raised a brow. "Look, we're matching again."

"Yeah." Juniper breathed a sigh as she carefully walked towards them. Lucy's eyes were absent and distant whilst Brent stared at an empty flask with a face of scorn. 

"Well, don't you two look lovely." Nadine rounded the corner, eyeing the two tributes. She was wearing pink, of course. "Thank you... Yara."

"No problems, Nadine."

Lucy entered back into their reality as tension filled up the room, swiftly opening the elevator door as she said, "Why don't we leave now?"

And so, due to the woman's desires, they all entered the elevator and when the doors whizzed shut, Juniper let out a few tiny breaths as she felt her heart rate speed up from the tight space. Elbows jabbed into ribs and groans filled the area. It wasn't smart having six people in one small elevator,  but when the doors opened to reveal the other tributes, Juniper wished she had spent more time there. 

All of the others stood near the designated chairs that they were to sit in. It was in order of districts and Juniper saw that her and Justice's seats were near the end. But she didn't mainly focus on that. It was the tributes. 

They all looked stunning in their attires, jewels glittering and shining, bouncing off of the walls with any slight movement. Dresses were extravagant, suits were pressed. Hair was silky, some gelled back. Even the pair from Six, whose black hair and grey eyes dazzled in the dim lighting, looked stunning. Cedar forced a smile when she saw Juniper. 

But Juniper wasn't given time to smirk back when suddenly, Nadine gathered her and her brother to their seats, forcing them to sit down as she followed the others, who were all walking away.  

"Tell me if I stutter or not," Justice whispered to Juniper. "Don't want to embarrass myself on live television."

"What are you doing, Just?" Juniper asked. "None of this matters."

"Might as well put a good impression upon them." The smile that Justice gave Juniper looked pained and forced. The girl had a bad feeling in her stomach. 

"Yeah..." All Juniper could do was nod meekly. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, your Master of Ceremonies." A voice echoed around as opening music began to play. "Your very own... Caesar Flickerman!"

The screens that were attached to nearly every wall in the waiting room buzzed to life as they watched Caesar Flickerman bound onto the massive stage, still wearing his acid green wig and the midnight blue suit with light bulbs accented on it. All of the tributes winced, even the emotionless ones. 

"My, my, thank you!" Caesar laughed as he bowed and waved to the crowd. As he did, a staff member asked Satin from One to stand near the curtains. "What a warming welcome! Now... in about a minute's time, we will meet our tributes of the night, all from One to Twelve... are we excited?"

The entire crowd let out a thunderous applause, making every fibre in Juniper's being vibrate as she felt some of her bones shake from the impact. The sound bounced off of the walls as Caesar kept riling up the audience. 

"Well, why don't we give it up for the spectacular Satin!"

Satin took a deep breath before walking onto the stage, immediately putting on the ditsy, dumb blonde girl persona. Juniper had to not scoff as she watched the faces the girl put on as she cooed at the audience. There was no way she was letting that girl kill her. 

But as every Career passed and exited with a thunderous applause, that thought became more clear. The Games would just end up as another crown on a pretty blonde's head. It wouldn't go to the outliers considering half of them were too weak and they hadn't been training since toddlerhood. But it became apparent that no-one wanted to die at the hands of the Careers as every tribute, even those who did not matter, stared at them with disdain.

Three and Four flew past without any acknowledgement. They weren't anything special even though they had a good majority of Victors', Finnick Odair coming from the fish district. Rumours had spread that he had at least six girlfriends here in the Capitol. 

And then Five tried their hardest, but they were so nervous that all they did was shake. They tried to answer the questions, to entertain the crowd, but their weakness played a massive card in their performance. Half of the audience were asleep, but immediately perked up when Wing from Six was announced. 

Apparently, the duo from Six had caught most people's attention as the crowd was very much focused when Wing and Hermes came on separate times. And oh, did they look gorgeous in their black and silver attires, suiting their physical appearance.

Then it was Seven. Cedar went on first and she had the audience laughing as she recalled a silly tale from her district. She looked horrendous, really, in her tree attire, but whatever it was about Cedar, she pulled it off. And so did Ash as he did amazing in his performance. 

