Thank you guys so much for your patience. As promised, here's chapter 22! Longest chapter to date. Love you all, enjoy <3
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You barely get a wink of sleep.
You're too busy replaying the plan in your head again and again. Wondering where things will go wrong, wondering where you'll lose people. How many people are going to die? You know full well that Erwin and his team have worked their hardest to come up with the best possible plan that will lead to the smallest number of casualties, but there's only so much that can be predicted.
You've never been this nervous for something before. Not the games, not any of your missions. But the dread that's built up in your stomach won't go away and it's making you feel sick.
"You're not asleep," Levi murmurs next to you.
You burrow your face further into his shoulder. "Neither are you," you mutter.
"I don't sleep."
"Well, I don't either."
Levi's hand rises, and his fingers thread loosely through your hair. "We leave in five hours," he says. "You should sleep."
Five hours, huh. "Run it through with me," you say.
"You want to?"
"Yeah."
"You already know exactly what you're doing."
"I know, but just in case."
Levi sighs softly. "Okay. Step one."
"Distraction," you murmur, voice partially muffled by Levi's shoulder. "Which you're joining me for whether Erwin likes it or not."
"Damn right," he replies. "Keep going."
Your lips twitch. Levi had gotten his assignment, told Erwin point-blank, "I'm staying with her," and Erwin had just moved on. Whether he believed that Levi was being serious or not doesn't matter- Levi's sticking with you. You're in charge of the distraction, and he's in charge of getting you out of there. At least, that's the job Levi's taken upon himself.
"Step two," you say next. "Get over the gate."
"I still think they're nuts."
"It's not that crazy. Maybe a bit, but it's something I would come up with."
"I think that speaks for itself."
"Oh, come on."
"Step three," Levi says, and you feel him shift slightly beside you, "get inside."
"And step four," you add, "go through those hallways and destroy as much shit as possible and kill Rod Reiss."
He sighs, almost affectionately. "Try again."
You roll your eyes. "We're going for Zackly," you grumble. "A different team gets the pleasure of finding the stupid president. We're finding Zackly and his office and downloading all of the data he has. That's it."
"Zackly's a good target."
"Still not the president though."
"That's because Erwin doesn't trust you not to kill the president when you see him."
You scoff. "Can you blame me?"
"No." Levi kisses the top of your head. "He knows I wouldn't stop you either."
Your lips twitch. "Step five," you finish. "We all regroup at the back of headquarters, away from the citizens and any remaining Peacekeepers, and the aircrafts come pick us up."
Levi hums. "We go home."
"We go home," you echo.
So close, yet so far.
"Go to sleep, idiot," Levi mutters. "You need all of your energy for tomorrow."
You know you do. You doubt you'll be able to sleep, but you hum in acknowledgement anyways and bury yourself further into Levi, knowing that if you don't sleep, at the very least, you'll be able to enjoy Levi's comfort for a bit longer.
As you predicted, you don't sleep. Levi doesn't either. But he doesn't say anything about it, and neither do you.
.
Suiting up for what could theoretically be your final mission is strange.
Hange fits you with a modified uniform, which isn't all that strange, because Hange's always the one to get you ready. Sure, the uniform itself is a bit different than what you're used to, only because of the nature of your role, but the buzz and excitement in the air is on another level entirely.
You can hear the whispers. The war could be won today. It could all be over today- it will all be over today.
"And, done!" Hange says proudly, patting the shoulders of your heavy cloak. "Okay, we finally got some of that work done on your armor- so you can handle a taser or those zappy sticks that the Capitol idiots have."
"But don't go running into crossfire, right?" you joke dryly as you pull your cloak tighter around your shoulders.
"Yeah, none of that." Hange spins to grab something from a nearby table, then turns back to you. "Alright! Bow!"
You take your bow from them. You'd spent a while with the weapons team yesterday testing out what they'd come up with and picking your favorite one: lightweight with minimal alterations. You don't need fancy things to help you shoot. "Quiver?" you ask.
Hange grins sheepishly. "We should've put that on before the cloak. Here, spin."
You turn around and Hange pulls your heavy cloak off. You roll your shoulders once before they help you slide your quiver over one shoulder and onto your back. You take your bow from them next, sliding that into place, then throw the cloak back overtop.
You turn back to Hange. "How awkward does it look?"
"You could be a hunchback," Hange says thoughtfully, adjusting your cloak slightly. "It's fine. Just a bit bulky. Can you still grab your arrows?"
Frowning, you reach over your shoulder as you normally would and the cloak interferes. "I'm ditching the cloak the second I get a chance."
"Of course you are. Just make sure you're set up, okay?" Hange sighs softly, pulling the cloak hood up and fidgeting with the edge of it. "And you've got the arrow colors down?"
You roll your eyes. "The red-feathered ones blow stuff up. Yellow is the special one. The rest are regular arrows. I've got it."
They sigh. "I know, I know, but I worry. I'm like a mother hen." They pat your shoulders, then squeeze. "You take care of yourself," Hange says clearly. "Remember, you're our Mockingjay."
"They couldn't kill me if they tried," you say, putting your hands on top of Hange's and squeezing. "I got it."
"Good." Hange reaches into their pocket and pulls out a pin- the pin you wore in the arena, the pin that indicated you and Levi were allies. They reach under your cloak and clip it onto one of the straps of your armor, up around your shoulder. "There. Come home safe, and then we'll pick our favorite Capitol building, sit on the roof, and drink mimosas."
You laugh. "Mimosas?"
"You- oh my god, you've never had one. We need to remedy that immediately." Hange takes a step away, then pauses. "No, you leave soon, it'll have to wait until we're back. Unless you want a mimosa for the road?"
"Mimosas?" someone else says. They're helping dress another young woman in a cloak identical to yours. "Right now, Hange? Seriously?"
"I'll take one," the woman they're dressing says.
"Moving out in ten minutes!" someone else yells.
Hange turns back to you. "You come back, because we have a date," they say proudly, tapping your nose. "Take care of yourself. And Levi, of course."
"Of course," you agree. "Gonna go shoot President Reiss in the eye."
"That's what I like to hear!"
You give Hange a tight hug and say your last goodbyes, then head towards the main hangar bay. The crowd is massive: there's a few dozen aircrafts, all in the process of loading in people dressed as Peacekeepers. Mingled in with the faux-Peacekeepers are regular civilians- everyone's saying their goodbyes.
You weave through the crowd, inwardly hoping you're not going to see Petra anywhere among these people. You hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her since that encounter in the cafeteria, and you've been anxious about it ever since. She got you thinking about your other friends too- Eren, Mikasa, Armin, your camera crew, Connie... why can't they all just stay behind?
When your eyes finally spot Levi in the crowd, you're filled with a weird mix of relief and anxiety. Why can't he just stay behind too? Even though you trust him to handle himself, much more so than yourself- still. Staying here would mean he's safe.
You think you're starting to understand Erwin a bit more. What had he said? Something about sympathizing causing him to lose his ability to strategize? Yeah, you think you get it.
"Hey," Levi greets when you're close enough. "All set?"
"Ready to go topple an empire," you say easily, banishing your nerves. People keep looking at you, catching glimpses of you when they think you're not looking- you need to look confident, even if you're worried. "You?"
"Ready to watch you do it."
You beam. You give him a once over; he's got a pin on his chest. "Hey," you say happily, recognizing the mockingjay pin. "We're matching."
