_____________________________
𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘹𝘵𝘦𝘦𝘯 : 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘸𝘯𝘪𝘦 𝘦𝘨𝘨𝘴
_____________________________

"come on ! this way !" at the sound of gale's voice, hattie had to fight the urge to turn around and walk the other way, making herself follow him. inside, the technology was on, and hattie heard LJ instructing everyone to close the curtains. one by one, each of them shut a pair of drapes.

outside, trucks approached, and hattie let out an uneasy breath. her stomach churned, and her legs shook and threatened to collapse. "peeta." he looked up slightly to the sound of her voice. "hold me." at the demand, he hesitated for well over a second before slowly putting his arms around her waist, and he soon knew why she asked him. from the waist down, her legs were wobbling like she was made of jelly. "sorry." she murmured. "it's okay... don't apologize." he muttered back.

machine guns sounded, and hattie realized the leeg sisters were inside. they sent an explosion at the building, and it crumbled. soon, everyone was kneeling down, and peeta and hattie slowly did so, still holding onto each other. then, the fanfare played on the TV.

"good afternoon. i'm caesar flickerman." hattie could feel peeta's arms start to twitch when he heard the voice of the reporter, and lightly put his head to hattie's shoulder. "here with our continuing coverage of the defence of the capitol. today, as our peacekeepers valiantly hold off the rebels, our story takes a surprising twist. harriet fire, our once favorite daughter, has infiltrated her beloved city with some of the victors, whose names are all too familiar. katniss everdeen, finnick odair, and peeta mellark." "i hate him. i hate him." hattie mumbled. "i know. me too." peeta sniffled, now keeping his eyes on the TV.

"clearly, some alliances don't last forever. take a look at what happened just a moment ago, when our peacekeepers cornered harriet fire and her band of foolish rebels." "why don't they say 'hattie' when they say your full name?" peeta asked. "sounds foolish. 'hattie fire'?" hattie murmured. "whatever arrogance brought this treacherous girl back to us, you are about to witness a great victory, not only for the capitol, but for panem." the same scene played that hattie had just watched, and she shivered all over again.

"so there you have it. katniss everdeen, the girl on fire, and harriet fire, the girl of fire, girls who inspired so much violence, seems to have met a violent end themselves. stay tuned for more information. caesar flickerman. thank you."

"so now that we're dead, what are we gonna do?" gale asked. "isn't it obvious? the next move is to kill me." peeta said.  hattie pulled herself away from the safe embrace she had with him, and gave him a look. "i murdered one of our squad members. katniss is right. i'm a mutt." "no. no. don't you ever... say that. either of you, so help me." hattie scolded, pointed to peeta and katniss.

"it's only a matter of time before i snap again. i'm not in control." peeta told them. "i need a nightlock pill, so i can die when i need to." hattie looked at katniss, and slightly shook her head. katniss didn't respond. "if it gets to that point, i'll kill you myself." gale replied.

"woah, shitbird, getting a little too excited over there." hattie put a hand in gale's direction.

...

hattie looked through the kitchen, finding some treats and bringing them back to feed everyone.

"i don't think i really ever understood the capitol until now. you eat like this you'll believe anything." gale said. "hey, shitbird, i've eaten like this for 16 years, and here i am with you guys." hattie butted in. "you need to stop calling me shitbird." gale sighed. "sure... once you stop being a shitbird." hattie nodded, offering one to peeta, "try it. it's my favorite." peeta glanced up to her face, and it held curiosity. he took it from her hand, and observed it. "what even is this?" he chuckled. the girl laid back into the couch, "brownie with chocolate coating in the shape of an egg. brownie egg." "that sounds like something that would give me a cavity." he said. "ah, i'm fine." she waved it off.

slowly, peeta took a bite and chewed on it for a moment, before nodding. "that.. i like that." she shrugged, "naturally. here. have another." she handed him a pink one. just then, the panem anthem started to play, and flashed the faces of all the squad on the TV, ending with hattie. looking at the picture, hattie readjusted her high ponytail.

