Hello everyone :) so thanks to everyone who has been reading this far! So this story will be wrapping up soon, the ending might be the next chapter or the one after it. Hope you guys enjoy xo

The first thing he notices when his eyes open is the harsh light that begins to make his pupils burn. His eyelids feel so heavy, his stomach is in knots and there's a dull, throbbing pain through the left side of his face. He hesitantly lifts his hand up, even his damn arm feels heavy, and touches his face. The sudden pain that erupts from the mere touch of his fingers made him jump and groan.

"I'm so sorry."

He looks over and sees Katniss sitting beside him. She has large, dark bags under her eyes, and they're rimmed with red. Her olive skin looks waxy and pale and her hair hangs around her face in greasy waves. The room they're in is a dull grey, washed out with the harsh light coming from the lamps.

"What the hell happened..." he mumbles as he tries to sit up, but his body is so weak he crashes back on to the bed.

"I took down the arena, Cato. They managed to get us out but... Your face is um..." She trails off, at a loss for words. She's staring at him with pity written across her face.

Cato has become fully alert now. What does she mean about his face...? The pain... No, he can't be hurt, not there. He notices a silver tray on the table beside him. It's holding some water and pills but he quickly swipes them off and grabs the tray, holding it up to his face. His reflection makes his stomach churn. Half is face has been burned to shit. They used some skin grafts to patch up the worst of the burns, but the rest of his skin is blood-red and swollen. The doctors have put some sort of clear mask over half his face, trying desperately to keep his skin from falling off his face.

He's staring into the silver tray, almost hoping if he stares long enough the reflection will change back to how he used to look. After a few more minutes, he realizes that's not going to happen. He feels his blood boil in anger and he throws the tray across the room and it crashes against the wall in a loud clatter. Katniss jumps at the loud noise. She stares at him with regret filling her grey eyes. She tries to speak but Cato doesn't want to hear what she has to say.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry-"

"I told you to wait! I told you to fucking wait for Haymitch! He would've come up with a plan that didn't involve half my fucking face being burned off!" he shouts at her. Katniss jumps off the chair and stares at him, her tired eyes brimming with tears.

"I'm sorry, Cato!" she screams at him.

"That's all you can say isn't it!" he roars at her. By now three people have entered the room. One is Haymitch, the other is a tall teenage boy who goes to Katniss and shoves her behind him. The last is a man he doesn't know. He is still on the bed, because his body is so weakened he can barely manage to shout anymore. Haymitch has run over to his side and has jabbed something sharp into his shoulder. Almost immediately he begins feeling dizzy and his eyes begin to slide close. The last thing he manages to see is Katniss staring at him. Her thin arms are wrapped around her body and she's shaking.

She doesn't look strong anymore.

Finnick is sitting on his bed with a piece of rope in his hands. He's tied into a knot, then untied it about fifteen times. Today has been a rough day for him. The only thing that has been on his mind is Annie. During the Games, he managed to push her away from his mind to help him stay focused; but hell when the memories came back, they came back with a vengeance. What he remembers most is how he'd sit and hold her during those small hours of the night, when nightmares would keep her awake and she'd cry. He'd just hold her and she would hold on to him like he was her lifeline, then she'd start talking to him with incomplete sentences, and then just trail off before finishing. She'd just stare at the wall, her sea green eyes vacant. It took him a little while to bring her back to reality when she had fits like that.

Finnick drops the rope on to the bed and rubs his face with his hands. He knows he shouldn't be thinking about Annie because she's been dead for seven months. That day was the worst day of his life. Annie had wandered off to a cliff near the Victor's Village. She was having one of her fits, so she didn't really know what she was doing. At the time, Finnick had been working out because he was having a bad day as well. There were just too many memories of dead children clouding his mind. He was returning home when he heard the screaming. He ran over to the cliff and looks down. He sees her brown hair, now made black from blood and water, and the purple of the silk dress she was wearing earlier.

He noticed that he was already running down the trail of the cliff. His one thought is getting to her. When he does reach her, the first thing he notices is the amount of blood gushing from her head. He drops to his knees and scoops up her frail body, cradling her against his chest. He's sobbing.

It takes him an hour to let her go. It was Mags who had to pull him away from her.

A knock at the door makes him jump out of the memory. He turns and chokes out words. "Come in."

Haymitch opens the door and pokes his head around frame. He frowns at the sight of Finnick, who's clearly upset.

"Christ, everyone's a fucking mess today." he mutters and walks in, slamming the door behind him. He leans against it, crossing his arms over his chest. There are bags under his eyes and his hair has turned greasy and thin. Finnick wonders when's the last time he took a shower. They arrived here over a week ago, but they've all been so busy planning the revolution that there's barely time for sleep, so showering is not high on the to do list.

