The Fallen
Summary – Peeta Mellark is the Winner of the 74th Hunger Games after Katniss Everdeen sacrifices herself to save his life. He soon finds himself in the middle of the rebellion as their beacon of hope, their Mockingjay. But as Peeta will soon discover, not all fallen tributes stay dead.
Disclaimer: These are all Suzanne Collin's toys. They're just in my playground.
A/N: Hi guys, sorry for the delayed post again, my kid was off school for his autumn half term/fall break, whatever you call it wherever in the world you are so I found it difficult to edit and post this last week. I hope everyone had a fun Halloween but remained safe and sensible during these awful times.
Anyway... here's the next chapter for y'all, I hope you enjoy it, if so please leave me a review, or favourite and follow the story. Here it is...
I spent the next few weeks in the Capitol, Plutarch had been trying to arrange a meeting with the Capitol based rebels and it had been proving difficult to get everyone in together without causing suspicion and Plutarch himself had been kept pretty busy on Gamemaker business recently.
Finnick became my unofficial tour guide of the capitol. He introduced me to a life I could have never imagined. Bars and restaurants, cinemas, theatres, all part of the perks that the life of a victor grants you. But despite how beautiful and wonderful it all is, the cost is not worth it. Everything is tainted in the blood of children and teenagers.
I got to know the city pretty well and learnt my way around thanks to Finnick. He was great company too and we got along really well, yet there was still an unanswered question lingering in the air, something that was still unsaid between us.
The real problem about being in the Capitol is that there was no safe place to talk. Snow had his spies and bugs planted everywhere. There were only few a place's that Plutarch managed to secure that was safe from The Capitol's ears, so despite spending much of my time with Finnick, we never had the opportunity to really talk, and there was definitely something he wanted to tell me back at the party in Snow's Mansion.
The meeting couldn't come soon enough, I was itching to get back home. I hoped that my friends and family in District Twelve were okay and I hoped they would understand my prolonged stay here. On the bright side, I knew that there was enough food in my freezers to keep them going for at least another two weeks, they would be fine.
Today was the day they were going to announce the stipulation of the 75th Annual Hunger Games. The Quarter Quell. I sat with Haymitch in front of the large screen in anticipation, wondering what fresh new hell these games will bring.
When it was time for the announcement, the channel automatically changed and we are greeted by the sound of the national anthem. President Snow stood regally behind a podium holding a wooden box. He gave his usual speech reminding us about the dark days and how the Hunger Games came to be. Haymitch groans and goes to pour himself a drink in the meantime.
"When the laws of the Hunger Games were written, it was deemed that every twenty-five years we would hold a special anniversary edition to remind us of the blood spilled by the efforts of the rebellion. On our first quarter quell, the twenty-fifth year, to remind the districts that their children were dying because of their choice to initiate violence, each District was required to hold an election and vote for the tributes they had to put forward," He spoke clearly into the microphone, "On the fiftieth year, as a reminder that two rebels died for each Capitol citizen, each district was required to put forward twice as many tributes."
At that mention of the 2nd quarter quell I noticed a change in Haymitch, the colour drained from his face making him more pale than usual and he clenched his hand tightly around his lowball making his knuckles turn white. I almost thought the glass would shatter in his grip. That was his games.
Snow held up the box in his hands for all to see and opened it showing dozens of tiny yellow envelopes. "These," he said, "Are the pre-written Quarter Quell designs that have been secured since the beginning of the Hunger Games." I was stunned to see so many envelopes in that box, they must have planned for centuries worth of the Games. I clenched my own fists and took in a deep breath and tried to remember that I was channelling my anger into something productive that I hoped would end all this suffering. If all went well, there wouldn't be another yellow envelope chosen.
"But this year I'm afraid we are forced into going against tradition," he stated next, "Due to the recent violent episodes that have been brewing among the districts. On this seventy-fifth year, our Quarter Quell will not been chosen from this box. Instead it has been designed specially to punish those responsible for the recent crimes against Panem. This year's tributes will be reaped from our nations most wanted terrorists, to remind them that we do not and will not tolerate this behaviour.
