This one didn't turn out exactly like I wanted but it was needed for the information. I hope the conversation and reasoning between the characters aren't too confusing. If they are just ask in a comment and I'll try to help.
He found him on the roof, like he thought he would. Before and during the games they weren't able to visit other floors visiting other Victors. Usually no one went to the newest Victor's floor, letting them adjust to being a killer before having to be crowned. His own victory was different than he ever believed. Thinking if he won, he wouldn't have to worry for the rest of his life. Now he can't be seen with the love of his life because Snow owns his body…but no matter how much he wants, Snow will never own him.
"What are you doing out here?" Haymitch asked him while still looking over the Capitol.
There were shouting and cheers aimed at the Training Center. Even the Victors from the Career Districts needed time to process what they had just been through, after all, he should know.
"Thought I'd come and find you. You looked pretty messed up this morning," Finnick said.
Haymitch sighed. "I just spoke with Snow."
Finnick tensed, that was something no one wanted. There was no way Snow would have Peeta working at thirteen/fourteen. Even he didn't start working for Snow as his special commodity until he was fifteen, that was all Mags. Snow did tell him right away that he was his property. He was glad for that year. But Peeta would be barely fourteen during the Victory Tour.
"About what?"
"There have been rumblings that the stunt with the explosives were an act of rebellion. Snow is not happy. I haven't been able to talk to Peeta since his speech problems. But I rewatched him with the bag. He made sure not to shake it too much and he didn't open it. I spoke to Seneca about what was in it. They put two bags in the Cornucopia containing some gas. I think I know how he knew what it was. The makers of it put a strong smell in it to warn of its dangers. It's used in bombs, rockets and…baking."
"Baking?"
"To heat the ovens. The bombs they made out of it were fragile, I think besides the gas, Peeta had no clue what was in it. But he knew it was volatile, it's how his grandfather died. It was bad for the whole district but none more than the Seam. The man was one of the good ones, used to feed the kids in the Seam when he could. Just bits of bread here and there."
"How does that help anyone?"
"When it's all you've had in days, it means the world," Haymitch said. Finnick could see pain in the older man's eyes.
"Were you from this Seam?"
"Let's get back to the important stuff, that boy put himself in Snow's sights. A victor making a fool of Snow, that won't go over well."
"Mags was able to talk Snow into waiting until I was fifteen before I started working, maybe he will do the same here."
"You were popular from the beginning, from a career district. Snow wouldn't want to force his hand with you until he needed. Peeta won't be so lucky. Someone as young as him, cute but very much a child in looks and mannerisms. The Capitol's citizens want experienced, vicious and will play their games. I can't tell you now, Peeta can't do this, he's too young. They never think a young one can win so it's never been a problem. You were the youngest until now but you at fourteen looked older, seemed older and already knew where you stood."
"Mags didn't want any of her Tributes going in blind. She was very forthright and I'm grateful for her. Some tributes from Four, real tributes not volunteers chose to die in the arena to escape such a fate. Sometimes I think it would have been better if I died there too."
All these feelings that he liked to keep hidden had resurfaced. He'd been wearing the mask of District Four Victor and Playboy for too long to get rid of it now.
Finnick glared at Haymitch, while the man had been a victim of Snow, he had no idea really about being sold by the man. "Sorry to burst your bubble, he's not safe. You're right, most want those things, but not all. There are a few that would pay a pretty penny for him and none of them are gentle."
"Who? I need to at least warn him."
"It won't change anything, there is only one way out. I considered it in the beginning but couldn't chance them taking it out on my family."
Haymitch looked torn and Finnick couldn't blame him. Peeta was going to be harmed one way or the other.
"I better get back or Effie will be worried."
"I can't believe you actually want to be near her," Finnick shuttered, just the thought of District Four's escort, Tamasin. The man was a creep, Finnick always had to watch him around the Tributes.
"She's not so bad when you get used to her. We actually had a thing one night the year before you were Crowned. Then the next year she didn't show up as escort, the year after that she was so upset that she couldn't have met you personally, she just loves to rub elbows with the popular ones."
"I didn't think Escorts got to not work for a year."
"Said she was sick, must have been bad, she changed after that. Like I said, I've got to get back."
Finnick nodded and went to speak with Joila, the female Mentor from Six. She usually abstained as much as she could before the Crowning. Morphling had made her already gaunt face worse, her thin body emaciated. He didn't know what was keeping her and Danny alive. Such a strange name, the man had told him once his great-grandmother was still around when he was born, she had been alive before the Dark Days. He was named after her father.
