On the day Katniss Everdeen was born, the nation of Panem turned white. Born to a struggling Seam family in District 12 - Panem's smallest district - the Everdeens had never seen a world so vibrant and alive, for it had been bathed in dusky shadows since The Dark Days several decades prior.
Within days of Katniss's birth, the grass grew tall and green. For the first time, trees began to bud and flowers bloomed in places where seeds had never been sown, enriching the land and adding shades of greens, yellows, reds, and even pinks and oranges to the district that many citizens had only ever seen in school books.
But even with the added colors, the new light in the world brought forth the most upsetting imagery. Citizens could finally see that many houses in the Seam were being held up by woods so rotted that there was panic in the district over whether or not they could fall at any moment and crush the families inside. Dirt and ash covered everything in sight, swirling through the air with every breeze and landing haphazardly on every surface it could reach. However, somehow it could no longer blanket the trees, bury the flowers, or dull the bright white the district was suddenly immersed in.
Many across the nation knew there was something special happening. Older citizens started talk of Panem being blessed again with what they called, The Upriser. A rare breed born just once every one hundred years, Uprisers were expected to be a symbol for both the nation and for a revolution that was prophesized by their birth. And within a week of Katniss Everdeen's birth, Peacekeepers across the nation gathered the names of all children born on the day the darkness ceased and visits were made to each family until only one baby remained a viable possibility. Within hours, Katniss Everdeen's whereabouts had been reported to President Snow by his assistant, Plutarch Heavensbee.
"It can't be," President Snow responded to the news. He narrowed his eyes at his subordinate. "It's only been fifty eight years since the last Upriser was defeated."
"She's early," Plutarch replied insistently . "You've seen the signs. The nation doesn't change color like this unless an Upriser has been born."
"Then we must get rid of her," President Snow said a little too easily.
"It's too late for that," Plutarch insisted. "The districts already know she's here. She's a healthy, thriving infant. It would be too suspicious if she were to die right now and take her light with her."
"Then what do you suggest we do, Mr. Heavensbee?" For the first time, President Snow's words came with an edge of anger.
"Why don't we pay her family a little visit?" Plutarch suggested, a self-satisfied sneer playing on his lips at the end of his sentence. "We can give the Everdeen family a little reminder that Uprisers are a taboo. As long as they never speak of her powers, they can keep their daughter."
President Snow nodded, catching on to Plutarch's plan before adding a twist of his own. "And if they ever reveal to her what she is, they will be executed. The whole family."
President Snow and Plutarch's visit to the Everdeen house was a quick one. President Snow skipped the pleasantries and dove straight into threats to the family. But as Snow tore the tiny infant from her mother's arms and made it clear that Katniss Everdeen was to remain unaware of her power or face execution, Plutarch pulled Mr. Everdeen off to a quiet corner of the small, run-down house to explain what he was to do to keep his family, and Panem, safe.
XXXX
For the first year of Katniss's life, Panem remained glazed in white. However, it wasn't long before a new color swallowed the nation. The first time the world went red was when Katniss was learning to walk. A determined anger filled her that her small frame could not contain, and Panem was swathed in a blood red veneer until she calmed and white returned.
As the years passed and Katniss grew from toddler to child, new colors began to present themselves regularly. A yellow hue filled the skies when she was happy and a bright blue took over when she felt at peace or felt safe in her father's arms. But most often, Panem was cloaked in green, Katniss's favorite color. The color of the woods she so often retreated to with her father when food was low and money was tight. The color of spring, her favorite time of the year.
The district was yellow for weeks after Katniss's sister Primrose was born. But with Katniss's happiness came the Everdeens' fears that one day Katniss would reveal a new power. One that would immediately expose her position as the Upriser to the entire district and threaten the lives of their two young daughters. However, with each birthday Katniss celebrated, not a single new power presented itself.
In school, there was often talk. Though none of them knew what it meant, children retold stories that their parents had shared of a District 12 that was dark until one day in early May when there was suddenly a light so bright, many citizens had to walk the streets with their hands shielding their eyes for weeks before they got used to it. Katniss never suspected that any of the stories she overheard in the cafeteria and on the playground had anything to do with her, but shortly after her eleventh birthday, she asked her parents about the things she'd heard.
It pained them to lie to their daughter. To tell her that they didn't know what caused the light. But the thought of their two young daughters' lives being taken pained them far worse than any lie they could tell their curious child.
A few days after asking her parents about the day the district turned white, Katniss walked through the woods with her father as they always did. Something felt different that day, though. Her father spoke less and they walked further than they usually did. At first, Katniss thought they were headed to the secret cabin that her father had discovered deep in the woods when he was a boy. It was so covered in overgrowth and so deep in the woods that nobody dared ventured near it. It was perfectly hidden in a place that a person would only know about if they were told.
They didn't go to the cabin that day. They didn't go anywhere Katniss recognized. Before she could ask where they were, her father settled down on an old, fallen tree, patting the rough bark next to him for Katniss to sit down. His smile was hesitant, almost somber as he looked down at his daughter's small legs dangling over the large tree trunk underneath her.
"You like green a lot, don't you?" He asked. With his daughter's nod, he looked around at the way the green hue of the district made the green of the leaves pop perfectly on the trees that surrounded them. "I thought so. You turn the district green a lot."
Katniss laughed at her father. He always told silly jokes that never made sense to her and Prim. "I don't make it green, daddy."
