THE DOUBLE DOORS SLID OPEN
automatically—like they usually did—to the control room and they all rushed in, wide eyed and out of breath. The room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. No one dared breathe too loud—in fact they couldn't. Everyone waited on bated breath as they looked at that screen and watched. They didn't dare believe it to be true. That it was live. That it was being broadcasted as they spoke.

"When did it start?" Daniel asked harshly.

Beetee looked away from the screen with hurt in his eyes and beheld the chosen family before them, "We received the signal a few minutes ago."

Finnick loosed a staggering breath as his feet carried him forward. Aella. His Ella... His head shook in denial. That was not her. The woman before him on that screen was not the woman he knew and loved. He had her every feature, every curve, every inch of her body committed to memory. That woman on the screen was a different person to the one he knew and loved.

His knees trembled and he collapsed into the chair beside him with a strangled breath. At a similar time, a sob tore from deep within Clio's chest and she fell to the ground—Daniel barely caught her before her knees hit the floor and he guided her over to the chair beside Finnick, absolutely sick to his stomach.

"Oh—oh god!" Clio sobbed as she clutched to her chest, "W-what have they done..."

Daniel embraced her and soothed her but it was of no use. She was hysterical.

The doors opened once more and both Katniss and Gale walked in, they too halting in the doorway as they looked at the screen.

Katniss inhaled sharply before she took a step forward, "It's been days—"

"Four." Heavensbee grimaced, "Only four days."

"Get her out now!" The Mockingjay snarled, "Get them all out now or this deal is over."

"Is there truly an answer to this conflict? A way for Panem to settle this matter peacefully like President Snow wishes?" Ceasar Flickerman asked, his voice a deafening boom in a room of pure silence.

And more silence, until... "The only answer is war. The Districts are fixed on retribution. They believe it is time to fight back. To fight for a cause they believe in."

Aella's voice was hoarse, broken. It sounded like she'd spent too long screaming and she winced every so often.

Finnick had never seen someone change so much in four days. Her skin was sickly white and the circles under her eyes were black. Her face was hollow—gaunt. They hadn't even tried to hide what they'd done. Her right eye was purple and bloodshot. Her lips were split and cut deeply in places and on her cheek sat three steri-strips over a large cut he had a feeling had only been placed there because she was before a camera.

Her black hair was limp, curls greasy and knotted. Her eyes were lifeless, like the soul had been sucked from her body and festered on. Her body was tight, shoulders high but... but they only showed above her chest. The full view of Caesar panned to only an upward profile of Aella.

Finnick couldn't even begin to decipher her pristine white shirt and the white rose pinned to the breast pocket. Just looking at it nearly sent him over the edge.

They were torturing her in every way they could think...

"But is there not a better way than this endless killing?" Caesar asked her—prompted her more like.

Aella didn't move. She didn't say anything. For a second they thought the connection had cut until Finnick saw her eyes flicker... flicker past Caesar and focus on something else. There was someone else in that room with her, staring at her, watching her, listening to her. Threatening her. Nausea gripped at his stomach.

"I'm not so sure anymore." She all but whispered after a long pause.

"She's being forced." Finnick loosed, "Her eyes flicker. There's someone behind Caesar."

"Peeta called for a cease-fire, it didn't work."

"No." Aella said, "And it won't. The rebels know what they want."

"But you were working with the rebels, Aella, or were you forced into it?" Caesar spoke, "Can't you speak to them here, now? Get them to reconsider."

Say the words, Finnick begged her to say, say that you were forced. That way he'd know for hundred percent certainty that they were threatening her into this.

Again, a flicker of her eyes before she swallowed and looked down, "It's not that simple."

"Isn't it?"

"The world isn't going to change by sitting and watching it go by," Aella said, her voice quiet. Almost as if she were afraid of saying the words, "The thing is, the rebel force has been fighting far longer than any of us realise. They want a better life a-and we can't blame them for that."

