A/N

Guest review on Chapter 3: Annie did know how to swim - that was the only reason she won. The dam broke and no one else knew how to swim or wasn't a strong swimmer.

Me: I know. She knew how to swim because Finnick had taught her by then. It's part of my backstory; I got the idea from MainstayPro's brilliant Finnick and Annie series on YouTube. I did expand Finnick's speech to clarify this.

Chapter

"The Capitol has struck back in the propaganda war," Plutarch announced. "They're parading rebel Victors they've captured." Faces and information on their bearers appeared on the screen. Woof, Belle, Pike, Pine, Seeder, Megan, Harvest, Justin, Bill – all old-timers that hadn't made it out of the Capitol with Haymitch and the rest. "Stephanie and Winnow are two more recent victors, and they're the only ones of this year's mentors unaccounted for. Snow hasn't been able to find them, but we haven't either."

"The Capitol could be holding them in reserve," I suggested.

"Good point, Hawthorne…," Heavensbee acknowledged.

"Considering how good they look, holding them in specific ways," Cato joked.

He was chastised by Plutarch's assistant shouting "Adams!"

Plutarch got us back on track with more unpleasant information. "They've also had several victors publicly declare for the Capitol." That included Enobaria and Pearl from amongst this year's mentors, and several other Careers. "Without Adams, Adams, Odair and Odair, that could have been a lot worse," Heavensbee said to cheer on our fellow newlywed victors. I could halfway understand many of the Capitol's pets supporting it. However, Jet of Six and Windmill of Five especially aggravated me. They won around the same time Haymitch did, and this set off the short fuse of the still-drying-out Abernathy.

I went back to my compartment before dinner. When I left for the dining hall, I noticed that Glimmer's mother had visited her in the hallway outside 'the newlywed apartments'. Our families lived somewhere else in Thirteen – aware that their adult children have sex, they don't want to dwell on it. Well, I had thought similarly while my father was still alive. I overheard the two District One women talking. "I rather enjoy being treated like this," Glimmer said. "Haven't you said that the right men make women feel precisely this way?"

"Exactly, dear," Mink Shinesmith responded. "And one of them's right behind us," she said to acknowledge my presence. "I definitely see it in Still Ms. Everdeen, and the new Mrs. Odair too for that matter."

"Thank you for noticing it – my Catnip can be guarded. But with Finnick and Annie, everybody can see it." Without Cato and Glimmer's displays of animal lust, I thought but did not say in front of them.

Mrs. Shinesmith left, and Glimmer said as if to read my mind "Oh, I opened my body to him – as I had for many guys before. Nothing was really different until he opened his heart and mind to me. That made the difference. That was the plan, Cashmere's as much as mine. It worked beautifully, but this sure wasn't the result we expected."

"Me and Katniss, our relationship went in the opposite order," I replied. "Other than that, I'm with ya. And the Capitol offering two victors was smart, but Cato was smarter than that without realizing it."

"This face launched a lot of trouble," she said while pointing to herself with an air of satisfaction. "He set off a revolution while trying to save me, makes a girl feel good."

"And the baby?" I wondered.

"Also part of the plan. I realized it was the right situation," she crisply acknowledged. "Wasn't on birth control and wouldn't lie about that of course but he didn't think to ask." Then she said something that was too close for comfort. "I had always wanted a daughter because I love my little sister so much."

"I wish Katniss thought that way," I said tearfully.

"The odds will be in your favor someday," she said cheerfully.

Once we made it to the dining hall, one of the people from our meetings finally introduced himself. "Dalton Oakley. I made it all the way here from District Ten." He was warokign at central command instead of taking to the field. I shook his hand. He presented me with a red flag that featured a blue X with thirteen white stars. "It's an ancient symbol of rebellion in our district. From long before Panem at least."

"That is ancient," I told him.

"Bear it with you when you go off to fight this rebellion. Would that I could hoist it over the District Ten 'Justice Building' myself," he said.

The families didn't all live together, but we did eat together. I overheard a loud conversation at the Shinesmith table. "I will take the gray," Lustre said confidently of putting on a military uniform at her tender young age.

"I just got done worrying about my other daughter!" Sunstone shouted.

