“Jessica!”

Krystal bounded up to her cheerfully, the blonde greeting her with a careful smile, one hand smoothing out her skirt. Krystal took that as an invitation to sit, her firmly planted on top of Jessica’s lap, the black haired girl grinning widely at the scowl Jessica wore on her face.

“Why are you so cheerful?”

Krystal giggled.

“Nothing much. Just a beautiful day.”

Her legs swung lightly, Jessica sighing and giving in by wrapping one arm around Krystal’s waist carefully lest she fell off the pier and into the ocean.

“Tiffany is coming today, yeah?”

“And this concerns you how exactly?”

Krystal grinned widely and smacked her lips against Jessica’s forehead, the blonde yelping when Krystal suddenly leapt off, fingers missing Krystal’s shirt by mere inches. The black haired girl caught the edge of the pier lightly and swung around the pole, her laugh melodious.

“Because she makes you smile, Miss I’m too old to have fun!”

Jessica scowled again, aware of the blush currently painting her face.

“Plus Mom really likes her. I think I heard wedding bells in the near future.”

“Hey!”

Jessica got up quickly, Krystal squealing and dashing away, Jessica running after her to hit her for teasing the blonde. The older sibling chased the younger down the boardwalk, earning fond looks from the villagers, each of the adults used to this sight that happened nearly every day.

And just like Jessica, Krystal’s salvation came in the form of a very confused Tiffany, Krystal whipping around her and clinging on tightly, her tongue stuck out at a heaving Jessica, the blonde pointing an accusatory finger at her.

“You little brat.”

Krystal laughed again and ran off, Jessica noticing her parents not far behind Tiffany, the younger girl bouncing up to them. was moving rapidly and Jessica assumed that she was once again teasing the blonde even when she was out of earshot.

What a brat of a sister.

Tiffany chuckled like it was nothing new (truly it wasn’t) and pressed her lips to Jessica’s cheek, the blonde’s scowl falling off easily and replaced with a soft smile. Tiffany’s eyes crinkled in response and the brunette’s fingers ran down the length of Jessica’s right arm before intertwining tightly with Jessica’s.

“You’re always so easy to tease it seems.”

Jessica pouted, Tiffany relenting quickly, the brunette pressing another kiss against Jessica, this time squarely on her lips. Jessica smiled into the kiss and murmured against lips softer than clouds.

“Only for you.”

Tiffany pulled away, slightly dazed and the girl shook her head, turning towards the future in laws calls to go to the fair that was currently taking place in the town square. Jessica pouted again and waved her parents away, her free hand coming up to cup Tiffany’s chin. She turned that beautiful face back towards her, intent on being in their own world again, silently asking Tiffany to pay attention to her. The other girl’s eyes curved again and Tiffany chuckled lightly.

“Always looking at you, I promise.

Another smile graced the blonde’s lips and she leant forward, connecting their cheeks together in a version of their hug.

“Always loving you, I promise.”

Another laugh reached her ears and Jessica turned her head a little, lips connecting with soft skin, making a slow path towards Tiffany’s lips. She heard the younger girl’s breath hitch and pulled her lips back slightly, scraping the underside of Tiffany’s jaw with her teeth. Her lips finally reached their destination, Tiffany already flushing red but still pressing as close as she can to Jessica.

Jessica kissed her deeply, wishing for the moment to never end-

*

-Her eyes opened and she was greeted with white, body aching and heart crying.

It was just a dream.

Of a happy life where her family was normal, her sister joyous and free of burdens, Tiffany firmly by her side in the light instead of stolen moments in a corner.

A dream that was unattainable.

Tiffany.

Jessica sat up quickly, her eyes scanning the room, noting that she was not in the sick bay of the rebels’ base. Instead, it looked like the Capitol hospital, the same place she was taken to after she was lifted from her arena. She saw many injured patients but none of them was the one she was looking for. Panicking, she called out hoarsely, first for Tiffany but when no response came, Jessica called for the only person who always had answers for her.

“Finnick!”

Heads turned towards her and Jessica saw the pity in their eyes, her chest feeling heavy. Tears prickled at the corners of her eyes and she fisted the blanket tightly, her legs drawing in towards her abdomen.

She started to call again when Coin walked in briskly, the newly appointed president stopping at the edge of Jessica’s bed. The older woman coughed, as though to clear and the most unconvincing look of sadness was plastered on her face.

“Miss Jung.”

“President.”

“This will be hard for you to hear but... Mr Odair was terminated in the battlefield. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

At once, her field of vision went dark, the lack of empathy in Coin’s voice not bothering Jessica at all. She had suspected this before Coin walked in but hearing this from the president’s mouth herself, it just cemented everything.

Made it real.

Her mentor was dead.

Charming, broken, slightly unstable Finnick was dead.

