We Didn't Start The Fire
by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre

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Chapter Twenty Three: One Day More

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Last Time in We Didn't Start The Fire:

But it's the third person who speaks. "I'm Cinna. I was the stylist for the male tribute from District Two for the Quell. I'm here for Justus."

"I'm assuming you mean the tribute," I say.

"I do," he says with a gentle smile. "But I also mean the concept."

"Then you've come to the right place."

oOo

Rory pulls Gale aside on our way to the debriefing of the four high profile transients. "Gale, I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait? I've got to go listen to Finnick Odair brag for the next two hours."

The teen shuffles his feet slightly. "Um… not really?"

Gale takes in his brother's guilty expression. "Damn it, Rory, what'd you do?"

"I kind of maybe sort of joined the army?" Rory blurts out in one breath. "I mean, it's not a big deal, everybody's doing it, fourteen's considered a legal adult here in Thirteen and Prim's gonna join too, I mean she told me she's gonna join and I just don't want her to get there first and I gotta do this and-"

"Wait. Wait." Gale holds up a hand. "Hold it. Back up. Slow down. What the fuck did you just say?"

"Um… I joined the army?"

"That's what I thought I heard you say." My husband runs a hand through his hair. "Damn it, Rory, the main reason we left Twelve was so I could keep you safe, and now you're putting yourself in danger again!"

"I know, but… but I'm not a kid anymore!" The teen tilts his head up and squares his jaw. In that moment, he looks almost exactly like Gale.

"But you're still my little brother!" Gale counters. "Look, I couldn't bear it if anything happened to you. Not on my watch."

Rory crosses his arms. "Nothing's gonna happen! I'll be safe!"

"We're about to go into a war! That is the complete opposite of safe!"

"They're probably not gonna deploy me anyways. I'm too young. Heinz said fourteen year olds pretty much get stuck doing supply runs, and that's only if there aren't enough older soldiers."

"Then why'd you join the army?" Gale asks, throwing up his arms.

"It's my fight too, Gale, and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

Rory's got him there and Gale knows it.

"Please, Gale. Rain's my nephew. You think I want him to live in a world where the Games still exist? You think I want Prim to get Reaped? Or you? Damn it, if we hadn't run, you'd be dead!" My husband opens his mouth, but Rory cuts him off. "Don't tell me you'd have won the Games. You'd have said something, pissed someone off, and you'd be dead!"

Rory's got a point. As much as I love both of my spouses, my husband has a tendency to say the exact wrong thing at the exact wrong time. Katniss isn't much better. That's why they have me.

I can tell Gale knows it too. He can't say anything to contradict Rory's words, because Rory isn't wrong.

"What did you say about Prim?" Katniss asks, breaking the tense silence.

Rory flushes. "Shit. I wasn't supposed to say anything about that."

"Say anything about what?" My wife's tone promises a world of pain to our brother-in-law if he doesn't come clean.

He shifts a little, then blurts out, "Prim told me she's gonna join the combat medics when she turns fourteen."

That's in less than two weeks. I suspect my wife and mother-in-law will be having a conversation with the youngest Everdeen about her life choices.

It makes me think about Rye. We've been so busy lately that we've barely had a chance to talk. We spent some time together during the fall, but mostly he's been working with his unit, something about a marine corps. While Rory, at fourteen, will probably be kept on the periphery of this war, Rye almost certainly will be in the thick of it.

I really need to spend more time with him. I don't want to lose what little family I have left.

oOo

We arrive at the meeting to find everybody waiting for us.

"Glad you could join us, kids," Haymitch drawls. "You're lucky Effie's busy elsewhere. She'd've tanned your hides for the rudeness."

"Sorry," I say quickly. "A bit of a family emergency."

I can see a few curious expressions but I don't bother to explain anymore. It's none of their business.

Coin clears her throat. "Alright, since everyone is now here, Mr. Presley, why don't you tell everyone your story?"

"Please, Alma, call me Cinna." He turns to smile gently at the gray haired woman.

"Alright, Cinna. Please, the floor is yours."

"You'll have to forgive me, I'm a mediocre public speaker at best," he begins. "That's more Finnick's purview."

The man from Four flashes his trademark grin.

"After my illness and reassignment to District Two, I was approached by Junior Gamemaker Heavensbee," he says in an even tone.

In fact, everything about this man feels even. Soothing. He's not quite emotionless. That'd be doing him a disservice. Instead he seems to project an aura of calm throughout the room. Even Katniss, who normally bristles around new people, is drawn in.

"He had heard about my concerns regarding the Quell and wished to address them."

"What were your concerns?" Katniss asks, her tone curious.

Something sparks in Cinna's eyes. "That children would be Reaped."

