A/N: Canon-typical violence depicted.
KATNISS POV
The week before the Games went by in such a blur, I barely remember it. A majority of the week was spent talking about the other tributes and how they won their Games, or we spent our time in training. I was told by Haymitch to try and win myself allies to 'better my chances of winning', but I didn't want to win. I hated the idea that, over the last three years, the few people in the world that knew what it was like to endure the horrors of the Capitol and the Hunger Games that had become some definition of 'friend' would become my targets in just a few short days. By 2163, there were a total of fifty-one victors still living - half of those victors had been sent into the arena again, and by the end of the 78th Games, there would only be twenty-eight left. One of them would be Peeta.
Before training and alliances, however, was the tribute parade. We were prepped and dressed, this time, I was wearing a rather mature-looking black dress that showed quite a bit of cleavage that normally wasn't there, but the dress was pushing my breasts up. My hair was curled and in a half up, half down style, and, once again, there would be flames bursting from my dress. For once, I was the one waiting on Peeta to finish with his prep team, so while I waited, I decided to pet the horse. Poor lad, he was.
"Katniss Everdeen Mellark," I heard a familiar peacocky voice say with a mocking tone, and I rolled my eyes before I turned to face it's owner. Finnick Odair was standing before me, bronzed and golden and glowing, wearing nothing but a strategically-tied knotted rope. I raised my eyebrows in mock surprise.
"Finnick Odair," I replied. "That's quite an outfit. I'd love to borrow it sometime."
"Peeta would like that, wouldn't he?" said Finnick, clearly teasing me. He popped a small white object in his mouth, then offered one to me. "Sugar cube?"
"No thanks, I'm sweet enough," I replied, turning back to the horse.
"I see that," he replied. "They're meant for the horses, but... they've got the rest of their lives to live, but you and I? We've got days. Better grab something sweet while we can, right?"
"Is that a euphemism for your string of lovers?" I asked him, irritated with his presence, and he chuckled.
"Could be, or it could be a euphemism for you and Peeta. Haymitch says he barely slept on the train due to... noisy neighbours."
"Noisy neighbours or a nosy mentor? Either way, it doesn't matter what you've heard. We're married, we're allowed a good shag." I crossed my arms over my chest, irritated with his stupid bemused grin.
"You certainly pack some heat, Girl on Fire. By the way, I really am sorry about your baby. I can't imagine that that had been very pleasant."
"Thank you," I said, making it clear that I didn't want to talk about that. I hadn't even had the chance to mourn the loss of my child, but truthfully, I didn't know how. Yes, I was sad... That little boy was still going to be my son, even if Snow had forced him on me, and I wouldn't have loved him any less, but it felt... strange... to mourn him. I had two living children whose lives I feared for every day, who were constantly being threatened by Snow. I suppose I had neither the time nor the energy to mourn the loss of a child I hardly knew. But I still think about him, sometimes. I think about which of us he would have looked like, and I think about what he would have sounded like or what he would have liked to do. Despite the Capitol naming contest, Peeta had wanted to name him after one of my brothers, but I didn't like the idea of naming a child after someone who had died. To me, it felt like giving him expectations that he would have had to live up to, so we settled on a name that reminded us both of home - Oleander, which meant 'evergreen tree'. Of course, his real legal name would have been some stupid Capitol name, but we'd call him Oleander or Ollie at home.
"Katniss?" I heard Finnick say, and I snapped back to reality, not having realised I'd spaced out. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I... Just... thinking... Sorry, what did you ask me?" I asked him.
"I asked where your two beautiful girls are today," Finnick replied.
"Safe at home, far away from here," I told him. At that moment, we both saw Peeta finally appear, flanked by Haymitch and Portia.
"Guess I'd better go, don't want to give your dear husband any reason to give me a black eye," said Finnick, turning just as Peeta approached the pair of us. "Peeta."
"Finnick," Peeta replied, and once Finnick was out of earshot, he asked me, "What'd he want?"
