Alright! Three chapters in two days! Now, I want you to remember that when you read the next bit, yeah? Three chapters in two days. Right then. I'm going on a camp tomorrow, sorry about that, so there won't be any updates for at least a week.

Oh yeah; EStrunk: I guess I should have explained that one better, too; His makeup did wash off (but all of their hair and eyes stayed a different color) , that's why Katniss thought he looked different and more recognizable after the water, but she was distracted by Bryce. She also wasn't Expecting Gale to be there, so he didn't just jump to mind.

Everyone else; in case you're wondering from the last chapter, Gale's presence will be explained later on.

So, on with the chapter. This one is short, fast and a bit messy, but I hope it works. Again, if you're confused, just ask, either in a review or IM me. I guess I could change it, but I won't unless I really have to, like if it completely makes no sense or if I changed something by accident or whatever. Anyway... Gah, sorry for the rambling.

Disclaimer: You can't have everything in life, and neither can I.

Chapter 24

Districts

"Well, as I have been with you the whole time I would have thought you'd know. But that's not what's important right now. We need to figure out what we're going to do."

"Right," I said, shoving my anger and disbelief aside. Gale had managed to get this far without attacking Peeta, so he should be able to make it a little further. "Right. What we need, is backup."

"Backup?" asked Peeta. "From where? Every soldier that came to the Capitol is stuck in that force field, and we can't get them out without backup, which we don't have. And every soldier from Thirteen came here. So what do we do?"

"The Districts," muttered Gale. "You're right. Everyone from Thirteen came to the Capitol, but not the other districts."

"But they were all evacuated," said Peeta. "Even if they weren't, they're too far away."

"No," I said, smiling. "Don't you remember what Coin said?"

"About what?"

"The people. She said that they had all been moved to a safe area, and in order to stop Snow from finding them, that safe spot was located-"

"Near the Capitol," said Peeta. "But we don't know where."

"Yes, we do," said Gale, reaching into his pocket and pulling out an envelope. "Haymitch gave this to me. If we caught I had to burn it with this," he said, holding up a lighter. "Honestly, the plan was for you to go the safe spot, don't you remember? How were you supposed to do that if you didn't know where to go?"

"Oh, right," I said. "So, shall we go? We want to go as fast as we can, because-"

"We know, Katniss," said Gale. "It's this way."

~~0~~

"Katniss Everdeen?"

"And Peeta Mellark?"

"Why do they look like that?"

"Who's that with them?"

"Why are they here?"

"I thought they were in the Capitol."

"The Capitol? I thought they were hiding out in Thirteen, too scared of a big battle."

The whispers followed us as we crept through the hoards of people in the giant tent. Finally we reached the large raised platform at the side of the huge area. I was amazed that Coin had managed to do this; it was a huge tent, large enough for pretty much the entire population of Panem to lie on the floor comfortably. The top of the tent was modeled to look like grass to disguise it from any planes flying overhead. I shook my head as we walked. How Coin had managed any of this was beyond me. We walked up onto the, well, I guess you could call it a stage, and I glanced at Peeta nervously. He nodded, then stepped forward.

"Hello everyone!" he yelled, getting the attention of the people in the tent. His vice resounded through the area, making it possible for everyone to hear. "We are terribly sorry to butt in like this, but we have some news to share."

Much muttering followed this statement, and Peeta and I almost had to scream ourselves hoarse to be heard. Of course, it was after that that some one thought to hand us a megaphone. Yeah, thanks a lot.

"All of you know about the Rebel movement in the Capitol right now, right?" asked Peeta, and the whole area nodded. "Right. Well, they, erm," I sighed as I watched him struggle for words. Peeta had normally been a brilliant speaker, but he didn't know how to say this without crushing the hopes of an entire nation. I sighed again and pushed him out of the way.

"People of Panem," I said through the megaphone. "Please, do not panic at any point during my speech, and do not interrupt. You will be wanting to hear the whole story before you run off. Understood?" I watched as everyone nodded again. "Right," I said, my voice sticking in my throat. I had never spoken to this many people before, well, at least not directly. It had always just been through a T.V. "Right. Peeta and I were in the Capitol," I began, purposely leaving out Gale in case some people reacted badly, "And we saw the beginning of the attack. The entire rebel force, including president Coin, is caught in a trap."

