Author's Note: I'm away tomorrow so an early update this week.
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Linden had been training again for several weeks. He had replaced his morning walk with a run and in the space beyond their Village, taken to honing his skills with an axe once more and combining his efforts with the machete Sawyer had taught him to wield years previously. Blight was joining him every day outside and they had convinced Johanna to work with them most days when she wasn't too angry to focus.
They were teaching each other too. Blight and Johanna were better than Linden at using an axe in combat, so Blight worked with him daily. Linden had used a machete in the years when he could not face using an axe whereas the others had never taken it seriously. That had changed now, and Linden was teaching Blight and Johanna so they too could have an alternative weapon. Johanna could throw an axe like nobody else could and Linden knew he would never match her natural ability in that area.
It would be either he or Blight who entered the arena with Johanna. Liev and Sawyer were not going to be reaped when there were other older male victors who were guaranteed to be going back. The younger men had agreed to not volunteer in each other's place. The reaping ball, rigged or not, would choose.
They were both prepared to do their duties, whatever they may be. Whether it be staying with Johanna in the arena and working towards the plan or working on the sidelines in support. The one who stayed out of the arena would assist in mentoring, drumming up sponsors and doing the required work alongside the other rebel victors. There would be Haymitch to support, group efforts to keep going and final preparations with contacts to put in place. They would all be busy.
They were busy now too. Lots of time was being spent on training but hours were also spent on supporting efforts at home. Liev had been part of rebel plans since he stepped outside the arena and became friends with Leah, Seven's first rebel victor. He was working with leaders in Seven's central rebel cell to coordinate plans, determine their numbers and make sure they were ready. Sawyer was the most reluctant to join in after his time in the Games with a loyal family whose safety he needed to ensure. But as they grew older beyond the Second Quarter Quell and his family became more distant, branching out on their own, he began to fully see what he had tried to ignore. He was now trying to convert others from similar backgrounds to shore up as much support as possible.
Linden and Blight were eager, natural rebels from the start. Along with Johanna, they had been delivering messages and paying visits to further flung parts of Seven in secret, dangerous missions. Linden had taken over from his parents in securing supplies of basic medical equipment and had taken over Leah's contacts with District Three to facilitate this as well as sharing information with District Thirteen via Three's contact.
Blight handled Capitol liaisons, being in the same social circle as Plutarch Heavensbee. He received updates from their Capitol contacts and was able to confirm that the Quell was part of the plan and not a punishment for being discovered. Not that it felt like a plan any of them wanted to be part of.
Since they had received confirmation that plans were afoot, Linden had managed to pass the message onto Poppy in District Six given that the distance between Three and Four, the centre of organisation, meant that communications were difficult. The two of them had an established system for communicating that had lasted years and not failed them. So, Linden knew he would be able to reassure his partner that all was not lost.
He had been worrying about how frayed her nerves would become, sitting waiting for a message, hoping that they had not been discovered. They almost had been years before and it was Poppy, then the newest victor, who had managed to save them, and nobody was ever going to forget her efforts and let her down.
They had told each other to not volunteer. Despite their close friendship with Blight and the consequences for him, neither could stand to watch the other in an arena once more. Linden was hopeful that Poppy had a good chance of avoiding it. She was a competent mentor and excellent with contacts in the Capitol, having done a vast amount of work on behalf of Six's victors each year. He was optimistic that Plutarch could engineer her name out of the reaping ball altogether. He could support her with the loss of Claudia if it came to that, as terrible as that made him feel. But it would mean that they both had a chance.
It was all they needed, some optimism that after years of hard work, the plan was coming together and there was a realistic chance of success. Linden knew that Seven's centre and the lumber crews would fall in support of the rebels. They would have to work harder in some of the villages further afield, but he believed they could win. Their chance was higher now than it ever had been.
….
Just as Linden stopped by Seven's station to pass on his messages, Poppy visited Six's station each time she knew a train would stop by having been through Seven. She needed to know for sure that they had not been caught and Linden would be the best chance at passing on the news.
She had been sitting in the Victors' Village waiting for any signs of reprisals or suspicion. She had exercised caution on her trips beyond home and checked that she was not being followed. But nothing seemed out of the ordinary and Poppy dare not succumb to paranoia.
When she was not checking on Max or taking care of Claudia and Levi, she too was preparing. Poppy was crucial to District Six's rebel plans, and she was a trusted figure in the district. People were aware of the good she had done for the community home she used to live in as a child and knew she did all she could to support businesses and provide people with jobs.
