The Capitals Flower

Chapter 3

Dahlia's Pov:

The dark haired boy left me in my cell after whispering a few words I can't bring myself to remember. The whole world was crashing and my mind was conflicted.

Finnick said he loved me, he told me so many times. But there was doubt in me, I haven't doubted it before. What's changed?

"Dahlia! Dahlia! Are you okay? You've been gone for hours?!" Peeta asked from the cell over.

"Peeta! Oh God, the venom. Is that what's doing this to me?" I ask scrambling to him.

I desperately grab onto his arms, he doesn't pull away. Instead he pulls me into the closest thing to a hug we can achieve through the bars. I don't notice how wide his eyes have gotten, or how he shakes slightly.

"Dahlia, please tell me they didn't. Not you too." He says, but he sees the injection point of the tracker jacker venom and I know he knows by the way his breath speeds up.

"Dahlia, your going to be okay. I promise, you'll get back to Finnick."he continues

It's the most confident he's sounded since we came here. He's being strong for me, the rolls have reversed. I usually was the one to offer comfort but as I stiffle cries at the name of the man I once believed loved me I remembered what the dark haired boy said.

"Peeta, they're going to bomb district 13 Katniss.... Finnick." The last name hurts

He takes a sharp breath and his grip around me tightens.

"It'll be okay, we will be okay." He whispers, but I know it is more for himself. And I pretend not to hear his mutters about maybe its for the better.

There has to be some untouched memory of Finnick, one happy one. Or maybe I made the happy ones up. I hold onto Peeta as if he was a life line. He may as well be, everything is falling apart and we're just waiting for it to happen. There is nothing we could do.

We stay like this until Peeta is pulled away by a peacekeeper taking him somewhere I may never know. But for now I will pretend they're taking him home

Finnick's Pov:

Dahlia, the only thought on my mind recently. I can hardly eat, sleep or do practically anything. The only thing that keeps me doing any if these things is knowing how broken she'd be if I were to stop.

We had shot some propos for Katniss earlier so I wait in the room with Plutarch for us to intercept one of their broadcasts.

Katniss comes in a few moments later.

"Hey" I say as Beetee rambles about what we're doing.

The TV lights up and we're met with Peeta's face. I hold Katniss's hand, she has been having a harder time then me dealing with all of this.

He goes on about how we should stop the war and the normal stuff they have him say. But he's quickly interrupted by Katniss' singing.

Are you are you
Coming to the tree
Where they strung up a man
They said who murdered three
Strange things have happened here
No stranger would they be
If we met at midnight in the handing tree.

After a few minutes the capital finally gets it back to Peeta and Snow. Snow makes up something about the rebels trying to mess with information. He asks Peeta if he has any parting words for Katniss Everdeen.

At the mention of her name his face contorts with effort. "Katniss, how do you think this will end? What will be left? No one is safe. Not in the capital. Not in the districts. And you..... in Thirteen." He takes a deep breath as if fighting for air. "Dead by morning!"

"End it." Snow says

Peacekeepers come from behind him and Peeta's cries start. Before they turn the camera off I hear him mutter something, something about Dahlia.

I reach for my rope and start tying my favorite knot. Its a knot that takes the shape of a flower, a Dahlia. She taught me how to tie it, she has made up the knot when she was younger and let me name it. Of course I named it the only name I saw fit, the Dahlia knot.

Everything rushes around me as we're rushed to the bunkers. I sit on the cott they have set out trying to breathe. There are so many things he could've said.

He could've tried to tell us she was dead. Tell us she's alive. Tell us she's dying. Tell us she's healthy. The good things are so much less likely.

I don't sleep that night, not because of the bombs that echo above us, or how they shake the earth. But because of the thoughts, the thoughts of Dahlia. Her hair, her face, the way she said my name, her eyes, and her laugh, oh god her laugh.

How she's only ever wanted to treat the world with kindness. How she would have if it wasn't so cruel to her. How she tried to, but it refused it.

She's probably dead now, if not it may be kinder if she was. But I'm selfish, I'd rather her be alive. I couldn't imagine a world without her. The sun wouldn't be allowed to rise, the stars wouldn't sparkle the same. Music wouldn't sound the same.

Sleep won't feel the same without her heartbeat next to me. Everything will be empty, so I'd rather her be alive then dead. No matter the circumstances. And it hurts me.

Eventually we're allowed back out, I think it's been a day maybe two. Some of the bunker is destroyed. I have nothing here, but I feel bad for the district 13 citizens.

They lost their homes. We're sent to make a few more propos. Katniss is upset, I can't blame her. Peeta signed his own death certificate. And I've been in shambles since I heard Peeta mutter her name.

I haven't said it out loud in so long. It feels wrong. The first time I said it with her just out of my grasp it shattered my heart. I remember the syllables first leaving my mouth and wanting to break down.

But the words that leave Haymitch's mouth when we get to the filming room makes my heart beat fast and her name sound less like I'm sending her to death and more like I'm bring her home.

"We've sent a team to save Peeta." He says

Katniss immediately starts bombarding him with questions but I only had one.

"And Dahlia?" I hear myself say, I sound desperate, weak, hurt. The first time saying her name and feeling hope since we got separated.

"Yes" Haymitch says

"If their still alive." Katniss says

"Who did they send?" I ask

"Its a vollenteer army." Haymitch says.

I don't care whose going, I demanded I was allowed to go too but Haymitch told me they had already left. So there was nothing to do but wait.

Wait to see if she's dead. If this mission is what kills her. If her heart is still beating the same. If she's still the girl I knew from what seems like forever ago.

I'll just have to wait.