"I can see how that'd be a problem for you, considering size of costumes and all," Gale snipes.

"That concern was voiced by several of my fellow stylists," Cinna says calmly, refusing to rise to the bait. "It was not mine."

"So what was yours?" I ask before Gale can antagonize the man further.

"I felt Snow had made a bad decision. That he was being unreasonably cruel. While the Games are cruel in and of themselves, the addition of children, true innocents, added a whole other dimension I wasn't sure I could be a part of anymore."

I want to ask him why he became a stylist in the first place. But this isn't the time or the place. So instead I say, "Clearly Plutarch changed your mind."

Cinna smiles at the florid man. "He did. He reminded me that children would need sponsors, and that Two would be especially likely to have a child Reaped. I wish he'd been wrong." The man's eyes go distant. "Justus was a wonderful little boy. Smart, stubborn, strong. Do you know what he said?" he asks the group. "He said 'I'm glad it's me and not one of the babies.' He was only six years old and he was glad it wasn't somebody who had no chance at all."

"He was six," Katniss points out. "What kind of a chance did he have?"

"Better than you might think," Lyme speaks up. "We did what we could in Two. We taught the children how to identify fresh water, how to find places to hide. We trained them to run. We told them, if they got Reaped, to spend their time at the survival stations and not worry about any weapons training. Our goal was to get them to outlast the other tributes and hope for a miracle. We couldn't do anything about the babies, but the kids old enough to follow any instructions at all… we did what we could," she repeats.

Gloss speaks up. "We did the same in One."

Cashmere nods in agreement.

"We did our best in Four," Finnick says. "But Pacifica was so young, and Ferdie…" He trails off. He doesn't need to say more. Four's tributes were extremely young. It's likely there was nothing they could have done for them.

There's a moment of silence as we all remember those poor kids.

Cinna sighs. "Justus lasted so long. If I could have donated to him, I would have. All of my team would have." He lets that sink in.

I didn't know that some people were prevented from sponsoring tributes. It makes sense in hindsight. I also understand why Cinna told us this. It helps explain his reasons for defecting.

"But we couldn't. And he died." He shakes his head. "After the Games, Plutarch approached me with a proposition. He told me change was coming, and the Mockingjays had been found," he says, looking over at the three of us. "Would I be willing to defy the Capitol and get justice for Justus? My answer was yes. And so we started working for Heavensbee, me and my team."

I wonder exactly what a team of stylists could do, but Cinna is quick to answer my unasked question.

"Our designs, despite our losing tribute, were extremely popular. Several people wanted to be styled by Cinna. It allowed us to acquire information and set up monitoring devices," he explains.

"Unfortunately, as highly placed as we were, we still couldn't reach the highest branches of the government. Snow and his cabinet were off-limits, and the presidential mansion is swept regularly for listening devices." He sighs again. "We did our best, but we were stuck at a bit of a standstill. But, after Plutarch's deception and public death and the acquisition of information which was too important to miss passing on, my partner Portia and I hatched a plan."

"And just what was that plan?" Coin asks.

"Snow rewards informers. What better way was there for Portia to weasel her way in than to denounce a high ranking spy?" His eyes crinkled in amusement.

"You?" Gale asks, his tone disbelieving.

"Yes. Me. But not just me," Cinna answered. "While I'm highly placed, I'm not a prominent target."

"Me, on the other hand," Finnick says, his lips twisting. "I've got secrets. Lots of secrets. Secrets that Snow doesn't want to get out. And if he were to know about my secrets, well… good old Coriolanus's heart might just stop."

"Well that'd be one way to win the war," Haymitch mutters.

"So Portia was going to denounce Cinna and Finnick? Why are you two here?" Boggs asks Cashmere and Gloss.

"Right place, right time," Cashmere replies, deadpan. "We weren't happy with the Quell. Our grandfather being Reaped was no coincidence. Our escort told me that every slip in the bowl had his name on it. You can bet other districts were rigged too."

I think about District Twelve and the Mayor being Reaped, how Madge thought it was punishment for her and Rye escaping, as well as our group. I realize she was probably right. Nothing could have prevented her father from being Reaped, and he was Reaped as punishment.

But it sounds like Snow's plan blew up in his face.

"I'm not sure we should be mourning your grandfather. He killed kids," Gale points out.

"Mercy kills only!" Cashmere declares.

"He and Oralie knew the children didn't stand a chance. I'm sure they would have joined with the alliance if they'd been approached," Gloss says, shooting a glare at Haymitch and Beetee.

"You coulda come to me, Gloss."

"Same goes for you."

Haymitch sighs. "I guess we're too used to workin' against each other. Your kids have killed too many of mine over the years." His eyes narrow. "In fact, as I seem to recall, you killed Mabel in your year."

