I ran my fingers over the fabric of the thin comforter on the bed. Back and forth, back and forth. It was repetitive, yes. But somehow, it kept my mind far away from everything else going on. Somehow, it kept me from disappearing entirely. I heard the squeak of the door and knew who it was. His footsteps were soft on the floor as he made his way over to my bed before lying beside me. He never laid close enough so that we were touching, but he was never far enough away that it felt like we were strangers. Peeta sighed softly and I turned my head to face him.

"Morning." I said.

He smiled at me. "Morning, Madge."

And then, like he had done everyday for the past week, he began our little game. It was simple, really. Just like we had done in the cave, we asked each other about our various favorite things. Favorite food, color, activity... I had hardly left my bed since I learned the news of my fathers death but Peeta slipped in every morning and night to play this game with me. It kept us both sane. We didn't ask each other about our feelings. He didn't look at me like I was some pathetic puppy, like the rest of the people in the bomb shelter did. Instead, we played the game of favorites. And it distracted us both from all the real hurt and pain inside. But it was a welcomed distraction, nonetheless.

"Favorite time of day?" Peeta asked me, looking up at the bottom of the top bunk that was above us.

"Night time. Everybody is so... vulnerable at night, you know? And they tell you things they probably wouldn't tell you in the daytime. It's like being drunk, almost."

Peeta laughed. "Have you ever been drunk?"

I shook my head with a smirk. "Well, no... but peoples minds are wide open when they're drunk. Nighttime is sort of like that." I said with a soft smile. "What's your favorite time of day?"

"Morning. Especially when you wake up before the rest of the world. Everything is so quiet and relaxing and everyday is like a brand new start, you know? You can decide to be whoever you want to be. You can change from the person you were yesterday, if you want to. I like that."

I closed my eyes. This was why I liked Peeta so much. He always said things in such a way that made me relax, made me feel at peace, at ease. The times he came in and laid with me were the only times that I almost felt... okay. The impact of my father's death had left me empty. I didn't feel anything. I didn't even feel sadness. I hadn't cried, which was odd considering all the times I cried in the arena. Trust me, I had tried to cry. Nothing came out. I could barely even scream into my pillow. Nothing was inside of me. I was drained of my emotions. I didn't know how to move on or keep living. All I knew was that I liked the feeling of my comforter underneath my fingertips and leaving my bed sounded impossible every morning.

"There's eggs for breakfast. Do you want me to bring you some?" Peeta asked me.

I shook my head. "No, I'm okay."

"You need to eat eventually, Madge. And sleep." He said softly.

He was right. I had barely ate all week and I had gotten even less sleep. I was a robot just going through the motions. My mother would come into our room throughout the day and talk to me but seeing her face just reminded me of my father. I knew she was trying to be strong for me. I didn't want her to have to. I wanted everything and everyone to be okay.

"Favorite subject in school." I asked him quickly to change the subject.

"Hmm..." Peeta began, "I suppose Art. You?"

"Music." I said. But then, the thought made me think of my father and I didn't want to be reminded of him or his death. So, I changed the subject again. "Favorite way to avoid pain?"

"Hide it under layers and layers of far more manageable emotions." Peeta whispered. Then he gave my hand a little pat before sitting up. "I need to go, though. There's a meeting."

There had been meetings all week. On what to do about the slowly turning districts, what to do about the Capitol, what to do about Gale... I had stayed far away from anything involving Gale all week. I didn't watch the president's announcements anymore. I didn't want to hear Gale's betrayal any longer. It wasn't his fault. The Capitol had turned him that way but it still wasn't something I enjoyed watching. It was hard to see the face of the man I had fallen for but have his words be dirty lies fed to him by the Capitol.

"Katniss will be there." I said simply.

Peeta sighed and then looked down at me. He nodded his head slowly. "Yeah, she will. She always is."

It didn't take a genius to see that something was terribly wrong between Peeta and Katniss as of lately. You could cut the tension with a knife. Peeta didn't say much about it, but it was obvious that a wall had been built between them. I still wasn't exactly sure why or what had caused it but Peeta knew. I could see it in the way he looked at her, with a new found sadness that hadn't be there before. Watching them interact now was like watching a room slowly begin to burn.

"Well, have fun in there. I'll be right here in my warm bed. For the rest of my life." I commented.