A nearby District Thirteen native spoke officiously. "She's just turned fourteen, yes, but it's a legal necessity - the emergency necessitates loosening the definition of 'child soldier'."

"I was fourteen for my Games," Finnick stated. "If that's old enough to win them, it's old enough to help bring them down," he announced.

Cato offered more support for the idea. "Career training helped the Capitol produce soldiers. Let's turn that against them."

On the training field the next morning, I saw Lustre with a group of other young recruits – they were engaged in some sort of exercise that combined formation training with physical conditioning. Katniss, Cato and I had something like that in the afternoon, but we were headed to an advanced rifle shooting lesson for now. I was doing well, but Cato was even outshining Katniss, let alone me.

September began with a meeting that also had Ma, Ingrid and Haymitch in attendance, yet it was no simple friendly discussion – it seemed as serious as our previous slate of government meetings so far, especially since it called for Coin's presence. "We have intelligence that the Capitol is reinforcing the District Twelve Peacekeeper force in a few days' time," she announced. "A regiment instead of a battalion." I remembered recent training lessons on our enemy – this meant well over a thousand instead of a few hundred. "We need to seize that opportunity, evacuate your district's people before it's too late." It made sense that Coin needed District Twelve natives as expert advisers, but I think she bristled at having to respect us. The planning meetings and accelerated training made those days somewhat of a blur. Slowly the mission took shape. We put vivid descriptions to the rebels' basic maps of our district.

"Our current Peacekeeper force is lax and the new guys certainly won't be," Haymitch announced.

"Yeah, Cray takes 'looking the other way' to a whole new level," I agreed.

"And we have to look the other way while he fucks desperate young girls," Katniss muttered. I saw Abernathy glaring at her.

"Soldier Everdeen, underage prostitution is not our concern right now," Coin snapped.

District Twelve women may grumble, but tolerating the practice had avoided even further Capitol oppression until now. It would be easier for the guys to tolerate that. I purposely changed the topic. "Many of the rank and file are friendly to us, which might lessen resistance."

"I doubt y'all wanna operate at night or strike while there are men in the mines," Haymitch suggested. "So that leaves a short window around sunrise or sunset."

"There's a meadow in the middle of the district," I pointed out. "That seems like an excellent place to organize, especially if we can get the fence out of the way. It usually isn't electrified, but the Capitol might make an exception for this."

"We were already deploying a scout and vanguard to interfere with the train station should Capitol reinforcements arrive; that unit shall also be ordered to deal with the fence," Coin replied.

"Plenty of hovercraft to evacuate everybody," I demanded.

"We're only making one trip," Coin said to state the obvious.

Plutarch backed me up. "We only have to move them for 45 minutes."

"And unfortunately they don't have many material possessions to bring with them," I followed.

"Madam President, the plan does call for a particularly strong attack force," Plutarch stated. I could see why. It would keep a small force from being ambushed by a stronger-than-expected Capitol guard. It would be an easier victory against the expected level of resistance. The Capitol could buy the bluff and think rebel forces are stronger than they actually are. If the Capitol counterattacked, whether against Twelve or Thirteen, we could easily retreat.

"Are we sending the trainees?" I wondered.

"Especially the trainees," Coin answered. "We need them too, and whatever the subject one is trying to learn, there's no substitute for actually doing it. We'll keep barebones defense and headquarters forces here with the civilians, but that's it."

I stowed Dalton's flag in my left knee joint in place of a plain cushion. I had pieces of string threaded through the grommets in case there was cause to actually use it as a banner. Rory's work washed up faded but still quite legible, and it was relatively undamaged. I fit it between the two layers of real armor on my upper right arm. The skin under it was unbroken, more than could be said for much of the rest of my body. Our physical wounds from the arena had been healing quite nicely – as for the mental wounds, who knows?