"And you killed Ruby in yours," Gloss counters. "I'd say we're even."

Haymitch nods, conceding the point.

"I think we're forgetting who the real enemy is," Katniss says, speaking up.

"You're right," Coin says, agreeing with my wife. "The real enemy is not in this room. The real enemy is Snow. And it's high time we took this fight to him."

Everyone nods in agreement.

"Please continue, Cinna."

He does. "Our plan went off fairly seamlessly, with Portia remaining behind while the rest of us fled. The only hiccup occurred during the extraction." His face spasms in pain. "My prep team, Octavia, Venia, and Flavius, sacrificed themselves so that the rest of us could get free."

"And what information do you have that makes their sacrifice worth it?" Katniss wants to know.

Cinna pulls out a small plastic rectangle and sets it on the table. "I have the proximity and gate codes for all of the districts for the month of January."

Everyone stares at the piece of plastic in awe. Its importance is immediately apparent. With this information, all of the proximity traps around the districts could be neutralized. We could get the drop on at least one district and be able to take it with minimal casualties. Not all of them. Thirteen's army, even with the influx of transients, is still far smaller than the Capitol's force of Peacekeepers. But we have a chance at one.

"Indeed, that is important information," Coin murmurs, there's respect in her tone that I haven't heard before. "How did you acquire it?" Her eyes glitter. She's thinking about how she might use this information.

"Flavius. One of his clients didn't secure their computer. It was a slip. But because of it, Flavius was able download a goldmine of information. I knew as soon as I saw the data that we had to get it out. The more time we have, the more we can accomplish."

"We are extremely grateful, both for your man Flavius's ingenuity and for his sacrifice," Coin intones. "We need to make sure that it isn't in vain."

The words feel scripted and I wonder if this is being filmed. I wouldn't be surprised if it is.

"The real question is: what district do we want to liberate first?" Plutarch asks

I want to say Twelve, and I can see Katniss and Gale feel the same. Twelve is our home. But to the people seated around this table, it's not of any strategic value.

"If we could somehow manage it, I would say let's hit District Two," Boggs suggests.

"Why can't we?" Cashmere asks.

"We can't move that many troops that far that fast without raising the Capitol's alarms. No, Two's out," Boggs says. "And so are One, Three, Five, and Seven. Even Ten and Four would be problematic."

"I agree," Coin says. "Our target needs to be someplace closer to home."

General Glenn speaks up. "Unfortunately, I can only think of one district that is both strategically important and close enough that we can take advantage of this remarkable information."

Unfortunately, I can only think of one too.

District Six.

oOo

Once the decision is made, Thirteen descends into a flurry of activity.

It doesn't take as long as I expect for Thirteen to become combat-ready. The district's been preparing for this moment for months, probably years even. All unnecessary training and extra activities come to a halt, and Plutarch's propo team works overtime to energize the troops and population.

I admit, it's hard to contain my excitement. Finally, after months and months of preparation and planning, finally we are going to get this revolution started.

Unfortunately, not everyone is anxious for action.

Katniss is understandably concerned. That night, after the decision is made, while lying between Gale and me, she says, "I suppose you two are going to go."

"Um… we kind of have to, Katniss," I point out.

"No you don't! You signed up to be the Mockingjays, a symbol, not a soldier! I'm sure Coin and Plutarch would be fine with you guys sitting this out!"

"But we wouldn't be," Gale says, stroking her hair lightly. "The people need to see that we're willing to get our hands dirty. That their fight is our fight."

"But our fight isn't their fight." She pauses, gathering her thoughts. "Thirteen… I don't feel right about Thirteen sacrificing Twelve like this. I mean, why couldn't they just send troops to both districts? It's not like Twelve has a ton of Peacekeepers. They have maybe less than a thousand. It's not like the fence is ever on. It'd be a piece of cake to liberate our home! And it wasn't even on the table."

"Why didn't you say anything?" I ask.

"Did you see their faces?" she asks incredulously. "They don't care. I'm not sure I feel comfortable being the figurehead for a rebellion for people who don't care. I'm just worried we're trading one bad government for another. Maybe if Coin hadn't been elected…" she trails off.

I meet Gale's eyes over our wife's head. We both realize Katniss has a point. District Twelve never had a large Peacekeeper contingent. It was mostly made up of new recruits and those Peacekeepers on the verge of retirement. In fact, if I think about it, I bet I know most of the Peacekeepers by name. They were regulars at my parents' shop.

And I think Katniss is overestimating their numbers. I bet there's fewer than five hundred of them. Possibly even less, considering the flu decimated Twelve's Peacekeepers. It would barely strain Thirteen's resources to liberate District Twelve.

