❝WE'RE BACK, BITCHES.❞
octavia blake, the 100
☾
Rue had Ben's eyes. That was the first thing I was struck by when I had seen Rue on the fallen tribute platforms during my Victory Tour. I can't pinpoint specifically what it was about her eyes that made me see Ben so quickly, but I swear I could see him. Her eyes held the same mischief, although I'd say that Ben had a lot more sarcasm.
Seeing his eyes so clearly through Rue, I couldn't just do nothing when she'd begun to starve in the Hunger Games. I also owed Ben. I didn't protect him in the games, but maybe I could at least help his baby sister get a fighting chance.
"It's from our district," Finnick inspected the bread closely. It had just been gifted to us by Plutarch (not that anyone else knew that besides Finnick and me). I could smell the salt and seaweed in the bread, observing the basket of the rolls intently. My chest ached from the distinct reminder of home. Smell does make memory stronger. This was probably the last comfort food we'd ever have. A large part of me didn't want to share it with our allies, despite them being the whole reason we were here in the first place. My fellow mentor was feeling the same way. I could see it in his eyes and in the way he carefully handled the bread with his nimble fingers.
"It's green," Katniss said flatly. I could feel her eyes on me, but I made sure my blank face gave nothing away. I knew that she'd connected the dots.
Finnick, on the other hand, had no idea what I had done for Rue or that Katniss knew about it. Instead, he took Katniss's comment with offense, saying, "It's because of the seaweed. This is one of District Four's specialties! They'll go well with the shellfish, too."
"District Four specialty." Katniss hummed in repeat. She said nothing more and removed her eyes from the side of my face.
I didn't understand why it mattered so much anyway. No—of course, I did, but I had just wished Katniss didn't make such a large deal out of it. It was one sponsor gift that I just happened to help set up. Like I said: I owed Ben and his family. It wasn't hard getting a sponsor to send her some bread either. I had connections all over District Four, including the wealthiest of the wealthiest. All I had to do was make a couple calls and Rue had received a slice of seaweed bread, tinted its signature sea green.
I plucked my own roll from the basket in the center. I rip it right down the center and raise it close to my nose. My eyes shut for only a second, and the warm breeze of the beach dusted my skin, carrying the salty sea air into my nose. The waves sounded so familiar, so comforting, even if only for a second. The sand buried between my toes before being washed away by the waves. The ocean on my back as I floated away, staring at the sky. God, I could see the sky, see my mother floating next to me. A smile graced her lips, nothing but love in her eyes for her only daughter. Thankfully, the bread covered the tiniest tremble of my chin. But before I could lose any more composure, I quickly open my eyes and place a chunk of the bread into my mouth. A mask of boredom donned on my face.
Too much, too much, too much. I had no idea what had brought that on. It was as if my brain had decided to bring up every painful emotion that I've managed to stuff in compartments so far, far away. It was all just so . . . overwhelming.
I risked a glance at Finnick, who had his eyes closed. I guess we had the same idea. Not caring about our allies watching us, I comfortingly rubbed my knee against his. He opened his eyes, the same melancholy feeling painted on them.
I opened my mouth to say something, anything when an ear-piercing scream emerges from the wedge of jungle across from where we sat. The jungle shook the same way a person would shake the trunk of a tree for fruit. A tsunami wave large enough to top the trees came crashing through the jungle and splashing into the water. But before it traveled any further, it came to a halting stop, acting the same way the fog did. The water calmed down, spreading into an aggressive circle that reached our tiny campsite. We scrambled to keep everything close before it floated out to the water.
The cannon boomed, and I watched as the hovercraft claw picked a body up, too dark to recognize if it was a male or female Victor. It was then that three darkly painted silhouettes of bodies emerged from the jungle, leaving a messy trail on the sand in their wake.
"Who is that?" Peeta asked. "Or what? Muttations?"
Finnick and I exchanged glances, ready to fight mutts, but after closer observation, Finnick recognized the bodies. My grip on my scythe loosened in confusion. His face lit up and he called out, "Johanna!"
I squinted as I followed Finnick, trying to make out Johanna's face from dark paint. If she was Johanna, that meant the two dazed on the shore were Beetee and Wiress, but Blight was gone. Probably during the bloodbath, I thought, I knew he should've come to training.
