Song: The Great Gig in the Sky by Pink Floyd
THIS IS IT, THIS IS THE FUCKIN SONG, PLEASE I SWEAR THIS IS JUST JOHANNA'S SONG. IT JUST FITS OKAY, PLEASE YOU HAVE TO LISTEN OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK IT'S JOHANNA gbihbfgefigbigevGYGASVFIGVFDHVBGGHFDASGY9YBU8gbhhbidg9YB8GVYBHF
Capitol, Tributes Centre, District Seven's Penthouse: after the chariot rides of the 75th Games
"Johanna," Blight said, knocking on her door and poking his head in.
"What?" Johanna asked, looking up from the book she was reading.
Blight raised his eyes and then looked away when he saw that she was stark naked, and Johanna smirked at his discomfort. "Our mutual friend has asked us to join them for a drink. We're to talk to the Flower Lady on the way."
She understood that to be Plutarch. She had no idea who the Flower Lady was, however, and from the look on Blight's face he didn't either. Fucking Haymitch, even when he wasn't blackout drunk he didn't make sense. "Are we even allowed out?"
"We may be tributes, but we were Victors first," said Blight.
Johanna rolled her eyes. "That doesn't really answer my question, but okay. Who's coming?"
"Pretty much everyone except the Careers, the Fives, and the Nines." By Careers, of course, he didn't mean the Fours or Lyme, who didn't act like a typical Career Victor anyway.
"Pussies," Johanna muttered. She didn't like the District Nine Victors any more than she had on her Victory Tour three years ago. "Where are we going?"
Blight shrugged. "Just a bar," he said, and went to walk out of the room before doubling back, looking Johanna very pointedly in the eyes. "Maybe you should put some clothes on."
"Ugh," Johanna said, and threw a shoe at him, but he closed the door before it could hit him. She pulled on a mostly see-through dress, just to spite him, and solid boots which were very good for kicking people in the balls, she had discovered.
"Really?" Blight said, raising his eyebrows when he saw her.
Johanna blinked innocently. "What? I'm wearing clothes."
"Barely."
"Take it or leave it."
Blight sighed, and looked at his watch. "We'll be late. We're meeting Oscar there." Oscar was their mentor – not that they needed much mentoring. Jamie had passed away a little while after the 73rd Games. He had a heart attack. Johanna couldn't say she missed him, but the Victor's Village was a lot quieter now there was only three of them, plus Alyssa and whichever girl or guy happened to be Oscar's latest fuck buddy. But soon, of course, there would probably only be Oscar.
They headed outside and got into a waiting car, which took them through the city, far away from the Tributes' Centre. Johanna wondered again where they were going, but didn't want to ask – not while they were in the probably-bugged car. Besides, Blight probably didn't know.
The car pulled up beside a dingy-looking bar, its fluorescent sign flickering and looking as though it were about to die. For a Capitol bar, its lack of quality was surprising. Johanna couldn't say she liked the look of the place, but maybe it would be better inside. "Have you been here before?"
"No."
They walked into the bar, and one of the two bartenders gestured for them to come over. The Flower Lady, Johanna thought, noticing the purple flower tattoos that covered the entirety of the woman's arms. Her nametag said 'Farrin', which was probably the most normal-sounding name of any Capitolite she'd ever met. She looked normal too, and could have passed for a district-born if it weren't for the tattoos. "Fine evening, isn't it?"
"Spectacular," agreed Blight.
Farrin smiled pleasantly. "Can I offer you a drink?"
"I'll take a Sunset Rendezvous," said Johanna. The bar was empty, except for two people on different sides of the room, who weren't even drinking anything. Johanna realised that the bar must be a front, and felt a rush of excitement.
The drink name was one of their codes, along with 'spectacular' – out of context, they wouldn't mean anything. Which meant they couldn't be accused of anything, not that anyone in the bar looked especially suspicious. But Farrin nodded to them. She had understood. "Upstairs, first door," she said in a conversational tone. She looked at Johanna. "You go first."
Johanna nodded to her, and made her way upstairs, leaving Blight at the bar. Pushing open the door, Johanna walked into the room, grinning at her fellow Victors. Mags, Finnick and Meredith all smiled at her. The Eights, the Elevens, the Tens, the Sixes, the Threes, and Haymitch were all there, as well as Plutarch and a few Capitols Johanna didn't recognise. "Blight's on his way," Johanna said.
"Excellent. We'll start when he gets here," Plutarch said.
Johanna took a seat next to Finnick. "Loved the costume," he whispered.
"Shut up, Fish Face," she said, smacking him on the arm. "At least I wasn't naked."
"Come on, children," Meredith teased. "Play nice."
Blight entered the room and sat next to Bobbie Boags from Eight, and Plutarch cleared his throat. "Let's jump right in," he said. "There is a plot to break some of you, but especially Katniss Everdeen, out of the arena." Wow, he really is jumping right in, thought Johanna.
There were several gasps from around the room, and Johanna was just about to whisper to Finnick when the Gamemaker raised his hand, beckoning for quiet. "Katniss, as you all know, is our top priority, and we will need you to be prepared to die so she can live."
A rush of anger went through Johanna's body. She had fought for her life, and now she had to give it up for some stupid kid, who probably didn't even know about the brewing rebellion? Johanna thought that was kind of shitty. "What do you mean we have to save Everbitch?" she demanded.
