So, I'm going to try for one update a week, at least. Try being the big word there… If I miss one, I'll make up for it during the next school holidays. That is the Plan anyway.

Disclaimer: Sorry, I'm just the average Aussie teenage girl.

Chapter 8

Announcement

I groaned. We have just spent the last half and hour trying to say this stupid line properly.

Ok, sorry. I lie. Let me try again.

I had just spent the last half an hour trying to say this stupid line properly.

Peeta got it right first shot. Of course he did. He's the perfect little actor. Me, on the other hand… Well, my interview practice with Haymitch in my first games says it all.

"Ready to try again Katniss?" Fulvia, Plutarch's assistant, looked up at me from her clipboard. I sighed.

"I guess so."

I moved over to the centre of the room, where they had set up a green screen. Beetee said that they could edit the shots on a computer to make it look like I was in a battle or something.

My job was simple. All I had to do was stare at the screen, then spin around and yell;

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

"No, no, no! Katniss, you're all rigid! You need to loosen up a little! Look natural!"

"How am I supposed to look natural when I have said this line a hundred times already? And all I can see is this huge green thing, not some inspirational battle! Any way, I'm pretty sure that it woud be hard to 'loosen up' at a battle scene where I could die any minute!"

"You were relaxed enough in the Hunger Games to act!"

"Yes, I was! But do you see the difference? Am I in a forest? A cave? Is there a sadistic career trying to hunt me down and murder me as slowly and painfully as possible? No! There is a giant piece of fluro green fabric!"

"Just try, okay?"

"Fine."

I turned to the green fabric, stared out, then whipped around, raised my bow and-

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our fight for justice!"

"Cut. Peeta, why don't you come over here and show Katniss how it's done?" Fulvia was practically ripping her hair out in frustration at this point.

I rolled my eyes. Oh well. At least if Peeta's doing it, I can have a break. If only for a few seconds.

"Katniss! Watch Peeta! Maybe you'll be able to pick up something!"

I watch as Peeta walks to green screen, turns, and raises his bow. I have to admit, he looks pretty impressive. The fan at the back of the room is blowing his hair around, and he has a fiery expression on his face, his blue eyes sparkling. He even almost managed to pull off the cheesy words and make them sound intimidating and inspirational. Almost.

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

"See Katniss? That didn't look too hard now, did it?"

"Uh…."

Peeta rolled his eyes and walked back over to the corner.

"Off you go then, Katniss."

I sighed. Again. I seem to be doing that a lot lately.

"People of Panem! We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice!"

"Alright, that's it. Katniss, we will try this one more time, and if there is no improvement, we'll have to think of something else."

"You say that like it's a punishment."

"It should be. Do you want to win this war? How will we when the districts are not motivated?"

"And you think this will motivate them? We fight, we dare, we end our hunger for justice? Really?"

"That would be why I am trying to make you recite it, yes."

"Honestly, you people. Have you ever been to the districts?"

"What has that got to do with anything?"

"Something as lame as that won't get people motivated! They need something more! They'll see through this just as they saw through the Capitol's shots of District Thirteen and the Mockingjay! And no, not me, I mean the one that flew past the Justice Building!"

"They will not! Once this has been edited, people will think that you have gone into battle!"

"Oh, so you're lying to them, then. You do know why people want to overthrow the Capitol, right?"

"Because of the Hunger Games, the oppression, their general evilness. Lying for their own good is no where near as bad as killing off innocent children."

"Yes, but Gale was right."

"Whatever are you talking about?"

"Loads of people will die in this war. Why can't we give them something real to fight for!"

"They have something real! Their own lives! Their homes! Their children!"

"But they've had those reasons for decades! And have they ever fought? No! They need to be motivated! Not much. You saw how they reacted when Peeta and I took those Berries. All we need is a spark! Just one more spark to make sure that Snow doesn't quench the fire! Then the districts will rebel, the Capitol will get overrun by sheer numbers and determination! We can beat them if we put our minds to it! That's all it is! The Capitol has been trying to keep our minds in a box for our entire lives, don't you see? They have tried to keep us in with electric fences and a handful of rules. Nobody dared oppose them, scared that they would be shot and their children reaped! But some people went under the fence, and we let our minds expand, and began to think up ideas that we hadn't before. What if there was some way to beat the system? What if we could defy the Capitol? All they needed was a spark! And they got it! Snow tried to quench the fire, but this fire can not be put out." I was unsure how exactly this related to the original topic, but I kept going. I had been bottling up my emotions for a while. I needed to let it out. "Let Snow come. Let him try. Let him bring his army of Peacekeepers. Let him scramble for buckets of water and a hose, because he'll soon realise it's fruitless. This fire will can't be extinguished. It's spreading. It's infectious! There's only one way to stop a fire of this magnitude. Wait for it to run out of fuel." I glared at Fulvia, who was quivering. I noticed a small smile on her face, but I ignored it. "Sure, loads of people will die. But loads more will be reaped or punished for no reason if we stand by and do nothing! So you do something useful, don't just stand there and quiver with fear! We need everybody to stand together! Do it for the people who starved while the Capitol was feasting. Do it for the Parents who lost a child. Do it for the Tributes, who lost everything they ever had or might have had! No, this fire can't be stopped. Not until we have burned down the forest."

