A/N: I'm really kind of upset that this one ended up being slightly shorter than the first one. There's still a bit of establishing, but the next chapter is gonna take us away from what really happened and open us into some other really interesting things, at least from the way things are going so far. Thanks you everyone who has taken an interest in this story so far! Let me know what you think, suggestions are welcome and if there's anything you really want to see happen, let me know. This story is kinda writing itself at this point.


They exchanged hesitantly looks, obviously deciding which things they didn't need to tell me. I felt irritation creep up my spine, how could they be thinking about filtering the truth? I had just spilt the entire nightmare I had been living for, apparently, the last eight months. I wanted to yell at them, but I knew I would never manage to muster the strength. I felt so weak and tired, but I knew I wouldn't sleep the same again. Not after being told I was unconscious for over half a year.

"You and I were captured on the same hovercraft." Peeta informed me, scanning the wall for the speck I had been staring at. "When you came to, after the explosion in the arena, you attacked the Peacekeepers. You were screaming. I couldn't make out what you were trying to say. It sounded like 'Kill him,' but I couldn't be sure. They injected you with something and you passed out. I didn't see you conscious again for a long time. Do you remember?"

I shook my head. There was a sharp flame of pain that lapped against my brain. I frowned as I tried to think back to the Quell, ignoring the angry throb was no small task. It was no use. The only thing I could recall was 13's hovercraft and attacking Haymitch.

"So it wasn't you they hijacked." I murmured quietly, the gravity of what had happened was dawning on me. "It was me."

"No!" Haymitch and Peeta chorused, both turning on me.

"You weren't hijacked." Haymitch said as Peeta's eyes turned dark and brooding. "Peeta was hijacked. They did something different to you. Plutarch explained it to us. It was a dream, the things you went through. Everything you remember was influenced by drugs."

I could feel my frown deepen. That wasn't possible. How could I just stay asleep for eight months? I would have woken up.

"They plugged you into a machine that fed you drugs and would tell your brain to respond to the pain in the dream." Peeta said slowly. The emotions on his face were proof enough of the truth in this statement. "They would make me watch it before they started pumping me with the venom."

My mind was still sticking on the word plugged. My fingers wondered to the back of my neck, resting lightly on the cool metal there. A jolt of energy raced the length of my spine. I dug my nails into the soft flesh around it. I had the sudden unstoppable urge to rip the plug from my neck. I started yanking at the metal, unaware that Haymitch and Peeta had stopped talking and were watching me.

One minute I was digging my nails under the metal rim, pulling and squeezing my eyes shut against the hot pain that was travelling from the foreign addition to my anatomy, the next moment, both of my arms are in one of Haymitch's hands. I tried to pull away, but he held strong, looking at me with such a confusing expression that I decided to turn to Peeta. His face was tight with apprehension, my stomach started to bubble at his expression so I was forced to return my gaze to my mentor.

"Let me go." I growled, sharply yanking my arms again.

"Stop trying to pull the damn plug out of your head then." Haymitch countered his voice just as much of a growl as mine. "It's made to explode if it's dislodged."

I let my arms go slack and felt myself tense. Of course, did I expect any less from the Capitol? I had an explosive surgically implanted in my head. Fantastic. "Oh." I finally said, lamely. "Got it."

Cautiously Haymitch released me. I kept my hands firmly at my side, now scared to touch the device at the back of my head. The next five minutes were spent once again in silence. I had a million questions in my head and not nearly enough of them were being answered, but I was terrified of the answers I was going to get. Knowing that everything I had lived through recently was a lie, left me scared of what had occurred in the gap. I knew the two of them kept watching me as if I was a time bomb ready to go off, and for all rights, I was thanks to plug.

"Once they started using the venom on me," Peeta continued as if my little outburst didn't happen, "Everything gets a little crazy. I-I tried to kill you when they sent the rescue team in to get us. You and I had cells across from one another. I killed three of District 13's soldiers trying to get to you. I spent half of the time you spent unconscious with doctors trying to help me figure out what was true and what was a lie."

