𝐌𝐀𝐃 𝐖𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐍 - 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘬 𝘰𝘥𝘢𝘪𝘳

― 𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞

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chapter twenty-one: miss me?

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𝐀 𝐃𝐀𝐑𝐊, 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐄𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐂𝐑𝐀𝐖𝐋𝐒 𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐎 𝐕𝐈𝐒𝐇𝐀'𝐒 𝐆𝐔𝐓 𝐀𝐒 𝐒𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐒 𝐀𝐂𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄 𝐀𝐓 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐍𝐓'𝐒 𝐅𝐀𝐂𝐄. She barely knows the man and, yet, she already has a bad feeling about him. Maybe it's the fact that he's caused Mayan's death, or maybe it's the fact that he's responsible for all the blood on her hands. Still, there is something about President Coriolanus Snow that makes Visha's skin crawl with unease. 

The national anthem of Panem booms in Visha's ears, distracting her from her thoughts about Snow. Then she hears Caesar Flickerman greeting the audience. Her heart stutters in her chest― oh, what must they think of her now? Do they love her? Hate her? But, more than that, what do the people back in District 2 think? Has Visha finally gained their respect, or has she forever marked herself as an enemy and a traitor by killing Blake? 

The crowd breaks into a smattering of applause as Visha's prep team is introduced. From behind the curtains backstage, she can make out Lucretia's elegant form waving kindly. Merlyn is blowing kisses to certain audience members. Summer has a light flush on her cheeks as she curtsies. 

Then Delia is introduced. She basks in the praise and spotlight, and Visha can only guess how long she's waited to be awarded a decent District to escort. 

The four of them settle into their seats in the front row of the audience, right beside where Hunter and Gideon are seated. 

Then the spotlight shines on Visha. 

She raises her chin and struts confidently onto the stage. A deafening roar erupts from the crowd. All Visha can see are flashes of white light that makes her head hurt and her eyesight go dizzy. Still, she makes her way to the centre and greets Caesar with a wide grin. "Miss me?" Visha croons to both him and the Capitol crowd.

Caesar smiles at her charmingly, blindingly white teeth sparkling. "I know I sure did," he says, winking, "but it seems someone else did too." 

Huh? Visha furrows her eyebrows in confusion, before something starts to play on the screen behind her. It's a clip of her arriving by hovercraft after her Games. It shows her running and jumping into Hunter's arms and him twirling her around. Visha's face flames. 

The crowd goes wild. 

Visha tries her hardest to avoid Hunter's eyes as her own dart through the audience. 

"Isn't that something?" Caesar asks the crowd. They cheer once more, clapping and hooting and showering praise on Visha and Hunter. He turns back to Visha. "Looks like you won for more than just redeeming yourself, huh?"