Some other victors were glad to fight but did not want to wear the reminders of home that had become reminders of their arenas. I wasn't the only person to embed a flat sentimental object there, or the only victor to reuse a token. Many had found a place for their trinkets in this arena as well. Katniss pinned the mockingjay near her collar again. Cato's gold was already on our fingers. Wiress, a District Three woman who won the year before Haymitch, wore a bracelet that looked like an exposed circuit board. Cashmere and Gloss had patches of her namesake fabric in pockets of the uniform's utilitarian synthetics. Finnick carried the same blunted hook that Mags had also used more than a half century before him. Brutus had a stone with the District Two seal carved in it. Emerald had won a few years after Haymitch, and she bore a ring with her namesake stone; she'd given a similar piece to Glimmer, but that had been confiscated for concealing a poisoned spike. Emerald had another copy for Cato to present to Glimmer.

We were not issued pistols, but many of us carried blades as sidearms. I clipped that knife onto my belt yet again. The machete was his wife's specialty, but Cato was no stranger to it, so he gladly took the blade and found a sheath for it.

We would be promoted at least temporarily for the mission to our home. Thirteen's commanders decided to spread us out and augment our units with native soldiers and some of the motley crew of rebels from other districts. Katniss and I would command small groups of infantry; Ingrid was assigned a similar role with District Thirteen doctors. My fireteam was composed of Cato, Lustre and Johanna; Katniss would be serving with Finnick and District Thirteen's Leeg twin sisters. We were to be led by Lyme, who was backed up by Brutus and three of the natives. Ma and Haymitch would serve in the rear areas.

We still weren't sure of the attack time, yet we needed to be ready at a moment's notice, so for now we were bunked near our comrades and our gear. I was separate from Katniss – this avoided stirring up jealousy in our comrades, and after all, we weren't being deployed in the exact same unit. Rory, Vick, Posy and Prim would be staying with Glimmer for the duration. "After all, we've trusted her with Lustre for years," Mink insisted.

The alarm sounded in the predawn hours of the 11th. As we marched to the hangars, it still felt odd to see Lustre here with Cato. Today, she was a comrade marching into battle alongside him. Twenty-three days ago, she was a little girl riding on his shoulders.

We consumed packs of field rations during the flight to Twelve, as was the plan. While nervously gnawing on a cereal bar, I thought This is the moment, not just for the personnel on this mission, not just for District Twelve, but for all of Panem.

"Arrival in District Twelve imminent," barked the intercom. We picked up our weapons and loaded full magazines, then picked up stacks of several more magazines.

"We're covering the mine entrances," Lyme ordered. "Soldier Everdeen, take the east entrance. Soldier Hawthorne, you've got the west. My team will stay in reserve in between them." I heard some other orders over our twelve yes ma'ams. Wiress' team would finish clearing the fence obstacle. Emerald, Cashmere and Gloss were amongst those covering the Merchant Section, Lotus and Hook amongst those working in the Seam.

We clicked off our weapons' safeties while exiting the hovercraft; the immediate vicinity of the transports was clear. We were back home, but we had been told over and over to not dwell on that and do our duty.

Haymitch was right – we didn't want to attack with miners down below. Even if the Capitol didn't trap them, the damn creaky old elevators would slow their escape. Right about now, the miners would be starting their slow walk towards the depths. Father had said that no miner ever truly lost the fear. His fate had shown that was with good reason. He had said that even a hint of carelessness would make the work even more dangerous. Probably preparing me for the day when I would have to enter the mines, which would have been right about now – the autumn after my last reaping. He had been such a brave man, and those pits scared even him. We were here not only to avenge those like him but also to save others from a similar fate. We deployed as Lyme had ordered, running towards the mines at full speed. We were well ahead of the usual influx of miners.

I saw a boy and girl near the rock pile, their mouths locked and their hands elsewhere. I knew how that worked. "It looks like we have a new King of the Slag Heap. Him and his latest loyal subject ought to get running to The Meadow," I announced. I recognized the boy as one of older Mellark brothers, but the girl was some townie I didn't know.

"Never thought Hawthorne would settle down…going!" he said, pulling the girl with him. Joking though he was, he understood the severity of the situation.

When the miners saw our squad, I could tell that their grim determination loosened up. That was part of the idea, to show our familiar faces. "Hawthorne!" one of them cheered. The mine entrance was guarded by a couple Peacekeeper sentries and had an anxious foreman peeking through the entranceway.

