A/N: Hello all! Thanks again for all of your reviews, and I am pleasantly surprised how many favorites and follows this story has received in such a short period of time. I hope you guys continue to support me, and if you have any ideas of your own of how this story could play out, I'd be glad to discuss it via PM. This chapter will also feature an new interesting twist, and my first OC, depending on the reaction I get, it may continue ;). Regardless, without further delay, here is Chapter 5!

Change of Fate

Chapter Five: Heroes on Both Sides

Katniss

I am standing with Peeta, Plutarch, and President Coin in her office, we are discussing terms of how Peeta and I can help the Rebellion. It is very interesting. They don't want us fighting too much, more just a lot of behind the scenes and on the cameras support. I find this both distasteful and wrong. If I'm going to support them, I'm going to fight for them.

"Look, if you want my support - "

"Our support," Peeta corrects me.

"You have to let us actually fight. I want to be on the front lines sometimes."

President Coin with her cold narrow face eyes me curiously, "Ms. Everdeen, what you must realize is that as the Mockingjay, as our symbol for hope, we cannot risk you dying or getting significantly hurt."

"Yes, well I am not your Mockingjay, not yet. And I won't be unless you actually let me fight the capital. I'm not asking to be involved in every single battle from here all the way to the Capital, but if you want me to be your symbol and film your propaganda videos, I have a few conditions. And being able to go and fight against the people that oppressed me for so long is chief among them."

Coin and Plutarch take a moment to consider this and look at each other, as if they are communicating in their minds. I share a glance with Peeta attempting to do the same with him, but before long Coin turns back to me and says, "Fine. But you will only see combat when Plutarch or myself deems fit. And you will need to join Mr. Mellark here in your training. Training for the games is very different than training for war, as I'm sure your fiancee here can attest." It is odd having Peeta still referred to as my fiancee. It was all for the cameras and for Snow, but we've never told anyone that it wasn't real. Many of the rebels, or so I was told by Snow and others, never really believed any of our love story. So why would they believe we were ever really engaged? Still, Peeta and I are clearly getting much closer. I don't know if I am ready to get married, but I can only hope that if I were to get married, it'd be to someone as amazing as Peeta. "And... What other conditions do you have?" Coin continued.

I consider this for a moment, because I haven't really yet. "I want my sister Prim to be able to keep her cat Buttercup. I want your guards to not fight with me when I leave my room to go and sleep in Peeta's room or vice versa. We both suffer from nightmares and we only really sleep well when we're with each other, and I get tired of explaining that to them every night. I want to be able to go hunting occasionally because it gives me peace of mind. Anything I catch I will give to the cooks in the kitchen here, but its something I've done since I was a little kid." I pause for a moment to think, and a coy smile spreads across my face. "And I want to be the one to kill President Snow."

This last request is the only one to elicit a reaction out of Coin, and I think for the first time I see her genuinely smile. "When the time comes, I'll flip you for it."

This is good enough for me. "Alright. Then under these terms, I will become your Mockingjay."

There is a cold silence that fills the room after I say this, and I get the feeling that Coin still did not like the fact that I was dictating terms to her. But she needs me. She needs me far more than I need her, so she must concede. "Excellent. Now then, its time to get to work. Go down to the Special Defense compound in the lower levels, there you will find Beetee, he has designed some new weapons for you. After that, you will meet with your prep teams and - "

But Coin is cut off, there is an announcement the comes on the television. It's the capital news and President Snow is on making an announcement. "And so, in light of recent events, I want to reassure all citizens of the capital and the districts still loyal to us that we shall not stand for the acts of terror that have been committed. These people who consider themselves heroes and freedom fighters will soon discover that they are nothing. They are nothing more than just feeble pawns in a game of chess... Before the start of the 3rd Quarter Quell, I announced that the tributes for the Games would be selected from the existing pool of victors, and I did this to remind the people of the districts that even their mightiest of warriors could not match the power of the capital. Today, I remind them of it once more," he says holding his hand up and moving aside to reveal someone behind him. It takes me a moment to figure out who it is, but then it hits me like lightning. Annie Cresta, Finnick's girlfriend. Snow continues on, "Annie Cresta was the winner of the 70th Hunger Games, and unlike many of her fellow victors, she was unable to escape to the protections of the Rebels. During the riots in District 4, she was arrested and now she will pay the price for her actions."

