#Tacenda Chapter Four

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Twenty Four (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 2.3k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

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A series of knocks slowly pulls you out of unconsciousness. Since District Thirteen is made up of metal doors, the sound is almost unbearable to listen to. You’re lucky that the doors aren’t rusty, and they don’t squeak. It’s like listening to nails on a chalkboard, just thinking about it gives you chills.

The knocking gets considerably louder, and this is when you decide that there’s no point in ignoring it. You bring yourself up and onto your elbows. Finnick’s arm is draped over your waist, so you have to carefully move that off of you. After that, you scoot your way off the bed and throw the blankets back over Finnick.

You squint miserably, rubbing your face as you try to make yourself feel more awake. You have no clue what time it is right now, but you have a feeling that it’s really fucking early in the morning. Like sun-hasn’t-risen early. And you’re never up this early, so you feel like ass right now.

More knocks, and you shush the person, which makes them stop. You slide the door open, pulling the hair tie out of your hair so you can fix it. Haymitch stands in front of you with Plutarch and Coin.

“What’s going on?” you ask, trying to be quiet.

“Is Finnick awake?” Haymitch asks, not answering the question.

You look over to where Finnick is still laying on the bed, blanket over his shoulders with his back turned to you. He’s still asleep, and you turn back to Haymitch, shaking your head.

“Let me guess, I should wake him?”

Haymitch nods. 

“Give me a moment.” you close the door halfway, not wanting to shut it completely in order not to be rude.

You make your way back to Finnick, feeling a little bit more awake. When you get to him, you shake his shoulder a little bit, “Finn.”

“Hmm?” he hums, but doesn’t move.

“Haymitch, Coin and Plutarch are here.” you move the hair out of his face, “They want to speak to us.”

“Right now? What time is it?”

“No clue.” you tell him, “And yes, right now.”

He sighs, pulling the blanket off slowly. You don’t wait on him, going ahead and going back to the door. When you get there, you tell the trio that he’ll be there in a moment. Finnick skips pulling on a shirt or some pants and comes over in his boxers, clearly not caring.

Haymitch is amused almost immediately.

“I’m sorry about waking you two up at this time.” Coin sounds chipper, and like she’s been awake this whole time. You wonder if she sleeps, “But I have a question to ask.”

“Shoot.” Finnick tells her.

“Katniss took a plane early this morning to get to the front lines,” she looks over you two, and you know this part already, you remember the conversation between Johanna and Katniss, “She wants to fight, but I believe she needs a proper squad.”

You press your lips together briefly, “Like fight with her?”

“Yes. Would either of you be interested?”

This is such shit. Finnick is going to block you from saying yes.

“Beetee has prepared a trident, and (Y/n)’s knife is still in our facility.” Plutarch says.

Which is fantastic fucking news, because you absolutely love that knife, but they confiscated it the second you guys were brought in. It was a safety measure, and you’re not too mad about that. You were just worried that they had gotten rid of it for good, since it was something you’d gotten inside of the games. They must’ve realized that it was rare, and so very expensive. 

“Sure.” Finnick says, “I’ll go.”

You scowl a little bit, “We need a minute.”

Coin nods, “Haymitch and Plutarch will be waiting here for you. I have to go back to command. The plane is leaving soon, so I recommend you talk quickly.”

You smile a little bit, and then slide the door shut so you and Finnick can speak in private. The door is thin, so you and Finnick will have to keep your voices down.

Before Finnick can say anything, you make the jump, “If I can’t go, then you can’t go either.”

Finnick gives you a deadpan ‘really’ face, “I’ll be back before you know it.”

“It’s the front lines, Finnick!” you hiss, “This is the Quarter Quell over again, except your chances of dying are even greater.”

“They probably won’t actually have us up front, we’ll likely be trailing behind.”

You raise your eyebrows, tilting your head, “Oh, so it’s safe then. Which means, that I should be able to go.”

“No chance, (Y/n).” he tells you, heading to the bedroom.

You trail ever so slightly, “Finnick, they can have other people go for you. You don’t have to--”

“What side are you arguing?” Finnick is pulling on his jumpsuit, “Do you want to go with, or do you want me to stay?”

“Whichever one keeps us together.” you tell him, “What if you do die out there? I’m supposed to raise a baby by myself?”

“It won’t be by yourself, you have your siblings. Which--by the way--you should be staying here for them, anyway. You just got them back, you shouldn’t be trying to get out of here as fast as possible.”

“So just because my family is here to take care of me, it’s okay for you to leave?” you ask, and then add, “Again?”

Finnick freezes on one of the buttons on the jumpsuit. Then, he ever so slowly gets back to it, “Don’t.”

“Don’t what?” you ask, “I don’t want to be left here!”

Finnick comes over, cupping your face and kissing you briefly, “Honey, I’ll try to call. I’ll be safe, I promise. But I’ve got to go.”

“This is so incredibly unfair, Finnick.” you tell him, but he’s leaving the room already.

He opens the door, revealing Haymitch and Plutarch, who are staring at the both of you like they heard the entire conversation. You don’t care, you cross your arms and hold back the urge to tap your foot like an impatient mother.

“It’s just me.” Finnick tells them, “Let’s go.”

They don’t spare a single glance your way, they just head out. You shut the door behind them, taking in a deep breath as you pace the living room for a moment. You have to think.

You don’t want to be kept here, not with the knowledge of what’s going on. If Finnick is going to be out there, putting himself in danger, it’s literally going to make you sick to your stomach. The idea that he could be weaving himself in and out of danger while you’re stuck in here…

It’s the same idea of Finnick going into the games, and you sitting inside of the house, not knowing what he’s going through. And it’s even worse this time, because there’s no option of watching him through a tv screen, not like you would want to anyway. But there’s no way to check up on him. You’ll have to wait for his phone call, and even then you’d have to sit in command to get it.

You stop pacing, giving yourself a moment to take in your surroundings.

You have to get on that hovercraft, or find a way to get on one that follows it. The first one seems a little impossible, because Finnick will no doubt, be able to figure out it’s you. Even if you were to cut your hair and find some form of makeup to make you look more masculine.

So that leaves the second one, and since you have no idea when the planes leave, you need to find someone that does. Someone that won’t go and snitch, straight to Finnick. Which automatically takes your family, Plutarch, Coin and Haymitch out of the equation, right? They’ll probably phone Finnick.

Which really leaves one person, Johanna.

You nod a little bit, heading to the bedroom to grab yourself some fresh clothes. You go ahead and take a shower, and make yourself look like you normally would. As if you’re planning on staying here, and not making a complete mess out of everything like you normally do. No chaos.

You hardly get ten steps out of the dorm, when Haymitch is suddenly coming your way, Beetee following behind him in his wheelchair. Unfortunately Beetee was paralyzed after his encounter with the forcefield. He’s lucky that it hadn’t killed him, like Peeta and Blight. 

Then again, Beetee didn’t necessarily run headfirst into it, you don’t think. He had that spear, you remember seeing it the night the arena fell apart. You just weren’t there to actively see Beetee try to nonchalantly kill himself, giving Katniss a hint.

“What’s up?” you ask.

It’s further into the day now. It has to be hitting the regular time when you get up to do things. That shower had really knocked out the time, and that was your intention. Put distance between you and Finnick to make him think that you wouldn’t be up to anything.

“Plutarch proposed that Coin sends Peeta to the front, too.” Beetee answers for Haymitch, “Which gives you a chance to go.”

Your mouth falls open a little, “So, you’re telling me that I don’t have to sneak on?”

Haymitch cracks a smile, “You won’t. We just need you to talk to Peeta, convince him some more. We’ve been working with him this entire time, and it’s loosened him up. That doesn’t mean he’s entirely…”

“Deal.” you say.

On the way, Beetee explains the plan. You guys will take a separate plane there, on the plane you’ll eat your lunch, get in a car when you land, and be driven all the way to where the squad is now. Beetee says that Finnick hasn’t landed just yet, but he will be very soon. You’ll be arriving a couple hours after them. 

When Haymitch starts talking, he advises you to keep off the topic of the games, and Katniss and all of that. He knows that it might be a little impossible to skip over if Peeta brings it up himself, so he just tells you to be careful instead. Don’t lay it on him too thick, since he’s still recovering as always.

Johanna was supposed to be included in all of this, but it turns out that she’s not exactly prepared. Not only because of the morphling, and the fact that she’s not weaned off of it like they had thought she was. But also because she’s not stable for it. They did a series of tests on her, and she failed miserably at the water part of the test.

They had waterboarded her, made her fear the water. So if she were to get stuck in the water, she’d likely panic and be difficult when it came to saving her out of the water. You asked why you weren’t going to be put through all those tests, and Haymitch told you that you hadn’t suffered as much as they did. Somehow, Peeta ended up passing the tests.

Plutarch is already standing at the window when you guys make it there. You look through the one-way mirror to see that Peeta is sitting on the bed. He looks much healthier, you haven’t seen him since he got here, and he was passed out from getting hit over the head. Which was after he had tried to strangle Katniss to death. He’s regained his weight, but still not completely back to normal. There’s dark, purple circles under his eyes, and he wears a hospital gown.

“Just talk to him.” Plutarch tells you, “Tell him--”

“I’ve got this.” you wave them off, “This isn’t any different from when Annie had come home.”

You walk around to where the door is. They unlock it for you, and all you have to do is push it open. Peeta looks up to see who’s joined him, and you stop in the doorway, not going any further.

“Not going to come inside?” he asks.

“Don’t see the point.” you shrug, leaning against the doorway, “Cut the bullshit, tell me why you don’t want to go.”

He almost looks impressed, “Katniss.”

You can’t help but to snort a little bit, of course it is. And it’s the exact topic that they had wanted you to avoid.

“You’re going to let her dictate what you do?” you ask him, “After everything that you’ve been through, she’s still making your decisions.”

He glares at you, “She isn’t deciding this for me.”

“Seems like it.” you tell him, “Don’t you want revenge?”

Peeta’s face twists now, “Revenge?”

“You know what the mission is, right?” you ask, “We’re going to the president’s house, make him surrender. Might even get to beat him up a little bit. You’re telling me you don’t want to do any of that?”

“It’s not like anyone wants me to go.” he shakes his head, “They’re all going to try to kill me once I go off the rails.”

“We can’t kill you.” you laugh, “Wouldn’t be good publicity, let’s be honest.”

“You’re going?” he asks, “Is Finnick going?”

“He’s almost there already. I’m technically not allowed to go, but when has that stopped me?”

Peeta has a little smile on his face, “We’ll both be the odd man out.”

“Sure!” you smile back, “So, you’re coming?”

He nods a little bit, “I guess.”

“Cool, I’ll see you on the plane, then.”

You back out of the room, shutting the door. It locks behind you. As you practically skip over to Haymitch and Plutarch, you dust off your hands. 

“Thank you.” Plutarch says.

“Hey, a deal’s a deal.” you place your hands on your hips, “Let’s get this rolling.”

[t-h-i-n-g]

𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐚 - 𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

nancy wheeler x fem!reader

tacenda

(n.) things better left unsaid; matters to be passed over in silence

Playlist - spotify

Summary: You met Nancy Wheeler by bumping into her in the hallway (quite literally). Having heard moments before from Steve Harrington how she was different from all the other girls he's been with. Yeah, right. Someone finally making ‘King Steve’ soft? You’ll believe it when you see it. But, what happens when you start to see why Steve fell so hard for her. How she’s so easy to talk to…. and you look forward to whenever you get to see her again. But- there’s still just no way you’re gonna fall for Wheeler, you wouldn’t do that to Steve…right?

masterlist...

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This is a slow burn so be prepared to stay a while.

Disclaimer - This is basically a Stranger Things rewrite with y/n included. I don't own any of the characters or plot except y/n and her story. There may be some changes to the plot to fit the story line. All rights reserved to the creators and Netflix.

last updated: July 28th, 2022

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Season one:

✰ Chapter one…

✰ Chapter two…

✰ Chapter three..

✰ Chapter four…

✰ Chapter five…

✰ Chapter six…

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taglist: @vaeeeel

(send in an ask or comment to join)

[mystic-kitten-writer]

Limerence [M] ︳11

Pairing: Zuko x OC

Genre: Romance, mainly fluff with future smut, and if you squint hard enough - you’ll find some angst.

Rating: SFW

Words: 4100+

Notes: So this chapter doesn’t focus too much on Zuko and Yue as much as it focuses on someone else’s perspective - I wonder if you guys guessed right as to who this ‘secret woman’ was throughout the chapters - the next big mystery is figuring out who the male is. Enjoys  <3

Masterlist ︳10 ︳ 12

❤ Buy me a coffee? ❤ 

Limerence: (English/n.) the state of being infatuated with another person.

The moment their eyes locked they knew - the flames within him twisted while the water within her turned. It was a connection, a connection that would lead to love, adventure, and drama.

Tacenda

(Latin/n.) Things better left unsaid; not to be mentioned to the public.

~ Unknown ~

            “What do you mean by ‘sent two messenger hawks back-to-back?’” She hissed with narrowed eyes towards the skittish man in front of her. He was already cowering away, fearful of who she might unleash her wrath upon. With a large gulp, he managed to find his voice again, “The-the maids! They said the first letter was a notice that Fire Lord would be arriving in a week from today, with a woman, some consort or something. But the next day he sent another letter that said the Earth King would be arriving here, so expect his arrival for tomorrow.”

            The man quickly looked down at his feet, knowing that this was how he was going to die. But when a few moments passed, and she didn’t unleash her anger, he looked upwards to see her standing still in thought. ‘This’ was not what she expected when she arrived here. She already had her plan ready, and all she had to do was make sure that everything was ready for implementation for the arrival of her ‘friend.’ Clearly, that plan went to shits.

            Yet another curious thought ran through her mind as she observed the sky, for the past few hours, since the moment they arrived yesterday, messenger hawks have been flying back and forth to the sea, most likely to his ship. But why? What could be so important that he feels the need to pass along documents in such a risky manner? Why was the Earth King showing face to the Fire Nation? There was an overwhelming amount of questions that seemed to be unanswerable.

            “Continue blending in and get as much information as you can, all of you.” She said quickly, before turning on her heels and blending in with the greenery around her. She knew what she had to do, and with a tremendous and overwhelming hesitance, she made hast. It has been almost four, maybe five, years since she had last step foot in the Fire Nation after they finally found their mother. The very thought of seeing her mother again made her blood boil. She hated them, hated them all with a passion that just made her flames grow bluer by the second.

            Mother never loved her, not like how she loved him. She always favoured him over her. ‘I was a monster in her eyes’ she thought as she found the secret path that led behind the palace. But that was the purpose of this whole plan, to make everyone realize that he was not any different from the rest of the family. That he was just as messed up and as monstrous as her. The thought of him losing everything, his position, family, friends, sent a euphoric rush to her that no amount of liquor, bloodshed, or drugs could do. It was never about killing him; it was always about seeing him fail.

            So caught up in her thoughts she failed to realize that she was already at the edge of the palace walls, and with much ease, found the next hidden entrance inside. To her dismay, most of the entries were sealed off or left to collapse on its own, so she would be lying if she wasn’t a tad bit surprised to find such a route still in relatively decent condition. With ease she slipped through and in moments found herself back in the palace hallways, adorned with precious gems and artworks. Despite the same coat of paint and rugs, everything felt different.

            Carefully she hid behind a statue, as she observed a few maids and servants waltzing along the hallway, laughing and smiling, enjoying life. “So I found out her name; Ying Yue Jiang!” squealed a maid as she tightly snuggled onto another girl’s arm. They all looked at her in disbelief, “H-how did you find out her name already!?” The group said in unison. She simply shrugged her arms before continuing, “I have my ways, but I can’t wait till we meet her, rumours say she is a sweetheart.” She gushed, while the other two women giggled in unity. The man amongst them smiled and nodded along, “Anyone is better than Mai; she is such a grump.” The maids gasped and slapped the male’s shoulders, “It’s Countess Mai and don’t say stuff like that out loud! What if Fire Lord Zuko was here and heard?”

            “Not like he would care, I think he hates her the most.”

            They all looked at each and tried their hardest to wipe away the smiles on their faces as they chuckled to themselves. “I'll see you guys later, I have to drop this off at Fire Lord Zuko’s study, or else Iroh will bite my ear off.” Said the male before they all turned the corner.

            She frowned listening in onto their conversation and at the mannerism of the servants. Never during her stay did the servants have such a privilege to just gossip. If they had so much free time on their hands they should either find more work or be dismissed. Yet, she knew that wasn’t the real thing that was bothering her; it was Mai.

            Sure, her and Ty Lee betrayed her trust to protect him and the Avatar. As angry as she was, that didn’t hinder the secret soft-spot she had for them. To think, that after all this time, he had the nerve to date her former best friend and now he leaves her to the dust for some other woman, some woman named Ying Yue Jiang, what an ass. She hissed under her breath before following the gaudy group; they were going to be her ticket of information; especially if they were going to lead her to Zuko’s study.

            Skillfully, she trailed behind the group, before finally stopping at a study, the same study their father used during his reign. She was grateful; she knew how to sneak in. Within minutes, and much patience, she unhinged the back window and with a gentle thud, slid right into the study. It was dim, no lights lit, but it was clear under the blanket of darkness that everything was neatly stacked or locked away.

            With a flick of her fingers, she let one lone blue flame balance on her fingertip, as she scanned around for anything unusual. It was those neat and organized tendencies that made it easy for her to spot the pile of documents resting on the extensive study in the middle of the room, and without hesitation, she quickly began rummaging. She smiled to herself at the ease of finding the information; it was like taking candy from a baby. As she promptly searched through the documents, she couldn’t help but let her eyebrows pinch together as she studied the reports.

            Why would he need so much documentation about the Fire Nation colonies at the Earth Kingdom? All the information was scattered; information about Earth Nation boundaries, currency exchange policies and even agreement forms about funding and dual ethnic passports. “What in the world is my lovely brother up to?” She muttered under her breath as she kept scanning through the papers; he was too much of a baby to engage in a war, that she knew for sure. But finally, her eyes drifted upon the uppermost corner of the folder ‘United Republic of Nations.’

            Rumours were circulating about the possibility of a new Nation being built, but to think that he had the power to go through with it, something not even their father had the ability to do; the creation of a new Nation. ‘You’re full of surprises brother’ she thought amused. But her eyes slowly began drifting to another document, well hidden underneath the pile of paperwork. ‘General Axe,’ she let her free hand slowly trace the words. There was a giant ‘x’ inked on top of his name in red, and a small doodle of a skull.

            The ‘x’ was the sign of a traitor, and the skull; the symbol of assassination. Curiously, she opened the thin folder. It was bizarre for such documents to be up here. Any employee paperwork was usually neatly stashed away in the library, but for any records of a traitor, there were hidden underneath the palace. As she looked through it, she couldn’t help but wonder why would he want these papers.

‘General Axe

traitor due to leakage of private information.

Assassinated; 100 AG – body not retrieved.

Potential threats/targets – Wife: Kasa Jiang, Northern Waterbender, body located and discarded 100 AG.

Daughter – name unknown, unconfirmed Waterbender, not located during the attack, assumed dead.’

            She scanned through the papers, looking for any more information, but it bore nothing of interest besides his family history and his other occupations and ranks. Carefully she started putting the documents back, but she was still in her thoughts. The Earth Nation documents made sense, but this, this was random. Why would he need such paperwork, unless...

            Her eyes widen at the thought, starting to put the puzzle pieces together;

            Jiang…

            Jiang…

            Jiang…

            Ying Yue Jiang. Kasa Jiang.

            He wouldn’t, would he? Marrying a non-bender was scandalous enough, but someone of another Nation, a Waterbender, and on top of that, the daughter of a traitor; that was just treason on a whole other level. But the last name Jiang wasn’t the only thing that triggered a memory: Kasa. It was so familiar to her as if she heard someone say it before.

            It was light footsteps outside of the study that caught her attention, and she stood still, taken off guard — so preoccupied with the new found information she let her guard down.

            “A-Azula? Wh-what are you doing here?” A lady said in disbelief, as she stared at someone whom she thought was gone, gone forever. But Azula just stood there with a large grin on her face, as she pushed back her long black hair behind her shoulder, “The real question is; what are you doing here, Mai.”

~ Ying Yue Jiang ~

            Magnificent, divine, gorgeous; all words that failed to capture the beauty of the Fire Nation. No longer representing a war-based Nation, the land was covered with vast flowers and vertical architect, but more importantly, the enormous mountain that towered above all; Royal Caldera City, the Capital of the Fire Nation.

            “Beautiful isn’t it? Wave, they are excited to see you.”

            I looked upwards to see Zuko baring a soft smile, still tightly gripping my arm, as he waved at the masses that crowded at the Royal Plaza. Nervously I began waving at the people, Zuko was right, they seemed delighted to see me, especially when I started waving. I flushed, and I could feel my palms getting clammy, I was overwhelmed, I thought the Southern Water Tribe was crazy, this is just insane!

            “What the hell Yue, you're taking the spotlight away from me!” I could hear Sokka grumble behind me. I could hear Aang laugh while Zuko scoffed, “Weren’t you the one who said that you underdressed on purpose?” Zuko said sarcastically, all the while maintaining his perfect smile. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh hearing the way Sokka said ‘awe man’ as we began walking down the ramp. I could start seeing figures standing in the center of the pathway that lined the plaza, guards controlling the growing crowds at bay. I could see Zuko’s smile grow into a broad grin, that must be his family up ahead!

            An older man began eagerly walking forward, he wore flaming red robes, almost equal match to Zuko’s. His hands rested on his ample belly as he bore such a wide smile that only accentuated the happy lines on his face, I think I know who this is… “Fire Lord Zuko, my son, you're back!” The man cried out happily. Zuko smiled and nodded his head, “Uncle Iroh, the Nation seems to be in one piece.” Iroh sheepishly grinned as he rubbed his long beard before he finally turned to me, “More importantly, who is this beautiful lady you have on your arm?” Iroh said with a curious smile, although I could tell he was also teasing.  

            I blushed and politely bowed, “Pleasure to meet you Iroh, I'm Ying Yue Jiang.” I said a bit softer than I attended. Iroh smiled sweetly before bowing back, “The pleasure is mine, it's an honour to meet my nephew's partner. So do tell me, what was it? His smile?” Iroh said with raised brows. I could feel Zuko tense up, and his face gave away the fact that he was embarrassed, although he hid it well. “Uncle-” I could hear Zuko scowl lightly under his breath.

            I giggled and shook my head, “His smile was what caught my eye, but what made it official was the golden twinkle he gets in his eyes when he gets excited about something.” I said.

            Zuko looked down at me, a bit surprised at my blunt honesty, but based on his warm smile; he seemed happy. “I like her already! I always told Zuko since he was little that the spark he gets in his eyes is what I love the most,” a woman’s voice said. My ears perked up, only to see a mid-aged woman walking up from behind Iroh. To say she was beautiful was an understatement; her long black hair was neatly pulled back, highlighting the tender smile that painted her face and reached her eyes. “Pleasure to meet you, Ying Yue, I'm Ursa, Fire Lord Zuko’s mother.” She said her voice like honey. So this is were Zuko get’s his good looks.

            I smiled and bowed once again, but she quickly dismissed the bow, “Don’t worry dear, I'm not too fussy on customs-” She started, that was until a loud squeal cut her off mid-sentence and was instead replaced with a high-pitch yell, “ZUZU~!” My eyes widen and before I could even process what was happening a petit girl dashed towards Zuko, crashing into him with such impact that even Zuko stumbled backward, knocking the air out of him.

            “Kiyi! We talked about this!” Ursa said before rushing to Zuko’s aid. Although the laugh that erupted from Zuko was music to my ears, he quickly embraced the girl, holding her so tightly in his arms. I thought he was going to squish her. I believe this is the first time I’ve seen Zuko with a kid before.

            “I’ve missed you so much Zuzu~! Did you bring gifts? Oh, I have to show you the turtle ducks, I took care of them, and they had their babies. And I made Mommy mad, remember how I hid the toads in my rooms, well- she found them. Hey, is this Yue? I like your name Yue, wait. Zuzu, does this mean that you're going to have babies like the turtle ducks?”

