Intricate Strokes, Delicate Precision

Option D

By: KaKaVegeGurl

Author's Note:

Hope there's no errors. And Sorry fer the delay.

Things have been quite hectic at werk and at home lately. I'll be moving out soon and I've got to get stuff done but I wanted to get this out in the verse today!

So Glee starts again in three days. Dexter Season 6 soon too. So excited. Oh, and my Hunter on Wow is now lvl 83. ^^

Fer anyone that DOESN'T know, the website has been in surgery. And there is NOW a section fer Option P. Only chapter 1 (6, technically) is up right now but the next one will be available when Option A Chapter 7 get posted. So remember, if you like P, go there and read it. AND, if you want to give me a sort of review, or your opinion on it, feel free to drop me a pm here. OR you can submit a review on a chapter you haven't reviewed, and just tell me that it's fer P Chapter 7. You have multiple options. If you have any other concerns, feel free to ask. I'll answer.

Thank you all so much fer reading and being constant in the reviews, I love them ALL, please continue on and enjoy! Have a nice steaming cup of yaoi.

~KaKaVegeGurl (A)

Side Notes:

I went out looking for the answers and never left my town.

I'm no good at understanding, but I'm good at standing ground.

I know the darkness falls on you,

But it's just a point of view.

When you're outside looking in,

You belong to someone.

And when you feel like giving in,

And the coming of the end,

Like your heart could break in two,

Someone loves you.

While you were looking for a landslide,

I was looking out for you.

I was looking out for you,

Someone's looking out for you.

I close my eyes, I think of you,

I take a step, I think of you,

I catch my breath, I think of you,

I cannot rest, I think of you .

Chapter 6 - Are You The Enemy?

My first thought is that we're trespassing on their property. We didn't exactly see barriers or closed gates, but we technically belong in District Twelve. If that's the case, and we're interlopers, then they have any authority over what they do with us that they want.

The guy closest to me has an old, worn bandana over his mouth that's not only dirty, but blood-stained, and a rough scar across one eye, but he can't be that much older than me.

"Where are you from?" He asks and I see the bandana move with his jaw.

"District Twelve," Haymitch answers when no one else does.

"Did you cause that explosion?"

"No."

The guy nods and starts to walk around the front of us, looking over Katniss and Prim, "You'll come with us, I think. I want this to be easy, quiet, and I don't want any argument from the men," he looks at me.

"Why would we do that?" I ask, watching his expression as his eyes linger on two of the most important women to me. And then they, the bandits, all turn in my direction.

"We're the ones with the guns," he says, lifting his just slightly, to catch my attention. It's worn as well, just like he is, dusted and useful.

"I see a gun, but that doesn't mean it's loaded. I see a lot of talking and not much action," I respond and he sneers.

"You got a mouth on you," he says, moving close and putting the gun's end to my temple, "Maybe I don't use them because I don't want to waste them? Not if I can keep them, and not be so loud. I can fill you with bullets, though, boy. And then we can see if you'll have much of a mouth then."

This is the second time that he mentions being quiet, which I should intend to do, if I have to. But I don't, yet.

I reach forward and snatch the gun from his hands the second I see how loose of a hold he's got. The others around are about to take aim again when I put the tip he's had pressed to my head up against his.

"I don't think you will."

Haymitch's eyes widen as his hands go up and the group steadies on me.

"You won't do a thing," the bandit says.

I turn the gun slightly from his head and release one bullet that nicks the greasy curls in his dark hair, "I will, unless you treat us better."

I can hide that my legs should be shaking and my heart is pounding so hard against my chest that it might leave bruises, but his fear shows, eyes wide, grabbing up to check his ear.

The others around, to their unfortunance, show how valuable this man is to them by screaming in fear or crying out for him.

I catch the name, Nor, I think. An odd name, one I've definitely never heard before. But most of them haven't been particularly common. Coin, Thresh, Rue, Portia. Nor could be just as common, if not more, for all I know.

He doesn't look completely shaken though when he realizes I've only shown off a bit, instead of causing actual harm, but I've got him thinking.

Katniss puts a hand on my shoulder, "It's getting dark."

"I know."

Nor, putting his hand to the end of the gun, stares me dead in the eyes and says: "We won't do no harm, but we could use some help. We can give you shelter, if you help us out."

"Help you out with what?"

He looks at the women, Prim and Katniss, then Katniss's mother, "Are any of them healers? They look like they should be."

