The penultimate chapter is here. I just love that word. Penultimate. It is a good word, would you not agree? Why yes, you do? Good. I'm glad we agree. I know I left all of you with one big ass WTF cliffhanger and you're all freakin if your reviews are any indication. I wish I could put you at ease, but well I cant. Maybe this penultimate chapter will help you get by for now. See there I go again. I can't stop saying it. But you get it now, don't you? The end is nigh. One more chapter left. So enjoy it while you have it because we'll be saying goodbye to everyone real soon, some for good. I'm crying already. I hate goodbyes!

Ch. 24- Something Terrible

An unseasonably early powdering of snow began to lazily drift down from the grey sky like someone was decorating the city with confectioners' sugar. The fine flurries blurred the skyline of the city through the palace windows and coated the grounds in cottony clumps. It was almost beautiful. Until the troops of Peacekeepers marched through it, the snow melting on their boots and dirt tracking everywhere. Soon the virginal snow was spoiled, mud smears and black snow slush everywhere.

Sometimes love isn't enough to salvage what can't be fixed.

Standing idly in the center of the ceremony room Peeta watched the snow descend through high arched windows to his right. The only movements in his still body were to be found in his eyes, which drifted downward with the snowfall before working their way back up to start the journey with the snow all over again. The room was alive with the quiet buzz of chatter. President Snow sat back in his bloody throne of thorns, his fingers tips touching in his lap and contemplated. Dreg spoke the loudest, his voice carrying over all the other commanders and political figureheads—obnoxious in his superiority complex. He was also the youngest to have a seat at the bank of chairs.

"Enough." Snow called out and the voices ceased instantaneously. Snow moved forward to the edge of his throne and looked down on Peeta; his ice blue eyes probed Peeta sharply like two jabbing icicles. Peeta stared back calmly, his mind a blank slate. Then the icy eyes snapped to attention over Peeta's left shoulder. He motioned with a hand.

A Peacekeeper stepped forward and marched quickly up to Snow. He bowed his head and held out a slip of paper. Snow stared distastefully and then snapped his finger. A young girl Avox, not capable of being older than fourteen, stepped from behind Snow's chair and moved forward to take the paper. She opened it and held it in front of Snow. He didn't look at her once. One could believe he was completely unaware of her presence if it weren't for the fact that he was now reading the slip of paper held before him.

Scanning the note quickly a satisfied smile slipped across his face, the incongruent white beard on his face twisting wildly with the expression. He snapped his finger again and she returned the paper to the Peacekeeper who bowed again and fled.

"My source confirms that Peeta has turned. He has abandoned District Thirteen after killing his mentor, Haymitch Abernathy, in cold blood." Snow's eyes gleamed murderously as he stared down at Peeta, waiting for a tell. Those around him nodded their heads and murmured triumphantly. "The insurgent's are frantic to keep it under wraps. Lets see how good that does them once the country knows their precious Mockingjay is a traitor."

President Snow rose to his feet and looked to his left and right at the others before honing in on Peeta.

"It's time to end this war. We will crush them."

Sometimes you must do something terrible to stop something terrible.


This was interesting. A personal summons from the 'Office of the President of District Thirteen and Leader of the Alliance of Rebel Districts.' The only time Gale had met the lady was when they first arrived in District Thirteen, after the fight with Cato. Since then Gale had never been included in those closed-door meetings that Peeta attended every day, which he was secure enough to admit hurt his pride. He had been an instrumental leader for the rebellion back in Twelve and worked side-by-side with the secret District Thirteeners sent to support the rebellion. So instrumental that the Capitol abducted him and sent him into the Arena to die. And now he was nothing more than another refugee from Twelve and a low-ranking soldier for the rebel's army. It would have been humiliating if any one seemed to care.

But that wasn't important. He would do what was asked of him and what needed to be done: to end this war, free Panem, and save Peeta. Something had changed in him since he went back into the Hunger Games. Gale had a taste of what it was like now and knew it changed people, but there was something else too, something off in Peeta. He was different. He knew Peeta, knew the person he was and the man he could be, and it seemed Peeta had lost sight of that. He was withdrawn and harsh, broken and hopeless. It didn't make sense.

Now it was one day since the bombings stopped and they were allowed back to their living quarters, and Gale couldn't find Peeta anywhere. When he went to his room he found a new family living there. That was when he learned Mr. Mellark was dead. It was like the bombs dropping all over again and he feared for Peeta—his safety, his sanity. Gale spent the rest of the night searching, unsuccessfully. He even went to ask Cato for help looking for him, despite the sour taste it left in his mouth. But oddly Cato was missing too. Upon returning to his room that morning he found an official waiting for him with the letter. He barely had time to read it before he was escorted to the thirteenth floor.

