23

PROPAGANDA

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"No one has seen Jaime for a few hours. Should I be worried?" Evelyn asked up to Finnick, looking up at his blue eyes; if she looked intently enough she could even see the flakes of green that dotted around the iris. Currently, her brown, curly hair swirled over his lap as she played with the ring on her finger. Finnick felt his lover shift below him with a soft groan of pain but he didn't think too much of it.

"He'll be fine," he replied down to her, taking a few strands of her hair and pushing them behind her ear carefully, "You Miracles are fighters."

Evelyn giggled playfully and sat up beside him, "Talking about being a fighter. As soon as I can, I promise that I will help get Annie out of that hell. I know that you guys aren't dating, that you never did, but she is still your friend. She doesn't deserve to be there. Nobody does."

Finnick pulled a picture from his pocket and passed it over to her. Evelyn took the paper under her fingers and noticed that Annie was absolutely gorgeous. With her auburn hair that ran past her shoulders but stopped above her eyebrows in the front to show off her green eyes that seemed to catch all of her attention, "She's stunning."

"She was really fond of you. Annie would always ask to meet you one day and to finally see Aeliana. Apparently, I would go on about her for hours and hours," Finnick's laugh died down as his fiancé passed the picture back to him carefully just as Katniss stepped over quietly.

"Can I sit?" the District 12 girl asked. Evelyn nodded and moved closer to Finnick so that she could let Katniss sit on the other side of her, "Snow's using Annie to punish you. He's taunting us with them. I didn't understand until just now, watching that stupid cat."

"He's using Annie to hurt Finnick because she was his cover story for years. Annie would do anything for Finnick and even for me, so that Lina could stay hidden. She is there because of us," Evelyn whispered as it finally hit her. At first, she had thought that Annie was just another pawn in Snow's games, but she was only there to tease the victors. Johanna too. Johanna was one of her closest friends and one of Jaime's lovers; of course it would make sense for Snow to use that.

Evelyn quickly stood up to check on their daughter who squirmed on her bed and a whimper left her lips. As soon as Evelyn held her daughter's hand, she was soon to go back to sleep. Instead of sitting back down, she kept her hand on her daughter's and pushed her blonde hair from her eyes. She listened to the conversation below with a hand resting over her stomach that started to ache.

"After your first games," Finnick looked over to Katniss, "I thought that the whole romance was an act. We all expected you to continue that strategy. It wasn't until Peeta's heart stopped and you knew that he died, that I knew I misjudged you. You love him. Anyone paying attention can see it."

"How do you live with it? Love?" Katniss asked the two other victors but Evelyn had no answer, not one that Finnick would want to hear. She would die for Finnick, quite literally, she would take a bullet to the chest if it meant that he could live another day. Finnick would hate to see how much she would be willing to do, how far she would go if it meant he could survive. It was terrifying.

"I drag myself out of nightmares and there's no relief in waking up. But it's better not to give into it. It takes ten times longer to put yourself together than to fall apart," the words left Finnick's lips as if he had rehearsed them over and over. They were so simple, yet so brutal.

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Just as Finnick and Evelyn had finally managed to fall asleep in each other's arms, Cressida was kneeling beside their bed and shining a torch in his face, "Finnick," she whispered so that everyone else could sleep, "Finnick."

Evelyn heard it but tried to ignore it but snuggling into Finnick's arms to escape the light. She felt him groan, "Yes?"

"We need you to film a video, Katniss can't," Cressida rustled over and stood up, "Come on."

"What about Eve?" he whispered the girl that looked over them but more importantly how her eyes darted underneath her cloud eyelids.

Evelyn perked up at the sound of her name, rubbing her eyes at the harsh light but waited for Cressida to reply, which she hesitantly did, "They found Jaime. Well, Coin knows where he is if that counts."

"What do you mean?"

"He went with Gale to rescue Peeta, Johanna and Annie from the Capitol," the blonde woman replied before the torch finally shone light over the brunette who looked pale and sweaty, "Shit, are you okay?"

Evelyn pushed the locks out of her face that seemed to stick to her forehead and cheeks with sweat, "I feel fine, I'm just a little hot that's all. Finn, why don't you go film the video and I'll watch over Lina until you get back?"

"Are you sure?" he asked sweetly and rubbed her back comfortingly which used to always work, but it didn't have any effect on her. She pushed through the ringing in her head and pounding in her chest and nodded at him.

"Come and find me when you're done," Evelyn rested her head back on the pillow as Finnick pressed a kiss to her temple. He pulled back, looking down at his fiancé apprehensively. "Finnick, you've got work to do. I'll still be here when you finish."

He smiled down at her, pressing one more kiss to her temple before following after the camera crew. 

Evelyn barely got another hour of sleep.

She spent 45 minutes tossing and turning in her bed. The paper-thin blanket stuck to her body with sweat yet she still shivered in her clothes. Evelyn felt as though she was buried under a foot of snow in the 65th Games whilst simultaneously sweating on the beaches of the 75th Games. She was neither here, there or anywhere.

"Momma?" Lina whispered quietly. Evelyn felt a prod on her cheek. "Momma? I had a bad dream."

Evelyn slurred. "Come- bed- with."

"Momma? You don't look very well."

"Hot," Evelyn shivered out as Lina continued to gently poke her cheek and arms.

