Firstly, I would like to thank you all so much for your support particularly through the last chapter. I woke up to a full inbox and it made my day, and though it wasn't quite as quick as I would have liked I got this chapter up as soon as I could despite exams as a mini thank you :) Particularly thanks goes to Shikabane-Mai who slogged through the whole thing in one go, and to Savysnape7 for the best reaction to evil Nooka I have ever read; made me laugh out loud! I wish I could write the names of everyone who consistently reviews down because I am so grateful to you all, but I am rambling again and rather tired so I will find time to thank you all by allowing you to read!

So here is Chapter 11 and I hope you enjoy. Please keep on leaving reviews, they mean so much, and the next chapter should be up soon given that tomorrow is Friday. Might be Monday or Sunday after that but we will just see how it goes! Thanks everyone, sorry to Effie as usual but a bit of light coming, and enjoy!

Chapter 11

Effie's mind went blank. Even the haunting face of President Paylor, her words of forgiveness which would never be enough, were momentarily wiped from her consciousness as everything she knew fell apart.

'I...I don't understand,' she whispered, her heart aching as she watched him grin at her confusion.

'I think you do,' Nooka offered, 'but you don't want to believe it.'

'I saw you,' Effie insisted, tears silently slipping from the corners of her eyes, 'you were hurt, bleeding; I heard them torture you.'

'I can't deny that we all played our parts very well,' he admitted, 'but all the same I wasn't sure you would fall for it. I asked you to kill someone and you jumped at the chance, like a pathetic lapdog fawning after its master. A few hours pretending to be in pain and we had you hooked.'

'What did they do to you?'

Nooka laughed at her naivety, a sound so alien to the man Effie had once known as a lover and a partner; the father to her child.

'Of course,' he grinned, 'I've been brainwashed. Tracker jacker venom or worse, I suppose?' She tried to hold his gaze, her wide blue eyes locked in his darkened pools of brown.

'No, that's not how it works here. I was never taken, Effie, don't you see? When I disappeared it wasn't because I was a traitor to the Capitol, it was because I was its loyal foot soldier. I wasn't captured, I walked happily into the fold to play my part and fight against the rebellion.'

Effie shook her head.

'No,' she stuttered, 'n-no it can't be true.'

'Do you remember when we met?' Effie's heart turned to ice. She feared more than anything what he was going to say next.

She could remember every second of that night, from the first words he had spoken to her to the look in his eyes as he kissed her for the very first time. It was one of the few happy memories which had not yet been spoilt by everything that had happened to her, and Effie watched in horror as it shattered before her eyes.

'Silly little escort from District 12, lost after getting too drunk to find her way back to the penthouse during her first week on the job; I couldn't resist. I'd been watching you all night, and when I realised that you thought that I was attracted to you...well it was just too easy. Did you know that every Capitol citizen who had anything to do with the Games was kept under observation?'

'Wh-what?' stammered Effie, her words catching in her throat as she held back her broken sobs.

'It's true,' Nooka promised her, 'the Gamemakers, the stylists...even the escorts have someone to keep an eye on them; to make sure that they are under control and abiding by government law. I was just contracted to watch you at first, to see where your allegiances lay, but after that night in the penthouse I optimised my position. You were a good source of information and despite your constant whining about unimportant gossip you were useful, so I stayed. Keeping you close at hand, lying beside you when you slept, I could watch every little move you made.'

'NO,' screamed Effie, trying to ignore what he was saying. It couldn't all have been a lie. Years of her life had been spent blissfully happy with the man before her. Effie had trusted him completely, trusted him with her life, and if what he said was true then he had given her to them when the rebellion broke out. He had left her to rot in a small dirty cell, thinking him dead, and moved on with his life.

No, it couldn't be true. He had loved her, hadn't he? He had always made a point of telling her every day, just to make sure that she knew. Everyone who had known them envied their happiness; they were the perfect couple. Everything had just been starting to fall into place. They were living together, they were engaged, she was pregnant...

'We were getting married,' she persisted, 'I was going to have your child, Nooka. You can't tell me that wasn't real.'

'Technically yes,' he confessed, 'I asked you to marry me when I found out that you were having my child. I had no choice; I had to make sure that you weren't going anywhere, to ensure that all was in place before the rebellion began. I don't know how it happened. I'd been slipping you pills for weeks to make sure it couldn't, but somehow you ended up pregnant.' He spat the last word from his mouth as if it was offensive.