Peeta smirked. "We'll see. I'll check on you later." He said as he got up and headed towards the door. He reached for the handle and then spun back around and called, "Oh, and eat something!" before walking out.

I sighed and threw my head back into my pillow. I was hungry. But I couldn't eat. I would put food in my mouth and chew and then all the sudden, when I went to swallow, I didn't feel hungry anymore. And the very thought of my putting food in my already sick and churning stomach made me spit out my meal. I couldn't sleep. I would close my eyes and see flashes of Gale, my father, my life before the games and all this madness and then I would jolt awake, afraid to ever close my eyes again. It had been a long week, to say the least.

I heard stumbling outside of my door and sat up at the commotion. More curious than anything else, I opened my door just enough to see what was happening. I found a unstable Haymitch trying to find his way into his room. He was, of course, drunk. From the bags under his eyes, I suppose he was just now getting to bed.

"It's seven-thirty in the morning, Haymitch. And you have a meeting." I said through the few inches that I had opened the door.

He held onto the wall for support and glanced in my direction. He squinted, to figure out who I was, and then smiled. "Hey, Madge! Haven't seen your face in a long time, princess."

I rolled my eyes and opened the door completely, stepping out into the hall. I crossed my arms over my chest as I studied the man before me. He drank to forget the nightmares, to forget the pain. Could I drink to forget everything too? I grabbed his arm and pulled him down into a sitting position, so he was leaning against the wall. I sat next to him and closed my eyes. It was silent for a minute and somehow, I welcomed Haymitch's drunk company. Maybe because as I had told Peeta, I enjoyed vulnerability.

"Can I have a drink, Haymitch?" I asked him quietly.

I heard him snort. "A drink from my flask would knock you out dead."

"Good." I said quickly.

I heard him swear. "Don't say that. Don't talk like that."

I laughed a short, cold laugh. "Why not, Haymitch? It's true. I wish I was dead. It would be easier than this."

"Because it's a selfish thing to want. You're leaving behind too many people." He said in his slurred voice.

"Then let me drink if you won't let me die." I said through gritted teeth.

"No." He said sharply, his voice suddenly sounding sober. His eyes met mine and he whispered, "I won't let you end up like me."

I let out a groan and slammed my head back into the wall. "Does it at least make the pain go away?"

It was Haymitch's turn to laugh coldly. "Not in the least bit, princess. It just dulls it for a little while. As soon as you're sober again, the pain is right back, ready to greet you."

We didn't speak for a long time. We just sat side by side, on the dusty ground of the hallway. I thought maybe Haymitch was just being quiet but when I glanced over at him, I saw that he had fallen asleep. This normally would've made me mad but I was starting to see him in a new light.

Now I understood why he drank so much. In that moment, I wanted to drink too. I wanted to drink and drink and wash it all away. Yes, it only dulled the pain for a little while but that sounded better than the constant throbbing that I was experiencing in my chest. I patted his hand in the same way Peeta had done to me earlier and stood to my feet.

I tiptoed down the hallway and made sure nobody was in the main room before I raced across it to get to the bathroom. My life had turned into a series of avoiding people at all cost. I shut the door behind me and stood in the mirror, staring at myself. Except it didn't look like myself. Blood-shot, empty eyes. Colorless cheeks, chapped lips. I wasn't the girl I was three weeks ago when I entered the arena. I wasn't the same girl I was before Gale was abducted. I wasn't the same girl I was before my father was shot to death. I wasn't the same, plain and simple. And whoever I was in the past, I knew I could never return to her. The old Madge, the one who was patient and sure and kind, she was long gone. This new Madge, hindered with hollow pain and deafening sadness, buried alive with grief and shame, she was here to stay.

A pair of scissors sitting below the sink caught my eye. I picked them up and found my fingers weaving through the loops, I found myself holding a piece of hair between the blades while I stared straight into the mirror. The girl I was before the arena was gone. And because of that, I heard the clip of the scissors and watched as a piece of my wavy, blond hair fell to the floor of the bathroom. Clip, clip clip.I cut my hair as short as my chin, giving myself a bob. I had careful hands from years playing the piano and I was pretty precise as well. When it was all said and done, it looked rather straight. I had done a pretty good job. I stared back in the mirror and smiled. This made more sense. The past was now completely forgotten, fading away for good.

