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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act two. 

(chapter twenty-one, to kill the girl)

capitol train, 75 ADD.

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JUNIPER STILL ALLOWED HER tears to roll down her cheeks steadily, letting them drip onto the bed. She granted herself this little time of vulnerability. This was the only moment she was allowed to cry. After this, emotion was no longer allowed. Juniper Hale had to be emotionless, cold-hearted, the Juniper Hale that the Capitol, for some reason, loved. And the Juniper Hale that wouldn't get hurt. 

So, when Nadine knocked on her door slightly and announced dinner was ready, the woman hurriedly wiped her tears away and cleaned herself up. No more emotion, no more vulnerability. 

And so, she felt lighter and emptier as she exited her bedroom. She went down the hall and before she even reached the dining cart, she could smell the wondrous dinner the cooks had conjured up. She closed her eyes momentarily to cherish the scent. But when she opened the door to enter the cart, she had to snap her eyelids open when Nadine Groves let out a huge screech. 

"Your hair!" Nadine screamed. Lucy and Brent both jumped high in their chairs. "Your hair! What did you do?"

"I cut it," Juniper replied simply and she eyed the escort, who hurried over to her, grasping her locks in her manicured hands. Brent grumbled something under his breath and turned back to his dinner whilst Lucy eyed the two women with amusement twinkling in her pupils. 

"You cut it?" Nadine shrieked again. "This is horrendous! This isn't even straight nor good!"

"I think it's smart." Lucy nodded, interrupting the yelling escort. "It's strategic."

Nadine scoffed quickly as she turned to face the mentor, asking, "How is this strategic?"

"So I'm not running around in the arena with my hair whipping about everywhere." Juniper rolled her eyes. "It could get me killed."

"That would be a shame..." Brent grunted. 

"How's your nose?" Juniper sneered as she sat down next to Lucy, across from Nadine as she too simmered down, still eyeing the new haircut. 

But Brent didn't answer and Juniper didn't care. She became focused on the pasta and spinach dish served in-front of her and immediately tucked in, pouring a sort of red sauce over the top and dipping her bread that was in a basket on the table into it. It was accompanied by a juice that tingled in Juniper's mouth and everyone was enthralled with the meal. No-one spoke whilst they ate, the only sounds being cutlery scraping against the plates and the odd person slurping on their drinks. The food was too good to stop and consider conversation. But alas, it was soon all gone and their plates were taken away by the Avoxes, leaving them all in an uncomfortable silence. 

"So..." Lucy mumbled. "This year is obviously different."

"No shit." Juniper rolled her eyes.

Lucy ignored the Hale woman's comment and carried on speaking. "Everyone in this Games is experienced. They know what to do. They know what to say for interviews, know how to act for the Parade, know what to do for training. Don't let your guard down. Don't expect things because they will surprise you."

"All of these tributes are trained killers," Nadine added. "Well.. depending on who they are—"

"Which is why we should go watch the recap." Lucy nodded, interrupting the escort. No-one liked it when Nadine butted in on conversations she had no experience with. 

So, taking Lucy's advice, they all scrambled out of their chairs and headed to the living room compartment, which looked the same as well. And so, Juniper was not surprised by its comfort and beauty and silently resided on the couch with Lucy whilst Brent and Nadine chose the armchairs. Everyone was still estranged with Juniper and Lucy probably being the only close ones, but even then, they weren't really. 

But that thought exited Juniper's mind as Nadine turned the television on, Caesar Flickerman popping up on the screen, causing everyone to jump as he greeted the viewers with a loud, overdramatic voice. But unlike three-years-ago where he was drenched with acid green, he went for a lavender dye and it relaxed Juniper's eyes. He still looked as young as ever with the help of plastic surgery. 

He said some words as the anthem began to play before the footage flashed to show the first district, District One. And Juniper wasn't surprised to see multiple paper slips in both bowls. But what she was surprised to hear was that Cashmere and Gloss, a sibling duo who won back-to-back Games, were chosen, not volunteers. And whilst they were smiling with their hands interlocked, Juniper knew exactly what they were feeling. She knew all too well and it made her heart ache slightly. 

(Nadine said a few more things, laughing her head off as she kept going on about twins. But suddenly, she pushed Justice towards Juniper. They had to shake hands. All tributes' did. But they weren't just some tributes. They were brother and sister)

District One was replaced with District Two and Juniper groaned internally at the sight of Brutus and Enobaria. Brutus was a man in his forties, but still had the bloodlust and aggressiveness that he had when he was a teenager. He was a burly, strong man who grinned, having volunteered. And Enobaria did as well, who was showing off her cosmetically altered teeth, which were all like fangs inlaid with gold. With her sharp teeth, she was also very physically strong. Juniper narrowed her eyes at the sight of the two. 