            Kiyi said everything so fast I struggled to keep track of what she was spewing out of her mouth. Zuko was right, Kiyi was indeed a hyperactive child with a love of animals. But my eyes widen at the mention of having babies, how could a child bring forth more embarrassment than what I have experienced for the past weeks? I flushed a dark red, and Iroh seemed to notice because he chuckled. Zuko, on the other hand, looked posed entirely as if he didn’t hear anything about babies.

            Zuko gently patted her head, still crouched down on one knee, as he lovingly brushed her short brown hair back behind her ears, “I missed you too, and yes, Ying Yue and I brought you gifts, she picked them out just for you. And you can show me after dinner the turtle ducks, and I warned you that Mom was going to get mad if you kept the toads in your bedroom-”

            “You knew?!” Ursa said in disbelief as she crossed her arms and left out a huff. Zuko grinned and shrugged his shoulders, “And no, I'll not be having any turtle duck babies of my own. At least not anytime soon.” Ursa sighed heavily before gently grabbing Kiyi by her shoulders, “Kiyi, your brother just arrived here, give him a break?” She insisted. Kiyi pouted but nodded, before giving me a giant smile, “Yue, do you want to see the babies too? They are super cute, and we can feed them together. A friend of Zuzu’s is my friend too.” She said gleefully.

            I smiled before nodding, “I would love to join you and Zuzu.” I said although I would be lying if I said I wasn’t laughing saying Zuko’s nickname. Zuko grumbled under his breath, and I swear his cheeks got a bit pinkish the moment I referred to him by his nickname. Iroh grinned, knowing very well I said Zuzu to annoy Zuko, and I smiled back, I had a feeling me and Iroh were going to get along quite well.

            A guard walked up to us and with a quick nod began speaking, “Fire Lord Zuko, the palanquins are ready for departure to the Royal Palace.” Zuko straightened up and nodded before the guard left. Ursa grabbed Kiyi’s hand and began tugging her away to sit on the palanquins that were being set up a bit farther down. Iroh nodded, before walking off as well. It was after they left I noticed there was still a small group of people off the side, waiting patiently.

            I gazed over the people, curious. They were obviously of noble status, dressed nicely with lots of layers and beautiful shades of red and gold. “Zuko…who are those people?” I asked quietly. Zuko looked at where I was looking at, “Those are some other nobles, here to greet us. Although the rest of the council will be waiting at the Royal Palace.” I nodded my head, but I couldn’t help but notice that Zuko seemed abnormally tense. As my eyes wandered amongst the crowd, I couldn’t help but feel drawn to one person in particular.

            Her hair was placed into two well-kept buns, as she stood tall amongst the nobles, her face stone cold. She held a different type of beautiful, while Zuko’s mother had a warm radiance about her, a sweet beauty, this lady had a spark that commanded attention, much like Zuko’s presence. To be honest, it was like looking at Zuko, but just in a female form. Her body was not curvy at all, but slightly lean that complimented her sharp features. When her cat shaped eyes finally landed on me, it was like a bolt of electricity ran through me.

            “We should go,” Zuko said sternly, his grip on my hand suddenly tighten. I looked up at him confused, that was until the same lady I was staring at began walking forward. Zuko’s eyes narrowed in annoyance, and for the first time, he seemed genuinely upset. Could she be who I think she is? When she finally stopped in front of us, she inhospitably glared at Zuko with such venom, “Seems like you proved me wrong Fire Lord Zuko, you did find someone else who would put up with your family soap opera.” She hissed out.

            From someone else’s perspective, one would have thought they were having some traditional conversation, but my eyes widen hearing her sharp words, and I could see Zuko’s jaw clench. “What’s wrong, jealous Countess Mai?” Zuko growled back. Oh my god. This is Mai? Mai’s eyes were livid, as I could see her hands start shaping into fists. Before she could say anything else I knew I had to intervene, or else they were really going to duel it out. Ever so gently I placed my hand on Zuko’s chest, a bold move, especially out in public, but I had to catch his attention somehow.

            Zuko’s eyes widen, taken aback by my sudden gesture. I smiled largely and batted my eyelashes innocently, “Sorry for interrupting Countess Mai, but Fire Lord Zuko, our palanquins are waiting for us.” I said gently, but right away the fire in Zuko’s eyes relaxed, and he smiled, although I could tell it was forced. “You’re right. We should get going.” He said flatly. I nodded my head before gazing over at Mai with a smile, even if she didn’t return such, “It was a pleasure meeting you. Hopefully, we can get to know each other better, I heard amazing things about you. See you in the palace.” I said swiftly, proud that I managed to diffuse the situation.

            Mai just lifted her chin before scoffing, “You’ve made a mistake. Both of you.” But I couldn’t shake off the eeriness that was laced with her words. It was easy to miss, especially with the given hostility between these two ex-lovers. But I couldn’t help but notice a slight waver in her voice as she said mistake. It was as if it was a warning, indeed, a mistake. Before I could even think beyond, Mai turned on her heel and disappeared.

            I let out a sigh of relief, realizing that I was holding my breath in for a large chunk of that time. Tightly gripping Zuko’s arm, we began walking to the palanquins. It was evident Zuko was pissed, given how tense his arm was and the way he clenched and unclenched his fists in thought. Gosh, how did such a relationship get this sour?

            “Well, …that’s Mai. Nice, isn’t she?” Zuko said sarcastically as he helped me sit on the palanquin. I let out a dry laugh as I watched Zuko settle down beside me. “A real steal. I think she likes me; I could see us being best friends.” Zuko looked up at me, and finally, he broke into a large smile as he laughed at my lame attempt of a joke. He let an arm wrap around my waist and pulled me close beside him, “Oh really? I think she likes me too.”

            I giggled but found myself gripping on Zuko’s hand as the palanquins began moving, signalling we were now on route to the Royal Palace. “I should have probably given you a heads up about her,” Zuko said apologetically. I rolled my eyes before I finally realized something, “Where did Aang and Sokka go?” I asked. Zuko shook his head before finally pointing up the pathway, “They left a while ago, some sister you are.” Zuko teased. I raised my hand to slap Zuko’s arm and Zuko already flinched, but before I could slap him, I brought my hand down, “You're lucky we are in public or else I would have hit you.” I grumbled underneath my breath.

            Zuko laughed, “A rain check for a slap, wouldn’t ask for anything different.”

            I gave a look that meant that I just added another slap to that rain check. Zuko just knows how to push my buttons. Although my mind was once again distracted when I began noticing the greenery around us. No amount of stories that Dad told me about could prepare me for the beauty of the Fire Nation. Without thinking twice, I began pointing aimlessly around our surroundings, “What is that over there? Or that, is that a city?” I said as I gazed around. Zuko chuckled before describing everything I would point out, who would have thought that Zuko would be a fantastic tour guide?

Copyright © 2019 Mystic-Kitten, inc. all rights reserved. No reposting, modifying, or translations of any kind allowed. Thank you for your cooperation.

Disclaimer: I do not own any Avatar characters portrayed in this story besides Ying Yue Jiang, Lia, Kima, and any future creations.

❤ Buy me a coffee? ❤

[t-h-i-n-g]

Chapter Four

(gif not mine credits to owner)

a/n: sorry about the slow updates. i’ve been trying to work on my requests and havent had the time to fully edit this. sorry again for the crappy writing, but i did today so i hope you enjoy! also i’m making a tag list for the series so comment or send in an ask and i’ll add you to it :))

word count: 2k

warnings: none that i know of but there are any let me know!!

tacenda - masterlist   st - masterlist   m.masterlist  chapter 3

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Just stay on channel six,” Mike ordered. “Don’t do anything stupid.” Both him and Lucas walked past the barrier, pulling ahead of you and Dustin. Nudging him again you ushered Dustin to catch up.

“Remember what I said guys-”

“If anything happens, you’ll call it. We know! Now come on we gotta get going,” Mike pushed. He began walking ahead of the group. Lucas and Dustin follow behind closely. Sighing you jogged once again to catch up.

—

“Will!” Mike called out into the quiet woods. “Will!”

“Byers!” Lucas yelled. The rain had picked up as the thunder continued.

“I’ve got your X-Men 134!” Dustin tried.

“Will!” you screamed as well. The weather just wasn't letting up.

“Guys, I really think we should turn back,” Dustin mentioned.

“Seriously Dustin? You wanna be a baby, then go home already,” Lucas remarked.

“I’m just being realistic, Lucas!”

“No, you’re just being a big sissy.”

“Lucas, cut it out. Dustin’s right it’s getting r bad out here. We're all gonna have to ride back in this too remember. I don’t want you guys catching any colds. Let's just go.” Starting to walk backwards you motioned for the boys to follow you.

“Ten more minutes. Please, just ten more,” Mike pleaded. You huffed in frustration. This kid was gonna be the end of you.

“Ten. Ten then we’re calling it.” Mike mumbled a thanks and continued walking. After a moment of silence Dustin spoke again.

“Did you ever think Will went missing because he ran into something bad?” He questioned. “And we’re going into the exact same spot where he was last seen? And we have no weapons or anything?”

“Dustin, shut up.” Mike said.

“I’m just saying, does that seem smart to you? B was right, this isn’t safe, we should head back-”

“Shut up. Shut up,” Mike cut him off. “You guys hear that?” Rustling sounded. Instantly you shot in front of the boys. Keeping a hand out to push them behind you.

“We should have turned back. Why do I do this to myself? Listening to kid wow that's such a good idea,” you mumbled while frantically moving your flash light around the area trying to search for what caused the noise. There was a sudden movement heard to the right of you as all the boys screeched in fear. Quickly you and the others flashed your lights in the direction revealing a kid; who had buzzed hair and was only in a sopping wet yellow shirt that was way too big for them. Everyone just stared as she looked back. “What the hell,” you muttered, cautiously walking to her while taking off your jacket to place on the kid’s shoulders. Fingers brushing against their skin you shivered. “My god, you're frozen as ice. What are you doing out here?”

—

She sat on Mike’s couch, breathing heavily. You stood behind the boys contemplating on what to do next. It was a bit of a struggle to get her to come with you. Having to put them on the back of Mike’s bike to get here.

“Is there a number we can call for your parents?” Mike asked.

“Where’s your hair? Do you have cancer?”

“Dustin!” You scolded.

“Did you run away?” Lucas questioned.

“Are you in some kind of trouble?”

“Is that blood?” Lucas went to poke her. Mike’s hand instantly shot out to hit it down.

“Stop it! You’re freaking her out!” Mike stated.

“She’s freaking me out,” Lucas stated.

“Bet she’s deaf,” Dustin declared. Clapping his hands in front of her face as she flinched back. “Not deaf.”

“Alright that’s it, stop it. All of you. What do you expect her to do? She was just found lost in the woods for Christ's sake, not from a frickin circus,” you tried to explain.

“She’s just scared and cold,” Mike added. He turned to go rummage through a laundry basket as you went back to pacing. Thunder rumbled and she jumped again while Lucas and Dustin just stared at her. “Here , these are clean,” Mike handed the clothes out. She took the wearily and put them against her face.

“What the hell am I doing? Practically kidnapping a child, with other children! I should call cps- no cps is corrupted as shit. Maybe talk to Hopper? No then he’ll bring her to cps…. Probably. This is what I get for not doing my chores yesterday-” Your rambling was cut short.

“No, no, no!” The boys exclaimed. Quickly turning around in time to see Dustin face your direction.

“Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god,” he repeated with his hands covering his eyes.

Mike pointed across the room. “See that?” he stammered, “That’s the bathroom. Privacy. Get it?” She grabbed the clothes and took them to where he motioned. She scanned the room as Mike followed. He went to close the door but she stopped him. “You don’t want it closed?” He asked.

“No,” she replied.

“Oh, so you can speak. Okay, well… How about we keep the door…” He slowly shut the door as she kept her hand on it. “ Just like this. Is that better?”

“Yes,” she said quietly. Mike nodded then went back towards the boys. Trying to still take this all in you replaced her spot on the couch.

“This is mental,” Dustin announced.

“At least she can talk,” Mike shrugged.

“She said ‘no’ and ‘yes.’ Your three year old sister says more,” Lucas remarked.

“She tried to get naked,” Dustin said exasperated. You rubbed your temples.

“There’s something seriously wrong with her.” Lucas stated.

“She just went like…” Dustin acted with his hands, repeating the girl's actions. Taking off his hat in the process.

“I bet she escaped from Pennhurst.”

“From where?” Mike questioned.

“The nuthouse in Kerley County,” Lucas informed.

“You got a lot of family there?” Dustin commented.

“Bite me.”

“Guys can we all just actually sit and talk this through?” you asked.

Lucas ignored you, “Seriously though. Think about it. That would explain her shaved hair and why she’s so crazy.”

“We don’t know if she’s crazy,” you chimed in again rolling your eyes. Dustin turned to you.

“She went like…” he motioned with his hands again.

“She’s an escapee is the point. She’s probably a psycho,” Lucas proclaimed.

“Like Micheal Myers,” Dustin said with a wondered expression.

“Exactly! We should’ve never brought her here.”

“So you just wanted to leave her out in theat storm?” Mike questioned.

“Yes! We went out to find Will, not another problem.”

“Mike's right with this one. It’s better that we did get her here rather than leave her out there to get hypothermia or something,” you said, standing up again.

“I think we should tell your mom,” Dustin told Mike.

“I second that,” Lucas joined. Mike turned to you exasperated. You gave him a weak shrug in return. Karen would most likely know how to handle this better then you would. Why the hell were you here in the first place instead of getting actual help?

“Look who’s all crazy now!” Mike stated.

“How is that crazy?” Lucas asked.

“‘Cause, we weren’t supposed to be out tonight, remember?”

“So?”

“So if I tell my mom and she tells your mom and your mom…”

“Oh man,” Dustin mumbled.

“Our house will become Alcatraz,” Lucas concluded.

“Exactly . We’ll never find Will,” Mike turned to you,” and you won’t be able to babysit anymore.” He was right. No way would Dustin’s mom or any of the kid’s parents let you look after them again. That can’t happen. You needed that cash. How else were you going to pay for slurpees and that walkman you had an eye on. Okay, so maybe it was the immature choice and you were not thinking like a rational person, but c’mon man. You were running on fumes at the moment, mind: mush, fingers: numb, stomach: craving a milkshake right now.

“Fine, but I swear if you don’t give me a stacked idea on what the heck we’re gonna do at this second Wheeler, I’m going upstairs and knocking on your parent’s door,” you threatened.

“All right, here’s the plan. She sleeps here tonight,” Mike started but was cut off by Dustin.

“You’re letting a girl-”

“Just listen. In the morning, she sneaks around my house, goes to the front door and rings my doorbell. My mom will answer and know exactly what to do,” Mike explains, “She’ll send her back to Pennhurst or wherever she comes from. We’ll be totally in the clear. And tomorrow night, we go back out. And, this time we’ll find Will-’

“Wait, wait, wait, hold on there a sec bud. You want to go back out there? No way. Look where that already landed us now. Plus I have plans tomorrow, I can’t make it. Even if I did let you go, the bare minimum would be me coming with. No way am I having you guys running around town going into unknown territory.” You stated.

“Couldn’t you just ditch your plans?” Dustin asked. You changed the subject.

“Let’s just focus on getting the girl out of here safely, first. Then, we can look more into where Will is. Who knows maybe he’ll show up by the time we get her home? You guys shouldn’t be out there like at all anyways. What happens if something happens to you?” The kids were silent for a moment.

“Alright,” Mike started, “ We’ll focus on her for the time being. But if Will isn’t back in twenty four hours then we’re gonna go look for him. With or without you.” You sighed in frustration.

“Don’t you get it? You could end up just like Will, Mike. Someone or something could snag you while you're out there. It’s crazy to think that you'll actually get anywhere with the fact that you could be in the same spot as him and be taken the same way. Come on guys just see this from my point of view for a bit. You are kids. Kids! Who shouldn’t even have to deal with this in the first place and I’m so sorry that you have to. I get that you're worried and I get you want to find Will yourselves, but like I was saying earlier tonight; would it be worth it if you get hurt and end up like him. So, just let Hopper and the other adults handle this okay?” You let out heavy breaths as you finished your rant. Talking to these kids was like bargaining with a brick wall. Another pause of silence ensued.

“I get you’re worried B. But this is Will. Our best friend. He needs us as much as we need him right now,” Lucas stated. You let out another sound of frustration. This was enough.

“ Let’s talk about this some other time, ‘kay? It’s late and you both still need to get home and head to bed.” Ushering Lucas and Dustin up the stairs, the girl finally came out of the bathroom. Mike rushed to get her some blankets as he settled her in his fort. Lucas stopped his hand on the railing.

“You really think she’s psycho?” Dustin asked him.

“Wouldn’t want her in my house,” he muttered, continuing his way up the stairs. Dustin followed closely behind. You peered down at Mike and the girl. Catching her eye you gave her a little smile and a wave goodbye. Her lipped slightly upturned in return.

“Pst,” Dustin whispered from the doorway. You snapped your attention to his and hurried up the rest of the way. Opening the front door quietly, you held it for the two boys to pass by you. Making the way back to the side of the house where the bikes were hidden, you placed your hands on both of their shoulders. Dustin and Lucas looked up at you.

“Just don’t think about doing anything till I’m there, alright? Both or you got my number, just call me and I’ll get to you as soon as I can.” They nodded and headed towards their bikes. Heading down the Wheelers driveway you looked back at the house. Catching a glimpse at what Mike said was Nancy’s room. Her light was still on and two silhouettes were seen against the windows curtain. Humming to yourself you turned back around and caught up to the boys.

Maybe, just maybe they would listen to your request.

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chapter five...(coming soon)

likes and reblogs are appretiated 

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taglist: @vaeeeel​

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Fifteen (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 2.4k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION, torture

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

Before both of your parents had died, back in District Four, your family would have been considered ‘middle-class’ to a very thin extent. You guys weren’t at the bottom of the food chain by any means, and neither were you guys on top, but you were afloat enough to be considered middle.

You guys owned a nice two-story house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The house came with a very small yard that had that tree that you used to climb. You guys were always one of the first to receive electricity when it would have to be turned on, etc.

You guys never had to eat the food from the square. It’s not a bad thing to eat the food that’s provided there, it’s actually very helpful if you’re trying to go extremely cheap on some days. But eating food from the black market is taking a gamble, because there’s no telling what’s in the soup, or what had been mashed up. And it’s not like the people at the tables would tell you either.

It’s their ‘secret recipe’ and they didn’t want you to go around and tell everyone in the vicinity for a number of reasons. The food could have been made up of something that would be seen as ‘unfavorable’. If you go and tell everyone what’s in it, then that person running the table could lose the business entirely.

After your parents had died, you guys obviously weren’t able to afford super nice things anymore. You guys would be so caught up in trying to keep the essentials stocked, that Reed and Mox would run out of the money. So, with the very bare scraps that you would be able to get, you would head right to the square for those cheap meals.

They weren’t enjoyable sometimes, and you would voice that to the people you would buy from. But other times, they would end up making something particularly enjoyable, and you would let them know that too. You basically became their test monkey for new foods, and you told them how it was every single time.

Eventually, Reed and Mox had gotten ahead of their spending habits, which means that you guys wouldn’t have to eat from the market anymore, but you definitely had a lasting impact. Even though you didn’t have to, you would eat there sometimes and let them know. There was a hell of an increase in quality, people noticed it almost immediately.

They might have been making soups from bones and grass and dandelions from the fields, but it was good fucking soup either way. You absolutely loved their creativity, and you know for a fact that both you, and them had gotten a kick from being a critic and getting critiqued like that.

Even after winning the games, you had still gone to eat their food sometimes. It wasn’t because you wanted to humble yourself or some dumb shit like that. You would genuinely go to eat their food, because there wasn’t anything else to do. You didn’t want to be drowning in riches, and eating from the top quality bakers and the best butchers in the district.

You wanted some of their old fashioned soup, and you went there constantly. It was weird, being stared at like how you were. Watching the people that would have previously disregarded you, suddenly notice you like that. It was watching the sea part when you would walk inside of the building. Sometimes you even saw fear, since they were afraid you’d buy out the whole goddamn building with one months worth of savings.

Then they would notice that you would stop in front of the fucking stall, with the mashed up potatoes and meat. With vegetables that should be a crime to sell, with dandelion, grass and bones soup. And you would buy enough for one, and then sit around on the nearest stool just talking to the owners of the place, asking if they had come up with anything new.

Fuck, they even named a goddamn soup after you. They named one of your favorite creations that they had ever made, after you. Not because you had won the games, or you were a consistent customer, it’s because they genuinely enjoyed you. They were absolutely blown away by the fact that the fifteen year old with more money than she knew what to do with, would come by and eat there anyway.

You would take hours of your day just to sit there and talk, because it was overwhelming in the newly furnished victor house. Every now and then you’d pitch in and pay for someone if you were feeling particularly generous, because you had money to burn.

You miss it. You miss every aspect of that god awful building. You hated the smell of rotting fish before, but now it’s the only thing you can think about. The fact that it was almost always packed to the limit with people just trying to haggle and get their usual stuff but at a cheaper price.

You don’t know what you would trade to go back now. To go back and spend just a few more hours, sitting around in there and watching people go about their days. You would probably go around and buy things for people, because all the money in your account would go to waste when you die.

What you’re saying is, is that the food from the square is astronomically better than the shit that they feed the people in District Thirteen. Forget the ‘secret recipes’ that the old ladies used to protect with their lives, this shit is on a whole new level of a secret recipe. It’s downright inhumane to feed this to anyone.

“You’re picking at your food.” Finnick points out.

“Thanks, I didn’t know.” you give him a look, “You want it?”

“You know you need to eat, (Y/n).” he tells you, “It’s not going to get any better tomorrow, so stop messing with it before it gets cold.”

You roll your eyes, “Okay, dad.”

Finnick’s face scrunches up, almost like he’s disgusted with it. And then, he tilts his head, making a whole new face. Like he doesn’t mind it after all.

“Oh great, did I just find a new kink of yours?” you laugh slightly, ignoring the glances you get from the people around you.

He holds up his finger, placing his fork back onto the tray. Finnick doesn’t know what to think of this whole thing, “Hold on, I’m trying to imagine–”

You punch his arm, shaking your head at him as you go back to your food. Suddenly, you’re interested in it again! Who knew that it would be a valid form of escape?

Finnick is laughing, suddenly enjoying this. He goes back to eating too.

The sound of the Capitol’s anthem makes your head shoot up and the fork freeze in your hands. Your eyes search the room, looking for the source, and you end up finding it pretty quickly, the television sets that are on the wall. The logo for the Capitol comes in and it says ‘Capitol TV’ beneath it.

“Dinner and a show?” Finnick asks.

“I have a feeling this isn’t common.” you say, placing down your fork entirely, pushing the food tray back as you prop your head up against the table, “But I will enjoy it either way.”

Caesar fades in, and you do a little laugh, “Hello, good evening, and a big welcome to all of Panem. I’m Caesar Flickerman, and wherever you are, whatever it is you’re doing, if you’re working, put down your work. If you’re having dinner, stop having dinner. Because you are going to want to witness this tonight.”

You fake a yawn, and Finnick does it right back.

“There has been rapid speculation about what really happened in the Quarter Quell. And here, to shed a little light on the subject for us, is a very special guest. Please welcome, mister Peeta Mellark.” Caesar says.

Your mouth drops open slightly, and you can feel all the fun run out of your body at once. Suddenly, you’re no longer smiling, and you’re staring at the tv screen as if you’ve received the news that your mom just died again. You take in a shaky breath, and that’s when Finnick wraps an arm around your shoulders and pulls you into his body.

Peeta may not be your fiance, but he’s somewhat directly related to your siblings. Because they’re both in the same place right now. Lucky for you, Peeta looks healthy, like they haven’t touched a hair on his head. He’s wearing a white suit, and almost like he hasn’t been treated badly at all.

It raises hope, but along with hope, comes disappointment.

Caesar continues, “Peeta, a lot of people feel as though they are in the dark.”

You feel so horribly bad for Katniss right now.

“Yeah, I know how they feel.” Peeta says, Caesar laughs a little bit.

“Now, so set the stage for us. Talk us through, what really happened on that final, and controversial night.”

“Well first off, you have to–you have to understand that when you’re in the games, you only get one wish. It’s very costly.” Peeta says, he sounds calm.

“It costs your life.” Caesar says.

“I think it costs more than your life.” Peeta disagrees.

“How do you mean? What’s more than your life?”