"The last time you saw this pin on me, you looked like you wanted to kill me," Levi replies, the corner of his mouth twitching. He pulls at his cloak to cover it. "Glad it's acceptable now."
"We'll show them off once we can get these coats off," you say. "How do I look?"
His eyes flicker to your cloak. "Yeah, that doesn't look suspicious at all."
You laugh. "Quiver sticks out that much, huh."
"It's atrocious," Levi grumbles, and he moves behind you to try and readjust your heavy cloak over your quiver and bow. They're supposed to remain concealed, but they're making you look bulkier than necessary. "C'mon, Hange. Thought you were supposed to be good at this shit."
"They're good," you argue, shifting impatiently in your spot.
"You're just saying that because you haven't seen the damn chainmail thing they made me wear one time."
"Feel free to show me whenever."
"It doesn't look that bad."
You turn towards the new voice and your heart clenches in your chest. It's Petra. She's got her hands clasped together, palms rubbing together, which you know means that she's nervous. But she's not wearing a Peacekeeper uniform, which is what every person going on this mission (with the exception of a select few) is wearing, so maybe...
You straighten up, stepping away from Levi and towards Petra as she exhales forcefully and says, "I'm not going. On this- to this battle at the Capitol."
That's the greatest news you've gotten since this battle was announced. "Okay," you say carefully, sensing that more is coming.
"I'm going to help here," Petra says firmly, determination glittering in her eyes. "I'm going to help the nurses set up the medical center. I'm going to help treat the injured as they come back. And I'm going to be ready for you to come back and I'm- you're going to come back. I'm going to wait for you to come back."
You swallow the lump in your throat, trying to suppress your smile. "Okay," you say. "That sounds like a good plan."
She nods fiercely. "And I'm- I'm going to tell you now what I told you when they drew your name out of that bowl. You're going to- you're going to fuck them all up and come back to us anyways." Petra pauses. "Come back to me anyways."
Your heart squeezes in your chest. You reach out and grab her in a tight hug, face burying into her shoulder. Petra squeezes you in return. "I'll come back," you murmur. "I'm coming back."
"I know," she whispers. "You always do."
"I've made a good habit of it." You pull back, but Petra grabs your hands, and you're happy to grab on. "When I come back, I'll hunt us a deer, you'll cook it, and then we'll sit down and I'll tell you everything that happened."
She smiles. "Okay. Sounds like a plan."
Petra squeezes your hands, then gives Levi a quick glance before she turns and leaves, vanishing into the crowd. You stare at the last spot you saw her for an extra second before you turn back to Levi. "That's a relief," you admit.
He hums. "Wish Isabel and Farlan were smart enough to do the same."
"They're coming?"
He doesn't reply, which is a yes. You remember the look on Levi's face when Isabel announced their attendance on the mission: they're to him what Petra is to you.
"You grew up with them, right?" you ask. Levi nods. "If they've put up with you for years, then they're tough."
"Fuck off," Levi grumbles, shoving you lightly.
"Tell me I'm wrong!"
"You're wrong."
"False, I'm never wrong."
"How about the time you-"
"I'm never wrong."
"Attention!" someone calls through a megaphone, and you and Levi both turn to the source of the noise. It's Shadis, standing on some sort of ladder so that he can be seen above everyone. "Could anyone who's not participating in this battle please exit now- thank you."
Noise starts up again as people prepare their final goodbyes. You look to Levi. "No chance I could convince you to stay behind?" you ask, lips twitching.
"Only if you were staying behind too," he rebukes.
You grimace. "I think I'm a bit important to this plan now."
"Unfortunately. And whose fault is that?"
"Yours, you're too supportive of my stupid ideas."
"How- I literally hate your ideas."
"There they are!" you hear, and the two of you look up to see Eren waving at you. He's got the Peacekeeper uniform on. "Ready to kick some Capitol ass?" he asks, pumping both fists in the air.
You raise your own hand in the air, fingers clenched in a fist. "Fuck yes!"
"Her swearing no longer gives me anxiety," someone else says, and you look to Jean emerging from the crowd with Marco by his side. "The amount of shit we got in for how often she swore was ridiculous."
Marco sees you listening in and he grins. "No cameras on this one," he says. "So swear away."
You roll your eyes. "Never needed permission, but thank you anyways."
"Big Bro!"
Isabel bounds forward next, and she latches herself onto Levi. You grin to yourself as he stiffens up and sighs to himself, accepting the hug. "Lucky that you don't have to wear these things," someone else adds, and Farlan's joined you now. He's pulling at the collar of his Peacekeeper uniform. "They're tight as hell."
Levi scoffs. "No, but the trade off is that I get the hellish task of keeping this idiot alive," he says, jerking his chin at you.
You grin. "Done pretty decent so far, haven't you?"
"You've certainly made it difficult."
"Attention!" Shadis calls, and your reply falls dead on your tongue. Gradually, the crowd quiets down, and once he's satisfied with the lack of noise, Shadis passes the megaphone off to Erwin.
Erwin surveys the crowd briefly before he starts to speak. "Today's the day," he says. "Every battle, every Hunger Games- it's all led to what we're about to accomplish today."
A hearty cheer rises. You glance at Levi. He looks bored; you grin.
"We will win," Erwin says, his voice loud and strong, "because we are tougher. We will win because we are stronger. We will win," he booms, "because they made us this way! We will bring a better tomorrow for our future children and today will be a story for their classrooms! Today, together, we bring down the corruption of the Capitol!"
More cheering. Everyone starts to head towards the aircrafts. "We're in a different one than the rest of you," Levi says, turning to Farlan. "Stay safe. We'll see you at the end of this."
"Don't do anything stupid," you say warningly. You point at your camera crew. "I'm looking at you, Jean."
"Hey!"
Everyone says goodbye, and after Isabel gives Levi a particularly long hug, you and Levi head towards the small aircraft on the far side of the hangar. Levi's expression is dark, darker than usual, and you murmur, "we'll see them soon."
It's as much for you as it is for him, but Levi seems to realize he was brooding, and he straightens himself up. "We will," he mutters.
The two of you make your way into the small aircraft. Already on board are six other women, all dressed in cloaks identical to yours, and Mike. He nods to you when you and Levi find spots to sit in the main bay of the aircraft. "You've got everything?" he asks.
"Enough arrows to kill the president a thousand times," you say confidently, quiver digging into your spine as you lean backwards.
One of the girls frowns. "You have a thousand arrows?"
"You can kill a bunch of people with one arrow. Just pull it out and stab someone else with it. These are good arrows, not pathetic, flimsy ones, so they should hold up for several stabbings, and then you can-"
"Alright," Mike interrupts. The aircraft ramp is rising; you're going to leave momentarily. "Everyone ready?"
The other girls in the cabin all nod. Some look a bit nervous, but for the most part, they all look determined. One is Nifa, who was on that disastrous mission to District 12 with you, and she gives you a tight smile. You survey them all briefly: Erwin and Armin (who apparently came up with this idea) did a good job picking them all out. They're all relatively similar in size and build- which is to say, close enough to you. With the cloaks on and the hoods pulled up, you'll all look the same- which is the plan.
The aircraft starts to rise. Mike looks around the room. "Remember, we're the key to this whole thing," he says over the hum of the aircraft's motor. "We provide the distraction. After it's done, your priority is survival. Blend in with the crowd, return to the aircraft, whatever you have to do. But remember: all of you take your positions, set yourself to fire, and as soon as our Mockingjay takes the shot," Mike adds, looking to you, "you scatter."