Eight. The girl did not matter and certainly didn't hold a spark during the interview, but it was the boy, Dallas, that did. He wasn't charismatic, comedic, nor talkative, but whatever demeanour he put on, it rivalled the Careers' and everyone was demanding more about him. But they were silenced when Nine rolled past and it was Juniper's turn to walk on stage. 

"Now, we have a very special guest next..." Caesar murmured into the microphone, a staff crew ushering Juniper to the skirt of the curtain. Justice gave her a thumbs-up. "The female tribute from District Ten. She scored a lovely five in training and is one of the twins that have been chosen. Now, twins in the Games from the same districts are very rare, only happened once during the Sixty-Sixth... here's Juniper Hale!"

The girl was immediately thrusted onto the stage and for some odd reason, Juniper felt her anxiety heighten. The light beams that blared down from the ceiling shone into her eyes, momentarily blinding her. The screams and cries from the audience caused Juniper to be slightly deaf in her left ear as she slowly made her way to Caesar's extended hand. When she took it, she felt him grasp it tightly, either to make sure she didn't run off or to know that she wasn't alone. Juniper was never sure when it came to Capitol folk. 

"Now, now, Juniper!" Caesar softly lowered her down into a chair that was opposite his. Juniper felt at ease sitting down, feeling her legs become numb as she just started to get her senses back. "Where to begin?"

Juniper should have said something snarky here. Should have played a joke, make the audience laugh, but there were two reasons she didn't. First, having Lucy Stevens as a mentor when it came to pleasing Capitol people wasn't the best since she was mentally absent for half the session. Second, it didn't matter anyway. She'll answer the questions straight on, sure, but she wouldn't try any harder than that because it simply did not matter. 

"Your Parade attire, maybe?" Caesar offered as the footage on the big screens changed from Juniper's face to Yara's. In the corner, Nadine's disgusted look could be seen. "So simple yet so Ten... we must give a clap to Yara Give. So spectacular, so different from last year!"

"Well, simple can be effective sometimes," Juniper forced out, trying to smile, but she just couldn't. Whether it was the muscles in her face that restricted her to do so or because she didn't have it in her— "Yara thought the design would be very plain, but pretty."

"And isn't it just?" Caesar smiled as the camera lenses zoomed back onto Juniper's face. "And speaking of simple, your training score. A five. Not the highest of course, but not bad overall. What are your thoughts?"

"I-I'm not fussed really," Juniper admitted. "The training scores don't make up a tribute. I mean — someone could score really low, but still win."

"And do you think you can win, Juniper?" Caesar asked. 

And whilst the question didn't fumble her, she still needed a moment to think. She didn't think she could win nor did she want to. None of this mattered and if she straight up said she didn't win, nothing would happen. Juniper and Justice would both die either way, but their father... no, Juniper had to say something that would be disguised as her saying she wanted to win when really she didn't. Just so Snow wouldn't punish her father for not following the criteria of the interviews. 

"I'd do anything for me and my brother to be safe."

The answer seemed to have Caesar and the audience nodding as the Master of Ceremonies continued to say, "Ahh, your brother... twins, correct?"

"Yes." Juniper breathed a sigh. "I'm older."

"Of course you are!" Caesar chuckled as he slapped his knee. His reaction perplexed Juniper and she realised he was trying to make the crowd laugh. He was trying to help her. "It must be so difficult however... I am truly sorry about this."

Juniper squinted her eyes slightly as she forced a smile, saying, "Well, as long as we have each other. That's all that matters."

Caesar said a few more things that didn't hold any importance to Juniper before the buzzer went off, echoing throughout the stadium as it signalled that her time was up.

And so, with shaking legs, Juniper stood up from the couch and slowly walked off stage, waving slightly as she did. And when she reached a little waiting room near the wings that was vacant, she let out a deep breath. Her interview wasn't anything special nor memorable, but it would save her father from being punished. Whilst her life didn't matter anymore, his did. 

