There is no warning when they come to get her the next morning, dragging her from the bed and away from Annie's confused, reaching hands out into the hall where she could see both Johanna and Peeta peeking from their rooms at the noise. Of course, they would all be easily woken at the slightest noise. She feels weak, terrified as they half drag, half shove her towards the large room where President Snow takes his visitors and her mind jumps to so many different scenarios - she did a poor job on the interview, the interview had the wrong response, people are cursing her and throwing her away, all things point that she did something terribly wrong and she can't stop from quivering as she's seated before Snow, Egeria at his side.

"You did well last night, Miss Combe," the woman remarks, but it isn't the least bit reassuring like she hoped it would be coming from her. "But it wasn't quite enough to gain a positive response with recent developments."

Terra swallows. "Recent developments?"

"The Rebels have taken to propaganda promoting Katniss as the Mockingjay. They placed her outside a burning hospital and are using it to persuade the masses to their message," Snow explains and it sounds more tired and disappointed than anything else and she thinks it's incredibly unfair to place the blame on her in this position. "We wish to send them a message back, something stronger that will strike the population."

She looks between them, nervous at playing a counter-image to the rebellion, but agrees anyways having little choice. "What do you need me to do?"

"We're going to have you visit the Districts and join in inflicting punishments on those that fight back," Snow says it so casually that it takes a moment to comprehend what they're trying to say to her, what they want her to do, and she feels terribly cold and distant from herself.

"You want me to punish rebels?" She squeaks and Egeria nods, encouraging.

"It will be useful to send a message that you are on our side, the right side."

Her mind whirs as she tries to find some way to do anything but that. She doesn't want to hurt anyone that has done nothing to hurt her - she couldn't live with herself if she did.

"What if, instead of fighting, I take a share of their punishment," she suggests carefully. "Say that it is atonement for my crimes for allowing this to happen and receive the same punishment. Make it symbolic."

Egeria looks positively gleeful at the idea and readily jumps on board. "We could use it in her anti-violence image. Show her as someone that wants peace no matter the cost to herself. We can put her in one of her pretty dresses, have her hair fall loose, place her in her home district, make a spectacle of it."

"We'll try it just this once. It will be interesting to see how they will react to her in their position," Snow agrees after a moment and Terra releases a breath she didn't know she was holding.

"Get something in light blue, but fly her out to District 4 instead. I want her to be covering all images of Katniss by tonight. Send her with Caesar, have him set the scene for her."

She's dragged up again and shuffled towards the same car as yesterday, seated beside Egeria this time. "Your team will prep you during flight. Caesar is already on route to meet us. You are to look as genuine as you can all throughout."

"I'm certain it won't be a problem," she quips shortly, turning to stare out the window to the billboards and screens filled with her crying face from last night.

Her crew is different from last night and she gets the feeling that they want a constant flow of different people so that she can't get familiar with any of them. It doesn't bother her much having never much cared for her original styling team, and just lets them pull her and prep her for the scene - this time with her hair done up in pins so it will fall free easily.

The flight was short and she exists into the bright sun and warm air with an unbelieving smile. The smell of salty air and the caw of birds welcome to her after so long being away from his home. Annie would be so jealous if she knew, or at least until she knew what was going to happen.

Caesar is waiting for her, his camera crew already standing by, and he greets her softly when she comes to stand beside him, but jumps right into it.

"Good afternoon, citizens of Panem. Today we have a special treat for you." She watches the cameras zoom out to encompass her and their surroundings. "I am joined again by the lovely Terra Combe here in District 4. Can you tell us what we're doing here, Terra?"

"I wanted to visit the places I loved, get out of the Capitol for a bit of fresh air, and President Snow thought it would boost morale for the people to see me after my emotional scene last night."

"President Snow, as usual, was right," he grins and they begin to walk with Terra speaking softly about everything she knew of 4 having only ever been a visitor.

"I fell in love with the sunshine and the sound of the waves. It's silly, but I used to sight by the fences back in District 10 hoping to heat any sign of water just so I could feel like I was back here," she tells him, turning her face up to the sun, and she knows that the peacekeepers are lining the streets, leading them towards the town square in front of the justice building. "I had all these little mementos of this place back in my home at Victors Village. Gifts that Finnick or Annie would send, sometimes even Mags."

"Can you tell us about Finnick? No one knew of your relationship until the Quell," Caesar, offers her his arm as the head towards a slight incline and she accepts it.

"He used to joke that I snuck up on him, but I think it was more that I was tripping and stumbling over myself and he was there to catch me," Terra jokes, bumping Caesar with her shoulder and he does that loud obnoxious laugh of his.

People were starting to notice her now, pointing and whispering her name and she saw as they ran off to tell those over in the water, calling the people who were too busy working towards the mandatory quota to be spared from watching the public punishments. She hoped they wouldn't hear from out there, but she knew it was pointless.

"How long had your relationship been kept a secret?" Caesar drew her attention again

"I'm not entirely sure when we officially began actually, but it has been a while for sure. We didn't want everyone to know in case it added any pressure," Terra admitted. "The only reason we were so open about it in the Games was because of how things had happened. He thought I had died and I just can't imagine what that would be been like for him because I can hardly stand the memory of what I had seen with the jabberjays. Standing there useless like that broke my heart. All I wanted to do was help him."