Caesar nodded his head thoughtfully as if he seemed to understand and with his ankle crossed over his knee he arched a rose pink coloured brow and asked, "But what is your opinion, Aella? What do you make of all this."

A shuddered breath tore through her lips and she dropped her head back to look at the ceiling. Her movement caused something to sound but no one could physically make out what it had been. It sounded almost like metal clanging together...

"I think innocent people are dying." She spoke and the hard edge of her tone had returned. She looked with fire in her eyes and Finnick knew that even though her hand was being twisted she was still going to fight, "Children, women, men, our elderly. Hospitals full of innocent and injured people are being bombed. Districts are suffering and millions of people are sick." She spoke honestly, "That is my opinion. That is what I make of this. It needs to stop."

Caesar leaned forward in his chair, piqued by curiosity, "Are—Aella, are you calling for a ceasefire like Peeta?"

They had no choice but to watch her wage an internal war. By the way her eyes hardened and her jaw clenched Finnick, Clio and Daniel knew she had reached her cross road.

"I don't know what to do anymore," She replied honestly, "what to think. I just want to see my family, to know they're safe."

Caesar's brows furrowed in confusion, "I thought you said your family was dead?"

She nodded, such a small action, "My given family, yes. My mother, father and brother, they died. My chosen? No. Everything I do is for them. To keep them protected, to keep them safe...alive and now I'm here... I don't know where they are... if they're alive."

"What about Finnick?" Caesar asked her tentatively.

The sound of his name had Aella's head snapping up and looking at the man. Fire danced in her eyes, clear and threatening.

It made Finnick swallow thickly as he watched her on the screen. Again, that sound he heard before echoed over the video. It was clearer that time, definitely metal...chains. He ran his hands down his face and continued to watch her carefully, examining her every move for clues. For something.

As if a gun had been pushed into the back of her head, Aella calmed the fire dancing in her eyes. Her features schooled into nothing. The hollow gaze returned and she looked down, most likely to her hands that were out of the frame.

"I don't know. They say he's here but... I haven't seen him."

Finnick swore under his breath and collapsed back in his chair hearing her words. Beetee glanced over to him solemnly and said, "They're using you all to control her."

Daniel nodded his head in agreement, his face twisted in pain and said, "Snow must've created some kind of elaborate lie about having us captive in the Capitol. Why else would she be hesitating like this?"

"I think he's already threatened her." Haymitch observed closely. His words took them all by surprise as he spoke up, "There's just something about her that isn't... right... but I don't know what he could've done or who he could've used that would have her acting like this."

Silence seeped among them while they pondered his words. Aella continued avoiding Caesar's questions and he continued to press her for answers and it wasn't until Clio swore did they all look to her and see the combination of dread and realisation flash across her face.

"Palex, Flax and Cayenne." She said on an exhale before she met Heavensbee's gaze.

The man grimaced, "We never did find them."

"Oh, god." Daniel sighed heavily and he turned his head back to the screen.

"You were out in District Eight with the rebel forces." Caesar said to Aella, "We all saw the footage—"

She shook her head, "I don't remember anything about being in District Eight. All I remember is waking up that morning."

Beetee looked at Finnick and said, "She thinks you are in the Capitol with her."

"That's why she's afraid to talk." Heavensbee nodded, "She's worried Snow will kill you if she doesn't comply with him."

"Bastard." Daniel swore, still holding Clio as the woman cried. Fury lit his eyes as he repeated, "Bastard."

"We all know what happened the last time she refused to follow his orders." Haymitch added, "He killed her family. She doesn't want to repeat her mistakes."

"Do you think he's killed Palex, Flax and Cayenne?" Finnick asked though his question wasn't aimed at anyone in particular.

Heavensbee nodded solemnly and said, "It wouldn't surprise me... and it would explain why she's so reserved."