As planned, the squad had split into three by this point, so I was the one to give orders. "Adams, take the left, Shinesmith, take the right." The guards wheeled towards the noise, but promptly caught three-round bursts in the neck between helmet and bodysuit, where we knew there was a vulnerability in the armor. The foreman was wearing what were basically mining clothes; I gave him a bullet to the chest. Cato had told me he hadn't killed anyone before the arena. This was Lustre's first, as well as another for us, but there was no time to dwell on it.

"Good riddance to a bad bastard!" the same miner yelled. "Hell, I think McCallahan was the same one who had sent your father to his death," he continued, and I kicked the so-called man's corpse as a further act of vengeance.

"District Thirteen is real, and is our path to freedom!" I shouted. "We'll take you to safety there," I insisted. Some miners took what cover they could while others ran directly for the meadow and the hovercraft. I figured people would be skeptical, but trust the returning hometown heroes instead of leaving themselves to the Capitol's definition of 'mercy'.

Twelve's Peacekeepers rallied to the disturbance. We took shots into the approaching formation and they returned the favor. I felt winded as some bullets crashed into my body armor, but Johanna was wounded with a shot to the elbow. "We need backup, infantry and medical, at west mine entrance," I barked into my communicuff.

Lyme's group rushed to join us before we were surrounded. They couldn't really fire while they were in a full run, yet once they stood next to us and brought their five rifles to bear, we were only slightly outnumbered. Lustre had understandably had the worst stress reaction. For now, she had been both intimidated and emboldened by the arrival of these initial reinforcements. Johanna had been injured in her nondominant arm – she was shooting with one hand while using the outcroppings of the rock pile to support her weapon. However, she was weakening, and was left exposed by having to slightly distance herself from the rest of the group. One of Lyme's backups, a middle-aged woman whose name strip identified her as Jackson, covered Johanna's flank. Two older men, a Mitchell and a Homes, were on the other side of our formation.

I saw in the distance that more Peacekeepers were approaching our location; Mitchell, Homes and Jackson shot into their formation while the other six of us engaged the remainder of the first squad that had been sent at us. The last of their band seriously wounded Homes then Mitchell as they fell.

The sentries and the first squad were all unfamiliar people to us – many District Twelve didn't patronize the Hob, whether out of personal preference or due to higher loyalty to the Capitol. However, we saw many familiar faces in the second wave.

Our Head Peacekeeper had finally found the motivation to do his job. "What are you waiting for, Soldier King? Shoot them!" Cray ordered Darius.

"Damn it, sir," he hissed. "I'm not going to kill a friend!"

High officers like Cray carried pistols instead of full rifles, and he drew his on Darius only to find one of those full rifles pointing at him. "I won't either," its holder called out, a woman from the Hob I knew as Purnia. "Platoon, stand down," she ordered. Many of our Hob friends started murmuring their assent. They chose to rise and do what's right, joining up with the returning natives for the fight.

A man with similar rank insignia to Purnia opened fire anyway, nervously joined by some of his subordinates. Lustre and Darius shot him at the same time. That's how it was, those sick of the abusive might joining ranks against those still following orders from the bent regime. A battlefield was always chaos, but even more so right now as some changed sides and some didn't.

Our reinforcements had held their fire while this group of Peacekeepers sorted itself out. Some physically came over to our side, and were glad to join the shooting in our favor. A few, notably Cray, at least kept their guns silent.

The remaining loyalists, surrounded, fought fiercely, leading to dozens more dead on all sides. The fanatics were too preoccupied with their own defense to butcher civilians, but many were certainly caught in the crossfire. I gladly poured a full-auto stream of lead into those that stuck with the Capitol even now. My squadmates laid down cover fire for our medics' sake. Homes' and Mitchell's wounds looked very serious and Johanna's not that severe, but they were all moved towards the hovercraft.

I saw some hovercraft take off and shimmer into invisibility, already full of refugees.

We left the enemies' bodies behind but carried our own. For the fallen of either side, we removed their weapons and gear before we moved out to The Meadow. There we met with our comrades and found out what had gone on elsewhere in the battle.

With reinforcements from both sides rushing to my location, it had quickly calmed down elsewhere, although that easily could have happened in reverse. Katniss' skirmish at the east entrance had hardly been uneventful. One of the Leeg sisters fell to a sentry more alert than ours. After her twin avenged her, the other guard surrendered.

