Umm… hello. I have a feeling that some of my readers are mad at me, for I abandoned Where We Are but know that it wasn't that I didn't like it. I wasn't enjoying any of it, not the plot, not the way I was developing characters, it wasn't working for me. I'm sorry. But know that it's not going to happen again. The only reason I'm going to get rid of things, is because I am having people to tell me to get rid of it. It's not fair to you, but it isn't fair to me if I'm not enjoying my stories. So I'm sorry.
Enough of that. Without further ado, I give you The Mockingjay's Match.
I don't own THG.
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"Katniss, there is no District Twelve."
It has now been three months since Gale said those words to me. And in those three months, a lot has changed. I have adjusted to this strange District Thirteen lifestyle. Peeta and I have gotten better, healed each other's wounds that even the best of doctors couldn't heal. And then there is the Mockingjay project. The rebellion that looms over President Snow's head, and over all of Panem. Almost all time spent here in Thirteen has been spent on the efforts to take down the Capitol. In the time we have been here, we have been to the Capitol twice. Once to retrieve the lost tributes that we couldn't get out of the Arena (including Peeta), and the other to plant spies in the Capitol to send us information. But it hasn't been easy, not even a bit. There are always more people to save, more broken spirits to lift up. I'm not doing it because I have to, but because this is what has to happen. The Capitol has to be brought down.
But the Capitol efforts are the least of my problems at the moment. My main priority is Peeta. When we got him back from the Capitol's clutches, it was obvious he'd changed. Doctors ran a long series of tests on him and found they'd hijacked him memories with Trackerjacker venom. It had distorted his memories of me and everyone else, making him hate us for doing things that hadn't happened. The month we've had him back has been rough, but he hasn't had an episode in a few days, whereas before he had them every time I came into the same room as him. He had a brain check up a few days ago, and almost all of the venom is out of his system. He's almost back to the Peeta I fell in love with.
Thinking about him brings me back to where I am, the Command Center. The President of District Thirteen, Alma Coin, is talking about how we are going to get the Districts on our side and to get them to cut off their exports to the Capitol. Nothing interesting, but when I look over to see Peeta, he's completely concentrated on the conversation. This is the second time he's come since they cleared him to leave the hospital wing of Thirteen. He's loving being able to focus back on what needs to be taken care of.
"…now, but I am sure we can get the survivors out soon. The more we have here, the higher our chances." Coin finishes. I look up at her staring at me.
"What did you say, President?" I ask. She shoots me an annoyed look, but answers anyway.
"I was telling the people who were actually paying attention how after the bombings in Eight are done, we can get the survivors here. Please listen, the Mockingjay must know all of this information."
"Peeta's the Mockingjay too!" I shoot back at her. She's a bitch, I'm not going to go in any further, she has been treating the citizens of Twelve like absolute shit ever since we got here.
Peeta looks up from the four pages of notes he has been writing at the mention of his name. "What? Sorry, notes…" He says sheepishly. Coin shoots him a look too.
"Well, it seems like our Mockingjays have bad attention spans, we need to work on that." She says with a sarcastic tone. What a bitch. How I would love to… no, Katniss. Leave her alone. She's trying to make Panem better, to get rid of Snow.
"Sorry, ma'am." I say, defeated. I have learned that she will pressure you into giving her unearned apologies just so she can show you her power. She continues and I tune her out again. I read Peeta's notes anyways, he takes them for later and so one of us actually knows what's going to be happening.
The meeting ends at 17:30. Dinner is in half an hour, so I go back to Compartment E, which I share with Peeta and my family. I curl up on the couch and quickly fall asleep.
I'm running through knee deep water, the water around my feet turning red with blood at every step I take. I hear voices from the tributes I've killed telling me of how I deserve to be haunted. I keep running and the water gets deeper and deeper until it reaches my waist.
A sharp voice cuts through. " Your fire has burned so many, and now, it'll get you too."
I don't recognize the voice until I see the body, it's Cato, from my first Games. I hear it again and again, the same twelve words from every life I've been responsible for ending. By the seventh one, I am screaming for it to stop, but the pile of bodies continues to grow over Cato's. Glimmer, Marvel, Brutus, even Seneca Crane.
But then it gets worse, the people I loved are haunting me now as well. Peeta and mine's imagined baby, Rue, Prim's childhood innocence was there too. All of them chanting the same words. I can't take it anymore, and I fall to my knees, submerging myself in the water. The voices stop. But then I hear the worst voice, the one that wakes me up from the nightmare. My father's.
