"If you'd been taken by the Capitol, and hijacked, and then tried to kill Peeta, is this the way he would be treating you?" What if Katniss hadn't been the one lifted out of the arena of the 75th hunger games. What would the aftermath of that decision be for everyone in Panem?

This popped into my head the other day while re-reading the Trilogy. This will start IN the arena and go through the end of Mockingjay (no epilogue). Spoilers for HG, CF and Mockingjay will apply for this, so if you haven't read them yet...DO!

I own nothing recognizable, people or places. They belong to Suzanne Collins and I am making no profit off of this.

Story will take place in both Peeta's and Katniss' POV

Beetee finishes laying out the plan for all of us and tells Johanna and Katniss they will be the ones to take the wire down to the water.

My pulse quickens, "I want to go with them as a guard." I say, my eyes locking on Katniss', I can't let her out of my sight, not after our conversation over the pearl.

"You're too slow." Beetee says and I swing my head around to look over at him. "Besides, I'll need you on this end. Katniss will guard, there's no time to debate this. I'm sorry. If the girls are to get out of there alive, they need to move now." He says, handing the coil of wire to Johanna. He's right, I know he is, out of all of us, Beetee's injuries notwithstanding, I am the slowest. Even though I know how right this sounds, I still don't like it, I will have to trust Beetee, which I do, not as much as Katniss seems to, but I do.

"It's okay," Katniss is saying now, "We'll just drop the coil and come straight back up." I nod a little, Beetee is giving her a warning, a reminder, not back here, and I barely hear a word. I'm too focused on her, drinking in the sight of her, if something goes wrong, I will do what I need to, to keep her safe, to make her a Victor again; this could be the last time I see her.

Her hands are cupping my face, her eyes searching mine, for what I'm not sure. "Don't worry; I'll see you at midnight." She leans in, kisses me and brings down her hand to clasp mine. She slips something into it and folds my fingers tightly over it. "I promise." She whispers and then she's turning, asking Johanna if she is ready and the two of them race off, gone from our sight in moments.

Beetee is still fiddling with the wire; Finnick is switching between watching him intently and watching me. My hand opens slowly, my eyes quickly taking it in. The pearl. Why? My gift to her, the only thing I am capable of giving to her that she would willingly accept. Is this all part of her promise? That she will come back? Come back for the pearl? Come back for me? I grab another large leaf and wrap the pearl carefully, grabbing a vine and securing the bundle around my neck.

I turn back and smile reassuringly at Finnick, and that's when it happens. The wire goes taut for a moment and then slack as it quickly starts to bounce its way back up to us. Beetee moves back from the tree and we all look back downhill. "I'll go!" Finnick says and he's bounding off before Beetee and I can say anything about it. I hold my dagger up and Beetee raises his hands in surrender, but I simply flip it around and hand it to him.

"Be safe." I say firmly, nodding to him and then I'm off as well, not stopping, waiting to see what Beetee will do. Perhaps this was the plan all along, divide and conquer. I'm determined to not let their plan succeed when the boom of the cannon sounds out through the arena.

"Katniss!" I call out to the Jungle, running back to the tree as fast as I could, my false leg doing nothing but burdening me in a moment I need it to work with me desperately. "Katniss!" Was she even still alive? She had to be, I refused to believe that cannon firing was the signal of her death.

"Peeta!" I hear her voice yelling for me, and I release a breath I wasn't aware of even holding. "Peeta! I'm here! Peeta!" I can hear the desperation, the fear in her voice. Faster, I need to move faster, I will never make in time before the others arrive, for as well as I can hear her, I know the others can as well. They will all be making their way to her. "I'm here! I'm here!" I won't make it, why did I ever run away from that tree?

Brutus and Chaff stumble into my path and I trip sideways into a tree. I watch in shock, anger; I'm not sure as Brutus finishes off Chaff, it's clear they've been fighting for a while. Brutus is now looking at me, and I'm looking back, thinking of Chaff, friend to Haymitch, perhaps his only friend, someone who could keep him away from the darkness. I react quickly and before I know it Brutus is dead by my own hands.

