A/N: Hey again! Not much to be said about this chapter honestly. So…here goes nothing! Starting right where I left off. Sorry if there are any mistakes, I'm writing this on my phone.
Gale POV
The seven of us walked down the streets until we reached the Victor's Village. I smelled dinner cooking in Peeta's house, and I was reminded that I needed to go and get some food for my family. And that I had missed a day of work…what would happen tomorrow because of it? I guessed that I would just find out when the time came.
"I'm gonna go hunting, get some dinner for the family. See you guys later," I said. Katniss started to protest and suggest that I bring the family over for dinner at her house, as usual, but I waved her off.
"Katniss, I really appreciate the offer, but eventually you're gonna have to give up on asking me that, because you already know the answer," I said. Katniss sighed.
"Alright, alright. See you tomorrow then Gale," Katniss said. She hugged me quickly, followed by Jade, before I took off into the woods.
Peeta POV
"I should probably go home for dinner tonight," I said.
"Yeah…you really aren't at home with your brothers that much," said Cat. "Just saying."
I chuckled a little and nodded.
"Yeah I know. See you guys tomorrow. Well, see you tonight, Katniss," I said, as we had slept with each other at night ever since we got out of the arena to help fight off the nightmares.
Katniss nodded, then kissed me lightly on the lips. I brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face and smiled at her.
I waved goodbye and headed home.
Clove POV
"So, any plans for tonight?" I asked Jade as we all stood in the front yard of Katniss's house.
Jade shrugged. "Dad's at work, and he won't be back until late, like eleven tonight."
I nodded, remembering Mr. West saying that to us as we left this morning to go over to Katniss's.
"I know this sounds kind of childish, especially for you guys, but…want to play in the snow? I think Mom would let us," said Prim hopefully. She was only twelve, and even though the changes in her life have made her mature for her age, she still has that little kid in her. I smiled.
"I don't know about you guys, but I'm not passing this up," I said. Prim beamed at me.
"Frankie is probably sleeping. He took an extra shift at his work today and he was exhausted when I left. So I've got nothing to do," said Cat. "I'm in!"
The four of us turned to Katniss expectantly.
"I'm sorry, little duck, but I don't really want to play right now," said Katniss. She winked at me with a mischievous look in her eyes though.
Prim's eyes fell.
Suddenly, Katniss picked up a ball of snow and threw it lightly at Prim.
"I wanna have a snow ball fight!" Katniss cried, and suddenly it was an all-out war.
I grabbed a ball of snow and threw it at Cat, who made an "eep" sound and laughed.
Suddenly I felt my shirt being pulled back, nearly choking me.
"What the-OH MY GOSH THAT'S COLD!" I cried out as I saw Jade put snow down my back on my bare skin. I shuddered as it dripped down my once warm back.
I looked right at Jade.
"Oh it is ON! IT IS ON GIRL!" I said, throwing a snowball at Jade that hit her in the neck. She screeched at the sudden coldness.
More war ensued until we were all nearly soaked and freezing to death in the cold air of winter.
"Ok, I think we should go inside," giggled Cat as she wiped a bit of snow off her arm.
I nodded. "Good idea."
We all walked inside into the warmth of the Everdeen household. An audible sigh was heard from Jade as the warmth set in.
We took off our jackets and stuff, glad to find that the clothes we wore beneath all the warming gear were almost completely dry.
"Who wants hot chocolate?" asked Elizabeth from the kitchen with a smile on her face.
"ME!" we chorused simultaneously in response. Elizabeth chuckled and got out five cups, then started making hot chocolate.
It wasn't until she looked back that she noticed Prim was covered in blue frosting.
"Oh my goodness…Primrose Everdeen, what in the name of Panem did you do today?" asked Elizabeth. She wasn't mad, she was laughing.
"Me and Rye got a little competitive at the bakery," she said with a smile.
Elizabeth chuckled and shook her head. "Go change and take a hot shower, ok?"
Prim giggled and replied, "Alright, will do."
She disappeared into the hallway.
The four of us all sat down at the table and sipped hot chocolate in silence as we warmed up from the freezing air that we'd been in all day.
"So, how are things with everyone?" asked Elizabeth as she sat down next to Katniss.
"Good. We went ice skating today," said Cat with a smile. Elizabeth gave her an inquiring look, as there was nowhere to ice skate in district 12.
"There's a pond we found that had frozen over completely. It was fun. We fell a couple times," said Jade. "I got a pretty nasty bruise on my leg, but it was totally worth it."
For the second time that evening, Elizabeth was just shaking her head.
"You kids, I swear…" she said. We all smiled in a rather triumphant way.
Prim walked out into the kitchen wearing comfortable looking clothing, and she was completely blue-free.
