The Arena [Sunday, Fandom time]
Katniss, Peeta and Finnick had just witnessed a tidal wave occurring down the beach when she spotted the three approaching figures. "There," she said quietly, pointing to them. They all faded into the shadows of the jungle to watch. The trio was in bad shape. One was being practically dragged out by a second, and the third wandered in loopy circles, as if deranged. They were a solid brick-red color, as if they had been dipped in paint and left out to dry.
“Who is that?” asked Peeta. “Or what? Muttations?”
As the one being dragged collapsed on the sand, the one doing the dragging clearly became frustrated, and reached out to push the circling one over. And Finnick's eyes lit up. "Johanna!" he called, running for the red things.
“Finnick!” Johanna's voice replied.
Katniss looked to Peeta. “What now?”
“We can't really leave Finnick,” he said.
“Guess not. Come on, then,” she said grouchily, because even if she had had a list of allies, Johanna Mason would definitely not have been on it.
As they moved in closer, Katniss could see her companions, and confusion set in. Beetee on the ground on his back and Wiress, who had regained her feet, continued making loops. “She's got Wiress and Beetee.”
“Nuts and Volts?” said Peeta, equally puzzled. “I've got to hear how this happened.”
Johanna was gesturing toward the jungle and talking very fast to Finnick. “We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lightning, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the force field.”
“I'm sorry, Johanna,” said Finnick. It took a moment for Katniss to place Blight -- Johanna's male counterpart from Seven.
“Yeah, well, he wasn't much, but he was from home,” she said. “And he left me alone with these two.” She nudged Beetee, who was barely conscious. “He got a knife in the back at the Cornucopia. And her-”
They all looked over at Wiress, who was circling around, coated in dried blood, and murmuring, “Tick, tock. Tick, tock.”
“Yeah, we know. Tick, tock. Nuts is in shock,” said Johanna. This seemed to draw Wiress in her direction and she careened into Johanna, who harshly shoved her to the beach. “Just stay down, will you?”
“Lay off her,” Katniss snapped.
Johanna narrowed her brown eyes at Katniss in hatred. “Lay off her?” she hissed. She stepped forward before Katniss could react and slapped her so hard, Katniss saw stars. “Who do you think got them out of that bleeding jungle for you? You-” Finnick tossed her writhing body over his shoulder and carried her out into the water and repeatedly dunked her while she screamed really insulting things Katniss's way.
But Katniss didn't shoot, because she was with Finnick, and because of what she'd said. "She got them for me?"
"You did want them originally," Peeta pointed out.
Katniss looked down at the dying Beetee. "Yeah. I won't have 'em long if I don't do something, though," she said, and set to work looking at Beetee's wound.
---
Everyone offered to take the first watch, but in the end, it was Katniss and Johanna. Of course.
"How'd you lose Mags?" Johanna asked, once everyone else was asleep.
“In the fog. Finnick had Peeta. I had Mags for a while. Then I couldn't lift her. Finnick said he couldn't take them both. She kissed him and walked right into the poison,” Katniss said.
“She was Finnick's mentor, you know,” Johanna said accusingly.
“No, I didn't,” Katniss said.
“She was half his family,” she said a few moments later, but there was less venom behind it.
“So what were you doing with Nuts and Volts?” Katniss asked after a moment.
“I told you - I got them for you. Haymitch said if we were to be allies I had to bring them to you,” said Johanna. “That's what you told him, right?”
No, she thought. But she nodded her head in assent. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“I hope so.” She gave Katniss a look filled with loathing, like she was the biggest drag possible on her life
“Tick, tock,” Katniss heard behind her. She turned and saw Wiress had crawled over. Her eyes were focused on the jungle.
“Oh, goody, she's back. Okay, I'm going to sleep. You and Nuts can guard together,” Johanna said. She went over and flung herself down beside Finnick.
“Tick, tock,” whispered Wiress. Katniss guided her in front of herself and got her to lie down, stroking her arm to soothe her. Wiress drifted off, stirring restlessly, occasionally sighing out her phrase. “Tick, tock.”
Across the water, off to the right, Katniss saw the enormous flash of lightning she'd seen the night before. And just as before, there were twelve bongs.
