The MATRIX: The One

10 - Peeta takes a leap of faith

Peeta POV

Also, those of you who have seen the movie will recognize a lot of things in this chapter. But I've changed up a few details just to keep it fresh.

"So, you're in love with Katniss."

I blink. "What?" Is she watching this? Is this going to get back to her? The last thing I want to do is freak her out. Especially after the epically bad way we'd ended lunch. Someone Katniss had probably known is dead. Killed. In the Matrix by an agent. Holy shit, this is real.

Finnick leans against a wooden beam in the dojo as if we have all the time in the world, as if this is supposed to be fun, as if my feelings for Katniss are somehow relevant to me beating the shit out of someone.

Yes, we're inside the ship's multi-player interactive sparring program and I'm pretty sure this is the part where I'm supposed to hit him like I mean it. I think I'm ready for this, but it looks like Finnick needs to work up to it.

He rolls his eyes at my dense response. "Let's conduct a simple survey. Answer yes or no. Ready?"

I nod once even as I narrow my eyes at him. What the hell is this guy's game?

He begins, "You would risk your life for her."

"Yes."

"You agreed to be hijacked so she wouldn't walk out of your life."

"Yes."

"You know how special she is."

"Yes."

"She's going to end the war."

"… what?"

"Ah," Finnick sighs. "So she hadn't told you that." He steps away from the building support and prowls closer. "Katniss is the one. The One, Peeta."

"What does that mean?"

"It means she's going to put a stop to the fighting. She's going to deliver peace. Victory."

"Those two aren't necessarily the same thing," I point out.

"They will be by the time Katniss is through."

"How do you even know she can do something like that?" I'd seen her in the Lisbon program. She hadn't even tried to defend herself from her assailant. How can Finnick expect her to go up against an entire race of machines? The Matrix itself? Agents?

"Several reasons," he begins. Finnick's grin tilts until is it so crooked I half expect the room to wobble around us. "Unfortunately, she hasn't let you see her in action yet. She's breathtaking."

"You sound a little in love with her yourself."

Finnick finds this amusing. Once he gets done laughing, he replies, "I don't think you have anything to worry about on that score, but there's another thing you really should consider."

"What's that?"

"Katniss is called the One. Not the One Plus One." A coldness begins to seep through me at the sudden, hard look in Finnick's green eyes. "Her path is not for mere mortals. If you're going to try and walk it with her, you're gonna have to start being amazing… unless you want to be left behind. Or worse: unless you want to get in her way."

I swallow thickly. My throat hurts. My chest aches.

"So now that you know what's on the line, let's get started. And, just to give you the proper motivation," he continues with a wicked grin, "I'll be sending Katniss into the Matrix tomorrow on a little errand. If you'd like to tag along, you'll have to hit me."

"Oh, I will," I promise. I'll hit the smug sonuvabitch. And I'll mean it.

Finnick takes a confident step forward and then another. "Right, let's get start—"

His head snaps back. My knuckles throb. I smirk. "Oh, sorry. Should I wait until you're ready?"

The captain of the District Twelve actually giggles. He rubs his chin. "Why thank you. Such respect you pay to your elders."

Because I'm expecting the attack, I manage to dodge his fist, block the follow-up kick, and counter with both fists. He blocks. I duck. He weaves. I feint. We circle each other.

"What happened to your righteous anger, Peeta? I thought you were planning on hitting me sometime today."

I redouble my efforts.

It gets me nothing but a pair of burning lungs and a body of quivering muscles.

I roll out of the way of Finnick's lunge and gain my feet just in time to hear him sigh. "Peeta, Peeta, Peeta. I thought Katniss already went over this with you."

"What?" I demand, blinking the sweat from my eyes.

"Where exactly are you right now?"

"Aboard the District Twelve."

"Yes. Which is where the air is, where the gravity is, where the heat and cold are." He glances around pointedly. "What makes you think you need to breathe in this place? Why must your muscles get tired here? Or your body sweat? We're inside a computer program. Do pixels breathe? Bleed? Sweat? No," he says, answering his own series of questions. "They don't."

"I bled plenty in that Lisbon program," I remind him.

"Because you were letting the code work you instead of the other way around. All of this—" He gestures to the dojo. "—is built on rules. Start using them to your advantage. Start bending them. Breaking them. Free your mind."

Right. Okay.

I throw a punch. He blocks it. Trips me. I roll twice before pushing myself to my feet.

"You move like you've only got one leg to work with, Peeta!"

Is he trying to piss me off? "That's not as funny as you think it is."

"Actually, it is. When you consider the fact that you don't have any legs at all in this place…" He shrugs genially. "This is all in your mind. You are as fast as you believe you are. You are as strong as you know you are. Your limits here are only as narrow as your imagination."

Shit. Well, when you put it that way…

Finnick beckons me closer.

I oblige. I speed toward him, stop on a dime, twist out of the way of his fist, and slam mine into his gut.

He flies back and hits one of the wooden supports so hard it cracks.

And then Finnick himself cracks up. "Yes! Brilliant! We might make a fighter out of you yet! Gale!" He doesn't look away from me as he calls out to the operator. "Load the Jump Program."

And between one instant and the next, the dojo melts away, folds down into a singularity of one datum and then explodes outward, placing Finnick and me onto the roof of a building. Fifty floors high if it's a single story.

"I'll give you three guesses as to the purpose of this simulation."

Well, he'd called it the Jump Program. When Finnick tilts his head toward a neighboring building, equally tall, six traffic lanes and two sidewalks distant, I feel dread harden in the pit of my belly.

"You make this jump, I'll let you go in with Katniss tomorrow. You botch it and we're gonna drop you off at Zion where you'll be spending a full year at the training academy before you'll be considered eligible to serve on a crew."

I challenge, "Even if I make it and I go in tomorrow, who's to say you won't dump me at Zion anyway?"

Finnick gives me a smile that almost looks sad. "A captain's recommendation could put you on the fast track. Two months and then your choice of ships."

I don't even try to hide my skepticism. Why, after warning me away from Katniss, is he offering to help me stay with her? "You would do that?"

"Sure. If you earn it. Let's see what you've got, Peeta." And then with two running steps, he launches himself from the edge of the roof and arcs through the air, landing neatly and with a city-quaking thud on the opposite structure.

I bite my lip as I measure the distance with my gaze. In the real world, this would be impossible, but nothing is impossible here. I am as fast, as strong, and as tireless as I want to be.

No limits.

I close my eyes and purposefully build the illusion that will get me where I need to be: Katniss is waiting for me on the other building – she needs my help – I have to get to her. Now.

Opening my eyes, I clench my jaw and brace my foot against the roofing tiles beneath the soles of my sneakers. I count down. Wind up. Launch forward – one step, another, a third. I don't think about the empty space in front of me. I don't look down.

I think of Katniss.

I leap from the edge.

Sorry to leave it like that. Enjoy the anticipation of the next chapter!