"He did it," Haymitch sighed a breath of relief. I looked at him for an answer I knew he couldn't provide right now.
A few days later in the middle of the night I was woken up to someone shaking me. I grabbed the assailant prepared to attack whoever was coming for me.
"Jesus, Peeta! It's me!" Haymitch cried
I recoiled and let him go, "Sorry," I muttered
"Bad dream?" He asked
"Aren't they all?"
"Good point," he shrugged, "I guess should know better than to sneak up on a survivor like that,"
"What's wrong, Haymitch?" I asked, wondering why he had just woken me up in the middle of the night.
"Plutarch managed to create a short glitch in the security system. The cameras are out across half of the city. It's now or never, kid." He whispered
I got up quickly and threw on some clothes. Haymitch handed me an Ivory hooded cloak with an intricate gold leaf embroidery design, I shot him a questioning look. He rolled his eyes, 'To blend in' he explained. He puts on his 'disguise' A long brown fur coat complete with an oversized hat. I was unable to contain my laughter. "At least I'm not wearing a woman's cloak," he muttered under his breath as he marched out the door.
I matched my strides with his to keep his pace as he led me away from the apartment complex that all past victors stay in while in the Capitol. As familiar as I was now with the area, Haymitch ignored the main streets, instead he used the side streets and alleyways, eventually leading us to a fashion boutique.
He knocked on the door and through the glass I saw a lady approach us. I noticed that she had surgeries to reconstruct her face, making her features look cat like.
She opened the door for us, "This way," she whispered, "quickly," she looked over our shoulders making sure we were alone.
She led us through to the back of the shop into a store room, where she lifted a fancy rug to reveal a trap door, "Thank you, Tigris," Haymitch spoke kindly to her, then he lifted the trap door and descended the steps leading down, "Come on, boy," he said gruffly.
"Where are we going?" I asked him as I followed him into darkness.
"You'll see," Haymitch picked up one of the five torches resting on a box at the bottom of the stairs as Tigris closed the trap door behind us. He went to the far side wall and pushed hard, the wall moved and opened a doorway leading into a tunnel.
Haymitch shed his silly disguise hanging it up on a coat rack alongside a few others already there. I followed his lead and I shed my cloak and hung it up, "Come on," he said, I followed him into the tunnel, "Plutarch had this built, it leads to a secret basement under his mansion," he explained, "This way he can gather the rebels together without being suspected. Tigris might have been disgraced from the Hunger Games, but her designs are still legendary and highly sought after in the Capitol. She often makes late night appointments for the wealthy so they can have personal shopping experiences or in case of a "fashion emergency"" he snorted, "No one would question people going into her shop late at night,"
"It's a genius idea" I agreed, "Why was she disgraced?"
"Her appearance, mostly," he shrugged, "Maybe she'll tell you about it another time when we're not so much in a rush," he gave me a quick glance telling me clearly that now wasn't the time for chit chat, but I was still full of questions.
"Why didn't Plutarch build more tunnels?" I asked him, "that would make it an easy win for the rebels at least,"
Haymitch shot me a sceptical look, "Do you think building secret tunnels under this city is easy?" he asked me, "There are eyes and ears everywhere and he had to make sure they didn't cross through any of the underground sewer systems that are heavily patrolled. Plutarch had planned to create a whole network of tunnels, but he almost got caught for this, the machinery used caused too much of a disturbance so he was forced to stop at the one. He had to bribe a couple of avox's and a couple of security officers suffered some "unfortunate fatal accidents" in order to get away with it. Luckily Plutarch isn't stupid enough to push his own luck. Since then security got a whole lot tighter on the whole and there was a lot of suspicion but there would be no possible way to add more now. We're really lucky this wasn't discovered."
"Lucky," I muttered sarcastically under my breath. They killed people to keep it a secret. The things we had to do in war sickened me.
We walked what felt like miles until we came to a set of double doors with a keypad lock on it. He entered in a code and pulled open the doors revealing a large space dominated by lots of people and elaborate technology.