Your laugh is hollow, “It costs other people’s lives. It costs your dignity and you’re sacrificing your entire personality.”

Finnick nods, “Because there’s no way you come out of the arena the same, no matter what.”

“Well, I mean to–to murder innocent people. That costs everything that you are.” Peeta says, and briefly raises his hand, “So you hold on to that one wish. That night, my wish was; to save Katniss. I should have just run off with her earlier in the day like she wanted.”

You look at Finnick, trying to recall any conversation like that between them. Like overhearing or something, but you come up with nothing. But it seems like Finnick has an answer for it, “Before we had gone to the tree, when they were sitting alone.”

And it clicks, because that would have been the perfect time to say it. Since it was the first time they had truly been alone like that in a while.

“But you didn’t!” Caesar says, “Why? Were you caught up in Beetee’s plan?”

“No, I was caught up trying to play allies. And then they seperated us and–” he pauses, “That’s when I lost her.”

“It’s so fucking hard not to be mad at him right now.” you cross your arms.

Finnick shrugs, “I mean, they could have been telling him to say this.”

“It’s raw emotion.” you lean forward a bit, out of Finnick’s arm to get a closer look, “He’s perfectly healthy, there’s no reason for him to lie. Playing allies my fucking asshole, what a joke.”

“And then the lightning hit and uh–the whole forcefield around the arena just blew out.” Peeta finishes.

“Yes, but Peeta, Katniss is the one that blew it out.”

“No–”

Caesar cuts him off, “You saw the footage.”

“No–she didn’t know what she was doing. Neither of us, knew there was a bigger plan going on, we had no idea.”

“You had no idea?” Caesar asks.

“No.”

“Alright, well Peeta, there are many who find this suspicious, to say the least. It seems as though she was part of a rebel plan.” Caesar proposes, and you watch as he does the basic, classic hand motions of ‘just saying’.

“What, do you think it was part of her plan to almost be killed by Johanna and (Y/n)?” Peeta looks tired of it, “Or to be paralyzed by lightning? No, we were not part of any rebel plan, we had no idea what was going on.”

“Alright.” Caesar does the motion again, “I believe you, Peeta Mellark. Thank you. Now, I was going to ask you to speak about the unrest but I think you might be too upset.”

“They’re patronizing him.” you laugh, “God, they’re treating him like a child.”

“No, no I can.”

“Are you sure?” Caesar asks.

“Yeah, absolutely.” Peeta turns towards the camera, actually staring into it now, “I want everyone who’s watching, to stop, and think about what a civil war could mean. We almost went extinct once before, and now our numbers are even fewer. Is this really what we want to do?”

The people around you aren’t so happy at this, and they’re looking at each other, almost appalled that he’s saying this.

“Now this could be rehearsed.” you tell Finnick, tilting your head.

“Kill ourselves off? Killing is not the answer. Everyone needs to lay down their weapons immediately.” That sentence doesn’t go over well with the people around you. You can’t hear the next couple of words because of how loud the shouting has gotten.

“Peeta,” Caesar leans forward, “Are you calling for a ceasefire?”

“Yeah, I am.” It gets louder, Finnick is beginning to slide off of the table’s seats, and you have a pretty good idea why, “I want everyone to stop, let’s end this violence. This is not the path–”

You’re out of your seat soon after, Finnick grabs your hand, and he begins to pull you away and out of the room. You watch as the room basically gets rowdier and angrier from what he’s saying.

Finnick wants to leave because he’s worried about your guys’ safety. It’s a safety hazard being around them, since you two had associated with him, and even halfway considered him a friend. It was a precaution, and almost a matter of time before they turned on you guys next.

“I don’t know about you.” you begin, “But I could really go for some peace and quiet right now.”

He looks at you, “Peace and quiet how?”

You smile a little bit, “A good fuckin’ nap.”

Finnick laughs, taking your hand and beginning to lead the way to your guys’ dorm–for a lack of a better word, “Sounds good to me.”

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Thirteen (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 3.8k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

The wall finally breaks, and you’re sent flying forward. You toss the knife off of you as you throw yourself at Finnick, pulling him against you as tight as you possibly can without hurting him. His hands had long since been removed from his ears.

He meets you with the same amount of enthusiasm, but you don’t see it that way. You wanted to cry the entire time the hour was going on, watching as his facial expressions turned from okay, to bad, to worse. It has taken its toll on him, and it’s so painfully obvious.

Finnick buries himself into your neck, and you can feel the tears. You put your head against his, brushing his hair back as you try to rock him slightly, “It’s okay, I’m right here. I’m right here, Finn.”

His arms are tight around you, and you look over to see Johanna. She’s in pain too, watching as he holds onto you. You can feel him trembling slightly in your arms. All you want to do is scream at the gamemakers for purposely trapping him into something like that.

“It was you,” Finnick says, his voice is amazingly even, “And the rest of your family with Mags.”

You tilt your head slightly, “How did they…? Don’t jabberyjays copy?”

“They can.” Beetee says, “But they can always fabricate the sounds. Computer generated.”

You look over, “I understand how they got myself, but how would they get Mags, and my siblings? Mags hasn’t spoken in years and my siblings have never been on television, ever. I’ve made sure that they haven’t because I don’t want them to have the publicity.”

“Same goes for Prim.” Peeta says.

Beetee shrugs, “It’s not far off to think that they might have taken them speaking to other people and changed it to fit.”

Your arms tighten around Finnick a little bit at the idea that they would have recorded your families voices without permission.

“They won’t touch Prim.” Peeta tells Katniss.

You don’t move off of Finnick, because his arms are still tight around you. Instead, you carefully play with his hair, and sink down a little bit lower on his lap. When you’re completely sitting on his thighs, this is when you rub his back gently.

“Your fiance’s right, the whole country loves your sister.” Johanna says, you don’t move from where you are against Finnick, “If they tortured her–if they did anything to her, forget the districts. There would be riots in the damn Capitol.”

There’s silence for a moment, and then Johanna starts yelling, “Hey, how does that sound, Snow? What if we–what if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can’t put everybody in here.”

You laugh a little bit, and Finnick does too.

“What?” she asks, quieter now, “He can’t hurt me. There’s no one left that I love.”

She says that she’s going to go ahead and get Katniss some water, walking off.

It’s a couple of minutes before Finnick lets you away from him. You help him to his feet, and even then he looks distant. He looks as distant as you felt when you had just woken up from the nap that you were taking. Regardless, he holds onto your hand tightly, and doesn’t let it go no matter what when you all start to move back to the beach.

He stabs his trident into the sand, but it eventually falls over. His hand also lets go of yours, and he heads straight into the water, sitting down.

You stand almost helplessly, clenching and unclenching your teeth. Seeing Finnick like this makes you want to cry, just like you had wanted to cry, seeing him inside of that wall. Alone, and watching him turn numb as time went on.

It was the longer hour of your goddamn life, watching him like that.

“Go sit with him.” Johanna tells you, nodding her head forward.

“I think he needs space.” you say, but you make no move to sit down next to anyone. Instead, you cross your arms and stare at Finnick’s indifferent body.

The Capitol will pay for this. They’ll pay for all of this as soon as this is over. There’s going to be hell, and you’ll be at the front lines with it. Because in no fucking life of yours, will this be acceptable.

“He’ll be okay.” Peeta says.

You ignore him, finally deciding to go and join Finnick in the water. You don’t touch him at all, wrapping your arms under your thighs as you lean forward. You let Finnick come to you, so you’re not overwhelming him with being on top of everything that he does.

He puts his arm around your waist, pulling you to his side, “Thank you.”

“For what?” you ask, watching as another wave comes over to you guys.

“For volunteering.” he says, and you look over in surprise, “For telling Elysia to call boys first so you would know to volunteer.”

“Finnick…”

He shakes his head, looking back out to the water, “What if you had been at home? And we all still came across those jabberjays, and I was hearing your scream? I wouldn’t have known that you were okay. Not even after the birds stopped, I would have no clue.”

“I love you.” you tell him, moving one of your hands to place on his knee, “And I would literally go to the ends of the earth for you, you know that, right?”

Finnick nods, “I would do the same for you. I would have volunteered just the same. I don’t think I ended up telling you that.”

“I know you would.” you lean your head against his shoulder.

You guys sit here, watching the waves in silence. You let your legs down, fully submerging them and settling for sitting criss-cross for a while.

It’s at least fifteen minutes or so before it’s interrupted by Johanna yelling for you guys. Finnick gets up first, and helps you to your feet. The both of you go over to stand over everyone.

“Where do the careers feel safest? The jungle?” Beetee asks once you get there.

“Jungles a nightmare.” Johanna says.

“Probably here on the beach.” Finnick answers.

“Then why are they not here?” Beetee asks.

“Because we are.” Johanna leans forward a bit when she talks, “We claimed it.”

Beetee looks around you guys, “And if we left, they would come?”

“Theoretically.” you shift on your feet a little bit, not liking how the sand feels under the boots very much.

“Or stay hidden in the treeline.” Finnick adds, Johanna nods.

“Which in just over four hours will be soaked with water from the ten o’clock wave.” he looks around you guys, “Then what happens at midnight?”

Katniss answers this time, “Lightning strikes that tree.”

“Here’s what I propose,” Beetee starts, “We leave the beach at dusk.” he points, “We head to the lightning tree, that should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire–” he motions to it, and then goes back out to pointing, “–from the tree, to the water. Anyone in the water, or the damp sand, will be electrocuted.’

You watch as Beetee and Peeta both feel the sand in their fingers.

“How do we know that the wire’s not going to burn up?” Johanna asks.

“Because I invented it.” he says, “I assure you, it won’t burn up.”

He looks around at you guys, clearly looking for input.

You look at Finnick, raising your eyebrows somewhat, and then the both of you look to Johanna. She has the same look at you do, the one that says ‘it can’t hurt’. What else are you guys going to do?

You can see Katniss is staring at you three curiously, almost like she can’t believe that you all just did that. That not only can you share a look like that with Finnick and completely understand what he’s thinking, but you can do it with Johanna too. You all think alike here, Katniss and Peeta just haven’t reached that level of friendship just yet, you suppose.

“Well, it’s better than hunting them down.” Johanna says.

“What else are we gonna do?” you cross your arms, shifting in the sand again.

Katniss turns to look at Peeta and Beete, “Yeah, why not? If it fails, no harm done anyway.”

Peeta nods, “Alright, I say we try it.”

“So what can we do to help?” Finnick asks.

Beetee pauses for a moment before answering, “Keep me alive for the next six hours? That would be extremely helpful.”

Beetee lists off the rest of the plan, and since you guys are waiting until dusk, it seems like there’s a lot of time to pass. You all sort of split up, Peeta and Katniss sit farther away, Beetee sits on his coil of wire, talking to Johanna about the plan.

You decided to go for a swim in the water after you pulled off your boots. The second you did when you were deep enough was pull out the hair tie that’s holding your ponytail in. You got all your hair wet, and scrubbed your scalp even if there’s no soap. When you were satisfied, you tied all of it back as smoothly as possible, right back into a ponytail again.

Finnick spins around his trident. Above his head, around his back. You eventually got bored of swimming and sat next to him while he messed around. To fill the silence, you two talked about what it would be like to be back home right now, watching. If neither you or Finnick had been an option for the games.

“What would you name our baby?” Finnick asks, slowing down his spinning.

You look over to him, “Depends on the gender.”

He gives you a certain look for that answer, “Okay, a girl?”

You shrug, “I don’t know, I haven’t given it much thought. Have you?”

Finnick smiles a little bit, “Ever since you brought it up.”

You nod a little bit, “It would have to relate back to the ocean in some way, or at least sounds like it belongs to the water.”

“So, Finn?” he suggests.

You laugh, “That would be a nightmare to deal with.”

“Oceana?”

“Classic, real classic.” you stand up, tired of sitting in the water, “I’ll put that right up there with ‘coral’.”

Finnick stops spinning the trident, placing it down in the sand. You go over to him, wrapping your arms around his chest while you give him a quick kiss.

“What about Delmore?” you suggest.

“Delmore?” he asks, almost like he’s about to tell you that your suggestion is ridiculous.

“It means ‘of the sea’.” you tell him, moving away.

Finnick nods, thinking about it.

“Beetee says it’s time we start heading to the tree.” Johanna says to you two.

“Sounds good to us,” you look at her, and then your eyes flicker to Katniss and Peeta, “Good luck with those two.”

She laughs, a small smirk coming on her face, “Alright, lovebirds!”

You all start heading back to the sand. You slip on your shoes in the water, making sure that no sand gets inside of them. Finnick goes back to spinning his trident in the meantime.

Peeta and Katniss get up soon enough, and you all start heading across the arena, walking through the beach, rather than the cornucopia. Along the way, Beetee will occasionally ramble on about his plan, but it’s mostly quiet.

The jungle is when the real problem starts, since you’re climbing over rocks, going nothing but uphill. Finnick leads the way on this one, and you follow just behind him. It seems like none of you realize how late it is, until the anthem begins, showing off the fallen.

You stumble to catch your footing when you turn to see, and Finnick saves you before you end up on your ass.

The first two are Cashmere and Gloss, respectively. Wiress follows, and then it’s the girl from District Five, the girl morphling from six that had saved Peeta apparently, Blight, the guy from ten, and then Chaff.

The anthem ends there, and you all turn and go back to making it up the hill in silence.

When you finally get to the tree, you all stop to stare at it, with Beetee up front.

“Minimal charring, impressive conductor. Let’s get started.” he goes towards the tree, and you guys loosely follow.

He starts to wrap the wire around the tree. In the meantime, you all just kind of stand around and wait. Every now and then, you’ll find a place to pace, not really wanting to be huddled up next to everybody. However, paranoia creeps back onto you, and you’ll head back over to Finnick.

It’s a while before Beetee’s even cracked a dent on the damn coil, “Typically, a lightning strike contains five billion volts of energy.”

You spin the knife in your hand, trying to keep your mind entertained. You don’t really want to be the only one here suffering of boredom or sleep deprivation. Considering that none of them have slept in a good while, either.

“We don’t want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this hits.”

You all begin to move away from the giant tree, Beetee pulling it in the direction you guys came. Then, he looks to you, Johanna and Katniss.

“You girls go together now, take this.” Beetee hands off the wire to Katniss, “Unspool it carefully, make sure the entire coil is in the water, you understand? Then head to the tree at the two o’clock center, we’ll meet you there.”

Katniss looks completely confused, looking between you and Johanna. You stop spinning the knife for a moment, waiting for her to protest what’s going on.

It comes from Peeta first, “I’m going to go with them as a guard.”

“No, you’re staying here to protect me.” Beetee then adds, “And the tree.”

“It’s an even split.” you tell Peeta, “Johanna and I have it covered.”

“No, I need to go with her.” he shakes his head.

“There are two careers out there, I need two guards.” Beetee argues.

“Finnick and (Y/n) can protect you just fine.”

Katniss now butts in, “Yeah, why can’t Finnick and (Y/n) protect you, and Peeta, Johanna and I take the coil?”

“You all agreed to keep me alive until midnight, correct?” Beetee moves in closer.

“It’s his plan, we all agreed to it,” Johanna says.

Finnick is next, “Is there a problem, here?”

“Excellent question.” Beetee tilts his head, waiting for an answer.

It’s a moment, before Katniss answers, “No, there’s no problem.”

As Katniss goes to say goodbye, you look to Finnick, “I’ll be back soon.”

“Don’t get yourself hurt.” he says.

“No promises.” you smile, and then head towards Johanna, ready to go.

“Alright, let’s go.” Johanna tells her.

You follow Johanna down the path, still playing with your knife. Just as you predicted on your first day here, the jungle is an absolute nightmare during the night. It’s dark, it’s hard to see, which means that you won’t know if something dangerous is around you.

You barely have the moon to thank for the stuff you can see.

Every now and then, you’ll take Katniss’ bow for her so she can step down a particularly steep spot, since she’s the one pulling the wire. You hand the bow back to her.

“Come on.” Johanna says, stepping onto a rock that overlooks the beach, “I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible. Frying is not how I want to go.”

“Not a fan of being scrambled?” you tease.

You and her stop when you don’t hear Katniss moving anymore. This is when you can see that the wire is pulled tight, obviously stuck on something.

“There’s something…” Katniss mutters quietly, tucking on the wire.

The wire tugs back, and it snaps. You move out of the way for Johanna, keeping an eye on the careers. Brutus is the first to pop up.

Johanna hits Katniss over the head with the wire. Katniss falls on her back, clearly out of it now. Johanna moves in with the knife, cutting open Katniss’ arm as planned to get the tracker out. Katniss screams in pain, and normally that wouldn’t be very helpful, but in this case it is.

It’s making it look like Johanna just hurt Katniss, which will throw Brutus and Enobaria off of her. They won’t think to go and kill off Katniss, especially if she’s supposed to be ‘suffering’ at the moment. They’ll expect her to die off in a couple of minutes.

Johanna lightly shushes Katniss, and places her bloody hands against Katniss’ neck, “Stay down.”

Johanna gives you a look, and you extend the sword, staring straight at Enobaria and Brutus. Johanna throws her spare axe, hitting the rocks next to them, and then takes off. You watch and make sure that they don’t come towards you, and instead they chase after Johanna.

Once you’re sure they’re gone, you collapse the sword again. Katniss stares at you with wide eyes, clearly not knowing what to take of the situation. You press your fingers to your lips to keep her quiet as you listen for any footsteps.

You then take off to go up the hill but not where the rocks are. It’s hard for a moment, but you stab and pull your way up the dirt with the knife.

“(Y/n)?” Finnick yells.

“Here!” you yell back, and he comes out of the trees to see you.

He helps you up the rest of the way.

“Enobaria and Brutus are after Johanna.”

He leads the way as you two look around for Johanna. However, you guys come upon nothing. The sound of a cannon worries you slightly, as you know that’s signaling someone’s demise.

At the sound of Katniss screaming, you and Finnick begin to head towards where it’s coming from. Finnick is much faster than you are with running, but you manage to just barely keep on his heels.

You nearly slam into his body when he stops so suddenly, “Katniss, where are you?”

You find her in the bushes with an arrow pointed at Finnick. You move in front of him. He realizes where she stands after that.

“Katniss,” he starts, holding out his arms like it’s a surrender, “Remember who the real enemy is.”

Your eyes are locked on her arrow, and you’re instantly relieved when she begins to lower the bow. The midnight storm brews above you, causing her to look at it suddenly. You relax, moving out of the way of Finnick.

Katniss turns to look behind her, staring straight at Beetee. He’s just laying in the dirt, you take a step forward.

What happened?

The lightning overhead begins to get a little louder, “Katniss, get away from the tree.” you tell her.

She wraps the wire around the head of the arrow, and Finnick takes off to grab her, “Katniss, get away from that tree–!”

Just as the lightning comes down, Katniss sends the arrow flying up towards the ceiling of the arena. When the lightning hits the tree, she’s sent flying away from it, the same time you and Finnick are.

The air is static. The type that makes your hair stick up, The electricity is lingering in the air around the tree.

The arrow hits the dome, sending the facade of a blue sky to black, as it slowly starts to spread throughout the rest of the arena with a fire-like border in front of it.

Your ears are ringing from the sound of the blast. You’re just barely able to move yourself around, not completely paralyzed by the electricity that had flown at you. You watch as the ceiling begins to fall apart, and the greenery around you turns to flame.

The ground shakes with each part that hits the arena, almost like an earthquake.

It’s a minute before the hovercraft appears, lowering a bit into the arena. It sends it’s claw down, heading straight for Katniss. You watch as it scoops her up and brings her in, and then it’s sent down again.

You’re curious on who it’s going to next, you, Finnick or Beetee. But then you realize it’s Finnick, and you can kill two birds with one stone by joining him.

You drag yourself over to him, trying your best to crawl but it’s not working just yet. Your muscles seem to have turned to jelly from the electricity, they’re absolutely useless.

You throw yourself on Finnick. He looks awake, and he tells you that he isn’t able to move. You position yourself on his chest the best you can, telling him that it’s okay.

The claw picks the both of you up, bringing you to the hovercraft. You place your head on Finnick’s chest, squeezing your eyes shut because you don’t want to look down. You don’t want to see how far you are into the air.

It’s quickly over though, you’re greeted with Haymitch, who helps pull you, and then Finnick off of the claw. You tell him that Beetee is down there too, but you don’t know where Johanna and Peeta are. Or if they’re even alive, because of the cannon.

“Use that knife and get out the trackers.” he tells you, motioning to your belt.

You look down, confused on what he’s on about. Staring right back at you is the knife that was sponsored to you. You hadn’t even realized that you had put it there.

You focus on getting Finnick’s out first. You roll up his sleeve and place your knee on his upper arm to keep him from moving. Then, with your left hand, you hold down his wrist.

You quickly dig the tracker out, which causes a commotion with Finnick, and then hand it over to Plutarch so it can be stomped on. You do the same to yourself, closing your eyes and taking a deep breath before you stab, and twist. You don’t stop on that arm though, you go ahead and do it on the other one, too.

Both trackers are out, and you push it towards Plutarch, watching as he steps on them. Haymitch then pulls Beetee in, and they call it a wrap. Peeta wasn’t the goal of this, it was always Katniss.

Finnick is able to feel his legs again soon after, and you all move to the back. Where Finnick changes into a robe, and you do too. The both of you stand around a table with Haymitch and Plutarch.

“So, where are we heading?” you ask, looking between them.

Plutarch answers, “District Thirteen.”

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Twelve (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 3.2k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION, MURDER

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

“(Y/n)?” Finnick shakes your body a little bit, you can feel it, “Hey, are you awake?”

He removes your arm from your face, but you still don’t open your eyes, still so exhausted.

His voice is no longer soft like it was before, “(Y/n).”

Finnick forces you to sit up, cradling your head with one hand. Your eyes shoot open after that, grabbing his upper arm in shock from the sudden motion. You look to him, confused.

“What?” your voice is hoarse.

He looks relieved, “You scared me.”

You look behind him to see that Johanna and Peeta are standing around, staring at you. Your eyebrows squish together as you try to put the pieces together. Why on earth would you scare them? You were just napping.

Oh.

“Sorry,” you sit up by yourself now, allowing him to let go, “Deep sleeping, I guess. Didn’t mean to scare you.”

He stands, in one of his hands is both your knife and the trident. He offers his hand to you, and you take it. Once you’re on your feet, you get the knife back.

“We’re heading for the cornucopia.” he tells you, “Restock on some things.”

“Okay,” you nod, and then motion for them to go first, “Lead the way.”

Katniss takes the lead, and you grab a hold of Finnick’s hand. He looks at you, expecting you to say something, but you don’t. You just want to hold his hand for comfort while you guys walk to where you need to be. Johanna strikes up a conversation with him, and it takes the focus away from you.

You feel out of it as you get to the rock path, still not completely awake from the dream that you had with Blaire. You almost wish that Finnick had left you on that sand so you could be with Blaire a little longer.

He wasn’t your friend for a very long time, but it was a shock to see him, and it was nice to see an old friend. You wanted to sit there and talk forever, because he might have been a figment of your imagination, but it was nice. Nice to talk to someone, and escape what was happening in the real world.

You told him everything that you wanted to. You told him that you and Finnick had got married, and you had successfully had a victor come after you and Finnick five years later, which is obviously the same year you and Finnick got married. You then got to tell him that you’re in the games again because of the Quarter Quell, but most importantly, there’s a rebellion.

He was just telling you to be careful and not to do anything dumb when Finnick had woken you up. You knew Finnick was there, but you had hoped that you’d be able to stay a little while longer. You weren’t done sleeping yet, like your mind and body wanted you to stay.

He probably thought you were dead with how unresponsive you were, which is why you ended up apologizing to him. You didn’t mean to scare him like that, you just wanted to stay a little while longer. Blaire was new to you. And he looked so different than how he was before, but still looking like him.

Even if none of it was real, you’re glad that it had happened when it did. You’re happy that he was that escape that you needed, no matter how temporary. You just hope that this isn’t a sign of you going crazy. You need your head still, and that needs to be a one-time thing.

When you all had reached the rocks, you had to let go of Finnick so you could go before him. If you two were to hold onto each other, it would just make the process of walking on the uneven rocks a challenge. One of you would ultimately end up falling, and you don’t need that.

