Heretic F Odiar

by Siredptrva

Sadie Sterling is famous for having the highest kill count in all of the Hunger Games. Winning the 66th Games at 15 proves useful after she met a rather shallow and cocky young boy. When she was later reaped for the Quarter Quell, she gets to meet him again. Follow her and Finnick Odair's story in Heretic. (TW: Contains blood, gore, swearing, and other mature topics)

PROLOGUE

WATCHING YOUR MENTEE choke over a speech about control and discipline of the capital was never on Sadie Sterling's list of dreams to one day achieve. However, growing up in district eight, she never thought of a good enough list of activities anyway. All eyes were either on Sadie situated in the corner observing the young boy or on the victor at the microphone.

Everett couldn't bare to look up from his cards given to him by Genevieve as he continued forcing out words fed to him by President Snow. The entirety of district 12 had cold expressions that masked their flaming rage inside. Each word coming from Everett's mouth caused the burning fire to expand gradually. The boy was already a pawn in Snow's taunts, and he was only the tender age of 14. The youngest victor alongside Finnick Odair, a tribute from district four.

As his robotic speech ended, he cleared his throat, tucking the cards back into his pocket. He gathered enough courage to look up from his feet and examined the most impoverished district. The people looked anything from friendly, which caused him to glance back at his polished shoes.

Not knowing if Everett was done with his speech, Sadie stayed in her place. Everett wanted to say something, anything, but he didn't know what. Where would he even begin? He held back the temptation to look at Sadie for help and sighed.

"I'm sorry, no one should have to experience the games. To the families of the 23 tributes who didn't come out, I wish for you to know that you're children or siblings didn't go down without a fight. They fought, and I implore you to continue that fight for them," said Everett. Many faces softened but seeing the peacekeepers surrounding them take steps forward and try to warn Everett, Sadie walked forward and grabbed Everett's shoulders. She led him towards the door of the Justice Building, shoving the two peacekeepers guarding the area out of the way.

[1]

SADIE WINCED AS the sharp end of a sewing needle penetrated her finger. The howling wind came flushing through the factory door as it swung open. Three teenage boys quickly ran to close it. The rough gush of air blew fabrics off tables and needles on the floor. Everyone scrambled to pick up their supplies, making sure not to step on a needle, and continued working.

Sadie was stitching two pieces of jade fabric together when the large tv hung on the factory wall lit up, causing several workers to jump at the brightness. What the workers all saw was the man forcing them to do these dreadful jobs. President Snow. Everyone's mood plummeted, but their interests peaked. Snow never spoke directly to the districts unless it was important.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the 75th year of The Hunger Games. And it was written in the charter of The Games that every 25 years, there would be a Quarter Quell to keep fresh for each new generation the memory of those who died in the uprising against The Capitol. Each Quarter Quell is distinguished by Games of a special significance," he announced, and Sadie's nerves began growing as he trailed on.

"And now on this the 75th anniversary of our defeat of the rebellion, we celebrate the 3rd Quarter Quell as a reminder that even the strongest cannot overcome the power of The Capitol. On this, the 3rd Quarter Quell Games, the male and female tributes are to be reaped from the existing pool of Victors in each district," everyone in the factory froze at Snow's words. Sadie felt herself become numb as all eyes diverted to her. Not once did she blink as Snow continued.

"Victors shall present themselves on Reaping Day regardless of age, state of health, or situation," finished Snow. The crowd filling The Capital erupted in cheers. It was as if they were taunting her.

Sadie pushed her chair back, having it fall on the floor, and rushed out of the factory. She couldn't care less about the other tributes or even herself after hearing the news. The only person she could think of was the one she was running to. She burst through the gates of Victors' Village and raced to the last house. She heard cries and yelling coming from the two other tributes' homes, but she didn't hear anything once she stopped at Everett's.

She opened the door, not bothering to knock, and searched for the boy. "Everett!" She shouted across the empty house. She made it to the living room where the now blank tv was. Curled up in a ball in the corner of the living room was the 16-year-old boy. His head rested on his knee with his arms wrapped around his body.

He was rocking himself back and forth with tears making rivers on his cheeks. His eyes were red and puffy, and his hair was askew. Sadie sat next to him, and he let out a ridged sob. Without warning, he dug his face into Sadie's neck, squeezing her thin figure.

Sadie wasn't used to physical comfort; she usually stuck with verbal affirmations. But she had to adjust to Everett's physical language when becoming his mentor. Knowing this, she wrapped her arms around him slowly as his wretched cries flowed out.

"I can't do it again!" He yelled, and Sadie rubbed his back.

"You might not get chosen," Sadie whispered, and Everett shook his head.

"Knowing my luck."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

On Reaping Day, a collection of peacekeepers escorted all the victors to the Justice Building in the center of district eight. The victors tried to remain strong as they walked past their friends and family. The escort, Genevive, waved across the gloom crowd as Woof and Everett went to one side of the platform while Cecilia and Sadie stood on the other.

"Welcome, everyone! Let's join together as we celebrate the 75th anniversary and 3rd Quarter Quell of The Hunger Games. As always, ladies first," Genevive chirped through the microphone. She wobbled over to the deep bowl with two papers at the bottom. Sadie held her breath as Genevive played with the papers until finally picking one.

"The female Tribute from District 8, Sadie Sterling!" She read, and Sadie felt her mind fold in on itself as she made her way towards the cheerful woman.

"Delightful! And now the lovely boys!" She strutted over to the bowl and fished between the two names. "The male Tribute from District 8. Everett Delgado," her face fell as she announced Everett's name. Everett stumbled towards Genevive, who tried to sneak him a sympathetic smile as she saw his tears.

"The Tributes from District 8. Sadie Sterling and Everett Delgado. Happy Hunger Games," she glowed. Two peacekeepers grabbed onto the two victors and dragged them inside the Justice Building. Not letting Everett say goodbye to his pleading family. Sadie, however, had no one to say goodbye to. The only person she still had left was Everett, and President Snow would eventually take him away too.

[2]

"CASHMERE AND GLOSS. Brother and sister from district one. They won back-to-back Games and are favorites of The Capitol. Lots of sponsors. They will be lethal," Cecilia advised. She switched the tv to another clip of a large intimidating man and woman with fangs. "And the other half of the Career Pack, Brutus and Enobaria."

"Let me guess, she trained her teeth as well," Sadie snickered, and Cecilia rolled her eyes. She switched to district three's reaping.

"Wiress and Beetee. Not fighters, but brilliant. Really tech-savvy, he won his Games by electrocuting six tributes at once."

"The Morphlings. Masters of camouflage. They hid the entirety of the games and now are self-medicated. Nowhere near a threat."

Cecilia then switched to district four. "Finnick Odair?" Everett questioned.

"I can take out the merman with ease—" Sadie teased.

"He won his games at 14—youngest ever alongside our dear Everett. Extremely humble," Cecilia interrupted me.

"Seriously?" Everett continued his askings.

"But he's The Capitol darling. They love him for some reason," Sadie cut in.

"Charming, smart, and very skilled at combat. Especially in water," Cecilia argued.

"He's gotta have a weakness, right?" said Everett.

"One. Mags. She volunteered for Annie. Mags was his mentor and basically raised him. If he's trying to protect her in any way, it exposes him," Cecilia answered, showing a video of Annie Cresta getting reaped and Mags volunteering.

"He's gotta know she's not gonna make it, right? I've met Finnick and watched his games; he won't protect her," said Sadie.

"Well, let's hope that when she goes, she goes quickly. She's truly an inspiring lady. Someone Sadie should try to take after," Cecilia remarked, and Sadie mocked her.

"I'm serious, Sadie. You need to clean up your act when you meet the tributes. Otherwise, you'll be number one on the hit list."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Stop messing with it," Sadie slapped Everett's hand away from his ruby red robe draped across his bare shoulders. Everett sighed and adjusted his midnight blue skin-tight shorts his stylist forced him into. Sadie's outfit was similar, having the same flowered red robes made with mesh, but she had a short blue bodysuit instead of shorts.

Sadie glided her fingers along the horse's mane pulling their chariot while Everett leaned against it. That's when Peeta Mellark, the tribute from District 12, approached Everette. He started up a conversation that caught Sadie's attention.

"I never got your full story. Haymitch only told us that you won the 73rd Games and were only 14. How'd you do it?" He asked, and Everett opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out. He hated describing his experience and usually ended up getting choked up.

Sadie knew this, so she rested her hand on Everett's shoulder, catching Peeta's attention. "His main strategy was to create decoys with his blood for the other tributes, and he hid in the trees most of the game. Now move along," she barked, and Peeta raised his eyebrows.

"I was just asking —"

"Yes, well, Everett doesn't like to reflect on his time in the arena as I think neither would you and Katniss. Unless you'd like me to bring back the trauma to your fiancé, I recommend you don't ask him again," hissed Sadie, and Peeta scurried away.

"What happened to the glimmering sight that was Sadie Sterling?" A deep and recognizable voice asked with a chuckle. Sadie and Everett looked to their right and saw Finnick Odair.

"Can it, Odair," said Sadie and returned to stroking the horse.

"Scary or not. I never figured you as a protective type," Finnick joked in her ear, and Sadie swatted him away.

"I'm Everett's mentor," she corrected.

"Not anymore. Cecilia is his mentor —"

"What do you want, Odair?" Sadie cut him off, and Finnick shrugged.

"Just thought I'd catch up with you. It has been almost ten years since we've seen each other," he pointed out, and Sadie gasped.

"Whoah."

"I know," Finnick followed her sarcastic tone of voice.

"Tributes, mount up," the announcer said across the PA system.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later," Finnick waved goodbye with a smirk as the tributes mounted their chariots.

As the chariots left in order from district one to 12, Sadie already dreaded having to fake happiness for thousands of people. Once the district eight chariot came into view, both victors got hit with the eruption of applause. As they made it to Snow, like most tributes, Everette waved at him. But Sadie did something completely different.

She turned around and held up three fingers in a salute towards the district 12 chariot. Katniss noticed and nodded towards Sadie, who smiled. She remained in that position until getting off the chariot and being cornered by Cecilia.

"What were you thinking?" She panicked.

"I was showing my support to Katniss Everdeen," said Sadie as Cecilia kept trying to worry her about her actions.

"If Snow punishes eight for what you did —"

"Then it'll start a war which is exactly what we need to overthrow the capital and make things right."

[3]

THE NEXT DAY was the start of training which would span for three days, starting at 10 am every morning. Sadie and Everett stayed in their district training station for the majority of the first day. But the other days, Everett had left to gain skills from other tributes and possibly make allies for them, knowing Sadie wasn't much of a people person. He ended up in a good position of practicing camouflage painting with Peeta and teaching Mags different types of decoys.

Sadie had remained in the knife stations all three days. She practiced her throwing knives and hand-to-hand combat. She fought one of the combat trainers stationed in the area and beat him over five times, slowly growing bored. During a particular match, she struck him through his armor and scratched his face. Now having no one to practice with, she decided to use the simulator provided for them.

She set the settings to knives and entered the simulator, the glass walls became cloudy, and the lights dimmed. Orange lasers lit up the room, and she examined the room for any form of a person.

The lasers got attracted to her right, where they merged into a person made of blocks holding an ax. Despite thinking this would be Johanna in the games, having this be her weapon of choice, Sadie didn't hesitate to clutch the dagger in her hand and throw it at the person. It burst into millions of orange blocks as another person appeared with a spear.

She ducked the spear thrown at her and ran forward, slitting the imaginary enemy's throat. A person appeared right behind her with a knife which she kicked out of their hand and stabbed them in the chest. As she pulled the knife out of the fake person, she saw an archer aim an arrow at her from the balcony. She threw the knife in her hand, and it hit the archer square in the forehead. People continued coming at her, many running at her with weapons which she took out quickly. But the very last simulation was a person jumping from the balcony to get at her. As they were about to tackle her, Sadie rolled out of the way, turning around to face the enemy as she stuck her last knife in their chest.

She panted as she stood up; the glass cleared up, revealing all the tributes gathered around the window. Some were shocked, others looked terrified, while a few seemed happy at Sadie's ability to kill mercilessly. She noticed Brutus, Enobaria, and Johanna being the happy ones. She didn't mind Johanna being proud but having careers praising her was never part of her goal.

As she walked out, pushing past everyone, Everett attached to her side. "I was able to get Peeta, Katniss, and Mags as allies —"

"Like they'll ever make a difference. It's better to go solo, Everett," she argued, and Everett sighed.

"Well, these games are different. We have to make allies or at least gain skills from the other victors and learn their weaknesses," said Everett.

"You're the only person I'm allying with, Everett. And that's only because you are a product of my mentoring," Sadie muttered as she restocked on knives.

"The only part of me that's a product of your teaching is my survival skills. Everything else is my own intelligence. I'd like to see you cut your palm repeatedly over a span of four days and not get infected," Everett snapped, stopping her from cutting their conversation short by starting another round of knife throwing.

"Let go of my hand, Everett," Sadie hissed, but Everett only squeezed her wrist harder.

"You may have grown up in district eight like me, and you may be older and more willing to kill, but at least I have something to fight for. And I'm not talking about family. I still have parts of my soul left. Unlike Miss Serial Killer," with that being his final words, Everett stomped over to Peeta, who was throwing weights around. Sadie stared at where Everett had stood, trying to push their argument behind her like she did everything else. But this was different. This was Everett, a boy she considered a brother. She let out a fierce yell as she threw one of the knives at a target. Hitting the bullseye.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

A shrill horn brought Sadie back down to Earth. Without a second thought about what she could get herself into, she ran off her podium and towards the cornucopia in the middle of the mountains their arena was placed in. Being one of the first people there, she hurried into the heart of the cornucopia where she knew the effective weapons were. She dodged district five's male tribute who was swinging a sword around carelessly; he was not long after stabbed by a career.

She grabbed as many daggers as she could from the wall, stuffing them into any pockets she could find. She saw the female career from district two running at her, a sword in her hands. She ducked under the girl's attempt to smash her head and lunged towards her, slicing open her throat as her body went limp. As she avoided any more conflicts, she began running to the edge of the mountain. On her way, she grabbed a backpack and dagger holder. As she began climbing down the mountain, she saw the male from District 11 trying to climb down as well. She began moving faster, trying to catch up to the older boy who was too focused on not falling to look above him. Once Sadie was close enough, he noticed her and began panicking. As he was about to move down, Sadie stomped her foot against his face, causing him to let out a cry. He held his face, not realizing his hands were the only thing keeping him from falling to his death.

As he lost his balance, he stared Sadie in the eye as he screamed in pure horror. Sadie watched as he fell hundreds of feet to the ground. Pushing it aside, she continued climbing down the mountain in a frenzy.

It took a long time, but she eventually got down the mountain and ran into the small woods at the bottom. Her feet and hands were aching as she stumbled across trees. She had only gotten a few feet when she saw a limp body lying on the rich dirt. She went closer and saw that it was the boy from district 11. His neck snapped in an odd direction, blood covering his face from where Sadie had kicked him, and his arm was twisted behind his back.

Sadie examined his wide eyes, his dark brown orbs consuming her in unexplained darkness. When she got the courage to shut down her mind and not let a stranger's death affect her, Sadie walked past him. Stepping on his broken hand as she ran for shelter.

Sadie woke up with a piercing scream; cold sweat soaked her bedsheets as tears ran down her cheeks frantically. She let out a terrified and shaken sob as she stood from her bed and began pacing her room. She finally began settling down when she sat by the large window taking up one of her walls with a fantastic view of The Capitol.

She ran a hand through her frizzy hair and covered her eyes, taking several deep breaths. It took another 15 minutes for her to calm down; her tears ran down the glass as she leaned against it. She gazed outside at the city, which caused her to eventually fell asleep resting against the window.

[4]

"DISTRICT THREE. BEETEE Latier. Report for individual assessment," the announcer called from the PA system. Everyone watched Beetee walk out of the room holding the tributes awaiting their game maker assessments. Everett smiled at Beetee, who returned the kind gesture. Once Beetee left, Everett's smile fell.

"I can't imagine killing anyone. Let alone such wonderful people as this," he sighed, and Sadie glanced at him.

"Once you get your first few kills done, it all becomes a blur to the point where you do it without a thought," she whispered, and Everett frowned.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"District eight. Sadie Sterling. Report for individual assessment," being one of the few people left, Sadie stood up and went to the training arena, which was now filled with the supplies provided for an assessment. As she was walking in, she saw Everett leaving with blood across his uniform.

Sadie saw the game makers sitting in their judging area above her. "Miss Sterling, you have 10 minutes to present your chosen skill," Plutarch explained. Sadie grabbed a dagger and went to the middle of the arena. She expected there to be blank flooring, but instead, there were red handprints, surly blood, scattered across the ground. It read under it in blood as well: Enjoying the blood of your victims? Or do you need it shown through television? Sadie smirked and got an idea herself.

She spun the dagger in between her fingers as she knelt down to the smooth cement. The game makers became curious, but she made sure to shield her project. She dug her dagger into the cement, causing a loud screech to fill the room. The game makers winced, covering their ears as Sadie continued digging her knife into the ground.

Once she finished, she stood up, dropped the dagger next to her message, and walked out. Once the game makers were able to see what she wrote, they scowled. Screw President Snow - .

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

The audience cheered as Caesar Flickerman ran onto the stage. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for being here tonight on the eve of the 75th Hunger Games!" He exclaimed, and the crowd applauded. "We have never seen anything like this. And we will never see anything like it again. Because tonight on this stage, 24 of Panem's brightest stars will vie for the ultimate crown. Tonight will be their final opportunity to express their thoughts. Our final opportunity to express our love. And heartbreakingly to say goodbye to all but one," the audience groaned at the thought, and Caesar sighed.

"What a night. Let's hear it," the audience followed Caesar's orders and began roaring. "It's so exciting!" He laughed.

The first to come out were Gloss and Cashmere, and Caesar jumped in joy. "You two made The Games a family affair. You became everyone's brother and sister. I don't know how we're going to let you go."

"We're not going by choice. You are our family. And I don't see how anyone can love us better," Gloss sighed, and all the other tributes watching shook their heads or rolled their eyes.

"So sweet. So sweet. Are you all right, dear?" Caesar asked Cashmere, who sobbed.

"I'm sorry."

"That's all right."

"I just can't stop crying."

Sadie scoffed, and Everett crossed his arms at how fake this was. Caesar continued until he got to Beetee.

"Beetee … you have contributed so much to Panem over the years. I don't know who we will miss more. You or your brain," Caesar laughed, which the audience joined in on.

"If the Quarter Quell were written into law by men, certainly, it can be unwritten," Beetee stated, trying to keep a straight face after being insulted like that.

"Yes. Interesting concept."

"Finnick … I understand that you have a message for somebody out there. A special somebody. Can we hear it?" Caesar raised his purple eyebrows, and Finnick smiled shyly.

He took a deep breath and looked directly into the camera when he said, "my love, you have my heart for all eternity, and if … if I die in that arena, my last thought will be of your lips. And I will do everything in my power to protect you from all the obstacles of the world," he began softly and sighed again. "You are my only reason for existence, Sadie Sterling."

Sadie gasped at Finnick's words as he smirked at her through the camera. Everett looked at Sadie in shock as Finnick walked off stage, and they continued down the line of tributes. Once Finnick came into view, Sadie quickly pushed him against the wall, holding him up by his throat. Cecilia, Everett, and Genevieve gasped as Sadie put more pressure against Finnick's throat.

"What kind of sappy bullshit was that?!" She screamed, and Finnick chuckled.

"I had to give off the impression that we were dating so we could get sympathy. Sympathy equals sponsors, Sadie," he explained.

"Why me out of all people?" She barked.

"Because you're too stubborn to take anyone else's help, so sometimes we have to force it upon you. Without that savior I just did, you would've been dead news to The Capitol, and they would want to kill you off the first chance they got," Finnick taunted, and Sadie ground her teeth together.

"Sadie, he just saved you, let him go," Cecilia reasoned.

"Sadie!" Everett snapped, which made Sadie give up and let Finnick go.

"Everyone's got a weakness, Sadie. Make sure to hide yours better next time," Finnick whispered in her ear. Sadie glared at him as he strolled away.

"You're lucky no one saw that; otherwise, they would've known Finnick's story was fake," Cecilia scolded.

"That also means you have to play along," Genevive added, and Sadie groaned.

"Now, welcome to the stage, our youngest and most heartwarming victor of them all. Everett Delgado!" Caesar announced, and Everett raced towards the stage.

But he turned around right before entering and turned to Sadie. "Do it, or you're as good as dead," he warned before walking on stage. The lines of rhinestones placed on his black suit glimmering from the stage lights. His red button-up under his jacket making his yellow tie stick out. His hair wasn't its usual mess. Instead, it was slicked up with a few waves in the front.

"Hello, Everett, my boy!" Caesar smiled, shaking Everett's hand as they sat down. "How are you? Feeling a little nervous about The Games? Are you confident in your abilities?"

"I'm doing as fine as the average victor is. I'm trying to stay confident and have a positive mindset," the boy replied.

"But something's holding you back, isn't it?" Caesar guessed.

Everett sighed. "It's just … I'm not the most skilled tribute out there. Obviously, you guys know that. So being at such a huge disadvantage has me worried."

"Well, we love an underdog," Caesar laughed, and Everett chuckled stiffly.

"Who doesn't?"

As they finished up Everett's interview, the crowd applauded. As Sadie waited to be called onto stage, Everett passed her with a warning look. "Now, let's welcome the female victor from district eight. Unlike her dear friend, she is one feisty girl. Please welcome, Sadie Sterling!" Sadie walked out, lifting her maroon-colored dress off the ground. It had a slit at the leg, and the puffy sleeves went to a little under her elbow. She wore shiny red heels and silver jewelry that matched the gem-covered comb holding up her hair.

"You look stunning, my dear!" Caesar praised and spun Sadie around to show the audience. Sadie forced a smile on her face as they sat down.

"The first thing we have got to address is what your possible lover said before this. We always need both sides of the story. So is Finnick telling the truth? Are you two in love?" He questioned with a wide grin.

"You were always one to have the best gossip, Caesar," Caesar chuckled at Sadie's words. "And when has gossip ever been wrong? So, of course, Finnick and I are madly in love with each other. And what he said earlier, I think every day. He truly is the light of my life," Caesar and the crowd all awed, and Sadie smiled again.

"That is possibly the sweetest thing I have ever heard," Caesar pretended to dab his eyes.

"Now, we have had some tears, some yelling, and some eagerness on this stage so far. Where do you stand?" He asked.

"I stand with the eagerness to get these games over with so you all can get the entertainment you want," Sadie answered, her fake behavior dropping and her proper attitude returning as Caesar chuckled.

"As you saw before, we asked your friend Everett how he felt his readiness was for The Games; he was a bit nervous. How do you —"

"Well, of course, he's nervous," Sadie cut him off, and Caesar raised an eyebrow. "He's only 16, Caesar. How would you feel if you were forced to do The Games for a second time after only a two-year break? Hm?"

"He truly is extraordinary, isn't he?" Caesar tried to bring the conversation to a lighter note.

"Do you want to know something fun?" Sadie whispered, and Caeser perked up.

"Of course, we all would!"

Sadie laughed coldly and leaned into the microphone, "the night we found out about the Third Quarter Quell, I was working like I do most of my nights. So I found out about the decision in the middle of a factory." Everyone laughed at Sadie's joking tone. But it went silent when her face became sad.

"And once I found out, the first thing that came to my mind was the 16-year-old boy back at Victors' Village finding out the news by himself," said Sadie, and she sighed. "So I ran out of the factory, not caring if I got fired, and went to Everett. And you wanna know what I found?"

"What?" Caesar glowed in excitement at hearing this new information.

"I found Everett in his living room. He was in a ball in the corner, sobbing and crying in emotional pain. One of the only things he said that night while I comforted him was that he couldn't do it again. He didn't just say it either. He screamed it as if he were on the verge of giving up. That's what The Games do to us if you've ever wondered. It doesn't just give us luxuries and wealth. It gives us a lifetime of guilt, nightmares, and depression. Imagine being 16-years-old going through that? Oh right, you can't. Because despite how many victors you interview, you'll never know anything," once Sadie finished, the entire crowd was silent. Even Caesar had nothing to say. He couldn't even retract the microphone.

