Everyone who is reading until this point, you are so awesome and you are the encouragement I need to keep going. I have so much more planned for this story!

I will keep it short up here. Remember to like, vote, comment or share your thoughts as you read. If you see any errors or things that don't make sense, let me know. Corrective criticism is absolutely welcome--hate is not. 

TRIGGER WARNING: SINISTER AIRS 

As always take care and stay safe!~CANGEL

***

The Capitol

Scarlet Wolfe

     Coldness emanated from the bruising grip his hand had on her hip. A domineering grasp meant to stake his claim on her to any and all that watched. Given his important and high-ranking status within the Capitol, a great many voyeurs have stopped eating and feasting to watch the show. Scarlet kept her eyes pinned to the gold thread embroidered on his custom-made and fitted tunic. She kept her chin tilted up, refusing to cower before the man who made her skin crawl.

     Despite the fact that she would like nothing more than to turn and walk away, she knew that would only bring more problems later. Though Scarlet would likely always be known for her wicked ways and her unchecked tongue, she knew that she could only get away with so much before the Capitol would be forced to punish her.

     This was the final stop of the Victory Tour and the cameras were endlessly trained on the events occurring. The delicacies and dances and fashion choices. Even though this feast was technically presented by the Capitol to celebrate Scarlet's own Victory in the 67th Hunger Games, it also served to commemorate the past Hunger Games as well as the favorite Victors who had been brought to the Capitol to celebrate.

     Many of the Victors who Scarlet had met throughout the Victory Tour were brought here. She'd seen Enobaria and Brutus both, dressed in their finest clothing that probably costed more to make than most houses in District 14. Alongside them, she had seen probably the most famous pair of Victors, back-to-back winners of the 63 and 64th Hunger Games, brother and sister, Gloss and Cashmere Ritschlund. 

     Though Scarlet had met them most recently in District 1 and she harbored no ill-will against the siblings, she still wanted to stay far away from them. Watching them together, celebrating their shared glory and pride, tugged at her heart in a way that she couldn't afford to dissect now and pushed it away the best she could. Not when she was still mourning the loss of her own sibling.

     Finnick, of course, was here as well. It shouldn't have surprised her, but after she had left District 4, she'd been so relieved to get out of there and she hadn't expected to see him again until the next Hunger Games. When she had entered the open aired ballroom, there he was, dressed in fine clothes with his bright smile plastered on his face, surrounded by a myriad of women and men, each eager to talk and touch him and if they were truly lucky, dance with him.

     Scarlet hoped to avoid him if possible. She was almost back home and dealing with him and the feelings he tended to bring out weren't something she wanted to deal with. Finnick was complicated. Or perhaps it was Scarlet. Most likely, it was her, after all, she grown up all her life hearing how difficult she was.

     All she knew was that even though she wanted to hate him, and had for a brief time, she couldn't any longer. In fact, the more time she spent around him, the more she wanted to keep spending time around him. Even though Finnick had saved her life in the Arena and had offered her life-saving advice on more than one occasion, she couldn't afford to be friends with the District 4 Victor.

     She was the Wicked Wolfe.

     Daring and deadly and wicked.

     He was the opposite of her in every way. He was charismatic and confident and charming.

     Finnick always had a crowd around him, and she was always alone.

     When she had first arrived, she had stuck to Penelope's side, keeping her mouth shut as much as possible—advice she'd gotten from Penelope, and for once, advice she hadn't found hard to follow. She didn't want to talk to these people here and only answered questions when asked. She found that between her and Penelope, most people gave them a wide berth. Penelope's sour face and Scarlet's wicked personality were not for the faint of heart. And most of the Capitol's citizens only had faint hearts.

     Unfortunately, while she had successfully avoided Finnick and most of the other Victors, not even Penelope's unpleasant demeanor nor Scarlet's uncaring one, could put off his approach and shortly thereafter she found herself in the arms of a person far worse than Finnick Odair.

     Alistair Paine.

     Unlike the much more private and exclusive ball, the tributes of her Hunger Games had been given before their Hunger Games had begun, where she had been able to turn down his advances with little consequences, she hadn't been able to do the same during this highly publicized event.

     Cassandra's warnings about the man she was dancing with ran rampant through Scarlet's mind as the seemingly endless dance continued. Alistair Paine is a monster. A shiver ran down her spine as she recalled the fear in Cassandra's eyes. You can never let yourself be alone with him. Technically, she wasn't alone with him right now. Even though it felt as if they were.

     Despite the sick feelings that arose inside of her, she refused to submit to the will of this man. Though they had only exchanged a few words, several months ago, Scarlet's skin still crawled from the memory of his lips on her skin as they had parted ways. Before, Scarlet had taken refuge in her brother's arms in a rare moment of brotherly affection, but now, Crimson was dead, and Cassandra was an Avox. The very few people that Scarlet had had to rely on had been taken away from her. Scarlet only had herself to rely on.

     Before, Cassandra hadn't had any advice for what Scarlet should do in regards to Alistair Paine going forward, and now, Scarlet had no answers. Since she'd entered the Arena and left them, she hadn't interacted with him again and she hadn't thought much of Alistair Paine. She had hoped that he would have lost interest in her over the course of the past few months.

