Phoenix dragged her feet on the ground, digging her heels into the floor in a desperate attempt to free herself from their grip. Her screams and cries continued as she was dragged down the halls of the mansion. It didn't matter how hard Phoenix tried to free herself, her weakened body was no match for the strong hold the PeaceKeepers had on her. " You're only making it worse for yourself Phoenix. " One of the PeaceKeeper grunted through his mask, with their grip tightening around her arm. This making Phoenix groan in pain.
A string of curses began leaving her mouth. With Phoenix making sure everyone knew who all of these swears were directed to. The last name of Coriolanus Snow kept leaving Phoenix's mouth over and over again. She didn't even care whether or not Snow could hear her. She just needed everyone to know what was going through her mind.
Phoenix hadn't even noticed the hot stream of tears that was beginning to run down her now slightly red face. Yet she could feel the bruises beginning to form on her arms from the tight grip the PeaceKeepers still had on her. But Phoenix could barely feel any of the pain coming from them due to the pure rage that was running through her.
The dragging of Phoenix's body came to a sudden halt. Phoenix's head snapped around, just trying to see where she had been taken to. Her eyes tried to find anything familiar, but failed hard. The room she was now in looked almost identical to the room she had spent weeks in. Yet the lack of flowers made it known to her that this was just another room in the mansion. Just another room that would he use to both hold and torture her.
The woman felt herself being dragged towards the hospital bed that sat in the middle of the room. Phoenix began kicking her legs furiously the moment she felt herself being thrown down on the hospital bed. The second her back touched the bed, she felt herself kicking her legs harder, just trying her best to land a kick. " Get her legs! " One of the men yelled while beginning to strap Phoenix's arms down at her side.
Now with both of her arms restricted, Phoenix continued kicking her legs harder than before. Kicking her legs in every direction Phoenix finally kicked one of the PeaceKeepers straight in the jaw, just below his helmet. Even though Phoenix knew there was no way out of this, being able to see the PeaceKeeper groan in pain almost brought a smile to her face.
The slight smile was quickly gone within an instant once Phoenix felt a fist being met with her face. A cry left her lips as the pain began to set in. This blow to Phoenix, along with the lack of nourishment she had gotten, meant the punch affected her more than it normally would've. " Don't make this any harder than it needs to be! " Phoenix heard a voice from beside her yell. With her vision blurry she couldn't match the voice to any particular PeaceKeeper. Yet before she could even process the blur in her vision, Phoenix felt the prick of a needle on her forearm.
Another scream left Phoenix's mouth, this time one of only of pure agony. " That should shut her up. " A voice whispered, and Phoenix could almost hear the smile through his words. Phoenix began feeling her vision getting even more hazier as the substance entered into her veins. Yet unlike what she was injected with before, Phoenix did not begin to feel tired. She only felt her thoughts, her vision, and herself become hazy as time passed.
" W-what was that. " Phoenix asked trying to get a better look at the PeaceKeepers through her hazy vision. Phoenix could already tell that her speech was already beginning to slow down and become slurred as she tried to form any type of coherent sentence. Phoenix moved her head around, just wanting to get a better look at whoever had drugged her.
Through her drugged state she was able to hear a horrible laugh slip past the man's lips as he looked down at the already hallucinating Phoenix Flack. It was almost as though seeing her in this state brought these people inside the Capital some type of sick joy. " Just a bit of Tracker Jacker venom, my dear. " He revealed, and Phoenix felt her heavy eyelids widened only slightly. She knew what Tracker Jacker venom could do to someone, and she didn't want any of those things done to her. But in this situation, Phoenix knew she had no choice.
The PeaceKeeper let out a sigh of relief as the last of the venom made its way into Phoenix's system through her veins. With Phoenix herself letting out another loud cry of pain at the feeling of the venom entering her. " Maybe it will make you realize what you truly had to do inside of the games Phoenix. " Phoenix tired listening to the man, but even his speech began sounding slurred to her ears.
While the man was talking the room had filled with a few more PeaceKeepers and even some nurses. Looking around the room Phoenix realized something had begun being projected right in front of her. Through her hallucinated state, Phoenix tried to focus on what was being shown in front of her.
Her gaze was fixed on the screen in front of her. With Phoenix desperately trying to make out what she was looking at. Yet a nurse was by Phoenix's side within an instant, leaning down next to her ear. The woman just wanting the past victor to understand what she was looking at. " Do you know where that is Miss. Flack? " Phoenix only managed to make out the words of the woman said to her moments after she had already spoken them.
Yet she couldn't manage to speak any words for herself. This causing Phoenix to look up at the nurse in her hallucinated state. She took in her features for a moment, her blonde hair, reminding her a bit of Ivanna. Yet her dull green eyes that Phoenix was able to make out were drastically different from Ivanna's bright blue ones. With the thought of the now-dead Capital escort fading away from her thoughts, she simply shook her head at the nurse.
