Katniss was terrified. Two of her closest allies were battling alone against an onslaught of savage reptilian mutts and she couldn't see them anymore. Her heart had dropped when Dahlia backed away from the ladder with a scream of her husband's name and she tried desperately to call out to the pair. But no one had heard any reply from them. All they could hear were vicious snarls and teeth ripping flesh. Her hand shook as it tightly gripped to the Holo, the word nightlock resting on the tip of her tongue like a death sentence waiting to be carried out.

"Ni..." She whispered faintly before a shuddering breath interrupted her words, tears blurring her vision as she stared at the churning waters beneath her. "Night..."

Down in the tunnel below, Dahlia had wrenched the mutt off of Finnick and stabbed it through the gut with her sword. As her husband returned to the surface spluttering for air, Dahlia fought against the rapidly advancing mutts desperately clawing their way towards the pair. She held them back long enough for Finnick to stumble to his feet. And, for a moment, he was completely mesmerised.

"Nightlock..."

Dahlia was proving exactly how she earned such a fearsome reputation. After pulling a handgun from her belt, she was alternating between shooting the mutts and spearing them with her blade. Each move was calm and collected, yet ruthless and strategic. The perfect balance of rage and focus, leading with her head to protect her heart just like Alaric had taught her. What a beautiful fighter his wife was.

"Finn!" He was snapped from his temporary adoring daze just in time to catch Dahlia's gun as she threw it towards him. Now that he had a proper weapon of his own to fight back with, the two could work together in their hasty retreat.

As Finnick provided her with gunfire cover, Dahlia withdrew back to his position where he boosted her up onto the platform. Then Dahlia took possession of the gun to beat back the mutts while Finnick climbed the railing to join her. One daring mutt attempted to pounce on him while his back was turned only to quickly meet its end by the sharp steel of Dahlia's sword. The gun was switched back into Finnick's hands and the pair inched their way over to the ladder, killing any mutt that tried to get in their way.

"Up you go, Lia!" Finnick urged, nudging her closer to the ladder as he shot at the endless wave of mutts. She was hesitant to leave him there surrounded by the inhuman creatures with only her small handgun for protection. But as she went to voice her concerns, Finnick turned to her pleadingly and begged, "Lia, please!"

The desperation in his gaze melted her cold stubborn heart and silenced any arguments. He needed her to be safe. He needed to assure himself that she was out of harm's way first. She was his priority as much as he was hers. So just for him, only for him, she would comply without fuss.

"Nightlock..."

"I swear to god, Finn, you better be right behind me." She commanded firmly, a gleam of fear present in her eyes that conveyed her own desperation for his safety.

Through all the chaos, they managed to link their hands together and squeeze three times. Their silent promise, a symbol of love... A vow, that he would be right behind her and they would both live to see a day of freedom dawn.

Nodding once at his wife, Finnick coaxed her in the direction of the ladder once more and whispered, "Wherever you go, I will follow."

Reluctantly, Dahlia respected his wishes and took off to the ladder, their fingers sliding out of each other's grip as she slashed a mutt out of her way. Finnick trailed behind her, still aiming the gun at any creature attempting to intervene in his wife's escape. Dahlia fought off one last mutt trying to climb up the railing before sheathing her sword and beginning her ascent. She hastened in her advance, ever aware of Finnick still left below her guarding the ladder.

"Night--"

As Dahlia's head poked out from the opening, Katniss abandoned the Holo to one side in sheer relief and scurried over to assist her the rest of the way. But Dahlia's main concern was the fact that Finnick remained at the bottom of the ladder.

"Finn!" She yelled out, alerting the man that it was time to uphold his end of the bargain. He turned immediately and started to climb, Dahlia's terrified face peering down at him as his motivation.

Finnick practically scurried up the ladder, unbothered by his wet hands slipping on the rungs and his lungs burning in exertion. He needed to get to her. She was waiting for him. His little flower.

He was so close...

She was smiling like an angel above him...

He stretched his hand out, meeting hers halfway and gripping it...

Then a claw clamped down on his shoulder and her face contorted in horror. He saw her lips move to scream his name, but he couldn't hear it. Was this how it ended? Being mauled to death by mutts in front of his wife? No, it couldn't be... This couldn't be it for them. He had so much to live for. Someone to live for. What about their future together? What about their dreams? This couldn't truly be the end.

"Dahls!" Katniss shouted as the woman cried out for her husband who was struggling to keep his grip on her hand. The Mockingjay reached out for the Holo once more, sensing that they were fighting a losing battle. Dahlia's determination was the only thing stopping Finnick from plummeting into the claws of the bloodthirsty mutt. And if Katniss didn't make a difficult call, Dahlia would perish along with him. She couldn't lose both of them today. She had to save one of them. But first, Dahlia would have to relinquish her hold on Finnick's hand and let him fall. "Dahls, we have to go. We have to go now! You-- You have to let him go."

You have to let him go...

Let him go...

Let me go... That's what Alaric had told her to do, and she had listened. She said okay and she let him go.

All her life people had told Dahlia what she had to do. She had to look after her sisters. She had to win the Hunger Games. She had to be the Black Dahlia... But no one told her she had to love Finnick. No one told him he had to love her. But they did. They loved each other with every fibre of their beings. Their love was their freedom. The only thing they had when it seemed all was lost and the driving force behind everything they fought for.

Snow and the Capitol had already taken everything from Dahlia. Her family, her sanity, her mind... She refused to let them have Finnick.

"No!" Dahlia declared passionately, eyes hardening in determination as Finnick attempted to shake the mutt off his back. "Hold him." She ordered Katniss, who immediately latched onto Finnick's arm out of intimidation from Dahlia's raw aggression.