There was a slight chance Joila would be able to save Peeta, at least for a year.
The sixth floor was always depressing. Effie always made sure the twelfth floor was always bright and cheery, no matter how angry it made Haymitch. He always thought it was funny, Escorts were lower than Victors but still eyes and ears of the Capitol. Knowing that, victors took their anger out on them because they knew what they were doing. But not with them, the two always acted like an old married couple.
He was greeted by an Avox he had seen around; this was the first time he knew where she worked.
"Can I speak to Joila?"
She opened the door wider and gestured for him to come in. In the back of his mind, he wondered what her crime had been. He would rather be killed outright than be an Avox. He guessed that was the point. How to take everything someone is when they were a Capitol resident? Make them unheard, make them no more than a walking piece of furniture.
As he went in, he could see Danny on the couch just staring at the blank screen. He wouldn't be any help with this task. He followed the Avox to Joila's room where she tapped twice.
"Come in," was said through the door.
The Avox opened the door and gestured for him to go in. Joila wasn't a cruel person, but he suspected even the Avox was scared of her. Not because of temper but of coming in her room one day to find the small thin woman dead. One day it would happen, and he just hoped she was someplace she liked when it did.
"Joila?"
She turned towards him; her usual dull eyes had a little spark to them. She actually smiled at him, and he knew she wasn't lost in the drug right now.
"Fin, what are you doing here?"
"I need a favor." Everyone knew the sixth floor was the only one not bugged. It was only because when they were flying high, they would say the most outlandish things. After the fourth raid on their suite, Snow just had them removed because they were too far gone to make any sense he thought. He was very wrong, the drug did have them but just like in their arenas, they were smart and knew how to hide.
"I don't think I have anything to give," she said sadly.
"You know what they're going to do to the newest Victor, don't you?"
She nodded; her eyes downcast. "Yes, he said the night after the games." Joila was a favorite of Antonius, the Defense Minister. They always thought she was just a mindless body, she was not.
"They aren't going to have him do our job if you're thinking that."
"What?"
"He's giving people hope. Hope that they don't have to play the games. That kind of hope could swell and if it does, we could have another rebellion."
"But he did kill that girl."
She laughed, it was deep, and she choked a bit at the end. "Who are you fooling? He tried to stop her, the only thing he did was save himself and that almost didn't happen. You saw him hesitate to move. He wanted to stop her; he didn't want her dead."
"There have been others never to have killed," he pointed out, she was one.
"My game was clear, I hid. That was a strategy, just like Danny." There were eleven years between the two Victors, Danny was the Forty-Ninth Hunger Games and hers was the Sixtieth. For Annie's they overestimated how many could swim. That was their fault, but they wouldn't accept that. The only reason she wasn't used by them was because they were worried, she would lose it and kill one of them."
It was true, Annie's nightmares were very violent. She also hated to be touched. He was only starting now to get close to her. Victors were not supposed to get together, it was a golden rule. But if she were left alone, she would die within the year.
"That's good, he's not going to have to entertain, at least for a while."
She sadly shook her head. "No, it's not good."
"What do you mean?" He had a bad feeling about this.
"Remember Titus?"
He was confused. "Yeah." He said looking at her with pity. Titus wasn't hers but she was a Mentor for Six during the time.
"He was a sweet, gentle boy before he went in. Big as an ox, gentle as a lamb. He was slow, not by a lot but Snow didn't think it would make a good game. He had his doctors make some drug they injected him with before the games. All that he did was all because of that drug. Snow really thought he was giving the boy a real chance. But he also thinks twelve-year-olds can win against eighteen-year-olds. When he wasn't thinking I was listening, Antonius was talking to someone else. He said after the Victory Tour they were going to inject Peeta with an altered version of that drug. I don't know what it's going to do but it won't be nice and then just set him loose upon his own district. He'll get what he wants, I think. Their little bit of hope will become an out-of-control monster before their eyes."
"Is there any way to save him?"
She nodded. "You're not going to like it though."
"It's either this or that."
"Get someone that Snow is scared of to speak on the boy's behalf. Him entertaining will be moved up but he'll be alive.
"There is no one like that, Snow kills all his enemies, he's not scared of anyone."
"There is one, you just have to get her to remember that she's stronger than him."
"I'm not following."
After grabbing her remote she turned on an old game, the fortieth if he remembered right. "Her."
An older woman with surgical work done on her face to keep it looking young with long orange hair with black stripes.
