As promised...
Peeta had never felt so useless in his life. Well, there was when he had been cut, sliced to the bone by Cato's sword, and he lie in the mud, awaiting death. But this was different; this time, it was Katniss who was in pain and he couldn't help her at all.
There was a wall-not glass, not anything that could be broken by Peeta's knives or Johanna's axe-that was separating him and her. He pressed his hand against it, watching Katniss mirror him, her eyes wild. He'd heard Prim, her screaming before Katniss and Finnick both disappeared in to the jungle. He was trying to talk to her, trying to tell her it wasn't real-they couldn't possibly get those screams by hurting her.
Katniss tries to pick them off; arrow after arrow finds it's mark, but for every bird she kills, another three arrive. Eventually, the screams are to much for her, and she curls up just a few feet away from Finnick, pressing her hands hard against her skull.
When the hour is finally up, and the wall disappears, Peeta gently touches Katniss. She doesn't move, paralyzed with her eyes squeezed shut. Peeta lifts her easily from the jungle floor and carries her out towards the beach. Her muscles are hard, tensed up, and Peeta sits down with her in his lap. He soothes her until her muscles unlock, and then she throws her arms around his neck, pressing her face in to his skin and shaking.
"It's all right, Katniss," he whispers.
"You didn't hear them," she answers.
"I heard Prim. Right in the beginning. But it wasn't her," he says. "It was a jabberjay."
"It was her. Somewhere. The jabberjay just recorded it," Katniss fights back. Peeta readjusts her and lifts her chin to look at him.
"No, that's what they want you to think. The same way I wondered if Glimmer's eyes were in that mutt
last year. But those weren't Glimmer's eyes. And that wasn't Prim's voice. Or if it was, they took it from an interview or something and distorted the sound. Made it say whatever she was saying," he says.
"No, they were torturing her. She's probably dead."
"Katniss, Prim isn't dead. How could they kill Prim? We're almost down to the final eight of us. And
what happens then?" Peeta says.
"Seven more of us die," she answers hopelessly.
"No, back home. What happens when they reach the final eight tributes in the Games?" When she doesn't answer, he repeats his questions. " What happens? At the final eight?"
Katniss takes a moment to think. "At the final eight?" She repeats. "They interview your family and friends back home."
"That's right," says Peeta. "They interview your family and friends. And can they do that if they've killed them all?"
"No?" She asks, still unsure.
"No. That's how we know Prim's alive. She'll be the first one they interview, won't she?" he asks.
Peeta can tell Katniss is trying hard to believe him. She hesitates a moment before she nods.
Johanna gets water, and they all settle on the edge of the water to watch the faces in the sky. Eight more dead today. Just a few minutes later, a parachute floats down. It's filled with twenty-four rolls from Beetee's district. They make camp on the beach, and it's Katniss and Peeta who volunteer for first watch.
They settle in the sand, their backs pressed against each other. Katniss leans her head back against Peeta's shoulder and sighs. She rubs her nelly with her hand and stares up at the jungle trees.
"Katniss," Peeta says softly, "it's no use pretending we don't know what the other one is trying to do."
Katniss doesn't answer.
"I don't know what Haymitch as promised you, but you should know he's made me promises too."
Haymitch had promised him to keep her alive-to keep his baby alive. Katniss mattered to him more than anything in world. She was the only thing that mattered to him. Haymitch was lying to one of them and Peeta hoped it was to Katniss.
"Why are you saying this?" she asks, shifting in the sand.
"Because I want you to know that without you, there is nothing for me back in District Twelve. No one needs me there, Katniss, not really. But you-your family needs you. Your sister Prim and your mother and all of your cousins. And the baby, too."
Peeta pulls the gold chain from his neck, his token, and holds it between them so she can see. He opens the locket, and inside are three pictures: one of Katniss's mother, one of Prim, and one of Gale.
"No, that's not true. I need you, Peeta."
Peeta shakes his head. Katniss never loved him. She could move on, marry Gale and have his babies. Peeta wouldn't move on. He couldn't live in District Twelve without the girl he's loved since he was five. There was just no way. He had to tell her this, to argue with her and convince her that she's the one who needs to make it out of the arena, but she turns quickly and kisses him.
He kisses her back, feeling something in his chest-sorrow and deep, bitter-sweet feeling. He could die tomorrow. This could be his last moment with Katniss. Her fingers slide through his hair, and she kisses him harder. He hopes she'll miss him.
Katniss doesn't stop kissing him, and he knows there will be no more talk of death, not tonight.
With a loud crack, it's the lightning that strikes the twelve o'clock tree that pulls them apart. Finnick wakes up with a cry.
"I can't sleep. One of you should sleep…or both of you."
"It's too dangerous," Peeta says. "Katniss, you should get some sleep."
He leads her over to where to others are. Katniss stretches out on the sand and looks up at him. He squats down next to her and kisses her once more. His hand settles on the curve of her belly. She smiles at him, but only for a second. The corners of her mouth drop back down into a frown as she covers his hand with hers.
"Good night," Peeta says to her. She nods and rolls away from him, and he turns to make his way back to Finnick. He takes his seat next to him and rests his elbows on his knees.
"She plans on getting you out," Finnick says.
"I know," Peeta replies, glancing over his shoulder at Katniss. "I plan on stopping her."
Finnick raised his eyebrows. "She's very stubborn."
Peeta grinned at the sand. "Oh, trust me, I know."
Even though Katniss tries to convince Peeta to take off, he knows they should stay. Just for a little while longer. He didn't want to be up against Enobaria with her sharpened teeth and Brutus by himself.
Peeta takes handfuls of sand and scrubs his skin, rubbing off the scabs and layers of dead skin when Beetee calls them over to explain a plan-a trap for the Careers. He plans on taking the wire, the one he risked getting stabbed in the back for, wrapping it around the lightning tree, trailing it down to the beach and waiting for it to electrocute the entire beach. They, of course, will be deep in the jungle, safe from the shock. But if the Careers are on the beach, they will surely die. And if they aren't, then the shock with take out all the sea creatures, eliminating them as a food source. If that is the Careers's only food source, then they are as good as dead.
After they check out the lightning tree per Beetee's request, they head back to the beach. Finnick, Peeta, and Katniss swim to the bottom of the sea and collect food. They resurface and lay out the food on the beach.
Peeta pries open an oyster and immediately spots a pearl. He laughs. "Hey, look at this!" he exclaims. "You know, if you put enough pressure on coal it turns to pearls," he tells Finnick, remembering the ridiculous slogan Effie had come up with last year.
"No, it doesn't," Finnick replies, frowning. He probably thinks Peeta's gone mad.
He washes the pearl in the water and presses it into Katniss's hand. "For you," he says.
She closes her fingers around it, and looks in to Peeta's eyes. He can see what she's thinking about, and immediately he realizes his tactics didn't work as well as he thought.
"The locket didn't work, did it?" he asks, ignoring Finnick's curious look. "Katniss?"
"It worked," she answers quickly, but Katniss is a terrible liar, and Peeta isn't stupid.
"But not the way I wanted it to."
They feast on all of the bread and sea food they collected. Katniss takes Peeta's hand in hers and stares at the water after she is done eating. He knows he can't convince her anymore-her mind is made up. But nothing she could say would change his mind, either. They were locked in a stand off, the only conclusion depending on who died first.
He hoped it wasn't her.