"I'm not really sure," I replied, my eyes wide as I took in his appearance. He looked so handsome - and so sexy - in that dark sleeveless black vest and skintight pants. I bit my lower lip as I took on his appearance, then placed my hands on his muscular arms and slid them up to his shoulders. "You are positively gorgeous in this outfit. I can't wait to rip it off of you." He smiled and chuckled, then put his hands on my waist.
"You have no idea how much restraint it is taking to not get an erection from looking at you right now," he whispered into my ear, and I turned a furious shade of pink. The sound of a throat clearing I interrupted us and we both turned to look at Cinna.
"Right, this year, the stakes are different. You're angry, so make sure you both look like this is the last place you'd rather be. And don't forget to turn your flames on,," he instructed us.
"That sounds easy enough," Peeta replied.
"Good, because you should be. All this shouldn't be happening, especially to you two," Cinna told him. He and Peeta exchanged a knowing glance, and I raised an eyebrow at this interaction, but I didn't have time to question it before we were ushered onto the chariot. As it began to move, Peeta turned his head to look at me.
"I love you," he told me.
"I love you, too," I replied, and I reached for his hand, which he willingly gave me, and we held on tightly to each other as we scorned the audience - and President Snow, who looked both displeased and amused with himself. There was a dangerous glint in his eye that made me sick to look at, but Peeta's firm hand in mine kept me grounded.
When the parade came to an end, Peeta, Haymitch and I made our way back to the elevator, giving our greetings to a couple of other tributes on our way, and as we entered the elevator, the door was stopped by Johanna Mason, who resembled a tree in her parade costume. "Going up," she said with a smirk, and the door closed behind her. "You guys look amazing, as always. God, my stylist is such an idiot ." She began to undo her hair. "District Seven, lumber. Everything is always trees, trees and more fucking trees. Unzip?" She turned her back to Peeta, who glanced at me first before agreeing to unzip her dress. He tried to ignore the furious look on my face as he did so, then looked down at the ground when Johanna slipped out of her dress and stood before us stark naked. She was silent as she smirked at us, and both Peeta and Haymitch were awkwardly trying not to gawk at her rather large and plump breasts. When the elevator stopped on the seventh floor, the doors opened and she stalked out. "Let's do it again sometime," she said on her way out. When the doors closed behind her, I slapped the arms of both of the men I was sharing the elevator with.
"Pigs, both of you!" I snapped at them.
"I wasn't looking! I swear!" Peeta exclaimed in defense.
"Sure you weren't!" I spat back.
"Don't blame the boy for bein' a man," Haymitch told me with a tone of bemusement, and I wanted to kill him even more. I knew there were rules against killing a fellow tribute before the Games, but were there any rules against killing your mentor?
"I wasn't looking! Katniss, there are only one pair of tits I'd like to look at and they belong to you. It's not my fault that Johanna decided to take off her clothes and shove her giant tits in all of our faces!" Peeta replied, but at this point, I was ignoring him. When the elevator stopped on our floor, I stalked out, followed by Peeta, who wouldn't let me go into what should have been my room without him. "Katniss."
"I don't like that bitch," I said to him. "You mind? I'd like to shower."
"I do mind, you're not shoving me out. Not when we have days left with each other," he replied, then he took my face in his hands and kissed my lips. "You are the only woman for me. No one else. Okay? There is no need for you to get jealous."
"Jealous? The hell does that mean?"
"When you want something that someone else has, or when another girl is flirting with the man you love and you're angry."
" Eudach? Jealous is the English word for that?"
"I guess so."
"Then I am not jealous!"
"It looks could kill, Johanna would be a mess of shredded skin and muscle on the floor."
"That doesn't make me jealous. Sure, I'd like to have enormous tits sometimes considering I got blessed with the body of a prepubescent twelve-year-old but I can assure you, I am not jealous. I don't like it when other women talk to you."
"That's the definition of jealousy."
"That isn't what I meant! I meant... Blimey, what the hell do I mean? I meant..." I let out a sigh, my language barrier yet again causing headaches. "I don't like it when other women flirt with you and I don't like it when they strip down naked as the day they were born and flash their tits at you." Peeta was chuckling with amusement now, which annoyed me further. "The hell are you laughing at? This isn't funny!"