Haymitch looks at the rope in Finnick's hands, then the back at Finnick's face then down at the rope again. He walks over and sits down, letting out a sigh as he does so.

"Bad day, huh?" he asks.

Finnick doesn't speak, just nods and then returns to tying his knot. Haymitch reaches forwards and covers Finnick's hands with his own. He tightens his grip on Finnick's now shaking hands.

"We've all lost people, Finn. But I know what you went through was the worst because you though you'd have her forever. I'm sorry, but we have bigger problems to worry about now," Haymitch says softly. Finnick nods and releases the rope, letting it drop to the floor and Haymitch continues talking. "Cato's woken up, but he's really angry about what's happened. He's dangerous and I don't trust him," he growls. His tone is definitely not soft now.

Finnick looks at him, doubt clouding his eyes. "I trust him," he tells Haymitch, who only scoffs in response so Finnick says something else. "Katniss trusts him and he would protect her, even if he dies doing it. Not that she needs much protection when she has a bow, but you know what I mean."

"Not now he won't. I was listening when he woke up, I'm pretty sure he blames her for what happened to his face. He'll hate her." Haymitch says gruffly.

"Well, if he does do that, what do you intend to do about it?" Finnick asks him.

Haymitch looks at him, his grey eyes harsh and cold. "I will kill him."

Katniss sits with Prim wrapped in her arms. She's burying her face into her sisters golden hair, breathing in her familiar fragrance. She's missed Prim so much. Their mother is sitting beside him, her fingers hovering over Katniss's arm, as if she wants to reach out and embrace her daughter. But she snatches away her hand and looks at the ground. She's too scared of being rejected by Katniss again. Gale is sitting on the chair opposite the bed, staring at the sight of the broken family. They're even worse now, because District 12 has been destroyed and now is nothing more than ash and rubble, so they have almost nothing.

"Is Cato ok, Katniss?" Prim asks quietly. Prim knows Cato because of how often Katniss talked about him and he even sent Prim a birthday present. It was a lovely silver pendant with an aquamarine stone in the middle. Prim never takes it off and Katniss can feel the smoothness of the silver under Prim's shirt.

"He will be, he just needs a little more time, that's all." Katniss responds and hugs her sister closer to her body.

"Katniss?" Prim says quietly.

"Yes?"

"What's going to happen to us?" Prim asks.

Katniss bites her lip, unsure of what to say. As soon as they arrived at District 13, Haymitch dragged Katniss into a council meeting where she was told, rather bluntly, that she is going to be the Mockingjay for the rebellion. She'll be the symbol of hope; a flame in the dark. At first she was mortified with the prospect of being the one people look to for guidance. But she knew in the end that this was bigger than her personal fears so she knew she had no choice but to agree. The only thing that would make it easier is if Cato was on her side, but she doesn't know if he is anymore. She can't blame him because she's the reason his face is destroyed.

But she can't focus on that now. She has a job to do, and she will fucking do it. She will bring down Snow, the Capitol, everything. She will do it for the countless children who would be killed in the Games if they were to continue. She will do what leaders do; she will lead. They will destroy the Capitol.

She let's go of Prim, kissing her on the head as the little girl slides out of her arms. Katniss stands up and leaves the room, ignoring the quizzical looks from her mother and Gale. She goes walks quietly through the hallways, trying her best to not draw any attention to herself. She is practically hugging the wall to try to hide in the shadows. It doesn't take her long to get to the room she was searching for, considering the fact she's barely left it for the past week. She opens the door and slips inside. It's mostly dark, except for that one small lamp in the corner of the room which rests on a metal table. She walks towards the bed, relaxing at the sight of his figure. He is on his side so she's hoping he's asleep.

"I know it's you, Katniss."

His sudden voice makes her jump. She swallows and bites her lip, wondering if she should have come here at all. Cato sits up and looks at her. The dim light from the lamp illuminates the damage on the left side of his face. He sees that she's staring so he quickly looks away.

"I'm sorry for how I acted earlier. I was just tired and-"

"Stop it. You had every right to be mad and you still do, but I still need to ask you something," she interrupts. She walks over to him and sits on the edge of her bed. He's still looking at the floor. Katniss leans forwards and touches his shoulder gingerly with her fingers. "Look at me, Cato. They want me to be the-"

"Mockingjay, I know. Haymitch told me when we were in the arena." Cato interrupts.

"I want you to be on my side for this. Please." she tells him.

He finally turns and looks at her. A shadow is covering the burned side of his face. "I will always be on your side, sparky, but fuck you owe me big."

Katniss smirks and she throws her arms around his shoulder. Cato grimaces, because he was still burned pretty badly around his torso, but he just ignores the pain and hugs her back.

So they'll be going to war against the Capitol... And he thought that fighting in the arena was hard.