"How's Johanna doing?", Katniss asked me during training. The others could not keep up with our shooting skills.
"She's mostly asleep", I enlightened her. "I feel guilty. I should stay with her instead of training and going to war. She trained so hard to join the battle and now she's not allowed to and to top it all I leave her behind again to fight alongside you. The last time I did that, she ended up in the Capitol", I burst out and missed my shot.
Katniss took my gun from me. "Maybe you should put that aside when you're upset", she advised me. "Did you talk with her about it? Honestly is it possible for you to talk to her without it ending in a discussion?"
"Johanna can be considerate. But the sedatives are suppressing her emotions. She can't think clearly. I barely recognize her right now."
"I know what you mean", she mumbled. Peeta.
"You were right when you said that the 76th Hunger Games would be different", I stated. She sent me a questioning look. "We're up against more opponents and not against children. Everyone has decided to fight and hasn't been forced to. There can be more than one survivor and this year we can turn into true victors not just survivors."
"And Snow is a tribute too", Katniss added with a smile.
"Exactly. He may have won all the previous games, but his torments have only strengthened us more. It's like he trained us himself to beat him in the end." I grinned at that thought and continued training.
My group was actually really good. Katniss was almost as skilled with her gun as she was with bow and arrow. Gale was using a special crossbow and Finnick had gotten a special trident from Beetee. It had several special functions. One of them was allowing Finnick's trident to fly back to him, when he pushed a button on his wrist cuff. Jackson, a middle-aged woman and Bogg's deputy, was able to hit targets we could not even see with the target tube. The sisters Leeg, both in their twenties, who we called Leeg one and two were looking so similar in their uniforms that I had difficulties identifying them. Two older men, Mitchell and Homes, did not talk much, but they could shoot everyone the dust off their shoes within a fifty meter distance. Though other groups were good as well and I was not sure why we were called a special unit, until Plutarch announced that we had a special task of getting filmed. Three victors in one group. It made sense now. That Katniss did not really protest made me suspicious and I suggested that she was not going to stay with the star unit, how we were called now. Katniss had always had troubles with taking orders and preferred to act on her own. With herin my unit, I would definitely participate in the battle. So I didnot bother myself too much with this special task.
At dinner I noticed that Annie was even more clingy toward Finnick than usually. I could not blame her.
"Don't worry, Annie. We'll look out for each other. After all we're still allies, right playboy?", I used Johanna's nickname for him.
"Sure, newbie", he teased me back.
"Will I ever lose that status?", I sighed.
"When whole Panem is enveloped in summer and the snow has vanished", he joked making me roll my eyes with a smile.
After dinner Annie stopped me to talk to me alone.
"I won't stop Finnick if you want to ask me that", I clarified.
She shook her head. "No. I'm ... pregnant. You're the only one who knows."
I enveloped her in a hug. "Congratulations!" We smiled at each other.
"I can't tell him. It would hold him back. But since the last meeting a few days ago, he seems so unsettled. He tries to hide it, but it only worries me more. Do you know anything?"
I took a deep breath. What was I supposed to do now? Lying to her felt wrong. I had not told Johanna yet either.
"We volunteered for the next Hunger Games", I burst out before I could change my mind.
"What?", Annie became pale.
"If we win, this will be the final games. Snow is a tribute, too. Katniss, Finnick and I. We're still allies. We're a great team and experienced. We'll figure a way out of this. Annie, we can all win", I tried soothing her. "But you should talk to him", I added. "Finnick should know that you're pregnant, but still support his determination to fight. It'll motivate him even more to return. And I promise you to look out for him."
She nodded. "Thanks, (f/n)."
When Annie left, I felt exhausted. Telling her had worked out pretty well, but Johanna would be a different story. Due to the sedatives I did not even know which reaction to expect. And telling her the truth in her state only to leave the next day appeared cruel to me. But to keep it a secret was not fair either. Honestly I was surprised that I had not broken down yet.
"Hey, Jo", I greeted her.
For once she was awake and she was looking better rested. "Tomorrow's the day", she mumbled back, her eyes locked on the bundle of pine needles she was holding in her hands.
"I'm sorry."
"You know that I hate pity", she spat out glaring at me.
But I simply shook my head. "And you know that I don't pity you. I'm sorry because I did not tell you the whole story."
She cocked an eyebrow at me. I closed the door and sat down on the chair. "The streets in the Capitol are covered in pots triggering different attacks. It's like the arena. Therefore Katniss, Finnick and I are calling it the 76th Hunger Games."
I could not read the expression on Johanna's face. It looked like she was about to cry. "Another round of games, huh?" She started laughing like a maniac. "If I weren't a victor myself, I'd be shocked. But Snow's always surpassing our worst expectations."
"Jo, I ..."
"No, it's alright. I'm bloody angry, but I won't hold you back. I heard them calling you the best sniper of Panem. Make Snow pay!"
I mirrored her grin and leaned in to kiss her. To my surprise the nightmares left me alone this night. Probably because they could not keep up with reality anyway.
