I had to have that cliffhanger. Couldn't help it. Enjoy!
Gale:
The Peacekeepers are a surprise. I didn't realize we would be having an escort. One glance at Snowden tells me she thinks it's something else. In her eyes is the same look that she had when the train stopped to fix a part. She isn't convinced when I try to tell her that they are for our protection. I have to act like I'm trying to calm her down from being frightened, like any good boyfriend would do I guess. I wouldn't know, I've only been a big brother. Effie isn't pleased with the armored truck we get placed in. We are dropped off at the back of the Justice Building and are hurried inside to the front of the building. Microphones are clipped to our chests and I take Snowden's left hand.
The doors open as the mayor is introducing us and Effie nudges us forward. We are met by applause, but that's all. I see Thresh's two family members on my side of the stage and then I look over at Rue's. All of them are looking at Snowden. But it is hard to tell what they are thinking. The mayor gives his speech in our honor and Snowden and I are given flowers. Snowden receives her almost numbly. What is she thinking? I say my part of the scripted thank you, trying to think of anything I can say to the families.
Snowden:
The end of the script for me and Gale falls from my lips and I motion for the Peacekeepers to hand me a small framed picture. I wait to see if Gale will say anything. When he doesn't, I step forward and hand my bouquet of flowers to Gale to hang onto for me.
"I never knew Thresh and Rue very well, Thresh less so than Rue. And even though I only spoke to him once, I know that I can respect him for playing the Games on his own terms. I know he would…" the words catch in my throat. "I would like to hope that he was glad that it was me that took his life and not them. I took no joy in it. He will not be forgotten and he will always have my respect." Thresh's family looks at me and one of them smiles, the old woman. I turn to look at Rue's family. "I was lucky to have the chance to work with Rue. She was smart. She may have even won if I had been able to protect her. She will always be with me. Always." I take a breath and walk from the stage and to Rue's mother. The mic is still attached to my dress so everyone hears as I whisper. "I want you to have this. So she will always be with you." I turn the picture around so she can see it. It's one of Rue, perched in a tree, watching the rest of us fight. I place the picture in the woman's hands and she pulls me close. She thanks me, for trying to take care of her daughter, for avenging her later. I return the hug automatically. Peacekeepers pull us apart and guide me back to the stage. As I mount the stage, I freeze. Gale looks at me with concern, but I can't move as I suddenly hear Rue's whistle, the one that meant she was safe. No,
I turn to look in the crowd and find the whistler, an old man in a faded red shirt and overalls. As the tune ends, every person in the crowd, in unison, touches their right hand to their heart and then hold it out, palm up, fingers slightly bent inwards to form a cup. It's a gesture I share only with Boggs. It's our gesture of safe passage, safe journey. He taught it to me and I would use it whenever he would leave for a mission. When we went on missions together and had to split up, we would wish safe journey to each other. The last time I had seen him use it was in the Justice Building in District Twelve. I had used it in the arena when the dead tributes were shown. A gesture for each. Rue's and Thresh's had been done at the moment of their deaths. Five's had been after Rue's, when I had calmed down. Even Cato and Clove had been wished safe passage in the privacy of my hospital room. Only now, the gesture doesn't fill me with hope. It fills me with dread. This…this could be considered rebellion. The look in Gale's eyes tells me he is thinking the same thing.
I barely register that a plaque has been placed in my arms. I stop as, somehow, I hear a familiar sound. The sound of knees hitting stone. Why this sound is the only one I hear, I don't know. But what I see next, I will never un-see. I turn at the sound in time to see the old man, now at the top of the steps, get a bullet through his head.
Peacekeepers immediately block our view and shove us inside. Gale is saying something and leading me inside. Our team is standing under a blank screen, horror and anxiety on their faces. Haymitch looks at me and I know that he suspects what happened outside was not planned, or was it. I don't know what's going on in Thirteen anymore. Two more shots sound through the door as Gale is reassuring Effie. Haymitch wordlessly grabs mine and Gale's arms and leads us through the Justice Building to our rooms. We drop off our gifts and Haymitch yanks the mics from our chests and hides them under a couch cushion before waving us after him. The journey through the building stops in the dome of the Justice Building. Haymitch kicks the trap door closed and turns to me.
