abugsaunt- Aww, family game night sounds awesome. Tell your mom I said hi back! I absolutely loved Boggs in Mockingjay. He was amazing and one of my favs of the entire trilogy.
Insanitywriter- Me? Give anyone a break in this story? No way! That peacekeeper was just another thing to add to the unsettling horrors of the Capitol. And I'm a little jealous of your light saber.
CupcakeSprinkles14- I despised Coin with a passion when I was reading the original. I knew she'd be trouble from the very beginning. Peeta will always have the fight in him. I think it's one of the things we (and Cato) love so much about him ;)
Pale Is The New Tan- I'm terrible with short and choppy chapters. But I get them out quicker that way so I hope you can forgive me :( Anywho, you always leave such wonderful reviews and I love giving you updates.
HungerWho37- Having Peeta kill that peacekeeper was a highlight for me while writing that last chapter. Is that weird?
The sea of rebels in front of the mansion had broken out into celebratory song, firing their guns in the air for victory. Cheers for Peeta could be heard amongst the celebrations as everyone tried to reach him, touch him, and congratulate him. Despite the high of victory, Peeta's mind drew him to other matters. The boy stuck closely to Gale's side.
"Gale, I need you to help get me out of here," Peeta whispered to his fellow soldier as he let Jackson and the others take Snow into official rebel custody. Peeta hung his head low while Gale covered him with his jacket and they distanced themselves from the spectacle of Snow's arrest, working their way through the massive crowd. Unaware, Pollux continued to cover Snow's capture and the two boys slipped stealthily away from the scene.
"Where are we going, Peeta?" Gale whispered as they pushed through the masses.
"I'm reuniting you with Katniss and I'm finding Cato. But I can't have Coin knowing where I am. I promise I'll explain later."
Gale maneuvered the covered boy through the crowd until he heard a familiar voice calling out to him.
"Gale!" Katniss exclaimed from somewhere on his left. He ventured himself and Peeta over to find her with Haymitch. The two embraced and Peeta looked up, thankful yet still anxious.
"I'm so glad to see you both alive!" Peeta exulted to both his partner and mentor. "Have you found Marvel and Clove? Cato's been hurt and they took him to get help. I have to find them."
"You just ended a fucking war and yet I somehow knew that'd be the only thing on your mind, boy," Haymitch replied. "We saw them a long time ago comin' out of the damn sewer carrying your mate. Said he'd been mauled trying to save you and Boggs. We got him help just in time. Finnick and Johanna took over and carried him to the field medics. Beetee's with them too, I think. But don't worry; I heard he's gonna pull through."
"Where is he now?" Peeta probed his mentor further, panicked and relieved at the same time.
"We'll bring you to him," Haymitch offered. "I gotta get my face looked at anyway."
The field medics and first responders had set up shop in one of the Capitol's fancy hospitals that had been abandoned when the rebels invaded. It still contained all the luxury and life-saving devices they could dream of. Entering the building, the place was a madhouse. But sure enough, they found Finnick, Johanna, Marvel, and Clove sitting against a wall outside one of the rooms.
"Cato?" Peeta asked urgently of them.
"He's in there, asleep," Marvel informed him. "Dr. Aurelius is in there now."
Just then, the good doctor snuck out the door. He immediately recognized Peeta.
"Hello, Mr. Mellark," he addressed the young soldier. "What an honor to see the hero of the hour in person. Congratulations on a job well done."
"Thank you, doctor. Please, how is Cato doing?"
Dr. Aurelius explained. "One of the lacerations to his throat nicked his left common carotid artery which is what caused the extensive blood loss. His blood pressure plummeted so he went into what we call 'hypovolemic shock.' Fortunately, I've successfully repaired the damaged vessels and tissue and performed a blood transfusion. His hemoglobin count is back up and he's stable now. I can assure you that the young man will make a full recovery in no time."
"That's wonderful!" Peeta rejoiced. "Thank you so much. Can I see him?"
