Chapter 2
The train to the Capitol : The Beginning
It was a swift journey from the town hall to the train station where Sirius and Regulus were bundled onto the train that would take them to the Capitol. Sirius had maintained stony, refusing to cry when the street was lined with cameras and journalists desperate to capture the raw emotions of the tributes mere minutes after the acceptance of their new role as prey. He tried to play the characteristic role of district two career, the strong and arrogant figure who was so sure in his ability to win the Games, but felt it all just a masquerade and in no means reflective of the true feeling he had in his gut. How did the other tributes do this every year, he had never been a part of the career training programme and now that he was sat in this car on the way to the Capitol itself could not possibly imagine how someone would volunteer themselves.
Next to him in the back seat of the peacemakers car Regulus sat ashen faced, gone were the snarky comments of the morning about his hair as he was faced with the reality of his jokes about the reaping. Sirius could not find it in himself to be angry at his brother's poor taste in humour, Regulus had no way of knowing that he had just carried out the most awful bout of foreshadowing anyone could have performed that day. Sirius watched as Regulus kept his head bowed as they climbed from the car, across the platform and onto the train as if he was some form of Capitol celebrity trying to avoid the paparazzi and not a child sacrifice. Sirius turned with one foot on the train to the crowds to wave and flash them a quick smile before following his brother on board. He knew that if Regulus was going to win these games, he was going to need sponsors and if Regulus wasn't going to get them, Sirius sure as anything was.
If Sirius had thought James's Victor's Village house was luxurious, he quickly came to the realisation that it was nothing compared to the actual luxury of the capitol and its extended mechanisms of transportation. The front of the train comprised of a large car containing sofas and chairs as well as a separate dining car to eat capitol prepared food off of what appeared to be solid gold plates at a wooden table in a separated dining space. They each had a bedroom to themselves that were divided by a long corridor that spanned almost the whole length of the train. Sirius had drawers filled with clothes as well as his own bathroom that came with both a bathtub and a shower that poured hot water from the ceiling. Although they had hot running water at home, the prospect of having a whole shower to himself was a luxury he had never considered. He thought it was strange how nicely they were being put up and couldn’t help but feel like an animal being fattened up ready for slaughter. On one of the walls there is a framed flag of Panem, Sirius wondered if Regulus's room looked the same as his. As soon as the train had pulled out of the station Regulus had retreated to his room, locking the door and refused to speak to any of them. Sirius new better than to disturb his brother yet and wondered if he was trying to drown himself in the bath in order to get out of the games before they could even become his reality.
Zephyr Hale nocked on his door that evening calling him for dinner, when he reached the dining hall he realised his brother had not appeared yet and so he sat alone with the two mentors whilst Zephyr retreated down the corridor to retrieve Regulus. Sirius did not bother to tell him that this was a near impossible task and he should not waste his time. At home when Regulus was in a mood, there was no getting him to eat unless he calmed down on his own and food was simply left aside for him on a plate to come and collect in the night once the family had gone to sleep. This time around however Sirius felt that Regulus was totally justified to be in a 'mood' and that as a delegate of the Capitol, he felt no affinity to aid Zephyr in his attempts to raise Regulus from his hiding spot.
In Zephyr Hale's absence, Sirius had no choice but to turn to the two victors he sat with. Poppy spoke first, she had a kindly yet saddened demeanour that reflected years of seeing tributes come and go before her. It was obvious she had perfected what to say.
"Sirius darling, I know this is horrible. But as you know, we are your team and we are going to be doing everything we can to help you and Regulus get through these games."
Sirius nodded, his mouth full of pea and ham soup. He did not particularly want to talk about the games right now, nor did he want to confirm the reality that he really was going into it with his brother.
"Remus and I wanted also to let you know that it has been decided that I will be working with Regulus and Remus will be dealing with you."
Sirius looked up at this, first to Poppy and then across to Remus who's expression he could not read. Well at least Regulus got the nice one he thought to himself.
"Although we very much assume you will want to be working in an alliance with one another."