Katniss leads the way on this one, with Johanna, Peeta, Beetee, Wiress, you and Finnick following behind her. On the way, she begins to tell you about the clock theory, which had sprouted from Wiress in the first place.

“This entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock,” she says, “With a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge. It all starts with the lightning, then the blood rain, fog, monkeys. That’s the first four hours. At ten, that big wave hits from over there.”

You’re all standing in the middle now, and she points to where the tide had come from, killing the girl from five only a couple of hours ago.

“Wiress, you’re a genius.” Finnick says as he passes her.

“The tail points to twelve.” Peeta says, you go ahead and take a seat on the nearest box, at the mouth of the cornucopia.

“That’s where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight.” Katniss says.

Beetee moves out, looking to where they had been pointing, “Strikes where?”

Katniss points at it again, “That big tree.”

He tilts his head a little bit, “Good.”

You watch as Finnick and Johanna scope out around you guys, looking for anyone that might be coming to the cornucopia.

However, they all begin to move in after Peeta comes by you. In the black sand, he draws a circle. He divides it up as he goes. Finnick stands next to you, hand on your shoulder.

“So, twelve to one, lightning. Then one to two is blood. Then fog, then monkeys.”

In the back, you can hear Wiress singing the nursery rhyme about the grandfather clock. You try not to pay much attention to it.

“Then ten to eleven, the wave. What about everything else, did you see anything?” Katniss asks.

“Nothing but blood.” Johanna says, Beetee crouches down next to Peeta.

You close your eyes, tilting your head from side to side to crack your neck. You briefly set down your knife to pop your knuckles, back and everything else along with it.

“Doesn’t matter, as long as we steer clear of whichever sector is active, we’ll be safe.” Peeta says, standing up again.

“Yeah, relatively speaking–” Finnick doesn’t even get to finish his sentence.

Wiress suddenly gasps, and you all turn to her in surprise.

The blood drains from your face when you see Gloss, which means that the other three aren’t that far behind. You jump up from where you’re sitting, hearing the cannon go off. You extend the knife into the sword, pulling Finnick away from the mouth of the cornucopia.

Gloss pulls out his knife, and turns to you guys with a smile. Katniss is quick though, and she fires an arrow at Gloss’ chest, instantly killing him. Another cannon goes off.

Your eyes flicker to your left when you see blonde hair, you move forward, “Johanna–your left!’

She turns without hesitation, pushing Katniss out of the way. Johanna spins, building up momentum, before she throws the axe straight at Cashmere. Another cannon goes off, but the sound of yelling from your right is alarming.

You pull Finnick out of the way just as Brutus throws a sword. You let go of him soon after, allowing him to head straight towards Brutus to fight.

You follow after him, picking up a spare throwing knife that’s on the box. It’s perfect too, because Enobaria comes right around the corner. Just as she throws a sword, you throw the knife.

It clips Finnick, and you can tell by the yell he lets out because of it. But lucky for you, your knife gets Enobaria’s side just before she’s able to move. She’s in nothing but her sports bra–as Brutus and Gloss were shirtless, the only person that was still fully covered was Cashmere–so the knife had only skin to cut through.

Just as they retreat, Katniss fires an arrow, but hits the side of the cornucopia.

Peeta goes to run after Brutus, however Finnick grabs him around the stomach to keep him from going. You try to make a grab for Katniss, falling onto your knees in the process.

Johanna is quick, though. She’s right behind Katniss, eliminating your problem of following her. You focus on getting back onto your feet, helping Finnick get a hold of Peeta so he doesn’t chase after them. Finnick manages to get Peeta to calm down, and you begin to head back to where you were before.

Then, you lose your footing the second that you feel the ground beneath you move.

Everyone else falls too, and you worry about the sword, so you collapse it into a knife. Then, you try your best to tuck it into the belt that’s around your waist. You’ve been messing with it every now and then, unsure of the use. But now it’s going to hold your weapon to make sure that it doesn’t hurt you.

It’s almost like when you were falling down that hill earlier today, and you didn’t want to get yourself or anyone else killed. Even if you were in front.

The island starts to speed up, which is when it gradually gets harder to hold on. You watch as Peeta tumbles down, but just barely manages to get a hold of the rock before it’s too late. Beneath you is Finnick, and you look down to see that he’s staring at you, worried.

The water being kicked up from the spinning isn’t helping much. It’s getting the rock wet, making it much easier to slip. You don’t dare to readjust your hands though, afraid of what would happen if you got into the water.

You guys have pissed off someone. Because this is in no way part of the clock.

You hear something splash behind you, and you look over again to see that Cashmere’s body is now gone. Probably getting tossed around the water underneath you.

You begin to panic a bit when you begin to hear the things inside of the cornucopia come loose. All the boxes, and weapons that aren’t tied down in some way pose a threat, and you can see it the second they start to move.

Beetee falls, and you reach over, grabbing his wrist. Finnick has a hold of his leg, and you go back to worrying about the weapons above. Now suddenly acutely aware that you’re only holding onto the middle with one hand now. And the water is making it so much harder.

A few of the weapons begin to fall, just barely missing you. Peeta moves out of the way, just in time for a sickle to come spinning at his head.

The next to come are the boxes, which would be so much worse to get hit by. Peeta flips onto his back, and you can’t imagine by any means how useless that is.

You try to make your body stick to the rocks, closing your eyes and turning your head to the side. You want this to stop.

It’s a few more times around until it finally comes to a slow. You aren’t normally motion sick, but the second that you’re able to let Beetee free, you’re pushing yourself onto your feet while trying not to fall over.

Finnick follows you to the edge while you bend over. Everything that you had eaten before suddenly comes up. Finnick holds you, just in case you suddenly lose your balance and fall over. Soon, there’s tears springing in your eyes, and nothing but stomach acid is coming up after that.

Once you catch your breath, your first question is about Katniss and Johanna. He tells you it looks like Katniss had fallen off, but they’re both okay now. You scoop up some water–that’s away from the puke–and put it in your mouth, swishing away the taste of vomit. Obviously, you don’t swallow it, and you spit it out back where it had come from.

Finnick is sure to stick by you after that, even though you’re telling him that you’re just fine over and over. He doesn’t want to accept that as an answer, and you eventually let it be. In what’s left of the boxes, you find something to eat. Everyone else loads up on what they need, eating some for themselves, while on the other hand, Katniss gets more arrows and Peeta grabs a new machete.

You’re careful to take it easy on the eating as you start to head back to the sand. You guys don’t want to be on the island any longer than you have to.

You guys settle beneath a tree, sitting in a circle, almost. You watch as everyone drops their things off, unworried about people coming to sneak up on you again. It would eb stupid for Enobaria and Brutus to come back, considering that there’s six of you, and two of them. No matter how big brutus is, they’ll be overpowered by all of you.

Peeta basically sits on one of the lower branches, machete stabbed into the sand. Katniss sits to the left, playing around with the sand in her hands, then there’s Johanna and Beetee. Finnick stands to your left, arms over another branch that’s reaching out to the water.

You unravel your arms from around Finnick’s calf as you push yourself up, “I’m going to pee real quick.”

“Do you want one of us to go with you?” he asks, you shake your head.

“I don’t think they’ll test us, Finn.” you kiss him, “I’ll be back in a couple of minutes.”

“Yell if you need help.” he tells you, stopping you to kiss you again.

You laugh, pulling away because he’s being ridiculous. You grab your knife, and then wave to the others, to signal your leave.

You’re careful as to where you step when you first enter the trees. But eventually, you get a hang of it, getting over the roots and around the leaves and twigs that stand in the way. You go as far as you dare to, knowing that your scream can definitely be loud if you want it to be.

Hell, the girl from five that got wiped out–jesus christ. You guys heard her all the way across the arena, and that’s pretty fucking far. You can imagine that you can definitely reach the same range as she can. Even if you don’t normally have a reason to scream.

Adrenaline is one hell of a drug. It can increase strength, heighten core senses, like seeing and hearing and all of that. It can make you process things faster, it’s basically endless possibilities on what it can do. The body just doesn’t use it, because it isn’t necessary.

You can remember a couple of times in the district where there had been some sort of accident. Like a bookshelf, or some weights fell on top of a kid, or someone who couldn’t pick it up for themselves. All of a sudden, someone who looks like they wouldn’t be able to lift it either, is picking it off of them.

As you said before though, adrenaline goes through the body because the brain wants to keep the body alive. It’s not used as a motive to keep fighting, it’s used to keep you alive. It can help in fights, and it can help when you’re severely wounded, but it’s not meant as a tool to fight.

That makes sense, right?

You find your perfect place in the jungle, being sure to even go as far as to hide in a bush while you take care of your business. You’re mainly paranoid that the careers will take their chance and try to attack you. You are alone, and you’re vulnerable. And no matter what you’re in the middle of doing, a kill is a kill, no matter how gross.

On your way back to where everyone else is, you whistle to fill the silence and drown out the cicadas, still loud as ever. You’re tired of the constant noise, and you wonder if they ever sleep.

When you get back onto the beach, you see that the spot where everyone just was a few minutes earlier, is completely void. No one stands or sits there any longer, and all the weapons have been picked up. As you get closer, you can see that their footprints in the sand are deep, and they lead straight into the jungle.

They were running from something?

You look out to the water, and around the middle, but you see nothing. No one is in the water, or in the middle, or on the beach or the treeline. It’s peaceful out here.

You look down again, and it’s only their footprints. There’s no animal.

You turn, following the path that they had all stamped into the ground from running. It isn’t until you’ve taken ten or so steps, still pondering over what had happened, when you realized that it doesn’t have to be a mutt. It could have definitely been the careers.

But with no cannon, and no body left behind, it’s still extremely weird.

You press the button for the knife to become a sword just for safety. As you jog, you look behind and around you occasionally. You can only hope that you’re going in the right direction after a while, because the footsteps seem to disappear entirely.

“Finnick?!” You yell, “Johanna?”

“(Y/n)!” Johanna yells back, you pick up the speed.

You swing the sword, getting things out of your path, so you can see ahead more. When you get to the others, you collapse the sword again, seeing that they’re just fine.

Something is so severely off, though.

You look over the scene in front of you.

Peeta is on his knees, forehead pressed to some invisible wall. Johanna stares at you in shock, while Beetee looks like he doesn’t know what to do. When you move closer, you can see past Peeta that Katniss and Finnick are on the other side.

There’s birds swarming them, and they both have their hands clamped over their ears.

“What’s happening?” you ask, belting your knife as you get closer.

“Jabberjays.” Beetee says.

“Katniss heard Prim scream.” Peeta tells you, “Finnick must have heard you or something, because he ran deeper.”

“But they can see us?” you ask, looking to them, “Can they hear us?”

“No.” Johanna tells you.

You crouch down against the wall, placing your hand on it. It feels weird, not charged with thousands of volts of electricity. It’s a barrier, it’s keeping you from seeing him.

Katniss looks to be in much worse shape. She’s facing towards you guys, eyes closed with her hands over her ears. She leans down, away from the birds that are swaming them.

Finnick is similar, but he’s rocking himself back and forth. Eyes shut, hands over his ears and it looks like his jaw is clenched.

“What can we do?” you ask, looking to Johanna and Beetee, “There has to be some way to get in there–”

“You saw how it works.” Peeta says, “With the water and the fog. There’s no way around it.”

He’s right.

No one is allowed in or out.

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Ten (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 4k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

Katniss throws another rock at the forcefield, and then she looks back to you guys, “Hang on.”

She heads straight for the tree that’s nearby. When you look up to see how tall it is, you realize that it might be one of the biggest inside of the arena. She would get a perfect view up there. Props to her for that quick thinking.

She slings the bow over her shoulder as she begins to climb up stealthily.

“Looks like I’m not the only one who climbed trees as a kid.” you laugh, covering your eyes from the sun to watch her disappear in the mess of leaves, tree branches and vines.

“Maybe you have met your match.” Finnick suggests, you scoff.

“As if!” you smile, leaning against a tree.

Peeta looks between you two curiously, almost like he doesn’t know what to think of you two. Of course he knows the basics, hopefully. The fact that you two won your games together, had a little falling out only to come back stronger when Annie had won her games. Hell, you came out engaged.

You’ve been married to Finnick for five, maybe six years now. You’ve known him for ten, but your relationship is almost like best friends. You two don’t drape over each other like lovers do. It could be because you guys know that the other will be just fine without it

You and Finnick can look after each other without being suffocating about it. It’s not like Katniss and Peeta have that type of relationship at all.

But then again, he could just be staring at you guys like this, because this is the type of relationship that he wants with Katniss. Something so laid-back. You guys can rely on each other, and share looks and know what the other is thinking without a single word being said. A mutual agreement, an understanding.

He’s not trying to protect you all the time, and you’re not trying to do the same to him. While with Katniss and Peeta, she’s so worried about him, that it doesn’t really leave room for mistakes.

You can see it all now.

“How are you holding up, Peeta?” you ask, still playing around with the knife, “Got superpowers yet?”

Peeta smiles, looking down at the ground slightly, “I’m doing good. Thank you, by the way, Finnick.”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

You point to Finnick with the knife, and then raise your eyebrows, “You had your first kiss with Peeta, how exciting was that?”

Finnick laughs, shaking his head at you, “He was dead, it doesn’t count.”

You raise your eyebrows a little taller, “Okay, then do it again, I dare you.”

“I’ll pass, thanks.” Peeta says, moving away from Finnick purposely.

“You’re not my type, anyway,” Finnick says to Peeta, giving you a wink.

It’s quiet for a second, and then, “Haymitch gave you those?”

Finnick holds up his wrist, the same time as you hold out your hand with the ring. Not a word had passed between you two to spark this.

“Huh. Leave it to Haymitch, I guess.”

“You should be thanking him,” you shake your head, stopping with the knife, “He’s saving your lives. Had you gone this alone…”

They’d be as good as dead.

“What happened during the first bloodbath, anyway?” you ask, looking to Finnick.

“Guy from five tried to attack Katniss, saved her,” Finnick says, holding out his fingers, “Katniss shot at both Gloss and Enobaria. Gloss wasn’t quick enough, so he should be weak in one of his calves. Peeta killed the guy from nine.”

You look to Peeta to see that he’s nodding, “He can thank me for that. He almost missed it while he was looking at me.”

“I was surprised to see you, was all.” Peeta tries to defend himself, “And the ring was weird to see too.”

So, he did see it. Good enough for you.

“Anyone else?” you ask Finnick.

He shrugs, “That was it, besides the four cannons when we were running.”

Four, and the three kills that you had all gotten total, comes out to seven.

Only seven? That can’t be right.

“I guess we’ll see who exactly died tonight.” you say, and then look over to see Katniss coming down the tree.

She pulls the bow off of her back when she gets to the ground, “The forcefield, it’s a dome. We’re at the edge of the arena.” she stops next to Peeta, “I couldn’t find any signs of fresh water.”

“It’s gonna get dark soon, we’ll be safe with our backs protected. We should set up camp, take turns sleeping.” Finnick says, and then adds, “I can take first watch.”

Katniss laughs, “Not a chance.”

Finnick stands, and this is when you know it’s not going to be good. You reach out to grab his shoulder, glaring at Katniss over it, because you don’t want her to piss off Finnick.

“Honey,” he starts, gripping onto his trident a little tighter, “That thing I did for Peeta back there, that was called saving his life. If we wanted to kill either of you, we would have done it by now.”

And with that, you let go of his shoulder, nodding a little bit. Because he’s not wrong, there would be no point with keeping them around if you didn’t want them as allies. Hell, Finnick could have let Peeta die, and you would have sticked Katniss down. Problem solved, almost instantly.

Finnick pulls his trident up, and then offers his hand to you. You take it, and he begins to pull you off, away from where Katniss and Peeta are. He helps you up a step, and looks behind you guys, presumably at the other two. Then, he follows you to a tree you’ve picked out.

You sit against it, leaning your head back. Finnick checks up on you, and you tell him that you’re doing fine. You let him know before he goes that you’re fine with taking a watch if either of them suddenly decide they’re not okay with it. You make sure to say it a little loud so Katniss can catch that too.

She is supposed to be trusting of you, after all.

After that, you give Finnick a quick kiss, and close your eyes. Mostly hoping to take a nap, since you’re exhausted from the activity. You’ve already fought someone, and you’ve been climbing around the jungle all day with the sun beating down on your backs. The warmth of the arena is gross, and it hasn’t been comforting since the moment you arrived.

You place the knife carefully, so that if you suddenly make a grab for it, it won’t be the blade that you’re grabbing, instead it’ll either be dirt and leaves, or the hilt.

You begin to doze off, thinking about anything but the games. Mostly about your family back home. You’re aware that there’s a big chance that they have eyes on you right now. They could be seeing how tired and dehydrated you are. You’re just hoping that they aren’t worrying too much.

The question of whether or not they had watched you kill the male morphling comes to mind, and you keep telling yourself that it’s slim. That they wouldn’t have cameras underwater, because you and him were far down. Underneath the cornucopia and the path rocks is nothing but water. Unless they have cameras attached to the black rock, the chances of them seeing you were slim.

You’re just glad that you haven’t done anything above water just yet. You haven’t ran into any careers, or any stragglers. People who aren’t in the alliance would be a pain in the ass to fight. Especially since your little group right here, is made up of the two highest numbers. You and Finnick had gotten eleven’s, but Katniss and Peeta? The both of them had scored a twelve.

And going back to what you said earlier about numbers. High numbers are just as dangerous as low numbers. People tend to head for them, so the four of you are basically like a beam of light. If anyone that’s not in the alliance were to come after you guys, their first targets would likely be Peeta and Katniss, with you guys following shortly after.

However, you have a feeling that Katniss and Peeta didn’t deserve the numbers that they got. Sure, they could have shown off some deadly ass skill or something dumb like that, but once again, the scores are rigged. They could give them the high number just because they’re pissed off with them.

They want people to go after them. It’s not so that sponsors will go after them, it’s because they’re hoping that people will try to attack and kill them. Snow isn’t happy with Katniss by any means because of how rowdy the districts have gotten over her act of rebellion with Peeta.

Of course, Peeta had taken part in the action of almost eating the berries, but Katniss is the one that suggested it. She’s the one that pulled out the berries and wanted Peeta to eat them with her. Get rid of her, and the entire thing should die. There’s a chance that it’ll just make it worse, though. Because it would obviously be staged, but then again that could be why you’re all in this place.

It’s because Snow couldn’t just outright kill her. Everyone would be suspicious of it, and the Capitol absolutely loves them right now. They’d get mad at Snow if she ‘accidentally’ died. So, the only solution to that would be to alter what the Quell is. Change it from whatever unfortunate it was before, to what it is now. Now, the crowds can’t get mad if she’s suddenly killed, because she’s not the only one, and it won’t necessarily be his fault.

Katniss and Peeta won’t be killed in here though. It’s the entire mission, they’re going to get out of this arena alive. No matter what happens, you guys are supposed to take special care of Katniss, since she’s going to be the face of it. Keep Peeta happy too, because a happy Peeta, is theoretically a happy Katniss.

The sound of the anthem makes your eyes shoot open as if you’ve been shocked.

“It’s just the fallen.” Finnick says, “Nothing to worry about.”

You nod a little bit, settling your head back against the tree while hoping that your heart calms down some.

The first to show up is the guy from five. No careers are dead, Beetee and Wiress are alive, and obviously so are you and Finnick. Next to show up is the male morphling from District Six, following is Woof. He must have been the cannon that you guys heard when you were running, there’s no way he made it to the cornucopia. He’s old, he was barely doing well inside of the training center.

Your heart completely stops when you see Cecelia.

You slap a hand over your mouth, the tears already brimming your eyes. You’re careful to miss the knife entirely when you push yourself up. You can hear Finnick behind you while you move out of the way, away from Katniss and Peeta.

Cecelia’s dead. Her husband and three kids are now missing a wife and mother. She’s dead. Your best friend is dead.

“I should have saved her.” you sob, crouching down in the bushes while you try not to hyperventilate, “I should have saved her.”

Finnick rubs your back, “Breathe, it’s not your fault.”

“Finnick, I didn’t get to say goodbye.”

He makes you sit in the dirt, hugging you and shushing you slightly. He rocks you back and forth lightly, chin on your head. You can guess that he’s staring at the sky to check the last few people who have died.

“It’s okay.” Finnick tells you, squeezing you a little tighter, “It’s not your fault, honey. You were a good friend to her, and she knew it.”

You eventually start to get a hold of your breathing, but it still feels like a frog is stuck in your throat. You really wish that there was water, because you’ve definitely made this whole dehydration thing worse. Finnick moves from stray hairs back behind your ears, still rocking you and humming slightly, trying to get you to calm down.

It’s a few more minutes of this, before you finally decide that you’re okay. He double checks, and then helps you back to where you were sitting. On the way, he tells you the rest that had been killed. Both of District Nine, girl from ten, and Seeder.

You don’t feel like you can go back to sleeping, so you go back to spinning the knife in your hand, staring at the dirt adjacently. You try not to look in the direction of Peeta, not wanting to see him stare at you in pity. At least with Katniss, she’s behind you, therefore she can do it behind your back.

Eight have died, you were off by a number. There’s still fourteen people around the arena, taking away your group that you have going on, eight. The people left should be everyone up until four, the girl from five, the female morphling from District Six, Johanna and Blight, the guy from ten, and Katniss and Peeta.

It’s complete silence again, only the sounds of cicadas and other bugs filling the air. Until, the chiming of a sponsor gift breaks it. You look behind the tree to see that Katniss is already on her feet, heading towards where the gift had been dropped.

You can hear her break open the metal, clearly eager for whatever the gift may be.

“Drink up?” Katniss says, you’re guessing she’s reading the note.

“Is it water?” you ask, moving from your spot a little bit to see better, Peeta is also sitting up now.

“What is it?” Finnick asks, and you can just barely see Katniss hold up something.

“It’s from Haymitch,” she says, pausing for a moment as she turns it over her hand. Then, she gets up, “I think it’s a spile.”

“A what?” Finnick asks.

Katniss grabs a pretty big rock, and then goes over to a thin three. She hits it a few times, making sure that it gets into the tree. She waits, and you watch as Peeta gets up from his spot. On the way, he offers you a hand to get up too.

After thanking him, you join the other two at the tree. Katniss places her hand on it, waiting desperately. And then the water starts running.

“You’re kidding me,” Finnick laughs, and then he pushes you in front of him slightly.

Katniss gets water first, getting a mouthful. You can feel the smile come over your face suddenly, glad that there’s water. Peeta then goes next, taking his turn with it. Finnick still pushes you to go before him, so you take as much as you can hold, and then move out of the way too.

It’s weird to say, but you’ve never been happier to see water. You all continue to take turns with the water. For a little while, you sit under it, taking mouthfuls when you need it. And then eventually, when you feel much better and no longer sluggish, you take the knife from where you had been sitting at the tree.

“I’m going to find a place to sleep.” you tell Finnick, cupping his face slightly, “Don’t stay up for too long, okay?”

He nods, and brings you in for a kiss, “I love you.”

“I love you too, Finnick.” you say, moving some hair out of his face, “Drink more water.”

He laughs, “Goodnight.”

“‘Night.” you say, moving down to the spot you were eyeing. It’s farther down that Peeta is, and it’s next to a small drop in the dirt, caused by the root of a tree.

You place the knife in reach again, and then use one of your arms as a pillow. You close your eyes, falling asleep to the sounds of the bugs surrounding you.

You wake again at the sound of a gong. However, you don’t jump up like you did before, and you don’t open your eyes either. You try to keep track of how many times it happens, but you end up being impatient.

When it’s finally over, you can hear Katniss, “I counted twelve.”

“Midnight?” Finnick suggests.

“Or the number of districts.”

The silence consumes you guys again, until you hear sort of a charging sound. You recognize it, mainly because it’s the sound that your tv used to make at the house you had before winning. When the electricity used to be turned on for a couple hours of the day.

You open your eyes just in time to see the lightning strike the tree the first time. It’s partially loud, and you can help but to cover your eyes each time it flashes. You groan, turning over.

“Well,” Finnick starts, “If you’re not gonna sleep, I will.”

“Okay.” Katniss says.

You listen to the rustling of leaves and how they get louder. You don’t want to move from your spot, but you lean back slightly, opening your eye just a peek to see just how close Finnick is. He sets down the trident carefully, and lowers himself onto the ground.

“It’s just me.”

