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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act two. 

(chapter thirty-two, district partners, jabberjays, bread)

the arena, 75 ADD.

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THE MOMENT THE SCREAM echoed around, Juniper, Peeta, and Johanna all got up and immediately sprinted to the jungle, hearts racing as the cry sounded nearly like Katniss. If Katniss was dead, what would happen? Would the rebellion not take place? Or would they take on Peeta to be their new face? Would Plutarch even rescue Juniper from the arena if she failed?

With that in mind, Juniper was desperate to get to Katniss and Finnick, but the minute she entered the jungle, she suddenly bashed her head onto something. An ear-ripping crack echoed around as a crimson liquid began to immediately gush from her nose, an immense stinging pain spreading through her body. 

"Ow! What the fuck?"  Juniper hissed as she bent down, gingerly tapping the bridge of her nose. 

"What?" Johanna scoffed as she stared into the jungle. 

Everyone was confused on what Juniper had smacked her nose on, even Beetee as he waddled over to them, cradling the wire like he might lose it. But suddenly, Peeta stepped forwards and raised a hand and it was like he was resting his palm against a wall. 

A wall. 

"This is the exact same barrier that happened with the fog," Peeta muttered. It wasn't a force field and as Juniper sucked up the pain, she joined the boy and touched the transparent wall. It was hard and smooth. It stopped them from getting to Finnick and Katniss. "The fog nearly got us, but something stopped it. Like an invisible wall." 

"It's the hourly horror," Beetee said sadly. "Jabberjays."

"Jabberjays..." Peeta muttered. "That was Katniss's sister... that scream. That makes so much sense."

Jabberjays were a type of muttation created by the Capitol to spy on rebels during the Dark Ages, the First Rebellion. The birds, all male, had the ability to memorise and repeat entire human conversations. But once the rebels and those in the districts realised their private words were being transmitted, they used the jabberjays to feed lies to the Capitol. They, therefore, ceased the usage of them and abandoned them to die off in the wild. But unbeknownst to them, they bred with the female mockingbirds to produce the mockingjays, a bird that could repeat both human melodies and birdsong. They were symbols of rebellion.

"Well, we can't just leave them in there!" Johanna told them and immediately, everyone but Beetee gathered their weapons and tried to at least make a dent in the invisible barrier, Johanna with her axe, Peeta with his knives, and Juniper with her sword. But they couldn't even make a scratch on the transparent wall and after multiple minutes of trying, all they ended up with were sore arms and panting breaths. 

"It is no use." Beetee shook his head. "The Gamemakers' have made it so you can't reach them. It would be dense of them to make it otherwise."

Juniper furrowed her brows as she searched the jungle for any sign of Finnick or Katniss. They had obviously used Katniss's sister, according to Peeta, to scare her. But who would they use for Finnick? He was very secretive about his life and who he loved in case the Capitol used it against him. But then Juniper remembered.

(There was a woman's voice echoing around in the background, faint and distant, but Juniper smiled as Finnick became distracted. "Yeah, I'm talking to June... yeah, she's all right... I'll tell her... yeah, I'll tell her... I love you... Annie says hi.")

Their phone calls. 

The Capitol had eyes everywhere. They had ears everywhere. What if they had been tapping their phone calls? If that was true, then the Capitol had a lot to use against Finnick and Juniper. If they did, they would know everything. Their weaknesses, their strengths. Anything they did that day. Any insult they made. 

Annie. 

They would know about Annie. 

"Jabberjays can copy humans, right?" Juniper gulped as she felt herself become sick, her face being drained of any colour. 

"Yeah, no shit." Johanna scoffed, but when she processed Juniper's words, her face also became pale. "Oh, shit."

And suddenly, the three of them were hammering their weapons back into the wall. Was the Capitol torturing Katniss's sister? Was the Capitol torturing Annie? But they couldn't be. That would be too far. And Plutarch wouldn't do that. He was planning a rebellion and to have Katniss on their side. He wouldn't get Katniss if he tortured her sister in a Capitol clinic. But once again, no-one could make a dent in the wall to even say these thoughts to the tributes from Twelve and Four. 

"There!" Peeta yelled as he pointed into the distance. Juniper looked up as she saw Finnick dragging Katniss along, agony twisted in their faces as they bolted, being chased by a massive flock of jabberjays. 

"Stop! Stop! Stop!" Peeta tried to shout to them as he raised his palms, trying to warn them about the wall. 

But they couldn't hear the two and they couldn't hear them as Finnick hit face-first into the wall, his nose gushing blood like Juniper's was and Katniss bashed her shoulder into it. And as Finnick fell to the floor, hunching over himself as he clenched his hands over his ears as if he was trying to crush his skull, Juniper immediately crouched in-front of him, her palm resting on the wall.

"It's all right! Finn, it's all right!" 

