- MIND OVER MATTER -
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"SO BESIDES BRUTUS and Enobaria, who's left?" Katniss crouched down in the sand just at the edge of the jungle where they decided to rest and think up a plan.
"Maybe Chaff." Peeta answered, rubbing a bit of packed on dirt from his cheek. "Just those three."
Nadia looked over their group of seven as the tensions had suddenly risen after they'd put the small amount of people left into consideration. They could all feel the spider-like creeping sensation crawling up their backs. The only way around it is if Plutarch sticks to his word and gets them out.
"They know they're outnumbered. I doubt they'll attack again." Finnick added.
"We're safe here on the beach." Apollo stated as he swung a sword around from a couple feet away so as to not inflict an accidental stab wound on anybody. He wouldn't tell anybody, but he was still a little rusty.
"So what do we do, we hunt 'em down?" Johanna questioned impatiently, the woman annoyed at the thought of just lying around in wait.
"Would it kill you to embody even a hint of patience?" Apollo asked with his head tilted to the side, the woman practically growled at him in reply which only egged him on further.
"Would it kill you to keep your opinion to yourself?" She shot back as she stood up, the grip she had on her axe meant to be threatening even though she would never use it on her friends. Which would miraculously include Apollo.
"How old are we—?" Apollo was cut off, drowned out by the sound of a young, feminine scream coming from the jungle.
"Katniss, help me!" The voice called out in desperation to the girl, her eyes going wide as she jumped to her feet.
"Prim, Prim!" She shouted in worry before sprinting into the jungle.
"No, Katniss, wait!" Finnick called after her, Nadia shaking the memory of the birds from her own games before she was off after Katniss. The girl was so quick it made it hard to catch up.
Nadia knew Prim wasn't in the arena, but she was also familiar with one of the worst things that had ever came from the minds of the Gamemakers... Jabberjays.
"Katniss!" Nadia called, her stomach tightened as screams continued to spit an overwhelming worry into Nadia's head. She caught sight of a few of them flying overhead and it only made that nauseating feeling worse.
She finally caught up, her chest heaving slightly as she was still a little worn out after nearly drowning.
"You okay?" She asked, Katniss staring up at the sky with a whole train wreck of emotions on her face.
"Nadia!" The woman's eyes shot to the sky as a wince took her brow, her jaw clenched at the sound of Paisley's voice.
It's like her games never happened and she forgot it was probably just a way to brainwash her, Nadia starting to run deeper into the jungle after hearing it again.
"Paisley!" She yelled.
"Nadia, no. It's not her!" Katniss tried and failed to stop Nadia from running.
"Paisley!" She shouted again and was met with nothing, her mind had no room to think it through. The only thing she heard being the echoes of the girl's screams. "Paisley!"
"Nadia, it's not her!" Katniss stepped in front of her with a hand on her shoulder, Nadia's eyes glancing back and forth rapidly between the girl and the sky. "It's just a jabberjay."
"How the hell do you think they got those sounds?" Nadia shoved her hand off her shoulder, her voice raised and strained with concern. "Jabberjays copy."
"Katniss!" This time it was a deeper, more masculine cry shortly followed by one from Nadia's brother.
"Emory." She muttered and again she couldn't find rationality. The only thing she could think of was the last time she saw him, the man having 'attacked' a Peacekeeper.
An entire flock of the dreaded creatures stooped down towards them with their talons bared, one of the sharp claws coming in contact with her forehead.
"Come on, come on!" She yelled to Katniss as she ducked, grabbing for the girl's hand before they took off back to the beach.
"Nadia! Help me, please!" Her eyes started to water as she couldn't help but imagine what her brother could be going through. What they did to him to get those sounds.
She knew Prim was okay because The Capitol adored her. Her screams were probably recorded from last year's games when Katniss took her place seeing as jabberjays were everywhere.
It was different for Emory and Paisley. Emory had a couple run-ins with Peacekeepers and Paisley wasn't as beloved as other victors. They could've actually hurt them without even a worry about what people might think.
When Nadia and Katniss thought they reached the others, a force field just like the one that saved them from the fog earlier, was now separating them from their group.
"Please! Please, Nadia!" Her features twisted in terror as she banged her fists against the force field where Finnick was doing the same on the other side. He was saying something, but Paisley's pained cries wouldn't allow her to hear him.
Nothing would drown it out and it was like she was sent back in time eight years into her arena where she was curled up in a ball, screaming and crying at the sound of her brother begging for her help.
"Nadia!" She covered her ears as tears spilt down her face with no signs of stopping. She could see it. The pain and torture they might be going through in The Capitol.
She hit the ground falling on her knees as she tried to push the sounds away. She even tried to focus on Finnick as he stayed glued against the force field on the other side, feeling helpless to the situation.
Her breathing visibly heightened and her eyes possessed straight up terror. But she needed to keep them open or the idea of them being tortured would be that much stronger.
It was no use though as the birds relentlessly flew around herself and Katniss, their claws ratting her hair into a mess, each time they'd keep getting closer and Nadia would wrap around herself tighter.
