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: So, in England we have just gone into another Lockdown on Bonfire Night/Guy Fawkes night of all days. In America they're still counting the votes to see who will be the new President of the Free world... good luck to you guys. I hope its good news for you. The only thing I can do to salvage us from more misery is release another chapter this week (especially since I didn't get chance to post last week) please click those follow and favourite buttons, I'll love you more if you leave a review. But most importantly... enjoy :-) x
"Peeta," Finnick approached me as we were about to leave, "I just wanted to say good job. It really is a good plan," he smiled, "I think we've got a really good chance that it'll work,"
"It has to I guess," I murmur
"It does, but also have a little faith in yourself, it's much better than what we had to start with," his eyes flickered over to Plutarch who was sat in a discussion with Lyme and Beetee.
"It was a little presumptuous of me to assume you're all okay with what's being asked of you, I'm sorry if I put you on the spot like that," I wasn't thinking before, I know that I got carried away with my idea. But it wasn't fair of me to assume that they would do it.
"We're all here for the same reasons, Peeta," he assured me, "We're all committed to doing whatever it takes,"
"Still..." I trail
"Don't worry about it. Just take care of yourself, okay?" I nod slowly
He turned to leave, but that question still hung in the air unanswered, did he forget? Now was our chance to talk about it, here where there were no cameras and no bugs. "Finnick," I called out to him, he turned back to me smiling, "Back at Snow's party, was there something you wanted to tell me?"
A strange look crossed his face, quickly replaced by his trademark grin, although this time the grin didn't quite meet his eyes, "Don't worry about it," he said waving it off, "It was a silly impossible thought, there's no need to get worked up about it. Let's focus on what's ahead of us and get this plan, your plan, off the ground. Okay?"
"You seem pretty weirded out about it," I replied,
"Just drop it," he said, his voice firmer this time, "there's no point on dwelling on it,"
"It's about Katniss, right?" I pushed again
Finnick sighed and walked back over to me, "You're not going to let this go, are you?" I shook my head and he sighed, "I didn't want to be responsible for getting your hopes up, after all there's not much point, there's nothing to go on,"
"Tell me anyway, please," I pleaded
"I'm going to regret this," he muttered to himself and ran a hand through his hair, exasperated. He looked back up at me then, "You know what my role is for the rebellion, right?" he asked
I nodded, Haymitch had told me what he could when it was safe to do so. Finnick was always a popular Victor, he was used by Snow and the Capitol and sold as an escort to wealthy Capitol women, something that was done frequently with other victors too but none quite so much as Finnick.
He was always under the spotlight and had to put on a good show as he was Snow's biggest cash cow, if he didn't play along the lives of his friends and family were threatened. Once Finnick was recruited into the rebellion they decided to use his awful predicament to their advantage.
Finnick became a master manipulator of the Capitol citizens. After seeing him in action at the party I knew he sold his act well. It was easy to see why he was the favourite and why he was so popular in the Capitol. He spent a lot of time entertaining the wives of important men within Snow's circle. Bored, spoiled housewives who are privy to a lot of private information discussed in their homes or around them, the husbands either believing their wives were too stupid to understand or just expected their loyalty and silence. Fortunately for us, these women didn't care for keeping the secrets or were, at the very least, too stupid understand the importance of the information.
The women loved sharing their secrets to Finnick, sometimes they spilled freely from their lips as they just loved to gossip to him, sometimes he had to manipulate the information out of them, or sometimes he would trade it for something, usually for an evening of his time. I know now, seeing him with Annie, the weight of what he does for the cause wasn't easy for either of them. It really was no wonder he was able to agree with my plan so readily, they were desperate to get him out of the Capitol limelight.
"Haymitch filled me in," I answered
"It was about 3 years ago, I heard a whisper. Only one," he said, "Because it was just the one, I had pretty much written it off and to be honest it sounds pretty crazy. If it is true, it's a closely guarded secret and getting any kind of proof would be difficult and probably suicidal,"
"Spit it out, Odair," Haymitch was stood with me now,
"It was Seneca's little slip up when he spoke of Katniss in the present tense, like she's not dead." he said, I nodded remembering the comment well.
