Chapter 4 :

The wind had died down during the night and the ship was straining to take up speed. Haymitch alternated between glances to the look-out post where Katniss was scanning the horizon, checking his compass, and taking a swing out of his flask. They couldn't be too far away from the Cornucopia now. It wouldn't be long before Katniss warned them they were approaching land…

"Too much alcohol is bad for you, you know." a female voice remarked. "I noticed you drink a lot."

He turned his eyes to their estimated guest, amused to see that, despite her would-be aristocratic detachment and her – he suspected fake – cheerful expression, she was hesitant about climbing the last few steps that would brought her to the deserted upper deck where he was steering the helm.

"It's rum. It's medicinal." he argued.

"I highly doubt that." she declared, finally making the decision and joining him near the helm. "I have been told to report to you since I have nothing left to mend. Should I salute you too, Captain?"

"Careful, sweetheart." he smirked. "Too much sass and I will think you're bitter." He let his eyes roam on her body, he couldn't help it. The dress might have been in tatters but it was still flattering. She would have looked better in a more revealing pirate outfit and he deeply regretted her refusals to borrow anything from Jo's closet but that was just his lust talking. "You've mended everything that needed mending?"

"Everything and then some." she stated proudly. "I am nothing if not efficient. Johanna said I should move on to scrubbing the deck but we have an agreement on that account so you should find me something else to do."

He had thought sewing pieces of fabric back together would occupy her at least until he could decide what to do with her He was quickly finding out he shouldn't underestimate her and thus he rolled his eyes. "Let me think about it. You can do whatever you want for now but don't bother anyone."

"I would never bother anyone." she huffed. "I have better manners than that."

"You're bothering me right now." he pointed out despite the fact that he was enjoying the distraction.

She pursed her lips, narrowed her blue eyes and tilted her head to let him know she wasn't amused. Clearly, she was also bored because instead of sauntering back below to annoy someone else, she peered at the compass in his hand.

"How does it work?" she asked.

"It points north." he deadpanned. He could have explained better but he didn't think she truly wanted to know about the particulars of how a compass worked.

"Yes, thank you." she hissed. "I meant the ship."

"Why? You're planning on launching a mutiny and stealing it?" he snorted.

She pursed her lips even more, so tightly it must have hurt. "If you will excuse me I will go and see if Annie wants company."

"I'm joking, sweetheart." he scoffed, reaching out for her arm before she could storm away. "Come here, I will show you."

He explained how the speed was mostly dictated by the wind and the configuration of the sails, why and how they could play on that by pulling on ropes and pulleys, pointing out to different elements with his finger and to the different people handling them. He wasn't sure she registered everything but she seemed interested enough.

"I've spend more than a week at sea and I had no clue about how everything works." she confessed, when he was done explaining the helm was used to steer the ship in a particular direction. "It's… more complicated than I imagined. You must have a lot of skills to oversee all of this."

"Lot of skills for an uneducated pirate?" he mocked, reading clearly in her mind what she was too polite to say. She blushed and looked away, shyly brushing her fingers against the helm. It made him lift his eyebrows. "Wanna try?"

"Oh, I don't know…" she protested. "It is hardly a lady thing to do…" But she was biting her bottom lip in obvious longing to do the forbidden thing and, in the end, she took his place behind the helm. "It's hard!" she exclaimed in surprised when she had to struggle to keep the wheel in position.

There was a corny joke to be made there but Haymitch refrained because he could be delicate when he wanted to and he was already very much in her space, he didn't want to make her feel uncomfortable. Not about that at least. He glanced at the compass and placed a hand over her right one to correct the direction. Her fingers were very white against his tanned skin, almost milky, and they were soft too compared to his calloused palm. She flashed him a bright smile, her eyes sparkling in delight and he figured she was having the time of her life. She might pretend all she wanted that she was the perfect lady but Haymitch could see the yearning for more every time he met her eyes. He had seen it too many times not to recognize it on sight. She was one of those who were craving the thrill of adventure but weren't built for danger. He hated those people. Problem was, he didn't hate her eyes. At all. Or her lips. Her lips were… Talking, his brain supplied helpfully.

