Peeta's POV
"What do you mean she's not here!" I yell at him.
"Like I said, she's not here," Haymitch says."The Capitol took her. The execution is in three weeks."
"But we're going to get her out, right?" I ask.
"Of course, she's the Mockingjay," Haymitch replies. "We're busting her out at her execution, it's the only chance we've got."
"I can't believe you let them take her," I spit. Haymitch's next comment fills me with guilt.
"I can't believe you let her out of your sight."
Katniss' POV
I'm held up and painfully stretched by chains in the middle of a rose scented room. The peacekeepers enter, demanding me for information I don't have. When I tell them honestly that I know nothing about the rebellion or District 13, they rip my clothes off and whip me. To make it worse, they rub salt in the lash marks. I will not allow them the pleasure of my screams, tears or even my voice. I don't even look at them. I just stare at the clock, praying that Peeta isn't undergoing what I am.
After 50 lashes or so, I'm unchained and locked in a tank of water. They pump electricity through the water and despite my best efforts I unleash a scream. The pain is blinding and I start to see stars. Right before I black out I'm pulled out. I gasp for air, filling my lungs with it hastily. Then they shut me back in the tank and the horror starts again. Hour after hour after hour this repeats until at last I'm brought back to my cell and I fall asleep of the cold, moldy floor.
Always. The word hits me with the forever of a freight train. Always. What Peeta told me that cold winter night when I begged him to stay with me. Always. He promised to always stay with me but I can't help but hope that he's not here, that he's somewhere safe.
His screams fill my cell, and I silently pray that they aren't really his, but a JabberJay's instead. Soon peacekeepers fill my prison and drag me into yet another cold, white room that smells of roses. Today I'm strapped to a chair while peacekeepers throw darts at me, deciding who has the best aim. After a bit of that they leave the room and unleash hundreds of mice with razor sharp teeth that climb of me and eat my flesh. In the background I can here Peeeta's screams and I'm confused when they stop.
His voice rings out clear and free of pain "You can kill me, but the rebellion will live. One way or another you will fall, Snow."
Then the shot of a gun rings out and everything goes quiet.
Peeta's POV
I hate myself. While I'm here in district 13, Katniss is in the Capitol, apparently being tortured in ways that our spy said were best not to be disclosed. I've moved in with my family because I somehow made it out of the arena with nothing but a sprained wrist. I'm thin though, so I get quite large portions at meals. I barley have any appetite though, so I give my two brothers, Ry and Marco, half of my meal.
Three days after the Quell Haymitch sits next to me at lunch. "They're interviewing her tonight at 7:30. Be in Command by then," he says. I nod and take a bite of whatever that green mush on my plate is. "We got some more info from our spy, says they've finally given her a quarter cup of water today, still no food though. Apparently they've taken the torture up a notch," Haymitch says.
"Up a notch?" I reply, sliding my mostly full bowl over to Ry.
"Yes, up a notch. Something about mutts?" Haymitch says. I can't do this. A tear slides down my cheek. I can't do this, Katniss was always the strong one. She was my foundation, my light. She was my life.
Katniss' POV
Always. I've just been thrown back in my cell after the muttation mice did their work and I dip my finger in the large pool of blood I made. I swirl it around, wishing my throbbing headache would go away. "Rest up, Ms. Everdeen, you have an interview tonight," the guard says. I pick up my now bloodied finger and begin to decorate the walls. I start with a verse of The Hanging Tree.
Are you, are you, coming to the tree,
Wear a necklace of rope side by side with me
Strange things did happen there no stranger it would be,
If we met up at midnight In the hanging tree
Then with the remainder of the space I write the same word, over and over and over. Always.
Peeta's POV
"I don't get why you care so much about that seam rat," my mother says. Bless her heart, she's actually quite a nice person if you're merchant stock, but have a drop of seam in you and she hates you.
"She's half merchant," I reply, running a comb through my hair.
"But she's still a seam rat!" she exclaims.
"I love her mom," I reply, standing up "I love her more than life itself."
I walk out the door and make my way to command. I arrive at 7:30 sharp and the only one missing is Haymitch. Just as the television comes to life Haymitch bursts in and plunks down in a chair. Coin glares icily at him before our attention is directed back to the screen.