Only those closest to her knew of the full scale of her role, however, coordinating the various rebel cells across Six and handling their inter-district communications. During the Games, Poppy tried to represent the district's industries and business interests and was always trying, within the tight constraints, to get a better deal for Six's many workers.
She was putting herself at risk every day, the Quell had not changed that. It just made the threat of being caught out more real, the consequences beyond what she had previously imagined. But now Claudia had promised to return to the arena no matter who was reaped and Poppy was trying to help manage the morphling addiction and prepare her for the Games.
There had been several trips to the central station whilst running her usual errands and making sure her fellow victors were cared for and adequately supplied. But finally, weeks after the first note from Linden, Poppy had received a response.
"It's time.
Full steam ahead, from District Six to the Capitol.
Run with it but keep your promise. I'll keep mine."
She understood Linden better than she understood anyone else. It was the news she had needed. There was a plan, it would begin in the Capitol. But Linden still insisted that neither of them should volunteer, which meant that the Games themselves, in some form, were on. There would be no escape before the arena.
Poppy knew at heart that she would be unable to save Claudia or Levi. They had both made up their minds and they would go back, regardless of who was reaped. Poppy and Max would have to sit on the sidelines whilst their friends passed on. Claudia and Levi were tired of this world and no longer had any will to go on. Whilst it was how nobody wanted to end their lives, especially having survived the Hunger Games once before, it would give them the out they were looking for. Poppy would ensure they were taken care of, both now at home and when they reached the Capitol.
She would need to ready District Six too. They had a matter of months before open, widespread rebellion commenced. The news was doing a poor job of hiding what was happening in Eight if you knew where to look and how to read between the lines, and Poppy had had plenty of practice at that. She just hoped Cecelia and her family were okay and that they could keep a semblance of control until it was time.
She would be outside of District Six when the plan began in earnest, so her people, the leading cell, would need to be ready without her. They had plans to sabotage the trains carrying in reinforcement peacekeepers which would need to be brought forward, more weapons would need to be amassed and larger scale assaults on peacekeeper barracks planned.
The Mayor would have to be deposed but thankfully that was not her direct problem. She would need to get in touch with the right people to ensure their plans were ready on time. Sabotage efforts across the factories would need to be reorganised to a tighter timescale so trips further afield than Six's centre were on the cards once more for Poppy.
Her own survival had to enter into consideration too. Somehow, she was going to have to return to District Six from the Capitol and she doubted that Snow would willingly let her catch the train back home. There was Max to think about too. He was ageing and unwell. His body would not cope with what would likely be a fast-paced and dangerous escape. She would need to ask him what his plans were and come up with something.
There was always pressure, but she had lived with the heavy weight of immense responsibility since her victory. She had always needed to be busy, to have a constant routine to cope, so the ongoing flurry of activity kept Poppy going. This time, however, their lives were truly in the balance. There would not be much she could do for Claudia and Levi beyond keeping them happy and alive until the arena. Max, she would take care of and support as long as he needed, and they would decide together how they would manage their time in and departure from the Capitol.
Poppy's life itself would not be a priority in their wider rebel group and it was something she understood and had come to terms with. The young victors from Twelve were obviously going to be a priority and Haymitch's survival was of obvious strategic importance. All of Three's and Four's victors had an important, leading role to play and she had agreed with both Linden and Blight that Johanna should always take priority. Cecelia was bound to end up back in the arena so Poppy was keen to protect her friend as far as she could as she doubted that Cotton would be up to much in terms of mentoring. There were lots of lives that Poppy would try to secure as best she could.
She had loved Linden for nineteen years. They had been in a relationship, in secret, for eighteen. She wanted to think of them, to finally put them first, but last year, as changes became obvious, they decided to put their districts and the cause first. If they won and were both alive, they would have their best chance then. Of course, they both acknowledged that was a significant hurdle, but they were determined to survive and see things through. They believed in each other.
They were pragmatic, and Linden was paranoid, hence why they had never been discovered by Snow or his cronies. Their relationship worked and they used it as an asset. Their messages reached each other without compromise, and they always covered their tracks. They trusted each other more than they trusted anyone else, perhaps with the exception of Blight and Max, who had kept their secret the entire time.
They would have to live in the moment, enjoy seeing each other in the few moments they would have in the Capitol and then hope their work would pay off. There was so much to think about, so much to organise, that Poppy dared not spend too long thinking or hoping what the future might bring. She loved Linden with every fibre of her being and used that to carry her forward. There was so much that she wanted for herself, for Linden, her friends, and District Six that she would have to carry on working until they succeeded, or it all ended. She was committed and would not go back on her word to Linden or her people.