Dr. Aurelius nodded so Peeta anxiously walked in. He approached the older boy, fast asleep on the hospital bed. Taking in the scene, Peeta grimaced at all the machines Cato was hooked to, the monitors beeping, and the tubes coming from the injured boy's body. A wave of guilt rushed through him as he took Cato's hand in his. It was warm.
"His body just needs to get back up to speed after such a trauma," Dr. Aurelius assured him. "He'll wake up when he's ready."
Peeta smiled warmly at the doctor before turning back to focus on Cato. Dr. Aurelius spoke again while checking Peeta's wounded shoulder and handing him gauze for his face. "Now you, on the other hand, look a little worse for wear, Mr. Mellark. Let me take a look at you."
"I'm fine, really," Peeta promised. "Just a little banged up. I know Haymitch out there could use some attention on his face and Johanna's ankle is pretty busted up. But if you really wanted to help us, I could use a tremendous favor."
"Favor?" Dr. Aurelius inquired.
"Is there any way you can let me and my squad stay here… in secret? I don't want anyone, I mean anyone, to know where we are. "
"I don't know who you have to hide from now, Mr. Mellark. The war is over. You know that as well as anybody."
"I can't explain the details. Just please trust me. It's not safe for me or my squad. I need you to help us, doctor. Please. No one can know where we are."
"If you really need to still stay under the radar, you have a refuge here. I'll block off this hallway for you and your squad. I'll tell no one of your whereabouts."
"I owe you big time, doc."
Dr. Aurelius slipped out of the room to tend to Haymitch and Johanna while Peeta stayed at Cato's bedside, slowly rubbing the taller blonde's bare arms and whispering gentle encouragements in his ear, hoping it would somehow reach the unconscious boy.
"Everything's going to be okay, Cato. I got Snow. Coin's next. I won't let her hurt you. It will all be over soon."
Peeta bent down to lightly kiss Cato's forehead before reluctantly leaving the room to plan the next move with his squad. As he tiptoed out of the room, they were all waiting for him in the hall.
"Seeing that Boggs and Mitchell aren't here, you all can assume what's happened," Peeta told them wistfully. "There were pods in the sewer that the Holo didn't pick up. Both Mitchell and Boggs fell down there. I will need to collect Boggs' body. As for Mitchell's; there's nothing left of his."
"Peeta, I'm so sorry," Katniss offered her condolences, still grasping tightly to Gale's hand. She knew how much those two men meant to her partner. "We'll give them the memorial they deserve."
"Thank you. In due time, we will. But right now, we still have the issue of a certain Alma Coin to deal with."
"Coin?" Gale probed, now greatly confused.
"Yes," Katniss answered. "Beetee discovered she had been having secret meetings to devise an assassination plot for all the tributes and victors of the Hunger Games. During the battle, she dropped explosive parachutes that took out some of our squad and even her own men."
"No way! Why?" Gale gasped in shock.
Peeta took over from there. "As known and 'celebrated' figures of this rebellion, she is apparently intimidated at our potential influence over what happens now with the districts. Killing us is merely a power play. What's worse is that I've also been informed that this war has never been about Coin freeing the districts; she wants to rule them herself. Her plan this whole time has been to overthrow the Capitol and then, with the districts weakened from their efforts in the war, 13 would be left unopposed to reign over all of Panem."
The squad was outraged at the despicable revelation. "She's just like President Snow!" Finnick sneered. "She never wanted freedom and equality for the districts; she only wanted power. And she clearly showed us that she'll do anything to get it, even if it means destroying her own people!"
"Then it's agreed; she's completely psychotic," Clove concluded the obvious. "She has to be stopped. Not just for our sakes, but for the future of the districts. We can't just exchange one insane and ruthless dictator for another."
Just then, Beetee walked down the hallway, Pollux by his side. The avox held the shattered pieces of his camera in his hands while he wore an expression of sheer remorse upon his face.
"Shit, Pollux!" Finnick started. "What the fuck happened to your camera?"
Beetee answered on the mute man's behalf. "He threw it on the ground to break it. Apparently, it was sending a live feed back to 13 this entire time. Coin saw everything, including when I found you all and informed you of her betrayal. She knows that we know about her assassination attempt."
