A week had gone by, Peeta was still held under restraints while Katniss and Johanna were healing from their wounds. Coin was working on a plan to get district 2 under control, which meant Newt had to work with Beetee for most of the day. Not wanting to be a constant third wheel to Finnick and Annie, I spent most of the time in the training room or sitting by Johanna's bed and talking to her, when she wasn't high on morphine.

"You sure you want to raise your dosage?" I asked her, watching as she turned the dial up.

"I'd rather escape reality than feel any sort of pain, emotional or physical." She chuckled.

"Coin's asked me to meet her, I'm gonna head up to her office. Will you be fine?"

"Quit babying me! I'm an adult now."

"An adult who has been through way too many horrifying situations than needed."

She simply shrugged in reply.

"Try not to drown someone." I said while getting up and walking towards the door.

"I'm not making any promises." She smirked. I chuckled while closing the door behind me.

***

I opened the door to Coin's office to find her and Katniss having a conversation.

"We can't get into the Capitol until we have control of district 2." Coin said.

"Then send me to 2." Katniss suggested, her voice sounded gravelly, still recovering from Peeta's attack. "Want me to fire up the troops? Call out to the loyalists? You've seen what I can do."

"Yes, I have." Coin nodded. She turned to face me and gave a brief smile. "(Y/n)! Just in time. What do you think about sending the team to district 2?"

My eyes widened with excitement but a tang of fear entered my mind at the thought of going to 2. Pushing it to the back of my mind, I said. "It would be a good idea."

"It's settled then." She concluded. "Inform Newt Cresta too. We could use his intelligence over there. I'll brief the entire team after lunch. You'll be leaving tomorrow at 18:00."

Nodding in reply, I turned around and walked out the door, Katniss following behind. "You okay now?" I asked her.

"I still feel like I gargled a bunch of nails, but doing much better than before, thanks."

"How is he... How is Peeta doing?" I inquired hesitantly.

"That isn't Peeta." She said immediately in a pointed tone but then sighed. "Today they sent Prim to talk to him, to remind him something from home. He recognized her. But... he told her that I was a mutt sent by the Capitol to destroy us all. Snow really has him messed up."

"I'm sure he'll come back to his normal self. It'll just take... some time."

We reached the dining room where lunch was currently being served. Finnick, Annie and Newt sat at a table and Gale sat a few rows over to their right.

"I'll see you at briefing, I guess." She said and we parted ways. Grabbing my tray, I plopped down next to Newt and told him about the plan to 2.

"I wish I could come too," Finnick said, looking at the both of us. "But I'd rather stay here with this angel." He said with a smile before kissing Annie's cheek, causing her to blush red, as bright as her hair. This seemed to amuse Finnick since he then turned her face and kissed her on the lips.

"Quit snogging my sister in public!" Newt snapped, causing all of us to laugh.

"We need to get going." I said standing up, shoving the last spoon of mashed potatoes in my mouth. Newt got up too, and the both of us made our way to the command room for briefing.

***

The room was occupied mainly by soldiers. A few stylists, the medical staff, Cressida and her crew, Beetee, Plutarch, Boggs, Gale, Katniss, Haymitch, Newt and I made up the rest. I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see Nat, smiling brightly.

"Nat! What're you doing here?!" I asked, surprise evident in my voice.

"Well, Effie managed to convince Coin to let me come along with you all. An extra hand to help the stylists never hurts!"

"This is district 2 we're talking about. It's dangerous!"

"I won't be anywhere near the war zone, (Y/n). We need to make the mockingjay look perfect. I'll stay with Effie indoors, don't worry about me."

Still not comfortable with the idea of Nat coming along to a place like 2, I wanted to protest, but Coin entered the room and began to speak.

"Good afternoon. We've got 3 hovercrafts heading for district two tomorrow evening, the list of who will be in which plane is being circulated amongst your respective team captains. The mockingjay and her crew will be in hovercraft 2. Once you've reached your destination early the next day, you'll be joining commander Paylor from district 8."

She went on about the measures we have to take to protect ourselves, the weapons we have to carry, and other general instructions.

Once the briefing was done, we were dismissed to resume our daily schedule. Plutarch came up to me and greeted me with a smile. "Miss (L/n). I was wondering if I could ask you of a favour."

"Sure, go ahead."

"As you know, Peeta is still under the effects of the tracker-jacker venom. I was wondering if you could talk to him. We sent in Primrose Everdeen, but it didn't go that well."

