The Life of A Victor || Finnick Odair

CHAPTER 60

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Coming from the television, the beeping began suddenly. The seal of Panem was shown and remained on the screen as the anthem played. Then, images of the supposed dead soldier squad appeared. It started with those from the television crew, but soon it was followed by Boggs, Gale, Finnick, Dove, Melo, Johanna, Peeta, and Katniss. They didn't even bother to show any of the other District Thirteen soldiers.

President Snow, seated peacefully at his desk, as if a war wasn't happening right in font of his eyes, and congratulated the Peacekeepers on a masterful job. He honoured them for freeing the country of the menaces called Mockingjay and Rebels' Songbird.

With their deaths, he affirmed there would be a turning of the tide in the war. The rebels were demoralised. They had no one to follow. And what were the two rebel symbols, really?

The Mockingjay was only a poor, unstable girl with a small talent with a bow and arrow. The Rebels' Songbird was merely a girl with a charming voice that, just as a siren, drove whoever heard it to insanity, following the voice even until their death.

However, despite all this, they weren't great thinkers, not the masterminds of the rebellion. Purely two faces plucked from the masses because they had somewhat caught the nation's attention. One with her antics in the Games, the other with her songs. Still, they were necessary, because the rebels had no real leader among them.

Before he could continue on explaining anything else, the image changed from him to President Coin, not too affected by the news of the squad's death. She introduced herself to Panem, determining herself as the head of the rebellion.

"I have interrupted a broadcast from your President in which he attempted to defame two brave young women. 'Two faces picked from the masses', he called them. As if a leader, a true leader, could be anything else. I had the privilege of knowing a small-town girl from the Seam in District Twelve and a caring young woman from District Four, who both survived the Hunger Games and the Quarter Quell. Rose up and turned a nation of slaves into an army! Dead or alive, Katniss Everdeen and Dove Ogilvy will remain the faces of this rebellion. If ever you waver in your resolve, think of them, and in them, you will find the strength you need to rid Panem of its oppressors." Coin declared.

"I had no idea how much I meant to her," Katniss said, causing Gale to laugh.

"She's smart. She sent us to die, she thinks we did, and now she's using the situation to make herself known. Now everyone trusts her. Now everyone looks up to her. Now everyone thinks she'll be the perfect president once all of this is over," Dove said towards Katniss, although she didn't care if everyone else listened. She held Finnick's hand as she saw two altered images appear on television. Katniss and her looking beautiful. No scars, no marks, no signs of starvation. Nothing remotely like that. "Puppet here. Puppet there. We're puppets everywhere." She singed softly.

"Tomorrow morning, when we pull Katniss Everdeen's and Dove Ogilvy's body from the ashes, we will see exactly who the Mockingjay and Songbird are. Two dead girls who could save no one, not even themselves." President Snow announced immediately after the image was back at him. And then, nothing. Seal, anthem, and the television was off.

"Except that you won't find them," said Finnick towards the screen. It was true, once they found fifteen bodies missing, they would realise they weren't dead. And the hunt for their heads would be back again on track.

"We can get a head start on them at least," Katniss said, pulling out the Holo and insisting that Jackson talked to her through the most basic commands.

"Coin acted quite emotional right there. I wonder how many suckers believed her little act," Johanna commented, facing her friends, as some from Thirteen gave her unsure looks.