Playing With Fire (A Hunger Games fanfic)

Chapter 25: The Drums of War

A few months later..

Electra's POV:
After months of meticulous planning and secretly training the rebels behind the President's back, the time has finally come. It's time to take Snow and his minions down once and for all. The battle has begun.

Tributes young and old stand on the battlefield with me as their leader, their Mockingjay. No one dares mention my marriage to Snow, they all know now that it was only political.

Cinna stands far away from the line of fire, fingers crossed in a sort of silent prayer. He wishes me luck, but I know we won't need it, not now that I have Snow wrapped around my little finger.

Soldiers all around wait for my command, each waiting for the perfect moment to strike.

Fire spreads throughout the battlefield, no doubt a ploy by Snow and his allies to try and scare us into backing down and calling off the fight, but it won't work. I've waited my entire life for this, and there's no way I'm backing down now, not until Snow's dead.

We ready our weapons as I raise my voice to address our opponents. "It's over, Snow. You've manipulated us for far too long, and now here we stand, ready and willing to fight," I warn him. "You spread fire throughout the battlefield in an attempt to scare us into submission, but I'd be careful if I were you. Fire is catching.. and if we burn, you burn with us!"

And just like that, the battle has begun.

We all dodge gunfire as Snow sends his strongest armies, but we've got them outnumbered. They don't stand a chance against us.

I stand rigid in the line of fire, my unwillingness to move serving as a warning to Snow that there's no way I'm backing down now.

I can see him watching from the window of his grand mansion, sneering down at the rebels as we stand below him. An evil smirk spreads across his face as my eyes drift to the sidelines, and notice for the first time since the battle had begun that Cinna has suddenly disappeared.

I look back up to see Snow now standing rigid on the balcony above me. He has Cinna forced to his knees, bound in ropes and gagged as his helpless screams are silenced.

I know what Snow is doing.. he's using my love for Cinna to scare me into submission, but it won't work.

"Give up now, Electra," Snow warns. "Surrender peacefully.. and I promise no harm shall come to your lover."

And that's the final straw. In an instant the rebels are storming the Capitol, ready to rid Panem of Snow and the rest of his tyrannical minions once and for all.

Bombs detonate on the battlefield, claiming the lives of several children who had gathered in the city streets. I look down and see Katniss' sister, Prim, laying dead in the Capitol streets.. completely overlooked as Capitol citizens rush to the sides of their own dying young, ignoring those from the districts.

This makes me even angrier than before. Prim was like a little sister to me, and now she was dead.. and it was all because of Snow and his power hungry negligence. The mere thought disgusted me.

I knew now that Snow had to pay with his life.

I trek carefully throughout the corridors of the mansion before finally finding him alone in his greenhouse garden, peacefully looking at his roses.

"Ah, Electra. I just knew you'd come to your senses," he whispered, still standing with his back to me. "Come. We have many important matters to discuss, including your surrender."

"There's no way I'd ever surrender to you, Snow.. and if you think I will, then you're much more delusional than I thought you were," I spat. The words were like venom the moment they left my mouth. But he deserved far worse.

He sighed heavily and fell to his knees. "Very well. I can see now that you're not willing to give into my demands, and that you'll only be satisfied once I'm dead.. so please, just get it over with."

The moment the words leave his mouth, I ready my weapon, taking a deep breath before burying the blade of my axe into his back. His blood covers my hands as his lifeless body falls to the stone floor.

And just like that, it's over, we tend to our wounded, we count our dead. Black and white soldiers wonder alike if this really means freedom? Not yet.

But Snow is dead, and the Capitol has been overthrown. The twelve districts of Panem can now live in peace without the annual threat of the bloodthirsty and dangerous Hunger Games.

We won.

And I'm now free to marry the man of my dreams.