Phoenix could't even begin to imagine how she looked at a time like this. She looked up at the woman, with her brown-eyes looking slightly red from all the unintentional crying she had done. This along with her tear stained cheeks and her reddened face made the nurse feel like they were all doing right by President Snow.
" Oh come on Phoenix, you know where that is. " She said, wanting to make this as hard for Phoenix as she possibly could. " I mean you were there only some weeks ago. " The nurse added, now looking back up at the Capital altered version of the games that were playing for Phoenix. An edited version of the games where the killing of Cassian Layne, could be seen as the killing of Finnick Odair. Especially if you were hallucinating as hard as Phoenix was.
Ever since Dr. Gaul had made the mixup of telling Phoenix she had killed Finnick and not Cassian, others inside the Capital had been working hard to try and alter the game footage. Brightening the arena to make Cassian's dark hair be seen as Finnick's blonde hair. And even going as far as using Finnick's desperate pleas for Phoenix during the JabberJay attack inside the games. Making it sound as if he was begging for mercy from Phoenix.
President Snow was confident in the fact that he was going to not only kill Katniss Everdeen but also Finnick Odair. He believed if he broadcasted both Katniss and Finnick's loves in a manic state, this might make the act of locating and killing them easier. Meaning he was all for the plan of trying to drive Phoenix Flack closer towards the break of insanity.
Phoenix looked closer at what she was being shown. The jungle, a woman in a wetsuit close to a man, the two looking ready for a fight. " The games. " Phoenix managed to choke out, with it now being much harder to get any words out. " There you go, I knew you were a smart girl. " The woman hums, while slightly dragging her finger against Phoenix's cheek. The woman presses down a bit on the bruise that had begun forming on her cheekbone, where she had gotten punched.
A whimper leaves Phoenix's lips at the pain that was coming from the pressure on her newly formed bruise. She tried moving her head away from the nurse's hand but felt as if her head weighed a ton. " It's getting a bit hard to move, right? " The woman asked before finally taking her hand off Phoenix's face.
Phoenix Flack lied there helpless, being forced to watch the scene unfold in front of her. While the audio was hard to hear, Phoenix could still make out the voice of Finnick Odair. The voice the people of the Capital added over the voice of Cassian Layne. Yet in her hallucinated state, Phoenix had no idea what to believe.
She watched the two people on the screen fight tirelessly with each other. Punches and kicks being thrown back and forth, each followed by a scream or groan of pain. A part of Phoenix could only remember the pain she felt during that fight. Meaning she had almost no memory of the fight itself.
So maybe they were all telling the truth.
As the knife dug into the chest of who Phoenix began believing was Finnick Odair, tears left her eyes. She began tossing around in the bed, looking in each direction instead of in front of her. Just not wanting to face the reality of what she had done. As much as she couldn't believe it, the evidence was in front of her now.
Phoenix Flack was now beginning to believe she had killed Finnick Odair.
" Please. " She whispered, using all her might to get the single word out. The hallucinations around her were now more intense than ever, as everything began getting blurrier the longer her eyes tried to focus on one thing. " We would never lie to you Phoenix, it was the rebels who lied. Who do you think sent Finnick to kill you? " The woman asked while reaching to grab another syringe full of tracker jacker venom.
Nothing left Phoenix's mouth. No words, no sounds, nothing at all. Yet her mind was running at a million miles a minute. So many new questions ran through her mind, each getting harder to remember due to her drugged state. Phoenix felt the woman's thin lips pressed upright against her ear as she whispered one name. " Katniss. " While the words left her mouth she felt the same similar poke to her arm. The name of Katniss Everdeen being repeated over and over again in her head as the pain ran through her body.
A loud scream left Phoenix mouth, this being the loudest thing to come out of the girl since being drugged. " She's the reason you're here. You and Finnick could've been happy, but look at you now. All because of her. " The pain racked through her body and the only thought she could process was that of Katniss Everdeen.
Sobs and screams left Phoenix's mouth as the pain somehow got worse. Little did she know that the same thing was happening to Peeta Mellark not too far away from where she was being held. Both pumped full of the painful venom being told lie after lie. With the two being forced to believe that there was only one enemy in this whole situation.
With that enemy being Katniss Everdeen.
And with the pain beginning to be unbearable for both Phoenix and Peeta, they had no other choice but to believe what they were being told. Had no other choice but to believe that Katniss, the same woman who loved Peeta more than anything, the same woman who never wanted anything wrong to happen to anyone who was on her side, was the sole cause of all this pain.
And they believed that.