"You're cute when you're angry," he said with a charming smile, and I huffed.
"I'm not cute, I'm deadly. And if she flashes her tits at you again, she won't have any tits to flash." He chuckled again, then took me into his arms, his finger running along the very top of my dress, right above my breasts.
"How about we get this off of you so I can refresh my eyes with a pair of tits I actually like?" he asked me, and I rolled my eyes.
"Always tits with you men, isn't it?" I asked him, and his hand slipped down to my bottom.
"Don't worry, I'll pay an equal amount of attention to other parts of you," he replied, lowering his lips to my neck to kiss it, and then he undid the part of my dress that was keeping it up around my neck, pulling down the top to expose my rather small breasts, which had barely grown even after having two children. His warm, calloused hands cupped them both, and I let out a quiet groan and closed my eyes as his thumbs brushed my nipples. "Mmm, now these are my favourites... I've been waiting to see these ladies all day." Peeta always knew how to make me melt in his palm like butter. I suppose he truly was my weakness.
As stated before, the rest of the week was spent in training, being mentored by Haymitch on how to deal with experienced killers and spending every possible second I could in Peeta's arms. I don't need to go into detail about what happened in training - we trained, we socialised with the other victors and then we went back upstairs, showered and fell into bed together. Then came the evaluation. Peeta and I being District Twelve meant we went last, so we were sitting for quite a while, waiting for our turn. Peeta held my hand firmly, his eyes darting around to each of the tributes, pausing every so often. "Peeta, how are we gonna kill these people?" I asked him quietly so that no one could hear me.
"Not easily," he replied, then he looked at me. "But you're strong. I'll get you through this and get you home."
"I'm not having this argument again," I told him, pulling my hand from his, and he sighed.
"I'm sorry," he replied, reaching for my hand again, which I gave him with a sigh. "I just wish we could go home to our girls..."
"I miss them, too," I said. It seemed like hours passed before Peeta was called in for his evaluation, and he bent down to give me a kiss. "Do something phenomenal," I told him.
"You, too," he replied, kissing me again, and then he went into the room. A good forty-five minutes passed before I was finally called in, and when I did, I was surprised to see two paintings on the floor - one of Lucy and one of Rue, both looking peacefully asleep with their dark hair fanning out behind them, lying in a bed of flowers. They looked so beautiful - Peeta did excellent work. The Gamemakers looked a bit flustered up in the booth, and when I locked eyes with the head gamemaker, Plutarch Heavensbee, he gave me a smirk. I quickly went to work by grabbing a dummy and using it to showcase my knot-tying skills, creating a noose around the dummy's neck. Using the leftover paints, I painted him to look like Seneca Crane, the gamemaker who had spared both mine and Peeta's lives now four years ago, and hanged him from the ceiling. Once again, the gamemakers looked flustered, and I took a bow before I stormed out of there without a word.
Effie was shocked at both of us, but Peeta and I were quite pleased with ourselves. The both of us had been given a score of twelve for our evaluation, the Capitol's last attempt at putting a target on our backs. There was already a target on our backs - if Snow had anything to say about it, neither Peeta nor I were leaving the arena. Haymitch was very pleased with our actions and he and Peeta exchanged a glance, and when he did, I placed a hand on Peeta's chest. When he met my eyes, I silently asked him if there was something he wasn't telling me, but he smiled and kissed my nose.
On the last day of training, before we were to go into the arena, Peeta and I were given the day off, so we spent the day together on the roof. We talked and we laughed, we cried together and we comforted one another. We kissed and, once or twice, we made love there on the roof, and we dined on a picnic that we created. At one point, I lay with my head in Peeta's lap, him sketching and I weaving flowers together to make a flower crown, when Peeta set down his sketch and began to run his hands through my hair. "I wish I could freeze this moment and live in it forever... You with your head in my lap, both of us free of worry and we can just be here together forever," he told me suddenly.
"I wish we weren't here... I wish we were home with our daughters... I wish there were no Games to be afraid of. I wish we could just be left alone to do as we please," I said.