Then, Juniper focused her attention on the big screen on the wall, which showed Justice bounding out onto the stage. But as his sister watched him, she realised that his interview was much better than hers in that he made the audience and Caesar himself cackle with the stupid jokes he always told Juniper back in Ten. Justice was trying. Why was he trying? Maybe it was because of their father, that if he did well, their father would be spared. Yes, that was it. 

And as Justice quickly wrapped up his interview and staggered into the waiting room with the two mentors, Nadine, and Yara behind him, Juniper felt a sort of bittersweetness fill her because in only a day, in a couple hours, she would be a corpse staring up at a sky with dull eyes. She would be dead and Justice would be too. And that was only in a couple hours

"Did I stutter?" Justice asked as he walked closer to his sister. 

"Not at all." Juniper smiled. She should relish these last few moments with her brother. "You did good..."

"You think he's watching?"

Juniper's smile faded slightly as she looked into Justice's face before saying, "Of course... he wouldn't miss any of this."

"Well, I don't know who you're talking about." Brent scoffed as he moved forwards, Lucy slightly scowling at the man. "But you two need to be showered and in bed. Big day tomorrow."

"You sound like Pinky over there." Yara rolled her eyes, nudging her head in the direction of Nadine. 

"Thank you, Yara," the escort snapped. "But yes... you two should go back to the apartment."

And so, they did, but as they waited for the elevator doors to open to level ten, Juniper kept trying to take deep breaths. In a mere few hours, she and Justice would be dead. This was what they were talking about. This was their grand plan. They would die together. District Ten tributes always died together.

But Justice was her brother. He was always beside her ever since birth, even before that. They were together since conception and would be side-by-side until death, which was not that far away. But they had both agreed on this. This was best for everyone. One of the Hale twins couldn't win whilst the other rotted dead. It was inhumane and completely against Juniper's morals. 

When the elevator doors opened, the apartment was deathly quiet. Nadine and Yara immediately went their separate ways and the two Victors' quietly disappeared to their own rooms, leaving Justice and Juniper to themselves. 

"I suppose this is it." Justice sighed. 

"Yeah." Juniper nodded. They most likely wouldn't see each other in the morning and wouldn't be able to talk until they actually got into the arena. "In the arena—"

"We stick together," Justice finished. "I know... hopefully they put our podiums next to each other."

Whilst the boy had a comedic look on his face, evidently joking about the whole situation, Juniper wasn't as she said, "Sure... but, Just, I don't care who kills us... just not Careers."

"Yeah, I agree," Justice murmured. "But you do know that Ash and Cedar won't kill us... they actually want allies."

"I'd rather have Cedar and Ash kill us than anyone else," Juniper muttered. "Or anyone other than the Careers' and the boy from Eight. They don't need another notch on their belts."

"Okay." Justice nodded. There was something in his eyes that Juniper hadn't figured out yet. "As long as we are on the same page."

"Of course."

Justice went to turn to head into his room down the hall, but Juniper quickly grabbed his wrist, bringing him back to tuck him into a deep, large embrace. Justice immediately reciprocated it and so, they stood there in each other's arms for a good majority of time, so long that their joints and muscles began to ache. 

"You'll be all right, June." It was Justice's turn to comfort the girl. "You'll be all right."

"I love you, Just."

"I love you, June."

And then, Justice swiftly exited the main entrance and traipsed through the halls around the corner, going to his room as he left Juniper alone. But she didn't follow suit. No, she headed towards the window that looked over the streets of the Capitol. 

And disgust and rage filled her stomach as she saw fireworks going off, people partying like a bunch of drunks as they swayed to faint music. The Hunger Games broadcast was playing on big screens, recapping the interviews and showing live bets on each tribute. The Careers' had the most and when they quickly flashed Juniper and Justice's faces, they barely had any money on them, which the girl didn't blame them for. If one twin went down, the other did too. 

So, instead of going to bed and showering like she should have been, Juniper spent most of her night sitting by the window, watching the Capitol people celebrate the beginning of twenty-three kid's deaths. How cruel, how torturous these people were. And Juniper realised in that moment that even though she would be dead in a few hours, she would want someone to come along and bring hell to the Capitol, even if it wasn't her. 

She hoped one day the Capitol could pay for what they have done. 












⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

here is the idea of june's dress

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