Twelve bongs last night. Like it was midnight. Then lightning. The sun overhead as it was now. Like it was noon. And lightning.
Slowly Katniss rose, looking around the circle of the arena. Each section of the jungle was a wedge, with the monkeys and the fog and the blood rain. And each had stopped once they'd run far enough.
"Oh," she breathed. "Tick tock."
And she understood. "This is a clock."
---
Katniss had explained to the others, after rousing them, and eventually it was decided that they should head for the Cornucopia. Yes, they'd be exposed, but they'd be able to see the different areas of the jungle.
Along the way, Johanna kept mocking Beetee -- who was clutching a length of wire frantically, as he'd won his Games with wire before -- and Katniss kept standing up for them. It eventually came down to Katnis with her hand on her knife, and Finnick stepping between the two as Johanna proclaimed, "Go ahead, try it. I don't care if you are knocked up, I'll rip your throat out."
So Katniss was really as good as ever at making new friends, she supposed.
When they reached the Cornucopia, Peeta drew in the sand what he approximated to be the different zones of the clock. Two was the fog. Three was the monkeys. And all the while, Wiress kept chanting, "Tick tock."
They were all so concentrated on Peeta's drawing that they missed it until too late. Their canary had stopped singing.
Katniss didn't hesitate. She pulled an arrow into her bow as she twisted and earned a glimpse of a dripping-wet Gloss letting Wiress slide to the ground, her throat slit open in a bright red smile. The point of Katniss's arrow disappeared into his right temple, and in the moment it took her to reload, Johanna buried and ax blade in Cashmere's chest. Finnick knocked away Brutus' spear as it flew towards Peeta, but took Enobaria's knife to his thigh.
The cannon boomed as they gave chase to Brutus and Enobaria, three times, and Katniss knew there was no hope for Wiress.
Suddenly, the ground jerked below her, and the island of land holding the Cornucopia was whirling around, the jungle a blur. When it stopped, Katniss could see that Peeta, Johanna and Finnick had hung on, but the three bodies were flung out to sea.
The whole thing couldn't have taken more than a minute.
---
After Katniss dove out to sea to say goodbye to Wiress -- close her eyelids, whisper a goodbye, and most practically, take Beetee's wire from her, the group decided to briefly split up again. Johanna would stay with Peeta to help him draw another map, while Finnick and Katniss went into the jungle in search of water.
And she couldn't help but realize that Finnick, Johanna and Beetee had all lost their district partners, which just made her appreciate Peeta more. And there was no denying it -- people were sacrificing themselves to save the two of them. She didn't understand it, but she was hardly objecting.
“Katniss, got that spile?” Finnick asked, snapping her back to reality. She cut the vine that tied the spile to her belt and held the metal tube out to him.
That was when she heard the scream. So full of fear and pain it iced Katniss' blood. And so familiar. She dropped the spile, surging forth into the jungle, running wildly through anything that might keep her from reaching her. Prim.
"Prim!" she screamed, though only another agonized cry greeted her. How was she here? "Prim!"
She ripped through the underbrush, as Prim's screams of terror and pain rang out, echoing in her ears as Katniss' body reacted on its own. "Prim! Where are you? Prim!"
She could hear her, but not see her, until she finally located the source of the sound. A little black bird, about ten feet above Katniss's head.
A jabberjay.
She'd never seen one before, but she knew, immediately, all the same. Nothing about the bird suggested it was a mutt, aside from the agonizingly lifelike sounds of Katniss's sister coming from its mouth.
It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real --
Finnick crashed into the clearing to find her wiping her arrow clean with some moss. “Katniss?”
“It's okay. I'm okay,” she said, although she didn't feel okay at all. “I thought I heard my sister but-” The piercing shriek cut her off. It was another voice, not Prim's, maybe a young woman's. Katniss didn't recognize it. But the effect on Finnick was instantaneous. The color vanished from his face, and she could see his pupils actually dilate in fear.
“Finnick, wait!” Katniss said, reaching out to reassure him, but he bolted away. Gone off in pursuit of the victim, as mindlessly as she had pursued Prim. “Finnick!” she called, but she knew he wouldn't turn back and wait for her to give a rational explanation. So all she could do was follow him.