Everyone nods. That's the plan- a mass distraction. Erwin had liked the idea of using you almost as bait, but not the idea of you getting swarmed by Peacekeepers. It had been Armin's idea to gather some other girls that were close enough to you in height and size and spread them out throughout the crowd- if anything, just to confuse the Peacekeepers long enough to buy you all some extra time to get out of the crowd. But by then, the job will be done, and you just need to get out. Levi's with you to make sure you do.
It's a good plan- a good distraction. It'll work. It will, because you're leading it, and you never miss. You don't intend to today either, not on the day it matters most.
You grab Levi's hand. If he minds- holding hands in front of the rest of the people in the cabin- he doesn't say. Instead, he squeezes your palm.
The aircraft ride doesn't last long, and your squad of nine- you, six lookalikes, Mike, and Levi- start your trek towards the city. "Cameras indicate that the protest is at an all-time high," Mike says to you all as you walk. "Historia's video did the trick. The crowd's fuming."
Historia's video. "Told you it would work," you murmur, nudging Levi. "See? Not a dumb idea."
"That's one victory," he mutters in return. "Doesn't negate all of your other stupid decisions."
You and Historia had to fight several people on the council about it, but eventually, a propaganda video got made. Historia announced herself as the child of Rod Reiss and firmly stated that she intended on taking over for her father. According to Erwin, the video has spurred 'unprecedented chaos' and protests had grown larger and more frequent.
Obviously, Historia wasn't allowed on this mission. But you know she's watching it all from back in District 13- you would be too, if you were in her shoes.
The city grows closer and closer. You can see the white marble headquarters in the distance, and you have the urge to paint it red.
"Hoods up," Mike orders, and everyone follows suit. Mike and Levi, both dressed similarly but in different colors, follow suit.
Nifa moves so that she's walking next to you. "We'll move on my signal?" she asks. "When I draw, you draw- if that's fine with you?"
"You don't want me to signal?" you ask, frowning. "Whoever it is will be targeted first. Are you sure?"
"I'm sure," she agrees. "You've got to go kill Zackly, right?"
"I've got a pretty big list."
"Then you'll need all the time you can get to get out." She smiles. "Don't worry. I can handle myself. We all can," she adds, and the other girls all nod at you.
You exhale softly. "Okay," you agree. "On your signal."
"We're closing in," Mike says, and everyone looks to him. "Alright. Everyone, spread out, approach headquarters from different angles. Mockingjay, find the spot that best suits you for your shot. On Nifa's signal. Nifa, give it at least two minutes when you get your spot in the crowd before you signal."
"Got it," she agrees, and you all echo the sentiment.
Mike nods. His eyes meet yours. "Good luck," he says. "Don't miss."
"I don't," you reply.
He nods again, and then he's gone, turning down another street with one of the other girls with him. Everyone else disperses, finding their own way to go, and you look to Levi. "Ready?"
His eyes meet yours. "Are you?"
Do you have a choice? "Ready to go home," you answer.
His expression softens, just a bit. He gets it. "Then let's get this over with," Levi says, and you both set out.
You pick a random street and wander down it, hood drawn well over your head and Levi walking next to you. As you get closer to the Capitol's headquarters, you start to see people in the street. The closer you get, the more there are. Some are sitting around, staring at video screens on the sides of buildings. Many are walking in the same direction you are, so you blend right in.
As you get closer, the marble building seems to get larger and larger. It's only... six floors? Something like that? But the blinding whiteness of it, the statues out front, the shrubs and the garden and- ugh, you hate it, hate everything about it.
The closer you get, the more you're reminded of why you're doing this in the first place. You're here to dismantle an empire, and you're lucky enough to be the figurehead for it. You can do this- this is what you've dreamed of.
More and more people- the crowd is starting to get thicker. "Stay close," Levi murmurs next to you.
He really didn't have to say it: you had no plans on going anywhere. Your pace begins to slow as the crowd thickens, but you continue to push, knowing you have to find your spot. The best spot to take your shot.
For as short as he is, Levi has a commanding presence. He navigates the crowd with ease, and people step out of the way for him when they realize someone's coming through. You follow him, keeping your eyes up. There's a few Peacekeepers patrolling the edge of the crowd- crowd control, probably, but with their masks, you can't tell where they're looking.
But no one looks alert, which means you likely haven't been found out yet. Good. Your eyes scan the street and land on a two-story building: there's a few Capitol folk with their heads poking out of the windows, watching the protest.
People at the protest have signs. You spy Historia's face on a few of them: people want answers. People are yelling demands, carrying signs that say 'we deserve better' and other messages akin to that. You want to laugh; the people of the Capitol have it so much better than anyone in the districts. The privilege astounds you. But this whole protest is allowing you to pull this off, so you're not sure how much you can complain.
You look back towards the building you saw. Lots of ledges- good for scaling. Close enough that you think you can get a good shot off. "There," you murmur, nudging Levi in the direction of the building.
Levi changes his course ever so slightly. "That one?" he asks. "You can get your shot from there?"
"I can get my shot from anywhere," you reassure him.
Slowly, the two of you migrate through the crowd until you're next to the building. The closest Peacekeeper is twenty feet away: good. You scan the crowd: you can't see any of your lookalikes, which you suppose is a good thing. They're blending in. "Keep your eyes out for the signal," Levi murmurs. "Won't be long now."
You nod. "I know."
You let one of your hands drift down and around to your back, feeling for your bow. You wish you could carry it, and you know why you can't, for obvious reasons- but being empty handed makes you fidgety.
"Don't look now," Levi murmurs, "but one of them is looking at us."
Your heart skips a beat in your chest. "Is it the closest one?" you reply quietly.
"Yeah. Gaze is lingering." A pause. "He's looking away." You relax slightly, but then he adds, "he's looking here again."
Fuck- you must've looked up for too long or something. "Let me know if he starts coming over," you murmur, keeping your gaze on the ground.
He hums. "And if he does?"
"Then we're on my signal, not Nifa's."
Levi goes quiet. The crowd is as noisy as ever, and you try to tune yourself in, listening for anything akin to radio static or the Peacekeepers. Your heartbeat's picking up, hammering against your chest, and you're praying he doesn't come over, doesn't-
"He's moving towards us," Levi says.
Fuck. Fuck, fuck- "How long?"
"Ten seconds."
You let your gaze rise as much as you dare. Sure enough, the Peacekeeper is starting to navigate through the busy crowd towards you. Does he recognize you? Or is he just suspicious of the cloaks?
You've got maybe three seconds. Your hand closes on your bow right as the crowd starts to yell.
The Peacekeeper turns, and so do you and Levi. Somewhere near the front of the crowd, someone's drawn a bow and arrow, with the arrow tip aimed at the Capitol gates. "Mockingjay!" is the common cry, and it's like the bow has sparked a magnetic pull, drawing in everyone near.
Nifa's signal. You pull your bow out of its hiding place on your back and snake your hand under your cloak for an arrow. You tug it out, grinning when you notice you've grabbed the right one- red feathers.
"Go," Levi urges, but you don't need the encouragement. You can see them: three, four, five other people with bows, all with arrows pointed at the Capitol.
The Peacekeepers are confused. You can hear them yelling at each other, and somewhere further in the distance, you can see more of them coming out from a gate- the guard towers. Two of them, if you remember correctly- two towers. Good: you need to be drawing them out. This is the plan. You load your arrow and set it up, pointing it at the gate and then focusing your vision past that: on that statue of the president.