Sadie leaned into the microphone again and muttered, "good day." She stood up, all eyes on her in disbelief as she walked off stage.

[5]

EVERETT TOOK HOLD of Sadie's hand as their trackers were injected into their arms. Their hovercraft took flight causing Sadie's nostalgic nerves to return; they weren't the good nerves the careers were experiencing. Everett never let go of Sadie even as the hovercraft landed. Once they got below the arena, peacekeepers separated them, not even allowing Sadie to give last-minute tips to Everett or say a possible goodbye. Genevive went with Everett while Cecilia went with Sadie.

As they made it to the tube that would rise them into the arena, Cecilia stopped Sadie before she got in the tube. Without warning, she embraced Sadie in a tight hug. Sadie was shocked at her affection but nevertheless hugged back lightly.

"Give them hell," she whispered, and Sadie chuckled, breaking the hug. She nodded as she entered the tube. The door fell over her as the voice began counting down.

Sadie sent Cecilia one last smile as the tube began lifting her into the arena. She was hit with ample sunlight as she arrived at the platform. She looked around and saw a tropical jungle surrounding the beach the cornucopia rested in the middle of. Pathways of rocks were on both sides of her, separating her from each tribute. She looked a few pedestals away and saw Everett. He was shaking from head to toe, he tried to gulp down his worries a few times, but nothing helped.

To the right of Sadie was Peeta and to her left was the male morphling from district six. "Let the 75th Hunger Games begin. May the odds be ever in your favor," Claudius announced through the PA system.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five," Sadie tightened her ponytail and caught sight of the daggers resting on the wall of the cornucopia. "Four, three, two, one," the cannon went off, and everyone dived into the water. Sadie swam as fast as she could until she made it to the rock path. She boosted herself up, she was expecting Peeta to be chasing behind her, but he was fighting with the male victor from district nine. She sprinted up to the cornucopia, making sure not to slip. She was one of the first ones there, so she was able to get three daggers from the wall. She grabbed a knife holder and strapped it around her waist. She began stocking up her blades when the sound of an arrow being pulled back came from behind her.

She snapped around and saw Katniss aiming her arrow at her. Sadie held up her hands in defense, slowly stepping forward seeing Katniss hesitating. Finnick then came from the back with his trident in hand, and Katniss switched over to him as he was closer.

Finnick showed her his wrist, which had a gold bracelet on it. "Good thing we're allies, right?"

"Where did you get that?" Katniss asked.

"Where do you think?" Finnick said. District five's male tribute came running at Katniss from behind, which Finnick saw. "Duck," Katniss ducked, and he threw his trident into the tribute's chest as he fell to the ground. The cannon fired, and Sadie had filled up the max capacity of her belt with daggers.

"Don't trust one and two. I'll take this side. You hold them off. I'll go find Peeta," Finnick directed as he ran to the other side. Only Katniss listened to him because Sadie was running over to where Everett's podium was in an attempt to find him. She saw the district six male running towards the unguarded area of the cornucopia, so she threw a knife in his direction.

It hit him across the chest, and he fell into the water as the cannon went off. She saw Everett recovering from slipping on the rocks, and he limped over to her, having injured his ankle in the fall. They returned to the cornucopia, and Everett grabbed a backpack while Sadie grabbed the rest of the knives on the wall and stuffed them in his bag. She grabbed a sword for him to possibly use as well, and they took off running.

They saw Katniss, Finnick, Mags, and Peeta catching their breath on the pathway near Peeta's platform. A few more cannons went off as Sadie tried to go to one part of the jungle, but Everett tugged her over to the group of supposed allies. Sadie pulled out one of her daggers as they came closer, and the four other tributes noticed them.

"Hey, we're allies, remember?" Everett recalled frantically, seeing that the careers had taken over any opening to choose a different path. Katniss and Peeta hesitated, but Finnick and Mags nodded. Once the district 12 victors noticed all the supplies the two had collected, they became more open.

"Come on," Sadie ushered them down the path as Finnick picked up Mags, and they ran to the shore. They all began running deeper into the jungle, pushing past thick collections of leaves and sweat quickly growing across their foreheads.

"Okay, hold up. Hold up. Here you go. You alright now?" Finnick panted as he set Mags down, who nodded. Everyone sat down, breathing heavily as they observed the flourishing jungle.

"God, it's hot," Peeta gasped.

"We gotta find fresh water," Everett added. Katniss nodded, and everyone heard the cannon go off another three times.

"Well, I guess we're not holding hands anymore," Finnick chuckled, and Sadie laughed along with him.

"You think that's funny?" Katniss hissed at them, and Sadie shrugged.

"Every time that cannon goes off, it's music to my ears. I don't care about any of them," Finnick stated, which Sadie agreed on.

"Good to hear," Katniss said, pulling out a sword.

"It's funny how you think you can beat us," said Sadie, and she tilted her head to the side.

"Want to face the Career Pack alone? What would Haymitch say?" Finnick raised his eyebrows.

"Haymitch isn't here," Katniss argued.

"Hi Haymitch, sweetie," Sadie waved at the trees, knowing there were hidden cameras everywhere. Finnick smirked at Sadie's behavior.

"Let's keep moving," Peeta spoke up. Finnick lifted Mags again, and the group began moving again.

[6]

ANOTHER SLICE OF Peeta's sword caused the group of allies to continue on. Everett offered to help, but he didn't have good training with swords. They were trudging up a hill with Katniss and Everett in the back, Sadie next to Finnick with Mags on his back, and Peeta in the front. Peeta was going to cut another set of leaves when Katniss shouted, "Peeta, no!"

Peeta struck the force field and flew back, causing the three behind him to fall as well. "Peeta? Peeta?" Katniss asked as they slowly got back up. She grabbed Peeta's face, which was now burnt along with his uniform. "He's not breathing. He's not breathing. He's not breathing! Peeta!"

Finnick rushed forward, pushing Katniss out of the way, who, on instinct, was about to load an arrow but stopped when she saw Finnick giving Peeta CPR. Everett and Sadie rushed around the area as Katniss and Finnick began yelling. Sadie collected rich leaves around them while Everett climbed a tree to obtain a group of hibiscus flowers he had noticed before.

They picked a good amount of each plant, and Everett handed his flowers to Sadie. She began crushing the flowers in her hands, hearing Katniss' begs become more frequent. Once it was a chewable consistency, she wrapped the flowers in a banana leaf and made it smaller. The two heard a loud gasp, and they saw Peeta breathing again. Finnick let out a sigh of relief as he stood up, and Katniss began sobbing. The two shared a kiss as Katniss asked if Peeta was able to stand, and he nodded.

She helped him up and hugged him tightly. Sadie couldn't help but notice Finnick look at them longingly. He glanced at her before quickly looking away. "It's okay," Peeta whispered.

When they began walking again, Sadie stopped Peeta. "Here. Eat this. It'll help. And don't worry, Everett and I know our plants," she held out the small ball of flowers and leaves. Peeta grimaced, but he took the ball, trusting Sadie's judgment. If not her's then Everett's. He knew Everett wouldn't try to poison him.

As they got deeper into the arena, Katniss began throwing rocks at which hit the forcefields. Not long after, Katniss made everyone stop so she could climb a tree and test a theory she had. When she came back down, she explained her findings.

"The force field, it's a dome. We're at the edge of the arena. We couldn't find any signs of fresh water," she explained, and everyone frowned.

"It's gonna get dark soon. We'll be safe with our backs protected. We should set up camp. Take turns sleeping. I can take first watch," Sadie declared, examining the darkening sky.

"I'll do it too," Finnick added.

Katniss scoffed at their idea. "Not a chance."

"Honey, that thing I did back there for Peeta? That was called saving his life. If Sadie or I wanted to kill either of you, we would've done it by now," Finnick spat. He didn't let Katniss argue anymore before walking away to help Mags.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

As Peeta, Mags, and Everett slept, Finnick, Katniss, and Sadie kept watch. Finnick and Katniss were sitting relatively close while Sadie sat close to where Peeta was sleeping on a tree. She was carving into the trunk with her knife as she wished for it to become day already.

Meanwhile, with Katniss and Finnick, Finnick had struck up a conversation. "How's Peeta?"

Katniss shrugged. "He's okay, I think. Just dehydrated like the rest of us."

It was silent until the Panem theme song came on, and the fallen tributes illuminated the sky causing everyone to wake up. Eight tributes later, the music ended.

People began falling back asleep until a can with a parachute attached to it caught Katniss' attention. She raced over to the can and opened it. "Drink up?" She read.

"What is it?" Finnick asked.

"It's from Haymitch. I think it's a spile," Katniss answered, running over to the tree Sadie was carving on.

"A what?" Sadie asked. Katniss placed the spile onto the tree and pounded it in with a rock. She sat there waiting for something as Peeta, Mags, and Everett walked over in interest.

A waterfall of water then came from the spout, and Katniss gasped, letting the water fall into her mouth. "You're kidding me. You're kidding me. Get some water," Finnick exclaimed as Peeta got some water. Finnick was next, then Everett and Sadie.

"I'll get some for Mags. There we go," Finnick said after grabbing a leaf and filling it with water. He ran over to Mags and gave her the leaf. Katniss and Peeta began getting more water, and Sadie encouraged Everett to get as much as possible.

An alarm then went off, and Sadie counted for 12 seconds. "I counted 12," she said, and Katniss agreed.

"Midnight?" Finnick guessed.

"Or the number of districts," Katniss suggested. Bolts of lightning then lit up the sky.

"Well, if you're not gonna sleep, I will. Sadie?" Finnick sighed, looking back at Sadie, who shook her head, continuing to carve into the wood.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

It had been over an hour, and Katniss had fallen asleep, but Sadie was still going at the tree. When Katniss had woken up, she noticed a white fog slowly drifting over to them. "Sadie?" Katniss called out, and Sadie looked up from the tree to see Katniss reaching out to touch the mysterious fog.

The second her fingers touched the fog; Katniss let out a fearful scream. She fell to the ground, and Sadie rushed towards her; her hand was red and covered in blisters. "Run! Run! The fog is poison!" Katniss screeched, and everyone woke up. Sadie helped Katniss up and began running. She noticed Finnick and Mags taking longer with the extra weight.

They sprinted down the hill, Sadie and Everett being the fastest as the fog began moving faster. The fog was coming in every direction as they kept running. That's when Katniss fell, and Peeta helped her up; the fog surrounded them, and they yelled in pain—now struggling to continue. Sadie couldn't find Finnick or Mags, but she was only concerned about Everett at that moment, and he was ahead of her. She then heard Finnick scream and turned around, finding him and Mags slowing down.

"Sadie!" Everett shouted as the fog got closer to them. She watched Finnick drop Mags but soon pick her back up, running over to Katniss and Peeta, where Peeta had collapsed.

"Sadie! Come on!" Everett cried and grabbed Sadie's shoulders, running away. Everett tripped over a branch, causing them both to go down and the fog to touch their entire legs. Everett screamed, but Sadie bit through the pain and brought Everett back up, bringing him over to their allies. She saw Mags kiss Finnick on the lips before walking towards the fog.

"Mags? Mags? Mags!" Finnick cried as Mags walked into the fog.

"Finnick," Katniss stopped him from running after her.

"Mags! Mags!" The cannon went off, and Finnick went still.

"Finnick! We have to go," Sadie cut him off, supporting a weak Everett wrapped around her shoulder. "We have to get outta here. We have to go," she pleaded. Finnick stared at her before picking up Peeta with Katniss. They all began running again, but the fog was so close to them that as they neared another hill, it hit their backs. Causing them all to fall down the steep slope.

When they finally landed, they were all groaning and panting. They all saw the fog coming for them, and Sadie tried to back up, but it was no use; they were dead. That was until the fog was about a foot away from them that it stopped. Instead, it went up as if a wall was blocking it from touching them. Sadie sighed and looked over to Everett, who was gasping for air.

She then heard Katniss crying out in pain. "The water! The water helps," she called to the group. Peeta was quick to listen, and so was Sadie. She grabbed onto Everett and crawled over to the water. She pushed him into the water, and he let out an ear-piercing scream.

"Finnick!" Sadie yelled to Finnick, who hadn't moved. "Finnick, get up!"

She submerged herself into the water with a groan, and once she had every blister off her, she ran over to Finnick, who wasn't moving. She carried him over to the water and forced him into it. He shook and shrieked, but that only made Sadie cover him more.

"We need our weapons," Peeta told them and went to gather their weapons.

"Finnick," Sadie called to the panting tribute. "You okay?" he nodded, and Sadie helped him stand. Peeta began grabbing water from the spile as everyone else made sure they got every blister off. Sadie and Finnick were washing their hands off when Sadie spoke up.

"I'm sorry about Mags," she said, and Finnick stopped cleaning his hands.

He gulped, trying to remain strong. "She was never gonna make it," he accused.

"So?"

He sighed and looked up at her. That's when he looked behind Sadie with wide eyes. She looked around, as did Katniss and Everett, and noticed Monkey Mutts surrounding the trees. Katniss drew an arrow, Finnick grabbed his trident, Everett took out his sword, and Sadie picked out two of her daggers.

The Mutts began growling at them as they got closer. "Peeta," Katniss called.

"Yeah?"

"Walk over here slowly," she ordered, and Peeta walked over to them.

"Whoa," Peeta mumbled as the Mutts roared.

"Get to the beach," Katniss ordered, but more Mutts continued to block their way to the beach. Katniss drew her bow, but none attacked. Not until one jumped at Peeta, which he killed. A wave of them began running at them. Sadie hid Everett behind her as they lunged at them. Sadie was able to kill many of them until one tackled her into the water, causing Everett to jump out of the way so he wouldn't be on the receiving end of Sadie's fall. Everett stabbed the Mutt with his sword and kicked it off Sadie, lurching her back up.

Another Mutt held Katniss down in the water, and Sadie ran over to her, stabbing the mutt in the back. She rolled it off Katniss and helped her up. "We gotta get to the beach!" Peeta yelled, and they all began running towards the beach.

The Mutts were everywhere, which caused Peeta to get cornered by one. It jumped at him, only for him to never get a scratch on his face. He opened his eyes to see the female morphling wrestling with the Mutt. Peeta killed the Mutt and gasped at seeing his savior on the verge of death.

"Who is that?" Katniss asked.

"A Morphling! Help me get her!" Peeta and Katniss dragged the morphling to the beach as Finnick, Sadie, and Everett held off the Mutts. Once they were far enough away, they made a run for it. They jumped onto the sand just as a Mutt bit Sadie's leg.

Finnick and Everett got up and watched as the Mutts were held back. Finnick threatened them with his trident as Sadie tried to sit up. She examined her leg, which was dripping blood. She touched her wound and hissed in pain. This caused Finnick and Everett to turn around from watching the Mutts walk away in defeat.

The cannon went off, signaling the Morphling to be dead, but their main worry was on Sadie. She groaned as she dragged her leg into the water to soothe the burning sting.

"What happened? Did the Mutts get you?" Everett asked as he watched Sadie dip her leg in the water. She bit her lip to conceal her scream and dug her nails into the sand. Finnick rolled up her pants to reveal a Mutt bite. It wasn't intense but still would require a wrapping of some sort.

"Keep it in the water; it'll help. I'll go try to find something to cover it," He said before running across the rocks to the cornucopia.

"How sweet of him," Everett sang from behind Sadie, who looked around with a scowl.

"Shut up."

[7]

"HOW'S YOUR LEG?" Finnick asked Sadie the following day. They had wrapped up the bite and were hoping it wouldn't get infected. However, Sadie was able to walk through the pain. Saide shrugged as Finnick sat next to her on the beach. He handed her a scallop he had caught, which she thanked him for.

"Thank you for wrapping me up and making sure I don't die from blood loss," Sadie muttered, taking a bite of her scallop.

"Wow, you suck at saying thanks," Finnick chuckled, and Sadie laughed dryly.

"I'm serious, though. And I don't give many thank yous, so be appreciative," they continued laughing.

"Noted," Finnick smiled, and Sadie finished her scallop.

"You caught any more?" She asked, and Finnick shook his head. They then heard a women scream. They both stood up, as did Katniss, Peeta, and Everett. They heard the cannon fire, and a tsunami erupted from the trees. Once the water hit the forcefield, it spread out across the cornucopia, causing a rush of water to soak their shoes.

"Someone's here," Katniss panicked, pulling out an arrow. Peeta grabbed his sword while Sadie looked to see who it was.

"Johanna?" She asked, and she and Finnick ran forward.

"Johanna!" Finnick yelled. They also spotted Beetee and Wiress accompanying their friend.

"Finnick! Sadie!" Johanna laughed as they hugged her despite her being covered in blood. Peeta, Katniss, and Everett then ran over.

"Well, I got 'em out. We were all the way deep into the jungle where I thought it was gonna be safe. That's when the rain started. I thought it was water. It turned out to be blood. Hot, thick blood," Johanna hissed, and Sadie raised her eyebrows.

"Tick tock. Tick tock," Wiress cut in.

"It was coming down. It was choking us. We were stumbling around, gagging on it, blind," Johanna ignored Wiress.

"Tick tock."

"That's when Blight hit the force field," Johanna sighed.

"Tick tock. Tick tock."

"He wasn't much, but he was from home."

"Tick tock. Tick tock. Tick tock."

"What's wrong with her?" Katniss asked Beetee who had finished cleaning off.

"She's in shock," he answered as Finnick helped him up.

"Tick tock."

"Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?"

"We can get some," Sadie reassured him.

"Just … listen. Stop it!" Johanna snapped at Wiress.

"Hey! Lay off her!" Katniss yelled after noticing Johanna being rough with Wiress.

"Just sit down!" Johanna shouted. "Hey! What are you doing?" Katniss began fighting Johanna. Peeta held back Katniss while Finnick restrained Johanna.

"Hey, hey, hey! I got them out for you!" Johanna barked.

"It's okay. It's okay," Finnick whispered.

"Let me go, Finnick! Let me go."

"For me? What does that mean?" Katniss asked Sadie, who stayed silent and tried to control Johanna.

"You wanted them as allies," Peeta reasoned. Katniss took over the job of cleaning up Wiress as Johanna decided to clean herself as well. Unlike Johanna, Katniss could stand Wiress' muttering and eventually figured out what she was telling them.

Katniss made everyone go to the cornucopia, where she explained Wiress' thought process. "This entire arena seems to be laid out like a clock with a new threat every hour, but they stay only within their wedge. It all started with the lightning. Then the blood rain, fog, monkeys. That's the first four hours. At 10:00, that big wave hits from over there. Look, the tail points to 12. That's where the lightning strikes at noon and midnight."

"Strike where?" Beetee asked.

"That big tree," Katniss pointed to the tallest and largest tree in the entire jungle.

"Good."

Everett went to the black sand in the cornucopia and drew a circle. "So 12:00 to 1:00, lightning. Then 1:00 to 2:00 is blood. Then fog. And then monkeys," he said.

"And then 10:00 to 11:00, the wave. What about everything else? Did you guys see anything?" Katniss asked Johanna and Beetee.

"Nothing but blood. It doesn't matter," Johanna replied.

"As long as we steer clear of whichever sector is active, we'll be safe," Everett finished.

"Yeah. Relatively speaking," Finnick shrugged. The group then heard Wiress gasp, and they turned around to see Gloss taking his knife out of her chest. Katniss wasted no time in shooting Gloss in the chest.

Johanna caught sight of Cashmere running at them and pushed Katniss out of the way. She swung her ax in the air before hitting Cashmere. Brutus and Enobaria came around the corner, and Sadie threw a knife in Enobaria's direction, but she dodged it. Katniss tried to shoot an arrow at Brutus, but he ducked behind the cornucopia walls. Peeta tried to go after them, but Finnick held him back, letting Katniss and Johanna by.

Sadie tried to follow them but fell face-first into the rocks as the cornucopia began spinning. They were all able to grab onto something in time, but as it moved quicker, Sadie had to secure herself by digging her knife into the rocks.

Beetee couldn't hold himself any longer, and he started rolling down the rocks only for Finnick to catch him. Things in the cornucopia began falling, including the weapons, and Peeta could barely dodge a blade thrown in his direction.

Everett's arms were strained, and he knew he wasn't going to be able to hang on much longer. When a box came his way, causing him to let one of his arms go to avoid it, he lost his grip. "Sadie!" He screamed as he fell into the rapid waters.

"Everett!" Sadie cried as the cornucopia slowed down. Once it came to a stop, everyone stood up. Everyone noticed Katniss resurfacing and ran over to her to make sure she was okay. Everett gasped for air as he clutched onto the rock pathway.

Sadie ran over to him and helped him up. He coughed and sputtered out water as he sat leaning against Sadie's chest. "Are you okay?" Sadie asked frantically, but Everett was too busy taking deep breathes to reply.

"Everett?" Sadie questioned, tapping his shoulder. She knew he would probably be shocked by mere death, so she pushed his muffled response aside and hugged him tightly. Everett slowly retracted his hand to the back of his head, feeling something moist beginning to trail down his neck and stain his uniform.

When he examined his finger through his foggy vision, he took a shaky breath. "Sadie," Everett whispered, and Sadie broke the hug to look at his horrified expression. She looked at his fingers which were covered in blood. Her mouth dropped open, and she brought him forward to look at his head which was soaked in his blood.

She quickly brought him back into her arms as he tried to take deep breaths. Some came out broken and cut short. His entire body was trembling as he sniffed. He tried to reach back at his head again, but Sadie held his hands to his chest, kissing them softly.

"Sadie," Everett whimpered.

"You're okay. You're gonna be okay," Sadie rushed out. At hearing another panicked voice, everyone's attention went to a few platforms away, where Everett laid in Sadie's arms. Sadie took out one of her daggers and cut off a part of his uniform, which she used as a cloth to put pressure on his head. Tears filled her eyes as she watched Everett slowly break down.

"Sadie," Everett repeated as Finnick ran over after seeing the young boy's condition. "I don't wanna die," Everett sobbed.

"No, you won't die. You won't die, okay?" Sadie's voice broke as she spoke. Tears began trickling down her face as Everett continued sobbing. Finnick bent down next to Sadie. He had no idea what to do, but all he knew was that he needed to be by Sadie. Peeta, who had finished aiding Katniss, was racing over with Katniss on his tail.

"I don't wanna die, Sadie," Everett cried, and Sadie shushed him, brushing parts of his wet hair out his eyes. "Sadie, don't let me die," he begged, taking ahold of Sadie's hand.

"But I don't know what to do? For once, I don't know what to do," Sadie sniffed. Peeta and Katniss made it over to them as they witnessed Everett repeating the same plead to his mentor.

"At least promise me something," he said, and Sadie nodded.

"What? I'll do whatever you want."

Everett began struggling to form total words as he choked out, "give Snow hell."

Sadie stifled out a laugh as Everett began wheezing, and the blood began soaking through his uniform and onto Sadie's hand. "You should be proud of yourself, Everett," she whispered, and Everett gave her a weak smile. As it slowly disappeared, his face grew cold. His eyes stared directly at Sadie, no longer blinking, no longer breathing, and not even living.

More tears fell from Sadie's eyes as the atmosphere went quiet. Sadie sniffed, now noticing everyone watching, some with tears in their eyes, but most were able to keep straight faces. She quickly wiped her tears away and cleared her throat.

"I'm sorry, Sadie," Katniss said as Finnick rubbed Sadie's back, who continued to give off the sense she hadn't been crying.

"Sadie," Finnick whispered. He knew she wasn't okay, even if she tried to shield it.

"Why don't we just get off this stupid island."

[8]

AS SHE PANTED and sweat dripped down her neck, running through the woods, Sadie was on a search for the other district eight tribute. His name was Alexandar Canes, and he was the oldest tribute in the entire games at 18. Sadie hadn't talked to him much on their journey into the arena but knew who he was. He was famous amongst the children in their district as the mean kid. He reported simple wrong-doings to peacekeepers who punished the convicted and mocked the idea of The Hunger Games. He laughed at tribute's interviews and commented on their unintelligent actions, especially towards the younger children.

But once he was reaped, his entire mindset shifted. In his interview with Caesar, he could hardly choke out a complete sentence. In training, he would walk around, not knowing what to do. By the time he entered the arena, he was the first to run away from the other tributes.