Her one constant pillar of support was gone.

She clenched her fingers and shoved the fist into , trying to stop the sobs from exiting because she needed to be strong, because she was still playing in the Games and she will never escape no matter what happened.

A hand was placed hesitantly on top of her head and Jessica froze, her free limb coming up and batting the intrusion of personal space away. Coin’s face gave nothing away but tick, the woman sitting down next to Jessica gingerly.

“I’m also here to congratulate you.”

Jessica did not want to hear this.

She needed to know if her world was completely destroyed.

She questioned quietly, throat raw and tight.

“Where’s Tiffany?”

Coin looked at her confusedly, irritatedly because of the interruption.

“Who?”

Of course they wouldn’t know. Who was Tiffany to them but a slave?

“When you found me, there was another girl with me. Where is she?”

Coin’s mouth twisted weirdly and she turned around, questioning her guard quietly before nodding at the inaudible answer he gave her. She turned back around and smiled at Jessica, the happy expression forced on that face.

“The Avox sustained light injuries but medics had some trouble with whatever Snow did to her tongue. She’s in the critical ward but they are certain that she will make a full recovery, speech troubles otherwise.”

Jessica flopped back onto her pillows, her fist leaving as the news of Tiffany’s health calming her down. She knew she should ask more, maybe about Annie, about Katniss and how she’s coping because Jessica was sure that Katniss was screaming for Primrose but she did not see Gale or Peeta near Katniss at the time. She should ask about Snow and whether he survived Jessica’s attack or was he alive like the snake he was.

There were many things to ask about but Jessica just kept silent, eyes urging for Coin to say what she wanted.

“Snow’s in our custody.”

So he’s alive then.

“And he’s been telling us about you.”

And he’s talking.

Jessica should have killed him when she had the chance.

“And after these ... accusations were taken into consideration, it seemed like you did the one thing no one was able to do until after the bombing occurred. You cornered Snow.”

Because he allowed Jessica to find him. Because he underestimated a girl who was so broken inside it took a person holding her together to get her through the day.

Because he willed it so and paid the price when Jessica treated him just like another tribute in the arena.

“My advisors tell me that I should grant you something considering you’ve done something that even the Mockingjay can’t do.”

Coin was staring at her shrewdly as though waiting for Jessica to claim riches that the current government did not have.

Jessica turned her head to face the curtains surrounding her, asking yet another question that did not relate to the topic at hand.

“How’s Katniss?”

Coin’s irritation showed on her face this time around but she answered easily.

“She’s alive. Awake but not speaking. Her spirits have lifted since I told her she could execute Snow for his crimes.”

Jessica fell silent for a while.

Coin opened to continue the conversation, perhaps to tell Jessica what the blonde should be asking as a reward when Jessica started speaking again, her face scrunched up in thought, her request confusing the president again.

“I want to go away from here.”

“The hospital? We’re not making you stay if that’s what you think. You are free to go.”

Jessica shook her head.

“I meant away. Like after all this is over and Snow is dead, I want the government to let Tiffany and I go to a secluded area, maybe grant us a monthly stipend to survive. And if anything else happens, I do not want to be a part of it.”

Coin’s face contorted uncomfortably, the president speaking up, probably to protest. Jessica cut her short, the blonde’s tone flat and her stance was  non-negotiable.

“I’ve had enough of playing games by other’s rules. I just want my own life. That is what I wish for.”

The guards that came with Coin crowded near the president and they all started discussing in low whispers. Having played the political game for a long time, Jessica understood that her wish was something of a dream, that this peace might not last as there will be others who would be unhappy with Coin’s ruling just as they were with Snow. She was not sure if Coin would make a better leader but she was sure that if conflict happened, Coin will make use of all the symbols that she had now to sway any future rebels from their cause.

Coin will have no qualms using them over and over again as well.

“You want solidarity, is that it?”

Tilting her head, Jessica watched Coin’s face carefully, years of practice while observing the people of Capitol who never let their true emotions show useful at this very moment. She was not happy that Jessica asked for this but her pride as a president dictated that she give Jessica what she wanted or risk the world finding out that a emaciated blonde was the one who caught Snow.

Jessica could almost see the wheels grinding to a halt in Coin’s head.

“Very well. We will have it in contract in the event of my death.”

Jessica smiled grimly.

“Are you predicting your death?”

Coin smiled back just as aloofly.

“When you’re the leader of a new world, there are many who want you dead.”

With those as her parting words, Coin left Jessica alone to her thoughts, the blonde waving her goodbye distractedly. Grief was already filling her body and she felt the intense need to seek Annie out, maybe even pop in to see if Katniss was doing okay.

She felt like she owed Finnick that much at least.

