Hello lovely readers,
As someone suggested via PM, I have taken a few days off to refresh myself and try to think of what to do. I'm kind of leaning toward deleting this story. I want to start over, but I might keep somethings. Overall, I don't want to create new characters. But I really don't like where this one is going. Here's the deal: I'll let you know by this weekend what's going on.
Thank you all so much for being so supportive. I appreciate everyone immensely and wish you all have a great week!
This chapter will be a special one because I don't know what else . I think I'll write something you guys will really like. Lots of Finnick x Luna.
Mom, dad, Devin, and I were traveling home from District 7. We boarded a train and took off.
"Attention, passengers, we will be stopping to restock on fuel. Thank you for your patience." A cool voice said. But something felt wrong. I had the feeling in the pit of my stomach that something was going to be wrong.
Someone was breathing on the back of my neck. And then they grabbed me. I screamed and tried to struggle. Someone grabbed mom and dad, too. One reached for Devin, but he jumped out the window.
Devin was safe. But there were gunshots and windows broke. Other passengers screamed and we were dragged off the train.
"Mom, where are we going?" I asked as someone slapped a hand over my mouth.
"The Capitol." Mom said in shock. We were forced in another train and put in separate compartments.
"Luna Primrose Mellark, it has been so long." Someone said coming in. I had my back facing the door and was watching the trees blur around us. We passed out of District 7 quickly and were halfway through 6.
"I don't know you." I said facing them. They wore a Peacekeeper uniform from back in the day. And then Mom started screaming. I shoved the guy aside and ran out the door he foolishly left unlocked and open.
"She's escaping!" He said into a microphone. I dodged another guy running at me and ducked into the compartment where mom was screaming.
Some guy was touching her. Really, he was touching her. I punched him and broke his earpiece. I kicked him in the gut and threw him out. He slumped to the ground and I slammed the door shut.
"Mom." I said kneeling in front of her. She put her head on my shoulder and let her tears fall. I stroked her back gently and she finally seemed to be recovering.
"Luna, thank you. What you did was brave. I don't know how far it would've gone if you didn't come in." Mom said.
"I'm glad I did it." I said kissing her forehead and standing up.
The group of Peacekeepers broke the glass in the door and dragged me out of there.
They threw me in the compartment again and slammed the door shut. But, they didn't mess with mom again. I took a small nap, knowing I wouldn't get much sleep when we get to the Capitol.
"Finally." A Peacekeeper said grabbing my elbow and dragging me out. Dad and I shared a look before we were pushed away.
"Luna Mellark, someone wants to speak with you." A Peacekeeper said.
"No." Dad said quickly.
"Dad, I'll be fine." I said.
Dad and I shared another glance and the Peacekeeper led me away. There was a brown-haired girl standing in the center of a lavish room and she turned around when the door was closed.
"Luna Mellark, what an honor it is." She said studying me intensely.
"I wish I could say the same. Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Cynthia Snow. You would not know my grandfather, but your parents would. He caused great fear and he had a reason to. He was correct, you were wrong." She said.
"Cynthia." I said.
"Ms. Snow!" She snapped, angrily.
"No, I will call you Cynthia because you seem to be not much older than I am." I said as she gasped, "We have all done things that are wrong, but it is how others forgive each other that matters. And overall, you aren't impressing me."
"You will not disrespect me in such a way!" She exclaimed, jumping me. I judo-flipped her, like she weighed nothing. She was pretty heavy, but my adrenaline was pounding. She flipped to the ground at my feet.
"You will be punished!" She snapped.
"Fine, but leave my parents alone." I snapped as a Peacekeeper escorted me out. He dragged me to a room across the hall and he pushed a needle in my arm. It didn't knock me out, so what did it do?
He forced me to sit in a chair and he strapped my ankles and wrists to it.
He turned on a television. Finnick and Maple were there and they were talking about killing me.
"They wouldn't do that." I said struggling to look away. Someone grabbed my face and forced me to continue watching. Finnick was going to play on my feelings and then kill me.
"No, this isn't real." I said, stunned. It looked real. I had a hard time believing it. It sounded like I was trying to convince myself that it wasn't real.
"Odair is going to kill you." Someone said.
"No, he wouldn't." I snapped.
"Yes, he would. We're trying to get you away from him." They said.
"You're liars!" I yelled.
"No we are not, Miss Mellark. I suggest you do not yell so loudly. It will alarm your parents." He said.
