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SHALL WE RISE?

act three. 

(chapter forty-one, she is dead and i am what remains)

hospital ward / command, 2313.

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"WELL, HELLO THERE," VALENCIA announced as she peered around Katniss's hospital door, a smug smile on her face when she saw her laying in the bed.

"Valencia?"

"The one and only," she muttered as she smiled, moving further into the room as she inspected the side table. A piece of shrapnel was on it. Valencia nearly barfed. That was in Katniss's leg. "How are you feeling?"

"A little beat-up," Katniss murmured as she looked at Valencia. "How was Nine?"

"Horrible," Valencia said. "Buildings are on fire, fights, riots, just terrible. But I did get Billie out. You can't meet her just yet, she's getting all settled into a compartment, going to take her a while to warm up to Thirteen... I heard about what happened in Eight, I'm sorry."

"Did they show you the footage?"

"Not yet, but it's been broadcasted many times and Beetee's rerun it since. I haven't gotten a chance to look at it, surprisingly." Valencia sighed. "But you're needed in Command and I'm here to collect you. They want to wheel out your bed—"

"No, I want to walk," Katniss interrupted.

"Katniss, you had shrapnel taken out of your leg." Valencia groaned. "You can't walk at all."

"Then a wheelchair."

And so, Valencia followed Katniss down to Command, who was getting wheeled down in a wheelchair. Valencia had gone to Command yesterday to show off Billie, Coin being rather surprised at the news about Nine. They didn't get the report about the apartment complex being on fire. Plutarch and Coin briefed Billie about Thirteen and the rebellion and then she was whisked away. Athena was immediately placed into the classes that Thirteen offered and Billie was given a schedule. But they were allowed two days off since it would take time to warm up. Valencia had not seen Billie since. She was taken into Command, then the hospital, and was not allowed to leave until this morning. 

When Valencia and Katniss entered Command, she furrowed her eyebrows when she saw four additional people standing around the table. They must be the TV crew. There was two burly men that both had sandy hair, red beards, and deep blue eyes. A woman who had her head shaved with green vines tattooed on the skin. And then a slim man who had multiple piercings.

"Valencia, this is Cressida," Plutarch said as he pointed to the bald woman. "These two are Castor and Pollux, they're brothers. And this is Cressida's assistant, Messalla."

"Valencia." Cressida nodded as she shook her hand. "An honour."

Valencia smiled at her as she continued to shake hands with the other three. When Pollux didn't answer Valencia's greeting, Castor, his brother, had to tell her that he was an Avox.

When the room began to fill with more people, Coin called the meeting to order. "Our Airtime Assault has officially been launched. For any of you who missed yesterday's twenty-hundred broadcast of our first propo — or the seventeen reruns Beetee has managed to air since — we will begin by replaying it."

An individual screen slid up from the table for every person, the lights dimming. The screen was first black, but then a tiny spark flickered in the centre. It spread, covering the darkness until it showed the image of Katniss's mockingjay pin glowing gold. Then a deep voice echoed around, the voice that Valencia despised. Claudius Templesmith's voice rang in her ears as he said, "Katniss Everdeen, the girl who was on fire, burns on."

Suddenly, Katniss replaced the mockingjay, standing in the flames and smoke of District Eight. That must have been after the bombing attack. "I want to tell the rebels that I am alive. That I'm right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, woman, and children. There will be no survivors." The footage cut to a view of the hospital collapsing. "I want to tell people that if you think for one-second that the Capitol will treat us fairly if there's a cease-fire, you're deluding yourself. Because you know who they are and what they do." The clip went back to Katniss, who was pointing at the destruction. "This is what they do! And we must fight back!" Then there was a montage of the bombs falling, of them running, of a close-up of Katniss's bloody wound, shots of the rebels, Katniss knocking out planes in the sky. "President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well, I have one for him. You can torture us, and bomb us, and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?" The footage was now focused on a Capitol seal that was on one of the wings of a plane, back to Katniss. "Fire is catching! And if we burn, you burn with us!" Flames engulfed the screen again and in solid letters was: IF WE BURN, YOU BURN WITH US.

The words caught fire and the whole screen turned black. Due to the demands to see it again, Coin pressed the replay button and they watched it a second time. By the end of it, Valencia was smirking greatly.

"Did it play all over Panem?" Katniss asked when it finished. "Did they see it in the Capitol?"

"Not in the Capitol," Plutarch said. "We couldn't override their system although Beetee's working on it. But in all the districts. We even got it on in Two, which may be more valuable than the Capitol at this point in the game."

"Is Claudius Templesmith with us?" Katniss asked.