Sadie was determined to find him and form an alliance, possibly snag a few other tributes as well. She was testing the surrounding area for any force fields, but none had appeared yet. "What do you mean you can't?" A young girl's voice screeched from a few yards away.

"I just can't! Why don't you try?" Alexandar suggested. Sadie got closer to the argument and saw Alexandar and one of the youngest tributes squabbling. She remembered the girl's name to be Clementine, and she was from district three.

"Have you seen my body? I can't lift something like that," Clementine argued, and Alexandar sighed, pacing back and forth. Sadie saw what they were arguing about and realized it was a heavy sword. Apparently, Alexandar had grown tired of carrying it.

"I bet you could build up some strength, right?" Alexandar hoped, patting Clementine's thin arms as she scowled. Sadie stepped out from behind a tree, and Alexandar jumped back, causing him to trip over a branch and fall on the ground.

Once he saw Sadie, he relaxed a touch. "Sadie! Sadie, you aren't going to kill us, right?" He pleaded, and Sadie stepped towards him, causing him to hurry away. When he thought she would stab him, she bent down and picked up the sword on the ground.

"Let's try to find some water."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

After agreeing to become alliances with Alexandar and Clementine, Sadie had helped them carry their weapons and find water. That night they set up camp under a collection of pine trees. Sadie had agreed to keep watch as Alexandar pretended to be too tired when in reality, he was terrified of messing up his task. As Clementine and Alexandar slept, Sadie waited till it got darker to sharpen her knives with rocks.

Making sure not to wake either of them, she ground her daggers against the rock until they were sharp enough. She crept over to Alexandar, who was snoring loudly on a small pile of pine needles. She spun her dagger in her hand before lining up against Alexandar's chest.

Her other hand covered his mouth, causing him to open his eyes. His eyes widened at seeing Sadie holding her dagger at his heart. He tried to struggle against the ground, causing Clementine to wake up. Once she saw Sadie's betrayal, she stumbled up and began running away.

Sadie drew her knife back and threw it into Clementine's back. The girl fell to the ground, and Alexandar tried to get out of Sadie's grip as she took out another dagger. The cannon went off as Sadie lined up her blade again. Alexandar was able to get his mouth out from under Sadie's hand.

"Sadie! Sadie, I thought we were friends! Allies! You know me! I'm from eight too! Please! I grew up with you! I'm begging —" Alexandar was cut off by Sadie sticking the dagger into his chest. Blood sprayed Sadie's face before she pulled out the knife. He went still before going limp against the tree's trunk.

Sadie stood up, walking over to Clementine, taking the dagger out of her back. The cannon went off again, and Sadie began collecting their small collection of belongings, leaving the sword that started it all behind.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"So besides Brutus and Enobaria, who's left?" Katniss asked, taking Sadie out from her memories. Her eyes were still tired from crying over Everett, who had been picked up by a hovercraft.

"Maybe Chaff. Just those three," Peeta answered.

"They know they're outnumbered. I doubt they'll attack again. We're safe here on the beach," Finnick added.

"So what do we do? We hunt 'em down?" Johanna asked. Finnick shrugged just as a girl's scream was heard in the jungle.

"Katniss, help me!" The girl cried.

Katniss' eyes widened. "Prim!" She took off into the jungle, with everyone trying to stop her. The girl continued screaming as Katniss called for her. Finnick and Sadie had made it to Katniss just as she shot down a bird.

"Katniss!" Finnick yelled.

"You okay?" Sadie panicked.

"Sadie!" Another girl's voice screamed. It was much different from Prim's; this girl had a rasp and deeper voice despite still sounding young.

"Finnick!" Sadie's voice wailed.

"Guys," Katniss called to them as Sadie began hyperventilating.

Sadie began running past Katniss, closely followed by Finnick despite Katniss trying to stop them. "No! It's not them," she yelled after them.

"Callie!"

"Sadie!"

"Finnick! It's not Sadie. She's right here!" Katniss shouted, grabbing Finnick's shoulders. "It's just a jabberjay. It's not either of them," she reassured, holding onto Sadie as well.

"Well, how do you think they got that sound? Jabberjays copy," Finnick told her, and Katniss dropped her hold on both of them.

"Katniss!" A man screamed.

"Gale," she whispered. Jabberjays began swooping in on them as they started running away. They tried to ignore all the cries for help, but it was all they could hear. Katniss couldn't get Prim, Gale, and her mother's voice out of her head. Finnick only heard Sadie and his family as he ran to the beach. Sadie heard mixtures of her family back from district eight, along with Everett and the victims from her games.

"Peeta!" Katniss yelled as they saw Peeta and Beetee. They tried to continue running but slammed into a force field. Peeta tried to calm Katniss down, but nothing was heard besides the constant cries for help.

Katniss sunk to the ground, letting out a frail scream. Finnick soon collapsed next to Katniss as well, trying everything to mute the voices. Sadie had a much different approach for passing the hour. She began yelling back at the birds whenever they asked for assistants. She would reply with broken apologies instead of shutting down.

By the end of the hour, Katniss was lying on the ground, sobbing. Finnick stared into the abyss, not having enough energy to move. And Sadie was walking around, stepping on the now-dead jabberjays. Her tears came back earlier in the hour, and they hadn't yet stopped, causing her to have a hard time breathing.

"It's over. It's okay. They're gone. The hour's gone. The hour's up. It's all right," Peeta soothed Katniss, who gasped, jerking up to grab onto Peeta.

"Prim! Find Prim!"

"No, no. Prim's okay," Peeta rushed out.

"Are you okay?" Johanna asked a blank Finnick.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine," Finnick whimpered.

"Look, Sadie is alright. She's over there," Johanna pointed over to where Sadie was wandering. Finnick stumbled up, tripping over his feet to get to Sadie, who had looked away from a dead jabberjay and noticed him. He engulfed her in a tight embrace as he began muttering her name over and over again. Sadie didn't know how to respond, she couldn't even hug him back, but he didn't notice.

"Okay? They won't touch Prim. All right?" Peeta kept repeating to Katniss.

"Your fiancé's right. The whole country loves your sister. If they tortured her or did anything to her, forget the districts, there would be riots in the damn Capitol," Johanna added, a smirk slowly forming onto her face. Finnick slowly retracted his arms and brushed his trembling hands across Sadie's cheeks. As they backed away from each other, Sadie stood next to Johanna.

"Hey, how does that sound, Snow? What if we set your backyard on fire? You know you can't put everybody in here," Johanna yelled into the trees, knowing Snow could hear. Katniss looked shocked at Johanna's outburst. "What? They can't hurt me. There's no one left that I love."

"Welcome to the club," Sadie told her, and Johanna sighed.

"I'll get you some water," she said, walking deeper into the woods.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Once they made it back to the beach, Finnick's first thing he did was sit in the water, still trying to recover from the haunting screams echoing in his head. Sadie had a similar idea, sitting in the sand away from the rest of the group.

Johanna had cracked open a coconut for her and Katniss after coming back from her water trip. She sat down and took a deep breath. "Who's Callie?" Katniss blurted out, continuing to stare at Sadie, who had stolen Finnick's tactic of staring at the waves.

Johanna looked over at Katniss and answered, "Callie Sterling. One of the only people that kept the original Sadie from breaking."

"Is she some sort of relative to Sadie?" Katniss continued.

"Her younger sister."

"What happened to her? Sadie said she had no loved ones left," Johanna sighed, growing sad at remembering her situation, which was almost identical to Sadie's.

"After Sadie won her games, Snow ordered her to do something for him. When she refused, he punished her in the most Snow-like way possible. She came home to find her entire family murdered. She knew it was Snow after finding a white rose on her eldest brother's body. His name was Otto, but I never met him," she explained, not baring to look at Katniss' bewildered eyes.

"Who all died?" Katniss asked.

"Her parents, two other brothers William and Jason. And her sister Callie."

Katniss frowned; she couldn't imagine losing her family like that. She didn't even let herself think about Peeta dying in a death arena. She didn't know how Sadie was able to carry on after seeing her entire family dead.

"I have an idea," Beetee cut in.

[9]

AFTER BEETEE EXPLAINED his plan to electrocute the Careers using the lightning that struck at the 12th hour, they had to wait till dusk to walk to the tree. Katniss and Peeta had claimed a part of the sand while Beetee and Johanna did the same farther away. Finnick was spinning around his trident, without a rope to calm his nerves; he tried to substitute it for his weapon of comfort.

Sadie watched him from leaning against a tree, her eyes were empty, but her mind closed in on all thoughts besides the person standing in front of her. She knew something was off between them, but she assumed it was because the arena makes everyone savor the moments they have left. But never had she looked at Finnick this way. He was always the slightly irritating and shallow man she met during her victory tour. But now, he had blossomed into at least a good ally who cared about her wellbeing. She didn't want to call him a friend, knowing if she said that out loud, she would never hear the end of it.

"Hey," Finnick's voice cut off Sadie's thoughts, who flinched. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," he added softly, and Sadie shook her head, brushing his apology off.

"What do you want?" she asked, and he shrugged, leaning against the tree opposite of her.

"Nothing just wanted to talk to someone. And you, out of all people, would understand. I could talk to Katniss, but she seems a bit busy," Finnick nodded behind Sadie, who saw Katniss talking to Peeta.

"What's up?" Sadie asked, turning back around. Finnick sat down in the damp sand, gesturing for her to sit next to him. Sadie hesitated but eventually sat down.

Finnick sighed. "Who'd you hear during the jabberjay attack?"

Sadie was confused by his eagerness to know. "Why do you care?"

"I'm just curious."

"Well, it's more of a personal thing —"

"I heard my parents, sisters, and this may sound odd, but I heard you," Finnick interrupted her, and Sadie became shocked at his willingness to share such emotional information. When she had heard the jabberjay copy her own screaming, she was not only questioning Finnick in many ways but also became horrified at his reaction.

Finnick looked at Sadie expectantly as she took a moment to finally speak, "I heard my parents, my brothers, and …."

"Callie," he finished for her, and she nodded.

Both went quiet; Sadie traced small designs in the sand as Finnick examined her. "I know you're probably already sick of people saying this, but I'm sorry about Everett," he whispered, and Sadie stopped tracing the sand.

"I'm not the person you should be apologizing to," she said, continuing her drawings.

"You still cared about him. You were his mentor, after all."

"I thought Cecilia was his mentor," she mocked him, and Finnick smirked.

"But come on, someone had to be blind not to see how much you cherished him," as more thoughts of Everett consumed Sadie's mind, she felt tears building up.

"Well, he hung out with me. What'd you expect," she stifled out a laugh, but Finnick frowned.

"His death is nowhere near your fault, Sadie."

"Look at the data, Finnick. So far, I don't have an amazing track record of keeping my loved ones alive."

"Just because you know people who have died doesn't make you weak or untrustworthy. I mean hell, look at you," Finnick argued. He slowly began leaning towards Sadie who's back hit the tree behind her. "You're the ace in a deck of cards. Sometimes you're overlooked, but once you get your opportunity, you strike harder than any of the other cards."

Sadie's breath shortened as he edged closer and a slight smirk formed onto his lips once he noticed her glancing at his lips. She knew what she wanted, but for once, Sadie wasn't able to move; she could hardly manage to breathe. Finnick saw how incapable of initiating any type of movement Sadie had out of panic. But he caught a glimmer of desire in her eyes as well, which prevented him from pulling away.

Instead, he cupped the right side of her face with his warm palm and brushed their lips together. Having never truly kissed anyone before, unless counting a random schoolyard boy from when she was 11, Sadie had no idea how to react. The only thing she knew was to return the kiss. So when Finnick pulled away, still breathing down her neck, Sadie took this time to run a hand through his hair and place her forehead on his.

She drew him back into another kiss except much more profound and with a desperate passion that showcased their relife to finally connect with someone as much as they had with each other. Despite their bodies molding perfectly together, they were so sloppy and ravenous for affection that they had missed each other's lips many times.

"All right, this isn't make-out time!" Johanna yelled, and the two broke the kiss. They stood up and found the group preparing to leave.

"We gotta go," said Sadie before she walked over to collect her knives.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

The group of victors were all journeying towards the lightning tree when the Panem national anthem came on, and the fallen tributes were shown in the sky. It first showed Gloss and Cashmere, followed by Wiress, then Mags. Sadie looked over to Finnick, who stared at his mentor in agony. The district five tribute appeared, then the female morphling and Blight. And the last picture shown was Everett. Sadie looked at the ground, letting out a sigh as she trudged beside Finnick. He slipped his hand into hers and gave it a tight squeeze as they carried on.

Once they made it to the tree, Beetee began examining it from afar. "Minimal charring. It's an impressive conductor. Let's get started," Beetee ushered them over to a large root displayed across the ground, and he began wrapping the copper wire around it.

"Typically, a lightning strike contains five billion joules of energy. We don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this hits," the district three tribute handed the reel with the remaining wire to Katniss. "You girls go together now. Take this. Unspool it carefully. Make sure the entire coil is in the water. You understand? Then head to the tree at the 2:00 sector. We'll meet you there."

Katniss and Peeta exchanged a worried look at Beetee's plan. "I'm gonna go with them as a guard," Peeta spoke up. Sadie eyed the two district 12 tributes with suspicion. They seemed far more on edge about the plan than anyone else. And it all started when Beetee mentioned splitting up.

"No, no, no. You're staying here to protect me. And the tree," Beetee snapped back.

"No, I need to go with her," Peeta argued.

"There are two Careers out there. I need two guards," Beetee stated, getting irritated at Peeta's attitude.

"Finnick can protect you just fine on his own. Or replace me with Sadie or Johanna. You've got plenty of better options," said Peeta.

"Why can't the more experienced tributes stay with you and Peeta and I'll take the coil?" Katniss cut in, defedning her fiancé. Sadie knew something was not right with the two, and she was not going to let them get their way.

"You all agreed to keep me alive till midnight, correct?" Beetee raised his eyebrows.

"It's his plan. We all agreed to it," Sadie barked.

"Is there a problem here?" Finnick asked, stepping forward once noticing everyone looking distressed.

"Excellent question," Beetee turned to Katniss, who seemed to be debating her answer.

"No. There's no problem," she choked out and walked over to Peeta, giving him a long kiss. "I'll see you at midnight," she whispered to him, and Peeta nodded.

Sadie made her way over to Finnick and brought him down for a gentle kiss. He broke the kiss, hugging her thin figure as if he was never going to let go. But he was forced to when Sadie backed away with a small grin tugging up her lips. She ran over to Johanna, who had finished preparing the coil.

"All right, let's go!" She shouted to Katniss, who sighed and started walking beside them.

"Be safe!" Sadie heard Finnick call to her, and she waved back at him as they disappeared behind a collection of trees. The three girls jumped across rocks as Katniss and Sadie kept pulling at the reel.

"Come on," Johanna rushed, taking hold of Katniss' bow, which was getting in the way. "I want to put as much distance between me and this beach as possible. Frying is not how I want to go."

"There's something …" Katniss muttered, and Sadie tugged at the coil. The wire snapped, and Katniss grabbed her bow from Johanna, about to load an arrow. They then heard a clink come from the bushes. They saw Enobaria and Brutus running out with savage looks across their faces, and as an instinct, Johanna hit Katniss across the head.

She fell to the ground as Sadie pulled out one of her daggers, and Johanna held Katniss down. Sadie cut into Katniss' arm and plucked out her tracker. The girl let out a shrill cry as Johanna shushed her. Sadie placed her blood-covered hands around Katniss' throat and whispered, "stay down."

The two tributes stood up, and Johanna threw her ax at the Careers. They took off running as they saw Enobaria and Brutus following them. "Go! Hide!" Sadie yelled at the defenseless Johanna. Johanna began running the opposite way of Sadie, who was still being tracked down.

She heard two cannons fire, and she stopped, whipping around while pulling out another knife. She was frantically looking around for any Careers, but it was too dark to see anything. "Finnick!" She screeched, not caring if it gave away her location. "Finnick!"

Sadie was cut off by someone tackling her to the ground. Both tributes grunted at the impact, and Sadie looked above her to see Enobaria baring her teeth above her. Sadie struggled under the firm grip Enobaria had against her shoulders as she tried to reach for her dagger, which she had dropped.

"Your little boyfriend isn't here to protect you," Enobaria hissed as Sadie's breathing got heavier.

"Neither is yours," Sadie then kicked Enobaria's shin, and she snarled in pain. Sadie grabbed one of her daggers from her belt and stuck it into Enobaria's arm. The woman yelled as she rolled off Sadie. Sadie picked up her dagger off the ground and threw it at Enobaria, who dodged it.

The girl charged forward, skillfully knocking one of Sadie's knives from her hand. Not long after, Sadie scrapped Enobaria's face causing blood to fall from her cheekbone. They both looked up when thunder filled their ears. They saw the sky swirling, turning darker. They looked back at each other, now forgetting their fight and remembering they were extremely close to a lightning strike area.

Both were unable to move for a few seconds until Sadie yelled, "run!" They began sprinting away just as the lightning struck. The entire arena shook as the two girls tried to remain stable while running for their life.

They then heard something explode, and a force of electricity erupted from the lightning tree. Once it reached Enobaria and Sadie, they flew forward. They fell down a hill, and Enobaria was held back by the branches of a tree. Sadie continued to fall until she felt her head hit something with rough edges, not getting any more analysis of the situation before she passed out.

[10]

SADIE FELT NUMB as she slowly opened her tired eyes. She groaned after being hit with the immense pain running through her muscles. "Hello, Miss Sterling," a menacing and cold voice said from her bedside. Sadie gasped, snapping her eyes open to see who it was. Her breath quickened, and she fidgeted away from the person once she saw who it was.

"What am I doing here, Snow? Where even am I?" Snow chuckled at Sadie's scowl.

"You're in The Capitol, Miss Sterling. We rescued you after the arena was hijacked," he answered.

"We weren't hijacking it, we —" Sadie tried to sit up and threaten Snow, but a hand slammed her back down into her hospital bed. She looked over to see one of the head peacekeepers Romulus Thread, glaring down at her.

"You should be thanking me, Miss Sterling. I didn't let you burn to death," Snow continued.

"Where's —"

"Mr. Odair?" Snow interrupted her. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to obtain him. He has joined the rebels alongside Miss Everdeen and Mr. Latier. But you, my dear, are an Avox and they must always be punished once captured. Despite you being a victor, you have some interesting information I'd love for you to share with me. As Mr. Odair would say, do you have any secrets worth my time?"

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Katniss woke up with a sharp breath; her eyes were wide as she examined the room around her. It looked to be the inside of a hovercraft that would carry the tributes to the arena for the Games. She took the oxygen mask off her mouth and looked to her right to see Beetee lying next to her, still unconscious.

She began panicking, questioning if she had been captured by The Capitol and was on her way to be executed like most rebels were. She stood up and picked out a syringe from a nearby medical bucket, preparing to attack her kidnappers.

As she neared a door, she heard part of a conversation. "She's gonna lose it when she finds out about the boy," Haymitch argued, and Katniss' suspicions grew.

"She'll still cooperate, though?" Another male voice asked. She recognized it but couldn't quite place who it was.

"Without Peeta? There's no guarantee," Haymitch fought back.

"Just tell her when —" Finnick began but was cut off by the door sliding open to reveal Katniss to the three men arguing. Katniss furrowed her eyebrows at seeing Haymitch, Finnick, and Plutarch there.

"Morning, sweetheart," Haymitch stepped forward, a smirk on his face. Katniss raced towards him, syringe in hand as she tried to fight Haymitch, who shoved her against a wall.

"What are you doing with them?" Katniss yelled at her mentor.

"You and a syringe against The Capitol? See, this is why no one lets you make the plans," Haymitch said, grabbing the syringe from her fighting hands. Once Katniss caught sight of Finnick, his eyes were red, and tear stains covered his cheeks. Proving he had previously been crying.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" Katniss asked him, her breathing thick.

"Stop. Stop. Just listen," Finnick tried to soothe her.

"We couldn't tell you with Snow watching. It was too risky. Better for you to know nothing," Haymitch hissed, and Katniss pushed him off.

"Where's Peeta?"

"Now, Katniss … you have been our mission from the beginning. The plan was always to get you out. Half the Tributes were in on it. This is the revolution. And you are the Mockingjay. And we're on our way to District 13 right now," Plutarch explained.

"13?"

"13. Yes."

"Where's Peeta?" Katniss repeated, and everyone sighed; Finnick turned around, looking out the window feeling his tears threatening to spill again at the thoughts eating away at his brain.

"He still has his tracker in his arm. Sadie cut yours out," said Haymitch.

"Where is he?" Katniss asked, growing more worried by the minute.

"In The Capitol. They got him, Johanna, and Sadie."

Katniss' mind went blank, but her heart got filled with rage. "You son of a bitch!" She screamed, slapping Haymitch across the face. "You son of a — you promised me that you would save him over me! You promised me!" Plutarch injected her with a drug, and she slowly started to collapse to the ground.

"You're a liar. You're a liar," Katniss sobbed as Haymitch lightened her fall. She continued to cry as she slowly fell back asleep. Finnick stared at the unconscious girl as a tear fell from his eyes. He grabbed the rope he had thrown on the ground and leaned against a wall, beginning to tie quick knots, then untying them and retying them over and over again. Possibly to clear his mind from the fact that the girl he loved was being held captive in the very place they were fighting against. And he didn't even get the chance to tell her how much he cared for her.

[11]

ANOTHER SOB WRENCHED from Finnick's chest as he tried to quiet himself, but he was too emotional even to get up and close his hospital room door. His hands were too shaky to continue tying his knots, and he twitched, dropping his half-tied rope to the floor. He put his face in his hands and continued to weep.

"Finnick," Katniss' sharp and venomous tone came from his open doorway. He looked up from his hands but never turned his gaze to Katniss; he couldn't bare to look at the broken girl. He was already shattered enough and didn't need another punch to his mind.

Finnick sighed. "I wanted to go back for Peeta and Johanna, but I, uh … I couldn't move," his voice cracked as he cleared his throat. "Have you forgotten that they have Sadie, too? They took her."

He picked up his rope from the ground and squeezed it tightly. He sniffed and muttered, "she's, uh … she's in The Capitol."

Katniss stared at the boy in front of her; he struggled to breathe and kept adjusting himself on the edge of his hospital bed. "I wish she was dead. I wish they were all dead, and we were, too," he whispered, staring at the wall in front of him. He wanted this hell to be over already, and it had just begun.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Mom! They didn't have any carrots up at the market, but I got corn instead," Sadie yelled across her family's house in Victors Village as she entered with a bag of corn. She got no response, but she pushed it aside and set the bag of vegetables on the dining room counter. "Callie, can you help me make dinner?" She shouted again as she pulled out a knife to strip the corn. She stared at the knife clenched in her hands and gulped. She struggled to place it back down on the cutting board, deciding to search for her sister and demand her help. "Callie!" She screamed, stopping up the stairs, looking for any of her four siblings or parents.

"Hello? This isn't funny! Where is everybody?" She said as she walked down the thin hallway. "Otto! William! Jason! Where the hell are you guys?" Sadie asked, a small smile growing on her face. They had nothing better to do than hide from her? She knocked on Callie's bedroom door, but no one replied. She groaned, knocking again—still nothing.

"Callie?" She sang, knocking again. When Callie didn't answer, she opened the door slowly, trying not to frighten her sister. But when she examined her younger sister's room, it was Callie who startled her. Or instead what was left of her mangled body.

Sadie produced a horrified scream at the sight of her sister sitting on her bed while she leaned against the wall behind her. Blood was splattered across the light blue walls, and a gash was in her temple where a bullet had indeed been shot through after Sadie noticed the empty bullet case on the floor. Blood soaked Callie's clothes and bed covers as it dripped from her head.

Sadie ran out of the room and burst through the nearest bedroom, her eldest brother Otto's. What she saw caused her to begin hyperventilating. She got dizzy at the sight of more of her family's blood. She stumbled out of Otto's room and to the next one. Jason's.

A sob erupted out of her mouth, and she was not in the room for more than a minute before going to William's. She saw the exact same thing for the fourth time, and she was on the verge of jumping out the window in William's room. But she forced herself to open her parent's bedroom door.

