Lights passed over her in a slow, flickering pattern, perfectly spaced, and Terra blinked blearily up at them as she passed. Her head lolled to the side as they rolled her down a long, grey hallway. She groaned as her stomach lurched and closed her eyes again, tight. Her fingers twitched as she tried to move her arms but they were too heavy.

Panic flooded her and she whimpered as she tried to move with a jerk. She was strapped down, so incredibly confused and scared, her throat constricting with a crushing pain eahc time she released a breathless gasp that was an attempt at words.

"Up her dosage. We need yo flush out her infection before anyone is allowed to see her," someone spoke above her and she sighed when a warm feeling spread across her body, enveloping her.

Sipping at sweetened water, Terra looked up at the bright sunshine, enjoying the sensation of the wind against her cheeks. There were boats over the horizon, docked on the water and as she looked over the assembled crowd, taking in the beautiful blue and liveliness that was District 4, she felt more at ease than she had in any other district.

Her victory tour was nearly over and she would be free to return to her solitude then, but now she stood facing the crowd, hands shaking and forcing a smile. Up at front she could see Finnick, standing tall, well dressed and absolutely just as breathtaking as when she had last seen him that night of the Tribute Parade.

His eyes were such a striking blue that she felt herself getting lost in them and she hated it.

"Terra, dear, can you hear me?" the voice sounded incredibly distant, foreign. "Can you squeeze your fingers for us? Move your wrists?"

She felt her eyes moving under her closed eyelids, too heavy to open, and flickered her fingers as best she could but they were sore, tense, and it felt like they were clicking and cracking with each twitchy movement.

"Very good, thank you," the person said again. "There doesn't seem to be any damage done to her nerves so her reflexes should be fine, but the scarring is too deep to fix."

Terra gets the distinct sense that they aren't speaking to her anymore and there is a tightness in her chest at that, an anger at being dismissed and spoken of as though she wasn't really there.

The warmth of the drugs was back, seizing her, and Terra let herself slip under easily.

Finnick had the nicest hands she had ever felt for someone working constantly with rope, and she envied him a little, even as he struggled to gain control of the whip that she was trying to teach him.

It wasn't anything fancy like she could use, only something basic that kids were allowed when training, but it was the best she could do to show show grateful she was that he taught her how to swim. Because Finnick knew her so well, and even as she was struggling with herself he still found a way to draw her out, to make her feel alive again. Terra missed feeling so alive.

Her second year as mentor, she felt like she might be more prepared this time, even as the little boy who looked to her as a mentor darted through fields that must have reminded him of home. Finnick had told her how to charm the sponsors and already Terra had sent him a camouflage plastic, something that could help him hide away in the vast fields they had in the arena this year. With Marium looking out for them both with the promise to come and get her if anything was happening, she felt it was safe to follow Finnick as he drew her away.

He was gonna be no good for her, such a distraction as he was, Terra was always so ready to follow him anywhere.

"I feel like you're laughing at me," Finnick commented, pouting playfully down at her, and Terra shoved him gently in the side.

"You're worse than the kids when they learn the basics. I'm sorry," Terra tells him, holding back her laughter the best she could.

It was nice to feel as though she could relax somewhere in the Capitol, even if it was with him, so guy she has spoken to only a handful of times.

"You weren't that good when we dumped you in a pool," Finnick comments teasingly.

Terra scoffs. "I never expected to be good at swimming. You just insisted on teaching me."

"Don't act like you didn't enjoy it," he quipped, dropping the whip and rubbing his hand as though it was tense.

She figured it could be with the awkward movement that he wouldn't be use to. Most peopld in her district actually had issues with it as well.

"It was pretty fun, I guess," Terra admits, ducking her head to avoid looking at his beautiful, dimpled smile.

Terra woke with a slow awareness, comfortably settled and warmer than she had been for as long as she could remember. She had a tube in her nose and an IV at the back of her hand. Already she felt a million tines better and realised that she must have been sick before while staying in the Capitol.

Her movements were stiff and her muscles protested as she pushed the blanket back and inched her way out of the bed, grabbing the IV pole as she placed her feet to the cold tile flooring. Her legs spasmed and she held on tight, groaning softly at how much it hurt to put her weight on them, and then at how much it hurt to make any noise. She placed a hand over her throat, surprised at the thick bandage that she felt there and looked down at herself closely. She had bandages over each of ber limbs where the shackles had been with the odd cut and a plethora of bruises that riddled her exposed skin.

Some part of her must have purposely overlooked the damage that had been done, ignoring everything on purpose that would habe truly terrified her as it was doing a little now.

Moving carefully from the room, she entered into a large, white room and she nearly crumpled go the floor. The white, cleanliness of it all reminded her too much of the Capitol rooms she had been dragged through. She shuffled forward, hyperventilating as she tried to hurry through the room as fast as she could. A pulsing pain shot through her legs with each step and she glanced to different beds as she passed, calling as loudly as her throat allowed for the people she had spent so long with.