"Only his voice. But that's ours for taking." Plutarch laughed. "We didn't even have to do any special editing. He said that actual line in your first Games. What say we give another round of applause to Cressida, her amazing team, and of course, our on-camera talent!"

Everyone gave a huge round of applause and Valencia laughed when she saw Haymitch's smug face and Fulvia's scowl. The clapping went on for a while before Coin silenced them all.

"Yes, well deserved. The result is more than we had hoped for. But I do have to question the wide margin of risk that you were willing to operate within," Coin said. "I know the raid was unforeseen. However, given the circumstances, I think we should discuss the decision to send Katniss into actual combat."

"It was a tough call," Plutarch murmured. "But the general consensus was that we aren't going to get anything worth using if we locked her in a bunker somewhere every time a gun went off."

"And you're all right with that?" Coin asked Katniss, who took a while to respond.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm completely all right with that. It felt good. Doing something for a change."

"Well, let's be just a little more judicious with her exposure. Especially now that the Capitol knows what she can do," Coin said.

"Yeah, we wouldn't want to lose our little Mockingjay when she's finally begun to sing," Haymitch said sweetly, Valencia raising an eyebrow at the deadly smile he was giving Katniss. 

Coin and Plutarch began to discuss what else the camera crew has planned, none which really inspired Valencia, but when it came to Fulvia's idea, she snapped her head up.

"Well, I don't know how brilliant it is, but I was thinking we could do a series of propos called We Remember. In each one, we would feature one of the dead tributes. Little Rue from Eleven or old Mags from Four. Maybe even that boy a long time ago from Nine, Silas. Nine loved that boy. Anyway, the idea being that we could target each district with a very personal piece," Fulvia described and Valencia had to swallow a lump in her throat at the mention of Silas.

"A tribute to your tributes, as it were," Plutarch said.

"That is brilliant, Fulvia," Katniss told her. "It's the perfect way to remind people why they're fighting."

"I think it could work," Fulvia murmured. "I thought we might use Antares to intro and narrate the spots. If there was interest in them."

"Me?"

"Well, you're the only Antares here." Nova laughed.

"Yes, you are such an inspiration in the districts," Fulvia told him, ignoring Nova's comment. "And people do think you're dead so it would be a good way to show you're alive."

As Antares nodded, Coin said, "Frankly, I don't see how we could have too many We Remember propos. Can you start producing them today?"

"Of course."

"Now, we have serious problem to discuss," Coin muttered as everyone was set to leave. "Another event has happened in District Nine. One of the most major apartment complexes collapsed a few hours ago."

Valencia was appalled as she looked at the screen Coin turned on. Footage of the apartment complex that was on fire filled the screen and the flames had moved up to the fourth floor with no success in bringing it down. But then with a rumble, the entirety of the building collapsed, bringing a massive wave of dust and rubble to fly everywhere. Valencia nearly puked when she saw people fall from the complex.

"At least fifty dead and twenty injured," Coin told them. "It was a fifteen-story high apartment complex. At least hundreds have lost their homes. The cause of the fire is still unknown."

"Fires aren't uncommon in Nine due to the heat," Antares muttered. "But that wasn't from the temperature, that fire. Me and Valencia saw it yesterday, that was caused by people."

"What they're doing in Nine, it isn't rebelling," Valencia told them. "They're just causing destruction... and they're killing people."

"Nothing can be done," Coin said. "The people of Nine are fighting back... and that is all we can ask for."

Valencia had the urge to scream at Coin, the fire in her heart getting a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger. But she sent everybody back to work, Antares getting whisked away by Fulvia, Katniss getting wheeled out by Gale, leaving Valencia to scoff as she made her way back to the hospital ward with Nova, who was fuming as well. Suddenly, Valencia felt guilty that Nova didn't go with them to see Nine considering it was her home as well. When she expressed this, Nova waved it off and said she didn't want to go anyway.

Valencia didn't really need the cane anymore, since her wound was nearly completely healed. She spent most of her time swinging it around, walking nearly all right, but slowly. She had changed back into her hospital robes, still not being discharged. Valencia debated going to see Billie, but then she remembered she had a doctors appointment and so she scrapped that idea. 

"Well, you can certainly walk fine," the doctor murmured when Valencia finally settled into her room. "And the skin has healed back nicely. I guess it didn't have to take a few more weeks"

"Oh, joy." Valencia sighed though she nearly puked when she saw the mark that was on the side of her abdomen. A jagged, raised scar was residing where the blade had been. It looked like a replica of the one on her forearm though it was much more disgusting to look at. "Can I ditch the cane then?"

"Yes, but I have a feeling you've ditched it long ago," the doctor said as she inspected the scar. "We'll have to keep you in here for a few days just so we can check on you, but you should be fine to go. Does it still hurt?"