He had no idea what she was babbling about but she was chatting nonstop without waiting for him to reply. He let her be for a while, his mind wandering to other problems, occasionally correcting her direction. He saw Finnick wriggling his eyebrows at him suggestively from the deck below but he resolutely ignored the boy.

"When they grabbed you from Port Capitol, was it random or did they target you?" he asked, out of the blue.

He kept thinking back to what she had told him and the more he thought about it the more he was certain something didn't add up.

Her happy chatter died down abruptly and her fingers tightened on the helm to the point her knuckles turned even whiter. Her voice was subdued when she talked. "They chased after me."

"So it wasn't an accident?" he insisted. They had taken other people from the town after all, people like Peeta… It could have been an accident, they could have found themselves with Snow's godchild on their hands and panicked… Getting rid of her would have been the smart decision, no one would have wanted to ask Snow for a ransom – except it still didn't explain why they had attacked the Port in the first place.

"I… I don't know." she hesitated. "I thought… I thought they wanted me because I am rich? It is obvious I am rich. I have a beautiful house and staff and…"

"Yeah, I get the picture." he cut her off. "But they didn't want your money. You're sure about that?"

"Of course, I am sure." she scowled. "I spent days begging them to bring me back, to send a letter to Governor Snow…"

"It makes no sense." Haymitch mumbled out loud, rubbing his face. "They worked with Snow before. He paid them enough money to do his dirty work… Attacking Port Capitol… It makes no sense."

"What do you mean they worked with Governor Snow before?" she frowned, letting go of the big wooden wheel to turn around. He grabbed the helm instinctively, accidentally caging her in his arms in the process. She was so busy glowering at him she didn't even seem to notice. "You meant Governor Snow tried to arrest them of course. And he certainly didn't pay them. He is dedicated to destroying piracy."

Yeah, he mused, maybe he should have thought twice about how to broach that particular subject with her but he wasn't one to embarrass himself with tact.

"Snow's an asshole, sweetheart." he shrugged. "He's a murderer and a tyrant and…"

"Stop it." she hissed, pushing at his chest with the flat of her hand. It didn't do any good to shove him away if that had been her intention and her hand remained on his chest, half of her fingers under his open coat. He could feel the warmth of her palm through his cotton shirt.

"How do you think Port Capitol got so prosperous?" he snorted. "He needs slave labor so he raids islands, he destroys small settlements, he kills the kids and the old people and captures the rest…"

"No." she interrupted him. "You're a liar and I won't hear any more of this."

She looked distraught and he wondered if it was out of love for her godfather or because she had had an inkling all along and had refused to believe it. He felt no pity for her. He had no pity for people who wished to remain blind to what was happening in front of them.

"I'm a liar?" he chuckled bitterly. "Ask anyone on this ship. We all escaped at one point or another." He pulled his sleeve up and showed her the mark, burned on his forearm. A slave's mark but not just any slave's mark. A crescent shape burnt patch of skin. "The C stands for Capitol. Or for Corelianus, who knows." She stared at it but didn't move one inch, apparently frozen in place. The hand that was still on his chest clenched a little, bundling the fabric under her fingertips. "The guards made us fight each other to the death for fun. Whoever won was called a victor. They got special privileges, more food, more freedom. That's how we escaped. All of us."

For a few seconds, they remained silent. She stared at the mark, her hand still on his chest, her breathing quick.

"I don't believe you." she said softly. "You are mistaken. Governor Snow is a good man. He is a great man. The Crown…"

"Yeah, I don't think he's working for the Crown anymore." he taunted. "He's making himself a nice little empire all to himself very far from the King's reach."

"Nothing is out of the King's reach." she whispered.

"The King sure didn't come to save you, did he?" he spat nastily. "Where was the Royal Navy, Effie? You got kidnapped right under Snow's nose, why didn't he send his fleet after them? Why would they want to sell you to slavers or kill you instead of getting their hand on your money? You're a fucking goldmine, why would they pass on that?"

"I don't know!" she snapped, slamming her hand against his chest. She tried to walk away but he grabbed her arm and pinned her against the helm. He tried not to be brutal but he needed answers because her story was weird and he had a good idea of what was going on and he simply couldn't put his crew in danger.

"You're sure you don't know?" he accused. "What happens if you die? Who gets your money then?"

