FORTY FOUR

THE RUINS OF WAR

The street was empty. The shops were boarded shut, paper posters about handing in rebels to the authorities swirled along the cobblestones in the wind. It was silent apart from the crunch of boots along the floor. Talia, Jim, Henry, Jamie and Alana stood in the town square of District 4. The first thing Talia noticed is that Jamie's family bakery is burned to the ground. The propo team exit the hovercraft and wait patiently for Talia to decide the plan of action. It was completely up to her about how much detail she went into about her District, about her home.

She approached the bakery, Jamie flanking her. She wondered silently, as did he, if his family had burned in the ruin. "I'm sorry," She says quietly, glancing to her side at him.

He nods in response before turning away. There was no time to check if they were alive or not. Talia leads the way to the harbour, the scent of the sea relaxing her tensed body. The harbour was filled with boats, no fishermen were out at sea. That shook Talia to the bone.

"Here," She says, looking out towards the water, "We'll start here,"

"Perfect," Cressida says, telling her team where to set up. When they're ready, she gestures for Talia to start.

Talia turns her back to the water and looks at the camera, "My father is a fisherman, or at least he was when he met my mother. My mother used to be part of a wealthy family here in 4. Her father made his fortune off of making and selling fishing boats, some of which are still seen in the harbour. But my mother fell in love with a lowly fisherman and her family abandoned her. She had my older brother Mickey when my mother was 16, and then me and finally, Freddy. My father fished in the seas behind me, he and my mother made sure myself and my brothers ate first no matter what. Most nights they'd go without to keep us alive,"

She nods then, indicating she's done with that part, "We should go to my family home,"

"To the Victor's Village," Jamie gestures and Talia shakes her head.

"My real home," She breathes, guiding them all through the dirt covered alleys until the reached the small, rickety wooden home. She opened the door and lead them inside. It was dust covered and mostly bare, the wallpaper peeling off the walls and the wooden beams even creakier than they used to be.

"I was raised in this house...Born in this house even. Myself and my brothers shared one bedroom, Mickey had his own bed and me and Freddy shared. My family almost starved to death in this house numerous times. But we always pulled through. The Riverthorn's always survived," Talia says, she walks towards and picks up a toy doll that had been left on the kitchen counter. It was hers, from her childhood, something her late Aunt Denise had bought her when she was born. She didn't really know her Aunt, and she'd never even met her- but something about the doll made her sad.

She tucks it in her jacket pocket and follows the others outside. The next stop is the Victor's Village. Her family's home is untouched. Dust settled on all of it. When the Peacekeepers had come for them, they'd been living as normal. A perished meal is still laid out on the dining table. Unwashed dishes rest beside the sink. Chairs are lain on their sides from a struggle, glass smashed on the floor. One of Freddy's favourite books lays face down on the floor.

She picks it up and holds it close to her chest, she'd take it back to 13 for him before she had to ship out to District 2.

"Do you have anything you want to say, Talia?" Cressida asks softly.

Talia shakes her head and leads them back outside. Across the street is Finnick's house. A lump forms in her throat as she looks at it.

"I'll be back in a minute," She says, crossing the path to his home. She finds the door unlocked and steps inside, closing it behind her. The house smells just like him. She looks through to the kitchen and then to the living room, its undisturbed. She makes her way upstairs, seeing the photos on the wall. All of them in black and white except for one. A photo of herself and Finnick the night of the Mayor's party, to celebrate the end of the Victory Tour. She places a hand on the photo and takes it off the wall. She would take this too.

She turns and opens the door of Finnick's bedroom. His room is neat and tiny, everything ordered perfectly. Again, completely untouched. She looks at his chest of drawers and something catches her eye. She steps over slowly. A square jewellery tray is completely empty except for a singular white rose. Talia slowly picks it up, looking at the peculiar flower. It was fresh. Perfumed. She tilts it to look at the bud and there in the centre, a singular white pearl. Her lips part and she drops the rose on the floor, along with Freddy's book and the photo frame. The glass shatters and she gasps for breath. Her hands shake as she lifts them to her mouth, holding them there to stop her from screaming.

He'd been here. He'd known she would come.

She picks up Freddy's book and picks the shards of glass up and throws them aside, pulling the photo out of the frame and sliding it into her pocket. Finally, she picks up the rose with the pearl inside and leaves.

Outside, everyone was still stood silently, waiting for her to return.