"Only when I press down on it."

"That's going to happen," the doctor told her as she stood up. "It's going to be raw sort of for a few days. That was quite a knife cut, you're going to have that scar forever."

"You should have seen the other woman." Valencia chuckled. "She's dead."

And so, the doctor took away Valencia's cane, telling her to wait a few more days and she'll be discharged. Valencia was going to have dinner by herself, but then she remembered that Katniss was just down the hall from her so she took her tray and wandered out of her hospital room, which didn't seem so much as a prison since she could now walk in and out of it. With a sharp knock, she entered.

"Hello, Katniss," Valencia greeted as she pulled a chair up and sat beside her, the television turned on. 

"I see you've ditched the cane." Katniss smirked. "Have you de-aged yourself?"

"You're funny." Valencia scoffed. "My doctor said I am perfectly fine, no longer need a cane to walk. But they're keeping me in here for a couple more days."

"Perfectly fine? You had a hole in your abdomen."

"Not anymore. Want to see?" Valencia lifted up her robes to show Katniss the huge scar that was in the side of her abdomen, chuckling when she saw her turn away in disgust. "Don't be so dramatic, it's not that bad. You should feel bad for Enobaria, she's dead."

"How can you joke about that?"

"It's the only way I cope since I'm not an addict anymore."

The two women ate their dinner as they watched the television, one of the propos coming up. It was something that they had discussed at the meeting, 'Because you know who they are and what they do' propo. It showed footage of Gale, Boggs, and Cressida describing the incident, a clip of Katniss in the hospital, and then when the bombs fell, Katniss had to bury her head in her pillow, only looking up when it ended.

"Bloody hell." Valencia shook her head when it finished. "They're sick..."

"Turn it off, Valencia," Katniss begged her. "Before they play it again." Valencia went to reach for the remote. "Wait!"

Valencia looked up when she realised that Caesar Flickerman was looking at the camera solemnly, another special segment. And Peeta was his guest once more. And the gasp that came from both the women was inhumane.

The man that Valencia saw only five days ago, the one who had glowing skin and bright eyes, was now replaced with this person who had a nervous tremor in his hands, his wrists so skinny that he must have lost tons of weight. His face was painted as if the Capitol was trying to hide his pain, but not makeup or designer clothes could hide how terrible he looked.

Katniss muttered to herself as Caesar and Peeta began to exchange a few sorrow greetings before Flickerman asked him about the rumours that Katniss was shooting propos for the districts.

"They're using her, obviously," Peeta said, his voice weak and trembling. "To whip up the rebels. I doubt she even really knows what's going on in the war. What's at stake."

"Is there anything you'd like to tell her?"

"There is." Peeta looked directly into the lens of the camera. "Don't be a fool, Katniss. Think for yourself. They've turned you into a weapon that could be instrumental in the destruction of humanity. If you've got any real influence, use it to put the brakes on this thing. Use it to stop the war before it's too late. Ask yourself, do you really trust the people you're working with? Do you really know what's going on? And if you don't... find out."

The screen went black, the seal showing as Valencia quickly reached over and grabbed the remote, turning the television off. The sounds of footsteps were echoing through the hall, approaching the room. Valencia knew Katniss didn't trust them, she knew that whatever words they said about Peeta's condition or whatever he said, Katniss would rebut them. She would tell them the truth. She would do damage. But Peeta's words echoed around. Did they know who they were working with? Of course they did. Coin, no, but Plutarch, yes.

"Katniss, we didn't see it," Valencia murmured. "We turned the television off before the interview came on. We only saw the propo, right?"

Katniss nodded, Valencia shoving bread and cabbage in her mouth as Plutarch and Fulvia entered. The two women made sure to congratulate the two on the propo, saying how it could help the districts fight against the Capitol. When they said they turned the television soon after, they looked relieved. No-one spoke about Peeta, not until it was just Katniss and Valencia the next day.

"Has seriously no-one spoken about it to you?" Valencia asked her the next day.

Katniss had somehow managed to get permission from Command to take Valencia out into the woods even though she was still technically in the hospital. Valencia denied at first, knowing that it was her first time in a forest for nine years, but after a look at Katniss's desperate face, she agreed. Cautiously, Valencia followed Katniss as they ditched the communicators they were given under a bush and when they were a safe distance away, they talked about the interview.

"Not one word." Katniss sighed. "Not even Gale has mentioned it to me."

"Maybe there's a reason they're not telling you," Valencia told her, feeling the wind in her hair. "Maybe something deeper is going on."

"I'm not sure, Valencia..."

"You know, you don't have to keep calling me by my full name," Valencia said. "You sound like everyone else when you call me Valencia."

