Katniss –

My veins are on fire. It feels like my flesh is burning. Every part of body tingles with pain. Endless pain. I try to clutch at my stomach, but a pair of hands grasp at my wrists, restraining me. I try to open my eyes and see who it is, but it's all a blur. Blond hair, white, black or brown I cannot tell. Faces… so many faces…

They're shouting but I can't understand what they're saying. There's a fog in my head. It's ringing. The world around me has been demolished, so why am I still alive? Why does this keep happening? This twilight of not knowing if I'm here or elsewhere.

I struggle to sit up, but my shoulder is pushed back down. I'm on fire. Don't they understand? I'm burning up! I want to scream at them. I need to be put out!

My whole body spasms and I feel a flush of heat between my legs. I convulse as hands try to hold me down, but they can't keep the tremors from ripping through me. And they can't put out the heat. I open my mouth to scream, but nothing comes out. I have no voice. I am pain.

Kill me! I try to scream, but nothing comes. No one hears my plea. The burning continues on and on.

There's a sting at my neck and an eternity later it all goes dark.

Gale –

"Tell me again…"

"It was planned… well, not entirely the way it happened. You can't account for everything, you know. Even though we try."

I can't believe what I am hearing. Hell. I can't believe where I'm even standing.

Two days ago, I led the remainder of the people from District 12 into the forest - to Katniss' hunting shack. It was the only place deep enough I thought safe to stop. I had no idea what I was going to do. I can survive on my own, but there were hundreds of people looking to me and I didn't have a fucking clue what to do. And then they came.

At first, we feared the Peacekeepers had found us. I thought for certain we would all die right there. I never expected to be rescued. Certainly not by a district that's supposed to have been demolished by the Capitol. District 13. Somehow they survived their uprising and became stronger than anyone could have imagined.

"You were the Head Game Keeper." I still can't believe that I'm standing next to Plutarch Heavensbee. The inventor of the Arena for this year's Hunger Games. I never, in a million years, would have believed he was a rebel. But he says it's true. He was working the whole time for District 13.

"So I could control what happened," he explains again. "We needed to get her out. She is the symbol of the rebellion. A beacon that can unite the Districts to finally rise up and take down the Capitol."

I turn away from them and face the observation window again. It's hard to see her lying there. Hooked up to so many tubes and machines. But she's alive.

"How long has she been out?"

Haymitch heaves a dramatic sigh as leans against the glass. "She was electrocuted in the Arena. Burned up pretty bad. We had to dope her or she'd hurt herself more."

My hand rests against the window, my fingers pressing into the glass as though to wrap around her. She's been through too much and already they have plans for her. A symbol. A beacon. The Mockingjay.

"Peeta?" I ask.

Haymitch shakes his head. "We couldn't find him. There wasn't enough time. He's sure to be in the Capitol's hands by now."

I rest my head against the glass, staring at the woman I love through the pane. They called me here to talk to her. To break the news to her. They can't face it so they send me to do their dirty work.

The words that I've been too afraid to ask finally spill from my lips. I brace myself, but I think I already know the answer even before the cowards give it to me. And, when they do, I'm still not prepared.

"And the baby…?"

Haymitch's hand squeezes my shoulder, but it's just a mosquito biting me. There's no solace there. I'm not even sure why it hits me as it does. All I can think is that, I love Katniss with all my heart and I never want to see her suffer more. But she's going to. And I'm going to be the one that drops it on her.

Katniss has been a piece in this ongoing game. They need her. And now they need me. I'm just another pawn. And I'm going to break my best friend's heart to pieces.

/ So, don't kill me, but that's where I'm ending it since that's my end for Catching Fire. Depending on time I'll continue with a Mockingjay story. Have NaNoWriMo quickly approaching so I may be tied up for a bit while I push.

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