Leaving Fire

The day I felt the biggest betrayals of my life started with me doing the dishes. Yes, dishes. Here in district 13, everyone was required to 'lend a helping hand' and I was less than happy about it. Actually, I had protested quite loudly until someone stuck me in the kitchen and told me I could complain all I want- once I was alone.

I slammed the dishes loudly into the soapy sink, but they still didn't break. Lucky for those in district 13 who enjoyed eating on actual plates, none of the dishes here were breakable. I couldn't believe the irony of it- Peeta was being held captive in the Capitol, and I was doing dishes. I slammed the dishes again, hoping that I would somehow manage to break at least one. Still no luck. I groaned loudly and sunk down onto the cold kitchen floor.

"Having some trouble Catnip?" came a voice from the doorway. Gale. He, along with my family and a few select others, was the only bright spot in this underground chamber of dishwashing horrors. I smiled up at him, relief plastered across my face. More times than not, he would help me finish up community service after his 'classes' were done, and the help would be much appreciated. Especially if I ever managed to figure out how to break these stupid plates.

"Yes," I replied after a long pause, "do you know where I can find a chainsaw?" I took one look at the horrified expression on his face and started laughing; it was the first time I had really laughed since I had arrived in district 13, and it felt nice, normal. He looked slightly less worried about my mental sanity, but I could see the true happiness as well. I smiled at that a little bit. He was happy that I was happy. He still looked a bit concerned though- probably because he knows what I can do with a weapon like that.

"That's not exactly what I had in mind," he said with a sly grin. Then, before I could move, he came and wrapped his arms around my waist and picked me off the ground, twirling me around in the air. I smiled, trying to ignore the electric tingle that had spread from where his arms had touched me. 'It's just gale' I said to myself, smiling up at him as he placed me down next to the sink. We washed the rest of the dishes together, him chatting about his classes and laughing about my goal to break the unbreakable dishes by the time my kitchen duties came to a close. I couldn't help but notice that, when I was with gale, I didn't think so much. Peeta, the Capitol, the war, none of it seemed to be as important while I was with gale.

Once we had finished doing all of the dishes, I was actually exhausted. Who new there were so many people at district 13? I was probably going to start yelling at the next person who ate off of a plate- they could eat off of the ground for all I cared. But, looking down at my watch, I realized that dinner started in 10 minutes. Fantastic. Gale wrapped a reassuring arm around me, and I smiled at how well he knew me. Again, I ignored the warmth that seemed to spread from where gale's arm was touching my shoulders.

"Can we run by my really quickly before dinner? I should change..." I gestured wordlessly down at my wet, stained clothes, realizing for the first time that I must look completely awful. Gale laughed and tightened his arm that was still casually draped over my shoulders. It made me smile.

Once we got to my room I asked him to wait outside, promising to be back in a few minutes. I walked into my moms room, expecting to find the piles of clean laundry that generally sat on her bed Thursday afternoons, but all I saw was a half open drawer with a piece of aperture sticking out. I walked closer and realized that it was a letter addressed to 'ms. Katniss Everdeen'. Frowning, I flipped it over to open it and saw another, smaller piece of paper attached, this one addressed to my mom. It only read for words, but the small, typed black ink sent a chill down my spine.

KATNISS MUST NEVER KNOW

A deep-rooted sense of foreboding came over me, but my shaky fingers continued to re-open the thoroughly examined envelop. As I pulled the letter out, several pictures fell out slowly, drifting to the floor casually, as if they were teasing me. They all landed face down. I reached down to pick them, almost unconsciously, and let out a bit of a strangled cry as my blood ran cold at what I saw.

They were pictures of Peeta, embracing someone, some capitol girl. But it wasn't the embrace that concerned me- I knew that the capitol could manipulate pretty much anything- it was the look in Peeta's eyes. I'd seen that look before; he'd had it when he was looking at me.

