I have one more post after this, and then the story will be done. This time I mean it!

Peeta was gone.

And so was Katniss.

Both had managed to survive their second trip to the Arena. The force field, which had ended Peeta's life briefly, had also been their means to an escape. But it was their rescuers who differed. While Katniss was picked up by the rebels and taken to District 13, Peeta had been captured by the Capitol. For weeks, she was forced to endure broadcasts that featured Caesar Flickerman playing interviewer to her husband. Peeta looked frail and tired, and layers of makeup were applied to cover what she was sure were bruises.

Then he was brought back to Thirteen, back to her.

But Peeta was gone.

Holed up in a supply closet where no one would find her, Katniss touched the still painful bruises on her throat. Had she looked in a mirror, she would have seen her husband's fingerprints marring her flesh. Fresh tears slipped down her cheeks, co-mingling with the old. It was that sound that alerted Haymitch to her presence.

"Hey, sweetheart," he said softly, joining her on the floor. She looked down at the drab gray uniform that all of District 13 wore. Her gaze was trained on her knees, which were pulled up to her chest. "He'll be okay," her former mentor continued, resting his hand on her arm.

Her eyes, hard and cold and full of anger, snapped up to meet his. "What makes you so sure of that?" she demanded. "You can't possibly know that he'll be okay, or that I'll be okay, or that things can ever go back to the way they were between us. They won't. They can't. Not after what the Capitol's done to him."

"They can get better though," he insisted. "It might not be the same, but he's got you to help him through whatever it is they've done to him."

Katniss scoffed. "Did you not hear what he said to me? Can you see the bruises from when he strangled me?" she inquired. "He wants me dead. Thinks I'm a mutt he has to kill before I kill him. Whatever they've done, they've brainwashed him into thinking I'm his enemy. I love him and he hates me. He was all I had left, and now he's gone too."

Haymitch shifted until he sat beside her and put his arm around her shoulders. "He's not the only person you have," he stated. "Your sister loves you unconditionally. Gale would risk his life for you. And...and you're not getting rid of me that easily. You've lost a lot, but you've still got people who love you."

She leaned her head against his shoulder as silent tears continued to fall. "I hate it here," she admitted. "I feel like I'm back in the Capitol - being told what to wear and when to do things." What she didn't include was the similar feeling that Peeta would never be able to love her again.

"It won't be forever," he murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple. "I promise you, it won't."

Katniss entered the hospital wing with Prim and Haymitch by her side. Peeta had asked to speak with her, and despite their previous encounter, Katniss jumped at the chance to see him again. When they reached his bed, a bed his wrists and ankles were strapped to, he glared at her accompanying party. "No, just her," he said through gritted teeth. She nodded her head, letting them know with that small gesture that she would be alright. When they left, she sat on the side of his bed and tentatively touched his fingertips. "I did that?" he asked, looking at her neck.

Katniss winced, but nodded. "Why did you want to see me?" she wondered.

"They...the doctors here told me I was hijacked by the Capitol," he told her, his voice devoid of emotion. "Think that's true?"

"I've seen firsthand what they're capable of," she replied, staring down at his restrained hand. "And I've seen firsthand what you're capable of. You'd never hurt anyone unless you had no other choice. So, yes, I do think it's true."

Peeta nodded and curled his fingers into a fist so tightly his knuckles whitened. "I loved you. Real or not real?" he asked.

A lump formed in her throat. "Real," she replied, forcing her words to sound strong.

"District 12 is gone. Real or not real?"

Again she replied, "Real."

Peeta stretched out his fingers. "My family is dead."

"Real."

"You killed them." His blue eyes darkened as he spoke, and she slowly began to inch away.

Had she killed them? It was her arrow that destroyed the force field around the Arena. That arrow prompted the bombing of District 12, or so she had been told. Perhaps she had killed them without knowing it. "Real or not real?" he demanded, snapping her from her thoughts.

"I don't know," she whispered, choking back a sob. "I didn't kill them,not directly."

"But that arrow..." he started, and she finished his thought with a nod. His head shook, as if to clear his vision. "I told the world you were pregnant."

Katniss chuckled. "Yeah, you did," she replied, the beginnings of a smile on her lips. But, just as quickly as it appeared, it fell. "Snow knew it was a lie. I can't get pregnant after what they gave me. At least I don't think I can. Not for awhile."

His fingers stretched towards hers, and he noticed the ring she wore on her left hand. Looking down at his own hand, his finger was bare. "Where's mine?" he asked, the panic building in his voice. "We're married, real or not real?"

"Real."

"Then where's my ring?" he demanded, fisting the sheets beneath him. "They took it! I want it back! Give it back."

She moved until she could steady his head in her hands. "We'll get it back," she promised. "Peeta, I swear, we'll get it back."

He continued to thrash about, ignoring her words and blocking her out by squeezing his eyes shut. He still when she stopped talking, and opened his eyes. "You're a whore, a mutt," he said, his voice low and deadly. "If they didn't have me strapped to this damn bed, I'd kill you myself."

Her hands fell from his face as if they were on fire, and she quickly backed away from the bed. She ran as he continued to yell after her that she was a mutt, that he would kill her, that he wanted nothing more than to see her dead. She had just reached the doors when Haymitch pressed his forearm against Peeta's throat, cutting off his air supply. "Talk to her like that again, and I'll kill you myself," he threatened.

Gale waited outside of the hospital and gathered her in his arms when she burst through the doors. "Let go of me!" she shouted, pushing against his chest and failing miserably to untangle herself from his arms. After a few, well-aimed hits to his stomach, Gale complied but held her by the shoulders. "I'll kill him," he said through clenched teeth.

"Who? Peeta?" he wondered, staring through the window at the blond who was now sedated.

She wriggled out of his grasp. "No, Snow," she stated, his name said venomously. "I'll kill him for what he's done."