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KILL FOR YOUR LOVE.

act three.

(chapter fifty-eight, but what did that say about juniper?)

the cells / the lab, 75 ADD.

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JUNIPER HALE'S EYES SNAPPED open as she sat up quickly, feeling her entire rib cage collapse in her chest. It was like she was choking on thin air and she was so sure that she was. There was a torturous pain in her side still and the Hale woman tried to inhale through her nose. She was lightheaded and could barely see around the cells. 

But the only thing on her mind was Orion Hale. She thought to his wrinkles that caressed his skin, to the grey strands that illuminated his hair, and the deep patches etched underneath his eyes. And she thought to his pained face. How he looked exhausted. Tired. Destroyed. 

Eighteen-year-old Juniper Hale was so sure her father had blamed her for everything. She was so sure of it. The man couldn't even look at her without wincing. He always blanched and nausea would rise. He had to look away from her whenever he glanced at her. And it petrified eighteen-year-old Juniper Hale. It had her terrified that he blamed her because she was so sure that he did. But she didn't hate him for it, for she blamed herself too, but he was her father. 

But Lucy had assured her he didn't. The woman stated that the man was grieving, mourning over his dead son and to give him time. To give herself time. That the aftermath of someone's Games were never easy, that it affected everyone and not just the Victor. And the older woman had told her that eventually it got better. The pain would numb, not disappear, but numb. Juniper persuaded herself to believe her, even if it was for a short period of time. 

Lucy Stevens.

Juniper could feel herself be torn apart inside. She didn't know what it was, but something was eating her apart, ripping away her soul with its bare teeth. The Hale woman feared it was the darkness. She didn't want the darkness to get her, to make her succumb to it, but she could feel its finger-like tendrils scraping towards her on the tiled floor. 

She could feel herself falling apart. 

Looking around the cells, Juniper found that it was just her, Peeta Mellark, and Annie Cresta. Johanna Mason's cage was empty and suddenly, the Hale woman's ears picked up the sound of gurgled screams echoing past the metal doors. Juniper clenched her jaw at the sound of them, clamping her eyes shut. The Capitol was tearing them all apart. Except for Annie. 

Annie. 

Juniper snapped her head to the side to see the girl sitting cross-legged. Her eyes were wide open, but not with fear or terror. They were just open and she was staring into the distance. Juniper did a quick study of her and concluded that she didn't look hurt. More skinnier than ever, but not hurt or tortured. That was a good thing. Juniper knew she would fail everything she believed in if she let the Capitol lay a finger on Annie. 

Sighing, the woman turned to look at Peeta. He was curled up in a tight ball in the corner of his cell and he looked completely destroyed. Juniper could see the outline of his bones. His brows were twisted in pain. Tears ran down his sunken cheeks. His flesh was painted in dirt. The Hale woman winced as she noticed the terrible tremors that ran through him.

("Maybe next time," Peeta offered with that stupid smile)

(And Peeta was probably sent by the others to retrieve her, but he noticed she had no intention of moving and so, he sat down beside her, copying her position as his feet dangled in the water)

(But suddenly, he looked up and the woman knew instantly just by the blueness of his eyes, by the way his lips turned up into the ghost of a grin)

Juniper Hale felt her heart twist and twist until all of the blood had been squeezed out as she stared at Peeta Mellark. She didn't like the boy. He shouldn't have won. But as Juniper stared at his weak state, muttering nonsense to himself, she realised he was still a boy. The entire time she had hated him, he was just a boy, a kid. He was sixteen when he won, seventeen currently. And what had she done? Wish for his death? Wish for Katniss Everdeen's brutal murder?

They were still kids. They still had families. They were still children. Juniper seemed to have forgotten about that. She was so consumed in her own grief, her own thoughts that she didn't even consider that they were just teenagers. And she was thinking of killing them. She didn't think of Katniss's sister or her mother. She didn't think of Peeta's family. Juniper Hale just wanted revenge. She wanted to kill the two kids for winning when they shouldn't have had. 

But what did that say about Juniper? 

She was coming up with some feeble attempt to revenge Justice, to kill for his love. But why? Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were kids. They were thrusted into a world they didn't want to belong to. They thought of some cheesy, ridiculous tactic to survive and it worked. But where did that get them? Katniss was with the rebels and she was The Mockingjay. Peeta was being torn apart by the Capitol. And, to some extent, it was Juniper's fault. She should have never left Peeta Mellark out of her sight that night. He was in the Capitol because she couldn't protect him when he needed to be protected. 

"Peeta..." Juniper whispered. She needed to tell him. She had to tell him because if he died without knowing how terrible she felt, she wouldn't know what she would do. "Peeta." 

As the Hale woman scooted closer to the bars of her cell, staring at the boy, she heard a sound come from him. She didn't know what it was, but took a breath as she could feel her airways starting to constrict. 

