A/N: Wow thank you so much for all of your follows, favorites and reviews on the first chapter! I hope you continue to enjoy it! I won't normally be able to post every day, but I had the day off and your responses made me want to post some more!

The Hunger Games is owned by Suzanne Collins

2
Crystal Night

Peeta's kindness sparked something within her.
The night she brought the bakery box home and saw the hope on her mother's face, the full bellies they both had that night, she knew she had to keep fighting.

She was only two years old when her father was killed in a plane crash, but he left plenty of himself behind for Katniss to learn from. Although he was a pilot and spent most of his time in the sky, he had a great love of the wilderness, and compiled notebooks full of information from his hiking trips. Katniss poured over each of them before taking herself out into the woods and gathering all the edible roots, berries, and nuts she could find.

She soon realized that her findings could be traded in the dark of night at the back doors of others willing to risk it. Gale was essential in this. He could figure out who would be interested in trading a serving of fresh meat for a bowl of strawberries without raising suspicion, and then pass the names and addresses along to Katniss. She was surprised to find the Mellher Bakery on Gale's list one day.

"I can't go back there!" She insisted as they hid high in a tree in the middle of the woods. It was the only place they could be together anymore.

"You don't want fresh bread?" Gale wondered, mouth full of strawberries. He swiped the juice from his chin with the back of his hand.

"She'll kill me," Katniss said. She picked at the bark, peeling it away in layers until she found the fleshy interior of the wood.

"Mr. Mellher said come early in the morning, before dawn. He and Peeta will be up getting the bakery ready for the day. His wife won't even be awake yet." Gale paused to assess the look of concern on Katniss' face. "He's a good guy. I think you can trust him. He wants blueberries for the muffins, and he said they're getting very expensive lately." Gale peered down through the canopy of branches and leaves. Aside from the occasional rustle of a squirrel, they were alone. But he needed to be sure. No one knew he and Katniss met up in the woods. No one had any reason to come out here at all, but he dropped his voice to a whisper just to be safe. He could never quell the feeling that he was being watched everywhere he went. "Mr. Mellher doesn't believe in Hitler the way his wife does. He sees that something is wrong."

"A lot of people see that something's wrong," Katniss said, "But that doesn't change anything."

"Well, it can get you some food. And that's all that matters right now," Gale said. "Just be careful. Don't try to do anything while the sun is up." He climbed down the trunk and dropped to the ground, late for his Hitler Youth meeting.

Wild blueberries were abundant in the stretch of woods Katniss combed through every day. When she finally braved the bakery, she was met with Mr. Mellher's kind face and a box of treats that seemed much too abundant for the amount of berries she had given him.

The bakery became a regular stop, and sometimes it was Peeta who answered the door. But he barely looked at her, and seemed uncomfortable with the entire situation, so they didn't speak. They exchanged their food and Katniss went on her way. She knew she needed to thank him, but it never felt like the right time. And what if Mr. Mellher didn't know what Peeta had done for her that day? His father was always present during their trade, and she didn't want to get Peeta in trouble again.

As years went by, that day farther in the distance, Katniss all but gave up on trying to work in a 'thank you'.

On her fourteenth birthday, she found a few extra cheese rolls in the bottom of the bread box. Still warm. She wondered if Peeta knew it was her birthday, or if the cheesy bread was her favorite. Of course, he would have no way of knowing either of these things, but she liked to hold onto the thought that he did.

And then came November 9th, a day that began like all the rest. And ended in Hell.

Katniss clung to her mother on the living room floor, listening to the screams outside as their neighbor's home was ransacked by the Nazi party. Her mother switched on the radio, which was flooded with excitement and confusion over the riots. It was everywhere. Synagogues burned to the ground. Shattered storefronts of Jewish businesses. Then they moved on to residences. Cemeteries were ravaged, grave sites vandalized. Jews beaten and captured.

Katniss screamed as a brick sailed through the window and sent a shower of glass shards all around them. Her mother pulled her to her feet, ready to run, but they didn't get anywhere before the front door flew open. At first, all that registered in Katniss' mind was the Nazi uniform through the blur of her tears. But there was Gale's voice. "I've got her," Katniss heard as he was pulling her into his arms.

"Get her out of here," her mother cried.

"No!" Katniss screamed and writhed in Gale's firm grip. "Mama!"

"Shh!" Gale clamped his hand over her mouth.

"I love you," her mother whispered before Gale disappeared out the backdoor and crashed through the woods.

He didn't release his hold on on her mouth as he ran, and he whispered through his labored breaths. "You're going to be all right. I found you somewhere safe."

Katniss wasn't sure how long Gale weaved through the woods, but he showed no signs of stopping until he pushed through the side door of what appeared to be a clothing shop.

Hitler stared at her through a golden frame on the wall as Gale kicked open a section of loose floorboards and carried her down the steps beneath.

He pulled a chain above his head and a single bulb dimly illuminated the dusty space. He set Katniss down and she hugged her arms around herself.
"It's not much, but Liesel will keep you hidden. She runs the store. I'll bring you food and water. The bathroom's upstairs, so you can only use it when the shop is closed."

Gale kept talking, but Katniss couldn't concentrate on his words. She glanced around the space. It was long but narrow. She could touch the opposite walls with her arms extended. The floor was cold and rough beneath her bare feet- cement with just a blanket tossed in the corner and a small radio beside her. She wondered if she would ever see the sunlight again.

"What about mama?" she asked quietly.

Gale picked up the blanket and shook it before laying it out across the floor. Katniss knew she wasn't imagining his avoidance of her stare. "They had to find someone," he muttered. "Or they'd keep looking."

Katniss' brow knitted together. "So you just left her there? To die?" she shouted and Gale's hand was over her mouth again. She screamed and tried to fight him off, to hit him and make him pay for leaving her mother there to be killed. But her screams died against his palm and he was too strong to be affected by her punches. Realizing it was pointless, she collapsed against him in tears.

kpkp

Crystal Night. That's what they called it on the radio. They made it sound so glamorous. It was revolting. Kristallnacht, she scoffed as she paced around the basement. Why not call it what it was? Murder. Savage attacks on innocent people. It was all Katniss could do not to hurl the radio across the room, but she knew it was her only connection to the outside world.

Her days melted together. She was right to wonder about the sun. It was gone. She tried to conjure the feeling of its warmth on her face in the cold, dark room. At night, when she crept upstairs for the restroom, she braved opening the window to remember what fresh air was like. The moonlight was beautiful, but all she craved was the precious sun. Visions of that hopeful dandelion appeared from time to time, which always led to Peeta.

She wasn't sure why she thought of him so often. They really weren't even friends. She would probably never see him again. But the thought of his face never failed to comfort her as she drifted off to sleep. He was that ray of sunshine she needed to lead her through the darkness.

And somehow, nearly a year had passed since Gale carried her to safety. He promised he was trying to find out what had become of her mother, but each day gone with no lead lessened the possibility even more.

She kept the radio off with increasing frequency. She preferred being alone with her thoughts to hearing of the atrocities around her. The morning she decided to turn on the radio again, she learned of the full-fledged war Germany was now tangled in.
And she knew there would be no going back home ever again.