Katniss is dressed in a short, strapless dress that's a dark matte grey . Caesar introduces her but all I can concentrate on is how horrible she looks. She's stick thin, there are bags under her eyes and their are bloody teeth marks over most of her body. You can see some of the bone of her right ankle. There are bruises and lash marks too, but most hauntingly are her eyes, they once held a fire big enough to burn a forest to the ground but now look empty and even insane.
She vaguely smiles at Caesar and he asks how her stay in the Capitol has been. She sarcastically replies "Fabulous."
"If you could say one thing to Peeta, what would it be?" Caesar asks.
"That I love him," she said without hesitating "Really and truly, and I'd ask him to stay with me, and he'd say Always, it's actually that one word, always, that's been keeping me sane. I've painted it all over my cell."
"They gave you paint?" Ceaser asks "That's awfully nice of us! I bet we're the only people who would do that." the crowd cheers in support.
"They didn't give me paint," Katniss says.
"Then what did you write with?" he asks curiously.
She replies with an insane smile. "My blood."
Everyone in the room is horrified. Correction, everyone but Coin. Katniss really wrote that?
"Oh, uh, umm..." Caesar stutters, trying to find a comeback.
"Peeta," Katniss shrieks "If you're alive you're not safe! They're bombing 13!" a murderous scream fills the air and the camera points down, showing her blood running all over the floor.
Haymitch's POV
The TV clicks off and Peeta loses it. He throws his chair across the room, screaming and cursing. Coin presses a few buttons and medics come in and sedate Peeta. Sirens go off and a pleasant female voice instructs us to calmly make our way to the bomb shelters. I chuckle and slowly go to the bottom level.
Katniss POV
President snow has had it. For the remainder of my time in the Capitol, the torture literally never stops and is more intense than ever. I'm stabbed, two of my toes cut off, I'm lightly poisoned, glass is thrown at me, the list goes on. When the day of my execution comes, I'm relived. I have to be carried onto the steps of snow's mansion I'm so weak and the restraint straps are the only thing holding me up. During President Snow's speech however, everything goes haywire.
Gale appears from the crowd and breaks my straps off and grabs me. He runs with me in his arms and we board a hovercraft filled with peacekeepers. They're armed with guns pointed at me and I beg for them not to hurt me. Then everything goes black.
When I wake up I'm staring into a pair of familiar blue eyes.
"Prim," I say "Prim, is Peeta alive?"
"He's alive," Prim says "And we're all safe, we're in District Thirteen."
"I want to see Peeta," I say. Prim smiles and leaves, peacekeepers flood the room with Peeta in front. "Peeta!" I screech "Peeta don't let them hurt me!" Peeta rushes to my side, talking soothingly and the peacekeepers turn into nurses? "They're not peacekeepers," I whisper.
"That's right," Peeta says soothingly "They're nurses, you don't have to be afraid, you're safe.
" I start to sob into his chest "Please Peeta, don't let them hurt me ever again," I sob.
"I won't, don't worry," he says.
"I love you," I say, looking into his eyes. He smiles as he brings his lips to mine.
"I love you too."
Peeta's POV
I burst into the observation room where Haymitch is. "What in the name of all things holy did they do to her?" I ask him loudly.
"I don't know," he says.
"It must've been bad." I say "She was sobbing into my chest, begging for me not to let the Capitol do that again! She never cries!"
"I know," is all Haymitch says. I force my anger down and calmly walk back into her room.
I pick up Katniss' bony body and put her in the wheelchair. I push her to the cafeteria and wheel her over to the Odair/Cresta/Everdeen/Hawthorne/ Mason/Mellark/Albernathy table and pick up our food.
I walk back to our table and set a large glass of water and a tiny tray of food in front of her. She picks up her knife and turns it possessively over in her hands as if she's contemplating something. I gently pry it from her hands and set it out of her reach.
It's slightly funny how fast she gulps down the water until Gale asks;
"How often did they give you water?"
She shrugs and says "Every few days."
"How often did they feed you?" Prim asks.
"They didn't," Katniss answers, taking a bite of corn. She smiles at the taste. A mouse appears and scurries behind Katniss. She starts to tremble and curls up in a ball, her hands over her ears. "Please not again," she whispers. I touch her and she flinches.
"Katniss," I say "Katniss you're safe, what you're seeing isn't really there, Katniss will you look at me?" she lifts her head, trembling, and grabs onto me, trying not to cry. She fails. Soon, she's sobbing into my arms and I'm whispering sweet things in her ear. My mother gets up, muttering under her breath, and leaves.