Haymitch headed for the large table in the centre of the room. Plutarch was already there, as was Finnick and Cinna, there were a couple of unfamiliar faces, but the rest of the people sat around the table were all familiar to me, they were all past victors. Johanna, Beetee, Wiress, Chaff, Seeder, Blight, Lyme, Hoyt, Barron, Francie and sat holding Finnick's hand was Annie Cresta. He was looking at her lovingly stroking her hair. Finnick was clearly enamoured with the girl, in love with her even. He was certainly full of surprises. I was both happy for them and sad for them all at once. I was Happy to see how ridiculously in love they appeared to be, and sad because of what I knew Finnick was forced to do in public with other people.
"I apologise that it took so long to bring this meeting together," Plutarch started as soon as we took our seats, "Things have been a little chaotic since I was named Head Gamemaker," he looked a little smug and only a few among us weren't surprised by the news
"What happened to Seneca?" Finnick asked
"He went missing," was the only explanation Plutarch offered, I wasn't sure if that was all he was willing to offer or that he was as blind to the true reason as the rest of us were. Finnick and I exchanged a look, he didn't know which side of the fence Plutarch was either, "But this has put us at an advantage," he continued on, "one that we should be incredibly grateful for. There is no one to challenge my decisions anymore when it comes to the Games and this year I plan to use them to stir up some real controversy,"
"How?" I asked
"So eagar, Mr Mellark," Plutarch grinned at me, "Don't worry I'll get to that shortly." He then looked around at the others sitting around the table, "You're all familiar with our latest recruit?" he asked them gesturing to me, "Welcome to the Hub, Peeta. We can make more formal introductions a little later but right now we are on a schedule. Beetee?" Beetee was tapping away at a console of some kind, "Have we made contact yet?"
"I am almost there," Beetee replied
A few seconds later, on a big screen behind Plutarch, a fuzzy picture began to form, "Plutarch are you there?" I heard a woman's voice on the other end,
"We're here," Plutarch answered, the picture cleared revealing a woman with a stern look and straight grey hair, "Ah there you are, President Coin," Plutarch beamed
"Where are we with the plan, Plutarch?" she asked, this woman wasn't messing around, straight to the point.
"Everything is in place; we have carefully selected our tributes already, the reaping's will be rigged as planned. Have preparations been made for our extraction?"
"We will be ready," she replied, "Where is our Mockingjay?" she then asked
"He's right here," Plutarch gestured to me,
"It's good to have you on board, Peeta," she said, "You've been fundamental in getting this off the ground,"
"Thank you, ma'am," I nod
"Beetee is working on sending you an encrypted file with the specifics as we speak," Plutarch informed her
"Excellent. Districts Five, Seven, Eight and Eleven are completely on board now, they're just waiting for the signal and they are prepared to move,"
"That is good news," Plutarch grinned
"But it is not enough," said Lyme abruptly
"Indeed," Coin agreed with her, "we need more on our side, Peeta's speeches were powerful, but we need more incentive."
"You said you have arranged who's going into the arena?" I asked, clarifying
"Yes, that's right," Plutarch replied, "For one reason or another, they are all willing to die for the cause and will help us create a distraction while we hack the airwaves. We plan to fill it with footage from your speeches, the shootings and the riots in the Districts, showing the peacekeepers as the brutes they are. We are also going to weave in some footage of you and Katniss from your games, her volunteering for her sister, how she mourned for little Rue, your love story. We hope that forcing the nation to see it all again as one big package helps to convince others to join our cause," he explains proudly, "Meanwhile, we use this big distraction to get out of the Capitol and escape to District Thirteen where the real work begins."
The plan was okay, but I knew it wasn't enough, deep down I'm sure the others thought that it wasn't enough either, "You don't seem convinced, Peeta," Cinna commented, his mouth turned up in one corner in a slight smirk, I could see that he was on the same page I was.
Plutarch turned to look at me then, his smile disappeared, "What's wrong?" he asked
"Nothings wrong," I answered immediately not wanting to offend him, clearly he put a lot of thought and effort into this plan. Having the new guy come in and tear it down wouldn't be fair of me, but I knew we could do better. "It's just that the Districts have already seen the footage of me and Katniss, it's been replayed over and over. They've seen my speeches and probably some of the rioting. You said yourself that you managed to air the poor old man who was shot in District Eleven. If all was enough to turn them against the Capitol they would have done so already. The people are too scared to fight back, but they need to be too scared to not fight back," I explained, "Coin's right, it's not enough,"
Haymitch leaned forward, "Looks like you might have a better plan, Peeta."