The yelling, the chaos- it all dies away. Inhale, exhale, and...
Nifa fires. You do too.
Their arrows all fly in the direction of the gate. Some pass through, some go over- they were never aiming for anything in the first place. Your arrow was the only one that ever mattered, and it goes exactly where you wanted it to.
Your arrow flies between the bars of the gate and strikes the statue of the president right in the neck.
True to its purpose, the arrow explodes upon contact. The boom rocks the courtyard, and people start to shriek: there's about to be a stampede. "Go!" Levi shouts, reaching for the smoke grenades that he's got on his belt. "Climb!"
You unclip the cloak so that you can sling your bow over your shoulder- the weight off of your shoulders is highly welcomed- and you scale the building as fast as you possibly can. The sound of hissing erupts below you and people start to cough as well as scream: smoke is rising in the clearing, both from right below you and somewhere near the front, where Mike must be. Just more distractions: an extra effort to hopefully help you and the six other women get to safety.
You climb faster than you've ever climbed in your life, and before you know it, you're on the roof. Immediately, you draw a regular arrow and set aim for the crowd. Nothing- you can't see anything through the smoke. Double-edged sword. Biting your lip, you sheath the arrow and reach for your yellow-feathered one, ready for the next stage.
Levi's up on the rooftop within a second. "We're clear," he says. "You ready?"
"Anyone following?" you ask, lining up your shot. This is one you definitely can't miss.
"One tried, he's down."
"Did they all get out? The other girls?"
"I didn't see." Your eyes shift from your target to him. "They'll be fine," Levi says, his cloak dropping to the ground. He pulls two black devices from his waist: things with handles and some wheels inside. "You've got the shot?"
"I've got the shot," you agree, turning back to your target. The target in question is just the Capitol building in front of you, so you've got plenty to choose from. "I've-"
Gunfire. You let go of your aim to take a few steps back from the ledge; Levi approaches the edge with his gun at the ready, and you hear him fire. Fuck, you've got to get your job done. You set yourself up again. Come on: breathe in, breathe out, and-
You fire.
The yellow-feathered arrow, an arrow with a long rope attached to it that the tech team had somehow managed to tuck into your quiver, sails through the air and sinks into the outer marble wall of the building. You reach for the rest of the rope, coiled nicely in your quiver, then step towards a massive drain pipe that's firmly attached to the side of the building.
"No immediate threats, but the Peacekeepers are going to be here in droves in a minute," Levi calls. "How's it going?"
"Tying it off now," you call back, pulling as tightly as you can. "Ready?"
"Ready," he confirms. He sidles up next to you, pulling experimentally on the cord. "This is what's supposed to hold us?" Levi mutters, tugging on it. "This is what the tech team came up with?"
"We don't need to get far," you say. "Just over the gate."
"You can hold on long enough for that?"
"I have to." Levi hands you one of the two black devices he was carrying, and you put it on top of the cord, grabbing onto both of the handles.
Ziplining. You're going to zipline over the fucking gate.
Someone in tech had gotten the idea from the Hunger Games, actually- when you'd shot that arrow with the rope attached to it in order to help Levi kill that man from District 5. You'd been skeptical, but you'd tried it out a few times in training, and it had held your weight and stayed in place for the most part. It was better than trying to blow up the gate or force your way through Peacekeepers.
Fuck. This is so much more terrifying than in the training room. "I'll go," you say, looking to Levi. "The second I drop, you go."
"I know," Levi says. "I'm right behind you."
Right. You look back towards the Capitol building, and with your heart in your throat and your hands tight on the device above you, you step off the edge of the roof.
There's a click as the device slots into place on the cord, and suddenly, you're weightless. You bite back your scream as you zip through the air, arms aching as you sail over the crowd, then over the gate. Through the wind in your ears, you think you heard gunfire- but you don't feel anything, so you don't think you were hit.
You hold on as long as you can, but finally, you drop. Your legs take the brunt of the impact as you hit the ground and you drop into a roll, popping back up to your feet. Shaken up, but okay. Not shot, not injured. So far, so good.
You draw your bow and an arrow: the courtyard around you is nearly empty. There's two Peacekeepers who both look painfully unprepared for your arrival: you shoot them both. You can see the guard towers in the distance: floods of Peacekeepers are coming through, but they're entering the Capitol. Those aren't Capitol Peacekeepers: those are rebels. Your rebels.
It's working. It's all working.
Moments later, Levi drops down next to you. Like you, he rolls, then rises to his feet. "I'm never doing that again," he says as soon as he's close enough to you. "Never."
You can't help it; you grin. You're both okay, and the plan is working. "I'll take the zipline out of the retirement home plan."
His lips twitch. "You're okay?"
"I'm okay," you reply. "You?"
"Yeah. Let's go."
You and Levi close the distance between you and the building, and you go around until you find a window. Levi pulls it open- unlocked, which is unsurprising, because you doubt the Capitol expected many people to break into their main base, especially through a window- and the two of you climb through.
Your feet touch down on marble. You're here: you're inside.
Side by side, you and Levi start to make your way through the halls. You're supposed to go for Zackly, and you have a rough idea of where his office is: somewhere on the third or fourth floor. So you need to find stairs, and then you need to find Zackly.
Footsteps echo ahead: two Capitol guards round the corner. Your arrow sinks into the head of one while a single shot from Levi's gun takes down the other.
"Erwin was right," Levi mutters as you continue. "They anticipated a frontal attack. Barely any guards here- they're all in the guard towers."
"And we drew them out," you say in return. "Do you think Rod's even here?"
Levi nods. "He'd better be."
He should be- logically, he's got nowhere else to go, and the rebels have been closely monitoring the use of his private aircrafts. Still, you won't rest until you've got that man exactly where you want him: at your mercy.
There's a crackle of static. Immediately, you raise an arrow at the noise: it's a speaker above your head. The Capitol announcement system.
Then, someone starts to laugh. In a nearly empty hallway, the static-like laugh echoes, bouncing off the marble walls. You relax your pull on the bowstring, but you keep your gaze on the speaker, ready for whatever's about to come.
"Hello, rebels."
It's him. He's here. He's fucking-
"I know you're here, Mockingjay," Rod's voice says over the speakers. Your hands clench into fists. "And I can see you. I'm always watching you. You and Levi, huh? You little dynamic duo?"
Your eyes scan the hallway. You locate two security cameras: one ahead of you and one further back down the hall.
"Do you really think you're both making it out of this?" he says tauntingly. "You really think you're both getting out of here? That all your little friends are going to live through this and-"
You ready one of your explosive arrows and you launch it into the speaker hanging from the ceiling. Rod Reiss's voice vanishes into the sound of an explosion. As the broken speaker falls to the ground, you hear gunfire from behind you. You turn to look: Levi has shot both security cameras down.
He looks to the parts of the speaker scattered across the floor, then to you. "Pleasant man," Levi says dryly.
"Yeah, a real charmer," you mutter, glaring at the broken security cameras. You can still hear the whine of Rod Reiss's voice, somewhere further down the hall, but you can't make out what he's saying. "Fuck, I want to kill him."
"You and me both." Levi starts to walk, and when you don't immediately follow, he calls, "let's go."
With one last glare at the speaker, you follow Levi down the hall and through one of the doorways into a chamber with stairs. As you're heading up the stairs, the device at Levi's hip crackles, and you both pause to listen.
"Security room is taken, I repeat, security room is taken. Squad A is in."