"Seneca was drunk though." I said, "He was slurring and could barely string a sentence together"
"True, I have considered that. But from personal experience, I also know that truth often comes pouring out from drunken lips," he said, "It seemed to me like he had seen her, spoken with her even. Did he ever meet Katniss before going into the arena?" he asked
"Not to my knowledge," I replied instantly. Surely I would have known if he had, what was Finnick getting at? "So, this rumour?" I prodded.
Some of the others had started gathering around now listening to our conversation,
"Tell him, Finny," Annie encouraged him
"There's a small chance, and I mean a very small chance, that Katniss might be alive," he said
My whole body froze. Katniss? Alive? I wanted to jump onto this idea more than anything, to cling to the very idea I could see her again, reunited with her family. But it was impossible, "No." I said firmly, "No way. It's not possible. I was lying there with her. Katniss was dead, her body was cold. I SHOT her through the chest!" I squeezed my eyes shut, assaulted once again by the replay of it in my mind
A hand rested on my shoulder, "Care to explain, Finnick?" Haymitch asked
"Hortensia, the wife of Marius, one of Snow's personal guards, said that Snow runs a place, he's got a some hidden mansion that is used as a brothel of sorts," He paused for a moment to consider how to word his next sentence as delicately as possible, "The, erm, entertainment that are housed there are supposedly tributes from past Hunger Games, tributes that didn't make it back as victors, kids that had supposed to have died."
Johanna sniggered, "So Snow's got his top guys banging corpses now? Don't be ridiculous, Finnick!"
"She seemed to insinuate that they had been brought back from the dead somehow," Finnick shrugged
"This is real life Finnick," I began to grow irritated with him,
"Look, I already said it's crazy. I mean, it's got to be right? I've not heard a mention or a whisper of it from anyone else and I haven't been able to find any proof. I've pressed a few times for information but it's all dead ends. I couldn't push for more without raising suspicion." Finnick said, "But it could be possible, right?" he looked to Beetee
"Holograms? Clones maybe." He shrugged,
"Seneca said Katniss 'thinks' and 'will' as in present tense, as in the real Katniss. Still alive," I told him, "That wouldn't imply any sick science experience,"
"Well, then maybe they're not really dead when they're taken from the arena," Beetee suggested
"But how can that be?" I ask "I saw her body, she was definitely dead, her chest didn't move, she was cold, she had no pulse." I looked at the people around the room. The look on some of their faces was very familiar to me, they were reliving their own nightmare games.
Then I saw Plutarch, his lips pursed together, there was something he wasn't saying, I wasn't the only one who spotted it, "What do you know, Plutarch?" Haymitch questioned him
"Not a lot," he said, "But like Finnick I have also heard a whisper. I sent someone to look into it a few years ago, I heard nothing back at all and we never saw him again, so after a while I sent someone else to investigate and he was also never seen again."
"This makes the rumour more real right?" I asked, "Katniss could actually be alive?"
"It's hard to say. I didn't look into it after that. But if this is true, I would bet Snow only selects the ones that would have garnered any kind of special interest. Katniss certainly falls under that category," Plutarch shrugged
"If it's true we've got to help her!" I cried,
"We don't know anything yet," Cinna told me softly, "Don't pin all your hope on this, Peeta,"
"Snow surrounds himself with a circle of sick minded men and women, it's not impossible to imagine that this place could exist. But right now, our priority isn't to prove that. Our priority is to this rebellion and if we succeed. And we will succeed. I know it. Then we will find out the truth and find a way to save those poor people but right now it is far too risky to chase this when we are so close." Plutarch said.
I know he was telling us to drop it. But I couldn't… "If there's even a small chance that Katniss…"
"Peeta, no." Plutarch said shooting me down, "Don't go down this road, not now. If you chase this and ruin our plan, we'll miss our shot and everything we've ever done goes to waste. Years of planning gone to shit. When we get Snow, we will get it all."
"He's right, Peeta" Haymitch said, "Let's stick with your plan. It's good and you've given me hope that it'll work. If she is out there somewhere, we'll bring her home, I promise. But we've got to wait until the time is right."
I knew they were right, everything they said made sense. But if Katniss was alive, she needed rescuing. My mind spun with all the awful things she would be subjected to. I couldn't bare the thought of her enduring it for another moment longer. I couldn't let this go. Maybe this was why the pain of her loss wasn't easing with time. Maybe it was because some gut instinct of mine felt that she was alive all along.
