The Black Dahlia was once again playing guard duty to Peeta Mellark, though she wasn't entirely sure why. Peeta seemed so weak nowadays, he could barely lift his head. He was a walking skeleton, doomed to roam around the land of the living. So who exactly was she supposed to be guarding? Was she supposed to be protecting Caesar from the Victor... Or Peeta from himself?
She was within the frame of the camera. A stern figure, one familiar to those who regularly tuned in to Peeta's interviews. A constant shadow lingering in the background of every shot. Never uttering a word. Just watching. Staring down the camera lens with her infamously cold glare. It was enough to make the strongest of men shudder, even behind the safety of a screen. But was anyone ever truly safe from the Black Dahlia's reach?
"Tonight," Peeta began shakily, pronouncing each word carefully as he felt the gaze of the Black Dahlia fixed permanently on the back of his head. "We've received reports of derailed trains, of granaries on fire, and of a savage attack on the hydroelectric dam in District Five." His skin was thinly stretched over his bones, dark crescents underlining his lifeless eyes and his body positioned rigidly upright. He recited the speech like a marionette controlled by the Capitol, simply opening his mouth to let Snow's carefully written words spill out. But his eyes... The eyes reveal everything. And Peeta had the eyes of a broken man, pleading for an end. "I'm begging for restraint and decency."
Suddenly the camera feeds seemed to malfunction, static crackling as the scene changed to show the Mockingjay. Her haunting song played loudly throughout the room as the Capitol technicians scrambled to fix the problem. The Black Dahlia's eyes narrowed at the situation, furious that the traitorous rebels had managed to cause so much disruption. Until a familiar voice overpowers the melody.
"... And when the Mockingjay sings, your time to rise will come."
It was shouted out over the song, a compelling cry in support of the Rebellion. A call to arms in favour of the Mockingjay. And it sounded... like her. But she was a monster. The rebels didn't want a monster. That's what Snow and the Madame had always told her. Why would she have fought for them? She doesn't remember fighting for them. What was she fighting for now?
"Katniss?" Peeta whimpered, face lighting up with the first sign of hope anyone had seen him display since he arrived in the Capitol. "Katniss, are you there? Katniss?"
The Black Dahlia remained staring down the camera lens, but this time she saw her own reflection in the glass. Only she didn't recognise the person looking back at her. She didn't want to see a woman filled with hate, she didn't want to see a heartless monster. She yearned to find sea-green eyes gazing back at her or a golden smile meant only for her.
Then she realised she hadn't been fighting for the Rebellion. She had been fighting for something else... Someone else...
"Peeta," Caesar stated firmly, causing both the boy and the Black Dahlia to snap back into reality. "Please, continue." As Peeta's watery eyes slowly returned to the man conducting the interview, his mind went completely blank on what he was going to say. Even the Black Dahlia hesitated to give him a threatening nudge to kickstart his next sentence. Caesar felt a bead of sweat trickle down his forehead at the unexpected turn this interview had taken, eyes darting nervously back and forth between the two subjects. Eventually, he is the one to awkwardly prompt the boy, "You were telling us about these savage attacks."
"Yeah." The boy nodded uncertainly, trying to regain his composure and do what was required of him. The Black Dahlia straighten up behind him, reminding herself that the rebels were not above fabricating lies. "The attack on the dam was a callous and inhuman act of destruction--"
The audio was replaced with Katniss' song once more, the footage focusing on the Mockingjay stepping through the rubble of District Twelve. Peeta leaned forward in his seat, gaze fixated on the camera as if he were speaking directly to Katniss. Caesar and the peacekeepers glanced at the Black Dahlia for answers on what to do, but the girl was frozen in place. She didn't know what was real anymore.
"Think about it." Peeta murmured solemnly, the peacekeepers shuffling nervously as the boy went completely off-script. "How will this end? What will be left? No one can survive this. No one is safe now. Not here in the Capitol. Not in any of the districts." His voice grew louder the longer his speech went on, his voice trembling even more as he struggled to maintain his sobs. Then his face grew serious and his eyes widened at what he was about to do. He was in for a whole new world of pain if he went through with it. But he did it anyway. "They're coming, Katniss. They're gonna kill everyone. And in District Thirteen you'll be dead by morning."
Then Peeta Mellark and the Black Dahlia were seized by peacekeepers, and the screen went blank.
•——————•°•✿•°•——————•
The onslaught of Capitol bombs on the surface of District Thirteen showed no sign of ceasing and many citizens, huddled safely in the bunker, settled down for a very disturbed sleep. While much of the inhabitants had family or friends around them to offer comfort through the difficult night, Finnick Odair sat alone. Very few of the people he loved were actually alive, never mind hiding out in District Thirteen with him. He was an outcast, completely alone in the world, though he had grown familiar with this constant feeling of loneliness ever since he lost Dahlia to the Capitol. Without her, he was lost.
Curling his body onto the uncomfortably thin mattress, his hand reached up to clutch the one piece of Dahlia he had left. The golden dahlia necklace that had first belonged to Cove. Of course, he remembered the girl's token well. He was the one to acquire it after all. Back then he'd never imagine that it would be the only thing he could cling to in his darkest hour. How young and innocent they'd once been.
He hadn't removed the piece of jewellery from his neck since the moment he put it on before the Quarter Quell. Possessing two tokens was strictly against the rules, but there was no way he would be leaving that part of Dahlia behind. Not even for the purpose of the Alliance. If he had been caught sneaking two in, he would've chosen the necklace every time. Mockingjay and Rebellion be damned! His little flower was more important than anything.
