☆CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE! ☆
035. to inspire

|| BACK TO YOU ||
❝You're stuck in my
head and I can't get
you out of it.❞

➳➳

KATNISS COULDN'T OF imagined anything that came close to the poverty that infected the District.

She was there, she was watching the people of 8 suffer in the hospital they'd built in the rubble with nothing but hope left in their slowly beating hearts. Many were sick, with blood coating their clothes from unknown sources and small particles of dust which settled where they sat only just propped up from the ground. It was a sight that made the raven haired girl's bottom lip stagger; it made her timid enough to watch her boots instead of the faces around her as she took each step beyond the carefully wieved blanket of rubble.

With all of those eyes stating it was hard to admit to the truth of the situation- Katniss had no way of explaining just how at fault she was for the destruction.

She knew she'd started the suffering that was currently infecting the air, but it only seemed to occur to her as she glanced around the muddy faces and torn up clothes that her appearance might just make it worse. It was horrifying to consider while her thin lips glued themselves together in the hopes of avoiding anything getting worse.

But what was even left to ruin in such a broken place?

Each and every survivor had endured an attack so violent it put the president's sport of child hunting to shame, but they didn't hate the person that sent the destruction their way like even the camera crew had thought. No- some reached their pale hands out just to touch Katniss and her braid as she passed by; the head of propaganda team from 13 captured it all while the children smiled up at their so called hero.

Mothers cradled their children so close to their chest that you couldn't see an inch of the baby's skin, and yet when they saw a glimpse of her shing braid they happily thrusted those same children out to be touched by Katniss as she passed. Fathers that had been out to search for food in the cracked stone rocked slowly as they hugged their legs to their chest- the blankets around their shoulders were the only things protecting them against the cold- but still stood up tall to see the party from Thirteen.

Katniss didn't want the sight to be real. Every touch she received sent a pang into her soul as if it was slowly cracking her mind in two through grief. Though blame seemed to be the silent killer as she saw body after body piled up beside empty beds, but the people of 8's tear stained cheeks and ashen clothes didn't matter to them when they'd seen her face in person.

To them, they'd finally seen the very thing they were promised.

Her sheepish nature extended in her gaze to the people she watched. Her instinct drew her towards the ones out of the sunlight that seemed to only whisper to each other- mostly words of encouragement and little mantras- to make sure they'd get through the day and see a future they were sure existed. Those were the ones that gave the girl hope, which swelled like a balloon beside the shrinking guilt.

Katniss stopped near the centre of the room. The chatter of the shelter slowly stopped as the people, old or young, ill or well, stood up in solidarity towards the girl. The feeling of the whole room changed, suddenly it didn't feel like this was a place where people died or a place where the survivors mourned, it was the rebellion's secret castle where the sting of justice became undoubtedly stronger. A place where the fight stemmed from.

It felt like it was a danger to the Capitol, not the other way around.

"Katniss Everdeen." A voice startled the girl. The camera man from 13 whipping around to catch the face of whoever had spoken as Cressida, the director, made sure the light was fixed on Katniss before she could turn and speak. She didn't look as timid as she turned, but Katniss couldn't help but think anybody who truly knew her could tell she was still on edge.

The woman that spoke out was young, her dark skin reflected the last morsels of light that was brave enough to reach her through the rubble. Her hair was knotted but her eyes still glistened like they were alive dispite the circumstances; she didn't see the coiled up muscles inside the Girl On Fire's legs as she dusted off her trousers.

"What are you doing here?"

The girl spoke quietly, so quietly that it made Katniss' heart beat faster as she struggled to find the right words. Her mind automatically found itself thinking about Lorna; how quiet she'd always been when the girl with high cheekbones but slightly round cheeks said something to inspire. She never failed to make an impression that would last longer than the rubble.

Katniss wished that Lorna was with her then.

"I-I came to see you." Katniss admitted loudly enough for them all to hear.

"What about the baby?"

The question made Katniss feel even worse. Sometimes she forgot that she wasn't just lying to the Capitol about her relationship with Peeta; she was lying to the people in that room that had a real baby clutched to their chest. She didn't feel ok about leading them on like she did the others.

"I lost it." Katniss voice wobbled, craking as she homed in on the woman sitting on the dirty floor.

"Are you fighting Katniss? Are you here to fight with us?"

