District Two is a large District. This is slightly to do with their wealth, but mainly because the Capitol just prefers them to everyone else. Their trade is called masonry, but they also train Peacekeepers.

There's a group of rebels in Two that have been fighting to overthrow the Capitol military inside the district. I thought this would be an easy task, and it would have been, if it wasn't for what I soon found out.

Anyways, when we arrive and get off the hovercraft, there's a man greeting us. "Welcome to District Two! I'm Corporal Holmes, can you follow me, please?"

We get about two steps before there's a boom in the air. "Don't worry, it's just how the loyalists say good morning," Holmes laughs.

He leads all of us (Gale, Beetee, Haymitch, Cressida, Messala, Castor, Pollux, Plutarch, Boggs and I) to a building. But before that, I get to see the state that the District is in. It's not quite as bad as Eight, but it certainly compares.

When we get inside, I see that basically all the rebels from Two are there, along with the rebels from Eight, who obviously needed somewhere to cover after the hospital was bombed. Paylor (their supposed leader) gives me a small smile as we head inside. I smile back; or at least the corners of my lips twitch.

We stand around a table with a rotating projection on it. It shows a mountain and the inside, which is covered in military, nuclear weapons, normal weapons, bombs and hovercrafts.

The rebels' leader, who is a woman called Lyme (I learn that she is also a victor), gets a TV to sit at the end of the table, and Coin comes on it a second later, joining the chat by video call.

"President Coin we are indebted to you for the reinforcements and the Mockingjay. But I don't think anybody outside District Two knows what we've been up against," she gestures to the mountain on the projection. "This is the 'Nut'. The Capitol's headquarters for all offensive operations. It's manned by both military and civilian personel from District Two. As you can see, the fortress lies so deep within the bedrock it's untouchable. Yesterday we attempted to take the northeastern gate, the enemy countered from higher up and we were forced to pull back. We took heavy losses."

"Could we create a decoy?" Boggs suggests. "Send troops towards one gate, launch a staggered attack on the other?"

"And who's troops do you propose as a decoy, Commander?" Paylor jumps in quickly.

"We have the Mockingjay, don't underestimate her. We could use her to erode support, she may be able to sway some of the loyalists." Coin instantly fights back in a polite manner. I feel like I should back her up, but I stay silent.

"You've been underground a long time, Madam Coin; this isn't like the rest of Panem. Support from the Capitol runs deep here," Lyme tries to put it into perspective.

"Then there is no sacrifice too great," Coin's voice goes dangerously low. "We need to control the arsenal inside that fortress. Even with every district in its alliance, we are outgunned."

"I won't commit my people to a ground assault just to pillage weapons," Paylor pipes up again.

Coin purses her lips. "Commander Paylor, your people have suffered just about more than anyone else at the hands of the Capitol-"

"Which is why I won't condone a mass suicide."

"If we don't take District Two we won't get into the Capitol-"

"Would it be enough to disable the fortress?" Gale, who stands beside me, finally says something. "Instead of taking it?"

"What do you have in mind?" Lyme raises her brows.

"Think of it like a wolf den," Gale reminds me irresistibly of Austin when he begins to paint a picture in our heads. "You're not gonna fight your way in so you have two options: trap the wolves inside or flush them out. If we can't attack straight on, couldn't we use a hovercraft to strike around it? Use the mountains, hit weak spots in the peaks?"

"We could design the bomb sequence using seismic data," Beetee's clearly loving this.

"Trigger avalanches," Lyme nods.

"Block all exits, cut off their supplies, you'd make it impossible for them to send out their hovercraft," Gale says briskly.

"Bury them alive," even Paylor, who I thought was decent, likes this idea.

But I'm just starting at them all in horror.

"We'd forfeit any chance to control the fortress," Coin points out.

"Yes, but we'd face a weakened Capitol-"

"There's civilians in there," Boggs finally points out what I'd been too horrified to. "They should be given a chance to surrender. We should use one of the supply for evacuees."

"That's a luxury we weren't given when they firebombed Twelve," Gale looks down at the table.

"No!" I suddenly burst out. "No! Do you hear what you're saying? The fact that you're even discussing this makes you no better than the Capitol!"

Everyone takes this in as Coin speaks. "I suggest we try the avalanches, but leave the train tunnel alone. Civilians can escape into the square, where our armies will be waiting for their surrender."

"And if they don't surrender?" Paylor checks.

"Then we will need a compelling voice to persuade them," Coin smirks.

I look around in absolute shame. It's like Coin, Paylor, Lyme, Beetee and Gale are all just miniature versions of Snow.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

Gale and I sit outside, watching everyone get ready to put the plan into action. I don't know why I'm sitting with my brother after he just suggested murdering innocent civilians, but somehow, I am.

We stand in an uncomfortable silence for a few minutes, then finally, sensing my mood, he speaks. "It's no different, Willow; crushing the enemy on line or blowing them out of the sky with one of Beetee's axes, it's the same thing."

