Hey guys! Well, I'm sorry for posting late. But I have a good reason! Please don't kill me! *dodges missiles* We went over our data plan, so I couldn't use the internet. I also had a minor case of writer's block, but I recovered! This story will get finished, mark my words, if it's the last thing I do! Stay tuned for awesomeness! So, sorrysorrysorrysorrysorry! Can you ever forgive me! Hope the chapter makes up for it!

Any dialogue that looks familiar is from the book. So please don't sue me!

Also, again, I still don't know how to work private messaging! If anyone could teach me, I would be eternally grateful! I feel so aggravated when I stare at that little box that I have no idea how to use! I really want to reply back to reviews, but I cannot! Alas, would someone please help me!

Disclaimer: I do not own Hunger Games or Circle of Magic. If I did, I would have had more of Annie and Finnick together. They are absolutely the most loveliest of couples, and Susanne Collins is just cruel to tear them apart the way that she did. I was so devastated! *screams and shakes fist, yelling WHY!*

Chapter 4: The Stress of Waiting

Haymitch's POV:

I waited in the control room for any news of the team's return. It was torture for me, Peeta had been a good boy, much better than all of us, and he loved Katniss with all his heart. But for Katniss, where two people close to her were in such danger, I couldn't imagine the anxiety that she must be feeling.

And Finnick. Annie and he had waited for so long for their little moment of happiness. Where they could be together without the Capitol's prying eyes. Without Snow pulling all of Finnick's strings, controlling him like a puppet. They had suffered enough.

I wished that I had a bottle to drown my sorrows in. But no, the stupid rules of this place, the stupid rules. And Coin. She was so commanding all the time, almost like a miniature Snow; I just didn't like her, not one bit.

So I sat there, no alcohol, no nothing, just staring at the comm. unit, waiting for a reply.

Bogg's POV:

The hovercraft was bumped back and forth by the explosions. The Capitol was really hitting us hard; they obviously didn't want us to return in one piece. They were playing their big guns, literally.

I hadn't expected this much resistance. Sure, some, but not this much. The much was dangerous. And not just to us. The amount of explosives that they were firing into the air was endangering the people of the Capitol.

This was very unlike them. They never did anything that would ever endanger themselves. They preferred to endanger others, namely the districts. They were strictly a squeamish people, solely interested in their self-preservation. What was their goal in all this? What was their target?

Haymitch's POV:

The comm. unit crackled to life. I started towards it and groaned when my back creaked from being stiff for so long. But I ignored it; I wanted to know if they were safe, if they had rescued Peeta.

"Hello, hello. Does anybody read me? Over." Boggs voice came through the tiny speakers.

"Haymitch here. I read you. Over." I replied. I didn't dare ask the question. I was afraid of the answer.

"Mission successful. However, we're under heavy fire, and are taking in some damage. Almost out of the danger zone. Over."

I breathed a sigh of relief. They had rescued them. The victors were safe. Johanna. Annie. Peeta. Peeta. Peeta. All safe.

Bogg's POV:

I was nervous about what the rebel's reaction to the children would be. Coin was a sociopath who would stop at nothing to keep her rigid control over her domain. She certainly would not welcome wild cards such as them. And who knew what the rest of the rest of the district would say.

I had to let them know. At least Haymitch was the one on the other end of the line. He would be more understanding. Under all the drink and the rough exterior, there was a kind heart that hadn't been damaged by the Capitol. I just knew it.

"We had a slight problem with the mission. Over." My throat was dry, and my nerves frayed from driving the hovercraft.

"What. Over." He said it as a sentence, not a question.

"We, uh, acquired some extra passengers. Over."

"What do you mean 'extra passengers'? Over." His voice was so slow, ever bit of emotion locked down. I paled at the coldness in his voice.

"There were four children being tortured. We couldn't leave them behind. Over."

Haymitch didn't reply for a long time. The only sounds being the children's whimpers and cries, the explosions outside, and the crackle of static from the radio. At least that meant that Haymitch hadn't hung up. I hoped he would answer soon; the silence was killing me.

"What do you think? Over." I asked hesitantly; then winced as an explosion went off in front of me, narrowly missing our ship.

"I think that Coin is not going to be happy."

"And?"

"I'm with you. This is going to be fun!"

Katniss's POV:

Was Peeta okay? Was he alive? Was Gale okay or alive? How could I let Gale go? Or Boggs for that matter! People kept on risking their lives for me, and it was horrible! So many dead! So many. And all because of those stupid berries!

They had locked us in the hummingbird room. We weren't allowed in the control room. We were too 'unstable'! Finnick and I. But I guess they were right. After all, we had just woken up from being sedated.