The next morning I said goodbye to Johanna, Annie and my family. I had not told my family what I was about to face once again. The fourth Hunger Games with a family member participating in only five years. I did not want to provide these news to them. It was bad enough that I was going to war.
A hovercraft brought our group to district 12. Then we were transported by a freight wagon stuffed with countless soldiers in gray uniforms. It took us several days until we arrived at the tunnels, which led through the mountains toward the Capitol. Six more hours of marching later the field camp of the rebels was finally in sight. The rebels had dispelled the peacekeepers, who had regrouped more at the center of the city leaving countless temptingly empty streets between them and us. At least seemingly empty. After all we knew about the pods we had to overcome.
After three days our group threatened to die out of boredom. We had nothing to do but to film more videos of us shooting at random things. After all we could not purposely destroy the pods in front of the camera, if we did not want Snow to know that we had the holo. Whenever an actual sniper was needed the raised hands of Katniss, Gale, Finnick and me were completely ignored.
On the morning of the fourth day Leeg two suddenly hit an unidentified pod triggering an arrow rain. One of the arrows hit her head killing her before the paramedics could reach her.
Plutarch promised us a quick replacement. It infuriated me how he was talking about the death of a person like a destroyed part of a machine. But he was always keeping the end result in mind and was ready to sacrifice lives for that. A person without such determination could have never been a gamemaster in the first place. So I could not blame him.
But when I heard Leeg one crying inside her tent at night, it broke my heart. I made my way over to her and got inside without waiting for approval. "
I know how it is to lose a sister", I whispered.
Her teary, broken eyes bored into mine. Was that how I had looked after Rue's death? I hugged her the whole night in a desperate attempt to comfort her.
Plutarch had not lied as he had promised a quick replacement. On the next evening Peeta arrived earning a mixture of shock, confusion and rejection from our group. What was Plutarch thinking? Instead of chains Peeta was wearing a gun!
Boggs immediately took Peeta's weapon and called the command center.
"It won't change anything. Coin sent me here herself. She thinks that the propos need more thrill", Peeta declared.
Suspicion filled my entire being. Did Coin want to kill us, especially Katniss now, after all? I thought back to the memories I had of her. How she had saved my family to make me concentrate on the riots in 11. Back then she had appeared as my savior, but actually she had just used me due to my role as a victor and Rue's sister. Then the fact that she had threatened Katniss that the deal of sparing the captives would be off, if Katniss made one mistake. And when I had requested, almost pleaded her to rescue the captives, she had proclaimed it as too risky and dangerous. But it had not been a problem to rescue them, when Katniss could not keep up with her role as the mockingjay anymore. Coin had not once acted out of kindness or sympathy. She had always done everything to achieve her goal, no matter what. She had pushed us to our breaking point without a sense of empathy. We were mere pawns to her. Why had I not realized that sooner? I had jumped from the gameboard of one person to another. Katniss was unpredictable. Due to Katniss all victors had become a threat to Snow and now Coin considered us a threat as well. Because she could not control us. Because we were desperate. Because we knew what it meant to take risks. That you could only win that way. I had never wasted a thought on what would happen after the war. Like I had never wasted a thought what would happen after my previous games. In the end I would have never been able to foresee any of that anyway, but now I could not help but wonder. Coin would declare herself as the leader of the rebellion, the supporter of the mockingjay, who had done everything to free the country. I did not like the thought of her as the new leader of Panem. She was manipulative and reckless like Snow. She had achieved it that we had supported her. Were we jumping from one misery to the next right now?
The whistle announcing dinner ripped me out of my thoughts. The atmosphere was terrible. Katniss was extremely hostile toward Peeta. I could not blame her for that. After all her gentle and caring fiance had tried to kill her and insulted her the whole time after that. But it was not his fault either. It had not been him talking and acting.
After dinner the temperature decreased and we were all freezing. Autumn was not the best time for resting outside. Although our tents were not keeping the cold outside either. So I decided to sleep under the stars.
Finnick trotted over to me and opened his sleeping back with a bright smile. "Come over", he encouraged me.
"You want to share your sleeping bag?"
"I want to share both of our sleeping bags and our body temperature. I know that you're also freezing." I hesitated. "Come on! Johanna isn't here and Annie wouldn't mind. I'm a happily married man", he persuaded me.
I laid down next to him and put my sleeping bag over us. Honestly it was comforting.
"Did Annie tell you?"
"Yeah. I still can't believe that I'm becoming a dad."
"Hope you're not mad at me for telling her the truth."
He shook his head. "She deserved it just as much as I deserved it. But we should sleep now. We're in the arena again, remember? We've to guard over Peeta in the early morning", he reminded me making me smile slightly. "At least we don't have to worry about food and water supplies", he added.
"And now that Peeta is here I don't think Katniss will leave us behind", I noted. "And she can be sure that we're her allies. So hopefully our alliance should not crumble this time."
These games would be different. It was either win or die. Though I was not sure who the true enemy was anymore.
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Somehow I was in the mood for another chapter. So here we go!
As always please let me know if you like the chapter.