Katniss could see the camera zoom in on her face for an answer. The same grey eyes and lifeless smile came to mind that always seemed to hold emotions in the words, instead of the things the girl did or looked like.

What would Lorna do? Lorna would make a spectical of it all without even meaning to- she would say something so utterly determined that nobody could doubt that she was going to complete her task. Katniss wasn't Lorna. She hated Snow, she wanted to fight for the people that lost their lives for her stupid cause, but she couldn't just inspire an act of hope like the other girl could. Her's were spontaneous- they always left her own mind a little frazzled and distressed.

"I am." Katniss said glancing at all the worn faces in the room. That wasn't enough; they deserved a promise they could believe in.

"I will."

A boy lifted his fingers in the air, the catalyst for the symbol until everyone had lifted their hand to show their support for the rebellion. Some whistled, others stayed silent but one- that same boy- was brave enough to use his voice to bring the real focus of the fight back to the girl.

"For Lorna, we will get her back."

Katniss squeezed her eyes tightly shut to stop her emotions from spilling over.

➳

Katniss walked ahead of the crew when they left the centre. She staggered from the unevenness of the rocks below her feet, but Gale stood with her as if he was waiting for her to stumble into him and curl his long dirtied fingers around her ever shrinking waist. He almost hoped she'd need him at the end of each stumble despite how notoriously good she was on her feet, but his hoped wasn't strong enough to push gravity in his favour. Somehow she never missed a step.

"Your mom's gonna be proud of you when she sees the footage." Gale settled for words instead of action as they dodged a particularly large stone. Katniss didn't reply, a member of the crew spoke up to save her the trouble of trying to speak.

Not that she listened to that either; what the boy said wobbled Katniss more than she cared to show infront of such a large group of strangers. She could only imagine what Finnick would've done if he was there.

Maybe he would've been happy that Lorna was still important enough for the people to want to rally just for her, which made the trip to save her so much more important. Perhaps he would of cried, or at least shaken a little as he saw a boy no older than he was when he won his games give up his life to save the girl, but a part of Katniss knew she wouldn't ever know the answer unless he was there.

They weren't the only ones willing to rally for the Titan girl- it was one of three very important reasons she kept putting on her black armour.

"Will this play in the Districts?" Alex, one of the crew, wondered as he trudged behind the pair. His black curls bounced as he walked and his equipment shook.

"It'll be tattooed on their eyes." Cressida replied smugly.

She was a funny kind of person. She was beautiful, half her head shaved in a Capitol hair style that put her out of place amongst the District she was filming in for Coin. She already said she was a deserter of the Capitol, but Katniss didn't like how she looked at the area they were walking in despite how adamant she'd been on helping the one true chance of freedom for Panem. She'd never found District 8 in any way apart from ruins and yet she was the one deciding what was important enough to show. Still, she was apart of the rebellion and she seemed to want to help; the Victor couldn't shame her for managing to do well in both kinds of environments.

Beeping echoed around the group, something that instantly put Katniss on edge as she let her hold on Cressida go to glance elsewhere.

"There's a problem." Boggs explained to the group that had suddenly become tense.

"What kind of problem?" Gale asked.

"Incoming bombers from the North. We need to find cover now."

It was almost inescapable for Katniss to look up while another member of the team, her name was Paylor, pointed out a bunker not far from where the group was. They pushed Katniss towards the bunker with enough force to block the bombs raining down almost as incessantly as water during a storm.

"Straight ahead and downstairs." She said, stepping aside to let others through first as gun shots joined in the loud sound of alarms. Katniss didn't go down the stairs like they all asked- in the panic she ran off before anyone could push her out of sight.

"Everdeen! Everdeen!" Boggs shouted out as the girl leaped forward, finding some of the less unharmed members from 8 fighting against the attack on their home. She continued to run towards the wall ahead of her with shouts of protests behind, but she didn't stop when they screams became louder than the tremor within the earth she ran over, she simply went faster.

"Katniss! Gale! Get away from the wall!"

The sound overwheamed her ears to the point where Katniss didn't know what part was the sound of the aircraft and what was the sound of the next bomb dropping; she didn't know it hit until the sheer force of it pulled her back.

She couldn't help but finally hear the warnings of the cameramen behind her, and then the hand of Gale on her back when she felt a sharp heat reignite each nerve in her body at once.

••••••••••••
1956 words.

Dedicated to
Dancing_snow22
and 1-8000-karmasabitch
for all the love x