Ladies and Gentlemen...

[etcircenses]

The Capitol has ordered its people inward. Some move weary, knowing now some of the reason for their displacement, but they move, closer and closer to the reach of the President. It is said the children will be allowed in here past the heavy guard. But with all the distrust shaken into the core of the Capitol and the Peacekeepers at its heart, it’s not impossible to slip away. Surviving the traps to escape, however, is another story.

Outside the Capitol, the Districts line-up. In the month since the last battle, the stalemate Districts, 9 and 6 were won over. Districts 8, 10, and 1 have fewer of their number, but their rebel leaders have shown up and all the survivors with them. District 13 joins soon after, led by Webb and the Offworlders. It’ll be slow going for the Districts, but some of the Offworlders and allies have been tasked with leading the way in navigating the minefield that is the Capitol.

The Quarter Quell making up the 75th Hunger Games reached its end, but the Games themselves aren’t over yet. With all the war to prepare, the Gamemakers enlisted to work will be throwing out their best. Every arena needs it’s finale…

And there, patrolling, armed and ready to meet the traitors between the traps are the Peacekeepers. It’s their lives on the line too and they won’t be going down without a fight.

Welcome to the 76th Hunger Games.

Comments

[porcelainandsteel]

When she saw him running towards her, her heart leapt into her mouth and she met his embrace with one no less fierce, throwing herself into his arms and hugging him with all her might. It wasn't ladylike, wasn't politic, but gods, it felt good to be held, to have someone solid and close and reassuring - candidly, to be loved a little. It had been a long time since she'd hugged anyone but Lady. The tears started to her own eyes, too, stinging sharply at her eyelids.

"I need my gun," she told him, her voice thick with tears and muffled up against his shoulder. "I think they'll skin me alive if I lose it... oh, gods be good, you're all right!" And she tightened her hug on him again, just for a moment, before pulling away to retrieve her weapon, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

[voiceinthephone]

Phil doubted the Peacekeepers would do something so horrible to Sansa, not when the entire nation of Panem is finally bearing down those concrete walls and discovering they were really made of sand. But he understood his former tribute's plight and nodded towards her, "Go get it, I'll cover you."

Sandy saw glimpses of how protective Phone Guy could be in the arenas, now it was Sansa's. Any incoming threats were shot at, aiming for the arms and knees to incapacitate rather than kill. Working at Thirteen's infirmary gave Phil knowledge of what nonlethal areas to hit to cause excruciating pain. He made a promise never to commit murder again after his victory in the last Mini Arena, he was keeping it save for one person: President Snow.

[porcelainandsteel]

Sansa picked up the gun with more care than expertise, holding it by the barrel at arm's length, as though it were something rotten. She didn't understand it as a weapon, and she didn't want to. So long as she pretended willing, so long as they couldn't call her traitor, that was all she wanted to do - not kill, not even wound, just survive and go on surviving.

She ducked, staying low to the ground as she ran back to Phil and towards the shop he'd indicated. Getting under cover was a good idea. Getting under cover with someone who'd protect her - who was protecting her, even when he was on the enemy side - was better.

[voiceinthephone]

Phil knew that it would be a matter of time before Sansa would be taken away again but if he could get her to the next zone safely, then she could do much more than just run. If she survived then she could be the lady she was destined to be. Would he see her grow into that role? Maybe, maybe not but as he fired two shots to disable raving soldiers from entering the shop.

As the madness of the war's final throes continued, Gray placed his hands along the tear-stained cheeks and gave his former tribute a proper check-up. "God, I hoped that Molotov and Black Tom kept you safe," he murmured, "Why are you out here on the frontlines?"

[porcelainandsteel]

Sansa sniffled, putting her hands over his and biting her lip. "...Everyone is," she said, at last, her voice hoarse and shaky. "Every single offworlder. They didn't give us a choice, they just gave us weapons." Her eyes flick down to the ground, then back up to his face. "I managed to get Lady to go with them, though?" she offers, her tone almost conciliatory. "So she's safe. And you're alive. You're alive, Phillip, I was so afraid!"

[voiceinthephone]

The rage Phillip had for the Capitol, for forcing Sansa to take up arms in exchange for nothing but her own and her sister's lives was quickly subdued with the knowledge that she was safe for now. That she was doing the best out of the most dangerous situation and her family would be proud of her.

"I was afraid too," he confessed, closing his eyes in regret and grief, "I should've done more, I should've gotten you out of there." It was hard to remember that he was holding down the infirmary at Thirteen, that he couldn't just abandon his post. "I was afraid you were hurt." Those five words resonated as if they were related by blood and not by circumstances. She was family to him, just as Luna and everyone in Panem was.

[porcelainandsteel]

"I didn't want you to." Her voice is firm, if not entirely steady. She looks up at him, taking a deep breath, and puts her hand to his cheek. "I mean, they've been good to me. Until now, anyway. I know you don't agree with them, Phillip. I understand, really. But... I don't think you understand. I've been safer in the Capitol than anywhere else, in years. And even if I agreed with the Rebels, I wouldn't join them. I wouldn't have been any use there, just another mouth to feed, and I wouldn't have been safe, and I wouldn't have been any better off." She sighs, letting her hand fall back to her side. "I've been all right, Phillip. Really, I have. I didn't need rescuing. I just wish you'd stayed."