I swept up my fallen hair into my hand and stuffed it into the trash can. I walked out of the bathroom and back into my bedroom. With every pounding step, I knew I was never looking back.

"We now know he's being kept in the west wing of the president's mansion." Finnick announced. We were having our daily morning meeting. Haymitch was missing in action so it only consisted of me, Finnick, Peeta, and Gale's mother, Hazelle, who insisted on being part of the meetings, although she never spoke.

"Okay," I said, when a long, awkward silence went by. I definitely needed Haymitch here to fill the silences. "So, how do we get to him?"

Finnick drew a quick sketch on a piece of paper. "If we go in through the back garden, we can cut through the kitchen to get to the east wing. It's a series of rooms and although we have no idea which room exactly, we can spread out once we reach that point."

I sighed and pressed my fingers to my temple in the same way that Haymitch would do. I had only know him for a week and I was already beginning to understand him, figure him out. "What's to stop us from getting shot to death like Mayor Undersee?"

I saw Peeta sigh dramatically out of the corner of my eye. I stared at him. "Do you have a problem, Peeta?"

He didn't even take his eyes of the table when he answered in a bland, hollow voice, "No, Katniss."

This was how it had been between Peeta and I. We didn't speak to each other outside of these meetings really. When we did have to interact, it was like this. Tense, short, cold. Like we were barely even friends. Like we were barely anything at all. I missed him. I had yet to figure out what had went oh so wrong between our last kiss in the arena and the present. Because somewhere along the lines, I did something wrong.

Finnick's voice brought our attention back to him. "We are going in fully armed, Katniss. We will be prepared to fight, obviously."

"I just don't see the point in this." Peeta mumbled. He hardly ever spoke in these meetings. We all eyed him curiously. He looked up and shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I don't." He said defensively.

"Care to elaborate?" I snapped.

"Why are we trying so hard to get Gale back? He has been brainwashed. He won't want to come back and forcing him against his will won't do anyone any good. He will probably end up shooting us all. Or, he will escape and run back to the Capitol to tell them where we've been hiding. I just don't see what good this will do." He said nonchalantly.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh, right. So, we should leave him at the Capitol to rot away and turn into a robot."

"Well, bringing him back is more dangerous than anything else." Peeta said calmly, narrowing his eyes at me.

"What about Madge?" I asked him.

He slammed his hands down on the table. "You think this is what she wants, Katniss? This Capitol-coated version of Gale? You really think that's the guy she fell in love with?" He yelled.

"I don't know, why don't you tell me! You're the one who has been spending so much time with her. Everybody sees you sneaking into her room all the time." I said, with an edge of jealousy to my voice. I knew nothing romantic was going on between them. I mean, that was a given. I guess I was just upset that Peeta was confiding in her as a friend and not me.

He shook his head at me slowly, a look of disbelief and disgust crossing over his expression. "She needs a friend right now. Her father just died, Katniss. Don't turn this into a battle against her because you're jealous."

I snorted. "Oh, please. Don't flatter yourself. I'm not jealous." I lied.

"Do you even care about Madge?"

I held up my hands. "Of course I care! That's why I'm fighting so hard to bring Gale back!"

"Or is it just another way to prove to yourself that you're fearless? You can save Gale and then feel brave once again. Is that it?" He asked, his glare piercing me from across the metal table. As soon as the words left his lips, he closed his eyes and swallowed. Regret.

I fell silent at this. So, this is what Peeta thought of me? That I didn't do things to help people, but did them for my own personal gain. So I could prove to myself that I was strong and brave? This realization hurt. A lot.

"Katniss, I didn't mean to-"

I stood up from the table quickly, refusing to take my eyes off of Peeta as I interrupted him. "If you would have been taken instead of Gale, I doubt you would want us all to sit here and do nothing about it. At least pretend like you care and show him some respect." I turned on my heel and marched towards the exit.

I stood in the door frame for a moment before whipping back around. "One more thing." I said, staring at the boy I used to call my best friend, "You of all people have always told me I'm brave, Peeta. If I've been trying to prove anyone right, it's been you." I said weakly before walking out of the room and slamming the door with all my might.