"I... just... I'm sorry," Juniper whispered with a shaky breath. "I'm just so sorry." 

The boy's head looked up slightly, glancing over at Juniper with tears in his eyes. And as he went to go say something, the metal doors burst open and two Peacekeepers' came in. One was carrying the limp body of Johanna Mason whilst the other held a tray with four plates on them. The Hale woman clenched her jaw and furrowed her brows as she watched them throw Johanna into her cell, the Victor soaked in water with tremors rippling through her body. Her eyes were wide open as she panted. 

"Here." The Peacekeeper that held the tray was walking past all the cells, grabbing a plate and sliding it underneath the bars towards them. And as Juniper hurriedly inspected it, she realised it was the plate of chunky potatoes mixed with milk. It smelt foul.

But the echoing sound of Juniper's stomach growling moved her to start shoving the food down her throat. She didn't have the time nor the patience to cherish the feeling of it and so, instead, she tried to ignore the bitter and sweet taste of the potatoes and milk as she ate. When she finished, the porcelain plate was licked clean and so were Annie's, Peeta's, and Johanna's. 

As the Hale woman licked her lips clean, she looked over to the Victor from Seven. She was eating considerably fast and was glancing around everywhere, fingertips and legs twitching with tremors as she did. Juniper watched as whenever a water droplet fell down her skin, the woman would flinch and wince as if it was acid. Juniper felt her heartstrings pull. 

"So... you're awake." 

"Yep." Juniper nodded as she pushed the plate away from her, burping slightly as she leaned against the wall of the cell. "Aren't you lucky?" 

Johanna scoffed slightly, but kept eating at her plate slowly before asking, "Nothing happened, by the way." 

"What?" 

"When you were out," Johanna said. "Nothing happened that I'm aware of." 

"How long was I out for?" 

"A day." 

Juniper let out a sigh as she tried to close her eyes. There was a pounding sensation in her head as her ribs felt like they were on fire. Clampitt's assistant said they were fractured and that they would heal in a few weeks. But what if Juniper was dead in a few weeks? If she was out for a day, like Johanna had said, it would have been five weeks and two days.

Five weeks and two days. It was well over a month now and yet no rescue mission. No attempts from the rebels. And with the realisations that Johanna, Peeta, and Annie were also in the Capitol, it had filled Juniper with hope that the rebels would get them, that maybe they simply just didn't have enough time to retract them from the arena. But no-one had come. They were still here. It had been a month. 

("The rebels," Peeta croaked. He looked insane. "Whatever they said to you... they lied. They're not coming. No-one is coming! Katniss... they have Katniss.") 

"Why the long face, Hale?" Johanna tried to tease before a hacking cough came about and nearly shattered her ribs. "Did something happen in your dreams?" 

Juniper scoffed as she opened her eyes. 

"What do you even dream about?" 

Brent Higgins. Gloss. Blight. Beetee. Haymitch. Raymond Carmine. Jeremy Marinas. Dakota Hood. Cashmere Nicholo. Lucy Stevens. 

"Why do you care?" 

"I don't." 

"Good because it's none of your business." 

A silence enveloped them with the only sounds being Peeta muttering something to himself and Annie's occasional whimpers. Juniper wasn't going to tell Johanna Mason, of all people, what she dreamt about, how the memories of her past were flooding back to her. But she could feel it bubbling up in her chest, threatening to spill out. It was all bottled up within her, but she feared that the darkness would uncap that bottle, letting it spill. And she didn't want to spill. She hated vulnerability. 

("We're all vulnerable in here, Hale." Johanna scowled as anger flashed across her face. But then suddenly, it disappeared as she sighed. Then exhaustion and pain settled in. "Get used to it.")

"None of my business?" Johanna scoffed. "Hale, we've been in this shit-hole for over a month. Your business is everyone's business."

"Why do you care what I dream about, Mason?" Juniper sneered, but she didn't have the heart nor the energy to succeed in her task. 

"I don't," Johanna told her. "But I told you what they're doing to me... and it would be nice to know why you of all people are screaming in your sleep and being out of it for days after Clampitt is done with you." 

Juniper clenched her jaw. Johanna had told her what the Capitol was doing to her even though she didn't have to. She was telling her information when she didn't have to. And the woman was right. In the cells, everyone was vulnerable. Everything was everyone's business. And they would find out soon anyway. 

"Clampitt, she... she shows me clips, all right?" 

"Clips?" Johanna scoffed. "What clips?" 

"From the Quell... from my Games... other things," Juniper said. "She shows... people dying, people who died because of me and... I don't know, Mason, okay?" 