The woman's shrieks emanated from somewhere in the foliage, but the jabberjay was concealed. Finnick was screaming as well, over and over. “Annie! Annie!” He was in a state of panic and completely unreachable, so Katniss did what she would do anyway. She scaled a tree, and killed the jabberjay.
“It's all right, Finnick. It's just a jabberjay. They're playing a trick on us,” Katniss said quietly, climbing down. “It's not real. It's not your...Annie.”
“No, it's not Annie. But the voice was hers. Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams, Katniss?” he said.
Katniss could feel her cheeks grow pale as she understood his meaning. “Oh, Finnick, you don't think they..."
“Yes. I do. That's exactly what I think,” he said.
Somewhere they were torturing her, or did torture her, to get those sounds. Her knees turned to water and she sank to the ground. Finnick was trying to tell me something, but Katniss couldn't hear him. What she did finally hear was another bird starting up somewhere off to her left. And this time, the voice was Gale's.
It was like the fog, only this time, it was her heart and mind that were disintegrating, not her body. And the only way to escape was to run.
She could see Peeta and Johanna and Beetee, now, and though Peeta's hand was raised and his lips were moving, she couldn't hear them. The reason for that was transparent enough -- just like the wall that she and Finnick ran straight into.
As the hour passed, every person Katniss loved at all in Twelve cried in anguish above her, their voices coming from the birds. And the only coherent thought she could manage was that she was so glad that they'd never found out about her friends in Fandom. That while she had to listen to Madge and little Posy and Rory, Wesley was safe. So was Firekeeper. Karla. Warren. Gabrielle. Luke. Their screams weren't here, and that was what kept her sanity hanging by a thread.
She knew it had stopped when Peeta was lifting her from the ground, huddled up on herself. And she heard Beetee's explanation, of how easy it would be to fake those sounds. But it was Peeta's reminder that they'd have to interview the families, soon, that gave her the most hope. When it was down to eight, they interviewed the families. Couldn't do that if they were dead.
She clung to that.
“Of course Peeta's right. The whole country adores Katniss's little sister. If they really killed her like this, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands,” said Johanna flatly. “Don't want that, do they?” She threw back her head and shouted, “Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!”
Katniss's mouth dropped open in shock. No one, ever, said anything like this in the Games. Absolutely, they had cut away from Johanna, were editing her out. But Katniss heard her and could never think about her again in the same way.
Johanna moved past her, going to get water, though Katniss tried to stop her. "It's fine," Johanna said. "There's no one left that I love."
“Who did they use against Finnick?” Peeta asked, still stroking Katniss' back.
“Somebody named Annie,” she said.
“Must be Annie Cresta,” he said.
“Who?” she asked.
.
“Annie Cresta. She was the girl Mags volunteered for. She won about five years ago,” said Peeta.
“I don't remember those Games much,” Katniss said, because that was the summer after her father had died. “Was that the earthquake year?”
“Yeah. Annie's the one who went mad when her district partner got beheaded. Ran off by herself and hid. But an earthquake broke a dam and most of the arena got flooded. She won because she was the best swimmer,” said Peeta.
“Did she get better after?” Katniss asked. “I mean, her mind?”
“I don't know. I don't remember ever seeing her at the Games again. But she didn't look too stable during the reaping this year,” said Peeta.
So that was who Finnick loved, Katniss thought. Not his string of fancy lovers in the Capitol. But a poor, mad girl back home.
---
A parachute came down, when they were settled again on the beach, with a pile of bite-sized square-shaped rolls. “These are from your district, right, Beetee?” Peeta asked.
“Yes, from District Three,” he said. “How many are there?”
Finnick counted them, turning each one over in his hands before he set it in a neat configuration.
Katniss couldn't figure out what it was with Finnick and bread, but he seemed obsessed with handling it. “Twenty-four,” he said.
“An even two dozen, then?” said Beetee.
“Twenty-four on the nose,” said Finnick. “How should we divide them?”
“Let's each have three, and whoever is still alive at breakfast can take a vote on the rest,” said Johanna. It made Katniss laugh, and Johanna gave her a look that was almost approving. No, not approving. But maybe slightly pleased.
[and yes, still long. NFB, NFI, OOC welcome, and WARNING FOR VIOLENCE AND CHARACTER DEATH. Continued from here!]
