KATNISS'S POV
I stare in shock as Coin slowly falls down, down, down and into the great unknown. The crowd erupts around me. I spin around, looking for the attacker, but there's no one suspicious-looking. The stampede of people nearly knocks me down, and I have to cling to the railing to keep myself from falling over. There's already a new rip in my Mockingjay gown. 'KATNISS!' screams someone. A familiar voice. 'Finnick?' Finnick Odair runs up to me, followed by Gale. Gale Hawthorne. My best friend and hunting partner. I don't blame him for what happened to Prim. I know it wasn't him. It was Coin. She made it, arranged for it to drop on the rebel medics. I hate her for it. I'm happy she's dead. I need to high-five whoever shot her, but I can't find them.
'Gale? What do we do? What happened?' The questions tumble out of my mouth before I can stop them. Gale looks worried. 'First, we need to get you out of that dress. You cannot escape wearing that thing. I know where they stashed your Mockingjay outfit, so follow me.' He joins the rush of Capitol citizens and rebels. I exchange a glance with Finnick. He shrugs. 'We're the only ones left in the Star Squad, so let's go bang-on. We have nothing else to do,' he whispers. I nod and we join Gale, who's navigating his way through the throng of people. 'Katniss, hitch up your dress,' he instructs. I do as he tells me. I can see he wants to give me another apology, and I'm all ready to forgive him, but now's not really the time.
I sprint as well as I can through the crowd. Gale knocks out a Peacekeeper and grabs his gun. Later on he shoots another and gives both me and Finnick a firearm each. We run, pushing and shoving people aside. Peacekeepers are everywhere, and I cover my face with Gale's jacket. We duck into a doorway to wait as a squad of Peacekeepers march by, and Finnick peers out to check if they have gone. During that time, my hand curls around Gale's wrist. 'I'm sorry,' he whispers. 'For whatever I did.' I cling to his hand. 'I forgive you.' He's confused for a moment, and then a tiny ray of relief and hope breaks out on his face. I let go of his hand as Finnick's head comes into view. 'They've gone,' he says. Gale breaks into a sprint and we follow him, dashing down streets and banging into Capitol citizens. We run into a dilapidated street and dart into an old shed.
'Here?' asks Finnick, frowning. I pant, trying to catch my breath. Finnick's got a stitch in his side, and he tries to get rid of it by doing various excersises. 'No. Wait and watch.' Gale's hands silently move over a section of the wooden floor, then stop. He deftly unlocks a hatch and opens a trapdoor. 'Get in, quickly.' Finnick goes first, and I follow. Gale helps me with my dress. I look into his stormy grey eyes - Seam eyes - and want to pour out my heart to him. But we both know that we have no time to sort anything out. He speaks with his eyes, and I'm pretty sure he's saying, Later. When we're safe. I take a breath, and then jump into the musty old tunnel. Gale follows me and quietly shuts the trapdoor, leaving us in complete, total darkness. We are just in time. The door bangs open and people march in - Peacekeepers, I bet you anything - and they scout around the shed. 'There's nothing here, Barn,' says a gruff voice. 'They've gone and hidden themselves in the apartment buildings. Let's go there.' There's general sounds of assent, and they troop out.
I breath a sigh of relief. Finnick takes a torch clipped onto his uniform's belt and shines it into the dark. 'This way,' Gale says. We follow him down the tunnel for a long time, maybe a day. The scenery never changes. There are many trapdoors above our heads, and one time I opened one, snuck into an empty apartment and grabbed all the supplies we'd need. We take breaks, drink water from Gale's emergency water supply, and munch on crackers I have managed to salvage from the feast before the shooting ceremony. I've got tinned food too, but we only eat a couple of cans of stew, saving the rest for later. We resolutely march on until Gale, who's leading, stops at a ladder and climbs upwards.
I follow him, and Finnick brings up the rear. We find ourselves in a brightly lit room. The white lights are blinding. The only furniture is a couple of sofas around a table and a television. One wall's covered in maps of Panem and the districts. 'Hey, sweetheart.' I recognize the voice. Haymitch. He's sitting at a table, feet propped up and taking a swig from a bottle of wine. Clearly drunk. 'They're waiting for you,' he slurs. 'Who?' I snap, exasperated with my mentor and his addiction to drinks. 'The rebels... Plutarch... someone, anyways...' He takes another sip. He's completely incoherent. 'Where?' asks Finnick. 'Control room...' Gale doesn't wait any longer and marches out. I am on his heels, fed up with Haymitch.