I jumped as I heard a short beep.

"Did you get it?"

"Get what? Peeta, get what?"

"Yes, I did!" Squealed Cressida, a woman on one of the cameras. "From when she first said "All we need is a spark"! This is amazing stuff! Amazing, Katniss!"

I stared at them. They were filming me? What? Why?

"Great job Katniss!" Fulvia cried. I turned my gaze to her. "That was amazing! You went from telling me off to a very motivational speech! Did you plan it?"

Motivational? Seriously? I was just trying to get a point across, even if I failed miserably.

Before I could contemplate this, however, Fulvia was suddenly squealing again.

"Katniss, Peeta! You were supposed to be in the Dining Hall thrity seconds ago! Go, quick!"

"Can't we get all this stuff off first?" asked Peeta, gesturing to our outfits.

"Not enough time. Now go!"

We sprinted off down the hall, hoping that Coin wouldn't murder us.

"At least we're not wearing too much makeup." Puffed Peeta. I snorted.

"Speak for yourself. I didn't think that the rebel Headquarters hold have even one bottle, but I reckon I've been covered with more stuff than they have in the entire training centre!"

He grinned.

"At least you look kind of like your self."

Well, that was true. They did use rather a lot of make up, but only to highlight my face and wipe out my scar. I still looked normal. Just a prettier normal.

"It still feels weird though." Peeta nodded in agreement as we flew into the Dining Hall. All of the National Assemblies were held here, as it was one of the only rooms large enough to hold the entire population.

"Ah, here at last, I take it? Why are you so late?" I glanced at my watch. We were two minutes late. Two minutes. Surely that didn't matter that much.

"Sorry, lost track of time. We were filming a propo." Explained Peeta.

"I thought it was to be a short one?"

"Yeah, well, I'm not the best actor." I hissed, earning a glare from Coin.

"But don't worry," covered Peeta, "Cressida got some great footage of Katniss giving Fulvia a lecture. It was very inspirational."

"It had better be, or I won't be making this announcement."

"Don't worry, It's great." Huffed Plutarch. He seemed to have run over from the studio as well.

"Well then. Katniss, Peeta, get on the stage. I want you where everyone can see you. We've been wasting time here."

"Oh, we've been wasting time, have we," I muttered, so only Peeta could hear. He smiled a little, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up onto the stage.

"People of the Rebellion. Thankyou for taking the time to attend this meeting. I shall get right to the point. Katniss Everdeen has decided to be our Mockingjay."

There were a few scattered cheers, and then Coin held up her hand for silence.

"However, she had a few conditions."

Muttering filled the room. All of the rebels had just assumed that I would be the Mockingjay; none of them had imagined that I would want something in return. Coin held her hand up again.

"Katniss has decided that if she is to help us win the war, then we must protect her friends, and the other people that have been affected by the Capitol. So, I am granting a full pardon and immunity to Gale Hawthorne, and all Victors of the Hunger Games."

The hall went deathly silent for a couple of seconds. Then, as if some one had suddenly turned the volume up, it exploded. Not literally, but it felt like it did, the noise was so loud. There were people yelling everywhere, protesting, screaming the word 'traitors' and 'justice'.

Coin was forced to grab a horn and blast it. It was so loud, I had to cover my ears. When it had quieted, the Hall was once again silent.

"That is my final decision. Katniss will be our Mockingjay, and Gale Hawthorne, as well as the Victors, will be given immunity. However, if Katniss make one wrong move as our Mockingjay, then the pardon and immunity will be taken away from her, Peeta Mellark, Gale Hawthorne, and all of the Victors held by the Capitol. That's all. Everyone is now to return to their respective duties or classes."

~~0~~

"Katniss, don't worry. You'll do everything right. Have you seen the footage they got of you earlier this morning?"