"Katniss what's wrong?" Gale burst into the room, his eyes scanning over everything frantically before settling on the pictures on my hands. His eyes narrowed, and he walked over to me slowly, "Katniss…"

He seemed unsure of how I would react, and I could tell that he was keeping his distance just in case, but I wasn't angry. I was sad, sure, but I had always known he was too good for me. This was just the last nail in the coffin.

"I'm leaving. They only want me for the war, but Peeta is safe now. That was their bargaining chip, which is why I couldn't know," I gestured to the writing on the outside of the letter, "clearly my mom has seen this and hidden this from me, and Prim has plenty of friends on her own. I'm going." I turned to leave the room and pack my bags, but Gale grabbed me.

"Gale-"

"If you're leaving, I'm coming with you." I nodded and walked away briskly, trying to shake off the tingles that were spreading up and down my arm as I packed my bags.

"Okay we've got fifteen minutes until dinner ends. I'll go down to the weapons room for supplies but you have to get the food pills, I'm not authorized for the kitchen right now" said Gale, giving me a long look. I nodded, agreeing with the unspoken 'don't screw this up' in his eyes. One wrong move and I could have myself on lockdown for the rest of the year.

He slipped away down the hallway, leaving me alone, under the flickering fluorescent light of district 13's main hallway. I took a moment to reconsider what I was leaving, but when I weighed it out, I realized that there was really nothing worth staying for. And I had a job to do, I realized as the light flickered back on, and I wasn't going to let Gale down again. Not after everything he was about to give up for me.

I walked down the hallway, glad for the silence, and slipped into the currently empty kitchen. Everyone ate at the same time, so this was my window before dish cleaners like myself came in to work on the after-dinner mess. I checked my watch quickly. 8 minutes. I pulled open the drawer that had the food pills and health pills in it, and quickly shoveled a large majority of the pills into my bag.

"Katniss? Why aren't you at…" the small voice from behind me froze me, and I turned slowly to see Prim standing behind me, the smile on her face fading as she saw what I had been doing.

"Kat where are you going?" she sounded five years old again, needing me to take care of her when mom couldn't. But I wasn't her mom anymore.

"Prim I saw the pictures," I said, guessing that mom had shown them to her too. She never could keep something that big to herself. Prim nodded, tears filling her big brown eyes as she rushed in to hug me.

"You should go," she said with a tear-filled voice, "they are just going to use you, but if you don't start agreeing with them more they're going to get rid of you. This is what is best." I wasn't sure if she was convincing herself or me, but I was shocked at how much she saw for a thirteen year old.

"I'm going to miss you Prim," I said, hugging her tightly again.

"Me too," then, letting me go with a smile, "now go silly! Gale's probably waiting for you. I can cover for you for 3 hours, but then you're on your own" I smiled and walked away, thinking about how lucky I was to have such a great sister. Not every little girl would have handled that as well.

"Katniss? What took you so long, our window's closing!" Gale seemed frantic, and I was quick to fill him in on our help from Prim.

We took the long, not quite as obvious way out, edging under the hole in the fence similar to the one back in District 12 that we had been so familiar with. The dusk reminded me of our early morning hunting, and I couldn't help but miss District 12, just a little bit. It hadn't been the best, but it was home.

"Where do you want to set up?" I asked Gale after we had been walking for about two and a half hours. We had made good distance, probably about 10 or 12 miles.

"I think we need to take advantage of the dark. They'll expect us to stop tonight so they won't send out hover cars until tomorrow, but if we keep walking, we'll throw their whole search off." Gale said, thinking things through just like always.

"You're right. Like always. God, are you ever wrong?" I said, poking him in the stomach and encountering nothing but rock. I'm pretty sure that I hurt myself more than I hurt him by that jab.

"No, you're just never right," he said, smiling as we fell into our old banter. We talked and laughed as we walked, slowing down to avoid tripping like he had done twice already. I was happier then than I was since this whole hunger games things started.