Katniss's father leaned closer to his daughter, dropping his voice to just a whisper. "Want to know a secret?" he asked, nudging her shoulder with his arm playfully. "You do. You're special, Katniss. All of those different colors the districts changes to is because of you."
"But how.."
"Shhh," her father warned, placing a finger to his lips. "You have to keep this a secret, ok? You can't tell anybody."
"Not even Prim?"
"Especially not Prim," her father laughed. "She's the worst at keeping secrets."
"How do you know that I'm special?" Katniss asked dubiously.
He'd been waiting for that question. With a deep breath, he scooted in closer to his daughter and hoped that his explanation would be enough for the eleven-year-old to understand.
"When you were very small, just a week old, the president came to visit us," he explained.
"President Snow was in our house?" Katniss asked, her jaw going slack in surprise.
"Yes. And he brought a man with him - Plutarch Heavensbee," he continued. "While President Snow was talking to your mother, Mr. Heavensbee gave me a few instructions."
Katniss raised her eyebrows. "What were they?"
"That when I felt you were ready to learn about how special you are, I had to tell you in private and make you swore that you'd never tell anyone until the time came," her father said. "Do you think you can do that for me?"
"I can keep a secret," Katniss said with a nod.
XXXX
"I just received the most interesting phone call," President Snow said, mindlessly tapping his pen on his desk.
"About what?" Plutarch asked.
"Katniss Everdeen," Snow answered, shooting an angered look Plutarch's way. "It appears that one of my Peacekeepers followed Miss Everdeen and her father into the woods a few weeks ago and overheard him tell her about her... abilities."
Plutarch nodded, taking in the information. "Did you really expect the Everdeens to keep quiet for the duration of the girl's life?"
President Snow ignored Plutarch's question. "And not only has he told her, he's trying to teach her to gain control of her powers."
Plutarch looked out the window, observing the green blanketing the mountains in the distance. "She doesn't appear to be having much success," he noted. "It's been green for weeks."
"I'm more concerned with her father right now," Snow replied.
"Then take it out on him," Plutarch suggested. "Remove him from the situation and scare the girl and mother into never speaking about what she is again."
XXXX
After her father's revelation, the two returned to the woods almost daily. In the beginning, they went just to talk. Though her father knew she wasn't quite ready to learn her full destiny in life, in the weeks following, Katniss learned the basics of just how special she was.
"Focus, Katniss. Focus," her father said encouragingly.
"I can't," Katniss whined, dragging her feet across the blanket of old leaves underneath her.
When Katniss seemed uninterested in asking questions about what she'd learned about herself, her father decided it was time to start trying to focus on teaching Katniss how to control the only power that had presented itself with hopes that it would bring others to the surface. But weeks went by and Katniss couldn't seem to manage any of it. Her mother had insisted Katniss was still too young, but her father was convinced she was ready. She was bright, strong, and determined. He knew she could do it.
"We'll try one more time and then we can go home for dinner," her father urged. "Turn around, close your eyes, and turn the district blue."
Following her father's instructions, Katniss turned around and tried as hard as she could to turn the district blue. He had told her that the colors changed with her mood, but she didn't know what led to blue. She didn't know what led to on any of the colors she'd seen the district covered in. There were so many different times she'd seen the colors change and so many different emotions and feelings that could be attributed to them that she had no idea which ones to call upon for any of them.
She tried to think of anything that would make her feel different than she already did. The fresh smell of the air when spring arrived, the cool feeling of the moist moss on the rocks in the woods, the Mockingjays repeating the songs she and her father sang as they walked home after hunting, but the world remained green.
The sound of the birds scattering from the trees broke her focus. She turned around quickly only to be faced with a horrifying sight. Her father, barely standing and face ashen, an arrow plunged deep into his chest and a body with a faceless mask to her left holding the bow that delivered the fatal shot - her father's bow.
"Daddy!" Katniss screamed, running toward her father as his body fell the the forest floor.
"No," her father choked out, his breathing labored. "Run… remember… our spot."
As badly as Katniss wanted to stay, she knew she would be next if she didn't make a run for it. Without a second thought, or as much as a glance back at her father's now lifeless body on the ground, Katniss took off running away from the screams and booming voices of whoever had found her and her father in the woods.
She was small and fast, and with her head start she could hear the sound of crunching leaves under the feet of her pursuers growing fainter as she broke away. She ran as fast as she could, terror and anger coursing through her so strong, she could feel every drop of blood flowing through her veins. Then suddenly, the district went red and a clap of thunder sounded from the sky louder than Katniss had ever heard in her eleven years, followed by rain drops that fell hard from the sky, breaking through the forest canopy and soaking Katniss to the bone.
For every word of ridicule the children at school threw at her for her size, she had never been more grateful for her small stature and skinny frame than the moment she found the large, hollowed out log in the darkest part of the forest. She'd just managed to squeeze herself into it when she heard the roaring voices of her assailants growing closer.
"How do you lose a child?!" One man spoke angrily. "We should've killed her first."
"The father is dead," another said, teeth chattering from the cold rain that still fell in sheets. "We can break for the evening, dry up, and resume our search in the morning. She can't go far."
"We'll stop by their home in the Seam at sunrise," the angry man growled. "Give the mother time to realize that her husband and daughter are never coming home, and if she doesn't compromise with us we'll take her other daughter, too."
Katniss sucked in a breath, almost jumping out of the log to let them take her away. They couldn't kill Prim. She wouldn't allow it. But before she could move further, a voice rang in her head telling her to stay put, and for reasons she could never explained, she listened to it, staying in the log for hours after the angry group had left the woods.
