The entire room seemed to still.
Every bit of buzzing, nervous energy that had filled the small space moments before had disappeared and was replaced with an almost comedic silence that was only enhanced by the perplexed expression on Plutarch's face.
It was as if he expected his news to garner a bigger, more grandiose reaction from Katniss and Peeta. In fact, he looked disappointed with the blank expressions that were etched on the two teenagers' faces since his big reveal.
Finally, Peeta cleared his throat and asked the question that was on both of their minds. "What does that mean?"
For the first time, it looked like Plutarch finally realized just how uninformed Katniss and Peeta really were. For the first time, he understood just how much they still had to learn about who they were and how much work it would take before they were ready to rise.
"I'm going to back up a little," Plutarch started, settling into his chair. He exhaled loudly and continued. "As we know from history, a new Upriser is born every one hundred years-"
"No, we don't know that," Peeta said, shaking his head.
"We hardly know anything at all," Katniss added. "I've had five years to learn about this and I still know next to nothing."
"You say you've been keeping an eye on us but you haven't been doing a very good job of keeping us informed," Peeta quipped. "How long have you known this about me?"
Plutarch looked taken aback by the sudden backlash to his revelation, but he pressed forward.
"We knew for sure a year ago," he admitted.
"And you wait until now, until Katniss was discovered and almost killed before you did anything?" Peeta spat. The tops of his ears had turned red with anger, and his jaw clenched tightly between words. "You want us to learn now? Why not a year ago?"
"There are as many doubters as there are supporters," Plutarch sighed. He never wanted to reveal this much to them, but he had no other choice. "As I said, Uprisers are born only once every one hundred years. There is never more than one in the world at once, and since Katniss was born a mere fifty-eight years after the death of the last Upriser, it has caused people to.. question things. Some don't believe you're The Upriser, Katniss." He paused, waiting for his words to sink in. "But there are others that believe that this is a sign that things are different this time."
"Different how?" Katniss asked.
"You've found your Incendiary, Katniss," Plutarch announced, another giddy smile breaking out across his face. "Uprisers are born to change the world, but they haven't always changed it for the better. In fact, not many have. The last Upriser was greedy, arrogant, and thought he alone held the key to changing the world all on his own. He rejected the wisdom of his elders and refused the help of allies, and when the time came to fulfill his destiny, he failed and took the light with him."
"That's how they knew it was you," Peeta said, turning to Katniss. "Because when you were born, the light came back."
Plutarch nodded. "The last Upriser not only failed, but he allowed The Capitol to rise to such a high power that they vowed to never let another Upriser fulfill their destiny ever again. Research was done and execution tactics were put in place that still exist today. They are ready to fight to ensure you do not rise, Katniss."
"But that still doesn't explain what an Incendiary is," Peeta protested, an air of impatience in his voice.
"I was just getting to that part," Plutarch said, wagging his finger. "Were you listening when I gave the reason as to why the last Upriser failed?"
"He wanted to work alone?" Peeta answered.
"Right," Plutarch said. "He also refused to listen to anyone and therefore failed to learn how to control his powers. But most of all, he failed to find his spark. He never even knew about his Incendiary."
"Spark?" Peeta questioned.
"The Incendiary is the person who stirs the Upriser into action and complements their powers with an arsenal of their own," Plutarch explained. "They're two parts of a whole and their powers are never greater than when they're together."
"Does every Upriser have an Incendiary?" Katniss added.
"Yes," Plutarch nodded heartily. They were finally starting to get it.
"Can anybody be an Incendiary?"
"No," Plutarch said. "Just like Uprisers, there's only one in existence at a time and only one born every one hundred years. Well, with the exception of you two. Some Uprisers have searched their whole lives for their Incendiary and never find them. Some didn't live long enough to even learn about theirs. Others never even bothered to look."
"What happened to the last Incendiary?" Peeta asked.
"Nobody knows." Plutarch shrugged. "There is no record of him or her. All we know is that since you're here, Peeta. They're dead."
"And how can you be sure that it's me?" Peeta continued. "If I'm supposed to have an arsenal of powers of my own, where are they? What are they?"
"I wish I had an answer for you, but I told you my information is limited," Plutarch said, setting his elbows on the desk in front of him. "I'm relaying what information I was able to get from the expert you'll be meeting with, but she wasn't in the best of health when I met her. I didn't get much. Can you do me a favor, Peeta?"
"Sure," Peeta uttered reluctantly.
