AELLA HADN'T GIVEN MUCH thought into having children of her own.

She had always wanted to be a mother. Deep down there was nothing she wanted more than to feel that love for a child of her own, to raise and nurture a baby that was hers, but the world she lived in changed all that. She didn't want to bring any child into a world where she knew they would one day have to stand in the District Squre on Reaping Day.

She still recalled the agonising scream her mother had made when she had been reaped. It was a sound she would never, ever, forget. The agony, the fear... it was the sound mothers made when their child died. But that's what her mother thought would become of Aella. She never expected her to win the Games and at the time of her reaping Aella never expected she'd win either.

The day she heard her mother's soul destroying cries was the day she decided she didn't want to raise a child in a world where the Hunger Games and President Snow still existed.

She had made her peace with that without even giving it much thought. It didn't change when she met Finnick either, not as their relationship blossomed into love. Not as they became refugees in District Thirteen. They were in the middle of a war... a war that could've lasted years.

Aella didn't want to bring a child into a place of uncertainty. An underground world where he or she would never get the chance to see or feel the sunlight on their face. Where they'd never get to look up at the sky and see thousands of stars during the night. She wanted her children to know what the wind felt like as it kissed their skin, or to feel the heavy downpour of rain soak them. She wanted them to be able to jump into big puddles or make snowmen and have snowball fights outside with their friends.

They wouldn't get to experience any of that as long as the war was still raging on and they were still refugees in District Thirteen.

Then she met Piper and everything seemed to change after that.

She had seen a child in need. A child who had no parents and was still so innocent. She saw herself when she was that age sitting in those pyjamas clutching a teddy bear to her chest. Most importantly she saw a child who needed love and care and Aella wanted to give her that.

She had been so ready to make such a life changing decision without so much as a second thought. Then, all of a sudden, she was thrown into captivity and forced to learn how to re-adjust to life after her rescue. But Piper was always a thought in the back of her mind. She was still willing to make that change to her life and take Piper in knowing there was a chance she wouldn't be marched off into the Hunger Games.

She and Finnick hadn't even talked about having children together. She didn't know his thoughts but she had come to learn he had been ready to take Piper in even while she was still captive in the Capitol. They hadn't talked much about her decision after her rescue either. Finnick had merely told her that he trusted her decision and he would support her in whatever she did.

But their own children? No, they hadn't talked about that. Hadn't even had the chance to give it much thought. It had come up in conversation only once and that was when they'd been trying to think of any way to prevent Finnick from joining the star squad on the front lines. They had thought that just maybe Coin wouldn't be able to send him if Aella was pregnant and even if that were true they didn't have the time to actually make it happen. Finnick had been given a thirty hour notice.

They didn't talk about it again.

Even finding out about Clio's pregnancy didn't stir up any feelings within Aella about having her own children. She didn't know what it was.

But she knew that sitting in Tigris' apartment above her boutique knowing what could've been while Finnick was in the basement below hanging on to live with both hands was soul destroying.

Stress, Tigris had said while she sat with Aella in her bathroom and consoled her, your body couldn't take it, it can happen in the initial weeks.

Aella wanted to cry, wanted to scream to the world from the top of her lungs how unfair it was but truthfully she was completely numb. She wasn't sure why she was mourning something she didn't even know she had until she lost it but she couldn't stop thinking about what could've been.

All those thoughts about not wanting to raise a child in such an uncertain world and yet if she could've turned back the clock she would've. She had no idea what she'd do differently considering she didn't even know herself that she had been pregnant but she just wished she could've changed something.

For a brief period she was a mother and Finnick was a father and they were none the wiser. She'd had no symptoms aside from feeling sick and nauseous when they'd gone into the tunnels but she thought that was more anxiety related. Now she had been a mother and Finnick had been a father. That dream was no longer a reality. 

Aella didn't even notice Tigris was standing in front of her until she cleared her throat. She was too deep in her thoughts to realise but when she met the woman's gaze Tigris offered her a tight-lipped supportive smile and extended the steaming mug she was holding out for her to take, "Here."

Aella took it without hesitation. She didn't care what it was. Not even if it was some wild Capitol concoction. She'd drink just about anything at that moment in time.

"Black tea with a dash of whiskey." She explained when Aella looked at the contents.

A grateful smile rose to her chapped lips and she blew into the cup to cool it before saying, "Thank you, Tigris."