I am backing away when the cannons sound. "Katniss!" I cry, aware of how desperate I sound, I need her to know I'm still alive. I'm still crashing through the jungle when it happens. The lighting strikes and the dome of the arena flashes into a blinding white light, and the floor of it shakes. The force of the impact of whatever has happened knocked me back into a tree. I'm still lucid, but not functioning enough to move. Dazed, that is this feeling. I see the fireworks beginning to go off, brilliant hues of blue and green, red and purple; I'm so caught up in seeing this that I don't realize the claw to the hovercraft lowering above me until it is too late.

It's claws gently grasp around my body and it's all I can do not to panic. What has happened? I'm not dead.

I am lifted and released onto the floor of the hovercraft. My moment of panic is not nearly over. Plutarch Heavansbee is frowning down at me, what have I done that the head game maker is here? I feel the needle pierce my skin and hear Plutarch muttering to someone I cannot see, and that is all I know.

I come to in the medical area of the hovercraft, I sit up slowly. I'm not strapped down. What happened? I swing my legs over the side of the bed and rest my elbows on them, leaning my forehead heavily into my hands; my last moments in the arena flashing before my eyes. I groan and look up quickly. My eyes land quickly upon the pearl, still wrapped in its leaf. I snatch it up and look wildly around. Is she here?

A quick perusal of the other beds reveals she is not. Beetee is however, so that is promising, even though he doesn't look too great at the moment. The Capitol doctors should be able to have him back to rights quickly enough though.

The Capitol.

They lifted me from the arena, so where were they? Why weren't they here, checking in on me? Why wasn't I dead yet? This was very out of character.

"We've lost contact with Seven, Ten and Twelve. Elven has control of transportation now, so hopefully they will be able to get some food out." Plutarch. What was going on? Lost contact with districts? My mind was struggling to keep up with what could possibly lead to an explanation when I heard him speaking again, answering a question I didn't hear. "No, I'm sorry, there's just no way for us to get you in there. I've given special orders for her retrieval if we can, but that's the best I can do Finnick, I'm sorry."

Finnick. What was he doing here? No, there, why was he not in the medical bay with Beetee and me? He says something else, something I still can't understand, but I do understand the sadness, the desperation in his tone.

"Don't be stupid! Do you want to get her killed, because that's exactly what will happen! No, you stay alive, and they'll keep her alive...for bait." Haymitch growled out.

Haymitch! This was a good sign, wasn't it? If Haymitch was here, Katniss was probably nearby; maybe Plutarch wasn't with the Capitol after all. I need to find out. I got up from the bed. My real leg is a little wobbly, but I managed through it, since my fake one really has nowhere to wobble to anymore. I'm determined to figure this out. I swallowed down the bile that was rising in my throat. My mind is racing, thinking over everything from the past year since Katniss and I made it out of the arena last time. Of all the secrets she kept with Haymitch, of all of the little things she finally told me. Our worst fears could be being realized right now. A rebellion?

I tied the leaf with the pearl back around my neck and shuffled out of the medical ward. I make it into the room where they are. All seated around the table and I take in the scene quickly and my heart drops. Katniss, where is she?

I turn to Haymitch. "Where is she?" I croak out. Finnick moans and throws his head down on the table as Haymitch takes a deep breath and stands slowly. "Where is she?" I ask again, more firmly now.

Plutarch makes a small motion towards me, but Haymitch pushes him back down into his chair.

"Peeta..." he starts, it's a tone I've never once heard him use before and that's how I know. I tackle him to the ground with a yell. My hands bunch the collar of his shirt up, my knuckles pressing into his throat.

"Where. Is. Katniss." I demand.

Haymitch coughs, but it is Plutarch who answers me. "Our plan was to get both you and Katniss out first, but we didn't have time. Johanna and Katniss were both taken by the Capitol. I'm very sorry Peeta."

"You!" I say rounding on Haymitch again. "This is all your fault! You promised!" I slam his head down against the floor, and lift my fist, intent on hitting him when his own hand comes up and catches my own, and then we are fighting, exchanging hits and insults. I reach my limit, feel the tears burning my eyes before they start making a trail down over my cheeks. "This is your fault." I moan; moving away and slumping against the wall, head on my knees. "You made us both a promise, why did you have to keep hers? You know Haymitch! You know how I feel, how I can't. I won't be able to..." My voice breaks and heavy sobs shake my body. Noiseless sobs, so filled with grief they completely consume me, and then finally I can feel it, moving up from the dark pit inside of me and I am screaming. Screaming and crying because I can't enunciate into words how terrible I feel right now.