A memory surfaced without warning. A private memory of Peeta's breath, hot on my face and his blue eyes clouded with the intensity of what he was feeling. Lips at my neck, he whispered against my skin. I couldn't hear what he was saying. In fact, I had to try very hard to do anything other than get overwhelmed by everything that was happening to my body. His hands were cradling my hips against his own, as if I might break or evaporate at any moment. He lifted his head, his messy blond curls falling down into his eyes, as he found my face. One of his hands stayed at my hip, holding me to him, the other tangled itself into my hair. His eyes so full of love, I thought my heart might stop. Peeta brought his lips to mine in a light kiss.

When he opened his eyes again and found his voice, it was a whispered question that reached my ears, "Katniss, you love me. Real…Or not real?"

He moved slowly, and pressure was building in my chest. A pressure that I was sure was going to crush me soon. Speaking was incredibly difficult, as I could barely focus on anything other than Peeta's agonizing movements. I was scared to open my mouth, for fear of what would come out. I didn't think I would be capable of managing words, only strange strangled sounds. Katniss Everdeen, the girl on fire. The nickname took on a whole new meaning now. I managed a small smile at that thought. My hands fell from Peeta's shoulders, down his back, to his hips. I anchored my fingers there and choked out that word we both needed to hear.

It was a very husky sound that came from my throat, "Real."

I felt the memory of the fire between us climb into my cheeks and spread through my body insanely quickly. It centralized itself in the lower part of my stomach, tingling strongly. I felt electricity race through me from fingertips to toes. I looked away murmuring, "Real."

Peeta wasn't one to miss a beat, "What?"

I shook my head ignoring the pain, the first smile since I had regained consciousness finding its way to my lips. "When…When you were hijacked- in my dream- everyone played a game to help you sort the real memories from the fake ones."

It felt weird referring to what I had lived as a dream, but that was truth I had to learn to come to terms with.

"A game?" He repeated with a look that was only one a Victor would give at the mention of the word. Victors aren't fond of games.

"Sort of," I explained, trying to calm myself so the blush would disappear, but my face only grew hotter. "You would say something and we would respond with real or not real and explain it."

I couldn't stand to explain the memory that brought up our game. Especially not with Haymitch watching me, with far too familiar and knowing eyes trained on me. A subtly smirk playing at his lips, made me aware of how poorly I managed to hide the effect the recollection was having on me.

I mentally shook myself back onto track. I still had questions and even though the hunger in my body was threatening to destroy me, I wanted answers. I had learned to deal with hunger. More than that, I needed to get it through my thick skull that what happened between Peeta and I in my mind hadn't happened. Like everyone was so fond of reminding me, it wasn't real.

Not real, not real, not real. I was going to have to start playing the game Peeta had been subjected to in my head.

I met Haymitch's eyes after I managed to regain some composure. "So, what happened? You're the only one who managed to make it on the rebel side, it sounds like."

"When we didn't retrieve either of you from the arena, they tried to use Finnick as the face of the rebellion. That was working fine, until he realized what was happening to both of you, and Annie. He shut down and started up a rescue team." He shrugged, and I noticed how gaunt his face looked. The Haymitch in my head always had at least some weight to him. He didn't look like the shell of a man in my head. "Coin wasn't happy, but there wasn't much she could do about it. Finnick was the one who finally managed to pull Peeta off of you during the retrieval."

Retrieval.

It was a cold word, not at all holding the same meaning as rescue. I could hear the word on Coin's lips. That was when I realized something terrifying.

How had I known about Coin? Shouldn't she just have been part of a dream?

"Wait," I interrupted before he could start speaking again, this question couldn't be left unanswered. "How did I know about Coin? I had never met her."

Peeta and Haymitch exchanged looks again. I don't know if they thought they were being subtle, but it was horribly easy to tell that they were hoping that this was something I wouldn't ask.

"No, you hadn't met her." Haymitch said slowly, careful in the way he approached the next sentence. "The Capitol isn't able to make you dream what they want if they don't make it feel like it would be real. They needed to give you fears, desires, hopes to try to bend you to their will. They had a spy in District 13, they had sent one in before the Quarter Quell. They expected something like what had happened to happen sooner or later."

"It was Plutarch." I don't know how I suddenly knew, but I did. I think all a long it never made sense to me for a Gamemaker to want to help a rebellion. Even if that was only a dream.


A/N: Well, well, well. What have we here? Next chapter will be up soon, stick around.