The woman nodded and sat down on the plush velvet maroon arm chair opposite her, "It should help with any lasting pains." She said softly, "I do have medicine for that if you want any."

Aella shook her head, "No. I'm okay, thank you." She said as her hand brushed over her stomach absentmindedly.

What had transpired was mostly a blur but she remembered Cressida and Pollux dragging her up the stairs into Tigris' boutique. By that point Aella's vision had been fading in and out the pain was that intense. Pollux had gone back down into the basement and Cressida had stayed, helping Aella up to the bathroom with Tigris.

It became abundantly clear to all three women what was happening when Aella pieced it all together. There wasn't anything that any of them could've done to stop it. It was something they just had to wait for to pass and eventually it did.

"I was going to put one in the tea but I was afraid it'd be too much for you." Tigris said after a brief silence, "You're much smaller than what I am."

Aella took a small sip of the tea and for a brief moment her eyes closed when the hot liquid warmed her throat. She swallowed the sweet concoction and replied, "Not always."

"No." Tigris said, a tad solemn, "I'm sorry for what they did to you. Coriolanus wasn't always like he is now."

Aella almost choked on her tea but she managed to keep it down. She lifted her shocked eyes to Tigris' modified form and said, "You knew him?"

"We go very far back." She nodded and Aella sensed a distant pain behind her voice. It bled into her tone when she said, "As far as children."

Aella hoped she was masking her shock well as she settled her mug down in her lap and said, "You wouldn't be able to tell."

Tigris pressed her lips together and nodded, "We eventually drifted apart."

"Were—" Aella paused, forcing herself to hold her question. It wasn't her business but she was curious. When Tigris merely arched a brow she let it slip, "Were you in a relationship?"

"No." Tigris laughed and she shook her head before looking at Aella again, "We're cousins. I come from the mighty house of Snow."

Aella's jaw dropped. She couldn't hide the shock even if she wanted to. She'd met Tigris on numerous occasions thanks to Palex and yet she would never of known Tigris was related to President Snow. In fact, it seemed that the majority of Panem didn't know. But if Tigris and Snow were cousins...if they grew up together... Aella was having a harder time getting over Tigris' age if that were the case. She would be mid-eighties yet she didn't look a day older than early forties, even with all the body modifications.

She couldn't comprehend it, "H-how?"

"I know." Tigris nodded, "Hard to believe, isn't it?"

"What happened?" She found herself asking before she could stop herself.

Tigris shrugged, "I never agreed with the Hunger Games and what they represented. Coriolanus knew that." She said, "When he was in his final year in the Academy they decided to make a change to how the Games ran. They selected the top twenty-four students and elected them as mentors to the tributes... At the time the Hunger Games was in a simple amphitheatre and you used to be able to buy a ticket and watch in the stands. It was nothing like it was now. It would last three hours, maximum, but this particular year Coriolanus was chosen to be a mentor. It was the tenth Hunger Games. Coriolanus mentored the girl from District Twelve." 

Aella took another sip of tea and said, "What happened?"

"She won." Tigris said simply, "The whole of Panem fell in love with her. A girl from District Twelve with the voice of an angel. Lucy-Gray Baird, they called her." The woman picked at her sharp nails, almost resembling claws and said, "But Coriolanus cheated so she could win. Lucy-Gray was sent back to District Twelve a Victor and he was kicked out of the Academy and drafted into public service as a Peacekeeper."

Aella sat silently and let Tigris continue telling her story. She could hardly believe what she was hearing.

"Corio never really told me what happened while he served," Tigris said and Aella couldn't help but notice the way she called the man 'Corio'. She said his name with so much love, as if she still loved her cousin deep down, even after everything he had put her through. But if what Tigris was saying was true they seemed to be all the other had when they were younger and growing up.

"His best friend, Sejanus, died out there, I know that," Tigris said, "he and Corio went out together but where Coriolanus was sent on orders Sejanus volunteered. He absolutely loathed the Hunger Games, the Captiol... he was District—as we called it in my day—and his father rose to power and became President of Panem during the Dark Days. Sejanus just wanted to make this world a better place but it came out that he had betrayed the Captiol and became a rebel. He was hung in District Twelve where he and Coriolanus were sent to serve before his mother or father could ever do anything about it,"

"Coriolanus was named the heir to Sejanus's father's legacy. He succeeded him as President when President Plinth died."