"Let me go!" she demanded, struggling against his grip.

"You get where I'm going with this, don't you?" he snorted. "Think about it. It makes no sense otherwise."

"Let me go." she growled, abandoning her attempts at escaping to slam her fists against his chest. He let go of her arms to block her wrists. "You're a liar!" she screeched. "A liar! Governor Snow would never do what you say! And he would never work with pirates either!"

They were causing a scene again, he noticed. People were looking at them.

"Snow's a fucking murderer." he snapped.

"Liar!" she shouted, glaring at him with fury.

They were close, too close, he could feel the ragged puffs of her breaths on his lips. Her eyes were bright with suppressed tears and anger and, maybe, a tinge of panic. He let go of her wrists slowly.

"He worked with them before." he insisted. "There are pirates and pirates, they weren't the good sort."

"Because there is a good sort?" she retorted. She laughed and it was all bitter and wrong. She wasn't made to laugh in bitterness. She was made to laugh in joy and happiness. She was too bright to be dragged down in something like that. She was too bright and that was exactly why he was so attracted, he mused. Darkness loved light.

"There is the sort who won't blink when they kill you and there are those who will take you in and give you shelter even if you have nothing to offer." he shrugged.

"You are all the same." she accused, leaning in slightly in her loathing. It brought her even closer and that wasn't a good thing. His eyes flickered to her mouth… She noticed. He knew she noticed because she tensed but instead of running away like he expected her too, her breath caught in her throat and she licked her lips...

"Ship!" Katniss suddenly bellowed from high above. "Ship at starboard! And land behind her!"

Haymitch looked up at the girl and then hurried to the side of the ship, already fumbling with his spyglass.

"Haymitch?" Finnick asked, joining him, ready to relay to the crew whatever order he wanted to give. The ship was between them and the Cornucopia and it wasn't out of the realm of possibility that The Career wasn't the only ship Brutus had possessed.

He had to strain his eyes to read the name on the other ship's hull and he cursed loudly when he finally found it. "It's The Rebellion. And they're coming straight at us." And not only was Coin's ship standing between them and their coveted treasure, he really didn't want to see the woman. "Load the canons and tell the crew to get ready for a potential fight but we're not engaging if we don't have to, hear me?"

They couldn't win against The Rebellion. Coin's crew were soldiers, better trained, better fed and used to leave nothing but floating planks behind them. She wasn't after pirates though. She was after Royal Navy's ships and, more precisely, Snow's fleet.

He stormed back to the helm where Effie still stood, watching the sudden franticness of the crew with puzzlement and a little fright.

"Are they pirates?" she asked.

"Worse. Revolutionaries." he scoffed. "And they won't be friends of yours if they find out who you are. Go below deck and stay there. If anyone ask, you're a whore, got it? I picked you up on Tortuga and you're on board because I fancied a nice distraction."

"Certainly not!" she spluttered, her whole face red with outrage.

"They're separatists, Princess. They hate Snow more than I do, they will tear you apart if they think they can use you against him." he growled. "Now, do as you're told and don't come out until I send someone to get you. Katniss! You're on babysitting duty."

Katniss had been running around, her arms full of ropes and didn't look pleased by that new chore given the sullen 'please, no' look she gave him. He furrowed his eyebrows a little and she rolled her eyes, grabbed Effie's arm and dragged her away.

It wasn't long before The Rebellion was close enough that Haymitch could spot Alma Coin standing near the scary roaring mermaid at the bow.

"How do we play this?" Finnick asked, not so subtly toying with the trident in his hand, his weapon of choice.

A glance behind his second made it clear that everyone was armed. Jo was leaning against the main mast, she looked calm but her grip on the handle of her axe was sure. Mags was a few feet behind her, an innocent looking old woman arranging fishing nests – if it weren't for the cutlass between her teeth. He locked eyes with several other members of his crew – his family – and licked his lips nervously.

"Cool." he answered at last. "We play it cool."

The Rebellion was a big ship compared to The Mockingjay. Its grey sails identified her as a part of Coin's separatist fleet more clearly than the flag stamped with a bird Coin had chosen as the emblem of her cause. Haymitch watched as the three mast anchored alongside his more modest ship, not able to resist the urge to crack a joke about damaging the polish.

