Fire and Ashes {Sequel to Sea Salt and Roses}

Chapter 7

A/N: I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your votes and reads, across all my stories. I really really appreciate all of it. I'm sorry I skipped quite a lot of the Mockingjay scenes because I feel like this story is dragging on, so I will not be following the original timeline and used only a few scenes, so I skipped pretty much the whole thing... I feel so bad, because I'm a massive HG lover. This story will be coming to end soon, and spoilers alert: Finnick lives. In this story at least... Anyways, I love you guys!
xx
Alyssa

~Hillary~
Trust was hard to come by these days; as a squad, trust should be a mutual thing between everyone. Sometimes, it was just hard to trust people who have been constantly lying to everyone.
As I glanced around the room, I noticed Katniss watching Peeta carefully. Peeta had already killed one of our members, we couldn't afford to lose anyone else. Peeta was sound asleep along with everyone else except Katniss and I. Katniss and I were on watch duty for the first few hours and then it would be rotated to Gale and Finnick.
Speaking of Finnick, he sat next to me, his head resting on my shoulder, fast asleep. I could hear soft snores coming from him, they were so soft that only I could hear them. Finnick was the only person I trusted around here, he was always there for me since the two of us were young.

Finnick lightly stirred, he moved closer to me, his right arm rested around my waist. I could feel Katniss' eyes on me, but kept my eyes on Finnick's sleeping face. He looked so peaceful asleep, almost like a little child.
"Are you and Finnick... together?" Katniss finally asked as I looked over at her, not knowing what to say. When I didn't say anything, Katniss spoke again, "Don't know? That seems to be everyone's problem." She was probably referring to herself, Peeta and Gale.
I nodded, showing that you were listening. I noticed that Finnick's breathing pattern had changed, he was awake and listening to the conversation. "What are your plans when all this is over?" I was curious about what the Mockingjay will do, once the war was over.
"That is if I survive this," Katniss said, shrugging. "All I can think about is, ending Snow." Katniss looked over at me, "What about you? You have any plans?"
I thought about it for a second, "I want to settle down, start a family and just live in peace, for once."
Katniss nodded, "With Finnick? Or do you have someone else in mind?"
I felt Finnick's arm around my waist tense up for a second before it relaxed again. He was waiting for my answer. "Hopefully, Finnick. I don't see myself with anyone else." I noticed the small smile on Finnick's face once I had said those words.
I noticed Gale getting up from the other side of the room and walking over to the two of us, "You two should get some rest." Katniss nodded slowly, getting up from her seat and walking over to where Gale was previously. Gale tapped Finnick's shoulders causing him to open his eyes. "It's our watch."
Finnick nodded, before looking over at me, a small smile still present on his face. Once Gale sat back down, Finnick finally spoke, "Was what you said true?"
I shrugged, "I don't know."
Finnick pulled me closer, kissing my forehead. "You should get some sleep. It's going to be a long day tomorrow." I nodded, resting my head on his shoulder. Sleep sounded amazing right about now.
-
Everyone followed Katniss as she lead us through the empty streets, the hologram seemed to be glued on to her hands as she searched for any nearby pods, but Jackson still kept a close eye on her. Cressida and her crew worked on getting shots of Katniss to display on television. I walked behind everyone with Finnick by my side. The two of us were supposed to keep an eye on Peeta who was walking in front of me.
"We can't keep going like this," Jackson said, as everyone stopped. "We're going to get caught by the cameras or worse, peacekeepers. The capital thinks we're dead, let's use that as an advantage."
Pollux, one of Cressida's crew members, began to sign to Cressida. I pitied him slightly, the capital had turned him into an Avox. "Pollux thinks we should travel underground, there shouldn't be any pods down there and we'll be safe from peacekeepers."
Jackson nodded, liking the idea. Everyone followed Pollux as we headed to the nearest sewer entrance. Finnick was the last to enter as he closed the door behind him, making sure to lock it, just in case someone had followed. As everyone walked ahead, Finnick and I stayed a few feet behind.
"We're almost at the capital. Just a few blocks away," Finnick said, adjusting his trident so it wasn't bothering him. "We'll be home by tomorrow."
I smiled at the thought of home, back to District 4. District 4's leaders worked hard to keep everyone safe. "You're coming back to District 4, right?" I asked, I didn't want to leave if Finnick decided to stay in District 13.
Finnick looked over at me as if I asked the dumbest question ever, "Hillary, I just lost you, you're all I have left. I'm not letting you go that easy." He ended that with the infamous smile that I loved so much.
I let out a small laugh, before glancing over at Finnick to see that he wasn't joking. "Finnick, I love-"
Before I could finish your words, we were interrupted by Jackson telling everyone to start running to the other side of the tracks. I finally heard the train that was heading my way. I ran while Finnick grabbed Peeta and dragged him to the other side. All you hid behind the wall to make sure the people in the train wouldn't spot any of us.
"We're too exposed here," I stated, watching as Pollux pointed to a door that led to a safer area. Everyone followed Pollux as he lead us through the dark sewers, the only light coming from our flashlights.