You and Levi lock eyes. That's good.
Another burst of static. "We're taking losses, but not as many as they are. Squads B and C are in. We're going to the top floor and working our way down."
"Squads D, E, and F are working our way up."
"It's working," you say, eyes on Levi. "Holy shit."
"It's working," he agrees. He pulls the device off of his hip and tosses it to you.
Your confusion is momentary. You bring the device up to your mouth and hold down the button on the side. "Uh, distraction worked," you say. Then, you realize how obvious that is, and you add, "Mockingjay and her hip attachment are in and progressing to target."
Levi glares at you as you toss the walkie back to him, grinning. "Hip attachment?" he grumbles. "Seriously?"
"I think Shadis called you that once in a meeting," you say, catching up to him on the stairs. "Can't say I don't agree."
"Aircrafts are moving towards point delta," a voice says. "Preparing for evac on the signal of-"
There's a heavy burst of static; you and Levi both flinch at the sudden flux of noise. Levi presses a few buttons, but nothing changes. He holds down on one button and says, "nothing but static, come in," but nothing changes. Eventually, he just shuts it off, and the noise dies.
You look to him. "What was that?"
"Capitol probably jammed us," Levi mutters, glaring at the walkie for another second before he fixes it to his hip. "It's fine. Tech team anticipated it, they'll have us up and running again in a minute or two."
"They really thought of everything," you say, impressed.
He nods. "Kind of have to, for a battle like this."
"Guess so." You look up the stairs. "Onwards?"
"Onwards," Levi agrees.
The two of you continue up the staircase, keeping your footsteps silent. You've seen a surprisingly small number of people in here- what about all of the Capitol workers? Did the protests scare them off?
Levi pauses outside of a door, waiting for you to get into position. He throws it open and you step through, arrow drawn as you scan the hallway. One Peacekeeper that you dispose of with a quick shot to the head, but that's it. "Clear," you murmur to Levi, and he follows you into the hallway with his gun raised.
He leads the way, taking one turn and then another. You take out another guard that appears around another corner; Levi leaves you to it. It's an unspoken agreement between the two of you: as efficient as Levi is with the gun, it's noisy. And yes, you can hear noise: footsteps on the floors above, shouting coming from above and below, but you're not about to give up your position on this floor so soon.
Levi pauses you, then glances around a corner. He twists back to you. "Two of them," he murmurs. "Outside where I think Zackly's office is."
You're almost there. Your grip tightens on your bow. "Let me look," you whisper, and he moves aside so that you can peek around the corner. Two of them on either side of a door, facing the opposing wall. One's hidden nearly perfectly behind the other from the angle you're looking at them, and it gives you an idea.
You retreat back to your spot with Levi. "I think I can get them both quietly," you murmur, notching an arrow. "Cover me if I can't?"
"Yeah," he returns, giving you more space. "I've got you."
Inhale, exhale. You step around the corner and you fire. Your arrow whistles through the air and goes straight through the neck of one of the guards. It tears its way through and then strikes the neck of the guard behind him; both collapse to the ground, clutching at their throats, blood littering the ground.
You lower your bow, then turn to Levi. "Got them," you say proudly.
He's already staring at you. "More impressive every single time I see you," Levi mutters as he steps past you, and his words make something sing in your chest as you follow him.
Soon enough, you're in front of the door, with two very dead guards at your feet. "How much you want to bet it's locked?" you whisper, gesturing to the doorknob.
"Likely," he replies. "And they know we're coming."
Levi nods to the floor. All of the blood from the two dead guards has been amassing in a massive pool on the tile, some of which has started pouring under the door. Oops. "I said I'd be quiet, not clean," you mutter.
Levi raises his gun. "Shoot the lock with a red arrow. I'll kick it open."
There's something in the pit of your stomach- something that tells you this might not all go right, that maybe someone's waiting on the other side of the door with a gun at the ready- but you can't think of how else you're getting in. "Kick it, then let me get a second shot off," you suggest, trying to think of anything that can increase Levi's chances of surviving.
"You're sure?"
"Yeah. Then you go in."
"Okay." Levi nods. "Let's do it."
You nod, then set up your arrow, making sure to grab one with red feathers. You started with four, and now you've got two of them left: you're going to use both of them now. You make sure the second one is in a good spot for you to grab it when you need it and you ready yourself, pulling back tight on the bowstring.
With one final exhale, you fire.
You'd aimed for the wood of the door just above the doorknob, and the explosion tears part of the door away. Levi steps forward and kicks the door in; you ready your last explosive arrow and fire it as soon as you can see the inside of the room.
Your arrow strikes the back wall, the part of the wall right next to a massive glass door that leads to a balcony of sorts. The explosion shatters the glass and tears out part of the marble. It's enough of a distraction that all you can hear from inside is yelling, not shooting, and it makes you feel just the slightest bit better as Levi charges into the room, gun raised.
It's like your ears are just assaulted with noise. Gunfire, yelling, the sound of things breaking as your explosive arrow has the last laugh. You ready your next arrow and you're barely through the doorway when Levi gets tackled to the ground.
The room is a disaster. There's three bodies on the ground- all Peacekeepers- and a fourth is rolling with Levi across the floor. You see him, your target, Zackly- he's behind his desk, backed up against the wall, watching the whole thing unfold. Frozen in fear? Works for you.
You glance just long enough to see that Levi's on top of the Peacekeeper, clearly with the upper hand, and you line your arrow up with the head gamemaker's forehead. "I've been waiting for this," you say with a snarl.
You're about to unload when somehow, in all of the chaos, your ears pick up the sound of a gun being cocked.
You spin. Someone's standing at the wall right next to the doorway, originally blocked from your sight by the broken door, but now that you've entered, you've got a clear view of her. Her- it's a woman, wearing the standard Peacekeeper uniform without the helmet, blonde hair on full display.
Too late, you've realized- it's a trap for you. Hiding behind the door, waiting for you to come in and find a defenseless Zackly.
You fire before she gets the chance. Your arrow slices at her arm, the one holding the gun, and she curses. She misses her shot: the bullet whips by your head and hits the wall behind you. You swing your bow like a bat, knocking her gun out of the way, but you haven't hit it hard enough to make her drop it.
Do you know her? She looks familiar, that glare she's fixing you with. Why would you recognize a Peacekeeper? Why would you...
Your blood runs cold. This is the woman that kidnapped you, that you wrestled in your bedroom until she finally got the upper hand. She's the reason that you spent so long mending things with Levi, she's... Traute. That's her name.
Erwin- that's right. Erwin mentioned her. She's the reason why that woman, the one that Erwin loved- Traute's the reason she's dead.
You don't have enough time to get your arrow up. Traute, apparently giving up on shooting you, lunges at you with a yell. You hit the ground, the quiver cushioning your fall, but as Traute rolls you, you lose your bow. Your arrows fly every which way across the disaster of a room, and you push your arms up against Traute's shoulders to keep her from smothering you.
Somehow, you manage to shove her off of you. You scramble to your feet and whip your quiver off your back, swinging it at her. It strikes her in the head, but it's barely enough to deter her, and Traute yells, "you little bitch!" before she lunges in again.
You try to dodge but she grabs you anyways, and you both go down again. You hit the ground hard and the wind is knocked out of you, and before you can recover, Traute's on top of you with her hands around her throat.