"Do you have any regrets then about your last moments together?"

"Oh, I wish I could have done a million differents things differently. I would have told him I love him and make sure he knew. I would have accepted his offer of just the two of us or have begged him to stay with me," Terra mused. "But it's not much use to me now, wishing to change things long past. We have separate paths the both of us and I can only hope that he will find himself back to the right one."

"Such a powerful sentiment, Terra, and we all share it with you."

A single, loud voice rings from the square and she takes it as her cue to pull away slightly and speed up to reach the crowd easier. She knows the cameras are following, can still hear Caesar telling them to keep up with her as she stops in the square and begins pushing her way through only to have the guards with her command for them to clear away.

She can see through to the center clearly. The tall post meant for examples to be made with the head peacekeeper of the district standing nearby, whip in hand as he called out the crimes of the two men tied to the post.

It feels something like karma and Terra guesses that it is at the sight of the sheer black leather, nothing the like the flashy one of the arena but still standard issue with a design like the two that were made special for herself. She deserves this, for the crimes that she has technically committed against the Capitol, treason, and for the things that the others of her kind are continuing to do.

Approaching on unsteady legs, there is a shout for her to stop and guns being trained on her figure but she knows none will shoot. She keeps moving, stumbling, and nearly loses her balance when she catches sight of the two - Marlin and Salton, friends of Finnick, people who had helped care for Annie - and a silent cry forms on her lips.

"Out of the square or you'll get the same treatment as them!" The guard threatens and she doesn't fight against his rough treatment.

"What have they done?" She whispers, hoping the cameras can hear her.

"Get out of the way," he shoves her and she stumbles back into the hands of a kind woman smelling of fresh rolls that urges her to leave or look away.

Terra moves forward letting the hands fall away and stands her ground.

"Whatever their crime let me share the load," she pleads, head held high. "If this is about the rebels then it is partially my fault for not having done something to prevent it."

He gestures to one of the nearby men to grab her, telling him to pull her away, but Terra darts forward before they could reach her, throwing herself across the bareback nearest her.

"Punishment me as well or let them go," she dared, hanging tight as he, Salton, breathed under her and begged for her to leave for Finnick, and she wished she could explain that she was doing this for Annie instead because Finnick was free and they weren't.

The square was deadly silent, no one dared speak,, dragging on for what felt like an eternity as they waited with bated breath.

"Tie her to the post!"

People grabbed at her and shoved her into place, rough as they tied her hands with a thick itchy rope that rubbed when she moved, and Terra was vaguely aware that Caesar was commentating from somewhere safe nearby, away from the reach of angry citizens and protected by their abundance of personal guards.

"It will be broken into 30 lashes each," he shouted and Terra looked over her shoulder to where he stood behind her from her place in the middle and he reached forward, a knife in hand as she cut a clear line up the back of her dress exposing her back to them.

Caesar was still nearby, saying something about how it should be a good time to end the stream and her head shot back to him. "No! No! Keep filming. I want everyone to see what happens when the law is broken, let them know that no one is exempt."

The pain was instantaneous and blinding, burning across her back, but she doesn't move just yet, the pain something she had felt before after learning to wield the weapon and hitting herself too many times. But she knows it gets worse and when it strikes again she fists her hands tight on the post, her jaw clenching with the force that came every few seconds. She refused to count them, the lashings or the seconds, and only focused on baring through the pain, even as her back arched and she was pressing herself forward into the post, a cry leaving her lips as she felt her hair tumble free around her face.

She hated the continuous feeling of bruising and abuse to her back, repetitive as it hit true it's mark and never strayed from the general area. There was no right word to describe it when she finally felt the air hit an open wound, the trickle of blood mixed sweat on her skin cutting a trail down her back.

Gaze growing heavy, Terra let her forehead smack against the post as she whimpered against each strain of muscle in her back, each pull of skin and movement that she caused herself.

When he moved away from her to work on Marlin, she tilted her head painfully to the side to watch, not once looking away as he writhed in his own pain and not once offering words of comfort. When they moved to Salton she did the same, blinking slowly at him as though he wasn't really there. She wondered if this was all some elaborate nightmare that she had created and hoped that she would simply need to wake up.

It came crashing down though when the boys at her side were lifted away and carried off to be cared for and she wished they didn't receive further punishment for whatever it was they had done, and could only cry out when she was gently prodding and puuled away from the post.

The red uniform and gentleness made her sigh, the Avox would be kind to her and wouldn't try to hurt her just because they could.

Caesar was there as well and Terra decided that she utterly hated the sight of that man. He was horribly bright and was only important because he was charismatic.

"Terra, do you have anything you would like to say?"

She drags her head up to look at him and the cameras directly before her broadcasting her pain all over the nation and Terra hoped beyond anything else that Finnick wasn't watching, wasn't looking at how broken and used she was.

"I'm sorry," Terra croaked before she passed out.

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2019-02-15