XXXX
"You agreed to only killing the father," Plutarch said. He struggled to keep his voice even, knowing that shooting an angry remark in the direction of the president would not end well. "They went after the girl, too."
"I lied," Snow answered with a shrug. "I let you talk me into letting her live when she was an infant and look at where that got us. I want her gone."
XXXX
Katniss wasn't sure if it had been hours or days since she sought shelter in the log. Not long after the angry mob left her in the woods, the red district turned near black and the rains came down even harder than they had before. The log provided Katniss with no protection. She was drenched, cold, hungry. If only she could get her limbs to move. She needed to see if Prim and her mother were ok.
The sound of someone walking heavily through the leaves and and pair of feet stopping directly in front of the opening of the log made Katniss's body freeze further, crippling her. She knew it was the end. They'd kill her like they killed her father and go back to the Seam to finish off the rest of her family - if they hadn't already.
But the angry voices of the group that had chased her that far into the woods was nowhere to be found. The soft voice that she heard in its place is unexpected, even soothing in a way. Taking a chance, she peeked out from the log and was surprised to see a young boy she recognized from school. Peeta Mellark. His blonde curls dripped with cold rain water. Finally, their eyes met and he spoke again.
"You have to leave," he said quietly, shifting his weight from one foot to the other and shivering slightly. "You can't stay in the Seam. The Upriser Hunters will kill you." Katniss's confused expression over the words she just heard seemed to disturb him, and he spoke again with urgency. "You and your family need to leave. Right away, Katniss. Before they come back."
Before Katniss could ask a single question, Peeta was gone. Pushing herself out of the log and rising to her feet, it was then that she remembered her father's words: Remember our spot.
XXXX
The cabin was small. Smaller than their old home in the Seam, but it was somehow always wholly hidden. Even in the winter when the leaves had fallen from the trees and the overgrown vines and plants surrounding the cabin dwindled, there was still no sign of it from the the outside of the overgrowth.
Since Katniss was no longer in school, she spent her days hunting, foraging, and learning to craft a bow complete with arrows - just like her father's.
With her mother's devastation over her husband's death, Katniss was the only one bringing food into the cabin. She'd contemplated teaching Prim how to hunt, but at seven years old and having never set foot in the woods before the family made their escape to the cabin, Katniss knew it was no use. Prim was better suited for dipping her toes in the small lake near the cabin and griping about how cruel it was that her ugly, orange cat Buttercup was no longer allowed outside to hunt for mice.
Though it was unclear to Katniss just how much time had passed since she saw her father's life end right before her eyes, she was sure it'd been months since that day. The cold days had grown longer, warmer, and the trees had become fuller. She was even certain she'd turned twelve in the time they'd been hidden, but none of it mattered to her. Every day she woke with the same questions: Who are the Upriser Hunters? And why did they kill my father? Why do they want to kill me?
And every day she also found herself thinking of Peeta Mellark. If it weren't for him, she would have stayed wedged in that log until hypothermia set in and killed her. She wanted to see him, thank him for his insistence that she leave, but she had no way of finding him without exposing her whereabouts. So she took to thanking him silently in her head whenever she thought of him.
It was a particularly cool day and the leaves on the trees were just beginning to turn orange when she spotted a boy through a small space in the overgrowth. Katniss guessed he was around fourteen, and he appeared to be hunting, as well. With her bow nocked and ready, she peered out and watched the boy pull a rabbit from a snare that she presumed he'd set up.
"Who are you?" Katniss called, stepping out from the overgrowth, the tip of her arrow pointing straight at the boy's heart.
His hands flew up as soon as he noticed the weapon, dropping his game and a knife to the forest floor. "Gale Hawthorne," he announced.
"What are you doing here?" Katniss demanded, looking around for signs of others waiting to ambush.
"I'm only here to hunt. My family's hungry," Gale explained. "Who are you?"
Katniss's cheeks reddened when she realized how harshly she'd talked to the boy. It wasn't even a year ago that she and her father would be in the woods for the exact same reason as Gale Hawthorne was now - a hungry family.
"Katniss Everdeen," she mumbled, lowering her bow.
"Catnip Evergreen?" Gale asked.
"Katniss Everdeen," she said louder.
"Oh," Gale said. "Sorry. Wait.. did you say Katniss Everdeen? Are you the Mockingjay?"
"The what?"
"The Mockingjay," Gale repeated. "Most people call them The Upriser, but lately people have said that there's a Mockingjay out there now."
"I'm not sure what you're talking about," Katniss said shaking her head.
"Well, it seems this Upriser is different - early, and has survived and even thrived despite President Snow's plans. Some people don't believe the Mockingjay exists, but I hope it's true."
"Why?"
"About nine months ago, a group of men and women in a rmored suits raided the Seam," Gale explained.
"Were their faces covered with a black mask?" Katniss asked. She wondered if it was the same group that killed her father and drove her and her family into hiding.
"Yes," Gale confirmed. "They call themselves Upriser Hunters. Word is they were bribed and blackmailed by the Capitol to eliminate the threat. You. They swept in and questioned everyone they thought might have information about the Everdeen family. They even beat and killed a few who they thought were hiding information - including my father. I want them dead."
Katniss's face fell and the air around them turned black. How could she have caused so much death and so much destruction without even knowing it?
Gale looked around at the change in the sky. "Did you just do that?"
