We're baaaaack! There should be 13 chapters in this one (unless I decide to cut one or two for practical reasons). I hope you like this episode! As usual please let me know!

All The Devils Are Here

1

The portal snapped shut right after Katniss, so close that she felt the zap of it on her back.

"You took your time." Cinna remarked, lowering his hands, a little out of breath and bending in two to recover.

Katniss was a little disoriented. Everything in the living-room was identical to when they had left, down to the dead woman on the couch. Prim was standing in the same spot, Gale still had a hand on Rory's shoulder… It was a bit surreal. As if time had frozen on this side.

"She needs help." Haymitch retorted, ignoring the warlock's gibe. The Watcher's eyes roamed around the room, briefly paused on the already occupied couch, and then he kicked the coffee table out of the way and laid Effie down directly on the rug. "She's badly hurt."

Cinna, to his credit, immediately lowered himself to the floor – but he did so by gripping the armrest of the couch and his face looked pinched, like Effie's did when she had done too much magic. Prim was at their side in seconds, her attention switching between Effie and Haymitch as if she wasn't sure which one she was more worried for.

"Peeta needs help too." she reminded them all because the boy was heavy and she wasn't sure how long he would stay asleep.

Haymitch dismissed that with a wave of his hand before placing it down right on Effie's chest, trying to feel her breathing. "He can wait."

"But…" she argued with a growl.

"His life isn't on the line, he can wait, Katniss." Haymitch snapped, raising his voice. "She can't." He glanced up at her and his face softened a little when his eyes fell on Peeta but not a lot and not long, he turned his head to look at Gale who was keeping Rory to the side so they wouldn't be in the way. "Boy, you think you can carry Peeta to the bedroom?" The question seemed odd until Katniss remembered Gale hurt his ribs. "There are chains in the basement, Katniss. In the smaller cupboard. Go get them and tie him up until we can sort him out."

She grew cold. "We're not putting him in chains."

"Do what I fucking say." Haymitch growled. "He's gonna be fine. Effie…"

Effie might not be.

Nobody said it but she didn't like the way Cinna was acting. He looked concerned.

She met Prim's gaze for a second and her sister forced a small smile. Then Gale was right next to her, his hand on her shoulder and, reluctantly she handed Peeta over. He tossed him over his shoulder but he was careful enough about it that she didn't protest.

"If he wakes up, don't get close to him." she warned. And then, because Rory looked lost and small and scared, and Prim was clinging to Effie's hand and she didn't see what that would help, she licked her lips. "Prim, take Rory to the kitchen. You both need to clean up a little. Make some hot chocolate, okay?"

She didn't wait to see if she would be obeyed, she hurried down to the basement to find the chains. They weren't hard to locate because the basement might be the only room of the house that was kept strictly organized. Still, she hated it. They were heavy and old-fashioned irons with cuffs for the wrists…

She hated it and she hated herself when she carried them up the stairs, pausing only briefly enough to make sure the kids' voices came from the kitchen and not the living-room. She couldn't hear anything from the living-room, not even the low rumble of Haymitch's voice.

She wanted to check on Effie but common sense told her Peeta would be a threat if he woke up and saw Gale.

Gale, who was just standing there in the corridor at the top of the stairs…

He made a face. "Wasn't sure which room was the guest room and I didn't want to go poking." She led the way in silence, wrapping the chains around the wrought iron of the bedframe with a heavy heart. "What happened, Catnip?"

The question was uncertain and Katniss didn't really know how to answer it. "How long were we gone?"

Gale helped her lie Peeta down and make sure he was comfortable – as comfortable as he was going to be with manacles around his wrists.

"Less than two minutes." the boy offered. "How long was it for you?"

"More than a day." she sighed. After a moment of hesitation, she decided Peeta would be more comfortable without the weird leather boots he was wearing so she took those off.

Gale watched her. "Do you know how long it was for them?"

"Close to three months." she muttered, deciding those boots would have to be burned because, clearly, they had been on his feet for a long time. Wrinkling her nose, she took in his general appearance and made a quick trip to the bathroom on the landing, Gale on her heels.

"And he's… Why does Mellark need to be tied up?" he insisted.

"There was some magic stuff. He's… He's confused." she explained reluctantly. "Haymitch says it's going to go away…"

Gale snorted and muttered under his breath. "If Haymitch says so…"

She didn't have time to spare for his dislike of her Watcher so she didn't answer, she just focused on grabbing some soap, a few towels and on filling a plastic tub with warm water.

"And the witch?" Gale asked after a few seconds. "She looked… She didn't look good."

Her heart clenched at the thought of Effie.

Haymitch hadn't expected her to survive the magic explosion and he had had time to tell her about the telepathic conversation on their way back to the portal. The witch hadn't expected to survive either. She had just wanted to get the three of them out of there…

It was…

It was too much.

Gale grabbed the tub before she could get it out of the sink. Water splotched over the rim but she couldn't care less. The adrenaline rush had come down hours earlier as they were walking their way through that hellish world and her body was hurting everywhere. She was exhausted, she was hungry and she really, really wanted a shower.

