You guys are awesome. No other way to put it. Thank you to everyone who has read this story so far. Special thanks to those who have reviewed, favorite, or followed this fiction. There might not be too much longer to this story. I don't know quite yet. My mind set right now is just to get to the end, and to make the ending worth it for you guys. If you guys wanted a sequel, then I might be open to it. I might have an interesting idea, but the idea has just come to me as I am writing this. There is a little tease for the idea in this chapter, let's see if you guys can figure it out.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games or any of its characters.

Chapter 21:

Peeta POV:

We follow Haymitch down the long hallway that leads to Command. Haymitch hasn't talked much about what they want, especially what Coin wants. A million thoughts have run through my mind as I think about what they are going to talk to us about, many of them not good.

We finally reach the door.

Haymitch turns around, "Guys, before we go in there. I just wanted to remind you that we are a team. None of us will agree to anything without the support of the others. Got it?"

I nod and look at Katniss. She nods too but she seems a little unsure of herself. I squeeze her hand, trying to be comforting. She looks up at me. I kiss her forehead. We both look back and Haymitch opens the door.

Around a big table sits ten people. President Coin sits at the head of the table. Plutarch Heavensbee sits to her right. Beetee sits off to the side, not at the table. Everyone looks at us at the same time. Some look at us in wonder. Others like Plutarch and Beetee are happy with our appearance. And then there is President Coin.

She looks at us completely different than the rest; it is like she is studying us. Her gaze is hard, a little cold. I shift uncomfortably as she watches us. Something flashes in her eyes, and then she is looking directly at me. It is almost like she is looking for something and she figured out that I have it. She smiles and sits back in her seat.

Coin then says, "Please, sit down."

We move to sit. Katniss holds my hand under the table.

She looks back at the people in the room. "How do we know that this message came from there? It could have come from the Capital."

Beetee speaks up, "I traced the signal, and it didn't come from the Capital."

"Okay. We will deal with this later."

She looks back at us.

She continues speaking, "Hello Mellark family and Haymitch. I have been hoping to meet you guys, but there were other issues forcing us to wait. As I can tell, you are healing well Peeta."

It's not a question, but I answer back anyway, "Yes, the hospital and staff that you have here has been very great in treating me."

"Great, but that is not what we are here to talk about. Do you have any ideas about what you are here for?"

I don't answer, Katniss does, "You guys want us to be more involved."

Coin looks at Katniss, "Yes and no. We don't want you to be more involved in the district. We want you guys to be more involved in the rebellion."

"No." My answer is out of my mouth before I can even think about it. There is no way Katniss and the baby are going into any situation that is in any way dangerous.

Katniss' hand squeezes mine under the table. Haymitch side glances at me.

"Peeta, you didn't even let me tell you what you would be doing." She says.

I reply, "I don't care. Katniss and I have been puppets long enough. We started this rebellion, I think that is enough."

Coin mood changes, almost at the drop of a hat. Where before she was neutral, she is now angered.

"Oh Peeta, like you have a choice. We weren't asking for your approval but we were hoping you would be more understanding. And for your little comment about starting the rebellion, you are wrong. This has been in the works for a long time; we just needed a little push. You guys gave us that push and nothing else. You need to start contributing. We don't take kindly to those who are lazy, especially those who take and don't give in return. You guys mean something to everyone in this nation. You are their hope, give them that. Think about the future of your family."

I reply, "I am thinking about my family's future. We aren't going to be putting ourselves in danger. That is that."

Coin stands up from her chair.

"Everyone out."

We all stand and make our way to leave the room.

Behind me, Coin says, "Except for Katniss, Peeta, and Haymitch."

We stop dead in our tracks, unable to move.

She then says, "Turn around."

We do.

"Now, you guys are going to do exactly as I say. You are going to help with this rebellion."

I can tell that Katniss has had it with Coin, she starts to growl menacingly.

Coin looks unimpressed. "Like I'm afraid of you werewolves. You have no idea what I am capable of."

Katniss and Haymitch take a step forward.

Coin says, "Uh uh. Do you want a little taste of what I can do? Peeta, grab that gun on that side table."

Even though my mind fights it, my body doesn't listen to me and grabs the gun.

Katniss and Haymitch are looking at me.

"Peeta, cock the gun and put it against your temple."

My body does it without even a stutter, no matter how hard I fight it.

"Katniss, I could make him pull the trigger if I wanted to. The love of your life killing himself because I told him to, it would be so easy. How about this? Peeta move in front of Katniss."

My feet guide me to where she said.

"Now, wrap your free hand around her neck."

My hand shoots to her neck. She moves to stop it, but somehow I am too quick. She struggles to release my hand. It is almost like there is an unseen force that is making me stronger.

"Squeeze a little bit." Coin then says.

I squeeze. Katniss gasps and struggles harder; Haymitch grabs my arm trying to pry me away from her. It doesn't work.

"So many options. Do I want Peeta to kill himself or his wife?"

Tears rise in my eyes. I am powerless to stop anything.

Coin laughs, "I release you Peeta."

My body is back in my control. I drop my hand from Katniss' throat, and fling the gun as far away from me as I can. Luckily it doesn't go off.

"Now do you understand? You aren't in charge. I am. This is my country and I will lead it. No one will or can stop me, not even you three."

