And we're baaaaaack with episode 6. Yes, everlark fans, this episode should satisfy your cravings. I hope.

The Inner Monster

1.

Haymitch leaned against the Art classroom doorframe, angling his body toward the corridor so he didn't block the students' path as they rushed out of the room. Effie was too busy scolding a teenage boy to notice his presence and he couldn't help but smirk when he understood just why the boy was getting lectured.

"Truly, I expected better of you." She clucked her tongue. "You have some talent. How childish of you to waste it doodling breasts and vaginas on the table. If you, at least, made it artistic. But no. Simple ridiculous childish doodles designed to make your friends laugh. I am disappointed in you and I expect you to come back after class and clean it up." The boy looked down, properly chastised, and she waved an impatient hand, the decorative rhinestone on her nails briefly catching the light. "Run along, now. And do not let me catch you drawing those obscene things again or I will have no choice but to direct you to Principal Heavensbee."

She didn't turn around when the boy scampered away, she started gathering what looked like test papers. What was there to test about in Art was anyone's guess but Haymitch didn't claim to be an expert.

He slowly closed the door once the student was gone, relieved to cut the unbearable noises of chatter and slamming lockers doors that came from the corridors. The periods between classes were always the noisiest and the older he got the less he enjoyed the sound of football players screaming to each other in the hallways.

"You know… You can't blame a boy for thinking about sex when he's got to look at you for a whole hour…" he joked.

He had hoped to catch her unaware but she must have known he was there all along because she didn't startle, not even a little. She kept on gathering her papers, barely tossing him a glance over her shoulder.

"Confusing me with a succubus again, are we?" she teased.

"Told you once… If you didn't look so much like one…" he mocked, sitting down on the edge of her desk and crossing his arms in front of his chest.

She was wearing faded pink velvet shorts with a thin purple belt that showed off her endless legs and a white woolen sweater that hugged her figure. The long gold necklace that dangled between her breasts wasn't exactly discouraging people to look.

She looked perfectly tempting and if they hadn't been at school…

"Not everyone is as obsessed with my body as you are, Haymitch." she retorted, strutting closer to the desk. She stopped right in front of him, closer than she probably should have to maintain the professional behavior she had made clear she expected of him on school grounds, and leaned in to place the stack of papers behind him despite the large amount of space available. "To what do I owe this visit?"

Her perfume was enticing and, despite the fact they had had sex just the previous night, he felt his body react to her closeness.

Are we still casual? she had asked as they laid side by side on the floor of her gym, the remnant of the cloaking spell still in the air.

His stomach clenched with fear and, for a second, desire was supplanted by the paralyzing terror that she would soon join the ghosts he carried with him. He couldn't see them anymore. He couldn't see them but they were too easy to imagine, too easy to picture, too easy to remember…

He resisted the urge to caress her cheek, steal a kiss to steady his nerves maybe… It wasn't her responsibility to steady his nerves. It wasn't her responsibility to comfort or reassure him.

Are we still casual?

He cared too much for her already and he suspected she cared too much for him. Casual was all well and good but the thing between them felt anything but that. It felt big. And dangerous. And he was too aware that he was cursed, in effect if not in practice, and that anyone he allowed close ended up dead, particularly women.

"Katniss met Gloss last night." he said.

The mood immediately shifted.

From playful, seducing, her expression became shocked and then worried. "Is she…"

"She's alright. There wasn't even a fight." he reassured her and then shrugged. "Tried to intimidate her, more like."

"Good." she breathed out, stepping back a little so they weren't so much in each other's space. "Well…" She winced and nervously played with her golden necklace. "Not good but…"

"Could have been worse." he commented.

"Yes." she admitted, licking her lips. They were painted a dark red and he tried not to think of blood, tried not to picture everything that could go wrong and leave her bleeding out…

The Lachnoc demon might have been dead but it was not so easy to shake off the fear he had woken up.