But Finnick couldn't hear her and they couldn't hear him or Katniss, who had given up on shooting the birds and curled up beside the man. Juniper, Johanna, and Peeta were useless as they all knelt at the wall, hands on the barrier as they tried to say things to the two, but to no avail. 

It went on for an hour, the birds mutely orchestrating choruses of horror, and the minute the barrier disappeared and the jabberjays fluttered away, Juniper immediately scooped up Finnick. He didn't seem to notice as his hands were still clamped over his ears, his entire being shaking with his eyes squeezed shut. 

"It's okay..." Juniper whispered as she held him, rubbing her hand up and down his back in the attempts of loosening the tense muscles. But he was so rigid that he didn't notice Juniper's arms around him anymore than her calming palms. "Finnick... it's okay... you're okay..."

"It was her."

"I know," Juniper cooed. Finnick had slowly released his hands from his ears, eyes opening and the woman took that moment to let go slightly, taking his face into her palms as she looked at him directly. "But it wasn't her. It was the jabberjay. It's just a jabberjay."

"They've got—"

"They don't, Finn." Juniper shook her head. "She's safe. She's okay. She hasn't gone anywhere. They just want you to think that they have. She is okay, Finnick. No-one is going to hurt her."

Finnick seemed to have calmed down slightly, but Juniper still held him, feeling the man's arms slowly wrap around her. However, he seemed to be focused on what Peeta was saying, who held Katniss. "That's right. They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they've killed them all?"

"No?"

"No. That's how we know Prim's alive. She'll be the first one they interview, won't she? First Prim. Then your mother. Your cousin, Gale. Madge. It was a trick, Katniss. A horrible one. But we're the only ones who can be hurt by it. We're the ones in the Games. Not them."

"You really believe that?" Katniss asked meekly. 

"I really do."

Katniss looked over to where Finnick was being held by Juniper still, the man fixated on Peeta and his words, before asking, "Do you believe it, Finnick?"

"It could be true. I don't know..." he replied. "Could they do that, Beetee? Take someone's regular voice and make it...?"

"Oh, yes. It's not even that difficult, Finnick." Beetee nodded. "Our children learn a similar technique in school."

"Of course Peeta's right. The whole country adores Katniss's little sister. If they really killed her like this, they'd probably have an uprising on their hands." Johanna snorted as she stood up with her axe. "Don't want that, do they? Whole country in rebellion? Wouldn't want anything like that!"

The Gamemakers' must have cut away from Johanna, focusing on another tribute as they edited her part out from the broadcast. But everyone in the area stared at her. No-one had ever said such a thing in the Games, but whilst Katniss looked at her with shock, Juniper wasn't surprised. Johanna Mason had a tendency to burst out with whatever she liked. And she wasn't scared about any repercussions either so she didn't seem bothered as she picked up some shells and headed to the jungle, muttering, "I'm getting water."

But Katniss caught her hand as she warned, "Don't go in there. The birds—"

"They can't hurt me. I'm not like the rest of you." Johanna shrugged as she freed her hand with an impatient shake. "There's no-one left I love."

Everyone silently nodded at Johanna as she disappeared and when Beetee began to fiddle with his wire, Katniss and Peeta holding each other, Finnick escaped Juniper's grasp as he went to go sit in the water. But Juniper didn't follow him. If she were in the situation he was in, she wouldn't want anyone pestering her. Instead, she busied herself in admiring her sword, which she moved to lay in her lap. 

"Who did they use against Finnick?" Beetee asked after a moment of silence. Juniper snapped her head. None of the other Victors' knew about Finnick and Annie. Mags did, but she was dead and Johanna did, but she was in the jungle.

"Somebody named Annie," Katniss replied. Juniper sighed and Katniss saw her do so. "What? Do you know her?"

"Annie Cresta," Juniper stated, looking out at the water as she stared at Finnick. He had his back turned to them and was still as he sat in the shallows. 

"Who?"

"Annie Cresta?" Juniper said once more, finally looking over at Everdeen. But hatred and rage didn't fill her up considering they were talking about Annie. Rage never filled her up when she or Finnick spoke about the girl. "The one Mags volunteered for? She won five-years-ago."

Katniss furrowed her brows before saying, "I don't remember those Games much. Was that the earthquake year?"

"Yep." Juniper nodded her head. She remembered watching the Games that year, being only fifteen at the time. No-one expected Annie to win. "She's the one that went..."

"Mad?" Peeta offered.

"Yeah, mad." Juniper sighed. "It was after her district partner got beheaded in-front of her. She ran off and hid for most of the Games, but the earthquake happened and broke a dam so most of the arena got flooded. She was the only one who could swim."

"Did she get better after?" Katniss asked. "I mean — her mind?"