I paused cries rippled through the tent. Then I yelled through the megaphone again – causing it to screech loudly – reminding them of my request for them to not interrupt. When all was quiet again, I continued.

"The trap consists of a large force field, much like the one in the Quell, enclosing the center of the city square. Everyone is trapped inside, and it is surrounded by peacekeepers."

"How did you escape?" called a voice from the crowd. "Why did you just stand there watching? Why didn't you help them?"

Peeta moved to reply, but I held up my hand and stopped him.

"We weren't in the square," I said, "we were on the roof of one of the houses. Why were we up there? Well, we were trying to get down to help. You see, President Coin wanted us to stay in District Thirteen, but why would we do that? We want to help the rebellion as much as we can, and lets be honest, how is sitting in the hospital with Finnick and Johanna going to help us do that? We wanted to get out and do something! So we snuck out, and went to the Capitol. That is why we had to disguise ourselves," I said, gesturing to our hair. "When we got to the square, we could see the peacekeepers trying to prepare an ambush, and we tried to warn the others, but it was too late. But, the important thing is, we saw them activate the force field, and we know where the switch is. Also, if that fails, I know how to destroy it; I saw Finnick destroy that one in the Quell."

"Why are you telling us this?" called another voice. I sighed.

"Don't you want to know?" Everything was quiet for a minute. Then:

"Well, we didn't expect anyone to tell us what was happening."

"Well, I'm telling you for two reasons," I said. "First, I believe you have a right. This war is not only deciding the fate of President Snow and the Hunger Games; it is deciding the fate of every single person living in Panem. You as well. SO why shouldn't you know?"

A round of appreciating murmuring filled the tent, then it quieted once more ad people wondered what else I was going to say.

"The second reason is because we need your help. As I said before, this war effects everybody, and after the Capitol's most recent move, we are loosing. Unless we can free our soldiers, what chance do we have? None! None at all! What I need is those of you from districts One, Two and Four that have had tribute training, as well as anyone else who thinks they can fight. Are there any weapons here?" I asked, my feeling of hope seeming to disappear. If there were no weapons…

"Yes!" yelled a man. "The soldiers stored their spare weapons in a tent over there, as it was closer to the Capitol than Thirteen."

"Good!" I called out. "I know that you people haven't had any training like the Peacekeepers have, but we have more numbers. I also know some of you from District Two may know some of the peacekeepers; if you do, try and convince them our side, it might just work! We may not have the training, but we have the motivation! Our reasons for fighting are much better than those of the Capitol! The Peacekeepers fight because they are afraid of Snow. Why do we fight? To make a better future!"

There was a roar of approval and I stepped back, my throat sore. Peeta took the megaphone back again.

"Everyone wanting to help rescue the soldiers please group outside the weapons tent. No people younger than… eighteen allowed, and no mothers!"

"But you're younger than eighteen!" yelled an angry teenager.

"Only just," said Peeta, "And we weren't thrown into this by choice. I don't want to turn into the Capitol – I don't want anyone to die before they even reach adulthood." After that, there were no more complaints, although I am sure a couple of sixteen and seventeen year olds managed to sneak into our ranks.

Peeta and I ran over to where the weapons tent was, just a couple of metres away from the main one, Gale following behind us.

Outside the tent were two guards who didn't want to let us in at first, but did once we had told them the situation. When we got in, we gasped simultaneously. The tent was no where near as big as the other one, but it was full of weapons. I only though the rebels had one gun per soldier, but I was very wrong.

Peeta and I gave the people a quick demonstration on how to use a gun, then we sent them in small groups at a time to get a gun each. By the time we were done, night had fallen.

"I do hope we get there on time," I whispered.

"I do too," said Peeta. We were both incredibly tired, but we couldn't wait. For all we knew, Snow could have been gassing the rebels, or they could have been moved to another location, though I have no idea how Snow would do that.

When everyone was armed, we set off at a march. When we reached the Capitol, we charged through the deserted streets; all the pods had been deactivated as the Capitol citizens had run away from the square earlier that day, and the people had moved on, so we could run undetected through the streets. I was extremely surprised; I knew there were cameras in the Capitol and expected some one to notice us. However, it seemed that Snow was confident he had all the rebels in the force field and had lowered his guard.