"so, harriet fire, a poor unstable girl with nothing but a need to help others, is dead. my daughter is dead." when her father appeared on TV, hattie jumped up and walked up to the hologram. "not a thinker, nor a leader. a girl from the capitol that just wanted to be different. was she valuable? of course. but when she turned rogue, she was barely as valuable as a penny. she was valuable to the rebellion, with no true leader. you call yourselves an alliance. but we saw what that means. your soldiers are at each other's throats." suddenly, the TV went out, and came back. there was president coin. "i'm gonna kill him, i'm gonna kill him." hattie said. nobody realized it until she spoke, but the girl was crying. finnick reached for her, and could barely wrap his arms around her from the comfort of the couch, but she reeled herself in for him to hug her as she weeped.

"good evening. for those of you who don't know me, please, allow me to introduce myself. i am president alma coin, the leader of the rebellion. i have interrupted a broadcast from your president in which he attempted to defame a very brave young woman. 'a girl [ from the capitol ] that just wanted to be different', he called her. as if a leader, a true leader, could be anything else. i had the privilege of knowing the big city girl from the capitol who had survived the trenches of which her father had put her through, and helped turned a nation of slaves into an army ! dead or alive, harriet fire will remain the guest-starring face of this revolution. she will not have died for nothing."

"i had no idea she cared so much for you." katniss told her friend as her tears slowed. "me neither. we barely talked one-on-one." "her vision and ours will be realized. a free panem with self-determination for all. and in her memory, we will al find the strength to rid panem of its oppressors. thank you. and be safe." the four note salute played, and katniss' and her face showed up.

"snow's in his mansion. where is that?" katniss asked, sitting down and opening the holo. "i know where it would be from here." hattie said, walking over to the hologram. "that's us," she pointed into one side, "that's the city circle." she pointed to the opposite side. it's at least 70, 75 blocks north, if i were to guess." "75 blocks?" "yeah," hattie shrugged, "nobody knows we're alive. this is our chance." "these buildings. do these look over snow's gardens?" katniss asked, pointing. "they do. if he goes outside, i could probably shoot him." hattie answered.

"we're getting ahead of ourselves here. whether they're looking for us or not, we are pinned down. hit that button. scan for pods." katniss did as LJ said. red dots showed up everywhere. "just about every 10 steps." gale said. "yeah, that doesn't even show the new ones." hattie scoffed. "so we can't go anywhere in the streets." finnick said. "and the rooftops are just as bad."

"there might be another way."

« « « » » »

as a train passed above their heads, one of the men lead them down there. "my brother knows these tunnels really well. he worked sanitation down here. right after they made him an avox." one of the men said. "i remember being down here," hattie mumbled, gripping her machete harder. "pollux was in here for five years. he didn't even see the sun once." she heard one of the men saying to katniss.

while they walked, they continued to hide from every train that came by and finnick kept on making dumb bets with hattie. "bet you can't do a cartwheel." he said to her. "you are an absolute child." she deadpanned. "we're too exposed here." katniss said. "this way." pollux did a signal, and everyone started to run across the tracks. pollux opened a door on the other sighed, and they followed. a ladder. pollux first. "be careful." she warned peeta, watching him climb down the ladder. soon, she followed.

"looks clear." katniss said. "then let's keep going." hattie called from the back of the group. the others started to walk, and eventually, hattie did a cartwheel before proceeding to stroll behind the group. "awesome !" finnick sung. suddenly, hissing sound was made, everyone ducked down as soon as they could. a couple seconds later, it stopped. hattie realized finnick put a hand over her head. "everybody okay?" LJ shouted.

"...yeah." "yeah." katniss and hattie said. they looked at one another, and suddenly, katniss reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a gold ring. the gold ring. with small amethyst jewels and everything. peeta's ring. "colonel gave it to me before he..." katniss trailed off, but hattie knew what she meant. she nodded, and enclosed her fingers around the piece of jewelry.

...

hattie trudged through the chest-high water with peeta in front of her and finnick behind her, walking pretty fast in the naturally slow force. they held their hands over the water, and still, finnick made dumb bets with hattie. "i bet you can't put your hands in the water." "i can, but i won't." hattie scoffed.

finally, they stopped at a place with 'land', and LJ said, "okay, we're gonna stop here for a bit and get some rest, yeah? i'll take first watch." the boys followed hattie out of the water, and climbed into the shelter. "hey, peeta. just tuck in there." finnick instructed while hattie took a flashlight around the place. "all right, settle in, everybody."

hattie sat between the boys and rested her head on finnick's tall shoulder, his breathing lulling her to sleep.

