Okay, I am sooo sorry guys for updating so late, that wasn't really fair but I was sooo busy. For those of you who read my other story, you'll know that I just came back from a band trip so... yeah it's been really hard getting this done as well as making up school work!

Thank you so much for all the generous reviewers! 22 for one chapter is sooo nice!

Here's some background for this chapter: This takes place in Mockingjay when Katniss visits the wounded in District 8 after they were bombed. It was hard to write and make it different from the book but still the same because this was a really dynamic moment. This is from Katniss' POV because a bunch of people requested it so... yeah. Thank you so much to justapersonwithapony, an anonymous reviewer, alyssa for reviewing, it really makes me happy!

Without further stalling, here's chapter 2 of "Breath of Fire."

Katniss:

Even though seconds are passing, time stands still. Not a single sound fills the air. Not a movement is made. Breaths are slow and dying. The air stenches of death and sorrow.

The sight in front of me would send any normal person not knowing the content of the situation would find themselves traumatized beyond belief. The sight I see is the decaying remains and wounded of the district eight bombing. Haymitch convinced me to come and visit them, and despite my better judgement, I excepted.

I cautiously try to swallow the lump in my throat as I stare at all the unfortunate souls as they beam back at me. In my eyes fear is represented, and in their eyes, hope. I feel horrible I cannot be that brave hero that they were hoping I'd be. The wounded, the ill, the heartbroken all look up to me, and in return, I give nothing that is valued.

I've talked to a few of them, and all I can see when I'm with them is Rue dying in my arms, or the faces of all who have perished before me. I see death.

Their weakened souls are broken beyond repair.

I bite my lip and avert my eyes from the scene. Gale slips his hand in mine and whispers, "Are you okay?"

I nod, dazed, and body feeling weak. I hear the camera from the crew following me around zoom in abruptly. They are hoping for a reaction out of me so they can view it to the world, and despite this is supposed to be an inspiration moment they are trying to receive on tape, all I see is a tragedy. I want more than anything to place my hand over the camera's lens and smash it to the ground. They have no right to video tape these people, they probably don't want others to see them in this condition.

"Go to another person," Haymitch says in my ear piece.

I don't like him being in my head, it's probably the most annoying thing ever. "Stop it," I hiss back, but only get silence in the line.

I walk over to a girl with auburn hair in thick curls fanning over part of her face. She has bandages all over her face and her arms that should've been changed a few days ago, dirt is extracting on it.

She does a double take and then beams at me with big doe eyes. She is probably a year younger than me, maybe two. "Oh my gosh," She manages with a weak voice.

"Hello," I respond. "What's your name?" I say awkwardly.

"Jaslyn," She says shocked. "Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's truly you, everyone thought you were dead."

I shake my head calmly. Gale stays beside me like a loyal friend, making sure I don't do anything foolish. "No, I'm very much alive," I return with ease.

Her eyes become glossy as a tear starts to form. "My little sister would have loved to have met you," She says, and her voice cracks. "She didn't make it," Jaslyn whimpers, as her brown eyes skim to the corpses lined up to the side. I feel the lump growing in my throat, nearly choking me.

"I'm sorry," I mumble back. "I would have loved to meet her." Jaslyn is choked by sobs and she grabs my hand. She gives it a quick squeeze before dropping it and laying her hand back on the bed, and weeping silently. I stare at the corpses and see Prim's body laying there in my mind, knowing how she must feel. I nod curtly to Jaslyn, then walk away. I begin walking across the room and Gale follows subtly.

I feel like I'm on the verge of a breakdown. "I need a moment," I mumble to him, and I feel my heart sink.

"Do you want to be alone?" He asks, eying me carefully with his grey seam eyes.

I nod. "I'll be right back," I mumble. I begin walking out of the room and the camera crew begins to follow me. I pause and turn around. "Don't follow me," I grumble. They halt behind me and dart their eyes to each other, their expressions puzzled, then wonder off somewhere else.

Boggs eyes me carefully as I walk quite a ways to the side. I sit down in a random space and stare forward at nothing, and about fifty feet away from the warehouse. I want to be alone so I can stay in the company of my cruel mind. Tears begin to form and my eyes sting. I let out a hoarse sob, and then hold back the next before I spiral out of control. I bury my face in my hands, and absorb the feeling lingering around me. Every mournful feeling, every pain of loss, every loss of hope radiated around me until finally it feels like my mind is taking in the horror of the atmosphere.