"Fine. I can defend myself. I happened to judo-flip your 'leader'. Well ask yourself this: what are you doing with yourselves? You're allowing someone who is only a few years older than I am to boss you around! Tell me, does she truly appreciate you? Because I believe you're a better person than she's making you be. And you can be whoever you want!" I said.
"I happen to believe she has the right idea about things. She believes your family needs to be eliminated. But your brother got away from us on the train." He said.
"I helped him get away. He's going to alert someone that we were kidnapped. They're going to break us out." I said as he slapped my face. I slumped against the chair and felt a red mark on my hand.
"Do not speak to us like that! You will return to your cell and sit there silently. If you make one noise, we will punish you." He said.
"I'm very afraid." I said tauntingly, "Because the most you seem to be doing to me now is slapping me."
"I can do so much worse, girlie." He said forcing the belts off my ankles and wrists.
I walked to where dad and mom were waiting in jail cells.
"Luna." Mom sighed in relief. Dad's eyes widened.
"Hi, mom." I said as they threw me in a cell.
"What'd they do to you?" Dad asked hesitantly.
"They instructed me not to talk. So you know what? I'm finding loopholes." I said as I started screaming. They ran down the hall.
"What are you yelling for?" The guy who hit me demanded.
"I'M NOT TALKING!" I yelled as he sighed.
"No screaming either." He said rolling his eyes.
I started singing what I wanted to say and dad looked somewhat amused.
"Now what are you doing?" He demanded.
"Singing." I sang.
He rolled his eyes and decided I could sing. Well, he didn't say I could. But he never said I couldn't.
I sat down in my cells and started humming. I marked one slash in the dust and dirt, signifying the days we were stuck here. I took a little nap, but woke up to Dad's cage being slammed.
He was shaking.
"You next, Everdeen." He said dragging mom out. She shared a look with dad and went off.
She came back, soaking wet.
"Alright, Luna." He said grabbing my wrist and dragging me out.
I sat down in my normal chair and let him strap the restraints.
"You're oddly obedient." He said skeptically. I grinned maniacally and laughed. I shook my head slowly and stopped laughing. He appeared to be very creeped out.
"Dear Watson, its elementary." I said, quoting Sherlock Holmes, "I am never obedient and I never will be."
"Well watch this broadcast. It was sent from District 3 across Panem." He said pricking me with two needles. One was the thing that made me have to watch. But I have no clue what the other one was.
"Hello, my name is Finnick Odair. I am looking for someone named Luna Mellark. She has done many treasonous things and my goal is to eliminate her. So if anyone has any information on her whereabouts, please report to me. Thank you Panem." Finnick said on the TV.
Something in my mind couldn't distinguish the fact that Finnick was edited. Except the editing was flawless, as if Finnick really said those things about me.
"He wouldn't hunt me down." I said shaking my head.
The Peacekeeper pricked me with another needle and we watched Maple make a similar speech to Panem. Except, I could tell hers was edited. There was a lag in the picture where she never blinked. Her voice caught many times and sounded very awkward.
"This is obviously fake." I said rolling my eyes.
"Really, wise girl?" He asked pricking me with another needle. He showed me another of Finnick's.
"When were these broadcasted?" I asked suspiciously.
"Today." He answered, grinning. How adorable, he thinks he got me scared!
"Then why is Finnick wearing something completely different. Unless he has a makeup crew that forced him to redress, he never wears more clothes than he has to." I said.
"Fine!" He snapped unbuckling me and dragging me back to the cell.
My knees shook and I sat down.
"What'd they show you?" Mom asked.
"They're trying to tell me that Finnick and Maple are hunting me down. They want to try to kill me." I said.
No one said anything, but we continued on that schedule. Eventually, my mental state was getting tired. Physically, I was fine. But they were attacking me mentally!
"Here's what we're going to do." I muttered trying to think of a plan.
"Luna, don't instigate. They'll only punish you." Mom said warily.
"We have to keep hope, mom! Can you feel it? Someone's going to come for us. Because, here's a news flash, they don't have Devin here! He could've made it back to Johanna's or Annie's! He is going to bring someone to save us. And until they get here, we have to keep our faith!" I said.
"Enough advocating." A Peacekeeper said.
"I don't care. We all know it is the truth. This is pathetic!" I snapped.
"Come with me." He said.