"I know... You said once before that... that if we hadn't been reaped, we would have happened anyway... Do you really think we would have?" he asked me suddenly. I then sat up, then positioned myself in his lap so that my legs were on either side of him and my arms were wrapped around his neck.
"I do," I told him. "I knew that every time I looked at you, I felt my heart skip a beat, even if I didn't know why... I caught you looking at me a few times, too, and the feeling of knowing you'd noticed me made me dizzy. If we ever bumped shoulders in the corridors or if I ever saw you in the bakery... I always felt myself go all warm whenever I saw you. I admit once that the one time you were the one to answer the door when I came knocking to trade with your father, I... I really wanted to just grab you by your shirt collar and kiss you."
"Well, I certainly wouldn't have stopped you," Peeta said with a chuckle.
"I told you before, I... I think deep down inside, I knew I loved you a very long time ago." He smiled at me, then I gently brushed his lips with mine. "There's no question that, had the Games never happened to us, you and I would still, eventually, be here. Something else might have brought us together."
"Shh," Peeta said, and he brushed my lips with his again. "Just let me kiss you..." He lowered me onto my back and pressed his lips passionately against mine, and I knew this kiss was going to turn into something more. He made love to me then on that rooftop for maybe the fifth time that day, our hips rocking together in a rhythmic motion and our moans playing off of each other. There was no doubt in my mind of how much I loved Peeta Mellark. He was everything I could ever want in a partner - loving, supportive, protective and also willing to back off when I needed him to (sometimes). He was an incredible father, a romantic lover and my absolute best friend in the entire world. There was nothing he didn't know about me; I had no secrets from him, and he was the only person in the world who knew so much about me.
As we were coming down from yet another joint orgasm, I lay my head on Peeta's bare chest and his fingers drew patterns on my back, the pair of us drifting off for a late afternoon nap. "You gonna shock the Capitol again like you did for our first Games?" I asked him suddenly.
"You mean when I told the whole world I was practically in love with you? Thinking about it," he replied.
"What's your idea this time? I'd like to be clued in this time. It could save your life," I said, pressing a kiss to his collarbone.
"Katniss, everything I do, I do for you," he replied. "I was thinking of maybe... Well... Since we lost Ollie, I thought maybe we could... announce another pregnancy. Maybe it would stop the Games."
"Snow isn't going to stop the Games. He wants us dead, he's made it clear it doesn't matter if I'm pregnant or not."
"But we could try. There's no harm in that."
"True, we could try. I say do it and this time, I promise I'll react accordingly. I'm glad you told me because if any of us are to look shocked at my pregnancy reveal, it really shouldn't be me." At that, Peeta chuckled, then he lifted my head to press a kiss to my lips.
"We should start thinking about heading in soon... We've got to get prepped for the interview. I'm glad we had this time to ourselves." He gave me a smile, then we both begrudgingly made our way downstairs to separate and get prepped for the interviews.
The tributes' interviews were attempts by each one trying to either question the validity of these special Games, expressing their anger or trying their hardest to get the Games stopped. My interview certainly didn't do that, but Caesar did, of course, express his deepest sorrows and sympathies for the loss of my child. "I absolutely cannot imagine how frightened you must have been when you were attacked, Katniss. And then waking up to be told you had lost your child?" he said to me.
"The first thing I woke up to, actually, was a Capitol official harshly interrogating me and asking if I had caused my miscarriage myself, then she spared no expense to tell me that there would be severe consequences if there was evidence that I had," I replied, hearing a couple of shocked gasps from the audience. Caesar's face fell - another tribute putting him in a tough position.
"I see... You are certainly looking very well now! It's a shame your beautiful daughters can't be here today," Caesar said, not realising he set himself up for yet another harsh remark from me.
"Peeta and I didn't want them potentially watching their parents get brutally murdered so close. But they're going to have to watch one of us die anyway, aren't they?" I said, and Caesar again was unsure of what to say.
"Yes, yes... Now, your dress looks absolutely beautiful. Is it... Is this your wedding dress from your wedding now three and a half years ago?" Caesar asked me, referring to the hideous white mass on me, and I nodded.
