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SHALL WE RISE?

act three.

(chapter forty-two, the ghosts never stop haunting you)

bunker of thirteen / upper ground, 2313.

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"ARE YOU SERIOUS?" VALENCIA asked the moment she entered Command, eyes wide. "Did Beetee actually figure it out?"

It was the day next and was about dinnertime when Valencia was alerted by Nova that there was a meeting in Command. She was told that finally, Beetee managed to find a way into the nationwide feed. The propos could air in the Capitol for everyone to see.

"He thinks," Nova reminded her when the two sat down next to Plutarch and Antares, leaving a seat for Katniss. The individual screens were up on the table, showing regular Capitol footage.

"What's going on?" Katniss asked when she entered the room. "Aren't we seeing the Twelve propos?"

"Oh, no," said Plutarch. "I mean, possibly. I don't exactly what footage Beetee plans to use."

"Beetee said he thinks he's found a way to show the propos in the Capitol," Antares explained to her as she sat down next to him, Nova, and Valencia. "He's in Special Defence now. There's a live programming tonight and it's said Snow is going to appear. Look, it's starting now."

The Capitol seal appeared and was followed by the anthem. When Snow was shown, greeting the nation, Valencia narrowed her eyes at the sight. The camera pulled back to include Peeta, who was off to one side in-front of a projected map of Panem. He was sitting on an elevated chair, his prosthetic leg tapping on the metal rung below his feet. His eyes looked angry and he looked much worse than he did in the interview Valencia and Katniss watched.

"He's worse," Katniss murmured and Valencia immediately reached out and held her hand tight, feeling her cling on.

Peeta began to speak in a frustrated tone as he called the need for cease-fire. He talked about the damage done to various districts, the map lighting up behind him and showing the images. A dam was broken in Seven, a train derailed with a pool of toxic waste spilling from the tank cars, and then a granary collapsing after a fire in District Nine, followed by the apartment complex. All of this, according to the footage, was caused by the rebels. But then suddenly, instead of Peeta and Snow, Katniss was shown on the screens, standing on a pile of rubble.

"He did it!" Plutarch jumped up. "Beetee broke in!"

The room was ecstatic when the footage cut back to Peeta, who was distracted. He had seen the clip of Katniss and tried to pick up his speech by talking about the bombing on a water purification plant, but the clip of Antares talking about the We Remember propos he and Fulvia did showed instead.

Everyone was delighted and cheering Beetee on, but Valencia just sat in her seat quiet, still holding Katniss's hand. Then, the Capitol seal was up with the sound of a flat audio tune. And then, Peeta and Snow appeared again. Snow told the cameras that the rebels were attempting to disrupt the broadcast because of the information they were sharing. He asked Peeta if he had any parting thoughts for Katniss.

"Katniss... how do you think this will end? What will be left? No-one is safe. Not in the Capitol. Not in the districts. And you... in Thirteen..." Peeta looked as if he was fighting something, breathing heavily. "Dead by morning!"

"End it!" Snow's voice could be heard off camera.

Beetee was throwing shots of Katniss standing in-front of the hospital in Eight at a three-second interval. But between the still shot, they could see what was happening in the Capitol. Peeta was still trying to talk, but then the camera was knocked down and began to record the white floor. And then there was the echo of the painful blow as Peeta cried out in pain. His blood splattered onto the white tiles.

Valencia looked in horror as the footage cut, Katniss choking on a scream that threatened to spill from her lips. But even if she did cry, no-one would hear her since the room was absolute carnage. People were shouting at Peeta, questioning and demanding ringing throughout Command as they tried to understand what he meant.

"Shut up!" Haymitch yelled out, everyone going silent as they laid their eyes on him. "It's not some big mystery! The boy's telling us we're about to be attacked. Here. In Thirteen."

At this, everyone began to yell again, asking how he got that information, asking why they should trust them, asking how Haymitch knew. Valencia furrowed her eyebrows as Haymitch growled, "They're beating him bloody while we speak! What more do you need? Katniss, help me out here!"