"I think so," Katniss nodded, guilt creeping up her throatl "Why don't you want me dead?" she asked suddenly. "It's my fault your father was killed."
Gale looked at her like the question she'd just asked was the most absurd thing he'd ever heard. His tone when he spoke was slow and affirming, "Because you're the one that can save us, Katniss."
XXXX
After Gale and Katniss's first meeting, a silent alliance was formed between the two. Day after day, Gale would make his way to the deepest parts of the forest to hunt with Katniss. Katniss was often reluctant to leave the safety of the overgrowth, but Gale's senses were always on high alert. He made sure to check for followers, snitches, and anyone that may be a danger to them daily, knowing that Katniss would never come out if he didn't. So some days, when Gale made it clear to Katniss that there was no one around, she was able to slip out from behind the overgrowth and help Gale with his snares.
And other times, Gale would go to her and forage at the lake while Katniss wandered the small, hidden grove with her bow, picking off squirrels and the occasional water fowl that wandered across her path. There often wasn't much to hunt in such a small area, especially in the winter, so Gale's added game from his snares was a blessing.
Though their conversations rarely escalated beyond dividing up the day's haul, Katniss felt comfortable with Gale. More comfortable than she'd felt in the months since her father's death, at least. So on days when Gale knew his family was well stocked with enough food for his mother to prepare supper, he ate with the Everdeens and told them stories of what had been going on in the district every week. The stories even made Katniss's mother raise her eyes from where she pushed her food around in her plate absentmindedly.
But Gale always left out a lot of the darker details of the district's affairs as to not scare Prim. It was on those nights, while Katniss walked Gale to the edge of overgrowth to see him off, that Gale would urge her to find it in herself to fight. As the months turned into years, his anecdotes of the things the Capitol had done grew more and more tragic. Unnecessary deaths, destruction, and the complete loss of privacy. The situation was growing more and more dire every year and was so reprehensible to Gale that it soon became all he talked about when he had a moment alone with Katniss.
"I don't know how to help them, Gale," Katniss said, throwing her arms up. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do."
"I'll help you," Gale offered desperately, grabbing Katniss by the shoulders. "I don't know any more than you do, but maybe if we tried, together, we could figure it out. All I know is that every year that goes by without you doing anything is another year lost to this tyranny. It's bad enough that I have to start mandatory work in the mines next week. We've already lost four years, I refuse to lose another."
All Katniss could think about in the days following were Gale's words. Four years lost to tyranny because of her inaction. At sixteen years old, she'd hoped to know more about herself than she truly did. But the truth was, she still felt like the scared eleven year old hiding in that damp log.
With Gale down in the mines six days a week, Katniss had been growing increasingly out of touch with what was happening in the district. His words still echoed in her mind daily, and she decided to take a chance while hunting alone one day. She slipped out from hiding - something she normally didn't do without the all clear from Gale - and began to quietly walk further and further away from where she knew it was safe. Even though she didn't quite know what she was hoping putting herself in danger would do, she continued to walk.
The echo of leaves crunching under someone's feet stopped her in her tracks. She knew it wasn't Gale. He never made a sound in the woods and he should've still be in the mines at that time. Katniss quietly chastised herself for leaving the grove alone. She needed to get back, but she knew she'd never make it before being discovered. Instead, she slipped behind the largest tree she could find and waited, her bow lowered but nocked.
Whoever was in the woods wasn't doing much to keep their presence a secret. Leaves continued to crunch, twigs snapped every few seconds, and it almost sounded as though the person was dragging their feet.
Katniss was taken aback when she saw the boy. He was hardly a boy anymore, though. He was taller than the last time she saw him and his shoulders were far wider, but the rest was unmistakable. The blonde waves that covered his forehead and eyes that somehow still shone blue despite the haunted look behind them now. Peeta Mellark was in the woods. The forest was suddenly bathed in yellow as Katniss's feet moved and her mouth opened before she could even think about the possible consequences.
"Peeta!" She whispered, moving from behind the tree to show herself.
He turned around fast, clutching a knife in his hands so tight that his knuckles were turning white. His eyes widened when they locked on Katniss They were virtually strangers, but there was something about seeing Peeta again after several years that made Katniss happy - hopeful, even.
"I knew you were still here," Peeta said with a relieved sigh, walking closer to Katniss and smiling. But his smile was not returned and Katniss gripped his arm almost painfully once they'd reached each other.
"Has anyone followed you?" she asked quietly.
"No," Peeta insisted, shaking his head wildly. "I'm sure of it."
After a quick look around, Katniss began to pull Peeta along with her through the woods, beyond the overgrowth and into the grove where it was safe.
"They used to follow me," Peeta resumed.
"Who followed you?"
"Mockingjay Hunters," Peeta confirmed. "That's what they call themselves now. It was so dark for so long, I thought for sure you were dead. But one day, things were green again and I guess I wasn't thinking. I ran into the woods to try to find you and they followed me until I realized what I'd done. I ended up staying in one spot the entire day, acting like I just needed a quiet place to think. After that I came to the woods every day and worked on drawings for hours." He patted to a leather satchel slung over his shoulder.
"How long did they follow you?" Katniss asked.
"Years," Peeta said. "But little by little I would go further and further into the woods before stopping to draw for hours on end, day after day. They finally gave up on me one day when they realized they'd been wasting their time - I wasn't going to lead them to anything. At least that's what they were lead to believe."
