𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒉𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑳𝒐𝒕𝒖𝒔; 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒏𝒊𝒄𝒌 𝒐𝒅𝒂𝒊𝒓

𝑰𝒎𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑫𝒐𝒐𝒎

The group begins to enter the jungle, careful of the looming threats that lurk within. Everyone is on guard. They won't be ambushed again. As they continue to walk, the Panem Anthem rings throughout the arena. It's time for the fallen tributes to be shown. They stop walking to watch, and Lilith prepares herself to see Silas's face.

Cashmere appears in the sky first, and Gloss is shown seconds later. Then, Silas's picture is plastered up there for a few seconds. Her heart clenches at the reminder of his death. Finnick places a hand on Lilith's shoulder, his way of letting her know that he's with her, and everything will be okay.

Wiress's face comes up next. The whole group felt sad by her face being up there. She was the reason they figured out the arena was a clock. If Katniss hadn't listened to her, they would've never figured it out.

When Mags's face is shown, Lilith places her hand on top of Finnick's, both their hands on Lilith's shoulder. Mags sacrificed herself so they could escape the fog. She was a kind soul.

Peeta is most affected when the morphling who sacrificed herself for him is shown. Blight's image causes Johanna to hang her head. Finally, Chaff's face is shown, and the music ends suddenly. The group continues making their way to the tree.

They arrive to the lightning tree when night comes. They needed to work fast in order to beat the lightning.

"Minimal charring. It's an impressive conductor," Beetee inspects the tree, giving a hum of approval. "Let's get started."

Beetee gets to work immediately, everyone else keeping watch in case anyone tries to sneak up on them. He strategically wraps the coil around various parts of the tree, not doing too much so there is enough to take to the beach. As Lilith watches the man, she gets a bad feeling in her gut. She does her best to brush it off, but it lingers in the back of her mind.

"Typically a lightning strike contains five billion joules of energy. We don't want to be anywhere in the vicinity when this hits," Beetee explains to no one in particular. He takes the rest of the coil and holds it out to Katniss. "You girls, go together now."

Katniss looks ready to protest. The look on her face is a mixture of annoyance and irritation. Johanna and Lilith give each other a look, knowing their time is coming.

"Take this. Unspool it carefully. Make sure the entire coil is in the water. Understand?" Beetee instructs the trio of girls. Katniss looks very hesitant, but Johanna and Lilith just nod their heads. "Then head to the tree at the 2:00 sector. We'll meet you there."

"I'm gonna go with them as a guard," Peeta says quickly. He looked worried and on edge, not wanting to be away from Katniss.

"No, no, no. Those three girls are more than capable of protecting themselves. Katniss has her bow, and Lilith has her swords," Beetee says, immediately shutting Peeta down. "You're staying here to protect me, and the tree."

Although Lilith isn't fond on leaving Finnick, she knows she has to go with Johanna in order to finish this plan. Beetee watches Peeta and Katniss carefully, they seem rather uncomfortable being apart from each other.

"No, I need to go with her," Peeta says once more.

"There are two other tributes out there, so I need two guards," Beetee says sternly.

Lilith doesn't understand why Peeta is arguing so much. She has never seen him this defiant against a plan.

"Finnick can protect you just fine on his own," Peeta argues.

"We're split evenly this way. Just leave it," Lilith says, feeling as though they are running out of time.

"Well, why can't Johanna and Lilith stay here with you and Finnick, then Peeta and I will take the coil?" Katniss chimes in.

Lilith sighs heavily. Why do they have to be so stubborn on this? Why can't they just follow along?

Beetee huffs in annoyance and walks closer to Katniss, staring at her through the top of his glasses, "You all agreed to keep me alive until midnight, correct?"

"It's his plan. We all agreed to it," Johanna reminds everyone. Her tone is filled with attitude as she is beginning to grow tired of these games.

"Is there a problem here?" Finnick asks calmly. He eyes Katniss, daring her to reveal her and Peeta's true intentions.

"Excellent question," Beetee says loudly, not taking his eyes off of Katniss.

Everyone watches Katniss, waiting for her to continue to argue with them.

"No. There's no problem," Katniss says stiffly. She keeps her face blank, but Lilith can tell that she wants to keep arguing about this.

Katniss then turns her head towards Peeta, walking over to him to say her goodbyes. Lilith takes a step closer to Finnick, giving him a tight hug. At this point, she doesn't care who is watching, she just wants to make her affection known to Finnick.

Finnick immediately hugs Lilith back, resting his chin on her shoulder for a moment. She pulls away and looks at his face, seeing the reluctance and worry in his eyes.

"It'll be okay. I'll see you soon," She assures him and herself.

Finnick doesn't say anything, he just gives her a soft smile and squeezes her shoulder affectionately. He doesn't want to say goodbye. He's gonna see her later, as promised.

"All right, let's go!" Johanna shouts. She has a scowl on her face and is growing impatient.

Lilith gives Finnick one last smile, and turns away from him. As she walks further and further away, she gets that feeling in her stomach again. She ignores it once more, knowing everything will go as planned, and she'll be back by Finnick's side soon enough.