The waiting was the worst part. You had no control over the situation. You could only sit and hope, and imagine the different scenarios playing out in your head. I kept on seeing bullets tearing through Gale and Boggs and the team, Peeta strapped down to a table and being killed slowly and painfully, and Snow sitting there with his roses, smiling a crocodile's grin at me. The waiting truly was the worst part. It was tearing me in two.

"Katniss, stop!" Finnick hissed, clutching my hands.

I then realized I was clutching my head, and that there was torn out hair in my hands. If they didn't come back soon I might just lose my mind. I feared for my sanity, and my hair.

"Here, try this." Finnick handed me a small length of rope.

"What should I do?" I whispered, my voice hoarse.

"Make knots. Takes your mind off things. It helps, sort of."

"Okay."

So that's what we did. We sat there making knots. It became all that I saw, that tiny length of string. It consumed my mind, for I didn't allow myself to think of anything else. I tied knots until my fingers bled, and then I even still tied knots in the string.

Flashbacks from the arena came to me: the clock, Wiress falling into the water dead, Peeta hitting the force field, the moment the lightning struck the tree, the jabberjays screaming the screams of my loved ones, the countdown before the games began, and most of all, Peeta. The kiss on the beach, the pearl he gave me, him lying dead on the floor, and the kiss. The kiss. The kiss. The kiss.

Finnick couldn't handle the stress, and huddled in a ball, hands over his ears. I wondered what he was trying to shut out, and if it was working.

I continued to make knots. I couldn't stop. I couldn't allow myself to think.

Gale's POV:

We barely made it out of there alive. The anti-aircraft guns were firing at us constantly, and we were battered around like a little toy boat in a huge ocean. The waves were overwhelming, and we threatened to capsize with every swell. We barely stayed afloat, and only through grace did we make it to calmer waters.

All in all, we were unharmed. But our hovercraft was damaged badly, and we were flying at a slower pace than we usually would. But we were home free, and that was what mattered. We had gotten the victors out, and our mission was accomplished. Katniss could continue to be the Mockingjay. The resistance would continue to fight. The hope and fire wouldn't die; we would keep on burning.

And we had done a good deed. We had rescued four hurting children, four innocents. Hopefully, they could help us as we helped them. Hopefully they would heal, physically and mentally.

The Capitol had almost killed these children. And for no reason whatsoever. They were all monsters. In fact, they were past monsters. They were dead inside. They were walking dead. They were the worst beings imaginable. They would pay for their heinous crimes; that I was certain of. I would make sure of it.

Haymitch's POV:

"Hello, does anybody copy? Over." Bogg's voice crackled over the speakers again.

"Haymitch here. I copy. Over."

"We are home free. Flying over the districts now. Over."

"How much time estimated before arrival? Over."

"Roughly ten minutes. Over."

"Copy that."

"Oh, and you might want to alert the medics and tell them to be prepared."

"Copy that. On my way."

Medics we would certainly need. I just wasn't sure that some of the injuries could be cured by stitches and a bandage.

Katniss's POV:

Our dinner sat cold and soggy in front of us. Mashed turnips lay wet and unappetizing in front of me. It looked really greasy, and for a moment, I thought I saw something move. I knew that we wouldn't get another, but I couldn't bring myself to eat. My stomach was doing flips and threatening to expel what I already had in me. I didn't want to put anything else in.

We still didn't have any news about the mission. We didn't know if any had made it out, or if they all were in the hands of the Capitol. We didn't know if any of the victors had made it out. Peeta. Annie. Johanna. We didn't know anything. And it was killing us.

Finnick still hadn't moved from his hunched position in the corner of the room. Several hummingbirds had perched themselves in his hair, and I would have found that amusing if I wasn't so worried.

My nails were bitten down to stubs and my hands shook when I moved them. At this rate, I was going to make myself sick, but I didn't have the motivation to care. All I cared about was Peeta. He was out there somewhere, possibly suffering, because of me. It was because I had become the Mockingjay that he was being treated that way. It was a way to keep me in line, and it was working. I felt horrible. So much blood was spilt because of me, and I could do nothing about it. All I could do was look pretty on camera and try not to get in the way.

It was because of me that all this had happened.

Haymitch's POV:

As soon as I alerted the medic crew, there was no time to prepare. They were back. They stumbled out of the smoking hovercraft, sooty but intact. Gale was rushed to treatment right away, but Boggs didn't need it. He had escaped unharmed.

"Is he…" I couldn't finish the sentence.

"Unconscious but in one piece. It looks like the Capitol did a number on him though. The medics will have their hands full with him."

"Good," I breathed a sigh of relief I hadn't even known I was holding. "I'm going to get Katniss and Finnick. They'll want to see them with their own eyes."

"But-"

I would have stopped to listen to what he said, but I was already running in the opposite direction.

Finnick's POV:

When Haymitch opened the door, I braced myself for the worst. The world seemed to hate me, what was another slight to it. Throughout my life, things had steadily gone from bad to worse, and any bit of happiness was ripped right from me. Why should this time be any different?