"Touch Katniss's face," Plutarch said. "Gently, and keep it there."
The request was off-putting at best. The look of aggravation that crossed Peeta's face in response was almost enough to make Katniss laugh at the entire situation. Things had gone from confusing to impossible in a matter of minutes and Plutarch's newest demand didn't help.
Even still, Peeta raised a shaking hand to Katniss's face and cupped her cheek, instinctively rubbing the pad of his thumb along her jaw. Instantly, as though a switch had been flipped, warmth began to build in Katniss's stomach. At first she thought it was embarrassment over sharing such an intimate gesture while Plutarch sat captivated at his desk watching, but soon the heat continued to grow until it felt like her blood was made of fire.
And then the light directly above Plutarch's head gave a few flickers and produced an audible buzz that wasn't there before until all at once the bulb shattered, sending glass raining down onto the desk in front of Plutarch's hands.
"That's how we're sure you're The Incendiary, Peeta," Plutarch said smugly.
XXXX
"I'm bringing you to the main hall," Plutarch announced, walking a few steps in front of Katniss and Peeta. "That's where you'll get your compartment assignments and uniforms."
The rest of the walk was silent. Peeta took wide steps, staying just a pace or two behind Plutarch while Katniss walked slower, replaying parts of their conversation over again. She couldn't make sense of it. How much time had she spent with Peeta over the last year? Why hadn't anything clued either of them into the fact that he may have powers of his own? But as she thought more about it all she wondered if maybe there had been clues. Moments in their time together that made it easy to notice for those who knew what to look for. Moments they'd missed because they never knew what Peeta was.
It was something that only the Upriser expert that Plutarch told them about would have answers to. After all, it was probably her that confirmed Peeta's Incendiary powers in the first place. Plutarch didn't know any more than what he was told. Without thinking, Katniss began to make a mental list of things about Peeta that might be some kind of clue. How she felt when he touched her was an obvious one, but then she wondering, did Peeta feel his blood run hot and electricity stir in his body when she touched him, too? If he had, he'd never told her. Was the strange inkling about the second Earthquake in the woods a sign, too? The thoughts made her head hurt.
Finally, Plutarch dropped them off at the doorway of the main hall, shuffling off quickly with claims of having another meeting and promises that he would see the both of them again soon. The main hall was more of the same gray walls and floors that they'd seen all day, brightened by the rows of artificial lighting that hung above their heads. Several groups of people were lined up in front of large tables while a pair of older women, who appeared to be searching for something on small electronic devices, gave directions to the next table that handed out a set of shirts, pants, and boots in the same drab gray as the walls.
"Are those going to be our uniforms?" Peeta asked, speaking for the first time since they left their meeting with Plutarch. "Aren't they afraid we'll blend into the walls and get lost?"
Katniss couldn't stop the laugh that burst from her mouth. It was nice to hear Peeta making a joke again. It felt like she hadn't seen him smile in weeks, and after letting herself think about it for a moment she realized she hadn't. The last time she'd seen Peeta before the Mockingjay Hunters invaded the woods was the day she told him to leave the grove and never come back. There had hardly been time for sleeping let alone for jokes and laughter since he returned to the chaos laden woods. Had that only been a day ago?
"Keep that thought in mind," Katniss said, following the flow of the line a few steps closer to the first table. "You never know when we might want a minute to hide."
"I hope our compartments aren't too far from each other," Peeta added. His next words came as a suggestive whisper. "I'd like to be able to visit you."
The spot where Peeta's hand came to rest on the small of Katniss's back tingled with warmth and she allowed herself to bask in the sensation. Even though the room was bustling with people, none of them paid any attention to Katniss and Peeta and in a strange way, she felt protected by the commotion.
However, the feeling was short lived. They were forced apart when the lights in the main hall began to flicker just as the light had during their meeting with Plutarch.
"Am I not going to be able to touch you while we're here?" Peeta asked, his voice a mixture of confusion and frustration.
Katniss didn't have an answer for him. Being indoors together seemed to change things, and until they could figure out why their touches produced the odd incidents that they did, they'd have to be more careful.
"Next." The bored voice of the white haired woman behind the table caught Katniss's attention. "Name?"
"Katniss Everdeen."
The woman pressed her finger to the letter "E" on the screen of the device in front of her and quickly found Katniss's name.