"Tigris?"
"She not only was an amazing stylist until Snow kept after her to get more and more augmentations done, but she's also his older cousin. Besides his granddaughter she is his only living blood relative. He can't kill her."
"Everyone can be killed. What aren't you telling me. Stop with the riddles."
"Fine. If Tigris dies her people will make sure all of his dirty deeds are broadcast all over Panem. There are too many to find. Not just what he ordered but by his own hands. Starting with President Grifflin, he did have a surprisingly short presidency, didn't he? Ten years and all the sudden Snow is there. Suspicious if you think about it."
"There's video of him poisoning him?"
"Right."
"Why didn't she show it before now?"
"Because she was the only other one in the room. Apparently, she knew what was going on and got it all on video. He knows she has it, she knows he knows, he knows that she has people to release it when she dies, she knows Panem is simmering with rage, the Districts are just waiting for their moment. She had sent the video to all her cohorts before he could even blink. There was no way to trace them all, he would have to play nice. If he had her secretly killed, they would broadcast the videos anyway, so it was a standstill."
"How does the boy fit into any of this?"
"All they need is a symbol, something to make them know it doesn't have to be this way. The First Rebellion was won as soon as they dropped the bombs on Thirteen. But they don't know what I suspect you do."
He nodded his head, not daring to speak. What they were saying could get them both killed and maybe the ones they spoke of but saying this was too big of a risk.
Effie left the Training Center; it was always hard to stay away. The painted-on makeup help cover her sadness. But she had to admit, she liked her fashion, it was great after all. She did see Cashmere in a gorgeous blue dress, she would love to wear it. Sadly, she didn't have the hips. Making her way to her apartment that wasn't in the area she thought she should be. Maybe now she had escorted a victor they would give her an upgrade.
She went into her building making her way to her third-floor apartment. Really? Why couldn't she have the Penthouse at the top. She was more important than that…man. But he had been a Head Gamemaker, so they thought he deserved it. That wasn't what she thought, Heavensbee was a shifty looking man. Something was behind those always watching eyes of his.
Her apartment door shot open, and a squealing mess ran out to her. She laughed as he got lost in the skirt of her dress. Maybe it was a bit too much.
"Mommy!" he yelled as she detangled him.
"Hello, my love, I hope you've been good for Tassie."
He nodded his little blond head and smiled at her. He looked to have lost another tooth since she had been gone. Before and during the games she was not allowed to go many places. But until they leave, she could spend time with her little boy.
"I see you lost another tooth?"
"Uh huh. Ms. Tassie said it will grow back like my others."
"It will sweetheart. How have you been?"
"Really good, we saw you it was fun. The games were a little scary, I don't really like them. Why can't it just be a party or maybe a card game like we play."
She glared at Tassie; she knew better than to have him watch. He was sweet and innocent, she didn't want that gone before he needed. Ever since his birth, she started to see the games differently.
"He's six, he's required." The woman shrugged. Effie bit her tongue, Tassie was the only one she could find to watch him for all the times she was gone.
"You can take a break, get you some fresh air or something to eat," she told the older woman.
Tassie nodded and left the apartment. Effie turned to her son and smiled. She never thought gray eyes could be so beautiful until he was born. Of course, she had to lie and say they were contacts. Everyone seemed to be fine with it. She shuttered at the thought of putting anything into his beautiful eyes.
"Can we watch Daddy?"
She paused. "You didn't tell Ms. Tassie who he was did you?"
"No Mommy, I did just like you said I didn't say anything about him."
"Good, good, my love."
Having a child by a victor when you're a Capitol citizen was looked down on but wouldn't get you killed. But Haymitch was so hated by Snow for his Games, she had heard he had his whole family killed. That if he ever had children or married, they would be killed right in front of him. Ivo couldn't be killed; she wouldn't let it. She also worried that if they did find out who his father is they would wait until he was twelve and say because his father's a district citizen he was too and be put in the games. A lot had changed in her way of thinking the day he was born. Everyone thought she had gone to the Capitol sperm bank, for women who didn't want a man in their lives or for ones who had a man couldn't give them children. Everyone seemed to buy it and only a few people knew about him at all.
Turning on her screen, she put it on her favorite of Haymitch. It was his tribute interview, before the Capitol took everything away from him. Back when he looked strong and whole, eyes clear of the drink.
"He looks like me," Ivo giggled.
"That he does." She hugged him into her side. Besides her natural hair color, the boy had nothing of her. It was all his father.