"But Peeta, she said that the pardon would be taken away if I made one wrong move. And not just from me, Gale and the others. She said you as well!"

Peeta pulled back from his tight embrace, and looked me in the eye.

"Katniss. You will be fine. You will not do anything wrong. We will all be fine, alright? She only said that so the rest of the rebels would not think that you have any control over her. She knows that if they think you can control her, they will follow you instead. Katniss, everybody loves you! You were the spark. Coin is just a politician. Any body could do what she's doing, but no-one else can do what you have done! And it's not just the rebels that love you. The whole of Panem does! Or, well, apart from District Two, and I guess the Capitol people since Snow has been talking about how you want to kill all the Capitol citizens. But other than that, pretty much the whole country loves you! What can you do wrong?"

"Er… I can disobey orders - even if by accident! I could misunderstand something! What If I get angry? And what about the propos? You saw how bad the last one went!"

"Katniss, the last one was perfect."

"You're only saying that."

"No, I'm not. Ok, well, the line that they wanted you to say was pretty bad. But that big speech about how if only the whole of Panem could unite, then the Capitol could be overthrown… Katniss, that was just amazing!"

"But that was a one off! I was angry! That's not going to happen the whole time you know."

"So you're not good at acting. What does it matter? Think about it, Katniss. You have done heaps of things that made everyone in Panem shed a couple of tears, or jump up and down yelling for justice. More than me! When I was talking at the interviews, well, apart from when I said I loved you, it was all acting. But you… when you move some-one, you're not acting. You do everything perfectly when you're just being yourself. So be yourself, and everything will be fine."

"You know that's not true. If I be myself, then I'll end up screaming at Cin in almost every meeting."

"True." Peeta chuckled. "So maybe you should just be yourself when the cameras are on you, yeah? Or, be yourself all the time, but be a more calmed down version of yourself when speaking to anyone of importance, such as Coin. Is that ok?"

"Are you sure? Because, Haymitch always said that I was hostile, and angry, and unlikeable. He said that-"

"Katniss, I thought you would have learnt by now. Don't listen to Haymitch."

I smiled.

"He has saved my live though."

"True. Ok then, I have changed my mind. Don't listen to Haymitch when he talks about you're personality. Te rest of the time, do what he says. Is that better?"

"Slightly."

"Alright then. Are you okay now?"

"A bit, I guess. But it's still... She still said that If I do anything wrong, she'll… well basically, if I put one toe out of line, she'll kill you."

"Kat-"

"No, she's trying to get to me. What did you do wrong? You never openly opposed the rebellion. You never told anyone to join with the Capitol. You didn't make them agree to anything."

"But I am a Victor. I'm probably one of the ones that she mentioned about giving immunity to, right? So, I would be included in the list of people who would loose immunity if you did something wrong… which you won't, by the way."

"But, if that was the case, why didn't she mention Finnick? Or Beetee? They're Victors too. She mentioned you because of me, and it's my fault."

"Katniss, she knows better than anyone that everything you did in the games was an act. She knows that you don't feel anything for me. Katniss, why would she use me to get to you? If she were going to be using either of us for anything like that, it would be using you to get to me. Or Gale. Or Prim. But, why would she use you to get to any of the rest of us? You are the most important one here. It was just to make the rebels understand that even though I was on the stage and hadn't been mentioned, I was a part of the Mockingjay agreement as well. If she mentioned me, they'd assume she'd included Finnick and Beetee as well. Do you see?"

No, I didn't. He thought that I didn't care for him. Sure, I was confused about my feelings and all but… he made it sound like he thought I didn't care about him at all. After all we had gone through together, how could I not have feelings for him? And, to top it off, he was the nicest person I had ever met, (well, maybe on a tie with Prim), he had saved my life many, many times, he was the only reason I could actually sleep at night, he was my main source of comfort, and… I trust him. Yeah, that's right. Not many people I trust in the world. That pretty much goes for my next point as well, because… he cares about me. There aren't many people who truly, truly care about me. There's my mother, Prim, and Gale. Hazelle, maybe Greasy Sae, and possibly, though I'm not always sure, Haymitch. And Cinna, but no-one even knows if he is still alive. That's a pretty short list.

Then, there's Peeta. I have hurt him so much in the past, that he would have every right to just stab me in the back, no wait, stab me everywhere, painfully, and leave me to bleed to death. If he did, I don't think I would hold it against him.