"Should I get dadda?" Aeliana asked as she stroked her mothers hair. That's what Evelyn usually did for her when she was sick. Sometimes they'd fall asleep in the rocking chair by the window covered in hot water bottles and blankets. But they didn't have that anymore. 

Evelyn replied with a pained grunt.

"I'll find him, don't worry!" 

Aeliana sauntered off through the rows of sleeping residents. Most were cowered away under blankets with their partners, some sat on the floor besides other beds and held hands as they kept watchful eyes on the cracks on the walls. No matter how many beds she checked or how many residents she asked, Finnick could not be found.

"Lina?" a voice called out.

The small girl turned around to find Octavius, or Uncle Tavi, sewing holes in a pile of blankets shut. There were a few beds around him without their blankets but the occupants chatted amongst themselves as they waited for their fixed blankets.

"What's wrong, munchkin?" he asked softly and placed his sewing to the side. He knelt on the ground in front of the girl and smoothed her hair down. 

"Momma doesn't look very good. She keeps muttering names, too," Lina tugged on his hands to lead him back to her bed. 

"I'm sure she's fine-" Octavius stopped in his tracks when he noticed the small crowd around Evelyn's bed. He stopped Lina and turned her back around so she didn't notice, "Munchkin, I think I left something on my bed. Do you mind going back to my bunk to get it?"

He waited for Aeliana to be on her way before pushing through the crowd and stopped at the foot of Evelyn's bed.

 "What's going on?" he demanded, his eyes fluttering around the commotion. Evelyn couldn't stop shaking. Primrose Everdeen knelt besides her with her fingers on her wrists and her eyes focussed on her watch. 

"She was seizing and now her heart is erratic," Prim stopped talking as blood began to drip from Evelyn's lips and nose, forming a puddle on her blankets that had been bunched up around her head from seizing. "Can somebody carry her?"

Octavius pushed through and gently placed the shivering girl in his arms. He let Primrose lead the way, barely stopping long enough to tell Elodie to find Aeliana and keep her distracted. Octavius felt the blood seep into his clothing but it didn't once stop him from climbing hundreds of steps back up to the main building of District 13. The whole time, as he began panting with exhaustion, Evelyn muttered incoherently.

At first it were familiar names: Tom, Michael, Daviah, Sara, Lou, Nancy and Warren. The tributes that Evelyn had killed int he Hunger Games. But then the names became unfamiliar: Lucy Grey, Plinth and Gaul. Her lips grew paler and paler with each repeat of the names and blood continued to stain his shirt.

"She's seizing!" Octavius called out to Primrose as he gently lay her on the ground. He was simply thankful that he had ran up those hundreds of stairs. Primrose ordered him to not touch her as she timed the seizure on her watch. 

Octavius heard a heavy footfall stop behind him. But he couldn't tear his eyes from Evelyn. She had to be okay. 

"What the hell is going on?" Boggs knelt beside Evelyn as her body stopped convulsing. Primrose continued to do a few exams on Evelyn as she shivered on the floor. She checked her pulse, her temperature, her eyes. 

"She just started convulsing-" Octavius couldn't even comprehend what was going on. She seemed fine when they last spoke. Nobody had mentioned an illness or an injury. How could she take a turn for the worse overnight?

Evelyn's eyes fluttered open; rolling back before focussing on Boggs who knelt over her. 

"Is she going to be okay?" he asked Primrose. The girl had only been in training for a few weeks but already knew more than both of them combined. 

"I don't-" Primrose stopped herself. She forced her eyes shut as she tried to think.

"Boggs-" Evelyn's voice was hoarse as she struggled to spoke. Her eyes rolled back ever so slightly before finding him once more. "Katniss. Tell Katniss."

Boggs lowered himself so that she didn't have to strain much more.

Evelyn continued to shiver and shake, to bleed from her nose and focus her eyes. None of them had ever seen anything like it before. 

"Tell Katniss to- I know about Snow. Tell Katniss that I know. I know. I know. I know," Evelyn went on an on as Boggs shushed her until she could compose herself. "I know! Tell Katniss that I know. Fuse. Spark. The fuse is Plinth. I have it. I know Gaul. I hear Lucy Grey. I know. He needs to know. Scare. I know. I know. I know."

Evelyn found the strength to push Boggs away with wavering hands. She couldn't stop shivering and her hand clutched her stomach in agony. 

"Tell Katniss! Lucy Grey!" she cried out as she caved in. The whole world was shifting around her as she cried out in pain. 

Octavius gripped her hand as she waited for the doctors to arrive. He had to watch as they wheeled her away and forbade him from following. Primrose ran after the gurney, shouting out the vitals that she had recorded. She glanced back just once with an apologetic glare before the doors shut behind her too.

He had made a promise to Evelyn as she entered the arena for the 75th Games. 

The fuse lay where the rue grows.

As she lay on the compound floor in pain, her skin burning and freezing at the same time, she muttered about the same fuse she had made him promise to protect. It was clearly important enough that she had told Boggs and intended to tell Katniss. Important enough that if she would risk her life to protect it, then he could risk his own to retrieve it.

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ngl... I left off on this chapter over two years ago and forgot what my foreshadowing was for... so, after watching and reading the new book, I've decided to go off on a new tangent and I definitely prefer this