They could have sent a boat. They didn't need to act as if they were taking the ship. Damn Coin and her love for power play.

"Prepare to board!" someone shouted on The Rebellion.

"You could ask first." Haymitch muttered as a pathway was quickly secured between the two ships.

There were women, like Jo, who made piracy look hot. Alma Coin wasn't one of those – then again, as she liked to repeat to whoever wanted to listen, she wasn't a pirate, she was a political leader. That was something Haymitch would never be able to understand. He didn't want to be a leader, he had never wanted the responsibility of having people depending on him. Those people, his crew, they had made him their leader out of a misguided notion that he could keep them safe. There weren't more than twenty-five people on his ship, never mind the refugees waiting at the Hob, and the responsibility was already crushing, the dread that he would make a mistake that would kill them all was enough to keep him awake at night… He didn't know why anyone, Coin or Snow, would want to rule over that part of the sea. Too many people would depend on whoever would win and he wasn't sure either of them would have their best interest at heart.

She had imposed an uniform on her fleet, to distinguish her soldiers from the Royal Navy, and she wore it herself : grey cotton pants, grey shirt and grey coat that matched almost perfectly her ice cold grey eyes and hair. That woman always gave him a chill. She made him think about the old ghost stories he used to read his brother at night.

As soon as she was on The Mockingjay's deck, she looked around with the air of someone who owned the place. It annoyed Haymitch to no end. He had worked hard to steal that ship. The Mockingjay was his and no one else's.

"Captain Coin." he said at last. "Please be my guest."

If she noticed his sarcasm, she didn't let on.

"Captain Abernathy." she nodded briefly, her eyes stopping on Finnick's trident. Her lips twitched in an amused smile and her hand came to rest on the gun at her belt. She was big on guns, always looking for more firepower, powders and canons. Bogs, her second, stood by her side, looking far less amused, he was assessing the potential threats, Haymitch knew, and once he had located Jo, he never quite stopped glancing in her direction. She had a reputation after all and no gun would be a match against a flying axe.

"Permission to come on board, Captain?"

Haymitch gave a dismissive glance at the third uninvited guest and snorted. "You didn't need my permission to leave, boy, you don't need my permission to come back."

"I was just trying to be polite." Gale retorted dismissively and hopped from the wooden plank to the deck before wandering away, greeting some old crewmates, probably looking for Katniss. He hoped he would find the girl. She was eager to punch him. Gale had been on his ship for as long as Katniss had but he had been taken by Coin's speeches and the rumors flying all around about the separatists. He had deserted in the middle of the night while they were ashore after Katniss had refused once again to follow him, leaving only a note behind him to explain his disappearance.

"We will be more comfortable in your cabin to talk."

It was an order disguised as a suggestion. Haymitch wanted to tell her to go fuck herself but he was very much aware that The Mockingjay's canons were no match for The Rebellion's and that they were badly outnumbered. With a shrug and a not-so-discreet sign for Jo to remain on watch on deck, he led her to his cabin. Boggs didn't follow them inside and so Finnick stopped alongside the man, starting a conversation that could have been easier if their Captains hadn't been in some sort of covert fight.

Haymitch made a point of shutting the door and glared when he saw she was already near his desk, commandeering the only chair in the room and throwing the maps scattered around a disdainful look. It hadn't bothered him when Effie had sat there but, to be fair, Effie might be bossy but she wasn't a power hungry sea-witch. And she was pretty to look at which never hurt.

"Did you steal that from The Career?" Coin asked, nodding at the map spread wide on top of the others. The Cornucopia's emplacement was neatly marked with a tiny red cross. "Rumor has it you and The Rue took it."

"We didn't take it, we sank it." he corrected, moving over to the shelf for a bottle of rum. "And rumors go awfully fast."

"It depends on who spread them." she replied. "I have good sources."

He supposed she meant Plutarch Heavensbee. The man was a close relation to Snow and also happened to be a French spy – if Snow was aware of that, he was happy to ignore it. Another brand of rumors had it that Heavensbee was a double agent and was, in fact working for Snow. A selected few knew better and had quickly figured out that Heavensbee was very much working for himself. At the moment, his interest seemed to lie with Coin's.

