once upon a time • finnick odair

xviii. was this what you promised?

"And if we burn, you burn with us!" Katniss yelled on the screen, her eyes filled with tears and rage. "We know who they are and what they do. This is what they do! And we must fight back. You can torture us and bomb us and burn our districts to the ground. But do you see that?" Katniss pointed to the fire behind her, and Haymitch closed his eyes for a moment, trying not to look at the fire.

"Haymitch! Run!"

"Fire is catching."

"Run! Run! We can't save her!"

"And if we burn, you burn with us!"

Soon, something exploded in the screen by the sound, and once the anthem began to play, Haymitch knew that the video was over. He opened his eyes to see letters decorating the Mockingjay pin.

-Join the Mockingjay. Join the fight.

Haymitch knew that more people joining the fight meant that he was one step closer to all of them—Lucian, Devon, and Johanna—but at the moment, he wanted nothing more than for those letters to be erased.

He knew what was coming next.

He didn't want to see the fire explode.

***

Haymitch heard of riots and attacks against Peacekeepers all around the Districts.

Some were successful, others weren't.

But there was one that all of them had in common—that many died. Many of them had families and children, yet gave up their lives for the cause.

Haymitch didn't know if he would be brave enough for that if he was in their shoes.

"It's good news," Plutarch had said. "Our plan is working. It won't be long before our forces rival the Capitol's."

He knew that it was, but there were still no signs of a rescue plan to get the victors out.

Haymitch looked everywhere and used all of his information to try and find out if he was just being left out of the circle, but that wasn't it. There were no signs of trying to get the victors out or even a small brainstorm.

"When are you going to get them out, Plutarch?" Haymitch demanded one day. He and Plutarch had met up in Plutarch's room to discuss Katniss's propo and future plans, but this was more important for him. "You promised her the victors. And if there isn't anything going on, you're not going to have her cooperation for long."

"We have a plan underway," Plutarch assured him. "It's just not an ideal time yet, with Beetee not being able to get past the security yet—"

"Yeah?" Haymitch snorted. "Then how come everyone I've talked to has said that nothing is going on? You promised Katniss. No, in fact, you promised me, months ago, too. Didn't you?"

"And we're trying, Haymitch. I swear we are, but—"

"What, there's more important things to do?" Haymitch cut him off. "You promised me that we would all be rescued when I agreed to participate. That was our deal. You promised safety for all of us. You promised Katniss. When are you going to uphold your promise?"

Plutarch sighed. "Look, Haymitch. It's not that simple. We're trying to organize a plan and a team—"

"It's not that simple?" Haymitch repeated. "Yeah? When I gave up everything to help you, even though it wasn't that simple?" The man stalked over to Plutarch, looking at him straight in his blue eyes. "I gave up everything. Everything to help you. You better get Lucian out of there soon, or Katniss might just hear from everyone that you're not fulfilling your end of the promise."