A/N: Surprise! I'm still alive! I'm so so so sorry for not updating Heal These Broken Bones for months. I will not give you excuses guys since it won't change the fact that I'm a terrible person for keeping you waiting. This is my newest story and I really hope that you guys will like it. I'm definitely going to finish Heal These Broken Bones though, so don't worry! As usual, English is not my first language, so I'm sorry for any grammar mistakes. Happy reading and please review J
Katniss felt like her head had been hit by a thousand bricks when she woke up. She had no idea where she was. It seemed that she was not in Capitol, for although the bed that she was currently laying on was comfortable, it did not look expensive like the ones in Capitol. The room that she was in was also very simple, unlike the sickly luxurious buildings in the Capitol. It did not mean that she was completely safe though. She had been through enough not to fall into a false sense of security. Even now when her head was still painfully pounding, she already scanned the room, trying to find anything to be used as a weapon.
The sound of people conversing outside her room made Katniss become alert. She quickly grasped the water glass on the bedside table as a makeshift weapon. God knew what horrible things that Snow would do just to kill her, so she had to protect herself. By the time the door swung open, Katniss was ready to throw the glass as hard as she possibly could to the possible enemy.
"God Katniss, I've only left you for an hour and you already want to kill me?"
Katniss was really surprised when she realized that the man that she almost injured was her best friend Gale.
"Gale? Where am I? Why are you here?" From many things that she expected she would face, Gale was the last person that she thought would open that door.
"Hey, hey, calm down. The doctor said that it's normal if you feel disoriented when you wake up. Now can you remember what happened before you passed out?" Gale's concerned face looked at her with worries.
"The hunger games… the arena... Beetee… Oh my God! The arena exploded! I was the one that caused the arena's explosion, wasn't I?" Katniss started to remember pieces and pieces of her last memories in the arena; how the sky was cracked when she shot my arrow into it, how it felt like she was going to die.
Gale seemed hesitant to say anything, which made her believe more that she had caused a great destruction to that goddamned arena. She'd done something that no one had ever done. She had shown the world how Snow wasn't as untouchable as many people thought before. It was great, right?
"How are the others?" Katniss could not help the big smile that spread on her face. It felt really good to finally show Snow what the rebels were capable of. But once She saw the look on Gale's face, Katniss instantly knew that something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong. "Gale? Is there something wrong? What is it Gale? Everyone is alright, righ?" Panic slowly crept into her voice. The brief victorious feeling that she felt was gone.
"I don't think I'm the one that should tell you this. Come on, follow me. I know someone who can answer you."
We had walked for around five minutes, and Katniss didn't think that she could take it any longer. Gale's silence only proved that her fear was right; something was wrong. While they walked to meet a mysterious person that Gale mentioned before, she looked around the building where she was. It was more correct to call it a basement or even a cave instead of a building. There was not any window as far as she could see, so it was kind of dim. People stared at them when they walked by.
"It's the mockingjay! Can't you see? It's the mockingjay!" The not so quiet whispers followed Katniss as they passed by, made her feel embarrassed and uncomfortable. She'd never been good with people, it'd always been Peeta that dealt with them. Peeta. Oh my God, Peeta!
"Gale stop! Where is Peeta?"
"I told you, I'm not the one who should tell you this."
"Gale, answer me. Where. Is. Peeta." The guilt on Gale's face scared Katniss like nothing had scared her before.
"Just please promise me, don't blame yourself over this."
The room that Gale took her to was loaded with high-tech things, things that District 12 people could only see in their dreams. There were only few people in that room, and even fewer that Katniss was familiar with. There were Beetee and Haymitch standing near a giant monitor on the wall, both of them avoided to look at Katniss.
"Hello Katniss, I believe this is the first time we meet, although I've seen many of your actions before," a woman in her fifties walked forward, "I'm Alma Coin, the president of District 13," upon seeing the surprised look on Katniss' face when she said District 13, Coin coldly smiled, "Yes, we are in District 13."
"But I don't understand. I thought Snow had ruined District 13 beyond repair."
"Well, we survived his damned bomb, and now we are going to fight back. Would you help?" There was something about her that seemed wrong, something that prevented Katniss to immediately give her support.
Unsure of how to answer, Katniss changed the subject, "Where is Peeta?"
No one answered. After what felt like hours, Coin cleared her throat and looked at Katniss with a determination, a determination of a teacher wanted to tame her rebellious student.
"You were unconscious for two weeks. You have to understand that there were lots of things happened at that time, things that were out of our control," Coin said calmly, "play the video, Beetee," she continued.
The giant monitor near Beetee and Haymitch suddenly showed a video of Caesar Flickerman's interview. His annoying shiny white teeth covered almost the whole monitor.
