This AU fic was inspired by the brilliant work of aimmyarrowshighin "Five Loaves of Bread: Dark Toast". .net/s/7294215/1/Five_Loaves_of_Bread_Dark_Toast

This isn't a collaboration or co-written piece, just my spin on a possible continuation of that story that I loved dearly. Takes place three months after the aim's story ends.

(While you're at it, read "Dark Toast" and everything else aimmyarrowshigh has written. They're awesome. For real.)

Battle

The late night was dissolving into early morning and the air was freezing up in the watchtower. The breeze caught her hair for the umpteenth time and whipped it in front of her eyes. She tucked it back under her wool cap. Gale was sitting next to her on the floor, knees tucked up to his chest while he tried to stay warm.

"What I would give for a fire right now," he moaned. "Maybe the Capital's invented invisible fire and they can bring it back to us."

Katniss grinned. "I didn't see that when I was there, sorry to disappoint." She scanned the lookout again. "It's Day Three," she added, unnecessarily. "My dad and...the first strike" She fell silent.

"What was it like? There, in the Capital?" he asked to distract her.

"Hmmm? Oh. Well," she struggled to remember despite her short time away. "Bright. Perfect. Fake. Uncomfortable." She scanned the horizon they were meant to be watching. "Especially the clothes. The shoes were the worst. Pointless high heels that one could not run in." She rubbed her calf at the memory of her aching feet. "The food was good, though. Like I've never had. And probably never will again. I went to a party and the cake was so big…" She cut herself off, unable to continue the memory. So many people in it had left her behind. "What was Twelve like without me around?"

He smiled at the night. "Well, it was quieter and less annoying."

She nudged his knee with her boot.

He laughed quietly. He thought for a minute. "Hunting was more dangerous without you. I forgot what it was like to be alone out there, without someone watching your back. I worried a lot more." He saw she was watching him intently. "I worried about your family," he admitted. "I know some people were sneaking them food, I saw soups and breads there when I drop off game late at night. Still, you never know…Posy's growing so fast."

She scooted in close to him. "You'll see her soon." She smiled. "You know? She could never be Contracted. Or Prim. She may never have to marry a stranger. I want that so much for them both. Their lives will be so different than ours."

"I hope not so different in the good ways. Like learning the woods. Having friends. Loving them..."

Katniss stared at him as he watched the horizon. A missing puzzle piece clicked into place as Madge's voice floated back to her mind. A thrown away sentence said months ago, after their last class together. She understood now why it was so hard for Gale to stay in Twelve and see her every day, even as Madge stood by her side.

She felt a force within her guiding her face to his. Gale was leaning into her. She lifted her mouth to meet his and savored the sensation. It was different than kissing Peeta. Gale's face was rough with stubble, his skin and hair smelled of the woods instead of flour and cocoa powder. He pressed into the kiss, deepening and she inhaled the moment. He pulled back.

They looked at each other a long time. He looked down just as she was turning away.

"Gale-" she began.

"I just-" he said simultaneously.

She saw the movement in the trees.

"Gale!" she gripped his arm hard and pointed to the location of the movement. He ripped the binoculars from their hanging post and raised them.

"Katniss. Sound the alarm."

She pulled the cord and the siren blared out across the village. She and Gale scrambled down the ladder, jumping over the past few rungs. Haymitch and Alma Coin burst out of the nearest shelters, fully dressed and armed.

"You ready for this?" Haymitch yelled to them over the siren, tossing each their arrows and bows, along with a rifle each.

"Don't have a choice, do we?" Gale yelled back. And with that, they ran to opposite ends of the village and started ushering their charges to the woods.

Peeta was right; the few families and fugitives living here had been prepared for weeks. Most had been sleeping with their shoes on for the past two nights. Many were out of their doors running for the meeting point in the woods before she even reached their doors.

"Go! Go! Go!" she screamed as she ran. "They're coming!"