"Uh... I'm not sure how he will react. The last time we spoke was when I had to pin him to the ground. And before that, in the arena, I'm pretty sure he thinks we betrayed him."

"On the contrary, he seems to be fine with the mention of your name, for some odd reason. So what do you say, will you give it a try? We will have security standing right outside if things get out of hand."

"Alright then." I sighed.

We made our way to the hospital, and from the small window on the door, I could see Peeta was still under restraints.

"Just ask him about what he knows. Nothing too provoking, we only need to know what lies the Capitol has fed him. And if he trusts you, explain the entire situation to him, let's see how he responds."

"Okay." I nodded. Taking in a deep breath, I opened the door and stepped into the room. The walls, bed covers and lightings were all a pristine white. Peeta was looking at me from the bed, a curious expression on his face, the circles underneath his eyes nearly faded away. "Hey Peeta." I said with a small smile.

"(Y/n)? What are you doing here?"

I shrugged. "Here to talk." I walked closer to his bed and sat down on the edge. The brown belts that held Peeta down were a stark contrast to the white sheets. "How are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." He said hesitantly.

"Do you know why?"

"No... I don't remember much."

"Tell me what you do remember. From the last month or so, I guess."

"The games?" I nodded. "I remember running into the woods, searching for Katniss." He spat her name out. "Is she here? Stay away from her. She's dangerous." His voice began to rise.

"I'm not here to talk about Katniss." I interrupted him. He visibly relaxed a little. "I just want to hear your point of view."

"Alright... after she blew up the force field, I was taken into a plane. Johanna and Enobaria were there. Johanna was saying something... I'm not sure what but... I think I felt anger? And then... I think I saw a girl with red hair. I don't know where I was... I don't remember what I saw after that. I remember waking up one day realizing how much of an idiot I was to trust Katniss. She is a mutt, you know?"

Not wanting to go down that lane, I asked, "Uh do you remember anything else? Maybe your emotions or feelings in particular?"

"I could see white light. It hurt my eyes, but... it was still there. And everytime I thought about how Katniss acted as though she loved me, I literally felt physical pain. As though a fire was running through my body... burning me... She fooled me. She is fooling you all."

"Anything else you recollect? A smell? Or some sounds?" I asked, diverting his attention from Katniss again.

"Roses." He whispered. "Roses and screams. I don't know who was screaming. Maybe it was me. But everytime I smelt roses, the screams were louder."

"Do you know where the smell came from, Peeta?" He shook his head. "Do you want me to tell you?"

"Umm, okay?"

"Do you trust me?"

"Yeah, I've always trusted you." He shrugged. "You saved me when the Cornucopia was spinning, remember?"

I smiled. "I do. And I also wanted to thank you for saving my life too in the arena." He nodded, acknowledging my regards with a smile.

A stream of thoughts began to run through my head. Why did Snow make Peeta hate Katniss only? Why not anyone else who Peeta trusted?

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" He asked with raised eyebrows, breaking my line of thoughts.

"Right. So Peeta, this may seem like a total lie to you, but... it's the truth, I promise you that." His eyes expectantly bore into mine, waiting for me to continue. "You were in the Capitol all this while."

"No I wasn't. Why would I be?"

I let out a deep sigh, preparing myself to what I was about to say. "Before the 75th games, Plutarch Heavensee, the head gamemaker, and a bunch of other people, asked the previous victors to help on a plan to bring the Capitol down from within. Most of us agreed. The plan was kept away from you and Kantiss because Snow had been keeping a close eye on the both of you, and if he got suspicious, the whole plan would have ended badly. On the third night of the games, we were supposed to break the force field for all of us to escape, but you ran away... I couldn't get the tracker out of your arm... and the Capitol got to you before the rescue team could." By the time I was finished, he was looking at me with a bewildered expression.

"The Ca- what plan? Are you lying to me?"

"No, No!" I quickly said, "Of course I am not lying to you, Peeta! You need to trust me on that."

He sat silently for a minute, contemplating my words, a frown etched on his pale face. "I-I dont know..."

"The smell of roses? That's president Snow... he always wears the scent of roses. The Capitol..."

"The Capitol did what?" He asked pointedly.

"They drugged you, Peeta." I whispered. His eyes widened, his mind trying to find solid ground to lay the facts out. "They drugged and tortured you to think that Katniss is a mutt."

"BUT SHE IS!" He yelled, but I didn't flinch.

"Why would I lie to you? There's nothing in it for me if I lie. But if Snow made you think Katniss is dangerous, then it would break her knowing that they've turned you into a weapon." My voice sounded desperate.

