She burned. Her lungs, her blood, the skin of her hands. The pain came from within, always, and she knew in her heart that she was back — how did he get her?? She thrashed as another wave of panic increased the fire in her veins tenfold. She'd forgotten how much it hurt.

Someone grabbed her shoulders and held her still. She couldn't help the strangled sob that escaped her. She desperately wanted to be back with Finnick, back home on the beach with the sunset and how if she couldn't have that she'd settle for ripping the doctor apart like he did to her. She lashed out, caught on of them on the cheek and scratched as much as she could.

Her arms her jerked behind her back, her chin slammed into the ground as she got flipped and a heavy weight pressed the air from her lungs. She snarled and kicked — this time she wasn't going quiet.

"Hold her still!"

"What the fuck do you think I'm doing? Agh!" She slammed her elbow into someone's nose and felt a twinge or satisfaction at the blood spurt.

"Reyna, you have to calm down!"

She lashed out, feeling a twinge of satisfaction when somebody grunted in pain. The pressure on her back doubled after that, driving the air from her lungs.

It stayed that way, someone's reassuring words bouncing off deaf ears until she gave up struggling. She pressed her cheek into the rough ground and closed her eyes tight, wondering why the hell she hadn't been hauled back to her cell yet — and dreading the moments yet to come.

"I think she's settled down, no need for sedatives." A familiar voice, a man's, gentle but firm. The weight on her eased after a moment, then left completely. She sucked in a deep breath, lightheaded and disoriented, turning over to look at the worried faces above her.

The twins, Katniss, Gale, and Boggs all frowned at her. She frowned back. "Where's Finnick?"

Katniss huffed. She looked exhausted, by the bags under her eyes and the slump of her shoulders. Reyna didn't feel much better, honestly. "Nearby. Out of your sight, for now."

She didn't like that at all.

"I need to see him. I'm fine now." She started to get up, brushing herself off, but—

Boggs held out a placating hand. "Take it easy. You need to take some time, make sure you're in the right headspace to be with him."

"Trust me, he wants to be here. He's almost as stubborn as you." Gale muttered, his thumbs hooked into his belt.

Reyna scowled, but sat back. It wasn't worth it to fight them just so she could hold hands with her hubby. Her husband. That thought alone was enough for her, knowing that he wasn't with her, but we was safe, and they were each other's, til death do them part.

A sixteen hours later, it nearly did.

The mission had been simple, boring even. Film a promo of the Victor-Squad (Boggs didn't like the name) clearing out pods on an otherwise innocuous street. Trigger a pod, catch footage of fighting their evil oppressors, go home with misinformation to spread through the Capital. And it was as easy as that, until  Boggs's legs were blown off.

The explosion threw her and Mitchel into nearby walls, driving the air from her lungs. She gasped, her ears ringing, feeling footsteps through the ground. Finnick was by her side a heartbeat later, tugging her to her feet and cradling her face in his hands.

He tilted her chin this way and that, checking for major damage. He found none, so the crease between his brows eased a touch. She watched his lips move as he spoke, blinking numbly. The ringing was fading already, so that was good. Unfortunately, that meant she could hear Boggs and Katniss.

She looked over her husband's shoulder to see Boggs, lying in an alarmingly large and quickly-spreading pool of blood, his face pale. Too pale, she thought to herself with a heavy heart.

She didn't have much time to wonder about what they were speaking so fervently about, because Peeta barreled into the corner of her eye. He charged Katniss, but Mitchel got in the way, grappled him to the side.

Reyna blinked again, and Mitchel was being thrown back, then snatched up by wires. His screams tore her up — she wished the deafness had lasted longer. He writhed in whatever the hell that cocoon was made of, dripping blood and agony into the streets.

Finnick's grip on her arm tightened. She followed his gaze to see a wall of oily something, and it was coming straight for them. It was between air and tar, and it was fast. She gripped Finnick back, squeezing three times. I love you.

Then she was pulling out her gun and joining Gale in the attempt to set Mitchell free. They shot at each end of the wires, backing up slowly as the wave got closer, closer, closer.

Boggs was being dragged, howling in pain, trailing a thick stream of blood that weeped through the hasty bandages he had on the stumps of his legs. Peeta was still frothing at the mouth for Katniss, but she couldn't worry too much about it. She stumbled, her coordination still not what it used to be, on a chunk of loose road. Someone grabbed her around the middle and hauled her to her feet as the wave swallowed Mitchell whole — it was Gale.

They both hauled ass to the building the others had taken cover in, slamming the door behind themselves with the wave hit on their heels. Reyna sagged against the door, not quite trusting her legs to hold her. She looked up and blanched at Boggs's state, barely hanging onto life to whisper something in Katniss's ear.

By the yelling and thumping, she located Peeta, having been stashed in a closet for safekeeping. A surge of sympathy and guilt clenched at her gut; it should've been her, not Peeta, to bear this burden. He was a baker, a kind soul — she had been raised to deal in death, it was the only thing she did well. Okay, that and fishing.

Finnick looked up and smiled grimly at her, padding over to settle next to her and draw her to his side. His Reyna-is-putting-herself-down-again senses must've been tingling.

They stood there offering quiet comfort as Boggs faded away, leaving Katniss to argue with their squad's second-in-command, Jackson. Looked like Cressida, the twins, Leeg 1, and Holmes made it as well. She was just glad she still had Finnick, honestly.

By the tremble in his own hand when he twined his fingers with hers, he was thinking the same thing.

A/N: wow! Look at all of you, reading here! I'm glad you could make it, and I hope you enjoyed this one. It's way past due, but better late than never, eh? Point is, thank you for reading! Leave a comment if you like, or upvote and share with someone! This chapter is mostly plot progression, sorry y'all. More feels to come soon tho, stay tuned! (Sorry for a TWO YEAR hiatus, holy hell)