"What do you mean I sound like everyone else?" Katniss asked her, a small smile tugging at her lips.

"After everything we've been through, Katniss," Valencia started. "You don't have to keep calling me Valencia. It's way too formal."

"Fine then." Katniss sighed. "Lennie."

("Just call me Katniss," she said. "You don't have to keep calling me Everdeen."

"Okay, Katniss.")

The two sat in silence for so long that a deer wandered in-front of them. Katniss easily shot it with her arrow, Valencia upset that she had to haul it all the way back to the fence. Katniss had to help out when she attempted to drag it back and pretended to hiss in pain. When Katniss realised that Valencia could actually carry it and just didn't want to, she forced the woman to help out.

Valencia resorted back to her hospital room, laying back down into her bed as she was forced to listen to a bunch of doctors say that she shouldn't be doing any heavy lifting, that even though she was nearly healed she shouldn't be overdoing herself, and that her health was to come first. When Valencia argued that she was forced to walk all the way up to Command from her room and it didn't do her any harm, they went silent. 

The next day, Katniss and the others including Antares and, oddly enough, Nova were off to District Twelve to shoot more propos. Due to Valencia's condition, she was not allowed to join and was forced to walk around the hospital ward with a doctor following her, making sure she didn't hurt herself. They had been going around for nearly an hour and so Valencia let out a sigh of relief when she saw Billie enter the ward, pushing the doctor away to go and see her.

"I'm sorry I haven't come to see you," Billie said softly as she walked over hesitantly to Valencia, studying her hospital robes and the absence of her cane. "I've been busy with this schedule and fitting in—"

"Billie, it's fine," Valencia assured her. "I would have come to see you, but I've been busy in Command and helping Katniss out with propos."

"Yes, I saw some of them," Billie said. "What happened in Eight..."

"I know," she said. "Well, come on, I need someone to look over me when I do another twenty laps of the ward."

Gingerly, Billie began to follow Valencia around the ward, watching her. Valencia realised that Billie had changed out of the dress she was wearing back in Nine and was now wearing the dull, grey jumpsuit. Her hair was clean of any makeup and she didn't wear any jewellery except from the simple, gold band on her ring finger. Her hair was up in a loose bun like always.

And suddenly, nearly all the memories came flooding back of Valencia and Billie. All the memories of when they first met, of when they used to spend nearly every second of the day together, when they met in that alleyway every Reaping. They both had changed in so many ways, so many ways that it was like the people they were prior didn't exist. They were reborn.

"Why did you stop?" Billie asked her, Valencia stopping in her tracks as she stared into her eyes.

"We've changed so much," Valencia said softly, shaking her head. "We're such different people."

"Well, yes," Billie told her, raising an eyebrow. "I'm a mother and you're..."

"A killer," she finished for her. "You're a mother and I'm a killer."

"Lennie, you're not a killer." Billie shook her head. "You were just unlucky."

"And I've killed people," Valencia said. "In my Games, I killed five people... four were Careers' and one was my district partner. Just a month ago, I killed people. I didn't even spare a thought before throwing that knife. I didn't spare a thought before lifting that machete."

"Lennie, that's the Hunger Games," Billie told her. "You're not some monster or killer... you're just someone who was unlucky. You're just someone who's been through so much. I'm surprised you're still here actually."

"Wow, want to get rid of me that bad?"

Billie laughed softly as she looked at Valencia, saying, "I never got a real chance to talk to you after your first Games so I'll say it now... I am so proud of you, Lennie. You went through hell and you somehow managed to come back, you won. You won the Hunger Games... and I know, I'm some burden in your life, but—"

"You're not a burden," Valencia quickly interrupted her. "You were never a burden in my life. I should have tried better, I should have tried harder to be a better friend. I was just... I was fifteen when I won and that was a lot to process. And then my mother died because of Snow and things in the Capitol happened."

"I know—"

"You don't know what's happened in the Capitol," Valencia nearly cried. "But still, you tried to help me and I pushed you away."

"You have no reason to feel bad, Lennie," Billie assured her. "You went through and saw some things that no-one could ever fathom. You needed time and I'm sorry for everything that's happened... you know, a Victor's life is said to be so luxurious... but it's really not, is it?"

"We are the Capitol gems." Valencia sighed. "And even though we won and we live in this big house with money and food... you don't live anymore. The moment you exit the arena, you are not yourself anymore. I am not the old Valencia, she is dead and I am what remains, Billie. Do not expect me to be that same girl you were friends with all those years ago."

"And neither am I, Lennie," Billie muttered. "I lost my husband and I lost you... I have never felt more pain than I do now."

"Then maybe we can share our pain."

⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

— our babes are back