We manage to find the Control Room by following a sign on the board. It's a room like the one we found Haymitch in, except it's a lot bigger and is covered in computers, screen, buttons, knobs, maps and charts. The center of the room is empty except for some circular couches and chairs around a glass coffee table. 'Hello, Katniss, Gale, Finnick,' smiles Plutarch. He's sitting on a couch in front of a laptop. I roll my eyes and slump onto a chair opposite him. Gale and Finnick sit on either sides of me. He offers us coffee with sugar and I decline, though Finnick takes a cup. Gale agrees with me and says a firm 'no' to the disgusting, thin, black liquid that people are so addicted to. 'Have you heard the news?' he asks brightly. 'Who hasn't?' says Gale wearily. 'Yes. Well. Katniss, change your dress, and all of you get rejuvenated. We'll speak later,' sighs Plutarch. Fulvia ushers us out with a 'Have a good sleep!' I just manage not to hiss at her.
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I wake up with sunlight streaming in through the guest room window. There's an outfit lying for me on the bed - a simple dark green shirt, emerald green cashmere sweater and black leggings. My famous Mockingjay pin completes the outfit. It's rather like the one I wore on the first two days on the train of my first Games. I briefly wonder who chose them. My prep team, Effie Trinket - if she's still alive - one of the Capitol rebels who watched the clips on the train... anyone, really. I pull them on, and jump into the shower. It's relaxing, even though the hot water slightly burns my skin, which hasn't fully healed from the bomb. At least it doesn't look like a patched wasteland. The Capitol doctor they captured did a good job. All my scars from my previous Games and from the war have disappeared, leaving my skin glowing and flawless. I comb my wet hair, which doesn't look bad at all, owing to the hair-growth potion the doctor gave me, and braid it down my back. I pull on the clothes, drink some water and catch up with Finnick in the hallway.
Gale opens a door and steps out of his guest room. Both Finnick and Gale are dressed in blue shirts and denim. We all look fresh, and completely not like soldiers who are going into battle. Thank goodness Plutarch had the little common sense to let us sleep. I was dead tired and looking like a walking zombie. We don't talk at all as we make our way to the first room we saw when we came here. Where we found Haymitch.
Plutarch is there. He's watching the news with a strange expression - maybe anger? Regret? Annoyance? Sadness? I can't tell. I glance at the screen. It's showing an impeccably dressed woman in a white suit and skirt with mousy brown hair pulled up in a severe knot on her head. She looks vaguely familiar, and she's gesturing wildly with her hands, clearly giving a speech. I make out the words '.... new regime', '....lots of changes', 'building up our community....' and 'helping the good citizens recover....', then Plutarch switches off the television. Fulvia brings a tray with bowls of soup and rolls for breakfast and places it in front of Plutarch. I sit next to Gale on a small white couch and find Plutarch staring at us weirdly.
'What?' I ask. 'Where are we?' The ex-Head Gamemaker passes me a bowl of soup - pumpkin and herbs - and a plate of rolls. 'Eat,' he says firmly. I stuff a roll into my mouth and wait for him to continue. 'We're in our Capitol base.' 'You have a Capitol base?' 'Yes, Finnick. So, do you want the good news or bad news first?' 'Good news,' we all say. I'm tired of hearing bad news everywhere, and it seems Gale and Finnick share my feelings too. 'Well, we've recovered.' 'Who?' Finnick asks. 'The rebels. We're ready to defend and wend off any attack against us.' 'Good.' My curt reply confuses Plutarch, but Gale voices what he'd expected me to say. 'Why? We won the war!' Plutarch sighs. 'That's the bad news.' We wait expectantly.
'The Peacekeepers have risen. Again.' 'What?' all of us exclaim. 'Who's leading them?' questions Gale furiously. 'We eliminated Snow!' 'Ah. Well, it turns out that Snow had a distant family member. She wanted revenge on Snow for shunting her aside and taking up the position of president. She's now really angry that you have taken her kill, Katniss. So she's wrecking revenge on the rebels. And she's working to take over Panem.' 'What's her name?' I whisper into the mortified, eardrum-pressing silence after Plutarch's explanation. 'Shadow Snow.'
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The Second War - An Everthorne/Galeniss Fanfiction
Fanfiction'I never stopped thinking about you. All the time. When you went to the Capitol, during both of your Games, when you were in 13, when you were healing from the war..... it was the only thing that kept me alive. That pushed me forwards. That gave me...