District Three came along and the Hale woman was not surprised to see Beetee and Wiress standing on the stage, the latter looking completely dishevelled whilst the former seemed composed. Caesar and the announcers didn't have much to say on their Reaping. 

But when District Four came around, everyone perked up and Juniper fidgeted around in her seat as she clasped her hands together, leaning forwards with her elbows on her knees. She watched as the cameras did a bird-eye shot of the square where the Reaping was taking place before zooming in on the Victors'. Juniper held her breath when they showed Finnick's cocky, flirtatious smirk. He seemed to be all right, he didn't seem tired or sick. He was all right. But all of that left her mind when she heard the escort read the female Victors' name. 

"Annie Cresta."

Juniper shot up and snapped her head to the side to look at Lucy, who already had an uncomfortable look on her face. But no. No, surely someone would volunteer in Annie Cresta's place. And Juniper wished someone would as the brunette's cries and gasps echoed around. She wished someone would volunteer in Annie's place because even though Juniper would do the best she could to protect the girl in the arena, she would not make it. And it would kill Finnick Odair. 

But suddenly, Mags shot her hand up and Juniper let out a slight sigh at the sight of her volunteering in Annie's place. She needed a cane to get up onto the stage and whilst Juniper felt slightly guilty at feeling relieved that the eighty-year-old was going to her death, it was better than Annie. Juniper could see Finnick clenching his jaw slightly. He would either lose his lover or a mother-figure. Juniper didn't know what was worse and she pitted her friend. 

But then the male Victors' name was called.

"Finnick Odair."

Juniper felt faint. 

She felt sick to her stomach as she eyed Lucy even more, who winced slightly. But Juniper couldn't care less. Finnick was in the Games.  He was a tribute. Finnick Odair, the man who called her everyday to make sure she was all right, the man who didn't scold her for anything she did, the man who would make sure she had eaten that day and slept well, was in the Games with her. And one of them was to die. 

Finnick was chosen. 

But before Juniper could possibly even process the news that Finnick was Reaped, the footage changed to District Five. And then Six where two morphling addicts were chosen. And then Seven. And maybe it was Johanna Mason's rage when her name was called that momentarily made Juniper forget that Finnick was chosen, but whatever it was, she did forget as she stared at Mason. 

Her eyes were cold, but anger was present. The angry, psychotic, cold-blooded killer was there with her freckles that were like blood and her spiky hair. It made Juniper's gut recoil, even as Blight, a Victor she didn't really know, was called. 

But District Seven passed and Eight came with Woof, an elderly, senile man, and Cecelia, a middle-aged mother who had to detach three kids to get to the stage, was chosen. They wouldn't win. Everyone knew it and so, the footage changed to District Nine. And then Ten. 

Everyone watched as Juniper Hale, Lucy Stevens, and Brent Higgins took the stage on the screen, watched as Nadine wandered over to the female's bowl, plucking the paper slip. And everyone watched as Juniper's name was called, wincing when everyone heard the cackles she let out. But Juniper herself didn't cringe. What she did slightly wince at was what the announcers commented after the Reaping had finished for their district. 

"And so, Juniper Hale and Brent Higgins are back in the Games!" One said loudly. 

"Juniper Hale, the twin-killer! We just can't wait to see how she does!"

The twin-killer. Juniper Hale, the twin-killer, the girl who just snapped. That's what she was. Those were her only defining traits in the Capitol. The girl who killed her twin. Who slaughtered eight tributes. Who went crazy.

("You're going to be okay... you're going to be all right... you'll live on, June... just win...")

(And she still was until the cannon went off. Until he slouched further down. Until Justice Hale was dead)

Her brain became fuzzy, her vision blurry as Juniper tried to shake the memories away. Twin-killer. But she couldn't. She just couldn't, even as Seeder and Chaff were chosen from Eleven, even as Katniss Everdeen and Haymitch Abernathy were chosen from Twelve, even as Peeta Mellark were volunteered, and even as the star-crossed lovers were put into the Games again. 

And when the screen automatically turned off, the compartment filled with darkness, the only light being the setting sun outside, illuminating everything with orange, everyone was still silent. But then Lucy spoke up from beside Juniper, her voice cracking slightly. 