I cannot bear to watch. She is attached to a cross of sorts and held up by metal chains around her ankles and wrists. They then drench her in gallons of water and I know what is coming. Snow personally handles an electric taser. With a disgusting, blood-thirsty smile stapled across his face he holds it up to her neck and turns it on watching as the beautiful red-haired girl writhes in pain, her pain echoes across all of the Capital and District 13 with her shrieks. I collapse to the floor and cover my mouth as I feel tears filing my eyes. It does not stop. Snow takes great enjoyment in watching her in pain. Peeta joins me on the floor and holds my hand and cradles my head in his chest as I sob. After what feels like an eternity, Snow speaks once more. "This, is what awaits any and all who continue to defy the capital. Remember that..." And then the transmission goes out.

No sooner did it end, than did Coin's door snap open, with a livid Finnick storming in. "I told you Plutarch! I told you the night of the rescue we needed to get her out! I fucking told you!" He is charging right at Plutarch, and luckily Peeta jumps to his feet to grab him before he lunges at the old head gamemaker. The anger is flush across Finnick's face as he struggles to grasp at Plutarch, who's face displays nothing.

I realize in this moment that we truly mean nothing to these people except to provide them with support for their war. They don't care about any collateral damage, as long as they win. Coin and Snow... Merely two sides of the same coin.

"Finnick, calm down, please. C'mon man, she'll be fine. I'm sure we'll work out a way to rescue her," Peeta says. As much as I adore this boy, his naivety is omnipresent in this moment. They have no plans to rescue Annie, just like they'd have no plans to rescue Peeta if the Capital had captured him in the arena. I shutter at the notion of not having him here with me through all of this, and suddenly I completely understand what Finnick is going through.

Finnick glares at Plutarch, "You better figure out something. I'm not gonna do a damn thing for you until I see a plan in writing about how we're getting her out of there," he says before storming back out of the room.

Coin continues on giving us instructions, as if Finnick's outburst didn't even happen. "As I said, go to Beetee and then Plutarch here will meet up with you and your prep teams. You will begin filming the first propo later today. I'll have the guards here take you down to Beetee. That is all."

Two guards come from behind us and we follow then out of the room. They lead us through a section of the maze that is District 13 and down several flights of stairs before we reach our destination. It is an odd glass arena that we find, which Beetee is in the middle of doing something. There are several security entrances we must go through before reaching him. Once we're all the way through, it is unique what we find. Beautiful grassy fields, man made clearly, but something that simply does not exist in Thirteen anywhere else. Peeta and I proceed slowly over towards Beetee whom we have not spoken with since that night in the arena.

"Ah... Good to see you two. I was beginning to wonder when you would come and visit me."

I don't think either of us have the heart to tell him it's only because Coin ordered us to do so, but we sit down on the nice green grass next to him to see what he's doing. "Well, here we are..." I say.

"What are you doing here Beetee?" Peeta askes curiously.

"I am studying the movements of hummingbirds..."

Peeta and I share a glance and we both smile, "Any particular reason why?" I ask.

"Oh yes. You see, hummingbirds rotate - not flap - their wings over 80 times per second. They move them in a unique figure 8 motion which allows them to move forward and backward at the drop of a hat."

I am confused, and clearly don't have time for this. "Interesting. Hey Beetee - "

But he cuts me off, "Oh don't worry, I know why you're here. I have something very neat indeed, for both of you. Come with me." He leads us off to a different part of this man made ecotopia where there is a rack of weapons hung up, causing a little pain as it reminds me of the cornucopia's in the Games. "I have made each of you a specially designed weapon, fit specifically for each of you. Katniss, this is a bow designed to go perfectly with your new Mockingjay outfit you'll be receiving soon. This bow is personalized for you. Perfect measurements for your body, and it shoots perfectly for you. It is quite literally a living weapon, and it has the ability to knock off any shaking that your body produces during combat or breathing or anything else. When you want to turn off this ability, simply say 'good night.' It also comes with your regular arrows, along with incendiary and explosive tips. It will be quite useful for you, I'm sure."

I grab my new bow and inspect it carefully. As soon as I touch it, it feels like it fits. As I am enamored with my new weapon, Beetee begins introducing Peeta to his. "This is a sword designed for you Peeta. Made from unbreakable and very precious Inconel 625 alloy, it is also feather light. While not quite as 'alive' as Katniss' bow, you can click this little button right here you see," indicating a small knob on the blade's hilt, "and viola!" As Peeta hits it, the blade erupts into magnificent flames reminiscent of how our clothing that Cinna designed looked.