I slowly become aware of Finnick kneeling in front of me. He places hand on my shoulder. "Peeta, it's going to be alright." This is what he's saying, has been saying, but for how long, I have no idea. His tone is low, quiet, calming.

I blink owlishly up at him and wipe my running nose with the back of my hand. "How do you know?" I sneer at him.

Finnick's demeanor shifts immediately, becomes heavy with his own burden of grief. "Because the Capitol has someone I love too, and they'll keep her. Keep her safe, because she's more valuable to them alive then dead, because she will lead them to me. Without her, they know they will have no hold over me." his voice breaks on the last word and I look at him. Really look at Finnick, like I'm seeing him for the first time, how I've misjudged this apparent playboy to the Capitol. "Now come on." he says, sitting back on his heels and offering me a hand. "There's some stuff you're going to need to know."

I allow him to help me up and I allow myself to be ushered to the table where I collapse heavily into a chair. Haymitch is just getting back up and I watch him with a glare. Plutarch clears his throat and I look over at him. He gives me an uneasy smile that I don't return.

"So, Peeta, you must have so many questions…"

I shake my head. "No, not really, just start at the beginning." I tell him wearily, and so he does. I drift in and out of focus as he weaves his tale. I've lived through most of it, so I don't need a complete refresher, and so when he speaks about the familiar I find my mind elsewhere. On her, the girl on fire, the girl that I love. Is she really okay? Is she still alive? That is the question that haunts me the most after Plutarch tells me it was Katniss who made the arena explode. They all saw her shoot her arrow into the force field surrounding us and then there were fireworks. Then the feed was lost. Could she have survived that? An arrow attached to wire wrapped around a tree that was struck by lightning. Electrocuted. That's what keeps running through my mind. No, no, it cannot be true. I know, somewhere, somehow I would know, would feel her light blinking out of existence, out of my life.

"…and so, here we are, headed to Thirteen, it should be only a few more hours until we arrive." Plutarch is saying, and I know I've missed something. Something important.

"Thirteen?" I ask, finally looking at him once more.

He gives me an impatient look, but repeats whatever he's been saying. "Yes Peeta, District Thirteen. Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying to you?" he asks, almost surprised. I'm sure; back in the Capitol he is hardly ever ignored. I however have more on my mind that a Head Gamemakers hurt feelings.

"How long has it been?"

"An hour." Haymitch says, finally speaking up again. "We knocked you out briefly, just so we could assess any injuries you may or may not have had. We lifted you from the arena an hour ago."

An hour. I don't remember the trip from the capitol to the arena taking more than an hour, but then again I wasn't completely focused on the trip, only on Katniss and getting her out of there alive. Alive and safe. I shouldn't have wasted my time. I have failed. If anything she should be here, on her way to Thirteen. Not me. No, I should be the one the Capitol took; she should have been the priority for these people, these rebels. She should be what they have apparently been trying to make her. Their Mockingjay. Not me.

District Thirteen. I should have gone with her all of those months ago when she brought it up. I probably would not have made it, but maybe she would have been there by now, safe.

I get up from the table without a word. No one tries to stop me. I shuffle back to the medical area. Beetee is still asleep. It's probably for the best that he is. There are so many tubes and machines hooked up to him. I imagine I looked similar when I came out of my first Games.

I lie back down on my bed and roughly pull my makeshift necklace off of me. My fingers are pulling frantically at the leaf, ripping it, tossing it to the floor until I finally get it out. I pinch it between my fingers and throw the rest of the plant on the floor.

I stare at it again. My gift to her, her promise to me, to come back. I lay it in my palm and run my index finger from my other hand over it, rolling it back and forth, focusing on the iridescent surface of it, and knowing if I think on everything else I will truly be gone. I cannot do that. Not now. I have a purpose, a job to do, and that is to keep my promise and make her keep hers. It may not be midnight, but I will get her back, I will keep her safe; bring her home out of the arena.

I am unaware that I am crying again until the pillow beneath my head becomes saturated with my tears. I roll over and clutch the pearl tightly in my hand. I close my eyes, two hours until our destination. Perhaps my nightmares will be a better escape from this terrible reality I now exist in.

This is my first fanfiction for The Hunger Games fandom, so please let me know what you think! This was just the prologue, I know it's pretty unexciting, but it will pick up, I promise!