"Your fire has burned so many, and now, it'll get you too."
I awake in a cold sweat, shocked at my dream and hearing my father's voice after so many years. But it wasn't him, the voice wasn't warm and loving, it was cold and filled with hate. His voice and the one that embodies Prim's childhood break me to my core. And my core responds to it in shattered sobs. I can tell I'm still on the couch as the tears fall. I cry for what seems like an eternity until I feel Peeta's strong arms wrap around me.
"Shh, shh, it wasn't real. None of it was real. It's okay, I'm here, it's okay." He tries to assure me, but I continue sobbing.
"It was real Peeta, I killed all of them, every last one. Even if it wasn't by my hands, it was still my fault!" I sob and turn my face into his chest, letting his shirt soak up the tears. This wasn't the first time I have cried over the loss of my friends and family, but never from a dream like this. I mean, I had had nightmares about the Games and Snow, but to have my loved ones haunt me was a totally new form of torture my mind was putting me through.
"None of it was you, it was the monsters, the Capitol, Snow. But you are going to slay them all, avenge all of them." Peeta says, comforting me as the wracking sobs subside to whimpers and leftover tears.
"Thank you. I don't know what really happened, I heard my father, and then I woke up."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"No, what time is it?" I ask, changing the subject. I needed to get my mind off this, there was another meeting with Coin later, and if she saw me, she would make me go to one of the District Thirteen therapists. That would not happen, I am on enough drugs for just fixing what the electrical shock and Johanna's blade had done to me.
"I got here about five minutes ago, and you stormed here about half an hour ago, so, I'd say around 18:05, dinner." He says and plants a small kiss on my forehead. I smile, he knows exactly what I need, when I need it. And right now, I need his love.
We get up and go to the mess hall and are served mushy fish and what seems to be a radish mash. You can never know here, all of the food tastes the same, like nothing. We sit alone, the mess hall was basically empty anyways, so the people we usually sat with were gone. After we had finished, we had to go back to Command for another meeting. Peeta and I walk in silence, holding hands. We enter the Command Center and take our seats, our hands never separating. A few more people come into the room after us and then Coin enters, her darks eyes watching the room. After a few minutes of watching, she stands and the room falls silent.
"As you know from this morning, District Eight has been mostly destroyed by the Capitol's forces. We will send out troops to collect the survivors at 22:00. Your compartment will have a bag with the necessary items for the rescues if you are going. That also brings me to another point. We are losing leverage against the Capitol. They are winning back the trust of the Districts. They have told the Districts that we, as rebels, are going to destroy what this country is. We need something new, we have to get them back on our side. Any ideas?" She says.
Plutarch, a Gamemaker from the Capitol surprisingly speaks up. He says, "We could go into the Districts, rally them up and win them back."
"We don't have enough people if we were to do that." Coin responds.
"We have to include the faces of the rebellion. The Mockingjays have to be involved." Someone speaks from the corner. I look over and to my surprise, it's Haymitch, and he looks horrible. In Thirteen, there is a strict "no intoxicating substances, unless it is medically required", meaning, they are forcing Haymitch to be a sober man, and it's obvious he's suffering.
Coin looks shocked as well, but seems pleased with the idea. "Yes, they struck the match, they have to keep the fire going, and we are going to need something to do that."
One of the other victors rescued from the Arena, Beetee, speaks up. "We could make a propo."
"A propo?"
"Yes, a propo, it's like one of the commercials that they have on Capitol TV, but to get more people on your side, to make another side lose supporters. We could take them into one of the destroyed Districts and get some footage of them being Mockingjays or something they have to do. I also know how we can get it to all of Panem as well."
"That's good, that is very good. I don't care how you get it out, just do so. Now, where can we send our Mockingjays?" Coin asks. I'm a little miffed that she didn't ask for Peeta and mine's view on the ordeal, but I know that we'd have to comply anyways.
I look to Peeta and his notes are finished, he is looking down at them with a uncomfortable expression. I squeeze his hand, he looks up at me with a worried smile. I lean over and kiss his cheek and hear something no one expects.
"It's decided, Beetee, gather a crew and be prepared to leave at 09:00 tomorrow."
Where are they sending us for these propos? Only the place I loved the most.
District Twelve.
Chapter one is done, YAY! I hope you enjoyed it. I hope to update soon, so keep checking back! Thanks for reading!
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Until next time…