❝tore your banners down, took the battle underground❞

ONE OF THE TVS IN THE CAFETERIA WAS SHATTERED. Lexa had had a huge fit after seeing what President fucking Snow was doing to Isla. She did not believe a word that he said about killing the Capitol men. It was just an excuse so that he could send a message without seeming like a monster.

The Armada woman was lying in her room because after her outburst, they believed she was a 'threat to security' until she calmed down. So, Finnick, who was also distraught but not as much as her, went to go get them some food because she had not eaten in a while.

She could not get that image of Isla out of her head. Seeing her exposed and hurt like that made her want to storm the Capitol and get her back right then. What were they doing to her? She was with no doubt punished for her outburst when she was talking to Caesar, but there was not a single inch of skin that was not bloody or burnt or bruised. Lexa's thoughts were interrupted when a loud siren and flashing lights filled the hallway.

"This is a code red alert. Please, remain calm and begin evacuation protocol. Proceed to your nearest stairwell and descend to level 40. Blast doors will be sealed in six minutes," an automated voice announced, and she heard people yelling and feet shuffling in the hallway.

She climbed out of bed and headed over to her door that had been unlocked. She furrowed her eyebrows and stepped out into the hallway to see every single person in sight running toward the stairs. Well, all except one. A small girl with blonde hair was running the opposite way, and after a moment, she realized that it was Prim, Katniss's sister. Instead of following the crowd of people running, she headed upstream as Prim disappeared into her room. She headed toward the room, but after a moment, the young girl emerged with something in her hands.

It was a fucking cat.

"You did not just risk your life for a cat," Lexa groaned, and Prim jumped before looking up at her. She looked terrified until the woman extended her hand for her to take with the arm that was not holding the animal. When she hesitated, Lexa rolled her eyes and nodded toward the empty hallway and the automated voice that was still talking. "Let's go. Come on, the doors will be closing soon."

It was pouring by the time they got to the part of the stairs that led to the bunker. Why the rain was getting into the stairs, Lexa did not question because the main focus was to get through the doors in time. The staircase was empty, meaning that most everyone was down there already.

All of a sudden, the Armada woman slipped on a puddle and landed against the stairs. She cried out in pain when her ribs went crashing against the corner of the stairs. She groaned but was able to climb to her feet as she gestured for Prim in front of her to keep running. "Damn it. Keep moving!"

"Prim! Prim!' they heard, Katniss's voice echoing loudly in the staircase. Prim called back to her, but nothing was going to help unless they could get down there in time.

Lexa's heartbeat quickened as the automated voice began counting down. She was not about to let Katniss, the freaking symbol of the rebellion, ]and her sister die because of this stupid cat. "Blast doors will close in 15 seconds."

"Keep moving, keep moving!" she ordered at the small girl, practically pushing her down the stairs as she gripped her side, and was no doubt that it was going to bruise. They finally reached the bottom of the stairs and Katniss, and they all sprinted toward the doors when there was five seconds left. Lexa squeezed through at the very last second before having to stop and catch her breath.

They were in some part of the bunker that was a separate room. While Katniss and Prim were arguing about the cat, the Armada woman interrupted them to ask, "Where's Finnick?"

"I don't know. I haven't seen him," Katniss answered, which made the older girl panic because Finnick was all she had in District 13. He was the only one of her old friends that she had left. Johanna was in the Capitol and so was Isla. She was about to head into the room with the beds when Katniss called after her. "Hey, thank you, Lexa."

She just nodded in response before running off and making her way through the maze of bunk beds, frantically scanning all of the faces for a familiar one. She shouted, "Finnick! Finnick!"

"Lexa!" she heard, and she let out a sigh of relief when she saw the Odair man standing at the end of the row of beds. She ran over to him, and they collided in a hug.

They were sitting on the bottom bunk of their bed while everything around them shook and boomed. There were cracks forming on the ceiling, and children screamed almost every ten seconds. Finnick was looking at a photo that he had of Annie, and as she watched him, Lexa wished that she had something of Isla's. The Odair man noticed this and hesitated before he spoke up.

"I didn't think you two would get along." She looked up at him with a confused look, and he continued, "You and Isla. That's why I never brought her to our little mentor meetings. I was sure that you would find her annoying and that she wouldn't like how heartless you were."

"Thanks," she scoffed.

He laughed and nudged her with his shoulder. "I'm kidding. I thought you were for a minute there. I thought the games had finally gotten to you. But then I saw how you looked at her in the arena and how mad you were when she got left behind. You care about her."

"Yeah, well, now she thinks that I am heartless and that I betrayed her," she groaned, flopping back on the bed and running a hand through her hair. Of course she wanted Isla saved, but she hated to image the look in the blonde woman's eye when she saw her again.

"She doesn't think that," he sighed, lying down next to her and turning his head so that they could look at each other. "She saved you in the arena, and she defended you on TV when she knew that she would be punished for it. She must think you're worth it if she would do all of that."

She shook her head, and she was reminded of that awful image of the Angler woman hanging from that pole, all broken and bruised. "I'm not worth it. She shouldn't be punished for what we did. She didn't even know."

"Neither should Annie. We did what we thought was right, and they're paying the cost," he told her. It was clear that he had been thinking about Annie as much as she had been thinking about Isla.

She wanted to scream and break things and throw things, but there was nothing that she could do. So, she just had to sit there and groan. "It's not fair."

"None of this is," he answered, looking up at the bottom of the bunk above them. "It's never been fair."