"Fine." I snapped walking out of my cell.
And then I jumped him. I knocked him out and grabbed his gun. I changed him out of his uniform and grabbed his gun.
"Enough is enough." I said aiming at him.
"Luna, put it down!" Dad said.
"Why should I? He's kept us here like rodents!" I said as he slowly began resurfacing. My anger was clouding my vision. I felt tears about ready to escape my eyes.
"Luna, it's bad luck. He may have tortured us, but if we do the same to him, it will only get worse!" Dad said.
I shot the gun a centimeter above his head and he whimpered. I shot all of his bullets and ammo away and threw the gun on him.
"Lucky jerk." I snapped trying to pick mom and dad's locks.
"Luna, look out!" Mom said.
A herd of Peacekeepers came.
"She's escaping!" They said as I took off running. I deserted my own parents! They ended out catching me. They dragged me inside a new room.
"You want to know how dangerous we can get? Fine." He said forcing me in a chair and restraining me. I went through what they called 'electroshock therapy'. Which means they electrocuted the daylights out of me, until I pretended to be really weak.
To be honest, it wasn't hard to pretend to be weak. I was exhausted and starving! I was battered up and bruised. I ached with every move I made and I couldn't do anything to help myself.
And then, I got a new philosophy. I have to keep making them irritated before it gets even more painful than it already is. And so I did.
I tied a bunch of them in the restraints with me and electrocuted them. Along with myself. I turned it to the biggest shock option there. It felt like my brain was melting. Ugh...
And then I ran out the door.
"Escaped!" Someone yelled.
That's right, I'm Luna Primrose Mellark: Escapee.
"Luna, they're coming!" Mom said.
"Great, I have a herd of Peacekeepers following me. I have to go. Tell someone I'll be down this hallway." I said running into a random unlocked room. And then someone jumped me.
The last thing I saw was the butt of their gun, pounding against my face.
"This one is more trouble than she's worth." He said as mom screamed. He dragged me off somewhere for some punishment.
When I woke up, I had a huge headache! Actually, that was the biggest understatement of the century. It was like my brain was exploding. I was sweating.
I was tied on a stake and there was a fire at my feet. It slowly climbed up my legs and I screamed. I could feel my ankles blistering.
And then something pounded on the door. The door never opened, but there was a weight thrown against it. Like a body.
I had two options. I could burn and let my 'legacy' live on. Or I could try and squirm my way up the stake and risk getting a ton of splinters. I'd rather take the splinters. I sucked in my stomach and tried to squirm.
I got a splinter lodged in my shoulder blade and screamed. There was a poison or something on the wood!
"Luna?" Someone demanded.
The door flew off the hinges and they pulled out a knife.
"Put the fire out first." Maple said.
"No!" I screamed.
"What's the matter, Luna? It's only us." Maple said.
"Y-you're going to kill me." I said.
Finnick put the fire out.
"Get ready." Maple said to Finnick. For what? She cut the ropes off and I fell off the stake. Literally, Finnick stumbled to catch me.
"Where are mom and dad?" I asked forcing myself away. Finnick looked saddened. Good. He was planning on killing me anyway.
"Mom has them." Maple said.
"Where's Devin?" I asked.
"Not so many questions, Luna." Finnick said as I nodded. There was a hole in the wall and Johanna had mom and dad hanging by a rope. She climbed both of them on a hovercraft and I looked down. I instantly backed away.
"It isn't a big jump, I promise." Finnick said.
"What if the rope gives out?" I asked.
"Seize the opportunity, Finnick. There's no one here now." Maple said taking the rope and swinging like Tarzan on to the hovercraft.
"Luna, if you want to get out of here. You have to trust me. Nothing bad will happen, I promise. Just hang on to me." He said.
"You'll let me fall. You were planning on it, anyway." I said.
"What does that mean?" Finnick asked.
"You and Maple were planning on killing me." I said.
"If we were planning on killing you, would we rescue you?" Finnick asked.
He had me there. I had no witty retorts, but more Peacekeepers went running down the hall.
"Out of time." Finnick said wrapping an arm around my shoulders and grabbing onto the rope. He swung out, but we didn't get enough speed or the hovercraft moved. We were left dangling in the air.
"Don't kill me, Finnick." I said closing my eyes.
Finnick started climbing up and he pulled me with him. He was going to drop me! The plan was to drop me and kill me from higher up! That would be painful.
