Freedom on Your Tongue: Chapter 1
Title: Freedom On Your Tongue
Author: Kiki
Fandom: The Hunger Games
Pairing/Character(s): Peeta/Katniss, Finnick/Katniss friendship, Snow
Rating: M
Word count: 2340
Spoilers: tHG-MJ
Summary: Katniss enters the games alone, wins them alone, and must face the consequences of her actions alone. Peeta has other plans.
Disclaimer. None of this is mine.
}{
Chapter 1: Alive
}{
The golden mutt was in pieces.
Beastly paws dangled, attached only by strings of unidentifiable flesh. Its monstrous claws were useless now, destroyed just like everything else. One of its eyes was just a gushing mess, congealed in a puss-like substance around its eye socket. The other eye was a beautiful, cornflower blue and fixed on her accusingly.
Its huge jaws opened, blade teeth glinting, and then it screamed.
It screamed with Cato's voice.
}{
Her eyes opened and all she saw was white, a white cleaner and brighter than any that existed in District 12.
"They told me you'd be awake today."
It took her a second to orient herself, but when she did she realised the room felt familiar. White ceiling, pink walls, pinker sheets, pastel vases filled with flowers of every colour lined the walls. Even if she wasn't conscious of it, she must have woken before, enough times to recognise her hospital room.
The bronzed man at her bedside was possibly the most beautiful person she'd ever laid eyes on.
It made her instantly uneasy.
"Finnick Odair," he introduced himself like the whole world wouldn't recognise his face. He dropped the spoon he was currently eating with then held out his hand expectantly.
She wasn't completely sure she could move yet, but even if she was, she probably wouldn't touch him.
"I know who you-" Her throat gave out, the tiny, rough voice too much of a strain. She suddenly realised how dry her mouth was. If she could feel anything, she was sure it would be sore.
Finnick pushed a glass towards her lips, as if to help her drink. Katniss wrestled the water from his grasp. The weight of the glass made her hand dip and tremble and water sloshed over the edge, but she managed to stabilize it, drinking greedily, both hands clutching the glass in the same way Prim used to drink when she was a baby.
She finished it off with a sigh and immediately wished for more. She eyed the pitcher on the table beside her longingly, but let the cup drop to her lap. There'd be no more misadventures with glass before she was sure her body could handle it, at least not with an audience.
Finnick continued eating his dessert, clever enough not to comment on the water-spotted sheets.
"Where am I?" Her voice was only slightly stronger this time.
"The Snow Wellness Centre. It's the best hospital in the Capitol. You're very lucky, you know." A lopsided smile appeared on his face as he said the last part. They both got the joke.
She focused on the strange tube coming out of her wrist. The tube led to a strange machine, which flashed in a rhythmic blue light. Wriggling her arm around, she could feel something move deep inside her. Could it be ripped out?
Finnick's spoon made distracting tinkling sounds and she wanted to ask why she was alive, but couldn't quite get the words out.
"Chocolate soufflé. The food in the hospital is slightly less…overpowering than the rest of the city." He held a spoon to her face. "Want some?"
She glared at his hand, not bothering to respond. She was almost certain he was just doing things to annoy her now.
"Did anyone ever tell you, you have a terrible bedside manner?" he teased.
"You're the one beside the bed."
His first real smile made him look even more beautiful, which only annoyed her further.
"This is fun and all, but they'll only let me hang in a high-ox room for a little longer, so we better talk fast."
"Why are you here?"
"Because we're going to be the best of friends."
She sincerely doubted that, but his tone was laced with things she didn't understand and she doubted he'd explain more than that.
"How did I survive?"
"You didn't. You died in the arena before they could pick you up. The few Capitol residents who were awake that early in the morning saw the live feed, but they cut off the relay fast and edited the subsequent replays for the districts. Your suicide is just a vague rumour denied by game makers who insist your delayed appearance is due to a hovercraft crash. They shoved you in a cry-pod with the intention of torturing you for information on the rebel movement later, but before they could unfreeze you, they realised the rumours had reached the districts and caused…unhappiness." His bright green eyes studied her seriously. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"
She looked around the beautiful room, nothing like a hospital in any other district. Flowers, cards, and balloons, which she'd only seen on television before: all a perfect photo opportunity. Had Caesar Flickerman posed by her bed while a television audience sobbed at the unfairness of a hovercraft coming between them and their new victor?
"They saved me so I could tell everyone how I nearly died in a hovercraft accident. I'm alive to keep the districts quiet."
A girl with bright yellow hair burst through the door. Her shiny silver dress caught every light in the room, creating an unwholesome glare. Compared to the rest of the Capitol, her outfit was positively conservative. "Oh, Finni-I mean, Mr. Odair, you were only supposed to be here for five minutes!"
Finnick smiled sweetly. "Has it been five minutes? I'll leave then, but first," he held up the empty bowl he'd been eating from, "Kat finished off her dessert and is too shy for ask for more."
The nurse gave Katniss a sympathetic look, as if being without dessert was the saddest thing she'd ever heard of. "I'll be right back!" she assured them both before racing out again.
Finnick turned back to her. "They might need you alive, but only for as long as you can be used to control the districts."
Away from the madness of the games, she was very aware of how much she needed to stay alive. She doubted they'd hand out extra rations to the victor's district if the victor was a dead traitor. Prim would need her.
"What do I do?" She wasn't really asking Finnick, but he answered anyway, "Anything he tells you to."
"Anything who-"
The door opened again. "There was only lemon soufflé left. Is that okay? I can have another made."
"It's fine." Finnick took the dessert from the nurse. "We're just saying out goodbyes."
The nurse's sweet face looked anxious, obviously not wanting to disappoint Finnick, but not wanting to disobey orders either. She hovered near the door, uncertain what to do.