Healers?

"I am," Katniss's mother says, "And my daughter," she rests a hand on Prim's shoulder.

"I hunt," Katniss adds.

"So do I," I say as I lower the gun slightly.

Nor, to his credit, puts his hands down and looks back at the two people behind him, his 'wing men'; a girl and boy with panicked expressions.

"We can give you shelter, if you can help us," he says again, "We won't do you no harm, you have my word."

"You have mine," I respond, "You won't do me harm, or I'll kill you."

Nor nods and then asks: "So you're not officials, right? You're runaways, is that right?"

"Not runaways," I try to explain, "More like potential nomads. We can take care of ourselves."

"You can help us though?" He asks, unsure now, "We could really use a healer."

"We'll help if you let us," I motion to my entire group, "all of us, women and healers included, be on our way when we decide to move again."

He nods nervously, "Alright, that sounds fair."

I give him back his gun, "And just because I don't have that to point on you doesn't make me any slower at being able to take you out."

He smiles then, slings the gun over his shoulder, and motions for the rest to relax, "That's clear, what's your names?"

"Well," I look around at them, "I'm Peeta, that's all you need to know."

Nor seems even more enthusiastic once he knows my name, talking about giving me a map and advice on direction, but I blow it off.

I don't much care for where we go, as long as it's away.

"We have a place just up ahead, hidden," Nor shares, "That's where the rest are. It's a good place, stable, and it doesn't leak when it rains. But our people aren't doing well."

We're walking for nearly three or four minutes when Katniss halts. She grabs my arm and stops me from walking as well, stops the entire group from moving forward.

"Peeta," she says, eyes wondering, "Can I talk to you alone?"

I still and lean down to her, looking into worried eyes, "Katniss?"

She leads me away from the group and turns her back to them, "I think we need to leave."

"Leave?" I ask, confused by her change in mood.

"I don't think these people are safe," she says, raising her eyebrows at me, "Look up at them, but look past them, don't make it obvious. Just act like your kissing my head or something."

Katniss, so very observing, as usual, I couldn't expect less. So I try to keep my face and my body as calm as possible and listen to her advice without hesitation.

"Alright," I say, smiling and leaning forward, pressing my lips to her hairline, and I flick my gaze behind the group.

Just past them I can see a deep hole in the ground, possibly to go down in to. Or not. I see, just out in the forest, the white objects in the trees. Shirt corners, ruffles in pants, and then ends of what could be guns.

Is it possible that Peacekeepers could be all of the way out here?

"Katniss!" I shout, moving her and I to the ground and I hear panicked gasps from the group, "Prim!" I turn back just as Prim falls, hand grasping her neck tight. Katniss's mother and two of the other girls drop as well and then Haymitch, Nor, and the other male bandits.

"Prim!" Katniss shouts, struggling to get up from under me.

"Haymitch!" And, despite wanting to just run out blindly, I shove Katniss back near a tree, "Stay here!" Then I dart out to get a look at the group.

It doesn't take much more than a moment to realize that most of them are dead, and the ones that aren't are dying.

Haymitch has only just closed his eyes when he sees me and little Prim was gone long before I reached them. The darts in their necks tell me that they were specifically targeted first. The dart in Nor's shoulder is probably a second shot just after.

And he takes his last breath to say: "Run."

I do. I grab Prim's pack full of medical supplies, Katniss's mother's bag of herbs, and Haymitch's; with the food supplies, before I run back to Katniss.

"Prim!" She shouts as I round the tree, grab her arm and pull her away.

"No, Katniss," I hiss to her, wrapping my arm around her waist and holding her back, covering her mouth, "They're all gone, we have to go!"

"But my sister–"

"I know," I breathe as I shove her on in front of me, putting our backs to the Peacekeepers, "I know Katniss, I'm sorry about Prim. But I don't want you joining her. We have to go, now."

She shakes her head, as if to clear it, arms up and hands open like she's not entirely sure where to go, but then she turns back to me and takes the herb bag from my steel grip, "I can carry this, at least."

We're not sure how long we've been legging it, but eventually we're both winded to the point of passing out.

Katniss and I stop and drop the bags from our arms because we can barely breathe.

My chest and throat burn and I fish around in my bag until I find a canteen of water, which I hand to her first.

She gulps down a few mouthfuls and hands it back.

Breathing, panting, exhausted, I turn to look behind us while I drink and try to rest my legs.