"Are you alright?" A muscular voice asks, and nearly makes me jump. I turn around to see a boy about a year or two older than me. He's probably about six feet tall, if not more. His muscles are defined thoroughly through his slightly ripped shirt. His blond hair is shaggy, with dirt mixed into the small spikes. His icy blue eyes stare at me intently. Overall he is handsome, very, in fact. Though there's a presence about him that stirs memories of happiness. He slightly reminds me of Peeta, yet he brings a different essence, one more strong and profound.

I recall the question he asked me, and mumble, "Not entirely."

He glances at the medical area and he frowns. "It's really sad isn't it? I was lucky, I only hurt my arm, but the others won't so much."

I glance at them too, and feel remorse from my heart. "It is. I don't know how much more of these places I can handle," I murmur, almost to myself. He nods, as if understanding how I feel.

"It's hard to watch," He says quietly.

I stare at his arm, and it does seem to be wounded, though I don't see why he's here in this unfortunate place. He looks in a well state of health for this place, except the bandage that is spiraled up his wrist to his shoulder. I nod slightly. "Yes," I reply.

"You must be very brave," He says. He sits down next to me casually.

"Not entirely, this all a facade. I'm mortified."

He smirks a little and says, "You're a pretty good actress."

I smile a little, but then my lips fall back to a frown. "So you've seen me on television?"

He nods. "Everyone sees you," He mumbles.

"This is true," I reply. I examine the boy again. He looks like he's from a military base or something. "Do you work for Paylor?" I ask.

He shakes his head. "I'm from district two." "So you must hate me," I mumble, recalling the killing of that girl from two Clove, and the boy Naton, the boy who showed a particular hatred to me and made several attempts to kill me.

He shakes his head, and his eyes almost look hurt. "Well I didn't like you, I thought you were lucky to get an eleven," He admits sheepishly. "Though you grew on me, as everything progressed." I nod.

I'm happy I've impressed one person in this last year.

"So what are you doing in eight?" I question him.

"I came here a month ago for volunteer work. Then the bomb came and I'm stuck here," He explains a little too casually.

I nod. Though suspicion rises in me. District two citizens don't commonly do volunteer work. "Oh," I say back, not knowing what else to reply with. Then I glare at him. "Why are you really here?"

He stares at me confused, and then realizes I won't back down from my question. He sighs and then says, "I've heard you don't buy it when people are telling you a crappy excuse." I shrug, but look at him, pressing for an answer. "I left to come here and support district eight in their rebellion. I couldn't stand the government at the Capitol, and everything about them was so unfair," He admits.

I'm still unconvinced by him. District two loves the Capitol. They produce peacekeepers, so of course they are favored by Capitol. I squint suspiciously. Then the boy looks up eagerly and I hear a scream. The next thing I know he knocks me to down so I'm laying on my stomach. He places half his torso on my back and lays over the exposed areas. At first I'm thinking he's assaulting me, trying to kill the Mockingjay, but then I realize that he's hovering over places on me that could be wounded and potentially badly damaged, as if shielding from whatever comes above...

Oh no.

The Capitol wouldn't.

A loud boom clears my theories as my eyes widen in horror.

Indeed, Snow would.

"Get down!" He screams. The ground vibrates rapidly and ear-shattering explosion sounds behind me. I see the hovercraft behind the boys head drop another bomb. I try to wriggle out, trying to save the victims from the last bombing. He pushes me further down and crouches on me to block out the sight. "You have to stay here!" He hisses. His breath is rapid and his eyes peer into mine. He seems like he has so much experience in the military area, and I should expect nothing less from someone from two. Suddenly pain seers up my leg as I realize that a piece of the warehouses wall just cut into my knee. I yelp in pain, but feel gratitude that the vest Cinna made me for protection is saving my torso from being sliced to bits.

I hear Gale yelling for me and I try to struggle out of this boys grip again but he still won't budge.

"Stay still and don't move," He orders me. I shift my head and see him looking at me seriously. Dust is blowing rapidly from the explosion, and whipping my face. His hair is so covered in dirt you wouldn't be able to tell he's a blonde, and his eyes are closed as he tries to protect them from getting damaged. His face has slight cuts on his cheeks, but nothing major.

I scowl at him, even though he can't see it, and then another boom comes. "I have to fight back," I growl.

He winces and says, "What can you do? They don't want you to die, that's the last thing they want."

I stare at him for a second and realize he's right, but still feel the urge to get vengeance.

Gale is here in a second and says, "It's okay to get off."

The boy gets off on command and stands next to Gale. Gale's eyes look a bit confused, but nevertheless her runs to Boggs. The boy from two glances down at me. He holds out his hand to help pull me up, but I ignored it and got up on my own.

So far I did not like this boy, part of the rebellion or not, no one prevents me from fighting. I'm the Mockingjay, I fight when I need to!