My feet started to run on their own accord. I wanted to get as far away from Peeta and this entire place as possible. I raced down the hallway and up the dirty stairwell and pushed open the door that led to the outside. The sun was bright and hurt my eyes. I hadn't been outside in over a week. I had forgotten how much I craved the outdoors, how I felt like I couldn't breathe when I was trapped inside, deep underground.

Finnick had told me our bomb shelter was outside of one of the districts. I didn't really know what that meant but he had been very vague about it and I had gotten the impression I wasn't supposed to press the issue. Nothing but open woods surrounded me and it brought me back to the arena. A twist in my stomach kept my feet glued to the ground. I didn't want to explore these woods. I would be too afraid a tribute would pop out and kill me.

Instead, I sat down right next to the door and closed my eyes. Peeta was slipping away from me. Gale was long gone. Who would I lose next? Prim? My mother? I knew I had no room to complain. Madge had lost her father and Gale.

I also knew I needed to have a talk with her. I knew I needed to explain how to handle it, the grief of losing your father, but I didn't know what to say or when to say it. She had been locked away in her room all week and was probably trying to avoid thoughts of him entirely. I didn't need to be throwing it back in her face, telling her how to move on. Because you can't really move on from it. It never leaves you. Traces of him still haunt your daily life, you feel him pumping through your bloodstream and though the ache dulls, it never fully fades away.

A pair of footsteps sounded. The door creaked. I turned my head, expecting to see Peeta. But it wasn't. It was Finnick. He gave me an awkward smile. "It's against the rules to be out here, you know."

"It's against the rules to bomb arenas and steal the tributes, too." I replied. I heard him let out a deep laugh as he sat beside me and I suppressed a smile myself.

He sighed and brought his knees up, resting his hands on them. "Peeta was pretty hard on you in there."

I shrugged my shoulders, like it was nothing. "It just surprised me is all. I've never heard him talk like that to me."

Finnick nodded. "Obviously, there's something under the surface with him. You just need to figure out what it is."

Something had been eating away at me. Something I thought Finnick would be able to answer for me. "Do you think I love him, Finnick?" I glanced at the ground to avoid further embarrassment.

"I think..." He began quietly, "that love is a funny thing. And sometimes, it crashes up against you like a tidal wave, sweeping you off your feet. Other times, it just tickles your feet at the shoreline, you know. Like, it happens slowly. I guess it's up to you to decide if that water has reached you yet. Or if it ever will reach you."

"Have you ever been in love? I mean, besides whispering into the beautiful Captiol ladies ears at night?" I teased lightly.

He smirked but then licked his lips nervously. His eyes locked with mine as he answered. "I have only been in love once... I still am. I always will be." He said dreamily.

"Where is she? What's her name? Is she from the Captiol?" I asked all this quickly. I couldn't believe it. The famous Finnick O'dair was in love.

He shook his head. "She's from home... you might know her, actually. Surely, you've heard of her, anyways. Annie."

My jaw hung open on its own accord. "Annie Cresta? The victor of the 70th games?"

He nodded his head. "That's her."

Of course I had heard about Annie. She went mad in the games! Purely mad. She had been locked away in the district ever since because she was deemed as clinically insane. It was only a few years ago, actually. I had seen her around before then. She had long dark hair, like myself. Deep, green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight. She looked like a nice girl. Until the games changed her forever, of course.

"Is she still in District Four? In the asylum?" I asked him.

He nodded again, his eyes dropping to the ground. "I'm trying to get her out. I'm afraid the Capitol will take her to use her against me."

"Did you love her slowly then?" I asked.

"No. She crept up on me. Like a wave that hits you when your back is turned." He said, his fingers interlaced together, holding tightly to his knees.

"She must be really something." I whispered. "If she got your attention for more than a night."

He shook his head. "It was never like that with her. Annie is different. And I will spend the rest of my life trying to figure out what makes her that way. She's a unsolvable puzzle. A beautiful mystery."

Knowing that Finnick was more than just a endless flirt, knowing that he too had somebody he deeply cared about, it made everything different between us. I could feel it in in the air. I was beginning to crack away at the exterior of this man who had risked his life to save mine. He was more than just my mentor now. He was my friend.