Finnick only wished his little flower was here with him, safely nestled in his arms with a dreamy smile on her face. She'd squeeze his hand three times to remind him that he was loved, she'd run her fingers through his hair to soothe his racing thoughts, she'd rest her head on his chest to fall asleep by his side. If he shut his eyes tight enough, he could almost hear her laughter singing in his ear. He could've drifted off to sleep with that melody in his ears. Unfortunately his moment of peace was interrupted.
"Hey." Katniss greeted him in a hushed voice, making the boy glance up in shock. He hadn't expected her to approach him, knowing she would prefer to stay with her own family. But Katniss was really the only person Finnick had there in District Thirteen. "Can I sit?"
"Yeah." He responded quickly, glad for any kind of company in the dingy bunker. Sitting upright, he shuffled along the bed to make space for Katniss, who perched herself on the mattress next to him.
The Mockingjay noticed the pendant cradled in Finnick's hands as he ran his fingers over the ridges. Her heart clenched in sympathy, knowing exactly how he was feeling because she felt the same. They were missing the ones they loved.
"Snow's using Dahlia to punish you. She's not the same person she was before." Katniss cautioned, trying to subtly warn Finnick about the mindless slave Dahlia had become. No one wanted to tell the boy about the Black Dahlia fully possessing his love's mind. They knew it would only agitate him. The last thing they needed was for Finnick's recovery to be halted by that discovery. "He's taunting us with them. I didn't understand until just now watching that stupid cat."
A shaky sigh escaped Finnick's lips, glistening tears pricking his sorrowful eyes as he turned to Katniss. "After your first Games, I thought the whole romance was an act." He confessed after swallowing his emotions down harshly. "We all expected you to continue that strategy. But it wasn't until Peeta's heart stopped and he nearly died that I knew I'd misjudged you. You love him." Katniss immediately looked away, as if hearing those words out loud had confirmed the truth she had been trying so hard to deny. Sensing the panic rising in the girl, Finnick rushed to assure her, "I'm not saying in what way. Maybe you don't even know yourself. But anyone paying attention can see it."
Katniss isn't sure she can reject these strong emotions any longer, feeling the familiar sting at the back of her eyes whenever the sadness grew too strong. It is a relief off her shoulders to finally admit it to herself and to someone else. Someone who knew what she was going through. Eventually, she found herself asking, "How do you live with it?"
You don't, is what Finnick wanted to say. He'd barely been able to live without Dahlia. But the people need a Mockingjay who is strong and willing to fight. They don't need Katniss to turn into a lonely, depressed Victor who spends her days grieving and mourning over the love she has lost. They don't need her to turn into him.
"I drag myself outta nightmares and there's no relief in waking up." He replied instead, ensuring the girl knew that it would never be easy to cope with. "But... it's better not to give in to it." He added on, making the dejected girl turn to him with a flicker of hope ablaze in her eyes. "It takes ten times longer to put yourself back together than it does to fall apart."
Katniss nodded her head in understanding, forcing a small tight-lipped smile on her lips. She was grateful for Finnick's advice and his presence in such a foreign place. Other than Beetee and Haymitch, no one else there could really understand what they had been through, the atrocities they had seen and committed. But Finnick was the only one she could talk to about this, the only one to see her suffering and show her how to push through. In a way, Finnick wasn't the one who had misjudged her. She was the one who'd misjudged him. And Dahlia.
"Thank you." Katniss said softly and genuinely, feeling comfortable enough in the boy's presence to rest her head on his shoulder. They didn't say anything else, neither feeling the need to fill the silence with worthless chatter. Finnick's fingers continued to dance along the faded gold metal of the dahlia pendant, Katniss' eyes following them as they went. Until she quietly murmured, "You miss her a lot."
"All the time." Finnick answered quickly, his gaze never leaving his distorted reflection staring back at him in the metal. He imagined that it wasn't his eyes he could see, but hers. Those dark obsidian jewels full of mischief and life, shining up at him like she had captured the night sky in her gaze. A gentle smile tugged at his lips at the thought as a weak laugh rumbled in his chest. "She'd tell me not to worry about her so much. To stop moping about and just get off my ass and do something but... I can't help it. When you love someone and they're not here with you, your heart aches every moment you spend apart."
"But you lived in different districts." Katniss pointed out, eyebrows scrunched in confusion for how they survived with that distance.
Finnick sniggered at the reminder, remembering the long months they spent apart. "Even back then it was torture. We'd only see each other in the Capitol but with Snow watching, nothing could ever happen between us."
"How long have you loved her?" Katniss asked curiously, realising she didn't know a lot about Finnick and Dahlia's relationship. They certainly didn't have a lot of time to talk in the arena and District Thirteen wasn't the best setting for personal discussions. But they were going to be there for a while, might as well learn something about each other.
"I don't know when I realised it but... I think I loved her from the very beginning." Finnick admitted, thinking back to how infatuated he was with her from the moment that flower landed at his feet. "Her spark ignited something in me that I thought had died when I entered the Games. She was entangled in my soul the second our eyes met. And I knew... I knew I would never be able to live without her."
His heartfelt words had Katniss sitting up to look at him intently. His eyes seemed to brighten up just by talking about Dahlia, his face glowing like a youthful lovesick boy. Though she was far away from him, Dahlia may be the key to helping Finnick open up once more.
"Tell me more about her." Katniss declared, crossing her legs on the bed as she turned her full attention to the boy.
"Really?" Finnick checked, his voice upbeat and hopeful for the first time in months. Katniss nodded eagerly, like a little girl waiting for a bedtime story. Finnick mimicked her crossed leg position and began to passionately explain every little detail about the girl he loved, "She has always been fearless and daring, even before the Games. Family means everything to her. People think she has a cold heart, but they don't know the real her. And she never knew it but she inspired everyone around her. In her presence, they all fought a little harder and loved a lot more..."
Finnick Odair spoke for hours, and Katniss Everdeen listened to every word.