Whupwhupwhupwhup

The sound of hovercrafts filled the air and we instantly dived under a fallen tree branch, making sure to hide ourselves from any possible vantage point from above. What we didn't expect was someone running towards us, on the ground, dodging the spotlights perfectly. I felt Gale tense up next to me, but the person running toward us didn't look like anyone from the capitol. He looked like us.

"Gale I think they're searching for him!" I whispered loudly, trying to make him hear over the noise of the hovercrafts.

"Then let them search! We're not bringing them down on you hours after we escaped."

"Gale are we really going to let this happen again?" He looked down into my eyes as we remembered the red haired avox, the girl we could have saved but didn't know how. Now we knew how.

"Fine."

We began shouting for him, knowing that no one in the air would hear us anyway his eyes lit up as he noticed us, but he ran past us and continued along dodging the capitol hovercrafts.

"Well, I guess that's tha…" the guy had circled back around and lost his trail, coming up behind us in the bushes and cutting Gale off mid sentence. As he came closer to us, I could make out that he was tall, almost as tall as Gale. He had blond hair and some sort of light eyes, but that was all that I could make out in the dark.

The guy looked at Gale, then at me, and smirked; saying "If I've found the Mockingjay this means some very bad things for everyone else. Are you running away?"

"I told you we should've let them get him," said Gale, glaring daggers at the slowly paling boy in front of us.

"Hey, I was just kidding. I- well thanks for saving me. If you run away it's none of my business." He was clearly trying very hard to dig himself out of the hole he had dug, and I was inclined to let him off the hook. Gale, on the other hand, wasn't quite as forgiving.

"Damn straight it's none of your business. Do you know what she's been through?" he said, moving in on the guy. He was holding his hands up, backing away from Gale, and I grabbed Gale before he could do anything permanent.

"Hey, Gale, it's fine," I said, trying not to obsess over the feel of his muscular arms under my hand. It's just Gale, It's just Gale. He turned his glare on me for a moment, but then relaxed.

"Well, welcome to the family man. If she likes you, you're already way further in life than most people who meet her." Said Gale, not even wincing at me slapping his shoulder. I'm still convinced that it hurts me more than it hurts him. "I'm Gale, this is Katniss."

"I know who you two are. I'm Ash. District 7, almost avox," he said, shaking his head at the last part, "I still can't believe that I got away…" My heart went out to him as I thought of the horrors that the capitol could dish out when provoked. I shot Gale a look, but oddly he seemed irritated by something Ash had said.

"Well like Gale said, you're part of the family now. We'll keep walking north until morning, and then we'll probably set up camp and try to get some food."

"Sounds good," said Ash, giving Gale a weird look, as he walked away muttering, "he doesn't seem to like me." He ran his fingers through his disheveled blond hair, looking a bit exasperated.

"He's not a big fan of new people. I'll go talk to him," I said, suddenly irritated at Gale's unwillingness to give this guy a chance. Sure, he'd been kind of a jerk to us after we saved his life, but I knew more than anyone that a capitol could change you.

"Gale. Gale, slow down!" he was walking with a complete determination to be faster than me, but I caught up with him anyway. I guess he was too polite to outright run. "What's your problem?"

"What's my problem? I'm not back there being all buddy-buddy with some random guy we just met. Katniss we barely know him! He could be anyone. How do we know we can trust him?"

"I think we can trust him. Don't you trust me?" He had stopped then, swinging around to face me. Gale looked at me, searching my eyes for something. I shivered slightly and his eyes darkened.

"I'd trust you with my life." His voice was low and rough, and he put his hands on my arms. He moved in closer, glancing down at my lips as he started to pull me to him and close the distance between us. I felt my heart pounding in my chest as my eyes fluttered closed-

"Hey guys I think they're coming… back. Oh." Ash looked at the two of us as we sprung apart at the sound of his voice. I started to blush, but Gale seemed completely unfazed as he addressed the reason for Ash's interruption. I couldn't even focus on what Ash had said; all I knew was that I wanted to kill him for interrupting us. I glanced up at Gale to see what he thought of what had almost happened, but he had moved on already.

