FINNICK OFTEN FOUND THAT HE COULDN'T BREATHE. He was practically glued to a hospital bed because he was so deficient in everything and injured. They wouldn't let him go anywhere by himself, not even the bathroom. He felt pathetic and weak.

His mind was always consumed with Leia: the sound of her voice, her beautiful eyes, the feeling of her lips. But mostly, it was the sound of her pained screams while she was being tortured in the Capitol. It was the idea of her sobbing in a dirty cell because of the lack of medical attention. It was her broken and bruised body crumpled on the ground.

"Finnick."

His head shot up when he heard a familiar voice, and Katniss was standing in the doorway. It was the middle of the night, so she must have snuck into his wing. She was living with her family, and her mother and sister were monitoring her. However, Finnick had no family or anyone to look after him other than the nurses.

He knew what she wanted to talk about, but he wasn't ready. He was sitting on the edge of his bed, frantically tying knots with two pieces of twine. There was no escape, though, because the action reminded him of the bracelet on his wrist and the one he made for Leia.

"I wanted to go back for Peeta and Johanna, but I... I couldn't move," Finnick told Katniss finally, his voice breaking as he looked back down at his knots that were getting sloppy as he began to freak out. "They got Leia, too. They took her from her room, her and the baby."

Katniss' eyes softened. "I'm sorry, Finnick."

"I wish she was dead," he told her, turning toward her slightly but just staring at the wall. The only thing that would calm everything in his brain was if he and everyone that he cared about was dead. No one would be in pain, and no one would yearn for the others. "I wish they were all dead and we were, too."

"What about your baby?" the Everdeen girl asked. Surely, he wanted the child to live. She knew that he loved that baby more than himself, and it wasn't even born yet.

He scoffed, shaking his head. "You really think that baby's still alive? If they haven't beaten it to death, there's no way it's survived without the proper medical care."

Katniss was unsure of what to say to that. Despite the fact that she and Peeta had lied about having a baby on the way, she had no clue what it felt like to be a parent. So, she just nodded and turned around to head back to her family.

The Odair man genuinely believed that he was going to drive himself insane. He had no TVs, no books, no music. There was nothing to distract him from the horrible scenarios he was picturing. Leis could be dead, and he wouldn't know. He might never know, and that was the most terrifying thing of all.

《✵》

LEIA HAD ONE HAND ON HER STOMACH AS SHE SAT IN HER CELL. Her entire body hurt, some of it from the pregnancy and some of it from the amount of beating that she had taken. Because of her state, they were not as horrible to her as they were to Peeta, Johanna, and Annie, but the moments that were the most torturing for Leia were the times when the baby would stop kicking for long periods of time after the beatings.

The amount of relief that she felt every time she felt a little nudge was unexplainable. She knew that there was no way that the child was in a healthy state, but at least they were alive. At that moment, Peeta had been dragged off again, and Annie was crying in the corner of her cell with Johanna telling her to shut up. Leia was running her hand up and down, smiling at the kicks and singing softly.

"Upon one summer's morning,
I carefully did stray
Down by the Walls of Wapping
Where I met a sailor gay

Conversing with a young lass
Who seem'd to be in pain
Saying: William, when you go
I fear you'll ne'er return again

My heart is pierced by Cupid
I disdain all glittering gold
There is nothing can console me
But my jolly sailor bold."

It was a song that Finnick used to sing her, one that he learned from his mother back in District 4 before she died. The familiarity of it seemed to calm Annie down because she had stopped crying to listen.

Leia's song was interrupted by the sound of a cell opening. Two Peacekeepers threw Peeta onto the ground inside his cell, and the Calore girl guessed that they wanted him on TV again. She raised her eyebrows at him, shaking away the tears about Mags, "What did they make you say?"

"They had me call for a ceasefire," he groaned, pushing himself back so that he was propped up against the wall and tilting his head back so that it hit the stone behind him.

The blonde girl sighed loudly, wanting to go bang her head against the wall. Johanna stared at him in disbelief before rolling her eyes as she scoffed, "For fuck's sake."

"I'm sorry," he muttered, and he looked so upset and terrified that they would be mad at him. Leia felt bad for reacting like that because she really was not mad at him. He was being really strong about all they were doing to them.

"No, it's not your fault. It's the fucking Capitol," Johanna assured him, shaking her head. They had tortured him and the rest of them, and no one blamed him for calling for a ceasefire because the people in District 13 that mattered and that knew him knew that he did not mean it. Johanna then raised her voice, staring up at the cameras in their cells. "It's Snow. You hear that, Snow? Fuck you!"

