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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter sixty-five, silence)

...

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IT WAS LIKE SHE was flying, floating on a cloud midair. She was gliding as a soft, familiar sensation trickled through her system. It tickled the tip of her fingers and toes, waltzing through her veins into her arms, spreading through her chest like medicine, dancing to the steady beats of her heart, up towards her brain. It was soothing. Juniper had been on morphling many of times to know this was exactly what it was. But there was something else. 

Morphling never made her as sleepy as she was now. It was like her eyes were snapped shut and she couldn't open them. She was trying to, but something wasn't allowing her. But whatever it was, with her eyes closed, it was like a dreamless sleep. There were no nightmares. There were no flashbacks. Juniper Hale's eyes were simply closed, putting her into a warming rest.

Any pain she had felt was numbed. She could barely feel her fractured ribs as she took deep, slow breaths. In fact, she couldn't feel anything. It was like there was no agony in her being. It was like her soul was finally allowed to have some rest. Her mind was at ease, empty. No thoughts came rushing in. It was like it was comfortably hollow. 

Did Clampitt give her morphling and something to help her sleep? Juniper didn't quite remember. One minute, she was talking to the doctor and the next she was... at a Reaping? She didn't question it. If she questioned it, her soothing state might disappear. And so, Juniper allowed whatever was being pumped into her systems to remain there. It was like heaven.

But suddenly, that calmness, that comfort began to disappear. Pain started to arrive ever so slowly. A beating agony was making its way up from the tip of her toes and fingers, racing harshly through her veins as it trickled up her legs, towards her stomach. It sprinted through her chest, nearly making her gag, before settling to the top of her head. It was infecting every limb, muscle, and bone and the morphling was disappearing. 

The comfort. The soothingness. The calmness. The rest. They all began to disappear into thin air and whatever had put her soul to sleep, it was leaving her system. Her eyes, which had been snapped shut, were opening and as they did, she was greeted with a blinding light. Juniper winced as she felt puke rise. She was moving. Why was she moving?

As the torturous pain came flooding back into her, eyes open yet blurry, Juniper was looking upwards. She had to be going down a hallway since lights lined the roof. There were fuzzy faces peering down at her, some wearing masks and lab coats. Were they doctors? 

Juniper could feel herself becoming worked up. She couldn't move. Who was staring down at her? She nearly croaked out in pain as whoever was making her move took a sharp turn. Then there was commotion. Uproar. People were shouting orders. There were sounds of wheels being turned. Whatever it was, more people peered down at Juniper when she stopped moving. How was she moving laying down?

"She's extremely emaciated and dehydrated," one said, their voice muffled. "All of them are." 

All of them are? Who were all of them? Peeta, Johanna, and Annie? And why did someone care if she was underfed and dehydrated? Did Clampitt finally realise they needed food? Juniper was panting as her vision slowly started to become clear. 

"The knockout gas is wearing out," another replied. "She's waking up."

"Get a room ready, then!" 

As her vision became clear, Juniper looked at the faces surrounding her. None were familiar, but they looked to be doctors. Doctors? The Hale woman didn't want to see another doctor. She had seen them over and over. And so, sitting up, Juniper pushed them away with a glance. There was something in her arm. Was it a morphling drip? Whatever it was, Juniper ripped it out of the socket taped into the crook of her elbow and allowed her eyes to wander over her surroundings. 

Her head still wasn't all there, but she stared around at everything. It seemed to be a hospital ward as doctors and soldiers littered the area. But the soldiers weren't Peacekeepers'. They were decked out in black, some stripped to the waist as they were attended to, but they were wearing tactical gear. Peacekeepers' never wore such armour. 

"What the hell...?" Juniper panted. Some doctors tried to push back down onto what appeared to be a gurney, but she shoved them away with as much strength as she could. Why was she on a gurney? 

"Miss Hale, you need to lay back down," someone said as they came up beside her. They had a small flashlight in their hand as concern flooded their eyes. "We need to do a general checkup first."

"Tell me where I am." 

She wasn't in the secluded room. She wasn't in the cells. She wasn't in the lab. Where was she? This didn't seem like the Capitol. It was too makeshift, too underdeveloped to be a Capitol ward. So where was she? And where was Johanna, Peeta, and Annie? 