"Haymitch's right. I don't know where Peeta got the information," Katniss said as she tried to regain her breath. "Or if it's true. But he believes it is. And they're—"

"You don't know him," Haymitch told Coin. "We do. Get your people ready."

Coin didn't seem as alarmed as Valencia thought she would, instead she was tapping a single finger lightly on the table, processing the words. When she spoke, she spoke directly to Haymitch. "Of course, we have prepared for such a scenario. Although, we have decades of support for the assumption that further direct attacks on Thirteen would be counterproductive to the Capitol's cause. Nuclear missiles would release radiation into the atmosphere, with the incalculable environment results. Even routine bombing could badly damage our military compound, which we know they hope to regain. And, of course, they invite a counterstrike. It is conceivable that, given our current alliance with the rebels, those should be viewed as acceptable risks."

"You think so?" Haymitch said.

"I do. At any rate, we're overdue for a Level Five security drill," said Coin as she began to type rapidly on her keyboard. "Let's proceed with the lockdown."

There had only been two low-level drills in Thirteen ever since Valencia's arrival. She didn't participate in either of them for she was in the hospital ward for both and was exempted since it would be too risky for Valencia to move considering her condition back then, but she still heard the sirens wailing and not one of them were as loud, as ear-bursting as the one that currently rang out through Thirteen.

Boggs guided Valencia, Nova, Antares, and Katniss out of Command, along the hall to a doorway, and onto a wide stairway. Valencia would have thought that the people would be going crazy at the siren, but calm streams of people were going downwards in the stairway. They began to join them and Valencia looked out desperately to try find Billie and Athena. She tried to hear out for a toddler screaming, but nothing was heard over the wails of the siren.

They were deep underground by the time they reached where they were supposed to. Most of the walls were stone while steel beams and concrete were laid against the ones that weren't. Sleeping bunks were everywhere in groups and there even was a kitchen, a bathroom, and a first-aid station. White signs with letters and numbers were placed everywhere.

Valencia went to go walk right in, but Boggs stopped her, showing that she needed to show her hospital band in-front of a scanner so she was accounted for. Boggs told Antares, Nova (who immediately tried to go with Valencia, but was stopped by Boggs) and Katniss to go report to the area that matched their assigned quarters whilst he kept pulling Valencia along, trying to find where the hospital patients were being kept, which was near the first-aid station. Boggs let her go, giving her a nod before stalking back into the crowd of strangers.

"Miss Barlowe?" One of the doctors asked her.

"What?" Valencia snapped as she turned around. "What do you want?"

"I was going to say come sit down on the bed," the doctor told her, eyes narrowing. "You need to relax. We don't want you to exert yourself."

"Oh, shut up!" Valencia hissed as she pushed the doctor away. Her eyes scanned over the field of strangers that were filling into the cavern. Soldiers were preparing to shut the thick metal doors, slowly rotating wheels. With a sigh, Valencia looked around, trying to find Billie and Athena. She just needed to find two blondes, but there was so many light-haired people in Thirteen that she couldn't find the pair. And so, with a sigh, she sat down on one of the bunks, burying her head into her hands and closing her eyes.

The faint sound of the sirens cut off sharply and it was replaced by Coin's voice. She thanked them all for evacuating and said that it wasn't a drill, for Peeta Mellark, District Twelve Victor, possibly made a televised reference to an attack on Thirteen. And that was when the first bomb hit. There was a sense of impact, followed by an explosion that caused nearly every fibre in Valencia's anatomy to shatter. 

When Valencia opened her eyes, she was succumbed to a world of darkness. The lights went out and it was followed by many shrieks, babies whimpering, breaths, and even laughter. But then there was the hum of a generator and a dim glow replaced the light. Valencia tried to find a familiar face in the crowd, but she couldn't see anyone. And in that moment, she felt utterly alone, sitting on a bunk bed in hospital robes with the term 'anger management issues' hanging over her, the band 'mentally disoriented' attacked to her wrist. She wanted Finnick.