"I don't think she can take him, sweetheart." he said slowly, letting his eyes wander to the windows and the naked trees outside. "Cashmere was a fluke. She was lucky. She's good but she's not there yet. And if the three of them are there…"

"Train her harder." Effie immediately advised. "I will help."

His gaze darted back to her, studied her. It was her first day back at school since her stay in the hospital and she didn't look one hundred percent recovered yet. There were dark bags under her eyes despite the make-up, she looked pale and frail…

He sighed. "We all need to up our game. You and I included. You can't rely only on your magic."

She disliked physical fighting, he knew that. Given the choice, she would always rely on her powers or, if pressed, grab a crossbow. It was wise, probably. She might have been a Potential but she was still human and humans weren't supposed to go head to head with demons and vampires. Nevertheless, there was only so much you could do at a distance and, more often than not in Haymitch's experience, direct engagement was needed.

Her mouth twitched into something that wasn't quite a pout but that was close. "I know."

He nodded. "He mentioned something… A reaping. Or the Reaping with a capital R for all I know. I know I've heard something about it before but I can't remember and I couldn't find any trace of it last night. Rings a bell?"

She slowly shook her head, a thinking frown on her face. "Not right now… I will start looking."

"Call the Council." he ordered. "They need to be kept in the loop." As much as he didn't like to involve Coin and the rest of them, if they failed to stop whatever the Careers were up to and Snow rose… They needed to know. And to be prepared. "Maybe they can help with this Reaping thing."

"Of course." she hummed. "I have other contacts… I will ask around."

"Alright." He uncrossed his arms, studied her for a moment and then looked down. "You remember the warlock who helped Maysilee trap Snow?"

She frowned. "We've never met but I heard of him. Obviously."

"I'm trying to get in touch." He made a face. "Don't take it the wrong way. I know we've got you for magic but…"

"Oh, no, no! I completely understand." she cut him off, lifting both hands with a smile that might or might not have been a little fake. "I am only an amateur, he is the real deal."

He rolled his eyes. "Don't call yourself an amateur." He looked her up and down and pushed himself back to his feet, not so accidentally placing himself back in her space. "Might kill two birds with one stone too. He might know how to help you unlock your power."

"There is no power to unlock." she immediately retorted, sounding frightened. "The Lachnoc demon…"

"Couldn't create magic." he interrupted. "We've been over this." Her eyes avoided his and it was her turn to hug herself. She looked so upset that he sighed and placed his hand on her shoulder. "Don't be scared, sweetheart. It's not a bad thing."

"You are wrong." she muttered. "I am not powerful. I am average. Less than average."

He squeezed her shoulder. "Well, he can tell us for sure." She looked up at him, lost and frightened like she had been when the demon had tempted her with the Hellmouth powers. He let his hand trail up her neck and to her cheek, retracing her cheekbone with his thumb. "Don't be scared."

"Easy for you to say." she whispered.

"Yeah." He snorted, leaning in. "It is." He brushed his lips against hers once before kissing her more firmly. "I ain't scared of you, sweetheart." He pressed another kiss against her lips and smirked. "Well… Maybe I'm scared of your cooking…"

She whacked his arm, pursing her lips in irritation. She also looked a little less dazed. "I trust we are having an emergency meeting after school?"

Brought back to the direness of the situation, he let go of her waist not quite sure when he had even put his hands there. "Yeah. Research and training."

"Go on patrol with Katniss tonight." she instructed. "I will keep researching."

"Sounds like a plan." he accepted. "Got to go. Kids are gonna be waiting."

She frowned and glanced at the clock on the wall. "Are you saying you should be in class right now?"

He smirked at how outraged she sounded. "Left an assignment on the board. Hopefully they won't burn the school down."

She rolled her eyes, knowing as he did the kids were probably doing anything but what he had told them to do, and pushed him toward the door. "Go."

"So eager to get rid of me." he mocked.

"You are insufferable." she declared. "Irresponsible. Immature. You could have very well texted me, Haymitch. Abandoning your classroom! Truly!"

He let her push him out, chuckling to himself at how ridiculously predictable she was.

