Flames to Embers

27- Propaganda

Songs used in this chapter:

Eloise by Peter McPoland

Nothing New by Taylor Swift and Phoebe Bridgers

Loose Ends by Ashe (I told you...)

I smiled at Katniss as the train pulled into a stop. I was very excited to introduce my wife to my family, although she seemed a bit nervous.

After officially getting married the day before, Katniss showed me the District 12 toasting, then Peeta and Haymitch joined us for food. Prim came a bit afterwards. The Mellarks did not show, however Katniss's mother sent Prim with a card.

The train ride from District 12 to District 4 seemed much longer this time around, probably because I wasn't drunk out of my mind.

We spent most of the train ride lying on the couch together. Katniss brought her journal with her, which I noticed was much more full since the last time I saw it.

"Writing another album?" I teased when she pulled it out, remembering how the Capitol seemed convinced she was going to do just that.

Katniss only smiled. "Actually, I am."

She flipped through some of the pages so I could see the words she came up with. I stared at them, not sure what to say or how to react.

Most of the songs she showed me were about mental health. No one was supposed to know about a Victor's mental health. It was bad for our public image, as well as the Hunger Games, and Snow would never stand for it. The songs that weren't about her mental health were about how terrible the world that we lived in was, which was even worse.

"You can't release those," I whispered, sitting up, taking the journal from her hands, so I could read some of the lyrics.

I've seen you publish all the lies, poor girl

I've seen the rubbish that you cry over

How can you stomach all the dying world?

I turned a page and saw the lyrics to another song she had written, this one making me want to throw up, knowing it was a very real nightmare that had already come true for Katniss:

I know someday I'm gonna meet her, it's a fever dream

The kind of radiance you only have at seventeen

She'll know the way and then she'll say she go the map from me

I'll say I'm happy for her, then I'll cry myself to sleep

Katniss sat up as well, facing me from the opposite end of the couch. "Why not?"

I stared at her, not sure how she could miss the giant hole in her plan. I slid closer to her and whispered in her ear, so the bugs on the train wouldn't be able to pick up our voices, and my lips would be hidden by her hair. "Do you know just how treasonous this album will be?" I kissed her ear, to add effect for the bugs.

Katniss smiled, picking up on what I was doing, and whispered back to me. "Of course I do. I'm going to have Gale release it for me the day I go into the arena." She climbed into my lap. "At that point, it will be too late for Snow to do anything to me. I'll already be in the Hunger Games."

"What about Prim?" I asked, my arms going around her waist, pulling her flush up against me.

"Don't worry about Prim, Finnick," She said, the breath from her nose tickling my cheek. "I already have it all planned out. She's going to move in with Gale once I go back to the Capitol, and he's going to protect her."