Sorry for the wait. This chapter is pretty similar to what happens in Mockingjay, and it's a little bit of a filler to me... but happy reading!
Chapter 35
Coin wants to have a final Hunger Games. If she hosts another Hunger Games, what will keep her from thinking it should continue? She could easily use instrumentalism to start this all over again, and then start using it against the districts. I don't see how this makes her any better than Snow.
I can't believe I thought this was soon all going to be over: I kill Snow and I move on with my melancholy life. But of course not. It's very far from finished. I can't say we're safe, since my son or daughter could still be in danger. I don't want any possibility of losing my kid to the Games. I've been told so many times that there will be no more Capitol, no more Hunger Games, and no more war, that it was automatically just labeled optimistic thinking. I admit that I did hope it would be true, but it all turned into lies as soon as Coin mentioned her wonderful idea. The only way this can be truly be finished is if I make sure Coin is dead.
My mother packs the few things of ours into a bag, having no idea what's going on in my head. My sister sits in a chair, unable to help much since she's blind. She sits blankly facing a window lighten up by the sun rising. I stay seated on the bed, folding garments and stashing the few precious things we have left: the plant book, the pearl, the locket. Buttercup was left in District 13, which bothered Prim. Not that I would consider him a precious thing, but he's important to my sister, and my mother had to console her to think Buttercup will be alright back in 13. Yeah sure, but at least it puts Prim at ease.
"Well, we've got everything," my mother announces. "We should be leaving in an hour along with the others."
"Who exactly is moving into the Mansion?" I ask.
"Officials from District 13," she says. "And people who have a major part in the war."
"Huh, I guess that would be me," I say unenthusiastically.
"It will soon all be over," says Prim.
"Yeah," I say tiredly. I tie the bag close and swing it over my shoulder. I give my hand to Prim and we all walk out into the hospital's hallway. As we getter closer to the front lobby, I decide I should make a last visit to Peeta. I skip ahead to reach my mother. "Can I go see Peeta before we go? I'd liked to tell him something, before we leave."
"I'm sure you'll be seeing him often when he's alright to be living at the Mansion," she says dismissively.
"It's sort of important. I need to tell him now." My mother gives out a short sigh and nods. "I'll be back within the hour. I promise." I leave the bag in the lobby with them and begin the walk to Peeta's room. I just have to tell him about Coin. I can't keep this to myself. He's one of the people who would understand the danger of this. I tap on the door and enter the room. I see Haymitch sitting in a chair next to Peeta.
"Well, look who it is," Haymitch says. "Heard you get to kill Snow. Must be a dream come true."
"What are doing here?" I ask him.
"What are you, a Peacekeeper? What are you doing here?"
I don't answer immediately, because somehow I've lost my train of thought. "I was here for something…"
Haymitch slouches in his seat. "Did it have anything to do with tomorrow?" asks Peeta.
"What's tomorrow?" I ask.
"Uh, Snow's execution…"
"Oh right," I say. I'm frustrated at myself for easily forgetting what was so important. "It was related to that I think." I'm in my thoughts as they both wait patiently. Coin. "I remember," I say suddenly. They both wait for me to continue. I let the words come out as serious as they are. "Coin wants to have a final Hunger Games."
Haymitch and Peeta throw perplexed expressions my way. "What? Are you serious?" asks Peeta.
"Yes. She wants a Hunger Games where the tributes are children related to those who held the highest powers in the Capitol."
"Are you sure about this? Did Coin tell you this personally?" asks Haymitch.
"Yes. She came into my room and started talking to me about how the districts weren't happy with just killing accomplices of Snow. She and her colleagues were looking for another way of punishment, so she came up with the idea of sending Capitol children in a final Hunger Games."
"And you're sure that you heard her right?" asks Haymitch.
"Yes! I'm sure. I may be a little off, but I made sure to listen to what she was saying. I mean, the idea of another Hunger Games would get my attention."
"Alright, Sweetheart. I believe you, but what do you suspect we can do?"
"We've got stop those Games. We have to keep her from becoming the new leader of Panem, because if she starts it, then who is to say that she won't just use it against us. Just to keep murdering children for a demonstration of how much power they have. She could start it all over again for the districts too."
"You think she's like Snow?" Peeta asks.
"She's always been despotic, and she has thrown multiple threats my way to keep from disobeying her and keeping my influence down. Cleary, she doesn't want to lose her power, and she knows that I don't like her.
