Song: Coffee and TV by Blur (watch the music video! It's hilarious)
"Johanna," said Blight softly. "I think it's time we talked."
"About what?" Johanna asked, crossing her arms.
"I think you already know." Johanna thought of what Magnolia had said to her before she had been taken – 'I need you to talk to Blight when you get home'. She shuddered. She hated that memory. "Would you like to join me for a walk?"
Johanna took that to mean that whatever they were discussing couldn't be discussed in her house. "Okay then. Let's get this over with."
They walked out of the Victor's Village, through the town and into the forest. Blight took her to a huge, ancient ash tree – one of the largest in the district, which would take too much manpower to cut down. It had been there since before the dark days, apparently. Johanna had fond memories of that tree. She and Eurydice used to meet up there all the time.
"It's safe to talk here," Blight said, glancing around to make sure no-one had followed them. He sat on a large root sticking out of the ground, and gestured for Johanna to join him. She did. "Were you aware of the underground group working towards the rebellion?"
Wow, jumping right in, she thought. "No. I wasn't aware."
"I'm part of it. So was Magnolia, and Sylvia. And Eurydice. Alyssa's part of it too, as well as at least half of the Victors."
"Finnick and Mags?" she asked. "Meredith?"
"Yes," Blight said, nodding. "In fact, most of the Fours are."
"I knew it," Johanna said gleefully. "I knew Pretty Boy had secrets up his sleeve."
Blight smiled at that, for some reason – he obviously knew something she didn't. "It's not just us Victors, though. There are also Capitols-"
She couldn't believe it. How could some of the Capitol's own – people who had oppressed them every day of their lives – be working to help them? Johanna didn't believe it. She'd never met a Capitolite she didn't hate. "Capitols?" she exclaimed. "We can't trust those dirty Capitolites!"
"We can trust some of them," Blight said, raising a hand to signal for her to keep her voice down.
She ignored him, and continued to shout. She was sick of people keeping things from her. She wanted answers. "Oh yeah? Like who?"
"Effie Trinket. Plutarch Heavensbee. Arabella Boomhaven," Blight said, listing the names calmly and in extreme contrast to Johanna's outrage.
Johanna's jaw dropped. "Arabella? No fucking way." Surely the prissy escort couldn't be working with the rebellion? She didn't have the balls for that. God, did she miss roasting Arabella with Magnolia. That had been really funny.
"Yes, she's one of our Capitol spies," said Blight. "We're also in contact with District Thirteen, which wasn't actually wiped out as the Capitol lets us believe. They're alive and well. Well, those of them who weren't blown up, at least."
"Bullshit," she scoffed. Everyone knew that Thirteen had been bombed to the ground, as a warning from the Capitol to what they did when one of the districts disobeyed. How could it be that all this time they were fine? While the rest of the districts were forced to suffer? Johanna hated them already, if not only because they had escaped the Games.
"It's true," said Blight seriously. Johanna was gobsmacked at the information – it seemed impossible – but Blight wasn't exactly known for his jokes. "Most of the district survived the bombing. They went underground – they were lucky they had the facilities to do so, or else they would have all died. But District Thirteen wasn't in charge of granite – they manufactured nuclear weapons. The underground part of the district, where they now live, used to be a military base. They made a deal with the Capitol to ignore each other, and they kept up their production of military and nuclear weapons."
Nuclear weapons? Johanna hated District Thirteen even more now. They could have bombed the Capitol, if what Blight said was true. So why didn't they? They could have stopped the Games! Thousands of kids could have been saved from horrible, senseless deaths! Maybe, if Thirteen had stepped in before, her family could still be alive. If Johanna had never gone to the Games – she wouldn't have ended up killing Melon Man – and Snow would have spared her loved ones. Rage pulsed through her body, bubbling like lava, and Johanna took a deep breath, trying to control her anger and her despair. "Why didn't they help us? They could have stopped this long ago."
"They weren't strong enough to overcome the Capitol, and –"
Johanna jumped to her feet. "They had nuclear weapons!" she shrieked. "Of course they could have overthrown the Capitol!"
"Johanna, you have to keep it down," Blight hissed anxiously, looking around. He sighed. "I wish they had done something earlier too." He didn't even care! Johanna wanted to smack him. "But they're helping us now and that's what matters most."
"Why are you telling me all this?" Johanna asked, crossing her arms and kicking a rock with ferocity. She wished Magnolia was here to tell her about all this, instead of Blight.
"We need you to help us too," Blight replied. "You're young, and strong, and angry. You're an actress. You have a reason to take them down."
Johanna rolled her eyes. She was sure they didn't care about that. There were plenty of Victors, apparently, who met all those criteria – if that was all they wanted, they didn't need her. No, they wanted her because her family was dead and she therefore had no-one to hold her back, no reason to not do everything they asked of her. Well, fuck that, she thought. "And I have no-one left to stop me, right? That's why you want me."
Blight sighed. "Partially," he admitted.
"I knew it!" Johanna exclaimed, and flipped him off. "Fuck you, Blight. You're a terrible actor."
A hint of a smile played on Blight's lips. "Would you like to join?"
"What kind of fucking question is that?" Johanna scoffed. "Of course I do." Johanna thought of all the horrors the Capitol had done. They had forced her to kill people. They killed her family. They killed Magnolia. And they killed Eurydice. For that, they would pay. "Snow's going to pay for what he did to me," she said, and smiled. "I want his blood."
this is the second last chapter ;-; oof