"He's been here," She says, holding the rose up for them to see, "He knew I was coming,"

Everyone shares worried glances.

"The pilots confirmed no other aircraft in the area-"

"Miss Riverthorn?"

Everyone turns towards the little girl at the edge of the Victor's Village, she was holding a dirty, floppy teddy rabbit in her arms. Her face was covered in black ash, and so were her hands.

Talia hands the book to Alana before walking over to the little girl.

"Hi there," She says, crouching down in front of her, "Where are your parents?"

"They died," She replies, gripping her rabbit tightly.

"Where have you been staying?" Talia asks.

"Joyce Harper took me in, she's a healer and she's taken over the Justice Building, nearly everyone left is there," The girl explains. Talia looks over her shoulder towards her crew. Cressida nods hopefully.

Talia takes the little girls hand and leads the way to the Justice Building in the town square. Cressida makes sure her team get the footage.

The Justice Building had turned into a rebel hub. Everyone inside was wearing clothes spray painted with mockingjay insignia. Katniss's spark had really caught flame. The little girl takes them to Joyce Harper, who was currently using the Mayor's office as her own.

"Talia Riverthorn, what an honour to finally meet you, Coral has always said great things about you," Joyce says, shaking Talia's hand. Of course. Harper was Coral's last name.

"Are you her sister?"

"I'm her wife," Joyce laughs, her right hand playing with the gold band around her left ring finger, "Is she safe?"

Talia gulps. She didn't even know. As far as she was aware Coral was still in the Capitol, but she wasn't kept in the Training Centre like the other Victor's.

"I...I honestly don't know," Talia admits. Joyce sighs, a sad look on her face. "I'm sorry,"

"Its okay. One day I will see her again," Joyce smiles sorrowfully. "Is there any way I can help you all?"

"We're shooting a propo here, we found this little one by the Victor's Village and she told us to come here," Jamie explains.

"I see," Joyce sighs, "The District is ruined. The boats have not left the harbour in over two months. The last of the Peacekeepers were here till a week ago, then one night, they gave up. Got in their trucks and left us. Don't blame them really, folks round here were doing anything to kill them. We're starving. Children have been made orphans. Buildings have been looted and then burnt to the ground, I'm sure you all saw the bakery just outside,"

Jamie nods, "My family owned it, do you know if they made it out?"

"I'm sorry...They died in the fire," She says. Jamie looks down at the floor, before leaving the room. Talia takes a deep breath.

"Is there anything we can do?" Talia asks.

"I'm sure people would love to see you, most people in here are homeless or injured," Joyce says, "The Ceremony Hall is where everyone is,"

"Take us," Talia says. Joyce leads the way and the propo team start filming.

The Ceremony Room is filled to the brim with District 4 citizens. Talia recognises a few faces immediately. People from school, fishermen, people who owned shops in the square. As she walked along the aisles of injured and homeless a few people recognised her face and started to perk up.

Whispers began as she reached the stage at the other end which was full of whatever supplies they'd manage to gather. Most of it was the tesserae stores that the Mayor kept under guard in the barns behind the Justice Building. Obviously since the Peacekeepers had abandoned them they had gotten access to the grain.

"I feel so helpless," Talia says to Joyce, shaking her head, "This is my home...These are my people...And I can't do anything to help,"

"Just seeing your face is enough for them...You're their Pearl, you're all some of them talk about...You're the face of hope in this District. Just because we wear the mockingjay it does not mean we forget about you..." Joyce says, she reaches into her jacket and pulls out a necklace with a singular pearl on it.

As Talia looks closer she sees it. People wearing pearls in their ears, on their necklaces. Children with pearl coloured ribbons weaved through their hair. Babies in mother's arms with pearl embroidered blankets. Her posters on the wall with the words "Pearl of Panem" spray painted onto them. She was loved. She was adored. She was their only hope. And as the people rise from their beds or their seats, as they stop eating their scraps of food or talking quietly of better times, they look to her. They press their lips to their fingers and they raise the salute in the air and chant,

"The Pearl of Panem has come to save us all,"

______________

snow walking into finnick's house like
🖕🏻👁👄👁🌹

thank you for reading btw !!!

we just hit 141k reads and i'm so happy!!! like i never thought this book would ever achieve this, especially since it is technically a re-write so people have technically read this storyline before.

But thank you!!!! 🥺🥺🥺🥺

~cupidlies❤️