"She has threatened you?" Peeta is completely serious. "If Coin is afraid of being overruled and having her power taken away, then she's not fit to be the president. She'll become a dictator."
"So we have to stop her," I say firmly.
Peeta and Haymitch give me looks. "And how are we going to do that?" Haymitch asks warily. I pause, because the idea I have to say is pretty dangerous.
"I think the only way… is to kill her during the execution."
Haymitch immediately gets up from his chair and puts his hand over my mouth. "Are you crazy? Wait, don't answer that," he says in a stern whisper. "You can't be talking like that here. This is still the Capitol. We could easily be being watched right now."
I pull his hand away roughly. "It's has to be done. It's the only way- I have to kill her," I whisper earnestly.
Peeta stands up. "No, you don't have to kill her. There has to be another way to stop this."
"Like how? Coin is already the new president and she has a cabinet full of people that support her every action. Nobody sees how dangerous she is. They all think she's perfect for the job, but she's bad news. Nobody is going to go against her."
"You will. You're the one who has the point that she's not fit for the presidency. All you have to do is convince people."
"I can't do that. I'm not good at speeches like you."
"Katniss, you influenced thousands of people during the war," says Peeta. "There's no way they'll not want to listen to what you have to say."
"I think that's why she hates me; she sees me as a threat," I say.
"If she believed it, then you truly have a strong influence on people," says Haymitch.
"I don't know if I can do it…"
"All you have to do is to get people to understand," he says.
"And then what? Sure, they might stop her from being the president, but she has influence too. She was the freaking head of the rebellion. She could come back and make me pay for this. But if I just killed-"
"No, that can't be an option," says Peeta. "You could be arrested, or they could possibly think about executing you." I argue that I will have to, if this "influencing people" thing doesn't work. That I don't really care what the consequences are as long as she's gone, but Peeta stops me there.
"Don't Katniss. It's not just what will happen to you anymore. You have the baby too, and they'll be just as affected by this than you are. You can't be arrested… you have to be there for them."
"I'm doing this for them," I say.
"Katniss, please. Don't do it."
"He's right. You can't do whatever you want anymore. You got a primary responsibility before this whole war business. I say we leave it alone for now. You just worry about aiming straight at that ceremony," Haymitch says.
It's no good. Something is telling me that if we just sit around and wait, that it will just get harder to take care of.
It seems Peeta is reading my thoughts again. He puts his hands on my arms, making me face him. He looks straight at me with his ice blue eyes. "Katniss, promise me you won't try to assassinate Coin." I open my mouth, but I don't say anything. I'm split into two refuting sides. One wants Coin dead, and the other wants to play safely for Peeta. I don't know what the right thing to do is. "Katniss, promise me," he says firmly.
Haymitch is staring into me to answer. I look back at Peeta. "I promise."
I mindlessly return back to my mother and sister. We ride the train to the City Circle and then arrive at the Mansion. Guards line the outside, but they're not Peacekeepers. They have been replaced with rebel soldiers in their mixed-match uniforms. They hold guns on their shoulders, and keep stern expressions as the small groups of people enter the Mansion.
As we enter the foyer, I'm reminded how just days ago, my team and I were just trying desperately get out of here alive. It saddens me and makes me miss all of them: Finnick, Gale, Johanna, Pollux, Cressida. It's as if they were here, I would have another chance to change things- make them better. I squeeze my sister's hand and keep my gaze down. We file unto the stairs, led by a soldier and then arrive at our new temporary home. The soldier leaves us with a key and returns back to the foyer. My mother unlocks the door, and we enter a decorated room with a single large bed, and a plush couch. We unpack our things, and then I decide to go for a walk.
I explore the upper corridors and find people stare at me when I pass through. It raises my anxiety and all I want to do is get away from these people. I go deeper into the Mansion. It seems these fancy decorated hallways will take me away somewhere where I can just think to myself, like a sanctuary. I keeping going, and going, forgetting about looking for details to find my way back. I descend flight after flight of stairs. I gradually leave the fancy rooms and enter plain ones. The doors and furniture are less grand, and I think that I'm far away from those people.
