Wildfire | Johanna Mason

𝒞𝒽𝒶𝓅𝓉𝑒𝓇 𝑒𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉𝑒𝑒𝓃

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"So," Daphne dragged out, pulling her legs up on the couch. "What's your master plan for the private session?"

Snorting, Johanna leaned back in the couch. The session wasn't far away, in fact, she'd have to leave in a few minutes. "Does it matter? Everyone knows who I am, doubt the score will matter."

It was true, Daphne wondered why they even bothered. Everyone had seen the games, even if they tried not to. "So you're gonna take a nap?"

The corners of Johanna mouth turned upwards ever so slightly as she shrugged. "I might," she was looking out in front of her, even though there was nothing to look at.

Daphne was turned to the young woman, her eyes resting on her, her mind full with thoughts. Johanna had agreed to join the rebellion. Daphne knew she would love to be involved on that part, but after the second day of training, she had agreed with Haymitch's plan.

She was relieved when Johanna did, although it worried her, too. In fact, everything Daphne felt was laced with worry, and she hated it. She hated that she felt so much in the Capitol, even though it might just be because of Johanna.

"You're staring,"

Daphne blinked, wondering if Johanna shouldn't be on her way to the training session. "Thought you were used to it by now,"

With a dry chuckle, Johanna got up. "As lovely as that is, I need to go. Surprise that Daniel isn't dragging me already."

Cracking a smile, Daphne shook her head and stood. For a moment, she wanted to hug her friend. She decided against it, was instead simply standing there with a smile that felt out of place, words on the tip of her tongue. "Good luck," she decided to say. It was lame and didn't feel right at all, but she'd said it, and soon Johanna was on her way.

***

Later that night, they were sitting on the couch, waiting for the scores. Johanna had said she wouldn't get a high score. Daphne was convinced the scores didn't really matter; everyone who could sponsor had seen their games, and even if not, she was certain the Capitol had shown them enough reruns to remind them how skilled everyone was.

There was a rare moment of silence, and a rare moment of not being accomanied with Daniel as they were waiting with a drink in their hand. The scores wouldn't come on for some time, and even Blight was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he hadn't been present a lot at all. He went to his room as soon as he could, or spend time anywhere but in the room. She didn't blame him, it could get quite overwhelming, even if he'd been through it before.

"Do you regret it?" Daphne asked, breaking the silence. The question had been on her mind for some time, and now that Johanna truly was about to go in just two days from now, she wouldn't keep her questions in anymore.

She gave her a long and unimpressed look. "What?"

"Do you regret volunteering," there was a lot she could regret, but if she did, the biggest mistake would have been volunteering. Sometimes Daphne still wished she could go back to that moment and be prepared. Maybe, if she'd said the right thing, Johanna wouldn't have been in this position in the first place.

There was a surprising look of vulnerability on her face, one that Daphne hadn't expected to see so close to being a part of the thing she hated so much once more. "I don't," she said in a way that didn't even leave room to doubt it. "Especially now. You would have died, I won't."

Daphne knew what she meant. The rebellion. She supposed she was right; she could handle a weapon, but wouldn't have survived. At first, she didn't really intend to. But now there was a bigger picture, and while she hated to admit it, and would still rather die than have her friend in there to risk hers, Johanna had been the better option. "At least you're confident."

Johanna gave her a grin, taking a sip from her drink and averting her eyes to the little table, littered with cookies and other food and sweets that hadn't been touched. Yet the bottle of wine was almost empty. "Well, you know me,"

She wasn't done yet, but her eyes moved over Daphne's shoulder, and something on her face shifted. When Daphne turned around, she saw Blight and Daniel. "I was wondering when you'd be giving us the honor of your presence," she said in a voice so light and airy. It was different than the words of truth Johanna had spoken moments before, and Daphne felt quite glad that Johanna allowed herself to be vulnerable with her. "I can't believe you haven't brought us here hours in advantage, I'm disappointed, Daniel."

Blight rolled his eyes with a small smile, and Daniel just pressed his lips together. "I'm sorry to disappoint, Johanna," he sat down next to Daphne, his nails were bright red. "Maybe now that you know the feeling, you'll change your behavior."

"Bit late for that, don't you think?" The screen turned on and, despite knowing the scores didn't matter much this year, Daphne felt her heart speed up. "Since I'll probably be dead in a few days, you know the drill."

Daniel looked like he was about to snap at her, which would only make matters worse, so Daphne gave him a pointed look; "Don't," she hissed. "Just let it go."

And he did. His lips stayed in a tight line, but he turned to the screen without another word. They watched the scores with little interest; they knew what their fellow victors could do. Then, it was time for district 7. Blight landed an okay score as well as Johanna. A seven and an eight. Daniel was congratulating them, and even Blight had trouble staying polite and nice.

A slightly awkward silence fell over the room, and then, instead of saying something totally insane and disrespectful, Johanna said; "Well, I'll be going. See you at dinner."

Daniel looked about s surprised as Daphne, who couldn't help but follow her as soon as her words had settled in. Of all the time they'd spent together, Johann a had never just... taken off. Worry seemed to be a regular visitor of Daphne's brain, and it settled in once more as she hurried behind her, hoping to catch her on her way to wherever.

To her surprise, she saw Johanna slip into her bedroom. She'd assumed the woman had wanted to get as far away as possible. With a careful knock, she slipped the door further open.

"Hey," she said softly, hating herself for the pity and caution she heard in her own voice. "You seemed - I just... what's wrong, Johanna?"

A chuckle without amusement left her as she shook her head. "What's wrong? What isn't?"

Daphne had known it was a dumb question, the list could go on and on, but, well... "Fine," she said, leaning back against the door and watching Johanna pace. "What is the most wrong thing at this moment? Why did you leave?"

There was no right or wrong answer, and Johanna probably didn't feel like answering, but she had to ask. She stilled, if only for a moment. "I don't know," she finally said. "I guess I just realized that I really am going back. It's stupid."

"It's not," Daphne said, moving from the door to her friend. She didn't know what to say, though. What could she possibly say to make things better? It couldn't get better, anyway. They were in a shit situation, and it would stay that way.

As if Johanna felt her searching for words, she said: "Don't. Just don't say anything."

She nodded, moving to sit on the edge of the bed, Johanna soon on the other end. They didn't say anything at all, they both needed time to think for different reasons they weren't ready to talk about yet.

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(a/n): sorry for the long wait for this very uneventful chapter! i've been going through it a bit, but hopefully i'll be able to update a second time this week! take care xx