She wanted Finnick to wrap his strong arms, for her to bury her head into his chest. Valencia wanted to hear his soft voice whisper into her ear, his warm breath fan onto her cheek. She wanted to feel the kisses that he would pepper into her hair whilst she focused on his steady, strong heartbeat. But Finnick was not here. Finnick was in the Capitol whilst Valencia was down in the lowest ground of District Thirteen.

"Apparently, Peeta Mellark's information was sound and we owe him a great debt of gratitude. Sensors indicate the first missile was not nuclear, but very powerful. We expect more will follow. For the duration of the attack, citizens are to stay in their assigned areas unless otherwise notified," Coin's voice echoed around.

And so, Valencia rocked herself on the bunk, hands on her cheeks as she tried to calm down her racing heart. She was used to loud sounds and such, but she was not used to the fear of getting crushed alive by concrete and the entirety of District Thirteen. She wondered how Nova was faring. Where did she even go?

It was when one of the doctors came up to Valencia and told her that they were allowed to use the bathroom and brush their teeth that she was required to move. She and a small group of patients she had never met before were led to the bathroom. She immediately regretted the hospital robes since the cavern gave off a chill that nearly had Valencia shaking. 

Valencia spent most of the time sitting on her bed, rocking herself as she tried to calm her thoughts, not listening to anyone, not even when another four bombs came raining down. Even when the day passed and it came to the second, Valencia was still rocking herself. 

All the doctors were getting upset with her, saying that she needed to cooperate. The citizens of Thirteen were to participate in a strict schedule. People were to exercise, eat rations, bathe, sleep. Small periods of socialisation were given and Valencia did try find Billie, but she was soon redirected back to the first-aid station where the other patients were. When it was the third day and everyone was supposed to go to bed, Valencia was rocking on her bunk, staring at her fiddling fingers as she tried to sort through her thoughts. She was so deep in her head that she didn't even notice Katniss come creeping up beside her, slowly sitting down on her mattress.

"Lennie," Katniss said softly. "I think I know why they have them in the Capitol."

Katniss began to explain her discovery of Snow's plan to break her. It was to do with some game she had made with her family's cat. Katniss was the cat. Peeta was the thing that she wanted so badly, therefore the light the cat was trying to catch. As long as Katniss felt like she had the chance of getting Peeta, she was aggressive. When the light went out completely, she would be confused, but would move on and recover. But if Peeta was held just from Katniss's grasp, she would be in hysterics, pacing below as she tried to grab him. She couldn't be comforted or distracted until she got Peeta or Peeta died. 

"For Peeta, yeah." Valencia sighed when she finished listening to Katniss's discovery. "Peeta knows nothing about the plan or the rebels, it was worthless arresting him, trying to get information out of it. But it was when it came to you... but not for Finnick or Commie or Johanna."

"What do you mean?"

"The three of them knew about the plan," Valencia explained. "Snow arrested them purely to get information out of them about the rebels. Pretty worthless, we didn't really know the extent to how big the rebellion was. One day after the Tribute Parade, we went down to a room and Plutarch explained bits of it. But I see your point, he's just using Peeta to come back at you."

"What about Annie?" Katniss asked her. "He has Annie as well."

"Annie, I suppose, was to taunt me." Valencia sighed. "Me and Annie are the same, sort of. We both experienced the same thing... we both saw our allies get beheaded in-front of us. Everyone knows we went through the same thing and that I tried to help her deal with the pain... but I've been so absorbed in Finnick, and Commie, and Johanna that I didn't really spare a thought for Annie. They won't hurt her, just use her."

