Special thanks to everyone who's commented and supported me throughout this fic- you rock! I haven't given up on it yet, so please don't give up on me!
Coriolanus
I sat at my desk, my fingers laced together, and a glass of water beside me. The silence in my office made for a calm work environment and provided the respite I needed. Everything was where I wanted it to be. Everything was going as planned. "Have you found Domitius yet?" I spoke into my speaker. The microphone crackled and I frowned. Silence continued and I pressed a button to call an attendant. "Helle, where is the Head Peacekeeper?"
"I'm sorry, President, it seems the train he was on was stopped in District 5 and ransacked. Peacekeeper Lom was hanged," the garbled reply made me frown. The communications department was beginning to sorely lack in skill.
"Appoint Ceelis-"
"He was killed as well, sir."
"Koma?"
"She was flayed. I can see if she is out of the hospi-"
"No, just appoint the nearest Peacekeeper and bring him to me. That is all." I sat back in disappointment, frowning as dark tendrils of smoke curled upwards from the candle on my table.
There was a knock on the door. A single, sharp rap reverberated through the room and bounced off the walls. "Enter."
Helle stepped in with a man beside her. "President Snow, this is Jacen Crane, cousin of Seneca. He is Koma's lieutenant," she explained. I looked at the man Helle had brought in.
His black hair was cropped close to his head and he stood straight as a pole. His grim expression betrayed nothing and I nodded."Ah, good. Jacen Crane, you are to be promoted as a Head Peacekeeper. Trade your uniform for a black one and I will have Helle send you to the headquarters to be educated on the matters of law and the ones at hand. Now, I want you to take three bombers and blow the orphanage in District 3." Jacen looked at me in surprise and nodded. "You are dismissed."
"Yes, sir," he gave a slight bow and marched out of the room. I turned to Helle and she stood straighter.
"Domitius. Has there been any information on his whereabouts?" I asked and Helle shook her head.
"We have no way of knowing. The apartment was searched top to bottom and so were his labs. It seems that copious amounts of steelglass were taken as well as blueprints. Sir, the documents for all hydraulic weapons were burned with acid. What we found could not be salvaged," Helle twined her hands in the ribbons that fell from her skirt. Sighing, I knocked on the hard wood of my desk, creating a slow and steady rhythm.
"He is not alive then?"
"We have no way of knowing, sir. There was a burnt body of a little girl about eighty miles from the outer walls of the capitol. The forensics division thinks she might be Junallia Rose- his daughter- but her body was so burnt we couldn't salvage any discerning features.
"Because Junallia wasn't registered into our military, government, or criminal DNA indexes, the labs had to match hers with that of her father and brothers and they found a close enough match for the body to be determined."
Shaking my head, I rested my chin against my hand. "Domitius would have never allowed any harm to come to the girl. We can safely assume he is dead." My plan had taken a turn for the worse. "How far is the medical division on the... nemo consilium?"
"Not very far. We still haven't found a way to erase certain parts of data and leave some parts of memory. They think it will take about two or three more days before anything real happens. I will inform you if any new breaks have been made." I watched as Helle scribbled something into her notepad.
"Good. You are dismissed."
Peeta Mellark
"You should be able to leave in a couple days," one of the nurses said as she tapped on the tubes connected to my arm. I looked up at her and nodded my gratitude.
The decontamination room had been boring. It almost reminded me of the room they kept me in at the Capitol. White walls, sparsely furnished, and the occasional person coming by to make sure I was still breathing.
A tray of warm broth and a small cup of mashed carrots sat on the corner of my table along with a glass of water. Reaching over for the tray, I snagged the table and rolled it over to where I sat.
The food was bland. the broth was like water and the carrots looked and tasted like orange mush. "Peeta Mellark?" I looked up and man an holding a clipboard stepped in.
"Yes?"
"I'm here to escort you to the President's council." I was helped into a wheelchair and then wheeled through the halls of the underground district.
We reached a pair of double doors and the man pushed them open.
A few people sat around a table and as soon as I was pushed in, all eyes turned to me. "Welcome, Mr. Mellark," the president looked up and I nodded to her.
"Madame President."
"You look to be in good health. Now, we want to ask if you were privy to any plans," she asked and the men and women around her nodded. Clearing my throat, I shook my head.
"Not that I know of. That time I heard about the plans to bomb District 13, I was right outside the President's door. I..." I dug through my dim memories to try to find some form of help. "There... they said something about a nemo consul or nemo consilum," I explained and one man raised his eyebrows.
"Nemo consilium?" he suggested and I nodded. I tried to remember where I had seen him before. His blonde hair and beard were familiar... "Who on earth would name a plan 'the Nobody Plan?'" he muttered writing something down.
"Can you tell us anything else?" the president asks me and I frown. "Perhaps how Victor Cato is... how any of the Victors were treated, or how the Capitol is?"
"Ever day, I was allowed to walk around the Tribute Building for an hour. sometimes I could hear them screaming," I explained, wringing my hands on my hospital gown. "If Cato was the only man in those cells, then he was tortured the most," I explain and the President nods.