Johanna saw us racing toward her in recognition and she yelled, "Finnick!"
I examined Johanna Mason and the others swiftly, realizing that the dark substance they were drenched in had now invaded my senses. My stomach lurched with a sick realization, and I could feel the bile rising up in my throat. Masking with a face of disgust, I stepped back to put distance between me and the stench, hearing the others slow down behind me. I curled my lip. "You reek."
"Well, it's not exactly great for me either." Johanna snarled. She threw one of her axes to the ground, using her free arm to wipe some of the blood from her face. Her skin and clothes were completely stained a gag-reflex-triggering maroon.
"What the hell happened?" Finnick asked. "Blight?"
A small crack appeared through Johanna's exterior. She swallowed hard and shook her head. "We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lightning, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the force field."
I swallowed down my own guilt from my assumption. I felt a twinge of grief for Johanna's partner, remembering that the same could happen to Annie and Mags at any moment.
Finnick frowned solemnly. "I'm sorry, Johanna."
"Yeah, well, he wasn't much, but he was from home," she said, waving it off. "And he left me alone with these two." She nudges a barely conscious Beetee with her shoe. A soaked-through cloth is tied around his middle, not originally a part of the jumpsuit. "He got a knife in the back at the Cornucopia. And her—"
"Tick, tock. Tick, tock." Wiress murmured right on cue. Her eyes are wild, circling around as she made her own circles in the sand.
"Yeah, we know. Tick, tock. Nuts is in shock," Johanna snapped. A poorly hidden cackle caught itself in my throat, sadistic amusement gleaming in the upturn of my lips. The sound seemed to draw Wiress to us, and she wrapped her hands around Johanna's shoulders. The latter fiercely responded with a shove to the ground. "Just stay down, will you?"
Katniss took a warning step forward. "Lay off her."
My eyebrow twitched up in curiosity. My mouth formed a silent "ooh." I turned to Johanna to see her reaction, searing hatred wringing her expression through and through.
"Lay off her?" she hissed menacingly. The next moment, Johanna raised her hand and slapped Katniss hard enough she stumbled back, hand flying to soothe her cheek. My mouth formed a silent "ooh." "Who do you think you got them out of that bleeding jungle for you? You—"
Alarmed, I raised my scythe out to stop Johanna from storming any closer to the asset, and Finnick took the opportunity to sling Johanna over his shoulder and carry her into the water as she screamed profanities at Katniss. He repeatedly dunked her into the water, listening to the sound of her gurgling curses while the water turned dark red. I quickly followed, not feeling like facing another round of Katniss's interrogations. I did look back, though, and I saw confusion written all over their faces.
"Calm down, Johanna," Finnick said. He submerged her one last time before letting her come up for air on her own. "You're gonna ruin this whole thing!"
"Me?" Johanna replied sharply, common sense taking root. As she ranted, she stripped off her bloody jumpsuit, revealing nothing but her athletic bra and shorts underneath. Finnick and I didn't even react, having been used to Johanna's antics. "This bitch doesn't know what the fuck Blight and I went through trying to keep those two idiots alive!"
"And we're going to keep it that way," I answered. My nose twitched. "You should go back under. I can still smell the blood on you."
"Oh, fuck off. You have the face of a toddler."
"And you're acting like one right now."
"You wanna bet?" Johanna then proceeded to grab me and pull me underwater, catching me by surprise. She dragged me in by the feet, pulling me farther from shore until I was in almost seven feet of water. I felt her hands push me deeper underwater until she let go and swam away. I could hear the distorted cackling echoing through the water as I swam up. I broke through the surface with a silent gasp, turning to face Johanna, nonplussed. She guffawed as she wrung the blood out of her hair. Even Finnick wore an amused smirk on his face. Without missing a beat, I cupped water into my hands and sent it soaring straight into his eyes.
Finnick flinched back, feeling the same salty sting that I had.
"What did I do?"
I just glared at him, although it held no real malice. I passed him to Johanna, hand out. An evil grin had overtaken her face, satisfied in her games. "Just give me your suit. I'll wash it out."
