I DO NOT OWN THE HUNGER GAMES OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS
Enjoy,
-PinkSteam
Peeta P.O.V.
I wake up to find myself shackled to a wall. I can't wait to get out and get revenge on Katniss. I start to pull on the restraints trying to get away. The cool metal trapping my wrists feels strangely refreshing. The restraints don't bulge so I look around for an escape. I find nothing. The room I'm in is dull and lifeless. Just like my personality.
Since I have nothing better to do than wait, I start to think of my past.
The Capitol, Katniss, my family, the bakery, the play.
What ever happened to the play exactly? All I remember was Ms. Trinket made us create a romance play. What a joke. Katniss Everdeen is just a mutt the Capitol created as punishment. And you fell in love with her. Ha, she played you so well.
But everything was so real, the bread, kindergarten, what about class?
You know, she never really loved you. She told me she did though.
My inner good and bad are currently fighting.
Remember the time you sank in the water and Finnick saved you by giving you mouth-to-mouth? He just did that to calm Katniss down. He never did it for you.
She killed your family. Dad, Rye, Wheat. All of them. She tried to kill you too but you were stronger. Better.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Darius come with a tray of food. Cheese buns with a white rose on the tray. The silent message from the Capitol saying: We own you.
"Welcome to District 13, Peeta. I know you're not speaking with anyone but the days you were sleeping when I injected you with a needle, they bombed District 12. We had to save you so we brought you to District 13." Darius informs me. I let all the information settle in. I try not to show any emotion on my face though.
I don't miss District 12, I miss the bakery though.
I let the hunger get the best of me and eat the entire cheese bun in 2 bites.
The rest of the week goes on in a blur. Katniss visits me often but I never look at her. We don't interact at all. She just sits on the bench secured to the wall while I sit on the floor.
xxxxxxx
I finally get to leave this... This dungeon. What shall I do first? I can bake like I used to do or I can seek revenge on Katniss. Hm, second one it is!
I wander around the streets of District 13. After the bombing of District 12 all the refugees fled to District 13. I never knew there was a District 13 until Darius had told me.
I turn around to be greeted with 2 peacekeepers. Great now I can't do anything without being watched. Walking around the area, all I see is pavement. I sit down where the pavement looks clean and stare into the distance.
After a short period of time, Katniss sits beside me. I ignore her though, the 2 peeacekeepers are still behind me. I can't try anything
"How are you?" Katniss asks breaking the silence. Really? How do you think I am, after all you've done to me. I feel like screaming that at the top of my lungs.
After she asks me that, I walk away. I knew after that question I wouldn't be able to control myself any longer.
xxxxxxx
The food for breakfast was so bland. No flavour. I wish I could have cooked me own food. I would have been eating cheese buns all day. I remember how much Katniss loved my cheese buns.
It's been a month since the last encounter with her. Katniss, Finnick, Gale and I are on a team together. We spend a lot of time as a group. Katniss and I don't talk anymore though. We just carry on with life.
Last week, Darius told me I'm suffering something called 'hijacking'. Apparently the Capitol went into my head and changed all my memories involving Katniss. I know it's true because Delly told me that too.
I hate to say it, but I'm starting to hate Katniss less and less. I have learn't that she didn't kill my family but they died in the bombings of 12.
Delly's the only one I can talk to anymore. The only one I trust.
xxxxxxx
It's been a few months. I don't hate Katniss anymore. I only dislike her.
All the things I thought were wrong. I guess the Capitol mixed my head around a lot.
I sit on the pavement, can I just say once more that District 13 needs grass, a lake, maybe some trees?
I have been having nightmares, but they're usually about losing Katniss.
I sit down and Katniss sits beside me. I never hear her coming. I guess her hunting skills are always on. We've become slight friends, but I still dislike her.
I must have loved you a lot.
"Can I ask you some questions?" I ask her, they've been bothering me forever.
"Sure," I see the confusion in her face but she quickly hides it. She's gotten good at that.
"You're still trying to protect me. Real or not real," I whisper.
"Real," she answers. "Because that's what you and I do, protect each other."
"If I could grow wings, I could fly. Only people can't grow wings," I say. "Real or not real?"
"Real," she says "But people don't need wings to survive." "Mockingjays do."
I see her pull out the pearl I gave her when I was little. I can't believe she kept that. The thought makes me smile.
"I know what blood poisoning is, Katniss," I say. "Even if my mother isn't a healer."
I see her snap back to reality when I say that. "You said that same thing to me a while back. Real or not real?" she asks me. I think back a long time.
"Real," I say.
"And you risked your life getting the medicine that saved me?"
"Real." she shrugs. "You were the reason I was alive to do it."
"You love me. Real or not real?" I ask. That last question. The 7 words that still give me hope.
She tells me, "Real."
I still love her, and she still loves me. After all we've gone through.
I then realize; what I need is the dandelion in the spring. The bright yellow that means rebirth instead of destruction. The promise that life can go on, no matter how bad our losses. That it can be good again.
"I just wish we can start over, when we had to make the play." I tell her. I really do wish that.
"Well maybe we can," I see a gleam in her eyes. I watch as she runs into her room and pulls out a jar of colourful sand.
I watch as she takes a hand full, briefly closes her eyes and blows into the air away from us.
Katniss P.O.V.
"Real," I say. "But people don't need wings to survive." "Mockingjays do."
I take out the pearl from where it lives in my pocket and try to remember the boy with the bread, the strong arms that warded off nightmares, and kisses in the arena.
"I know what blood poisoning is, Katniss," he says. "Even if my mother isn't a healer." I'm jolted back in time, to another wound, to another set of bandages. "You said that same thing to me a while back. Real or not real?" I ask him. "Real," he says.
"And you risked your life getting the medicine that saved me?"
"Real." I shrug. "You were the reason I was alive to do it."
"You love me. Real or not real?" he asks. I tell him without hesitation, "Real," I really mean it no matter what he thinks.
"I just wish we can start over, when we had to make the play." he tells me. I want that too. And then I get an idea.
Running to my room I grab the jar of sand my father gave me. Doing exactly what he told me, I grab a hand full, make a wish and blow.
I look around and find myself on the ground with Peeta standing up looking cute as always.
"Not that I don't appreciate you kneeling at my feet, but what are you doing?"
It worked! Thank you dad!
Standing up I kiss him. It wasn't fast like how we were supposed to be like in the play. It was like when I kissed him after reading the letter he wrote me. Passionate.
15 years later
Ever since I used the sand things have changed. Good and bad. Peeta doesn't remember anything about the sand. He and I are married and we have two kids. A boy and girl. We live on a meadow that used to be a grave. Although I don't tell my kids that they're playing on a graveyard. Peeta and I have grown together. He still suffers hijacking but all I can do is watch him and try to sooth him after.
To this day, I still love him. We may have our ups and downs. But no matter what, we love each other. Forever and always.
The End
So I did change the other chapters a bit. This was the last chapter. I really wish the story was longer but oh well. Thank you to everyone that joined me on the experience. Did that sentence make sense? I hope it did. So basically, thank you for reading. Until next time!