"Lote, take Mr. Mellark down to the armory. I'm sure he'd like to see Miss Everdeen before she leaves." My eyes widened as the man that had brought me to the council room silently pushed me out.
The gray walls made for a bleak adventure and I leaned backwards as we ascended the levels on an elevator. The box stopped on the -9th floor and the the doors slid open to reveal a pair of locked doors. Lote knocked on the doors and explained that the President had sent me to see Katniss.
As the metal doors creaked open, my eyebrows rose at the sight of the laboratory. The place was messy with stray pieces of metal, documents held down by weights, and people walking around. In the center of the room was a huge stand where a suit of onyx armor stands. In front of it, Katniss stands with Finnick Odair and Enobaria.
"Miss Everdeen," Lote called out and Katniss turned. I smiled as she approached me.
"Peeta. What are you doing here?" she asked, bending down to reach my eyes.
"The President said I might want to see you before you leave. Are you leaving?" I asked and Katniss nodded.
"We're not leaving for a few days. Finnick has to get married. But we are going to District 5 in a week," she said and motioned for Lote to wheel me over to the suit of armor.
The armor is black and glossy. Multiple facets made the plates look like they were cut from a single gem and two Mockingjays were proudly emblazoned in red on the shoulder guards. "It's beautiful," I said and Katniss nodded.
"They told me Cato made it."
"And its his best work yet," Enobaria said, crossing her arms. There was a clatter and I turned to see a man in large spectacles dropping a pile of metal onto a table. "Beetee Latier, you seem to be busy. Explain to us why my nephew's armor is superior in all form," she smirked and Beetee cleared his throat.
"Well, the material is steelglass. The facets make it impervious to all forms of abuse. Steelglass does not rust, it doesn't melt in an average blast's heat, and is extremely expensive to make. Cato really outdid himself," he said and I nodded.
"Will you ever go to the Capitol?" I asked and Enobaria answered,
"Yes. Sooner or later, we'll have to go into that hellhole and retrieve my nephew."
Over the course of three days, I was allowed to bake the cake for Finnick and Annie's wedding. It was a form of therapy and I found great pleasure in designing each layer. I painted pictures of the sea and drew turtles and fish in multiple layers of icing.
The wedding was beautiful. Annie wore a green dress and I sat between Katniss and Gale. It was in this happy moment that we forgot about the war. Once the vows were exchanged, I stood and clapped for the happy couple.
People cheered and whooped as Finnick picked Annie up and spun her around. They cheered even louder when he tenderly kissed her again.
That night, after a - surprisingly good - dinner of roast venison that Katniss and Gale hunted, I was allowed out of my chair to dance. There was merriment in the air and no one thought about saying "no". Even Haymitch was granted a dance with Enobaria.
I saw Domitius' daughter, Juna, sitting in a wheeled chair like myself. She wore a blue gown that sparkled with the barest movements and shimmered in the faintest light. She wore a glum expression on her face and I stepped out of my chair to walk over to her.
"Hi," I smiled down at her. "Why are you so sad?"
"None of the boys want to dance with me. They call me Capitolite," she whimpered, her bottom lip jutting out. I smiled softly and knelt. Gritting my teeth, I fought through the pain to bend my knee and hold my hand out.
"Will you do my the honor of dancing with me, Ms. Arckenson?" I asked. Juna beamed and eagerly laced her finger through mine.
Our heights were quite different and our ages even more so. But as we danced, I looked down at the little girl and thought about my brothers. How I was the only one left. I felt bad for Juna- but at least she had a father.
"My turn!" Katniss appeared out of thin air, and took one of Juna's hands. I smiled and mocked a bow before having my arm snatched up by Effie.
"My goodness, Peeta, it is so good to see that you are well and alive. Two people out of the arena!" she exclaimed. I twirled her and sneezed when her feathered headdress tickled my nose. "Of course, you will be considered a Victor, concerning your title, and when this war ends, you will-"
"Effie," I interjected. "How about we ignore the war and live in the moment?" I suggested. Raising my eyebrows, I watched as she closed her open mouth and nodded, smiling warmly.
"I think that is a very good idea, Peeta."
I later danced with Annie. She was too happy to even notice me, and I saw that her eyes never left Finnick.
"Mr. Mellark, it is nice to see you out of that chair," President Coin says as my hands wrapped around hers. My eyes widened as we began to waltz.
"Thank you," I replied curtly.
Waltzing with the president, I had never felt more expose. "I have a favor to ask of you. A boon per say," she murmured. Ever so gently, she steered us away from the throng of the crowd and to the outskirts of the dancing floor.
"Madame President, I don't think I'm the person you want fo-"
"I need you to go to District 5 with the other teams and report back what happens to me. Domitius will be there, but I trust him as far as I can throw him. I need someone I can trust. Peeta, if you do this for me, I will grant anything you want as long as it is within my power and ethical reasoning," her thin lips pressed together and I cleared my throat.
"Anything?"
"Anything." Looking around, I watched for people listening, but saw none.
"I accept."