Haymitch opened his mouth to speak, and I inwardly cringed. "They're back." He said, and those two words filled me with so much warring emotions that I couldn't move. They were back! They were back! But were they safe? What had the Capitol done to them? Had they hurt Annie? Had they broken her? "We're wanted in the hospital…That's all I know." He said it like he wanted to cut off any questions that we might ask. But he needn't have worried. My brain was filled with too much white noise to process anything, and I think my voice had stopped functioning.

I feel someone taking my hand. Katniss, I think. I would protest being treated this way, but I don't dare speak. It's almost like if I spoke, all my bad thoughts would come flying out of my mouth and jinx my chances. As if they would keep anything good from happening to me. And they would, I thought. I had done so many horrible things in my life; the world had a right to hate me. Nothing good would ever happen.

So we walked through Special Defense to where medics rushed in a frenzy of activity. It was almost too much to take in, all the movement; you couldn't discern anything that was happening. It was hard to focus on one individual person, much less find one.

I saw people being wheeled by on cart, oozing pus and blood. All the blood. It was everywhere. The medics were covered in it, treating the hysterical injured people. Soldiers and broken alike, the blood covered both of them. And through all the red, I didn't get a glimpse of her at all. My hopes, which had been swimming towards the surface, dove right back down towards the murky depths.

"Finnick!" came the cry. That musical voice that lifted my world high, and made life worth living.

It was Annie. She was so beautiful; she seemed to glow from within. Her hair was tangled, looking as if the ocean wind had been blowing her hair. It was a wonderfully warm chocolate brown and I longed to run my hands through it. Her eyes still held life within them, sea-green eyes sparkling with suppressed joy. She was dress in nothing but a sheet, but to me it was the finest of gowns. She was perfect.

I ran towards her, arms outstretched. When we collided, everything felt right. She was here in my arms, safe, and nothing could ever tear us apart. I clung to her, and she to me. I could just stay here forever, smelling her sweet scent, her arms wrapped tight around me. All was right with the world.

Haymitch's POV:

When I saw Annie and Finnick greet each other, I couldn't help but smile. They had both been through so much, and they deserved happiness in their life. That they were reunited was a sign that things could get better from what they were.

I also saw the look that Katniss was giving them; it was a mixture of happiness for the couple and a look of utter jealousy. I understood her; she wanted to see Peeta again, to hold him in that same way. Although she was in denial, I knew the look on her face. She was in love.

Boggs approached us, completely covered in dirt, filthy, really, but not caring one bit. "We got them out. Except Enobaria. But since she's from District 2, we doubt that she's being held anyway. Peeta's at the end of the hall. The effects of the gas are just wearing off. You should be there when he wakes up."

Katniss had such silly grin on her face, and I knew that I did too. Peeta, who was just inexplicably good, who was the best out of all of us, who kept Katniss's world together, had come back to us. We were giddy with suppressed joy, and we both knew it.

When the door is opened, I saw Peeta sitting bewildered on the medic bed. He looked so out of place, so uncomfortable with everything, it stopped me right in my tracks. Something was wrong. Peeta wasn't the person to be awkward with people, he loved to talk, and he cared about people. He wouldn't be acting the way he was. Something was very wrong.

Evidently Katniss saw nothing wrong with him. She ran to him, arms outstretched. Peeta was running towards her as well, and for a moment I relaxed. But only for a moment.

The look on his face was one that I had recognized time and time again. It was anger, and the desire to kill. Peeta looked positively murderous.

He leapt forward and wrapped his hands around Katniss's throat. She had such a look of hurt on her face, a look of utter betrayal and shock. She had had no idea that something was wrong with Peeta, and was wounded by the act, both physically and mentally.

I raced forward to separate the two. My hands gripped both of their shoulders as I forced them apart. Katniss collapsed into the medics' arms, her lips blue from lack of oxygen. She had lost conscious, and looked so broken there, lying in their arms. Peeta, on the other hand, was filled with fire. He spat at Katniss, his words slurring together, too filled with anger and rage to be understood. He surged against my arms, his strength almost as much as mine. I was barely able to hold him back until the medics were able to sedate him.

As I watched the two most important people in my life being wheeled away on carts, I felt my heart break. This mission had been supposed to make everything right, but it just left me feeling more hopeless than before. Was this a fixable problem? Or would it be permanent? Would Peeta ever return to normal?

Boggs once again approached me. I thought he was coming to offer words of wisdom that would make the situation somehow look less bleak. But his words were anything but comforting.

"The four children that we rescued. We're experiencing some problems with them. Could you come help us? I think that Coin's going to rupture her spleen, you should see her expression!"

"Well, we can't miss that, can we?" I said dryly. Were our problems ever over?

Dun dun dun! Cliffhanger! Please R and R! It would be greatly appreciated!