A/N: Here's another because I like you guys. ;D POV starts in third person.

A younger boy with dark brown hair and a hoodie on, walking by the Victor's Village, spots the red jacket fly out if the window and picks it up, taking it to the door if the house and ringing the bell. An attractive blonde woman opens the door, coming from the kitchen. "Yes?" She asks politely.

"This kinda fell out of a window of your house..." The boy holds the jacket out to her. "I brought it here in case someone dropped it." ~

Maybe I'm starting to go insane again. I probably thought that getting that jacket back would bring him back too. I'm just bringing back everything.

Where'd that jacket go?

Did I really throw it out the window, or was it just never here?

No, it was here. Because the box it came in is still on the floor. The notecard is still on my nightstand. "Fuck everything," I mutter, kicking the box across the room. ~

"Thank you," She smiles, taking the garment and looking it over before calling up to her son. "Cato?" She goes up the stairs and cracks open the door. "A boy just brought this to the door...said it came out the window." She laughs. "Is it yours?" It looks it, but she won't assume. ~

It's a fucking boomerang. It won't stay away. "Sort of." I get up off the bed and take it from her. "I just...don't want this in the house anymore." I walk back over to the window, throw it out, and shut it. "Tell him not to give it back. I don't want stuff like that here." ~

The woman is slightly alarmed at her son's actions, but after the last few months, she's gotten used to it. "Okay..." She closes the door over and walks back down to the boy. "He was getting rid of it on purpose." She shrugs. "But thanks, nonetheless."

The brunette nods and goes to leave, before turning back. "Ma'am, did you say that was Cato? The boy from our District who won the games this year?" She nods. "Do you...do you think he'd talk to me? I was thinking of volunteering next year, and I was just...curious to hear it from someone who's done it before."

Normally, his mother wouldn't even ask. But she knows that her son regrets volunteering now...and that it's an important topic for him. Sighing, she heads back up. "Cato...? The boy wants to talk to you." When all she gets from the other side if the door is silence, she speaks again. "He's thinking of volunteering." ~

Obviously, volunteering is a shitty idea. But whatever. "Send him up," I sigh, lying down in my bed and smushing my face into a pillow. That's always a stress reliever. ~

She waves the hooded boy up, who hesitates before stepping into the room with a bit if a coughing fit. "Hi." He says hoarsely, looking around and the room and tall man in it. ~

I continue staring at the wall in shame. I'm ashamed of having volunteered. So this will be a difficult discussion. "Hey," I say coldy. ~

He doesn't know how to begin. "What was it like?" ~

"You think you're there for a reason. But really, it just ends badly for everyone." It ended badly for twenty-three other tributes because they died. It ended badly for me because I'm dead on the inside. "Why would you volunteer?" ~

"I really don't know," he pauses, sticking his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. "It just...my friends made it seem like the cool thing to do, but I don't know." ~

Not that. "Your friends are stupid. Sorry." ~

"I don't really know why they were my friends anyway. But...if you think volunteering is so bad-I mean...I agree with you-but why did you do it?" ~

"Personal reasons." If he doesn't already know, I don't want to trouble him with my reasons. "No offense, but I don't really want to share them with someone I'm not close with." ~

"No, I get it. It's do or die in there, though. I think that kid from Twelve was right, if it means anything to you. You did what you had to, to keep a promise. You aren't all bad." ~

Great. Now I have someone else telling me I'm not bad. "Listen, I don't really want to talk about Twelve. He's dead. I want to move on." I can't move on. ~

"Sorry." He pauses. "You really cared about him, though, didn't you? You never called him Twelve once in the Games." The boy isn't trying push buttons, just get answers. ~

"What's it to you?" I really, really did care about him. I still do, even after his cannon's fired. "If I did, why care now?" ~

"I was just asking... Things like that don't happen much in the Games because the love can never last. As many promises are made...even if one lives, they eventually forget. I guess that holds true." ~

I sigh. "Between you and me?" I pull the blanket over my head. "I care, alright? Can we just...stop discussing it?" ~

"If you do care, then why stop?" ~

"I don't know, alright?" I push the covers off and sit upright. "Just forget I-" The boy is just staring at me with hopeful, blue eyes. It's hard to tell because I'm sitting, but he seems a little on the short side...not good for a volunteer. But that face...the only thing that throws me off is the dark hair. Despite that, a chill is sent up my spine at the uncanny resemblance. "Peeta?" I'm insane officially. ~

I allow myself to smile. "I promised I'd follow you forever, didn't I?" ~

No. No. No. The fucking Capitol is at it again! I stomp over to him, grab his shoulders, and pin him against the wall. "What are you?" ~

He thinks I'm a mutt or something. "Cato, it's Peeta! It's me! I'm the one who sent the package!" ~

"PEETA'S DEAD!" I take him by the collar of his hoodie and bash him against the wall. "I finished the Games, alright? What do you want with me!" ~

I cry out in pain as my back and head hit the wall, hard. "Love, please! I know it's hard to believe, but you said it yourself, no matter how hard they tried, the Capitol would never be able to get me right!" ~

"You're not even blonde!" They can't even get his hair color right. Pathetic. "You're not right! Now just go away!" I throw him back into the wall and back away. "Stop tormenting me! I've had enough of this for the past three months!" ~

"Hear me out!" I plead, beginning to cry from desperation and pain. "They don't know i'm alive, Cato...I've been running for three months from District Twelve to find you..! I dyed my hair so people wouldn't immediately recognize me! I sold everything valuable I own to ship your jacket here because I woke up in it before my own wake!" I take a step towards him. "I've been running for months just to get back to you...Because Peeta Mellark doesn't break promises." I whisper. I've gone too far for him to just send me away now. ~

I cover my ears. "I can't be hearing this now! It's impossible for two people to make it out alive! Just go, please...I hate you! Whatever the hell you are, I hate you!" ~

I run up to him, grab his wrists and kiss him, despite his attempts to pull away. "Please," I cry. "If you ever loved me at all, you'd have to believe me, love...please." ~

"As much as I'd want to...I don't. It's not possible..." I push him away and lie down on the floor sobbing. It can't happen. I wish it could...but it can't. ~

"The berries." I whisper, trying to explain even though he doesn't want to listen. "I don't know exactly what they were, but I looked them up...it stopped my heart. Knocked me out. My brain stopped in its tracks. Aesthetically, to their scanners, I was dead. To me, I was dead. But...but next thing I knew, I was back in Twelve, in a coffin. Minutes before my own wake, Cato! I don't know how, but I beat their Games. I made it out, love. Please...Please, believe me." I kneel beside him. This was hard enough for me to process. I can't even imagine for him. ~

"Is this some sort of sick dream? Another one?" ~

"I won't pinch you, but..." I kiss him again, gently biting his lower lip in the process. "I'm sure it's not a dream." ~

I look up at him and open my mouth to say something, but I'm at a loss for words. This is honestly really scary. Finally, I'm able to ask, "Peeta?" ~

I take my hand and pull on my hair a bit, showing the bits of blonde at the roots I missed because I'm a shitty hair dyer. "The one and only." ~

I stop crying as soon as I realize it is him. It has to be. "Oh my god." And I tackle him to the floor with the tightest hug in the world. ~

"I promised." I say, hugging him back in some combination of tears and laughter. ~

A/N: OH-HO-HO, TWIST. Review. 3