"Ivy Undersee," they called. Finally, I looked up. Peeta had been in there for so long, I wondered if something had gone wrong. I shook off the uneasy feeling and walked into the room. All the Gamemakers were alert, unlike the last time I had gone into a private session. They glanced at me nervously, and then they glanced towards the middle of the room. I looked there too, and when I saw what they were looking at, I gave a shocked gasp.

Avoxes were still trying to untie a hanging noose from the ceiling. Stuck in the noose's grip was a shooting dummy. The poor servants couldn't get the thing undone. It also appeared as though the noose was made out of some sort of metal. They couldn't cut it. Finally, Heavensbee, who I remembered meeting, told them to leave it. Once they bowed and left the room, I walked up to take a better look at it.

"Go ahead, Miss Undersee," Plutarch said from somewhere behind me.

This must've been Peeta's doing. That was why it took so long; he was working on a knot they couldn't untie. Something was written on the dummy in red, like blood.

Seneca Crane.

I recognized the name was the old Head Gamemaker. I never did ask Haymitch what had happened to him…

They had killed him. For letting Peeta and I both live. I turned to face the new Head Gamemaker now. I didn't care for the Capitol, not at all. The only citizens I cared for was Cinna and Effie, and possibly my prep team. But Crane had let Peeta and I both survive, whether he had wanted to or not, and I felt like I owed him.

"Is this what happened to him?" I asked, walking closer and closer to the Gamemaker's room.

Plutarch didn't say anything.

That pissed me off.

"Did they kill him because of me?" I demanded, screaming this time.

He remained silent. Jutting out my lower jaw, I stormed out of the room. Without showing them any skills, without doing anything but yelling at them. I walked out to the elevator.

I punched the elevator button. Once I was rising safely in the elevator, I began to get scared. That wasn't exactly what we were supposed to do once we got in for private sessions. Not to mention what Peeta had done before me. Haymitch would probably be furious. Smoothing down my hair, I decided to lie about what I'd done. I hoped Peeta did the same.

They were waiting for me once I got up to the 12th floor. Haymitch tapped his foot repeatedly on the floor as he slouched lower on the couch. Effie paced. Peeta stared out the window, hands clenched at his sides.

Effie glanced at me, "Ivy! Oh! We were worried sick! Where have you been?"

I was confused. "My session was only a couple minutes long…"

"Peeta came up a hour ago," Haymitch grumbled. I looked at Peeta. So he hadn't been in there for very long. The Avoxes had been struggling for a long time. I was impressed by his knotting skills, but I didn't have very long to admire them because Haymitch was glaring at me for an answer.

"They didn't call me in for a hour," I responded.

"Why was your session so short?" Haymitch replied.

"Because they already knew what I could do, so they told me to leave very quickly," I lied smoothly.

"Did you throw another spear?" Haymitch asked. I opened my mouth, praying a believable lie came out, but Effie beat me to it.

"Oh, she wouldn't have been able to," Effie grinned. "They put up a force-field after last year." Peeta stifled a laugh before regaining seriousness.

"No, I didn't," I answered simply. I glared at Haymitch, as if daring him to keep asking me questions.

"Peeta said that's what happened to him too," Haymitch said suspiciously. I shrugged noncommittally, not knowing how to reply.

"Since we are all here, let us go eat dinner! Then, we can watch the scorings!" Effie clapped. I stayed towards the back as we walked to the dining room. Before I entered the room, Haymitch held me back.

"What happened, sweetheart?" he asked. Softly, but urgently.

"Nothing," I said, looking forward. Haymitch loosened his grip on my arm.

"Did… Did Peeta do anything?" he muttered. "Did he… tell you anything?" My eyes slowly looked over to Haymitch. My shoulders fell, and I frowned sadly.

"So you two are doing something without me?"

"What did he say?" Anger began to creep into his tone. I breathed deeply to remain calm.

"He told me to trust him," I murmured. "But how can I when he's keeping secrets like Seneca Crane and…"

"How do you know about Crane?" Haymitch interrupted, his grip on my arm tightening again.

I bit my lip, angry with myself. If Peeta was going to keep what he had done a secret, I had just given it away. As I stammered, trying to come up with an answer, Effie called to us.

"Come in here, you two! The food is arriving!" she shouted happily. I gazed in the room to see Peeta looking at us with a scared expression. He and Haymitch locked eyes and Peeta shook his head a little.

Dinner was silent. Too silent. I felt everyone's eyes on me, and it made me angry because everyone should be glaring at Peeta. Not me. But I felt like I needed to keep what we had done secret. So I kept my mouth shut, and let everyone stare.

We all shuffled into the main room to watch the scorings. I sat down in a chair apart from the couch that everyone else had settled into. I didn't want to sit next to Peeta. Though I definitely had more trust for him right now than I had before, I needed more answers from him. He was up to something, and Haymitch was in on it. And I thought they had learned from the Victory Tour that it was better to let me in on their plans.

"Peeta!" Effie cried out suddenly. I looked to the screen to see there was a 12 on his face. Peeta put on a smile that to any normal person would look like pride. I saw right through it.