"Yeah." Sirius said gruffly suddenly loosing his appetite and putting his spoon down. "But when it gets to the end, I am not going to hurt him. We are making sure Regulus wins these games, is that clear?" He stares back at Remus and Poppy, they both nod solemnly and Sirius cannot help but think that they had already had this conversation.
Remus went to open his mouth, but before anyone could say anything else shouting erupted in the corridor. Zephyr Hale had got to Regulus.
"I don’t want a fucking mentor." Sirius heard him yell
"Well you don’t get to choose these things." Zephyr's voice was shrill with frustration. "Your mentor is your ticket to victory, you would be placing yourself down with the district twelve seam children without a mentor. How do you expect to get life saving sponsorships?"
"I don’t want any sponsorships, I don’t want to win these stupid fucking games off of public sympathy, especially not yours."
Sirius heard a door slam and saw the defeated figure of Zephyr Hale return to the dining car a tight smile on his unnaturally pink lips. He sat down quietly, flouring his napkin to lie across his think legs.
"So Sirius, what have you been discussing." He begun.
Sirius stood abruptly causing the table to wobble dangerously as soup slopped onto the expensive cloth from all the bowls set around it. He threw is napkin into his bowl where it slowly turned green and strode back to his room. Regulus was as per usual going to let his arrogance ruin any chance of success, except this time the stakes were going to cost him his life.
Sirius decided to get ready for bed, there was nothing else to do, no James to sneak off to, no girls to waste his time with. He thought about what James would be doing that evening, probably sat in his victor's house, eating his mother's cooking that Sirius was so envious of. He thought about his own parents, and could not help but think they would be enjoying a normal evening, hardly conscious of the absence of their children. He thought about Regulus next door, straining to hear any movement from the room, silence. He was glad that Poppy was the one working with Regulus, perhaps her presence would allow his idiot brother to see sense, but she was no wizard and there was nothing to say she could turn him into a loveable figure. Sirius's mind wandered to his mentor, Remus, who had yet to say anything to him. Sirius knew his ability in the arena, having watched him kill a tribute with his bare hands after loosing his weapon in the final showdown, but he was struggling to place that Remus with the quiet man that had been sat across from him in the dining car.
Sirius was not sure at what point his thoughts turned into dreams. He dreamt that he was glued to the spot and forced to watch a countdown to a games that would not begin. For some reason when the others had run to the cornucopia, his feet had not been able to move from his podium and he had to watch as a faceless career from district one ran away with his younger brother, surely luring him to his death.
Sirius woke to sunlight pouring in through his window and a sharp knocking at his door.
"Up, Sirius. You need to be up." Zephyr's voice permeated the door.
Sirius rolled out of his bed, dressing himself with little care before wandering back through into the dining car where he was met with the figures of both mentors and surprisingly, his brother. He sat down at the empty chair and begun to pile eggs, toast and an assortment of unfamiliar capitol breakfast foods onto his plate. Sirius took a large mouthful, realising how hungry he was for practically skipping dinner the night before and tried not to make an obscene noise as the most delicious bite of food hit his tastebuds.
"So." Sirius said thickly swallowing his mouthful of eggy toast. "You're supposed to be giving us tips." He pointed his fork between Poppy and Remus.
Regulus looked towards Poppy and so, he noticed, did Remus. Did he not know what to say? Great. Sirius thought, he had a mentor who needed mentoring. Surprisingly, it was Remus who spoke.
"Neither of you were careers in training were you?"
"No." Said Sirius, irritated. If Remus was only going to be reliant on previous career training, he was going to be an exceptionally poor mentor.
"No problem," Remus continued cooly, "We are just going to have to start out by figuring out where your strengths lie, and then we are going to build you two a brand."
"What?" Sirius spluttered getting increasingly frustrated with the other boy. What on earth was he on about.
"Well, these are Games. If there is nothing interesting going on for you, there is nothing particular to root for. Everyone here is a sibling, you are all going to have the same alliances and sob stories. What is going to make you two stand out."
