"We are simply ash."
•••
It had been five years since Autumn's Hunger Games. She now lived with visions and voices that haunted her every night, watching her district partner die right in front of her eyes. Only one good thing came out of the Games...
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•••
Autumn took in a sharp breath as she sat down on the comfortable sofa in the parlor. Finnick joined her and sat down next to her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it in his. Whatever they needed to discuss, it was important.
Haymitch Abernathy stood in front of the couple, rubbing his tired face as he looked at them. Autumn and Finnick had met Haymitch and become sort of allies to him as many victors did. Victors were automatically friends as they all had the same hatred for the Games that destroyed their minds and souls.
Haymitch was partially sober. Sober enough to talk in all seriousness. Although Autumn knew the moment he left he was going to take out a whiskey bottle and down it until the pain left him.
Autumn didn't blame the man for drowning his sorrows in alcohol. She had considered the same thing, but knew it would only hurt her mind even more in the end.
"Well aren't you two just the cutest couple," Haymitch spoke with a chuckle, the drunk side of him slurring his words together.
"What do you need, Haymitch?" Finnick asked.
"You didn't come all the way to District Four for no reason," Autumn added.
"Have any loyalists been here lately?" Haymitch asked, his voice low and his eyes serious.
Been in Autumn's and Finnick's house? No. Although Autumn and Finnick had recently made a trip to the Capital, but they did not spend the trip together. Instead the spent it with their so called 'Capital lovers.' Or that's what the public called them because they didn't know that the two victors were forced to sell themselves.
Autumn had been able to keep it from Finnick for a year until the seventy first Hunger Games began. They had gone to the Capital and Finnick noticed her sneaking away every once in a while and he realized what was going on because he is going through the same thing.
Autumn broke down crying, telling Finnick how much it had killed her to continue doing it. She also told him about how President Snow threatened his life. Finnick simply held her and swore that he would get her out of it, even if that meant him dying.
"No," Autumn answered. "Nobody but us."
"Good," Haymitch sat down on the sofa across from Finnick and Autumn. "We are planning something."
"Who's we?" Finnick asked.
"A man named Plutarch, some of the other victors, and a few spies in the Capital," Haymitch spoke.
"What are you planning?" Autumn asked him.
Haymitch's eyes gleamed. "A revolution."
"And you've planned a revolution all by yourself?" Finnick asked him, and eyebrow raised.
"I'm just the recruiter of the victors," Haymitch shook his head as he leaned back in his chair.
"So what do you want from us?" Autumn asked him.
"I want you to join," Haymitch spoke. Autumn's breathing hitched in her throat as she though about what a revolution could bring. Blood. Death. Destruction. But it would also bring the end of the Capital.
"Both of us?" Finnick asked. Haymitch nodded.
"Once these next Games are reaped, we will have to be the mentors," Haymitch began to explain the plan. "We will go to the Capital with our tributes and get gem out of the arena then go to District Thirteen. We just have to figure out how to destroy that force field."
"That's a big what if," Autumn spoke.
"If that doesn't work, we leave the tributes," Haymitch told her.
"You would leave them to the Capital's hands?" Autumn asked, suddenly angry.
"They will probably be dead by the time we run from the Capital anyway," Haymitch's face went cold. "And keeping Katniss alive is the top priority. She is the face of this revolution."
Autumn pressed her lips in a thin line, trying to hide her annoyance. She understood Haymitch and was partly angry at herself because leaving the tributes was the smartest decision, but Autumn knew she couldn't do it. Finnick would have to drag her away.
Autumn had a problem with becoming attached to her tributes just to watch them die every year on camera. That has probably been the hardest part about being a victor.
"And if Snow catches us..." Autumn spoke, looking her train of thought. They would all be killed. Finnick would be milked to hurt Autumn and Autumn would be killed to hurt Finnick.
"Then..." Haymitch let out a breath. "We die with the rebellion."