Katniss let Valencia's words sink in, eyebrows furrowing as she nodded her head. Valencia chuckled as she looked at her. (Valencia gasped as she watched Dominica's eyes go dull, her head toppling off of her body as it collapsed to the ground) (Dominica's head rolled on the brittle ice and banged into the metal of the Cornucopia) (Valencia had just beheaded someone)

"I judged you too quickly." Valencia shook her head with a smirk. "I really hated you in the beginning, after your first Games. Everyone thought the whole romance with Peeta was just an act to survive, everyone was pissed that there was two Victors'. It was inevitable that you would continue to pretend to be in love with each other..."

"And?"

"And it wasn't until Peeta hit that force field in the arena, and Finnick revived him, and you were sobbing over his body that I realised." Valencia took a breath. "I realised that maybe it wasn't an act and maybe I didn't look closer. Maybe you weren't playing pretend just to survive... you care for him, Katniss. Even a blind person could see that. And that you love him, maybe not even in that romantic way, but you love him. Maybe you don't know yourself, but trust me, I know all about denying true feelings."

"With Finnick?" Katniss asked her gently, biting her lip as she nodded her head slowly. 

"Yeah," Valencia said. "I'm not the type to fall in love and I always denied my feelings for Finnick, even told him to his face that I wasn't the person to fall in love, that I was a monster. But then in that arena, so many times I told myself no, but I gave in. And, damn, do I love him, Katniss. Even if I only had a small amount of time with him. It's the same with you and Peeta."

The two women sat in silence as they looked at the floor. Valencia was trying to swallow a lump in her throat whilst the gears in Katniss's head turned.

"Does this get easier?"

"It depends," Valencia told her gently. "You have to find yourself an anchor, something that stops you from going mad. But the nightmares, they never stop. The ghosts never stop haunting you. There's no relief in this world that can stop the pain, the memories. But that anchor, that anchor can keep you moving forward."

"How do you find an anchor?"

"I think you've already found your anchor, Katniss," Valencia told her. "It's just a matter of you realising who it is."

As Katniss looked at her with an odd expression, Valencia patted her back and averted her eyes back to the ground, her smirk leaving her lips.

"You know," Katniss began to say. "You were right when you said I would like Billie."

"You met Billie? When?"

"Just then, she's near my bunk."

And so, with a hurried expression, Valencia followed Katniss back to her area, tiptoeing past those that were on night duty. A deep sigh of relief came from Valencia's lips when she saw Billie laying in her bed, eyes wide open as Athena snuggled up beside her, her soft snores echoing around.

"Hey, Billie," Valencia greeted her as Katniss walked away, bending down on her knees to look at the blonde girl. "You all right?"

"Hey," Billie responded quietly. "Yeah, I'm fine... it's been an exciting few days."

"I'm sure it has," Valencia told her. "To make it even more exciting for you, the Capitol has seen some of our propos. That's how we found out about the attacks. From Peeta."

"I heard." Billie smirked. "Is he all right? Peeta?"

"I don't think so," Valencia told her, eyes going sorrowful. "Snow's doing something to him... it makes me think that's he going to do something to the others."

Billie furrowed her eyebrows as she spoke, "You know, people back in Nine have been talking about Snow. About rumours."

"What kind of rumours?"

"Of how he kept his power all these years," Billie told her, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. "I heard that he uses poison."

"Poison?"

"All these mysterious deaths of Snow's threats and adversaries, he's been the one to kill them," Billie explained. "Apparently, it's to do with poison. He drinks from the same cup to avoid any suspicion and that's why he wears the roses on his lapel. Because antidotes don't work sometimes. He wears roses reeked with perfume to hide the blood from the sores in his mouth."

"You're joking, Billie," Valencia said. "You know how well this could help the rebellion?"

"It's just a rumour, Lennie," Billie reminded her.

"It sounds like Snow," Valencia murmured. "I can tell you right now it's not a rumour..."

"If you say so..."

Snow used poison. Valencia believed it. It sounded like something a snake would do. And it linked to all the mysterious deaths of Snow's threats and allies who were a risk. Snow used poison to kill. He killed to keep his power. That could be helpful for the rebellion.

