The four tributes make the decision to stay on the beach, which is relatively safer than venturing back into the hellish unpredictability of the jungle. Finnick caught fish for them to eat raw and a comfortable silence settled among them as they all devoured their meal. Meanwhile, Peeta used a small blade to split open an oyster, a boyish grin spreading along his lips as he finds a pearl inside.
"Look. For you." He announces, presenting the smooth pearl to a surprised Katniss. She accepts the thoughtful gift, cupping it in her hand to admire it.
"Thank you." She replies with a genuine smile, making Peeta grin bashfully and dip his head to hide the colour in his flushed cheeks.
Dahlia rolls her eyes at the interaction but the soft smile resting on her face gives her away. "Alright, lovebirds. Keep all that mushy stuff to yourself." She reprimands them playfully, nudging her shoulder into Peeta's with a smirk as he blushes even more.
Finnick chuckles under his breath and teasingly asks, "Do you not want pearls, Lia?" Dahlia turns to him with a feigned look of annoyance and a shake of her head. Peeta and Katniss can't help but laugh at the light-hearted nature between the two, seeing the best in Dahlia being brought out by Finnick. Satisfied by the reactions, Finnick leans his chin on Dahlia's shoulder and murmurs into her ear, "I'll give you anything you ask for once we're out of here, little flower. As many pearls as you can carry."
With a loving glint in her eyes, Dahlia stares into Finnick's eyes, doing everything she can to restrain herself from closing the space between them. His lips are so close yet so unattainable, a forbidden fruit that she longs to taste. The pair are only broken from their trance by the screams of a woman.
"That's new." Peeta mutters as the group quickly scurries to their feet, weapons at the ready just in case. But no enemy comes to threaten them. Instead they watch as the trees on the other side of the Cornucopia sway and wobble with the force of the waves crashing down on them. The tidal flood bursts from the treeline with the echo of a cannon boom following its devastation. It rumbles towards the Cornucopia and smacks into its side with an upward surge before rippling away into the segments.
The much more subdued wave rushes towards the tributes, flowing calmly over their feet and then retreating away. Not even a moment later, a hovercraft has descended to collect another body. Another casualty of Snow's paranoia.
"Someone's here." Katniss alerts them hastily, ripping an arrow from her quiver as the rest of the group tenses in anticipation. Finnick places his arm in front of Dahlia to push her out of view of the newcomers as they cower behind the shrubbery. Then, peeking through the plants, Dahlia and Finnick spot two familiar figures they'd recognise anywhere.
"Johanna?" Finnick mumbles in recognition, despite the girl being drenched in blood. He is reluctant to move from the spot until he's sure of the tribute's identity, but Dahlia doesn't share his hesitance.
"Papa." She gasps out happily, slipping from Finnick's grasp and sprinting off down the sand. Finnick is quick to follow after her, leaving Katniss and Peeta behind to stare. "Papa! Johanna!"
Alaric immediately turns at the girl's cry, whipping round just in time to catch his daughter as she launches herself into his arms. She doesn't care that he's dripping with blood and pays no mind to Johanna calling for her and Finnick. She's too focused on being reunited with Alaric to think about anything else.
"You're safe. You're safe." Alaric mutters repeatedly, his eyes closed in relief as he tangles his fingers in her hair. "Oh, thank goodness you're safe, Flower."
"I'm so glad to see you." Dahlia replies as they pull away, equally grateful to see Alaric alive and well.
Hurried footsteps follow behind them as Katniss and Peeta join the group. Upon noticing their targets are relatively unharmed, Alaric nods proudly to Dahlia for a job well done. They had managed to keep the Mockingjay safe from every challenge the Capitol had thrown their way and were responsible for ensuring the torch of Rebellion was still flickering. The young pair had undoubtedly proved their loyalty and capability.
"Well... We got 'em out." Johanna exclaims angrily, catching the attention of the reunited pair. "We were all the way deep into the jungle where I thought it was gonna be safe." Alaric rolls his eyes in exasperation, clearly growing a little irritated with the fiery youth. Dahlia smirks at him in amusement, enjoying the show her outspoken friend was putting on. How she had missed Johanna's bluntness. "That's when the rain started. I thought it was water. It turned out to be blood."
"Tick tock." Wiress whispers as she emerges from washing the blood off in the water. Dahlia's eyebrows furrow at the woman's skittish behaviour, growing concerned by her manic expression.
"Hot, thick blood." Johanna emphasises, seeming even more menacing while covered in blood. "It was coming down."
"Tick tock." Wiress repeats, gripping onto Johanna's shoulder while the younger woman ignores her.
"It was choking us." Johanna scoffs, her raging anger on full display as she vents her emotions. "We were stumbling around, gagging on it, blind."