"President Snow thought you should see it one last time, before..." I trailed off.
"Well, as usual, President Snow was right indeed! Give us a twirl in it, won't you? I would love to see this beautiful dress in those incredible flames your stylist has created!" Caesar exclaimed, and I obediently obliged, the dress erupting into the flames that I knew so well. What surprised me was that I began to see the flames start to climb my body, which I hadn't seen before, and when I stopped spinning, I found myself wearing a deep blue shimmering form-fitting gown, and when I extended my arms, feathered wings sprang out from behind me. The Capitol citizens were oohing and ahing at the spectacle, and Caesar was fascinated. "Incredible! It's some sort of... bird..."
"It's a mockingjay," I said as I caught my image on the screens, and Caesar's face fell as he tried so hard to maintain both his composure and his overly ecstatic look. He looked so relieved when the timer went off, signifying the end of my interview, and when I made my way to take my seat with the other victors, my eye caught Peeta's in the wing and I winked at him, which he returned before he was introduced and brought out onstage.
"Peeta Mellark!" Caesar exclaimed once Peeta was standing beside him. "I was just saying to your wife how terribly sorry I am about the loss of your child. How did you feel when you found out she had been attacked?"
"Well, Caesar, I was the one that found her and I was horrified, to say the least," said Peeta expertly. "I was angry that I couldn't be there to protect her or our unborn child and I wanted the person who did that to her to be dead, but they never found the guy."
"Yes, you must have been furious ! But at least you have your other two daughters, yes?"
"Yes, I love my girls more than anything in the world, but I did love my unborn son, too."
"It was a boy?"
"Yes, we were going to announce it on Freya Deshannon's Victory Tour, but then Katniss got attacked and unfortunately, lost him."
"I was so looking forward to voting on the name in the contest! I was hoping you'd name him after me!" Peeta forced a laugh, but I knew inside that he was furious.
"Well, if Katniss survives, you might have a chance to do that again," Peeta told him. This was the moment. Caesar's face fell as Peeta's words dawned on him.
"You mean..."
"Ever since we lost our son, Katniss and I have been vigorously trying again, without much success unfortunately. We know how badly the people of the Capitol wanted this baby, and all we aim to do is please, so we tried and tried, but then these Games threw a bit of a wrench in our plans. Or so we thought. Everything would be great... if it weren't for the fact that Katniss is pregnant." Upon his announcement, there was an uproar of screams, gasps and cries in the audience of Capitol people who began to demand an end to the Games. Peeta, a rather smug look on his face, observed the damage that he had done while Caesar tried to quiet the crowd.
"All right, all right, this is news to all of us! I, uh..." Caesar looked helpless and I almost felt bad for the man, but he was of the Capitol and he supported the Games as much as everyone else here did, so I didn't feel too bad. He whispered something in Peeta's ear, who nodded, and Peeta then joined me by my side, pulling me into his arms for a hug.
"Good job," I whispered into his ear, holding him tightly as if we were mourning the potential loss of another child. When we broke from our embrace, we joined hands, and like we had during our first tribute parade now four years ago, Peeta raised our joined hands. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see other tributes joining hands and raising them, and soon, all twenty-four of us were joining hands and raising them, a symbol of unification. Then the lights went out, and we were blindly stumbling around in the dark.
As soon as Peeta and I were back on our floor, he pulled me into his arms and held me tightly, and I held him equally as tightly. We stayed in each other's arms until Haymitch and Effie joined us on the floor. "Nice job with the baby bomb, but the Games are still goin' on," Haymitch told us. Of course they were. "They ain't lettin' us see you two off tomorrow, either... I gotta get back to the hotel and Frills here needs to get home." Peeta and I pulled back from our embrace.
"So... this is goodbye," I said, and Haymitch solemnly nodded. "Any last advice?"
"Stay alive," Haymitch replied, and Peeta and I shared a casual chuckle.
"I just wish so much that you both could do it again," Effie said, tears threatening her eyes. I couldn't help but to pull the Capitol woman into my arms for a firm hug.