Soon, Coin announced that they could finally leave the bunker. Some of the old quarters were destroyed by the bombings and everyone were to follow exact directions to their new compartments, but Valencia was to follow those to the hospital ward. That was until Boggs appeared and pulled her out of line with Nova, Katniss, Gale, and Antares. People moved out of their way as they walked out of the door, up the stairs, down the hall to an elevator that could go in any direction, and finally at Special Defence. Valencia had never been down to the area and so it was all new for her.

Boggs guided them into a room that looked identical to Command. Everyone sat around the table looking absolutely exhausted, steaming mugs in their hands. Valencia raised an eyebrow when she saw Ezra and her old prep team standing in the corner. They all looked bland in their grey jumpsuits, but Bette, Aria, and Mateo all still had their wonderful pastel hair.

"Bette? Aria? Mateo?" Valencia asked as she wondered over to them. "You're here..."

"Oh, love!" Aria gasped as she quickly pulled her into a tight embrace, tears coming from her eyes. "We never thought we would see you again!"

"I'm right here, Aria." Valencia swallowed the lump in her throat as she turned to Mateo and Bette, who seemed like they were trying to hold back tears. Ezra looked at her with a warm smile, instantly pulling her into a hug. "I haven't seen you lot around."

"Ever since putting Katniss into the field, my job has come to a cease," Ezra told her, a gentle hand on her shoulder. "And since she has her own team, the three weren't needed. We've been going around like normal here in Thirteen."

"The clothes are rather bland," Mateo whispered to her. "But there's nothing wrong with a bit of dullness."

A look from Coin immediately silenced them, clearing her throat as she said, "We need all of you suited up and aboveground. You have two hours to get footage showing the damage from the bombing, establish that Thirteen's military unit remains not only functional, but dominant, and most important, that the Mockingjay is still alive. Any questions?"

"Are allowed a coffee?" Antares asked, pointing at the mugs.

When the cups of the black liquid were handed out, Valencia watched as Antares and Nova laughed with Katniss. She noticed that the three had gotten somewhat closer ever since they went to District Twelve, Nova and Antares becoming a part of her squad. If Valencia wasn't still in the hospital, she probably would be as well.

When Katniss got ready in her Mockingjay outfit, Ezra examining her, the crew started to make their way outside. Valencia winced at the bitter taste of her coffee though still slurping it all the way back. After climbing a final ladder, Boggs hit a lever that opened a trapdoor, the sound of nature and fresh air echoing around. They emerged into the woods and Valencia immediately took a sigh of relief from getting out of the bunker.

Debris was all over the forest floor and when they went to their first crater, Valencia winced when she saw how deep it was. Boggs told them that anyone of the first ten levels would have been killed. They dodged the crater and walked around.

The woods began to disappear as they entered the space inside the fence. Massive craters were everywhere, but there was barely anything above ground anyway, a few guard stations and the training area.

"How much of an edge did the boy's warning give you?" Haymitch asked.

"About ten minutes before our own systems would've detected missiles," Boggs said.

"But it did help, right?" Katniss asked him.

"Absolutely," Boggs assured her. "Civilian evacuation was completed. Seconds count when you're under attack. Ten minutes meant lives saved."

That news seemed to cheer Katniss up a bit, who was buzzing from the coffee. And so, they all walked around the craters before Cressida said she wanted to film Katniss in-front of the old Justice Building, a joke since the Capitol had been using it as a backdrop for fake broadcasts for years. The Justice Building now sat a little bit away from the edge of a crater. And when they approached what used to be the entrance, Gale pointed something out and the entire crew closed down. On the ground, fresh pink and red roses littered the floor. 

Valencia shook her head as she bit her tongue, the sick, sweet smell entering her nose, giving her a massive headache. Snow had dropped them just after the bombing.

⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

— i have a feeling i keep using the same gifs for the beginning