Her hands were grasped to her ears to block it out, but nothing was helping. Even letting out loud and long screams herself would prove useless against Paisley and Emory's pleas.
She tried to think of something else. Anything else. Anything that would keep her mind off of those cries.
"Nadia!" Her brother shouted in pain and she'd try to overshadow it with the sight of him cooking in their kitchen as he insisted she stay ten feet away from the oven. Or when they played darts to determine which one would clean up after dinner.
"Help me, Nadia!" Paisley cried this time, the woman thinking of their long walks where the girl would boast about her ambitions to become a doctor. She always told the best stories too. She spoke of fairytales like she'd lived through them herself.
But no matter the split second she had to hold herself together, she'd always crumble once hearing another loud, brutal, 'Nadia, help me'. Cave in on herself as she choked on her own scream and let out a sob.
She could feel the point when the control of her own body began to slip, the woman shaking from head-to-toe and even her mind was under someone else's power.
Blood dripped from her forehead and onto the ground from the few times the birds met her skin. It flowed down her cheek like the stream of those horrid sounds that she half wished would somehow kill her. Or at the very least make her black out so this would all be over sooner.
She cried against her knees, her lungs aching as she screamed. This was so much worse than physical torture, something Nadia didn't think would break her. Playing with her mind that was already hanging on by a thread, however, was a much more effective way to make her suffer.
The fake confidence and the mask she wore in front of The Capitol was no match for hearing the begging pleas of her family. It didn't even come close.
Not only did these mutts cause an array of worry for her loved ones, but it also brought back unwelcome memories of her games. She needed it to stop. If not forever, maybe just a few seconds.
She was shone mercy, albeit she was too deep in her own concern to notice at first, but the cries finally faded into silence.
A muffled voice had been speaking above her for nearly a whole minute straight before it broke through the barrier her brain built up.
"Nadia." This time it wasn't a begging scream asking for her help, but the voice of Apollo who stood above her with a hand on her shoulder.
When her hearing tuned into what was happening around her, all her senses seemed to have hit her at once and the feeling of two hands placed on her shoulder and on her back was too overwhelming.
"No, no, no..." She mumbled breathlessly as she scurried back and covered her ears again, the faint sound of their screams still echoed in her head. In fact, they'd probably already started the process of making her poor mind a permanent residence.
"Nadia, it's okay." Finnick's hand met her back again and her eyes shot open to meet his, her breathing erratic and face stained with tears. "It's okay."
She looked around wide eyed and frantic as she gripped onto Finnick's arm, her heart feeling like it was going to burst out of her chest. Her body was still in tremors, eyes watering all over again before she was slowly reaching for Finnick.
He wasted no time in pulling her close and holding her against him so gently as her shaky hands tried to calm once grasping onto him.
"It's alright, it's over." He says so softly his voice could be silk. He let his hand glide along her back to ease the shakiness, her head burying in his neck and her breath finally started to slow back to normal.
As everything in her mind went back to a light jog instead of sprinting, Nadia pulled away from Finnick with a grateful smile. She didn't hold it for very long, sitting beside him and refusing to meet his eyes after that.
She wasn't sure if she was ashamed or embarrassed, or maybe even this feeling was neither. All she knew was she needed a minute.
He was a little confused, but his attention turned from Nadia as she clutched her forehead where a small bit of blood was still trickling down her face, to Katniss as she was having trouble grasping reality.
"They won't touch Prim... All right?" They all watched as Peeta tried to calm the girl, his attempts finally somewhat payed off. He'd at least gotten her to stop screaming.
Nadia wiped her brow of sweat and blood as she looked over the pair having completely missed the exchange as she'd just gotten ahold of her own bearings again.
"Your fiancé's right." Johanna started, only pausing to let out a scoff. "The whole country loves your sister. If they tortured her or did anything to her... Forget the districts, there would be riots in the damn Capitol."
Johanna chuckled humorlessly as she turned to the sky with her axe raised threateningly towards The Capitol. "Hey, how's that sound, Snow? What if we set your backyard on fire? You know, you can't put everybody in here!"
Her words seemed to have echoed for just a few seconds and her outburst was followed by a moment of silence. There wasn't much to be said after that.
Nadia glanced over to Beetee as he pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with his lips pulled into a tight line. Her eyes then trailed over to Apollo to gauge his reaction and he looked mildly amused and even a bit proud of how little care she held for Snow and his opinions.
"What?" Johanna asked even though she knew the answer. She knew she looked insane in the eyes of someone like Katniss who couldn't so much as look at Snow the wrong way or she'd be in some type of trouble. "...There's no one left that I love."
Johanna had always had a way of making people speechless. Not only was she gorgeous, but more importantly she had a voice and wasn't afraid of being heard. Another silence to follow made light of that.
"I'll get you some water." She rolled her eyes as she simply could not stand the silence before she was turning around and walking into the jungle.
༄༄༄
It had been years, nearly an entire decade since her games and Nadia had once again lost a battle to some silly birds.