Juniper didn't answer and looked back down at her sword, running her fingertip gently along the metal and it was Peeta that responded, saying, "I don't know. I don't remember ever seeing her at the Games again. But she didn't look too stable during the Reaping this year."

Annie never went back to the Capitol since her Games. She never mentored, never did a post-Games interview, never did a Victory Tour. She just couldn't. Her mind was too unstable and it was only Finnick, Mags, and Juniper that could even talk to her properly. The Hale woman wondered how she was going back at Four considering she had no-one. Was she watching? It would be too traumatising for her to even switch on the television, especially with Finnick in the mix of tributes. 

But any thoughts about Annie Cresta disappeared when suddenly, both Katniss and Peeta got up, weapons at the ready as the former whispered, "Someone's here."

Juniper followed them and clutched her sword tightly as she, Beetee, Peeta, and Katniss camouflaged into the greenery of the jungle. But with one peek through the foliage, Juniper's stomach dropped and her entire being was filled with rage. Brent Higgins was stumbling onto the beach with a machete in his hand, all bruised with scratches littering his flesh. He was by himself and seemed to have spotted Finnick in the water. 

"Brent goddamn Higgins!"

Juniper put on a smile as she went rushing out of the greenery, the other three completely confused as they slowly went out of the jungle, Finnick turning around in the water. Juniper outspread her arms as she laughed out loud. 

"Missy?" Brent smiled genuinely. He seemed glad to see Juniper and didn't even glance at the four others, who were merging together into a group as they watched the reunion of the two district partners. "I'm glad to see you. This arena is damn crazy."

"Tell me about it, buddy!" Juniper chuckled as she continued to jog towards him. "Where the hell have you been?"

But before Brent Higgins could even answer, when Juniper Hale got close enough, she dropped her smile and without hesitation, tightened the grip on her sword before swinging it up high and then across. 

The cannon boomed loudly as Brent Higgins's head went rolling off his body, his corpse immediately dropping onto the sand as crimson blood seeped into the particles after squirting onto Juniper's face. And instead of crying or sobbing over her district partner's death, she chuckled as she kicked his body with her foot, spitting on it. 

"That's for Ten, you greedy prick." 

When Juniper turned around, she saw the look of horror on both Katniss and Peeta's face, the nonchalant expression on Finnick's as he wandered back into the water, the plain look on Beetee's as he went to play with his wire, and the slight nod coming from Johanna Mason as she came back from her venture into the jungle. 

"You just—" Katniss went to say, but she stopped herself as she eyed the decapitated body. "Why?"

"I wouldn't question it, Katniss," Beetee said as Juniper went to go snap something. "Brent Higgins was not an innocent soul. More to the story, of course, but let's just say, he deserved it."

"Thank you, Beetee." Juniper smirked.

"It's because he terrorised the people of Ten, right?" Peeta piped up. "Didn't he go around waving his money and Victor Crown in-front of them? It's what I heard during training."

"Yes." Juniper merely nodded. "And so he deserved that."

No-one questioned it, but Juniper figured Katniss was less trusting of her now, but she didn't look at her with a sense of cynicism. Instead, she looked at the Hale woman as if she realised she actually had a soul after all because Juniper Hale did not kill Brent Higgins purely for entertainment. She killed him for those kids in Ten and every malnourished, poverty-stricken person in their district. 

So, everyone ignored the fact that Juniper had easily decapitated someone as Finnick weaved another water basket and a net for fishing. Katniss went for a quick swim and then cleaned the fish Finnick had caught. And when everyone was settling down for their meal of raw fish, the bright moon rose and the anthem began to play and the seal of the Capitol appeared along with the faces.

First, it was, of course, Cashmere Nicholo and Gloss. Next, it was the woman from Five. The female from Six. Blight. And then Brent. Eight dead with the addition of the seven from the first night. Fifteen were gone in total with nine left. 

"They're really burning through us," Johanna commented. 

"Who's left? Besides us six and District Two?" Finnick asked. 

"Chaff," Peeta said immediately and Juniper was surprised the man from Eleven had made it that long with only one arm. 

But suddenly, a silver parachute, the parachute that belonged to a sponsor, came floating down with a pile of bite-sized square-shaped rolls, the bread that came from District Three. 

"These are from your district, right, Beetee?" Peeta asked. 

"Yes, from District Three. How many are there?"

Finnick counted them, turning each one over in his hands before he placed them into a neat row. And as he did, Juniper stared at her friend. He seemed oddly obsessed with the bread and seemed to look at them like they were life-or-death. And they probably were in the arena, but if they didn't have bread, Finnick could always catch fish. What was so important about bread?

"Twenty-four." 

"An even two dozen, then?" Beetee asked. 

"Twenty-four on the nose," Finnick replied. "Should we eat them all now or savour?"