Wow, did I just think that? Me? Katniss Everdeen? Did I really just think that I wouldn't mind if Peeta killed me?

Well, no, I would mind. But I would deserve it.

But, back to the point, I have hurt him. I pretended to love him on the first Games. I will never forget the look on his face when he realised that it was an act. Although, I'm still not sure how much of it actually was an act. But anyway. Those games are too far away now for me to remember about my feelings for Peeta. I can still recall the mutts, that spear in Rue's body, Cato's murderous expression as he held the Knife to Peeta's throat… Why id that I can recall the bad things, but not the good?

Then, those months at home. I avoided him the whole time. He looked so down every time that I saw him, like he was ready to curl up and die. But I just thought that it was the memories of the arena.

Then, on the Victory tour, I pretended to love him again. That must have killed him. I know he loves me. Honestly, he just said it right then, didn't he? It must have been torture for him to have me so close, but to be thinking that I hated him… at least we became friends again. I guess I can't understand though. I have never been in love.

The Quarter Quell. I am still confused on that one. I had no idea what my feelings were then, and I still don't now. What I do know, is that I definitely felt something. Something that wasn't there before. When I saw Peeta lying there, dead, thinking that I could never hear his laugh again, never see his smile… I could never look into those blue eyes, or hear tell me about the bakery… something inside of me seemed to die. And when he opened his eyes again… I don't know what happened. It felt like my heart had jumpstarted, and was running a hundred times faster than before. I felt happy, and sad, and scared, all at the same time. Then, that time on the beach… I'm still confused. I know I feel something for him, but I'm going to need more time.

And with this war going on, that seems unlikely.

"Katniss, are you ok?"

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry, spaced out a little there, I guess."

"Good. Do you want to go and get some food? It's dinner time now…"

"No, I'm fine. I don't fancy having everybody stare at me right now."

Peeta nodded, then fell silent. We just sat there on his bed for a while, with our arms around each other. Thinking.

"Do you really think that?" I whispered.

"Think what?"

"Think that I don't care for you?"

"Katniss," He forced out a laugh, "You as good as told me you didn't that day on the train."

"But that was ages ago. And I was confused. We had just won the Hunger Games. When I went in there, I thought I was going to die. I thought I would never see anybody again. Even if I did get out, I thought you wouldn't, you know, with the 'only one person survives' thing."

"You're tired, and you're not thinking straight. It's been a very long day. Why don't we go to bed, hmm?"

"No. I'm not tired, Peeta. Stop stalling, I want to talk about this. What if I stuff up tomorrow? We could both be dead within the week!"

"They aren't going to kill you."

"Yeah, you said 'you.' No, I don't think they'd kill their precious little Mockingjay either. Not in the literal sense. Coin could stamp on me, and crush me beneath the heel of her boot, until I'm flattened and destroyed, and willing to do whatever she asked.

"What are you talking about?"

"Peeta, they could kill you."

He just stared at me for a minute. He didn't seem to be able to speak.

"No they couldn't. They would have to have a valid reason. How do you think the Districts would react, if Coin killed off one of the star-crossed lovers of District Twelve?"

Peeta and I both swivelled to face the door. There, standing in the doorway with a determined look on her face, was Prim. I was slightly annoyed t her for interrupting, but the feeling passed straight away. How could I be annoyed at my little sister?

"Sorry if I'm interrupting, but Mother and Haymitch both told me to come and get you. It's dinnertime, and you know how small the meals are here. You can't afford to miss one."

"It's ok, Prim, I'm fine." I turned to Peeta. "You can go if you want though. She's right, the meals are very small."

"I'll stay with you."

"You sure?"

"Very." I smiled at him.

"Okay then. Thanks Prim. Tell Mother and – did you say Haymitch?"

"Yeah, I think said he was worried that you would get too skinny. He said something about how Victors should look big and strong… especially if they have to fit into armour, and if they need the energy to go to an important meeting in the morning."

I groaned. Important meeting? That could only mean one thing. More Mockingjay stuff.

"No really Prim, I'm fine. Tell them that I don't want any food."

"And that I don't either." Added Peeta.

Prim nodded.

"Are you okay, though, Katniss? You looked a little pale after the announcement."

I forced a smile.

"Fine."

"Alright then…" Prim glanced at me uncertainly, then closed the door and was gone.

I sighed and leaned back into Peeta, unsure of how to restart the conversation. Oh well. He was right. We could talk in the morning.

I know that dragged a bit, but don't worry. Just a few more chapters... at most... and I'll be up to the different & more exciting bits! Yay!