Aella swallowed and cleared her throat briefly before saying, "Wh-what about the girl? Lucy-Gray?"

Tigris shrugged once, "I'm not sure. I thought Coriolanus had feelings for her. He certainly acted that way and I know he asked to be posted to District Twelve. I think he met her out there but something must've happened between them. Coriolanus was set to be promoted when he was bitten by a poisonous snake. He went MIA from their base for two days but they put it down to the snake bite. When he came back to the Capitol he was... different. That's when I saw the change in him and eventually over time he became more cruel and ruthless, shaping him into the person he is today."

"When did you last speak to him?" Aella asked curiously.

Tigris exhaled as she looked at her fingers in thought, counting on them before she said, "It must be over ten years ago."

"And it doesn't bother you that we're here to kill him?" She asked, holding her mug of tea to her chest, "He's the closest thing you have to family."

"The Coriolanus Snow I knew died when he returned from District Twelve." Tigris spoke honestly, "I mourned him long ago. His reign of tyranny needs to end. That's why I sided with Plutarch Heavensbee before the rebellion even started. That's why this place is known as a safe house. It's because I—unlike all my fellow Capitol citizens—am a rebel in this war, not a loyalist."

Aella didn't think of it as that until she heard Tigris physically say those words. She had never realised how far and how deep Plutarch's connections stretched. The man was far more powerful then he made himself out to be. She was shocked—in all honesty—hearing her say that but it was nice to know someone outside of the Districts had the same feelings as she did, that they shared the same beliefs. The fact that Tigris was Snow's own flesh and blood just continued to further her point.

"I honestly don't know where we'd be without you right now, Tigris." Aella admitted honestly. Unsure of what to say in response to her confession regarding her cousin and their President, "If I forget later on, I really am grateful."

Tigris shook her head in light dismissal, "It's nothing."

"It's not." Aella responded, "It's an act of kindness we'll never be able to repay."

Tigris nodded once, "For this rebellion." She said before she paused and added, "And for Palex, also."

Aella swallowed the lump in her throat as her eyes glossed with hot tears. She tried to force herself to nod but she couldn't. Instead, she took a sip of her tea and she rested her head back against the chair trying to piece together everything that had just happened in the last twelve hours, all the revelations, all the twists and all the turns.

She didn't think she'd ever be able to get through it.

•    •    •

Finnick showed no signs of waking up nor did he show any signs of getting better.

Aella didn't stay upstairs with Tigris for long. She couldn't take the fear of being separated from Finnick. She hated not knowing how he was. Even if she was still in agony herself. She changed her trousers and went back downstairs with medicine Tigris had given her to help with any pains.

Over what felt like the next twenty-four hours Cressida and Aella took it in turns nursing Finnick. Cressida insisted Aella rest frequently and eat as much as she could. Finnick would need her as strong as she could be for when he was recovering, she kept saying to her while shoving more canned food and bread into her hands. Aella could never eat more than half of it but she still tried her best.

They had only had to change Finnick's bandages twice. Aella's slash wounds on her stomach had needed to be changed more than Finnick's had but they were both losing blood in equal amounts. For every shade paler Finnick's skin grew with blood loss Aella followed.

They all knew she was in pain—physical and emotional—but she put her mask on and refused to take it off. She didn't want to talk. She only wanted to focus on Finnick and keeping him alive in any way she could. The bleeding was slowing down and the stitches Aella had put in were holding but he wasn't getting better. She could tell he was getting an infection in his wound and she knew that when that did fully set in she stood virtually no chance at keeping him alive in Tigris' basement. He needed medical help....they all did.

She shook her head and turned her body to look at her surviving comrades, barely containing a seethe as pain danced through her abdomen. They were all already watching her—even more so after she'd hissed in pain—but she said, "He can't stay down here much longer, he's already getting an infection."

"I agree," Cressida said, "but we're stuck with no where to go."

"Give me a map, or something." Aella suggested, "I'll try find my way back to base."

"It's too far." Katniss said, "You won't make it without triggering a pod of being found by Peacekeepers."