"Let's each have three and whoever is still alive at breakfast can take a vote on the rest," Johanna said and when Katniss tried to stifle a laugh, it caused her to look at the girl, giving her look that bordered between approving and pleased. But Juniper couldn't care less as she took her share of the bread. 

They all waited until the giant wave flooded out the ten-to-eleven-o'clock section, watched as the water calmed down, and then headed to that beach to make camp. And with that, they would have a full twelve-hours of safety from the jungle, but Juniper didn't feel so safe as she heard an unpleasant chorus of clicking behind her. But whatever it was, it stayed confined to the jungle, but they still kept off that part of the beach as if one careless footstep could cause a whole swarm of whatever evil created the noise. 

But nothing had happened and so, Finnick went to sleep as well as Beetee whilst the other four argued who would take first watch. In the end, Peeta and Katniss won as they went to sit in the damp sand further down together. But Juniper and Johanna had no interest in sleeping and so, they were both sitting upright as they stared at the couple. 

"There is no way that is real." Johanna scoffed as she studied the way Everdeen's shoulder and hip were touching Mellark's. And as Johanna said it, Juniper wasn't worried about the people of the districts or Capitol hearing because the broadcast would be on Peeta and Katniss, not them two. And so, they were able to speak freely. 

"What part?" Juniper asked with the rolling of her eyes. She didn't believe any of it. Not the pregnancy, not the romance, nothing. It was a tactic used to survive and the Capitol people were all too dense to figure that out. 

"Any of it, all of it," Johanna replied. They both winced when they saw Katniss lay her head against the boy's shoulder. "It's sickening how people actually believe this. And isn't she pregnant? Pregnant women shouldn't eat raw fish."

"And you would know this how?"

"There's a lot of pregnant women back in Seven." Johanna narrowed her eyes at Juniper. "But seriously, some doctor back in the Capitol has to see this and realise she ain't pregnant."

Normally, Juniper would shush Johanna because maybe, if they kept the pregnancy lie going on for a bit, some pregnant woman would feel bad and send a sponsor gift, but the cameras and microphones weren't on them and so, Juniper said, "A doctor in the Capitol wouldn't know what a pregnant woman looks like. They'll probably just call them fat—"

"But Everdeen is seventeen!"

"They don't care." Juniper chuckled. "As long as the star-crossed lovers are happily married with their stupid baby, they don't care how old they are."

Johanna shrugged and the two went back to watching the couple. Finnick stirred occasionally in his sleep, muttering Annie's name, and Beetee was holding onto his wire tightly with his eyes closed. Johanna looked over her shoulder sometimes to check on the two to see if any monster has dragged them away in their sleep, but they remained perfectly fine the entire time. And so, silence filled them and they only let out a sound of disgust when they saw Katniss hold Peeta into a passionate kiss. 

"Well, that's me done." Juniper winced as she tried to wipe her brain of the memory, immediately turning her back to the couple. "Have fun, Mason."

Juniper rolled her eyes as she settled down onto the sand, but she didn't close them. No, she couldn't close them because she knew memories would come back to her. She knew she would see Cashmere Nicholo's face and she didn't want that. The only sleep she had gotten was earlier that day and even then, it was only for a few hours. But she just couldn't. 

So, from where she was laying, Juniper looked up to see what Johanna was doing and let out a mocking gasp as she saw her looking at the couple, saying, "Don't watch them, you weirdo."

"I'm not watching." Johanna rolled her eyes. 

"You so are," Juniper teased. "You know, you can get in trouble for that in my district... I think."

Johanna shook her head and Juniper did as well before rolling onto her back. She could feel the sand poking into her skin and could hear Beetee's faint snores. And then suddenly, she sat back up in the realisation that laying down wasn't going to do anything. 

"This is weird."

"What?" Juniper asked. "That you're watching teenagers kiss?"

"No." Johanna growled. "It's weird that we haven't ripped each other's throats out yet or even insulted the other in the last five minutes."

"We may not be insulting or fighting, but I am judging you." Juniper nodded as she picked up her sword, admiring the blade. "Just silently."

"Silently judging?" Johanna scoffed. "What are you? Twelve?"

Juniper set the sword down as she pursed her lips, eyeing Mason as she said, "Fine, how about this? I hope whatever creature is making that chattering sound comes out and eats your eyeballs. Better?"

"Slightly."

Juniper and Johanna then fell into a silence that was only interrupted by the midnight lighting, the bolt hitting a large tree. It roused Finnick as he sat up with a sharp cry, his fingers digging into the sand as if he was trying to reassure himself that whatever nightmare he had wasn't real. Juniper could barely lay a hand on his shoulder before he got up to switch watches with the couple. And as he did that, there was only one proper thing on the Hale woman's mind that won against the other ones. 

When was Beetee going to destroy the arena?

⇢ ˗ˏˋ matz 🎧 !

— only 2 more chapters of act 2...