"Why would you do that?" Katniss questioned, narrowing her eyes at Peeta in suspicion.
"I started trying to find you after that," Peeta said, ignoring Katniss's question. "I watched the sky every day just to make sure it didn't go dark for too long. If it didn't stay dark, I knew you were still alive."
A smile rose to Katniss's lips at Peeta's confession. The thought of him looking up into the sky for signs of her roused her in a way nothing had before, and the smile Peeta returned only deepened that feeling.
"I'm glad I found you," Peeta said, making to leave. "It's good to be sure you're still here."
"Wait," Katniss called, stopping Peeta from leaving. "Will you come back?"
A grin lit up Peeta's face with her question and he nodded once before slipping half of his body through the overgrowth.
"Always."
XXXX
"Do you see anything you'd like to draw?" Katniss asked, keeping her stride even with Peeta's.
Peeta had kept his promise. In the beginning, he returned to the woods a few days a week, staying for short periods that grew longer and longer with each visit and bringing the freshest breads and desserts he could sneak out of his family's bakery with him. Prim got first pick always. She'd grab her treats and retreat to the cabin to share them with Buttercup while Katniss and Peeta spent time walking the perimeter of the grove together.
They stayed hidden behind the overgrowth most days. Walking around the tree lined edges of the hidden quarter of the woods, dipping their toes into the lake, and on the warmest days of the year, seeking shade and a nap under the trees furthest from the cabin.
"Nothing new," Peeta said just as another twig cracked under his heavy footstep. "I've been trying to color in the drawings I've done of what the lake looks like from those trees back there." He pointed to the cluster of shaded trees they often retreated to and fell asleep under.
"You like to draw the lake," Katniss observed, leading Peeta to their resting spot.
"It's not that I particularly like to draw it," Peeta said. "I just can't seem to do it perfectly."
Once they'd sat down under the trees, Peeta pulled his drawing book from his satchel and handed it to Katniss. She flipped through drawing after drawing of the lake shaded in various different shades of yellow - the color the district normally was during Peeta's visits.
"These look pretty perfect, to me," Katniss said, switching back and forth from drawing to drawing trying to find the problem.
"It's the yellow," Peeta said, pulling a drawing from Katniss's hand and holding it up. "It looks so dull compared to the real thing. How do you do it?"
Katniss sighed. "I wish I knew."
They settled back against the large tree together. Katniss dropped her head to Peeta's shoulder before closing her eyes and letting sleep wash over her and when she woke, the woods were bathed in blue. Peeta was already awake, his drawing book propped up against his knees, his hand making small, minute strokes across the paper.
"Sorry," Katniss mumbled, removing her head from Peeta's shoulder.
"I don't mind," Peeta assured her, keeping his eyes on his drawing. "You can stay there if you want."
Katniss hesitated, but after a minute or so, she slowly dropped her head back down to rest on a Peeta's shoulder. "You're drawing the lake again," she laughed.
"Things went blue when you fell asleep," Peeta began. "I couldn't pass up the opportunity to draw the lake this way. The blue of the water seems so much brighter when it's like this."
"Like your eyes." Katniss froze, mortified over what she'd just said. She didn't mean to say it out loud, but Peeta didn't seem to be put off by her comment. He didn't even call attention to it, and Katniss was grateful.
"Do you change the colors when you sleep, often?" He asked.
"I don't think so," Katniss said. "Things are usually the same color when I wake up as they were when I went to sleep. But if they change while I sleep, I'll never know."
"Do you know what the colors mean?" Peeta asked.
"They change with my moods," Katniss said, removing her head from Peeta's shoulder and meeting his eyes. "That's all I know."
"Well, blue could mean a lot of things, good and bad." Peeta said, putting his artwork down.
"Tell me the good things," Katniss urged.
"Calm, tranquility and unity.." He trailed off, dropping his hand to Katniss's arm. With gentle, mindful movements, his hand reached hers. Their fingers laced together easily. "Trust."
"And yellow?" Katniss asked, watching Peeta's thumb move from side to side across the back of her hand, smudging the blue residue on Peeta's thumb from the chalk he was drawing with across her skin.
"The good things?" Peeta asked, waiting for Katniss's nod. "Sunshine, friendship, happiness."
"Friendship," Katniss repeated. "Maybe that's why it's always yellow when you're here. Does it mean anything else?"
"Yes," Peeta smiled, tightening his hold on Katniss's hand. "Hope."
XXXX
Katniss tried to tell Gale about what she'd learned from Peeta. But despite Gale's previous fervor for her to embrace her abilities, he hardly seemed interested in learning what Peeta had to say. She only saw Gale once a week since he'd started working in the mines, and every week she'd try to talk to Gale about it, but every time she started, he'd excuse himself to check his snares.
"But wasn't he the one that urged you to learn this stuff?" Peeta asked, handing a stack of his drawings over to Katniss. "You'd think he'd want to know this stuff so he could help you. He wants to help you, right?"
"That's what he said," Katniss replied with a shrug. Without another word about Gale, she started sifting through all of the drawings Peeta brought for her to look at. She liked looking through his drawings. He was able to capture the district almost picture perfect, but with an added twist that somehow made the works of art come to life.
Her hand stopped and her blood ran cold at the sight of one drawing in the pile. She tried to quickly move past it and forget what she saw, but as she flipped through the next three she realized they were a series of drawings from around the district. They were not the usual scenes that Peeta brought with him to show her. They were far more gruesome. Far more horrific. Mountains of burning rubble, families with small children living in the streets, the bodies of citizens who defied the Capitol piles in the back of carriages.