“Who is that?” asked Peeta. “Or what? Muttations?”
As the one being dragged collapsed on the sand, the one doing the dragging clearly became frustrated, and reached out to push the circling one over. And Finnick's eyes lit up. "Johanna!" he called, running for the red things.
“Finnick!” Johanna's voice replied.
Katniss looked to Peeta. “What now?”
“We can't really leave Finnick,” he said.
“Guess not. Come on, then,” she said grouchily, because even if she had had a list of allies, Johanna Mason would definitely not have been on it.
As they moved in closer, Katniss could see her companions, and confusion set in. Beetee on the ground on his back and Wiress, who had regained her feet, continued making loops. “She's got Wiress and Beetee.”
“Nuts and Volts?” said Peeta, equally puzzled. “I've got to hear how this happened.”
Johanna was gesturing toward the jungle and talking very fast to Finnick. “We thought it was rain, you know, because of the lightning, and we were all so thirsty. But when it started coming down, it turned out to be blood. Thick, hot blood. You couldn't see, you couldn't speak without getting a mouthful. We just staggered around, trying to get out of it. That's when Blight hit the force field.”
“I'm sorry, Johanna,” said Finnick. It took a moment for Katniss to place Blight -- Johanna's male counterpart from Seven.
“Yeah, well, he wasn't much, but he was from home,” she said. “And he left me alone with these two.” She nudged Beetee, who was barely conscious. “He got a knife in the back at the Cornucopia. And her-”
They all looked over at Wiress, who was circling around, coated in dried blood, and murmuring, “Tick, tock. Tick, tock.”
“Yeah, we know. Tick, tock. Nuts is in shock,” said Johanna. This seemed to draw Wiress in her direction and she careened into Johanna, who harshly shoved her to the beach. “Just stay down, will you?”
“Lay off her,” Katniss snapped.
Johanna narrowed her brown eyes at Katniss in hatred. “Lay off her?” she hissed. She stepped forward before Katniss could react and slapped her so hard, Katniss saw stars. “Who do you think got them out of that bleeding jungle for you? You-” Finnick tossed her writhing body over his shoulder and carried her out into the water and repeatedly dunked her while she screamed really insulting things Katniss's way.
But Katniss didn't shoot, because she was with Finnick, and because of what she'd said. "She got them for me?"
"You did want them originally," Peeta pointed out.
Katniss looked down at the dying Beetee. "Yeah. I won't have 'em long if I don't do something, though," she said, and set to work looking at Beetee's wound.
---
Everyone offered to take the first watch, but in the end, it was Katniss and Johanna. Of course.
"How'd you lose Mags?" Johanna asked, once everyone else was asleep.
“In the fog. Finnick had Peeta. I had Mags for a while. Then I couldn't lift her. Finnick said he couldn't take them both. She kissed him and walked right into the poison,” Katniss said.
“She was Finnick's mentor, you know,” Johanna said accusingly.
“No, I didn't,” Katniss said.
“She was half his family,” she said a few moments later, but there was less venom behind it.
“So what were you doing with Nuts and Volts?” Katniss asked after a moment.
“I told you - I got them for you. Haymitch said if we were to be allies I had to bring them to you,” said Johanna. “That's what you told him, right?”
No, she thought. But she nodded her head in assent. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“I hope so.” She gave Katniss a look filled with loathing, like she was the biggest drag possible on her life
“Tick, tock,” Katniss heard behind her. She turned and saw Wiress had crawled over. Her eyes were focused on the jungle.
“Oh, goody, she's back. Okay, I'm going to sleep. You and Nuts can guard together,” Johanna said. She went over and flung herself down beside Finnick.
“Tick, tock,” whispered Wiress. Katniss guided her in front of herself and got her to lie down, stroking her arm to soothe her. Wiress drifted off, stirring restlessly, occasionally sighing out her phrase. “Tick, tock.”
Across the water, off to the right, Katniss saw the enormous flash of lightning she'd seen the night before. And just as before, there were twelve bongs.
Twelve bongs last night. Like it was midnight. Then lightning. The sun overhead as it was now. Like it was noon. And lightning.
