A/N: I know you just want to read the actual chapter, so I'll make this less-prolonged than usual. I know I say this a lot, but thank you, all of you, for reading this story. I am so glad you like it, because, to be honest, I started out writing this for myself more than anything. It is a true privilege to write for you guys, whether you've been reading from the start or you just read the whole story straight through. Thanks a million, and even though I say it in pretty much every author's note, don't forget to vote, comment, share, have fangirl/boy attacks, and just grin from ear to ear at those adorable, fluffy parts. ...actually, you might have to wait a few chapters for that...

When they got there, the wire was snapped. Reyna looked up to see sparks flying off the tree, then she heard the thud of a body hitting the ground.

They ran over to the prone figure. It was their genius. "Beetee, Beetee!" Reyna shook him, trying not to make too much noise. Somehow that would've been wrong.

There was a spear next to him, wrapped in wire. Before Reyna could investigate, a canon went off. Her eyes snapped open. Finnick. "Peeta!" Katniss screamed.

Now it was hard to concentrate, suppressing memories of biting her nails to the bed and then further, until they were bloody because she had to watch Finnick fight to survive.

"Peeta!" She shouted again. Reyna turned to her and clamped a hand over her mouth. There was rustling behind them, growing louder by the second. Katniss nocked an arrow and Reyna drew her other sword.

They crouched down, waiting for the person's identity to become clear.

It was Finnick.

Reyna almost surged forward, but Katniss grabbed her arm and yanked her back. She let out a soft cry in the back of her throat when he started shouting. "Reyna, where are you!? Katniss!?"

He was looking around, trying to find them. And find them he did. His eyes were a mix of relief and nervousness. He raised his hands, not taking his eye off of her arrow, trained at his heart. "Katniss." He began, his voice hoarse from yelling. "Remember who the real enemy is."

After a moment of obvious inner turmoil, the tension left her bowstring, just as it left his shoulders. Reyna ran over to him, freezing midway as thunder began to crackle overhead. It was almost midnight. "Reyna, Katniss, get away from that tree!" He warned.

Reyna, being the sensible one for once, did as he said. But Katniss started wrapping an arrow with the wire.

Finnick started toward her, shouting this time. "Katniss, get away from that tree!!" Reyna didn't let him get any closer. She pushed him, hard, and he skidded to the ground, rolling a little ways away.

The older woman sprinted to Katniss just as the lightning started up and the girl released the arrow into the sky. The blast from the energy threw them both far back, though Finnick (who had just scrambled back up at the time) got less of the impact.

Her ears rung and she squinted from the harsh daylight, only just now appearing through the tears in the artificial sky.

Katniss was hoisted up by the claw, just as planned. Then another, broader frame. Finnick. But before she herself could be extracted, the ground swallowed her up.

Literally, it swung open like a trap door, then closed just before a piece of debris could crush her. Her last thought before succumbing to her injuries? She wanted to walk with Finnick on the beach back home for her first date with him.

The sun would be warm, but not hot. It would be breezy and the sunset would turn his hair to a crown of bronze. His eyes would match the ocean the next morning, before the sun woke up. They would hold hands, laughing at each other's cheesy jokes and sarcastic comments.

It would be her he kissed goodnight to on the cheek, not some Capitol woman who bought his company. But at least he was free now, even if she wasn't.

Finnick's eyes slowly opened, and the first thing he noticed was that Reyna wasn't in the room. Where is she? He tried calling her name, but the words slurred together in his mouth.

Instead he yanked the needles out of his skin and carefully got to his feet. A nearby medical kit had a small blade for surgery. It would make do as a weapon. At least it was a better idea than that syringe. He crept past Katniss and Beetee, his pulse pounding. She had to be here. She had to.

The doors opened to an arguing Haymitch and Plutarch. They looked up quickly when he walked in, then looked down at the same swift pace.

His throat burned, but he still managed to force out a few words. "Where is she?" He sounded broken to even himself.

"She's–" Plutarch tried to soften the blow, but Haymitch knew how this worked. He had to face grieving parents, families and friends too often to not be familiar with how it went.

"She's gone, Finnick. The Capitol got her."

He felt all of the blood drain from his face. Gone. Gone, gone, gone. His legs crumpled, leaving him dazed, staring at the wall blankly.

Then the tears began.

Hot, salty, unfamiliar. He hadn't felt this since his family's death. This hollow throb where his heart used to be, but now only an empty cavity was.

He brought his hands up to his face, shoulders shaking. He couldn't breathe, couldn't think. How can you expect him to be anything but an empty shell? Reyna was his better half. She was his everything.

Maybe thirty minutes later, after trying to not kill Haymitch, he went to change into an oversized shirt he had been lent. His fingers fumbled, making buttoning the front up a nightmare.

He could almost imagine Reyna laughing, giving him a small peck on the lips and helping him button it up with her nimble hands. "It's okay, I'm here. I'm with you, you wonderful dork."

Then he was left alone again, cold without her presence. His fingers caught on something, making him frown in confusion. He had to sit down for a moment when he realized it was the necklace, the very one she had given him.

More than that, it was a piece of her.

"She's gonna lose it when she finds out about the boy." Haymitch grumbled.

"She'll still cooperate, though?" Plutarch asked.

"Without Peeta, there's no guarantee."

Finnick's voice was weak, because he knew exactly what she was going through, but tenfold. "Just tell her when..."

The doors opened, and there Katniss was.

Haymitch was the one to speak first after the conversation suddenly stopped. "Morning, sweetheart."

She launched herself at him, syringe bared. "What are you doing with them?" She yelled to Finnick over her mentor's shoulder.

Haymitch held her back, trying to calm her down. "You and a syringe, against the Capitol? See, this is why no one lets you make the plans."

"What the hell are you doing in here?" She aimed at her ally-but-not-any-more.

Finnick swallowed, hard. His heart was in jagged splinters, and every single breath, thought or remembrance cut him, tore him up. "Stop. Stop. Just...listen."

"We couldn't tell you with Snow watching. It was too risky. Better for you to know nothing." He let her go, taking the syringe.

"Where's Peeta? Where's Reyna?"

Plutarch decided that it was now safe for him to speak without getting his head ripped off. "Now, Katniss... You have been our mission from the beginning. The plan was always to get you out. Half the Tributes were in on it. This is the revolution, and you are the Mockingjay. And we are on our way to District 13 right now."

Reyna groaned, sitting up groggily. She tried to stand, but found herself held down. Shackles.

Around her were the bars of a cell, a cage. She was facing Peeta and Johanna, who were in adjacent cells across from her.

A man with blood red hair and eyes to match walked in, wheeling a cart. On that cart was a tray, and on that tray? Everything from screwdrivers to syringes with various bright liquids to–was that a scalpel?

Her protests meant nothing as she was unchained and pulled back to a chair, then strapped down. Johanna shouted, kicked and scratched. Peeta pleaded for them to stop, to torture him instead.

They would have no respite from Reyna's screams for a long time to come, nor would she be shown mercy. No, their trials were only just beginning. They were in the Capitol now.