We sat outside for a while before Finnick decided it was too dangerous. He was right. A Capitol hovercraft could be overhead, searching for us. If we were spotted, we would all be captured. Finnick stood to his feet first and then helped me up, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze as he did so. He was alright, my friend Finnick. He was alright.

When we came back down the steps, It was Peeta who was waiting for me. He touched my elbow gently. "I need to talk to you."

I nodded and he led me into his bedroom. It was messy and it didn't take long to distinguish the beds. Peeta's bed was made and clean, Finnick's was surrounded with papers and maps of the Capitol, our current issues distracting him from Annie, and Haymitch's bed was obviously flooded with empty vodka bottles and beer cans.

He closed the door behind us and then turned around to face me, his arms crossed across his chest, his eyes still on the floor. He was having a hard time looking at me lately. His voice was hoarse and tired when he spoke. "I may have been a little out of line earlier."

I snorted. "May have? A little?"

"I'm sorry, alright?" He said through his teeth.

"You're not sorry. That's the problem." I said, crossing my own arms. "Did you really call me in here to give me a half-ass apology?" I asked him, the anger rising in my voice.

He shook his head and kept his eyes on the floor. "No. That's not why I called you in here."

"Then why?" I asked. He didn't answer. I sighed and threw my head back in frustration. "Peeta, you haven't as much as looked at me in a week! You only speak at me to yell at me and you're acting like a bigger jerk than Gale, which is saying something. What is going on with you?"

"I don't know." He said quietly, but I could tell the words were on the tip of his tongue, just itching to get out.

"Is this about Gale? I know you don't want us to go and save him but we have to."

His head shot up. "Katniss, I said that stuff in the meeting so you wouldn't want to go. You can't go."

"I have to go. And you know that I have to-"

"You lied to me, okay!" He finally yelled. "You...you never intended to win the games that final day. You were going to kill yourself, weren't you?" He asked me, his voice cracking before his eyes finally met mine for what felt like the first time in forever.

I swallowed hard. "What gave myself away?"

"You were so quick to agree to me letting you win. You didn't argue. And you always argue, Katniss."

I threw my hands up in the air. "So what? Yeah, I was going to kill myself but... so what?"

He stomped his foot in frustration. "So what? Katniss, you don't value your life! You are so bent on dying for me but can't you see? You deserve to live! You want to die but you need to live."

"Who the hell do you think you are to tell me I don't value my life?" I asked, my eyes narrowed and my chest feeling suddenly tight. "You were planning on dying the entire time! If I don't value my life, neither do you." I said sharply.

"I didn't want to die, Katniss. I just didn't want to live without you!" He hurled his words at me, practically screaming them down my throat.

"And I didn't want to live without you, what's the difference?" I asked, confused.

"The difference is you don't seem to care either way, Katniss. I was wrong before. When I said you throw yourself into trouble to prove your brave. I think you do it because you honestly don't care if you live or die." He glanced at the floor and then his eyes began to fill up with tears. "And that kills me. Because if you could only see... the effect you have on people. The effect you have on me."

I found myself playing with my fingertips as I stared at the wall past Peeta, his outline blurry in my line of vision. Was he right? Did I not really care about my life anymore? Of course I did. I mean, I wanted to live for my sister and for my mother. But I would have easily died for Peeta. Had my life been too tainted by the Hunger Games for me to want to go on? I wasn't sure.

"I don't know if that's true." I said quietly.

"Don't go to the Capitol. It's too dangerous." Peeta pleaded softly.

I sighed and crossed my arms over my chest again so I would stop moving my fingers so much. "No. I'm going."

We stared at each other for this long, horrific moment. And in that moment, I saw our entire relationship hanging on the line. Peeta wanted to protect me, keep me safe. I wanted to risk my life to keep others safe. I was pulling too far away for him to reach. I was risking too much. We held onto our friendship by a thread, dangling before the abyss.

"If you go," Peeta began slowly, "We're done, Katniss. I can't handle this anymore. I can't watch you walk into destruction. It hurts too much."

I swallowed hard and blinked back the tears. "Then I guess this friendship is over."

And just like that, as I turned around and walked out of his room, our entire relationship was ripped off the line and sent crashing to the ground.