“I know,” you sigh, lifting up your arm, he slides in right behind you.

He spoons you, pulling you tight against his body. You hold onto his hand a little, squeezing it for reassurance. You’re thankful that the lightning storm doesn’t have any water either, even if cold rain would feel good right now. You don’t want to be huddled up, shivering like a cold, wet dog.

Eventually, the lightning storm becomes nothing but background noise to you. And instead of keeping you up, it lulls you right to sleep.

–

Katniss’ scream jolts you awake. Your hand is on the knife before you realize it, and you’re pushing Finnick’s arms off of you. You get up into a crouching position just as she yells, “Run!” Finnick sits up now, “Run! The fog is poison.”

You yank Finnick onto his feet as hard as you can. His trident was already in his hand, so he doesn’t have to bend over and pick it up. You watch as Peeta and Katniss race by you and Finnick. You two don’t lag very far behind, though. You’re pretty far ahead of the fog when you do start running.

You don’t hold onto Finnick, knowing that you can run just fine without him pulling you along. You use the vines on a tree to help you down, but as soon as they’re inconvenient, you let go.

Peeta leads the way on this one. He swings occasionally, taking down anything that might get in the way. Katniss is behind him, and Finnick is behind you. Eventually, you press the button for the knife to turn into the sword, as you swing at anything Peeta might have missed.

It’s quick motions. A twig gets in the way, you’ll swing at it, and keep moving. Anything that holds the potential of hurting you unnecessarily, you get it out of the way.

As you guys run, though, you can see that it begins to come from all directions. Peeta just barely slides by when it suddenly appears on your guys’ right. You make sure to get out of the way of the fog, but even then, you can still feel the tingle of the toxicity that it breathes into the air.

Peeta’s path becomes much more jagged. You guys will run to the left for a little while, and then the fog comes in, corralling you a different way. After that, it comes in from the right. You weave in and out of trees and bushes, until you finally realize that you and Finnick had split up from Katniss and Peeta.

Your eyes sweep the ground in front of you, and you take chances in quick glances to see if you can find where they had gone. You find them far off to your left, still running.

With this slip up, you can feel the entire right side of your body start burning. Without realizing it, you had accidentally started to run into the fog, rather than away from it.

Finnick grabs your hand while you try not to scream. Your run slows down considerably, since it feels like your entire right side of your body is on fire. From your head down to your toes, anything that had been exposed, is now aflame with the poison that the fog is made out of.

He tries his best to pull you along, not wanting you to slip up like that again. You watch as he makes almost the same mistake as you do. He yells out in pain, his arm twitching with the trident that’s in it, like he wants to raise the arm and hold onto his neck.

You watch as Peeta falls because Katniss isn’t able to carry him.

You and Finnick head to where Katniss and Peeta are.

“I can’t carry him.” Katniss says to Finnick.

You grab one of Peeta’s arms, lifting it for Finnick. He pulls the arm over his shoulder, and Katniss does the same on the other side. Finnick yells for you to keep ahead of them, and you comply, knowing that you can’t afford another encounter with the fog.

It still burns, and the more you walk, the more painful it seems to get. While you’re ahead though, you keep coming face to face with the fog. Just to make it all easier, you collapse the sword again so it’s not as heavy.

It’s a good thing you did, because you manage to throw yourself over a decline. The wind on your face is brief, as you begin to fall parallel with the dirt. But eventually, the time for flying is up, and you slam straight into the earth hard enough to shatter some bones.

Behind you, you can hear all three of them yell out in pain, before they’re following the same tumble as you are.

You try to keep a hold of the knife away from you, but eventually you throw it while you can in order not to land on it.

You feel the release in your body when you finally hit the bottom. There’s pain stabbing you all over your body, as well as the godforsaken burning that seems to have flared in your fall.

Finnick almost lands on top of you, but he just barely misses and stops to your left instead. You reach over, placing your hand on his chest to make sure that he’s still breathing as you watch the fog come closer. Once you feel that he’s breathing, you take in a deep breath.

You tell yourself over and over to catch your breath, and then get Finnick and go. You’ve been training for this exact moment, to be able to pick him up and bring him with you in the case of an emergency. He doesn’t even have to be cooperative in the movement, as long as you can get him on your back or something, you’ll be fine.

Just before you’re about to push yourself, you see the fog hit an invisible barrier, stopping it from getting to you four.

You fall back against the dirt again.

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Fourteen (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 3.5k

Warnings; swearing

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

You sit on the edge of Finnick’s bed, watching as he plays around with a rope. He’ll untie it and retie it into knots to keep himself entertained. Here, in District Thirteen, it feels like almost nothing happens. Especially when you’ve been sitting in a bed for a while.

You had thrown a whole bitching fit when they tried to take Finnick away from you. Put you in a different room away from where he was. You told them that they couldn’t do that, and made sure that the message was very thorough. You respect, and you’re very thankful for them saving you from the arena, but Finnick is all you have right now.

You don’t have your two brothers, you don’t have your sister. Finnick is your only lifeline right now, as you think about the endless possibilities that could be going on with your family. Because Snow had taken one nice stop in District Four and with one foul scoop, took your siblings and Annie right the fuck out of there.

You have no clue what’s happening to them right now.

You told the doctors that you wouldn’t be difficult if they at least accepted your plans. That you want to be put in the same room as Finnick, and you don’t want to be hooked up to any machines if it’s possible. It’s not like you’re dying, and there’s nothing inside of you right now that would hinder your abilities to do anything.

You have a few cuts here and there on your body from running through the jungle, and from tripping and accidentally cutting yourself and so on. But those aren’t important. You understand that they want to double check on your body because of the poisonous white fog you had encountered.

As far as you’re concerned, though. If it isn’t broken, don’t try and fix it. You’re running just fine. You can breathe, your heart still pumps, and you’re taking down food like a champ. So far, you body hasn’t even shown a hint of trying to end itself, and that’s why you think the doctors shouldn’t try and experiment, unless they know that they’re doing.

Because all it would take is one damn screw up. A little experiment of seeing if they can draw it out of your bodies and all they do is end up making it worse. Your liver can handle it, if it’s handled all the other shit that you’ve put in your body, then you’ll be fine. And it’s not like you guys hadn’t gone ahead and washed it off when you could.

Regardless, you promised to try your best and be cooperative as long as you got what you wanted, in a sense. So you took the cream that they wanted you to spread on the areas that had been affected by the fog, and moved right along. They had decided to bring you to him, since he wasn’t resisting treatment.

You twist your wedding ring, trying to keep your hands from shaking.

“Finnick.”

You look over to where the voice had come, and there stands Katniss. She had to have just woken up, because you haven’t heard a word come from her room, which is literally next door. She looks angry, and she alternates between glaring at you, and Finnick.

It’s quiet between you three for a moment, before Finnick answers, “I wanted to go back for Peeta, and Johanna. But I–I couldn’t move.”

You keep quiet, staring at the floor slightly. There wasn’t much you could do in that situation either. You were just barely able to drag yourself onto Finnick. Then again, she could always be mad about what came after. When she had woken up inside of the hovercraft and tried to stab Haymitch with a needle.

She has all the right to be angry. You guys more or less directly defied what she had wanted, knowingly. She wanted Peeta to be saved, she wanted him to be the one that came out of the arena alive. Not her. Haymitch had told you all of this, which is also a  good reason why you couldn’t let her in on the plan. Because it involved getting her out first.

“They have (Y/n)’s family too,” Finnick says, as if that helps. As if it’s supposed to make her feel better about her situation. So the both of you can suffer together, “They took them, along with Annie. They’re uh–they’re in the Capitol.”

You look up to Katniss now, to see how much her face has changed. There’s tears in her eyes, and you laugh, turning to look away from her. You’ve cried your tears already, you just want it to all be fake by now. One big dream and at any moment, someone is going to rock you awake.

Just like at the beach. Just like how Finnick had shook you awake. You want it to be exactly like that.

You wonder if you are stuck in a dream right now. Or maybe you’re dead, and this is your own personal hell. Knowing that your family is stuck in the captivity of the Capitol, with the full knowledge of the fact that Snow will go great lengths to make sure that you’re in pain. He’s going to do what he wants to your family, and he’ll do it because he has no repercussions.

Snow got Finnick’s family ten years ago. You suppose it’s your turn to suffer in the same way. After speaking out against Snow like that during your interview. After actively participating in the rebellion. This is going to be his way of getting you back.

You reach up, wiping your eyes with the heel of your hand. A laugh bubbles out of you, as you look at the ceiling.

“(Y/n)?” Finnick asks.

You laugh a little harder, shaking your head as you look to Katniss, and then Finnick.

“I thought I was untouchable.” you press your lips together, and then look down at your wedding ring, “I thought I couldn’t be affected, because it wasn’t me who was going to be the leader of the rebellion. I should have known.” you look at Katniss, “I’m really sorry, Katniss.”

A nurse comes down the hall, catching Katniss standing there. They move her back to her room, and it’s just you and Finnick in the room, back in silence.

“They’re not going to hurt them, (Y/n).” Finnick says quietly, “And you don’t need to be thinking like that.”

“Finnick, Snow went out of his way to go to District Four and get Annie and my family,” you shake your head, looking at him, “You’re being absolutely ridiculous if you think for one single second that he’s not going to do something.”

“Come here.” he says, his tone means it’s not up for debate. He sets down his rope, and holds out his hands for yours. You sit down, facing him and placing your hands in his, “Look at me.”

You’ve seen Finnick serious before, it’s not an outrageous thing. You’ve seen him determined, and angry, and fearless, and war-driven. You’ve seen him worried, and caring, and loving, and free. Throughout these years, you’ve seen everything you can come from him.

You look at Finnick, and you’re already getting emotional, because it hurts. And he sees this.

“Remember during the first games, and you kept telling yourself that you need to look up and not down?” he asks, “Because if you look down for too long, you’re going to think down? You’re going to think that none of it matters if you end up dying, anyway?”

You nod.

“This is the same thing.” Finnick says, “You thinking that they’re not going to make it out, is going to make something bad happen. You’re going to force those bad things to happen, instead of thinking up.”

Finnick’s right, as he normally is.

You laugh, looking down at the bed for a moment, “Thank you, Finnick.”

He yanks you towards him, letting go of your hands just in time so you face plant straight into his chest. He laughs at his antics, and wraps his arms around you for a hug. You do your best to hug him back.

“Tell me one of your favorite stories about them.” he demands.

You readjust yourself so you’re a little more comfortable. Even then, it doesn’t help, “Finn, you know all our stories.”

“Not all of them!” he says, “I didn’t know the one about the tree!”

“It was a useless story.” you giggle.

Finnick shrugs, “Then tell me the useless ones.”

You think for a moment, because all the stories to you, are just memories. None of them seem to stick out like a sore thumb. They all blend together, and you can’t even seem to find a funny one at first.

“Oh!” you say, “Let me sit up.”

“Got a good one?” he asks, letting you go.

You laugh, “Kinda. Did I ever tell you the first time I went to the square?”

Finnick begins giggling too, “No, but I have a feeling it’s a good one.”

You move Finnick’s left arm up, as you lay right next to him on the bed. He scoots over a little bit, and readjusts the pillow so you can be comfortable. His arm is wrapped around your shoulder, and he looks down at you, since you’re laying and he’s sitting up.

“It was before my mom had died.” you begin, “I was roughly twelve when Alyssum had been born, so I must have been ten or so. Reed was fifteen, Mox was fourteen, and I was the runt at the time. Obviously, that meant I would have to endure a ton of torment, no matter what.

“Don’t get me wrong, okay? I love my brothers as much as the next person, but what they did one day was cruel. The day I had first gone to the square, we had run out of the essentials. Like shampoo and soap and all of that. Of course, we could go to one of the local stores and try to buy what they have but–you know how the old lady was.”

Finnick laughs, “Cranky, and everything in there was overpriced.”

“Exactly!” You laugh, “And the soaps were specially scented, and that’s why she made them overpriced in the first place. The only times we would buy from her, was either for weddings or funerals. Which are the two most important times for a person. Not birth!

“Anyway, Reed and Mox knew full well that I had never been to the square before, and since I hit double-digits they thought that sending me by myself to get soaps was the perfect way to do it. Even if I had no idea on how to navigate, or bargain, or know what I was after specifically.

“Mom and dad didn’t even think to stop them, because they didn’t know!” you laugh, “Reed and Mox left the house with me to make it look like they were going to do it, because it was their job to do. But they handed me the money, told me the basics of what I was looking for, and left me on my own.

“And when I mean left–” you giggle, and Finnick is laughing too, “I mean, they fucking left. They somehow knew that the wrath of our mom was going to bite them in the ass so fucking hard, that they fled halfway across the district to be out of reach. And they didn’t come home until it was late at night. But that’s for later.

“My brothers were so fucking cruel, they had sent me there at one of the busiest times of the day, because there’s three. One, really early in the morning for the people that want to get the good stuff. The afternoon to two o’clock for those who have nothing better to do during those times of the day. And right after work for everyone has ended. Can you guess which one they chose?”

“After work?” Finnick is still laughing.

“The place was a shit show, Finnick!” you motion with your hands, “Mostly fishermen that stunk of rotting fish that had sat in the sun all day. My dad had plenty of friends back then, his buddies that he would go on the water with during the day, so a few of the guys had obviously recognized me. They didn’t say a word, though. Because they thought I was on a mission.

“I was clutching twenty dollars like it was the last thing I had to my name, wandering around the stalls. I nearly got stepped on almost a hundred times. Do you know how many times I heard ‘oops, didn’t see you there, sweetheart!’? Too many! And yet none of them had thought to ask me what I was looking for.

“I ended up finding the stall that I was looking for, and I waited in line patiently. There was constantly people weaving in and out and occasionally stepping in front of me because I was too timid to tell them otherwise. I’m sure had I told them that I had been standing there, waiting, for almost an hour, they would have moved, but I didn’t have the guts.

“We both know how big and burly the fishermen in District Four get.” you settle down again, “Somehow, by some fucking miracle, I had gotten to the front of the line with the twenty dollars. And with the little knowledge that I had, I told the lady that I needed shampoo and body soap enough for five people with the twenty dollars that I had.

“At first, she tried to treat me like a regular person, because she’s seen the faces. They come in and out, and it’s hard to keep track of people in four, because we replicate like bunnies.” Finnick is in stitches at that comment, “But then, after I had answered one of her questions, she ever so slowly looked at me.”

You do the same, looking at Finnick as slowly as you can, “She looked me up and down, and then said, ‘honey, you don’t belong here’. As if I didn’t fucking know!”

Finnick shushes you, but he’s laughing too hard.

“I told her my brothers sent me in, and she asked me where they were. I told her that they left, and if she wanted to find them for me, that she could be my fucking guest because I knew that they would be ‘out of sight, out of mind’ far. We went back and forth for a while.

“She asked me if I had gone to any other stalls, and I told her that I was only allowed to get shower stuff. She told me I was smart for not falling for any of the candy displays, but to be honest I was so fucking scared of getting stepped on for the thousandth time, that I hadn’t even realized that there were any.

“She gives almost double the amount that I should have been given, and leaves enough money for me to go and get candy from one of the stalls. She gave me a bag, and right on top, wrote a nice note for my mom and dad and she told me not to read it. I got to the candy table, told them that the lady had sent me and she said that she would pay for it.

“The guy gave it to me on the house, of course, and then I was on my way home. I enjoyed my chocolate, but still semi-oblivious to what had just happened, I tucked some of the sweets away for my brothers when I would see them at home.” you grab onto Finnick’s arm, shaking him, “Because it had been almost three fucking hours since I left the house, and I figured that they would be there already. But guess what?”

“They weren’t there.” Finnick answers.

“They weren’t there.” you repeat, “I gave my mom the note that the lady wrote, and I’ve never seen my mom so caring before. She made me, her and our dad, my favorite dinner, and made basically bones for my brothers for when they would come home. My mom told me she was proud of me, and that I did a very good job inside of the square, but not to do it for a very long time.

“She found the chocolate that I had been saving for my brothers, and cut up some even pieces that were absolutely way too small to enjoy and placed that with their dinners. I allowed them to have the rest, and then after that, it was a waiting game.

“I stayed up hours past my bedtime with them, as they waited in the living room with me. Dad was reading a book, I was coloring, and mom was coloring right alongside me. The thing is, about our old house, is that it was two stories. My bedroom, and their bedroom was upstairs, but my brothers slept downstairs. Making it more than easy to come in through the window for them.

“They must have waited a while, because when they did come out of the room–” You’re laughing now, shaking your head, “–they were dressed in pajamas, and clearly ready with a flashlight to come and raid the fridge. Did I mention that we were sitting in the dark, though?”

Finnick is chuckling again, “No you didn’t, I have a feeling where this is going, though.”

“They shone the flashlight right on us.” you tell him, “Forget deer caught in headlights, they were light a couple of truckers that had caught the fucking deer! Mom jumped up and off the floor in two seconds and she tackled the both of them to the floor before they could escape to their room.

“Dad lit a few candles, and just like that, they were in giant ass trouble. They got yelled at for nearly an hour for doing that to me. And to make all the matters worse, they had shoved the chocolate in their face. Not in a way of ‘she got it and you didn’t’ but more of ‘even after you did this to her, she wanted to give you something nice’.”

You snort, “I think that’s when Mox became so sensitive, it’s because of me. Because I was the runt of the group, and they teased me relentlessly, and treated me like ass and even though they did, I still would do stuff like that. Get them their favorite treats, buy expensive toys with my own allowance and all that.”

You sigh, placing your hands on your stomach as you stare at the ceiling, “Unfortunately, two years later I would be taking trips to the square more often. Dad had gotten busy, trying to take care of Alyssum and providing for us. The days that Reed and Mox didn’t have school, they would be on the boat trying to help.

“And then it would get so much worse when dad had died, and I was suddenly put in charge of the square and Alyssum at the same time, since they would be busy with the boat and all that. It’s how the people of the square learned me more, and learned to respect who I was and all of that.

“I was twelve or thirteen, still getting used to it all. And then two years later would come the games,” you look over to Finnick, “I think you remember how that goes.” he nods, “I didn’t really have a reason to go back to the square after that. Too much money to know what to do with, I could have bought everyone out every single day, but it just wasn’t fun, y’know?

“I could have bought anything I wanted. The expensive bread, and meat, and the fancy perfumed soaps and shampoos. There was no need for the cheap stuff in the square, but I ended up going there anyway. I would basically shower people with money and tell them to keep the change.”

It’s quiet in the room, “You’ve always been adaptive.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” you tell him, “It’s luck that I hadn’t been taken in the square that day. Or have had my money gouged off me.”

“Do you have any more worthless stories?” he asks, sinking down on the bed with you.

They’re not worthless to him, you realize. He thinks that they’re fun and interesting, and he wants you to keep going. You look over to Finnick with tears in your eyes, and a frog in your throat, “Hundreds.”

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Five (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 2.8k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

You throw another pillow at Finnick’s head, making him roll over and turn his back to you. He’s not very amused by this game of getting him to get up and get ready for today, another training day. He’d rather stay and bed and sleep for a little while longer. You think that the games are just beginning to dawn on him.

He knows that they’re happening, just like everyone else does. But you think that the nightmares are beginning to sprout again. And just because it’s Finnick, he refuses to wake you up and tell you about them. He did it for a couple of years, and eventually stopped and you never got to know why.

He might have thought that it was affecting you, but  as far as you knew, it wasn’t. Or maybe it wasn’t completely obvious. Maybe you were hovering over him a little more to make sure that he wouldn’t have anything that would trigger him around. It seems like something you would do.

Unfortunately, you can’t remember that stuff anymore. It did happen a while ago, and if you were to bring it up now, he would find some lame excuse to get you off his trail. If he pretends like he’s uninterested in his own health, or makes it seems like it’s not as important as it is, he thinks it gets you off of his ass.

You make it seem that way to make him feel better. However, in the background you’re doing something for him secretly. Going to the doctors, mentioning it to Mags to get her advice, telling the people around you to watch what they say, etc. You worry over him like a concerned wife, because you are.

“It’s time to get up, grumpy.” you tell him.

He grunts.

Sighing, you head for the door so you can go to your room and grab your things. You’d think that the Capitol would think ahead and put some of your stuff in his room and vice versa, because you’re married and all that. Then again, you’re not really supposed to be spending the night in his room, being together or not, the rooms are made to fit one person at a time.

You grab another sports bra and the same leggings. You pull them on, skipping over a shower so you can take one later today. In the bathroom, you brush your teeth even if you’re going to eat in a moment. After putting your hair up, you debate over wearing shoes today.

Looking at the back of your feet, you frown when you see that it’s still healing. You applied the cream last night when it was given to you. But you suppose that it isn’t a life-threatening injury and they decided to give you something slow for it. Rather than having it heal all at once.

They want you to suffer a little bit or something.

You skip the shoes, and then head right back over to Finnick’s room. He’s sitting up at least, but he’s rubbing the side of his head like he has a headache.

“You feeling okay?”

“Just a nightmare.”

You go over, sitting on the bed, “Tell me about it.”

He clearly doesn’t want to tell you. Instead, he wraps an arm around you and pulls you into his side. You hug him and sit there silently, not wanting to pry if he doesn’t want to say anything.

He kisses your forehead, “It’s… I’m afraid of you dying in the arena. I keep watching you slip through my fingers because of Typhoid.”

Ah, it’s that nightmare. He’s had it before, even years later, it haunts him. Watching you turn pale, and weak. Sometimes back home in District Four, he’ll worry about you drinking the water. Because you wouldn’t survive another round of it if it came as hard as it did the first time around.

“I suppose it could happen again,” you look up at him, “But it’s unlikely. We know to be especially careful now.”

He nods, “Yeah.”

“Are you going to get ready or do you want to sit here for a little while longer?” you tease slightly.

“I’ll get ready,” he lets you go, and you head to the bathroom to grab your wedding ring.

“I’m gonna scope out Mags and Elysia,” you tell him, “Also make sure to comb your hair.”

He gives you a straight face, not amused.

“Love you!” you chirp, before skipping out of the room and into the hallway. The door shuts behind you, and you take your time with making your way to the dining room.

Sitting at the table is Elysia, not quite Mags. Elysia looks up at you as you come closer, “Good morning.”

“Hi,” you greet, “Mags up yet?”

She nods, “She ate already, she’s going to go talk to your stylists today. I’ll be following shortly after. How’s your feet feeling?”

“Still healing,” you take your seat at the table, “I’m going barefoot again today just to make sure that I don’t fuck it up with the shoes that they provide.”

An avox serves the regular, lamb stew. She provides rolls, orange juice, water and coffee, as if you’ll be indecisive. As you drink the orange juice, Finnick comes into the room, all dressed and more awake than he had looked before. He sits to your right, and raises the question about Mags.

You answer it for Elysia, and he nods, not too worried about it. Mags will be doing her mentoring things. Making sure that your outfits for the interviews are coming smoothly, making adjustments as she sees fit. You told her that you don’t want yours to be as revealing as your chariot ride outfit, which is obvious.

All Elysia told you last night about the dress that you’re wearing, is that it’s a head nod towards your first interview dress. It’s very similar, but since you’re so grown up, they’ve adjusted it accordingly. Also because these games are for the big-kids. This is no walk in the park, you’ve got to look your best.

There’s been no word on what Finnick’s wearing just yet. You have a slight feeling that they might go for something much more comfortable for Finnick. All Finnick had asked was that he wouldn’t be wearing a suit. No blazer, or dress pants or fancy shiny black shoes. He wants something breathable.

It was an interesting take, considering that everyone will be going for something formal to make themselves look expensive and rich. While he’s going to be more laid-back. You suppose it fits his personality more, he’s not normally uptight with things. He lets things take its course unless he’s sure that it’ll end badly.

You and Finnick eat a couple of bowls worth of food, making sure to drink plenty of water in the process. Just before you go to leave, you drink all your coffee at once to ensure that you’ll be bouncing off the walls inside of the training arena. Elysia doesn’t find it so funny at first, but then she says, ‘wreak hell’ and you know she’s on board.

You and Finnick take the elevator, and just with your luck, it’s a full house. Katniss, Peeta and Johanna are already inside.

“The gang’s all here,” Johanna sounds thrilled, but she motions for you to join her on her side of the elevator.