She handed the heavily water-soaked clothing into my palm. "Thank you, my darling. Mind dry-cleaning too?"
"Fuck off. You're old enough to be my aunt."
"More like sister," Finnick corrected. "You guys act like siblings anyways." We both twisted back to the man, not amused by his comment. My expression soured at Johanna, who had narrowed her eyes. Without another word, I waded back to shore to wash out the blood.
My eyes didn't miss the dark purple the water had dyed all around the bloody clothes and bloody tributes. Similar to the last haunting image I'd seen at my Hunger Games viewing with Flickerman. No. Absolutely not. I locked out any intrusive thoughts or memories of my first games before I could go down that spiral trainwreck.
I made my way to the shore, sitting down on the wet sand as I scrubbed Johanna's jumpsuit back and forth, blood effectively washing out. I don't know why I offered. Glancing back at the others at camp, I saw that Wiress had calmed down significantly, still muttering the same phrase over and over again. Peeta and Katniss were addressing a naked Beete faced down on one of the grass mats I made. He was fully unconscious by now—maybe not the best sign, but it's easier to work with a limp man than a thrashing one.
By the time Johanna was done in the water, I had scrubbed out all the blood from her suit, leaving only a small pink tint from the stains. I had washed out Wiress and Beetee's suits as well, scrubbed until even my skin was pink and raw from the friction. I set them on a high branch, letting them dry out as I rearranged the food after the large wave had come and washed it away. Katniss was helping Wiress out by the shore while Peeta attended to Beetee. We worked silently, occasionally hearing Katniss's soothing words to ease Nuts.
Johanna was now as clean as could be, walking up the beach. Finnick followed at ease; I could tell he felt more assured having our other allies with us. Sitting on the other grass mat we had, I held out a piece of shellfish towards Johanna who snatched it eagerly from my grip. She sent me a smug wink before wolfing down her own portion of seaweed bread and the other shellfish while crumbs and juice flew everywhere. Johanna Mason, everyone, as inelegant as they come.
Beetee regained consciousness as Finnick recounted the past 24 hours, carefully feeding himself pieces of bread. There's still a lot of sunlight left, but Katniss suggested we all rest for a little while. She offered to take watch, having been well-rested after we reached the beach.
I raised two fingers up lazily, an easy expression on my face. "I'll take first watch with you."
"Nu-uh." Johanna shut my offer down quickly. She pointed her small axe at me accusatory. "You're tired as hell. You look like a rat monster. Like a Rat Man."
"Gee, thanks." Then I added, "I'm not that tired."
"Yes, you are. I'm taking first watch with Katniss, and you will sleep. If you don't I will knock you out with the brunt of my axe."
I narrowed my eyes at Johanna, examining all parts of her hard exterior. She wasn't budging, from what I had determined. If there was anything Johanna had over me other than age and swear counts, it was stubbornness. I sent a scathing towards Finnick, who shrugged in response, knowing exactly what they were discussing while they were along. But then I relented.
"Fine."
Johanna wasn't wrong. If I didn't get sleep any time soon the sleep deprivation would start to affect me severely. I knew that most of my inability to sleep came from my refusal to let my guard down in the arena, but now that we had doubled in allies, I wasn't so . . . anxious?
I felt a sense of security now that we had more people, even if Johanna was our only coherent, skilled combat type. It just felt better.
Finnick and I share the grass mat, using it as a pillow on the sand. I tucked my scythe close next to me, never letting go as my breath leveled out, and I drifted off.
• • •
i finished finals & my junior year completely virtual guys!! proud of everyone who completed this school year as well because it was complete hell for me :)
i'm now officially on summer break but i also have a shit ton to do before applications & senior year this fall so i'm trying not panic & just relax for now by presenting u all with another chapter and *drum roll*
JOHANNA MASON MY BEST BITCH (aside from u, pallas, u know i love u) johallas is my favorite brotp from pallas's entire story and i hope their first interaction u've seen is everything i was aiming for :))
(last thing is i hope u all have seen the 100 & if not u need to right now. spoiler: when cg killed bb i was devasted to the point where i grieved and bawled for an entire week! :) we just pretend the last season didn't exist ok?)