"We've got to go Katniss. They're circling back around and they're looking more closely this time. I say we head north," said Ash, moving away before I could even respond. Gale moved after him, glaring silently and I had no choice but to follow. It was clear that he didn't want to talk about our almost-kiss, but it was all I could think about, and apparently I had zoned pretty hard.

"Katniss. Kat-niss. Kat!" Ash was waving his hands in front of my face looking amazed, and Gale was off to the side doubled over in hysterics at my non-response.

"Don't call me Kat," was all I said, trying not to show my embarrassment.

"Well if it'll get your attention, that's what I'll call you from now on. Where did you go? Gale and I must have been trying to get your attention for a solid… 5 minutes you think?" said Ash, looking back at Gale. Gale nodded, still laughing slightly, and I just shook my head.

"Whatever. What did you need?" I asked, facing straight ahead and avoiding making any eye contact at all.

"Well since it's almost daytime," he said, gesturing toward the rising sun in the east, "We thought it might be a good idea to get some rest. Clearly you need it." He raised an eyebrow and I nodded, acting like I hadn't caught his hint.

"Gale you've got the supplies?" he nodded, "I'll take this tree, you two pick ones not too far from here. Who wants the first watch?" I asked, smirking as both Gale and Ash said 'I got it' and then glared at the other. Gale seemed to be winning the 'who is the manliest' contest and it was decided that he would take first watch, then wake me up, and I would wake Ash up.

"Night boys," I said as I scaled the tree next to me. Gale seemed relaxed and just waved up at me, but Ash seemed amazed. Clearly he hadn't been too tuned in to the previous two hunger games.

As I curled up into my sleeping bag and belted myself to the tree, my mind wandered back to Gale and the almost-kiss. I couldn't help but think that maybe he was ignoring it because he wished it hadn't happened. That was the only thing on my mind as I closed my eyes and gave in to sleep as the sun rose higher into the sky.

"Catnip. Katniss wake up." A voice broke into my darkness and I groaned, rolling over before everything came back to me. Including the fact that I was in a tree and rolling over might not be the best idea.

"Is it my turn?" I asked wearily, rubbing my eyes and sitting up carefully, being careful not to knock him out of the tree.

"No, I let Ash go first. I need to talk to you," he said. He seemed kind of nervous, running his fingers through his sleep tousled hair. I looked at him expectantly as I repressed the urge to run my own fingers through his hair.

"Look, about… what happened earlier, I-"

"Gale," I said cutting him off, "Look I'm sorry if you wish it hadn't happened. We can just forget about it if you want. It's not like anything actually happened anyway," I said, looking down at the ground.

"That's not what I said," he said firmly. I looked up at him, surprised to see the fire in his eyes.

"Gale, you don't have to-"

"Don't have to what? Wish I had kissed you? Well I do. But I'm going to change that." I looked down at that, tears prickling my eyes. He wished he didn't want to kiss me.

"Well fine then. Just Go. Tell Ash I'll take my watch now."

"Katniss," he pulled my face up to look him in the eyes, "that's not what I meant. I meant this." And then he kissed me.

His lips met mine slowly, as if he was testing it out to make sure I wouldn't change my mind. I responded quickly, pressing my lips to his and moving my hands to his hair, running my fingers through it. My body spread with warmth and I couldn't help but kiss him harder, slanting my lips across his and pressing my tongue into his mouth. He groaned and pulled me closer, deepening the kiss until all I could think about was him. His arm instinctively wrapped around and crushed me further to his body while one hand tangled through my wavy hair. I pulled back reluctantly for air, and then searched his eyes for some sign that he regretted what had just happened. There was none.

"Katniss-," started Gale.

"Hey Katniss!" shouted Ash from under the tree. Gale rolled his eyes but I sprung up, almost forgetting that I was belted into the tree until it caught me.