What she did was grab the soap and the towels and ignore the worried looks Gale was tossing her.

She realized only belatedly that she had never answered him about Effie's state.

She didn't have an answer.

Once they were back in the bedroom, she went to work as best as she could, focusing on cleaning the filth off Peeta's face and every part of him that didn't require taking his clothes off. He had stubble on his cheeks and his jaw. It made him look older. And the dark bags under his eyes…

It broke her heart to imagine what he had gone through.

It broke her heart.

Gale leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest and his face closed and didn't say a single word.

She wished he would go away.

°O°O°O°O°

Haymitch didn't let go of Effie's hand.

Not the whole time Cinna had his palm on her forehead, his eyes closed and his magic glowing around him – and her – in a purple, almost dark, halo. Rationally, he knew it had only been a few minutes and that it could take longer but there was this voice nagging at the back of his head that told him it was already too late, that she was either dead or brain dead, that…

Cinna opened his eyes and took a small strangled breath, as if he had been holding it that whole time.

It was weird how Haymitch was hyper aware of everything. The echo of the two kids talking in the kitchen, the creaking of floorboards that meant Katniss and Hawthorne were moving around on the first floor, the ticking of the old clock on the wall…

"She will live." Cinna offered and it was Haymitch's turn to suck in a breath.

Relief was a potent thing.

It crashed over him so brutally that he bent in two, bowing over her body a little… He almost expected her eyelids to flutter open, her fingers to twitch in his hand, but she remained still, so still he couldn't even really make out the rise and fall of her chest.

"She is really weak, though." the warlock added.

"Do we need to get her to a hospital?" he asked, already trying to remember where she had left her car keys only to realize her car was broken and Peeta's keys… Hawthorne must still have them. Come to think of it, maybe he should ask Hawthorne to drive too, though. He didn't like asking the boy for help but…

He would need to teach Katniss how to drive soon, he figured, because it was inconvenient she didn't know how. How fun.

"I don't think that's necessary." Cinna hesitated. "I shared some of my strength with her and stabilized her the best I could, I'm positive her body won't fail. We just need to wait for her to wake-up, if she can drink and feed, she should be alright. She won't be up to anything for days, though. Maybe weeks."

That wasn't ideal but they could manage to be down one witch for a few weeks. They could manage that a lot better than they could afford being down a witch permanently.

His heart was racing so fast in his chest it was almost painful. It didn't help with the general dizziness.

"I can give her some of my strength too." he offered. "You can take it from me."

Cinna looked at him, as tired and serious as Haymitch felt. "You can barely sit straight. You might need a doctor. Or a fix."

There was a disapproval in the warlock's voice that Haymitch didn't care for. His alcoholism wasn't up for debate. He hadn't been like that when he and Cinna had met, when he and Cinna had fought side by side more regularly. That had come later, with dead Slayer after dead Slayer, with Annie.

"You worry about yourself." he grumbled. "Didn't forget what you did to Effie before we left. Been dabbling in dark magic a lot to find your girlfriend, have you?"

"It doesn't matter anymore." Cinna dismissed, his eyes drifting to the couch and the dead witch still resting on it.

Haymitch would love to offer condolences or help or whatever it was the warlock needed but he didn't have the energy for it. It was all he could do to gather Effie in his arms and stand up again, swaying dangerously on his feet until Cinna's hand steadied him.

"The boy needs help too." he said. "Katniss can fill you in."

"I have considerable powers but I am not without my limits." Cinna reminded him. "And keeping a hell portal open for close to two minutes took its toll…"

He shook his head. "Just… See if he's okay, please. It's not life or death for him. I don't really like it but treating him can wait a bit…" He focused on keeping his feet straight and in front of each other - because there was no way he was tripping and falling down with Effie in his arms - but he paused on the living-room's threshold. "What do you want to do about…"

His grey eyes darted to the dead woman in his living-room.

"I cast a stasis spell." Cinna mumbled, reaching for Portia's cheek. "I will bring her home when this is over."

Haymitch didn't comment because he wasn't sure what to say.

He didn't see this ending any time soon. Not with Snow out and free.

"There is something else you should know." the warlock hesitated and when Haymitch paused again, the man cleared his throat. "I can barely feel her magic. This place doesn't feel like her territory anymore."

He was exhausted and it was the only reason why it took him so long to connect the dots. "She lost her magic?"

"I would not say she lost it entirely. It will most likely come back." Cinna sighed. "But whatever it was they did to her, whatever it was she did, she… hurt herself. It is hard to put it better than that for someone who doesn't have power. It will be a while before she can do magic again and it will be even longer before she is able to wield it as she did before this."

That… was not good. On a lot of levels.

Tactically speaking, it would be a blow.

Personally speaking… Being a witch was a huge part of who she was as a person. He wasn't sure how she was going to react to that piece of news.

And yet there was nothing he could do about that right now except make sure she was safe. They could discuss it further with Cinna later.

"The wards on the Village… How good are they?" he asked.

"Less subtle than Effie's." Cinna promised. "Nothing will come in or out without my say so."

Haymitch nodded his thanks and then made the long trek up the stairs. His shoulder and his head were throbbing in perfect synch but it was nothing compared to the nausea and the dizziness.