There's nothing, no sign of movement or pursuit, just the calm sway of trees and leaves from the wind. For all I know, they haven't been following for a while, or at all. But I don't even need to know that to know that we need to keep going.

"Let's walk," Katniss suggests and we start off together in a different direction than we've been running.

I can tell she's bothered, she wants a moment to mourn our losses, but she doesn't take it up and I don't, for her sake.

I try my hardest not to concentrate on any of them.

"Did they," Katniss breathes, still panting while we walk, but trying not to speak too loud, "Did they kill the others as well?"

"Yeah," I respond immediately, holding a branch out of our way, "Nor as well."

"There's people!" Katniss gasps and turns back to me.

"What?"

She stops walking and grabs my arm, "If they killed all of the people, then remember what Nor said? There were more of them, and they needed help."

"Katniss," I breathe, trying to calm her down again, "We don't know that."

"We do, and we have to help them."

"And put you in danger?"

Katniss starts to pull me back the way we came from, "We have to help them, Peeta," she says, dragging me through the trees, "My mother was going to. I have to do anything I can."

I see the danger, once again, just a moment before it happens, "Katniss!" I grab her back as one of the needles that killed Prim and her mother, and Haymitch, embeds itself into the bark of a tree at her side.

Once this happens, I duck us and pull one of the knifes from my pocket, flick it open and chuck it up towards the peacekeeper closest.

Not vitally wounded, he falls to the ground and Katniss strings the bow she brought from Thirteen. She strings it and begins to pick them off.

They're possibly low on darts because they start moving in to attack at close range.

I pull out another knife and take out the Peacekeeper coming in from behind us, grab up his own weapon, a short sword, but just as I've done this, the action is over.

Six of them, which is more than what I saw in the trees before, lay dead at our feet and Katniss collapses back against me.

"Katniss!" I grab her but she reaches up and touches my face.

"Relax," she says, smiling and panting, "I'm fine."

I look her over to make sure and she's right, no wound, no needles, "Is something wrong with the baby?"

"No," she reassures, "I'm just really tired."

I lift her up in my arms and begin to carry her, mostly to get away from the dead Peacekeepers.

I'm a little bit more comfortable knowing that these men are dead and out of the way, knowing that they won't be a risk to my wife and my child. Knowing that we've just gotten them back for taking the ones we love dearest from us.

It's longer getting back to the bodies of Prim, Katniss's mother, and Haymitch, than it was getting away. But it's worth it.

I set down Katniss so she can take care of them with me.

Even now, we don't allow ourselves to grieve. We simply take them out of the clearing and rest them in the grass of the forest.

Katniss stands back up beside me and puts her hand on her stomach, "They could be sleeping."

I wrap my arm over her shoulder and pull her close against my body to give her comfort and support, "Just like Rue?"

She nods.

Then she lifts up her pack and gives me mine, "I believe we have worried people to search for."

I take her hand and we walk back out to where the group was murdered, look around for the direction we were walking.

"He said it was 'just ahead'," Katniss repeats to herself and we begin to walk.

I follow after, still holding her hand tight, "He also said it was 'well hidden'. Should we try looking for a hidden entrance, or a basement for one of these houses?"

Katniss looks around at them but shakes her head, "None of these even look like they've been touched in ages."

I look them over, look at every door before I freeze in shock at the one just before us. It's obvious now, staring from the perspective of someone looking for clues and I move up onto the porch of an old home that looks just as worn as the rest.

"Peeta?" Katniss asks, joining me.

I reach up and knock on the window, instead of sounding like glass, it sounds hollow; like a tree.

"Nor?" The voice asks from the other side.

"Not Nor," I respond back, "But I'm not a Peacekeeper and I'm not from the Capitol. My name is Peeta."

The voice asks another question: "Where is Nor?"

"Nor is dead," I reply, "We, my wife and our family, and Nor and his friends, were attacked by Peacekeepers. Only my wife and I came out alive."

The voice, male, clearly now, doesn't sound very trusting, "How do we know your not just Peacekeepers?"

"Because Katniss, my wife, is pregnant, and we know you need a healer."

"Katniss?" The voice asks in a breathy voice before the entrance opens, and not in a way I'm expecting.

I expect it to open like a door, but it slides away quickly, mechanical, and I'm able to see who's inside.

Ending Notes:

Who do you think it is? O.o Guess in a review? ^^ Because I wanna know what you think.

~KaKaVegeGurl