The soldiers assigned to stay and protect their camp ran past her to on their way to secure their borders. She watched their determined faces, wondering who would still be here when morning came.

She stopped to help the old widower into his coat until his younger companion came to his side and told Katniss to go ahead. She ran to each door, calling inside and listening for anyone trapped or needing help. She pulled coats onto small children and made sure they held hands as they ran with their parents. She circled back and reached the village center and saw Gale reach the other side across from her. She saw the mother running with her two older twins while Gale carried the two babies and she could sense his terror at what could be happening to his wife and twins at home.

"Gale! To the rendezvous!" she yelled, crossing to him. "We're clear over here!"

She was panting as she reached their secured departure spot in the woods. Five soldiers had been spared to guard the thirty-plus civilians who could not enlist, along with Haymitch, Coin, Katniss and Gale. They quickly counted heads, checked the smaller groups' rosters, and then hurried deep into the woods to the sound of gunfire opening behind them.

They walked for two hours, taking small breaks for the children and elderly until the finally reached their backup camp. The stronger civilians had been armed and watched the border while the children napped in the center, watched by older fugitives or the injured.

She and Gale wandered the perimeter, straining to hear for incoming bullets or intruders. The silence was eerie.

"Do you think they followed us?" she worried aloud.

"They must have seen where we ran," Gale agreed. "If the troops back at base can't hold them off, they'll be coming this way," he said grimly.

Haymitch was slipping over to meet them. "How's it looking?"

"Nothing out there," Gale nodded. "Not yet anyway."

"How long should we stay out here?" Katniss asked.

Haymitch gritted his teeth. "We're sending scouts back at nightfall to check out what's happened. We'll know when they come back…and if they don't, we move and fast."

Katniss looked back. "I don't know if this group can handle that."

"Then we better hope the scouts come back," Haymitch said. As he walked away she saw him pull a small flask from his pocket.

"Sure could use that myself right now," muttered Gale.

She rolled her eyes at him. "If there's ever a favor you could do me, it's to never become Haymitch Abernathy."

They lit the fires just as the mask of evening started to fall and roasted the boar and grooslings she and Gale had tracked nearby. Katniss had shown the few older children the safe roots to pick and they had returned with aprons and towels full of nettles and wild lettuces. It wouldn't be a grand supper, but it would keep them going through the night. Blankets were passed around and groups huddled together against the cold. When the infant twins started to cry, Gale hurried over to zip them under his own warm coat and they quieted.

Katniss moved over to his side and knelt down. "You're very good with them."

Gale smiled. "The boy reminds me of Auger. He's got the same eye color. Not the shape, but that leaf green color. Just like…his mother."

"Three boys?"

"No, Petiole's a girl. She's going to have to learn to fight like a boy with two big brothers, though," he smiled at the little face peeking out from his coat.

"Who does she look like?"

"Johanna, luckily," Gale laughed. "Well, my skin, but her features. Auger looks a little more like her, really."

"Ash is all you," Katniss smiled.

"Yeah, he is."

A commotion on the other side of the camp had Katniss on her feet. She sighed in relief. "It's just Haymitch," she told Gale, who was on edge. "Stay with the babies, they'll wake up."

She hurried over to where a private was attempting to relieve Haymitch of his flask, Coin standing by clucking with disapproval. "Let him keep it," she called, putting her hand on the young man's shoulder and stepping between him and Haymitch. "He's only hurting himself."

"He's supposed to be on duty, calling the shots," the young solider huffed.

"You think he'd be any better sober?" she shot back. He sputtered and stomped away. Coin looked her over, gave her a cloying smile, and meandered over to Gale.

"What's going on here?" she turned back to Haymitch, fixing him with a glare.

"He's got three damn kids, that's what's going on," Haymitch slurred at her and stumbled away from the group into the dark night.

She caught up with him away from the huddled masses, where the trees grew in a dense cluster. "Gale?"