I run down a hallway for the heck of it, open a door, and find myself in the back foyer with the windows that reach up to the ceiling. From a window I see the trim courtyard and gardens outside. I walk along the wall and then I find the window that Gale broke for our escape. The memory begins to replay in mind, and I see it all happen as if I'm just in an observer back in time. I sit on the window, letting my legs dangle. I imagine Peeta climbing down the rope and see the Peacekeeper slicing the rope with a knife. As Peeta falls, I see myself running through gunfire to get to him.
"Please miss, stay away from the window."
I look to behind me and see two rebel soldiers. Dam it! And I thought I'd be alone. I hide my sigh and get up. "Would you like us to lead you back to where you are staying, miss?"
"No thank you. I was just going through," I answer.
It seems he's about to say more about taking me back, but I turn my back and start walking away.
As I exit the foyer and go down a pass, I hear their boots on the tiled floor a distance behind me. I walk faster, and turn into another hallway. It's definitely déjà vu. I find a closet and I shut myself inside. I sit on the ground and stay completely still. Their boots walk past the closet and I can hear them talking into a radio about losing me. I wait till I can't hear the slightest noise of their boots, and decide it's safe to come out.
I continue my walk and when I hear people coming I hide in the nearest room, or behind the large curtains that drape the windows. I walk into a corridor that looks vaguely familiar. Then there's the scent. I stop mid-step and begin to feel sick. Roses. My hands begin to sweat and I feel the anxiety starting to palpitate my heart. I follow the scent and turn a corner to find two other rebel soldiers guarding a door. Roses are behind that door from what I can sense. All I want to do it take one for Snow's lapel when I shoot him. I walk toward the doors, but the soldiers form an X with their guns to stop me from entering.
"You can't go in, Soldier Everdeen. President's orders."
"I need to go in there…" I say dryly, waiting patiently for them to put their guns down. They give worry looks to each to other, and think about calling someone to take me back to my room.
"Let her go in," says a female voice. I look around and see a beaten up looking woman in a commander uniform.
"Commander Paylor…"
"On my authority," she says. "She has a right to anything behind that door." So they let me enter past the glass door and close it after me. A small glass hallway takes me to another door. I push the door open and enter a large room with a glass ceiling and walls. There are rows and rows of rose bushes in all colors possible. I walk amongst them to find the perfect one for tomorrow. As I snap the sheers on a white one, I hear his slithery voice in my head.
"Very nice choice. Nothing says perfection like white."
I freeze in place, thinking it's my mind playing tricks on me, but the voice goes on. "I was hoping you'd find your way to my quarters." I turn in the direction and see President Snow, sickly green and bonded with shackles and tracking devices. I guess he's being held here till his execution. This is his prison. That's why the guards halted me. And that's why Commander Paylor let me in.
"Well, I see you are still with child. I must admit I am appeased that you still have your child- that your actions have not harmed it. I only threaten to take it when you disobeyed me, but other than that I would have left it alone." He coughs into a handkerchief and spots it with blood. "You see, I was only looking at what was right to do: stop Coin. It was my failure to fully grasp Coin's plan. To let the Capitol and the districts destroy each other, and let District 13 take power with barely a scratch. I saw how she was using the districts, and I was going to demolish Thirteen. Perhaps maybe the districts could have ruled themselves." He coughs some more and wipes his mouth. What he's saying could possibly be lies, but I don't see any sign of lying. His words just support my new opinion of Alma Coin.
"Make no mistake, she was intending to take my place right from the beginning. After all, it was Thirteen that started the rebellion that led to the Dark Days, and abandoned the rest of the districts when it began to fail. I find it clever on her part to release those bombs and capsules and to blame it on us."
Blame them? Snow stares at me with his snake eyes, reading my expression.
"You really didn't think I gave the order, did you? Forget the obvious fact that if I'd had a working hovercraft at my disposal, I'd use it to make an escape. But other than that, what purpose would it serve me to kill Capitol children? I was going to surrender before the bombing. Without your image, there was nothing to continue."
"I don't believe it," I say hoarsely.
"We made a deal not to lie to each other, did we not?"
I take the rose and begin to walk away. I walk through the hallway and exit. Paylor meets me outside. "Did you find what you were looking for?" she asks. I hold up the rose in response and begin to find my way back to my family's room.