"Sorry," Katniss says once she composed herself "When I was in the Capitol they had these awful genetically altered mice that they would let loose once they strapped me down and they would eat my flesh and climb on me, and whenever they touched me it would burn really badly, and would stay that way for hours. I saw the mouse and thought I was back in the Capitol for a moment."
"What else did they do to you?" Gale asks.
"Trust me," Katniss replies, "You really don't want to know."
"I really do," Gale said "Did they whip you?"
"Of course," Katniss replies as if it is the most ovbius thing in the world. "That was actually the first thing they did. Rubbed salt in the lash marks too." My brothers look disgusted at this.
"How many lashes?" Finnick asks
"I dunno, around fifty." she answers. Gale, who has undergone a whipping himself, winces.
"What else?" Prim asks.
"They used me as a dart board, cut off two of my toes, stabbed me, threw glass on me, stuff like that. The bad part was that after my interview, it never stopped. Literally, they just went on and on, hour after hour, day after day, 24/7 torture." Katniss says "I really don't want to talk about the bad stuff though."
"There was stuff worse than that?" I ask, my voice trembling a little.
"Yeah," she says softly, looking at the ground.
Prim rushes over and hugs her. "Did you really write stuff in your own blood?" Rory asks.
"Yeah," Katniss replies with a shrug. My father gets up and leaves, my brothers following.
"Sorry, Brainless," Johanna says "Nobody deserves that."
Katniss shrugs and says without a drop of self pity in her voice "It's fine."
"It's not," Haymitch says. Katniss looks at him like he just grew another head.
"It really isn't," Gale says "You're my best friend and you're like a sister to me, the Capitol can't get away with this!" When Katniss finish her rice she replies, her voice dangerously low.
"They're not."
Katniss' POV
When Peeta and I finish lunch, I'm exhausted. I can't even really sit up, I'm just slouched in my wheelchair. Peeta notices and picks up our trays. I'm having a little trouble keeping my food down so I'm doubly relived when he dosen't take any detours on the way back.
On the way back to the elevator we pass my family's compartment and I see my mother in the doorway...kissing Haymitch?
"Close the door!" I yell, actually, more correctly,try to yell, it comes out quiet, hoarse and cracked. Peeta is laughing his head off and my mother is blushing. Haymitch just glares and shuts the door with a bang. I laugh, which hurts so much I end up moaning quietly, though I try to cover it up.
Finnick and Annie walk by and Finnick asks "What's so funny?"
I reply , "Peeta and I were going to the elevator and we saw my mother and Haymitch kissing!" I say, laughing again but stoping when I remember how much it hurts.
Finnick bursts out laughing and Annie giggles. Gale lives next to Prim and my mom and he shows up with Rory on his tail.
"What's up?" he asks
"Haymitch... And Katniss' mother... Were kissing!" Peeta gets out between laughter. Gale and Rory join in and Prim shows up too. She arches her left eyebrow questioningly and I, being the only one not with tears of laughter in my eyes, explain. Her eyes widen and her mouth falls open. Then she bursts out laughing, and soon she's legitimately rolling on the floor laughing. A very mad Haymitch storms out and Peeta rolls me into the elevator. Before we're even on the hospital floor, I'm fast asleep.
Peeta's POV
Katniss is so beautiful when she's asleep. Heck, I may as well just admit it, she's beautiful all the time. I push her into her room and gently place her on the bed. I cover her with a blanket and write a quick note explaining that I went to training and that I'll pick her up for dinner. At the bottom I write "always, Peeta."
Katniss' POV
When I wake up, I have a throbbing headache and unintentionally moan. A nurse appears, and to my surprise it's Prim. I'm rubbing my head, trying to get it to stop hurting so much.
"Headache?" Prim asks softly. I nod and she says "You have a pretty nasty concussion," as she turns down the blinding light down to a soft glow and hands me two white pills and a glass of water.
She makes a note on my chart and I say "Thanks, little duck."
she smiles and says "I'll see you in half an hour for dinner, okay?"
"'K" I reply. She leaves and I doze back off.
Peeta's POV
Katniss is screaming and thrashing when I walk into her room. I turn the light up and shake her. "Leave... Him... Alone!" she yells "Peeta dosen't know anything! Put me in the tank instead!"
"Katniss!" I say, shaking her harder as nurses flood the room "Katniss wake up, you're dreaming!" her eyes fly open and she's briefly terrified but she relaxes when she realizes its just me.