We go to bed that night with an uneasy feeling in our chests.

oOo

The following morning, I mention our concerns to Plutarch.

The man gives me a look of surprise. "Do you really think it'd be that easy?"

"I'm sure it will." Sensing his interest, I make my case, "The Capitol considers Twelve an unimportant district, so they've never spent any time reinforcing it. The main fence is just a few wires. You don't even need special equipment to break it down."

Plutarch gives me a thoughtful expression. "I'll talk to Alma. Try to make her see your point of view."

"Thanks. I don't think she'd like it, hearing it from me."

Plutarch laughs. "I get the impression that you two have butted heads."

"That's putting it mildly," I say.

"Well, I guess it's a good thing that I'm here to smooth the waters."

I nod my head. I'm definitely glad Plutarch's on our side.

oOo

The date of departure arrives.

Katniss embraces both of us fiercely. "Both of you come back to me, you hear? I need you both. I love you both. I'm not ready to be a widow."

"We'll try," I say.

Gale places his hands on our wife's stomach. "You just take care of yourself and our little ones."

I place my hands over Gale's. "Don't worry about us, Katniss."

She gives me a look.

"I admit it, that was a dumb thing to say."

"Uh huh."

"But try not to worry about us too much." I reach up to play with the end of her braid. The action is soothing. Grounding. "Coin can't afford to lose her Mockingjays yet. We've still got a long war ahead of us. We'll probably be kept in the back, on cleanup duty, and," I motion to Cressida's propo team, who are filming our exchange from a respectful distance, "they'll probably only take a few strategic shoots that can be publicized. Who knows? We may not even see any of the actual battle."

"Still doesn't mean you won't be in danger," she counters. "And I won't be there to protect you!"

"No, you'll be here," Gale drops a kiss on Katniss's forehead, "protecting our family."

She blinks her eyes rapidly, like she's trying to hold back tears. "You're part of my family too."

I hear the sound of a throat clearing behind us and I turn to see Plutarch shuffling nervously from one foot to the other. "I'm sorry to interrupt this beautiful moment, but I figured you'd want to know."

"Know what?" Katniss asks, her tone suddenly wary.

"I've brought your concerns to Alma, and it was decided, in case of a Capitol counterattack, that it'd be unwise to split our forces."

"What are you saying?" Katniss's voice is hard.

"I'm sorry. We're not going to send troops to District Twelve."

My heart sinks.

"Please understand, I did the best I could. But…" He trails off, making a helpless hand motion.

"Thank you for trying," I say to my mentor.

Plutarch nods. "I'm just sorry I couldn't do more." He turns to my wife. "So, I hear that you and Miss Undersee are planning on several broadcasts while the fighting's going on."

"Yes."

Plutarch pulls out a small device with a couple of dangling wires and hands it to me. "I figured your husbands would appreciate being able to hear your voice, since you won't be there with them in person."

The three of us stare at Plutarch with different expressions on our faces. Gale and I both have shock and gratitude; Katniss has an edge of suspicion on hers, like she's certain it's a trick.

"Thank you," I say before Katniss can say anything.

"It's my pleasure," he says. "Now, I'll leave you three to say your goodbyes." He shuffles away.

"I don't trust that man," Katniss says quietly.

"I know." I kiss her gently on the nose. "You don't trust anyone."

"That's not true." She looks up at me, her heart in her eyes. "I trust you." She turns to Gale. "I trust both of you. If you tell me you'll do your best to stay alive and come back to me, I'll believe it."

"We promise to try," Gale says.

She pulls us both into a tight embrace. "That's all I ask." She pulls back and regards us seriously. "Whatever you two need to do to survive, you do it."

"What are you trying to say, Katniss?"

She struggles for words. "You have my permission to do whatever you need to do to stay sane."

The two of us look at her in confusion.

She bites her lower lip. "I'm saying this wrong." A low flush starts to rise up on her cheeks. "I'm just saying, you don't have to… I don't need to be there if you two want to… you know."

Realization dawns. "Are you giving us permission to have sex?"

She nods her head. "Or whatever. Whatever you need. Sex. Intimacy. Just don't worry about me. I don't want you two to… if you need comfort, take it. I promise I'll be okay with whatever you guys decide." Her eyes plead with us. "Just come home to me."

"Thank you, Katniss," I say, my voice full.

Gale wraps his arms around the two of us. "This is why we love you."

oOo

AN:
Written: 11/18/15
Revised: 12/13/15
Revised 2: 12/15/15

The title of this chapter comes from Les Miserables. After all, they are preparing for revolution...but not quite there yet!

Nothing was randomized in this chapter.

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