"And you dream of the people that she's shown you?" Johanna asked and whilst the Hale woman gathered she might have been teasing her, there was no spite in her tone. Everyone was vulnerable in the cells. 

"I don't dream of them." Juniper shook her head. "It's like a... I don't know, a flashback? I just remember things I've made myself forget. It's like Clampitt is pulling them back up." 

Johanna blinked slightly and stared at the Victor from Ten. A silence enveloped them once more before she said, "Hale... do you believe everything she says?"

"No." Yes. 

"Really?" Johanna questioned. "Because it seems like you do." 

"She's not wrong," Juniper said softly. "The things she says... they are true."

"Look, I don't know what she says to you, but none of it is actually true." Johanna shook her head, looking away. Only if she knew. "By the sounds of it, she's trying to get into your head. She is a head doctor, after all." 

Juniper remained silent after that, even as Peeta was dragged out by the Peacekeepers'. Johanna seemed adamant that whatever Clampitt was saying, it wasn't true. But it was. Everything the doctor had been telling Juniper was true except for when she had stated she was the only one in the Capitol, but that was to draw information out of her. Everything to do with the clips and shots the dark-haired woman had been showing her, that was all true. Every bit of it. Juniper knew it to be true. 

She had killed Gloss and Cashmere Nicholo had seen. She killed Blight by letting her hand slip. She killed Wing and Hermes. She killed Rayon and Dallas. She had killed Cedar and Ash. She had killed Raymond Carmine, Jeremy Marinas, and Dakota Hood. And she should have ended it in the Seventy-Second. It would have saved a lot of pain for a lot of people. None of this was false. Everything Clampitt had told her was real. It was true. 

And Johanna was wrong. 

Peeta's animalistic scream bounced off all of the walls and didn't stop until hours later where a Peacekeeper was dragging him in. There was a blossoming bruise near his eye and a lump on his head. Juniper winced and tried to avoid looking at the boy. He was there because of her. Instead, she focused on Annie. 

The woman hadn't spoken, not that Juniper was aware of, ever since she had gotten there. She was mumbling something to herself and the Hale woman always gathered that it had something to do with Finnick, who was the only person that could ever calm her down and bring her to the present. But he was gone and she was alone. No-one had made proper attempts to speak to her. Juniper had tried, but she didn't know how to bring Annie back. She didn't know how to make her speak. That was up to Finnick. But Finnick wasn't here and Annie was. 

As Juniper's mind began to go into a spiral, she nearly puked when the metal doors blew open, two Peacekeepers' coming in. They unlocked her cell door and grabbed ahold of her biceps, launching her up and beginning to drag her out. Johanna was narrowing her eyes at Juniper, shaking her head. 

("By the sounds of it, she's trying to get into your head. She is a head doctor, after all.")

The Hale woman felt herself begin to choke on the pain that was emitting from her ribs as the soldiers entered the lab, the metal doors slamming shut behind them. And within the laboratory, it was littered with doctors. Some were running around, others looked stressed whilst few remained calm. Juniper could barely raise a brow before she was settled into a plastic chair in-front of Dr. Clampitt. 

That doctor seemed calm. There was no sense of urgency or stress within her expressions and she was standing stoically within the mess. Her hair was done in a simple braid down her back. Her glasses were perched on her nose. Her lab coat swished around her knees. A wicked smile caressed her lips. Juniper felt her heart leap. 

"Miss Hale," Clampitt greeted. Juniper stared at the bucket of water and the drain underneath the seat. She also glanced at the chair further down the lab that had straps on the armrests. "You're awake." 

"Sadly," Juniper grumbled. 

"Mm." Clampitt shrugged as she began to circle around the woman, studying her. "You had food today, yes?" 

"Yes." 

"Good... don't want to starve you to death," the doctor said. "Well, you look all right. Though you keep wincing so I assume your ribs aren't better. I did tell those Peacekeepers' to stay clear of them..." 

"I'm sure you did." Juniper sneered. 

But the dark-haired woman merely raised a brow as a Peacekeeper came over with another plastic chair. He set it across from Juniper and Clampitt sat down in it. She then waved the soldiers away as the Victor clenched her jaw. 

"There will be no clip today," Clampitt told her as she straightened her lab coat, crossing a leg over the other. "But you will be listening to something and I want you to pay good attention to it." 

"What is it?" Juniper asked. She was confused on why there was no clip, but cherished the freedom anyway. However, the daunting words of audio filled her head. 

"Well... I realised I never told you exactly why Miss Cresta is in our possession," Clampitt murmured. Juniper felt her heart drop. "I feel like you have the right to know why... especially since it's your fault." 

The Hale woman felt her lips part slightly as she tried to process Clampitt's words, hissing, "What?" 

"Have you seriously forgotten?" Clampitt laughed. A proper laugh. "I know you've been out of it for a couple days, but I thought you would have an idea why Annie Cresta is here." 