I hear screams fill the air and I pull one of my exploding arrows out of my satchel. I place it in my bow and shoot it out quickly. I miss the hovercraft the first time, and then I pull out another on quickly and shoot again. I hit the hovercraft dead on and it explodes making the ground shake rapidly.

Silence lingers for a few moments.

"Katniss?" I hear Haymitch say nervously in my ear.

"What? I'm here, I'm fine." I reply stumbling over to Gale.

"We can't land until the second round comes," Haymitch says.

"Okay," I mumble.

Gale walks over to me and says, "The next round is in two minutes." My heart is pounding in fear. I turn quickly to try and find the boy who saved me. I see his ash covered body talking to Boggs. Gale follows my gaze. "Who's he?" He asks casually.

I shake my head. "I don't know. Some boy from two. I don't trust him."

Gale turns to me and looks at me seriously, "He saved you're life, I do."

I shrug, and furrow my eyebrows. Am I the only one who finds something suspicious about the boy?

The air is overcome by the moans and groans survivors of this bombing. I turn my head and see more dead people in their beds. I see black flecks dance over my eyes as I stare at the people left.

The next thing I know the boy is next to me with a gun. "Who are you?" I demand.

He darts his blue eyes at me and tilts his head. "I don't think that piece of information matters at this exact second." He replies with his voice sulky. I scowl at him. He looks up at the sky. "There's a bombing going on right now."

I snarl at the boy and turn to Gale. "What are they targeting?"

Gale shakes his head. "I don't know."

I stare at him seriously. "It's not us, then we'd be dead."

Then I hear the boy from behind me say, "Their targeting the wounded." Gale and I both stare at him. Then I dart my eyes to the warehouse and see the ashes arising from there. My eye widen in horror. "He's right," I whisper gravely. I turn to Boggs, and scream, "Their targeting the hospital!"

Everyone stares at me in shock. "Incoming," Someone yells.

I look up and see another plane coming. The boy from two tackles me down to help protect from what's to come. I let my head be shielded by his and bite my lip.

Gale gets down rapidly. A big boom comes and screams are let off from the warehouse. A big gust of dust blows in our faces again. I squint my eyes and place my head to the ground to block it from getting further on my face. More screams arise in the air, and then silence. After a few more minutes I manage weakly, "Is it over?"

Gale lifts his head up slightly and look at the sky. "Yes, I think it is."

Then Haymitch's voice is in my ear. "We're landing to take you away."

"But the wounded," I say in a weak, hoarse voice. "They're going to die."

Then I hear Plutarch's voice in my ear. "Not our problem," He grumbles. "Get back to the bunker." I look back at the wounded.

"No," I snap. Then Haymitch's voice floods my ear as he yells, "Katniss, don't even think about-"

I rip the ear piece out of my ear. Machine guns sound loudly, and a plane goes spiraling down. "They are fighting back," I whisper to Gale.

I get up impulsively and start running to where the sound came from. I see Paylor shooting from on top of a one story building. I quickly run to the side to find a ladder. I climb up it quickly. Then I feel a hand on my foot. I expect it to be Gale or Boggs but when I look down it's the boy from two.

"Get off," I snap.

"Keep going up," He retorts. I glare at him for a moment, and realize he is showing me he wants to help. I nod and start climbing up again. Once I get to the top I see Gale climbing under the boy from two. I run over to Paylor behind on of the machine guns. She turns around and does a double take when she sees us up here.

"Does Boggs know you're here?" She asks.

I nod falsely.

She offers us to use the guns.

The boy from two excepts the offer, but Gale and I shake our heads. I pull out an arrow and it hits the plane making it explode using the arrows Beetee gave me.

We all fire for about ten minutes straight. I hit the hovercraft with some of my arrows dead on, others miss slightlt. Though it's all in vain, for in the end, the all that remains of the hospital is the rubble. Finally, it all the hover crafts prevail and leave.

Gale stares at me, and says softly, "It's time to go back, Haymitch landed a hovercraft for us to go in."

I look back at Gale. I shrug. "Why?" I growl. "They won."

The boy from two nods. "She's right."

I walk over to the side of the ladder which I climbed up on, and go down Credissa from the camera crew walks over to me."President Snow had them air the bombing live. Then he made an appearance to say that this was his way of sending a message to the rebels. What about you? Would you like to tell the rebels anything?"

I turn to her in shock. "Yes," I snap. "I want to tell the rebels I am alive. That I'm right here in District Eight, where the Capitol has just bombed a hospital full of unarmed men, women, and children. There will be no survivors. I want to tell people that if you think for one second the Capitol with treat us fairly if there's a cease fire, you're deluding yourself. Because you know who they are and what they do. This is what they do. President Snow says he's sending us a message? Well I have one for him. You can torture us and bomb is and burn our districts to the ground, but do you see that?" One of the cameras follow as I point to he planes burning on the roof. "Fire is catching. And if we burn, you burn with us!" I scream.

