"President Snow once admitted to me that the Capitol was fragile. At the time, I didn't know what he meant. It was hard to see clearly because I was so afraid. Now I'm not. The Capitol's fragile because it depends on the districts for everything. Food, energy, even the Peacekeepers that police us. If we declare our freedom, the Capitol collapses. President Snow, thanks to you, I'm officially declaring mine today." Katniss's voice is stern as she speaks. This is her offer for a distraction, something to play while they go in to rescue Peeta and Stell.
Plutarch quickly calls Finnick and Haymitch over to him as they stop filming Katniss. He whispers to them both in excited words, and Haymitch immediately isn't happy, and Finnick's face goes pale at what Plutarch suggests. He nods his head all the same though.
Finnick wordlessly goes and takes Katniss's place before the camera. "You don't have to do this." Haymitch tells him, but he's met with a hard stare.
"Yes, I do. If it will help her." Finnick ties one last knot in his rope, pulling the end to unravel it, and balls it in his hand. "I'm ready." He says, starring down at his clenched hand.
No one knows what he's going to say, and everyone waits for him to speak. He just sits there for a moment, contemplating if this is the right thing to do for her. Once he's positive that it is, he looks up, directly at the camera.
"President Snow used to…sell me…my body, that is," his voice is flat, removed as his mind takes him back. "I wasn't the only one." He pauses, and then chooses to include her as well. "He sold Stell too. But, if a victor is considered desirable, the president gives them as a reward or allows people to buy them for an exorbitant amount of money. If you refuse, he kills someone you love. So you do it."
It all clicks for Katniss then. His parade of lovers in the Capital, a different woman on his arm practically every day. And Stell. She wants to run up and hug Finnick, to apologize for every false thing she's ever thought of the pair.
"I wasn't the only one, but I was the most popular," he says. "And perhaps the most defenseless, because the people I loved were so defenseless." Another pause from Finnick. "Stell was just as popular as myself. The first time Snow asked her, she said no. He murdered her whole family, left them in her house for her to find. To make themselves feel better, our patrons would make presents of money or jewelry, but I found a much more valuable form of payment. One that Stell later took on as well."
Secrets Katniss thinks, remembering the words that Finnick said to her, remembering the words that Peeta told her Stell said to him.
"Secrets," he says, echoing her thoughts. "And this is where you're going to want to stay tuned, President Snow, because so very many of them were about you. But let's begin with some of the others."
Finnick begins to weave a tapestry so rich in detail that you can't doubt its authenticity. Tales of strange sexual appetites, betrayals of the heart, bottomless greed, and bloody power plays. Drunken secrets whispered over damp pillow-cases in the dead of night. Finnick was someone bought and sold. A district slave. A handsome one, certainly, but in reality, harmless. Who would he tell? Stell? She would believe him, but then, no one else would, and who would Stell tell? But some secrets are too delicious not to share. Katniss doesn't know the people Finnick names—all seem to be prominent Capitol citizens—but she knows, from listening to the chatter of her prep team, the attention the most mild slip in judgment can draw. If a bad haircut can lead to hours of gossip, what will charges of incest, back-stabbing, blackmail, and arson produce? Even as the waves of shock and recrimination roll over the Capitol, the people there will be waiting, as she is now, to hear about the president.
"And now, on to our good President Coriolanus Snow," says Finnick. "Such a young man when he rose to power. Such a clever one to keep it. How, you must ask yourself, did he do it? One word. That's all you really need to know. Poison." Finnick goes back to Snow's political ascension, which I know nothing of, and works his way up to the present, pointing out case after case of the mysterious deaths of Snow's adversaries or, even worse, his allies who had the potential to become threats. People dropping dead at a feast or slowly, inexplicably declining into shadows over a period of months. Blamed on bad shellfish, elusive viruses, or an overlooked weakness in the aorta. Snow drinking from the poisoned cup himself to deflect suspicion. But antidotes don't always work. They say that's why he wears the roses that reek of perfume. They say it's to cover the scent of blood from the mouth sores that will never heal. They say, they say, they say…Snow has a list and no one knows who will be next.