[voiceinthephone]

Listening to Sansa was hard, and not just because of the war raging outside. As much as he disliked the two supervillains, they kept their promises. They took over the job he had. "I would've if it meant you were safe. But Molotov and Black Tom did a good job...I was a rebel sympathizer for a while when the war started, I...I wouldn't have been able to protect you like they did."

He was a Mentor, but they were Capitolite celebrities and people in power right up to this point. They could keep Sansa safe in ways Phil could only dream of. "I'll be sure to thank them if they make it out of this. And they will." That was a sure bet. "You're family to me Sansa, I can't bear the thought of-"

Speak of the devil and he shall come, as a Peacekeeper called out to canvas the area. "C'mon, we can hide a little further."

[porcelainandsteel]

"I don't think they protected me on purpose," Sansa said bluntly, grabbing for his hand and casting around for a hiding place. "Not after Arya disappeared, anyway. I think they sort of forgot I was there."

Which had been all right with her. In fact, she'd gone out of her way to encourage it - kept out of sight, eaten separately unless she was called for, never asked for anything or even talked to them without being spoken to first. She'd made herself invisible, in the house if not the city, the way she'd never been able to quite manage in King's Landing. With Arya gone - and yes, that still hurt, a sick twist like a knife in the heart - they'd had no reason to care for her, and she didn't think they liked her any more than she liked them.

(Molotov, in particular, had always reminded her unpleasantly of Cersei, and she still couldn't see how Arya could bear to be so close to her)

Either way, that was behind her, probably for good. Even if she survived, things would be different. She'd have to find her footing all over again, and she doubted it would include Molotov and Tom. What mattered now was the surviving.

She spotted, through a door left ajar, something that might be a trapdoor in the back room. A cellar? A tunnel? Whatever it was, it was a better bet than this. She tugged on Phil's hand, pointing. "Down there?"

[voiceinthephone]

"Down there," be it a trap or a long abandoned store, Phil is shielding Sansa, gun ablaze and praying to any deity that would listen that they could get them through this skirmish. That Sansa would rise from the ashes and become a peacetime lady.

There's little solace in the room being part of a longer hallway. Luxurious clothes laid haphazardly, ghosts of the crumbling Capitol outside. There's nothing warm in this place, and the foxes have their hairs on end.

"You'll have to regroup with the other Peacekeepers and keep heading into Snow's mansion. It's the safest spot in the Capitol should they go...well, and raze the land." It pained Gray to say these words, they would have to split up again.

[porcelainandsteel]

It takes a moment for that to sink in, but when it does, she recoils, tears springing to her eyes again. "You mean, we have to part again? Phillip, no!" She's being stupid - just a stupid little bird, after all - and she knows it all too well, but she just found him again. She just got him back, and now, after everything, she'll have to go, and what if he dies? What if she never sees him again?

Too many people have left, too many people have parted from her promising to come back and never been seen again. Even in this world... Luna, and Brienne, and Arya, and all the rest. Not you too. Not again!

She's crying properly again now, grabbing for his hand. But she has to do this. She has to be strong, she has to let him do what he thinks is necessary. "You'll be careful?" she pleads, trying to meet his eyes. "Promise me, Phillip. Promise me you'll survive this."

[voiceinthephone]

To hear Sansa cry into his hands and shriek in horror broke Phil to the deepest fragments of his former life. Her scream resonates into his being and his need to protect those he loved like blood. But she's a Capitolite in pretty much every aspect save for her origin, she is Black Tom and Molotov's ward by Arya. But he can promise her something that he has every intention on keeping: surviving.

"I promise you. When all of this is said and done, we'll come home," he assured her while giving her a hug and a kiss on the head, "Dunno where that'll be but I'll be waiting for you, kiddo."

Fade out here?

[porcelainandsteel]

She hugged him back, as tight as she had ever hugged anyone, given a desperate kind of strength by her grief and fear. "We'll find somewhere," she whispered, leaning up to kiss him on the cheek. "And when all this is over... It'll be all right then, won't it? We'll be all right." Please, let there be peace when this is over. Let it finally end.

Sansa pulled away, tears still trickling down her cheeks, and took a deep breath. "Gods go with you," she said, at last, and wiped her eyes. "Be safe, Phillip. I'll see you soon."

Sure!

[voiceinthephone]

"And with you, Princess Sansa Stark," There would be peace, but what Phil wanted more than anything, more than to survive this, was to see Sansa and Arya be safe. He didn't know Sansa's gods but if they could keep her safe, then he could send a wish for them too.

He had to dart out of there without a moment to lose, as Peacekeeper reinforcements began to make their way towards their location. He had to run away one more time, but his mind already conjured the image of their reunion, pets and all.

See you on the flipside.