The stiff soldier led him past the usual conference room utilized by President Coin and instead in lead him to the right through the buzzing control room, weaving through desks and people furiously working away on computers and other advanced technology he'd never seen. They came to a stop at a pair of steel doors and the man put his palm on a monitor to the right of the doors. It beeped and then slid open. They entered and Gale was then lead down another hallway, passing by an equally stiff female soldier, and to the second door on the left. Two armed guards were stationed on either side, neither of them looked at him. The soldier stopped before entering and signaled for Gale to go inside. He took in the two guards and the quiet hallway, unsure. The soldier gave a nudge to his back and the decision was forced on him.

Inside the room Gale found he wasn't the only one that had received the summons. Johanna and Finnick were both seated at the rectangular table near the end. No one else was present. Gale took in his surroundings like he always did before taking a seat. He didn't trust new people or places. It always put him on edge when he was thrust into a new environment because it meant he wasn't in control, he didn't have an exit strategy and he didn't know what was going to happen. The same went with new people.

"What do you think they're guarding?" Gale asked with a jerk of his head back at the guards by the door as he took the seat next to Johanna. She was slouched in the chair with her feet on the table as if she didn't have a care in the world, Finnick next to her sat rigid with worry lines tarnishing his pretty boy face.

"Us." Johanna said, picking at her nails.

"Why?"

"They don't trust us, obviously." Johanna twisted in her seat to give a sneer at the guards. They didn't notice.

They sat in silence for a moment.

"So anyone know what this is about?"

"The very survival of this District and the war." President Coin answered, striding fast into the room followed by an entourage of Boggs, Heavensbee, his assistants, Lyme, and Cato.

Everyone sat to attention, even Johanna, pulling her feet off the table and sitting forward, although somewhat resentfully. Everyone took a seat opposite the three guests except President Coin and Boggs. Gale immediately noticed Peeta was missing. He had an unsettling feeling in his chest. Gale had developed a connection with Peeta—even if Peeta denied it, which had been extremely upsetting to listen too, but that was a thought for another day—and he had been feeling off, like his body was tuned to a frequency only Peeta gave off and no one else could hear or feel it. But he did, and it vibrated in his skin, his veins, his bones, the very core of his being. The feeling had only grown as yesterday wore into today and he couldn't find Peeta. The frequency fine-tuned over the hours until his skin practically burned with the friction. He would burn away if he didn't get answers soon.

"Where's Peeta?" Gale demanded, practically vibrating from his chair.

All eyes turned to him—even Cato's and he looked furious, but he'd looked that way since they escaped the Quarter Quell, so what else was knew? Something was seriously off with that guy. Gale took the time to note everyone's condition, the raw red markings around Cato's wrists like he'd been restrained, the paleness of Lyme's face and the deep sadness in her eyes, the slight mania that transfixed Heavensbee's face into a permanent expression of surprise—but oddly his eyes were clearly focused and suspicious as they speared over the three seated guests—and President Coin's exhausted face sagged with heavy wrinkles, making her look like a woman nearing her eighties, not fifties.

"You mean to tell me none of you know?" Boggs asked, slamming his hands on the table and puffing out his chest like some showy bird; Gale assumed he was going for intimidating. He just came of pretentious. "When was the last time you had contact with him?"

"Do I look like the kids babysitter?" Johanna tossed back, holding his gaze unfazed.

"Johanna," Finnick warned.

"No this is bullshit. They treat us like criminals, keep us under guard and then come in here insinuating things with out telling us what the hell's going on."

"I completely agree." Said Gale. "Either get to the point or I'm out of here."

"Well then, here's your point."

President Coin signaled to a staffer in the corner before she sat directly across from Gale. The room went dim, but her cold grey eyes remained visible and trained on the three seated across from her. Heavensbee leaned forward and squinted through the dark at Gale, reading his face, waiting for something, a sign, of what Gale couldn't possibly know.

Then a hologram at the head of the table lit to life. It was a three-dimensional rendering of the war room where Gale knew them to hold their daily meetings. Gale could never shake that sense of awe and shock at being presented with such fantastical technology, even though during the past month he'd been continually exposed to wild things like muttations and flying ships and massive underground civilizations.