Slightly put out, Plutarch took his seat again, pouting, "What do you suggest?" he asked
"Give them something other than the Star-crossed lovers. Something raw and new. Everyone in this room has a story to tell. All those volunteers going into the arena have stories to tell." Plutarch's pout disappeared and his smile stretched from ear to ear as I told them my idea.
"I like it," said Coin afterwards, "What do you think, Plutarch?" she asked
"I hate to admit it when a good idea surpasses my own, but I've got to give credit where it's due." Plutarch turned to me, "It's brilliant, Peeta," Plutarch grinned, "I'm already working out the details in my head, this is going to be magical,"
"There's still the problem of the nut," Lyme added, "And District Two in general. Peeta's plan will most definitely turn the tide but Two are very loyal to the Capitol, it doesn't matter whether we have all the other districts on our side, as long as they have access to that artillery we're still outmanned and outgunned."
"This plan may sway some of them but Lyme's right," Coin said, "Once we're all here in thirteen that will be our next priority,"
"Plutarch, we need to cut the feed," Beetee stammered, "Otherwise we'll be found out. We have 30 seconds"
"I'm sorry President Coin, security is getting tighter here," Plutarch said,
"Understandable. Peeta, good work tonight," she nodded at me, "I'll be in touch soon," she clipped, and the feed cut out
"Are we good, Beetee?" Plutarch asked,
"I believe we are," Beetee answered "We got out just in time. Their traces are becoming more sporadic, it's getting quite risky to make contact."
"Luckily for us, we don't need to wait for much longer," Plutarch sighed then looked at me, "With your brilliant idea I think we might pull this off with the support of most, if not all Districts."
"Hello! We haven't agreed to it yet," Johanna called and gestured between herself and our fellow victors
"Of course." Plutarch cleared his throat, "I do hope as many of you will help us with this as possible. I can't believe we didn't think of it sooner."
"I was dicking with you, Plutarch, of course I'll do it. I was a dead man the minute I first stepped foot in this room anyway," she rolled her eyes and cracked her neck
Almost everyone else in the room agreed to be a part of the plan. "I'll have to get word to the new tributes." Plutarch rose to his feet. "Beetee we have work to do,"
"Indeed," he begun typing furiously on the computer screen in front of him
"Now that I'm not the Mockingjay anymore, does this mean our promise no longer stands? I still need to guarantee the safety of those I love."
"I promised you their safety in exchange for being our Mockingjay, what do you mean you're not the Mockingjay anymore?" Plutarch queried
"You don't really need a Mockingjay anymore. This new plan means that..."
"The Mockingjay symbol has been spreading across the districts, Peeta," Finnick interrupted me then, "It has become a sign of hope, the symbol of the rebellion. In your name and in Katniss' name. Your actions started it all. So while we're all going to be stepping up to join you. Your voice is still the one that is being heard the most. People are still going to be looking to you."
"We all are, Peeta," Haymitch said more softly than I'd ever heard him, "You join us here one time and have already shown us how we can all rally around and give Snow the finger. Not only that, you formulated a plan, a good plan that's given us all hope that we might actually win this thing."
"Peeta, you gave Haymitch hope?" Johanna feigned shock
"Hey, I have a cream for that," Chaff laughed nudging Haymitch with an elbow
"Shut up, what I'm getting at is, this plan is good, its solid. But I'm sorry, kid, you're still the face of this thing. Can you handle that?"
I nodded slowly, it was a hard burden to bare having the country look to me to help free them from oppression, I was so scared to fail anyone ever again, like I did Katniss. But if this was how I get to make it up to her, I knew I had to try, and so I would bare this burden with pride and do it all in her name. "Yeah. I think so."
"Good," Plutarch clapped his hands together. "We shall reconvene as soon as it's safe and we'll get this plan into action."