Leia sighed, knowing that that would only end awfully. The Peacekeepers were not just going to ignore her talking bad about their president like that. "Johanna—"

"No, let them take me. They can't break me. They can try, but I'm rock fucking solid," she informed them and everyone else on the hall, and the sound of doors opening and feet shuffling indicated to them that their best friends were on their way.

About ten seconds later, four Peacekeepers were unlocking the Mason girl's cell and grabbing her by her arms. Leia tried to reach her through the bars, but it was no use because they were already tugging her through the door. "Johanna! Let her go!"

"Let them do it, Leia. It's no use," the woman sighed, rolling her eyes as she let them tug her out and down the hall. They heard her yelling and cussing until a door slammed shut behind them.

As soon as she was gone, Annie started crying again. Leia scooted over to the edge of her cell to try and comfort her, even though there was an entire empty cell between them. She turned when Peeta spoke up again, and he sounded like he was in the verge of tears. "I'm sorry, Leia."

"It's okay. No one blames you," she told him. If Johanna did not tell him off and told him it was not his fault, then none of their other friends would think that he did anything wrong.

"The people in District 13 do," he sighed, running a hand through his hair. She knew who he was thinking about. He was so helplessly in love with the Everdeen girl that it was both cute and sad because everything he cared about was what she thought of him. "Katniss probably does."

She shook her head. She did not know Katniss that well, but she knew that the brunette would not just think he turned on her. She knew the at he was loyal to her and saving her. Leia did not know what they had him say in there, but Katniss would know that he was not telling the truth. "Katniss knows that you would never say that unless you were being tortured. She'll understand."

"I heard them talking, and I think they want you up there next," he informed her, and he seemed almost scared to tell her, like she'd start yelling at him. She felt awful for him. He was being tortured and threatened, and now, he had to deal with this guilt and thoughts of what Katniss believed and did not believe.

She raised her eyebrows at him, and the thought about being on TV broadcast to everyone in the country had not yet really registered in her brain. She was just so tired and hungry and in pain that she really did not care anymore. "Any idea of what they want me to say?"

"Probably something like I did," he answered. They used him to get to Katniss, which was really big because she was probably their leader or symbol. That was why they were so intent on saving her. However, they had to get through to the other Victors as well. "They want to get to Finnick."

They both fell silent after that.

Later, the Peacekeepers came and got her and brought her into a room. They didn't even attempt to clean her up like they had Peeta. With him, that had gone through an attempt to hide his cuts and bruises, but they left hers on display. They just put her in a poorly-fitted dress and stuck her in a chair across from Caesar Flickerman.

They started rolling, and the only thing keeping her from completely cussing him out was the thought of her unborn child and what they could do to him or her. Caesar grinned at her, and the sight made her blood boil. "So, Leia, this is our first time speaking."

"Yes, it is, Caesar," she responded, offering a sarcastic smile. She couldn't believe that she had stayed up with Finnick once, strategizing and planning ways for him to please the 'man' sitting in front of her.

He crossed his legs, leaning backwards and raising his eyebrows. She knew what he was going to talk about, and she had already decided that there was nothing he could say or do that would make her talk bad about her fiance. "It has recently come out that you were engaged to Finnick Odair."

"I am, yes," she responded, emphasizing that she was not broken up with him in light of recent events.

He smirked, and she was nervous about what he was going to say next. He was wrapped around Snow's finger, so she knew that it wasn't going to be pleasant for her. "He must be quite the charmer."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I wasn't going to talk about this..." the Flickerman started, but she knew that he was always going to bring it up. She hadn't said anything to prompt whatever he was going to talk about. "But he must be very manipulative if you're still in love with him after what he did to you."

"What he did to me?" she asked, confused. If they really wanted her to lie about something that Finnick did, you would think they would be smart enough to at least tell her beforehand.

He looked around, pretending to be uncomfortable and comforting in the situation. "Those bruises didn't just appear," he commented, gesturing to her arms that were turning purple.

She was in so much shock that she just burst into laughter.

"You're not seriously trying to convince them that he did this to me, right?" she cackled out, pointing to the camera and referencing the viewers. When she realized that he was being dead serious, she stopped laughing and shook her head. "You're lying." She looked right at the camera as Peacekeepers approached from behind her, grabbing her arms and pulling her up. "They're lying. They're liars!"

Just before they pulled her out of sight, she touched her lips to her mouth, just like Finnick's signal to her. As she was dragged out of the room, kicking and screaming, she heard Caesar mutter, "Stockholm syndrome at its finest."