The hologram sped through the scene of a meeting and everyone moved at comical speeds, except nothing was funny at the moment. Then it slowed and the room war room was empty save for Haymitch and Peeta. Gale began to feel hot around the neck. He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it wasn't good. It was like the feeling he got when on a hunt and he knew a bad storm coming. It wasn't anything he could pinpoint, just a sense that overcame him, a chill to his bones that told him the environment was changing, danger approached. Peeta and Haymitch spoke. There was no sound along with the image so Gale had to guess what they were saying. Haymitch seemed regretful. Peeta was strangely still and vacant. He noticed Peeta's hands flexing oddly. Then suddenly the unthinkable happened. Peeta attacked Haymitch. Haymitch fought back, but Peeta was fast and overpowered him and then he was atop him and strangling the life from Haymitch. Johanna's whole body tensed and a small gush of breath escaped through her nostrils, almost like a sneeze. Finnick groaned. Gale could barely breath. He felt like he was going to be sick. He couldn't watch it anymore and yet he couldn't take his eyes away from the video. It felt like hours, but finally Haymitch's body stopped fighting back and went still. Peeta stood and surveyed the scene. Then he ran from the room and the hologram flickered from existence.

The lights came back on and the world felt different, heavier; everyone looked ill and President Coin looked merciless. The back of Gale's throat burned, he could feel the bile tickling his tonsils, but he swallowed it back down the sour taste lingering in his mouth. His face burned hot. It wasn't real. It couldn't be.

"I found Haymitch shortly thereafter," Heavensbee began, a hand to his heart. "I did my best. I fetched our best doctor—the one that worked on Peeta, to try and save him, but… there was nothing to be done I'm afraid."

"Mr. Mellark stole a hovercraft bike and we lost track of him near District Nine." President Coin said. "Our best guess is that the Capitol picked him up. There has been no news through the typical channels so we must assume they are waiting to use him at the most opportune time. We can't give them that time."

"What are you saying?" Gale rose to his feet and demanded, his reaction quickly moving from shock and denial to anger. "That Peeta betrayed us? He would never do that. He would never hurt Haymitch."

"Sit down Mr. Hawthorne." President Coin growled, her patience worn very thin. Gale begrudgingly sat.

"We are asking the questions here."

"Did any of you have prior knowledge that he planned to defect?" Boggs asked.

"Please," Johanna scoffed.

"Answer the question!"

"Fuck… no I didn't, none of us did, alright?"

Gale looked around wildly at the others—at Cato in particular. How could he just sit there and let them smear Peeta's name and accuse them of aiding and abetting his so-called 'defection.'

"Has he been spying all along?"

"No, of course not!" Gale huffed. "This is absurd."

"You saw the security footage my boy," Heavensbee stated. He analyzed Gale with a cocked head, the extra skin below his chin wobbled with his working throat. His assistant noted something in her notebook. She had taken notes every time one of them spoke.

"Did Mr. Mellark give any indication of his intentions? Did you notice anything out of the ordinary in his behavior?" Boggs pressed on, ignoring the disruptions.

"No." Gale said and crossed his arms tight over his chest. He was done with this.

"Wait…" Finnick spoke up, green eyes narrowed in thought.

"Yes, Mr. Odair?" Coin pressed, leaning forward greedily. Gale's head whipped to Finnick in outrage.

"I… I don't know if this means anything. Do not construe it as me casting guilt on Peeta. It's just… the Games do things to everyone. No one leaves that Arena unscathed and Peeta's been through more than most in such a short time…"

"Get on with it." Boggs snapped.

Finnick frowned, but continued. Gale wished he would stop. He was supposed to be Peeta's friend. They all were. This was beyond wrong, all of it.

"After Peeta was shocked by the force field, well he went into a coma of sorts as I'm sure most of you saw. When he woke something changed—he was different. I don't know how to explain it, but he was acting off and maybe has been since."

Heavensbee released an exaggerated sigh. All eyes turned to him.

"I'm afraid to say this…"

Funny, it didn't seem to Gale like he was.

"But I do not believe Haymitch was Peeta's first kill."

"What's this Plutarch?" Coin demanded with steely eyes turned on the Capitol defector next to her.

Every muscle in Gale tensed. It was as if the world had turned upside down and he was battling a new inverted gravity with all his might to stay right side up, to not let it take hold of him and tear him away from solid ground, but he was losing. Cato remained visibly detached from the goings on with a cold fury that boiled just beneath the surface. Gale couldn't fathom any of it.

"As you know I keep my ears tuned to the Capitol chatter. When the Gamemakers finally retrieved the bodies from the Quarter Quell Arena they found that Beetee was not in fact killed by the muttations they set after our friend Mr. Gale. Instead he died of multiple stab wounds to the chest. The weapon used? That of an arrow head."

Kicking back from his seat, Gale stood furiously. The chair clattered to the floor overturned.