She broke down in their doorway, falling to her knees as salty tears flowed down her cheeks. She punched the nearby wall and let out an unnaturally loud scream. She was sure the windows would break, but nothing would add up to how broken she felt.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie stared at the tv in front of her as Thread continued replaying pictures of her family overlapped by her screams. Sadie tried not to react because she learned that Thread would hit her with the end of his gun if she showed any sign of weakness. But either way, she would lose because if she didn't react and remained cold as stone, he would beat her and yell at her to break.

It had only been a week since her capture, and for the first few days, the Peacekeepers had been preparing the victors to endure the worst torture they could to possibly get answers. They had shaved Johanna's hair to deny the electricity absorption and began hooking Peeta up to Tracker Jacker venom. For Sadie, they hadn't done any preparation. They knew her enough to know they wouldn't get answers from physical torture, although they still added that occasionally, they knew the only way to get information was to break her from the inside out.

Thread started by looking at pictures of her loved ones and threatening Finnick, but Sadie knew better than that to cave in. They had no idea where Finnick or any of the other rebels were. And now, he had collected the security footage of Sadie's worst memories. Like the one he had shown her today of her finding her family dead back at her house in district eight. Sadie considered them stupid enough to think past events will help them uncover the secrets of the present, but when Thread had noticed no results, he announced to her that they would be trying sense deprivation tomorrow.

As Thread led Sadie back to her cell next to Johanna and Peeta, they passed Enobaria being interrogated by two peacekeepers. She didn't seem to be having fun being asked the same question repeatedly about what happened in the arena. She honestly didn't know, neither did anyone else in the Tribute Center.

"Come on! Keep moving!" Thread pushed her forward and into the containment unit that held all the cells. Peeta was enduring his fourth day of Tracker Jacker torture, but Johanna was waiting for her first session of electric shock. As Sadie was pushed into her cell, she sat down on her bed and stared at Johanna, who was focusing on taking long deep breaths.

"You'll get through it," said Sadie, and Johanna looked her way. She bit her lip and nodded as three peacekeepers came into the room and held Johanna at gunpoint as they ushered her out of the room.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie had fallen asleep on her thin mattress of a bed and woke up to a faint scream. She snapped alert as the door opened, and Peeta walked in being restrained by peacekeepers as he yelled in desperation for someone's help. "Katniss!" He cried, and a peacekeeper put a syringe in his arm; Sadie noticed it to be labeled Tracker Jacker Venom. Peeta let out a groan as he was placed in his cell, and the peacekeepers walked out.

"Wait!" Sadie shouted after them; they stopped and turned towards her, placing their hands on their guns. "Am I able to organize an interview with Caesar Flickerman?" She pleaded, and they shook their heads about to walk out again.

"I'll tell everyone what really happened!" They all froze. "On live television, I will reveal the truth about what happened in that arena!"

Without a word, they walked out, and Sadie sighed. She slumped down in her cell and grabbed Peeta's hand through the bars, it was shaking immensely. She gave it a tight squeeze before forcing herself to fall back asleep.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

At District 13, Finnick was sitting in the dining hall next to Katniss, Gale, and Prim. He had refused to eat even after Prim's bubbly encouragements. He brought his rope to the table despite Katniss complaining about it getting in the way. He was tying his usual fisherman's knot when the screens that displayed everyone's tasks for the day changed to an image of Caesar Flickerman.

Everyone looked up in curiosity, but Finnick didn't look away from his knot. "Hello, all of Panem. I would stop what you're doing right this second and listen up because today, we are giving you a very special edition of Capitol News with a very special guest. Sadie Sterling," Caesar said, he no longer had his glowing personality, and instead, it was dire. The moment Sadie's name spilled from Caesar's mouth Finnick snapped his head up, and a rush of murmuring ran through the hall.

The shot switched to Sadie, sporting bags under her eyes, a scrap across her cheek, and a fading black eye. All matched dreadfully with her short white dress that could only slightly be seen at the current angle.

Finnick slowly stood from his seat, whispering Sadie's name as he neared the tv. "Now, Sadie, you said you were going to reveal the dark secrets of what truly happened during the Quarter Quell. Almost everyone is walking blind at their information, and you are willing to give them light. So what really happened that night?" Caesar asked, furrowing his purple eyebrows.

"Actually, before I start on that story, I'd like to address something happening in Panem. May I?" said Sadie, and Finnick felt tears in his eyes at seeing all of Sadie's cuts and bruises. She hadn't even been there for more than a week, and she was beaten.

"Of course, dear. Of course."

Sadie looked directly at the camera, her face showing no emotions whatsoever. "Right now, there is a war slowly forming against The Capitol and the rebels. And I'd like to give a message to the rebels if they are listening, and I really hope they are."

Everyone's attention in the dining hall got peaked as Sadie continued, "please stop fighting, would you? If you don't, then you will destroy the lovely Capitol and all the people in it. Even dear President Snow."

The hall erupted in protests as Finnick stared at the tv in horror. This wasn't Sadie, not even close. She would never forget what Snow and The Capitol did to her life. The jeering was cut off by Sadie letting out a chuckle. "God, I couldn't hold it together even for that. What am I kidding?" A gun loading from behind Sadie was heard, and Finnick noticed the peacekeeper standing there looking on edge.

Sadie continued to stare deep into the camera, a slight smirk forming onto her face. "Keep fighting. Whatever you do, keep fighting! Don't stop figh—" She was cut off by a fist punching her across the face, and the tv quickly switched back to the daily schedule.

The hall, which was once filled with yelling, was now in applause. Everyone began standing up and celebrating the motivation while Finnick merely stood in front of the tv. His eyes were wide, and his face sunken as tears started to fall. Without another thought, he rushed out of the dining hall and up to his room, where he let out a heartwrenching sob.

[12]

AS ALL OF District 13 crowded into the main lobby, Finnick grew nervous as President Coin stepped to the microphone. He had begged Katniss to add Sadie to the list of Victors to save at The Capitol, but luckily Katniss had already added Sadie to the list after her disruption with Caesar. Unlike Peeta, who had previously been to an interview and revealed what happened in the Quarter Quell and ordered a ceasefire.

"Good afternoon. Thank you for interrupting your schedules. They have already been adjusted to compensate for the delay. Please, check in with your unit supervisors when you resume work. I have an announcement for the citizens of 13 and our welcome guests from 12," Coin started, and Finnick took deep breathes as she spoke. "Katniss Everdeen has consented to be the face of our cause to help unite the districts against The Capitol. In exchange, I have promised several concessions. First, we'll assess all opportunities for the extraction of the Victors held hostage in The Capitol. Peeta Mellark," a yell of clamoring erupted across the hall at the mere thought of saving Peeta.

"Johanna Mason …" Coin continued as Katniss walked over to Finnick.

"Finnick, I made the deal for Sadie, too," Katniss whispered to her friend.

"And Sadie Sterling. Once freed, they will be granted full pardon for any and all crimes committed against the rebel cause," as Coin finished, Finnick let out a sigh of relief despite everyone in the lobby shouting at their President in disagreement.

"Good. That's good, Katniss," Finnick replied with a breathy smile as Katniss returned it.

"If Katniss Everdeen fails to fulfill her duties, the deal will be off. Thank you for your attention. Please, resume your daily schedules," as everyone began leaving, Finnick grew anxious again. What if President Coin wasn't satisfied with Katniss' work? Would she be as cruel to leave Sadie in The Capitol longer?

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

It had been a few days since Katniss had agreed to be the Mockingjay, and Haymitch was already able to get her into action. They had decided that green screens and lines were not meant for Katniss, and she had to have a raw reaction to get the district united. So, with a team of tv producers and a small squat group, Katniss was flown to district eight to show Panem the previously bombed district.

She remembered district eight from her victory tour, and it was already not a very pleasant place to begin with. There was no speck of plant life in the town, and the majority of the district was factories polluting the air. She felt uncomfortable going to the very district her ally and fellow rebel had grown up in, but she needed to see the conditions for herself.

Finnick had also asked to go, but everyone knew he wasn't mentally stable enough to see Sadie's home in ruins. It would be another reminder of something Snow had taken from his love.

When the hovercraft landed and the team ran out, Katniss examined the war zone. It still looked highly similar to the original District eight except for much more debris and damaged buildings. They made it over to the hospital their journey was about and was met with a black woman, surely in her late thirties, with dirty purple clothes.

"You're alive then. We weren't sure," the woman stated, looking Katniss up and down.

"Katniss, Commander Paylor, District eight. Katniss has been recovering, but she insisted on coming out and seein' some of your wounded," said Boggs.

"Well, we've got plenty of those," Paylor ushered them inside as they walked through a filthy hallway lined with dead victims from the bombings. "We have a mass grave a few blocks west, but I can't spare the manpower to move them yet—Hospital's past that curtain. Any hope you can give them, it's worth it. The Capitol's done everything they can to break us," Paylor added as the team examined the bodies in horror.

"Aren't you worried about having all your wounded in one place?" Gale asked.

"I think it's better than leaving them to die."

"That's not what I meant."

"Well, that's my only other option. You can come up with another; I'm all ears," Paylor snapped. "It's right through here," she pointed to a curtain before opening it to reveal hundreds of people. Some were wounded while others tended to them.

"Don't film me in there. I can't help them," Katniss muttered to Cressida.

"Just let them see your face. Huh?" Cressida whispered, and Katniss nodded.

Katniss entered the room as Cressida order the tv crew to begin filming. Katniss was speechless as she saw men, women, and children rushing around to try and prevent any more deaths. It kept haunting her that Sadie once might've known these people.

As she got deeper into the hospital, people's attentions began drifting towards her in astonishment. People began standing if they could because many of the wounded had lost parts of their limbs and stared at the Mockingjay.

"Katniss Everdeen?" A teenage girl whispered, and Katniss whipped around to see a girl sitting there with wide eyes. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to see you," Katniss told her.

"What about the baby?" Another woman asked.

"I lost it," Katniss chocked out.

"Is Sadie here?" A boy's voice far too familiar asked, and Katniss slowly turned around. She gasped when she saw a boy with blonde hair and brown eyes. He had blood dried across the left side of his face and smeared down his t-shirt. Dirt and soot covered his face like it did everyone else in the hospital. He stood next to two young girls, both under the age of nine for sure, and a woman aiding a man with his hand blown off. They all had the same dirty blonde hair and dark eyes.

"Everett?" Katniss muttered, and the boy frowned.

"He was my brother," the boy stated, and Katniss licked her lips. She examined Everett's family with a petrified expression.

"Sadie was captured by The Capitol. But she's completely fine based on our knowledge," the girl announced, and a rumble of murmuring went through the hospital.

"Are you fighting, Katniss?" Another boy beside Everett's brother asked. "You here to fight with us?"

Katniss nodded quickly and said, "I am. I will."

The boy was quick to touch three fingers to his lips and lift them up. Everett's family quickly followed, as did everyone else in the hospital. Katniss sighed at the sight of everyone saluting her.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie was being escorted back to her cell after another sense deprivation session when Thread led her past a room illuminated by a tv screen. Peacekeepers stood around it, some with their masks off with scowls on their faces. Sadie caught a glimpse of what they were watching and gasped when she saw Katniss on the screen. "I want the rebels to know that I'm alive. That I'm in District Eight, where the Capitol just bombed a hospital filled with unarmed men, women, and children. And there will be no survivors," Sadie struggled to slow down, wanting to hear all of Katniss' speech. She had no idea Katniss was even alive, and having her be in District eight was more than being hospitalized like she thought she might be.

At Katniss' news, Sadie held back tears at the mention of her home being demolished. "If you think for one second that The Capitol will ever treat us fairly, you are lying to yourselves," Katniss continued.

"Come on! Stop delaying!" Thread yelled, but Sadie stopped in her tracks.

"Because we know who they are and what they do. This is what they do! And we must fight back," once Thread noticed what Sadie was listening to, he slammed the door and pushed her along.

"You just earned yourself double sessions because of that," he hissed at her.

"Yeah, well, at least I don't help people bomb hospitals," she fought back, earning her a slap across the face. Thread threw her back in her cell and cursed before slamming the door. As she sat on her bed, she tapped Peeta on the shoulder.

Peeta shot around, his eyes livid with broken blood vessels and his skin contouring in on itself. "She's alive. Katniss is alive, Peeta," Sadie whispered, and Peeta stared at her.

"How do you know that?" Peeta asked, not a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

"Because I saw a video of her in district eight. She was fighting back with the rebels, Peeta. Aren't you happy?" She said after noticing Peeta's blank face.

"Next time, be better at lying," he growled, turning his back to face her. And that was the first day Sadie realized the power The Capitol's threats had over her jailmate.

[13]

USUALLY BEING ONE of the last tributes in the Hunger Games arena was a positive thing, but for Sadie, it was terrifying. It was her versus the three careers. She had no idea their weapons of choice or how much supply they had, so she had no clue which one would be easiest to take out. They were all much older than her as well. Unlike the 15-year-old district two female career she had killed in the bloodbath, the three other careers were 17. The district one female had been trained to kill since she was seven, and the two males were huge and could easily crush Sadie in one attempt.

She had considered waiting it out until they either get impatient and killed each other or died of other causes. But she knew the games would last forever if she did, so she decided to strike at them that night.

When it darkened, she began her journey to search for the careers. She made sure to be as quiet as possible, but the crunching leaves weren't helping. She knew they wouldn't be at the cornucopia because no one would be stupid enough to climb back up that mountain. She was walking through the woods, looking under every pine tree, but no sign of the careers was found.

"I'll take watch; you guys sleep," a feminine voice announced, and Sadie halted. She slowly looked to her left and saw the three careers next to a dull fire. The two male tributes were resting their eyes under a tree while the female tribute stood guard, her back straight and her arms pulled behind her.

Sadie then got an idea to divert their attention. She picked up a nearby pinecone and threw it into a tree not far away from the one they were sleeping under. The girl perked up and looked at the tree Sadie had thrown the pinecone at.

Sadie threw another pinecone, and the tribute picked up her machete lying on the ground. She flexed it in her grip and called out, "come on out, you little brat."

"What's the problem?" One of the male tributes asked from under the tree.

"I think we have company," she told them, and they rushed from the tree. The district one male picked up his knives while the other picked up a spear. Sadie threw yet another pinecone, and they all looked in that direction.

"Just show your face so we can kill you!" The district two tribute groaned. They began searching the area the sound had come from, and Sadie took this perfect opportunity. She threw one of her knives at the district two tribute's back, and he fell to the ground. Now it was district one versus eight.

"Griffin," The girl gasped once the cannon went off, glancing at her district partner uneasily.

"Alright, show yourself! Don't be a coward!" Griffin shouted. The two tributes went back to back, clutching their weapons, ready to fight. As they slowly went in circles to spot anyone in the shadows, Sadie waited till Griffin was facing her. She knew that the girl would be easiest to take out, and she would rather face her than people as big as Griffin or the district two tribute.

Once it lined up, she flicked her knife from her hands and hit Griffin in the center of his chest. The boy collapsed onto the female tribute, and she screamed. The two fell to the ground, and the girl struggled to get out from under Griffin. The cannon went off again, and the girl strumbled up, fear written across her face.

"Can I at least know who my killer is?" She cried, holding up her hands in defense. Sadie reached for another knife when she felt her empty pockets. She had no knives left. She sighed, knowing she would have to face the last standing tribute some way or another.

Sadie stepped out from the shadows as the girl whipped around, her machete trembling in her hand. Once she caught sight of Sadie, she relaxed at seeing her small size. The girl laughed at noticing Sadie was out of weapons. "You? You were able to kill them?" She asked, pointing to the two dead boys. Sadie nodded as she neared the district one tribute. "You couldn't hurt a fly," the girl teased, and Sadie raised an eyebrow.

Sadie slowly plucked out the dagger from the district two's back and wiped off his blood. She held up her arms as a signal for the girl to attack her. With a chuckle, the girl raced forward, swinging her sword at Sadie's face.

Sadie scraped the girl's side as she ducked out of the way. The girl grew frustrated and kept going at her, but it only ended with her getting more cuts across her body. As her jaw leaked blood, she began panting, being worn out from trying to keep up with Sadie's stealth.

But she was shocked when Sadie ran at her, causing her to freeze and allowing Sadie to tackle her to the ground. The girl dropped her machete and looked up at Sadie with wide eyes. She tried to wiggle out, but Sadie was surprisingly strong. Sadie placed her knee against the girl's stomach and lifted her knife to the girl's throat.

"Just kill me already," the girl pleaded, and Sadie stared at her.

"I can hurt way more than a fly," she hissed before slicing open the girl's throat. The tribute gasped as she tried to delay the blood loss, but it was no use because she was dead within a few seconds. The final cannon exploded, and Sadie stared down at the girl's blood-covered throat.

As Sadie stood up, the sky changed to day, and Claudius' voice came through the PA system, "ladies and gentlemen, may I present the winner of the 66th annual Hunger Games. Sadie Sterling from district eight."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie sat in complete silence; everything was dark to the point where she could see white-colored strobes of light in the design of a masochistic smile. As the face grew closer, she began adjusting in her plush chair placed in the sound-proof box Thread had put her in. Her hands were tied together to prevent her from taking off the blindfold placed over her eyes.

The face quickly changed to a subtle outline of a Monkey Mutt. With its bared teeth and hairy exterior, it looked to be something out of a sketchbook. She could hear the growing snarling in her ears as it began running towards her. She tried to grab onto her waist where her daggers were, but she couldn't move her hands. As it opened its mouth to rip her head off, she let out an ear-piercing scream.

But it was quickly silenced by the walls around her, and she continued screaming as more and more Mutts threatened to attack her. Her wrists were gaining red marks as she kept trying to reach for her dagger and struggled amongst the ropes.

The scene finally switched, and her screaming stopped, as did her struggling. However, when another Mutt appeared, she let out a sob of desperation. The Mutt wasn't alone this time and was accompanied by an imperfect outline of a man. She immediately recognized him by his tousled hair and strong jaw.

"Finnick! Run!" She warned, but Finnick never moved. Her hands tried to reach out to him, but again they were blocked. The Mutt charged at him as Sadie continued to yell at Finnick to move. When the Mutt reached him, it bit into his neck, but he never let out any sort of yell.

Sadie thrashed and cried as she saw Finnick's murder on repeat. She didn't know how long it had been on repeat, but when Thread entered the soundproof box with a smirk, he saw Sadie passed out in exhaustion. Tears soaking through the blindfold and the ropes much tighter than he initially made them, most likely from her movement.

The peacekeeper released her hands and removed her blindfold. He ordered a few other peacekeepers to drag her to her cell, where Johanna sat shaking, and Peeta stared at the ground. When Johanna saw Sadie's condition, she stood up, and her eyes widened. Sadie had never looked this horrible after a torturing session.

"What'd you do to her?" Johanna yelled at Thread, who stood by the doorway. The peacekeepers put Sadie on her bed before exiting the room.

Thread shrugged, a smug look still on his face. "The usual."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Katniss and Finnick walked into the command center after Boggs, where they had been ordered to report. "Tonight, we've received reports of derailed trains, of granaries on fire, and a savage attack on the hydroelectric dam in District five," Peeta stated through the large tv placed on the wall. Katniss covered her mouth in horror at seeing Peeta's state.

"Oh, what have they done to you?" she whimpered.

"I'm begging for restraint and decency," Peeta continued.

"We interrupt your regularly scheduled horse manure to bring you," Beetee tapped a button, and flashes of Katniss singing Hanging Tree in district 12 appeared on the screen.

"That's it. That's our footage," Coin glowed.

"Beetee's in," Plutarch said.

The camera switched to a wide shot of Peeta and Sadie, looking at the footage in shock. "Katniss?" Peeta whispered.

"He sees it. He sees our propo," Coin stated as another clip of Katniss flashed on the screen.

"I told you," Sadie giggled, and Finnick took a shaky breath at seeing her. Her eyes were red, and bruises littered her jaw along her neck. Along with her usual bags under her eyes and the scrap that hadn't yet healed. Her face also looked immensely thinner, just like Peeta's.

"Katniss, are you there?" Peeta asked, his voice breaking.

"Peeta," Katniss cried, and both she and Finnick ran closer to the screen.

"Katniss?" Peeta repeated, staring at the now blank footage.

"Peeta, please continue. You were telling us about these savage attacks," Caesar cut in, and Peeta nodded.

"It's awfully bright in here," Sadie muttered as she stared at the ground, shielding her eyes which caused the camera to quickly change back to Peeta. Finnick choked on his air for a moment as tears filled his eyes.

"Yeah," Peeta took a deep breath before continuing. "The attack on the damn was a callous and inhuman act of destruction."

Another flash of Katniss appeared, and Peeta leaned forward. "Think about it. How will this end? What will be left? No one can survive this. No one is safe now. Not here in the Capitol. Not in any of the districts," he trailed off.

A snap flowed through Sadie's brain, and she stood up, grabbing onto the camera to turn to her. "They're coming, Finnick. They're gonna kill everyone. And in District 13, you'll be dead by morning!" She screamed, Peeta joining her as he began yelling to Katniss. Peacekeepers dragged her and Peeta out of the room, and the screen flashed to the Capitol News logo.

Tears fell down both Katniss and Finnick's faces as the group stared at the screen. "They're warning us. That was a warning," said Haymitch.

"Yes, it was," Gale added.

"We have to get him out before they kill him," Katniss cried.

"Is there anything in the air?" Coin asked.

"Nothing on Doppler, ma'am," a soldier told her.

"They were in the mansion. They could have overheard something," Coin said.

"Possibly," Plutarch shrugged.

"It's time for an air raid drill," Coin announced, and a deafening alarm went off.

"But we have to save her!" Finnick yelled.

"Unless you want to be in the middle of a bomb zone, I suggest you focus your attention on something else," Haymitch spat at him, and Katniss dragged Finnick out as he tried to argue.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

It had been over two hours, and Peeta and Sadie had been right about the bombing. Everyone was able to get in the bunker safely, and now they were waiting till morning to make sure it was safe. Katniss had tried to defuse the fear by talking to Prim and playing with buttercup.

But once something hit her, she gave the flashlight to Prim and walked over to Finnick's bed where he was resting on his side, staring at a picture of Sadie.

"Hey," Katniss greeted him, and he looked up. "Can I sit?"

"Yeah," Finnick whispered and made room for Katniss, continuing to stare at Sadie's picture.

"Snow's using Sadie to punish you. He's taunting us with them. I didn't understand until just now watching that stupid cat," Katniss told him, and Finnick sighed.

"After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act. We all expected you to continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta's heart stopped and he nearly died that I knew I'd misjudged you. You love him. I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't even know yourself. But anyone paying attention can see it," he said, his tone soft and tender.

"How do you live with it?" Katniss asked him.

"I drag myself outta nightmares, and there's no relief in waking up. But it's better not to give in to it. Take ten times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart."

[14]

"OKAY, FINNICK GO in the center there. Those rocks," Cressida ordered, and Finnick stood where she told him to. "Castor, to the left. Pollux, you're with me. So we'll go straight to the camera. Okay?" Cressida announced and looked towards Finnick; he was examining the rubble left by the bombing with a blank expression. "Finnick?"

"Yeah," Finnick rushed out, going back down to Earth.

"Okay. Take your time. Just remember to keep talking and don't stop," Cressida said, and Finnick nodded as the camera began filming.

"This is Finnick Odair. Winner of the 65th Hunger Games. And I'm coming to you from District 13, alive and well. We've survived an assault from the Capitol. But I'm not here to give you recent news," he began, staring directly at the camera while forcing himself not to break. This could be their only shot at getting Sadie back, and he was determined to keep talking like Cressida had told him.

"The truth. Not the myths about a life of luxury. Not the lie about glory for your homeland. You can survive the arena. The moment you leave, you're a slave," Finnick explained, and Katniss, through the screen, grew more and more curious. Is this what Johanna had mentioned to her about Sadie denying Snow's orders? "President Snow used to sell me. Or my body, at least. I wasn't the only one. If a Victor is considered desirable, the President gives them as a reward or allows people to buy them. If you refuse, he kills someone you love," Finnick continued.

