First before the next chapter I want to say a thank you to IcedFanta my awesome beta. Thank you so much for reaching out to me and helping me out! I am so glad to be working with you!
Also the last chapter was really long! I might not for a long time have another chapter of that length but hopefully I'll be able to come up with more ideas to make them longer than this one.
I follow my guards down the hall. I have no idea where they took my son after the interview. I think about Katniss. Is she alive? The answer I can't decide on the answer. She was hit by lightning, I tell myself. I feel tears in my eyes and wonder how she was able to push her emotions down so well. I can barely look at my son when I do get to see him. I failed him. I failed his mother. I flinch when they open a door, before I realize that they aren't hitting me. I was so deep in thought I hadn't realized I was in the hall of Snow's mansion. They open the door and a girl steps in. We wait in silence for a while before I am called forward. I walk in. Snow sits behind his desk - I can see what he's watching. It's the time in the Quell when I hit the force field. Snow turns to me and turns it so I can see Katniss and I hugging. Watching this makes my heart tear in two. Snow turns it off and nods for me to sit.
I walk over and sit I nod my head in greeting. He looks smiling at me.
"Welcome, Mr. Mellark," he greets.
I nod to him.
"How do you feel?" he asks.
"Good enough," I lie.
Snow looks me over. "Thought you'd like to know I won't touch your son."
I nod. "Thanks."
I know this meeting could mean the end of both my son.. And me. I better watch my tongue.
I don't wait for this one question because I need an answer. "Why am I here?"
"I want to thank you for your amazing interview," he replies.
"I was just saying how I felt," I say.
"Yes, and you were very good," he says, and pauses. "You know the difference between reality and adolescent fantasies. You were always the thoughtful one. Less impulsive than Katniss."
His comment about Katniss rings in my ears. I try not to scowl but it doesn't work.
Snow grins, happy that he knows he got to me.
"If Panem follows her arrow, into a civil war, we will witness something far worst than the Dark Days," he says.
"She never wanted a war," I mutter.
"And there won't be one if Peeta Mellark still has anything to say about it," says Snow.
"I don't know what more there is for me to say," I say. I pause, knowing this won't be good enough. "I'm sick of the blood and for what I've seen, it's more on the hands of the peacekeepers."
"My boy, there might be a hundred things wrong in a house. That does not justify burning it to the ground," Snow remarked. "a full war might mean a cure to human humanity. Keep saying that with the insarity that comes so naturally to you. Mr. Mellark, sometimes in this world, whether we intend it or not, we become symbols. I am the symbol of formality, like the symbol on the door. Which means I can't always reach into a living room. That has to come from a friend, someone people feel they might know. A baker's son. The sooner these uprisings are put to rest, the sooner you and your son will see your home again."
"So, what are you asking me to do, sir?" I ask, "be your voice of reason?"
"You've understand everything but one small detail," he says "I'm not asking."
I nod. "my apologies, sir."
"Now if you don't mind my granddaughter wants to meet you and Chase," he says brightly.
I nod "not at all."
He gets to his feet and presses a button on his desk. The door opens and a man holding Chase steps in a passes him to me. I look down at him. He's awake and gives a cry, but I hush him quickly. He's seemed to learn that crying here is not allowed. I smile at him brightly and he gives me a small smile. I give him a light kiss on the forehead.
"He is so precious," Snow says.
I look up. "if he is, then why torture him?"
Snow smiles at me, ignoring my question. "By the way, my granddaughter thinks very highly of you. She believes I've invited you here to congratulate you on your winning of the second Hunger Games. You will answer anything she wants to know and will not speak of you being torture."
I nod slowly. "alright."
There's a knock on the door, and a girl about the age of twelve walks in. She smiles brightly at me. The long braid that runs along her back reminds me of Katniss. I smile back.
"Hello Peeta, my name's Rose." she introduced herself.
I smile again. "Nice to meet you."
"I'm sorry about your loss," she says.
It takes me a moment before I realized she talking about Katniss. I know how to act for this.
Tears well in my eyes and I look away.
She comes sits beside me and looks down at Chase. Chase looks back at her and starts to squirm. I'm glad Katniss will never find out what I'm about to do.
"Want to hold him?" I ask.
Rose nods excitedly. "May I?"
"Of course, do you know how to hold babies?" I ask.
She nods happily. "Yeah! I have a baby sister. She's six!"
I nod and pass Chase to her making sure she's holding him right. I sit back.
She coos over him for a moment before looking up. "He looks like you!" She announced, beaming.
I nod smiling at the compliment. "Only when you only look at his hair and eyes. His nose and head shape are his like his mother," I continue to explain.
She smiles. "Do you like my braid?"
"Yes.. it reminds me of her," I reply, my smile fading slightly.
She smiles even more brightly, not noticing my expression. "I want to love someone, like you and Katniss love each other, some day."
"And you will," I reply reassuringly.
"What did it feel like when you hit the force field? Did it hurt?" she asks.
"I didn't feel it until my heart started again. But yeah, it hurt." I respond, wincing at the memory.
"Wow," says Rose admiringly.
Chase starts to cry, and Rose quickly looks down at him.
"Can I have him back?" I ask, knowing it's not really my choice.
She shakes her head. "not yet."
I push down the impulse to tell her that it's my job to tell her whether she gets to hold him. But one look from Snow tells me if I do I will never get to see him again.
Chase starts to squirm and wails on the top of his lungs. I practically have to sit on my hands and bit my tongue to stop myself from helping him.
Finally, Rose nods. "Alright, you can take him."
I practically leap forward. I take Chase back and it takes him about fifteen minutes to quiet him. Rose waits patiently. He finally starts to drift off to sleep, but I keep rocking him and talking softly to him. Finally, I can no longer use it as an excuse to not talk because he's sleeping peacefully.
Rose smiles. "He likes you!"
I guess that this is an exclamation of surprise. "Why wouldn't he? He's my son."
"He doesn't know about his mother," she says.
I frown and bite my tongue. "Yeah. I was as surprised as you were."
There's a knock on the door and a middle aged man comes in calling for Rose. She gets to her feet and leaves. I get a few minutes of peace before the man comes in and take Chase. I hear him screaming until they close the door. I force the urge to go and start banging on the doors, but I know better. Snow dismisses me and I follow the guards back to my cell. I wait until they're long gone before breaking into tears. I think of what Katniss would have done. Probably lost her temper, which I know she couldn't control very well since the Games. I start to wish she was here, but I know if she was I would curse myself. I sit on the cement bed and try to block out Katniss' screams that echo from the screen in my cell. I look up at flashing lights. It's another fake video they use to torture me. It's another one of her in a room, just like mine, screaming and crying while they torture her. I can't help the sound that escapes me. I start yelling for them to stop. Tears escape my eyes. I start banging on the walls until, finally, they shut the video off. I sit on the ground pulling my knees to my chest and start to rock back and forth.
"It's not real. She's gone. She's much better off. She's gone, Peeta," I mutter, trying to comfort myself.
I finally lie back on the bed and close my eyes and start to drift off. I mutter my fiance's name in my sleep, I know it. I wake up to find a man standing in the room. Somehow I know that last night was the last night they will use Katniss against me. I can't help but feel slightly relieved.
Also I'm trying to decide if after this I want to do a rewrite of The Catching Fire to go with this. So if you could vote on my poll on my profile it'll help me decide. Thanks!