Whatever it Takes

XXI

"First things first," Beetee said, fatigue heavily hanging on each of his words, "we get up the slope, to the tree. Then I can figure out how to pull the current from it."

They began up the slope, first slowly. Then, their pace quickened after Finnick and Peeta decided to take turns carrying Beetee, who was still having trouble standing on his own. The skyline was beginning to taint with a deep pink color, the sun lowering in the sky. It would be easier for them to get up to this tree then to get back down to the beach, especially considering that it would be dark by time they'd return, the vines and branches becoming a larger obstacle with the lack of sunlight. They continued their hike, rather silently other than an occasional direction from Katniss, and every so often a snide comment from Johanna. 

They had to be more than a quarter of the way up when the anthem started to play, their gazes all making a common focal point of the Capitol emblem that burned in the sky like a flame against their skin, the face of Cashmere from One being the first to replace it. The painful feeling only became a sear as Gloss's face flickered to Wiress's, Beetee hanging his head, his eyes staring emptily at Peeta's shoulder. Next was the female tribute from Five, then from Six. Cordelia noticed that now Peeta's head dropped, and she'd wondered if there was maybe more on his mind than their time together in training.

"She died in his arms," Finnick said for only her to hear. How did he always know what she was thinking, "the monkeys."

So, it must've been her cannon that Cordelia had been convinced belonged to Finnick.

Now it was Blight who showed in the sky, a shaky sigh pushing past the broken skin on Johanna's lips. Cordelia reached down, giving the girl's hand a small but, reassuring squeeze as well as a heartfelt smile of sympathy.

"Thank you." She mouthed.

Johanna wasn't as heartless as everyone thought she was, she just worked overtime to make sure that image remained upheld. To her, it didn't matter what everyone thought, as long as they kept their distance. Which was only fair when her entire family had been stolen from her. Maybe that's why she trusted Finnick so easily, listened to what he had to say. At times he was the only one who could reason with her, but out of the four people around her at least, he was the only one who completely understood. He too would use the same strategy, if it weren't for the role he'd been forced to portray. Cordelia was nowhere near as close to understanding Johanna as he was but, she could still breakthrough enough to know that there was more to her than just cold strategy. It was just that no one had stayed around long enough to see it.

The anthem came to a close, the holographic Capitol seal glitching out of the sky, leaving the remaining tributes in the dark. Quite literally.

"Let's keep moving." Finnick instructed gently, taking Beetee onto his back after Peeta set him down.

They began again, slightly slower than before due to a new tension weighing them down. Cordelia felt herself grow scared to breathe too loudly, not wanting to set anyone off. Everyone was tense, stressed, each of them working out what would be next, no one truly knowing even a start of a plan for when this worked, only knowing that their time in the arena was creeping closer and closer to an end. Slowly but surely, just as their movements up the slope. She felt that even Katniss and Peeta could sense it, in their own way. 

Her heart tightened with the thought that they were plotting against the group. After all, they only saw the possibility for one victor, and she had no doubt that they considered that one victor to be one another. It didn't matter how much they'd worked to gain their trust, how many times they'd put themselves in harms way, once the careers were dead, their alliance would mean nothing, because as far as either half of the pair knew, they were still playing the same old games, so they'd abide by the same old rules.