ʀᴇᴅ ᴅᴀᴡɴ (ɢ. ʜᴀᴡᴛʜᴏʀɴᴇ)

ѕιхтeen

The plan was simple. Disguise, infiltrate, find Snow, kill him. And most importantly, stay alive.

"I'm in." I told Katniss, determined.

"All of us can't go." Gale said from across the room, looking at his feet. "It's too risky."

"He's right." Cressida agreed. "The more we are, the more difficult it'll get."

"Well, Gale can stay here, but I'm definitely going." I shrugged and looked at Katniss for approval. Instead, she looked at me worriedly and exchanged gaze with Gale. "Oh, no. No, no, no." I said getting up. "Don't even think about leaving me out of this."

"Heather, we've handled more difficult situations in the past. If anything goes wrong, we'd be more than able t-"

"Difficult situations? If I didn't know you any better I'd say you consider all the things we've been through up till now easy." I said, making my voice a little louder.

"Heather." Gale interrupted me. "A word?"

Sighing, I nodded and left Katniss, Cressida and Peeta to go a little further with Gale.

"I know that look." I told him before he could begin to talk.

"What look?" He asked with his eyebrows furrowed.

"The 'you need my protection look'."

"Listen, Heather. This is gonna be extremely dangerous. I don't want you anywhere near that scene. If something happens to you, you know I'll never forgive myself. "He told me affectively, putting a hand on my cheek. But this was no time for affections.

"The same thing is valid for me. You've known me your entire life, yet you don't know ow I respond to orders."

"Except, this is not an order. It's a promise that whatever happens, I will come back to you." He told me, his words hitting me unexpectedly. "And if you'd really know me, you'd see that I've loved you from day one." He confessed and I tried to keep a straight face. I mean, I knew he loved me, but him saying it for the first time is actually different. I shifted my gaze on the floor and, for his sake, tried to process all this, think. What would be better for the team?

"Hey." He said, taking hold of my hand and getting me out of my thoughts. "We're not gonna argue anymore. I'm going, you're staying. Save the rest of the whining for when I come back." I looked at his blue eyes, the eyes I loved the most in this world and kissed him. It took him by surprise, but he responded quite quickly. The kiss was short, but full of love. I rested my forehead on his, trying to et in peace with the thing I was about to agree to.

"You better keep your promise, jerk." I mumbled, getting a small chuckle from him.

"This one, I'll never break."

I looked down on the floor, thinking about all the possible outcomes and hoping that everything was going to go according to the plan. In the background, I could hear Cressida's instructions, but my thoughts were louder. I got out of my gaze when Tigris came upstairs with a robe in her hands, which was meant for Gale.

"Head straight north. There's gonna be thousands of refugees. Just get into that stream and don't look up." Katniss nodded briefly at Cressida and looked over at Gale.

"We got one shot." She told him.

"Let's make it count." He replied, earning a stressful sigh from me, loud enough only for me to hear.

"Good luck, Katniss." Cressida wished her, hugging her. After breaking the hug, she looked over at Pollux and hugged him as well. She then looked over my direction, and I cracked a small, sad smile.

"This is not the end." She reassured me, seeing as I was extremely worried. I smiled a little bit.

"It better not be." I told her as we hugged tenderly. "Be careful." I whispered, earning a pat on the back.

"Tigris thank you for everything you've done."

"Katniss let me come with you, okay? I can be a good distraction. They know my face." Peeta tried to argue but Katniss was quick to object.

"No. I'm not losing you again."

"You'll be safer with us." I tried to comfort hm, even though I knew exactly how he felt.

"What if peacekeepers are searching the houses?" He pointed out. "At least give me a nightlock pill, I can't go back there again." Gale exchanged a look with Katniss, and gave Peeta what he asked for. As Peeta and Katniss said their goodbyes, I headed over to Gale to make mine. He looked at me smiling faintly.

"You're the only thing I'll think about." He told me, tears threatening to come out, but I stopped them.

" I hope that doesn't distract you." I told him with a faint smirk, trying to relieve the tension. But his features didn't change. I approached him, closing the distance between us and putting a hand behind his head, feeling the sense of his curly brown hair for what could be the last time. "Come back to me." I whispered, closing my eyes and hugging him as strongly as I could. He responded quickly, as if it was the last time we saw each other. We broke the hug and I looked at him one last time.

"You ready, Katniss?" He asked, hesitantly breaking our eye contact. I watched as Katniss nodded. With extreme worry and fear, I see them getting out that door. The next few hours will be difficult for all of us.

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