     To prove to herself and to him that she wasn't afraid of him, she raised her head and met his cold and calculating stare. His eyes were bright blue, his face was slightly powdered, and a little pudgy. He was big. Much bigger than her, and quite honestly, much bigger than she remembered him being in the Training Center or at the Tribute Party. On his face was a smile, surrounded by a neatly trimmed mustache and beard. His dark hair was neatly combed and styled. There was nothing particularly threatening about him, other than the bruising grip in which he held her and kept her caged against his body.

     Still, an undeniable feeling rose up inside of her and took root. Scarlet was used to the cold, being raised in District 14, but even she couldn't shake the frost that coated her bones, stiffening her spine and making her normally steady feet stumble.

     It was fear she was feeling.

     His smile widened the barest amounts as the predator in him recognized the emotion in his prey. She was his prey. Icy cold rushed through her veins.

     Scarlet wanted to run and yet, she was frozen in place. Frozen by his hands, by the song, the dance and the onlookers. Her lips were still twisted up into a smirk, hidden under the metal wolf mask, but even that was failing her now.

      She knew he could see everything in her eyes. She could pretend to the world that she was unrifled by him, but she couldn't pretend to him. Scarlet Wolfe was terrified of Alistair Paine.

     She was scared of the scheming and the calculating gleam in his eyes. Scarlet was scared of what would happen to her if he ever caught her alone and what scared her the most was that Scarlet didn't know if she would be strong enough to stop him.

     Alistair Paine likes only one thing in a girl. He likes to see a strong girl broken. A defiant girl quit fighting. A wild girl tamed. No one has ever come out whole after he's gotten his sick hands on them.

     Scarlet knew that she could never let that happen. Scarlet would rather die than ever admit defeat to this man.

      When Alistair stopped, Scarlet followed suit, pulling back instantly. There was some relief with his hands and possessive grip gone from her body, but it was short lived as soon as he grabbed her hand, swallowing hers up with his much larger one.

     He pulled her hand up as he lowered his mouth down to her hand. A shuttered breath left her as panic filled her. She did not want any part of his disgusting body touching her any longer.

     She slid her hand out of his grasp before his lips could touch her skin and stepped back. To anyone onlooking, it would look as though he had kissed her hand. Only they would know.

     His eyes met hers, his lips curved up playfully, but there was nothing playful about the look in his eyes. Anger. Promised pain. Anticipation.

      He was so angry at her defiance, and so anticipating of the retribution.

     Her stomach swirled, threatening to spill its' contents.

     "Soon, Wicked Wolfe. You can't outrun me for very much longer."

     "You will never get what you want from me." She said in a quiet voice, making sure that her words wouldn't carry far. "I will kill you if you try. Stay away from me, Alistair Paine."

***

     On shaky legs that Scarlet did her best to hide she headed straight to the table filled with every delicacy one could think of—most that Scarlet would never have enough known existed if not for her being here today.

     Without sparing the food a thought, she downed a yellow drink called Lemon Essences that she'd avoided thus far. As soon as the bitter liquid hit the pit of her stomach, she felt her body start to react and repel the contents of her stomach. She rushes over to the small stall like rooms, barely making it to the toilets before the contents spilled from her, spewing into the golden toilet bowl.

     Even the toilets specifically meant for purging...or crapping...were as elegant and prestigious as possible here, no doubt meant to impress the Elite citizens of the Capitol that were in attendance. That alone might have been enough to make Scarlet sick had she not had that drink specifically designed to make the drinker throw up, purging their stomachs.

     While she found the purpose of the drink absolutely revolting, Scarlet admitted that it had come in handy this time. Now, with the excuse of the drink in her stomach, hopefully no one would think that it was Alistair Paine who had managed to unsettle her to the point of losing her stomach contents.

     Scarlet used a few more minutes time to calm herself down.

     She would have to do something about Alistair Paine. She would have to find a way to make him lose interest in her. Giving in wasn't an option. She would rather die than give that sick and twisted man anything that he wanted.

      But if even her absence couldn't make him lose his interest, what could? Scarlet didn't really know people, all that well, and she knew men even less.

      Crimson would know. He would be able to get her out of this. He would be able to get himself out of this situation if he had been here in her place.

     But he wasn't here.

     And he couldn't give any advice anymore. Crimson Wolfe was dead.

     Only Scarlet was here.

     It was up to her to figure it out.

     She didn't know how, but she knew she would.

     She always did.

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Thank you for reading this chapter :) Please take a moment to vote if you enjoyed this chapter!

To me this chapter is significant. Scarlet is only 12 and despite how she wants to be seen, and how she is seen by those around her, she is young and small and vulnerable. 

Alistair Paine deserves to rot--the pleasure he gets from scaring a child is sickening and that is just the beginning of his rot. 

Remember, this is the Hunger Games, but also that Scarlet Wolfe isn't known for being anyone's victim or prey. 

Scarlet's road is so far from finished. I wish her the very best in her hard and long journey ahead. I just want to squeeze her close in a hug and tell her that she doesn't have to do it alone. :( 

If you are going through something hard in your life and feel as if you are alone. Remember, you are not. There are people in your life and in your community that want you to be safe and that are willing and able to help you. 

Take care and stay safe, always! ~CANGEL