Haymitch looks over Katniss, I move as far away from her as possible. I'm ashamed with myself. How could I have done those things? I can't be near her right now. She is in danger from me of all people. If I hurt her, I will not be able to live with myself.

Coin says, "I expect to see you back here tomorrow morning, don't be late."

She leaves through a door that is on the other side of the room. I look over at Katniss. She is looking at me horrified. I can't take that look on her face, so I run. I'm out of the door before she can even say anything.

I continue running. The further away I run the better. I don't think about where I'm running. I don't think about who I pass. I think about what I just did. I threatened to kill the one person who I'm alive to protect. I almost killed my wife and my child. I couldn't do anything about it.

Eventually I find myself outside of the District 13 bunker. I must have gone up the long stair case that runs up from the bunker. I'm running through the forest. I just barely realized that my muscles are burning. I trip on the root of a big tree. I hit the ground hard but I don't feel it. I don't stand back up. If I keep running, where will I go?

I hear off in the distance a voice. I think it might be someone talking over a speaker. I can't quite make out what it says, so I just continue laying on the ground underneath this big tree.

I go over that whole situation in my mind. I will never forget it. The feeling of having someone other than yourself in charge of your body is something that you could never forget. I did something that I swore that I would never do. How am I ever going to look her in the eye? If Coin could do that to me so easily, what is stopping her from doing it again?

I try not to close my eyes. Every time I do, I see that look on her face and every time it breaks my heart.

So I cry. Eventually my tears run dry. It is dark out now. How did we go from a horrible leader like Snow, to a demon like Coin?

I vow to myself that by the end of this war, they will both be dead. They deserve to be in the deepest pits in hell. Snow for torturing me, and Coin for trying to get me to kill the best thing to ever happen to me. I now crave to see their souls leave their body. If she wants a warrior, she will get one. It will be the worst decision of her life.

I just need a little bit of time to get myself ready physically, and to get a plan in order. No one threatens my family and gets away with it.

Eventually I fall asleep under my tree and the full night sky. My dream is full of watching myself kill Katniss. It happens multiple times in different ways. One is me hunting her as she hunts animals. Another is while she sleeps. Each time I struggle trying not to kill her, but I fail.

I wake from the worst sleep that I will ever have in my life. This is the worst type of nightmare. It scares me more than the torture ever did.

I hear a noise near me. My body freezes as I look up from my position. I look up from where I lay.

Thirty yards away from me stands a bear. Not just any bear, a grizzly bear. Just one of the many animals that survived the destruction of the old world. It is standing in a river, catching itself food.

It looks over in my direction. I move to a sitting position. It starts to move towards me.

I don't know what to do about this situation. I'm not scared, just curious. In school they told us about the animals that roam around Panem. I know that grizzly bears aren't the friendliest of animals.

It stops about ten feet from me. It stares at me, and I stare at it. I don't know how long we stare. It could have been an hour. It feels like he is looking into my soul.

He continues walking to me. I sit perfectly still as it circles around me. It sniffs me, like it is trying to figure me out. I let it.

Eventually it must have made up its mind. It figures that I am either not worth the trouble, or that I'm not trouble. So it starts to walk away. I release a breath that I didn't know I had.

After about an hour of me reflecting back on the past twenty four hours, I stand up. It isn't a long walk back to the District. I made up my mind that I should face Katniss sooner rather than later.

After a few minutes of walking, I stop when I hear a noise nearby. Over a bush I see Gale. He sees me at just about the same time.

Gale says, "Hey Peeta. We have been looking for you since yesterday. Katniss has been worried sick about you. She hasn't slept all night. She is currently sitting at the door to the District. Let's get back before she goes insane."

We talk as we walk back to Thirteen. I tell him about what happened. He listens without judging me. If I can convince him that I didn't have any control, maybe I can convince Katniss. He understands that it wasn't my fault.

I stop when I hear feet pounding on the ground. I look up and see Katniss running at me. I steady myself and wait for her to tackle me, which she does. She sobs into my chest. Last night I thought that she would hate me forever. I'm glad that that wasn't true.

Eventually, she finally composes herself so she can talk.

She says, "Peeta. Don't ever do that to me again."

I reply, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to almost kill you. I promised myself that I would never hurt you. I broke that promise Katniss."

She looks up at me from my chest.

"I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about you leaving with no one being able to find you. You scared me to death."

"Oh, okay. It won't happen again. I thought that you would hate me."

"I could never hate you Peeta. And I'm not mad about you choking me, that wasn't your fault. It was that Witch Coin's fault." She says.

I get confused. "Wait, what is a Witch?"

"Haymitch explained it to me last night as we were looking for you. Witches are supernatural beings like Werewolves. She has power over magic. She can control people like she controlled you, and she can do a lot of other things that even Haymitch doesn't know. She can't control other supernatural people like Haymitch and I. She only has that power over regular humans. We have to keep you away from her."

I say, "Well that is going to be hard since I'm going to be the one to kill her."

She laughs, "When the time comes I'll flip you for it."

I laugh too.

"We need a plan Katniss. We can't raise kids in a world like this one." I say seriously.

She nods, "I know. We will figure it out, but for now let's get back before Coin freaks out."

I nod and grab her hand. Katniss, Gale and I walk back to Thirteen.