RELIEF WASN'T THE WORD THAT SAGE WOULD USE FOR HOW HE FELT AFTER THE PARADE AND SNOW'S SPEECH. Perhaps, although he'd never admit it, excitement would have been what he would have called. Seeing District Twelve being a talking point for Caesar, the fake flames that surrounded Katniss and Peeta put all eyes on both of them. It sent future sponsor's into a frenzy. For both of them. People were talking. About both of them. It was a relief of course to know that not only had the reaping put Katniss on peoples' radar, but now Peeta was too. Whether or not that was a good thing for Katniss, Sage wasn't sure. But two tributes from District Twelve who looked like a team was enough to give them just a little bit more of an edge.

         However, all of that excitement vanished as soon as they stepped foot onto the elevator that would bring them up to the penthouse. In a matter of minutes, he would have to face her again. Only this year, Katniss would be facing her too. Katniss would know the truth, she would know what had really happened and what Sage had kept from not only Katniss for four years, but from the Hawthorn family. He had left all of them wondering what had happened...

"I'm sure you two are Capitol favorites now," Effie assured both Katniss and Peeta, both of which looked pleasantly pleased with how the parade had gone, Sage could have sworn he even caught a glimpse of a small smile on Katniss' face. "You two really out did yourselves this year!" she exclaimed giddily as the elevator began to move, looking to Portia and Cinna.

"Our first year as lead stylists, we had to." Portia smiled.

"And I couldn't let Katniss go out there without making a statement. Sage would probably never let me hear the end of it." Cinna added from his place beside Sage.

          Cinna had only just gotten the position of lead stylist, Marcel had the job until two years after Sage won. He had moved on to designing clothes for the public of the Capitol, and not working solely with tributes and victors. Although whenever Sage was in the Capitol, he made it a point to critique Sage's attire after an appearance. And more often then not, he'd personally make sure Sage was presentable in the first place.

"Bott barely heard the end of it last year." Cinna added, nudging Sage a bit as he chuckled.

"Bott?" Katniss questioned.

"A stylist for twelve for the past few years," Cinna informed her, "Her work never met Sage's standards."

Katniss raised a brow, "I didn't know you were so intune with fashion, Sage."

"More than he'd like anyone to know," Haymitch pointed out.

Sage forced out a small chuckle as he glanced up at the changing floor numbers above the door. "Well, luckily I have no critiques to make this year."

Effie let out a joyful sounding sigh as she turned on her heels, ready to escort them all into the penthouse. "Well, I think we've all earned a celebratory meal tonight." she smiled, as Sage watched the number turn into a ten, and then eleven.

         Sage felt like he was suffocating in that elevator. His skin began to feel warm, his chest felt tight, and even the thought of counting made him feel sick. He wasn't sure if he'd even be able to bring himself to get off of the elevator once the doors opened.

"You okay?" Cinna muttered to him.

Sage snapped his eyes away from the floor numbers when Cinna elbowed him again, this time as the elevator came to a smooth stop. "Yeah, fine." he replied quickly as the doors slid open and Effie stepped out and began ushering the tributes to their home for the next few days before they would enter the arena.

          Sage took a deep breath and followed close behind Haymitch and Portia who were following Effies' quick steps to bring them to the doors at the end of the hall that opened up into the luxurious penthouse. Her voice still sounded excited about how the parade had gone as she told Katniss and Peeta all about the penthouse and the rooftop garden.

         He could still feel his skin burning, and he still felt like he couldn't get a proper breath of air. Being in the penthouse was never easy, and now that Katniss had been chosen and Snow had blatantly gone against what he told Sage he'd do–– Sage felt stupid for even believing Snow in the first place. He shouldn't have trusted a word the man said, as soon as he put her in the penthouse, for Sage to see every single year was just a slap to the face. He should have known that it was just something to taunt him with, it shouldn't have taken Katniss being chosen for him to see that.

        Sage watched as Effie led Katniss into the penthouse, unknowingly revealing his secret that he had kept from everyone for four years. He hoped that his face didn't reveal how stressed he had become just since they stepped onto the elevator. He also hoped (foolishly, probably) that she wouldn't be there, hopefully she had been moved to a different floor. That would have been more than ideal. It would have been a dream come true, it would mean that he could just move on, and forget about the entire situation, perhaps even convince himself that he had no idea what had happened.

      However, he wasn't that lucky. Because he saw that as Katniss entered the penthouse and was taking it all in with her wide eyes— she stopped abruptly just as Sage and Cinna stepped into the penthouse. Katniss' eyes fell on her, and only briefly did she look shocked.

"Ella?" Katniss breathed out, shock was evident in her practically whispered voice.