Finnick's heart couldn't handle it. He couldn't handle the sight of her so broken. So sad and hurt. He needed to protect her. He swore to protect her and he had failed. Snow was manipulating her again, forcing her to play the game by giving her ultimatums and that she was willing to go against her moral compass and everything she believed in... that she was willing to put herself on the line like that to protect him...

It was all too much.

"But were you or were you not working with them? Did they hold you captive? Threaten you unless you did what they asked?" Caesar questioned her with furrowed brows.

Aella broke out into humourless laughter. The irony of his words apparently too much for her. She was over it—completely fed up and the rattle of chains echoed again.

Discomfort pulled at Caesar's features as he tried to school his expression. His attempt at a nonchalant shrug came across tense, "What's funny, Aella? Care to let us in on the joke."

And then all the life left her eyes. Finnick had seen her do that before. Clio and Daniel were no strangers to it either. She suppressed her emotions, turned off her feelings.. her humanity. She switched herself off to ensure she wouldn't feel it... the torture she had decided to accept.

A tear rolled down Finnick's cheek and he pressed his hand to his mouth and begged her not to do it.

But she didn't hear him, her voice of reason.

"What's funny is how ironic it is." She began by saying, "What's funny is how Snow is so afraid of me he stations a Peacekeeper behind me, away from the camera, and two behind you all with their guns pointed to my head in warning should I decide to misbehave. What's funny is these chains—" The clear rattle of them sounded over her voice as her words became more rushed, "are wrapped around my wrists and ankles because they know I'll kill them. What's funny is how far you are from the truth, Caesar. The rebels didn't force me, District Thirteen didn't force me. I am fighting with the rebels and we will take down the Capitol! Snow is the one forcing me—threatening me—into pretending I'm not a rebel just like he forces everyone to play his stupid games—!"

The commotion that erupted was chaos. Aella's chair was kicked back and her chained hands came into view. The Peacekeepers she had spoke about appeared behind her. They wrapped an arm each around hers and pulled her back but she fought them with everything she had.

"He killed Cayenne and Flax to coerce me into cooperating with him but I am done! You hear me? I am fucking done playing his bullshit—"

She disappeared. The signal was lost, either that or the video was finally cut. They could all hazard a good guess as to which it actually was but it didn't sit well with them. Unease washed in their stomachs and hesitant glances were sent around the room. The silence was so thick it could be cut with a knife and it was Heavensbee who eventually broke it.

"She has more strength than all of us combined to do that."

Clio nodded solemnly in agreement, staring at her hands, and said, "She's sick of being controlled by him. We all are."

Daniel's hand laid over her shoulder and he squeezed it comfortingly as he spoke the words everyone thought but didn't dare say, "But what has it cost her?"

"I don't think she cares anymore." Haymitch observed, "But what she did... everything she just said.. we need to make sure the rebels see this. She may have just sacrificed herself to fuel this rebellion even further."

"I agree," Heavensbee nodded, "but I don't think she did it for the rebellion."

Katniss glanced between Heavensbee and Haymitch as they spoke but her eyes swayed to Finnick curiously. She found him with his head in his hands, staring blankly down at the table underneath him and she swallowed thickly. Aella had just risked everything for the words she'd spoken. She couldn't even dream to think of what he was feeling at that moment. How she felt when she saw Peeta on that screen couldn't compare. He was still abiding by Snow's rules. Aella had once again called the President out on live television. She'd all but signed her death certificate.

She looked to President Coin. The woman hadn't spoke a word since Katniss had arrived and she sat staring at the blank screen ahead of her. Katniss' hand curled into a fist as she stared at the President of Thirteen.

"Now you know what lengths we are prepared to go to." She said to Coin. The woman finally met her gaze and even Katniss saw the flicker of horror residing in those dull coloured eyes. She was frozen as if disbelief had claimed her but Katniss continued to say, "We continue to find a way to rescue her, to rescue them. Now more than ever. We might not get her back but we will not let her words go to waste."

