Opening the one eye that wasn't swollen shut, Indie groaned at the harsh lighting in the cell block. True to his threat, Snow had made sure Indie had paid for her little act of defiance.
Sitting up, her vision blurred and she swayed enough that she had to lie back down on the bed. Fighting the nausea that swirled in her stomach, the fair haired girl tried to ignore the nightmares flitting across her eyelids. Memories of excruciating pain and murky shadows fought their way to her consciousness and try as she might, she did not believe she had the strength to keep them at bay much longer. Thankfully, just before her mind drifted off to a deep sleep full of monsters wearing the skin of humans, a voice brought her back to the surface.
"Indie. Oh, god. Indie, please, look at me."
Turning her face towards the voice, her left eye opened to take in the appearance of Peeta Mellark. Luckily, he looked better than he had the past few days - Snow must have given him a pass from torture due to Peeta doing what was requested of him.
Taking in the battered and bruised face that belonged to Indiana Summers, Peeta resisted the urge to vomit. One eyes was swollen shut, puffy and black. A gash sliced down one side of her lip, dried blood crusted around the edges and bruises were patched around the whole of her face. The boy from District 12 was very grateful he could not see the damage down to the body, but he could imagine it was bad from the way she was holding herself.
"P-P-Pe." Indie's throat was still raw from the screams.
Nodding gratefully at the jug of water Peeta slid between the bars, she gulped it down eagerly before continuing to talk.
"Peeta, did they punish you? Are you hurt?"
Smiling at the selflessness of the woman from One, Peeta shook his head.
"Thank to you, no. Your act of defiance made them forget about anything wrong I said. Why would you do that? How could you put yourself in danger like that?"
"Let's be honest, Peeta. They can't kill us. Panem loves us all too much that our deaths will cause a riot. I refuse to let Snow brainwash me. You have a way with words that will get messages across to Katniss. I don't have that."
"You can't let them hurt you like this, Indie. It doesn't matter whether they're allowed to kill you. They can destroy in you so many other ways. Don't let them."
"Do you think we'll ever get back to them?" Indie asked, a tremble in her voice as a smiling Cato popped into her head.
"If I know Cato, he would not rest until you were back in his arms."
Smiling at Peeta, Indie resisted the urge to mention that Katniss would be the same. It was only a small change but anytime Katniss was mentioned, Peeta tensed slightly; the muscle in his jaw tightened and a dark look pooled in the pits of his eyes. Out of fear, Indie had taken to leaving the girl out of conversation, even when talking about the Games.
Leaning against the wall, Indie listened to the calming voice of Peeta as he described a sunset to the prisoners in the Capitol. Something all of them were praying they would see sometime soon, instead of the inside of a cell or a torture chamber.
Waking up alone was beginning to be one of Indie's biggest fears; 1) because it meant another day she was parted from Cato, 2) it meant that her friends were somewhere unknown being tortured in unspeakable ways. Being alone meant there was no distraction to chase away the memories, no distraction to fight the illusions of happiness and horror.
She was alone. Alone with the memory of her fiance and the life they may have had together. Alone with the memory of all the deaths she had seen. Memories of times with her aunt and uncle when she was little and they'd teach her how to fight and handle weapons; she'd almost sliced off Gloss' ear at one point. Memories of her uncle teaching her to paint and her aunt showing her how to read.
Laughing through the tears, Indie wished she could see them all; go back to when times were more simple. Messy but simple.
"It does not do well to dwell on the past. It only brings pain."
Shooting up at the voice, she ignored the burning of her bruised ribs as she rushed to the young man now stood in her cell.
"I thought you had left me." She lightly scolded, placing her hand on his cheek.
Marvelling at the smooth, fleshy skin beneath her hand, Indie still could not believe that he was there with her. She had thought him gone forever yet there he was in the flesh.
"How many times did I promise you that I would never leave you, no matter what?"
"There's so much that I wish we could talk about but for now, could you just lay with me? I don't like sleeping alone."
"Anything for you, Short Stuff."
He slides into the bed next to her, placing a sweet kiss on her forehead before bidding her a good sleep. Promising to fight away the bad dreams, Marvel wrapped her tightly in his arms and smiled as she relaxed.
"Will you be here when I wake?" Indie gazed into his light blue eyes, drinking in the features of his face that had not aged a day.
She got no response.
Waking up alone put Cato in a foul mood every morning. It was just a reminder that he was without Indie, and that District Thirteen had done nothing to rescue the imprisoned.
Fueling his rage into energy, Cato quickly burned through his morning exercises and was just about to wash when a knock at the door forced him to pull on his shirt and turn off the water.
"You missed breakfast. Again." Finnick's disapproval was evident in both his voice and his face.
"I lost track of time."
"Fourth time this week." Finnick muttered under his breath, but loud enough that Cato could hear him.
Whacking his friend in the shoulder, Cato widened the door to allow Finnick into the spacious and lonely room. Shaking his head, Finnick explained that they had to get to Command.
"Why? Unless they have news about Indiana then I have no desire to be in a room with those people." Cato said, anger swirling in the depths of his stomach.
"Because Katniss is going to announce that she will be the Mockingjay."
Cato forgot about his shower, shoved his feet into his boots and grabbed his jacket on his rush out the door. Finnick could barely keep up as the muscular man from Two stormed down the hallways.
"I will be your Mockingjay." Katniss announced to the room full of people.
There was no response from Coin, she just continued to watch Katniss with a blank expression. Looking around at the crowd, Katniss' caught Cato's icy blue eyes. Nodding at her, he gave her a proud smile and Katniss suddenly found the confidence she needed.
"However, I have some conditions. My sister gets to keep her cat."
Conversation broke out at that. Half of the room considered the cat no issue at all; after all, it was just a small animal. The other half believed it would just be a nuisance, providing unnecessary difficulties and problem. Eventually, they all agreed the cat could stay as long as Katniss took responsibility for it.
"I want to hunt. With Gale. Out in the woods. We'll use our own bows and we'll give you anything we catch."
Plutarch started babbling on about security and danger but Coin cut him off. Informing them of the terms of hunting, Coin's eyes never left Katniss as she waited for the next condition.
Taking a deep breath, and another reassuring nod from Cato, Katniss told them her biggest condition.
"When the war is over, Peeta will be pardoned." She demanded. "No form of punishment will be inflicted. The same goes for the other captured tributes, Johanna, Annie, Enobaria, and more importantly, Indiana."
"No."
Cato clenched his hands into fist, fingers digging into his palms hard enough to leave bruises. Finnick swayed slightly, bumping his shoulder into Cato's. A subtle gesture of comfort.
"Yes." Katniss seethed. "It's not their fault that you abandoned them in the arena. Who knows what's being done to them in the Capitol?"
"They will be tried with other war criminals and treated as the tribunal sees fit." Coin said, tone never wavering from flat and uncaring.
"They'll be granted with immunity!" Katniss stood, voice loud and icy fury lacing her tone. "You will personally pledge this in front of the entire population of District Thirteen and the remainder of Twelve. Soon. Today. It will be recorded for future generations to see. You will hold yourself and your government responsible for their safety, or you will find yourself another Mockingjay!"
And as Coin agrees to the term, and says she'll announce the terms in assembly later, Cato and Finnick have never felt more grateful for Katniss Everdeen.
Pressing three fingers to their lips, they raise it in the air and smile at Katniss. Smiling back at them, the three of them feel connected through a bond full of pain.