"Whoa, Catnip, don't hurt yourself," said Gale, gracefully climbing down the sturdier branches of the tree before plopping onto the ground next to a frantic Ash, automatically moving away from him. I frowned at that- Gale had said that he trusted me, but I could still tell that he didn't like Ash. I followed him down the tree and bundled up my supplies, then immediately turned to Ash.

"What's the plan…" I faltered off as I realized that this was the first time that I had seen him in the daylight. And man was he beautiful. He had brown hair and a tan similar to mine and Gale's, but he had luminous sapphire blue eyes and a body of an angel. I was rendered speechless for a moment as I shamelessly took in the sight of him.

Gale cleared his throat and Ash seemed embarrassed. I shook my head slightly, and then said, "Well? You can't expect me to make all the decisions if you don't at least fill me in on the details."

"I heard them again, I'm pretty sure that-,"

"You seem to hear them an awful damn lot," said Gale, interrupting Ash's speech with a glare, "but I have never once heard them. Not since that first time. And I'm pretty sure I have better hearing than you. In fact, ever since you joined us I haven't even seen so much as a Mockingjay." He turned to face me now, and dragged me out of Ash's line of hearing, "Katniss I say we ditch him. I don't trust him."

"Well I do. I thought I already made that very clear," I said, glaring at him and his change of heart.

"Well I think he's a spy and he's going to take you down Kat. Let's go," said Gale, reaching out for my arm. I yanked it away from him and yelled, "Don't call me that! And we're not just going to leave Ash here for the capitol to turn into a slave. I thought you were better than this, Gale."

"I thought you were too. Either you're with me, or you're with him. I don't trust him and he's given us no reason to. You're way too important to me to sacrifice for some guy we just met. We'll give him some supplies and a map to District 13 if we have to," he said, "but I'm not going to lose you."

"If you trusted me you wouldn't have to. But clearly you don't." I said stubbornly, raising my chin.

"Fine. I'm leaving." He dropped my supplies onto the ground by my feet and turned to walk away.

"If that's what you really want, then go!" I shouted after him. He didn't turn around once, and I crumpled to the ground in tears. I wanted so badly to call after him and tell him to come back, that we could talk about it. But I knew Gale, and his mind was made up, and nothing I could say would change it. Gale was my best friend, but I wasn't just leaving Ash for the wolves. That's not who I was and Gale knew it.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I should just go and let you two do what you were going to do," said Ash, kneeling to the ground beside me as he wrapped his arms around my shoulders. I leaned into his hug, trying desperately to stop my tears.

"No. He's just being an idiot. He'll be back once he realizes that he was wrong," I said, wincing at how rough my voice sounded. I tried to convince myself that I was right about Gale, but he had to change his mind in order to come back. The chances of that happening were very slim.

"Well, either way, I'm sorry. I know that he meant a lot to you. He was your boyfriend?" asked Ash, sounding slightly hopeful on the last note.

"No, it never really got that far… just really, really good friends," I said, thinking back to our kiss. Sure it was amazing, but did it really matter in the end? If Gale had loved me, he wouldn't have left.

"Well… would you mind if I did this?" asked Ash. And then he kissed me.

It was warm and pleasant, like most kisses were, but it lacked the passion that Gale's had had. I pulled back and looked at him, but something was off in his expression.

"Ash, I don't think-," I started, but he cut me off, his odd expression growing from his eyes to cover his entire face.

"You're right. You didn't think before you let the only thing protecting you from me leave. But now he's gone," said Ash, and it was then that I realized what his expression was- smug satisfaction.

"Ash, what are you-,"

"You know my sister has been talking a lot about her current boyfriend. Peeta, I think she said his name was?" he paused, checking my face for reaction, then continued, "Of course, she said that she didn't like him too much and that she'd probably get rid of him soon, but for the time being-,"

"You asshole! You lied to me!" I tried to jump away from him but he held on firmly to my arms. He nodded upward and it was then that I realized that we weren't alone. There were hovercrafts closing in on us, all dropping their nets as they descended into the valley, effectively making a wall around us. I continued to struggle with him but I knew that it was worthless.