•    •    •

Aella's eyes couldn't adjust to the sudden darkness she'd been thrown into. All she knew was wherever she was it was cold, damp and smelt awful. Her bare feet were cold and wet as the Peacekeepers dragged her across the stone floor. Her chained wrists were sore behind her from fighting. Red raw and no doubt bleeding. The clang of metal echoed through whatever underground hell she was in but her angry screaming overshadowed it all.

A firm hand pushed her forward between her shoulder blades and she flew forward. Too many days had passed since she'd eaten and already her legs and her body were starting to give in on her. She had already started to waste away into nothing but bone. She fell, body crashing against the stone floor and scraping across. Her head hit off the ground, the sound reverberating off the walls harshly.

She swore in agony, a sharp cry leaving her lips as metal slammed shut. She opened her eyes, still on the ground. Her eyes had barely adjusted to the dark but she could very easily make out the metal bars in front of her—and around her. A cell that looked more like a cage. They'd locked her in a cage like an animal.

A Peacekeeper lingered by the locked door and clicked his finger, signalling for her to come like a dog.

Aella snarled at him. He dangled a set of keys in front of him before dropping them into his pocket with a shrug and turning on his heel. The chains on her wrists pulled and tore at her skin and she winced in response while she pushed her weak body into pulling herself into a sitting position. Her head throbbed in response, a blinding pain searing through her skull and she felt the tickle of blood running down her temple.

"Wait." She bit and she vowed it would be the first and only time she pleaded with one of those scum.

To her surprise the Peacekeeper actually stopped and walked back to her cell door. Aella struggled but she managed to get her feet underneath her and stand up. She stumbled to the side as dizziness overwhelmed her but she dragged herself over to the door of the cell.

"Turn around." The Peacekeeper said monotonously.

Aella did as instructed, desperate to get the metal cuffs off and she sighed in relief when the first one loosened. She dropped her head forward, hair falling around her face and the second one was released. Her arms fell forward but she didn't cradle them to her chest and nurse them.

Instead, she erupted.

With an enraged cry she span round faster than anyone could ever anticipate and lurched forward. Her arms slipped through the bars and her hands curled around the Peacekeeper still standing in front of her cell. He screamed in surprise but the sound was cut off as she curled her hands tightly around his throat and pressed into his windpipe.

She pulled his body forward, slamming him into the metal bars once, twice, three times. Under the helmet she couldn't see his face but she could feel his body failing. His staggered breaths became even farther apart and as he fell to the floor she went down with him, still choking him until he took his last breath. Aella disappeared and The Huntress took over—there only to save her and get her out of whatever hell she'd been dragged into and locked in.

The commotion of her attack did not go unheard and only a mere second after she had took the life of that Peacekeeper did seven more come storming through the doors into the cell block. Aella was stretching through the bars, hands deep in the Peacekeepers pockets for the keys he'd just used to both lock her cell door and unchain her. She tried to reach for the gun he'd dropped but the second her fingers brushed the handle it was kicked away and agonising pain erupted throughout her body.

She fell back to the floor and convulsed as she screamed. Her body twisted in angles it shouldn't as the pain of a thousand heated knives pierced her skin over and over again. The Peacekeeper standing before her cell continued to hold the cattle rod to the metal bars even as her screaming pieced his eardrums in a painful manner. He dragged out her punishment until her screams died and blood ran from her nose, until she was nothing but an immobile body on the floor.

He had electrocuted her to the point of near death and she laid there barely able to breathe from the lasting pain.

The dead Peacekeeper was dragged from the cells and the sound of the door slamming bounced off the damp walls but she didn't hear anything. White noise echoed in her ears. When she actually thought death had claimed her she came crashing back to earth and vomited all over the floor in front of her. She barely had the strength to lift her head as she retched, the pain twisting in her stomach and her chest until she collapsed back again and took deep, laboured, breaths.

"That was impressive."