"Good job, kid," Haymitch said. He could also see the fakeness in Peeta's grin, and he attempted to make his voice sound even. Haymitch failed at doing this; the worry and anger flooded into his tone.

"Now, for Ivy!" Effie said, squirming in her chair in what looked like excitement. Looking closer, I saw it was nervousness. Her face was pinched with worry basically caked on every inch.

My face turned to the screen. I saw Caesar look up and say something. But I didn't comprehend that I had gotten a 12 until it was flashing on the screen.

"Well! Two amazing and perfect scores for two amazing and perfect victors! You two should be… so proud," Effie said with a reserved tone. She got up and smoothed her skirt before saying, "I'll see you two in the morning for interview training. If any is needed."

Then, she clicked away. She was slouching and not walking with as much bounce as she used too. Even her accent was fading. I wondered why.

Haymitch turned on me, glaring. Anger was visible in his entire body, from the way his hands sat on his knee to the way his eyebrows furrowed.

"Now, would either of you mind telling me what the hell you two did in there?" Haymitch yelled. I cringed away from the booming sound, afraid to speak.

"Ivy," Peeta said softly.

My eyes turned to glance at him. He nodded slightly, giving me a smile that still made my heart melt. I could almost feel his fingers entwined with mine and realized that I wanted to hold his hand at this moment. God, I missed him.

"Oh, so you two are going to talk to me now?" Haymitch said sarcastically. I wanted to make some comeback about how he never told me anything so why should I talk to him, but I held my tongue.

"I hung Seneca Crane," Peeta stated, with something similar to pride in his tone.

Haymitch sputtered for a couple seconds before spitting out, "Hung?"

"I got a dummy, painted Seneca's name on its chest, and hung it," Peeta explained.

Haymitch exhaled and turned to me. "What did you do, sweetheart?"

"I walked in, saw the dummy, and stormed out."

"Couldn't either of you have done something normal? Like thrown spears?"

"What's the use?" Peeta asked. "They already know what we can do…"

"But now they know you're angry! Do you even realize what you've done?" Haymitch placed his hands on his forehead and began to squeeze his head together. "You've put targets on your backs! All those tributes... those victors… they're going to be after you now!"

My vision seemed to shrink before growing larger. I had never thought of that. Suddenly, everything seemed to be over. My stomach flipped over inside me, and I felt like I was sinking into the ground. Wind seemed to blow through my ears. Everything tilted. Peeta said my voice over and over again in my head, but outside was silence.

"I'm… I'm going to bed," I whispered, my voice catching in my throat before I could finish my words. I cleared my throat, and stood up slowly. I tipped over and hit the ground, but then I blinked and realized I hadn't fallen over at all.

"Sweetheart, you need to stay here and…"

"Goodnight, Ivy," Peeta said. I felt everything that was spinning come to a stop, and my head spun around to see him. His face was brighter, almost brilliant. I couldn't stare at him for too long, but I gave him a grateful glance. "I'll see you tomorrow," Peeta smiled.

"Goodnight," I mumbled. After looking away from his face, everything spun again. My hands spread out like wings, and I felt along the walls to make sure I could make it to my room. I was surely going to die. All the victors were going to kill me. I got a 12. I stumbled into my room, collapsing onto my bed. I screamed into my pillow. My throat hurt. My eyes stung. My face was wet. I was crying. I held the pillow closer to my face. My eyes were wide open, and I could feel the cloth from the pillow irritating them and causing more tears to fall. Suddenly, I couldn't see anything. And I closed my eyes. And held my breath.

I could kill myself right now. I could avoid all the struggles of the arena and the other tributes by suffocating right now. It would be easy. It would be almost painless. I shoved the pillow closer to my face. It was an escape.

But then… my grip loosened on the edges of the pillow. I couldn't do it. Because I didn't want to leave Peeta in there alone. I couldn't leave him alone. He doesn't even need me like I need him. But… I refused to leave him alone in this world where there was no one to comfort you unless they knew your pain. Only a tribute could understand what we had gone through.

And I loved him. And even if this world seemed bleak, he hadn't left me yet. So I would stick with him. He might not want me anymore. He probably doesn't want me anymore. I was still doubtful that he had ever wanted me. But he was the one thing was keeping me sane and put together. So, even if he could handle being alone, I never could, and I needed him.

I stood up and went to the bathroom and cleaned off my face. The room had stopped spinning, and I felt peaceful. Whatever had just happened… I prayed I would never feel like that again. I kept an image of Peeta in my head as I laid back down in bed and tried to sleep.

I needed to talk to him tomorrow. Before the arena. I needed to tell him everything I thought of him. I wanted to go to our possible deaths with him knowing that my heart completely belonged to him, and it always would.

My eyes closed, and I slept deeply.

* A/N Wow, it has been a long time. I'm worried that no one cares about this story anymore, but you know... I wrote another chapter anyways. I'm starting to get quite afraid for Ivy though. She's going kinda crazy. Anyways, I don't know when I'll write another chapter. But the next chapter will be the Interviews. So, we'll see what happens in those possibly! If I write... Leave a review if you want; I would appreciate it! Until next time! :D *