I didn't mean to stumble upon the TV that night. I was actually just coming back from the bathroom when I saw it. Or more specifically, him. Gale's gray eyes and strikingly handsome face. His dark hair slicked back with some fancy Capitol product. They were asking him a series of questions that he was answering almost robotic-like.

"Do you have any indication as to the whereabouts of the Rebels?"

Gale shook his head. "I wish I knew. I would the be the first one at their doorstep with a gun in my hand."

"What do you have to say to the districts who are rebelling against us, Gale Hawthorne?"

He narrowed his eyes and looked directly at the screen. "You don't understand what you're doing. Everything the Capitol has ever done has been for the better of this country. You choose to take on the Capitol and you're setting yourself up for not only defeat, but death. Don't be stupid."

"Any final words for the night?"

Gale nodded. "To the rebel who is from my district, Madge Undersee..." I froze at the mention of my name, my breath catching in my lungs. "Don't do our district disgrace, you petty, little girl. Turn yourself in before this gets any worse. All you're doing is causing more problems. And remember, you can hide all you want but we will find you. And you will pay." His bitter and cold voice ripped through my soul, tearing me in half.

I clutched a nearby chair for support. Just as I thought things couldn't get any worse, the screen cut to President Snow, who apparently had an announcement for District Twelve.

"As you may know, the last mayor of your district, Mayor Undersee, was an undercover rebel. He was killed last week and we will be appointing a new mayor shortly. We assure you that this mayor will be directly from the Capitol to ensure your safety and protection."

My throat felt like it was closing in on me at the mention of my father and his death. I had avoided this all week! My father and Gale. I had even cut my hair to ensure that the past stayed in the past. And now, here it was. Smacking me in the face. I could not escape it. I would never be able to escape it.

I found myself collapsing into the chair. Peeta walked into the room and stopped when he saw me. "Hey. You cut your hair." He said with a soft smile.

I didn't respond. I just stared him, glancing nervously between the TV and him. His focus shifted to the TV and when he realized what was happening, he rushed to my side. I felt his hand on my shoulder. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't focus. I couldn't do anything. I needed more oxygen. I needed more air!

I began to gasp for air, my hand clenching my stomach. Peeta crouched down and his hand moved from my shoulder to my knee. "Madge? Madge, what's wrong?"

I shook my head, because I couldn't answer. I couldn't! I just had this fear I was about to die. I was going to crumble over and just die. I couldn't catch my breath. Where had it gone in the first place? A dull pain in my chest was beginning to spread through my stomach. Peeta pulled me to my feet and pressed me into his chest, flinging his arms around me.

"It's okay, Madge. It's okay." He was whispering over and over again.

I was sweating. I couldn't breathe. I felt dizzy, confused, lost. But slowly, ever so slowly, my breathing returned to normal. My dizziness faded away and I regained sense of my surroundings. I pulled away from Peeta. "What just happened?" I asked him, frightened.

"I think you just had a panic attack." He said to me gently, gripping my shoulders.

I nodded slowly. That made more sense than anything else, somehow. I swallowed hard and let my heartbeat calm down for a minute. I exhaled softly and locked my eyes on Peeta. "Peeta, thank you."

He nodded but the concern didn't leave his eyes. "I am really, really worried about you, Madge."

"Me too." I found myself saying.

Just then, a stampede of footsteps could be heard from the hallway. Then, I saw the faces of Haymitch, Finnick, and Katniss.

Haymitch spoke to me directly. "There's been another uprising."

And although I didn't need to ask, I did anyways. "Which district?" I knew. And he knew that I knew. But he answered me anyway.

"District Twelve, Madge. Our District."

A/N: Welcome, welcome to the sequel of Only One! I hope you like the first chapter! Leave me a comment to let me know you're reading! And let me clear some things up right now: Madge and Peeta are JUST FRIENDS. It will stay that way. Gale is a huge part of this story, so don't expect him to be out of the picture for much longer. WINK. That's the only hint I will really give. PLEASE review, guys! Let me know what you liked, didn't like, any questions you may have to the plot. I may or may not be able to answer them but it's worth a shot, right? Happy Reading!

P.S- Let me know if you find some original hunger games series quotes that I snuck in here, maybe they are bit reworded, but they are some of the famous quotes nonetheless. I like to keep some of the same quotes and situations for fun!

P.S.S- Don't lose hope in ANY of our couples here. Seriously.