"Miss Everdeen may I talk to you in private?" A man wearing an official uniform says to me.

"Yes." I agree nervously. We walk away past the fairgrounds into the forest as we enter the tree line he punches me across the jaw.

When I come to I'm on my back looking up at the sky the gray sky which hangs low sagging past the tops of the pine trees.

"Do you know who I am?" The voice says to me. It's the same man he's straddling me looking down upon me. I shake my head. "I'm the one who shot you. Coin sent me to Two. She wanted you dead. There are still Coin supporters mostly in Eleven, and we really, really want to finish the job. I hear you're coming to shut us down. Well, now the Mockingjay needs to stop singing."

I struggle fruitlessly against his weight.

"First I'm going to teach you a lesson."

He slaps me across the face again and the grabs a handful of hair and takes a knife cutting off all my clothes. Smiling he fondles my breast. Hot tears begin to streak down my face. He's defiling me. He then takes my hand and places it on his erect penis. He leans down.

"Put your fucking mouth on it." I shake my head. I just want him to finish killing me. "I'll kill your lover too. He was supposed to die as well." I squeeze my eyes shut. No. Peeta. I'm sorry. I think to myself and acquiesce to his request. After a few moments he rips my head away and rolls me over onto the dirt his hand smashing my head into the dirt so it's the only thing I can breath. I feel his fingers entering me, not gently like Peeta does but rough and hard painful. It's then not just his fingers. I close my eyes tuning it out waiting for it all to end. The humiliation is worse than the prospect of death. The suddenly he stops he off me, I can turn my head. I see Peeta, he had thrown him to the ground and is kicking him in the mouth, crushing his teeth blood seeping from my attackers mouth. We are now eye to eye. Peeta is sitting on top of him hands around his throat choking the life from him. His eyes bulging gurgling on his blood. Peeta's eyes are wild, not like my Peeta the gentle soul. He's the mutt created by the Capitol. Someone tackles him and then a boot comes down on my attacker.

"Peeta! Stop!" A voice yells. Johanna

"No! Let me fucking kill him! I saw it! I saw what he did!"

Johanna hollers at someone.

"Go get Haymitch and Plutarch."

Johanna struggles and the other rescuer who turns out to be Enobaria assists Johanna in holding him down eventually pinning him to a tree by his t-shirt with a knife. He looks down at me. His shirt once white is red his eyes are wild his breathing short and rapid. Enobaria kicks my attacker in the stomach once more and he groans.

"What the fuck?" Johanna says to her

"Just checking if he's still alive." Enobaria says laughing. Johanna takes off her flannel and places it over me. Soon Haymitch, Plutarch, and Gale arrive.

"What did he do!" Gale screams

"I saved her you fuck hole, that prick was raping her!" Peeta says nearly unintelligible due to his sobbing.

"I can't tell who it is. His face is pretty mangled." Plutarch says. He then looks down at me. "Do you know who this man is."

"He only told me he's the one who shot me." I whimper to him.

"What should we do?" Asks Johanna.

"Kill him!" Peeta screams.

"The boy has a point. We don't want this shit public." Enobaria says

"No. He needs to be interrogated and held accountable." Plutarch says. "Lieutenant Hawthorne, please collect this man with and take him to the justice building. I'll trust him to your care."

Gale kicks him in the stomach then squats down looking him in the eyes.

"We're going to have fun you and me." He then trots off toward the police station. Peeta is wriggling about on the tree.

"Let me go! Let me see her."

Johanna responds by removing the knife from the tree. He then crawls over to me. I must be very injured because Peeta looks afraid to touch me. He then looks down at his knuckles which are covered in blood that is not his own. His eyes morph to Peeta's again and he resumes sobbing and stroking my hair.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let you out of my sight."

I don't respond to him. I just close my eyes.

When I wake up again I'm in a hospital bed. Peeta is sitting across from me with his hands bandaged. I sit up and look at him. He's still beautiful. When he sees me he cries again.

"Don't. Don't" I say to him. "Lay with me." And he does, and I feel safe the only time I ever feel safe.

"I haven't been letting anyone visit. I didn't think you'd want the commotion."

I nod. I put my head on his chest and my whole body hurts.

"Peeta. I hurt." I say to him.

He presses a button which controls the morphling pump. The world becomes hazy again and I sleep in Peeta's arms. It must have been for more than a day because Peeta is beginning to smell and wearing the same clothes. There's a knock on the door. A doctor walks in the room.

"Hi Miss Everdeen how are you feeling."

"Awful."

"Well you sustained quite a bit of trauma. You have a concussion, and we had to suture your perineal area. You'll make a full recovery. Just no sex for six weeks."

I nod.

"Haymitch and Plutarch need to talk to you about the attack."

Peeta stiffens.

"No."

Plutarch pushes through the door.

"It's necessary to bring who did this to justice. And Peeta you almost killed him, so her account would exhonerate you from any assault convictions."
I recount the attack, and what he told me about Eleven, about Coin and killing me. Plutarch nodding, Haymitch turns away.

"Yes. Well it seems this was a former Capitol rebel, he supported Coin and ascended the ranks. He was put in an official position in Eleven. It appears he and some other Captiol ex-pats don't like the Paylor regime's ideas about equal opportunity and redistribution of wealth. Their numbers are very small but they have access to a large amount of funding, the majority are former Peacekeepers. This tends to be a problem after a civil war. Sectarian violence."

Peeta looks stunned. Haymitch's eyes are hard.

"You, Peeta, and all the other Victors are being moved to protective custody, in the Capitol."

"NO!" I cry

"Katniss I understand your qualms about this but there are people out to kill all of you and want to topple the government. We'll get this taken care of, then you can go home."

I don't want the sterility of the Capitol. It feels invasive as though someone is doing this again.

"Where will we be staying?"

"The former training facility."
"Oh even better." I place my hands over my eyes and lean back. I was supposed to be getting married this week. Plutarch and Haymitch leave. It's me and Peeta again.

"Can we still get married?" I ask

"Yes." He assures me brushing a tendril of hair from my forehead.

"I mean like in the Capitol."

He smiles.

"Yes, we're still going to elope."

I snuggle back into him. He's my home, the only place I'm safe. He holds me and turns on the television.

"Sad news from District Four today. Victor Annie Cresta Odair and her young son were found murdered, a terrorist organization is taking responsibility. Saying they'll kill off Victors and their families until Paylor steps down and Romulus Thread is named President." Peeta quickly turns off the feed. I feel him shaking, the warm tears dripping into my hair. I weep with him. We hold each other and weep. I don't want to leave this room or this place, just stay like this with Peeta. Just let it be only us.