"Finnick!" Something between a shriek and cry of joy echoed around the ward. Finnick? Where was Finnick? "Finnick!" 

And then she saw him. She saw them. Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta were running towards each other, crashing through anything to reach each other. And then they collided, tangled, and lost their balance, slamming against a wall. Clinging. Finnick Odair and Annie Cresta. 

Finnick. 

From what Juniper could, he looked terrible. Dark patches were etched underneath his eyes. His bronze hair was a mess. He was wearing a grey jumpsuit. He looked exhausted and horrendous, but there was a gleam in his eyes as he held Annie. As he held Annie. How was he holding Annie? How was Annie with him? Why was Finnick here?

And then, it suddenly hit Juniper Hale. If Finnick Odair was here, crushed against a wall with Annie Cresta, then they couldn't be in the Capitol. They couldn't be in a Capitol ward. And if Finnick Odair was here and both Annie and Juniper were here as well, did that mean...? Were they...? 

"Where are we?" Juniper demanded, voice croaky as she turned to face a doctor who was trying to put the morphling drip back into the socket taped to her arm. 

"You're not in the Capitol, Miss Hale," the doctor assured her. "You're safe... you're with the rebels now." 

With the rebels. Safe. Not in the Capitol. 

But no. It was a trick. This was just another dream, another thing Clampitt had put into her head. Juniper was not with the rebels. She was still in the Capitol. She was just pretending that she was rescued because she couldn't actually be. She had spent a good six weeks, a good forty-two days, a good month in the Capitol and there was no rescue. There couldn't be. If there was, why would they wait all this time? 

"Juniper?" 

The said woman snapped her head to see a figure rushing towards her from the entrance, three beings following behind her. She had red hair, which was let loose in waves, with freckles dotted gently over her face. Dark patches resided underneath her eyes. She wore the same grey jumpsuit, in which everyone was wearing, Juniper started to realise. And there was a look of shock and disbelief twisted into her face. 

Lucy Stevens. 

"Lucy?" Juniper managed to call out as she, with shaking legs, got off the gurney. The doctors surrounding her were tugging, but she shoved them away as she began to walk slowly towards her mentor. Lucy was there too. 

"Oh my God." Lucy panted as they finally met, the woman placing two hands on her shoulders as she studied her. Her touch felt too real for a dream. Was this a dream? "What did they do to you?" 

"I'm dreaming this, aren't I?" Juniper scoffed. "This isn't actually—" 

"You're not dreaming this," Lucy assured her, cradling her sunken cheeks with cold palms. "Does it feel like you're dreaming this?" 

"No." 

But she had to be. The rebels couldn't have rescued her and Annie. This wasn't real. This couldn't be real. But Lucy's touch felt so real. It felt so strong and Juniper could feel her breath fanning onto her cheeks. And Annie was still kissing Finnick in the corner of the ward. This was too real. But all of her memories were too real— 

Then she saw him. 

He was standing between two people that looked oddly like Haymitch Abernathy and Katniss Everdeen. He still had wrinkles caressing his face. He still had dark patches carved underneath his eyes. Grey still riddled his hair. And he looked at Juniper with the same pained, guilty expression he always had. 

Orion Hale. 

(But the sigh of relief turned into one of confusion as she walked further into the makeshift house, seeing her father sat in a small chair next to a boarded window, peering through the cracks gently as a piece of paper was crumpled up in his grasp)

(His grip on the paper became tighter, but the girl didn't question it)

("June, no," her father told her harshly, lifting up her head and grasping her cheeks with his big hands. "Don't you dare apologise... this is Snow's fault. This is my fault.")

(But he was riddled with guilt and regret)

(He couldn't look at Juniper without wincing. Every time he looked at her, he felt nauseous. He had to look away whenever he glanced at her eyes)

("Can we agree to not lie to each other, Miss Hale? If I do not lie, you do not lie. It will make things much simpler and much more understandable.")

Shoving Lucy Stevens away, Juniper slowly made her way over to her father. Her legs were shaking and she could have dropped any moment, but she needed to know. She needed to know it wasn't true because it wasn't. It simply wasn't. And Haymitch and Katniss must have known as they both began to run off. But Juniper didn't spare a glance at them.