A group of Peacekeepers elsewhere had shot many of the Hob traders as they fled. "Not Ripper!" Typical Haymitch.

Ma and Haymitch had been spreading the word through the Seam. Ingrid had been doing something similar in the merchant section. Over the din I heard my mother-in-law say "Melody? It's Maysilee's old friend Ingrid" to a frantic woman. The mayor's wife had never been the same since losing her twin sister to the arena nearly a quarter century ago. Ingrid was trying to calm her, old social graces as well as a healer's gift. It wasn't working. Yet the mayor had proved that he really was on our side – although the Capitol eventually got word, he had stalled some attempts to call for reinforcements. His daughter was also escaping the district – lately I respected her more for giving the pin to Katniss, but I still felt distant from the comfortable town girl.

Ingrid turned to a new patient, a young Seam woman who was in labor. Her name was Ellen Flowers, not someone I knew particularly well. Midwife and patient were two of many now retreating to the waiting hovercraft. I saw the blood and heard the pain, but there was plenty of that today, and at least hers was natural instead of unnatural. My team moved into position guarding the path - most of the Peacekeepers had converted, surrendered or been killed, but there were still a few roaming around.

"It's a girl," I heard Ingrid say over the crying.

"Her name is Mockingjay," the new mother announced. Katniss reflexively touched her now-famous pin.

"Who's the father?" Ingrid said to ask an obvious question.

"Don't know," Ellen Flowers answered. "I went to Cray, but also a bunch of other guys."

From the sky, we saw a train in the distance. The Capitol enforcers had arrived just too late as more and more of our hovercraft left. Madge was on the last one, with us. She was the closest thing Katniss had to a friend besides myself and our families. She said, "Katniss, there's something I have to say, and I don't think words will suffice." She leaned in and put her lips right on Catnip's. "I just had to know what that was like," Madge said as she smiled. "Though you already found someone, I figured you should know just how much I liked you."

I was also shocked, and decided to take the high road. A petty jealous rage would endear me to no one, least of all Catnip. "You like women? Well, you certainly have good taste in them," I said to compliment both.

We saw a short blond boy with a tall raven-haired young woman. "Peeta Mellark, I've never seen you with a girl until now," Katniss observed.

His voice morosely rang out. "It's a long story, a very long story," the baker's son admitted. That story began with "Margaret Undersee is not the only one who had waited too long to confess love for Katniss Everdeen." He faced Katniss directly and said "I loved you ever since school, ever since the bread, yet I never said it. When I saw the truth of you and Gale, I was depressed over losing the girl I had never tried to win. I darn near killed myself," he said to continue his speech.

"Channel your passion into life instead of death, and may the odds be ever in your favor," I offered.

Peeta soon finished a sketch and passed it around. "I call it The Stolen Kiss."

"Mellark, this is brilliant, but would you mind not broadcasting it?" I asked.

The subjects of the drawing both chimed in with an "Agreed".

Throughout all of this, Ingrid had been preoccupied with cleaning up mother and child. Ellen sat back down cradling Mockingjay while Ingrid went off to attend to someone's conventional wounds. When Ellen had to get up to use the bathroom, her benchmate Peeta was only too glad to hold the little girl. She came back from the privy to find a young man gleefully cooing over a baby not related to him. Bridget smiled as she watched her boyfriend do this, and they were hardly the only ones to find their spirits lifted by the newest resident of Panem. The newborn certainly seemed to speed up the trip back to District Thirteen.

We had saved all but a few hundred of the district's nine thousand residents – even if the new Capitol enforcers were not intending to slaughter them outright, our people were saved from a rather perilous situation. This was a major accomplishment in and of itself, but Peacekeepers switching sides was gold – a moderate tactical victory and a major propaganda one.

Since Cato and Finnick had spouses back at base, we let them off the transport first. Glimmer and Annie were of like mind, near the front of the crowd in the hangar. As Finnick picked up his bride, she said "I'm pregnant already" too quietly for the whole hangar to hear, but loud enough for my hunters' senses to pick up.