Effie could see it, even though she tried to deny it to herself. Those cups of special tea he brought her on an evening, tasting of bittersweet blackberries; to take care of her health, he had said. Everything was lies, everything she had known.

'Fortunately I didn't have to worry about it for long. My boss suggested taking you in for questioning, thought you knew something about the rebels given you were close to several of them, so I left you where they could find you and took up arms in the Capitol. But of course, I made sure that when they had caught you that the little...problem at hand was resolved.'

She went numb inside. It was one thing for him to tell her that he had never loved her, that their relationship had been based on nothing but lies and his intentions were purely malicious; but that had been her child. He had murdered her baby, their baby, ordering its destruction without blinking an eye.

'I thought that you loved me,' she whispered, not caring how weak and pitiful it sounded. When your world comes crashing down, sometimes all that you can say is the most obvious statement that comes to mind.

'Sorry,' Nooka said heartlessly, shrugging it off as if he had just made a simple error of judgement.

'I love you,' Effie mumbled, burying her teary face in her hands.

'That's what made it easy.'

Xxx

Haymitch was still staring at the blank screen after Plutarch turned off the television, the room deadly silent. No-one knew quite what to say, nor what to think. Whatever they had expected to come from the latest rebellions, it was not this.

Katniss stood silently, shaking her head in disbelief. She turned away, running her fingers through her hair as she fought to control her anger. Peeta put a hand on her shoulder but she shunned his touch, too furious and terrified to accept his comfort. She couldn't believe it – she wouldn't. She had fought on Effie's behalf, shouted at Plutarch more than once when she thought that they weren't doing enough to save her, and now this? Her feelings bubbled and mixed inside of her, her mind racing too fast for her to follow. Betrayal. That was the only thing in her muddled head that she could understand. She felt betrayed.

For Haymitch, it clicked into place almost at once but he knew that the others would not see it. No matter how hard he tried to explain, most of the people in District 13 would not completely understand what they had just seen as the distressing images and raw emotion were too powerful for his words to counter. He had to act quickly and he knew it.

'You two, with me now,' he mumbled to Peeta and Katniss, opening the door and ushering for them to follow. Katniss wouldn't move, though whether this was an act of defiance or a reflex Haymitch was not certain.

'Now,' he insisted, catching Peeta's eyes. He saw at once that Haymitch was serious, that he wouldn't take no for an answer, and quietly coaxed Katniss into following him.

The corridors were silent now. Everyone had found somewhere to watch the coverage on the news and they weren't about to leave the action. Haymitch found an empty room not caring what its function was and locked the door when they were all inside.

'We need to go,' Haymitch told them seriously, 'now. We need to find her.'

'Are you serious?' Katniss looked up at him with tears glistening in her eyes. She was strong enough not to allow them to fall, her anger keeping them at bay for now, but they still swam there all the same.

'That woman just murdered the President, in cold blood, and you want us to help her?'

'Katniss, think about it-' started Haymitch.

'NO,' shouted Katniss, 'it wasn't as if she had been hijacked, Haymitch, she hasn't been gone long enough. Effie is working with them to save her own skin, can't you see? She doesn't deserve to be saved.'

Haymitch bit back the savage insults and screams building up in his chest, knowing that it would do no good to argue with her. In a way she was right, but then again she had got it so wrong. He needed to show her.

In a swift movement, Haymitch lunged forward and grabbed Peeta by the neck, pinning him against the wall. He pulled a blade from beneath his belt and held it close to the terrified boy's throat.

'STOP!' screamed Katniss, her hands flying to her face in horror.

'I have a knife to his throat,' Haymitch stated. 'If I said to you that I would slit Peeta's throat and make you watch unless you did something for me, what would you say? Would you do it?'

'I...I don't...'Katniss stuttered, still in shock.

'Would you do it?' shouted Haymitch forcefully.

'Yes,' she replied without another moment's hesitation.

'Anything I asked?' he pressed. She nodded at once.

'Anything.'

Katniss' eyes caught Peeta's, her resolve breaking down as she saw the terrified glint to his light blue eyes. She couldn't live with the thought of knowing he was being hurt because of her, even though she knew it wasn't real, and she began to see what Haymitch was doing. Peeta breathed heavily as Haymitch let him down, tucking his knife back into his belt before walking away, not able to look him in the eye. He hadn't done anything which would cause damage, that he knew, but he hated seeing someone look so scared and helpless.

'Do you see what I am trying to say?' asked Haymitch.

'Yes,' Katniss admitted.

