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Chapter 8-The Vision

Katniss had acclimated herself in the tribe enough that they were willing to reveal some secrets that only tribe members knew. She had felt honored and humbled that the tribe trusted her enough to reveal sensitive information to her. She was invited to a meeting that night and sat around a fire with the majority of the tribe. They spoke in great length about their tribe's beginnings and how they came to live just north of District 9. Rain of course helped translate what Katniss couldn't. The piece of information that was most sacred to the tribe was how they were able to scare off the peacekeepers when they tried to come for them. The tribes leader explained to Katniss that one of the reasons the tribe decided to stay in this region is because a certain herb grows here and only here that is very powerful. That the tribe discovered when burned and inhaled, the herb causes a person to see their greatest fears, a hallucination of sorts. The tribe had been able to trick peacekeepers into inhaling the herb and then they went running when it took full effect. It was then that the story of 'ghost magic' came to be. Rain told Katniss she thinks that's how the Capitol got the idea of crackerjack venom. That even when the Capitol eventually figured out what the peacekeepers saw wasn't real, the Capitol still decided to leave the tribe alone. She admitted she wasn't sure why but had a theory. She went on to explain to Katniss that the herb not only makes you see your greatest fears, that you also see a glimpse of your future. She thinks the Capitol was scared when they figured this out and instead turned their efforts into manufacturing a similar experience in crackerjack venom, minus the seeing your future part.

The tribe also talked about they felt their ancestors protected them from the Capitol as well. That not far from here was an ancient burial ground where the tribe has buried their dead for centuries. The tribe explained to Katniss that when a person becomes a part of the tribe, either through marriage or by joining the group the way Katniss has, that the tribe requires a person to go to the burial ground and inhale the herb. They informed Katniss the time had come for her to do that.

"No" she stated fiercely.

"Katniss, it will be alright. We won't be far. I can guarantee your safety" Rain responded when Katniss got up and walked away from the group.

"I'm not concerned about my safety. I'm not inhaling an herb that is going to show me what I'm most scared of. I already know what that is! And I don't want to know my future. Isn't this taking a step back instead of forward?"

"You weren't ready before, you are ready now. Plus it is the tribe leader's decision when one is ready to be an official part of the group. It is not my decision. I guess he has seen great improvement in you." Rain knew it wasn't going to be easy to convince Katniss to go through with it.

"Look-I feel honored that they trust me enough to tell me all this, I really do, but I don't want to be a part of the tribe, I never asked to be." For some strange reason Katniss felt like she did right before the rebellion started, that she was being forced into something she didn't want to be a part of.

"This is not only about being a part of the tribe. Facing your fears is also part of your recovery" Rain hoped trying it from this angle might be more receptive.

"I told you I know my fears" Katniss responded in a raised voice.

"The fears you see might not be what you think they are. Everyone sees something different. Is it the fears you are afraid of or possibly seeing your future?"

Katniss didn't want to admit that she was afraid. She still had a problem with showing weakness, especially to these people. She wants to leave, to drop this whole thing and return to District 12, but she has come so far. She no longer has nightmares, she enjoys hunting in these mountains, and she's learning to let go of her anger towards her mother. She hadn't felt this sense of calm in a long time, since before the games. She decides she can't leave now, she needs to face this and see what the tribe wants her to see.

"When do I go and get this over with?" she scoffed.

Rain smiled and said, "tomorrow night".

Rain and three other tribe members escort Katniss to the burial ground. It is about an hour's walk from the meadow where the tribe lives. It is sunset when they approach. Katniss had an eerie feeling. It was like she could feel the spirits of the dead here. She was scared already, she looked at Rain showing that fear.

"You'll be fine. I know how it feels, I was 15 the first time they had me come here."

Katniss was surprised to hear that someone so young would have to do this. But Rain explained that she didn't really start to jump District 9's fence and spend time with her father's family until she was 12. When her name started going into the reaping bowl.

One of tribe members placed the herb next to a fire. "When we leave place the herb in the fire and inhale the scent" he said to Katniss. She nodded her head that she understood.

When she saw Rain and the others leave, she took a deep breath and did what she was told. It was totally dark by now. She could only see the light from the fire. It was totally silent. It was terrifying. She breathed heavily as she inhaled the scent, it didn't have a specific smell. She could see how easy it would be to trick someone into inhaling it, all one would think is that something was burning.

She sat for what seemed like an eternity. Nothing was happening. All she saw was the wood in the fire continuing to burn. She felt her eyes start to close, then out of nowhere, she saw a figure approach. She jerked up to get a better look as the figure approached the fire. Her breathing almost coming to a stop when she who it was from the light of the fire. Prim.

It was a version of Prim the day of the reaping, not the older Prim who died in the Capitol. Katniss wanted to go to her. To put her arms around her and never let go. But she knew what she was seeing wasn't real.

Even though Prim had approached Katniss she wasn't looking at her. In fact, she looked right past her. She ran past Katniss and around the fire, Katniss quickly getting up and following her around the large flame. Katniss stopped dead in her tracks after spotting Prim again.