Once Finnick's weight had been transferred from Dahlia to Katniss, the older woman released her own hold and crawled back out into the opening until she was positioned directly above the ladder. The growling mutt was a mere metre beneath her, claws still digging into her husband's back. With dark narrowed eyes, she lifted her leg and sent her foot bashing into the creature's head.

Over and over again, she kicked at the mutt below, channelling all her rage and terror into each blow. But still, it persisted. Angry and fearful tears had started to cloud Dahlia's vision as the creature refused to let go. But Dahlia wasn't done fighting. Ripping one of her swords from its holster, she stared down into the abyss and realised she couldn't do much damage to the mutt from where was positioned. She would have to get closer, she would have to strike in the air.

"Dahls." Katniss murmured in terror, eyes widened as she sensed exactly what her friend was about to do. "Dahls, don't!" She begged, but Dahlia's glare was hardened in determination. Nothing was going to stop her from doing what needed to be done. Raising the sword up high with the sharp tip pointing down, she took a deep breath in... And jumped.

Soaring down through the opening, Dahlia plunged the sword deep into the mutt's back and forced it to release Finnick with a roar of anguish. It quickly fell to the ground, body smacking against the railing with a sickening crunch. Then Dahlia crashed down next to it with a heavy thump, a shockwave of pain sent flooding through the left side of her body when she landed. An agonised cry escaped her lips from the vigorous impact, but that was nothing compared to the panicked shout of Finnick from above her.

Katniss had dragged him up the rest of the ladder once Dahlia had collided with the mutt, which left him now staring down at his wife as she lay below. It seemed the roles were now reversed, with Dahlia the one now in danger of being mauled by mutts. Yet as long as there was love in her heart and her husband to fight for, she wouldn't give in. Snow wanted her dead, so she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction.

Gritting her teeth to push through the excruciating ache in her body, Dahlia nudged the mutt's limp body over the edge of the platform until it tumbled into the swirling waters below. Its fellow creatures were there waiting like a hoard of ravenous sharks and quickly swarmed the body as it was dropped for them.

While the mutts were briefly distracted with tearing flesh from bone, Dahlia took the chance to shoot to her feet and scurry for the ladder once more. Ever aware of the mutts starting to pursue her, Dahlia could only focus on the sight of Finnick encouraging her. She had saved him, just like he had saved her. She had changed their fate and rewritten their story. That was not the way they had deserved to die, so she chose to give themselves a different ending.

Once within reach, Dahlia grabbed Finnick's hand and allowed him to pull her up to join him. She was immediately engulfed in a desperate hug, arms cradling each other as he repeatedly muttered about how stupid that move was and Katniss covered their escape.

"Nightlock. Nightlock. Nightlock." The Mockingjay murmured assuredly to the Holo device, which buzzed rapidly at her words before being dropped down the shaft. An explosion of fire was shot back up the opening, making Dahlia, Finnick and Katniss flinch away. But the blast had done its job. The mutts were no longer pursuing, yet the struggle was not yet over.

"Come on, come on, come on! Let's go. Keep moving! Keep moving!" Gale barked out, giving the traumatised couple little time to pull away and recover from their near-death experiences.

The squad sprinted away from the hellish tunnel only to be ambushed by Peacekeepers as they reached the underground railway. Dahlia and Finnick ducked away from the firing line, sheltering behind a tiled pillar as Katniss launched an explosive arrow at one group of attackers. They were going to be pinned down if they remained there, so Finnick grabbed Dahlia's hand and pulled her into a run once more.

Peacekeepers continued to chase after them as they fled from the scene, forcing the squad to throw caution to the wind and forgo any mindfulness for pods. Unfortunately this led to Messalla unknowingly running through an active pod which shot a jet of light from the ceiling. His body disintegrated in seconds, leaving nothing behind but his gun which Dahlia hastily scooped up to return fire to the enemy. Cressida's face fell in despair at the sudden demise of her friend, pausing in her run to stare at the spot where he had once been.

"Keep going! Keep going!" Katniss shouted encouragingly, clasping Cressida's arm and forcing her to continue on.

Dahlia and Finnick still clung to each other for dear life as they sprinted through a minefield of erupting pods. The light beams detonated at random, forcing the squad to duck and skirt around them for fear of being blasted to ashes. Every so often, a member would whirl around to haphazardly shoot at the Peacekeepers chasing them, but no one dared to stop and check if they were actually causing any damage.

Then, as if their luck couldn't get any worse, another pod activated beneath their feet. Grinding metal churning up the concrete ground and advancing towards them like a snapping crocodile chomping at their heels. Despite the puncture marks in his back from the mutt's claws and the fatigue in her legs, the Odairs pushed themselves to run even harder. They had survived so much, they refused to fall now.

The pod shredded through the floor as easily as slicing through paper, gradually speeding up until Dahlia could feel the tremors under her boots. It was right behind them now, the jarring sound of metal scraping metal piercing their ears. Nothing in its path was safe. The entire underground had been wrecked in Snow's stupid spectacle of death. The remaining squad members would not be more additions to the Capitol's growing death poll.

With one final push, Dahlia and Finnick reached the sturdy ground at the end of the tunnel, chunks of rubble being tossed up into the air as the pod reached its limit. Katniss and Peeta had tumbled as they threw themselves to safety, the boy still internally fighting against his own mind. Though she was aching and exhausted, Dahlia couldn't stand to listen to Peeta calling himself a mutt. As she went to comfort and reassure him, Finnick's grip on her hand tightened so she couldn't leave. Part of the motivation for that was because he couldn't stand for her to be away from his side, but the other reason was to let Katniss actually take her part in Peeta's rehabilitation journey. And once the boy was successfully brought back to them, the survivors took off into the night.