"Don't worry, Kat," he said, grinning as I glared at him for the use of my nickname, "We'll all be very happy together. You, me, my sister, and Peeta." Then he pulled his arm around to cover my mouth, and the cloth in his hand quickly turned my world to black.

My eyes fluttered open, wincing at the effect of the bright lights above me on the pounding in my head. I groaned and rolled over, almost stretching before everything that had happened hit me. The fight, Ash's betrayal. Gale had been right.

Tears stung my eyes but this wasn't the time to cry. I could cry later- now I just needed to figure out where I was and how to escape. I eased my eyes open slowly, keeping them closed enough that no one would be able to tell that I was awake. I needed to be able to surprise them, not the other way around, if possible.

From a quick assessment of the room from my somewhat limited point of view from the ground, I seemed to be alone. I groaned again and rolled over, deciding once I had done that, that I was alone. I slowly sat up, trying to feign exhaustion and confusion on the off chance that the room I was in was being monitored. Actually, knowing the capitol, it should be expecting to be in a monitored room. I just had to move slowly enough that no one would freak out until it was too late.

I crawled to one of the walls and looked for the camera, locating it in one of the corners; I eased my way under it, making sure that my leg stuck out enough that they knew I was still there. I studied the room fully now, and decided that the door seemed to be opened by a key code from the outside. So that was out. But the door was obvious, they expected me too look for that. So instead, I looked up.

As I had expected, right above me was an air vent that was roughly twelve by twelve inches. It would be a tight squeeze, but I would fit. Unfortunately, it was in perfect view of the camera, so I would have to move quickly and unpredictably. But the capitol had prepared me for that in the arena… twice.

I eased my way into a standing position, testing myself for any lingering affects of the anesthetic or injuries. I decided that was fine and launched myself into the air toward the vent, capturing it and pulling it from the ceiling with a loud crunch.

"Hey!" The door flew open with a bang and two guards stood there. I sent them a quick wave and jumped into the air vent, happy for the squeeze; they had consumed one too many donuts to be able to follow.

I crawled quickly through the vents, picking turns at random but making sure that I wasn't heading back in the direction that I had come from. I tried to make as little noise as possible, until I reached one vent that I heard a familiar voice coming from.

"I love you Arilyne." I heard Peeta's voice from the vent below me, and I felt a rush of anger when I remembered what Ash had said about his sister. From what I could make out of the girl's features, she looked to be similar to Ash and definitely the girl from the picture. I was about to jump down there and tell Peeta the truth, when I heard her response.

"I love you too, Peeta." There was no faking the complete sound of love and adoration in her voice, and clearly there was something that big brother Ash didn't know. But that wasn't my problem; as long as Peeta was happy, I was happy. Now all I had to do was fix the problem with Gale. And escape the capitol; just a minor setback.

RED ALERT RED ALERT RED ALERT

I jumped in the air vent, and Peeta and the girl immediately looked up and saw me. I smiled meekly and waved down at them, about the keep going in the vent, when the bottom came out from under me.

Peeta was holding the vent cover in his arms and smiling at me, and the girl was looking a mixture of confused and ready to high tail it out of there. I was guessing that she didn't know that I knew about the two of them.

"Katniss, I sent you a letter-,"

"It's okay Peeta, I already know. I never got your letter, but I know. And I'm happy for you," I smiled to drive the point home and the girl standing slightly behind him, Arilyne, relaxed slightly and moved to stand beside him.

"Well Katniss, this it the last place that I expected to see you," said Peeta in a slightly disapproving voice. I smiled guiltily but followed his movements nervously as he moved to lock the door to the room we were in.

"A red alert means lock all the doors, basically, because there is a fugitive loose. Now I wonder who that could be…"

"Peeta shouldn't we turn her in?" asked Arilyne, running her fingers through the ends of her hair nervously.

