Warning: These one-shots feature heavy subjects, including alcoholism, drug abuse, and torture... so far. Now adding: depression. I'll add more as the story wears on, just in case.

AN: Credit goes to HannahSongla for the story idea. Please go check out her Hayniss story similar to this - Sweetheart. Credit goes to Suzanne Collins for the verse and the characters. I don't really own anything but the text of these one-shots. And no, that doesn't mean the song lyrics. Enjoy c:

Song: Open Your Eyes by Andrew Belle

Open Your Eyes

She'll be a star and
I will follow her lead
She'll be a scar and
I will still let her bleed

Haymitch buried his face into the soft dark curls of her hair. It smelled pleasantly of honey and strawberries. No matter how many days, weeks or months she went without bathing, her hair still smelled the same. He couldn't say that about the rest of her, but that didn't matter right now.

Haymitch blamed himself for her catatonic state, he blamed himself for the way she stared blankly at the all when she was awake and the way she fidgeted and screamed in her sleep. If he had just been there for her like he'd supposed to be when they came back, if he'd just watched over her like he was instructed to do, she wouldn't be so far gone. He hates himself for leaving her on her own - for foolishly thinking that she would bounce back like she always did. When they'd come home, he had hoped that she would bounce back, that while she would still be scarred from the war, she would find a reason to keep living. He had hoped that he could go back to being the only pathetic fool in the entire District, to her bullying him into taking care of himself. But she'd just lost everyone she loved, her little baby sister, her lover, her best friend, her mother. Her sister had died, Peeta was possibly gone forever, Gale hadn't even bothered saying bye to her, and her mother just abandoned her.

He was stupid in thinking someon blind with sorrow could find the light at the end of the tunnel.

At first, when they came back and she didn't seek him out within the first few days, he thought she was still angry with him. For not saving Peeta, for igniting the rebellion in the first place, for getting her sister killed, for that snide little remark about boy troubles. He thought that she was just playing the hard-to-get game. But when two, three and finally a month passed, and he still hadn't seen her leave her house, he got curious. And he finally mustered up the courage during the sixth week to go check on her.

He found her curled up in a ball on the floor, a puddle of what looked to be tears gathered beneath her head, and her eyes staring straight into the fireplace. She just stared - all hollowed out eyes and emptiness. Any other time, Haymitch would have just left her. But it was something about the size of that puddle of tears, there was something about the way she looked so... gone. He couldn't just leave her, he realized. He had to do his duty as her mentor, one last time. He'd picked her up, all the while murmuring sweet nothings into her ear. Haymitch had taken her to the bathroom and bathed her, cleaned off a months worth of stink and watched as the water turned black in sadness. He'd even sat her down and cooked for her, but when she wouldn't eat anything but liquids, he just fed her some soup and tucked her into bed. And she'd actually looked up at him and asked him to stay. So he'd crawled into bed with her and held her while she cried again.

That had been four months ago. Every day since then, he'd lose her a little bit more. At the three month mark, she stopped crying completely. The only response he got from her is when he left the bed - she would howl and scream for him to come back. And his heart would break. So everywhere he went, he would take her - to shower, to eat, into town for groceries, even out to feed his geese. For some reason, Katniss just refused to let him out of her sight. Haymitch deducted that it was because everyone she let out of her sight was killed or mentally scarred.

The worse part of it all, was that it hurt him. The first few weeks, he had pitied her. But as time wore on, he couldn't help but realize the loneliness there was without her voice, her smile, her laughter, even her anger. There wasn't only an emptiness in her, there was a Katniss shaped hole in his heart too. One that, no matter what, he just couldn't fill. And it took him a long time to admit that he loved this girl more than a mentor should love a tribute. More than a friend should love another friend. He loved this girl more than Peeta or Gale could love her combined. And without her presence, without her... he was hurting.

On one particular night, he holds her close and tries not to cry for her.

"Sweetheart," he whimpers, pressing another kiss to her forehead. "Sweetheart, please. Come back to me. Please, sweetheart." Nothing, no response. She just stares blankly at his chest, only blinking and staring and blinking some more.

"Honey, you have to listen. Whatever demons are in your head, I need you to stop letting them win. I need you to come back to me, I need you to fight. I know it looks bleak, and I know there doesn't look like there'll be any light at the end of the tunnel but I need you to come back. Please. Please come back. I... I love you. And I can't do this without you. I need you. I want you. I don't know how to function without your yelling and your bossing and your laughter and your smile. I don't know how to live without sweetheart - please come back to me.

He wants it to be like the movies. Where the main character's love interest suddenly wakes up from his or her coma and smiles at the main character and everything is fixed. He wants Katniss to blink rapidly and look up at him with confused eyes, for the cloudiness to evaporate and for her to lean up to kiss him and tell him that she's going to get better. He so desperately wants to be foolish and selfish and just hope that everything is alright. But Katniss continues staring blankly. No response.

Haymitch realizes she's the only person that can make him cry.

She'll be a scar and
She'll be a scar and
I will let her bleed
all over me