Finnick takes the middle, smiling at Peeta slightly as he moves you to Johanna. Johanna finds this funny and she snickers to herself as she looks out the window.

Once the doors are opened, Johanna is the first out. You and Finnick follow behind loosely, not really in a hurry to get inside of the training center. It’s going to be the same as yesterday. Learning, catching up, fighting with holograms.

“Do you care if I stick with you guys today?” Peeta asks.

You’re a little surprised, looking over to him. Katniss doesn’t seem all that bothered, and she shrugs when you look to her. Almost like a ‘I don’t control him’ sort of shrug. She didn’t set him up to this, he’s making allies by himself, just as Haymitch said he would.

“Sure, if you can keep up.” Finnick tells him.

“We can make another rope swing,” you laugh, and Finnick joins in.

“You made one yesterday?” Peeta asks.

Despite you suggesting a rope swing, you head right over to the hologram spaces, right next to where the careers already are. You want to try the one where you’re in the middle of the station, have them run at you from all directions like Katniss had.

Only, you don’t want to be shooting arrows.

You pick up a sword, swinging it in your hand. It’s too heavy, so you switch it out for a different one. It’s just light enough, and you’re easily able to swing it in your hands like a spear.

“Here we go with the magic tricks.” Finnick teases.

You look over your shoulder at him, “Says you, you twirl around those tridents like they’re batons.”

“What can I say? They’re just so light.” he shrugs.

While you set up the station, Finnick talks to Peeta. He hands off the advice that really matters with the careers: they’re just not worth it. If you team up with them, then that means you have to be ready to turn on them at any given moment.

As you’re messing around inside of the station, you pause to catch your breath, “You need to be aware of their plans at all times. If you make good friends out of them, then you have a better chance at them getting too attached to kill you.”

“There’s that,” Finnick motions to you.

You go back to swinging the sword at the holograms that come.

“What else? That can’t be it.” Peeta says.

“Definitely not,” you grunt, dodging the orange knife that comes flying towards you, “I made friends out of the careers after Finnick had ditched me.”

“Strategy,” Finnick begins to argue.

You point the sword at him, “I think you mean ‘bullshit’.”

Finnick rolls his eyes, “Go back to fighting or whatever.”

“It’s over.” you tell him, heading over to where they’re standing. You’re a little bit lower than them, since they’re on a platform. You stab the sword into the foam mat and lean on the hilt of it slightly, “If you do end up teaming with the careers, all the more power to you. I was friends with them for a while, and they think and act like careers.”

Peeta looks over, and you and Finnick follow. They’re all standing with each other, talking, joking around, Brutus wanders over to the station programming tablet again and tries to set up a game for himself.

“They’ve got a tight knit community.” you tell him, “They’ve known each other for ten fucking years now. Getting in there wouldn’t be a bad idea if you want them to protect and save. However, this Quarter Quell is different because it’s all victors. They’re going to be merciless and go through people like they’re burning through paper. Soon enough, they’ll run out of people to kill and just settle for you guys instead.”

Peeta looks at you now, and you point to him, “Which is not how we won the games, by the way. I got caught too quickly.”

“She’s impatient.” Finnick jokes, and Peeta cracks a smile.

“I am not, he was getting paranoid.” you argue, pulling the sword out of the mat, “I did what I had to.”

“And nearly got yourself killed because of it!” Finnick gives you a thumbs up.

“Give him a good whack on the side of the head for me, will ya?”

Finnick gives Peeta a look that says ‘don’t try me’. He helps you out of the pit, and you drop the sword back where it’s supposed to be. You go ahead and grab a water bottle from one of the tables, and motion to Peeta.

“Show me what you can do.”

Peeta shakes his head, “I’d rather watch.”

Finnick laughs, “If you’re worried about us knowing your skills, then you are severely mistaken. Everyone here watched you play last year, don’t be so shy.”

You roll your eyes, not too interested in the fight that’s about to break out between them. They follow behind you as you head to some first aid place with a teacher and all. Peeta breaks off sometime during the walk, leaving you and Finnick to do your own thing.

Finnick had definitely annoyed Peeta, but he was telling the truth. There’s no reason for him to act like he doesn’t need to show everyone his skills. If anything, you show off, you make yourself bigger, and you get more allies. It’s all about strategy.

Then again, you’re already their allies. You and Finnick will be babying them inside of the arena presumably. Make sure that they don’t get into any fights with the careers, or some people that are outside of the alliance. As far as you know, at least half of the people inside of here are in it.

You and Finnick. Johanna and Blight. Cecelia and Woof. Seeder and Chaff. The morphlings. Beetee and Wiress.

At least half the people that you just named are capable of keeping Katniss and Peeta from getting killed. The others are just a buffer, distractions maybe. But what would be a perfect fucking distraction, would be if someone in the alliance gained the trust of the careers and then guided them around like dogs.

Your eyes flicker up to where they’re all training. They’re showing off, acting hostile to try and get people to be afraid of them. You’re not, though. It was a damn shame that they were picked–and others volunteered–to be inside of the arena, of course. But no one is undefeatable.

You’re sure that they would want Katniss as an ally, at least. They wouldn’t mind having you around either, you think. Just because they had tried to talk to you during the tribute parade after years of despising each other. Maybe they were hoping that an alliance would spark between you guys.

Imagine, the career districts all sticking together. You guys would be so hard to work past, just because of all the things you know between each other. Not to mention, you’re all deadly anyway. What would be even better, is if a few others were added to the equation as well.

Johanna, most definitely, and you’re sure that Blight would be good too. Katniss would have to be included because she’s skilled for long-range fighting. Maybe a few of the outsider districts, but you don’t know them well enough.

It would be a team to fucking beat. No one would stand a goddamn chance, and when you all would turn on each other. Call that a second fucking bloodbath, because no one is leaving that unscathed.

“Hey, Finn.” you nudge him slightly.

“Yeah?” he asks, looking up from where he’s wrapping his hand with medical tape.

“What if one of us were to stick with the careers?” you ask him, and his face twists, “It’s just an idea, but hear me out. Let’s say that you go with Katniss and Peeta inside of the arena, and I go with the careers. I corral the careers to make sure that they keep away from you.”

Finnick makes a face, “Not a bad idea. But I’m pretty sure that you’d never leave my side for them.”

“Like I said, just an idea.” you look over to the careers, “I’m sure that Katniss and Peeta will be an ‘all hands on deck’ situation anyway.”

He laughs, “Tell me about it. Did you see the way Peeta soured up?”

You both turn to look to where Peeta and Katniss are standing together, “I bet they’re scheming.”

“Just like how you just were?” Finnick bumps you shoulder slightly, and you laugh, shaking your head as you look down at your ankle wrap.

“I think this is one sturdy ankle.”

“Never say that again, thank you.” Finnick says.

“I’ll remember this if you break your ankle inside of the arena,” you point at him, “don’t think I won’t let you suffer.”

“Like you’d let me run on a rolled ankle.” he scoffs, “Do you even know yourself, mom?”

You raise your eyebrows at him, “Do not call me that.”

“You’re right,” he snickers to himself, putting the tape down almost like he’s preparing for a fight, “It’d be disrespectful to my actual mom.”

He was right, because you drop your tape too. You raise your fists, “You’re gonna eat shit here in a second.”

“Bring it on!” he laughs.

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Four (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 4.3k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

It took a little longer to get out of bed this morning, like it had on the train. Finnick sat next to you the entire time while you explained over the nausea. You told him your theory that it’s because you’re stuffing yourself, because it’s logical. All he did was continue to brush your hair out of your face and suggested not to eat as much.

Which was the thing. You ate a light breakfast, stayed hydrated throughout the day. Then you ate healthy snacks while you were getting ready for the parade. And then once again, when you got into the apartment, you ate slowly and tried not to shovel it in too quickly.

Normally you eat as quickly as possible because you won’t fill up as quickly. If you’re taking your time, then of course you’re going to be full faster. And you didn’t even eat that much last night either. You thought it would give you a stomach ache right after eating, but there you were, the morning after.

When you had gotten up, you then noticed a pain in your achilles on your feet.

There’s blisters lining the back of your feet because of the heels that you were forced to wear during the tribute parade. Laurel knew what she was doing when she gave those massive shoes to you, and you have to give her props. Her revenge was silent, but lasting. You’ll have these for a little while.

Unfortunately for her, you know a couple of ways to keep them from getting worse. The first thing you did at brunch–since you and Finnick had gotten up a little later than expected–was complain to Elysia and Mags until they told you to shut up. Elysia told you she would find some healing cream for you to use. But in the meantime, you would just have to deal with it.

To not make them worse, you’ve decided against shoes today. You’ll still be wearing the training outfits that are provided. You had a choice when it came to a top, a sports bra, a tank top and a full-sleeved shirt. You decided for the sports bra, since it wasn’t as uncomfortable as you thought. Plus, the leggings they’ve provided are high-waisted on you. You’re not showing as much skin as you thought you would.

Finnick didn’t really have a chance when it came to what to wear. He slid on his sleeveless tank top and the leggings that he was provided. It was either sleeveless or full-sleeved. Leave it to your husband to show off all the muscle.

After you guys were dressed–opting for a shower after training–you and him said your goodbyes to Elysia and Mags. You two will see them at dinner, but not in-between. They’re sponsor hunting, they’re going to start tying down people.

As you and Finnick head down the hallway, hand-in-hand, he starts to head for the elevator. He knows the plan for today, this is just to throw off anyone that might be watching.

“Let’s take the stairs today,” you tell him, letting go of his hand as you bounce around in the hallway giddily, it’s all an act, “As a warm-up. We can’t just go in there without stretching first.”

“We’re going down the stairs, not up,” he says, but there’s a smile hinting at his face.

“All the same to me!” You smile at him.

You go to grab the door first, but Finnick isn’t having it. He practically pushes you out of the way so he can get there first. All so he can open the door for you, what a dork.

“Thank you.” you chirp, skipping into the stairwell, he follows you in, and even makes a point to pull the door shut entirely.

At the bottom of the staircase is Haymitch, staring up at you guys. You motion for him to go up the couple of steps to where you are. This is mainly to get away from the door, there’s two peacekeepers out there. If they hear anything, they are going to report it. The smart thing to do is get away from the door, and stay quiet.

“I came down the stairs.” he tells you two, “They don’t know I’m in here.”

“Same as us.” Finnick nods.

You lean up against the wall, fanning your face since the humidity in the stairwell isn’t the best. It’s making you feel like you’re overheating, like heat stroke, which you’ve had before in the summertime from being on the boats for too long. The only problem is, you haven’t gone outside since yesterday during the parade. These next few days, you’re going to be inside.

Almost as if Finnick knows that something is up, he wraps an arm around your waist. If you fall, he’ll keep you from collapsing against the cement. Although, being pressed up against his body is making all of this worse. You don’t complain though, you’d rather have his arm around you than not. It’s a safety net.

“Katniss is stand-offish.” Haymitch begins, and you can’t help but snort. Neither of you interrupt him though, “She’s difficult to work with at first, but the more you talk to her, the easier she’ll be.”

“But why?” you ask, “We don’t mind being in an alliance with her, but what’s your motive of making one for her?”

He lowers his voice considerably, “A rebellion.”

You and Finnick share a look, and just right there is enough communication. He gives you a look of ‘this is happening’ and you tell him ‘our time is now’. Just in that one little look, an understanding has passed through you two.

“We’re in.” Finnick says for the both of you, shocking Haymitch, “What will it take?”

Haymitch is shocked, “That’s… it?”

You tilt your head, “The districts are going nuts right now. Just at the mention of it, four goes wild. Now’s the time to do it. What do we have to do to help?”

And just like that, Haymitch launches into his explanation. Starting from the beginning, and how the berries had angered Snow. Katniss and Peeta’s families were on the line, and so they were trying to do everything they could to quiet down the districts. Including a marriage to appease the Capitol to prove that the action was done out of love, rather than resistance.

Haymitch tells you that there’s talk about it everywhere, and people are looking at her. He believes that she can be the face of it. She can get people moving behind her, but a few things need to happen first.

She needs to stay alive. An alliance acts in her best interest, but since she’s stubborn, she won’t be making it by herself. She might suggest a few people that she might like, but other than that, it’s one thing or nothing. The worst thing about it, is that Katniss can’t know that any of this is going on.

Haymitch is supposed to be ‘saving’ Peeta, and not her. Since she was ‘saved’ the first time around, she wants it to be Peeta’s turn. But Peeta doesn’t like that, and he’s already acting with Haymitch to make it look like they’re working in Katniss’s favor. It’s unnecessarily complicated, and you’re not too interested in that.

To boil it down, you and Finnick will spread the word a little bit, bring in people that might find this to be a good idea. Keep it from the careers because they can be difficult. They love the Capitol because they spoil them. So, telling them would result in the destruction of the plan.

Katniss can’t know that any of this is happening. You have to pretend that none of this is happening. Haymitch will give Finnick a bracelet as solidarity with you guys, since you’re going to be the main part of the protection. You’ll show it to Katniss inside of the arena, and just like that, hopefully she’ll put the puzzle pieces together and allow you to help her.

The last part of the plan is keep her alive long enough for them to take her out and take them to District Thirteen. You called Haymitch a lunatic, because everyone knows what happened to thirteen for being rebellious. If they’re still thriving, then you guys would have seen them by now. But all he had to do was tell you that they have a gamemaker in on it already.

That was convincing enough. If a gamemaker is in on this, the plan will be much easier. They have more insight than you guys do. Haymitch can be unreliable, but you asked if he’s sure that Plutarch is trustable, and he told you yes.

After that, you split. Haymitch went back upstairs to get his tributes, and you and Finnick left the stairwell together, hand in hand. You made a comment while passing the peacekeepers about being tired, telling Finnick that you didn’t sleep well last night, and you hope that you’ll wake up more as time goes on.

It wasn’t until you entered the actual building, when you started to feel better. The entire building has AC like you wouldn’t believe. It was only a couple of minutes before you completely forgot about it entirely.

You and Finnick spend a moment, finding people and choosing wisely. Unsurprisingly, he wants to have a chat with Johanna, and you decide that you might as well see Cecelia again. Her and Woof are sticking together it seems, they’re sitting around the bug station.

That’s a good thing to touch up on. The dangers that might be hiding around inside of the arena. There’s so many possibilities and dangers that the arena holds, that it just makes you overwhelmed.

First, it’s fish, and the type that live in the fresh water, or salt water. Next are the types of leaves, is it ivy or not. The trees, do they burn smoke easily? The berries and the chance that they’re poisonous. And this is all to be paired with not having the food, or the iodine to make the water safe. Not being able to skin rabbits and cook it properly so you don’t get sick.

Finnick taught you CPR one of the times on the train while you were teaching tributes before all of this–of course. That goes right along with first aid. You’ve gone as far as to recreate the creams to show the tributes which ones mean which. What’s healing, what’s supposed to be used on your weapon, and so on. You teach them how to stitch, and create stents and the list goes on.

It’s so simple to overlook something like bugs. When you’re so worried about literally everything else.

Cecelia offers you a big smile when you sit beside her. Watching as she and Woof easily identify the types of bugs. You keep the conversation light, and then you begin to enter in the keywords.

“How would you feel about an alliance?” you ask, she looks up, “This can go for you and Woof.”

Woof smiles, but Cecelia looks a little confused, probably wondering what’s bringing this all on. You almost can’t believe that she thinks that you wouldn’t invite her into an alliance with you and Finnick. She’s practically your best friend, for her not to be in it would be stupid.

“Sure, is Finnick fine with this?” she asks, going back to the bug game.

“Actually, a few of us are okay with this.” it’s a hint that there’s more than one of you, “it’s sort of a protection plan.”

Cecelia nods, thinking about this. You hope that she’s smart enough to get this. She’s raised three kids that have spoken in cryptic ways when they’re toddlers. It can’t be that hard to decipher the double meaning in words. You had to go through this all with Alyssum.

“Behalf?” she asks subtly.

“Katniss.” you tell her, “Girl on fire, it’s quite a brand isn’t it? It’s almost like she’s trying to set the Capitol ablaze.”

Her eyes flicker to yours the same time that Woof does, “Is that so?”

“You don’t think so?” you’re hoping that isn’t a no.

You watch as Cecelia’s face slowly holds a smile, “I do think so. Count me in.”

“Me too.” Woof tells you.

“More info to come.” you mouth quietly, and they nod slightly, “Nice seeing you guys again.”

Deciding that visiting two people is enough, you go ahead and head over to one of the knife throwing stations. As you get closer, you can see that they have projections now, it’s not just dummies anymore. They move, and get closer, and throw virtual weapons.

“Perfect.” you laugh, stepping up to one of the stations.

At the programming, you go ahead and make it the hardest possible. You select your weapon, keeping it at knives. It’ll be easier to throw than spears. Spears, you have to get your hands right on the hilt before throwing it. As for knives, you’re literally picking them up and throwing them.

You go ahead and pick up a few, feeling them in your hand. As a test run, the program automatically gives you one to start with. You have to find your footing first. You’re not in shoes, you’re barefoot. It’ll be easier for you to slip, since your feet aren’t gripped like the bottom of a shoe is.

However, you’ve been training for months for this exact moment. It might have been in shoes, but you haven’t fallen in a long ass time. You’ve always caught yourself, gradually becoming less clumsy as time goes along.

You throw the knife, being careful as to watch how it flies through the air. It hits the hologram in the middle of the chest, and then the blocks crumble. Just like that, the game has started, and they’re coming at you. For a moment, you’re overwhelmed, because you need to find a pattern for it.

Then, it all comes to you. They come in twos to three’s. You can hit them the first time if you aim for the chest and above. You’re typically hitting them in the head, getting them down the first time around. But on the off chance of missing it the first time, you always have an extra fourth knife in your hand.

You take them on at one at a time. The closest one is always the easiest, you get them out almost immediately. The second one is a little harder, you lean forward a bit more for this one. And the final one, is the one you’re needing the fourth knife for. They’re farther back on purpose, and they don’t come any closer past the half-way mark.

You throw with more force, allowing your body to move forward with the momentum that you build. The knives rest between your left hand’s fingers. You’ll grab the handle, flip for the blade, and then chuck.

The game is over before you realize it. There’s no more people coming at you, it’s just the playing field in front of you.

This is when you’re able to see that you’ve successfully hit the wall, that’s over twenty-five feet away from you, hard enough to get the entire knife into the wall. The ones that weren’t tough enough to make it through, dented.

“Damn.” Finnick’s voice is smooth, he whistles slightly, “That was good.”

You turn slowly, almost like you’re revealing yourself. And then it’s all at once and you’re doing jazz hands.

“This–” you jab your thumb at the station, “–is fucking awesome. I could do this all fucking day.”

“Well, go ahead,” he motions, “Do it again.”

You bounce slightly, heading back to the programming thing for the station. You go through the settings of it, curious on what it holds. These things are brand new, and they have endless possibilities on things you can do.

“It can be for two people!” you tell Finnick, looking over your shoulder, wiggling your eyebrows a little bit, “Wanna fight with me?”

Finnick laughs, coming up the steps to join you, “Don’t have to ask me twice.”

“Good.” you set it up, “I was afraid I might have to force you. It’s set to knives, and the hardest it can be.”

“Nothing we can’t handle.” Finnick is proud.

You start it, picking up on your technique. You don’t let Finnick know what the pattern is, letting him figure it out on his own. He takes a different approach with it, throwing the knives one at a time, rather than gathering them into his hands. It’s almost like he’ll be overwhelmed if he did it that way.

Eventually, you two have caught up with the system, even if there’s double the amount of holograms running at you. You and him turn it into a competition to see who can get them the fastest. Finnick is ahead, getting the most, moving faster than you are, but the ‘one at a time’ technique eventually fails on him.

You can only hold so many knives in your hand at once, but it works. You can get four or five of them down, leaving one for Finnick because you’re throwing yours so quickly. Eventually, he begins to give up, allowing you to take on the challenge that’s supposed to be for two people.

The last one that comes at you is a little quicker. You take your time with ending the game. Letting him get as close as possible before throwing the knife dead at his chest.

You’re pouring sweat. You can feel it almost everywhere on your body.

“I need a rag, holy fuck.” you wipe your forehead, and the back of your hand literally looks like it’s had water dumped on it.

Finnick grabs one for you, and then one for himself. You sit on the steps as you dry up your skin. Your forehead, the back of your neck, Finnick does his best to pat your back dry.

Your body feels like it’s vibrating from the exercise. It’s a good feeling, you haven’t felt this alive in such a long time. If the hunger games were targeted just for fighting rather than killing people, you might have volunteered sooner. The whole arena, and weapons and testing your survival is a good way to keep your skills in check.

Except, it’s a punishment, so there’s no way that this will ever be just an event for fun. It’s not fun, hundreds of kids have died because of it.

“How are you feeling?” Finnick asks.

“So good.” you tell him, “I need water, and then some time before I do that again.”

“Wanan fuck around with knots?”

“Sure, I could teach you how to tie a noose.”

You get off of where you were sitting, stretching slightly, and then you toss the towel wherever. It doesn’t matter, you won’t be the one cleaning it up, and you could care less about manners. They’re sending you into the games, who cares about one measly little towel?

Someone will come after you and pick it up. Finnick follows the same thing you did, and you skip your way over to the knot tying station. Fortunately, this is the same time that the doors to the training center open.

Finnick looks over, “Girl on fire approaching.”

The guy from nine suddenly pukes, and you cover your mouth, laughing to yourself. Finnick can’t help but to laugh too.

“First impressions always stick,” you snort, stopping in front of the ropes, “Oh shit! Look, they’ve got different types.”

Finnick joins you. He messes around with the rope, creating several different loops, and then he’ll pull it apart. You on the other hand, tie the constrictors knot, and even pull the entire rope off of the display.

“You think you could hang me from the ceiling?” you ask, looking up to see how far away it is, “It would be kinda impressive to get down from there.”

“Don’t test your luck,” he shakes his head at you.

“I think I might!”

You untie the knot that you had made, and instead make one of the ends of the rope heavy. You swing it around a couple of times to make sure that it won’t fall apart, and when it’s sturdy, you toss it straight for the beams. You miss the first time around, but the next, it goes over.

“Oh, this is gonna be fun!” you laugh, “Watch–I can make a swing out of it.’

Finnick does watch as you make a couple of knots to sit and stand on, evenly spaced out. Then, you get on the end with the knots, and use the other side of the rope to pull yourself up.

“This is not real life,” Finnick laughs, “How?”

“Push me,” you laugh, and he complies, “Okay listen, there was a tree that we had in our backyard that was fucking huge. Not as high as these beams, but it was pretty big.”

“Let me guess, you made a tire swing or something dumb like that?”

“Exactly. We used to use old rope that we got from the square, so naturally they snapped easily. This is where I got a ton of practice with getting the rope over a tree branch.” you smile a little bit, “I would always have to climb the tree to tie the rope down, even if it wouldn’t last very long.”

“Which is how you were able to climb that tree so easily.”

“Ding ding!” you laugh, slowly letting yourself down from where you were in the air, “If only Reed were able to see me now. Instead of training, I’m swinging on a rope just for nostalgia’s sake.”

“I see nothing wrong with that.” Finnick tells you, “It’s my turn.”

You laugh, and he gets fixed onto the knots how he wants. You both pull the rope to get him up a little higher, and then you push him so he starts swinging too. You can see some of the other tributes stopping to stare at you guys. Acting like you’re a bunch of nutcases.

Eventually, Johanna jumps down from where she was practicing and heads over to you two.

“Really?”

“Don’t act like you don’t want to try.” you smirk, “Wanna go up next?”

“I think I’ll pass,” she goes over to grab a bottle of water.

“Johanna Mason, the girl who never had fun.” Finnick laughs, letting himself down too, “God, that hurts the thighs.”

Johanna rolls her eyes, “I know how to have fun, thank you.”

She then squirts water at you two, smiling slightly as she heads back to where she was practicing. Unbothered, you turn back to the rope swing.

“I should definitely hang upside down.”

“That is where I draw the line.” Finnick tells you, beginning to pull the rope down, “You’re not doing that.”

“Oh, why not?” you pout slightly, but there’s a smile on your face.

“You know why.” he tells you, gathering up the rope and then tossing it back into the display it came from, “What’s next?”

“Fish hook making?” you suggest, offering your hand for him to take.

He does take it, and squeezes your hand tightly, “Mine are going to look so much better than yours.”