'Effie doesn't have anyone,' he explained, 'she was left alone after the war. But if they found someone who she cared about enough to risk everything for, then they would be all she had in the world; we can't blame her for this.'

'He's right,' Peeta agreed. 'If it were you, Katniss, I would do anything to know that you were safe. Effie may have pulled the trigger, but she didn't kill Paylor. It wasn't her fault.'

Katniss nodded, but did not speak. She knew that they were right, with everything that they had said, but somehow she couldn't wholeheartedly accept it. Katniss had never taken lightly to being hurt by others, particularly those that she trusted, and over these past few weeks she had come to like and trust Effie even more than she had before. If someone had threatened Peeta's life she would have acted in an instant, killing anyone and everyone they asked her to; but it wasn't her and it wasn't Peeta. It felt wrong in her mind to sympathise for a murderess, under any circumstances.

'What else could they make her do?' Peeta inquired, thinking ahead, but Haymitch had already thought of it.

'They won't use it against her again,' he assured them, 'it's too risky. This sort of technique works well, very well, but only the once. If you promise the safety of the secondary hostage only to break the promise every time you want something, the trust is lost. Effie would realise that they had no intention of sparing her life or the life of whoever it is she cares about so much and stop responding to empty threats.'

Was there a hint of jealousy in his tone? No, he didn't want to believe that there was. What had he to be jealous about? It could be a relative, a friend from the Capitol; somehow Haymitch knew it was a lover. Why was it so hard for him to imagine her with someone else? Why did it make him so angry?

'Are we still safe to leave?' Katniss asked. Haymitch knew what she was implying. She thought that Effie was in a position to tell the rebels where they were heading.

'Yes,' assured Haymitch, 'they know we're in thirteen anyway, but won't be expecting us to make a move just yet. She won't tell them, I know she won't; otherwise she would never have suggested going.'

'You trust her?' Katniss whispered, asking for conformation.

'I do,' admitted Haymitch, 'I have faith in her, knowing what she has been through, and I trust her judgment. Effie's stronger than we think but you saw her on the screen; she was starting to fall apart. They still have her, and if that was all that they wanted her for then she doesn't have much time.' Saying her name brought a lump to his throat; the thought of her suffering and dying before he could get to her was unbearable. Haymitch knew that it would register on his face, these conflicting and terrible emotions, but no-one mentioned it. They knew what he was thinking.

'We leave tonight, then?' Peeta suggested. Haymitch nodded.

'I'll speak to Plutarch, he said 2am before and I am sure that he will still be up for it,' he informed them.

Katniss left without another word, but before Peeta went after her he turned to Haymitch.

'I'm sorry,' he sighed, 'she's just angry. She knows it wasn't Effie's fault.'

'Yeah,' Haymitch mumbled, 'I know how it must seem, but I know that woman. She was so frightened before, so hopelessly beaten down, and she still held strong and lied to them to protect people. Perhaps she snapped, just for a moment, but who can blame her? We'd all do the same...'

'I know,' Peeta agreed with a weak smile. He left, knowing that although Katniss would not let him in that she needed someone. The morning would bring a wealth of new challenges.

Xxx

They had finally left Effie alone when she had refused to speak anymore, burying her heavy head in her arms and sobbing quietly whilst they watched her. She knew what they could have done to her, had they wished to, and she was in no position to fight back but they were biding their time.

At first, she had thought that they would kill her or leave her to waste away, but they had brought a little food and water to her concrete cell as the day wore on to its definitive end. She had done their bidding, she wasn't able to tell anyone what they were doing; it would have been easier to let her die. The fact that they hadn't done so told Effie that they still needed her for something. Whether it was information, insurance or entertainment...they weren't going to let her go just yet.

Broken wasn't a word powerful enough to describe how she felt. Effie felt guilty, selfish even, as she mourned her own existence despite all that had happened. All of her life she had been lonely, ever since her parents passed at a young age and she was left to make her own way in the world. She was the little girl in the playground who sat alone on the swing, perfectly likeable but choosing solitude as it was kinder and easier than the disappointment of broken friendships.

With Nooka it had been different. After being on her own for so long, refusing to bear her soul in fear of it being broken, it was a welcome relief to finally be able to let someone in. The dreams she had kept secret from everyone else were finally falling into place; having someone to bring her flowers, someone to come home to on a cold winter's night, someone to start a family with.

Her life after he had been 'taken' had been almost unbearable, learning to live without the man she had loved more than anything, but at least she had the memories. She always carried the picture of her unborn child with her, no matter where she went, so that she could hang on to that happy part of her life when everything else seemed too much. It was one thing to live without happiness, it was another to realise that you had never had it in the first place.