"Peeta…"
"I'm sorry, Katniss," Peeta said, fumbling with the mass of drawings in Katniss's lap. "I thought I left those at home. You didn't need to see that."
"No, it's ok," Katniss said, stopping Peeta from taking the drawings away. "Is this really what it's like out there?"
She'd heard the stories from Gale about the raids. She knew it was bad, but seeing it somehow made it clear just how bad it was.
"Yes," Peeta confirmed. "I see it everyday."
She looked through the drawings again and for the first time she understood Gale's need for her to fight. "I need to do something," she muttered, running her fingers over the the fires and letting the bright orange and reds of the chalk stain her fingers.
"I know."
"Is the nation really out there waiting for me?" Katniss asked nervously.
"The Capitol's trying to hide it, but yes," Peeta confirmed. "People are ready to support you. They already do." Peeta took her hand in his.
"I just don't even know where to begin."
"Why don't you try thinking of something that makes you warm?" Peeta suggested, moving his hands to Katniss's shoulders and rubbing up and down her arm. "Turn the world orange."
"Is that what orange means?" Katniss asked. "Warmth?"
Peeta nodded. "That's one of the meanings."
Katniss closed her eyes, bringing thoughts of warmth to the front of her mind. Long summer days, the fire in the cabin, the wool socks of her father's that she wore on the coldest winter nights - but nothing worked. When she opened her eyes, the sky was still blue just as it had remained green when her father tried to get her to change the colors ears earlier.
"I can't do it," she sighed.
Peeta brought his hand to Katniss's chin, tilting her head up to meet his gaze. "You can," he whispered. "I know you can."
In a flash of motion, Katniss's lips met Peeta's with great haste and little thought, catching Peeta off guard. It took a few extra seconds for him to respond, but he soon returned her kiss with zeal. Now that it'd happened she was able to admit to herself that she'd been wondering what it might be like to kiss Peeta from the moment their fingers first wove together under those shaded trees and she felt the first spark of heat flicker in her throat and down to the pit of her stomach. And then, as their kisses transformed from a chaste peck to something far more carnal, that heat inside Katniss grew and traveled even lower and gathered between her legs. And then the world around them turned red.
Peeta's eyes opened and he pulled away, the corners of his mouth turning upward as Katniss noticed the change in color. His hands moved to either side of her head and he pulled her closer, resting his forehead against hers.
"Well, it's not orange, but it'll do," he observed.
"What's red?" Katniss murmured, closing her eyes and inhaling deeply. "The good ones."
"Desire," Peeta whispered, covering her mouth with his own and resuming their kisses.
Neither of them noticed the mix of gray and black clouds that began to gather in the sky and swirl above them. Hands began to roam. Katniss's palms smoothed down Peeta's chest before she fisted the fabric of his shirt in her hands and pushed it up so she could touch the bare skin of his chest and reach the button that held his pants securely around his waist.
It was Peeta's hand snaking down the front of Katniss's pants and between her legs that caused the first clap of thunder from the dark clouds. They looked up at the open space in the canopy above them and finally saw the clouds that had gathered while they were reveling in one another. As Katniss stared up at the sky, Peeta brushed the soft pad of his thumb across her sensitive clit, producing a second clap of thunder.
He kissed her hungrily. "That's you," he whispered against Katniss's mouth. "You did that."
The moment Peeta was inside of her, lightning followed the thunder. It brightened up the red sky, casting harsh shadows down on their naked bodies as they moved in tandem together. But not a single raindrop fell until the moment Katniss fell apart in Peeta's arms, and once the final tremor had pulsed through her body, the world went blue again.
XXXX
"I think you're starting to get the hang of it," Peeta said. Walking hand in hand with Katniss toward the exit of the grove "You changed the colors three times on command just today."
"Changing the colors won't defeat Snow, and that's all I can do," Katniss sighed. "Maybe everyone was wrong about me. Maybe I'm not the Upriser."
"The Mockingjay," Peeta corrected. "And that's not true. What about those storms we've been having lately? You create them yourself, Katniss."
"Only when we're..." Katniss trailed off and looked down, her cheeks heating up.
Peeta was right, she created the storms the district had been experiencing for weeks. Dark and powerful storms that whipped the fallen leaves into a frenzy around the woods and soaked the grounds with a warm, summer rain, replenishing every plant and tree in sight. Washing away the ash and soot that settled in even the tiniest crevices.
But the storms only began to build when Peeta touched her. A crack of thunder when his fingers found her center, a bolt of lightning when he'd finally sheathed himself inside of her. And the rains only came when she did. When the violent pulses of her climax shook her body, the skies opened up above them, emptying the clouds and saturating the land. She had no idea how to create a storm without Peeta's touch.
They exited the hidden grove, stopping at a tree just a few feet away.
"You'll figure this out, Katniss," Peeta whispered, pressing her against the tree with his body. A reflexive moan escaped her lips and echoed through the trees in response to the pressure of Peeta's body against hers. A pressure she missed feeling when he was away.
"I wish I had as much faith in me as you do," Katniss said, closing her eyes when Peeta's hands cupped her jaw before he silenced her with a kiss.
He pulled away reluctantly and rested his forehead against hers. "Can you do something for me?" He asked, closing his eyes. "I want to see green tonight. I like that reminder of you when I'm not here."