"So what do we do now?" Marvel asked, exasperated. "She's probably preparing for our retaliation as we speak."
"I think it's one of those instances where we shoot now, ask questions later," Peeta offered in response.
"What are you saying, Peeta?" Katniss asked him.
"I'm saying we kill her before she kills us. We've fought too damn long and lost too damn much to let her get the best of us now."
"And just how do we do it?" Clove queried. "She knows that we're aware of her backstabbing ways. She'll take us out before we can even step foot back in 13."
"She knows that you all are aware of her plot; not Gale and I," Peeta corrected her. "Gale and I were not there when Beetee told you guys. She can only assume I haven't found out yet. Let me talk to her. I'll lure her here and end this."
"I understand the severity of this issue, but we can't just 'kill Coin'," Gale interrupted. "She's the President of District 13; a leader and extremely powerful person in this war. There are severe consequences to doing what you're suggesting."
Peeta's mind flashed back to Snow's poignant observation of his dilemma. "What do you think is going to happen to you when all this is over? You refused to be a pawn for my games so instead you naively stumbled into becoming a pawn for someone else's."
Thinking back on that snake's candid honesty, Peeta knew what he had to do, regardless of what became of him.
"Gale, you're absolutely right," he started off, "but we're also dead if we don't stop her. And if we don't stop her she'll go ahead and control and oppress the districts. We can't let that happen to them after all they've been through. We've risked our lives being forced to play Snow's games, and now here we are risking our lives for Coin's. I'm tired of being a pawn in someone else's games. If I have to play them, then I'm playing 'em my way. If I'm gonna die, I wanna still be me. And the real me never goes down without a fight."
Haymitch and Johanna rejoined them then, all patched up. "You're not doing this alone, boy," the mentor dictated. "We can take her out and still retain some level of impunity. It's all a matter of destroying her reputation; exposing her for the tyrant she is. Beetee, I need you to securely contact your people in Special Intelligence and have them at the ready to broadcast the spy footage of those secret meetings. We'll show the districts her true intentions and corrupt their loyalty to her. Peeta, I need you to contact her. Bring her here by some ruse. Pretend to be oblivious to her betrayal. Pollux, get a hold of another camera. We can do this and still keep our heads, people."
Haymitch may have been a crazy, arrogant drunk, but he made up for it in sheer intelligence, despite the staggering amount of brain cells he had probably lost through years of alcohol abuse. Once the plan was laid out, Peeta went to fetch Dr. Aurelius.
"Doctor, has anyone figured out where I am yet?"
"No," Dr. Aurelius promised. "But the media is going crazy trying to find you and your squad. It's all I can do to keep people from checking the ward here."
"Do you know if President Coin is looking for me?"
"She has given a televised victory speech that's been broadcasted several times already. She stated in it that she's looking forward to congratulating you personally on capturing Snow."
"Oh, I bet she is," Peeta responded dryly.
"Mr. Mellark, what is going on? I'm sensing that you believe to still be in grave danger."
"I promise you, I am. I want to talk to President Coin," Peeta stated. "Do you have a way I can get hold of district 13?"
Dr. Aurelius bandaged Peeta's head and put a surgical mask on him to disguise his face as he brought the boy down to use the radio. Coin was waiting on the other end.
"Madam President?" Peeta began.
"Soldier Mellark, where are you?"
The young rebel's deceit commenced. "I'm with Soldier Hawthorne, still on the battlefield getting treated by a medic. I'm pretty roughed up and my shoulder's damaged from a shard of glass that got lodged in it. Nothing critical though, but the medic says I won't be fit to travel for a while."
"Have you reunited with any of your squad yet?" Coin probed. Peeta could hear the edge in her voice and played it cool.
"No, I've been too preoccupied with a more pressing matter," he lied as he continued fabricating his entire story. "That's why I've contacted you now. I need to speak with you personally. It's urgent. I weaseled some special intel out of Snow concerning large bands of rogue Capitol fighters outside the districts, including district 13. I'd tell you more, but I'm afraid this line of communication might be compromised."
"I can send someone over to gather the information," Coin offered.