"Are you Peeta Mellark?" The woman asked, looking back down at the screen, her finger hovering over a notation next to Katniss's name. "You're both in compartment 101. Once you've gotten your uniforms, Ayers over there will bring you down to your compartment, just give him your name." She pointed to a tall, dark haired man who stood stiffly next to the uniform table. He seemed unperturbed by the people weaving all around him. "Once you report to your room, you're both to stay there until further notice."
"Would you be able to tell me the compartment number my sister and mother are in?" Katniss asked, as a pair of strong hands gripped her shoulders and attempted to shuffle her toward the next table. "Primrose Everdeen?"
"I'm sorry," the woman said, swiping her hand over her screen to hide the page. "That information is private and I can only give compartment numbers to those who will be staying in them."
"But she's my sister," Katniss said, fighting the guard that continued to try and direct her to the next table. "You can't tell me where my sister is?"
"No." The woman shook her head. "I'm sorry."
"Come on, Katniss," Peeta whispered. "We'll find her soon."
Katniss didn't want to move to the next table. She wanted to stand at the first and demand to be told where her sister was. Something didn't feel right in District 13, and she needed to make sure that Prim was alright, but people were beginning to stare. Forcing the guard's hands off of her, she conceded and continued to walk with Peeta to the table where their uniforms were waiting for them.
Ayers was a man of few words, snapping into action immediately when the teenagers gave him their names. The only words he spoke on the way to compartment 101 were directions.
"Once in your compartment, change into your uniforms," Ayers explained. "Put your old clothes in the white crate next to the door. You won't be needing them again. Fresh uniforms will be delivered in front of your door every morning, and night clothes are in the closet."
They passed through a door and descended four flights of stairs down. The endless expanse of gray was already becoming too much, though Katniss couldn't quite put her finger on why.
"How can they tell which way is which around here?" Peeta whispered. "I swear we were just in this hallway."
"Each floor is marked with a number on the main wall," Ayers deadpanned.
"Oh," Peeta said. "I guess it must've blended in with the rest of the gray around here."
Ayers came to a sudden stop in front of a large, steel door. For a moment, Katniss worried that Ayers didn't take too kindly to Peeta's mockery, until she noticed the numbers "101" etched into the door. They'd reached their compartment.
"Each of you need to put a hand on the front of the door," Ayers instructed, pulling a small device from his pocket. It looked identical to the one the woman had just used to find their compartment, except for the size. "To program the lock."
Once Katniss and Peeta each placed a hand against the door, palm side down, Ayers began to input codes into the device in his hands and the door seemed to come alive under their touch. It grew warm, vibrated and soon slid open easily, allowing Peeta and Katniss to enter. Their words of thanks to Ayers went unacknowledged as the door promptly slid closed in front of them.
Katniss took in their surroundings. The compartment was small, perfectly square, and as gray as ever. She hadn't seen a single window since arriving, and their compartment was no different, but being underground probably didn't provide the best views anyway. There was no bathroom, and the closet Ayers spoke of could hardly be called a closet. It was just big enough to hold a few gray t-shirts and lounge pants. A small, sealed cubby hole near the floor next to the beds caught Peeta's eye, but when he inspected it, he couldn't find any way to open it. Katniss was beginning to feel trapped, worn out and she wondered if Peeta was feeling the same.
A foreign and uncomfortable silence filled the room as Peeta dropped his uniform on one of the two single beds that were pushed up against the back wall of the compartment. Their white and sterile sheets looked just as uncomfortable as the material of Katniss's own uniform in her hands. She followed Peeta's lead and dropped the garments down onto the second bed and pulled her shirt over her head, remembering Ayers' orders to change when they'd gotten into their compartment. By the time she'd slipped her pants down and removed them, Peeta had his back turned to her, an action that confused Katniss. He'd seen her in far less many times before, and his sudden unease concerned her. Not because she couldn't understand it, but because she was worried that their meeting with Plutarch earlier in the day had injected the same fears in Peeta as they did in her.
She tried not to think about it as she shrugged into the uniform's gray button down shirt. It was far too big and the threads were coarse, firm, and scratched at her skin, causing her to feel even more uncomfortable than she already was.
Peeta's uniform looked even more uncomfortable as it fit him much better. His shoulders filled out the top of the shirt and the pants hugged his thighs in a way that, despite uncomfortable it probably was, actually made it look good on him. He sat down on the bed, his back still to Katniss as she slipped her pants on and adjusted the belt to the tightest notch to keep them up.
"Are you wondering it too?" Peeta asked suddenly.