He could have texted her, he mused on his way back to his own classroom, but he had wanted to see her, to touch her.

And wasn't that a problem in itself… Less serious than the possibility of their imminent death, sure, but serious enough in its own right.

°O°O°O°O°

"And he was wearing armor?" Madge asked hesitantly "Like… a gladiator?"

Katniss fingered what was left of her sandwich, too nervous to really eat but also remembering too vividly how it felt to starve to just discard it.

She wasn't sure telling Madge about the Careers had been a good idea but she hadn't spotted Peeta anywhere in the cafeteria, the other girl had shyly waved her to their usual table and had immediately picked up on her tension. Besides Madge already knew so where was the wrong in keeping her appraised? Her Watchers would have had something to say about it for certain but…

"Peeta said he went full Assassin's Creed mode." She made a face. "Whatever that means."

Madge looked just as perplexed as she did and Katniss felt a tinge of satisfaction at not being the only clueless one for once. Peeta loved to confuse her with pop culture references and then make fun of her for not understanding. Usually, she found it relatively funny, right then she was a little angry with Peeta and, as a consequence, she just found it annoying.

"And this Reaping thing, you don't have any clue what it is?" Madge insisted.

Katniss watched two football players getting rough with each other on the other side of the cafeteria, apparently considering shoving each other a manly demonstration of affection.

"None." she confirmed, shaking her head. "Haymitch's in a state though. He said we're going to up the training… Problem is, we can't fight and research at the same time so we're wasting time." She sighed. "Peeta's training with me because he insists on coming on patrol, Haymitch is training me, Prim isn't allowed near books with anything gorish in them so she can't help much and Effie… Actually Effie's probably gonna handle the research but I know Haymitch wants her to freshen up on her hand to hand combat too so…"

Her eyes tracked one of the football's player aggressive gait as he paraded around a table full of giggling cheerleaders. Not because she cared but because the boy had a tendency to put hands where girls didn't want them and she wouldn't have felt guilty about breaking his wrist.

"What about Gale?" Madge asked tentatively. "Are you still fighting?"

She flinched at the sound of his name.

Katniss, I lov…

Should she have let him finish his declaration? Did she want him to?

She didn't think so. Everything was already so complicated and now that he had said it, started to say it, it was even worse. A part of her wanted to hear it because a part of her had liked being kissed by him on the street that night, all those weeks earlier. But that part of her belonged to the Katniss from the past, the one who had followed him with bleary eyes and had trusted him to help her take care of her family. She wasn't that Katniss any longer. She was the Slayer. And it was obvious Gale would never accept that part of her, would never trust that she could handle herself…

"I will call him if I need him but we're not… We're not in a good place right now." she mumbled, stuffing a big piece of sandwich in her mouth just so Madge had no choice but to change the subject.

The other girl was watching her, a little too knowing. Suddenly she ducked her head, staring at her hands. "I could come help. With research. If you think it would be helpful…"

She frowned but forced herself to swallow what she had in her mouth, not quite opposed to the idea. But Madge had known for a while now and she had never offered to get involved before. "You don't have to."

"If it's the end of the world, I'm pretty sure everyone should chip in." Madge joked with nervous giggles but faced with Katniss' serious expression she shrugged and took a nervous sip of her water bottle. "I've been reading the journal about my aunt again and again. Mostly, I know it by heart by now…" Her graceful fingers tugged the paper ring around the bottle until it tore. "I could never fight like her… Or like you. I don't even want to try, it's not really… It's not my thing. But I can't read about Maysilee, I can't listen to your stories and not…" She stopped babbling, took a deep breath and flashed her a shaky smile. "I'd like to help. I can… I can help with research. I will text my mom we're partners on a Biology project and I have to go to your place after school."

All help was good to get, Katniss figured, and they could use another pair of eyes. "Alright with me if you're sure. We can drop you off when we go on patrol so your mother doesn't have to worry about you being out after dark."

Madge's smile became easier, less shy. "Good."