That voice... it was so familiar to her. It felt so close yet the fading ring in her ears made it seem so far away. It was feminine but so sarcastic, so angry... so familiarly angry.

"How the hell have you fallen into this shithole, Aella?" The female said but this time she thought she detected some kind of concern... fear maybe? "I thought you were safe in Thirteen with Finnick."

"Aella?" Another woman said. Her voice was soft, sweet like honey. She hadn't heard it in a while but she recognised it. Knew who it belonged to, too. Knew what had become of that woman.

No, she wasn't dead. Not yet.

"Aella wake up." She pleaded her again.

Aella forced her eyes open, one than the other and she blinked ferociously to try and see past the blur.

"That's it, Aella." The first woman said. She sounded closer than before this time, "Keep going."

Her body had been numb she realised and her fingers were slowly coming back to life. She curled her hands into weak fists and groaned loudly. The blur lessened and she blinked again, tears rolling down her face freely. Her body regained enough use for her to drag herself across the floor and away from the pile of vomit she laid next to. She pushed herself into a sitting position, using both her hands to keep her up as her head throbbed and her ears rang lowly.

She forced her eyes to focus through the metal bars and towards the figure behind the bars opposite her. She followed the voice, the familiar voice, but the figure looked different. The face, she told herself, focus on the face. Her body was skinny and bone was easily visible. All her muscle had gone and in the darkness her face looked hollow, skin sickly pale. Her hair was... gone. It was gone but there was no mistaking that voice... who it belonged to.

Slowly Aella rubbed her eyes, as if her blurred vision was deceiving her and she mumbled, "Johanna?"

"Welcome to Hell, Aella." Her best friend responded with a wicked grin.

Aella loosed a heavy breath, "What the fuck?"

"Aella?" That second feminine voice squeaked. The tone worrisome, "Aella are you okay?"

The woman groaned and dragged her head into her hands. She tried to push it though her hair but she didn't even make it over the crown before it became knotted. Instead she swore viciously under her breath and looked over at the other woman, "Annie."

In the cell next to Johanna's Annie tried to offer Aella a small smile. It didn't work. It was more of a pressed grimace than anything. Aella's heart thudded in her chest so hard it hurt as she looked between Johanna and Annie but she found her eyes lingering on the red-headed female. She scanned her face, her body, for any visible injures.

"Finnick is so worried about you." Aella said to her.

She didn't miss the way her eyes lit up at the mention of his name, "He's okay?"

Aella nodded as best she could, rubbing her face again. She winced as she dragged her hands over whatever cut had formed when she'd fallen, "He was. Got out the Games okay. I can't imagine what he's doing right now... God, how the hell have I ended up here?"

"My thoughts exactly." Johanna said, "How have you ended up here?"

"I don't remember anything." Aella admitted honestly, "I woke up in bed beside Finnick and it's all a huge blur until I woke up tied to a table here."

"There was whispers of a bombing in District Eight." Johanna said, "Something of you visiting with other rebel forces."

And then a voice she never thought she'd hear again asked suddenly, "Katniss, is she okay? Did she make it out alive?"

Aella turned her head and looked through the bars of the cell next to hers to see the very boy...man she was supposed to have protected through the Games. Peeta Mellark peered at her with hope lighting up his otherwise dead looking eyes.

She thought Johanna looked bad but it was nothing compared to Peeta. Both his eyes were bruised purple. Cuts and lashes marred the milky skin on his arms and, like Johanna, he looked like he'd lost half his body weight.

Aella could hardly breathe looking at him. Flashbacks of that last light in the Games played on repeat like a broken tape. So many thoughts, words, feelings rushed to her mind but she was too speechless to get any of them out. She wanted to scream at him for being so stupid to leave her, wanted to thank him profusely for saving her life, wanted to cry and apologise to him for letting him down. All that and so much more but for the life of her she couldn't get any of it out.

"Aella." He pleaded desperately, his hands gripped the metal bars separating them, "Tell me she's alive."

