The woods in the arena didn't smell like the ones at home—that was the first thing she had noticed when she was still in the games. They were as green and concealing, but the animals that sprinted through those trees were targeting her as much as she was targeting them. This time though, as she stood in a grassy clearing, even the woods of the arena were chirping with innocent life and the promise of dinner.

She saw two figures emerging from the trees and cocked her bow, aiming at her incoming company. She thought she recognized Peeta's face in one of them, but his features looked foreign as he approached her. He was too blonde, too tall, too secure, and despite his obvious strength, he looked nothing like the baker's son whose eyes were too young and whose appearance was lessened by naivety.

The other was a man with hair white as the rose that graced his lapel and whose eyes crinkled at the corners with grandfatherly kindness that willed Katniss to lower her bow. Her posture began to slacken as she looked into the man's eyes—his gaze of weathered knowledge beckoning her in.

Her bow began to lower and her fight began to lessen as his eyes continued to bore into hers.

Commotion from the blonde boy who had emerged with him from the woods broke Katniss from her trance. He lunged himself between Katniss and the rose laden man and lifted her bow back into position for her. He turned to her then with a challenge in his eyes and dared her to take up arms against the man in front of her.

The forest around them rustled and as she found herself down wind of the kind-eyed man, all she could think was that he smelled of deceit.

"Fight."

And the scene began to dissipate.

Though it seemed like anvils were lying over her eyelids, Katniss fought to pull herself out of sleep, her eyes adjusting to the light as she fought to open them all the way. As she stared with wide, visionless eyes at the glaring white ceiling above her, willing her retinas to comply, her surroundings began to fade into clarity.

The world spun around her. She moved her head to the side and squeezed her eyes shut, trying to regain her self with little avail. From what she could tell, she was in a Capitol hospital—that would explain all of the white, bright lights. As she opened her eyes again she saw a familiar figure sitting in a chair next to her. As the figure stood, she took in that she was apparently horizontal. Her head continued spinning as the figure bent to brush her cheek; she squeezed her eyes shut again at the contact. His touch erupted on her skin and sent waves of uneasy coldness across her body. Her senses were going wild, her mind working in a dizzied frenzy trying to take everything. Behind her mental commotion, though she caught a familiar scent that made her recoil from the figure's touch.

Roses.

The man from her dream—had it been a dream?

White hair.

She knew that the man standing above her was President Snow before she even pulled her eyes back open. She struggled momentarily to sit up, but upon realizing that she was restrained to the bed she gave into the waves of dizziness and calmed her limbs. Katniss looked up at him blankly, barely able to recognize his face as her vision swelled and contracted, stretched, shrunk and spun.

"Such a pretty girl. What a shame," he said in a mocking tone.

Katniss tried to reply but her voice caught in her throat. Her words came out as strangled rasps and she resorted to glaring at him to the best of her ability, still unable to figure which of the three of him she could now see was the real one. He reached down to touch her cheek again and she snarled at him, her throat ripping with a primal growl.

"But an animal none the less" the President sneered at her, "I hope you realize what you're putting yourself into, Ms. Everdeen"

She gazed back at him with clouded eyes.

"Though I suppose you don't, do you" he continued with a mocking edge, "that would be the morphling"

As she stared at him still standing above her, the image of him rippling and rebounding off of the hospital lights, Katniss barely comprehended what he was saying to her.

"Even the mightiest fall to substance, don't they?" Snow said, his gaze falling somewhere on the other side of the room.

"I wouldn't exactly say she fell though, did she?" spoke another voice, leaded with agitation.

Katniss knew this voice. It sent color blasting across her vision and a tingle across her brain—she knew this voice. It was warm and familiar—it sounded like solace.

"Well, I would say that's rather subjective, wouldn't you?"

"Subjective my ass. You're keeping her on the stuff, there was no choice on her part," the voice growled back.

Katniss strained to look past Snow for the person with the voice like home and warmth, but her consciousness was drowning in the drug now flowing through her veins. Her head hit her pillow again and she looked back at Snow, her eyes growing heavy again.

Snow caught Katniss' waning gaze before smirking back at the other side of the room once again.

"I cannot permit violence among my victors. They are to set an example for society, not to throw it into turmoil. Either way, she seems to have forfeited her choice," he said before exiting the room with a swift gait.

Katniss began to fall further into her dizziness as she heard the voice from across the room rise again.

"Fuck," it said with a force.

Footsteps echoed and bounced off of the corners of her mind, pin-balling against her eyes and sending her head back into a spinning frenzy. A face appeared over her again and she vaguely registered it as Haymitch. She let a sloppy grin creep its way onto her face as she submitted further to the dizziness.

No more man with the white hair, she thought to herself.

"Sweetheart, are you with me?" the voice said down to her.

And she spilled out of consciousness.

AN: sorry I haven't updated in so long! One thing lead to another, lead to another, lead to another, etc. etc. BUT! I will start uploading a lot more frequently. I'm thinking once a week should be fine n' dandy!

So no Cato yet :( I hope you thought the voice was him for a moment. I kind of did too, but I thought that'd go too fast (plus it just kinda sounded like Haymitch, didn't it? Cato won't sound like that)

Super special thanks to Peenis0314 3 you're so constructive and insightful that I don't think I would function without you.

Nonetheless, Catoniss to come in the fairly near future.

And PLEEEEEASE review! I get a lot of alerts but relatively no reviews! A heard people is a pleased people :)

You're all free to go now