"We were under attack in Eight," my voice speaks icily. "And those hovercrafts weren't filled with civilians."

"Doesn't matter!" He doesn't look at me, so at least I can still say he has a tiny bit of compassion in him. "Even if those civilians are just mopping floors, they're helping the enemy! And if they have to die I can live with that. No one who supports the Capitol is innocent."

"With that kind of thinking you can kill whoever you want," my eyes flash as I look straight at his. "You can send kids off to the Hunger Games to keep the districts in line."

I wince as explosions resound in the air.

"It's war, Willow," Gale looks towards the explosions with some sort of pride on his face. "Sometimes killing isn't personal. I thought that you would be the most likely one to realise-"

"I of all people, know that it's always personal," I cut across him, absolute fury in every syllable I say. "You haven't had to fight for your life in the games, you have no idea."

Then I surprise myself and him with what I say next.

"You know, when we were younger, I thought that you were such a role model, and when I looked into your eyes I thought that you were who I wanted to be. But now, all I see are snake eyes. The snake eyes of Snow."

And I walk away with tears in my eyes. I idolise other people now. But if I know one thing for sure, I've stopped idolising him.

☘︎☘︎☘︎

Boggs, Haymitch and I walk through the streets of Two towards the train tunnel where the civilians are going to escape to. I have my axes ready, but I hope that I won't need to use them.

"Don't worry, Willow, there'll be survivors," Boggs says briskly, shouldering his gun.

"Yeah, you should just focus on what you need to say," Haymitch interrupts. He pulls out a piece of paper. "Now, Plutarch wrote a speech for you-"

"Screw him, I'm not saying that," I don't even look at them.

"Okay, thought not," Haymitch chucks the paper behind his back without a backwards thought. He then puts his hands on my shoulders, forcing me to look at him. "Just remember that you're speaking to everyone. Not just to the rebels, but to the Capitol and the survivors in Two. You want them to lay down their arms. So you might want to be a bit more sensitive, like the side Austin brought out in you."

I wince slightly at his name.

"Well Austin's convinced I'm not even human at the moment, so he's not going to be much help," I say drily.

Haymitch doesn't answer as I see Cressida, Messala, Castor and Pollux behind him, setting up their filming equipment. "Make it quick, you're exposed," Boggs comments as he and Haymitch disappear behind the scenes.

I sigh as I turn, blinded by rage (at Gale), suprise (at Haymitch) and sadness (at Austin). I don't know what to feel.

I take a deep breath and begin. "This is Willow Hawthorne, speaking to all of the loyalists from the heart of District Two-"

"Survivors! Inbound!" A guard's voice shouts as I start to hear a train screeching on the rails. "Ready! Guns up!"

Suddenly, as the train reaches the end of the rails, civilians and military alike jump off it. People from the rebel armies of Thirteen, Twelve, Eight and Two yell for them to put their weapons down and get on the ground. Scared, most of them do.

Some don't though, and then we start firing.

Most of the shots don't hit, but soon, one does. A man goes down about five metres away from me.

"Stop! Stop firing!" I bellow, running forward to the man to see if he's okay.

He looks dead upon the ground, so I try to rouse him. "Hold your fire! Hold your fire!" Boggs covers me from above.

Suddenly, whilst I'm checking the man's pulse, he jumps up, gun in hand, and presses the barrell to my neck. Clearly him dead was just a very good act.

"Give me one reason I shouldn't shoot you," he whispers to me as Boggs shouts at him to drop his weapon.

I think he expects me to tell him about a thousand reasons. I do too. Well, I surprise us both. "I can't," I whisper back.

Logically, I should be dead the next second, but he's too stunned to speak. "I can't," I repeat. "I guess that's the problem, isn't it? We blew up your mine... you burned my district to the ground... we each have every reason that we want to kill each other. So if you want to kill me do it. Make Snow happy. I'm done killing his slaves for him."

He breathes, still trying to figure out if he should shoot me or not. "I'm not his slave."

"I am," I admit. "That's why I killed Cato... and he killed Thresh... and Thresh killed Clove... and she tried to kill me. It just goes around and around, and who wins? Always, Snow. I am done, being a piece in his game. District Twelve, District Two, we have no fight, only the one the Capitol gave us."

I'm crying slightly now. "Why are you fighting the rebels? Your neighbors? Your family?"

He lets the gun go and I stand up. Cressida, who's standing reasonably close to me, gives me a nod, and I start to shout. "These people are not your enemy! We all have one enemy, and that's Snow! He corrupts everyone, and everything! He turns the best of us against each other. Stop killing for him! Tonight, turn your weapons to the Capitol! Turn your weapons to Snow!"

I must've been naive if I thought that, at the end of my speech, all the loyalists would join hands in a surrender. Because instead, I collapse to the ground as I get shot.