"No… if Katniss is here, it means that she left District 13. And that means that she isn't dangerous to the capitol anymore. Why are you even here Katniss? The capitol isn't exactly your favorite place," I was irritated slightly that Peeta didn't even seemed fazed by her suggestion to turn me in, but I guess that he had different priorities now.

"Well it's a long story, but basically Gale and I left District 13, we tried to save someone's life, Gale got mad at me and left, and then the person who's life we tried to save double crossed us. If you even mention the name Ash, I'll probably puke." I shook my head, trying to ignore the look of anger that broke out onto Arilyne's face. I waited, bracing myself for her to attack me for even thinking something like that about her brother.

"That asshole did it again?" shouted Arilyne. Peeta moved to comfort her, but I just hung my mouth open in shock.

"What are you talking about?" I asked, honestly surprised that she wasn't ripping my head off with her bare hands. The way he had talked about her sounded like they were very buddy-buddy and wanting to take down the world together, but she seemed very pissed off as I explained this to her.

"I haven't talked to Ash in months. Ever since he turned my best friend and I in for trying to run away. She's an avox now. He said that I didn't know what I was doing," she laughed humorlessly at that, "None of my family talks to him anymore. I'm so sorry for what he has done to you." She sounded genuinely sorry and I was a bit taken aback.

"Um… yeah… ok." Not my most articulate response, but she seemed appeased.

"Well, moving on…" Peeta said, glancing between the two of us tentatively as if he was slightly concerned that we were getting along so well, "We've got to get Katniss to Gale."

"Only problem; I haven't talked to Gale since I basically told him I was against him," I said, looking down at my feet in shame. I couldn't get over how wrong I was about Ash, and especially about how I'd acted toward Gale. I was usually dead on about people.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. He sent me a Mockingjay pin that said 'return to me if this ever gets lost'. I took the metaphorical meaning and assumed that he meant you. I'm supposed to return you to… he said in the forest right outside of the capitol. But I have a feeling he'll try to come get you himself," said Peeta, wrapping an arm around Arilyne who still seemed upset about her brother.

KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK

The banging on the door caused us all to jump, and Arilyne walked over to it while Peeta shoved me back into the air vent. I moved to obscure myself from view and tried to listen as the door opened, but I couldn't hear anything other than 'Katniss' and 'Escape'. Someone walked over to the bottom of the vent and peered up, and I braced my self for the worse. Every muscle in my body tensed as the vent was pulled easily off, stuck on haphazardly by Peeta in the first place.

"Catnip what are you doing up there?"

"Gale!" I cried in relief, dropping out of the vent to hug him, apologizing the entire time, "Gale I'm so sorry! I was wrong about Ash, and about you, and I should have-,"

"It's not your fault Katniss, I should have stayed with you," said Gale, looking me deeply in the eyes, "I'm so sorry that I left you. I'll never leave you again." He started to lean in, but Peeta cleared his throat loudly.

"It might not have occurred to you guys, but we are still under a red alert. You might want to leave before anyone finds you," he was trying to sound serious but I could see the laughter in his eyes.

"Thanks Peeta, for everything," I said to him, smiling gratefully. He smiled back and it just amazed me at how happy he looked.

"I miss you Katniss. But I know we'll see each other again." He looked at Arilyne again, and I hugged him.

"Goodbye Peeta, Arilyne. I'm sure we'll see each other again, but for now it's time to go," I grabbed Gale's arm as he waved back at the two and he rattled off how we were going to get out of the building and then the capitol.

We ran down the halls, and then the streets, and then the forest. But it all didn't matter to me, because I was with Gale now. I had finally figured it all out. As we turned to each other, deep in the forest and completely alone, we both just smiled.

"So what do we do now?" I asked, looking into Gale's deep grey eyes questioningly, but he just smiled.

"It doesn't matter, as long as I'm with you."

The End