"No, I can't trust anyone, Madam President. I've only ever truly trusted you," Peeta bullshitted, trying hard not to gag over the phone. "And in all honesty, I can't be sure if I'm even speaking to the real President Coin right now or simply an imposter. Maybe I should go look for my squad now..." Peeta casted out to Coin, trying to lure her to the Capitol. He was setting the bait and he knew she would take it.
"No, stay put. I'll come to the Capitol and meet you," Coin finally submitted. Hook, line, and sinker, Peeta thought smugly.
"We can rendezvous at Snow's mansion… well, I guess technically, it's your mansion now, Madam President," Peeta stated sweetly, going out of his way to be as big of an ass-kisser as possible.
"Very well. I'll be there this time tomorrow. Stay low, don't go out to meet anyone, not even your squad. That's an order. Like you said, you can't trust anyone right now, Soldier Mellark."
"Yes, Madam President. I will see you tomorrow." And with that, the devious leader of 13 cut the signal and departed for the Capitol. All that was left to do now was wait.
It was getting late as the squad camped out in the security of the blocked-off hospital hallway. Peeta had finally let Dr. Aurelius treat him before going back into Cato's room to whisper goodnight. He reached for the sleeping boy's hand and squeezed. He felt a squeeze back.
"Peeta?" Cato's eyes flickered open from the contact.
"Cato! Oh thank God! Do you know where you are?"
Cato squeezed the boy's hand again. "Does it matter where I am? You're here with me. I'm good," the taller blonde smirked. He felt the bandages under Peeta's shirt and reached up to caress the younger boy's bruised cheek. "Who did this to you? Was it Snow? Did you kill him?"
"I got my ass kicked, courtesy of Snow's mammoth bodyguard. But I killed that son of a bitch and Snow is officially rotting away in some jail cell as we speak," Peeta beamed as he played with a piece of Cato's platinum locks.
"Hmm, I knew you'd get him," Cato smiled. "But what about Coin?"
"It's being handled. Don't worry yourself with the details right now. You need to rest," Peeta insisted as he squeezed Cato's hand again. He then stared intently into the Career's emerald eyes and spoke with a reprimanding tone. "Cato, you had me freaking the fuck out. You were so reckless going down into those tunnels. What were you thinking?"
"You were in trouble. I had to do something."
"At the cost of your own life? Are you insane?"
"I think you could argue that," Cato chuckled.
"Seriously, Cato. What was that all about? Why would you risk your life to save mine?"
"I don't know," Cato muttered as he rolled his thumb over Peeta's knuckles. Then he looked up and saw the ocean of blue looking down at him, glistening with a light mist. He was lost in them, suddenly feeling that reoccurring sensation of falling as every moment and feeling he ever had with Peeta flashed before his eyes. And it was at that moment, Cato surrendered what he had been feeling for Peeta all this time.
"I do know," He amended. "Peeta, I risked my life to save yours because your life means more to me than my own. I've lived my whole life with the typical Career mentality of taking what I wanted. I originally sought to own you, Peeta. Even when I believed you had to die in that arena, I thought I could just have you. But I was wrong; so wrong. I don't have you. You have me. You have all of me. I'm yours, Peeta… I love you."
Peeta's heart swelled at the declaration and his rosy blush, for once welcomed, graced his cheeks. "My Cato," he smiled, "You have me too. I love you so much. And if you don't believe me, ask your friends. I've been telling you like crazy while you've been out."
Cato's smile electrified at the words and Peeta just laughed as he leaned in to claim his love. He kissed Cato's lips, his nose, his eyelids, every un-bandaged inch of the older blonde. Cato kept his steadfast grip on Peeta's hand as his other hand caressed the soft skin of the younger blonde's waist under his shirt. Cato delicately scooted over on his bed and brought Peeta to his side, careful not to tangle the tubes still attached to his arms. He fell back asleep to the touch of Peeta lightly tracing fingers across his bare chest. Peeta couldn't remember the last time he had slept, but it didn't seem to matter. He snuggled in close and fell into the sweet release of sleep while he lay with his love.
Did you catch the quote from the movie in this chapter? ;)