The light turns off and Credissa says smugly, "Cut, that's a wrap."

I turn rapidly to Boggs and he turns to the boy from two. "Who are you?"

"I'm from two sir, I came here to get away from the Capitol. If I can sir, may I help you with your rebellion?"

"No," I answer sharply.

The boy and Boggs turn to me shocked. "No," I repeat sharply. "We don't know him Boggs, he could be a spy or something."

Boggs stops and listens to something Haymitch is probably saying. "You need to go back to the landing strip."

I shake my head. I stare at the breaking structure of the hospital and feel a lump arise in my throat. "I can't leave them."

Gale's comes beside me as he says, "There's no one to leave."

"No," I say back. I feel tears arise.

"Come on Katniss," Boggs coaxes. He grabs onto my hand but I struggle against it, and force him to let go.

"No!" I shout, and feel tears streaming down my face.

Boggs frowns and looks at the boy from two, and says sharply, "You'll have to do. I need to talk to Paylor, take her back to the strip and you'll come back to thirteen with us. Bring her back at all costs." Boggs stares at me and I scowl back.

The boy grabs my hand and starts tugging it. "Come on, there's nothing we can do," He says softly.

"Get off me!" I shout at him. "I can get there myself." I take a step forward and then feel a pain shoot up my leg and wince.

I realize how wounded I am and I feel a burning in my left temple.

Then the boy rolls his eyes. "I don't think you can," He says quickly before scooping me up bridal style.

"No!" I scream, and I turn to look at Gale, but he doesn't see me, he's talking with Boggs and Paylor.

"Just calm down!" The boy yells. "God, your a piece of work," He snaps. I growl at him and struggle against him. He starts jogging and tightens his grip. I keep struggling against him, but there's a warmth to his touch that calms me down slightly. I shut myself up and close my eyes, trying to shake the nausea creeping up on me. We get to the landing strip and the hovercraft is already there. The boy runs on and I breath heavily, trying to fight the black flecks dancing in my eyes as my vision slowly got darker.

"She needs somewhere to lay," The boys voice says.

"Who are you?" Asks a voice I recognize as Haymitch's.

"She needs somewhere to lay," The boy repeats.

I moan slightly at the pain throbbing in my head.

Haymitch hears and says, "Come with me."

I want to scream for Haymitch to kick him off the hovercraft-he can't be trusted, whether he saved my life multiple times or not. No one from district two should be trusted, he's probably a peacekeeper in disguise or something. Though I'm slipping away from reality and all I feel are subtle footsteps of the boy walking. Then next thing I know I'm out of his grasp and on a bed. I push through the blackness to see the boys blank face staring down at me. "Can you hear me?" He asks.

"Barely," I say, trying to sound critical, but coming off as weak.

"Don't worry, just fall asleep." He soothes me.

"Go away," I grumble.

"Go to bed," He says harshly now.

"Who are you," I say sourly.

"My name is Cato Saldate," He responds right before the darkness swallows me.

Cato:

I look at her as she her eyes droop shut, and her breathing becomes even. She looks so peaceful, so sincere now. Nevertheless I feel the hatred that I've endured these last few years for her, but as much as I hate to admit it, the loathing of her has decreased due to her bravery. I know now that this task will not be easy, and to woo her will be hard, but to abduct her would be harder. I stare at her and bite my lip, knowing she's not even ready for the ride she's going to be taken on with me.

Ideas start filing up in my head of how I will make her love me. It'll be hard, but with the proper charm and intimacy, she'll come around. I'm irresistible when it comes to that sort. If that doesn't work, I'll show her just how intense I can be. Then she'll most definitely fall. As much as it pains me, from what I've seen from her I'd probably be perfect with her. We're both cruel, we're both stubborn. I'll make her flame spark.

I smile as I think to myself, as I brush a finger across her chestnut hair knotted in a braid, darling, get ready for the ride of your life.

Will Katniss learn to trust him? Will anyone else? Will Gale see right through him? Will Peeta still come back with Annie and Johanna? Will Cato be able to stand the fire that burns within Katniss with his icy soul?

All of these questions will be answered in further chapters...

Okay, again sorry for updating so late, I really apologize! This band trip has gotten me sooo stressed! Please review, because that what really keeps me going! Please, also, if you just add me to your story alerts it's appreciated but it's not as much of a confidence booster.

Requests to answer(to help me): Should Gale be a jerk to Cato or should they be buds?