Peeta marvels at it, before looking at me with a grin on his face, "I almost feel like this should also belong to you, girl on fire, haha."

I laugh in response.

"Well, it is for you Peeta. Now, both of you will be receiving training in firearms but these weapons will come in handy in the field and the President wants to utilize them for your propos."

Of course she does. We have to use guns on the battlefield, but she wants us to use the weapons from the Games to remind people of who we are and what we've done... "Alright then, is there anything else Beetee?" I ask.

"Yes, can you send down Finnick, Johanna, and Gale when you can?"

Finnick and Johanna I can understand, but Gale? "Yeah sure, how come?"

"I have their special weapons as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I must return to the hummingbirds..." Beetee trails off and leaves us.

After spending a few moments continuing to inspect our weapons, we leave the man made dome. After getting through all the entrances, we find Plutarch waiting for us with Flavius, Venia, and Octavia - my old prep team. Somehow they survived while all the other victors' teams did not, and I rush to embrace them. After a moment, Plutarch breaks up the reunion. "Yes, now they will be working on both you and Peeta. Hurry up, because we've got a propo to shoot!"

Peeta

After spending a few hours too long letting the Prep Team get us ready for the cameras, we've finally finished. Katniss and I were being made up separately, so when we are brought back together and I see her standing before me, I feel me jaw fall to the floor. She looks absolutely amazing. Wearing her traditional black Mockingjay outfit, it has been enhanced to show off her features. Her beautiful curves, are very prominent, as are her breasts, but it is her face that I cannot take my eyes off of. Instead of covering her in layers of makeup that I feel would take away from her natural beauty, they let that natural beauty be the center of her entire outfit. Her face is what makes the rest of it work. They do add a few enhancements to make the scars more visible, but otherwise it is the same beautiful face that I've woken up to everyday for the past few weeks. As she turns to me, and smiles meekly, I return it by giving her a reassuring and radiant smile. "Katniss, you look absolutely stunning."

She blushes and tries to hide her face for a moment but glances back at me. "Yeah, well you don't look half bad yourself!"

Maybe, but I can't possibly look as great as she does. Our outfits match in some ways, but it is clear that she will be the focus of this propo. I move in and grab her by the waist and pull her in for a warm embrace. I am tentative about kissing her in front of the prep team, but I am pleasantly surprised when it is she that moves to kiss me. It is deeper than I thought she would be comfortable with and eventually we fall back into the couch behind me. As much as I know how she feels about me at this point, it still surprises me when she does things like this, and is comfortable enough with showing a public display of our affection.

Eventually, we here a slight "Ahem," from behind her to reveal Plutarch. "Not to interrupt or anything, but we do have a schedule." Blushing excessively, I help Katniss stand up and we follow Plutarch into a nearby room. "Now, we want to keep this first Propo short and sweet. Nothing too hard or too complicated for either of you. I just want you to be yourselves, act like you've been a part of the Rebellion since your first games, show me the defiance that you showed the entire country when you pulled out those berries. Can you do that?" Plutarch asks with a smile on his face. I nod, even though I feel like he is directing this more to Katniss than myself. I would have eaten those berries not out of defiance, but out of love... Katniss also nods without verbally responding. "Excellent! Now, the propo will start with a flash through of your previous endeavors relating to the games. You will see it on this screen behind me as we lead in to the filiming, because we want your natural reactions to what you see. Understood?"

"Yep," Katniss responds and I merely nod again.

"There will be a countdown then Peeta, you will speak first saying, 'District 12 is gone... Our home has been destroyed... Because of the wickedness of the Capital,' and then Katniss you will follow by saying, 'People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!' You guys think you can handle that?"

"It doesn't sound that bad to me," I respond.

"I'll manage," says Katniss.

"Good. I'll be in next room watching. Break a leg!" He says before departing.

Not long after, a video montage begins on the screen ahead of us just Plutarch said it would. It starts off during our first reaping, when Prim is selected and Katniss volunteers. Then it flashes to my interview with Caesar in the first games where I announce my love for Katniss. Another flash, and we are at the point where I am helping her after the tracker jackers have stung her and the blow I suffered from Cato to my leg. Flash, and now we're in the cave where I explain to Katniss just how I fell in love with her all those years ago. Yet another flash, this time to the berries. And another flash to when I hit the force field in the Quell and Katniss rushes over to my lifeless body. I feel Katniss grab ahold of my hand. Finally, one last flash; to the moment Katniss fires the lightning arrow at the dome of the Arena. Then a countdown from 10 begins.