Juniper didn't know why Annie was in the Capitol. She had no business being there. Clampitt had told her that she was there because she would be useful for future purposes. But what future purposes? She didn't know anything about the rebels so why would she be in the cell?

"She's here because of you, Miss Hale," Clampitt told Juniper. "You're the reason she's here. And you're the reason why her voice was used in the arena with the jabberjays. It's because of you." 

The reason why Annie's voice was used in the arena with the jabberjays. And then Juniper thought back to her second visit with the dark-haired woman with glasses. 

Their phone calls. 

"Oh, you're remembering now, aren't you?" Clampitt smirked. "The phone calls, Miss Hale. Your phone calls to Mr. Odair."

"You've taken Annie because of some phone calls?"  Juniper asked, appalled. 

"The Gamemakers used Miss Cresta's voice in the arena because we know about her and Mr. Odair because of your phone calls," Clampitt explained. "And we knew how much they meant to each other. That's why they used her—" 

"But why lock her up here?" 

"Because of how much she means to Finnick Odair." Clampitt laughed. "We took you and Miss Mason because you have information on the rebellion. We took Mr. Mellark to destroy Miss Everdeen. And we took Miss Cresta from her home in Four to obliterate Mr. Odair... and we knew to take her because of your phone calls."

Juniper felt herself go faint. She had a hunch that the Capitol was tapping their phone calls when they used Annie's voice with the jabberjays because there was no other way the Capitol could have known. But she never thought that they would imprison Annie because of them. But it made sense. Take Annie Cresta away from Finnick Odair and he would be obliterated. It would destroy him, more than the captivity of Juniper Hale. And all because of their phone calls. 

"And it's your fault her voice was used and why she's here," Clampitt said. "Because you made the phone calls. The minute you found out about them, we found out. The minute you found out how important they were to each other, we found out. And it's because of you making those phone calls and having Mr. Odair tell you, Annie Cresta is here. It's because of you Mr. Odair is traumatised from the jabberjays."

Juniper felt guilt and filled with regret about Peeta Mellark being in the Capitol, but as Clampitt explained why Annie was there as well, the Hale woman felt herself become overwhelmed. Her hands were becoming clammy as she was sure sweat was beginning to bead onto her forehead. Annie was in the Capitol because of Juniper, because of her and Finnick's phone calls. And Finnick was in pain because of those phone calls. 

"And if you don't believe me, which it looks like you do," Clampitt began to say. "Then take a listen to these recordings... and pay good attention to them, like I said earlier." 

Juniper was sure she was going to throw up as she watched the doctor dig her hand into the pocket of her lab coat, retrieving a small device. She was fiddling with it before holding it up slightly, clicking a button. The audio crackled before echoing with voices. 

"Yeah, well, things are different, aye? You see, I never got anyone killed during my Tour... 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."

"How is Annie? You treating her right, Odair? Because if you're not, I have a killer punch."

Juniper was gagging as she heard her and Finnick Odair's voice echo around. It was her fault. She made the phone calls. Annie was in the Capitol because of her. All because of some stupid phone calls. But the recordings didn't stop there as Finnick's voice began to come out of the device again. 

"Look, June, I—... yeah...? Yeah, it's in there... okay... okay... I love you... sorry, that was Annie." 

"She sounds to be getting better." 

"She... is... she's better when she comes around to my place... she can't stand her own even though all the Victor houses here are identical." 

And then the recording changed to another date. 

"How's Annie?" 

"Ah, she's all right... she was with Mags in the market. I think it was her first time back there in a while... she used to go there a lot when she was younger so I think it brings back bad memories."

"But she's all right, yeah?" 

"Yeah. She's all right." 

And then another date. 

"Who the hell was that?" 

"Who was what?" 

"That woman in the background?" 

"There is no woman in the background." 

"Odair, do you seriously have a secret girlfriend and you're not telling me?" 

"... okay, look... I'm only going to tell you this because I trust you, but you can't tell anyone. If the Capitol finds out—" 

The recordings stopped and Clampitt buried the device back into her pocket. Juniper blanched, staring at the floor as her vision began to blur. Her throat went dry. Her head was beating. It was her fault. If she never made the phone calls, Finnick wouldn't have told her about Annie. Juniper never would have asked. 

But she did. She did ask. She did make the phone calls in some feeble attempt to make herself feel better about her situation. She didn't even think once about how the Capitol could have been tapping into their phones, listening to their conversations. Juniper Hale did not think about that because she wanted a distraction. She just wanted a friend that knew, to some extent, what she was going through. 

But because of her thirst to distract herself from current events, phoning Finnick Odair, it caused Annie Cresta to end up in a Capitol cell. 

What did that say about Juniper?