Pretty clothes and forceful, cold showers were the best parts of her days now after having spent what felt like weeks locked within a cell held down by chains.

She tried to be allowed to stay as long as she could but they dragged her out, holding her wrists where the skin had rubbed raw and blistered, pressing against her leg where it still burned with a dull ache.

They pulled her to the elevator, hitting the button for the 10th floor, and she scowled when it opened to a pristine suite exactly the same as when she left it. It felt mocking for her to be here, forcefully and against her will, and as they pulled her along to her room she felt her stomach drop at how changed it was. Her bed was gone, replaced with chairs from Snow's manor and the backdrop window was changed to something that she had seen from her last interview. She looked around, glancing around at the anxiously at the few people that stood around.

Egeria came to stand before her, grabbing her face with manicured nails and digging into her cheeks viciously. "You will tell them only how grateful you are for the generosity of the Capitol. You will say nothing of your living quarters. Answer the questions asked of you and at the end plead with Finnick to speak sense into Katniss."

She bites back the retort and stares straight at the woman unresponsive.

"Do well here and you will be permitted more space when you return," the woman compromised begrudgingly, most likely not allowed to be doing this, and she nodded in acceptance thinking of how she'll be allowed to move closer to Annie or Johanna this way.

Caesar came in, sitting in his chair immediately, and Terra followed slowly after him, legs weak, and tugged at her clothes as she went - frowning at her long sleeved white shirt and the floor length skirt that brushed against her ankles. It felt very Reaping Day Best as she settled next to him, sinking into the comfortable seat with a satisfied hum.

There was a motion in front of her, people readying the cameras and they began the countdown. There was no comfort this time as Caesar immediately went about his introductions and turn the attention towards her.

"The last we had seen of you, Terra, you were being carried by your guards in order to receive medical care. Almost a week had passed and the Nation was beginning to grow worried for you. Tell us, how are you healing?"

She gulped, fingering her loose locks that hung over her shoulders. "I'm healing very well thanks to the wonderful care I've received in the Capitol, that it's almost unfair."

"That's reassuring to us all, my dear." He turns to the camera and nods, smiling gently, and she has to fight back the way her stomach rolls.

"I'm very humbled by the concern that has been shown to me, but I assure you that there is nothing to fear while I'm being cared for in the Capitol. They care for me so well here and I am eternally grateful for everything that has been done for myself and the others," Terra praised, fumbling with her fingers on her lap.

"You are worth every moment. As a loyal Victor to the Capitol you are always welcome here among us," Caesar said, nodding this way and that, and Terra forced a smile.

"Loyalty is the only thing that will save us from this horrible situation. Loyalty to the Capitol. Put your weapons down or turn them towards the rebels, but don't fight against the hand that has cared for you for so long," she pleads, forcing her eyes to water by digging her fingers into her burning wrists. "Finnick, please, if you can hear me, if you're even allowed to see this, please persuade Katniss from this path of death and destruction that she leads. Convince the rebels that this isn't worth it, that none of it is worth it."

Caesar looks back and froth between herself and the camera as though hee hadn't expected a word she was to say. "Are you asking for the past Victors to place their loyalty back in the hands of the Capitol?"

"I'm asking that they reconsider, if not for themselves then for all those that die each day in such a dark version of humanity," Terra warned, hoping it was enough to make Snow happy with her performance.

And it was suddenly finished just as quickly as it had started and a peackeeper was taking her by the hand and pulling her up and away in time for them to usher Peeta into her place. She reached for his hand as he passed, squeezing it for a brief moment before she was tugged along, her skirt catching around her ankles and she tripped, landing in the arms of a the guard but she felt it if only for a moment, the coo breath of air over her raw, exposed skin. She could feel ths stillness of the room as they looked at her, and she jumped up and rearranged her dress as quickly as she could and left the room.

She was seized immediately, arms being tugged behind her back and lifted so she had no choice but to bend forward as she walked. She didn't fight the maltreatment and let them shove her around until she was back in tattered pajamas and chained up in her cell.

Heaving, she let her head fall to rest against the cool floor trying to steady her pounding heart and the way her lungs felt so tight and constricted. She was terrified of what had occured and what would happen because of it. If the live broadcast was still showing her then everyone, all of Panem, would have seen the scarring from the shackles. Though, it would help to clear her her name of all crimes if the if the rebels learned of how they were being treated.

They would need to understand that it was a matter of life or death in the Capitol and if they found fault with such logic then they didn't understand what it was to put your life on the line for the ones you love, for the ones you cared for. Because one wrong word would mean not only the death of herself, but that of her family and friends as well. One little stumble could be the end of everything she held dear. She dared anyone to fight her on this.