"Like Nadine said... all of them are trained killers," she mumbled. "Not all of them are strong... like Beetee and Wiress, for example... but they're smart. They're all smart. And they know what to do."

"But what do we do?" Brent scoffed. Even in the darkness, Juniper could see his bent nose. "I mean — you have Gloss and Cashmere. Brutus and Enobaria. Goddamn Odair. And you know if either of us kill Everdeen or Mellark, the Capitol will have our heads."

"So much for a wedding..." Nadine mumbled at Brent's last sentence.

"You do you, Brent." Lucy sighed. "My advice is allies... everyone will gather up allies and those that don't will die. Pick your allies and be smart about it. I want to hear who you two have in mind in the morning."

With that, Lucy got up from her spot and wandered out of the living room without another word. Nadine followed and said she expected them both at breakfast in the morning. And then Brent left without even glancing at the Hale woman, leaving her alone in the darkness. 

But she didn't move back to her room. She stayed staring at the dark screen of the television. She didn't want to go to bed because she knew that if she did, nightmares would torment her. It was about time Juniper was plagued with them and she knew, with her arrival in the Capitol tomorrow, they would increase in the likes of pain. And so, Juniper reached across to the remote that was on the table in-front, grabbing it and ultimately switching the television back on. They were doing summaries of all the Victors'. Of all the tributes. 

"For District One, we have Cashmere and Gloss." The bright, exuberant smile that belonged to Claudius Templesmith lit up the screen, his wig high and his makeup dramatic. "They are our lovely sibling duo, both winning back-to-back Games, Gloss in the Sixty-Third and Cashmere in the Sixty-Fourth. Both in their late twenties, early thirties, very skilled in fighting. Their preferred weapons are throwing knives, which is something the other tributes have to look out for!"

"Of course, Claudius!" Caesar Flickerman came back into view, having recovered from his spotlight in recapping the Reapings. He chuckled in a very fake way. "As we saw in the Reapings, they may not have volunteered, but they still seem very happy with the choosing, holding hands and what not."

"And they are ever so popular here in the Capitol," Claudius mentioned. "They are both classically beautiful, so many sponsors. And they are just so polite as you can see in their pre and post-Games interviews and with their respective Victory Tours."

Juniper swallowed a lump in her throat as pictures of Cashmere and Gloss flew up on the screen. The latter was a brute, but classically beautiful, as Claudius described them. Juniper barely knew the man, but she knew he was strong and that he would stick together with Cashmere. 

Cashmere. 

The Hale woman didn't know her on a personal level, couldn't even remember her last name, but they had a bond. A sick, twisted, disgusting bond that was formed because of Snow, because of what he made them do. And there had been many times where the two women had finished with their respective customers, bumping into each other in the halls of whatever hotel they were in, their hair a mess with their makeup running down their cheeks, and have held each other. No words exchanged. They just held each other until they couldn't no longer. And then they would go their separate ways. No friendship, no relationship, just a bond of comfort. 

"Then we have Enobaria and Brutus for District Two," Claudius carried on. "Both bloodthirsty, aggressive, entertaining killers with Enobaria's signature kill being ripping other's throats out."

"And Brutus being — well — a brute!"  Caesar joked. "Brutus being in his forties, Enobaria being late twenties, early thirties as well. Both are amazing, they are the definition of what a Victor should be. And they, really, give the Capitol what we want. Gore. Excitement. Strength. They are everything and their fellow tributes must really look out for them!"

Pictures of Enobaria and Brutus came up and Juniper rolled her eyes. She didn't like the pair. Never did, never will. They didn't even seem sad or dismayed that they were going back into the arena. They seemed happy. And they were not what a Victor should be. They were nowhere near it. And so, Juniper, internally, put their names on her kill list as well. 

Johanna Mason.

Katniss Everdeen.

Peeta Mellark.

Enobaria. 

Brutus. 

Claudius and Caesar sped past Beetee and Wiress from Three, merely telling the audience what Games they won and how they won them. Nothing was rather interesting in their personalities. They were very literal and very weird. 

"Now, District Four!" Claudius cheered as they moved past the two tech-savvies, showing photos of Finnick Odair and Mags Flanagan. "We have a very odd pairing with the youngest winner of the Hunger Games, being our very own Finnick Odair, and also one of the oldest Victors' there is, Mags Flanagan!"

