Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! I do not own Mockingjay.

Ch. 54

I didn't think I would ever find my way back home. And I wouldn't really. I couldn't ever go home because home was no longer home. It was the first place I went. The familiar path from the train station to the Bakery. I took it every Monday morning when our shipment would come in, only this time I carry one small bag in my hand, not flour over my shoulder. I'm also alone, my brothers don't accompany me and I don't smile, not even a little bit.

Some houses are being built back up, but others still lay in rubble and I wonder if any bodies are still trapped underneath. I wonder if I'll see my family's bones when I finally find my home that was reduced to nothing.

It is humbling finally seeing it. I cry. But not loudly, just silent tears for my now silent family. I wonder again why I was the one to live.

I don't stay there long. I do remember Dr. Aurelius' words, I could rebuild the bakery and I think a huge part of me did want that, but another part wanted complete closure. No more bakery, that would insure painful memories. I didn't need those.

I walk straight to Victor's Village after that because the few people I do see in town are too depressing for me to look at. I wonder what I look like to them.

I'm about to enter Katniss' home when an ancient voice stops me.

"No, Peeta. She must find you." I turn to see Greasy Sae behind me. I had only talked to her a few times, but I knew Katniss had a connection with her. Something only people that lived in the Seam had.

"What?" I say. She takes a few steps to close the space between us and puts her hand on my shoulder. She had wrinkles on top of wrinkles, but her eyes still had some youth in them. I wondered how she kept that after all these years.

"If she isn't ready to leave the house, she isn't ready for you. I'll get her out of there soon, tomorrow maybe? But she doesn't need you bursting into her home. Not now." She shakes her head in worry for Katniss. I'm so curious as to what she has become. I remember the few times she told me about her mom, how she closed off from everyone after Mr. Everdeen had died. I think that is what Katniss has become. With no Prim to stay strong for she was reduced to nothing.

"But Dr. Aurelius said…"

"I know Peeta. She'll be ready soon. She doesn't seem to be getting better, but she is. She eats some now, pets that cat occasionally. She's coming out of something. I'll get her to leave the house soon." She drops her hand from my shoulder.

"You're sure?" I ask.

"Yes. Now you must be starving come have some soup with my granddaughter and I. I'd ask you to go check on Haymitch, but I don't think that would help your spirits much either. We'll just let you rest tonight." She grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Katniss' porch and over to her house. The soup was good and I fell asleep quickly.

I woke up early in the morning. Greasy had carried me over to my house that I hadn't been in for a while. It smelled old and musky, dust was over everything, it was exactly the way I left it. I never felt more alone than I did when I was in this house. Only when Marcus came and visited did I feel okay. I half expected him to walk through the door. He doesn't.

I wonder if Katniss feels the same with the absence of Prim. I remember what I had thought about yesterday; Katniss had no Prim to stay strong for. I couldn't provide that for her. She needed something, anything, that stood for Prim.

Primroses.

The very thing she was named for. I know where to find them. Just a few feet inside the woods they grew abundantly, I had to go get some. Greasy Sae said she would get Katniss out today, I hope that I have enough time to get the flowers planted.

I'm quick to get dressed, pull on some boots that Cinna had given me a while back and a light jacket I had gotten from somewhere in the Capitol. The walk to the woods is quite peaceful. I had forgotten how truly beautiful District Twelve was. The sun began to shine through the trees and danced among the flowers.

Part of the old meadow had been turned up. It takes me a moment to realize that it was where they put all the dead bodies. And I think, there was no better place for the people of Twelve. The place free of dirt and grime where they could finally find rest. So peaceful.

The Primroses were in heavy bloom, hundreds of them were scattered across the forest floor. I grab enough to cover the side of Katniss' home. Enough for her to remember Prim's delicate, innocent, wise, beauty.

I begin as soon as I reach her house. I don't jump when I hear the opening and shutting of the door, no I do not startle until I see her.

I want to run and cry and take her with me and hold her until it's okay and she's feeling better and the burns on her skin have disappeared, I want to tell her I love her into eternity and I want to forget everything. I don't want to remember all the pain we have gone through. I don't want to see this pain on her face. I don't want to know how frail she looks. I want it all to be good. I want us to be happy. But I just stand there and look at her and she looks at me and we take in each other.

Her hair falls over her shoulder in her normal braid, but that is the only thing normal about her. Her eyes are two balls of nothingness floating through space, not even searching for a purpose. Her body does not look strong, but frail and broken. Burns are scattered across her skin in uneven proportions. She wasn't Katniss Everdeen, The Girl on Fire. She was Katniss Everdeen, The Girl that Lost Everything.

I just wanted to hold her.

Okay, I love the last part, almost made me cry.

It's been a year since I posted the first chapter of The Fate Games, really can't believe it. Thanks for all of you that have stuck with me.

Please REVIEW on the way out! Thanks! ~boywithbreadlover