She needed to clear her head in whatever way she could, the woman always finding the beach to be a peaceful place to think. So she walked down the beach, not too far as to undermine worry in her fellow tributes, before sitting at the edge of the water.
She combed her wetted fingers through her snarly hair that'd been made a mess from all the jabberjays as they attacked. Trying to work her hands through her hair made her wince, but it was at least some sort of a distraction.
A pout formed on her lips after she'd tried to tie her hair up, but she remembered she lost her hair tie during the jabberjay attack. She cursed, muttering a couple profanities under her breath at the realization she'd have to live with her hair down for the remainder of the games.
Another small distraction that lasted only a few seconds and one that wouldn't make her forget her past.
She was sixteen when she first encountered jabberjays and aside from killing a close friend, that was probably the thing that haunted her the most.
The relentless cries for help and torturous pleas took a toll on her mind the first time around. This time was worse in that not only was it her brother, but also the girl she poured blood, sweat, and tears into trying to protect.
And like the first time, while she couldn't find a way to escape such horrid sounds, she found herself believing that those cries were real.
When she was sixteen she wasn't sure she would come home to a big brother, and now, she was thinking of every little thing she's done leading up to this year's games, thinking maybe Snow caught wind of Plutarch's plan. She felt sick.
This state of mind is like an endless cycle. When she's thinking of everything that could go wrong, she's worried. When she's not thinking about it, she realizes she's not and then it starts up again without skipping a beat. It's truly exhausting.
That feeling, or rather a state of mind can be so distracting, so consuming. And it was taking over again.
"Nadia!" She heard Johanna call from where she now noticed everyone was stood in a circle, the woman waving her hand to gesture her over.
She rung out her hair before rushing back towards the group, taking a place beside Johanna as they both let their arms rest against a low-hanging branch of a tree.
"I have a plan." Beetee stated, looking from Peeta and Katniss who were crouched beside him then up at everyone else as Nadia noticed the handmade coil sitting in front of him.
"Where do the Careers feel safest?" He asked, looking around like a teacher in wait of a student to raise their hand.
"The jungle?" Apollo suggested, his arms crossed much like Finnick's who stood beside him.
"The jungle's a nightmare." Johanna scoffed at the man.
And just like every time they so much as give each other one off look, the recipient shot back a jab. "I'm thinking out loud here, Jo. There's no need—"
"Please, stop." Nadia looked between the two with a bored expression, clearly wondering if this little rivalry would ever sign a peace treaty.
"They probably feel safest here. On the beach." Peeta continued, ignoring the slight glares shared between Apollo and Johanna.
Beetee raised a brow. "Then why are they not here?"
"Because we are." Johanna shrugged. "We claimed it."
"And if we left, they would come." Beetee continued, Nadia as the paranoid individual that she is, was trying to decipher his plan before he even explained.
"Or stay hidden in the tree line." Finnick put forward as he shifted his weight from his left leg to his right.
"Which, in just over four hours will be soaked with water from the ten o'clock wave." Each sentence Beetee spoke in getting closer to the grand reveal of his ingenious plan etched a small amount of a smile on his face. "And what happens at midnight?"
"Lightning strikes that tree." Katniss answered.
Nadia furrowed her brows at the man and before he could speak, she had to ask what to her was quite obvious given the coil and lightning tree. "You want to electrocute them?"
Beetee looked up at Nadia with a curt nod. "Precisely."
"How are we gonna do that?" Apollo asked, obviously not seeing the pieces fall in place as clearly as Nadia.
"Here's what I propose." Beetee started, gesturing to the coil. "We leave the beach at dusk. We head to the lightning tree. That should draw them back to the beach. Prior to midnight, we then run this wire from the tree to the water. Anyone in the water or on the damp sand will be electrocuted."
Johanna as always was skeptical. Her faith in other people was quite frankly nonexistent, understandably so. "How do we know the wire's not gonna burn up?"
"Because I invented it." He smiled at her and she again shook her head in dismay. Johanna looked to Nadia like she was trying to get her to join in on her judgement towards this man.
"Beetee, don't take this the wrong way because you know I trust in your ability to make something out of nothing..." Nadia started, pursing her lips as she tried not to sound too harsh. "But you're sure that this will work?"
He only snickered in response. "I assure you, it won't burn up."
Nadia nodded finding his words pretty trustworthy, her eyes falling on Apollo as he was smiling, looking to be amused by Beetee's confidence.
"I'm sold." Apollo shrugged casually.
"Well, I guess it's better than hunting them down." Johanna sighed after trailing her gaze over Nadia, Finnick and Apollo, figuring if they were in she didn't have much of a choice.
"Yeah, why not?" Katniss agreed, but looked to be slightly reluctant. "If it fails, no harm done anyway, right?"
"All right, I say we try it." Peeta nodded, looking amongst his alliance.
"So what can we do to help?" Finnick questioned as he picked his trident up from where he left it settled against a tree.
"Keep me alive for the next six hours." Beetee replied with that same grin that held an underlying sense of havoc. "That would be extremely helpful."
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