"Yeah," he spat, turning on her. "I know it's not your choice, being with the baker, but that guy has kids to take care of."

"What?" she felt cornered. "What are you talking about?"

Haymitch sat down heavily on a fallen tree and she was horrified to see he looked about to cry.

"Haymitch," she said, kneeling to face him. "What are you saying?"

He started and stopped, struggling for the words. "Maysilee was a good woman. She wasn't my choice, but she would have been a good mother. Scarlett…just…I." He gave up and took a long drag from the flask. "Johanna's a good woman and a damn good mother."

He tried to struggle to his feet but couldn't get balanced and sat back down heavily. "I don't give a shit that Winze thinks you're best for Gale, or that Donnel agrees. He doesn't fucking know her. Or Peeta. That boy is golden. And he deserves better than an ungrateful bitch like you."

The sudden attack knocked the wind out of her. She stood to rip him to shreds when she heard what he was muttering.

"I'm sorry I ever messed with the program."

She grabbed Haymitch's arm before the flask returned to his lips. "Haymitch," she said firmly. "What did you do?"

He tried to look her in the eye. "Donnel had me fix the matches for Twelve."

The blood drained from her extremities. Her fingers felt like ice.

"He Contracted me to Peeta?" Haymitch nodded. "Why?"

"Partly because he knew how much it would bother Farll and Larkspur. Still jealous, all these years later," he scoffed. "But mostly 'cause once he found out Farll's kid was just like his dad and was head over heels for you, he knew he could get him to leave if he thought you'd be better off."

Katniss fell backwards and landed heavily on her backside. Her brain was buzzing. Haymitch didn't notice and kept slurring. "He worried about you all the time, I'll give him that. He even sent you to the Capital to work with Portia and Cinna so you'd get to have an easy life for a short while. So he'd know for sure he could get you out.

"Coin may buy all this Faces of the Future bullshit he's selling, but no one's giving a damn about the future of those babies in Twelve."

Katniss felt the rage clawing its way from her throat. "He would never abandon those kids. Gale is a good man."

"Is that why he's slept at your cabin for the past few nights?" he asked coldly.

She moved to slap him, but he caught her hand and yanked her down to his level. "Forget I trained you, sweetheart?" He smirked at her. "If you're so concerned about his reputation you might not flaunt your philandering."

He released her hand and stood quickly.

"Are those the scouts coming back?"

Something was wrong: she could sense it. There was no excitement in the air, no relief. She could hear some gasps and exclamations from the civilians and she and Haymitch ran back to the group.

Gale was already on his feet, having returned the babies to their frightened mother. "What's happened?" she cried out, reaching him as a young man with a bleeding ear was explaining something with large hand gestures.

"There's too many," he said in terror. "The retreat was larger than they expected."

He turned to her to answer the question she hadn't asked. "The strike group hasn't made it back."

Katniss' grip tightened on her bow. She closed her eyes and breathed. "Not yet. They haven't made it back yet," she opened her eyes. "So we're going to help."

She turned to the scout. "Get a weapon. You're leading me back."

"They're at least three times our number, Private," he objected.

"Then you'll have to fight three times as hard!" she yelled, squaring her jaw and fixing him with a cold eye. "We will hold this base until my father brings back the strike!" she screamed in his face.

Her voice echoed back between the trees of their camp until she felt the entire woods screamed with her. They crashed like waves on her ears over and over again, finally stilling to a silence.

"Get a weapon," repeated Gale, calling to all the scouts. "Anyone who can fight! Get a weapon. We're going to hold the camp!"

He was on his feet, gathering strong branches and breaking them into points. Katniss pulled the tired guide soldiers to their feet and got them moving. She turned to see an adolescent boy trying to take a stick from Gale, his twelve-year-old sister behind him.

