FAILURE TO COMPLY ┃ f. odair

3.8 a bloody reunion

The day dragged on, but they had yet to find the edge of the forcefield. The death of Roman had slowed them down considerable, not to mention Beetee's constant stops to talk about electrified air and theories of its source. It was something no one else was really aware of, but he seemed so attuned to like it was a sixth sense. At some point, however, even Calypso had grown bored of it.

Her mind was on her father until the moment they settled down for the night, when other troubles began to plague her. She thought of their other allies elsewhere in the arena and hoped than Finnick had found Peeta and Katniss, or at the very least survived. She thought of Haymitch and Porter and Plutarch scheming from the outside, and she thought of the faceless entities of Thirteen that awaited them once they managed to get out.

Neither Wiress nor Beetee awoke for the tribute projections. Blight half-rose from his sleeping position, but only grunted at the Panem anthem before turning over and sleeping again. The two young women sat side by side for first watch, taking in all the faces of their fellow victors, starting with Roman. As much as she wished she was seeing no faces, especially not her father's, Calypso let out a relieved sigh when Finnick and the all-important District Twelve tributes did not show up.

"He's probably having the same reaction as you, you know," Johanna half-teased. "I'll never get how you can be bloodthirsty one moment and lovey-dovey the next."

"You only say that because you like to act like you don't care," Calypso poked back. "But you do, because if you didn't you wouldn't have brought my dad to me. Thank you for that, by the way."

"Yeah well, you're one of very few," she sighed. "In fact, I could count on one hand the amount of people I actually like, and most of them are in this arena."

"Sucks to be you."

Johanna raised an eyebrow, but then a chuckle escaped her lips. Calypso smiled cheekily, glad she could find even a moment of peace with her friend. Silence passed over the women as they watched the dark woods. No longer could they see the beach or anything more than a hundred feet in any direction. At least in the ruined city, she'd had solid walls to protect her back. Danger could come from anywhere here.

"Are you afraid?" Calypso asked, all lightheartedness gone from her voice. Johanna was quiet for a moment before answering.

"Right now? No," she replied. "I can't say I won't be afraid in an hour or a day. It doesn't work like that."

It was a very honest answer, and one rarely heard from someone like Johanna.

"I'm scared," Calypso admitted. "I'm scared I've already messed this up somehow, that we're doomed to fail because I haven't done enough or-"

"If you wanted someone to pity you, maybe you should've asked Nuts and Volts to stay awake," Johanna cut in. There she was, the version everyone knew and loved. She gave Calypso an exasperated look. "We'll figure it out as we go. Stop acting like you're dealing with all of this by yourself."

"Funny," she hummed in reply. "Finnick said the exact same thing, but he phrased it a lot nicer than you."

"No point mincing words," Johanna said. She scooted herself an inch or two closer to Calypso. "You should sleep. I'll keep watch. Get some rest so when we do need you to take charge, you'll be ready."

Calypso did not argue. Resting her head on the other woman's shoulder, she closed her eyes and tried to push away all the terrifying memories that swimmed in her vision, images of Maisie and her father and her mother, and the imagined deaths of people that weren't even dead yet. She did not know how long it took, but finally, the inky blackness of unconsciousness took her.