I place the rose in a cup of water. I sit on the bed and stare at it on the table. Could what Snow said possibly be true? If it wasn't the Capitol who launched those capsules then that means Coin killed those children, caused Prim blindness- she killed Finnick. She's done something like this before. She sent my sister to war because I didn't keep my deal of going to the Capitol. It was with purpose, and maybe she purposely chanced Prim to be killed, because that would put me completely over the edge. I remember her threatening to send Peeta to the Capitol and she did. I couldn't stop her because I was captive in the Capitol, but most likely she thought I would die and so she decided to send Peeta off to be killed. And if I didn't die, their deaths would be enough to hurt me- to drive me mad. And if I was pronounced mentally insane, then nobody would listen to me. Nobody would stop her from taking power.
The following morning I wake up with my mother smoothing my hair. I've slept on the couch while my mother and Prim took the bed. I look up to meet my mother's soft smile.
"I didn't mean to wake you. I thought you were deeply asleep," she says softly. I rise up and pull the blanket close to me. "You know what today is?"
"Yes," I say. "Snow's execution." She moves a strand of hair from my face.
"Those stylists will be here soon. Primrose and I will be at the hospital for her checkup."
"Will you be there… at the execution?" I ask.
"We'll see," she says. She gets up and kisses me on the forehead. She wakes up Prim and they start getting dressed. I sit on the couch thinking of what I have to do. I don't know if I should take my chances and assassinate Coin, or I should leave it for now. I promised Peeta I wouldn't. But if I did, the baby would be perfectly fine with him. I might be arrested and imprisoned for murder, but our baby will be okay with Peeta to take care of them. The sun shining in from the window catches the rose on the table. Its whiteness magnifies and it begins to hurt my eyes. I drape my blanket over it, so I won't have to see the dreaded thing.
I'm in the bath, when my prep team arrives. They barge straight through the door. Octavia begins to tear up. "Oh Katniss, we were so afraid when you were taken to the Capitol. We found out you're pregnant and… we didn't know if we would see you again! " I wrap the towel around me.
"It's alright Octavia. I'm fine now." She hugs me, and lets her tears mix with the water on my shoulders.
"We're just so happy to see you alright. And your poor little mini you," says Flavius. He wipes his eyes delicately. "Oh these tears will mess up my only liner." He laughs at himself.
"Let's get you ready for your final show as the Mockingjay, shall we?" says Venia.
I nod and they begin their magic. They use the lightest of makeup, but still manage to cover my scars and blemishes of the poison gas and the gun wounds. They cut the damaged ends of my hair, but it still looks long. I enter the bedroom where my outfit lays, but that's not what catches my attention. There she sits in a chair with metallic gold wig and her leather heels, holding a clip board.
"Effie," I say.
"Hello Katniss," She kisses me on the cheek just a normally as before. "Well it looks like we've got another big, big, big day ahead of us. So why don't you finish your prep and I'll just pop over and check on the arrangements."
"Okay," I say surprisingly casual. Effie leaves the room with her clacking heels.
"How about we get your outfit on?" says Venia. I nod and she goes over to take it from the bed. She holds it up for me to see. I let out a small nervous laugh at the sight of it. It looks like a simplified, casual version of my Mockingjay suit. The really big difference is the flowing black top that tightens under my chest and flows down to comfortably clothe a baby bump.
"We'd figure you be more comfortable in this," she says.
"Uh yeah, and I guess it's no secret that I'm pregnant." Venia smiles and shakes her head. She helps me put it on, and I find a question important for asking.
"Who designed this?" I ask.
"Well, when we found out you were pregnant; Fulvia took the job of making you a new suit. She tried to put in details of Cinna, because he does things so magnificently… but she came out with this. It's not bad."
"No, it's great. It's very comfy," I say. Venia smiles, and then there's a knock on the door. Octavia opens the door and there stands Gale.
"Can I have a minute with Katniss?" he asks. After awkwardly bumping into each other, the prep team closets themselves in the bathroom. Gale stands next to me and we look at our reflections in the mirror. I search for something to hold on to, some sign of the girl and the boy who met by chance in the woods five years ago and became inseparable. I wonder what would happened if the girl was never reaped. Never spoke to the boy with bread, never went to the Games. Would she have fallen in love with this boy and run away to the woods? I can't even imagine it. What I really see is a boy and girl barely trying to keep their companionship together. There is no romantic love, just the love that a girl has for him to keep their friendship, but she fears that even that is slipping away.
Yay Effie. And I know I kind of ended it the chapter oddly, but I didn't want it to be too long. The next chapter is better, I promise. Thanks for reading!
-cheezebuns