Katniss walking over to the other side of the bed to face him. "Wondering what?"
His question added another layer of unease to Katniss's mind. She wasn't sure what he was asking her, but with how somber his voice sounded, it couldn't have been good.
"Wondering if what we feel for each other is simply because of what we are?"
Katniss didn't want to say it, but she had been wondering it. From the moment Plutarch revealed what Peeta was she'd been wondering.
"I hate myself for thinking it," Peeta continued. "The one thing I have always been sure about was my feelings for you. I keep trying to talk myself out of even thinking it, but I just can't. I'm starting to question everything and I don't know how to stop."
"There's still a lot we don't know, yet," Katniss offered. It was a weak response and she knew it.
"There's no freedom here."
"No color," Katniss added.
When Peeta put his arms out, Katniss went to him readily and happily. His arms wrapped around her torso, his head coming to rest on her stomach. For the moment, she didn't care to wonder about the reasons for her feelings for him. She just wanted to feel his arms around her and his hands running up and down her back the way that she'd grown used to during their time in the grove.
Pressing a kiss to the top of Peeta's head, Katniss broke away, a smile springing to her lips at the wounded look on Peeta's face as she walked away from him. She had only one reason to leave Peeta at that moment, and she was quick to find it. The light switch on the wall next to the door. She punched it, pulling the room into darkness that was so thick, she had to ask Peeta to speak in order to find her way back to him on the bed, grabbing hold of his outstretched hand after she'd walked into it.
As soon as Katniss reached him, she lowered herself down onto the bed next to him and pulled on his arm. "Lay with me?" She whispered.
The tiny bed wasn't the most comfortable spot for two people, but with Katniss's body nestled back against Peeta's chest, they managed to make it work. The silence that filled the room this time was comfortable, welcoming even as the pair tried to drive out all of the new questions and concerns that the day had brought.
Katniss sighed and settled in against Peeta even closer as he peppered kisses across the back of her neck.
"Hey," Peeta whispered. "Maybe this isn't so bad, afterall. If I close my eyes and tune out everything but you, it almost feels like we're still in the grove."
Katniss knew he was lying, trying to sound positive to make both of them feel better, but she didn't let it stop her from trying anyway. She closed her eyes and focused on the length of Peeta's body against her and the way his arms held her tightly and protectively to him. And before she knew it, she'd fallen asleep.
XXXX
Their contentment and rest was interrupted by a loud beeping noise. They sat up quickly, both disoriented and sleep addled as the beeping came again, more insistent.
"It's the door," Peeta said. "See the speaker next to it?"
Katniss couldn't see much of anything in the darkness, especially not a speaker next to the door. She felt the weight of the bed shift when Peeta stood up, and she heard him shuffling away before the compartment was assaulted with a bright light as the door slid open. Katniss shielded her eyes from the brightness, and once they adjusted she noticed Plutarch standing in the doorway.
"Katniss? Peeta?" Plutarch spoke, not bothering to say hello. "Come with me. President Coin would like to speak to you in the command room."
Once again they were led through halls and corridors that looked identical save for the numbers indicating the floor they were on, sleep still fresh on their bodies and any shred of relaxation gone.
"Plutarch?" Katniss asked, her steps quick and long in her attempts to keep up with the man. "Do you know where my sister is?"
Plutarch seemed to start walking even quicker. "I don't have that information, Katniss," he said briskly.
Katniss slowed her pace, falling into step with Peeta. "Why won't they tell me where Prim is?" She whispered.
"Ask Coin," Peeta suggested. "Demand to see her."
"Make demands to the president?" Katniss scoffed.
"Sure," Peeta shrugged. "What could they do besides tell you no?"
Katniss couldn't finish her thought. In almost no time, they were standing in front of the door that separated them from President Coin. Katniss's stomach fluttered with nervousness as the door slid open.
They followed Plutarch as he shuffled into the room which was surprisingly full of people. Perhaps it was foolish to assume that only President Coin would be there, but the faces staring back at them were entirely unfamiliar and only made Katniss's nervousness stronger. As she looked from stranger to stranger, her gaze stopped on the one person at the table that she did recognize, and she almost had to do a double take when she realized who it was.
"Hey, Catnip," Gale said with a wave.
Thanks for reading! Chapter 4 will be posted next Wednesday. In the meantime, come say hello on Tumblr. I am mellarksloaves.
Many thanks to ichooseupeetachu for her support and encouragement as I write this story!