All she could manage was a slight nod of her head. Peeta's shoulders sagged in relief but she kept staring at him and he noticed it. His brows furrowed softly, "What? What's wrong?"

And she broke. Tears rose to her eyes and cascaded down her face as she broke out into full force sobs. She managed to crawl to the bars that separated her and Peeta and he reached through for her hands as she repeated the same two words over and over again.

"I'm sorry."

Peeta held her as best he could through the bars, mumbling nonsense to her but telling her firmly that he forgave her. Johanna had told him what she could without telling him about the rebellion. Peeta wanted to remain in the dark. They had tortured him for days on end for knowledge on the rebellion. He hadn't known and he wanted to keep it that way. That way he didn't feel obligated to have to withstand the torture just to keep it in.

Aella went slack against the metal bars as she sobbed and her breaths turned hollow and short... gasping.

"She's hyperventilating." Johanna said from across the room and she had never hated not being able to be near her best friend so much than what she did in that moment, "She's having a panic attack."

"What do I do?" Peeta asked quickly, panicked, as he held her as best he could through the bars.

Their voices were nothing in her head as the weight and severity of her situation pounded down on her. She could only imagine what waited for her here. Judging by the look of Peeta and Johanna—by what they had done to her already—it wasn't going to be pretty. It was likely going to end in her death, or if not, her wishing that it would.

It seemed her luck had finally worn out after the stunts she pulled in the run up to the Games. The amount of times she'd narrowly avoided Death's Gates since the starting cannon fired. She'd conned and plotted and rebelled her way out of the Capitol before Snow could get his claws into her deep enough. Whatever had happened for her to end up in his cells... her luck had ran out.

It was that which overwhelmed her. The panic that coursed through her veins. That and the adrenaline leaving her body after it had fought to keep her strong for the last however many days she'd been strapped down to that table and tortured. They hadn't even asked her for a fleck of information regarding the rebel forces yet. That was all to come and she had a very bad feeling what they had planned for her would be much worse than having her fingers broken.

It was fear that consumed her. Total fear.

"Ask her about the Districts." Johanna instructed Peeta from across the cells. She had a feeling this was the first of many, many, panic attacks they were going to have to guide her out of, "About their production, what they do. You start from the end and work your way to the beginning. District Twelve all the way to District One. If she falters, if she stammers you go back to the start. It doesn't matter if she's made it to District Two. It will only work—the panic attack will only stop—if she completes the full cycle."

Peeta nodded vigorously, his eyes wide as he looked from Johanna to Aella—to the woman clutching his arms—and he shook her. He'd briefly see Finnick go through it with her in the Games after she and Katniss had been stuck listening to the Jabberjay's for an hour but he'd been too focused in seeing if Katniss was alright to pay much attention to it. He wished that he had, so that he had some kind of clue if he was doing it right or not.

"Aella," He said loudly, "Aella, tell me about—tell me about the Districts, please?"

A heavy breath was her reply but she made the effort to lift her head and meet his gaze. Soft blue met honey brown and moulded. Aella sought comfort in Peeta's understanding eyes and his words bounced off the walls of her brain over and over and over again.

"Can you tell me?" He asked her gently in a way no one ever had before. Her friends had always been so frantic, so panicked themselves, whenever they had to go through it with her. Peeta was calm and soft and full of reassurance as he held her shoulder lightly and gave her a soft smile, "Tell me about the Districts."

She fought against her ragged breaths enough to be able to force out that District Twelve produced coal. District Twelve that didn't exist anymore because the Capitol—because Snow—had burnt it to the ground like he had District Eight and Peeta didn't even know.

He huffed a soft laugh while he nodded and said, "Some other time I'll tell you more about it other than that it produces coal. I'll tell you about my father's bakery. Would you like that?"

