CHAPTER TWENTY NINE

THE CAPITOL'S MESSAGE.

Things have admittedly gotten a little bit better for Rosalie since her brother opened his eyes. She is still the furthest thing from the happy girl she'd been years before, but she's able to relax a little more. Carter, whilst still in a hospital bed, has been that extra motivator to get herself together.

He still hasn't spoken with her about what happened that night, what happened to their family, but she isn't going to push him to. She wants him to recover first, to have a few days of happiness before reality crashes down on him cruelly. There's no doubt in her mind, however, that he probably sees it every time he closes his eyes.

"Where'd you manage to find that?" Carter questions the older girl as she carefully knits the fabric together. It reminds him so much of home, his older sister sitting in the comfortable chair and knitting them matching scarves and sweaters. "I highly doubt District Thirteen had leftover knitting supplies,"

Rose smiles and shakes her head, looking at her little brother. "No, Finn brought it back for me. They went on a small trip to some of the Districts that have been- and he found it,"

Carter doesn't question why she shifts what she was going to say, simply nodding in response. Watching his only remaining family member shrink back into her shell is disheartening, in fact it brings a small tear to his eye. She'd already been through an astronomical amount already, this is just adding to the pain she must be feeling.

Rosalie, on the other hand, is much more worried about her brother.

A knock echoes throughout the room and Rosalie turns her head, her face lighting up slightly as Finnick makes his way in. "Hey, dinner is almost ready. Doc said that Carter can come out for some food before coming back,"

Carter sits up quickly at the sound of that, smiling so bright at the thought of getting out, even if it's only for a little while. Rosalie puts down her fabric and stands up, helping her brother out of the bed and towards the cafeteria like area. If its even possible, the food in the hospital is somehow worse than what everybody else has been getting — Carter would take literally anything over that stuff.

Katniss and Gale are already sitting at a table, a few more seats around them. Rosalie guides her brother into his seat before going with Finnick to grab some food. When they return, the younger boy is talking animatedly to the two from District Twelve, only stopping to thank Rosalie for the food.

Rosalie slips into the seat beside him, and Finnick takes the one on the other side of her's. Almost out of instinct, the brunette gently grasps Finnick's free hand, only needing the one hand to eat her food. He gently squeezes, bringing it to his lips and kissing it gently before allowing their interlocked hands to rest on his thigh.

The room is abuzz with chatter, everybody talking to their family and friends as if there isn't a problem in the world. It's almost normal, peaceful even, and whilst she wishes it could stay that way, she knows it won't. In fact, it doesn't even last ten minutes because the monitor that's in the room lights up with the Capitol's Crest.

Rosalie swallows the last of her food, eyes now on the screen in preparation for what's to one. It's usually never a good thing when the Capitol decide to make announcements like this, updates on the surrounding rebellion seems to be all it is these days.

Caesar Flickerman appears before them, looking somber and unlike his usual bubbly self. It's strange to see the man without a bright smile, eyes twinkling in the excitement of being in the limelight.

"Hello. Good evening, and a big welcome to all in Panem. I'm Caesar Flickerman. And whoever you are, whatever it is you're doing, if you're working, put down your work. If you're having dinner, stop having dinner. Because you are going to want to witness this tonight. There has been rampant speculation about what really happened in the Quarter Quell,"

Snow is well aware of what's happened by now, his own Game-maker had betrayed him and started a rebellion. Several of the tributes in his sadistic game had managed to escape from his wicked grasp – he knows that this spark, this mere flicker of unrest, could be the end of his hierarchy.

"And here to shed a little light on the subject for us is a very special guest. Please welcome Mr. Peeta Mellark,"

The name causes several different reactions from the small group. Katniss' eyes fly straight up, looking away from the food she'd been pushing around with her fork. Rosalie grips Finnick's hand just a little tighter, not prepared to see what they've done to the smiley blue eyed boy from District Twelve.

It's a rather big shock to her when he appears before camera, looking seemingly unharmed. "Peeta, a lot of people feel as though they are in the dark," Caesar comments.

"Yeah, Yeah. I know how they feel," the boy responds, some sort of underlying pain in his tone of voice.

"Now, so set the stage for us. Talk us through what really happened on that final and controversial night,"

"Well, first off, you have to- you have to understand that when you're in the Games you only get one wish. It's very costly,"

"It costs your life," Caesar interjects, looking curiously at the blonde boy.

"I think it costs more than your life,"

"How do you mean? What's more than your life?"

"I mean to murder innocent people. Now that costs everything that you are. So you hold on to that one wish, and that night my wish was to save Katniss,"

Rosalie steals a glance at the girl on fire, and she can't describe what she sees. Heartbreak? Pain? Rosalie isn't quite sure. The people around them are not as emotional, an unrest beginning to form.

"You know, I should've just run off with them. I should've taken them away from the danger but-but I didn't," Peeta's tone is full of pain.

"Why? Were you caught up in Beetee's plan?"

"No, I was caught up trying to play allies. And then they separated us and that's when I lost them," he pauses. "And then the lightning hit and the whole force field around the arena just blew out,"

"Yes, but, Peeta, Katniss is the one who blew it out,"

"No,"

"You saw the footage,"

"No, she didn't know what she was doing. Neither of us, knew there was a bigger plan going on, we had no idea,"

"You had no idea?"

"No,"

Everything he is saying is true, Rosalie knows it. They'd purposely kept information about the rebellion a secret from the teenagers, they couldn't have them knowing.

"Alright. Well, Peeta, there are many who find this suspicious to say the least. It seems as though she was part of a rebel plan,"

"What, do you think it was part of her plan to be almost killed by Johanna? Or part of the plan to be paralyzed by lightning? No, we were not part of any rebel plan. We had no idea what was going on," Peeta defends his District Partner.

"Alright. I believe you, Peeta Mellark. Thank you." It doesn't sound like Ceaser believes him at all, but it helps calm the boy down a little. "Now I was going to ask you to speak about the unrest, but I think you might be too upset,"

"No. No, I can,"

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, absolutely. I want everyone who's watching to stop and to think about what a civil war could mean. We almost went extinct once before, and now our numbers are even fewer,"

Peeta stares right down the barrel of the camera, his previous words now causing the crowd of people the react. They begin to call him names like traitor or sell out. It's sad really, how easily these people have been manipulated into hating somebody who is clearly under extreme stress and experiencing great fear. Peeta Mellark is not the enemy here, not even close to it, the real enemy is the Capitol.

The real enemy is Snow.

"Is this really what we want to do? Kill ourselves off? Killing is not the answer. Everyone needs to lay down their weapons immediately. For all of us,"

"Are you calling for a ceasefire?" Caesar questions him.

"Yeah, I am. I want everyone to stop the senseless violence. This is not the path to change. It's not the path to justice,"

The screen fades to black and the yells around Rosalie continue. The Capitol have sent them a message, a strong one at that, and now it's up to them to respond.