“Another competition?” you ask, “Are you sure you can handle it?”

“Honey, we both know who’s the better fisher here.”

And only five minutes later, Finnick is eating his words.

“All the fish have fallen asleep again.” you tell him, “Or they’re leaving the area from how long you’re taking.”

He looks a little frustrated, and then motions to your hook, “Not like that could catch anything, anyway.”

“Just because it looks nice, doesn’t mean it doesn’t work.” you argue, looking up when you hear someone coming, “Ah look, we have a judge!”

Katniss doesn’t look too thrilled at her new title.

“Tell us, who’s looking better?” you motion to what you have.

“I’m not done yet–” FInnick tries to protest.

“You can’t fix the unfixable.”

Finnick glares at you, “Honestly, fuck you.”

Katniss cracks a smile, coming closer as she looks over what you guys have made. She seems hesitant, uncomfortable. She’s obviously trying to make allies, but she doesn’t want to. You guys need to make a lasting impression on her. Especially since she’s seen you fuck around with a rope swing and argue over fish hooks so far.

“(Y/n)’s is better.” she decides.

“Smart girl!” you flip off Finnick for a moment, and then you turn to Katniss, “Alright, protege, I could teach you a few things.”

“Like you know anything.” Finnick jokes.

“We come from the exact same district,” you shake your head at him.

Katniss accepts your offer. As soon as she does, the bickering between you and Finnick calms down a lot since you’re in teaching mode. Every now and then Finnick will chime in with some good advice on how to get a fish to bite quicker, or make a hook that’s flimsy but it works.

Eventually, she offers to teach you specifically, how to shoot a bow and arrow. You turn it down, telling her you have better ways to deal with long-range enemies, but you and Finnick definitely follow her over to see what she can do. Sure, you saw her in the arena last year, but these holograms are something else.

She’s quick on her feet. She turns quickly, her eyes are always searching around. She doesn’t get surprised easily, and she almost dances around.

“She doesn’t want to make too much noise,” you point out to Finnick, pressing your finger against the glass, “Look at how she moves her feet.”

“Definitely a hunter, I’ll give her that.” Finnick nods, “I wonder what else she knows.”

By the time she’s done shooting, she’s gathered a whole crowd. The careers, Wiress and Beetee, Johanna, Peeta, Cecelia and Woof and a few of the others. Wiress erupts into clapping when Katniss is finished, and you can’t help but to smile.

“This is going to work perfectly.”

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter Two (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 6k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

You join Finnick’s side, taking his hand in yours. The both of you are squeezing hard, not looking at each other, but straight ahead as Elysia wraps this up. You get a wave of deja vu when you look back at your family.

Reed is standing tall, staring right at you. There’s betrayal on his face, he didn’t know that this was a possibility. He knew that Annie was supposed to be volunteered over, but that’s about it. He didn’t realize that if Finnick were to go in, you would follow right behind him.

They all should have seen it coming the second that Elysia had started with the boys. It was a dead giveaway. In all her years of representing, it’s started with the girls, and you don’t break a pattern like that. Representatives are supposed to be consistent with things.

Elysia played it off well though, she had practiced it thoroughly. She didn’t skip a single beat and easily pulled out the boys name. She didn’t mess up and accidentally reach for the girls bowl.

Mox looks teary-eyed as usual. He might be all the way in the back, but you have come to know this look. He could be miles and miles away and you’d know instantly if he were on the verge of tears. Mox can’t handle things like this, one trauma after another, it ruins him.

As for Alyssum, she doesn’t know what to think. She’s standing there, confused as she occasionally looks to Reed for answers. She knows that you love Finnick dearly, and she knows that you would go to the ends of the earth for him. She just hasn’t put the pieces together yet. Wherever he goes, you go.

Annie has stopped crying, she’s silent. The other victors whisper back and forth, you can see them from the corners of your eyes. They’ll lean over and share certain looks. Even for them, this might be a shock.

No one with a sane mind would willingly volunteer to go into this arena. You won’t be competing with regular people, you’re competing with other victors. Twenty-two other victors who are just as deadly as you and Finnick. They won their games because they manipulated it to be theirs.

To volunteer is a death wish. And you just signed up for it.

Before you and Finnick are escorted off the stage, Finnick turns you to him, cupping your face softly. Then, he kisses you in front of everyone. You can hear the hearts of everyone in the Capitol breaking at once. Because this is what they’ll be sending in this year.

After that, the peacekeepers are tight behind you. Elysia leads the way mostly, and she begins to head off to the rooms where you guys go to say goodbye to your family, but a peacekeeper grabs her arm, redirecting her.

This is when you put your foot down, “You’re not getting me on that train if I don’t get to say goodbye.”

“New rules.”

“Fuck your rules!” you yell, planting your feet, “I get to say goodbye, everyone gets to say goodbye–”

“Not anymore.”

The peacekeeper goes to grab you, but Finnick steps in front, acting as a barrier between the two of you. Because of this, there’s two peacekeepers on him, grabbing his arms and dragging him towards the cars. He struggles, squirming in their grasp.

When the other two finally turn to you, and see that you still haven’t moved, they bring out their batons. If there’s one thing that you’ve learned after watching countless people get punished with it, you don’t want to be touched. You don’t want to be hit by them.

“Don’t touch her!” Finnick shouts.

The peacekeepers don’t swing at you, it must have been for intimidation to get you to cooperate easier. But the thing is, you’ve stared death straight in the face too many times. These peacekeepers are absolutely nothing to him. They don’t have the same feeling as he does.

They grab you roughly, Elysia tries to tell them to let you go, but they don’t listen. In no time, you’re letting your body get dragged, not participating in the walking part. The peacekeepers are growing frustrated by this, and they try to get you onto your feet over and over.

They can’t hurt you. They can’t lay a goddamn finger on you, because you need to go into that arena without a single injury to be recorded.

Mags is there at the car when you all show up. You watch as she swats away the peacekeepers when you’re close enough. Her face twists with anger, and she points at the men that were holding you.

Elysia slides in first, next is Mags. Finnicks helps you in, and then follows as soon as you’re comfortable. The door is forced shut, and they lock.

Mags doesn’t look happy in the slightest, but she should feel how you do. If she’s mad, then that means you’re on a whole new level of it.

None of you talk about what had just happened. The ride is quiet, and short. All of you are at the station before you know it. Finnick helps you out of the car, and then proceeds to do the same for Mags and Elysia.

You guys are brought up the staircase, and when you turn to look out at who’s saying goodbye, you’re surprised, to say the least.

The whole district looks like they’re here. Your family is up front, Alyssum is on Reed’s shoulders, and Mox holds her back to make sure that she doesn’t fall off backwards. Annie is holding onto Reed’s jacket sleeve, and she gives you a look full of pure gratitude.

Caspian’s family is waving. The parents of those kids that you had lost are waving. The people that allowed you to train for the past few months, are waving. Your mother’s friends, your father’s friends. The kids that had gone to school with you and Finnick.

Everyone is here for a final goodbye.

You and Finnick are definitely on camera again. You wonder if they also have microphones, or if it’s going to be completely silent.

You raise your hand like you did ten years ago, beginning to wave slightly, “Thank you, District Four. For being my home.”

Finnick does the same, “Don’t forget about us.”

Of course, they want to get you onto the train quickly after that, and so you turn to your family, blowing them a kiss instead. Alyssum’s eyes fill with tears, Mox has to bite down onto his lip to keep from crying. And Reed nods at you.

You and Finnick head into the train with Mags. Elysia follows a second later. The doors slide shut, and it’s a moment of stillness. Complete silence, and then the train starts moving.

Suddenly, all eyes are on you.

“What happened to Mags volunteering?” Finnick asks, “Wasn’t that the plan?”

“It was one of the plans.” you tell him, and the look of confusion only lasts for a moment.

“There was more than one?”

You shrug slightly, “It depended on the circumstances. If you got called, then I would go too. If someone else got called, then I would have let Mags volunteer.”

Suddenly, Finnick isn’t very happy, “You were planning to come with me all along.”

“You would have done the same, Finnick.” You snap slightly, “Had the girls gone first, and I volunteered, wouldn’t you have followed?”

“There’s a difference there.” he tells you, “You wouldn’t have willingly volunteered unless…” he’s putting the pieces together now, “Unless you knew.”

You nod, “That’s why Elysia called boys first.”

Elysia raises her hands as if she’s surrendering, “Leave me out of this.”

There’s a calm moment, where you’re all just staring at each other, not knowing what to say about the situation next. Because it’s been done, Mags can’t volunteer over you, that’s not how it works. And she can’t replace you, because that’s not how it works. You’re going into the games with Finnick.

“That wasn’t very smart of you.” Finnick says quietly.

“I wouldn’t let you go in without me.” you tell him, “We both know how it is inside of there. You have me to look out for you now.”

This is when he turns to you, grabbing your shoulders, “(Y/n), don’t you get it? If we both make it to the end of those games, then only one of us makes it home. You’ve screwed us.”

“Who says we can’t make it home together?” you ask, “Who says we have to?”

“That’s not possible—“

“The rules have been bent once.” You remind him, “Did you forget what happened last year?”

“Did you forget the repercussions for it?” He counters, “The districts are rioting. There’s stricter rules. Imagine what would happen if we tried to do the same.”

“He’s right.” Mags says quietly.

“I know he is.” you tell Mags, “Finnick and I need to speak privately for a while.”

Finnick’s face twists now, because everything that happens between you two, is in front of everyone else to see. There are no secrets in a tight-knit community like yours. Your family, Mags, Annie and even Caspian’s family are let in on everything. There’s normally no reason to keep things from each other.

However, this time it’s different. This is a Finnick and you moment.

The rules have changed this year. There are new ones, and there are changed ones. For all you know, there could be a hundred different cameras placed on every possible surface inside of every single thing they could fit them into. Just like the hunger games, you move, and they know it. They know your location at all times.

This hasn’t bothered you before. You knew that the peacekeepers would probably listen in on conversations and report the serious ones to people higher up. But you were always so careful with words. Back then, it could be your word against the peacekeeper. If they have cameras now, though, video footage.

You look to Elysia and Mags, “We’ll be back by supper. Leave us be, please.”

Finnick takes your hand before you reach over. He lets you pull him from one car to another. When you finally get to the one that holds both yours and Finnick’s rooms–two rooms are required to be provided no matter what, no one would be bothered if you and Finnick were to stay in the same room, though–Finnick tries to go to your room.

You stop him silently, shaking your head and pulling him to his own room. Then, you’re sure to poke a button near the door that locks the door in place. It can be overridden, but only by the peacekeepers. They typically do this if they’re suspicious that the tributes are harming themselves. It’s happened once before, they’re always wary that it’ll happen again.

You don’t stop in the bedroom area though, you continue along to the bathroom. Pulling him inside, locking the door a second time, and then you turn on the shower and place it to the loudest settings. Finnick winces at the noise, but the both of you hang around for a moment while you get adjusted.

Of course, there could always be cameras inside of the bathroom, and likely microphones that can pick up everything, but it’s the inconvenience of it that matters. If they have to put in too much effort, they’re not going to want to. They have better things to be wasting their resources on.

“You wouldn’t be so stupid to think that I wouldn’t come here, right?” you ask him, sitting on the counter.

Finnick sighs, “I thought the plan would be for you to stay in the district. Safe at home.”

“I would have come with you to the Capitol, still.” you shake your head, “As a mentor.”

“It was a safer option.”

You laugh bitterly, “Finnick, would you have let me go into that arena without you if the roles were reversed?”

“To ease your mind, yes.” Finnick looks confident in his answer.

You can’t help but to call his bullshit, “You would rather watch me die over a flat-screen tv than in person? You’d rather watch some random ass tribute give me a final goodbye, than you?” you lean in now, “You wouldn’t like to hold me in your arms one last time?”

Finnick clearly sees the difference now.

“I’m going in with you, because I want to be with you.” you tell him, “I’m doing this because I’m selfish, and I love you. And I want to spend every waking moment with you.

“I knew that if you were to go into the games alone, you might not come out the same person as you are now. I would rather take all the chances than none at all.”

Finnick nods slowly, going over to you with his arms outstretched. You pull him into your body tightly, feeling him squeeze. The both of you welcome the silence now.

“Finnick, we need to consider the possibilities of a rebellion.” You whisper to him very, very quietly.

Finnick gets down a little lower so it’s easier to hear and be even quieter, “The games had to have been a punishment.”

That is obvious. Everything is set up so perfectly. The Quarter Quell was a slap to the face to all districts and victors. It’s because this is the way that the Capitol will fight back. The districts are never in control, the Capitol will keep things running.

Snow will never stop flexing the power that he holds. If there’s a chance of a rebellion, he’s going to do anything he can to end the possibility of it. Which is why there’s stricter rules, the whole curfew, peacekeepers getting in your business, and all of that. You know for a fact that it wasn’t just four, you were getting phone calls from other districts–and you were talking to the governor–asking and telling you how things have changed.

Districts like eleven are already pretty strict. They stick to the rules as tightly as possible, so you can only imagine what had happened. Worse punishments, more rules. It gives no stretching room, and it aggravates the districts even more because they can’t do what they want.

In your opinion, Snow is going about this all wrong. He can kill the people in the districts, and he can shove things down your throats, but the reality of the situation is, is that’s just going to spark even more resistance. You guys are going to want to get free to get away from this.

“Yes,” you tell Finnick, moving some of his hair, “It was.”

A few hours later, after you and Finnick have turned off the shower, you just sit in his room for a little while. You figured that if the Capitol were going to bug rooms, it would be yours. It didn’t stop you from going into yours briefly to grab a hold of the box of training stuff.

Finnick sat in the hammock, playing around with knives while you messed around with knots and fires. More practice to keep it fresh in your mind. Eventually Finnick got bored and joined you on the floor. Over the years he’s learned a few of the knots that you were teaching the tributes, but never go all of them down.

The thing is, is that they’re all practically useless. Most of them hold the same use. Tie things together, or keep things in the knot. This is why you only teach a couple to the kids. Most they already know for fishing lines anyway, it’s the rope ones that are different. Of course, the chances of coming across something that resembles a rope is one in a hundred.

The vines in your games were perfect for tying. With the little spikes in them, it could do damage to a tribute without them knowing. You only figured it out that the vines had thorns because you dipped your hands in the salt water. Had that not happened, you would have been absolutely clueless.

Imagine how raw your hands could have been. Climbing things would have been impossible to do without the palms of your hands hurting. On top of that, imagine getting the vines tied around you, and it moving that way. Suddenly the little cuts are all over your body, and there’s not really anything you can do.

Ask the sponsors for some healing cream, you suppose. But it would have been weird to gift that to a tribute, especially when on the surface, they have nothing wrong with them. From far away, they look normal. You remember seeing this during the recap of the games.

The Capitol had no clue–beside the gamemakers–that they had thorns on them. When you had revealed it, only then did the Capitol know. Caesar had even popped up on screen long enough to explain what was going on. Unfortunately, the vines weren’t poisonous, which would have been absolutely genius.

Slowly dying to something that you have no idea about. You can’t see that there’s cuts on your hands, or that there’s thorns on the vines. The tribute would be slowly deteriorating, maybe some terrible blood poisoning or organ failure or something. The gamemakers would be able to engineer poison like that.

You’re just glad that the Capitol isn’t necessarily that smart. Sure, they were sadistic enough to come up with the hunger games, but you doubt that they use most of their brain power.

After all, with a whole idea of a rebellion, if all the people stop working, they get nothing in the Capitol. No food, no clothes, no electronics or electricity, no lumber, they get absolutely nothing. Because you guys are the ones that are providing the supplies.

It’s funny how they rely on a bunch of people to make their things for them. There is so much more people in the districts than there is in the Capitol. But the only thing that has stopped your ancestors the first time, and will probably hinder you this time are two things. The first, and very important one, is that the Capitol is very ahead when it comes to technology.

They have the most electricity, it’s constantly fueled there. Unlike here in the districts, where it’s every couple of hours, except for during the games. Only then, is power most consistent. In the poorer districts, they get an hour or two at most of electricity. Of course, that’s not the only thing that the Capitol has.

More weapons, they have peacekeepers, they have food, they have technology. They have the gamemakers and hundreds of different models for mutations that they haven’t gotten to test out yet, but you bet that they’re dying to try. They’ve got hovercrafts, and nuclear technology.

When it comes to a rebellion, all of you guys would be absolutely fucked because you aren’t on the same playing field. And you haven’t even mentioned the second part that would make it difficult for you guys to fight the Capitol. Which is, they’re surrounded by mountains. To get to them, would be so extremely hard.

They would see you guys from every position. The only real way to even get to the Capitol would be through the same way that the train runs. And holy shit would that be fucking obvious.

Finnick passes some rolls to you. You take one, knawing on it mindlessly as you stare out the window that’s above Elysia’s head. It’s long since turned dark, there isn’t really anything to see but the stars and the moon. However, there is no moon, and from all the pollution of the old world, the stars are a rare sight to see.

By tomorrow morning, you guys should be inside of the Capitol. A short ride, as it is every year. It just so happens to be that District Four is fairly close to the place. You guys are always one of the first people to arrive to the Capitol. You’re not exactly sure who follows soon after, probably the careers. But districts like twelve and eleven are pretty damn far away.

“Have you guys seen the tributes for this year?” Elysia asks politely.

Finnick knows that your mind is elsewhere, “Not yet.”

Elysia nods slightly, and then, “Would you like to watch it after?”

“Sure,” your voice is soft, as you then look down to your empty hands. Then, back up again at one of the avoxes, “Can I please get another bowl of stew?”

“Here we go with the stuffing.” Finnick jokes.

“And water.” you add, smiling, “Thank you.”

“Same here, if you don’t mind.” Finnick holds up his bowl for them to fill.

You’re lucky that you and Finnick hadn’t gotten stuck with some rude representative that treats the avoxes like traitors as they supposedly are. Elysia still uses her manners very strictly, and she thanks them every single time. At any point, they could turn on you guys, but there must be something in your eyes that stops them from doing it.

Of course, they’re spread across practically everywhere. Household maids practically, standing at bedside waiting for orders. Normally, you’re supposed to order them around and not ask them questions. Don’t treat them as humans, rather like artificial intelligence that can’t feel.

But they are humans, and they do think, and feel and have beliefs just the same as you guys. They have hopes and dreams, and just because of one simple mistake they had made, they ended up here. You know why they’re made, that’s no secret. There’s a variety of reasons, but the main one is the most dangerous one.

Running away from the district. In order to do this, you have to be smart about all the moves you make. You have to be agile, and smart in survival skills. You have to be prepared, and it’s best to be forgotten about in the district. The only time they’ll really know that your missing is when the reaping comes around.

Hopefully, people are smart enough to run away, and run far, months before the reaping comes around. If they know that you’re missing on reaping day, they’ll check houses first, but they’ll be quick to come to the conclusion that you ran into the woods. If you went months beforehand, then there’s no way that they’ll be able to catch you. They won’t be able to pinpoint when you had ran, if you’re invisible in the district, and they might even overlook you for that exact reason.

Running isn’t smart though. It’s only for the people that understand every single thing that’s out in the woods and desert. The bears, wolves, coyotes, snakes, and more that hide out there. The worst time would be to go during the fall and winter, and yet that’s the only option. The games come to the end of spring and the beginning of summer, almost.

Anyway, the point is, is that when people treat the avoxes as slaves rather than people, it pisses you off. It makes you sick to your stomach, because they’re forced to work all hours of the day for people who don’t realize how privileged they are. The poor avoxes are made from district people. They get to watch as the Capitol people waste the food that’s given to them.

The pills they take to make themselves throw up so they can keep eating… you haven’t ever used one yourself, and you hope that day will never come. Because some people in the districts aren’t eating at all. And to take advantage…

You and Finnick finish eating pretty quickly. Soon, you’re full. Finnick had filled up faster than you had, which isn’t very surprising, you did that the first time around too. Finnick had watched you fill up on at least six bowls before you felt like you were going to throw up. And that’s six bowls of stew, five rolls, and so many glasses of water.

Mags joins you, Finnick and Elysia at the train car with the tv and couch. Off to the side is a bar with freshments too. You take this time to grab more water, and Finnick follows your lead. Finnick throws his arm around your shoulders, pulling you into his body as the both of you start the program.

District One’s stage is almost completely covered with tributes. From young to old, there is more than twenty-five people standing on that stage, and you think to yourself that it’s an actual mystery on who will be called for them. It’s a mystery to most districts, of course.

But for them, they can’t calculate the one-in-four chance like you can. They won’t be able to get it down to the nitty gritty the same way you can. A total of seven victors in your district is different from a district with over fifteen. You don’t know how to explain it exactly, but it’s just how it goes.

They go with girls first, the male representative dips his hand into the bowl and pulls out a single paper, as usual. He opens the slip of paper easily, and much to your surprise, and quite frankly your horror, you’re forced to listen to Cashmere’s name get pulled out of the bowl.

“Oh fuck.” the words slip out of your mouth before you can think about it.

And much, much to your dismay, you watch as Gloss gets pulled right after her. No one volunteers over them. They hold hands, they smile proudly. And funnily enough, they look like opposites. With Cashmere wearing all black and Gloss wearing beige. Fashionable clothes though, you wouldn’t expect anything less from the district one tributes.

Next is the second district, obviously. For a moment, you think it can’t get any worse, asking yourself ‘what are the odds?’. Slim, because there’s more than fifteen tributes on both girls and boys sides. There’s absolutely no one.

Enobaria’s name is called, and you can hear your ears turn to ringing. Watching blankly as she grins her pointed tooth grin. She looks proud when she takes her spot. Right after girls, are boys.

“Fuck!” Finnick shouts.

Brutus.

He volunteered over who was pulled. If he hadn’t volunteered, then you guys would be in the clear. If there’s anyone you wouldn’t ever want to come across in an arena, it’s Brutus. He’s big in the beefy way. He’s violent, not just because of how he looks, but because of how he won his games. Him and Enobaria fit the same bill, completely psychotic and an actual threat. He will arguably be the worst to come across in there.

“We’d have to kill him first.” you whisper, “We can’t let him live past the first day. He’d have to die in the bloodbath.”

Elysia glances at you nervously, seeing how much confidence you’re lacking, “He’s that bad?”

“He’s giant, Elysia.” Finnick tells her, shaking his head, “Strong. He would be able to strangle anyone to death in that arena. He gets his hands on someone, they’re as good as dead. Combat-wise, we stand no chance.”

District Three’s tributes are Wirress and Beetee. You’ve met both of them before, they’re very smart and kind. They won their games in unique ways, as most of you have. But it’s not everyday that you’re able to shock a couple of tributes at once and kill them that way.

If it came down to killing them, easy targets. Not much for combat. Would be able to survive longer than you guys though, by running, hunting and starting fires. Their district limits what they’re able to learn outside their jobs, so it puts them at an immediate disadvantage.

Not to mention, Wirress had gone a little crazy from her games too. She’s not all there completely, so you’re not sure how that will be able to hinder her abilities. You can imagine she’s not as bad as Annie, but there’s something similar to it. Maybe she can’t think straight, or she’s paranoid beyond belief.

After District Three, comes four. Here, you guys break the ladies-first streak, but Elysia makes it seem natural with how she goes about it. Here, you’re able to see Finnick’s face when he gets picked. He smiles brightly, waves a little bit. He plays it off smoothly, like it’s no shock.

There’s a puff to his chest, and he acts confident when he stands. He doesn’t look to where you are, it’s more that he watches Elysia closer when she picks the name out of the bowl. Here, you’re able to watch what it looks like from an outsiders perspective. This is what everyone had seen when the girls were pulled. The Capitol, the districts, the people of four.

First, Annie’s name is pulled and then called. You can see how Annie bursts into tears immediately, watch as Finnick relaxes slightly, and how your eyes dart to the nearest camera. Finnick is basically cut off on the side, but you’re able to see him clearly enough to watch his posture.

Mags goes to comfort Annie, and then there’s a change in your face. This is the moment when you decide that it’s time for you to volunteer. There’s a little smirk that comes across the corners of your lips, which gives away your whole idea. And then, when Mags twitches, you step forward with your hand held, and head ducked slightly.

With that posture, anyone would think that the words would come out of your mouth quietly. But it’s loud, your voice is loud and clear. You’re getting the message across, that you’re going back inside of the games. Finnick deflates for half a moment, but as soon as you join him, you’re holding hands and standing tall.