Finnick then goes into something that no one expected him to say anything about. "My relationship with Steller Mere started simply because we had no other choice. A letter was sent to her, saying that in order to calm the fire in the districts that Katniss and Peeta had started, we were to be the spotlight couple. A distraction from the star crossed lovers. A distraction, which was so devoted to the Capital, that seemed to accept everything it stood for. Before then, Stell and I hadn't had a conversation together voluntarily in six years. I can honestly say that I hated her, and she hated me." Finnick's voice starts to waver and he looks down at his clenching hands. "But I just want people to see, I want President Snow to see, what came out of your punishment." He ducks his head lower then, so that the cameras cannot catch the tear that rolls down his cheek. No one moves or says a word, and finally Finnick says. "Cut."
"They're back." Two words from Haymitch's mouth causes both Finnick and Katniss to shoot up from where they sit in the butterfly room. Neither of them waits for Haymitch to say anything else as they race to the hospital wing, where they are sure to be.
Finnick's heart pounds in his chest as he runs, a grin overtaking his face. She's here. She's safe. She's going to be with him.
Finnick and Katniss stay side by side as they sprint, skidding around the corners until they shove open the door to the hospital wing. It's chaos inside.
Several doctors yell different orders, while nurses run frantically to a patient they were called to. Finnick and Katniss freeze, looking around the room anxiously. Finnick catches sight of a head of dark brown hair, and recognizes Gale. He has two IV's going into his right arm and a welt formed just above his left eye. Blood covers the right side of his shirt. He has an oxygen mask strapped to his face, but his breathing is still heavy.
Finnick's head looks to the side as Mags and Haymitch enter the room. Boggs appears with them. "I was telling Mags and Haymitch, the rescue was harder than we anticipated. The room they were held in was heavily guarded, we had to evacuate earlier then we would have liked to." Boggs's mouth falls into a frown and he glances at the group gathered around him. "It was reported that they found Johanna Mason dead in the corner of the room their cells were in."
"Johanna." Her name is a whisper from Finnick's lips as hurt and sadness floods his chest at the news that his longtime friend is dead. Mags puts a hand on her Victor's arm, sending him a sympathetic smile. They look back as Boggs folds his hands in front of him.
"Finnick." Boggs's calls his attention and Finnick's eyes snap to him. He opens his mouth, to be cut off by loud screams from the other end of the hall.
"No! No!" Peeta's cries fill the room and everyone stops to look at him. He scrambles off his bed, yanking the IV wires out of his arms and looking around wildly.
"Peeta!" Katniss yells out and she starts running towards him, but he doesn't seem to hear.
"Where is she!?" He demands, advancing on one of the doctors. "Where the fuck is she!?" There's panic in his voice, and his eyes do not focus on one single thing. "Tell me you didn't leave her!" He grabs the man's shoulders, gripping them so his knuckles turn white.
Even through the hospital gown that he's been put in, everyone can tell of the abuse he's been through. Cuts line the skin that is visible, bruises also are scattered on his body. His hair is unkempt, dried blood still in parts of it. It's shorter though, looking as though it had been hacked off and has been growing back.
Peeta seems to decide that the man he holds has no information to offer and releases him. "Stell!" He yells for her and Finnick starts shaking his head as Boggs yells order to get Peeta under control.
"Sedate him!"
"Don't touch him!" Katniss screams and reaches Peeta. She stops a few feet away from him. When Peeta sees her, his eyes widen and his face goes white.
"Get away from me." His words are barely above a whisper. His arms begin to shake, and when Katniss takes a step towards him, he flinches. "Don't."
"Peeta" she's pleading, and slowly puts out a hand, like she would a wild animal. As of now, there is no difference. He shakes his head, his eyes flitting up and landing on Finnick.
"Finnick!" A man grabs Peeta from behind, locking his arms to his sides. Peeta struggles. "Finnick they have to get her! They'll kill her again! They'll kill her!" A needle is slammed into Peeta's forearm and he immediately goes limp.
Finnick shakes where he stands, his mind not being able to process all he's learned in the last two minutes. Johanna's dead. They didn't rescue Stell.
They didn't rescue Stell.
She's still in the Capital.
Mags holds Finnick as he falls to the floor, a heart wrenching scream escaping his lips.
Well…happy new year! Don't hate me, I have the whole thing planned out!
Just to clear up a few things:
Peeta is not "hijacked" like he was in Mockingjay, that will be explained later on.
Since he wasn't hijacked, the rescue did not go easily like it said in the book.
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