The thought that she should have cleared it with Haymitch shot through her mind but she forgot all about it when she finally spotted Peeta's blond curls on the cafeteria's threshold. Their eyes met over the crowded room and, for the length of a heartbeat, the world stopped with everything that hung unsaid between them, then he turned on his heels and fled the room.

He actually fled the room.

"Sorry, I need to go." Katniss growled, grabbing her bag and taking off.

Unfazed by her rude behavior, Madge waved her off. "See you in class!"

Peeta wasn't running but he certainly was walking fast and it was several minutes before she managed to corner him in the small courtyard.

"So what? You're going to avoid me forever now?" she tossed at his retreating back, annoyed.

He stopped, squared his shoulders and finally turned around, looking both sheepish and embarrassed. At least, he didn't have the guts to pretend he hadn't been avoiding her all day.

"Not forever." he sighed, walking back on his steps to stand closer to her.

There was a strange light noise that made her look up and she spotted dozen of chimes hanging from a leafless tree not too far away.

"It was an Art project." Peeta answered her unspoken question. "Heavensbee let Effie hung them here."

She dismissed the already resolved mystery.

"You need to talk to Haymitch." she said, point blank.

She had almost done it herself.

When she had come home the previous night and had told her Watcher about Gloss and when, after she was done, he had asked 'That's all? Nothing else?', she had almost spilled everything because… She couldn't let Peeta remain in an abusive situation. She couldn't. Maybe he didn't realize just how dangerous it was or he just… couldn't see it but she could and she wouldn't allow it to stand and she would have already gone over to the bakery and kicked his mother's ass if she hadn't been certain he would never talk to her again if she did just that.

The fear made her skin prickle, tightened her chest… The sensations were so similar to what the fear demon had triggered that she had been forced to stop herself from asking Haymitch several times if he was sure the demon had been killed.

She would not lose any more family and that included Peeta.

Peeta's face closed off immediately. "Can you let this go?"

Her eyes widened in surprise and she almost laughed at the absurdity of his request. But he seemed to wait for an actual answer and so she scowled. "No. No, I'm not letting this go. You tell Haymitch or I'm doing it but either way you're not going back to that house."

Peeta sneered and it was an ugly thing.

She had never seen him sneer before or get angry, not like that at least and never at her.

"I should never have told you." he spat. "I thought I could trust you."

Suddenly, she was angry too. She had never asked to be saddled with anyone else's problems, she had enough of her own. But Peeta was hers, just like Prim, Haymitch, Effie and Gale were hers and, as a consequence, he was her responsibility.

And she wouldn't fail him.

"Yeah, well, you told me and now I can't unknow it." she retorted. "So let me help you or…"

"Or what?" he cut her off. "You will force it on me?" He scoffed. "Can we stop pretending like you care for a minute? I'm only the stand-in for Gale and everyone knows it. Once you've decided you…"

"What the hell are you talking about?" she interrupted, her voice rising. In her anger, she took a step closer, stood straighter, must have looked far too dangerous because he flinched.

It made her feel like shit.

A mix of rage and shame flashed on his face and he looked properly humiliated because he knew she had seen his instinctive reaction.

Her anger deflated at once. "Peeta…"

"I'll see you later." he mumbled, hands buried in his pockets.

He turned away and left and she let him go because she didn't know what else to say. She wasn't skilled with words. She wasn't good at comforting people.

The urge to run to Haymitch's classroom and tell him everything was almost overpowering but…

Peeta would hate her and never trust her again if she did that and she knew it.

She would have to wait. Give him a few hours to cool down and then try talking him into telling her Watcher again. Try to…

Can we stop pretending like you care for a minute?

That was unfair. She did care. She had told him she cared. Hell, that night she had crawled into his bed, she had told him she… She had said…

She rubbed her eyes and slowly made her way back inside.

She knew her priorities should be the Reaping, the Careers and Snow but…

She had never been good at putting the collective good above the people she loved.

Is Madge best friend material or what? What did you think of this chapter? Hayffie is doing okay... Everlark is obviously noot... Business as usual? XD Let me know your thoughts!