As she slowly walked to her father, who seemed to jog towards her, a question popped into her head. Why was her father here? If she had truly been rescued by the rebels, why was he here? Did Lucy ask for his extraction from Ten? No. This had to be a dream. It was just a dream. She just wanted her father to be here. 

"June," he croaked out as they finally came face-to-face. He was studying all of her and looked appalled. "You... you need to sit down... they're... what did they do to you?"

"Is it true?" 

Orion's eyes seemed to flash over to someone behind Juniper, Lucy perhaps, and raised a brow. But whoever it was he was looking at must not have said anything as he glanced back down at his daughter. Confusion washed over him. 

"Is what true?"

"Did you know about the Reaping?" Juniper asked simply. Of course he didn't. He wouldn't have. He would have ran away. "Did you know it was rigged?" 

In. Out. 

In. Out. 

In. Out. 

"... how did you find out about that?" 

Silence. 

In. Out

In. Out. 

In. Out

Silence. 

("... how did you find out about that?")

And suddenly, being rescued by the rebels didn't seem like a dream. It didn't seem like a fantasy built in her head as Juniper Hale took one breath. One breath in and out before clenching her jaw. 

And lurching forward. 

No-one could have expected it. No-one did expect it. Some would think with the rescue of the Victors', Juniper Hale would be happy. She would be slightly confused why her father was here with the rebels, but that she would embrace him. No-one prepared for her to lurch forward, rage emitting off of her in waves as she raked her nails down his face. 

"You sick bastard!" Juniper screeched. Blood was gushing down Orion Hale's face as he stumbled backwards, holding his eye. "You knew! You knew and you didn't do anything! You bastard! I trusted you!" 

Arms wrapped around Juniper's waist as she thrashed around. They were strong and managed to tear the woman off of the bleeding man. Multiple people rushed towards Orion to see if he was okay, but he pushed them all away, staring at Juniper with that pained expression. 

"June, calm down!" The person hissed in her ear. Finnick. "Calm down!" 

"He knew!" Juniper howled. "He knew and he didn't do anything. He was warned and he did nothing. He let them—!" 

Finnick Odair, who was most definitely real, struggled to contain Juniper. He was walking them backwards and with the help from the doctors and a confused Lucy Stevens, her wrists were tied down onto the gurney with her body restrained, but that didn't stop her from slamming her head in fury again and again as she screeched terrible things. A needle then poked into her arm and her head pounded terribly that she stopped fighting, simply wailing in a horrible, agonising way until her voice gave out. 

Whatever drug they gave her, it caused sedation, not sleep. And so, Juniper was trapped in a fuzzy, dull, aching misery for what seemed like centuries. She knew she was moved to somewhere else as tubes began to be inserted into her, lights shining in her eyes. But all she could think about was Orion. 

("... how did you find out about that?")

It was true. How could it be true? The man didn't even deny it. He had asked her how she had found out about it. So it was true. Snow was telling the truth. Clampitt was telling the truth. Orion Hale knew about the Reaping being rigged because of his acts of treason. And yet he did nothing. How could it be true? Why was it true? 

Soothing voices were trying to reach Juniper, but none never seemed to reach her ears. She was still staring up at the ceiling and she had no idea where she was moved to. But she could feel tears slowly leaking out the side of her eyes as she laid down. 

"Juniper..." Lucy's faint voice came from beside the bed, slipping into her consciousness. "Juniper... I'm not going to ask why... Orion already explained it the minute you went under... I'm just so sorry." 

As the Hale woman laid in the bed, two things became certain. This was not a dream. She was with the rebels. She didn't bother to ask how or why, she just was. Finnick and Annie's reunion was flashing by her eyes. His voice and Lucy's was still echoing around her ears. She was with the rebels. She was not in the Capitol. It should have affected her more, but she was too pumped with drugs and pain to have any other reaction. 

And then the other certainty was that Orion Hale was not who his daughter thought he was. She didn't even want to believe it as she laid in the bed. But it was. He had confirmed it. It had happened. It was true. And he knew. He knew about the Reaping. He knew it was rigged. He was warned, but yet he did nothing. He stayed in Ten and watched the Seventy-Second Reaping like a fool. And he was part of a rebel cell years ago. It would explain why he was here in the rebel headquarters. 

"Juniper..." Lucy's voice came again into her consciousness and this time, the woman had enough energy to look at her. "Juniper... I know you can hear me." 