"I wont listen to anymore of this. If you still think I helped perpetrate some type of espionage against the rebellion, that I helped Peeta murder his mentor and escape to help end the rebellion I helped start in Twelve, then arrest me. Otherwise I'm going."

It was a tense standoff between Gale and President Coin. They stared furiously at each other. Then she relented with a roll of the wrist.

"Fine. You may go. But this stays classified and between everyone here. Not a word of this is to leak. If it does you may find yourself wishing you'd been arrested. Understood?"

The implications were evident, but Gale didn't care. He wasn't about to go blabbing anything. Not when he refused to believe it. He stormed from the room and down the hallway to the steel doors he'd entered through. He tried pushing it open, but it wouldn't budge. He pushed into it with all his strength, ripping at the handle, but nothing moved.

"Fuck! God damn it, fuck!" Gale cussed. He threw his body repeatedly into the metal door; each dull thud rang in his ears and jarred his teeth. He could feel the bruises forming as blood vessels burst and flooded to the surface of his skin, but he didn't care. He just continued to kick and hammer with fists against the hard metal.

Just let me out!

Gale felt like his whole body was brimming with a violent energy. His skin hummed, his bones sang, his throat contracted and his pupils dilated, taking in everything in vivid detail. If he didn't escape he would explode. Suddenly the doors swooped open with a hiss of air and Gale fell through it. A woman jumped back, startled on the other side. He shoved past her and ran through the control room like a man fleeing death. He ran, through hallways and up stairs, through wreckage and past construction workers doing repairs, until the muscles in his legs screamed in protest and his lungs burned with the fire of exhaustion until finally crisp, cool autumn air expanded them.

The sky was an oppressive grey in all directions and the smell of smoke still tainted the air, but it was relief like breaking out of years of captivity. Gale took refuge in the sparse collection of spruces to the east. He rested on his back, felt the solid earth beneath his skin and watched the clouds churn above him, all the while focusing on his breaths. Gravity was some what restored. He was back among the trees and dirt, animals and wide-open space. It wasn't home, but it was an environment he was familiar with, a consistency he craved since being abducted from Twelve and had been since denied. He missed home. Ever since Katniss's name was called in the reaping everything had changed. And it kept changing. It was like trying to hold onto water in a raging river, every time he grasped at something it just slipped through his hands.

Some days he hated her for being in the woods that afternoon. Other days he hated himself for having been so weak as to fall prey to her defiant and yet pleading olive green eyes. But either way it didn't matter. He made the decision to help her, to teach her to hunt—to befriend her. And then the unthinkable happened, the Capitol took her and the brute from Four murdered her before his very eyes. He could see it as vivid as that hologram—the small blade expelled from his meaty fist and hitting her square in the back. There was nothing he could do. He had vowed to never feel that helpless again. Then Peeta came and started sticking his nose where it didn't belong. He made Gale feel useless, like he couldn't help his family, like he wanted to take Gale's place in Katniss's family, and so he lashed out—Peeta chosen as the enemy he could fight, not the internal ones, not the Capitol. But then he stubbornly refused to take Gale's shit. Somehow he weaseled his way beneath Gale's skin and one day, when he was least expecting it, he found he could no longer hate the man.

It was another day—out in those damn woods where he kept meeting the strays and outcasts of Twelve—that he found Peeta like he found Katniss. Desperation and defiance played out in equal measure in his eyes and Gale knew he could never turn his back on the man again. He buried his demons and took up residence in the warm light of hope that exuded from Peeta. He didn't know it, but his presence had an effect on people, Peeta made them believe there was a better world out there if they just reached for it and took it. With the threat of losing someone again when the Quarter Quell announcement came Gale was forced to realize how important Peeta was in his life. He couldn't lose him. Not him too. And yet realistically he knew there was a chance he might go back and so thus their escapes to the woods outside Twelve became training.

Then one afternoon while they were talking it hit Gale like a strike of lightning, infused so deep inside his being, like the very essence of his DNA was melded with the need, that he knew he'd never be free of him. They had been talking about religion—or more so Gale. But that was something he loved about Peeta, he let him just talk and they could have conversations like that, forbidden one's like religion. Gale had said something about how there had to be a reward for all this and then Peeta had responded you make your own rewards. You can't wait for it to get better. You make it better yourself.

It was in that moment Gale knew he loved him. It didn't even occur to him what that meant, if he was gay or not. All he knew was he loved this man and he was done waiting for life to get better, he would make it better starting with Peeta. And from that moment on everything changed again. And it kept changing, fast and furious until Gale looked around and realized there was nothing left he recognized anymore. But it was all worth it, as long as Peeta was there, as long as they were fighting. Because Gale had this dream that one day they'd wake up and the world would be a better place, and Peeta would there for it and Gale could finally show him that there was a happy ending to be had, peace to be found.