She gripped his arm and nodded, still grappling for breath when Peeta asked her about District Eleven. It took her a few seconds to gather herself enough to respond and he smiled before moving on. They got all the way to District Six without a hitch and when she told him District Five was home Peeta cast Johanna a look of questioning to which she nodded in confirmation that the answer was right.

When Peeta asked her about District Four she lost it. Sobs overran her body so viciously she hardly had any time to take a breath. Her shoulders shook as she cried so hard Peeta and Annie were reduced to tears. Johanna had to glance away for a brief moment, looking to the wall, when pure anguish crossed over Aella's face. She cried for Finnick—no doubt the full force of her predicament hitting her square in the face. The uncertainty if she'd see the love of her life ever again.

Peeta struggled to get her to look back at him, to even take a breath, but after five or so minutes she had calmed down enough to be able to start back from the beginning again and work her way down.

"D-district Eig-eight is textiles. Seven is lumber," She regained enough control to huff a short laugh and looked at Johanna briefly, "J-johanna's stylist for-for her first Games d-dressed her up...as a tree."

"Hey, we don't talk about that." Johanna said from her cell opposite Aella's though even in the dark Peeta could see the outlines of a faint smile on the woman's face.

A very small smile remained on Aella's lips as she continued, managing to pass District Four without a hitch until she finished on District One and released a heavy breath. She leaned her head against the cool metal bars and looked at her hands still gripping Peeta's arms. She didn't even have the energy to pull them back so she let them lie there and mumbled a small thanks into the air hoping he'd hear it.

His responding squeeze of her hand informed her that he did.

Thick silence elapsed through the cells while the Johanna, Peeta and Annie observed Aella. The weight of it all had fallen and she was stuck processing it until she nodded her head to herself and said loud enough from them all to hear, "We're gonna survive this. We're gonna make it out. They'll find us. I know they will."

Low enough for Johanna and Annie not to hear, Peeta asked her, "You think?"

Finally Aella turned her head and she held his gaze firmly and nodded, "I know." She said, equally as quiet as he had for she'd already spied the camera sitting in the far corner of the room—the red light flashing to indicate it was filming. She lowered her voice even further and leaned so close her face pressed against the biting cold of the metal bars and she spoke in a whisper, "They're already looking. They just need to find us."

Peeta didn't verbally respond but the twinkle in his eyes was enough for Aella. Hope. They would all cling on to it with all their might and not let go—no matter how hard it got to hold on. Aella would fight tooth and nail to ensure they did not break her. She knew Finnick would be coming for her. All she had to do was hold out long enough for him to arrive and pray that Peeta had understood the hidden meaning behind her words. Pray that he—like she had—decided enough was enough and give the rebels the location of where they were being kept.

So she turned her head again and rested against the hard metal bars, looking across at her best friend who sat with her back to Annie's cells, thin legs curled to her chest with her eyes already on her person. Aella saw the dying smile on her face, beheld the pain in her eyes and fought to keep a grip on that notion that they would come, that they would rescue them.

So she searched for the best in her very, very, bad situation and fought to keep an amused smile at bay as she looked at her friends head again and said, "Johanna?"

And sensing what was about to come out of her mouth.. knowing whatever teasing insults Aella was about to throw her way, Johanna nodded, "Hmm?"

"What happened to your hair?"

A smile stretched on Johanna's chapped lips, the first smile in what could've been weeks. However long it was the muscles in her face ached from disuse and her chapped lips bled a little but she was truly amused by the mischievous twinkle in Aella's eyes. Right then she understood it, she got it. She knew that Aella was going to fight to not only keep herself sane and to keep herself from not giving in but she was going to do the same for her three companions, too.

They were going to make it out of the other end together... they had to or Aella didn't know what she would do.

•    •    •

A/N; I don't know why I love torturing my FMCs. I'd say I'm sorry but I'm really not... next update will move Friday! Might be late, or quite possibly Saturday as I'm going away & will be travelling pretty much all day Friday but I'll try my best to get the next chapter out for you!