"An example of this is Sadie Sterling's case. Snow had demanded she be sold into prostitution, but she refused. A few weeks later, she walked into her home to find her entire family shot dead. Her parents were honorable clothing producers and were well respected in district eight. Some of her siblings were as young as ten years old," he tried not to break explaining Sadie's backstory before saying, "to make themselves feel better, my partons would make presents of money or jewelry. But I found a much more valuable form of payment. Secrets."

"See, I know all the depravity, the deceit, and the cruelty of the Capitol's pampered elite. But the biggest secrets are about our good President, Coriolanus Snow. Such a young man when he rose to power. Such a clever one to keep it. How, you may ask, did he do it? One word. Poison."

"He stopped every mutiny before it even started. There are so many mysterious deaths to adversaries, even to allies who were threats. Snow would drink from the same cup to deflect suspicion. But antidotes don't always work, which is why he wears roses that reek of perfume. Help cover the scent of blood from sores in his mouth that will never heal."

"But he can't hide the scent of who he really is. He kills without mercy. He rules with deception and fear. His weapon of choice is the only thing suited to such a man. Poison. The perfect weapon for a snake," the camera then shut down, and the tv crew began panicking.

"What happened?" Finnick asked the cameramen, and they shrugged.

"The power must be going back online in the Capitol. We can't overpower it. Come on; we gotta see if we can keep broadcasting you," Cressida stated, rushing past the debris with her cameramen and Finnick. They began running to the command center, and they burst through the door to see President Snow broadcasted across the screen.

"Miss Everdeen. You couldn't run from this any more than you could have run from the Games," Snow chuckled darkly.

"Please. You've won. You've already beaten me. Release Peeta. And take me instead," Katniss begged, and Snow shook his head.

"We're long past the opportunity for noble sacrifice."

"Then tell me what to do. I've always kept my promises, haven't I?"

"You said you didn't want a war. And that's just what's happened. I told you what a fragile thing peace was. And still, like a child, you took pleasure in breaking it. I know what you are. I know you can't see past your narrowest concerns. But please, Miss Everdeen. I doubt you know what honesty is anymore," the President argued.

"You asked me to convince you that I was in love with Peeta. Haven't I at least done that?" Katniss asked.

"Miss Everdeen, it's the things we love most that destroy us. I want you to remember that I said that," Snow said with a sigh. "Don't you think I know your friends are in the Tribute Center?" Everyone in the command center became speechless as Snow cut them off.

"What happened?" Finnick asked.

"Boggs, come in," Beetee yelled.

"What happened?" Katniss asked Haymitch.

"Boggs, come in. Do you read me?"

"He knows that they're in there. It's a trap," Katniss screeched.

"Katniss, hold it —" Haymitch began.

"We have to get a hold of them. We have to tell them to get out. He knows," Katniss told Plutarch.

"There's no signal. We can't contact them," Plutarch frowned.

"No. Haymitch, he knew the whole time. He was taunting me. No, Haymitch. They're in there," Katniss sobbed. Finnick stared at the static screen, realization not yet hitting him like it had Katniss.

"No, we don't know that," Haymitch said as he brought Katniss into his arms.

"Did I lose them both tonight? Did I lose them both tonight? Did I lose them? I lost them both. No! No!" Katniss cried as Haymitch shushed her.

Finnick leaned against a nearby table and erupted in sobs, shudders, and cries before running out of the room, not wanting to hear any more bad news.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Finnick and Katniss sat in a small cubical, waiting for any possible news. Finnick was working hastily on a complex knot while Katniss sat staring at the floor. It was when the door opened when Katniss looked up. Haymitch popped his head through and muttered the words she had been waiting to hear, "they're back."

Katniss was quick to get up, but Finnick stayed sitting to the point where Katniss had to drag him up and to the hospital. Once they began running through the halls, Finnick was able to comprehend moving on his own.

They burst through the doors and saw dozens of doctors stationed around the room. They hear clattering and ran over to a hospital bed. They saw Johanna ripping medical tools from her body in frustration. They stopped at the sight of how sick she looked, with her head shaved bald and bruises making her skin sallow and thin.

"Johanna," Katniss gasped.

"It's too bright!" They heard a shrill cry come from the other side of the room. They looked over to see Sadie shoving a nurse with a flashlight out of her way. Once she caught sight of Finnick's sea-green eyes, she stopped fighting with the doctors.

"Finnick!" She shouted, ripping the blood pressure monitor off her arm. "Finnick!"

"Sadie? Sadie!" Finnick cried as Sadie jumped off her hospital bed and ran across the room. She jumped into his arms, letting out several sobs as all her previous nerves disappeared. Finnick rested his forehead on her's as he muttered, "you're safe. You're safe."

Sadie nodded with a smile, and Finnick pulled her into a desperate kiss. It felt like it was just them at that moment, not as if soldiers and doctors were watching them. Finnick ran his hand through Sadie's frizzy hair and broke the kiss. The two laughed in pure joy before molding their lips together again.

After a moment of kissing, the two brought each other into a tight embrace as they cried in each other's arms. Sadie wrapped her frail arms around his neck and squeezed him the best she could. Finnick had begun sobbing at not only reuniting with his love but also at how different she looked. She was much thinner and boney than before and, like Johanna, had bruises spread from places as high as her eyes to her ankles. The only thing that hadn't changed was her chocolate brown eyes and usual long wavy honey-colored hair.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie looked around her assigned hospital room, her bloodshot eyes wide in anxiety. Finnick couldn't sense her tension even with his arms encasing her, and he remained sleeping soundly. Sadie glanced back at Finnick and carefully got out of his grip, which he hadn't let go of since reuniting a few hours ago.

She walked across the room where the window overviewing the lobby of district 13 was placed. Since it had blinds covering it at night, Sadie had to sleep without light. She noticed a few cabinets, and she began looking through them. She found many medical instruments along with restokes for the bed. She grabbed the sharpest thing she could find, which was a simple scalpel, and felt her way over to the window.

She began trying to pry the window off the wall. The blinds were on the outside, and she couldn't reach them, so she thought of this as the second-best option. She was digging the scalpel into the side of the window when it slipped from her grip and fell onto the ground. She huffed in frustration. Not realizing the walls were made of solid metal, she continued to try.

A particularly loud bang against the wall with the scalpel caused a small ringing to go through the room. Sadie let out a yelp, falling to the ground where she covered her ears. The noise caused Finnick to snap awake with a gasp. When he noticed Sadie wasn't in bed and rather sat under the window with her hands over her ears as she rolled into a ball, squinting her eyes shut, he got up cautiously.

"Sadie? Sadie?" He repeated, but since she had cut off her sight and hearing, she had no idea Finnick had even woken up.

"It's so dark. It's so dark," she kept whispering over and over again as Finnick approached her, sitting down next to her. He slowly grabbed her hands and forced them from her ears as she opened her eyes once more.

"Sadie," Finnick whimpered, intertwining their fingers together as he examined Sadie's face with worry. "What happened?"

Sadie struggled to form words as she pointed to the window. Finnick noticed the scalpel on the floor, and he gulped. "What were you trying to do?"

"It's so dark. It's so dark. Finnick, why is it so dark?" Sadie kept asking, and Finnick was overwhelmed at all the questions he was receiving.

"Because it's nighttime, Sadie. Were you trying to uncover the window?" He asked, and she nodded, glancing back at the window before whipping around to stare at Finnick.

"It's so dark. Darkness is danger, and I don't like danger. Finnick told me he'd protect me from danger," she mumbled and began rocking back and forth.

"I will protect you. Do you want me to turn on the lights?" said Finnick, and Sadie nodded. Finnick stood up and turned on the lights. Sadie was lucky they were warm-based and not fluorescent. Finnick sat down next to Sadie, who was still shaken up but had relaxed when the lights were turned on.

He pulled her into his arms, and the girl let out a sigh of relief. "Why are you afraid of the dark?" He asked.

"Thread did it," she whispered.

"The peacekeeper?" Sadie nodded. "How did he make you afraid of the dark?"

"Can we go back to bed?" Sadie asked, and Finnick examined her sad eyes. She clearly didn't want to talk about it, and Finnick wasn't going to force her. He nodded, and they got up. Sadie got back in bed, but when Finnick went to turn the lights back off, she stopped him.

"Can you leave the lights on? Please," she pleaded.

"Yeah. Yeah, of course," he walked over to the bed and got under the covers, as did Sadie. The boy wrapped her in an embrace as she slowly fell asleep.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

The crowd cheered as Coin made it to the microphone in the lobby. As the applause sessed, Coin began, "good evening. Yesterday, I authorized a covert rescue mission inside the Capitol. I am pleased to announce that the Victors have been liberated!" The crowd cheered as she continued, "let this day mark a historic change. With The Mockingjay and the Victors beside us, we have sent a clear message to the Capitol. That we will never again endure injustice."

"Today, a day on which we reunited family, friends, and loved ones. Let all of Panem come together. Not to battle for the amusement of the Capitol. But to join hands in this fight," the lobby roared as Sadie looked up at Finnick, who smiled down at her. He squeezed her side and placed a kiss on her forehead.

"Let today be the day we promise never to give up, never to give in until we have made a new Panem, where leaders are elected, not imposed upon us. And where districts are free to share the fruits of their labors and not fight one another for scraps!"

"This new Panem is on the horizon. But we must take it for ourselves. The road there leads through the sharp mountains and deep ravines of District two. There, in the heart of Panem's steepest mountain range, lies the Capitol's principal military facility. We can conquer this stronghold because we are one people, one army, one voice. Because today is our new beginning. Today we have freed the Victors. Tomorrow, Panem!"

The lobby applauded in whistles and yells. Sadie was one of them, but Finnick was not. Instead, he stared down at Sadie in admiration as she smiled up at the President. His mind was exploding with thoughts, but the only thing he could focus on was a question.

He leaned down towards Sadie's ear, making sure only she could hear, and said in his silky voice, "marry me."

[15]

AS SADIE CREAKED the steel door to Peeta's restrainment room open, she heard rustling coming from Peeta's bed. Once Peeta caught sight of his former jailmate, he relaxed into his pillow. Sadie sat at the edge of his bed; she couldn't stop gnawing at her lip and fidgeting with her fingers.

"How long have they had you locked up like this?" She asked, pulling at the belts holding him down against his bed.

Peeta sighed with a shrug. "I don't remember. My brain is too busy focusing on other things right now."

"Same," Sadie whispered, and Peeta looked at her to continue. Sadie licked her chapped lips before starting, "Finnick has asked me to marry him." Peeta's eyebrows raised, and he blinked a few times.

"What'd you say?"

"Nothing," Sadie said, her voice raising an octave. "What answer could I give him that would explain my thoughts right now? How could he even think of bringing me through the pressure of answering such a life-changing question when I can't even turn the lights off?"

"I think that's the point," Peeta answered, his usual distressed and frantic face turning serious and relaxed. "If I were Finnick, I would jump at the chance to spend as much time with you as possible if something were to happen again. And what better way than to vow to you?"

"But still after … everything," Sadie trailed off. "We haven't had a single date, only kissed four maybe five times, hell I haven't even told him how much I love him," she cut herself off as the words fell from her lips. She let out a sigh, all the realizations just hitting her as she sat at the end of her insane friend's hospital bed.

"Case in point," Peeta muttered with a slight chuckle. Sadie smiled at him as his eyes slowly began drifting closed. She could tell he was tired, so she stood from his bed, ruffling up his hair, and walked out of the hospital room.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Finnick?" Sadie called, knocking on Finnick's room door. She opened it slowly and saw Finnick sitting on his bed, tying knots with his rope. Sadie approached him and sat down, placing her hand on his fidgeting ones. Finnick looked up and caught her stare, getting consumed in her neverending brown eyes.

Finnick sighed, setting his rope aside as he gave Sadie his full attention. Sadie leaned forward, bringing his lips into a sweet kiss as he relaxed into her. They moved in sync as Sadie felt an eruption of butterflies fill her stomach. For the first time, she had kissed Finnick without the reason of distraction or relief. It was purely because she wanted to feel the warmth of Finnick's skin and the tenderness and love of his touch.

Sadie broke the kiss, but her lips stayed centimeters away from Finnick's, who tried to reconnect them only for her to pull away slightly. "Yes," Sadie whispered, and Finnick became confused for a moment. "Yes, I'll marry you," she continued, and Finnick's eyes grew. A smile formed on his face, and he laughed in delight.

"I love you," he muttered, and Sadie followed his actions with a wide grin.

"I love you too."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Don't worry, Katniss, there'll be survivors." Boggs calmed an uneasy Katniss as she and a few troops from District 13 made it around a derailed train in District two. Despite Finnick's pleads to stay behind, stating that she was not well enough to go into action yet, Sadie insisted on supporting Katniss as she tried to persuade the unstable District two into joining the rebellion. Even Coin and Katniss herself were not keen on letting Sadie go, but Sadie was too stubborn to be left out.

"Let's focus on what is it you gotta say. Now, Plutarch wrote a speech for you —" Haymitch began.

"I'm not saying that," Katniss cut him off, her voice monotonous.

"Okay. Didn't think so. But just remember, you're talking to everybody. Not just the rebels, but The Capitol, the survivors in two. We want them to lay down their arms. So you might wanna experiment with a little sensitivity, warmth. Make it quick; you're exposed," Haymitch explained, patting Katniss' shoulder as everyone stayed back while she walked forward.

The tv crew was set up, waiting for Katniss, who nodded at Cressida. The camera began rolling, and she began, "this is Katniss Everdeen, speaking to all of the loyalists from the heart of District two."

They then heard yelling as lights emerged from the soft fog filling the tunnel. Boggs ran towards Katniss, ushering her away, "we gotta get you back."

A train began growing closer to them, with rebels yelling at one another. "Everyone stand by!" a rebel ordered.

"Everybody out! On the ground! Get on the ground! Put your weapons down now! Weapons down!" Rebels began threatening groups of people as they unloaded from the train.
"Drop it! Drop your weapon! You! Drop it!" Boggs yelled as a shadow of a man neared them. The man raised the gun as Boggs continued demanding he drop his weapon. Sadie screamed as the gun fired and the train began backing up.

"Hold your fire! Stop! Stop!" Boggs shouted as Katniss began running over to a man who was lying on the ground

Sadie ran over to help Katniss aid the man. "Hold your fire! He needs help!" Sadie yelled as she and Katniss kneeled next to the man.

As they tried to help him up, he took out a gun, grabbing Katniss' hair as he put it to her throat. He would occasionally switch to Sadie to make sure she didn't move as well.

"Drop it!" Boggs roared.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot you," the man threatened Katniss, still glancing at Sadie.

"Drop the gun!"

Katniss looked down at the gun aimed at her neck then back up at the man. "I can't. I guess that's the problem, isn't it? We blew up your mine. You burned my district to the ground. We each have every reason to want to kill each other. So if you wanna kill me, do it. Make Snow happy. I'm tired of killing his slaves for him," she hissed.

"I'm not his slave," the man bit back.

"I am," Katniss began. "That's why I killed Cato. And he killed Thresh. And Thresh killed Clove. It just goes around and around. And who wins? Always Snow. I am done being a piece in his game. District 12, District 2, we have no fight. Except the one The Capitol gave us. Why are you fighting the rebels? You're neighbors. You're family," as Katniss finished, the man retracted the gun. He looked disgusted with himself as he backed away from Sadie and Katniss. The two stood up and looked towards the rest of the rebel-antis.

"These people are not your enemy. We all have one enemy. And that's Snow. He corrupts everyone and everything. He turns the best of us against each other. Stop killing for him," Sadie yelled at them and but they never lowered their weapons. "Tonight, turn your weapons to The Capitol. Turn your weapons to Snow," she was interrupted by the firing of a gun, and she shielded herself as the troops behind them began firing as well. She looked to her right as she ducked down and saw Katniss struggling for air with blood covering her chest.

"Katniss?" Sadie trembled as Boggs ran over.

"Come on! We gotta leave! Now!"

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Tonight, turn your weapons to The Capitol. Turn your weapons to Snow," Sadie shouted through the tv, followed by gunfire and Katniss falling limp. Coin paused the recording, and the room glared at Sadie. Sadie built up her courage as she stared Coin in the eyes.

"Where do I even begin?" Coin started with a sigh.

"A simple thank you would do," Sadie spoke up, and Haymitch slammed his hands on the table.

"You almost got the Mockingjay killed. We shouldn't be thanking you," he barked, and Sadie crossed her arms.

Plutarch looked to be about to say something, but Boggs interrupted him to talk to Coin, "I'll keep her more in line, Madame President."

"Bullshit!" Sadie yelled, and Finnick sent her a warning glance from beside her.

"I took the immense risk of bringing you into action, and you disappointed me by getting the Mockingjay, the very symbol of the rebellion and hope, shot," Coin scolded her, and Sadie stood up from her chair. She was looking at her with rage filling her eyes.

"If the rebellion could be so simply broken as Katniss getting killed, then you should probably try to build it up more. Because let's face it, Katniss is number one on any of The Capitol's hit lists —"

"That's because she is the person to start this entire thing, Miss Sterling," Plutarch cut her off.

"Okay? Woo-hoo go her such a good role-model. But let's be realistic, Katniss has escaped death too many times for it to keep going. Are you just putting all your eggs in one basket that her luck will last until we have a free Panem?" She asked Coin.

"Well then, what else are you suggesting, Miss Sterling? Hm?" Coin snapped.

"To put another face in the light. You can't only rely on one helpless little girl —"

"Katniss is perfectly capable —"

"Right now, she's not. What do you expect to do? Just wait till she gets better? Send a get-well-soon card? Right now, The Capitol knows she is several injured, not dead they would never be that stupid, but injured. They think we are at a disadvantage, but we need to prove them wrong. Create another Mockingjay —"

"We can't keep spitting out copies of the Mockingjay thinking it'll make us seem stronger," Plutarch stated.

"Fine. Then put me in," said Sadie.

"Sadie," Finnick warned.

"You?" Haymitch laughed, and Sadie glared at him.

"Yes me. You've all seen my skill, haven't you?"

"She does have a strong voice, Madame President. And she hates Snow more than anyone," Plutarch added as Coin eyed me up and down.

"You are not mentally stable enough for this job, Miss Sterling," Coin said.

"Neither is Katniss. Have you seen her lately? Or are you always this cold to not notice feelings?"

"Alright, that's enough," Boggs spat, and Sadie sighed.

"You haven't even been out of The Capitol for two weeks —"

"Yet I still wanted to go out with Katniss. I wanted to fight back despite everyone telling me no. I'm not asking for an A-list treatment or to be in the fancy videos. I only want to be able to speak my opinions without getting a scolding," the room went silent, waiting for Coin to reply. The sound of the door opening made everyone turn their heads.

Who walked in shocked everyone. "I vote for the name The Heretic," Cecilia announced, raising her perfect eyebrows.

"Cecilia? What are you doing here?" Sadie asked as she went up to hug her mentor.

"I came to join this rebellion. Sorry, I'm a bit late, Alma Coin, is it?" Cecilia pointed to President Coin, who nodded.

"It's always good to have another victor on our side," Coin smiled. Sadie could tell her cheerful voice and smiles were fake, still wanting to continue the argument.

"So, Alma. What's it gonna be?" Cecilia asked, putting her hands on her hips. "Let the Capitol think we get set back by a simple bullet or let Sadie be The Heretic?"

Coin looked at Sadie and Cecilia, her smile now falling. Everyone was practically choking on the tension as Coin thought. A small grin then appeared on her face, which Sadie noticed had a hint of defeat under, and she said, "fine. Say hello to our second face of the rebellion, everyone."

[16]

COIN STARED AT the hard drive Cecilia passed to her from across the table. "What is this?" Coin asked, her voice explaining her exact emotions that she was not in the mood to be lectured more about how excellent Sadie was.

"A compilation of every bad event to severally impact Sadie's life. Some dating back to her Games, while others are as latest as her torturing sessions in the Capitol. We have security footage, thanks to Beetee from inside the Capitol itself. You may watch them all and study Sadie's weaknesses," Cecilia explained as Coin examined the hard drive.

"And is Miss Sterling okay with us invading her privacy?" Plutarch asked.

"Considering it was her idea, I would think she's alright with it. She told me to tell you that it's better if her enemies know her weakness so she can predict their next moves more accurately," Cecilia added, her usual fire never leaving.

"Well, now I'm telling you to tell her that we are not her enemies," Coin assured, her tone becoming soft as it had later that week when first meeting Cecilia.

"And why couldn't Miss Sterling tell us this herself?" Plutarch asked.

Cecilia let a smirk fall across her face as she said, "she's planning her wedding."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"From this day forth, in sickness and in health, for richer or poorer. I promise to love and cherish you each day," Sadie said in a dreamy and wistful voice. With the visually pleasing background, the soft and chilling grass net wrapped around her hands, enlacing them with Finnick's, and the ruby dress adorned with flowers she, Cecilia, and Effie helped sew that flowed down to bellow her knees made her feel like she was floating. But the thing that sent her to the moon was Finnick's beautiful sea-green eyes staring right back at her; a smile spread across his face as he listened to Sadie's vows.

Once Sadie finished, Finnick began, "I, Finnick Odair, take you, Sadie Sterling, as my wife from this day forth, Together or apart, we will always be united. One life, one purpose, one destiny."

Sadie examined every feature of his skin as he ended his speech. From the dimples on his cheeks to the crooked smirk he constantly wore. He was perfect. And at the moment, she had begun questioning why she had even bothered thinking about marrying him. Now realizing, she should've had no hesitation. She was ready to spend the rest of her life with Finnick by her side and was ready to do it gladly.

"You may kiss the bride," the minister glowed, and Finnick looked over to him with an appreciative look. He moved back over to Sadie and, with no thoughts, bent down, bringing her into a soft kiss at first.

They drowned out the growing applause as they made the kiss deeper, getting sucked into that very small moment. Letting all cares in the world slip away and the only image in their brain were each other.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Alongside the lively fiddle playing and the choir of children singing a traditional wedding song from District four, the other sounds being heard in District 13 were laughs, countless conversations, and the clinks of glasses filled with cider. As Finnick and Sadie danced in the middle of the circle full of District 13 civilians, everyone clapped along with the fiddle.

Finnick grabbed Sadie's hand, spinning her around in synchronized circles. They couldn't keep the smiles off their faces as they turned around again, the individuals from District 13 around them doing the same. Sadie laughed when Finnick dipped her and when she snapped back up, she caught his devouring eyes. He swung her around before standing chest to chest as the song ended.

Everyone clapped as another song began, this time from district eight's wedding traditions. It was still played by the fiddler, having no other musicians in all of district 13. Still, it was much slower, and he only dragged his bow across the strings after the choir would finish a collection of lyrics in an ancient and confusing language. But no matter how odd the song was, it was still gorgeous and caused everyone to match the patterns of the music. Something of a ball began as groups of two danced across the hall.

Not many people knew of district eight's traditions, as they weren't known for much during weddings besides the most beautiful of dresses. But Sadie knew many things others didn't, having helped arrange Otto's wedding, which was keen on following many traditions.

As Finnick brought Sadie into his arms, they began swaying along with everyone else as Sadie leaned towards Finnick's ear. "Follow my lead," he furrowed his eyebrows but listened to her anyway. Sadie began muttering small commands in Finnick's ear as he began spinning her again. As the song picked up suddenly, everyone was quick to adapt and move much faster. As more people joined the dancing, Sadie and Finnick began slowly making their way to the exit of the dining hall.

Continuing to dance, they were able to make it across the hall, not catching any suspicion. Once they were sure everyone was out of view, Sadie grabbed Finnick's hand and dragged him out of the reception.

"What was all that about?" Finnick asked his bride as she continued leading him to the elevator.

"Clearly, you haven't read about the district eight wedding tradition to leave the reception early. That's one of our favorites," Sadie stated with a chuckle as they entered the elevator.

"Any more traditions I should be looking out for?" Finnick asked, and the elevator began rising them up to their room.

"One, but we can't do it in front of Coin. Otherwise, she'll know I snuck bourbon in here," Sadie said, and Finnick laughed.

"Don't tell Haymitch; he's getting more eager for that stuff by the minute," he joked, and the elevator opened. They walked to their room, and what Finnick saw made his curiosity skyrocket. On the table lying in the middle of the room was a small bottle of bourbon and a shot-glass full of salt.