I was spiralling, I knew it.
"We can't leave her to suffer that kind of fate," I pleaded with them,
"We don't know anything for certain, but for now we must let it slide." Plutarch said, "If you ruin this Peeta, our deal is off the table. Your friends and family will not be under our protection. I will not tolerate you ruining this with your selfishness,"
"Selfishness?" I frowned, "Don't we have a duty to help these people? To save Katniss?"
"We don't even know if this place really exists or if she's even alive! It's just a rumour, Peeta," Johanna cried, "And if it is true and she is somehow miraculously alive, Katniss is strong as shit. If she can survive your district and those games I know that she'll survive whatever hell she may or may not be in right now." I hated her for almost agreeing with it. She was right, if anyone could survive it, Katniss could.
"I know. It's just… I've already failed her once. If she is alive and I don't do anything to help her… I can't fail her again." my voice cracked. My words only seemed to anger her further, her eyes were wide and full of fire, her nostrils flared.
"Fucking hell, Mellark!" she yelled kicking over a chair, I almost cowered thinking she was going to hit me, "I was trying to be nice and go easy on you but I've had enough of the love sick puppy dog routine now, there are no cameras here! We've all lost people! Snow has killed many of our loved ones, but you don't see us running blindly towards a rumour. After all the hard work we've put in and the awful shit we've had to do to get this far for you to come in ruin it over this, then yes, that is fucking selfish. That is the dictionary definition of selfish. Katniss herself would tell you to go fuck yourself if she knew!"
And suddenly I realised in all my stupidity, the words that Haymitch once said to me, "Snow won't do anything to you. He'll target your family, your friends ... He'll target everything you hold dear and make sure you stay alive to suffer through it all ... He's done it before, plenty of times, I've seen it happen to friends of mine."
Johanna.
I see the pain and loss in her eyes. I am such an insensitive fool. Of course she's lost people. So have most of the people in this room, that's why they're here. I can't let them down. Katniss wouldn't want me to either. "I'm so sorry, Johanna." I say to her softly,
"Johanna, you know that you'd be acting a lot worse than Peeta if you believed for one second that your family was still alive and you know it," Finnick rolled his eyes, "Don't over react and give him such a hard time, we've all got to pull together, he understands the importance of this, don't you, Peeta?"
"Yes," I replied nodding hard, "I'm just a little shocked, that's all. But I'm with you, with all of you. We get this done first, and once it's done, I need to find out the truth,"
"We get it kid," Haymitch put an arm around me, "If you help us pull this off. If everything we've planned for works then we've got the upper hand to overthrow Snow. When we get that done, if she is alive, we will find her, I promise. But if it all blows up in our faces and it doesn't work, then I guess we're dead men walking anyway so you have my word that I'll charge full steam ahead with you and help you get her back no matter what."
"Thank you, Haymitch," they were all right. I deserved Johanna's outburst. They needed my help and I needed theirs. If Katniss was alive then she was strong enough to hang on until we can get to her. This plan had to work for us to be able to save her. To save them all.
Three days later, we all met back in the hub to film what we needed to action our plan. Seneca Crane was found dead in that morning. "Apparently our President found out that he was spilling secrets while he was drunk at a party," Plutarch had said, I figured that he might have had something to do with that to gain his new position as head gamemaker, but I didn't like to think about it too much.
Plutarch made all the arrangements, come reaping day it would be guaranteed that the 24 names pulled out were all rigged by the rebellion. They had selected the right Tributes and they were all briefed of the plan and were prepped in their parts in it. Although, considering how they were already in captivity, I wasn't sure how they managed to do all that, but I guess Plutarch and the rebels have their ways.
As Plutarch had said, these 24 were all prepared to die for the cause. I just wished that they didn't have to, I wished that no one had to. But unfortunately that was just an unrealistic fantasy.
I prayed that everything would work to our advantage. My nightmares were getting much worse. Just knowing there was a small possibility that Katniss was still alive and being used as a plaything for Snow's favourite cronies created a whole new hellish movie that my mind treated me to every night. And in the early hours of every morning I would wake up screaming after, reliving all the different ways I failed to save her.
