Living Lies ✜ Hunger Games x Reader

The Phoenix

A/N: So that coding didn't work... yeah, that was a bit embarrassing. I'll probably go back and take it out now. Also, this chapter might not surprise a few, with all the symbolism, and stuff.  I am serious about that crossover thing too, anybody interested? 

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You haven't been allowed out of the complex for weeks. And you're pissed.

Katniss and Prim visited you a few times since you woke up, and Gale more so than Haymitch, who was too busy "planning". Katniss told you that Peeta was improving ever since they first rescued the both of you. He still didn't care to be around her much, and she was clearly hurt, but she thought you might be of some help. "That is," she had added, "if they ever let you more than five feet off of your bed."

Katniss was training, for some sort of mission in the Capitol, which Gale was supposed to be a part of—and both those thoughts terrified you. Johanna Mason, a girl you didn't know much about other than how petrifying she seemed in the Quarter Quell, was with her. You were surprised to learn that she had been with you and Peeta in the Capitol; but you weren't that surprised to hear that she suffered from some of the same things you did, and then some.

Gale spent a good portion of his time filling you in on what happened while you were gone. And what had happened in District 12 after the Quarter. It was like in your fake memories, except this time it was real. It took a while for you to accept it was bombed, and not everyone made it out. Madge Undersee and her family, among them. Peeta's whole family. Your parents.

To find out that your parents didn't know you were alive and well before they died hurt deeply. You knew your friend carried a lot of the guilt for their death, but you couldn't be mad at him. You were like him in a few ways, and one of those ways is that you were very good at directing your anger towards the Capitol; which is what you did.

You aren't sure what changed in you, but the desire to punch the closest District 13 agent in the nose is overwhelming, and you are eager to join whatever squad your friends were a part of and figure out this newfound aggression. Even during the Games you were never like that; the only that came close was what you felt after Clove killed Rue.

The progress against the Capitol has been expanding in leaps and bounds. Not long ago, Gale and Katniss captured District 2 and now, you hear, District 13 is planning an attack on the Capitol itself. It shouldn't surprise you, and Gale is nearly as eager to end Snow's reign as you are.

"They still haven't let you see him?"

You snap out of your reverie, and let out a surprised breath. It fogs up the glass in front of you, and you rub it away with your sleeve. The last time you saw this boy in person—unconscious, no less—he wasn't even in this bad of condition. His mind was still intact.

"Only through plated glass," you sigh again, turning to face the blonde owner of the voice. "He doesn't know that I'm here, but at least he's getting better."

Finnick flashes what you have quickly learned is his trademark smirk. "He'll be better," he promises, "you know that. They're working day and night to undue whatever it is that the Capitol put in his brain."

"Even if they do find a way, he'll never be the same."

"None of us will," Finnick points out. "We've all changed in ways that can't be undone." You huff in frustrated agreement, and finally turn away from the glass. You had gathered little snippets, vague ideas of what Finnick's life had been like since the Games, just from listening to Katniss. When you were finally allowed out of your little hospital room, Finnick was the one person you found readily available to talk to. Everybody was preoccupied, mind far from you, and he was a surprisingly apt confidant.