I handed her her hot chocolate when she sat down with us.
"So…are you guys ready to go and mentor? I think you'll do a good job," said Elizabeth to Katniss, Cat, and Jade. I sighed as I remembered that Jade would be gone before the Games, during, and a little while after while I was stuck here at home.
"I just hope we can at least help the poor kids a little bit," said Jade. "Try to be more of a friend rather than a mentor."
Elizabeth nodded. "I think that would be a good idea."
Katniss POV
As we were talking, there was suddenly a hard and frantic knock at the door. I jumped up and ran to it, throwing it open. There stood a worried Peeta.
I could hear sounds coming from the square, and they didn't sound good.
I immediately knew I needed to go see what was going on.
"Stay here, there's something going on at the square, and it doesn't sound good. Peeta and I are going to go find out what it is," I said.
"Oh no…be careful, ok? Come back as soon as you can and let us know what's going on!" called Clove as I rushed out the door.
"Alright!" I yelled back to her. then, Peeta and I took off running as fast as we could.
Once we reached the square, murmurs of dissent were made at Peeta's and my presence.
"What are you trying to do, get him killed?"
"Get out of here girl!"
"Move along, kids!"
We finally broke through the crowd to see what was happening.
The image I saw made me want to throw up.
Gale was tied to a post by the hands, and what used to be his back was a raw, bloody slab of meat. A man who I didn't recognize held a whip in his hands. Gale's blood was all over the rocks and ground below.
"NO! GALE!" I cried out, jumping in front of him as the man raised his whip.
It smacked down brutally on my face, and I whimpered as my cheek started to welt up and bleed.
"Katniss!" Peeta yelled, coming to my rescue.
He was shoved out of the way by no other than Haymitch.
"What are you thinking? Do you realize she has a wedding dress photo-shoot next week? What am I supposed to tell her prep team when they see her with this welt?" Haymitch yelled angrily at the vicious man with the whip.
"That's not my problem," the man hissed back.
"Well it's about to be!" Haymitch snapped at him. "Why are you beating this man?"
"He was hunting illegally in the woods," said the old man harshly. "He must be punished."
Haymitch shook his head in anger.
"I think the standard protocol for poaching has been reached," said Peeta, backing up what Haymitch was about to say.
"Yeah, it's 25 whip lashes. I believe you have reached this," said another familiar face that I couldn't quite place.
The old man with the whip sighed. "I am Head Peacekeeper. I make the shots here."
"Sir, I really think the standard amount has been reached," said a man in the audience.
The Head Peacekeeper, whose name I still didn't know, glared angrily at Haymitch and I.
"Next time, I kill him," he said before stalking off.
The crowd slowly dispersed as we hurried to find a way to get Gale home to my mother, who would treat him.
I tried not to let my emotions get the best of me as we hauled Gale off on an ironing board sold to us by an old woman who owns a shop. Delly Cartwright, someone who was with Gale when the whole thing started, helped us bring Gale home.
"What happened?" I asked, utterly confused.
"He meant to sell some of his meat to old Cray, but then this new guy was here, and he freaked out and tied Gale to that post. I'm so sorry I didn't do anything, I was just so scared!" cried Delly.
"It's alright. We just gotta get him home. We gotta fix him," I said as tears started to leak from my eyes. Well, from my open one, for the other had swelled shut.
I sucked it up though and by the time we got to my house, I was no longer crying. My eye was watering from the cut of the whip, but that was all.
We threw open the front door and got Gale on the kitchen table, because that was the closest and biggest thing near us to put him on.
"Oh my God!" I heard Jade yell. Clove and Cat stared in horror at Gale's back. Gale was moaning in pain.
Prim and my mother go into complete healer mode, focusing only on the task at hand; fixing Gale.
My mother started mixing snow and some herbs.
"Did it cut your eye?" she asked me, examining the lash mark on my cheek. I shook my head.
"Alright then, here," she said, putting some of this snowy herb stuff on my lash. It started to numb the pain a little, but in no way did it take it away.
"I'm gonna go call Hazelle. I'm so sorry, Katniss," said Peeta, kissing me quickly before running to the phone to call Gale's mother. (We had had a phone installed in her house for her).
I watched as my mother put the 'snow coat' as Prim had just called it on Gale's back. He continued to moan, and he started gritting his teeth.
"No, that's not strong enough!" I said loudly, feeling my emotions start to return again at seeing my best friend in the world so beaten like this.
"Katniss, I'm sure it-" my mom tried to reassure me.
"No! He's still in a lot of pain! We need something stronger!" I said, my voice rising even further.
Cat POV
I stared in horror at the bloody slab of meat that used to be Gale. He looked like he was in so much pain, and Katniss was starting to freak out, saying the snow coat wasn't strong enough.