He somehow managed to draw her even closer and I overheard him say "I'm sure it's a beautiful little fishy swimming around inside of you."

Glimmer must have done Posy and Prim's hair while she was staying with them. Posy was so excitable, she almost worked her way out of my grasp. "Glimmer loves bright pink too!" my sister squealed.

Indeed, Mrs. Adams had practically covered Miss Hawthorne in that color of cloth. "Most girls do, though some like Katniss are special," I told my youngest sibling.

Rory was gazing at Prim's new intricate braids. "He already understands the value of his girl getting beautified," Glimmer joked.

"That kind of growing up I can deal with," I responded. Left unsaid was the reference to her sister, now with combat experience.

Glimmer had also kept Vick and Rory from injuring themselves or each other while goofing around. Ma and I, and Father before us, would agree that's no easy feat.

On a more somber note, I pointed out "We rescued many orphans, whether or not their parents had died before this battle."

"We should have no trouble finding homes for them," Dalton figured. "The Capitol's subterfuge included biological attacks that left many of the survivors sterile, and many of those would be glad to take in these children." The man leaned in to whisper to me. "They want all these refugees for breeding stock. It reminds me of when I was working on the ranches in Ten before I escaped here."

"That explains a lot, sir," I responded.

"Don't regret it. You stood behind your principles, so you can't lose," I said to one of the doubtful ex-Peacekeepers. "And the Capitol would not react kindly to your hesitation or 'failure' anyway."

"Your tactical input will be valued," Coin told Cray, "and what you did was out of our jurisdiction, but I don't want to see you with underage girls over here, got it?"

Someone in the armory was relieved. "Peacekeeper service rifles and ours both take 6.59x42mm cartridges."

Here, townies were not treated better than our fellow Seam folk, much to the consternation of some of the former. I wanted to tell them to shove it, but I reminded myself that the Capitol is the enemy, not other districts or other parts of the same district. Many of our district's poorest were experiencing the first decent housing and meals of their life. Whatever Dalton said, we were being welcomed, that's for sure.

"Now we have nearly ten thousand more mouths to feed," the kitchen warden complained.

"We're used to hunting for a much smaller crowd, but we'll do what we can," Katniss said.

We had retrieved some of the items we had hidden in the District Twelve woods. Katniss would be most comfortable using her old wooden bow, and the smaller one would be better for teaching Vick. The same bow Katniss learned on would be an auspicious start indeed.

When we got back from that trip, Greasy Sae and Rooba were working in the kitchen, as expected. "Here I am about to prepare the proceeds of a Katniss and Gale hunt. The more things change, the more they stay the same," Sae announced.

September 12th would become known as Registration Day. Much of this was paperwork expected of moving into District Thirteen. Dalton was right – many adoptions were set up. More than two thousand District Twelve natives and the hundreds of turncoat Peacekeepers swelled the ranks of the District Thirteen military. Ingrid, while signing Mockingjay's birth certificate, joked "Have you ever had to deliver a baby in the middle of a war zone? No? Then don't tell me your job is difficult."

Peeta seemed to have a gift with words, so in retrospect it was surprising he hadn't managed to say any to Katniss. He would work with the rebel propaganda teams instead of enlisting. He seemed too damn pure and soft for combat anyway. Glimmer was limited to a base job anyway, but she seemed to have a gift with people that went beyond charming boys.

Ellen had a sister Anna that had evacuated on another hovercraft. Madge liked visiting the baby named after the pin she gave Katniss. This day, Miss Undersee found the newborn with Anna.

"Where's the rest of your family?" Katniss asked of the two Flowers ladies.

"Our father died in the same mine explosion that killed your father," Anna answered. "Our mother starved and we nearly did – Ellen went to men in town, I just had no knack for that, I scraped by on odd jobs.

They weren't the only other December 25th 69 orphans here. Jack Barton's father died that day, and then his mother and grandmother in an accident on September 23rd 73. "A real accident and not something the Capitol made to look like an accident," he said. Jack then had discovered the woods on his own – I wondered how we could have missed him, but at least the Capitol was also unaware of his activities.

It would be a challenge to integrate the new evacuees and the defectors with those who had already been present in District Thirteen. "It's a good problem to have," many of us said.