"Johanna? Peeta?" She breathed, moving forward. "Annie? Annie?"

Stopping, Terra found it embarrassing that she had to stop to catch her breath, puffing as she rellied on the pole to stay upright. "Hello?"

"Terra? Holy shit, T, you're awake!"

Whipping her head around, she saw Johanna climbing from the bed almost frantically, and threw herself at Terra, wrapping her up and they both went tumbling to the floor, clinging to one another and it was absolutely wonderful to be touched so gently, so innocently for the first time in as long as she could remember.

Shaking fingers fluttered around her friends face, feeling the sharp ridges and bruised skin that wasn't meant to be. Her head was prickly, her starting to grow out, and she sobbed at the feeling of fingers working through her the tangles of her hair. Johanna looked so tired, so dead with her bruised, bloodshot eyes, but it was still unmistakably her.

"No one was allowed to see you. It's been driving everyone crazy around here," Johanna whispered, flicking her hair into her face.

"Finnick?" She breathes, looking hopeful

"He only came in the once. I think he's too scared to see you," Johanna told her cautiously. "Apparently they've been getting all the transmissions from the Capitol here and the last one was pretty traumatizing, I guess."

She frowns, looking down for a moment before she looked up hopeful, pointing over her shoulder in no real direction. "Annie?"

Johanna grins, mischievous, and stands with a slight sway, offering a hand to pull her up and Terra takes it thankfully, gripping the pole to haul herself up.

They move into a grey hallway, lights perfectly spaced above her. It was slightly creepy, like a bad dream, but she trusted Johanna and it was enough to keep her from panicking gloriously over all of this. Because she didn't know where she was or who she was with, but it was all frighteningly similar to when she woke in the Capitol after the Quell, despite the familiar face that claimed to be here to save her.

It was like wandering blindly but it thrilled her incredibly to be so free and capable of moving around without anyone threatening her or willing to chain her up. It was the most she was allowed to walk without being shoved and jabbed.

"Terra? Terra!" The girls turned back to the hall they had passed and she felt her chest fill with overwhelming joy. Annie looked so good and healthy now that she was clean and dressed properly, her hair braided back.

She stumbled away from Johanna, dragging the pole behind her with a rattle, and Annie came barreling down the hall, crashing into her and she fell back hard, the breath getting knocked from her, but she clung tight, grasping at the girl as best she could. Annie was thin still, but she could tell that she was generally unharmed.

"I wasn't allowed to see you!" Annie sobbed, grasping at the hospital gown. "I just wanted to see you."

Terra heaved a relieved sigh, squeezing her friend as much as she could with weak arms. "Are you okay? Are they treating you well?"

"I'm perfectly fine, but they said you could have died if your infection got any worse," she murmured, slowly pulling up and taking Terra with her so they were sitting tangled together on the ground.

"I'm fine now, Annie. No more violence for me," she croaks, playing with the long, red braid.

"You got that shit right," Johanna snorts, offering a hand to them both. "Finnick isn't going to let you out of his sight."

They rose shakily and Annie hugged Terra properly the moment she could, nestling around her waist and resting her head on her shoulder.

"Finnick?" She muttered, doing her best to ignore the way her heart palpitated. "Where is he now?"

"He's at his training time," Annie explained. "Everyone gets a schedule on their arm and has to do what it says."

She grabbed Annie's arms and turned them so she could take a better look at them. "Do you have one?"

"No, we apparently have a month after we first arrive before we start getting one," the redhead tells them, and the other two share a look her head.

It didn't sit right with her, the amount of control that this place was willing to exert over people. With only an endless system of hallways without windows, it reminded her too much of her time in the Capitol and it made her sick to the stomach - or maybe it was the moving around that she probably wasn't meant to be doing.

She wishes she could leave, run off somewhere that wasn't here and she could be pleasantly alone away from so many controlling people.

"Have you seen Peeta?" Terra asks instead, wanting to avoid thinking about that entire situation.

Annie squeezed her eyes and shook her head as Johanna looks away clenching her jaw.

"He's gone nuts," Johanna said, bitter.

"Don't say that!" Annie wailed, covering her ears.

"Jo, what happened?" She asks, shooting her a look for being so inconsiderate.

"Something called hijacking. It's what all that venom was for. He attacked Katniss, nearly killed her, and refuses to see anyone else," Johanna rubs her eyes and tips her head back. "They said we would be lucky if they hadn't done something like that to you."

Terra bites her lips. "Can we see him?"

"They won't let us," Annie sighs and she looks to the Johanna curiously, wanting to know her stance on this whole control thing.

"It would be wrong to keep us apart after spending so long together," Johanna grins.

"You never wanted to before," the redhead pouts.

"But I have a partner in crime now," Johanna gestures to Terra, and she looks purposely to her IV pole. "Come on, T, you aren't going to leave me hanging, are you?"

Terra sighs, turning in the general direction of the hospital wing, section, or whatever this place was. "God, I really hope this place isn't like the Capitol."

°°°

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2019-02-27