Aella clenched her jaw in frustration and glanced back down to Finnick as he slept—or remained unconscious. It eased her anxiety somewhat if she kept telling herself he was just sleeping. She ran her fingers through his limp tresses lovingly and said, "I have to try. I can't sit here and watch him die." Her voice broke and the lump in her throat returned. It was taking every ounce of her being to remain strong, to not succumb to the blinding panic that nipped at her shoulders. She needed to keep her composure for him. It was the only way he would survive.

Bombs had already gone off that morning. They knew the rebels were closing in on the City Circle. Snow had already made the announcement for a mandatory evacuation, welcoming all Capitol citizens as refugees into his home. The tide was already turning.

"All I have to do is walk until I find a rebel group." Aella tried to reason, "They won't be far and the Peacekeepers will be too busy manning the evacuation into the mansion to be on the streets."

Cressida glanced sideways at her with an apologetic smile and said, "You're injured, too, Aella. Perhaps even more than Finnick."

Those burning tears she'd been trying to fight split. They slipped over her waterline and rushed down her pale cheeks at the reminder. She'd been trying so hard to keep her mind occupied to stop herself from thinking about it but it had been immensely difficult when every little move she made hurt, where it reminded her of what she'd had and lost.

Katniss sighed, "The announcement he made earlier... was he still in the mansion?" She asked, looking between Aella and Peeta but neither of them responded. Aella was running her fingers through Finnick's hair as she cried silently and Peeta was watching them. Katniss cleared her throat softly and said, "Peeta?"

"Yeah." Peeta responded immediately after, tearing his gaze away from Finnick and Aella and looking at Katniss, "I recognise the room."

Katniss retrieved the paper map Tigris had given them and opened it out on the floor for everyone to see—including Aella. They all turned there attention to it as Katniss asked no one in particular, "Where's that?"

"About five blocks away." Cressida answered and even Aella knew they weren't far at all from the mansion, from the City Circle. After all she had been a Victor of the Hunger Games for six years before the war started. She knew her way well enough around the City Circle and its surrounding blocks.

Cressida pointed out to their map, "We're right here, off the Avenues."

Finnick used to frequent the Avenues. She knew from what little he told her. He liked to keep most of it to himself but from what he did share a lot of his clientele had secondary apartments in the Avenues as a place to hide and engage in their private business. It was where Finnick stayed whenever he was in the Capitol for prolonged periods of times, too. Snow had given him his own furnished apartment. As if that would ever make up for all the atrocities the President made him do.

"The mansion is right here." Cressida said, pointing across to the building Aella also knew all too well.

"What about the pods?" Katniss asked.

"Well they'd probably deactivate all the pods around this area for the residents' safety." Cressida said, gesturing to the City Circle on the map.

"That could work," Katniss said before looking at Gale, "I could get close enough."

"Every Peacekeeper's gonna be waiting." He replied.

"Next to our faces on every billboard." Cressida added.

Aella shook her head, "We have to do something..." She said, "Anything. Kill Snow, try to make it back to base, find a rebel group and ask for backup...anything. Every second we waste here is a second Finnick loses and I won't—" she took a deep breath as tears stung her eyes again, "I won't sit here and wait around. You won't be able to stop me from leaving to find him help, I can tell you that right now."

Everyone seemed to contemplate her words. Eventually after a brief silence Katniss said, "Snow's offering shelter to the refugees."

Aella nodded, understanding what Katniss was insinuating. It was the best they were going to get to a good idea at this pivotal point in the war. If they had time on their hands they could maybe take a day to figure out a better plan but they were running on borrowed time as it was. Finnick was barely hanging on and none of them wanted to even imagine what would happen to Aella if Finnick did succumb to his wounds before they found him help.

Honestly, it wasn't even worth thinking about.

"Pretend to be refugees." Aella said before looking to Cressida for her opinion.

Cressida nodded, "It's the best we've got. I'm sure Tigris will have something for you to stay undercover."

"So it's a plan." Katniss said.

Cressida rose to her feet from beside Aella, "I'll ask her what she's got."

•    •    •

Within the next thirty minutes Tigris had found long fur overcoats with big hoods that fit both Katniss and Gale. They were within Captiol fashion, made out of rich and luxurious fur, and they were big enough for Katniss to hide her bow and quiver and for Gale to hide his handgun.

An ominous atmosphere swept over the remaining squad members as they gathered in Tigris' boutique to see Katniss and Gale off. Aella couldn't quite explain the feelings that were washing over her but they were similar to that final morning in the Quarter Quell when she knew there was a chance the rebellion was about to begin. It all felt so long ago yet it had only been less than a year since it happened. But the feeling was something she wouldn't ever forget, not for a very long time.