Nodding resolutely, Jessica got down from the bed quietly, her movements precise and sharp as she snuck out of the shared ward, the nurses rushing around too much to notice her exit. She wandered around for a while, making good use of the signs to find the people she needed to see.

She found Annie in a room by herself, one hand on her stomach, the other supporting the weight of her head whilst she stared out the window. The brunette seemed to have checked out of this world, her only anchor to sanity lost forever in the arms of death and nothing Jessica said seemed to snap her old mentor’s loved one out of it. Relenting, Jessica left the room, softly informing Annie that she will be back tomorrow, if just to see that she’s okay.

The only acknowledgement she got was Annie twitching slightly, a sign that the unstable girl might not be as out of it as she portrayed.

Holding on to that small reaction (and the hope that there was a life for Annie after Finnick), Jessica wandered off again, this time with a little more finesse in her steps as people were already starting to wonder who she was and why she was visiting a victor. She went around the floors looking into random rooms, hoping to strike upon one of the people she was looking for.

The floor she reached was ridiculously quiet, medics and nurses alike moving around in an almost desensitized manner. The floor consisted only of a few rooms, each of them darkened to keep the identities of the patients private and each of them guarded by two soldiers, each of them looking serious as they tracked the movement of Jessica. The District Four native ignored them, choosing to trek her way through the long corridor, finding at the end the visitor’s lounge, a room dedicated to patients who have more than two loved ones coming to see them.

The corridor was quiet and this was what enabled Jessica to hear the quiet shouting from the room, the blonde immediately stopping and hiding behind a conveniently placed cleaner’s trolley. She moved the item closer to the room, her ears picking up two female voices, one she recognised to be Coin.

“Was it us?”

“Does it matter?”

The first voice seemed familiar, Jessica unable to place it until the speaker exploded angrily.

“Yes it does! These are children we are talking about! Any victory gained from this is void! We’re becoming the person we wanted to stop!”

It was Paylor.

What exactly was she talking about?

Jessica got a sinking feeling in her gut.

“You seemed to have decided. Nothing I say will matter.”

A crash was heard. It seemed like Paylor lost her temper and threw something in the room. A vase perhaps.

“And what will happen if this got out? If I let it get out.”

Coin’s tone was smug, confident in her words as she spoke them.

“You won’t. Not if you truly want a better life for the citizens.”

So that was it. Why Coin offered her a reward for cornering Snow, why she came to see Jessica of all people, why the appearance of the hovercraft and the bombs seemed so out of place to Jessica.

The rebels killed the children because it would break whatever alliance Snow’s people had with him.

While Snow and Katniss had their eye on each other, Coin was planning this underhanded move and succeeded in executing it.

And Paylor knows.

But she can’t say anything because she truly wants Panem to be united and for everybody to have their own freedom. If this got out, the people will regard them like Snow.

If this got out, Katniss will have something to go after for her sister’s death. And with Katniss against Coin, this will make the entire nation turn against Coin.

War will start again.

Knowing that she had lost, Paylor seemed to have given up, a loud thud was heard from within the room. Jessica crouched even lower, ears straining to hear more.

“This matter aside, the District Four victor, Miss Jung? She has asked for solidarity. A life away from the government and no future involvement with us.”

“And you don’t plan on giving it to her?”

Coin chuckled.

“On the contrary, I will give her what she wants.”

There was a moment of silence before Coin continued, whatever Paylor wanted to say must’ve been a reaction.

“We just have to make sure no one else knows she is alive.”

There was a sharp gasp. Jessica pushed the trolley a little closer.

“You want to kill-”

“No. I want to make sure no one realises she survived. I want to send her off without fanfare so no one realises that there is a seventh victor alive.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s the only remaining victor with almost the same amount of quality Miss Everdeen has. If word ever got out she survived, they would want to know how. And-”

“You need them to think that we caught Snow. Not her.”

“Exactly.”

Jessica heard no more because a nurse was calling for her over the speakers. Not wanting to be caught eavesdropping, Jessica ran away from her hiding place, dodging into corners as per her  habit from the arena and reached her ward safely.

*

There was a tick in the clock.

The countdown to the end of a life.

The end of an era.

A man to die for his sins.

He would soon learn what it meant to die by the whims of the crowd.

*

The amount of people that turned up calling for Snow’s head was remarkable.

Even the Capitol citizens were there, their usual colourful flair missing as they hissed and jeered for Snow’s demise, for everything that Snow had stolen from them.

In the shadows, behind the execution platform, Jessica watched Snow carefully, noting the way he was limping and the coughing that wrecked his body with every step.

(She had stolen the old president’s charts.

Coin had the doctors seal his wound and made the minimal healing efforts on the man. The internal organ damage that came from Jessica’s spear was left mostly untouched, Coin explaining it away by telling the medics that Snow was slated to die anyways.

