Spark to Flame: A Finniss Story

Pt III: Rubble to Sand

Peeta's second broadcast is nothing short of heartbreaking.

He's different, not at all the same as she had last seen him. His eyes are worn and he had lost a considerable amount of weight, and after looking more closely she could see that he was shaking. It took everything in her to keep it together during that interview, to not break down right then and there and let the guilt at being the sole reason for his torture consume her once and for all. She felt lower than low, of less worth than the dirt she treaded on. She could only hope that in the end he could forgive her.

Gale had been the one to suggest they respond to Peeta's statements.

She had been reluctant at first, but upon realizing that the likeliness of Peeta knowing what Snow and the Capitol had done to District 12, to their home, was slim to none, she agreed. After all, certainly he would change his tune once he knew what Snow had done. And so she donned her gear and set out with her team to District 12 to record another propaganda piece in hopes of enlightening Peeta and the rest of the Capitol to the unspeakable crimes Snow had committed against thousands of innocent people right under everyone's noses.

It was hard, being in her home district again, but necessary if she wanted to achieve what she was aiming to do.

Interestingly enough, she finds herself worrying more about Finnick and his whereabouts than the countless dead laying in the town square. She feels uneasy with herself, having left him behind when they had been sharing such an important, intimate moment in their already delicate relationship, but the deed was done, and she has work to do.

She spends the remaining precious hours she has left in recording the propo.

~*~

Nearly an hour after Coin has previewed her propo to the whole of District 13, Boggs comes to get her.

She's sitting in the cafeteria with Prim, thinking about Finnick and how she hasn't seen him since she got back, when the military officer approaches her and tells her that she's wanted in Command. She gazes warily between him and her sister, knowing that it has to do with Peeta but not wanting to confront or acknowledge it, and reluctantly agrees to follow him up to headquarters.

She sees Peeta's face on one of the large video screens as they walk in, and she has to stop and stare at him because she just can't believe what she's seeing.

His features are ghostly and skeleton-like - his eyes are sunken and the skin around his cheekbones and jaw is the tightest she's ever seen it, he's so thin - and his overall expression is one of sadness and hurt. She gasps, bringing a hand up to her mouth in regret and guilt at what she's unwittingly done to him, what she's responsible for.

"I'm begging you for restraint and decency towards the districts," Peeta says, his hollow eyes staring into her soul. "Please."

She's about to cry, about to let the first of many tears slip from her eyes as she stares at him, but holds it in as she realizes she's in the company of complete strangers, none of which she wants to see her at her weakest. Beetee, who had been sitting at one of the control panels near the center of the room, quickly punches a series of keys and buttons on the computer he's situated at, and Peeta's face is eventually taken over by her propo video and the remains of District 12.

"There it is, there's our footage," Coin says suddenly from beside her, pointing at the screen.

"He made it in," Plutarch calls, leaning over Beetee's computer.

The footage is snowy and of less quality than what had been shown just an hour before, but the fact is that it works and they made it through the Capitol's firewall. Peeta's face fades in and out on the screen, and everyone can see that he's staring in disbelief at what she and her team recorded. Which is good. Because it proves that he isn't a traitor, that he was merely doing what he had to do in order to protect her, to protect them both. The look on his face is of genuine shock, and she may be over-thinking it but Katniss swears that she sees tears forming in his eyes.