A chain of events in the final minutes of the Quarter Quell causes the victor rescue to go a bit differently than expected. Will Peeta be able to handle his role as the face of the Rebellion? And how will this effect the course of the war and beyond? *Canon-divergent Mockingjay, Peeta POV, and slow-burn Everlark*
Chapter 5: And Countermoves
"Well then, I guess that makes everything all easy. I'll just go up there and state, 'Oh Katniss is just a bit addled. So please disregard anything the Mockingjay said and listen to her obsessive, lying sort-of-but-not-really-boyfriend-slash-husband that lies.'"
"Wow. When you put it that way, you really don't come off as such a pleasant person."
My outburst draws further ire among the officials in Command. Most of them were already displeased with me. But after that interview half-an-hour ago, in which she flat out lambasted Thirteen, they're now looking at me with this collective and contemptuous expression that seethes, "And you demand that we spare that traitorous bitch…"
I want to yell at them that their opinion is not warranted. That they shouldn't be treating us like a bunch of assets and nothing more. That maybe Katniss is right about them being just a bunch of opportunistic buzzards. But that will probably give Coin an excuse to dissolve my terms or worse. While at this point I don't care what happens to me, I don't want anybody else hurt due to piss-poor decisions on my part.
So it's best to focus on the task at hand: finding some way of countering the things Katniss said. Something which currently seems about as easy as walking up to Snow and kindly asking him to simply discontinue the Games and treat the districts fairly.
"So tell me Haymitch, do you seriously expect me to challenge her? Because I'm sure that will go over real well."
Haymitch groans and slams his forehead to the table, while muttering obscenities about being stuck with "such damn difficult victors" and his need for a stiff drink. This seems to continue on for the next couple minutes, in which time his muttering fades into silence. He stays silent and still like that, with his head remaining on the table, for such duration of time that I grow concerned that he passed-out or something.
Suddenly, he looks up with a surprisingly clear expression on his face. "No. I don't expect you to challenge her. In fact, I fully expect you to agree with her."
Full chapter(s) on AO3 or FFNET.