Jessica knew differently.

This was insurance.

If Katniss, if possible, failed to execute Snow, the injuries inflicted by Jessica would kill Snow, albeit very, very slowly.

Either way, Snow will die.)

Coin stepped out into the light and raised her hands, her rebels, her citizens roaring in approval as she spoke quickly but confidently, her words playing up the crowd. With a signal, Katniss was directed to her position, Jessica noting that the girl looked thinner than ever, her eyes alive only with the fire of revenge.

(The Girl on Fire was dimming.)

They brought Snow out onto the terrace of his mansion, the roar of the crowd thunderous as they called for his blood. The guards secured his hands onto a post, Jessica noting the point of it was not to secure the man but to show that even Snow could be brought down, that even Snow, previous president of Panem, was susceptible to what  normal humans were vulnerable to.

Jessica moved when the guards stood away, the shadows casted by the decorations around Snow’s roof hiding her from view. Her fingers closed around the knife she had managed to pilfer from one of the guards, her hands shaking as she drew it close to her chest. Her eyes watched Katniss carefully, the other girl’s hand shaking as she drew the arrow, her bow arm straight and taut. The brunette seemed to be debating with herself, eyes flickering from Snow to Coin and back again.

The confusion cleared behind brown eyes and Jessica saw what she was going to do before Katniss even released the arrow, the blonde slinking closer to Snow as Katniss adjusted her trajectory, her arrow flying straight and true. It hit its target straight in the heart, Coin grasping at the shaft in surprise before dropping over, her body tumbling over the balcony.

The crowd was silent, as were the many rebels that were conveying on the left and right of Katniss. Katniss’ gaze was directed towards Snow, the man laughing before sputtering, blood spewing down the front of his shirt. The rose over his heart was splattered red, the pure tainted by impurity. He doubled over coughing when the guards surrounded Katniss, the crowd once again animated as they screamed their confusion over the Mockingjay’s betrayal.

Snow was still coughing on the ground, the man grinning at the sudden turn of events. Jessica moved quickly and quietly, taking advantage of the distraction to come up behind the man. The crowd’s attention were on the struggling Katniss, the girl refusing to back down without a fight (Clawing and hoping that someone puts a bullet through her brain) and Jessica took this opportunity to place the knife at Snow’s neck.

The man stilled.

Jessica taunted him softly.

“Miss me, Snow?”

He coughed again.

“Miss Jung, come to finish the job the Mockingjay couldn’t?”

Pressing the knife with more force, Jessica relished in the slight gasp that escaped Snow’s lips.

“I’ve come to finish the job that I started.”

(There were times when Jessica felt like a monster.

In the arena, when she smashed Tyler’s face into the ground, there was a sense of guilt, a sense of shame at her depravity.

But underneath that, there was a sense of victory, of accomplishment, a part of her that relished in the kill.

This was what Jessica learnt from the arena.

The exhilaration that came with taking a life.)

Snow’s body was tense but still complying with Jessica’s orders.

“I want you to stick your tongue out.”

The man was understandably confused, his head turned partially towards Jessica, his tongue halfway out of his mouth. Grimacing, Jessica grabbed it with her free, gloved hand and pulled, the man gagging slightly. With a swift upward movement, the knife cutting through muscle and vessel easily. Snow’s eyes bulged and he pulled away. Unfortunately (for him), the damage was already done, blood pouring from his mouth without a sign of stopping. Tossing the piece of dead meat and the knife towards the crowd (and hoping that they don’t hit anything on their descent down).

“Now you know how Tiffany feels, you bastard.”

Jessica left the scene just as quietly, leaving Snow writhing and spewing blood on the ground, hands clenching as they tried to move towards his mouth to stop the bleeding.

She hurried through the house, knowing that sooner or later, they will discover Snow’s body. Reaching the room where Tiffany was resting, Jessica slipped in without knocking, the brunette blinking at her owlishly.

What happened?

Jessica stripped her hands of the gloves and tossed it into the bin, the machine set to shred whatever that was thrown into it. She then head to their closet, throwing whatever there were in there into a bag, Jessica hoisting it over her shoulder and sticking her hand out for Tiffany to hold.

“Coin was assassinated. Snow is dead. We have to go.”

Still confused but trusting Jessica, Tiffany held the offered hand tightly and followed Jessica, the blonde leading them away from the mess that was happening outside.

*

(Later, when Plutarch and Paylor examined the body, they will note that the muscle was cut but will be confused as to who had done it.

Later, they will write it off as Snow biting his own tongue off in the commotion, the crowd jolting him in surprise and thus the accidental suicide.

Later, Peeta will find the knife and realise that it was a murder but will dispose of the weapon silently, thanking whoever it was that did it for Snow was no longer in their lives.

But Jessica will not know of this.)