Gale knew he loved Peeta more than he could ever love Gale. He knew he always would and sadly that was enough for him. Even knowing someone else had Peeta's love first was okay with Gale, because he knew that someday, at some point in time Peeta would return his love if given the chance. No matter how small, or how miniscule it was it didn't matter to Gale because he'd finally have a piece of Peeta's love and that was enough. That would always be enough.


It was getting old. All the secrecy and lies. Primrose wasn't an idiot, nor was she some child that they could easily hide the truth from. She knew when people were lying to her, she'd grown very good at detecting it after years of being coddled and protected by her sister from the harsh world of the Seam. She had let Katniss do it then, but she wasn't about to let it continue now.

And so that's how Prim knew that Gale was hiding something. That something was very wrong with Cato and that Peeta was missing and no one would give her an answer as to what the heck was happening. It was four days now since the bombing raid by the Capitol ended and they were allowed back into their sleeping quarters. And it was four days since Prim had caught a glimpse of Peeta. Four days since she'd seen anything but anger on Cato's face.

She hated how now that they were out of the Quarter Quell everyone went back to babying her. She had more than proved that she could take care of herself and yet now that they were back in relative safety she was somehow too young to be involved. Everyone else got to train for war or be involved in battle strategies and Prim had to sit by and watch. She was basically invisible again.

Which is why she took to medicine. She already knew more than her mom thought she did when it came to healing and when the bombings happened Prim was finally able to prove herself adept at something again. But now something was happening. They were mobilizing for something big. The whole district was alive in a way she'd never seen since arriving there. Military personnel scrambled about everywhere more frantic than usual, the service elevators were always in use with supplies and weaponry being loaded and unloaded.

So Prim set out to finally get some answers. She scoured the dorms for Cato or Gale—any familiar face would do. But no one was around. Prim then made her way down to the Thirteenth floor where she knew the base of military operations lived. It was there that she finally found a familiar face. Multiple.

They were all standing around in front of the bay of elevators like they had been waiting there all this time for her to find them. Except they were really in the middle of discussions over something to do with stolen trains, the Capitol and the forward line. President Coin was doing most of the talking while Boggs, Cato and Johanna listened. Heavensbee was with them too, but didn't seem to be paying too much attention as he shifted his weight back and forth on his feet. There were two guards near Coin. Prim didn't care if she was interrupting. She cleared her throat and pulled on Cato's arm.

"I need to talk to you."

Cato looked down at Prim in surprise.

"In a minute," He murmured before turning back to the group.

Prim wasn't having it. "No, now."

This time his eyes met hers and she took a step back. There was no light in them. There was only a dangerous warning.

"I said not now. You need to go, this doesn't involve you."

"I'm tired of being spoken to like a child!" Prim stomped her foot and was keenly aware of how childish she looked at that moment. But she didn't care. Peeta was missing and no one seemed to care!

One of the elevators dinged its arrival when everyone in the group turned to stare at Prim and her childish outburst. President Coin looked the most intense before the corner of her lip cracked up in the slightest indication of a smile. Just as she was going to speak a man walked up behind them, lifted his arm and fired the gun in his hand three successive times. The two guards fell to the floor. Something hot and wet splattered all over Prim's face and her ears stung with the crack of the gun. She looked on in horror at President Coin. Her face was frozen with that half smile and for a second Prim believed she was okay. Then blood gushed from the hole in her forehead and her body crumpled to the floor. Her knees hit first, before the rest of her body fell forward face first, a pool of blood quickly spreading out in a halo around her head. Prim brought a hand to her face, pulled it back and saw it was coated with blood and tiny pink bits of something far worse. That was when Prim screamed. That was when everything went to hell.

Buh, buh, buhhhhhh! That's it. That's where I'm leaving it. How will it all resolve? How will our characters get out of this mess? Will the rebellion win? And who will make it through to the end? I'm telling you now, it's going to be intense. Like think of the most intense chapter you've read so far and multiply it by ten. Then blend it with a hefty helping of holy crap and WTF and a few dashes of noooo! And then you'll have the final chapter. I'm still in the process of writing it. It's a biggie. Really big. And I want to get it right. I've been planning this finale for ever and I know so many of you have invested so much time into this story and I really appreciate it so I want to make sure this one is the best possible chapter I can deliver you. Which means I'm not sure exactly when I will have it done and ready for your reading pleasure. I hope to have it done soon, but I just wanted to warn you that there definitely wont be a posting next Sunday or Monday.

Any whooo, I love you gals and guys and thanks for sticking with me!

xoxo,

crobb07