This became clear as we got nearer to the square.

There was a bit of music playing, and lots of laughter could be heard. Peeta and I climbed up onto the same roof as before to see the Peacekeepers having some sort of little party, celebrating their victory, no doubt. They were dancing around the edges of the square, laughing, pointing and jeering.

The rebels were still there, hunched in their force field. There were a couple of bodies inside there too; at first I wondered if they were asleep, but then realized with a jolt that they had run into the force field.

Climbing down from the roof, we relayed the situation to the people. Many of them looked terrified, but the majority looked determined.

"Alright, here's the plan," I said. "You lot are going to storm in, taking out as many as you can, but stay away from the force field, got it? Peeta and I will focus on that switch, and if that doesn't work, I'll destroy the force field. Beware if I have to do that, as it makes a rather large explosion, as I'm sure those of you who watched the end of the Quell will know." Who was I kidding? They had all watched the Quell. "Spread out now, and I'll send the signal."

They all nodded and moved to other streets. It was a tribute to how dire the situation was that none of them opposed my flimsy plan. Well, almost none of them.

"What about me?" asked Gale.

"You stay here," I said. "I don't want you, erm, hurting yourself."

"You're just afraid I'll hurt Peeta," he stated. I didn't answer. "Don't worry, I've lasted this long, right?"

I shook my head.

"Yeah, but we haven't actually done any fighting… I don't want you doing anything you'll regret."

"Katniss, I'll be fine," He said. I didn't believe him. "Look, I'm going to go whether you tell me to or not, got it? So drop it." I groaned and turned away from him, walking over to Peeta.

"They're ready," he said. I groaned again.

"I can't believe I'm making them do this," I said. "Some of them are going to die, no matter how unprepared the Peacekeepers are. I'm just a girl from district Twelve, I'm not an army commander!"

"You're right Katniss," said Peeta, "You are a girl from District Twelve." I glanced up, having been expecting something a little more encouraging. But then Peeta smiled. "You're a girl from District Twelve, and that's what makes you so special."

I grinned at him, then took a deep breath, and grabbed the bow and arrows I had found in the weapons tent. I almost felt like some-one knew I would be doing this; the arrows were the same as the special ones Beetee had given me; one third fire, one third explosive, one third normal. It was an explosive arrow that I grabbed.

"Ready?" I asked. I heard soft affirmations from everyone, and I turned towards the square. "President Snow," I muttered, pulling on the string of my bow, "Get ready to face the flames." Then I let fly.

The arrow soared into the sky before turning in the air and shooting back down, landing in the square with a huge explosion disproportionate to the size of the arrow. The peacekeepers yelled and scattered as the air erupted in flames, ending their celebrations. As soon as the smoke had cleared, I caught a glimpse of the rebels, safe in their force field, looking around with hope. Then we charged.

The air was thick with gunfire as the people of the Districts let loose their anger at the Capitol. Peeta and I ducked under it all, running towards the spot where we'd seen the Peacekeeper activate the force field before. Sure enough, there was a small post with a small switch and a large red button on it.

"Well," said Peeta. "That was easy." Then he moved to hit the button.

I frowned - something wasn't right.

I was sure that I had seen that peacekeeper flick a switch, not push a button.

Peeta's hand was directly over the button when I saw it. A peacekeeper nudged another and gestured to Peeta. When the second one saw what Peeta was about to do, his eyes widened and the two of them ran away as fast as they could. At first you would think that would be because we were about to let the rebels out, but they were running towards the force field, and their expressions said that they were just running away, no matter the direction. Then it clicked.

I jumped forward and shoved Peeta's hand out of the way before flicking the small switch.

"Why did you do that?" asked Peeta.

"That was a self destruct button, it must have been," I gasped. Peeta's eyes widened and he took a step back from the button.

"How did you know that-"

"They're out It worked!" There was a large cheer and then the noise level rose as more guns joined the battle.

The rebels were back in the war.

I know, as I said before, It's messy, and a little unrealistic, but I didn't want this to turn out as just a copy of Mockingjay like it looked like it was going to be. So, I changed my plan a little, but not by much. Ah well.