The smell was unbearable, but you knew that it was the least of my worries. Everyone stayed quiet, the only sound that was heard was the water swishing around as we all moved. Finnick was behind me, he kept occasionally glancing back to make sure that nobody was there.
He looked ahead, his eyes landing on the back of my head. He would never be able to forgive himself if anything happened to me, after losing Mags and almost losing me, he grew overly protective. He knew that I could take of myself, but he couldn't help worrying. Finnick stopped when he heard footsteps behind him, but when he looked back, nothing was there. His mind was probably playing tricks on him.
Pollux took everyone to a safe and isolated area where everyone could rest up. It almost seemed like that resting was all we were doing. I sat down against the wall, closing your eyes. I wasn't tired, but I didn't want to be part of the decision-making that Katniss, Gale, and Jackson were going through. I was hungry though, it had been awhile since I had a decent meal. I pulled out a small energy bar and took a bite out of it, from where I was sitting, I could see Finnick talking to Peeta, probably comforting him.
Cressida sat in front of you, going through her camera roll, making sure she had good enough shots. Katniss, Gale, and Jackson were finally done talking. I knew that Katniss was planning on going off to kill Snow herself, possibly taking Gale with her. I thought that her plan was slightly idiotic since Snow must be heavily guarded still. There were still other squads still in the city, Coin wanted them everywhere.
Finally, Finnick came and sat by me, he let out a small content sigh. "I think Peeta's going to be okay."
I smiled, nodding. Katniss was currently talking to Peeta, they were playing a small game called 'Real or not real?'. It seemed to really be helping Peeta. "You're amazing, Finnick."
Finnick chuckled, "Tell me something I don't know, love."
I playfully rolled my eyes, sometimes you wondered how Finnick could keep up his persona. He stayed strong, despite everything. It was a talent to be positive even when everything has gone to shit.
Finnick was about to say something when he noticed Katniss jump into the water, flashing her light around. I  glanced over at Katniss who was staring down the tunnel, staying quiet as she listened carefully. Finally, she turned towards the squad with her eyes find. "Something's here, we need to get out of here," she said and everyone was quick to move and start following Katniss.
Jackson stayed behind us, making sure that nothing would sneak up on us. Pollux was taking us to the nearest exit. It was silent as everyone moved quickly to avoid whatever Snow released on us. Pollux was the first one to go through a horizontal gap, everyone quickly made it through while Jackson made sure that nothing was behind us. I was the last to make it through, I looked behind at Jackson who still staring down the tunnel.
"Jackson, come on!" I whisper-yelled, shining my flashlight at her so she could see what she was doing. But, the second she turned around, the mutts ran as fast as they can before lodging their teeth into Jackson's body. Her screams were heard as the rest of us quickly ran through the tunnel as the screeches of the mutts were heard behind us.
I glanced behind me to see them right on my trail, I cursed slightly, trying to pick up more speed as I ran. Taking a deep breath, I noticed that the squad had reached a ladder that everyone struggled to climb as the mutts just kept grabbing them and bringing them down. I began to fire your machine gun, trying to hit as many mutts as possible, but they kept coming. I glanced over at the ladder to see that Peeta was currently climbing it. The only ones left in the sewers were Katniss, Finnick and me.
"Katniss!" I yelled, trying to catch her attention. She looked over at me and I pointed to the ladder. "Go! We're right behind you!" She nodded, before quickly climbing the ladder.
While I was speaking to Katniss, a mutt managed to jump you, knocking me to the ground. I hit my head on the concrete floor causing it to burn in pain. I looked up to see the mutt snapping its teeth close to my neck. I let out a scream as its nails dug into my forearm. I let go of the mutt, ready for it to take a bite out of me, but Finnick knocked it off me. He helped me up and shoved me towards the ladder. "Hurry! Go, Hillary!"
I began to climb the ladder, Katniss watched from above as she helped me over the ledge.I glanced back down to see Finnick fighting off at least five mutts. "Finnick!" I yelled, panic started to set in, I could hear your heart racing. "Finnick, please, hurry!" I yelled, once again.
Finnick listened this time as he quickly grabbed onto the ladder, making his way up. I smiled at him, he was so close to me. I extended my hand out to him, Finnick reached for my hand when he was grabbed by one of the mutts and brought back down. He laid on the ground, his trident longer in his hand. I screamed as Finnick struggled to push off the mutts, but they began biting into him.
His eyes locked with mine as he screamed my name, his hand still reaching out for me. "Finnick! Oh, god, no!" I yelled, trying to go back down there to help him, but Katniss shoved me out of the way.
She whispered into the hologram before throwing it down there, you screamed as the bomb went off, killing everything that was down there, including Finnick. I glared at Katniss, trying to run up to her, ready to attack when I was grabbed by Gale, he tried to hold my crying form down, but I wouldn't stop trashing around.
Katniss walked up to me, telling me she was sorry when I felt a sharp poke in the side of my arm, I glanced down to see a needle filled with liquid that was previously used to sedate Peeta. The flames were the last thing I saw before my vision faded.