...

hattie was woken up by katniss tapping her knee. "what?" she grumbled. "watch with me." "okay, fine, but i'm not moving. i have a good enough view from here." katniss glanced at peeta, but eventually agreed. she slid down on the wall and sat across from peeta while finnick stayed quietly asleep

"you know, in the capitol, they used tracker jacker venom on me. that's what the doctors in 13 said. you were stung once too. real or not real?" peeta spoke, looking at katniss. she glanced at hattie, and she nodded. "real." "when they used the venom on me, they would show me pictures of my life. but some weren't real. they changed them." peeta sighed. hattie pat his shoulder in support. "yeah, they do that with a lot of the people they hijack." "how do you know?" katniss asked her. "because my father would take me to the tribute center a lot when i was younger, and it was never pretty." hattie truthfully said. peeta looked over to her, "you call your dad 'father', but haymitch 'dad'. real or not real?" "real. haymitch was more of a dad to me than my father ever was. and haymitch was a drunk."

"at first, they all... they all blurred together. but now... i can sort them out a little. like the.. ones that they changed, they have this quality... it's like they're..." "shiny. like they've been glossed over?" hattie asked, tilting her head. "yeah. yeah." "you should get some rest." katniss told the blonde. "you're still trying to protect me. you both are. real or not real?" the girls looked to each other and nodded.

"real." they chorused. "that's what you and i do." katniss said, "keep each other alive. with the help of that doofus." hattie shook her head with a chuckle, "better watch your mouth."

...

hattie sat between katniss' legs in their watch, playing with her hair as she intently listened for something other than quiet snores.

"hey," "what?" she turned her head up to katniss. "hear that?" "what?" "listen." they closed their mouths, and soon, hattie could hear a distant rumbling. "what is that?" hattie asked, starting to stand up with katniss following after her, pulling out the holo. "go." she handed the holo to hattie, and the brown girl pulled herself into the water. the holo lightly beeped, the distant rumble continued.

suddenly, they could hear, "hattie? katniss?" hattie looked up at katniss. a hissing noise. "what is that?" LJ asked. "we gotta go. we gotta get out of here now !" "keep your voice down." "mutts ! they released mutts." "pollux, what's the fastest way out?" hattie asked. "come on ! go ! go !" everyone got into the water, and hattie handed the holo back to katniss.

gale shot his crossbow to the end of the tunnel, and it set an explosion. as they began to walk through the water, the hissing noises kept coming. gale continued to shoot his crossbow at their previous paths, and hattie was internally freaking out. "what is happening?" she whispered. "we're okay." finnick told her. pollux flashed his flashlight at a hole in the wall, and started to climb through it. he disappeared, before coming back. slowly, they followed.

"come on, hattie." finnick said, helping push her in. she crawled through, then jumped off. she waved her hand over to peeta. "come on, mellark." finnick helped the boy through, and hattie held his wrists as he pulled himself out.

just as LJ was about to bring herself through, she turned around and... "mutts !" hattie screamed. gale shot his crossbow in the direction, and it exploded. "go ! go ! it's mutts !" hattie yelled. "come on, come on, come on !" everyone shouted, running through the tunnels. "pollux, lead us out !" finnick called.

"castor !" "castor !" hattie didn't even wanted to look back to see what it was. suddenly, she felt warm for a moment before it disappeared. exploding arrows. she made the grave mistake as to turn around. mutts. everywhere. they were like slenderman without the suit. she hit the red button on her sword, and prepared herself to fight. "katniss ! hattie ! move !" hattie spent no extra time turning around and running away. she stayed at pace at the front of the group, and when out of the tunnels, gale hit it again, and the tunnel exploded into flames.

hattie cut off some of the mutt's heads, stabbing the mutts with her fire machete, proceeding to fight the mutts away. "you alright?" she heard finnick yell. "let's wait until after we're done with this, finn !" she called back. stab in the chest. decapitation. one by one, she helped kill the mutts. "peeta !" hattie caught peeta fighting a mutt with his bare hands, and she ran over, stabbing the mutt in the back of the skull. more mutts came for her, and she quickly got rid of them. "oh !" a mutt ran to her straight on, and before she could react, a trident stabbed the mutt in the back.

"my knight in shining armor."

a / n :
HEY YALL ! I HOPE YOU LIKED THIS CHAPTER ! also been writing this cute little spider-man ( tom holland ) fanfic, and was wondering if any of you guys were interested in reading? ANYWAY, LOVE YALL 🥳💗
xoxo,
mel 💗