And then someone cut the rope. It was Johanna, she threw a knife and Finnick and I went flying. I barely landed on the hovercraft. I think Finnick pushed me on, while he was forced to fall. He closed his eyes. I grabbed his hand quickly and tried to get leverage, so it would be easier to pull him back on the hovercraft.
I hauled him back over and he grinned.
"You saved me?" Finnick asked.
"You saved me, too." I said shrugging. He nodded. He opened the rooftop door and I climbed through.
Haymitch was steering the hovercraft, Annie and Grandma were nurses, Johanna was talking animatedly to Devin, and everything seemed normal. Grandma pulled the splinter out of my back and she looked over my wounds. She determined I would be fine.
I claimed a bed and sat there. I pulled the comforter over my legs, but kept silent. I stared at the wall.
"Luna?" Annie asked, poking her head in. I snapped out of my daze and nodded for her to come in.
"Do you want to come to dinner?" Annie asked.
I shrugged and she sat down at the end of my bed.
"Are you confused?" Annie asked.
I nodded.
"Finnick told me. What are you confused about?" Annie asked. She moved her dark brown hair behind her ear and smiled encouragingly.
"The Capitol did terrible things. I did terrible things back to them. They showed me bad movies. About Finnick and Maple. They were trying to kill me. I don't think there was a crueler form of torture." I said.
"Who advised it?" Annie asked.
"Snow's granddaughter. She said my parents would know who Snow was." I said as Annie paled.
"Here's the deal: you need to eat dinner. So how about I bring in food for you?" Annie asked, changing the subject. I nodded and slumped back in bed. Annie came back with a plate and some water. It was all delicious, but I couldn't stomach any of it.
Annie smiled and nodded when I finished dinner.
"Annie?" I asked as she was leaving.
"Thanks." I said. She smiled and gently shut the door. I turned off the lights and crawled in bed. But I woke up with nightmares. I climbed out of bed and went for a walk.
I could hear someone snoring from inside a room and could tell it was Finnick. I gently opened the door and woke Finnick up.
"Luna, what are you doing up? It's two in the morning." Finnick groaned.
"I had a nightmare. Can I spend the night in here?" I asked quietly as he nodded and turned on the bedside lamp. He pulled the covers back and I sat down. Finnick had a sound machine that sounded like waves in his room. It was so peaceful.
"Get comfortable." Finnick said as I laid down and pulled the comforter and blanket over me. I let my feet dangle out and I turned so my back was facing Finnick. But I had the same nightmare.
"Luna, wake up!" Finnick hissed shaking my shoulder.
I opened an eye and sighed. It was only a dream. Just a dream...
"Another one?" Finnick asked.
"The same one." I answered.
Finnick hugged my shoulders and I started crying.
"I don't think I've ever seen you cry." Finnick said.
"You have, just not for a while. I don't cry easily." I said.
"Remember when we were little? At Easter, we always fought over the best egg. And then when you turned eight, you looked inside and saw really sour candy. That was the one egg you let me have. I still have it." Finnick said.
"You do? I forgot all about that." I said smiling a bit.
"And what about the time my mom let you play dress-up with me." Finnick said.
"She was punishing you because you stole Devin's tennis shoes." I said as Finnick smiled.
"And you stole your mom's makeup and remade my face." Finnick added as I laughed.
"Luna, you need to forget everything you saw in there. Just remember the good things. Put a wall up." Finnick said as I nodded.
"I think I'm ready for bed, now. Thanks, Finnick. You're a big help." I said as Finnick nodded. He turned off the lamp and I grabbed his hand as soon as he did. I entwined my fingers with his and he sighed.
"There's nothing to be afraid of." Finnick said.
"How do I know that? The dark is big, anything could be in here." I said.
"There's nothing in here, Luna. I'll protect you, for once." Finnick said squeezing my hand. Slowly, I relaxed and leaned against Finnick. We were kind of cramped, but that just means someone else would occupy the space the nightmares took.
I fell asleep, using Finnick as a pillow and he had an arm wrapped around my shoulders and was pulling me closer to him.
And then I finally fell asleep.
Whoa, I had so many ideas for this! It was insane! All the random moments like this make writing so much easier! And this one was longer! Yay for me!
Thanks so much for being loyal and supportive, I don't know if I can say that enough.
I think that's all for now. I'll see you all this weekend!
-GirlonFire