Once more, Wiress mutters the words, "Tick Tock."
"That's when Blight hit the force field." Johanna reveals, inhaling sharply in an attempt to mask her sadness for the loss of a friend. Wiress' mumbling had grown quieter as she moved away but the woman did not ease up on repeating the words. "He wasn't much, but he was from home."
"Tick tock." Wiress whispers under her breath, approaching the group once more. "Tick tock. Tick tock."
"What's wrong with her?" Katniss asks in concern as Dahlia pats Johanna's shoulder sympathetically in passing and ushers Alaric into the water to scrub the sticky blood from his body.
Beetee is the one to give Katniss an answer from his place in the waves, "She's in shock. Dehydration isn't helping. Do you have fresh water?"
"We can get some." Katniss reassures him, bending down in the water to help the older man.
Meanwhile Johanna has grown fed up with Wiress' rambling as the crazed woman grips onto her arms. "Listen. Stop it!" She growls, ripping Wiress' hands away from her shoulders.
"Hey! Lay off her!" Katniss shouts in defence of Wiress, finding herself feeling pity for the woman who'd shown her kindness.
Johanna ignores the girl's demands as she pushes Wiress to the sand. "Just sit down!" Suddenly, Katniss' fury gets the better of her as she starts physically attacking Johanna. "Hey! What are you doing?" Johanna shrieks in disbelief as Finnick rushes over to separate the contrasting pair. She fights against Finnick as the man attempts to drag her away from the Girl on Fire. "I got them out for you!"
Alaric's head snaps up in panic that Johanna was going to reveal more details of the plan. If they were going to pull this off, no one else could know about it. Sensing her father's worry, Dahlia leapt up from where she was scrubbing at his stained skin and jogged over to her friend.
"Jo, calm down." Dahlia forcefully urges the girl, pulling her into a hug despite Johanna's protests. Using the embrace as a cover, Dahlia is able to hiss into her friend's ear, "You need to stop before you expose the plan." At those words of warning, Johanna stops fighting against Finnick and Dahlia, allowing them to slowly let go of her relaxed frame. The members of the Alliance can release an alleviated sigh, knowing they have minimised the risk of the secret becoming known. "Let's get that blood off."
Side by side, Dahlia and Katniss stood gently washing the blood out of Johanna and Wiress' hair. The older tribute sat still in the water without complaint, but Johanna acted out like a little child. She was constantly squirming in her spot, grumbling under her breath in annoyance and whining any time there was a knot.
"Ow!" Johanna yelps, flinching dramatically as she turns to Dahlia with an aggravated glare. "That hurt."
"No, it didn't, you big baby." Dahlia scolds the normally fearsome woman, grabbing her head harshly and forcing it back into place.
Katniss snickers at their childish bickering, amazed that these are two of the most notoriously feared killers in the history of the Hunger Games. But she manages to mask her amusement to ask a question about the clever man tinkering away on the beach, "What does Beetee have there?"
Johanna turns to look at what Katniss is referring to, but Dahlia delivers a gentle whack to her head and scolds, "Stop moving, Jo!"
"Then stop tugging!" Johanna bites back through gritted teeth before calming enough to reply to Katniss, "The coil? It's some kind of wire."
"Did he get it from the Cornucopia?" Katniss questions curiously, never pausing from her task of scrubbing the blood from Wiress' hair.
"Took a knife in the back to get it." Johanna reveals, picking at the dried blood in the crevices of her nails.
All of a sudden, Wiress shoots up with a gasp and exclaims, "Tick tock! Tick tock!"
"All right." Johanna huffs, waving Dahlia's hands away from her hair as she stands up with her axe. "I can't. Just... Have fun with 'Nuts'."
"But you were playing so nicely with the other kids, Jo." Dahlia comments teasingly, receiving a middle finger thrown over Johanna's shoulder in response.
The girl continues to walk away, not turning around until a crackling sound rumbles in the distance. The four women watch as lightning strikes at a large tree, the same phenomenon they had witnessed during the night.
"Tick tock." Wiress sings, staring up at Katniss with hopeful eyes.
Wiress' words coupled with the lightning seems to strike an idea in Katniss' mind. "Tick tock." She mumbles, head whipping around the segmented arena in realisation. "It's a clock." She declares suddenly, glancing over to Dahlia whose eyes are widened at the new information. Everything suddenly made a lot more sense. "It's a clock." She repeats more surely this time as Dahlia chuckles in shock, wading through the water to reach the women. "My God, it's a clock! Wiress, you're a genius." Katniss cups Wiress' face as the three laugh in jubilant delight. The laughter only grows as Dahlia throws herself at the pair, knocking all three of them into the waves. "You're a genius!"