"Sources that told you where to find the Cornucopia?" he snorted. It wasn't a question. They were too close to the island marked on the map and too far from the island she had annexed to her cause.

"It wasn't much of a catch." she offered, almost apologetically. By that, she meant she had taken everything worth taking.

"People at The Hob would disagree." he pointed out.

"Your people are welcome on Thirteen." she retorted.

He was of an opinion that her island needed a better name – he would have found a better name if he had been in charge : calling it Thirteen because it was the thirteenth isle of the archipelago? Boring. But Coin was a boring person. Down to earth. Practical. Dangerous.

"That's an old argument." he scoffed. "Let's not have it again."

"You will have to surrender eventually, Haymitch." she said. "Once we've taken power…"

"If you ever take power…" he countered, taking a swing out of his bottle.

"I won't tolerate piracy on my seas." she glared.

"Funny since your fleet is made of pirate ships." he smirked.

"They're not pirates anymore once they joined my fleet. They're officers." she snapped. "You have a fine ship and a good crew, Haymitch. Soldier Hawthorne…"

"Yeah, he deserted so I'm not too interested in whatever he has to say." he scoffed. "Look, we can have that same talk a thousand times, the answer's still no. I'm not interested in going to war. I just want to feed my people."

"I could protect them." she argued. "Once Snow is out of the picture…"

"And how are you going to take him out? He is untouchable, Alma." He rolled his eyes. "I want him dead as much as anyone but…"

"But you're content with stealing merchant ships and doing nothing concrete about the problem?" she cut him off. "Like a coward."

He toasted her with his bottle. "Cowards outlive the braves."

"Don't you feel you owe something to your dead?" she insisted. "Your mother? Your brother? There was a girlfriend too, wasn't there? Your story's quite popular on Tortuga, you did a number on the taverns' waitresses…"

"I think we're done here." he growled. "And if you know what's good for you, you won't ever talk about my family again."

"Don't threaten me." she advised coolly. "I could sink your ship right now."

"But you won't. 'Cause you want her." he scowled. "And I'm not giving her up so let's make things easier for you : either you're taking her by force or you're going back to your ship and sailing away."

She studied him for a while and he tried not to show just how much her spooky milky grey eyes were unnerving him. His hands weren't as steady as they used to be but he could hold his own with a sword or a knife and he was positive he could beat her. Then Boggs would probably kill him if Finnick wasn't quick enough to finish him first. And, if they managed to get away with that there would The Rebellion to face and that wouldn't end well. Probably.

Slowly, Coin stood up and walked past him to the door.

"My patience is growing thin." she warned him. "Join before I decide you're more trouble than I can tolerate on my sea."

"Yeah, see, it's not your sea." he spat, opening the door for her.

He immediately met Finnick's eyes. Despite his wolfish grin, the boy was obviously wary and he gave him a brief reassuring nod before escorting Coin back to her ship. She left without a goodbye and he bit back on the gibe he wanted to shout after her. It wasn't only his life at stake, after all. Boggs nodded at him and Gale hurried after his new friends, pausing long enough next to him to snort.

"You never got a whore on board before. 'Must be a good one." the boy joked, more to take a jab at him than because he cared. He didn't know where Gale's resentment was coming from but he couldn't say he was sorry the boy had chosen to switch sides.

Haymitch waited until the plank was gone and the two ships were separated before turning to Finnick to give his orders.

"We're going to shore, see if they left anything salvageable for us." he said, his eyes quickly assessing who would be best qualified. "I'm taking Jo, Katniss and Blight with me. The ship is yours."

"Yes, Captain." Finnick nodded and shouted his orders to the crew.

It appeared obvious very soon, as the boat took them closer to the shore, that they wouldn't find anything of interest on the island. There were still pillars of smoke rising straight to the sky and, when they reached what the pirates had used as a camp, all they found were corpses.

Haymitch would have pillaged their treasure but would have left them alive.

That was another reason he refused to join Coin. He didn't like her methods.

"Look around." he ordered the others. "Maybe they left something we can use."

So I have forgotten to mention on Invictus but I might not update chaptered stories next week since it is hayffie week on tumblr and there will be a one shot a day all week. I am not sure yet but... We will see =) Let me know what you think about this chapter!