Putting a hand to her stomach, Effie could almost feel the ghosting shape of the curve to her abdomen where her baby had been. Though long gone now, taken away from her by the very same people who had given her the gun and taken her to the Capitol, she liked to remember how it felt. It had taken her time to get used to the idea of becoming a mother, not because she didn't want to be but because it had always been nothing more than a fantasy. At first, she hadn't thought herself capable, but the love which filled her chest whenever she thought of her child assured her that she was ready. She had dreamt of holding her baby in her arms, of cradling them and singing them to sleep, but it had never come to pass. Now it never would.

Effie's soul had indeed been broken, fractured beyond repair by a love not just lost but poisonous, and now she had nothing. Her family was all gone, her friends long since departed, and now even her memories betrayed her. As empty as she felt inside, she could only think of President Paylor's family. She had never married, but she had a sister living in District 8 and a few young nieces and nephews who visited when they could.

She knew that her selfishness would shatter their lives, taking away someone they loved and cherished, and it hurt Effie more than her own tragedies. Knowing that her life had been nothing more than a sad and lonely lie was hard to deal with, but it was worse to know that she had inflicted such pain on others. In her mind there was no punishment great enough for what she had done. There was no chance of redemption, nor of forgiveness, and no possibility of a life where she could forget and move on.

Some would say that they had forced her hand, that she had no choice, but in Effie's mind it was no excuse. She had said yes. No-one had pulled the words from her lips without her permission; she had knowingly and willingly agreed. There was no self pity in her heart, only hatred. It was Haymitch's voice in her mind, though she wasn't quite sure why, and he was shouting, screaming at her, asking what she had done and why. He told her that she didn't deserve to live, that what she had done was too awful for words, and that even the promise of fiery hell was not punishment enough.

As she screamed and cried in the darkness, Effie wondered if this was what it felt like to succumb to madness.

Xxx

When Haymitch found Plutarch again, it was almost completely dark outside. He took him to one side in the corridor, away from prying eyes or ears, and asked what he needed to know.

'Are we still on?' Haymitch whispered. Plutarch gave a swift nod.

'We haven't much time,' he answered, 'it needs to be tonight. This is only the beginning, Haymitch, and it won't be long before we don't have the luxury of waiting.'

'It wasn't her fault,' he blurted out, feeling the need to defend Effie in her absence to anyone who would listen. Few had sympathetic ears.

'I know, Plutarch replied honestly, 'but not many see it that way. They're after her blood, searching more desperately for her now than they were before...but not to help her. If you don't find her, then I cannot save her.'

Haymitch searched his eyes for any hint of deception, but saw nothing. Plutarch was on his side, he felt it deep within him, but there was only so much one man could do.

'What are they doing now Paylor's gone?'

'Emergency government action,' Plutarch explained. 'The existing representatives from each district and Paylor's advisors have formed a committee to run the country under contingency law until a new President can be elected, but I don't think that whoever is trying to take over is going to wait until a replacement is found. If they are going to strike, then it is going to be now.'

'So it's war?' asked Haymitch bluntly. Plutarch nodded.

'Even if people can't see it, or are refusing to believe it, we are indeed at war again. We have to stop it before it gets too far, and I believe that is what you can do in District 2.'

Xxx

Katniss and Peeta met Haymitch by the hovercraft hanger just minutes before 2am. They had what few possessions they had brought packed in a bag, and were waiting to be given the all clear to board the craft.

Haymitch disappeared to find Plutarch, and Katniss and Peeta were left waiting.

'Are we doing the right thing?' she whispered, asking him honestly.

'Yes,' Peeta assured her, 'we can't stay here. They know where we are and we are easy targets.'

'I know,' Katniss agreed, 'but...' She wasn't sure how to explain it. Sneaking off in the dead of night seemed wrong, not that anything about their situation seemed right, and it didn't sit well in her mind.

'Is this about Effie?' he asked. Katniss didn't reply, but the answer lay in her deep and thoughtful gaze.

'I know that you can't forgive her,' Peeta said quietly, 'not yet anyway, but we can't just leave her there. You saw how she was on the screen after the shooting, she was terrified.'

'But Paylor would have been terrified,' Katniss argued, 'when she shot her through the heart and left her to die.'

'You killed President Coin,' Peeta reminded her gently.

'I know that,' snapped Katniss, feeling betrayed that Peeta would bring it up, 'but I wasn't right...not after Prim.'