I decided to not tell anyone back home about the rumour. I didn't want to get their hopes up in case it turned out to be nothing. They don't need to go through that heartbreak again and grieve her more than once if it lead to nowhere. But I also didn't want Gale to go on a kamikaze mission to try and get her back like I was almost prepared to do. Gale was more headstrong than I and stubborn as a mule. If he believed it, there would be no convincing him to stop and our plans will be for nothing.
It was just over a week later when we got to go back home, but in my head the count down had already begun, in just 3 months, the preselected Tributes will be reaped and I'd have to leave for the Capitol again. Then the Games and our plan will begin.
I walked alongside Haymitch through the town from the train station, each of us carrying our luggage, as we headed back to the Victors village. "I'm so glad to be home," I sighed. I was planning to enjoy the next 3 months at home without thinking too much about the Capitol, the Rebellion, Snow or any other drama.
"Peeta?" I heard someone call my name, "PEETA!" I was Prim's voice. I guess thinking I'd get any drama free time was too good to be true.
"You spoke too soon, boy," Haymitch groaned
Prim came running over to us, she was pale and looked frightened, did I see blood on her dress? "What's wrong?" I asked, immediately concerned
"It's Gale!" she panted, "The peacekeepers followed him walking into the victors village, they knew you weren't home yet, they followed him to your house. He had my key. They accused him of trespassing and breaking in to your property."
"They what?" I cried, "Didn't he show them he had a key?"
"I think so, but I don't think they cared. They've suspected his hunting habits for some time but have never caught him, I bet they're just using any excuse they can so they can make an example out of him."
"Where is he now?" I asked
"They dragged him to the square. They're dealing out 40 lashes,"
I didn't need to hear anymore I abandoned my bag and ran towards the square. Haymitch did the same and followed behind. As I approached I saw the scene in front of me. Gale's hands were tied around the post, his head low. His back was covered in blood, it was hard to tell how many lashes he had already received.
"Stop!" I shouted,
The head peacekeeper paused, whip in mid air. He lowered it and turned to face me, "Is there actually someone brave enough to challenge my authority here? What do you want boy? Do you want to take his place?" he squared up to me and raised his whip
"I wouldn't recommend that," I heard Haymitch behind me, "That's the most famous face in all of Panem right now," he said, "I don't think President Snow will be too happy if you were to whip his latest Victor."
The head peacekeeper, Thread, his name was, finally seemed to recognise me and took a step backwards. "What is his crime?" I demanded
"He was caught breaking into your property," he sneered, "You'd think you'd want the filthy vermin punished for his thievery!"
"He wasn't breaking into my property," I argued, "I left him and Primrose Everdeen keys to my property in my absence to take care of my garden and housekeeping,"
Thread raised his eyebrows, he wasn't buying it, but I couldn't tell him that I had been feeding their families, they wouldn't like it. Snow liked that families were starving here. Prim, I could have probably got away with, but not everyone else. "Garden and housekeeping?" he chortled
"Yes. They're jobs, you're familiar with those right?" I challenged him, but he gave me a blank look as if he wasn't buying it, "I grow vegetables and herbs, I couldn't let them die while I spent time in the Capitol, Gale is a friend through Katniss Everdeen, he has a large family and he needed a little more money than his wage at the coalmines to keep them fed, so as a favour I hired him to maintain my garden when I'm not here. And Prim here also wanted to earn a little extra money too, so I hired her as a housekeeper. I left a key to share between them in my absence, they are my employees and they had every right to be on my property. "
Surely he should understand that. I didn't back down from our staring competition, I wanted him to know that he didn't intimidate me. But Thread wasn't backing down either, after a few moments, still no one made a move. I squared my shouldered, "No crime has been committed here. Release him," I ordered
Thread sneered and wiped the blood splatter from his face, "Set him down, boys," he commanded two of his peacekeepers.
"Gale!" Prim gasps,
I turned to her, "Go get your mom, get what medical supplies you can. I'll take Gale back to mine. Meet us there?" with a quick nod she turns and runs.
Haymitch was already trying to help Gale to his feet and pulled Gale's arm over his shoulders to hoist him up, I supported him from the other side. Gale seemed pretty out of it, we tried to get him back to mine quickly but the quicker we moved the more Gale whimpered so we found a pace that worked better for him and dragged him back to my house.
Welcome back to District Twelve, Peeta.