She gasped as she Prim running into Gale's arms. Prim giggled as Gale picked her up and put her on his back. "Come on, let's go get your mom and go to the train station" Gale said.

"I can't believe Katniss is coming home. I'm so happy she won, her and Peeta." Prim said.

"I am too. But I knew all along she could do it. She said she would win for you and she did." Gale turned and walked away from the fire, continuing to give Prim a piggy back ride.

Katniss didn't want them to go. "Prim!" she shouted. "Prim come back, please, don't go, don't leave me again." Katniss knew none of it was real but it felt so real. She started to panic.

All of the sudden, she felt someone tap her shoulder. She whirled around thinking it would be Rain but instead she found herself staring face to face with Peeta.

"Peeta?" she cried out, her heart pounding into her chest.

Peeta gave Katniss a warm smile and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be afraid of what you see" he says in a gentle manner.

Before she could respond, she felt her eyes close and fall to the ground, blacking out.

Katniss awakes in a room. A bedroom to be exact. She sits up and looks around. She doesn't recognize the room. She gets out of the bed and looks out the window. She doesn't recognize anything outside either. She is definitely not in District 12. She sees the ocean further out. She thinks she is in District 4. But why would she be here, is she visiting her mother?

She walks out the bedroom door into a room. She is now back in her house at the Victors Village. She sees Peeta sitting at their kitchen table looking at her picture. He has the saddest look ever on his face. She goes to him, about to put her arms around him to console him but right when her arms reach out the scene changes again, her arms wrapping around herself instead. She is now standing in a meadow. She begins to put her arms down when she realizes she has a very large bump, a pregnancy bump to be exact. She touches it in shock. She's definitely pregnant, feeling the baby kick when she placed her hand on her stomach. She begins to breathe heavily, looking around. This is not a meadow she recognizes in District 12, again she has no idea where she is. She hears laughter off the side. She turns and looks and sees three small children playing. Two girls and a boy. She knows immediately they are her children, they have her hair color, her skin tone, and her eyes. She closes her eyes forcefully trying to erase the image from her mind. There is only one person who the father could be in order for these children to look so much like her. A person most people thought was her cousin.

She opens her eyes immediately when she hears one of the children yell out, "daddy." Seeing one of the girls running into a tall man's arms, him picking her up and putting her on his shoulders. Katniss's eyes follow from the little girl to the man's face. Standing a few feet away, looking at the other two kids lovingly, was Gale.

She starts to shake her head in disbelief. This cannot be her future, it cannot. She wouldn't let it be. She didn't want kids, let alone three children with another on the way. Maybe this is one of her fears she tells herself. It has to be a fear, the fear of losing Peeta and ending up miserable with a large family.

"Mommy, what's wrong, why are you crying?" the little boy asks tugging at her dress pulling her back into the moment.

"You okay Catnip? You look like you saw a ghost." Gale said putting his arm around her with his hand going immediately to the swell of her stomach.

Katniss screamed in response jolting herself awake.

It was dawn, the fire completely burned out. She sat up and screamed again, releasing all of her anger. Rain came running to Katniss a few minutes later, kneeling down beside her. "Are you alright?" Rain asked out of breath.

Katniss didn't respond and just grabbed Rain pulling her into a hug. She looked at Rain and shook her head back and forth and finally said, "What I saw could not have been my future, it just couldn't. Tell me what I saw wasn't the future."

She told Rain what she saw. Rain's eyes closed for a brief moment when Katniss told her about the scene in the meadow, looking deep in thought.

"Like I said, the herb affects everyone differently. It could have been a fear that you saw, the fear of what your life could have been had you not volunteered for Prim. But it could have been something else. You know that's a possibility."

"I don't want it to be a possibility" Katniss hissed. "Am I never going to have the ability to make my own choices in life? When I entered the games, I was forced into a fake romance in order to protect the ones I loved. Haymitch telling me I was a slave to the Capitol forever. I didn't have choices then, I didn't have many choices when I was asked to be the leader of the rebellion, and now I come here to find out I have no choice but to see my future. A future I want no part of." Katniss broke down and sobbed, Rain gently stroking her.

"I'm sorry" Rain said after a few moments.

Later that day, Katniss decided to go hunting to get her mind off of what happened last night. She asked five other hunters to go with her. She wanted to go further out than she usually did and needed guides to help her in case she got lost. The six of them heading pretty far out. Katniss walked for what seemed like miles, taking in the fresh, crisp cool air. It was starting to get slightly warmer, she assumed winter was soon ending, but she was still wearing the furs she had been wearing she since arrived. As she walked cautiously through the tall trees, tracking the path of what she learned was called a moose in the tribe's language, she saw an object move slightly in the trees. She watched from the corner of her eye where the object shifted to, then she quickly turned to one of the hunter's and yelled, "Take cover, I need fire now". The hunter quickly lit a torch on fire and handed the torch to Katniss. She lit one of her arrows on fire and turned around, hitting the object out of the air in one shot. The object falling to the ground in flames. Katniss knew where the object came from.

"We have to return to the village, now! The capitol is watching us."