"What is this for?" Finnick asked as Sadie sat down with Finnick across from her.

"Take a sip and make sure it stays on your lips," she handed Finnick the bottle of bourbon, and he hesitated but eventually took a drink. Sadie coated her finger in salt and began placing it upon Finnick's bourbon-coated lips. "In District eight, to ensure a symbol of unity, the bride must kiss the groom with bourbon and salt-coated lips. The alcohol representing the festivity, and the salt is a symbol of taste. We like to say it brings more flavor to the reception. But some people prefer to do this on their own. As we are now," Sadie explained as she finished applying salt to Finnick's lips.

"Also, I don't feel like getting in trouble with Coin again," Finnick laughed as Sadie stood from her seat and moved over to Finnick.

"I remember this was one of the only things I remembered from Otto's wedding," she whispered as she stood over him. Finnick hummed as she leaned down to go to his level.

She grabbed onto the side of Finnick's face and collided their lips. Finnick let her get all the salt from his lips as it burned the inside of her mouth, but it was soothed by the taste of the bourbon. Once all the salt was off his lips, Finnick stood from his seat and ran a hand through Sadie's curled hair.

Sadie broke the kiss, and Finnick began trailing kisses down her neck. "Finnick, you sure?" she gasped, and Finnick looked back up at her.

"Are you?"

"Of course," Sadie answered, and Finnick let one of Sadie's favorite smirks slip from his lips.

"You are such a wonderful young woman, Mrs. Odair."

[17]

"FINNICK? SADIE?" KATNISS announced as Finnick and Sadie walked under one of the many tents holding rebels with smiles on their faces. Finnick swung his trident around as he nodded towards Katniss. "Are you with us?" The Mockingjay asked.

"Looks like it," Finnick answered, and Katniss chuckled.

"That was a short honeymoon," the girl joked as she embraced them both.

"Yeah, well, I guess we're gonna have to have one in The Capitol," Finnick stated.

"After we take it," Sadie smirked, and Katniss laughed.

"Gather 'round," Boggs ordered as he and the tv crew walked in. "Squad 451, you're my unit. Lieutenant Jackson is my second-in-command. Each one of you is elite in some form of combat. But we are a non-combat unit. So we'll be following days behind the front-line troops," Boggs explained.

"You're to be the onscreen faces of the invasion. The Star Squad. It's been decided that you're most effective when seen by the masses," Cressida added.

"So we're not gonna fight?" Gale asked, sounding quite disappointed.

"You'll do whatever you're ordered to do, soldier. It's not your job to ask questions," Boggs snapped, and Gale nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Our instructions are to shoot propaganda footage on the battle-scarred streets of The Capitol. You were handpicked to intimidate their forces," Boggs continued.

"And inspire surrenders," Cressida said.

"Even though we'll be working on abandoned streets miles behind the front lines, I guarantee you, wherever they put us, it will not be safe. This is a war zone. It is likely that we'll encounter both active pods and Peacekeepers. You're considered high-value targets to The Capitol. In the event of capture, you'll be given a nightlock pill. A poison that acts immediately. Lieutenant Jackson, do the honors," Boggs handed Lieutenant Jackson a case filled with nightlock pills. Once she passed Finnick and Sadie theirs, they looked at each other with uneasy looks.

"I've already briefed you on the pods. I remind you, they are on every block. Our unit has been given a Holo. A database that contains a detailed map of The Capitol and a list of every known pod. These pods can trigger anything from bombs to traps to mutts. We cannot move without this device. There's no guarantee that our database is complete. There could be new pods that we're not aware of. Because we don't want the Gamemakers to know we have this intel, it has a self-destruct on it. You flip this switch, say nightlock, three times, and it blows itself and anything within a 10-foot radius. Stay within our unit. Even with the Holo, it is likely that new pods have been set. Whatever they contain, they are meant to kill you," once Boggs finished, Sadie leaned towards Katniss' ear and whispered.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 76th Hunger Games."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

As the squad trudged through the bombed part of The Capitol, Sadie couldn't help look around at the scenery. It looked a lot like Everett's arena during his Games which only made the sense that this was another one of Snow's game increase. Finnick made sure never to let go of Sadie's hand as they traveled next to the Leeg sisters.

"I've never seen this place so empty," Katniss gawked as Boggs scanned the area for any active pods.

"Just keep your eyes open," Boggs ordered as they neared a street between two sets of apartment buildings. The Holo began beeping rapidly as they grew closer to the road. Boggs lifted his hand, stopping the group as he looked at the Holo. "Got a pod. Let's take cover," the group ran in front of where the street was, and Boggs pointed in between the two apartments.

"Shoot through those two buildings," he told Katniss, and she loaded up an arrow as the tv crew got ready. "When you're ready, Katniss," everyone ducked down as Katniss drew her bow back. She shot the arrow, and fire began erupting through the sides of the buildings. They heard an explosion and all went lower to the ground but realized it was only a car being flipped over.

As the fire stopped, everyone stood up, and Boggs clarified their safety. They moved into an abandoned building, taking a rest as they didn't know a good deal where to go next. People were hydrating while Sadie and Finnick began joking with each other to lighten the mood.

Then they heard the sound of a vehicle approaching them, and everyone stood up eagerly. "Is that Peacekeepers?" Sadie asked Boggs, who looked out in an opening in the wall.

"451 to base," Leitenite Jackson began into her radio. "We've got a truck coming in from the south. Over."

As people began walking towards the truck in curiosity, Jackson added, "stand down, everyone. It's friendly."

They saw a few soldiers unloading the truck, and who they saw walk out from the back shocked everyone. As Peeta was escorted over, Katniss loaded an arrow while a few raised their guns. Peeta appeared to be muttering something as he got closer, and Katniss drew her bow.

"Okay, stop," Gale barked.

"Hold up. Everyone relax," Finnick soothed as he and Sadie stepped forward. Finnick seemed concerned, but Sadie was happy to see Peeta.

"What are we doin'?" Gale asked Boggs in disbelief that they were considering having Peeta join. Sadie wrapped her arms around Peeta, who hugged back instantly.

"How are you? Hm?" Sadie asked, and Peeta shrugged, his expression still dazed.

"Jackson, cuff him," Boggs ordered, walking away as Jackson went over to Peeta. Katniss slowly lowered her bow as Jackson pushed Sadie out of the way and began handcuffing Peeta.

"Solider, this is just a precaution till we can get everything straightened out. Yeah?" Jackson said, and Peeta nodded, beginning to mutter again. Everyone made their way back inside, and Peeta was sat next to Sadie and Finnick. They knew Sadie would keep Peeta mentally stable enough to at least not attack Katniss, and even if he did, Finnick would be able to hold him off.

"They want us to add him to the propo. Show that he's on our side now. We'll move forward a few blocks tomorrow and shoot the new footage," Boggs explained to the group.

"He's not in control of himself," Gale stated, looking over to Sadie and Finnick, who were talking to Peeta.

"I say we schedule an around-the-clock watch on him. The Leegs till 1700, Homes and Mitchell till 1900. And the Odairs till 2200. They seem the most connected with him," Jackson added.

"Give me a watch," Katniss demanded.

"And if it really came down to it, you think you could shoot him?" Jackson asked.

"I wouldn't be shooting Peeta. Be killing a Capitol mutt," Katniss replied coldly, catching Peeta's attention. Sadie and Finnick sighed at noticing how emotionless Peeta looked.

"I'm not sure that kind of a comment recommends you for the job, either, soldier," Jackson argued.

"Put her in the rotation," Boggs said before walking off. Katniss and Jackson followed him, but Jackson stayed behind.

"My name is Peeta Mellark. My home is District 12," Peeta murmured, and Sadie frowned. She had tried to forget those begs for remembrance from the first few weeks Peeta was in The Capitol, but it was slowly coming back to haunt her.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

That night, after their watch after Peeta, it was Katniss' turn, and Sadie was nevertheless nervous about her two friends. She may have hope for Peeta, but he was still brainwashed into thinking Katniss was not the girl he fell in love with. Sadie was sleeping next to Finnick, the lamp resting next to her to provide as much light as possible. She was still a bit tense, so Finnick calmed her by wrapping his arms around her.

However, when Finnick heard Peeta talking to Katniss, he slowly sat up. "I'm sorry. I just can't tell what's real and what's made up anymore," Peeta sighed.

"Then ask," Finnick cut in. "It's what Sadie does," he said, glancing over at his wife.

"Ask who?"

"Us. We're your unit now," Jackson said. She was another supervisor alongside Katniss.

Peeta took a breath, staring at the floor as he said to Katniss, "your favorite color is green. Is that real?"

"Yeah. That's real. Yours is orange. Not bright orange. Soft, like the sunset," Katniss stated softly.

"Thank you."

"You're a painter. You're a baker. You always sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. You always double-knot your shoelaces," Katniss started as she began getting choked up. "You were right. I can't do this," she told Jackson as she stood up and leaned against a wall next to Gale.

Peeta sighed again, looking at Finnick, who had a solemn face but tried to smile anyway. "How well do you think Sadie is?" He asked him, and Finnick was shocked by his question. Finnick looked back at Sadie, who had tensed in her sleep. He ran his hand through her hair and sighed.

"I honestly don't know. She hasn't told me anything about what happened. She only leaves me with the side effects of it," he said and looked back at Peeta.

"Like what?" Peeta asked.

"The night you all returned, I slept in her hospital room with her and woke up to find her trying to pry the window off the wall. She was scaring me at how frightened she sounded at not being able to get the window off. I learned that night that she was terrified of the dark, and she always has to sleep with the lights on," Finnick whispered, and Peeta glanced at the lamp extremely close to Sadie.

"Did she ever tell you what they did to her?" Jackson cut in, now interested in the conversation about one of her soldiers. Finnick shook his head, and Peeta began muttering again.

"Peeta," Finnick called to him, and Peeta looked up. "What happened there?" Finnick was sick of wondering the events that led up to another break in Sadie's life and wanted the truth and not an excuse to get out of telling him.

Peeta stared at him, debating if Sadie would want him to tell Finnick. He struggled to begin explaining but eventually spat out some sort of answer, "everyone's experience was different there. You all know what happened to me, even if I don't fully remember. Johanna was sent to electric shock sessions. But with Sadie, they knew no physical torture would give them any useful information. So they tried multiple different things. They first tried showing emotional pictures of her loved ones and threatening your wellbeing but got nothing."

"They then collected security footage of every bad memory to impact her life. Some being from her Games while others were of death. That also didn't work. So Thread tried the most painful thing he could think of. Using her thoughts against her using sensory deprivation torture."

Finnick's curiosity skyrocketed, not knowing much about different types of torture, let alone ones used by Peacekeepers.

"Every day for long hours, she would be locked in a soundproof box, tied to a chair, and blindfolded. She didn't tell us much about what she saw, but she gave a vague description of hallucinations. Johanna concluded it was most likely of something gruesome her own mind had forced on replay. Once these sessions began, she grew quieter and began screaming at harsh lights or sounds. We had also put together that this was because she would be punished with darkness and silence for hours that it overwhelmed her."

"Johanna heard one night Sadie muttering in her sleep after a ruthless session where she came back unconscious. She kept talking about Monkey Mutts and trying to save you from them. We assumed that was one of her recent hallucinations."

As Peeta finished his story, Finnick had tears rolling down his cheek. The man sniffed, wiping his cheeks as he cleared his throat. "Do — do you remember when that happened? That hallucination, I mean?"

"No. But we were sent to Snow's mansion the next day for an interview with Caesar. It ended up being our last one," Peeta answered.

"The one where you gave us a bomb warning," Finnick clarified, and Peeta nodded. Finnick began choking on his words as he and Peeta became awkwardly silent. Jackson had noticed both struggling to continue the conversation, so she turned away and let the two boys try and fall back asleep.

"Thanks for telling me, Peeta," Finnick said with a crack in his voice, and Peeta nodded.

"She's much stronger than I ever will be for getting through this as if nothing happened. And I will always remember that," Peeta smiled, and Finnick sniffed again. He wiped away any excess tears before lying back down, pulling Sadie closer to him than ever before, nuzzling his nose into her neck. Not knowing Sadie was awake as well, having woken up from a nightmare, and heard every word of their conversation.

[18]

SQUAD 451 TRUDGED from the abandoned building they had set camp in overnight and followed Coin's orders to move five blocks north. With the usual alignment of Boggs and Katniss in front monitoring the Holo and the rest in the back, Sadie was stood next to Finnick. As they neared an opening, Cressida muttered, "Boggs. This is a good spot. Through there, in the courtyard." The group would continue shooting propaganda with Katniss, and an open area with an archway was perfect.

"Okay, let us clear it," Boggs said, advancing with the group. Once everyone got past the archway, the Holo began beeping rapidly, and they stopped. "Got a pod. Split, take cover," Boggs ordered, and the group split up behind the two walls.

Boggs threw a rock into the pod, and machine guns came from the alley. Everyone cowered into their knees, and Peeta seemed to be struggling at the sounds of war, so Sadie hugged his shoulders to try and calm him down. As the bullets stopped coming, Boggs stepped forward to verify the pod's end.

"All clear. Gale, Homes, with me. Leeg take the wings," he ordered, and the soldiers stepped forward to examine the area. Peeta began his muttering again, and Sadie rubbed his arm. He took a shaky breath, hunched over his knees, looking quite sick.

He began twitching, which started to frighten Katniss and the other teammates. Even Finnick was weary at seeing Peeta's reaction. Everyone was so focused on Peeta that the only time their attention was diverted was when they heard an explosion and Boggs screaming.

Katniss ran forward at seeing Boggs fall to the floor. "Everdeen, no!" Jackson yelled.

"Boggs!"

"Hold your position!"

The soldiers on the other side of the alley stayed put as they watched Gale, Katniss, and Homes try to aid Boogs, but Boggs was dead in a matter of minutes.

"He's gone. He's gone," Gale pried Katniss' hands away, and Homes stopped. They heard groaning and looked over to see one of the Leeg sisters wounded. Her sister ran over and heard a click as she took a step. Everyone froze as walls enclosed them in the courtyard of apartments.

Knowing none of this could be good, the soldiers on the opposite end of the alley ran forward, Finnick grabbing onto Peeta just as black goo began flowing from the wall. It appeared to be oil, but everyone knew this was nowhere near oil.

They started getting to higher ground as the mysterious liquid moved at lightning speeds. They had begun jumping up to the apartments when Peeta yanked at Katniss' armor and threw her back. He tried to attack her, but Finnick tackled him before he could try hitting Katniss again. "Finnick, restrain him!" Jackson screamed as the liquid got closer.

"Peeta!" Sadie yelled as he pushed a soldier into the goop. He screamed as Finnick grabbed onto Peeta, who was still trying to fight.

"Settle! Settle!" Finnick shouted as he dragged Peeta inside an apartment building. Sadie yanked at Finnick's hand, who was struggling to keep a hold of Peeta and keep up. They made it just as the oil-like substance hit the buildings and began racing up the stairs as it flooded the apartment.

"Hey, Hey! I got you," Finnick shushed Peeta's groaning as Sadie shoved them up the stairs.

"It's slowing down," Cressida stated as she looked out the window. They watched as it slowly went down. Cressida comment, "game makers are still putting on quite a show."

"451 to base. Over," Jackson whispered into her radio.

"Hey, we better move. If Peacekeepers didn't know where we were, they do now," Sadie announced.

"Those surveillance cameras caught us," Cressida added.

"This is a bad spot. We need to move now," Gale said.

"I can't get a signal. But I can get us back to base. Everdeen, give me the Holo," Jackson said, but Katniss ignored her. "Everdeen, what did I just say? The Holo. Come on, let's go."

"Boggs gave it to me," Katniss muttered, staring at Jackson's burning eyes.

"What are you talking about?" Jackson hissed.

"He did. He transferred security clearance to her. I saw him," Gale argued.

"And why would he do that?"

"I'm on special orders from Coin," Katniss said.

"To do what?"

"To assassinate President Snow," the room went silent at Katniss' statement. Sadie glanced back at Finnick with a hopeful look.

"I don't believe that for one second. As your new unit commander, I order you to transfer security clearance to me now," Jackson spat.

"I can't do that," Katniss said, and Jackson pulled out her gun.

"Let's not lose our heads here," Gale held up his crossbow.

"I'm not asking you again, Everdeen. Give me that Holo," Jackson barked.

"She's telling the truth. Plutarch wants it televised. He thinks if we could film the Mockingjay assassinating Snow, it'll make The Capitol surrender before the casualties get too high," Cressida cut in, standing in front of Katniss.

"While we're arguing, there's 100 Peacekeepers on their way here," Gale said, and Katniss lowered his bow.

"Boggs promised me that when the time came, you would help me," Katniss whispered, and Jackson stared at her before tucking her gun away.

"All right, soldier, Holo's yours."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Everyone winced as the tv flashed onto Capitol News. They were hiding in a Capitol apartment not far from where the death oil had hit. The screen turned to Caesar Flickerman, and Sadie glared at him. "Good afternoon, I'm Caesar Flickerman. Here with our continuing coverage of the defense of The Capitol. Today, as our Peacekeepers valiantly hold off the rebels, our story takes a surprising twist."

The screen switched the security footage shot of the team as Caesar continued, "Katniss Everdeen, our once favorite daughter, has infiltrated the city with some of the Victors, whose names are all too familiar. Finnick Odair, Sadie Sterling, and Peeta Mellark."

"Odair," Sadie corrected under her breath.

"Clearly, some alliances don't last forever. Take a look at what happened just a moment ago when our Peacekeepers cornered Katniss Everdeen and her band of foolish rebels. Whatever arrogance brought this treacherous girl back to us, you are about to witness a great victory, not only for The Capitol but for Panem," Caesar noted, rolling the clip of the Peacekeepers outside shooting at the building they had previously been in. They blew up the tower which the Leegs had stayed behind in to wait for medical forces.

The screen went back to Caesar. "So there you have it. Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire, the girl who inspired so much violence, seems to have met a violent end herself. Stay tuned for more information. Caesar Flickerman. Thank you," the tv went back to The Capitol logo, and everyone sighed.

"So now that we're dead, what are we gonna do?" Gale asked.

"Isn't it obvious? The next move is to kill me," Peeta spoke up. "I murdered one of our squad members. Katniss is right. I'm a mutt. And it's only a matter of time before I snap again. I'm not in control. I need a nightlock pill, so I can die when I need to," he said sadly.

"If it gets to that point, I'll kill you myself," Gale hissed.

"Gale," Sadie snapped, and Gale rolled his eyes, walking away.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Later that night, the squad was relaxing in their separate corners, many were eating the meals provided to them by the base, but Finnick was popping sugar cubes in his mouth. Sadie would occasionally take one for herself while they nestled next to Peeta. The Panem national anthem came on, and Sadie jumped; this music was rather haunting by now.

Displayed on tv were all the squad members representing their supposed deaths. When Finnick's face came on, he chuckled, followed by Sadie with her maiden name. She shook her head, muttering the correction, causing Finnick to laugh again. His face fell when the screen change to President Snow.

"So Katniss Everdeen, a poor, unstable girl with nothing but a small talent with a bow and arrow, is dead. Not a thinker, not a leader. Simply a face plucked from the masses. Was she valuable? She was extremely valuable to your rebellion because you have no vision, no true leader among you. You call yourselves an alliance. But we saw what that means. Your soldiers are at each other's throats," he started in his usual echoing and shallow voice. The tv began to static, and in replace of Snow, everyone saw Coin.

"Good evening. For those of you who don't know me, please, allow me to introduce myself," Coin began. "I am President Alma Coin, leader of the rebellion. I have interrupted a broadcast from your President in which he attempted to defame a brave young woman. 'A face plucked from the masses,' he called her. Plucked. As if a leader, a true leader, could be anything else. I had the privilege of knowing a small-town girl from the Seam in District 12 who survived the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell and rose up and turned a nation of slaves into an army!" Coin's voice began breaking.

"Dead or alive, Katniss Everdeen will remain the face of this revolution. As will another honorable member, Sadie Odair. They will not have died for nothing. Their vision and ours will be realized. A free Panem with self-determination for all. And in their memory, we will all find the strength to rid Panem of its oppressors. Thank you. And be safe," the screen faded into a picture of Katniss and Sadie back to back, Katniss with her Mockingjay outfit and Sadie with the troop armor and two daggers drawn. Under it read, Remember The True Leaders.

"Snow's in his mansion. Where is that?" Katniss asked, bringing the Holo into view as the squad gathered around it.

"That's us," Cressida pointed to their destination. "That's the City Circle. It's at least 70, 75 blocks north," she sighed.

"Seventy-five blocks?" Finnick gasped, and Cressida nodded.

"Nobody knows we're alive. This is our chance," Sadie added.

"These buildings. Do these look over Snow's gardens?" Katniss asked.

"They do," Cressida answered.

"If he goes outside at all, I could get a clear shot."

"We're getting ahead of ourselves here. Whether they're looking for us or not, we are pinned down," said Jackson. "Hit that button. Scan for pods."

Katniss pressed a button, and hundreds of orange dots scattered around the map. "Just about every ten steps," Homes stated.

"Yeah, that doesn't even show the new ones. So we can't go anywhere in the streets. And the rooftops are just as bad," Jackson groaned.

"There might be another way," Castor told everyone, and their interests peaked.

[19]

"MY BROTHER KNOWS these tunnels really well. He worked sanitation down here. Right after they made him an Avox," Castor stated as he made it down the ladder leading down to collections of tunnels. Everyone watched as Pollux rounded a corner. At the mention of an Avox, Sadie remembered what Snow had first told her when she arrived in The Capitol. She was an Avox, and they must be punished when captured. She knew Snow wouldn't make her mute because otherwise, they wouldn't get as many answers, and she couldn't become a servant like the other Avoxs because she was too well known by the public eye. It was lucky she was rescued when she was. Otherwise, she probably would've been at the end of Snow's patience.

The group watched as Pollux struggled to breathe, looking down the tunnels in memory. "Hey. Hey. You gonna be okay?" Castor asked, walking up to his brother. "Look at me. Look at me. We're gonna get through this. I promise." Pollux sniveled and nodded, beginning to examine the tunnels.

Once Pollux made sure it was safe for them to travel, the group began traveling underground. The Holo did its usual beeping, which caused Sadie's heart to quicken a touch. It was already rather gloomy in these tunnels, and it reminded her of somewhere her mind would force her to envision. Finnick noticed her tense manner and immediately grabbed her hand with a squeeze.

As a train approached them, they ran for cover, and as it passed without hardly any sound, everyone began growing more and more nervous. They were getting closer to The Capitol every step they took and were ready to fight, but that didn't mean they weren't scared for their lives.

"We're too exposed here," Katniss sighed as Pollux agreed, trying to remember a more secluded area. He then pointed to an opening in the wall where they ran through a door. They traveled down a painfully long ladder to under the train railway. Katniss pulled out the Holo again and examined it. "Looks clear," she mumbled, and they continued advancing.

Sadie clutched the flashlight in her hands tightly as they went deeper into the thinning hallway. This area was even darker than above, and the ceilings were littered with pipe, meaning they were above the plumbing of The Capitol. The pipes above them began bursting, and rushes of air caused them to duck down. It stopped shortly after, but everyone was left shaken as Jackson asked, "everyone okay?"

"Yeah."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"All right, everybody, we're gonna stop here for a bit and get some rest, yeah?" Jackson ordered as everyone climbed into an empty tunnel.

"I'll take first watch," Katniss announced as everyone crowded in.

"Hey, Peeta. Just tuck in there," Finnick whispered to Peeta, who stopped and stood where Finnick told him to.

"All right, everyone settle in," Jackson said as people began sitting. The Odairs, like usual, were next to Peeta. Finnick wrapped his arms around Sadie as she nestled into his arm, leaning against the rough stone wall. She slowly began closing her eyes, not expecting an inch of sleep.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Welcome to the 66th annual Hunger Games! I am so excited to be here in the rich environment of District eight!" The cheerful voice of the escort glowed across the dull crowd. They thought of it as ironic how happy she was to be in the grey-looking District eight, where all there was were people choking on the pollution and cutting themselves with sewing equipment. This year there was a new escort; she had a curly lilac wig that flowed down to her thighs past her short yellow dress resembling a dandelion. She had The Capitol's style in makeup with yellow eyeliner that extended to her hairline; a collection of dandelion pins were scattered across her hair as her purple-painted lips smiled brightly. "I am your district's new escort, Genevive! And I am so excited to celebrate the Hunger Games with all of you! Now, shall we start!" She chirped.