"Katniss, we don't have enough medication for-"
"MOM LOOK AT HIM! IT ISNT STRONG ENOUGH! HE NEEDS SOMETHING STRONGER!" Katniss full out yelled, tears streaming down her face.
"I'm sorry, but-"
And then Katniss REALLY lost it. She started crying and screaming things that I'd rather not repeat at Elizabeth as Gale moaned in pain over and over again.
Peeta wrapped his arms around her and tried to calm her down, but she just thrashed and continued to shout obscenities.
"Get her out of here," said Haymitch seriously. Peeta picked up the still screaming, crying, and thrashing Katniss and carried her to her room.
"I'm gonna go help calm Katniss down," I said, and Clove nodded in agreement.
"I'm gonna stay with Gale," said Jade, fighting harder than ever to keep her emotions under control.
I nodded. I hugged her really quickly. "It'll be ok." I assured her before running off to Katniss's room.
She continued to thrash and scream, and Peeta was pinning her down to the bed.
Clove and I rushed to his aid, each of us pinning down a leg or an arm.
We just held Katniss down until she stopped thrashing. I watched as her screams turned to sobs, and she gasped for air.
Peeta kissed Katniss on the forehead. "Baby, he'll be ok."
"Go – take – care of – him," she managed to get out through her crying to Peeta. Peeta nodded and left to do as she asked him.
Katniss sat up and held her head in her hands as a fresh wave of body-racking sobs came over her.
I took one of Katniss's hands and Clove hugged her tight.
"He's gonna be ok. He's gonna be ok," I whispered over and over to her.
Five minutes later, she was calm enough that she could lay down and breathe alright again.
As Katniss started to fall asleep, we got up and headed out.
Clove POV
I was almost out the door when Katniss spoke again.
"No, Clove, please stay," she begged me.
"Of course," I said, kneeling down next her. I closed my eyes and leaned against her bed, because I knew just having someone with you in the room could make a difference in how you felt.
Before I knew it though, I was out cold.
Jade POV
I sat next to Gale in a chair, holding his hand and rubbing it with my thumb lightly. I stared down at him. His jaw was clenched tight and his teeth were gritted. There was a sheen of sweat covering his body, and he practically was writhing in pain.
Katniss was right. The snow coat simply wasn't enough.
"Please be ok Gale," I said quietly. For the first time, I kissed him lightly on the lips.
His eyes opened just barely. "Jade…" he breathed with an attempted smile. It soon turned into a face of pure agony.
He slipped back into unconsciousness just as there was a knock at the door.
My heart started to race. Anyone here at this time of night is not good. It would have to be a Peacekeeper. Someone coming back for more.
"I'll get it," said Peeta. He looked at me and Gale sympathetically before heading to the door.
There were some murmurs that could be heard before a distinct 'thank you' from Peeta, who closed the door on the snowstorm outside.
"Elizabeth? That was Madge. Mayor's daughter. She brought some really strong Capitol medicine," Peeta said, handing a vile and an injector to Elizabeth. Prim looked on tiredly.
Elizabeth filled the injector with the medicine, and gave it to Gale. Apparently it was very strong, for the agony disappeared from his face almost instantly.
I sighed. Finally he could rest easy.
Prim was rubbing her eyes but smiling at Gale's relief.
"Come on Prim, let's go to bed," I said after kissing Gale once more.
I picked her up in my arms, and she willingly laid her head on my shoulder.
"Goodnight," Peeta and Cat said to Elizabeth. She smiled and nodded.
It was sort of an unspoken agreement; everyone was staying tonight.
I went in to check on Katniss. Katniss was out cold, but she was shivering as she had no blanket on her. Peeta kissed Prim on the cheek and then laid down next to Katniss, throwing the covers over them both.
Clove was asleep against the bed. I went into Elizabeth's room and laid a now asleep Prim down in bed and covered her up. Cat headed off to one of the spare bedrooms.
I went back to get Clove.
I shook her lightly on the shoulder, and she stirred. Her eyes fluttered open.
"C'mon, let's get some sleep. You look exhausted," I said to her quietly. Both Peeta and Katniss were dead to the world in their sleep already.
She nodded, and I helped her up. We collapsed in a heap of blankets and tiredness on the other spare bed in the room right next to Katniss's.
"We did good today. I kept Katniss sane, you kept Gale from hurting," Clove said, holding her hand up for a weak high five. I chuckled and high fived her back.
"We're all like a big family. Isn't that what families are supposed to do?" I said with a smile.
Clove nodded. "Goodnight, Jade."
"Goodnight, Clove," I replied.
And then the two of us drifted off into the world of dreams and nightmares, not worrying yet about what the next day would bring.

A/N: Hope you liked this! :D Please review!