"Now, now, who doesn't know Katniss and Peeta? These two lovebirds have shaken our world with their actions. We know that Katniss sadly did something unacceptable in the last Hunger Games," Caesar's face looked very heartbroken, as if the Hunger Games were a child's birthday party that didn't deserve to be ruined, "we don't know where Katniss is right now, but we do have Peeta right now with us!" his face changed back into his usual expression; that annoying cheerful expression that made Katniss want to punch him.
As soon as Katniss heard that Capitol had Peeta, it felt like a bucket of cold water had been poured onto her back. Peeta, the innocent Peeta was being clutched by Capitol. Katniss didn't think that she could continue watching that video, but she just couldn't take her eyes off the monitor. The camera now no longer focused on Caesar, it zoomed in at a small figure sitting on a sofa.
Katniss could not hold back the sob from her mouth when she saw how thin and pale Peeta looked. He looked like he wasn't aware with his surrounding, like he had been drugged.
"Wow Peeta, I have to say that you look much better than the last time I saw you!" Katniss could not believe what she just heard. How could Caesar say that Peeta looked better when he looked like that. She could not imagine how he looked before, "Well, I think it is because the president gave you someone special, huh?"
At first Katniss had no idea what he meant, but then the camera changed its focus into a man sitting beside Peeta.
"Isn't that Cato Hadley from District 2? The winner of the 72nd Hunger Games? What the hell is he doing there?" Katniss instantly recognized Cato the moment she laid her eyes upon him. He was known for being one of the most vicious and cruelest victors of the Hunger Games. She remembered how he cold-bloodedly snapped a tribute's neck with his bare hand and stabbed his own ally, so of course she was worried that the brute was sitting so close to Peeta, "is he recruited by the Capitol to torture Peeta?"
No one answered her, but Haymitch finally averted his gaze from the monitor and calmly said, "I'm afraid it's not the kind of torture that you think of, sweetheart."
Peeta's POV
I had been such a mess lately, there were just too many missing pieces in my head that I could not remember. After the Capitol caught me, they forcefully ripped my memories apart. It felt like my head was an unfinished puzzle with too many missing pieces.
The first thing that Snow did when he saw me was to take me into a hospital. He did not beat me or anything, but he asked the 'doctors' in the hospital to inject me with many kinds of fluids. After a while, I started to feel the sensation that was caused by those injections; they extremely weakened my body and my mind. I almost could not lift my head, my legs, and my arms after the fourth injection.
"I thought after years of torturing people, you would know a more creative way to kill me," the injection had affected my body so much that the voice came out of my lips was barely a whisper.
"My boy, I do not want you to die for death is too good for you," Snow smiled at me with a sinister look in his eyes before he said something to a peacekeeper. I could not hear what he said, but a minute later, a man came into the room, "now, this is something that you deserve," the mix between the cruel tone in Snow's voice and the fact that man who just appeared looked like he killed people in his daily life made me shudder. What would they do to me?
"Hello, earth to Peeta," Caesar's voice brought me down from my memory lane, I was back in the interview room, "I guess I'm wrong, huh? You still get adorably confused easily like the last time we met!"
"Sorry about that, Caesar. It seems that he's too sleepy to function since I had kept him awake last night, if you know what I mean," Cato might speak to Caesar, but his smirk was surely directed to me.
Yes, it turned out that Snow had already found out the best way to torture me. After he made me both physically weak, he gave me to Cato Hadley, the man who appeared in the hospital. Cato had been using me as nothing but his sex slave since Snow rewarded him with me. Cato took me to his apartment (I thought he lived in District 2, but he apparently also had a massive apartment in Capitol) and used my body all night long. Although it reduced my strength greatly, the injections that the doctors gave me strengthened my senses. I guessed it had been Snow's purpose all along. He wanted me to feel all of Cato's hard grips, rough kisses, and his every merciless thrust that night without being able to defend myself. Oh how I wished that the president had killed me instead of giving me to that beast.
Upon hearing Cato's sexual innuendo, the audience, especially the women, of the interview went crazy. After the first time President Snow introduced Cato and me as the newest star-crossed couple, the Capitol's citizen got really interested with our story. They thought that we would make a great couple; the Capitol's strong and handsome man with a District 12's boy like me. It felt as if like Katniss had never existed. Once again, this was another thing that Snow wanted, for Katniss to lose her popularity so she would not be able to start a rebellion.
"Now, now, Cato, you know that not everyone has stamina like you. You shouldn't push our little Peeta too hard, especially with his condition right now," Caesar's comment only made the audience went even more ballistic. These perverted people were apparently very interested when it came to someone's sex life, especially when the person was as attractive as Cato (their words, not mine).
"Oh believe me that if I had used all my stamina last night, he would not be able to walk right now," as if it was not enough, Cato pulled me to sit between his legs and wrapped his huge arms around my torso. I could only sit still and let him show his dominance over me, I had learned the hard way not to resist him after all.
I could not imagine what Katniss and my friends would think of me if they saw me at this moment being overpowered by a Capitol's man. Oh how I wished a nuclear bomb would fall and kill me right now.