"What happened?" He asks. I launch into the details, keeping them slight. I mention the whistle, seeing the old man seconds before the gesture, the old man's murder. I want to yell that this wasn't supposed to happen. That this wasn't the plan. But I don't. Instead, I sit on the exposed stuffing and springs of a couch and cry. Gale pulls me up and holds me to him. He's a rock, but he can't be mine. Everything I have to do will just put him in danger. I need to tell him about Thirteen. I have to. But not now. When we get back to Twelve. Right now, we have to get through the tour.
Gale:
I stand in the shower and try to think. Snow wants Snowden to quell the Districts, to quiet them before they rise up against him. I need to help her. But how can we do that? I mean, after today. Nothing we could have said would have stopped those people. It had been planned from the start. The gesture was too well coordinated to be by chance. All this runs through my mind as I let my team get me ready for the dinner. I'll have to tell her that nothing we do will calm the people. Though, I think she knows it. She seemed frustrated earlier, like nothing was going to plan. Like she was being kept out of the loop of something. This brings the question of who she really is. It's not something I had thought about in months. It hadn't really mattered before just because we won and were going home. I thought we would hardly have to see each other again. But now that we have to be in love, and I know I love her, I can't help but at least wondering about it.
I meet everyone outside the dining room and they start walking in, fifteen steps apart. Snowden looks stunning in her strapless emerald dress. I remember her telling me it was her favorite color. There just might be something that I can do to convince Snow and the Districts that we are in love. Unfortunately, for it to work, I'll have to keep it from her. That's the only way we can do it. We descend the steps, her arm wrapped in mine, and we are sucked into an endless round of ceremonies, dinners, and train rides.
Snowden:
I wake up and just look at Gale. Since District Eleven, we've been sleeping in each other's beds. Some nights it'll be mine. Others it'll be his. We decided that we couldn't be alone. The nightmares had become too much, especially after Eleven and the old man. I told Gale what the gesture meant that night on the train and he seemed to like it. He didn't like the fact of what it had been turned into that day, but for us, it would always be a gesture of safe journey, just like for me and Boggs. Boggs, my adopted father. Funny, the more I call him my father, the more I believe it's true. Why can't it be? He is the only male role model I have ever had. He taught me everything I know. Coin didn't do that for me. I never knew a parent's love from her.
Cinna knocks on the door and I wake up Gale before I get up to answer it. Both stylists are there and a groggy Gale is sent with Portia while I am left with my team. Cinna explains that we are appearing in both Districts One and Two today since they are so close together. I only nod my acceptance, knowing that this will be another district we won't be able to quell with love if they are feeling rebellious. Though, I think I have more surety of nearly being killed because of what I did to their tributes. I mean, I destroyed their source of food and then the rest of their supplies. Then I killed Cato with my own hands.
Before I know it, we are on the platform in front of the Justice Building, listening to a speech in our honor. We give the scripted thank you and I am sure we are done with it. Again, my instincts get me into trouble. I hear the sound of a gun click. It's a Peacekeeper gun, but it's not from them. My eyes find the person, in the back of the crowd. He makes a rude gesture to me, raises the gun at Gale, and fires. I pull Gale down and the bullet buries itself the limestone behind us. In the next moment, I barely see the glint of a knife. I manage to catch it before it impales my heart. Gale and I sit crouched on the stage, me with a knife in my hand, a bullet hole in the wall. What the hell? The Peacekeepers are supposed to prevent this kind of thing from happening. The mic on my chest turns off and the mayor is speaking again. Gale stands and helps me up. Two people hand us our gifts and we go inside. There's another shot and I pull Gale close to me and another bullet hits the building. The Peacekeepers push us inside and we go, gratefully. Haymitch is the one who sees the knife in my hand and opens his mouth to start yelling at me for having a weapon out there. Cinna cuts him off, saying that I didn't have a weapon and he would know because my dress doesn't allow for that kind of concealment. Gale carefully takes the knife from my hand and I check him for any grazes. When I find none, I cry as the adrenaline leaves my system. Effie covers her mouth to suppress a sob at our tenderness. Gale holds me and leads me to our quarters, Cinna and Portia following behind. That night's dinner is cancelled due to the threat of another assassination attempt on our lives. Haymitch and Effie seem to finally agree on something when it is suggested we leave under escort in an armored truck. Victors had never been shot at before and she didn't know what to think of it. We had told them what happened once we were on the train.
Our appearance in District One is kept brief and is televised from inside the Justice Building with only the tributes' families present. The dinner is kept short and Gale and I don't eat anything we don't serve ourselves, not wanting to be poisoned. Then we are back on the train and heading for the Capitol. It's almost over.
A nice change I think? What do you think? Thanks for reading and please review