Genevive strutted over to the right Reaping bowl as everyone held their breath. "As always, ladies, first!" She dipped her hand into the bowl and plucked out a name. Sadie glanced at her two older brothers in the crowd of boys standing anxiously. Otto had grown out of the chance to become a tribute in the Hunger Games, and Callie was still too young, but her other two brothers, William and Jason, were still in the running. Sadie moved her gaze to look at her family in the crowd of sightseers and noticed Otto's wife, Ryleigh, had joined to watch the Reaping as well. She was glued to his side as he waited for Genevive to call the name of the female tribute.

Despite knowing there was a chance one of the three Sterling children could be chosen to be in the Hunger Games, having it been years of the family doing this, they insisted on celebrating after not being reaped despite two children being whisked away to fight 22 others. They took it as a time to appreciate what they have. They would usually escape into the wood on the very outskirts of town, where no one ever goes and run around laughing. Their parents would set up a picnic, and they would have dinner together, sharing all their thanks.

"The female tribute for district eight," Genevive trailed off, opening up the slip of paper before leaning into the microphone. Sadie stared at Callie, who had looked back at her, a smile on her face as she waved to her older sister. Sadie winked at Callie, who chuckled under her breath, sticking out her tongue with Sadie following her antics. "Sadie Sterling!" Sadie immediately stopped trying to make her little sister laugh and froze. She looked above at the stage where Genevive stood expectantly for a girl to emerge from the crowd. Sadie tried to hide under all the girls, but they stepped away from her in horror once they noticed where she was. It was as if she had a disease, and they didn't want to get infected. Once Peacekeepers saw Sadie, they bounded forward, their metal boots clanking against the dirt as they pushed through the crowd, yanking on Sadie's arm.

Sadie looked back at William and Jason, who had wide eyes; their mouths dropped to the floor as they watched their younger sister get dragged up towards the stage. "Sadie!" Sadie heard Callie scream from the crowd as she crawled under the men, women, and children. "Sadie!" She cried as she ducked under the ropes and met her sister's eyes. Sadie pushed past the Peacekeepers and ran to her sister, giving her a tight hug.

"Don't cause a scene," she hissed in Callie's ear, who began crying. "Don't cause a scene," she repeated as Otto started pushing his way through the crowd. She let her sister go before pushing her over to Otto, who snatched his sister up as she continued to sob and led her back into the crowd.

Sadie rushed back onto the stage as Genevive placed a firm hand on one of her shoulders. "Now for the beautiful boys!" She squealed, stepping away from Sadie and over to the left Reaping bowl. She grabbed a paper and walked back to the microphone. "The male tribute from district eight. Alexandar Canes!" The boys immediately snapped their heads over to the boy they knew too well as Alexandar. The ignorant boy had just been chuckling under his breath at Sadie being reaped, and Jason could hear him from a few rows away. He wanted to knock all his teeth out but knew he would get more punishment for it than Alexandar. But now that he had been reaped, Jason did not feel any sympathy for the boy.

Alexandar was William's age and had gotten in several fights with Jason despite being two years older than the 16-year-old boy. William was more logical than Jason, who had gained his father's short temper along with Sadie, but even William was close to jumping at the arrogant boy laughing at his sister.

Alexandar stumbled through the crowd, not wanting to be forced by Peacekeepers as Sadie had been, and stood next to Genevive, his eyes hollow and his lip trembling. "Wonderful! We have this year's tributes for the 66th annual Hunger Games! Good luck! And may the odds be ever in your favor!"

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie woke up with a sharp breath, Genevive's peppy voice haunting her as she examined the area around her. She sighed in relief at noticing Squad 451 sleeping around her as she relaxed in Finnick's arms. "You okay?" His raspy voice asked from above her, and she looked up.

Sadie nodded. "Yeah, just a dream," Sadie whispered, trying her best not to wake her other team members. Finnick hummed, saying he understood and brought her closer.

It was silent for a few minutes as they listened to each other's breathing patterns. "Do you think we'll survive this?" Sadie asked suddenly, and Finnick was shocked at her words.

"Of course we will. Why would you question it?" He said quickly, and Sadie shrugged.

"I don't know. I guess it's just getting more nerve-racking," she answered.

"I know how you feel. But we'll be okay. We'll get out of this together, okay?" He said into her ear, and Sadie nodded. She rested her head on his shoulder and sighed.

"I love you, you know that, right?" asked Sadie, and Finnick chuckled. He kissed Sadie's lips ever so slightly and smiled at her.

"I know. And I love you too, my beautiful wife," he purred as Sadie nudged him closer.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Sadie! Sadie!" A voice hissed into Sadie's ear as they began shoving her to wake her up. Sadie opened her eyes and saw the team stumbling up from sleeping to hear distance rumbling and the beeping of the Holo. She looked up and saw Peeta waking up Finnick next to her.

"Keep your voice down," Jackson whispered to the group as everyone rushed to gather their supplies.

"Mutts! They released mutts," Gale panicked.

"Pollux, what's the fastest way out?" Katniss asked from outside the tunnel; she was staring into the darkness with wide eyes.

"Come on! Go! Go!" Jackson ushered everyone out, and Gale shot a fire arrow causing the tunnel to illuminate. They saw it hit the wall and began walking forward cautiously. They stopped at a corner, and Gale searched the opening with his flashlight since the fire had gone out.

He shot another arrow, and it lit up the walls showing nothing there. Sadie glanced over at Finnick with a worried expression as the group continued. They made it to a slim opening they would have to crawl through, and Pollux went first to check.

Everyone waited for him, and it took a moment before he returned and waved them over. The squad started crawling through, Sadie and Finnick after Peeta, who had clutched onto each other's hands. Jackson was the last to go through, and the group was waiting for her as she checked one last time.

She turned around, continuing to stand there and not crawl through. She then whipped around to come face to face with the Mutts they had heard. They had a human figure but had white snake-like skin; you could see their bones through their reptile appearance. The only facial feature they had was a mouth full of sharp teeth; they had no eyes, which made them even more frightening. They trampled Jackson with ease and let out a horrific screech.

Katniss was quick to shoot a flame arrow and explode the opening as everyone began running away. "Pollux, lead us out of here!" Homes shouted as they began stumbling through the ankle height water at the bottom of the tunnel.

The group continued to race down the tunnel, only for more Mutts to come from the side. They tackled Castor as a few members tried to hold them off.

"Move!" Gale screamed and pushed everyone forward. Katniss seemed horrified at not only the Mutts but the fact that they had killed two more squad members.

The Mutts growled as they chased after them, even more coming from each angle. They neared the large opening where they had first arrived, and Pollux pointed at the ladder. Katniss shot another arrow sending everyone back as Mutts started to come through the other tunnel.

People kept trying to get up the ladder, but Mutts would tug them down. Sadie was fighting next to Finnick, trying to spare as many daggers as she could. Finnick was stabbing them with his trident, but they seemed to never end. Sadie threw a knife at an incoming Mutt, and she was ready to grab another one when she realized she was out.

She took out her pistol tucked into her belt and began shooting the Mutts the best she could, but she wasn't as good with a gun as she was with knives. A Mutt tackled her to the ground; it let out a deafening scream as she winced at noticing its teeth. It was so strong she knew she couldn't get out with her bare hands, which she thought of using but instead shot her very last bullet through its head.

She had another restock but didn't have the time. Finnick had run over to help Katniss and Peeta, who were struggling immensely. Sadie saw a few team members racing up the ladder once they had enough room to get up safely. A Mutt ran at Sadie, causing her to snap back into reality as she hit her head on concrete.

She blacked out for a bit as it scratched her face. She tried pushing it off her or using her surprising strength, but even her advancements couldn't hold it off. She screamed as the Mutt's pale face made it closer to hers. She thought she would be ripped apart when she felt the Mutt's weight go off her and saw Finnick stabbing its back. He helped her up as he ushered her and Katniss to the ladder. Katniss didn't hesitate as she and Gale rushed up the ladder.

Finnick had lost his trident somewhere and was only fighting with one of Sadie's knives he had found. Finnick stumbled up from the water as the Mutts started resurfacing. Sadie tugged him onto the platform the ladder was on and stared at Finnick as they tried to think who was going first; it was not even a second of thinking, but it was as if they were arguing with each other even though they weren't speaking.

Without any warning, Finnick lurched Sadie forward and forced her up the ladder, which she raced to make room for Finnick. They began climbing up the ladder as fast as possible, and Sadie successfully got to the top.

She collapsed forward in exhaustion, and Gale rushed over to her, trying to help her breathe as she sat on the ground. She ran a hand through her wet hair as she panted. That's when she heard Katniss scream something. Something she had hoped not to hear unless it was followed by a laugh or hug. She had always hoped it would be in joy and not pain or agony. The name she had grown to love so much, and whenever it would slip from someone's lips, she would smile. The name of the person she had vowed to.

"Finnick!"

[20]

SADIE WAS NOT happy to be forced by President Snow to perform a tour coming from the so-called victory of her Games. She survived the visits to the districts, not enjoying all the dead stares at her, especially in the poorer districts or the ones where she had killed a tribute of theirs. Having killed seven tributes, including all four careers, made Sadie pretty unlikable among societies. The return to district eight was the worst. Despite her going home and seeing her family after such a horrific week of traveling, all of district eight had gained a horrible disliking of her. After killing off Alexandar, her own tribute partner, she was often seen as evil or with no soul.

Also, being the tribute with the most individual kills in the history of the Hunger Games and being incredibly young, she was feared as well. Many people back home spat in her face or refused to sell their products to her. Even in the career districts, she was frowned upon after murdering all their tributes with no care in the world. No one had been able to kill all career tributes before, and having it be a silly little girl made the two wealthiest districts humiliated.

But luckily, today was her final day, and it ended in The Capitol, where President Snow would throw a party to congratulate Sadie. Despite Snow being displeased at how short she had made the Games, he had to throw the party to defuse suspicion. So, with her prep team behind her, Sadie was shoved into a party of false appearances. Everyone had ridiculous hair, makeup, and outfits. Some had nails as long as their neck while others had no eyebrows, and the worst of it was people having neon tattoos on their teeth and diamond piercings making designs on their chests.

Sadie considered everyone absurd as Genevive dragged her along to introduce her to almost everyone at the party. Sadie's red mesh dress was causing sweat to build up under her arms and bust. She was tired of people shoving mysterious drinks in her face and laughing obnoxiously loud in their high-pitched voices. Finally, towards the end of the night, she was able to sneak away from Genevive and get some air.

She gasped as she finished squeezing through people and made it to the edge of the party, overviewing everyone dancing. "Hello," a silky voice said from beside her, and she looked to her left and saw a teenage boy slightly taller than her with blonde hair and sea-green eyes. He wore a beige suit and sea-shells around his neck, which fell down his bare chest where he only wore his suit jacket.

"Hi," Sadie said, and the boy smirked. She recognized him as the district four Victor from the previous Hunger Games. His name was Finnick Odair, and he won at 14.

"Already sick of this?" Finnick asked, gazing across the bubbly crowd. Sadie nodded, and he chuckled. He turned to her, his hand out and a crooked smile across his perfect white teeth. "I'm Finnick Odair from district four. I won last year," he charmed, and Sadie shook his hand.

"Sadie —"

"Sterling, I know. It's pretty obvious you stick out like a sore thumb," Finnick's smile grew wider, but Sadie's fell a touch.

"I hate parties. Let alone this monstrosity," she groaned, pointing to the group of Capitol citizens Genevive was giggling with.

"But they have such glorious things here," Finnick joked, picking up a glass of a sparkling blue liquid and taking a sip.

"People are starving in some of the districts, and they have this banquet; they could at least distribute some of it," she argued, and Finnick shrugged.

"I could never see them pulling it off as well as I am," he boasted, lifting the glass and posing with it. Sadie rolled her eyes with a scoff. She began walking away when Finnick snapped his fingers, and she turned back around.

He walked up to her with a smirk on his face. "Have a good night, Sadie Sterling," he purred before handing her his empty drink and walking away. Leaving Sadie stunned.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Finnick!" Katniss' scream echoed in Sadie's ear. The girl didn't hesitate to stumble up and start running over to the opening where Katniss stood. They heard a deep voice crying out in pain from below, and that's when Peeta tackled Sadie to the ground. Trying to hold the frantic girl back as she tried to see what was happening.

"Calm. Calm," Peeta whispered in Sadie's ear as she fought against him. She grabbed a nearby rock and bashed it into Peeta's temple, and he fell back. Sadie raced forward to Katniss, where the two saw a body hit the edge of the platform and fall into the water, Mutt's surrounding them as they got eaten alive.

"Finnick!" Katniss and Sadie screeched. Once Sadie noticed Finnick's blonde hair, she began shouting her husband's name. His beautiful eyes were now filled with fear as the Mutts continued to bite him any way they could.

"Finnick!" Sadie screamed; it rang through the tunnels and made Katniss wince from beside her. Sadie tried to step forward, but Katniss held her back. She had already lost one friend and wouldn't let the other committee suicide trying to help him.

"Sadie!" Finnick yelled as Mutts bit at his neck.

"Finnick!"

"Nightlock. Nightlock. Nightlock," Katniss whimpered, dropping the Holo into the tunnel as she grabbed onto Sadie, who still hadn't moved. Rumbling shook the ground, and Sadie looked over with wide eyes to see the entire tunnel blown up. Including not only the Mutts but Finnick as well.

"Come on, come on, come on. Let's go. Keep moving! Keep moving!" Gale yelled, forcing the girls up. Gale ended up having to drag Sadie along as they made it up to the train tracks again. Sadie felt numb, and her stomach began to ache, giving her the illusion she would be sick.

She was tugged with the group as they hid behind pillars once noticing Peacekeepers shooting at them. They could fend them off, but as they were running, one of the lights turned orange, and a soldier ran into it; he disintegrated, but only Cressida stopped as the Peacekeepers kept shooting. The lights became more frequent as Peacekeepers chased them.

They tried to shoot at them but missed every time. The ground began breaking underneath them, almost catching Katniss and Peeta, but they lunged forward and fell with a gasp.

"Peeta, come on! Peeta!" Katniss yelled, but Peeta stayed down, too scared to move and possibly hurt someone. "Peeta, we have to keep going!"

"I'm a mutt! I can't keep control!"

"Yes, you can! Look at me!"

"Leave me! I'm a mutt!"

"Look at me! Look at me," Katniss forced Peeta up and, without a thought, clashed their lips together. She whispered something to him, and he stopped, his face growing serious, but it showed how much her physical comfort helped.

They stood up, continuing to run with the rest of the group. "I know where we are! I know a place. Up those stairs," Cressida announced, and everyone ran up the stairs, now coming back to the roads of The Capitol. They made it up the stairs, Gale still supporting Sadie, who stopped in her tracks once noticing a sign. It was a wanted poster for Finnick.

She didn't cry, nor did she scream like she wanted to. She merely stared at the picture of him, at his eyes specifically, and couldn't stop until Gale encouraged her to continue going. They went down a ramp and ran across the open streets, stopping in front of a shop.

"Someone's coming," Peeta panicked as a figure walked to the door.

Once they opened it, everyone rushed inside. "Shut the door, shut the door!"

Katniss loaded an arrow at the person who had tiger-like strips across their face along with other tattoos down their chest, a yellow robe covering their body. "No, Katniss, it's okay, it's okay. It's okay," Cressida soothed, and Katniss lowered her bow.

"Tigris, do you remember me? I'm with Plutarch's underground. We need your help," Cressida pleaded. Tigris didn't answer, instead, she walked forward; she appeared more to be gliding across the floor as she led the group to the back. She removed a rug from the floor and opened it.

"I know you. You were a stylist in the Games," Katniss stated.

"Until Snow decided I wasn't pretty enough anymore," Tigris replied, placing her hands on her hips.

"I'm here to kill him," Katniss said, and a sick smile spread across her lips. She led them down into the cellar where her storage appeared to be. Everyone sat down, the only remaining people being Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Sadie, Cressida, and Pollux. Sadie sat next to the most light and began swaying back and forth slowly.

She still hadn't quite processed what had happened, but nevertheless, the tears still started to flow down her cheeks. Pollux was sobbing beside her at remembering his twin brother to be dead. Sadie never sobbed. However, she only let the tears fall, and her throat began to close.

"Gale's gonna need stitches," Cressida stated while trying to tend to Gale's wounds. Katniss turned around to face her team; one was wounded, two were crying, and the other two were utterly speechless. With her hair sticking to her sweaty face, she moved her gaze to Sadie, who was staring ahead of her, not blinking once.

"I made it up—all of it. There is no special mission from Coin. There's only my plan," Katniss began, her voice breaking. "Everyone that's dead is dead because of me. I lied," Katniss sobbed.

"We know. We all knew," Cressida said.

"The soldiers from 13?"

"They did, too. Do you really believe that Jackson thought you had orders from Coin? She trusted Boggs, and he clearly wanted you to go on," Cressida sighed.

"I never meant for this to happen," Katniss whispered, another sob coming from her chest. "I failed. I … I killed them. I killed Finnick," the girl cried, and Sadie looked up.

"I'm sorry, Pollux. I'm so sorry," Katniss said, and Pollux nodded with a sob. Katniss walked over to Sadie, who stood up. "I'm sorry —" Sadie cut Katniss off with a hug, and she began breaking down. Sadie tried to mute her cries as she hugged the fragile girl tighter.

"It's okay, kid," she whispered, and Katniss broke the hug. Sadie wiped her tears off her cheeks and forced a smile onto her face. "He died fighting. That's all that matters."

"Glimmer, Marvel, Mags, Clove, Wiress, Rue. What do all those deaths mean?" Peeta asked. "They mean that our lives were never ours. There was no real life because we didn't have any choice. Our lives belong to Snow, and our deaths do, too. But if you kill him, Katniss … if you end all of this, all those deaths, they mean something. Cinna, Boggs, Castor, Jackson, Finnick. They choose this. They choose you."

[21]

SADIE WOKE UP from her trance, staring at the ceiling by cracking and static coming from the small tv Tigris had stored in the cellar of her shop for the squad to view any mandatory news. Like she had predicted, President Snow had announcements for The Capitol. Sadie glared at the hologram as the tv flickered on.

"To all Capitol citizens more than a half-mile outside the City Circle, I am announcing a mandatory evacuation. Come to the mansion. I am promising you shelter and sanctuary. All refugees, come to my home. And there you will be provided with food, medicine, and safety for your children, and you will have my solemn oath to protect you until my dying breath," The President announced his tone its usual calm pitch but still dull.

"Wish he'd hurry up with that last part," Sadie snapped.

"Our enemy is not like us. They do not share our values. They have never known our comfort and our sophistication. And they despise us for it. Make no mistake. They are not coming to liberate us. They are coming to destroy our way of life. They are coming to bury us."

"Is he still in the mansion?" Katniss asked, looking over to Peeta, who was staring at Snow, his jaw clenched and his eyes burning. "Peeta?"

"Yeah. I recognize the room," Peeta answered, and Sadie nodded.

"Where is that?" Cressida asked.

"About five blocks away," Katniss stated, pulling out a map. "We're right here. Off the Avenues. Mansion's here."

"What about the pods?" Sadie added.

"They'll probably deactivate the pods around here for the residents' safety," Cressida pointed to the area closets to the mansion, and the group felt a pinch of hope run through them.

"That could work. I could get close enough," Katniss said.

"Every Peacekeeper's gonna be waiting," Gale sighed.

"Next to our face on every billboard," Cressida growled, now growing frustrated again.

"Snow's offering shelter to all the refugees," Katniss said, and Cressida sighed.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Head straight north. There's gonna be thousands of refugees. Just get into that stream and don't look up," Cressida told Katniss, Sadie, and Gale. Despite Sadie having nothing but a simple pistol, she insisted on going with Katniss and Gale to travel among the refugees, trying to get as close to Snow as possible and witness his assassination. She had nothing else than to get swallowed into her thoughts of grief, and she refused to get sucked into that familiar hole until Snow was dead.

"We got one shot. Let's make it count," Gale nodded towards Katniss, and Tigris threw a jacket around his shoulders. Sadie zipped her coat up and lifted her hood, trying to hide any features of hers to give her away.

"Good luck, Katniss," Cressida whispered, and Katniss brought her into a hug. She went over to Pollux, embracing him as well. Sadie took this chance to walk over to Peeta, who was standing farther away.

"Do you have to go?" He whispered to his friend, and Sadie smiled softly, ruffling up his hair.

"I've got to do this for him. And besides, it's not like anyone will be waiting for me to come back," she stifled out a laugh, and Peeta wrapped his arms around her.

"I'll be waiting for you. You better come back, or I'll personally kill you," he joked, and the two laughed as Sadie broke the hug, walking over to Gale while waiting for Katniss.

"Katniss, let me come with you, okay? I can be a good distraction. They know my face," Peeta told her.

"No, I'm not losing you again," Katniss cut him off.

"You'll be safer with us," Cressida said.

"What if Peacekeepers are searching the houses? And if he's captured …" Gale trailed off.

"Then give me a nightlock pill, okay? I'm not goin' back," Peeta spoke instantly. Gale hesitated but eventually handed Peeta a nightlock pill. Katniss sighed, walking over to Peeta, unlocking his cuffs.

"Stay alive," she ordered before embracing him.

"If I see you again, it's gonna be a different world."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie took a shaky breath, her hands trembling from under her jacket as she, Gale, and Katniss walked towards the area the refugees were held. "By order of President Snow, all residents must proceed to the Presidential Estate. Please, continue to move forward in a calm and orderly fashion. Additional food, medicine, and clothing will be provided upon arrival," the man over the PA system repeated as the three squad members blended into the crowd walking towards the Presidential Estate. Peacekeepers were standing in every corner, flashing their guns but not threateningly like in the districts. As they neared the President's mansion, Sadie glanced up a touch and sighed, remembering this place being the focal point of her nightmares.

Katniss had looked up as well and caught the stare of a young girl being carried in a woman's arms; she had a yellow jacket with fluffy fringes. Once the girl caught sight of Katniss, she lifted her face a touch from her mother's shoulder, causing Katniss to look back down. But the child kept her eyes on the Mockingjay.

Once they got close to the entry, they saw Peacekeepers checking people, and without any hesitation, Katniss spun Gale and Sadie around, now trying to escape. But when they looked back, they saw a wall of Peacekeepers making sure everyone was moving. They were officially trapped but tried to keep calm.

Gale and Sadie had harsh grips on the guns put in their pockets, getting ready to possibly fight. That's when a Peacekeeper placed a hand on Sadie's shoulder, causing a rush of panic to run through her. But the Peacekeeper didn't have time to examine her suspicious behavior before a rocket was sent through a building, causing everyone to duck down screaming.

"It's the rebels!" A man shouted.

"The rebels are attacking!" A woman cried as everyone looked behind them to see an army of rebels shooting at the Peacekeepers. Another explosion went off as everyone stayed down; even Sadie, Gale, and Katniss were terrified. "Mama! Mama!" They heard a girl screaming, and Katniss looked over to see the same little girl from before crying for her mother to wake up.

"Come on!" Gale yelled, and the three ran for cover. Gale disarmed a Peacekeeper as they began running closer to the mansion. More explosions went off as both the rebels and Peacekeepers fought, bullets barely missing the three. A Capitol truck began firing at them but was not soon after set on fire, causing Sadie to screech as it was inches from landing on her. All three managed to jump out of the way, but when Katniss and Sadie looked up, they saw Gale being beaten by Peacekeepers. Sadie quickly took out her gun as Katniss aimed her arrow.

"Shoot me! Shoot me!" Gale begged as Peacekeepers loaded him into the truck. Sadie shot her gun, but it missed them while Katniss couldn't bare the thought of hurting Gale. The two ran from the truck as it was swarming with Peacekeepers and put their hoods back up, running closer to the mansion.