There was change in the air. Something was coming. It was just a matter of time before they found out what.

Aella hadn't wanted to leave Finnick alone in the basement while everyone gathered to bid Katniss and Gale good luck. She'd stayed with him—just the two of them down there—until Pollux came down and signed to her that he'd stay with him. She thanked him with a hand on his shoulder before she removed her hand from Finnic's cold grasp and put his hand on his chest.

When she climbed the stairs to the boutique floor they had all gathered by the front doors, the large frosted glass floor-to-ceiling windows keeping them hidden. Katniss was saying her goodbyes to Peeta, unlocking the cuffs he had specifically asked her to put back on him the night they fled into Tigris' basement.

Aella took the moment to look around. Tigris was dressed in Capitol fashion—as always—and wore a wig of what looked similar to a lion's mane. The tan coloured fur—which was no doubt expensive—was soft and long and to match her wig she wore black clothes with a woollen tan poncho and belt to match.

Katniss and Peeta were just pulling away from an embrace and they both turned to see Aella lingering by the stairs leading to the basement. She looked like she had seen much better days and she knew it herself. Her hair was thin and limp—much like everyone else's—and was tied back at the nape of her neck but those short waves at the front fell free and framed her haunted face. Her ice blue eyes were bloodshot and red and dark circles under her eyes stood out in comparison to her pale face.

For a brief second Aella looked at Katniss and Katniss looked at Aella. Those feelings of pure resentment and rage Aella had felt toward Katniss those previous nights ago had disappeared. The rational side of Aella's brain understood but she wasn't about to admit that out loud, either.

Instead, she walked slowly to Katniss and placed her hand on her upper arm before she nodded once and said, "For a better world, right?"

Katniss nodded, remembering their promise and their pact. Her face was expressionless when she said, "This should be you, not me," Katniss shook her head once, almost lost for words before she added, "you deserve it more."

During the whole rebellion—even the part where Katniss didn't know—Aella thought her vendetta against Snow had always been overlooked. She always thought it had been about Katniss but she hadn't been the first person to go against President Snow. It had been Aella. She had walked so Katniss could run and while she hadn't minded paving that path she knew what she had been through because of Snow deserved more recognition than what it got.

Aella had even told Katniss before that she thought she had it worst when in reality Katniss didn't know the meaning of the words 'pain' and 'loss'. But Aella didn't know if it was the vendetta she'd sworn against Snow with Finnick and Johanna or some entitled part of herself but she wholeheartedly thought that out of them all, she was the one who deserved to kill President Snow.

So hearing Katniss finally say that to her was extremely bittersweet. A strained, pressed, smile tugged at Aella's lips, "It's not about who deserves it more anymore, Katniss. It just needs to be done."

Katniss nodded in understanding and said, "Thank you, Aella. For all you've done."

Aella shrugged her shoulders in an attempt to be dismissive but a faint smile stretched across her lips when she said again, "To a better world."

"A better world." Katniss nodded.

Aella glanced back to the staircase leading to the basement fleetingly, worried about Finnick even though she knew Pollux was with him. If he wasn't in her line of sight she was uneasy.

"As soon as I can, I'll send help to you both." Katniss reassured her.

Aella swallowed the lump in her throat and nodded, "Thank you, Katniss," she said before squeezing her upper arm, "I'll see you soon."

Katniss understood the knowing look in her eyes and it filled her with a small sense of hope. She didn't say anything else and neither did Aella. Instead, she turned on her heel and walked toward the door, taking her bow and her quiver and hiding it under the large cloak she wore before opening the door to the boutique and disappearing out into the early morning.

When the door closed behind she and Gale and Tigris re-locked it those that stayed behind exchanged fleeting glances. They were close....so, so, close to the end. Aella could practically taste it but only time would tell. They would know within the next few hours if Katniss Everdeen had been successful or not.

But for the time being they just had to sit tight in the basement and pray to whatever gods that looked down on them that Katniss was successful and that help for Finnick would come before it was too late.

•    •    •

A/N; not the biggest fan of this chapter but hey ho. Couldn't not have some kind of Tigris/Aella interaction where she tells her about Snow and Lucy!