"Thank you... for everything," I whispered into her ear. Then it was Peeta's turn to embrace her, and she wiped her eyes when she separated from us.
"I have gifts for the boys... To show that we're a team," Effie said with a sad smile. "As we discussed briefly on the train, I have my golden hair, Katniss has her golden pin, Haymitch will have this golden bracelet." She opened a small box and handed Haymitch the golden bracelet inside. "...and for Peeta, the medallion that we discussed." She opened another box and pulled out a medallion on a chain, handing it to him.
"Thank you, Effie," he said. "Both of you, thank you so much... We couldn't have made it this far without either of you." At that, Effie started to cry again, and she pulled both Peeta and I into her arms for an embrace.
"I'm so sorry this has happened to you... to your beautiful family that you've made for yourselves... I can only hope that... something happens..." she muttered through tears.
"This is it, Effie. We're cornered. We can't escape it this time," I told her. When they began to take their leave, I stopped Haymitch by calling his name, and then I hugged him. "Keep him safe... and them... Take care of them for me," I whispered to him.
"You just remember who the enemy is," he muttered quietly to me, then he pulled back from the embrace to give me the best Haymitch smile he could muster. "Goodbye, sweetheart." The pair of them left, leaving Peeta and I by ourselves.
I didn't want to talk anymore, not about anything. Not the Games, not my feelings, not my hatred of Snow and the Capitol nor of how badly I wanted to wake up from this nightmare safe at home and in Peeta's arms, with my daughters fast asleep just down the hall. I took Peeta to my room and we showered together, one final time, before crawling into bed and making love again and again until the sun came up. We should have slept, but we couldn't; we just wanted to be in each other's arms and we didn't want to lose a second of that. "I don't want to be in there with anyone else," I whispered to Peeta after a prolonged silence. "Just you."
"If that's what you want," he whispered back.
"It's what I want," I told him, closing my eyes as I rested my head against his bare chest. There was a subtle knock at the door, and Peeta let out a sigh.
"I guess this is it," he said, and then we sat up, both of us still nude from the night before. "I'll see you soon." I grasped his face and pulled his lips to mine to kiss him.
"I love you," I told him, in case I didn't survive the initial bloodbath.
"Don't say goodbye," he told me. "I will see you soon." He kissed me again, and then he climbed out of bed to pull his clothes back on and left me by myself in the room. I was captured by a sense of dread that only worsened, and I hoped against hope that it meant that I would be the one giving my life and not Peeta losing his.
PEETA POV
I prepared for the Games with Portia only, who gave me a wetsuit to dress in. It was thick, which, according to Portia, meant that there would be water, and that it might be cold. Perfect, we'd probably all freeze to death. That was certainly a quick way for Snow to get rid of us all. When I got into the tube, I was brought up into the arena, and when my vision cleared, I looked around me. It looked circular, and all around me were rocks and trees. The air was a little crisp, but I felt comfortable in the wetsuit. When I glanced around for Katniss, I realised that I was absolutely surrounded by water, something that worried me quite considerably - I had never exactly mastered the art of swimming. When the countdown began, I searched the tributes that I could see for Katniss, but she wasn't a single one of them. She must have been on the other side of the cornucopia. I looked to my right, where the District Nine male tribute, Benedict Albion, was staring me down. I'd shared a couple of drinks with that guy and he did not look very friendly today. To my left was Lily Taupe, the District Six tribute, who nervously glanced at me; at least she didn't look like she wanted to murder me.
When the cannon went off, most of the tributes dived into the water, but I remained rooted where I stood on my platform, not entirely sure if I wanted to risk jumping into the water considering I didn't trust my swimming abilities. Benedict had, evidently, decided that I was going to be his target and made a beeline for me, so I had no choice but to jump in the water in hopes of swimming out to one of the spokes of the giant wheel we seemed to be in. I didn't make it in time, because Benedict grabbed me and we struggled against each other, pulling each other under and trying hard to win the fight. Out of the corner of my eye, I could have sworn I saw Katniss carrying a bow, but before I could look, I was dragged under the water. I didn't want to do it, but I had no choice - it was kill or be killed. I firmly grasped his throat and strangled the poor man until he fell unconscious, and then I let him go, kicking my way back to the surface and grabbing onto the platform as Finnick Odair swam over to me.
