A/N:
Written for a Caesar's Palace present exchange for Becky (Finnick/Johanna. "This new years, we'll burn it to the ground."), Caesar's Palace's Challenges by the Dozen challenge (Write about your favorite character[s]), and Caesar's Palace's Prompts (Forest).
Word count: 543
They walk barefoot, side-by-side, their toes tingling with the cold of stone and the soft of moss. He hears a shuffle as she hops to time her steps with his. Hut, hut. Hut, two, three, four. He walks like a good soldier, and she can only try to keep up. The trees whisper to each other when the wind wakes them. Hello, they say. How are you? How good the air tastes today. The highest branches nod in agreement. Leaves from last fall crunch under their heels, and he imagines the ants might be having a fire cracker party below them, how their colony might be shaking like it were bombed.
She speaks. "This place is so familiar. I remember that rock." She points. "Alex used to rest his axe there."
She remembers that stump. She remembers that bird nest. She remembers that tree. He tries to believe her. He tries to believe that she remembers anything about her life before moving to Victor Village. How can she speak so highly of this place? This is where she operated machinery from the lark's first croon to the sun's last smile and moved blades that she could imagine cutting herself into chunks.. This is where her people were still working like slaves, paid only enough to get by. How could she act excited?
As if reading his thoughts, she answers. "I was once one of the honest folk."
He doesn't bother to comfort her. Any Victor would know what she was talking about, and she's almost right. "There's no such thing as an honest living in Panem," she says bitterly.
He stares at the sunlight being eaten by the grass. "Johanna," he starts, his voice swallowed by phlegm. He clears his throat but doesn't start again.
Why is he getting emotional? He doesn't even know this place. He comes from a career district.
A wave of guilt crashes into his stomach. "I'm sorry."
She nods. "I could be angry, but..." she trails off and stares thoughtfully at an ant crawling in the ridge of bark. "I'm not."
"Profound," he jokes, trying to lighten the mood.
"Finnick." She laughs like a crow, and he realizes that he doesn't want to hear a sound like that again. "I'm angry enough to kill Snow right now. I want to cut him limb by limb and watch his pupils grow as he pleads for anything but this."
She is speaking much more than usual. She puts her face near his and stares him in the eye.
He takes a step back. Some part of him wants to, too. Anything but this were his thoughts every three nights, before he remembered to remember Annie.
"After I destroy his city, first," she adds casually.
They walk further, squeezing between closely growing trees and throngs of bushes. This area is in restoration as part of Snow's "environmentally-friendly" plan. Everyone knows he's trying to force District Seven to push up their wood prices so weapons by the rebels will be harder to make.
"There will be a rebellion here," she breathes.
He comes up behind her and puts his hand on her shoulder. "We'll burn it to the ground."