"They" she pants, trying to catch her breath "They had you, they were gonna put you in the tank!" I'm about to ask her what "the tank" is, but she kisses me. And behind her kiss is so much pain, so much loss and so much longing that when we break away I whisper in her ear
"It's going to be okay, we're both fine," she nods and I notice that all the nurses except Prim have left the room.
Prim unhooks Katniss' IV and holds it while I move Katniss into her wheelchair. Prim clips the IV on and says to Katniss "I'll meet you in the cafeteria as soon as I change." Katniss nods and I push her out of her room.
We talk about her mother and Haymitch and I tell her about how much time they've been spending together.
Katniss says "They knew each other before Haymitch's games."
"They did?" I ask, confused
"Yes," she says "She, my father, Haymitch and Maysille used to go on double dates together."
"Huh," I say as we enter the cafeteria.
I push katniss up to the table and come back with our food. By the time I'm back, prim is walking through the door. I sit down as close as I physically can to Katniss and Ry teases "Gee, bro, clingy girlfriends are kinda cute, but you're being a clingy boyfriend and that's just wrong!" everyone laughs, especially Haymitch, and I blushingly scoot away from Katniss. Katniss' mother suddenly speaks.
"Haymitch and I are getting married!"
Katniss starts choking on her water and my spoon falls out of my hand.
Johanna laughs and says "Ha ha that was a good one you almost had me there for a second!" then she realizes that they're serious and says incrudously"Oh, god, you're really serious?"
Finnick ignores Johanna's comment and says "Congrats! Annie and I are getting married too!"
"Congrats guys!" Katniss says, nodding her head to both of the happy couples. I smile and offer congratulations.
Katniss seems tired so I finish my dinner quickly. I pick up our trays and push Katniss back to our room. I put her in her bed, pull the blanket over her and turn to leave but she grabs my hand. "Stay by me," she whispers. As I slide in next to her, I reply.
"Always."
Katniss POV
I have seven nightmares that night. It took Peeta a lot longer than normal to calm me down too. I feel sorry for him, come morning we both have bags under our eyes.
Peeta sets me in my wheelchair and pushes me into the cafeteria -agian-. Gale, the only one at our table asks "Long night?"
I nod and say "nightmares." he nods and takes a bite of oatmeal. Peeta comes back and sets my now slightly larger tray in front of me and I dig in greedily. Gale and Peeta notice how fast I'm eating they both spoon some of their oatmeal into my bowl. "You know that's probably illegal," I say, taking a bite.
"Like the law has ever meant anything to us," Gale snorts. I laugh, but stop with a wince.
Gale finishes his oatmeal and Haymitch shows up with my mother. "Coin wants you three in her office NOW," he says. I eat the last bite of my oatmeal and Peeta takes all three of our trays. Gale pushes me but Peeta takes over halfway through.
"You three and a few others are leaving for Nine to make a speech and visit the wounded at 6 o'clock sharp tonight. You are excused from all your assigned duties today to pack. That is all," Coin says, waving us out of her office "Oh, and Ms. Everdeen? You've been moved into your family's compartment."
"Thank you," I say as Peeta pushes me out.
Gale offers to push me back and I thank him. Peeta gives me a goodbye kiss and Gale pushes me to my family's compartment. "I am going to be the happiest person in the world when i can get out of this stupid chair," I grumble.
Prim, who was walking out the door, says "I actually convinced the hospital to let you use a cane instead of the chair this morning."
"Yes!" I exclaim in a show of uncharacteristic joy. Then something hits me. "Why do I need a cane?"
"You lost two of your toes, that'll set your balance off quite a bit," Prim explains.
Prim hands me the cane and I grab it eagerly. I stand up, take a step towards the door, and fall flat on my face. Prim giggles and Gale laughs. I scowl and Gale helps me up. I manage to walk into my compartment and open the dresser. I find my clothes and shove them in a plastic bag. After some debate I put the pearl Peeta gave me in too.
"How'd that get here?" I ask myself.
"I have no clue," Beetee says from the open doorway "Come on down to weapons with me, I have a surprise for you! Or at least, I hope. We picked up a man that we found in the woods, he says he knows you?" I frown. I don't know anybody who would be wandering the woods, well, not a man. A friend of Bonnie and Twill's maybe? It takes fifteen minutes to get to weapons because I have to stop and rest several times. When we finally get there I'm not prepared to face the man who stands before me.