       Sage felt sick to his stomach, he tried to keep his eyes away from Ella. Which wasn't all that hard, because she didn't even seem affected by seeing Katniss enter the penthouse. She seemed no more bothered than when Sage arrived every year, she had her jobs to do and she wanted to finish them.

"You knew, didn't you." Katniss wasn't asking as she turned around sharply to face Sage. "This entire time-"

Haymitch cleared his throat, "Sage this might be a conversation you want to have privately."

        Sage felt like he was in the middle of some type of circus. Katniss' eyes were narrowed and they seemed to burn holes right through him. Peeta's eyes were still glued on the working avox as if he couldn't quite place how he knew her. Haymitch, who knew that the avox they had in the penthouse has been from Twelve, had not know who it was.

"No, it's a simple question, you knew, didn't you." Katniss repeated sharply, directing her sharp no at Haymitch.

"Come on," Sage said, his shoulders slumped as he stepped forward and reached to place a hand on her shoulder to guide her down the hall to the bedrooms.

         Katniss jerked her shoulder away from him, he could practically see the steam radiating off of her because of just how angry she really was. He didn't blame her, not one bit. If he had been in her shoes, and found out that his friend and been an avox meant to serve his sister who had won the games and kept them a secret— he would be furious.

"I can't believe you," Katniss muttered angrily as they walked down the hall until Sage reached out and grabbed Katniss and pointed to the door that led to her room. "You knew, this entire time, you knew and you never told me. You never told them!" she began through tight gritted teeth. Sage didn't blame her— in a matter of twenty-four hours her life fell apart. She volunteered to come here, and the odds weren't in her favors. Now, the girl who hunted with her for years who she assumed to be dead was very much alive. But she would have been better off dead.

Or maybe that was just Sage thinking it would have been easier if she was.

"What was I supposed to say?"

"Ella's in the Capitol and she's lost her tongue." Katniss replied, "That would have been a place to start at least."

Sage felt sick to his stomach. "It was easier to pretend I didn't know, okay?" he said weakly, giving up in really defending himself. There was nothing to defend. He knew he was in the wrong. Sage sighed heavily as he stepped into the room enough to close the door behind him, being in the same room where Deedee had been always made him feel like he was going to throw up everything right then and there.

Katniss was quiet for a moment, "Is she okay?" Katniss questioned, her voice softer than before.

Sage couldn't help but chuckle, "Is she okay?" he echoed, a wide eyed smile appeared on his face as he couldn't stop himself from laughing a bit again. "She had her tongue cut out because she was caught hunting, what do you think, Katniss?" he questioned, "Every year she has to see me, if I hadn't been so selfish and only thought about you and Prim when I won my fucking games, she could have ended up somewhere where she would be doing much better." As soon as the words started, he couldn't stop himself from ranting. As soon as the words finished flowing out of his mouth, it oddly felt like a weight was off his shoulders. He ran his fingers through his hair, pausing to feel the small raised pot on his head where the metal plate had been inserted.

"W-what do you mean?" Katniss questioned, "What happened after you won-"

"Forget I said anything. Get changed and cleaned up or whatever. Effie will have a fucking tizzy if we aren't all there for the celebratory dinner." Sage stated, waving a hand at Katniss as if to end the conversation. "And don't try talking to her, she will barely even look at you."

           Katniss stood before Sage with furrowed brows, her jaw was visibly tense and Sage could have sworn that her hands were clenched into tight fists. But Sage wasn't surprised, he wasn't anymore relaxed himself.

"Make sure you actually join us for dinner. We'll be discussing the first day of training." Sage finished before turning and removing himself from her room before making his way down the hall to the living and dining where only Haymitch, Cinna, Portia, and Effie were all waiting.

"Well, this is turning out to be fun." Haymitch stated, sarcasm dripping from each word that left his mouth. "A lovely little family reunion."

"Shut up." Sage uttered as he moved across the room to the cart that practically mirrored the one on the train. Before he got himself a drink, he dug in his pocket and quickly poured one tablet into his hand and put it in his mouth as he shoved the rest back in his pocket.

"So," Cinna paused, causing Sage to jump a bit as he picked up his drink. "sorry," he added quickly, "are you going to share what all that was about?"

"All what?" Sage questioned taking a drink, playing dumb. "That all went swimmingly."

Cinna rolled his eyes. "You knew that avox girl?" Cinna questioned quietly as the two huddled beside the cart. Keeping their small conversation between the two of them. "Or was Katniss imagining things?"

"Oh no, my sister has a terrible imagination. When she was little she could barely imagine anything to draw." Sage replied.

"So you do know her?"

"Did." Sage corrected, "I did."

AUTHORS NOTE;
Sorry for a delay in a update! I got fixated on my Harry Potter stories! Speaking of which, if it interests you I would appreciate your support over on Fools Gold!

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