"You two," she called. They turned to her, attempting to hide their fear. She took a knife from the private she had pulled up, yanked the bayonet from his rifle, and then crossed to them with broad steps. "I need you to guard these women and children while Private Hawthorne and I are gone." She handed them the blades carefully. "Practice on the trees – not each other," she warned. "If any Capital soldiers come through here, you hide with these people behind the trees and only stick them if they find you. Got it?"

The two children nodded solemnly. "Good. Kick out these fires," she ordered, turning away so not to let them know how scared she was for them.

"Let's go," she told her group of eleven soldiers. They set out as the gathering darkness blanketed them.

Battle was more of her vision of hell than she anticipated. She could smell the blood before she even reached their camp. She could see their operations tents burning. Loose papers scattered in the evening breeze and lifted into the air as they caught fire. She could hear the screams of men as they fell. Whether they were rebels that had stayed to hold ground or Capital escapees, she couldn't tell.

"Katniss!"

She heard Gale's voice and jerked her head to the left. She saw the young man, probably only a few years older than her, in a perfectly tailored Capital uniform. He was raising his gun at her. The arrow left her bow without thought and she saw it find a home in his shoulder. She started running faster.

It wasn't until she reached the village center that she understood just how good she was. She could shoot an arrow faster than they could aim a gun. She saw their scouts fall one by one, wishing she could pity them but leaving all sense of her heart behind as she darted between flames.

She and Gale kept pace, guarding one another. They were nearing the ops center, and she ducked inside a nearby house, yanking Gale in beside her.

Panting, she managed to ask, "Where's the line? I can't see our line."

He gasped, "I don't know if there is one anymore. It looks like they scattered."

"Cowards," Katniss spat.

"You sound like your father."

"I sound like someone who wants to live through this," she exacted. "I'm not going to be able to do that if these privates can't hold a damn line."

Gale's smiled. "Then go tell them to get their asses in gear."

She felt a genuine smile spread across her face. She stepped around Gale and marched out the door.

"To the watch tower!" she screamed into the night. "Hold the line at the watch tower!"

She tried to contain her surprise that the soldiers listened as they fought their way to meet her and Gale at the tower. She had their back with her arrows and Gale watched hers until she was able to get some semblance of a formation back. She could see among the faces the base leader was missing. Dead, she imagined. That's why they must have broken. But there were still Capital soldiers appearing on the horizon and a number still within the village. They had to hold the line. Or fight until they were dead.

"Watch each other's backs!" she yelled, taking the rear flank to look within the village. "We've got to hold-"

The munitions tent exploded to their right.

She was blown backward against the left rear support beam of the tower, landing on her back with the stars in her eyes and swirling around in her brain. She rolled her head to the right and saw two other soldiers piled up against the right rear support, groaning and struggling to move. A number of advancing Capital shoulders had been too close to the tent and caught the shrapnel. The two front support legs were already burning. A creaking brought her eyes back up. The world seemed to sway back and forth along with her head.

She fought the nausea, squeezed her temples between her palms and blinked hard. The groaning got louder. As though in a dream, she raised her eyes.

"The tower's going to fall!"

She was being pulled to her feet and knew on instinct it was Gale. He had blood running freely from a gash on his forehead surrounded by splinters and cinders. He was yelling, but she was having trouble understanding what he was saying over the roar of breaking wood. When she realized he was telling her to run, her feet seemed to take off.

The impact of the tower hitting the ground behind them still knocked her off her feet again and she fell hard. She could feel Gale's arm under her ribcage, but couldn't move to see if he was conscious or not.

Pain was radiating through her whole being. Noise came from all directions, clouding her thoughts. She wondered vaguely if she was going to die, too foggy to dwell on it.

"There's another wave coming!" a small voice called from around the din of flame and smoke and gunfire.

"No," she whispered to the ground, tasting blood on her tongue. She spit on the dirt in front of her face and it turned to red mud.

"No." She pushed up to all fours.

"No!" she rocked back to squat on her heels.