3. 2. 1. Go. "District 12 is gone... Our home has been destroyed... Because of the wickedness of the Capital!" I say with as much power and emphasis as I possibly can.

Now it's Katniss' turn. "People of Panem, we fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!" I stand next to her in silence. She was never the greatest actor, Katniss best displays her emotions when she really feels them. I guess the rebels thought that this little montage might help stir some of those feelings, but I'm not sure it did. The camera and prep teams don't say anything, and Plutarch hasn't bolted in to tell us it was horrible. So it must've gone ok.

Then a stale yet very familiar voice comes in through the intercom. "Ladies and and gentlemen, that is how a revolution dies." Only Haymitch would have the balls to say something like that...

President Snow

I am currently sitting in the Presidential Palace, listening to my generals utter on in nonsense about what to do to the rebels and how to crush the resistance. As important as this is to me keeping power, I am unconvinced that any of these morons truly have any idea what they're doing. I have called the Gamemakers to sit in on this meeting as well. While they might not necessarily have experience in real war time designs, neither have the Generals. It has been 75 years since the last war, and most of these men were not alive, and were infants even if they were.

The topic of the moment is how to quell the uprising in District 4. While the others are important, District 4 is still loyal to the Capital and holds our access to the Navy. If we are cut off from the ocean and cut off from its vast resources, things could very well get hard for the people of the Capital and our war effort.

Commander Romulus Thread, the man who oversaw the destruction of District 12 stands and commands the attention of the room. "Look, let's just round up the agitators and take them right to the firing squad. We'll televise it nationally, make it the only thing to air on any channel. We will strike fear in their hearts. Then we make a strong push right into the small portion of land that the Rebels have staked as their own, and blast them all to bits. Even better yet, we could just as well fire bomb the whole lot of them, and also cover it on national television."

This is the same line of advice I've heard for quite sometime, he's just phrased it differently. I pay it no credence as I have to the others. I want someone to shock me. I want someone to step up with something big and bold.

It seems my call has been answered, metaphorically speaking at least. A young Gamemaker rises from the end of the table, scrawny and brainy looking, he has a pointed face with dark brown hair and pitch black eyes. He does not seem all that amazing or noble at first glance, yet there is something about him. Something sinister and cunning.

"No. Fear is the tactic we've used thus far, and thus far it has not worked."

"NOBODY ASKED YOU NERD BOY!" Thread responds.

"Sit down Commander, I want to hear this man out." I say.

"Thank you Mr. President. My name is Iago Saváge. I believe that we must realize that as long as the Rebels have their beacon of hope, our fear and intimidation tactics will not work."

I know what he is referring to. Katniss Everdeen. The Mockingjay. "Yes. But how do you propose we get to Katniss Everdeen? She is well protected within the walls of District 13."

Saváge merely smiles sinisterly, "Come now, Mr. President. You know her better than any of us. You know her desire for theatrics, you know she will want to be on the front lines at some point in the very near future. And you know that the Rebels will soon feature her in propos."

"What do you propose?"

"When she arrives at a battleground, our troops will report back to us. And we will destroy her."

"Even if we could know when and where she will be, the level of security around her will be astronomical when she is out of 13," I keenly note.

"You misunderstand me Mr. President... I said destroy, not kill." A holo image of young Peeta Mellark illuminates from his end of the table. "We will separate the Mockingjay and the boy that stole her heart away. We will kill him obviously, but first we will use him. We will use him on the very same battlefield, we will let Ms. Everdeen show all of Panem how weak and desperate she really is. And when we kill him, it will break her. It will break her mind. It will break her heart. And it will remove the Mockingjay entirely from the Game."

I take a moment to analyze this plan. It is a good one. I rise and begin clapping for the young man. "Well done, Mr. Saváge. I believe your predecessor once told me that this game is all about 'Moves and Countermoves.' I see you are of the same line of thought."

Saváge looks slightly taken aback, "My predecessor sir?"

I turn to the rest of the Generals and Gamemakers around the table and say, "Gentlemen, please join me in welcoming our new Head Gamemaker..." Thunderous claps fill the room, and I understand that now I am about to make my first countermove.

What'd you guys think of the Snow part? Does it fit? Should I continue with it? Not saying it'll be in every chapter or even all that often, just let me know what you thought of it.