"What?" Juniper managed to croak out. She turned her head to see she was laying in a hospital bed in a ward. There were curtains that were on her right and left, hiding her from view. There was a monitor that beeped her heart rate with multiple tubes entering her flesh. 

"I'm just..." Lucy said. She looked tired as she sat in a plastic chair. "I'm so sorry... about everything... I'm sorry about you being taken by the Capitol. I'm sorry for your father—" 

"Where is he?" Juniper interrupted her. 

"He's with Plutarch," Lucy said. "He's been trying to see you, but the nurses won't allow it... I should have known. Something was always off with your Reaping. And I didn't even question why he was here. I didn't even ask for them to collect your father."

"Hmm..." Juniper murmured. She tried to sit up, but there was a sudden pain in her ribs once more. 

"Steady now," Lucy told her. "You have some bad fracturing in your ribs. It's going to be hard to move for a while... and you're starved so... there's that." 

Juniper tried to ignore the pain in Lucy Steven's voice as she asked, "Did the rebels actually rescue us? I'm not imagining this?"

"No, you're not." Lucy shook her head. "A lot has happened, but Coin — she's the leader of this whole chaos — she organised a rescue mission to capture you four from the Tribute Centre. It went all right, but..." 

"But what?" Juniper asked. "We're all here, aren't we? Isn't that good?"

"Of course it is," Lucy said. "But Peeta... he attacked Katniss."

Juniper blinked once and then twice before sighing, laying her head against the pillow. Peeta attacked Katniss. It made sense. The boy was torn between his love for the girl as well as his hatred. He was battling it the entire time in the cell. But he must have succumbed to the darkness. The darkness swallowed him. 

"How badly?" Juniper asked. She could feel another tear trickle down the side of her cheek. 

"Not that bad." Lucy shrugged. "Just a bruised larynx... but it shocked her and Haymitch... they're saying he's hijacked." 

"Hijacked?" 

"That's what Beetee is saying," the woman told her. "We've only seen him the three times during the interviews and his state deteriorated rapidly. They just put the attack down to him being abused and his psychological state... but Beetee thinks it's something called hijacking." 

"And what the hell is that?"

"I don't exactly know." Lucy winced. "From what Beetee has told us, it's a form of torture. A type of fear conditioning. I can't really explain it. Beetee is going to have to talk you through it, but basically they stung him with tracker jacker venom and changed his memories of Katniss... to make her seem life-threatening, so much he thinks he has to kill her." 

Tracker jacker. 

Juniper had seen the doctors look over a diagram of a tracker jacker and Johanna had stated that they had to be injecting him with something. The doctors were putting tracker jacker venom in Peeta, changing his memories of Katniss. Making him terrified of her. Juniper clenched her jaw as she thought of it. 

She knew what tracker jackers could do. She had seen enough Hunger Games. When stung, they induced terror, hallucinations, nightmarish visions. The venom targeted the part of the brain that housed fear. And if the Capitol tampered with that, they could have easily made Katniss Everdeen seem like a threat to Peeta Mellark. 

"Can he get better?" Juniper asked. The boy needed to become better. He had to. 

"Plutarch thinks he'll make a full recovery..." Lucy's voice trailed off before regaining power again. "But Haymitch doesn't think so..."

Juniper let out a shaky breath as she tried to close her eyes, swallowing a lump in her throat. She was with the rebels. She was rescued. She was finally rescued. She was no longer in the white room of hell, or in the cells, or in the secluded room. She was with the rebels. With Finnick. With Lucy. 

"Where's the others?" Juniper asked. She had no idea where Johanna was. 

"Annie is with Finnick... she's in another room to calm her down. She's real shaken," Lucy explained. "And Johanna... she's on the other side of the curtain. She's still unconscious from the knockout gas the rescue team used... and they didn't get Enobaria out. She wasn't even there." 

"Of course she wasn't." Juniper scoffed. She wasn't in the Capitol. "Lucy... where exactly are we?"

"If I tell you, you won't believe me," she said. 

"Try me." 

The Stevens woman smiled for a split second before muttering, "We're in District Thirteen." 

Silence. 

⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

— YA BITCH'S STORY IS 1ST FOR THE HUNGERGAMES TAG

(wouldn't it be so embarrassing if it changed right after i publish this chapter...)