Slowly Katniss rose, looking around the circle of the arena. Each section of the jungle was a wedge, with the monkeys and the fog and the blood rain. And each had stopped once they'd run far enough.
"Oh," she breathed. "Tick tock."
And she understood. "This is a clock."
---
Katniss had explained to the others, after rousing them, and eventually it was decided that they should head for the Cornucopia. Yes, they'd be exposed, but they'd be able to see the different areas of the jungle.
Along the way, Johanna kept mocking Beetee -- who was clutching a length of wire frantically, as he'd won his Games with wire before -- and Katniss kept standing up for them. It eventually came down to Katnis with her hand on her knife, and Finnick stepping between the two as Johanna proclaimed, "Go ahead, try it. I don't care if you are knocked up, I'll rip your throat out."
So Katniss was really as good as ever at making new friends, she supposed.
When they reached the Cornucopia, Peeta drew in the sand what he approximated to be the different zones of the clock. Two was the fog. Three was the monkeys. And all the while, Wiress kept chanting, "Tick tock."
They were all so concentrated on Peeta's drawing that they missed it until too late. Their canary had stopped singing.
Katniss didn't hesitate. She pulled an arrow into her bow as she twisted and earned a glimpse of a dripping-wet Gloss letting Wiress slide to the ground, her throat slit open in a bright red smile. The point of Katniss's arrow disappeared into his right temple, and in the moment it took her to reload, Johanna buried and ax blade in Cashmere's chest. Finnick knocked away Brutus' spear as it flew towards Peeta, but took Enobaria's knife to his thigh.
The cannon boomed as they gave chase to Brutus and Enobaria, three times, and Katniss knew there was no hope for Wiress.
Suddenly, the ground jerked below her, and the island of land holding the Cornucopia was whirling around, the jungle a blur. When it stopped, Katniss could see that Peeta, Johanna and Finnick had hung on, but the three bodies were flung out to sea.
The whole thing couldn't have taken more than a minute.
---
After Katniss dove out to sea to say goodbye to Wiress -- close her eyelids, whisper a goodbye, and most practically, take Beetee's wire from her, the group decided to briefly split up again. Johanna would stay with Peeta to help him draw another map, while Finnick and Katniss went into the jungle in search of water.
And she couldn't help but realize that Finnick, Johanna and Beetee had all lost their district partners, which just made her appreciate Peeta more. And there was no denying it -- people were sacrificing themselves to save the two of them. She didn't understand it, but she was hardly objecting.
“Katniss, got that spile?” Finnick asked, snapping her back to reality. She cut the vine that tied the spile to her belt and held the metal tube out to him.
That was when she heard the scream. So full of fear and pain it iced Katniss' blood. And so familiar. She dropped the spile, surging forth into the jungle, running wildly through anything that might keep her from reaching her. Prim.
"Prim!" she screamed, though only another agonized cry greeted her. How was she here? "Prim!"
She ripped through the underbrush, as Prim's screams of terror and pain rang out, echoing in her ears as Katniss' body reacted on its own. "Prim! Where are you? Prim!"
She could hear her, but not see her, until she finally located the source of the sound. A little black bird, about ten feet above Katniss's head.
A jabberjay.
She'd never seen one before, but she knew, immediately, all the same. Nothing about the bird suggested it was a mutt, aside from the agonizingly lifelike sounds of Katniss's sister coming from its mouth.
It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it wasn't real --
Finnick crashed into the clearing to find her wiping her arrow clean with some moss. “Katniss?”
“It's okay. I'm okay,” she said, although she didn't feel okay at all. “I thought I heard my sister but-” The piercing shriek cut her off. It was another voice, not Prim's, maybe a young woman's. Katniss didn't recognize it. But the effect on Finnick was instantaneous. The color vanished from his face, and she could see his pupils actually dilate in fear.
“Finnick, wait!” Katniss said, reaching out to reassure him, but he bolted away. Gone off in pursuit of the victim, as mindlessly as she had pursued Prim. “Finnick!” she called, but she knew he wouldn't turn back and wait for her to give a rational explanation. So all she could do was follow him.
The woman's shrieks emanated from somewhere in the foliage, but the jabberjay was concealed. Finnick was screaming as well, over and over. “Annie! Annie!” He was in a state of panic and completely unreachable, so Katniss did what she would do anyway. She scaled a tree, and killed the jabberjay.