Fuck, you don't have air. She's stronger than you, much stronger. "I wanted to do this with my own two hands," the blonde snarls, her thumbs pressing hard on your windpipe. "I-"
She's kicked off of you by none other than Levi. You cough hard, desperately trying to get air back into your lungs. Levi's grabbing at your arm, hauling you to your feet. "Are you good?" you think he's saying, and you can't see any visible injuries on him, which makes you feel much better. "Can you breathe?"
"Getting there," you wheeze.
"I can take her. You get Zackly-"
"No," you interrupt, because you've got much more of a personal grudge against Traute than you realized. "I want her."
Levi's eyes meet yours, like he's either trying to decide if you're serious or if you're even capable, but there's no time to debate it. Two more Peacekeepers come through the door, Traute's back on her feet, and you both have to move.
Levi's on the Peacekeeper's faster than they can get their shots off, and he's disarmed one before Traute even gets to you. She swings and you duck, still trying to recover from losing your breath, and when she kicks, you stumble backwards.
"Come on, don't be shy," Traute gloats. She's got a knife in her hand- where the hell did she get that from?
Then she's coming at you again and you roll across the ground to avoid her swing. As you roll, your fingers scramble for one of your arrows that's been displaced across the floor, and when Traute comes for you again, you dodge and plunge the arrow into her thigh.
The blonde howls. You grab for her knife hand, and Traute tries to pull away. You wrestle it back, and by consequence, the knife goes flying across the room. Traute's fist sinks into your ribs, but she was too close to get a good wind-up, so it doesn't hurt as much as you were expecting. You swing back, fist going into her stomach, and the woman barely flinches.
She shoves you and you roll backwards, just to create distance and survey the situation. Levi's handling the two Peacekeepers- fuck, those are two different ones than the ones that came in before- and Zackly's crawling across the floor, over bodies and broken glass. Where is he going?
"You think that for someone revered as a fighting icon, you'd be better at it," Traute says, stalking towards you.
"I'm not," you tell her, your fingers closing over her discarded knife on the ground. "I just have really good aim."
You whip your arm forward. She's helped you by closing the distance: Traute has no time to dodge. Your blade sinks into her chest- you were aiming for her throat, but good enough- and the woman groans, then collapses to the ground.
You got her. Triumph and satisfaction flow through you. You killed her.
"No one move!"
You disobey immediately by looking up. Levi's standing by the doorway, hands raised, bodies at his feet. Fuck, he took out, like, half a dozen of them. By the balcony, crouching in the broken glass, is Zackly. He's holding a gun- Levi's gun, which was knocked out of his hands.
He's pointing it at you, but he's looking at Levi. "One move from you and I shoot her," Zackly says. "Don't think I won't."
Having a gun pointed at you is a strange feeling- especially when both you and Levi are too far away to actually do anything about it. Where's your bow? A ways away, closer to the wall opposite to Zackly. Arrows are scattered all across the floor: you'd just have to pick one up.
Half a dozen feet away, Traute shudders, then stills. "Fucking shame," the white-haired man mutters. "She was good at your job."
"Can't say the same for you," you say.
"You've made it difficult." Zackly's eyes flash; your chest tightens. What's he up to. "So don't think I'm making this easy for either of you. Ackerman. Get that knife, throw it to me."
Levi doesn't move. Instead, he glares at Zackly.
There's a bang as the gun fires. There's a ringing in your ears and you can feel wind in your face as the bullet zips by, just in front of you. It cracks the marble wall. "Don't make me ask again," Zackly says warningly.
Slowly, Levi walks towards Traute's dead body. You want him to look at you, to come up with some sort of plan, but you're at a loss. Your bow is right there, right there- you can get it. You can get it, but you need a distraction of sorts, maybe...
Levi tugs the knife out of Traute's chest. The squelching sound makes bile rise in your throat. He tosses the knife towards Zackly. "There," he says. "Your damn knife."
Zackly grins, picking it up with his other hand. "Come here, Ackerman."
"Levi," you say.
"C'mon, Mockingjay," Zackly interrupts, eyes glued to Levi. "You can't have all the fun. I watch you flip us off, I watch you laugh, I watch you mock us, and now-"
You dive.
As you lunge for your bow, Levi goes for Zackly, aiming for the hand holding the gun. The gun goes off, but it doesn't hit you, and then you're scrambling across the floor and you've got it, you've got your bow, and you've got an arrow, and you're up to your feet and loaded and-
It's Levi. Zackly's got Levi in front of him, knife to his throat.
"Aw. You know how predictable you are?" Fuck, he's keeping Levi perfectly between you and him- you don't have an angle. "I knew you'd do that, and I knew he'd go for the gun first to keep you safe. Predictable pair, aren't you?"
The tip of the blood-stained blade is pressed at the side of Levi's neck. The sight alone makes you want to cry. Levi's holding himself perfectly still and his eyes are on you- fuck, how is he so calm?
"Now, Mockingjay," Zackly says, vicious pleasure in his tone, "I want you to shoot him."
Your heart- or what's left of it at this point- drops.
He's right there. Levi's right there, a dozen feet away in the massive office room, standing in front of Zackly, who's in front of the broken glass. And you've got your arrow, an arrow pointed at- pointed at his head?
If they get me.
"No," you say, banishing the thought. "What the fuck, Zackly?"
"Either you kill him or I do, Mockingjay," the gamemaker snarks. "And trust me, my way won't be slow."
The acceptance on Levi's face will haunt your nightmares. You've literally got an arrow lined up at his head and he's staring at you with fucking love in his eyes, love that you don't deserve, you never have, and you definitely haven't earned it now when you're in a position to fucking kill him-
"It's okay," Levi croaks out. "Em. It's okay."
"It's not fucking okay," you snap, voice shaking. Your fingers are trembling on the bowstring. "None of this- none of this is fucking okay, Levi-"
"Shaky hands, Mockingjay," Zackly taunts. "You can't have perfect aim with shaky hands."
"Fuck you!" you snarl, trying to calm your frantic heartbeat. He's right, which you hate. "Fuck you, you fucking asshole."
He clicks his tongue. "It's almost a good thing our plan of turning you to our side never worked. Censoring out all of your nasty language would've been so time-consuming."
God, you don't know what to do. You're scared, more scared than you've ever been in your life. Levi looks stupidly calm, which just makes your shaking worse. Your vision is locked on that blade at his neck, the blade that's already pushing into his skin, and Zackly's got Levi completely in front of him so you can't hit him without hitting Levi, you can't, you can't-
Maybe you could nick him in the side. Zackly's bigger than Levi in both size and height, but he's crouching slightly to take away the height disadvantage. Could you fire fast enough? You're too far away. How fast is Zackly's reaction time? Fast enough that he can shift Levi half an inch to either side to protect himself? Probably.
Fuck. Fuck, what the hell can you do? You can't aim too closely to Levi without the risk of Zackly moving Levi into your line of fire. If you try to hit the blade, you risk pushing the blade into his neck, or missing and hitting Levi in the throat, or...
Can you just wait for Zackly to make a mistake? Yes, maybe you can-
No, you can't, because Zackly's pushing the blade into Levi's neck hard enough to draw blood. Your pull on the bowstring tightens even more. "Don't!" you snap, your voice shaking. "Zackly, don't even think about it!"
"Em," Levi says, "this is what we-"
"Shut up!" you demand. "Shut the hell up, Levi! I didn't sign up for this!"
Zackly laughs. "That's where you're wrong, Mockingjay. You signed yourself up for this the second you shot at me in training."