He needed a drink and he needed it fast.

He paused on the guest room's threshold long enough to see Katniss was cleaning the boy up. Peeta hadn't woken up yet, which was probably good. Hopefully, the kid would sleep the remnants of the magic off and there would be no other consequences than a headache and bad memories. He fucking hoped so, at least.

Cleaning them up, he decided once he had carefully placed Effie down on his bed, wasn't a bad idea. Effie was as dirty as the boy and she would hate waking up covered with grime. As unsteady on his feet as he felt, once he was sure he wouldn't be sick again, he closed his bedroom door and did the same thing Katniss was doing except he didn't hesitate to strip the clothes off the witch's body. He didn't think she would mind and there was nothing ambiguous to his touch anyway, he was just helping her.

All the bruises he found there made him sicker to the stomach but not as much as the jutting ribs and the obvious proof of malnutrition. That demon had sucked her magic like a leech but he hadn't even bothered making sure she would remain healthy enough to provide more magic. Idiot. He hoped Paylor had burned his corpse like she had promised she would.

Cinna had said she would be out of commission for days if not weeks but he hadn't said what was now glaringly obvious to Haymitch: she would need a lot of care. And he didn't want to delegate that care to anyone else.

He cleaned her up and dressed her with the long-sleeved blue shirt she liked to steal from him now and then but he wasn't satisfied until she was under the blankets, tucked in and warm. Her body wasn't cold as death anymore but it still wasn't warm enough for his taste.

He sat on the edge of the bed when he was done and there was nothing else he could do to make her comfortable. He grabbed his head in his hands, hissing a little when his fingers accidentally touched the wound at the back of his skull he really should take care of at some point.

He needed a drink.

He needed a fucking drink.

There was a half-empty bottle of moonshine on the dresser, less than two feet away but he couldn't bring himself to go and grab it.

He didn't know why.

Or maybe he knew why only too well.

There was a loud round of knocking at the door and he let out a long sigh. "Come in."

He knew it wouldn't be Katniss because Katniss wouldn't knock. Prim wouldn't do it with that much strength and Cinna… Cinna would just call him.

He wasn't surprised when the Hawthorne boy opened the door and stood there, defiant and yet tired, that stubborn sulk on his face. "The warlock guy's with Mellark. Katniss said to tell you she's gonna sit with him a while and you should take a nap." Haymitch snorted. Fat chances of that happening. Hawthorne waited a second but when it became clear he wasn't going to answer, his sulking face pinched even harder. "I'm borrowing Mellark's truck. I'm gonna go pick up my other brother and sister and drop them off at Sae's 'cause Mom's frantic."

"Make sure she knows not to be out after dark. When night comes your family should all be inside, the kids in particular." he advised. "And I don't mean inside a public place like Sae's. Actually…" He let out another sigh. He needed to get in touch with the authorities, maybe the mayor, try to convince him that… "It'd be best if they closed Sae's before dark. All those people there… It's inviting troubles."

To convince anyone, he would probably need the weight of the Council behind him. He needed to call Coin anyway. It was overdue.

She would want to talk to Effie though and he wasn't sure he wanted to reveal she had slipped into the Hellmouth and he had gone after her – with his Slayer – instead of taking care of the threat.

He wasn't impatient to write that part of his journal either: how he had frozen when faced with Snow instead of reacting on instinct and staking him, how he had preferred to drop to the ground to try to reach Effie and Peeta rather than do his duty…

He had failed on so many fucking accounts…

"Alright." Hawthorne nodded.

It was almost refreshing to hear the boy not be contradictory.

"Check on the girl too, yeah?" he asked.

The boy frowned. "Katniss? I told you she plans to sit with Mellark for a while."

"Madge." he corrected.

"I texted her. They're keeping her in the hospital until tomorrow at least but she's okay." Hawthorne grumbled, his face closing even more. "You shouldn't have brought her to that shit. She ain't a fighter."

"Seems like she's your kind of girl, then, yeah?" he mocked but then shook his head and regretted it immediately. "It's good she's alright."

Hawthorne lingered there a while longer even though Haymitch wasn't sure what else there was to say.

"I'm coming back after." the boy warned.

"You really don't need to." he muttered, giving up the battle against the dizziness and blindly fumbling back behind him until he could scoot up the bed and prop his back against the headboard. His hand found Effie's shoulder. "In fact, please don't."

"Katniss's gonna want to go after that vampire and you're down two fighters." Hatwhorne retorted and then sneered. "Probably three cause you look like shit. I don't trust you to keep her safe."

The boy stormed away before Haymitch could think up a witty reply to that.

Not that it mattered, did it?

The boy wasn't wrong.

"I really fucked up this time…" he mumbled for Effie's sake. "I fucked up everything."

Including his relationship with her, probably…

Because his silence at the words she had offered… He wasn't sure she would ever forgive him for that.

Seems like Gale is back on the team whether we like it or not XD Peeta and Effie aren't doing great, Haymitch is on a fine line, Katniss is exhausted, Cinna needs a power nap... What could go wrong? Let me know your thoughts!