Finnick leaned over Katniss's bed and whispered close to her ear, "No matter what, just say yes."
She turned to give him a questioning glance, but Finnick just pressed a light kiss her bottom lip and pulled away.
She wondered if she was strong enough to hit him hard enough to hurt, only a look of warning kept her from trying.
He placed the small soufflé dish on her bedside table. "Eat up."
"I've lost my appetite."
Finnick shrugged and the dessert disappeared somewhere into his jacket. "I never get tired of sweets."
He winked at the nurse as he left and Katniss barely repressed a shudder.
The nurse opened a draw in the corner of the room and held up a small blue bottle.
She bit her bright violet lip, violet eyes dancing happily. "How exciting! You and another victor! And Finnick Odair at that..." She kept prattling on, but Katniss could only focus on the blue bottle.
"What's that for?"
The nurse looked confused. "It's sop-spray," she said like that should be clear to anyone. "Just a soporific to help you sleep," she explained.
The nurse waved the bottle at her and a damp mist gathered around her face.
Katniss was asleep before she could even complain.
}{
Finnick was behind her, shoving her forward.
"Run!"
She followed him, only a pace behind.
They were going to make it. Cover was only a few steps away.
He made no sound as he went down in front of her. Not a gasp, not a moan, just the sound of his body hitting the ground.
She stopped only to pull the bloody knife from his neck. The pool of red already leaked into his hair, only it wasn't bronze. It was black. Seam-black.
Tate-black.
She left him there.
Just like last time.
}{
The beeping woke her. Her eyes flew to the machine beside her. This time it pulsed in red and screamed in distress.
It was switched off quickly.
"Don't worry about that."
The smooth voice of her president made her sink deeper into the bed. Sweat beaded on her skin and her vision doubled and tripled when she tried to focus. It was him though. The man from the statues, from the history books, the one that forced her into the Hunger Games.
"I'm afraid I didn't have the time to wait for you to come out of your slumber, so the doctors gave you something to help. It's made your pulse somewhat erratic, but you're new heart can handle it far better than your old one ever could."
Was it the smell of roses making her queasy, or something else entirely?
"My heart?"
The skin of his face was thin and tight and pulled into something that resembled amusement.
"A miracle really. You went into cardiac arrest and the damage was too severe to repair. We could have got you a donor heart, of course, but that wouldn't be nearly as good as the one you've got in there." He ran a bony finger over her chest. His touch reminded her that she was naked under just a flimsy gown in a way Finnick's presence never had. "That one was grown in a lab, right along the muttations you fought so well."
Now she could hear it, beating inside her fast and unsteady. Trying to get out?
She stifled a cry.
"This room is high-oxygen, for the comfort of your injured lungs, but I'm afraid that means I can't stay long. Your body has adjusted to it and will need to be weaned slowly, I don't have that luxury. So to save time, we shall make an agreement not to lie to each other. Can I have your word?"
She nodded, not knowing if it was true, just knowing she had no other choice.
"I knew this was going to be easy. No one who won the Hunger Games is completely unredeemable. You're stunt has caused unrest within the districts, but I, unlike some of my advisors, believe the situation can be salvaged without the annihilation of a district or two. Do you think you can stop the rumours before it comes to that?"
"A hovercraft malfunctioned. I was badly injured, but I'm fully recovered and so happy to have won." She finished with a smile, not her best, but President Snow would know she'd do better when she wasn't under his scrutiny.
"Very good, Ms. Everdeen, but I'm afraid you'll have to do more than that."
"Like what?"
"First, I want that silly girl that spun and smiled for Caesar back. I want her on the Victory Tour. I want her chatting and giggling and being just as vacant and shallow."
"I can do that."
"I want her with Finnick Odair every chance she gets, too."
Katniss frowned slightly. "You sent him."
"Finnick sees who I tell him to see. Just like you will."
"What does that mean?"
He leaned closer, so close she could smell something bloody and sick on his breath when he spoke. "That means, many in the Capitol know how very generous Mr. Odair can be with his company, for a price, and I want them knowing that you will be just as generous. If I say so."
She thought about Finnick, year after year, woman after woman, man after man and President Snow's pleasantly suggestive tone. Her queasiness was back again.
"But why?"
"You might not have Mr. Odair's looks, but there is something rather…striking about you. There are men who would be very grateful to me if I recommend them to you. Grateful men are so much easier to work with, wouldn't you agree?"
She scanned his face and did the second stupidest thing she's ever done. "I don't believe you."
His whole body twitched before he could regain control of it. "Ah, and perceptive too." He cups her cheek, and it takes every ounce of will not to pull away from him. "There's nothing quite like you in the Capitol. You might nearly be as big of a success as Mr. Odair! Now I did tell you the truth, just not all of it. Ask your new friend why I hand him over to Capitol discontents."
"What if I just don't do it?"
She knew what he'd say. She just had to hear it anyway.
"You will. I suppose we're at that awful point where I have to insist. I shall keep it simple and honest. I need you alive, but I do not need your family and I do not need your friends."
Prim. Her mother. Gale.
It was too much. Too much to think of, too awful to contemplate.
"I'll do it. Anything. I swear."
"I knew you were a clever girl." He stood, straightening the cuffs of his outlandish suit. "Miss Everdeen, I'll ask only one more question. My Director of Intelligence thinks that you could be working for someone, but I don't think that's it at all. So tell me, what made you do it?"
His icy eyes sharpened and it was so much worse than the way any tribute had ever looked at her. He'd know a lie, and she wanted him to know the truth, anyway. So she whispered it, knowing somehow he'd hear. "I'd rather be dead than yours."
He smiled, bow-shaped lips stretching even tighter. "Yes, I thought as much."
}{