As Peeta began to walk away, he turned back and locked eyes with Katniss. With a doting smile, Katniss closed her eyes and breathed in deeply, and when she opened her eyes again, the world was green. She watched Peeta until his form was so far away that she could no longer see him walking.
She didn't want to go back to the grove right away. Instead, she walked around quietly, dragging her hand across the coarse bark of the trees that surrounded her. The feeling of a rough hand wrapping around hers tightly caused her to squirm and try desperately to remove her hand from the vice-like grip.
"Stop fighting me!" A voice whispered harshly next to her. She immediately recognized it as Gale's. He pulled Katniss along with him through the overgrowth and into the grove before letting go of her hand.
"What are you doing hiding in the woods and scaring me like that?!" Katniss yelled, pushing Gale roughly.
"Would you rather me interrupt you and Peeta?" Gale shot back.
Katniss balked. "You were watching us?" She hissed.
"You didn't exactly try to hide," Gale said. "Kissing him out here like that? Katniss, what are you doing?"
"Whatever I damn well please!" She pushed Gale again, storming passed him in a huff and ignoring his calls for her to come back.
"Katniss!" Gale yelled. The front door of the cabin opened and Prim stepped out, a confused look on her face.
"Go back inside, Prim," Katniss called. "Everything is fine, Gale was just leaving."
"Katniss..." Gale called again.
"He's leaving!" She bellowed.
Prim retreated back in the house quickly, leaving Katniss and Gale alone again. Katniss refused to turn around and look at Gale again.
"Please just leave," Katniss pleaded. "I can't look at you right now."
"Don't you know, Katniss?" Gale asked.
Against her better judgement, she turned around. "Know what?"
Gale inhaled deeply and walked toward her, his face overcome with a pained expression even though his eyes were still fiery with anger.
"Peeta's family," he started, clenching his jaw to ward off the bubbling fury. "They're Mockingjay hunters, Katniss."
"You're a liar," Katniss spat.
"How would you know that?!" Gale blew up. "You haven't set foot in the district in almost five years."
"I'm not listening to this," Katniss said exasperatedly, turning back and trudging toward the cabin.
"You've given the son of people who want you dead the location of where you're hiding!" Gale yelled after her, throwing his arms up in frustration.
Katniss ignored his shouts and the world went dark as she walked into the cabin. She slammed the door shut behind her, leaving Gale seething with rage at the entrance of the grove.
It was several hours before Katniss decided to leave the cabin. She wasn't sure what was worse. The crippling loneliness the grove provided or the air of desperate sadness inside the cabin. Everything was still bathed in darkness, and no matter how hard she tried to change it, it stayed just as dark as it had been the day her father died.
The lake looked like a muddy swamp, the overgrowth more like a wily snakes waiting to strike. Katniss walked in careful circles, avoiding the shaded batch of trees where she and Peeta spent most of their time.
And then, she heard it. The scream of a voice she knew well - Peeta's voice.
"Katniss!" He howled, bursting through the overgrowth and running through the grove to find her.
He almost knocked her down when he found her standing near the center of the grove, looking up at the open space in the canopy.
"Katniss, what's wrong?" Peeta asked breathlessly. He pulled her into an embrace and Katniss couldn't help but return it. The warmth that flooded her body for the first time since he left earlier in the day was welcome, needed. But just as the world started to flood with orange it was stamped out again by darkness and Katniss pushed Peeta away from her.
"Why didn't you tell me?" She pleaded desperately. "Why didn't you tell me that your family wants me dead?"
Peeta dropped his gaze and focused on the ground in front of him. "You and I have nothing to do with them," he muttered.
"How can I be sure of that now?!" Katniss shouted. "How do I know that you haven't been leading them to me this whole time and they're just waiting for their moment to strike?"
"I would never do that to you, Katniss," Peeta stammered. "I'm not part of the hunters. That's them, not me."
Katniss shook her head. "Why didn't you just tell me?"
"Would you have really been happier if I'd done that?" Peeta asked.
"I'll never know, now," Katniss said sadly. "I want you to leave. And don't come back."
Peeta stood silent, staring back at Katniss in disbelief and as though if he stood there long enough she'd change her mind, but she never spoke again. The rain that began to fall spoke for her. It was cold and stung his skin as it blew in sideways from winds that picked up out of nowhere. And as Peeta exited through the overgrowth, he knew it was from Katniss, and she knew it too. She was ready to fight, and she was willing to do anything to learn how, with or without Peeta by her side.
XXXX
Black, Katniss thought to herself. Summoning darkness on her own was easiest. All she had to do was bring back the feelings that had been burnt into her being the day her father died. Or if that was too much, she thought about her mother. Alone and despondent in that cabin, never coming out unless forced.
Yellow and blue was a little tougher. All she could connect to the colors was Peeta. She tried for weeks until she found that she could easily submerge the district in the two colors when she thought about memories with Prim, too. Teaching her how to sing the Valley Song was her favorite memory to conjure yellow, and evenings where the two of them would curl up and create a story together was how she summoned blue most of the time.
But the only way she was able to produce red, pink, and orange was when she thought of Peeta. No other memories were strong enough to do it, and even the memories that made her angriest could not produce red.
She refused initially. It may have been the only way she could call those colors to the sky, but it also made it harder on her later when those memories were still occupying her mind. She told herself that if she gave it enough time, she'd make new memories to invoke the colors she desired, but after weeks of easily altering between black, green, blue, and yellow, she knew she had to force herself to master the rest even if it meant bringing up memories of Peeta.