A united front. Together or not at all.

Next, District Five and Six aren’t as important. The only problem you have with six, is that they’re made up of morphlings. It’s not that they did turn to drugs to cope with the trauma after the games. It’s that they’re going to be difficult to find inside of the arena. They’re going to hide, and they’re going to do it well.

District Seven is up before you know it, which is when you’re sure people start to get interested again. Especially when Johanna is pulled from the bowl. You and Finnick don’t curse this one as much, even though it is going to be a pain in the ass. Johanna won her games a couple of years ago, played the damsel card well, and fooled everyone around her.

They let her be, which is what you’re going to want if you’re playing that card. It was when she got into the arena, where she completely surprised the people around her. Not to your surprise, but her weapon is an axe, respectively. She comes from district seven, it’s the lumber district, of course her choice is going to be an axe.

It’s a stereotype. The main career districts have their swords, district four has spears and tridents, seven has their axes, nine might be sythes because they’re a grain district. It’s the cliches that everyone expects. You’re sure there’s more.

After Johanna is Blight, you remember meeting him briefly. He’s nice, but never paid much attention to you. Same thing for Johanna, since she’s been mentoring for the past couple of years. She’ll say a brief ‘hello’ in passing, but doesn’t hold conversation well. She’s blunt, people see it as rude. She can’t help it, you imagine, she’s irritated as the rest of you.

District Eight follows, and you watch as Cecelia gets pulled.

“No.” you cover your mouth with your hands.

You know Cecelia well, she’s practically your best friend. She was at your wedding, with her husband and her kids. She’s married and has three kids now. On screen, you watch as they all clutch onto her tightly, some of them start crying.

Finnick squeezes your shoulder, “We can get her into our alliance.”

“We have to.” you tell him.

Next to be pulled is Woof, he’s older. He’s in his seventies and up. Mags recognizes him and shakes her head. He’s not going to survive in the games, he’s likely going to die on the first day for a variety of reasons. He won’t be able to run or defend himself as easily.

Nine and ten are also pretty irrelevant. You don’t know the names that are pulled, much less what their games were like. They’re older though, thirties and over, so you never stood a chance at knowing. They went in before you were even born.

For eleven, Seeder is pulled. She’s more of the prestigious type, very religious when it comes to things. She holds her head high, and you can respect that. But right after her, is Chaff. Who also had attended your wedding, an alcoholic right alongside Haymitch. You can only imagine what’s going to happen to him inside of the arena. Because withdrawal is a hell of a thing to experience.

Same goes for the morphlings. You wonder if they’ll be able to stand being sober for more than a couple of days. Of course, they can get drunk and high in the apartments all they want, but that’ll just screw their chances. You hope that all of them are easing themselves off of the drugs, otherwise they won’t last past the first couple of days either.

And finally, comes District Twelve. Three victors. No matter what happens, Katniss is going in. You watch as her name is pulled, and she stands where she needs to be, easily. Although, it looks like something else is going on, because she’s not as confident as you’d expect her to be.

She’s entering shark-infested waters. You’re going to want to keep your head up, even if that’s not how you’re feeling.

Their district representative pulls boys. Haymitch’s name has only been lingering in the air for half a second, and then Peeta is volunteering over him immediately. This is what she was afraid of, she doesn’t want Peeta to go back inside. You watch as they stand together, and then it cuts to Caesar.

“So?” Elysia asks, she probably doesn’t like how you two all of this in. You weren’t picking people out like you normally do.

Mags looks at you guys now.

Finnick sighs, “It’s a reaping full of victors, I don’t know what you want us to say.”

She’s quiet, and you get off of the couch, stretching slightly, “The thing is, is that they’re all amazingly skilled, and they all killed people, they all went through the same things that we did, and they all won.” you look to Elysia, “At one point, the Capitol had loved each and every one of them.”

Finnick nods, “They’re not going to know who to pick to favor. My advice is to talk us up and get as many people as you could possibly imagine to favor us again.”

You then start wandering off to the door that would lead you to your car, “I’m going to bed.”

Finnick is behind you, and the second that the door has shut behind you two, you’re rubbing your face, “What are you thinking?”

“They’re are so many people that they’re going to be torn between,” you say, “Gloss and Cashmere are siblings, won back to back games, they’re a favorite. Brutus is gigantic, anyone would be an idiot not to sponsor him. And coming across Enobaria would be like coming across a lion.”

“Well, Katniss and Peeta had just won their games. They’ve got a ton of people looking at them right now.”

He doesn’t even have to say it, and you’re already understanding. You and Finnick stop outside the rooms, and you look to him, “You’re a genius, Finnick.”

Finnick smiles, “I know.”

Katniss and Peeta have to be in the alliance.

[ilguna]

Tacenda - Chapter One (f.o)

Summary: you’ll never truly be free from the Capitol.

Word Count; 4.6k

Warnings; swearing, DEATH MENTION

NOTES: i give reader a last name to fit the world.

–

You had no idea what to do with yourself for a full week. All you could do was think.

You had so many questions that absolutely no one had the answers for. Not even you had the answers. It started to drive you a little nuts, until you sat down and wrote down all the questions to answer them one at a time.

The first one, ‘what are the chances I get picked for the quell?’. You wrote down every single name of the girls in the district. Mags, you, Annie, and another girl that had won before you but after Mags. She doesn’t speak much. That leaves four. There’s a one in four chance that your name will get pulled from the bowl.

There’s a bigger problem to that though. Your chances thinned when you and Mags had the discussion, not allowing Annie to be on it, since it was upsetting her that the games would be happening in general. She knew of her chances already, and she tried to think about it as little as possible. Allowing her to sit in on a conversation like that would have been torturous.

You and Mags had come to the agreement, that in no way, Annie would be allowed to go back inside of that Arena. If that meant volunteering over her, then that meant volunteering over her. You would be more than happy to keep a tribute that you had mentored, alive and well inside of the district.

Mags had the same idea though, but for you. She told you that you have so much to live for. You and Finnick are married, the both of you are still young. You have a nice house, a fantastic family that’s still growing up, and a husband. As far as she was concerned, you wouldn’t be allowed to do anything.

As for the other woman in the district, she didn’t really matter. If she got picked, then she got picked. You weren’t too happy on the idea that Mags would be going back inside of the games. She knows this still, because you believe that you’ll be a better candidate. You won against all odds the first time around, who says you can’t do it a second time?

So, your odds slipped from a one in four, to a one in three. You, Mags, and the other woman would be the only three candidates for the third Quarter Quell. Annie doesn’t know of this arrangement, and as far as you’re concerned, she doesn’t need to know about it either.

She’ll feel guilty. Because she knows that Mags deserves to live out the rest of her life in the district as much as you guys do. And she knows that you and Finnick are together happily, and there should no way be a chance of you going back inside.

The next question was, ‘what are the chances that Finnick gets picked to go back inside?’. This one was a little harder to swallow for a couple of reasons. This is your husband you’re thinking about. This is no longer you, this would not be you sacrificing yourself, it would be Finnick.

You were sure to get on the same page as him. Double-checked that he wouldn’t have the motivation to volunteer over someone. And he assured you, that if he doesn’t get picked, then he’s not going back inside of the games. However, if his name is pulled, there’s nothing you can do about it.

If the other two guys want to volunteer over him, then that’s their choice. You can’t force them to do it, because asking someone to do something like that is… Going back into that arena is a death sentence, no one in their right mind would ever volunteer. Unless you knew that you had extraordinary chances of coming out of there alive.

You wouldn’t be able to ask them to do that anyway. And it’s not because you don’t have the guts to do it, because if you were younger, you would. If you and Finnick were eighteen and nineteen instead of twenty-four and twenty-five, you would have asked them a long time ago. You would have marched up to their doors and begged them for hours on end to do it.

You can’t do it because you don’t know them enough. They were invited to the wedding, they attended and offered you guys good luck, but that was about it. You haven’t talked to them much since. Every year when you and Finnick go to the Capitol with the tributes, they give you the same look that the parents give you when their kids don’t come back.

It’s no secret that they think of you as scum. They think of you as murderers and underqualified. They think that it’s all your fault that they die inside of there, and it’s not anyone else’s. They don’t look to the Capitol for all that blame, they blame the people that would be in charge of it.

They still think its your guys’ faults that Annie isn’t completely sane. They think it was those pills that you had sent her inside of the arena. When they absolutely know that you spent thousands upon thousands of dollars to make sure that she wouldn’t feel like she’s losing her mind in there.

You used your own money, and not the sponsors. You cut ties with friends to put yourself ahead, and to keep your head in the game. You worked with Finnick at that time, even though you felt like he was the most useless being on earth because he didn’t understand how any of it worked.

You brought home a girl that had won despite not being all there. And they still figured out a reason to blame you for it. It’s so infuriating, and it’s hard to deal with, knowing that they haven’t brought anyone home themselves, because they haven’t even tried.

You took up the job, and you were fifteen years old. At fifteen years, you were coaching boys and girls how to survive in those circumstances. You were still having nightmares. You were waking up in the middle of the night, with a raw throat from how badly you would scream.

And none of them had thought to take up the job from Mags or you.

Every single time you see them, you curse them. You damn them to hell, because victors are supposed to be family. But they are no family to you. They have not offered you comfort even once. They’re stone cold, and you can be like that back.

You won’t ever ask them for something. You won’t ask them to volunteer over you. You won’t ask them to volunteer over Finnick. You won’t even ask them to take care of your family if you do go back inside of those games.

Another question that you had asked was, ‘what can I do to prepare myself, in the case that I do get picked, or that I have to volunteer?’

Which was what kickstarted all the physical activity you had started to do after the questionnaire. You knocked off the simple ones. Annie promised to take care of your family fund-wise if you do die. Mags didn’t like the idea, but also promised. You looked to Caspian’s family to make sure that they would be there for support.

They even opened their home to Reed, Mox and Alyssum if you and Finnick both turn out to be dead. Which was what you needed, you needed confirmation that they would be okay no matter what. They would float, you’ve got money hidden in the old house you guys used to live in before you were given the victors.

If they wanted, they could buy a bigger and better house. They would be able to spoil Alyssum for years to come. They might even be able to bribe the peacekeepers to keep her name out of the bowl every year, that’s how much you’ve hidden in that small house.

Of course, you couldn’t just plan all of this without letting Reed and Mox know. You left them out on most of the plan. The part that includes volunteering and all of that. You told them that there’s a chance that Mags will volunteer over you, and that you talked to her about it.

You let them know that they will have to stay strong for Alyssum, no matter what it takes. If you go back inside of those games, every single reaction they have will reflect on Alyssum. She isn’t some toddler anymore, she can see their faces. She knows the difference.

You told them that they have to practice their poker face at all given times. If something shocking happens, or if it’s something bad, then Mox can’t resort to crying immediately. Reed can’t get mad. They have to stay straight-faced and let Alyssum know that it would happen to anyone.

They have to keep reminding her that it doesn’t stop you. It won’t stop your chances, it won’t decrease your odds. You’re smart, you’re quick, you’re handy. They have to keep her thinking that you’re good at this, but not raise her hopes to think that you’ll make it out alive.

She has to know the reality, but they can’t make her down immediately. Only when things continue to go downhill, only when there’s a bad fight, may they begin to be pessimistic.

They agreed to these terms. Reed and Mox are smart, and you’re sure that they could have figured out that they need to be different now. But sometimes they seem to forget that Alyssum is thirteen, she’s not small anymore. She’s beginning to be a big girl, and she needs to be treated like one.

After you had that talk with them, you had to talk to Alyssum too. You told her what you could without making her upset, and she seemed to understand everything for the most part. She told you that if you don’t have to volunteer, then don’t. It’s not like you needed to hear that, but you pretended like that impacted what you had to think.

No more deaths are needed in your family. Your mom and dad are gone, and the last thing that needs to happen, is another. But they’re strong, the Gallows family is strong. They’ll survive. Even if you do die in that arena, they’ll be able to get through it, because that’s what you do.

You take what’s given, and you put out better. You know that they’ll hold their heads high and act like it doesn’t phase them. They’ll accept the apologies and memories that people have to offer. They’ll host a funeral where everyone can attend, and they’ll accept it and move on.

You’ve done it twice together, and they’ll be able to handle a third if one does come around. They’ll probably react the same way for Finnick, because he’s your guys’ family, and he has been for a very, very long time now.

Anyway, answering that question of what you could do to prepare was too easy. You started to make a list for that too, before you knew it. You went around to the local shops and asked for the jobs that included hard labor. All of them accepted because you told them that it would be free. The last thing they would need, would be to pay the rich victor with more money than she knows what to do with.

Once you had all the jobs lined up, you told Finnick that he would be joining you. He didn’t know what to think of it at first. He might have thought that you were a little crazy, but when he saw the benefits of it. And that it was preparation, he decided that it didn’t hurt.

You’re glad that you didn’t have to force him, and he did it on his own. Because the both of you had become rusty. All that strength that you had so many years ago had drained from your body. The both of you were weaker than you thought.

It took a month or two before you guys could practically carry each other. Finnick could carry you easily, and when you tried hard enough and with Finnick’s cooperation, you could get him across your shoulders. You could walk, but not run, but it was good enough.

There’s always the adrenaline to factor. You guys will be stronger than you realize when the adrenaline is pumping through your body. Your body will be able to handle getting Finnick onto you, and running. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be Finnick that you’re carrying.

All that matters is that you’re able. You’re able to run for long periods of time, you’re able to carry things heavier than you are. You’re able to swim faster, and hold your breath longer. You’ve built up your tolerance for starvation again–that was starting to scare the people around you, but Finnick was doing to it too, so they dropped it after some time.

Then came in the trickier part of the skills. You and Finnick know how to light fires with the most scarce items, how to find water when it’s a dry land. You two figured out how to hunt with throwing knives, but found out quickly that it wasn’t as effective as it should have been.

But you were so worried about being under trained in something. Because the chances of it being needed to be used inside of the arena is so likely. The gamemakers throw curveballs on everything. You wouldn’t be able to get away with something like not knowing what poison ivy looks like, because there’s a chance that’s what covers most of the fucking arena.

The gamemakers are going to step it up this year. This year is important, especially to the people in the Capitol. Because these are the people that they sponsored for, and the chances of them going for who they had sponsored for beforehand, is a great chance.

The sun begins to peek into your eyes now, letting you know that time is up. You can’t lay in bed any longer. You have to start your day, and it has to start now to keep on schedule.

You won’t let today ruin you or what you have built with yourself.

You open your eyes one at a time, blinking to get used to the light. You would stretch, if it weren’t for Finnick holding you like it’ll be his last time you’ll ever be in his arms. You take a moment to appreciate this, because your one in three chances are beginning to dawn on you now.

“Good morning,” you whisper, patting Finnick’s hand slightly.

His arms tighten around you, “Please, just a little while longer.”

“We have to keep on time.” you tell him, and he sighs, knowing that you’re right.

He lets you free, but holds his arms open still. All you do is flip over and put yourself on his chest. He holds you there, looking over your face. It’s a memory tactic, he wants to remember you this way.

“I love you.” You tell him, and he nods.

“I love you too.”

You spare the moment a couple of seconds longer, but quickly get up to get today done with. You start the shower, and while the water is warming up, you throw out some simple clothes. A shirt, a pair of jeans, your favorite black boots. That’s it.

You won’t get dressed up, because you stopped doing that after your games. You don’t wear dresses to the reapings. You made your impression the first time around, you’re not going to do it again.

Hell, if you could, you would try to fit into the same dress you wore when you got the reaped. The only problem is, is that it’s far too small now, and you’d end up ripping it the second you slip into it.

Finnick joins you for the shower. You don’t end up washing your hair, since you did that the night before. The shower just holds the purpose of wetting your hair and cleaning your body so you feel better.

Everything fits onto your body simply. You place your wedding band onto your ring finger, just the same as Finnick. You can see the misery grow in his face when you start playing around with it. A nervous tic that you had under control for the longest time. Eventually, you stopped altogether because there wasn’t anything to be worried about.

You think he’s afraid of what will happen if you do get reaped and thrown back inside of the arena. What habits will you return to?

There’s already a few that are beginning to show again. You playing around with the rings, going days without eating because you keep thinking that you need to save the food. You’ve stayed up for countless nights, just because of the paranoia creeping on you. But the worst part of it all is the nightmares.

As far as you know, Finnick isn’t slipping back into anything. He’s Finnick.

Once the both of you are ready, you join your siblings down at the kitchen table. The breakfast is brief, because you and Finnick have to go get Mags and Annie, but you’re sure to hug them tightly. You give Reed and Mox a certain look, and they already know what’s going on. They have the straight-faced reaction on lock.

“What’s going on in your head?” Finnick finally asks once the front door is shut, “You’re quiet.”

“We have a one in three chance, Finn.” you remind him, “And I can’t stop thinking about it.”

“The odds will be in our favor.” he tells you, “Mags will volunteer over you and Annie, remember? You’re fine.”

You look to him, “And who volunteers for you?”

This is when he presses his lips together, reaching for your hand and squeezing tightly, “I can take care of myself.”

“I know that. There’s other factors that feed into it.”

The conversation is put on a hold as he goes to get Annie, and you go ahead and get Mags. She’s able to go down the stairs by herself, she’s been much stronger lately. She didn’t see the harm in training with you guys some days, so she started to take part of it too.

When the four of you are all together, you only glance to the other side of house, to see that the other three victors are with each other today. You don’t keep your attention on them.

“What other factors?” Finnick asks.

“I can’t tell you that.” you tell him.

Finnick doesn’t like this, reasonably. It means that you’ve made a condition with yourself, and if there’s one thing that Finnick doesn’t like, it’s conditions. It’s why the both of you haven’t talked about what would happen if one were to go in. You and him haven’t tried to convince each other to stay in the district.

A mistake, you think. And he might be thinking that now, too.

“(Y/n),” he warns.

You give him a simple look, “I know what I’m doing.”

“Then why can’t you tell me this too?”

He’s upset.

“Because nothing is set in stone.”

He doesn’t press any further, and you’re glad. In no time, all of you are at the stage. You’re able to get Mags and Annie up there, with the other victors trailing behind loosely. When you and Finnick go to talk to your siblings, the peacekeeper suddenly steps in front of you.

“No one leaves the stage.”

There is a very brief look that you and Finnick share together, mostly out of surprise. You two normally leave the stage before it starts to say your peace with your siblings. Normally it’s because you won’t be seeing them for a week due to mentoring, but today has a different meaning.

“We do this every year. We’ll be back in like ten minutes.” you tell him.

“New rules. No one leaves the stage.”

Your shoulders slump slightly, disappointed that this is happening. You’d like to argue back against it, and there is something inside of you that wants to. But you don’t. If you do end up going in, then they have to allow you to say goodbye to your family.

You’ll be able to see them for a last time, no matter what happens.

“Then can you let them know I won’t be going down there?” you ask, “They’ll be waiting for me and I don’t want that.”

He nods, and you and Finnick head back over to Annie and Mags. You calmly explain to them what happened and she frowns.

New rules had been instilled in the district. There’s a new head peacekeeper, and he’s a lot more strict when it comes to things. You’ve made friends with him slightly, he’s lenient with you on some things. There’s a curfew, and sometimes he’ll catch you making your way back from Caspian’s house with Finnick.

He overlooks it every time, and he probably tells the other peacekeepers to leave you alone as well. You don’t cause trouble, you do as much as everyone else does. Most of the time you’re inside of the house, except for the rare occasions you need to go see someone else.

The new rules are annoying, but they’re there because of the rebellious districts. You know that district one and two, and probably a few others don’t have these restrictions. It’s mostly just for the rowdier districts, like four. Four’s always been jumpy for as long as you can remember.

It wasn’t a surprise that everyone around you had gotten excited after Katniss and Peeta had directly defied the gamemakers. It’s moments like those, where you’re all still able to say ‘my game, my rules’. Sure, the gamemakers set it up, and they try to control as much as possible. But if someone, like the victor wants to kill themselves in front of everyone, what are the gamemakers supposed to do?

No one has done it before. Normally you fight to survive and come home. It would be a unique games, for something like that to happen. If everyone in the arena had worked together rather than just… fighting each other to the death. People will get picked off by the elements and what the gamemakers have in store, but eventually it’ll get down to the last few.

You look over in time to see Reed, Mox and Alyssum leaving the area where you guys meet up at. Reed catches your eye, and you hold up your hand slightly, letting him know that you’re aware. Alyssum blows you a kiss, and Mox frowns slightly. He’s unhappy, very sensitive still.

Soon, the governor is giving a speech on what it’s going to be like. All victors this year are required to stand during the reaping. Normally, you’re all forced to sit down while the kids get reaped. Things had to be changed because you’re not regular people, you’re victors.

He gives the Dark Days speech, and soon enough he’s tired of it, and passes it to Elysia. She’s a little surprised that he cut it so short, and knowing that it’s a required speech, he’s going to get in trouble later on. On the way back to his seat, he gives you all a look of sorrow.

He’s sorry for this.

Elysia introduces herself, wishing everyone a happy hunger games, though it sounds bitter. It sounds like she doesn’t want to be the one doing this. She doesn’t want to be your district representative. Finally, she wishes for the odds to be in everyone’s favor.

Every single year prior, she’s started with girls. It’s always a ‘ladies first’ because it’s a courtesy thing. However, you asked her for something different this year. You asked her to draw boys first.

“Gentlemen first,” she tells everyone, as if it’s what she does first.

Out of the corner of your eye, you can see Finnick glance at you. You look back briefly, shrugging as if you have no clue what’s going on. When in reality, it’s your doing. You asked her for this.

Elysia sticks her hand inside of the bowl, wincing slightly as she pulls out a paper. You can feel your stomach tighten as you hold your breath.

‘Don’t be Finnick,’ you think, ‘Please, please, please don’t be Finnick. Don’t be Finnick.’

Elysia removes the tape slowly, and just by the look on her face, your body feels like it goes to goo. She gives you a side-eye glance as she goes to the microphone, “Our male tribute this year, is… Finnick Odair.”

Finnick stands up taller now, and you watch as he passes in front of you. He takes it gracefully, waving his hand with a bright smile on his face. You wait and wait for one of the other guy tributes to volunteer over him, but it’s silence. None of them even twitch.

You feel like you’re in someone else’s body. This isn’t you, this isn’t your life. There is no Quarter Quell, your husband wasn’t just chosen to go back inside.

You’re not a victor of the sixty-fifth hunger games.

“Next are the ladies.” Elysia dips her hand in, pulling out a random slip of paper.

It doesn’t matter what it says on this paper. It could say Mags, it could say Annie, it could say the other woman. There’s a one in four chance here.

Elysia opens the paper much quicker this time, being careful not to rip it because of the tape. She doesn’t glance at you again, she leans straight in for the microphone.

You stand up taller now, pressing your lips together.

“Our female tribute this year is Annie Cresta.”

Time stops.

Annie immediately bursts into tears, still completely unaware about the plan that’s about to save her. She will never have to go into the games ever again, you and Mags are here to make sure that it happens.

Finnick is relieved, you can see his face relax slightly, and you know it’s because it’s not you who was called. He won’t have to compete with you inside of the arena. He thinks that you’ll be safe and sound inside of the district. You won’t be hurt, you’ll be in the comfort of your own home, with your two brothers and single sister.

The same relief is going through your body like water. It’s flowing from your head, straight to your toes. You can feel yourself grow anxious, and your stomach swarms with butterflies almost instantly.

You can see Mags shaking her head, which means that she’s about to volunteer for Annie. Take her place, so she can go inside of that arena with Finnick instead.

Unfortunately for her, you have other plans. You had Elysia go boys first so you’d know if Finnick were to get picked. The second that his name was called, the decision was made. You have to volunteer over who may be picked. You just had to hope that it wasn’t your name that was going to be pulled.

Everything’s worked so perfectly.

Mags can raise her arm as fast as she can to volunteer. But the fact of the matter is you can speak faster. Your words count more than her actions in this sense.

Your eyes flicker to the nearest camera, knowing that all eyes are on you. Everyone in the Capitol is watching this, including President Snow. All the victors who are chosen this year, will look back at this to see who’s picked.

You take a step forward, raising your hand slightly as if you’re admitting to something like you’ve gotten in trouble, “I volunteer as tribute.”