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SONG SUGGESTION:All the Stars by Kendrick Lamar and SZA
"What are you thinking about?" Greyson found herself asking to the girl who fiddled with the silver tassels on her boots, an empty can of food by her feet. Everyone was asleep besides the two of them and Cressida, who went to go upstairs and see what time it was.
Katniss looked over at Greyson. She was sitting up against the concrete wall with Finnick's arm securely wrapped around her upper thighs. There was secretly some human part of Katniss left that wished she had what they had, but between Gale and Peeta, the odds didn't seem in her favor. "Nine people, dead in the span of 24 hours," she briefly glanced over at a sleeping Peeta, "all because of me."
Greyson furrowed her brow. "You think this was all your doing?" She asked lowly, drawing Katniss' sharp gaze over to her. "I'm part of this rebellion too, we all are. We knew what we were signing up to do – especially me. Do you know how long I've waited for this to happen? Sitting in my house like a prisoner for years, imagining all the ways I could kill Snow . . ." She felt Finnick's hand reach out to search for her in his sleep; she found his hand immediately.
Katniss sighed, "I don't know what that's like, I don't know the pain you've suffered. But people expect things of us, we're the Mockingjay, and I don't know how I can go on knowing people are sacrificing themselves for something that might not end the way we think it will."
For once, Greyson understood Katniss in a way nobody else could. She knew what she was feeling, she had felt it the same way when in District Thirteen and in Eight. Both of them had experienced similar Games, both tried protecting the person they loved – only Katniss got away with keeping Peeta alive. There was no doubt in her mind that they were both Mockingjays, their paths very similar, but Katniss was the Girl on Fire, and Greyson was just a lost Victor still trying to survive after all these years. That's all they were doing, surviving.
"We are the Mockingjay," Greyson agreed, "and people are dying and looking to us to lead them, but we're not leaders, Katniss. We're just as ordinary as everyone else. There are no divine beings at the end of the day, there's just which side you decide to be on. And yeah, we've been through it all, much more than some, and yet we all have that same flicker of hope inside of us that has us where we are right now. We may not win today, or tomorrow, but if people still hold onto that hope; the hope that things will get better, than why give up when it seems as though it's just you and the other person left standing?"
Katniss stayed silent, letting Greyson's words sink in. It reminded her of Peeta and how good he used to be in persuading people. Her throat became thick with emotion, "what if no one's left standing?"