He's right, in a way. You signed up for this, for this war on the Capitol- but not for this. Not for these stakes, not with Levi's life in the balance. Not... not this, not...
You're shaking. You're shaking so badly that the arrow might just slip, which can't happen. "Enough, Zackly," you say, trying to conjure some composure. Blood is running down Levi's neck and it's making your heart clench. "Come on, take- take me instead. Please, for fuck's sake- stop that!"
More blood is running down Levi's neck, courtesy of Zackly pushing the blade in just a bit harder. "You can't trade lives!" he gloats.
"Then what the fuck do you want from me here?" you insist angrily, heat pushing at your eyes. "It's me you want, not him, for the fucking love-"
"I want you to suffer!" Zackly snaps, and you gulp back your sob as more blood runs down Levi's neck. "No matter what I've done, what I've thrown at you, you stick your fucking middle finger up in the air and waltz away! You've made me into a fucking fool," he snarls, "and I want to see you when you finally fucking lose. When you finally lose something!"
You blink; tears streak down your cheeks. That's fine- you needed them out of your eyes to clear your vision. Because it's like Zackly said: he wants to watch you, and if he's going to watch, then he can't be completely behind Levi, can he?
He mostly is. The most prominent part is his hand, but you're too scared to aim for that. But he is watching: you can see the glint of the light on his glasses from behind Levi's head. It's not enough of a gap, and even if he looked around Levi just a bit more, you don't know if you'd be able to hit him without hitting Levi.
"Em," Levi manages. "Look at me."
You do. You look at him, bloody and tired and expression laced with serenity. He's calm. You need to be too. "I'm sorry," you choke out.
His lips twitch. "Don't be."
You exhale. Just like that, you lock in. The noise around you dies away, your brain empties, and you stop trembling as you line up your arrow with Levi's head.
He's still looking at you. You don't deserve the way he's looking at you.
You shift your hand. You fire.
Your arrow flies across the room, tears through the top of Levi's ear, hits the frame of Zackly's glasses, and skates across the side of his head.
Zackly yells. As soon as he does, Levi's hands snap up to the knife at his neck and he shoves it away, then drops to the ground. By the time he's clear, you've rolled across the room and snatched another fallen arrow: you load and you fire.
He's moving as you fire it, but your arrow still finds its mark. Your arrow nails Zackly in the eye- on a bit of an angle, so you don't know if you hit his brain or not- and Zackly howls so loudly that you think you'll hear that scream in your nightmares. "You bitch!" he snarls, stumbling backwards and clutching at his eye. "You- you filthy fucking-"
You don't care. You don't care what names he has for you- you only care about Levi. You scramble across the room, moving towards Levi, who's crawling across the floor to make it towards you as well. Zackly collapses to the ground behind him.
"I'm so sorry," you get out immediately when he's close enough, sliding to your knees in front of him, bow dropped to the ground. "Fuck, Levi-"
"I'm fine," he interrupts, and he reaches for you at the same time you reach for him. Your hands cup his face, and just feeling the warmth of his face in your hands nearly makes you sob. "I'm fine, Em. I'm fine."
"You're not fine!" you snap, your voice cracking. You move one of your hands to cover his bleeding knife wound, trying to put some pressure on the cut. "I- I fucking shot you!"
Levi's hand closes over yours. Your other hand rises to his ear- there's a chunk taken out of it. It's bleeding heavily, coating the side of his face and his neck with blood. Fuck, all of the blood nearly makes you gag.
You press your other hand against his ear. "You fucking idiot," you whisper, shaking your head and blinking away tears. "You idiot, you- don't do that, don't-"
"Ears bleed a lot," Levi says, and how he can be so calm is completely beyond you. "Em. It was a perfect shot."
"Of course it was," you retort. "Fuck you."
He huffs, something low and deep that sounds like it could be a chuckle. "You're brilliant," he murmurs, thumb sweeping over the back of your knuckles. "You're brilliant."
"And you're bleeding out!" You take your hand away from Levi's ear to grab at your sleeve and tug, tearing at the cloth. You yank away your sleeve and slide it down your arm, then press it against the cut on Levi's neck. "Are you not the slightest bit concerned?" you demand.
"I'm fine."
"You'd sound a lot more convincing if my hands weren't covered in your blood!"
"Hey." Levi's hand comes up to cup your cheek. Good, you could melt into him right here and now. "Breathe," he murmurs.
You scoff. "Gee, never would've thought of that."
Both of Levi's hands rise. You've just finished tying the sleeve around Levi's neck, trying to make some sort of makeshift bandage, and both of Levi's hands on your face seem to sap all of the life out of you- like his hands are a drain.
His eyes meet yours. "I love you," Levi murmurs.
You blink. "You what now?"
His lips twitch. "Idiot."
"Back up there. Did I hear that right?"
"God, you two make me sick."
Levi turns around and you look past him to where Zackly's collapsed in the broken glass by the balcony doors. He's still got your arrow in his eye. His words are slurred. His face is covered in blood. You feel viciously satisfied.
Levi's words stored in the back of your brain (but definitely not forgotten), you look for your bow. No, maybe you could use a knife. Make it more personal. "You want the honors?" Levi mutters, glare fixed on Zackly.
"Do I ever," you return, pushing yourself up to your feet.
Zackly raises a hand to his mouth. You notice a second too late that he's got a walkie-talkie in his hands- taken from the side of a fallen guard only a foot away from him- and before Levi can close the distance, he's forced out, "do it."
Levi's foot strikes Zackly's hand, and the communication device is thrown aside. "Do what?" Levi demands, pressing his boot down onto Zackly's chest. "What the fuck did you call for, asshole?"
He laughs. Weak and pathetic, but he laughs. "Taking you two down with me," Zackly croaks.
Your blood immediately runs cold. You scan his other hand: he's holding nothing else. No bombs or grenades. So whatever it is, he's getting someone else to do it. Fuck, you want to kill this man really fucking badly, but you and Levi need to get out of here. "He'll die all on his own," you say, eyes flickering to the oddly angled arrow in his eye. "Levi, let's go."
Levi's only just taken a step back when the ground rumbles beneath your feet.
Immediately, you widen your stance so that you don't fall, and your eyes search out your bow, discarded on the floor. Part of you wants it, but the other part of you has a horrible feeling that this next threat isn't something that can be fought off with a bow and arrow.
"What the fuck was that?" you ask, glancing around the room. "We're on the fourth floor, how the hell is the-"
The back wall starts to... crumble.
It's like something out of a storybook. When you were a kid, still going to school with parents to come home to, teachers would read you tales from storybooks. Princesses and knights and kingdoms. But there was a different teacher, your history teacher, and he told you stories that were nowhere near as pleasant. Stories about the war and how the Capitol came to be. Fights that included explosions and bombings and structures giving way to nothingness. Buildings being reduced to rubble.
You'd always equated the two: both just stories, pure fantasy. But now, right in front of your eyes, you're watching something out of one of those history stories jump to life: a rumbling explosion and a collapse, the ceiling starting to break apart above you and the floor cracking beneath your feet and the wall, the wall between the outside air and the room is collapsing, and you're right next to the balcony, which is receiving the brunt of it because of both the explosions now and your explosive arrow earlier-
Levi shoves you. You don't fall, but you stumble further back into the room, away from the balcony and the side that's collapsing. He's saying something but you can't hear him, not through the rumbling and the chaos and then-
"Go!" he shouts, but then Zackly's crawling towards him and the floor shakes again and-
The balcony gives out. The floor creaks and part of the tile slumps with the balcony, creating an angle that slopes towards the now-open side of the building. Levi stumbles, trying to regain his footing on a sloped floor that's not functioning. "Come on!" you shout over the noise, but then your eyes lock on Zackly and panic rises in your chest. "Levi!"