Plutarch shrugged. "It's a necessary sacrifice." He was being so incredibly flippant about the whole thing. Johanna felt like punching him. How dare he say that their deaths were necessary, after all they had done for the rebellion? For him? How dare he act as if they were disposable, like used tissues?
"Yeah, says you, Heavensbee," she sneered. "You've never been in the Games. You've lived here your whole life. You've never had to experience what it's like in there."
"Which is exactly why this is so necessary," Plutarch said calmly, not rising to Johanna's taunts, which only made her madder. "Snow is going to use this to his advantage. Katniss was never going to get away with what she did – and a good portion of you in here have done things that Snow isn't happy with. Snow thinks that the Quell will be the perfect opportunity to eliminate not only Katniss, but also you. Finnick. Johanna. Grace. Chaff."
"Haven't we been punished enough?" Grace asked, echoing Johanna's thoughts. She was one of the newer Victors – she had won the year after Johanna.
"You know what the answer is," Haymitch said before Plutarch could reply. Grace sighed, and looked down at her hands.
Johanna shook her head, annoyed. Why wasn't everyone more upset? "My main question is, why should I lay down my life for Coal Brat and Baker Boy?"
"Katniss is the spark we've been waiting for," said Plutarch. "She's the one that's going to build a wildfire."
"Can you stop being poetic for one second and get to the point?" Johanna asked snidely.
Plutarch sighed. "Katniss is the one who will inspire the revolution."
Cecelia frowned. "But how do you know?" Cecelia had three kids – one of whom was only a baby. Johanna couldn't help but be reminded of Marin and Minnow whenever she looked at Cecelia, so she generally tried to avoid the kind woman from Eight.
"I don't. I don't know. But she's the best chance we have. That's why we have to get her out of the arena."
"What do you think people saw, when Katniss gave Peeta those berries?" Haymitch asked. "Do you think they saw a lovesick little girl? Or do you think they saw someone who dared to go against what was expected of her? Who dared to defy the Capitol?"
"I think they saw rebellion," said Johanna, thinking of how she had felt when she saw Katniss hold out those berries. "I know they did, because that's what I saw, and I'm never wrong."
"Wiress and I will take down the forcefield, using my foolproof wire as well as the arena to our advantage. We will make it look as though we are only trying to kill the Careers, but really, we will be tearing down the arena's defences."
"After that, Thirteen is going to send a hovercraft to get as many of you out of the arena as possible."
"What about mentors?" Finnick asked, taking Meredith's hand. She smiled at him sadly, and Johanna wondered what she knew. She'd been very quiet the whole meeting, which was unusual for Meredith.
"We will try to get the mentors out as well, but there aren't any promises. Katniss is, as I said, our first priority, and everyone else will have to come second."
"I don't like that," Buck said, "but I understand."
"We will try as hard as we can to get everyone out, but understand that it's unlikely we'll manage that. The Capitol will be attacking us with full force once they realise what we're doing, and we have to get Katniss out before anything happens to her or to the arena. We may only have a short window to work in."
"No. It's alright," Meredith said. "Get Katniss out. She's the most important person we have right now." There were several murmured agreements.
"Well, who else is in?" Plutarch asked, and he was met with a chorus of agreements. Most people couldn't agree fast enough, even if they knew what it would mean for them.
Seeder spoke first, her usually quiet voice strong, determined. Johanna realised that she was probably thinking of last year's Rue, who had been her great-niece. "Me."
"I'll do it. For the kids," said Finnick. "Snow's never going to harm another child ever again."
"Let's kill that piece of shit!" Grace shouted, raising her fists into the air, copying the familiar gesture of victorious Twos. The excited crowd cheered, and for a moment there was chaos – Johanna revelled in it. Beautiful, passionate chaos, individuals united with the same contagious energy. When it died down, Johanna realised that Finnick was looking at her. As was Mags. And Meredith. And Blight. And everyone. She realised they were waiting for her to answer.
"Johanna?" Finnick asked, looking at her with eyes full of fire.
Johanna knew a girl who had eyes like that, once. Clear blue eyes, the colour of the sky and the colour of ice. Eyes that were as clear as day and yet burned with the power of a sun. Johanna didn't even have to think. She smiled.
"I'm going to watch Snow burn. We're going to make him pay."
Holy fuck. Holy fuck? It's done. What the hell.
Yeah. Okay. Um, I kinda don't know what to do with myself now. I'm going to step away for a second and then I'm going to finish writing this end note.
0o0o
Okay, I'm back.
I have absolutely loved writing this. I love Johanna, I love the politics and the passion and all the characters of Suzanne Collins' world, and I have loved interacting with all of you beautiful people especially.
I have so much to say but I can't think of any of it. Thank you to every single person who has read, reviewed, followed, favourited, left kudos. I love you all so much and I can't tell you how much I appreciate the support.
Thank you especially to Starlight_Wren and darth_nell, over at AO3, and to Tracelynn, Red Sting, Goldilocks775, writinficsandbreakinhearts, and AmeliaOdair over at FFnet, who have all been here since pretty much the start. Love you guys.
I'm going to miss writing this, and talking to all of you, so so so much. But this isn't the last of Johanna Mason. I have a few little thingies in mind and I don't know when the hell I'll actually get around to writing them, but this isn't the end, I promise.
Okay. I'm going to go cry now.
I love you all so much, and a million thanks.
Have a great day/night/life!
-Audrey :)