"Peeta, it's all right!" he said out loud - loud enough for Katniss to hear. Of course I knew it was all right, we were planning a rebellion together. I nodded for the sake of acting, then piggybacked on him all the way to the rocks, where Katniss grabbed my arm and helped me to stand on the rocks. I pulled her into a tight hug, kissing the side of her head.
"See, I told you I'd see you soon," I told her.
"Nevermind that, we've got to go," she told me, pushing a knife into my hand, and then we ran. With Finnick was Mags, of course, and as we left the rocky spokes and ran up onto the rocky mountainous terrain, Katniss was the only one adeptly managing to climb the terrain, seemingly in the best shape and not struggling one bit while the rest of us tripped or slipped.
"How are you doing this?" Finnick had asked her as we continued to climb, pausing to take a breather.
"I'm Hebridean, the best damn rock runner in Uibhist. Would have been the best damn rock runner in Hebridia, but some little shit from Archaibh tripped me up," Katniss replied. " Tugainn . Come on, we've got to keep moving."
"Easy for you to say, 'best rock runner in Oo-vist," I said, teasing her.
" Uibhist , say it right," she replied, also teasing me, and we continued up the hill. Eventually, we got to a point that was relatively flat, although it was very high up and into the trees, which were very dense. Using the knife Katniss had given me to cut through some ivy that was growing, I took the lead. After a few minutes of doing that, I heard Katniss shout, "PEETA, NO!" and all I heard as my knife came into contact with the force field was a loud crack, and then everything went black.
What felt like moments later, I took a gasp of air, my lungs burning as the chilly air filled my chest. I let out a gentle cough and let my eyes adjust from the darkness, and I felt a pressure leave my chest. Above me, in the light, was a person hovering over me, and when my vision cleared, I saw that it was Katniss, who was absolutely distraught and in tears. "Peeta! Peeta!" she said as I came to, her hands all over my chest and face, and then her lips were on mine, a salty taste from her tears upon them.
"Careful, there's a force field up there," I said, trying to alleviate the stress, and she laughed, then pressed her lips to mine again. "You were dead... You were dead, your heart stopped..."
"It's okay, it's working now," I told her as she leaned down to hold me, and I raised a hand to cradle the back of her head. "Shhh, I'm okay..."
"You shouldn't be comforting me, you just died!" Katniss cried out, then she pushed herself up to hover over me. "See now why you have to be the one to live? I can't go through that again! I can't!"
"Katniss, it's okay. I'm okay," I told her, pushing myself to sit up, and she threw her arms around my neck and hugged me very tightly. "It's okay..." Once I'd finally recovered from the actual greatest shock of my life, and thanked Finnick for saving my life, we headed along the force field, Katniss tossing some kind of nut at it to mark where the force field was. She was quiet, the initial shock of my near death having worn off, so this quiet was something else. "What's the matter?" I asked her.
"Nothing," she replied. "Just thinking."
"About what? Mags and I are your allies, you can trust us after all," Finnick told her somewhat snidely, resulting in a glare from Katniss, and I, too, glanced at him, warning him not to step on her toes.
"I need to see something," Katniss said, heading upwards towards the peak of whatever mountain we were on. The highest point was on a rock that jutted out rather precariously over a valley, and she stood there rather confidently as she looked around. Before us was the water, which was in a perfect circle, and was a rich blue colour. The rocks, both under our feet and making up the spokes of the circle, were brown in colour and the trees were thick and green, very unlike the forest of our first arena.
"It's familiar to you... isn't it?" Finnick said suddenly, interrupting the silence.
"Yes," Katniss replied with distance in her voice. "This arena... it was made to unsettle me. It was designed to kill me..." She paused for a moment. "This arena... it's Hebridia..."
A/N: How will the arena being reminiscent of her childhood home affect her in the arena? Will she find out about the rebellion plans?
Please review!