“It's all right, Finnick. It's just a jabberjay. They're playing a trick on us,” Katniss said quietly, climbing down. “It's not real. It's not your...Annie.”
“No, it's not Annie. But the voice was hers. Jabberjays mimic what they hear. Where did they get those screams, Katniss?” he said.
Katniss could feel her cheeks grow pale as she understood his meaning. “Oh, Finnick, you don't think they..."
“Yes. I do. That's exactly what I think,” he said.
Somewhere they were torturing her, or did torture her, to get those sounds. Her knees turned to water and she sank to the ground. Finnick was trying to tell me something, but Katniss couldn't hear him. What she did finally hear was another bird starting up somewhere off to her left. And this time, the voice was Gale's.
It was like the fog, only this time, it was her heart and mind that were disintegrating, not her body. And the only way to escape was to run.
She could see Peeta and Johanna and Beetee, now, and though Peeta's hand was raised and his lips were moving, she couldn't hear them. The reason for that was transparent enough -- just like the wall that she and Finnick ran straight into.
As the hour passed, every person Katniss loved at all in Twelve cried in anguish above her, their voices coming from the birds. And the only coherent thought she could manage was that she was so glad that they'd never found out about her friends in Fandom. That while she had to listen to Madge and little Posy and Rory, Wesley was safe. So was Firekeeper. Karla. Warren. Gabrielle. Luke. Their screams weren't here, and that was what kept her sanity hanging by a thread.
She knew it had stopped when Peeta was lifting her from the ground, huddled up on herself. And she heard Beetee's explanation, of how easy it would be to fake those sounds. But it was Peeta's reminder that they'd have to interview the families, soon, that gave her the most hope. When it was down to eight, they interviewed the families. Couldn't do that if they were dead.
She clung to that.
“Of course Peeta's right. The whole country adores Katniss's little sister. If they really killed her like this, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands,” said Johanna flatly. “Don't want that, do they?” She threw back her head and shouted, “Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!”
Katniss's mouth dropped open in shock. No one, ever, said anything like this in the Games. Absolutely, they had cut away from Johanna, were editing her out. But Katniss heard her and could never think about her again in the same way.
Johanna moved past her, going to get water, though Katniss tried to stop her. "It's fine," Johanna said. "There's no one left that I love."
“Who did they use against Finnick?” Peeta asked, still stroking Katniss' back.
“Somebody named Annie,” she said.
“Must be Annie Cresta,” he said.
“Who?” she asked.
.
“Annie Cresta. She was the girl Mags volunteered for. She won about five years ago,” said Peeta.
“I don't remember those Games much,” Katniss said, because that was the summer after her father had died. “Was that the earthquake year?”
“Yeah. Annie's the one who went mad when her district partner got beheaded. Ran off by herself and hid. But an earthquake broke a dam and most of the arena got flooded. She won because she was the best swimmer,” said Peeta.
“Did she get better after?” Katniss asked. “I mean, her mind?”
“I don't know. I don't remember ever seeing her at the Games again. But she didn't look too stable during the reaping this year,” said Peeta.
So that was who Finnick loved, Katniss thought. Not his string of fancy lovers in the Capitol. But a poor, mad girl back home.
---
A parachute came down, when they were settled again on the beach, with a pile of bite-sized square-shaped rolls. “These are from your district, right, Beetee?” Peeta asked.
“Yes, from District Three,” he said. “How many are there?”
Finnick counted them, turning each one over in his hands before he set it in a neat configuration.
Katniss couldn't figure out what it was with Finnick and bread, but he seemed obsessed with handling it. “Twenty-four,” he said.
“An even two dozen, then?” said Beetee.
“Twenty-four on the nose,” said Finnick. “How should we divide them?”
“Let's each have three, and whoever is still alive at breakfast can take a vote on the rest,” said Johanna. It made Katniss laugh, and Johanna gave her a look that was almost approving. No, not approving. But maybe slightly pleased.
[and yes, still long. NFB, NFI, OOC welcome, and WARNING FOR VIOLENCE AND CHARACTER DEATH. Continued from here!]