As they made it to the group of Capitol citizens pleading to come inside, Katniss and Sadie began shoving them out of the way as the man on the PA system tried to calm them down. "Stay calm. Bring your children forward. The gates will open momentarily."

The children were all sent forward as Peacekeepers forced them away from their parents; they cried as they were torn from their grasps. Katniss and Sadie watched in horror as the children screamed for their parents and the parents tried to reach for them. They then heard an aircraft approaching and saw one of the District 13 hovercrafts flying towards them as everyone looked up in hope.

"It's The Capitol," A man cheered in relief. The hovercraft dropped dozens of tiny parachutes with something attached to them, but no one could tell what it was.

"Gifts from The Capitol!" A boy exclaimed with a cheerful smile. The packages began beeping, and Sadie's eyes widened at realizing what they were.

The Capitol citizens began trying to reach them, and Sadie didn't even think before screaming, "don't touch them!" Just as a little boy from the children touched a package, everyone was sent flying back as bombs began exploding from every package. Sadie and Katniss were launched off the truck they had climbed up on before everything went dark.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

"Katniss! Katniss, wake up!" Sadie hissed, and Katniss snapped awake. The girls looked up as their mouths dropped in horror. The entire group of refugee children had been bombed along with the first few rows of Capitol citizens. Peacekeepers and medics were rushing forward as the two stood up, Sadie supporting Katniss' stumbling body.

As parents began waking up and saw what happened, they screamed for their children who had either been blown to piece, were on the verge of death, or had several limbs blown off. People begged for more medics as Katniss and Sadie rushed forward, tears clouding their eyes.

That's when Katniss noticed someone, a girl with blonde hair and blue eyes, her little sister. "Prim?" She called to her as Prim looked up from aiding a young boy. "Primrose! Prim!" Katniss yelled to her sister, but Prim stood there frozen at noticing her sister. She was already horrified at all the dead bodies surrounding her but seeing Katniss there caused her to draw a blank.

And then that's when it happened. As Katniss, Sadie, and Prim stared at each other in disbelief, the last thing they all saw was their wide eyes before Sadie and Katniss were flown back, their coats catching fire as the second set of unknown bombs were dropped.

[22]

SADIE'S EYES CRACKED opened slowly, they were exhausted, and her entire body felt insanely sore, her head was throbbing, and her limbs burned. The room smelled of smoke mixed with heavy rose perfume. She knew that sickening scent anywhere which caught her attention, and she quickly sat up despite her body telling her not to.

"Hey, sleeping beauty," a teasing voice said from in front of her, and she saw Johanna leaning against the hospital bed she was resting in. She had a comforting smile or at least a pleasing Johanna smile. Sadie relaxed into her pillow as two people walked in. It was Cecilia and Peeta.

"Hey, how you feeling?" Cecilia asked as she sat next to Sadie.

"What happened? Is Katniss okay? What about Gale? Prim?" Sadie rushed out, and Cecilia shushed her.

"A second set of bombs went off during your trip to the mansion," Johanna started.

"Katniss is fine, and we rescued Gale. Prim …" Peeta trailed off, biting his lip.

"Just great," Sadie groaned, rubbing her temple. "Where are we?"

"Snow's Mansion. The rebels took control of the entire Capitol after the bombings," Cecilia stated.

"The last place I want to be," Sadie muttered, and Peeta nodded in agreement. That had explained why it reeked of Snow everywhere. "When are we killing the bastard? Or has Katniss already done it?"

"His execution is tomorrow," Johanna smirked in glee, and Sadie joined.

"How bad is it? I can watch it, right?" Sadie asked Cecilia, who sighed.

"The injuries from the bombing aren't bad, just a few burns and cuts. You got a concussion from hitting your head, but other than that, you're fine," Cecilia stated, and Sadie looked happy at her news. That's when Johanna cleared her throat, and Cecilia sighed. It looked as if they had more to tell Sadie.

"What? Is there more?" Sadie asked, and Peeta took a deep breath, he looked down at the ground, and Sadie quickly grew nervous.

"Erm — how do I tell you this?" Cecilia trailed off.

"You had a miscarriage, Sadie," Johanna blurted out, and Cecilia glared at her. Sadie shot her eyebrows up, her mouth dropping open.

"Wh — what?" She stuttered.

"You were four weeks pregnant, but all the fighting of war caused the placenta to rupture. We found out while they did medical tests," Peeta explained, looking at Sadie in pity. Sadie tried to process the information as Cecilia began saying words of motivation, but she drowned her out. Sadie was given another possibility to be happy, but it was once again taken away.

She didn't even know about it, which made it even worse thinking about everything she did. She fought, got blown up, shot at, ran, and fell, not knowing her carelessness was killing her child. Her and Finnick's child. She could've had a chance to keep Finnick alive in their child and remind them every day how amazing their father was, but she was too stupid to care.

This was her only chance to continue the Odair family, and she ruined it. If she were ever to meet Finnick's parents, they would be so upset with her for not only letting their son die but killing their grandchild. Everett was right; she indeed didn't have a soul. If she did, she would've saved at least one of them.

When she brought her attention back, she looked around to see Cecilia, Johanna, and Peeta were gone. They stood outside, listening to make sure Sadie was okay. But they left Sadie to think in peace. However, Sadie was nowhere near peace. The girl let out a shrill scream as she began sobbing into her hands. Everyone winced from outside hearing Sadie let her emotions take control.

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

The following day, Coin ordered all the remaining tributes for a discussion in the Capitol's planning room. When Sadie walked in, her face cold as stone, she saw everyone waiting. Peeta, Haymitch, Cecilia, Beetee, Annie Cresta, Enobaria, Johanna, and Coin stood around the table. Everyone smiled sympathetically at Sadie, who pushed them off and sat down next to Haymitch and Enobaria. They were still waiting for Katniss, who came in not long after.

She was shocked at seeing all the victors. "What is this?" She asked Coin.

"The remaining Victors. Won't you join us?" Coin asked, and Katniss slowly approached the table, sitting between Peeta and Haymitch.

"I have invited you all here for several reasons, but first, I have an announcement. I have taken the burden and the honor of declaring myself Interim President of Panem," Coin began, and Haymitch and Sadie scoffed.

"Interim? Exactly how long is that interim?" Haymitch asked snarkily.

"We have no way of knowing for certain. But it's clear that people are far too emotional right now to make a rational decision. We'll plan an election when the time is right," Coin answered, and Sadie rolled her eyes. She remembered Coin saying elections were vital for a free Panem, and now here she was saying she's the leader.

"But I have called you here for a far more important vote. A symbolic vote. This afternoon we will execute Snow. Hundreds of his accomplices also await their deaths. Capitol officials, Peacekeepers, torturers, Gamemakers," Coin stated, and Johanna smirked at Sadie from across the table. "But the danger is once we begin, the rebels will not stop calling for retribution. Thirst for blood is a difficult urge to satisfy. So I offer an alternative plan. Majority of five may approve it. No one may abstain," Coin looked over to Katniss and Sadie. She knew they would have the most influence on the supposed decision.

"The proposal is this. In lieu of these barbaric executions, we hold a symbolic Hunger Games," at Coin's words, Sadie's face fell, Haymitch put down his whiskey, and a ton of people's expressions turned to shock. Johanna laughed at Coin, and Sadie was close to as well at how ridiculous it sounded.

"You wanna have another Hunger Games with The Capitol's children? You're joking?" Johanna spat.

"Not in the slightest."

"Is this Plutarch's idea?" Haymitch cut in.

"It was mine," Coin said, and Sadie eyed her weirdly. "It balances the need for revenge with the least loss of human life —"

"Except for 24 innocent children," Sadie interrupted.

"23 —" Sadie cut off Coin's correction by slamming her hands on the table, making Annie squeal and Katniss and Peeta flinch.

"No, it's 24, trust me. The winner loses their life too," Sadie snapped, her eyes burning into Coin's. "I mean, look at all of us now? Isn't it just peachy," she laughed menacingly, and Coin glared at her.

"You may cast your votes," Coin ignored Sadie.

"No," Peeta said in an instant. "No, obviously not. This is crazy."

"I think it's more than fair. Snow's got a granddaughter. I say yes," Johanna stepped forward.

"So do I. Let them have a taste of it," Enobaria added, and Johanna scowled, not liking Enobaria agreeing with her.

"You guys, this way of thinking is what started these uprisings," Peeta argued.

"I vote no. With Peeta," Annie added, her voice quiet but still firm.

"Me too," Sadie said. "So would Finnick if he were here."

"Well, he's not. Because Snow killed him," Johanna barked, and Sadie clenched her fists. Johanna had never stooped so low, especially in front of Sadie as to mention a widow's husband.

"No. We need to stop viewing each other as enemies," Beetee interrupted the argument.

"It's down to Katniss, Cecilia, and Haymitch," Coin stared down the three victors as they thought.

"I get to kill Snow," Katniss said.

"I expected no less of you."

Katniss stared at Coin, her face solemn. "Then I vote yes. For Prim."

Peeta sighed from beside Katniss as Coin looked at Haymitch. "Haymitch?"

"I'm with the Mockingjay," Haymitch said simply, and then everyone looked at Cecilia. Sadie looked at her mentor with pleading eyes, but Cecilia didn't look at anyone but Coin. Coin had her false happiness layed on her face again as Cecilia looked her up and down.

"Of course not, you psychopath," she hissed at the President before leaning back into her chair. Peeta let out a breath of relief, and Sadie nodded towards Cecilia.

Coin didn't seem bothered by Cecilia's insult and continued, "that carried the vote. Excellent. We'll continue the execution as planned."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie watched as Katniss walked over to the line of victors glaring at President Snow, who stood casually in front of the Government Building. Katniss had her Mockingjay outfit on, her bow resting on her side as rebels followed behind her in support.

"Welcome to the new Panem," Coin's voice echoed across the Avenue. "Today, on the Avenue of the Tributes, all of Panem, a free Panem, will watch more than a mere spectacle. We are gathered to witness a historic moment of justice. Today, the greatest friend to the revolution will fire the shot to end all wars. May her arrow signify the end of tyranny and the beginning of a new era. Mockingjay, may your aim be as true as your heart is pure."

Everyone watched every movement as Katniss loaded an arrow. Aiming it at the man who had destroyed so many lives. Sadie looked at Snow with rage flowing through her veins. Behind him, she saw all the lives of her loved ones he had taken: her family, Finnick, Everett, even her unborn child. The only thing that bothered her was that he wasn't killed sooner. That such a snake lived a whole life but a heart as loving as Finnick and Everett's were denied.

The crowd watched Katniss focus her aim on Snow, but she looked to be doing more than aiming. Sadie saw her begin to shake as she stared at Snow's cold eyes; he had noticed her struggling too and was looking at her mockingly.

That's when Katniss glanced up and shot her arrow. Her bow was raised slightly as Coin fell to the ground; the crowd gasped as Coin collapsed, Katniss' arrow in her heart. Their attention was then grabbed by Snow letting out sick cackles, blood spilling from his mouth. His sores had grown so bad that he didn't even try to hide them anymore.

He began choking on his own blood but continued to laugh at Katniss, who didn't seem to regret her choice. The rebels behind Katniss began running towards Snow, who was still laughing. District 13 soldiers gripped Katniss' arms as they dragged her away, watching the rebels trample Snow.

They began beating him as his grunts of pain filled everyone's ears. Katniss and all the victors smirked at watching Snow finally get what he deserved.

[23]

THE FISHING DISTRICT was by far one of the most beautiful places Sadie had ever seen. She kept her eyes trained on the window of the train as the sparkling blue oceans rushed past her, followed by occasional spots of land which were covered in either sand, beautiful palm trees, or docks. Unlike District eight, which was foggy with pollution, District four had glowing blue skies and wistful fluffy clouds. Sadie didn't understand how two so different places could be in the same country.

Once the train stopped, it unloaded very few people as Panem still wasn't ready to visit other Districts. Sadie grabbed her small bag of luggage and walked off the train, her nose immediately being hit with the scent of saltwater and shellfish. Something Finnick had always smelled of before he arrived at District 13 and was isolated. She took a deep breath and immediately felt herself go back to sleeping in Finnick's arms.

She made sure not to delay anyone, so she walked forward, looking around the busy streets. A lot of the shops downtown were supply shops, markets, and butchering. Once Sadie passed the market, she saw men and women of all ages buying and selling different fruit and vegetables. She had never seen so many plants in her life, and this district wasn't even known for its vegetation. Many things she had no idea what they were, having only seen a few items such as apples, cabbage, and string beans in District eight. Surprisingly, no one had noticed the famous victor yet, and Sadie liked it that way.

She began walking down an aisle of the market and observed the signs labeling what fruits or vegetables they were selling. She saw a stand selling different colored apples and decided to spend some of her money there, wanting to remember the comforting taste. There was a little boy, looking to be around the age of seven, standing in place for his mother, who had gone to restock.

Sadie walked towards the stand, and the boy smiled at her. He had lively green eyes that reminded her of Finnick's and sun-highlighted brunette hair. "Hello, can I buy one of your apples, please?" Sadie asked, and the boy quickly nodded.

"What color?" His squeaky voice asked as he pulled out a bag.

"Oh, I won't be needing a bag," she stopped him, and he nodded, setting the bag down. "I'll have a yellow one," she pointed to the golden apples closest to him, and he handed one to her. She gave him a dollar as he started counting her change.

She then placed her hand on his wrist, and he stopped. "Keep the rest," she whispered before walking away, taking a bite out of her apple.

The boy's mother soon returned not long after with a crate full of their best apples. "Mommy, I sold something!" The boy glowed, and his mother smiled.

"To who, my darling?" She asked, and he pointed to Sadie, who was continuing to wander around the market, taking bites of her apple. The woman became speechless at seeing The Heretic. "You just sold an apple to Sadie Sterling, dear," she told her son, not taking her eyes off Sadie.

"Who's that?"

"The girl that won you a future."

》︎✳︎✳︎✳︎《︎︎

Sadie threw the apple core into the trash can outside of Victor's Village as she slowly grew nervous. She cleaned off her hands and fixed her outfit that stood out amongst District four. It had much brighter fabrics and sharper edges that did not match the style of seashells and shades of brown in District four. She licked her lips as she walked up to one of the house's stairs and forced herself to knock. She took a deep breath as she waited for someone to answer. Her palms began to grow sweaty, which she continued to wipe on her pants as she clicked her tongue.

The door opened, and there stood a short woman, surly in her fifties, with shoulder-length blonde hair with grey spots. She had sea-green eyes and subtly wrinkled tan skin. Sadie tensed as the woman looked at her, her eyes wide and mouth dropped. "Sadie Sterling," the woman gawked, and Sadie took another deep breath.

"Are you Mrs. Odair?" Sadie asked with a break in her voice which she scolded herself for.

The woman nodded, her expression still in shock. "Beckham," Mrs. Odair called across the house, and a man came from the living room. Sadie could tell where Finnick had gotten his good looks from. Mr. Odair had tan skin like his wife and grey hair that fell in front of his face; unlike Finnick and his wife, Beckham had dull grey eyes.

Beckham gasped once he saw Sadie and began approaching the two women. "What are you doing here?" He asked.

Sadie sighed. "I honestly don't know. I guess I just wanted to finally meet my husband's family," Mrs. Odair frowned at Sadie, who tried to keep herself from breaking. "May I come in?"

"Of course, dear. Of course," Mrs. Odair said quickly, ushering Sadie inside as Beckham led her to the dining room, where they sat down.

The three sat in silence for a moment before Mrs. Odair cut in, "you're even more beautiful in person."

Sadie smiled and began playing with her fingers. She was going to say something when two sets of footsteps came thundering down the stairs. "Bev and I are going to meet up with Dominic at the east pier!" A female's voice shouted as two girls came walking into the dining room. They stopped in their tracks once they saw Sadie. They looked to be the same age at around 19, with the same hair and skin tone as the rest of their family. Their eyes matched their mother's, and the thing that shocked Sadie was that they looked identical.

"That's new," one of them stated as she pointed to Sadie.

"Beverly, Delta, we'd like you to meet Sadie Sterling," Beckham announced as Sadie slowly stood from her chair.

"Yeah, I think we've heard of her, dad," one of them snapped.

"Sadie, this is our twin daughters. Delta," Mrs. Odair pointed to the twin on the right. "And Beverly," she pointed to the one on the left. The only difference Sadie could see was that Delta's hair was in a pixie cut while Beverly's was in two long braids that went to the middle of her back.

"Nice to meet you," Sadie choked out, seeing the girl's staring at her. That's when Beverly stepped forward and brought Sadie into a hug, and she gasped. She was too uncomfortable to hug back and didn't breathe until Beverly let her go.

"Thank you," Beverly whispered.

"For what?" Sadie forced as she gulped.

"Being the light in my brother's life," she answered, and Sadie felt her throat close. She smiled sadly, and she nodded.

"Would you girls like to join us in getting to know Sadie?" Mrs. Odair asked them, and they sat down without any hesitation. The family examined Sadie as she sat down and began fidgeting again.

"We watched your games," Delta stated. "You fight really good. Your family must be proud of you," she said with a smile.

"My family was murdered by Snow," Sadie told her, and she immediately stopped moving.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, dear," Mrs. Odair said, and Sadie shook her head.

"It's alright. You probably didn't see Finnick's little broadcast back at 13," Sadie soothed them.

"No, we did. I'm just stupid and forgot," Delta groaned.

"It's okay. I'm stupid all the time," she smirked, and Beckham chuckled.

"Aren't we all," he smiled.

"So, what things do you want to know?" Sadie asked the family, and they all shrugged beside Beverly.

"What's something —"

"How did he die?" Beverly cut off Delta, and her family looked at her as if she was insane. Beverly didn't seem phased by her family's reactions and looked at Sadie, her bright green eyes giving Sadie a familiar comfort. "The Capitol didn't give us any information, and Katniss Everdeen only sent us a letter saying he died in battle. But I want an accurate description of how he died. Please," she begged, and Sadie continued to look at her.

"Okay," Sadie assured, and the family looked at her in interest. They deserved to know, but Sadie was scared that they would hate her if she told them the gruesome truth. Sadie took a deep breath before starting.

"While we were trying to make it to Snow's mansion, we had struggled to survive. The Gamemakers had placed deadly traps everywhere in The Capitol, and we had triggered a few before deciding we couldn't keep walking through the streets. Instead, we came up with the idea of traveling underground."

"That's where he died, isn't it?" Beckham asked, his cheerful voice now grim. Sadie nodded, looking down at the tablecloth draped on the dining table.

"It was all fine at first. We had even found a place to sleep and gotten some rest. But the Gamemakers must've found out our location and created another trap. It was some sort of lizard and human mutation, it was swift, strong, and hundreds of them chased after us. The Mutts killed three of our squad members, one including our commanding officer. We made it back to the ladder that would bring us above ground and to safety. We had to fight them off, but everyone eventually made it up."

"Finnick and I were the last two down there, and once we got to the ladder, I remember him looking at me, and I knew that if I wanted him before me, I would have to use all my strength. But before I could do anything, he pushed me up onto the ladder, and we began climbing out," Sadie took a shaky breath, closing her eyes as she tried not to become emotional in front of Finnick's family. That's when she felt a hand over her twitching ones and opened her eyes to see Delta resting her hand on hers. Sadie took this as a sign to keep going.

"I got up safely and didn't see exactly what happened, but Katniss later explained to me. Finnick was close to the top when a Mutt tugged him back down into the water. When I finally got up and ran to the opening, I saw something I see every time I close my eyes."

"What happened to him, Sadie?" Beverley pleaded as Sadie stared ahead of her blankly. Delta gripped Sadie's hand tighter, tears filling her eyes like the other women in her family. Delta was known to be fierce and independent, but seeing her brother's death unfold, she couldn't hold up the act any longer.

"Dozens of Mutts were tearing him apart, eating him alive as he screamed and cried for someone to relieve his pain. Katniss knew that the Mutts would be biting him for hours before he finally died, so she grabbed one of our most essential tools. It was used to track the traps and where they were located. It was also heavily guarded and had a self-destruct setting. So Katniss triggered it before dropping it into the tunnel. Putting Finnick out of his misery," as Sadie finished, Mrs. Odair sniffed as Delta whipped the tears away from her eyes.

"Thank you for telling us," Beckham whimpered, and Sadie nodded at him.

"I can't imagine losing so much in my life," Delta whispered, squeezing Sadie's hand again.

"I've gotten used to the burn of grief by now," Sadie answered, her tone monotonous.

"That still doesn't mean it doesn't hurt," Delta added.

"I know this isn't the time to add more bad news, but I must tell you something," Sadie spoke to the family. Mrs. Odair and Beverly silenced their weeping as they all looked at Sadie. She had now grown not to be afraid that the Odair family would hate her, she needed to be honest, and if they despised her, they wouldn't be the first.

"Yes, what is it?" Mrs. Odair cried.

"After the rebels took over Snow's mansion, I found out that I had a miscarriage for mine and Finnick's child," Sadie muttered, and they all froze. "I was four weeks pregnant, and the miscarriage was related to all my fighting in the war."

"Di — did you know?" Beverly stuttered, and Sadie shook her head.

"You and Finnick were going to have a child?" Beckham asked, and Sadie nodded. Beckham stood from his chair, walking around the dining table to Sadie's chair, and hugged the girl's shoulders. Sadie couldn't hold it together anymore, knowing the same grieving technique she used for her family of playing as an emotionless girl was not going to work for Finnick and her miscarriage as it would for them.

A tear slipped from her eyes as Beckham hugged her tighter. The rest of the family stood and embraced Sadie, who still sat in her chair. The girl let out a sob into Beverly's shirt, and they all pulled Sadie closer.

"No matter how many people you have lost, Sadie, you are always part of the Odair family."

EPILOGUE

"MAMA! MAMA, LOOK!" Lucas squealed for his mother. Sadie ran out of her house in the heart of District four to see her son dancing on the roof of the market, where he spent most of his days selling clothes his mother had made.

"Lucas Flynn! Get down from there!" Sadie yelled at her son as he giggled, starting to do gymnastics from the high rooftop. Luckily it was flat, but it still worried Sadie. Sadie had discovered that Lucas had bones made of putty, being able to do insane tricks no average eight-year-old could do. Despite Lucas having no Odair genes, Sadie was confident he had gained her husband's athleticism. When she adopted Lucas from one of the many orphanages for children whose parents died during the war, he was only a few months old, and she raised him in District four. She didn't want Lucas to endure District eight's broken landscapes, so she bought a house near her favorite place in the district, the market.

"But it's fun!" Lucas whined as he continued dancing. His bouncy chocolate curls reflected the intense sunlight as he jumped from edge to edge.

"Get down before you hurt yourself," Sadie lightened her voice, and Lucas groaned, settling down. The dark-skinned boy jumped from the rooftop and pranced over to his mother. Giving her a wide side smile showing his many missing teeth. But despite having a bunch of gaps in his grin, Sadie couldn't help but see Finnick in that smile.

"How'd you like the show?" Lucas asked, his smile growing into a smirk.

"You really filled the position of being a show-off just like your father," Sadie stated, and Lucas gleamed as she led him back inside.

"I am taking that as a compliment," Lucas muttered, and Sadie rolled her eyes.

"Of course you are," she said, squeezing her son's shoulders as they went through the door. Lucas looked at a picture of Finnick as they walked through the hallway. He would often sneak out of bed at night to sit under the picture and tell his father about his day. He overthought about what it would feel like to talk to his father in person, not at a portrait. Maybe possibly even hug him or compete with him in a diving contest. Lucas was undefeated after all.

But he always told himself he would have to wait until he died to see his father, wherever he was. And he was willing to wait a lifetime if it meant an eternity with his father.

Sadie led Lucas into the kitchen, where she had dinner prepared for them, and they sat down, beginning to eat. It was a simple soup recipe of her mother's Sadie often made. Lucas stared down at the full bowl and sighed. "Tell me one more thing about him," he begged, and Sadie looked up.

"But you already got your fact today," Sadie teased, and Lucas gave her pleading eyes. Sadie sighed before trying to think of something. "Your father hated bourbon," they both laughed at the random fact.

Lucas popped one of the sugar cubes from the small bowl always in the middle of the dining table into his mouth and chuckled. "That sounds like him."