"Evelyn Brinley, better known as Lady Red, victor of the 72nd Hunger Games. Won her games at 15."
"Why Lady Red?"
"Because she always wears red. Oh, and she won her games by burning the remaining tributes alive."
✮
"𝑮𝒊𝒓𝒍 𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒊𝒓𝒆? 𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒄...
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EVERYTHING HAD GONE WRONG SO FAST THAT SASHA WARD DIDN'T EVEN HAVE A MOMENT TO PROCESS IT. It had all been going smoothly. Beetee had a plan, they were so close to executing it correctly, and suddenly, within a single flash of light, Beetee was unconscious and Evan was gone.
Sasha wished he could've explained to Cassandra what had gone wrong at that moment, but he was just as confused as she was. The escort had shouted at him, begged him, and he couldn't do anything. He simply sat there, staring at the screen in the hovercraft with a dry throat and glassy eyes.
It had destroyed Cassandra, of course. But what made it worse for both of them was the fact that Evelyn had completely disappeared off the map. After the end of the games, Cassandra had locked herself in some random room and no one had seen her since.
Well, not completely. She, Peeta, and Johanna were in the Capitol, they knew that much. Not that that helped soothe Sasha's worry at all. It would've been better if she had just disappeared, who knew what the Capitol was going to do to her?
"We'll come back for them when we have the chance," Plutarch had told them, "All that matters is we got the Mockingjay out of the arena in one piece."
Sasha tried to let those words resonate in his mind, but all he could think about was what he had promised Evan before he got on the craft that would take him to the arena.
It was a stupid promise, one both of them knew would be hard to fulfill, but Sasha had really meant it when he told him that he would try.
"Promise me," Evan told Sasha, putting his hands on his shoulders and shaking him until his brains felt like mush, "Promise me you'll find a way to get her out."
Sasha gently pried Evan's hands off of him and stepped back, nodding, "I promise, I'll try."
And he had. He really did try, but everything was so chaotic after Everdeen blew out the forcefield. They couldn't even locate Evelyn or Peeta if they had tried, it was pure luck that they were able to get Finnick and Beetee out without the Capitol catching on and catching up. He had asked, begged even, Plutarch to go back, but he refused to.
"Communications are down in Seven, Ten, and Twelve. But Eleven has control of transportation now, so there's at least a hope of them getting some food out," Plutarch said, breaking Sasha out of his trance.
Finnick had a concerned look on his face, "Can you get me to four."
It didn't take a lot of thinking to figure out why he was asking that, and Plutarch caught on just as easily. "No, I'm sorry. There's no way I can get you to Four. But I've given special orders for her retrieval if possible. It's the best I can do, Finnick."
Finnick looked down at the table, despair shadowing his face. He'd always been good at hiding it, but everything that had happened in the last few hours seemed to be his final straw. "I can go to four myself, or even the Capitol if she's already there."