'And what if Effie isn't quite right either?' he suggested. 'What if something scared her so much that she couldn't think straight anymore, and had to say yes? We can't blame her for that. I know what they can do, you've seen what they have done to her already. I'm not asking you to sympathise with her, Katniss, but I am just saying that we should keep an open mind and not condemn her just yet.'

Such a way with words; Katniss wondered how he did it. Even though she was slightly hurt that he would bring up President Coin, she could not be angry with him. She knew that he was right, but she hadn't quite accepted it yet. She would not argue, not speak her mind, and if they found Effie then she could make her decisions then. Still, that burning sense of betrayal refused to fade.

Haymitch's head appeared behind one of the doors and he ushered them in. They boarded the craft for District 12, Haymitch and Plutarch acting as pilots, and left the doomed District 13 behind them.

Xxx

'Thank you, Plutarch, for everything,' Haymitch said as they stepped off into the Meadow of District 12 with dawn breaking overhead.

'No trouble,' he dismissed with a smile, shaking Haymitch's hand. He swore that he saw something in Plutarch's eyes, a flicker of emotion where usually there was nothing, and wondered what exactly it could mean. 'I hope to see you again very soon, when all of this is over.'

'Count on it,' smiled Haymitch as they parted ways. They waited until the craft had disappeared from view before walking quietly through the deserted streets, making their way to the train station. It was going to be a long time before they could safely rest their eyes again.

Xxx

It could have been hours, minutes, days or years. They had stopped leaving her alone, often coming into her cell to hurt or taunt her. Though she was past caring for her own loathsome self, Effie still screamed whenever she heard to door click open.

Fear was the only thing she still knew how to feel, consuming her like an ever burning fire. It wasn't the fact that they hurt her, marred her porcelain skin with bloody gashes and defiled her just because they could; it went deeper than that.

Sometimes, Effie would hear the door unlock and see men walk into her room. She would close her eyes and scream, wrapping her arms around her body as if it could keep them out, but when she dared to open her eyes they would be gone and the door would still be closed. It was the fear that she was losing her grip on reality, that she could not trust her own eyes and mind, which was slowly eating away at what was left of her resolve.

The dress she had worn, white taffeta and lace, was now unrecognisable. It had turned from a beautiful pure white to a dirty grey, the sleeves torn and the skirt ripped, even more bloodied than before. Her scarlet hair hung over her pale face, matted and thin from where she had pulled at it in her terror, and there were scratches on her hands and arms where she had tried to make the voices of those she had once cared about stop shouting in her head.

They all laughed at her. They could easily have killed her, left her to her own madness, but it was more interesting to keep her alive. She had become their object to play with as they wished, until the order was given for her to be silenced. Even the Peacekeepers didn't know why they were supposed to keep her alive. They only knew that she was essential to their plans, that she was insurance if ever anything went wrong, but it meant nothing to them. She was a source of amusement when things became dull.

Xxx

Effie saw her mother, bending down to kiss her on her cheek on her first day of school. As she walked through the gates, a five year old Effie turned back to wave goodbye but her mother was walking away, her back turned against her only child. She called to her, begging her to come back, but eventually she faded into the distance. She never saw her again.

Breathing heavily, Effie woke from her nightmare. It was difficult to tell what was dream and what was reality, but when her oldest memories revisited her she knew that she had slept. Some of the things she encountered she wished were only nightmares, but the way they felt to her confirmed her worst fears that they were in fact real.

Effie heard the door click, but hadn't even the energy to scream. She was lying on the cold stone floor, her ripped dress barely covering her freezing limbs, and she tasted the tang of blood in her mouth where she had bit her tongue in her frantic slumber. She closed her eyes, her entire body trembling, hoping that this was just another figment of her imagination. It was all right to admit that she was slipping into insanity if it spared her every once in a while.

No-one touched her. After a minute or so, Effie reluctantly opened her eyes and saw a man standing before her. He held no knife in his hand, no bloodied whip or bucket of cold water, but simply stood there. He wasn't dressed in uniform but instead wore a tired grey suit. His thin blond hair stopped just above his shoulders and he was smiling fondly at her. Wait, smiling?

Blinking sleep from her eyes, Effie focused on his face. Her heart stopped. She pinched her arm hard, drawing blood, to make sure that she wasn't still dreaming; it couldn't be true. She had never even allowed herself to hope...

Tears came quickly to Effie's eyes as she tried to reach out desperately to the guardian angel standing before her.

Haymitch had finally come to rescue her.

Thoughts? Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it and much more to come!