ODDS

ʜᴀɴɢɪɴɢ ᴛʀᴇᴇ

Finnick

"𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓭𝓸𝓷'𝓽 have to go, Finnick." Katniss assured me as stood beside the small aircraft, kicking my boot against the concrete ground. The shoes in District Thirteen were nothing like I was used to. Then again, I rarely wore shoes in Four anyway.

"We're in this together, alright?" I looked to her, finding a small frown upon her lips. I gave a small laugh, looking back to my boot.

"If Peeta will see this, maybe Alana will, too." I explained. I cleared my throat and gave up on my boot.

"But you're alright?" Katniss asked, a careful tone lacing her words. It was different than the nurses, but it still brought my face to a quick scowl.

"Are you?" I returned, looking her dead in the eye.

She blinked, thinking a moment before answering. "No. But that's no different from any other day."

I smirked at her. I liked the real Katniss, not the fake persona they'd conjured up for her back in the Capitol. She was funny. Witty.

"Yeah." I agreed. I knew the feeling, just as every victor had.

"Everyone suited up?" Cressida called out, shrugging on a jacket as she brought along her posse camera crew. I nodded.

"Why is he coming with us?" Gale asked, finding his way to the aircraft. I frowned at his attitude until I realized where we were going. His home which no longer existed, not in any way that mattered.

"Emotional support dog." I quipped, peering down at Katniss, who only rolled her eyes as her lips formed a smirk.

I hoped she was ready.

***

Rubble as far as the eye could see.

Smoke wafted from the buildings that hadn't been quite taken out all the way, smoldering into the atmosphere. Even with the bombing happening months before, it was still hot, still burning.

The Capitol's legacy.

"Bam. First shot." Cressida motioned her arms towards the Justice Building, which decayed in ruin. I wondered how this place looked without it all. I wondered what Katniss' home looked like before the war.

She was studying it, too, like it was something out of a terrible book. This wasn't her home. This was a gravesite to her home, her life.

"Katniss, tell us what happened here."

Snow.

Snow happened here.

It wasn't Katniss who spoke up, but Gale. A far away look entered his eyes as he traveled back to that day. He was there, reliving the horror and fear. He was in the midst of death.

"We were all standing right here watching the games when you fired that arrow. The screens just went dark. Nobody had any idea what happened."

It was an odd revelation, reliving this moment with him, as if I had been there. When they were dealing with death, I was handling my own problems. Even in two places, so far away from each other, the arena and District Twelve, Snow had a hold on what the outcome would be. Not completely, but enough.

"Peacekeepers forced us back into our homes. For maybe an hour, the town was just dead quiet."

I knew that feeling, the tense moments just before destruction rained down.

"Little before nine we heard their trucks pulling out. All of them, every single Peacekeeper. And I knew what that meant."

I wondered if that was to happen to us all. Would all of our districts burn to the ground? Would we win before that could happen?