"Terra, are you alright? What happened?" Annie called softly, coaxing, and she slowly raised her head snd shuffled closer to her friend. "What happened?"

She shook her head and simply reached out as much as she could, not wanting to talk about it.

It wasn't too long until Peeta returned, being dumped on the other side of Johanna with a grunt, but no one really moved. They stayed as they were, letting the reality of everything sink it - even Johanna was surprisingly without any words or comments on the matter. Because their was nothing that could be said about the situation that would make any difference.

Later, when she was hungry and tired, the cage was opened and a peacekeeper stepped in, in time with flashing of a message from the Capitol above all of their heads.

President Snow sat in his chair and began to adress the Nation, reinforcing the messages both Peeta and Terra had shared. When the announcement was over the lights didn't dim away as she knew that had for all others, instead they were shown Katniss shooting down a hovercraft and watching a hospital burn. They were watching as the faces of Blight and Lux were shown, footage of their life playing out with the message of a victim and bile rose in her throat.

She could hear Johanna screeching and when they flickered to Marium, showing her as if she was dead with the footage of the Quell reaping with her family crying around her, she felt a click of anger and denial burning in her chest, a fierce growl ripped from her throat, and she lunged at the peacekeeper still standing motionless before her - swiping and clawing at the air before her as the restraints wouldn't let her any closer.

A boot was shoved into her chest sending her sprawling back,and she was aware of Johanna being pressed face first into the floor and Annie whimpering at her other side. At the end Peeta was grappling with a guard and she rushed to push herself back up.

Burning red metal was held in front if her face threatening her and she shuffled back as far as she could go. He pressed it firmly against the exposed skin above her knee. There was a sizzling sound and the smell of burning meat, and for a moment everything was horribly still before she felt the sudden horrible bolt of pain that flashed up her leg.

Terra thinks she makes some sort of whimpered, tortured sound, but it's drowned out by Annie's loud, pitched shrieking.

The man pulled away and there was so much commotion going on around her with the others fighting and the screaming and Snow still speaking that she didn't notice right away when he pressed the brand into the exposed skin at her hip and she wondered when her clothes had moved.

"Katniss Everdeen is the reason that you are here away from your families," Snow's voice spoke overhead and she found it hypnotic as it sounded so clear. "She will never let you live once free, not as I have."

Terra nodded, crying as she begged for him to stop as he pressed the brand once more into her shoulder, a final time before he left her and everything stopped again.

There was still cursing and crying, and a forced silence that resonated throughout. She felt a tightness in her chest, a heavy feeling of dread that drowned out the stiffness she felt throughout her body, an aching pain of stinging that spread over her skin and she remained as she was, spread on the floor and curled in others.

"What do we do?" Peeta whispered, a hand coming to cover his bleeding nose.

She chuckled wetly, disbelieving, and turned her face into the ground, groaning at the way it hurt to laugh.

"I say we kill them next time they come," Johanna suggest casually, serious to a fault, and Terra can't stop the laughter that shakes her shoulders and sends jolts of pain through her body. "Stop laughing, T! I'm serious!"

"I know. I know, it's just that- " she hisses as she sits up and prods at the mark on her hip- "We're all going to be stuck like this, aren't we? Either with Snow or with the Rebels, someone will always have us locked up."

"We won't be locked up. They wouldn't do that," Annie stammers and when Terra looks over she finds the girl with her hands pressed over her ears tightly. "Finnick wouldn't let them do that."

"Katniss wouldn't let them either," Peeta denies and Johanna scoffs loudly.

"She's the one always calling the shots, right? She could have rescued us if she wanted," Johanna retorts angrily, standing in her cell and pacing like a cornered animal would.

Terra could only hope that wasn't true, that they wanted to come and save us but hadn't had the opportunity. Finnick would have come to get them, get her and Annie, if he could, but it still didn't make enough sense with the way that they still remained.

Unless it was true, that this was all Katniss' fault and they had planned for them to be captured despite what Johanna swore was true about the rebellion. If it was then they would have also been taken from the arena, right? They certainly wouldn't have left Peeta behind the way they had whrn Katniss claimed to love him so much.

Terra wanted to believe their love story was true and that the star-crossed lovers of District 12 were truly in love no matter how much she doubted it to begin with. Peeta was here though, locked up as she was, and not once did they try to save him from the arena. Terra had been awake the entire time and no one had tried to come for him.

°°°

Unedited

2019-02-20