Levi doesn't even look: he jumps. He jumps right as Zackly's hand closes over his ankle.
The building rocks. Zackly slides across the floor, the angle sending him towards the open sliding door above the balcony. You lunge forwards, grabbing for Levi just as the ceiling above you starts to give up. Pieces of the ceiling are starting to fall around you, some small enough that you barely notice but others large enough to cause more of the floor beneath you to quiver.
Your hands close around Levi's arm; he grabs onto you in return. "I've got you," you say, trying to keep your footing as the floor shudders, "I've-"
An explosion below you knocks you off your feet.
This is what Zackly called for: fucking self-destruction, of all things. They're blowing up their own building. You fall, still clinging onto Levi, but now Levi's being pulled backwards and by consequence, you're being pulled with him, and the balcony's in pieces and the railing is broken and fuck you're going to go over the edge-
Keeping one hand on Levi, you lash your other hand out, reaching for some small part of the structure that remains. There's next to nothing, but there's still a bit of the balcony railing that's still intact. You just need to move a bit to your right, just a bit, just a- got it.
You strike the railing hard, so hard that you lose the air in your chest. Levi's past you, pulled out into open air, and you reach out with your other hand to grab onto his arm. You cry out as he jerks to a stop, tugging painfully on your arms, and the balcony railing creaks but doesn't give. You're leaning against it so heavily that you wouldn't be surprised if it did eventually.
"He's on my leg!" Levi yells over the noise. "Em, he's-"
Finally, finally, you take it all in- whatever the hell just happened. You've got your hands on Levi's wrist and he's grabbing you back, tight enough to bruise, but most of the balcony railing is gone and he was about to plummet straight over the side.
But he's not going to- you've got him. You've got him, right?
Right? You're holding tight, and for now, the balcony is stable- well, not really, it's on a slant and the railing that you're bracing your body behind won't last long, and you're not quite sure that even if you pull Levi up, if you'll be able to climb back up the slanted floor and to safety.
"Zackly," Levi pants, letting go of you with one hand for only a second to try and grab onto the railing. He can't get a grip, and his hand goes back to join his other one on your wrist. "He's on my- fuck, Em, he's on my ankle."
"Kick him off," you say with gritted teeth. "Kick the fucker-"
There's a maniacal laugh from below- Zackly. "You're dying with me!" he cackles. You crane your neck; he's got both hands locked firmly on one of Levi's ankles. You see Levi try to kick at him but to no avail. "You're dying with me, you fuckers!"
"I'm going to pull," you say, going back to focusing on Levi. "One, two-"
You brace yourself and pull, pull as hard as you can, and you can feel Levi straining to pull himself up, but you can't. Even without the added weight of Zackly, it'd be hard. You're on a bad angle, and maybe you could get him up, but the railing might not even hold his weight and then you'd both go down and...
Levi grunts, sliding a bit further. You tighten your grip as much as you can. "Not going anywhere," you hiss through your teeth, shoulder digging into one of the edges on the railing.
"I'm not getting up, Em," Levi forces out. "I'm-"
"Shut up."
You hate it, but he's right. God, this is too much. It feels like your arm is going to tear right out of its socket; your grip is slipping. You've got a firm hold on Levi's wrist, but with the additional weight of the head gamemaker clinging to his leg, you don't have enough upper body strength to haul them up.
Levi kicks at Zackly; the man doesn't let go. "I'm taking you two down with me!" you hear him snarl over the crumbling of the building around you.
Fuck, you can't hold on much longer. Your arms are screaming at you.
A giant chunk of marble lands on the balcony barely a foot to your right, taking a chunk of the balcony floor out as it makes contact. You don't even flinch; every bit of your energy is focused on keeping yourself braced behind the remaining section of railing. You're in a ridiculous amount of danger here, with pieces of the building literally falling from the sky above you. You need to figure out how to get Levi up and fast.
"Em," Levi chokes out. "You- you need to-"
"Kick him off," you insist. Your head feels like it's splitting. "Levi-"
"I can't."
He says this through gritted teeth; you can hear his frustration. Your arms are seconds from giving out on you. You need him to kick that damn asshole off or else you can't- you're not going to be able to-
Levi's words are strained. "Let go."
That seems to awaken the last bits of your strength. Your grip tightens, but your hands are getting sweaty. You're starting to slide now too. "No way in hell," you force out. "Levi-"
"No."
There's no frustration anymore. It's acceptance. But you hate it, you hate it all, and you can't listen to Levi accept that there's no getting out of this.
You tug, but you've got nothing left. You can't pull him up, and you're going to go over the edge too at this rate. "You said you weren't going anywhere," you say desperately, heat pushing at your eyes. "Say it- you're not going anywhere, Levi- please, please, say it, say you're not-"
You don't have the energy to say anything more. You can't. Your entire body is screaming at you, exhausted and sweaty and he's slipping, Levi's falling-
The two of you lock eyes. The world stops turning.
"I can't," Levi whispers, and it feels like your heart is splitting in two, "I'm sorry."
Your lips part. No words come out.
You can't do anything. You're trying, you're trying harder than you've ever tried in your life to keep it together, to pull, to bring both you and Levi up onto the floor so that you can escape, get out of the collapsing building, get out and then you can-
The sound around you dies. Levi's lips part, and his eyes close.
Your lips form the word no. You can't vocalize it.
And then he lets go.
Your fingertips and your palms are much too sweaty, and Levi's wrist slips straight through your fingers. Your scream burns your throat as he falls, Zackly falling with him. You're helpless as you watch until he vanishes into the dust and chaos of the destroyed building below and you never even see him make contact with the ground below, and then you can't breathe because this can't be real, it can't be, he was right here, he was...
He was here, he was just here, but he fell, he fell, no, you let him go, you let him...
What? What just...
It's like your brain has just... turned off. You can't process anything. You can't process the floor underneath you starting to give, can't process the sound of the building falling apart around you, can't process the fact that Levi's wrist is no longer in your grip and he's- where is he? What happened?
What? How did that just happen? It didn't happen, it couldn't have happened, no, because he was right here, and-
There's a crack, and the balcony floor shifts. Your sense of self-preservation kicks in and you scramble up the slope, fingers prying at broken marble and desperately trying to drag yourself away from the danger. Eventually, you make it, throwing yourself further into the room and onto the part of the floor that's still intact. You force yourself to your feet and make it to the exit as the rest of the balcony gives way, crumbling into nothingness, and most of the floor goes with it.
You throw yourself into the hallway, gasping for breath and head pounding. You look back into the room- or at least, what's left of it.
It's a mess. Most of the back wall is gone, the balcony isn't there, half of the floor is missing, the furniture is either broken to pieces or tossed aside, and the few corpses that hadn't been taken away in the collapse of the structure are ravaged, bloody, and broken.
And it's just open air. Open air. You can see the Capitol buildings outside, ranging far and wide in a city that you wish was burned to the ground.
But you don't see Levi.
For a second, all you do is stare.
Unable to process, you tear off down the hall, dizzy and heartbroken and wondering why it couldn't have been you to go over the edge instead.
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Bear with me for five more chapters. I love you guys; see you Friday <3