Thoughts of his embrace brought orange to the sky first and pink followed soon when she remembered what it felt like every time she saw Peeta slip through the overgrowth, the same memory she wanted to use for yellow. Red took the longest. Memories of hugs and kisses she'd shared with him couldn't summon anything but pink. And she found that the only memories that could call red were memories of the way Peeta held her when there wasn't a stitch of clothing between them and the soft groans and gasps that flooded her ears when he moved inside of her. Then, as the sky flooded with red the way a deep wound pours blood, the clouds began to churn above her.
It was in the company of red that Katniss learned just how powerful she could be. Allowing herself to feel the things her memories with Peeta provided, she was then able to tap into the anger that she'd been suppressing since her father's death and where she thought the only time she ever produced rain was when she was with Peeta, she remembered that day she was wedged in that log and the rain felt colder than ice. She realized all at once that she produced that storm, too. And it wasn't just rain storms she could produce.
Soon, she had control of storms right down to where each bolt of lightning would hit. She willed it to hit the ground, trees, and even the center of the lake. Fires could be started from the strikes and earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes came next. She washed out small areas and flattened others - the severity of each act all controlled by Katniss.
This is why the Capitol wanted her dead. This is why Uprisers were taboo. They could alter the world as they knew it and show no mercy if that was their choice. They could send a flood to the Capitol, a tornado that'd flatten buildings for miles, or a ground swallowing earthquake right under President Snow's mansion.
She worked for weeks to gain control of her powers, readying herself for the day she would have to leave the safety of the hidden grove and face her destiny. But nothing could have prepared her for the warm afternoon when the screams of Mockingjay Hunters boomed through the forest. Their knives and swords slashed through the overgrowth, tearing down every twig, vine, and leaf that protected the grove from harm.
Katniss ran toward the cabin, screaming for Prim and her mother to stay inside, but it was too late. They'd already come running out and were hugging Katniss with unyielding strength and forcing her to turn around and face the mob.
As she turned and saw the same dark, faceless masks closing in on them, she summoned a powerful gust of wind that knocked many of them off their feet and stopped the rest in their tracks, dividing the two groups on each side.
"I have a message from the president," a familiar, guttural voice yelled. The same voice she heard all those years ago as she hid in the log. "Your days of hiding are over! The war has begun."
Another laughed. "That's quite an army you have!"
As the rest joined in laughing and began to move in closer, a bolt of lightning struck behind them, splitting a nearby tree in half and stopping them again.
"You can come with us willingly or we can take you by force!" Another called.
"If the war has just begun, why would I come with you?" Katniss shouted back. The ground began to shake underneath the hunters, knocking a few off balance once again. And just as the ground began to settle, Gale and Peeta ran into the grove, stopping right between the two groups facing one another.
Gale joined Katniss, Prim, and their mother immediately. He had a bow in his hands and a quiver of arrows slung over his back - he was ready to fight.
Peeta remained standing between the two groups, his back turned to the hunters and his eyes focused on Katniss. Anger flared inside her chest and without thinking, she sent another forceful gust of wind toward Peeta, knocking him down.
He jumped to his feet quickly, smiling from ear to ear. "That's you," he said to her proudly. "You did that."
As soon as the words were out of Peeta's mouth, Katniss remembered the first time he said it to her. She remembered everything. Their walks, their naps, teaching him to fish in the lake. Memories flooded her mind. Their first kiss, the first time she felt his fingers slip between her legs, the first time he was inside of her. As she stared at Peeta, suddenly noticing a large bruise under his eye and across his cheek, the strangest thing happened - she seemed to be seeing straight into Peeta's own memories.
Things flashed by quickly. She could even hear people speaking. A woman, who Katniss could only assume was Peeta's mother, screamed at him over his refusal to support his family's agreement born from bribery to hunt and kill the Mockingjay. The pictures rushed forward and the same woman was slapping Peeta, beating him into a corner and telling him that he was getting what he deserved. And then Katniss is shown another flash of pictures. Peeta leaving his room in a hurry, leaving all of his drawings out on his bed. Beautiful and near exact replicas of the very space in the forest where they now all stood. Drawings of Katniss peeking out of the overgrowth.
The final pictures darted through her mind. Peeta running through the district, running through the Seam and telling Gale that she'd been found. The two of them tearing off together toward the woods.
And suddenly, as Katniss's vision focused back to the scene in front of her, the world turned blue. Peeta was telling the truth. He refused anything that had to do with hunting her. He took beatings for it, just to protect her.
With a simple nod of her head, she conveyed to Peeta that it was ok, allowing him to step out of the middle of the face off and over to the side he'd chosen from the beginning. He joined the small line with Katniss, Prim, their mother, and Gale.
She sucked in a deep breath, pulled up every ounce of anger she could muster and on the exhale, the ground beneath them began to shake again. Weakly on their side, but so violently on the other that the ground below the hunters began to crack, opening up a deep, wide crevice that swallowed the entire group before they could find the speed in their legs to flee.
They all stood in line, staring at the deep rift in the ground that Katniss created. She knew their fight was just beginning, and it would not be easy, but she felt at ease as Peeta slipped his hand into Katniss's, lacing their fingers together. And somehow, despite what had just happened, Katniss managed to find it in herself to turn the world yellow again.
With a deep, shaky breath, she stood tall, her eyes trained forward and forcing a strong tone as she spoke.
"The war has begun."