Sirius glared back at Remus; a 'sob story', seriously? Did he not understand that Sirius's little brother was going to die if they did not get this right. What irritated Sirius more was that he knew Remus was right, all the districts were going to use this tactic, yes they had the bonus of being from two and all the privileges that came from being common favourites, but the act of self sacrificing brothers was not going to work for them especially given Regulus's sour attitude since stepping foot on the train was going to continue into the Capitol.
"We will be arriving soon." Poppy continued, "You will be sent to meet your stylists and you will comply with what they decide to put you in. The Hunger Games is not a beauty pageant, but the glamourous ones to gain the public's sympathy."
Sirius rolled his eyes, he knew what that meant and hoped he was not going to me made to be too naked. Most of the Capitol stylists seemed to equate fashion with the lack of clothing as opposed to actual garments of clothing. Sirius had never fully understood this as so much of the capitol surrounded opulent fashion with far too much fabric ruched around the shoulders and the hips of the people. He supposed it was an effort for the stylists to alienate the tributes from the residents of the Capitol further, increase the abnormal spectacle of the Games. He did think the nudity was rather discussing given that they were all children were the youngest of which might be twelve.He was totally consumed with the sole concern over his and Regulus's strategy, he did not care what his stylist team wanted to do, only that whatever it was it did not live up to what they had planned for Regulus.
Zephyr Hale continued to explain the programme of the day to Sirius, the majority of it was to be spent in the Remake Centre where they would meet their styling teams and be prepared for the welcome ceremony that evening. Sirius dreaded to think what could possible take all those hours in preparation, as his mind was filled with strange machines poking and prodding at his flesh. In the scheme of the districts, two was relatively well off and to those who lived on the fringe he knew it appeared almost to benefit from the Capitol. The observed luxury did not extend that far in reality, they lived in a nice enough house, but it was small and nothing like James's victors house. The residents of two certainly did not have the glamour and modification of the Capitol, they were a working district and not one to waste their time on the frivolous luxuries that the Capitol residents did. Sometimes Sirius envied those who lived in sheltered ignorance within the Capitol, but he could never understand how they did not see the brutality of the games. He supposed they were never going to truly understand one another, he was just going to have to feign gratitude for the week that preceded the Games.
When he was a little boy, Sirius had believed that one day perhaps the Games would stop since those who were active participants in the rebellion were almost all extinct. He had imagined a national broadcast, similar to the ones that were so common from President Snow that would declare that from that year forward the Hunger Games would be suspended and that the districts and Capitol would once again live in harmony together as the united nation of Panem. That foolish childhood dream had long since vanished. Sirius internally rolled his eyes as he thought about his childhood naivety, the Quarter Quell firmly solidified that the Games had transitioned from pure revenge from the Capitol into a public show that the people deemed entertainment above all else. He had lost his status as human equal as soon has his name had been read out and now if he wanted to regain the sympathy of the Capitol elite, he was going to have to grovel and feign love for them. They were going to choose a child to bet on in these Games and they were going to do everything they could to ensure their betting child killed everyone else's pick.
The train began to slow a little over thirty minutes later and the Black brothers gained their first glimpse of the Capitol. They were travelling across the waterfront, an almost moat that surrounded the outer rings of the city, heading to the central station where all the tributes would shortly be arriving, one train for each of the twelve platforms. As the station stretch approached, Sirius could see swarms of spectators gathering to get a first glimpse of the tributes as they arrived at the games. It dawned on Sirius that he may not have the skills of a career in combat training, but he did have charisma to rival that of Lucky Flickerman. Sirius stood, crossing the room to the largest window on the other side of the carriage where there would be the best view into the train where he stood smiling and waving out to the crowds. The table watched him in silently, he heard Regulus scoff, but this was no time to be embarrassed. Sirius was beginning to sow the trail of his plan that was going to produce sponsors that would hopefully get him killed and get his brother home.
"Look at that, Regulus." Sirius heard Zephyr say, "One of you has worked out how to not get themselves killed."
It took all of Sirius's energy to not turn around and sock Zephyr in the face so hard he had to be carried out of the train.