Sea green eyes

16 - Sounds like a Plan

Ugh... I turn over on the sand, something hard digging to my back. This fucking heat is bearing down on me, and the sweat and sand are really not helping my wounds.

In the moonlight, I squint my eyes open to try and gauge the time. A short glance around indicates no answer, although there are two silhouettes who look to be sitting gaurd.

I sit up groggily, trying to clear my head. From a distance, the people look like either Johanna and Finnick or Peeta and Katniss, I can't tell. That is, until I see Katniss and Peeta sleeping on the ground near one of the trees. Right. I stand up, stretching, and walk over to the pair, sitting down next to Finnick. They both look at me, then Finnick nods.

"Right! Well I'm tired, so now that you're here Kas, I'm going to bed." He springs up, striding back to where Beetee lays.

"Finn-" Johanna starts, then sighs, annoyed. She sits there, silently, glaring at me as I frown.

"Jo?"

"What?!" She snaps.

"I'm sorry," I say softly. "I shouldn't have said what I did. I was angry and hurting and I just... I don't know." She snorts.

"That's not an excuse. You of all people should know not to criticize what other people did in their games." I wince. That hurt, but I nod.

"I know. I feel really bad-"

"It's fine," she says, sticking her axe into the sand. "I guess I shouldn't have said some of what I did either."

"Call it even?" I say, and she smirks.

"Sure." There's a pause as we servay each other, both smiling warily.

"Hey Jo?" I ask, flipping out a dagger from my belt. "Could you cut my hair?" She lets out a shocked laugh and I smirk.

"I mean... Sure! It's not like it can get any worse right?" I sideye her and she smirks, moving to sit behind me. "Where do you want it up to?"

I gesture to just below my shoulderblades and she laughs. "Really?"

"I want it to feel like me," I say, handing her the dagger as she takes out the shining braid.

"Fair enough," she says, and I feel her tugging on my hair, starting to slice through the strands.

"So," I grimace softly. "If you were to bet, how much money do you think I lost from my little outburst before?"

"Oh a good thousand bucks," she laughs, and I smile at the moonlight. "Sara must be funing. Not that I've realy ever seen her angry but you know."

We're silent for a few minutes, staring off into space before Johanna's tugging on my hair stalls.

"All done!" she exclaims, and I raise my hand to my hair, eyes wide. It feels so... Short. So smooth and sleek. Wow. I grab some strands, pulling them around my shoulder and... Geez that looks so short. "Here Kas," Johanna says, handing me the dagger back. Looking into the shiny blade, I stare at my reflection.

The person in the reflection is a stranger. This girl- no, this woman is beautiful, with short silver hair falling to just below her shoulders and bright blue eyes. This woman looks strong, ready to fight, not ready to fuck. This woman's new hair cut falls to reveal her twisting scar on her shoulder, no longer hidden from the world.

This woman's body feels right.

It feels like me.

---

The next morning, I wake to a sweaty hand shaking me and the smell of salt.

"What the- Peeta!" I yell, smiling as I meet the eyes of the now un-alien like human before me. "You don't look like you're melting anymore!" He grins.

"Yup. And we figured out how to make you and Finnick pretty again too. Come with me, " Peeta grabs my arm, leading me over to where Katniss, Johanna, Beetee and Finnick are sitting.

"Glad you're up," Beetee says, nodding his head. "We didn't want to wake you unless nessisary."

"Makes sense," I nod back. "What did I miss?"

"Scrub your skin down with the sand," Katniss says, trying her hardest not to stare at my hair. "It'll make the scabbing come off."

"Right," I sit on the sand next to Jo, grabbing a handfull of sand. There is a pointed silence as I scrape away the scabs, and I almost open my mouth to snap something when Peeta's hands come up to grab my hair.

"Want me to braid it back?" he asks, blue eyes full of understanding and kindness.

"I... Sure," I say, smiling softly. Katniss jumps over.

"I'll do the other side. We wouldn't want your hair getting in the way when you kill." she meets my eyes and I know she remembers how I was looking at her before I killed Cashmere.

"Right," I narrow my eyes. "The two careers are still out there, after all. And... Chaff, right?" Peeta nods beside me and I know he's probably been watching out for him for Haymitch.

"Speaking of that," Beetee says, shifting in his seat slightly. "I have a plan."

"Really?" Johanna smirks, "You don't say." Beetee, smart as usual, just ignores her and nods at the sand.

"Where do the careers feel safest? Tha jungle?"

"The jungle's a death trap," Peeta says. "So I'd guess the beach."

"So why aren't they out here?" Beetee asks.

"Because we claimed it," Johanna says.

"And If we left they would come out?"

"Or stay hidden in the treeline," Finnick says, crossing his arms.

"Precisely, which will be recently soaked after the ten o'clock wave. And what happens at midnight?"

"Lightning strikes the tree," Katniss's hands still on my hair.

"Here's what I propose," Beetee continues. "At dusk, we head to the lightning tree, drawing them to the beach. Prior to midnight we then run this wire down to the beach. Anyone in the water or on the damp sand will be electrocuted." I gulp.

"How do we know the wire won't burn up?"

"Because I invented it," Beetee says, gesturing to the small coil of copper whire. "I assure you it won't burn up."

"Why not?" Katniss says, shrugging."If it fails, no harm done right? "

"Alright, I vote we try it," Peeta says, looking to the rest of us. I turn to Jo and Finnick, who both look to me.

"Sure, what the hell," I say back to Beetee. "Is there anything we can do to help?"

"Keep me alive for the next few hours," Beetee says, eyes locked onto the lightning tree as he muses to himself. "That would be extremely helpful."