He screwed his eyes shut and tried to bring his hands to his face, but the restraints did their job to keep him down. "NO! NO!"

"Peeta! Peeta, Listen to me!" I said firmly.

He calmed down a bit and looked at me, still processing the truth bomb I dropped on him.

"I'm so sorry for not being able to get you out of the arena. If I did, then none of this would have happened. And I know you may not believe me, but I'm asking you to take a leap of faith. Snow is using you against Katniss to win a war against the rebels. And hopefully soon, the venom will be out of your system and you'll know what's the truth."

His breathing started to become erratic as his eyes widened with panic. He shook his head vigorously, his eyes scrunched close, and he let out a scream. A few doctors and guards came rushing into the room. Peeta's eyes met mine for one last time and I mouthed, 'Please, trust me', before they escorted me out of the room.

The silence outside was deafening and I let out a ragged breath, before burying my face in my palms. Plutarch placed a hand on my shoulder, causing me to look up with a flinch.

"You did well. The doctors said that his brain activities were all over the place, meaning he had a conflict in his mind. He is trying to fight against the venom, (Y/n). That's good news."

I nodded shakily before letting out a sigh.

"You have a long flight tomorrow. Get some rest."

We climbed aboard the hovercraft the next day, and settled into our respective bunks. The plane took off at exactly 18:00, and we soared across the skies, heading towards district 2. I looked out a window, the trees whizzing past as small pellets of rain crashed against the glass.

"Beautiful view, isn't it?" A voice asked beside me. I turned to find Nat, a distant look in her eyes.

"Yeah." We sat there in silence for a few moments, before I broke it by saying, "Nat...You wanna tell me why you are risking your life by coming along with us?"

"I couldn't let Effie go alone." She whispered after a while.

"Something going on between you both?"

"No!" She said quickly. Taking a deep breath, she continued in a calmer, sadder voice, "Nothing's going on."

"Do you like her?" I asked her with a small smile. She didn't reply, rather she chose to look at her feet. I placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "You know my opinions about you won't change even if you do."

She looked up at me, her eyes glistening. "You don't think it's weird that a girl like me... likes another girl?"

"Of course not." I said, pulling her into a hug as the tears started to roll down her cheeks. "You are free to love whomever you want. As long as the both of you are happy... nothing else matters. If somebody else has a problem with it, screw them! It isn't their business."

"But what if- what if they do something bad to me?" She sobbed into my shoulder.

"They'll have to go through me, Nat." I said, rubbing her back in a soothing way. "I promise I'll be by your side."

After a while, Nat pulled away and wiped the mascara stains off her face with a handkerchief.

"Does Effie know?" I asked.

"No. Maybe. I don't know. But I'm planning on telling her after all this is over."

"We're a long way from winning this war. Who knows how it'll all turn out? Are you sure you want to wait that long?"

She pondered for a few moments before a smile laced her lips. "I'll do it as soon as we get back to 13 then."

I smiled and nodded, "Okay. That sounds good."

"Thank you, (Y/n). For being there."

"Always, Nat."

***

Night had fallen and we went to our allocated bunkers and I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. The next morning, I was awoken by an electronic voice saying, "30 minutes till touchdown. Get ready for landing."

Newt, Gale and Beetee were looking over some blue prints, having a conversation amongst themselves. "I don't think that's moral. So many innocent lives..." Newt trailed off.

"Yeah, but it's the Capitol. They've tortured us for years." Gale said.

Taking their silence to be a pause in their conversation, I stopped by Newt's side and said, "Hey there."

"Hello, love. Good morning." He said with a smile.

"That's an application of the hummingbird trap." Gale explained to Beetee, pointing at one of the charts on the table. "You scare people so they flee in this direction, into what they think is a safe haven."

"Two-tiered explosion." Beetee concluded.

"You allow people enough time to rush in, help the wounded, then..."

"A second bomb." I finished, causing all of their to turn towards me. I frowned at the idea of tricking innocent people into a trap so vile.

"Right." Gale confirmed. "The second one goes off here-"

He was cut off by Katniss. "I guess there are no rules anymore about what a person can do to another person." She glared at him with her arms crossed.

"I don't think Snow used any rulebook when he hijacked Peeta."

At that moment, in a distance, we could hear Boggs' voice call out. "Strap in for landing!"

Newt took my hand in his and we made our way to the hangar. "I don't like Gale's plan." I said, distaste evident in my voice.

"Neither do I, (Y/n). Let's just hope it's never put into use."
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