I hit my head on the cell wall when I wake up to a loud noise, which does nothing to help the head ache I realize I have once I open my eyes. My eyes are sore too. They sting and burn. My throat is very dry. I cough and cough and wind up spitting out a wad of something I can't make out in the dim light. I do realize then that Darius truly is gone.

"Blondie? Is that you?" Johanna's voice is softer than I can remember hearing.

"I...think so?"

"I'll take it," she says, "You're talking and not-." She fades off then.

"Okay?" My voice feels raspy, "What's new with you?"

She snickers, "I have all my fingers and toes, so I'm peachy."

"Good for you."

"I'm thinking of putting in a skylight."

"Good to have a hobby, I suppose." I tell her.

"Yeah, it keeps you busy," she bangs her head against the wall, and I pull mine away from the one behind my head given the first bang set a concussion grenade through my temple and my teeth on edge. I wonder if I could chew through my tongue and bleed out. I'm sure they'd notice and come in, sew me back together.

"Oh-come back for more?" Johanna asks. It takes me half a moment to realize she's not taking to me.

My door opens. I tense. Someone stalks in and grabs my head. My mouth is held roughly open and someone else squeezes something in. It's a cold, salty paste dropped onto my tongue. It slides down the back of my throat and I almost choke again but I'm able to move enough that it doesn't happen and I can chew, what little it needs, and swallow, the mostly tasteless paste. I'm then given five drops of water, and they leave again.

"Come back here and I'll show you where you can shove your paste!" I hear from Johanna's side as my feeders leave the cell.

My eyes are starting to close again, without my consent, when Johanna going, "Oh, took me up on it?" brings me up again. Then a loud noise reverberates and I panic recognizing the sound of a gun.

"Johanna! Johanna!" then logic.

Shouting isn't going to bring her back if she was just shot but why would they feed her if they were just going to shoot her so it was more likely a tazer, no the sound was wrong, a tranquilizer? My head is all screwy it probably just sounded off. Who would dare get close enough to Johanna to try and inject her via needle? It was probably hard enough to feed her the paste.

I make myself as quiet as possible and can just make out an odd buzzing noise coming from her cell.

I can hear Katniss calling my name. It gets louder and louder, more and more shrill. I feel like my head is going to split in two. I want to clutch at it but I can't move.

Someone is holding me. Hot breath. Coarse laughter.

"Damn thing won't light."

"Give it to me."

"What's so funny, lover boy?"

"All the training you guys go through and you can't light a fire?"

"I suppose you could do better?"

My lungs are burning.

I need to swim up.

Who is that screaming?

I wake pulling against the restraints. My wrist is hurting, but not as badly as it has before. Before? They fixed it. They fix everything.

There's screaming. It's coming from behind me. Johanna? Johanna. What are they doing? Her screams are odd, here and there, muffled. I feel myself shivering. It's colder in here. Water. It's water I realize as I just make out, "I'm not telling you shit!" it sounds like when my brother was trying to talk while our father was dumping water over his head urgently to clean him up for...for one of the reapings and he was protesting that it wasn't his fault he was so dirty.

I'm not sure how long it goes on for. I can't block it out. I grit my teeth. I tuck my head down. As she curses at them, and tells them to bring it harder, tells them where they can shove things, argues, yells, curses more, and then it all goes quiet and I daren't even breathe.

"Johanna?" I realize my voice might not be loud enough to make it between the walls so I cough at myself and then ask again more loudly, "Seven? Johanna?"

"What is it Twelve?" she demands, drily.

"Wanted to make sure you hadn't gone and killed them and left me behind."

I imagine a derisive snort, "I don't know that your future wife would forgive me if I did that." she replies.

"So you say."

"Don't act like that."

"What?"

"We have enough two year olds in the Capitol."

Remember who the real enemy is.

"Make me a deal, Blondie?"

"Okay."

"Keep it real, okay?"

I lean my head against the wall.

"What else can I do?"

"Exactly. You keep it real with me. I'll keep it real with you. It'll help us stay sane in here," this time I do hear the snort, "as much as any of us were sane to begin with."

"Speak for yourself."

"There you go," she says, "It's working already. You know these assholes cut off my hair. Like that's supposed to make me more likely to do what they want? Do I get to call you, Baldie, instead of Blondie?"

"No. I've still got my hair."

"That's no fair."

"You've still got all your toes."

"You can't pull that one. I watched those games. That's on that career kid."

"Cato." He was more than a little 'upset' with me when I got Katniss away from them after the tracker jackers were dropped. I had led them to believe I was going to draw her too them after all.

"I suppose you would remember his name, but that's on him not these guys, so that doesn't count."

"They're the ones who actually cut it off. He just sliced it." It doesn't do any good thinking about the possibilities now though. I could be like Darius. They could be slowly slicing the other one a few inches at a time. They could cut my tongue out but then where would we be?