"NO!" she climbed unsteadily to her feet. She couldn't see as clearly as when they arrived, but she trusted her aim. She turned to where the watchtower had stood, seeing the advancing torchlights. She waited. She wanted to see the whites of their eyes when she killed them.

She steadied her bow in her bloodied and shaking hands.

"The retreat! Get to the village, the retreat is there! Find the civilians!"

She blinked. The flashes of light jumping in the darkness grew closer. The call was wrong. Something was wrong.

"The tower's fallen! Ops is burning! Where's Katniss?"

"Dad?" she heard her voice weak and soft. She couldn't scream. "Dad!" she tried again, but only coughed his name through blood.

The blow from behind was unexpected. She fell forward to her knees and her bow clattered a few inches away from her damaged hands.

She turned around to see the Capital soldier with the wounded shoulder standing over Gale's inert form, holding the rifle steady at her temple.

"Everdeen," he read on her uniform's namebadge. He rolled Gale over with his foot and a small moan escaped Gale's mouth. "Hawthorne." He sneered at her. "I'll tell your fathers you said hello.

"Good-bye," he laughed as he squeezed the trigger.

A scream escaped the soldier's mouth as Gale opened his eyes and darted to the left, plunging his dagger into the soldier's thigh. It was all the time Katniss needed. The bow was in her hand and the arrow was in his neck within seconds. Gale rolled out of the way and the body hit the ground.

She could hear their strike team reaching the village and calling out for them, but all she could do was stare at the man she'd killed. She didn't know what she was supposed to be feeling. She couldn't feel anything.

"Katniss!" she turned to see her father's eyes brimming with tears. "You're alive! What are you doing here? Why are you here?" He held her tightly. She tried to bring her bruised arms around him.

He turned to Gale's face, coated in blood. "Gale! What happened?"

Gale stumbled to his feet, unsteady. He waited until he had his balance before righting himself and announcing, "Katniss saved my life."

Winze appeared breathlessly, gripping and embracing his son. "You're alive," he wheezed, not seeming to believe it and gripping Gale harder.

She limped to look around the camp, now swarming with their returning soldiers. She closed her eyes against the bloodshed, and the darkness clamped down on her.

It was the following night when she opened her eyes again. She yawned and a sharp pain scattered across her forehead. She slipped her hand from between soft sheets and her shoulder protested. She gingerly touched the source of the pain and felt a bandage taped over her temple. She realized her palms were covered as well. Realizing she couldn't feel where her knee hit the sheet she guessed it was bandaged too. She sighed, but it only made her feel how sore her whole body was.

She could hear low voices from downstairs. She thought of the morning when Peeta told her he was leaving. She was so grateful this evening would be different than that horrible day.

Rolling out of bed, she had to grab the bedpost to keep from falling on weakened legs. She groped the wall and found her robe. She started to pull it from the wall, then saw Peeta's hanging next to her. She laughed silently to herself, remembering her mistake a few nights before, and pulled his down and dragged it over her battered form. Tying it around her waist, she inhaled the smell of his skin and eagerly opened the door.

"Katniss!" Donnel rushed up the stairs to catch her before she tumbled all the way down.

"Thank you," she smiled as he lifted and carried her down the staircase.

"You were asleep for nearly a day," he laughed. "You're probably a bit unsteady." She saw Haymitch in the living room as Donnel set her down the loveseat.

She looked around excitedly. "Where is he? Where's Peeta?"

She raised her face to Haymitch and finally discovered he wasn't smiling. He looked terrible. Her eyes shot to her father.

"Where's Peeta?" her voice sounded small and far away.

"Honey," he began. He sat down next to her slowly and carefully. "Peeta got hurt. Pretty badly." He looked at her, gauging her reaction. She couldn't blink. "We…we had to leave him. I don't' know…I don't think he-" he swallowed hard. His voice faded and she couldn't hear him.

She saw him falling away from her. Haymitch retreated into the sky as she collapsed to the floor and the darkness consumed her again.