"Yes, yes, Claudius!" Caesar chortled. "Finnick won the Sixty-Fifth Hunger Games at the ripe age of fourteen. He won due to his extraordinary physical skills with a trident, spears, and knives. He received many gifts from sponsors due to his looks that I'm rather envious of! And he is very, very popular here in the Capitol, being our very own golden boy!"

"Of course, Caesar!" Claudius clapped. "And Mags won the Eleventh Games at sixteen and is actually the first Victor of District Four! How about that? And she won due to her natural skills with nature and fish hooks and such. She is the oldest Victor here in the Third Quarter Quell, being eighty! And she did volunteer for young Annie Cresta, who won the Seventieth. It is going to be very interesting on how Mrs. Mags Flanagan does!"

Juniper closed her eyes momentarily. She knew Mags didn't volunteer for Annie because she thought she could win. The old woman volunteered for Annie to save her, knowing the young brunette was not going to survive in the arena. And that was something Juniper knew. Despite the Hale woman's protection and ferocity, Annie Cresta would not survive another Games. Mags was doing this for her and for Finnick. 

Finnick. 

Juniper did not want to think about him. She didn't want to think of anything that had to do with Finnick and the Quell. She didn't want to believe that Finnick had been chosen. She couldn't because if Juniper let the fact that her and the man from Four were put into the arena at the same time, it would drown her. It would cloud her judgement, blur her thoughts. She needed a clear head for this.

But Juniper immediately switched the television off before Claudius and Caesar got to District Seven. She got up from the couch, running a hand through her short hair. It felt odd, of course, but it felt better. It felt lighter and Lucy was right that it was smart, strategic. But she was still sure Yara Gives would be appalled. Or maybe not. She never truly cared for Juniper anyway. 

And as she walked through the halls of the train, ending up in her room, she thought about allies. Finnick was, sadly, a definite. She would stick with him until the end, that she was sure about. And Juniper wouldn't mind the idea of allying with Cashmere, but that also meant being partners with Gloss and even Enobaria and Brutus. So Juniper had to cross the blonde out from her mind. And that didn't leave much more choice. 

Beetee would be a wise choice if she needed to electrocute anyone and was very intelligent. He wasn't strong, sure, and wasn't handy with a weapon, but his brains made up for that. And then Mags was also a definite if Juniper wanted to ally with Finnick. 

The Victors' from Five were a no and so were the ones from Six. And Seven. There was no way Juniper Hale would ally with Johanna Mason. If anything, she looked forward to killing her slowly and terribly. But then Juniper thought back to Finnick and realised those two were close friends. If the Hale woman wanted to ally with Finnick, she had to ally with Johanna. But she figured she could swiftly kill Mason before Finnick even had a chance to think about that. And so, that was that. 

And then Blight, Juniper didn't care about. Cecelia, Juniper thought about. She was handy with a sword and was trustworthy. But she wouldn't win. Cecelia wouldn't win and neither would Woof. But as Juniper thought about it more, she realised it didn't matter. If Juniper were to ally with Cecelia, she was sure the woman would protect her with everything she got. Motherly love, Juniper thought about. Cecelia was the definition of motherly love and would do anything for her children. Anything. 

This entered Juniper's mind and remembered Cecelia had three kids waiting at home for her. And so, she put allying with Cecelia on the back burner as she thought of everyone else. Those from Nine would die in the bloodbath anyway and from Ten, Brent wouldn't even glance at Juniper so that was out of the question. And then Eleven. 

Seeder reminded Juniper a lot of Lucy before she changed. She was sober and clean with no signs of liquor, or morphling, or any other chemical escape and Juniper knew the woman to be a gentle, polite woman, just like the Stevens woman was. But what differed was that Seeder was strong and confident. She knew where she stood, she knew of her rights and opinions. Juniper thought about her as an ally. 

And then there was Chaff. Juniper had mixed feelings about Chaff. He was a certain troublemaker and loved to laugh. And he was bold as well, having joked around with Juniper the first time he met her by planting a sloppy, wet kiss on her lips. The eighteen-year-old at the time did not know how to react, but she also knew he had a soft side and would always back Seeder up. Juniper contemplated him as an ally as well. 

And then there was Twelve and Juniper's heart seized with anger. There was no way she would ally with Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark. If anything, she longed to kill the pair despite what rebellion or uprising was going on. And, thinking back to what Brent said, the people of the Capitol might as well have Juniper's head for killing their beloved star-crossed lovers, but she didn't care. And whatever rebellion was going on, it must have enough fire to carry on without Katniss Everdeen if Snow was that worried about it. 

Juniper just wanted to kill the girl.