A/N: Tell me what you all think—I apologize to those who are taken by surprise. The next few chapters are somewhat violently graphic. There's still so much to go, though! I promise. Please don't run away. I'll tell you a secret. There's only one ending. I didn't want ya'll to think you got the terrible ending for whatever reason—this is the ending as it was meant to be. Just wait and see. Starts Cato's POV.

Can Peeta even hear what I'm saying? Does he refuse to talk at all? He has no time to say anything now, if he did, because two Peacekeepers are standing behind him with giant vats of boiling water. I can even see the steam coming out. I shut my eyes tightly when I see one slowly starting to pour it all over him. ~

The burns covering my body had already been spreading so much heat to my system that the moment the boiling water hit me, I had sensory overload. My entire body convulsed in on itself as I stupidly screamed, burning my mouth, too. As I twitched, I felt the cuts in my wrists and ankles from my involuntary pulling. ~

"YOU'RE KILLING HIM!" They said that they'd kill him tomorrow. At this rate, he'll be dead within a few hours. "THIS ISN'T FAIR!" The Peacekeeper who was standing next to me enjoying the show finally got fed up with my screaming and slapped me again. "I SAID TAKE ME!"

Then, when he's panting and trying to get over the pain, they pour the second bucket of boiling water on him. ~

I cry out again loudly, hoping this is the last of this. Though the water is only on me for a moment, the heat lasts for a long time. "T...that hurts...Oh, oh god..." I say almost obviously. But I need to speak. I can't keep all of this pain buried inside of me. ~

I can't scream for him anymore because he can't hear me. Then, nothing else comes, and for a moment I think they're done. But I realize it hasn't even been an hour yet. As Peeta cries and takes shallow breaths, a Peacekeeper walks over to him and asks, "What do you fear the most?" ~

I've discovered over the years that there are many things I fear. When I met Cato, losing him was added to that list. But what I fear most is so simple...Why would I tell it to these people? Because they have your life in their hands. That's why. I can think of no way they can use this against me... "I fear that...that when I die, no one will care. No one will cry. My name will be forgotten. No one will come to my funeral." I pause, shaking. "They won't even laugh. Because that would be too much acknowledgement of who I was. Nobody." ~

"I CARE!" I yell to him. He knows deep down inside that I would care. And there has to be someone else, somewhere. Somewhere in a place I'm not familiar with. "I WON'T FORGET!"

"Can you hear your boyfriend, Peeta?" They ask him. ~

It is at this moment I realize I haven't heard Cato for a while now. I glance over, and he's still there as far as I can tell. His mouth is moving. But I cannot hear his voice. I am not deaf, because I hear the whispers and the laughter. I don't understand. "N..no. No, I can't." My voice is shaking and I try to see the Peacekeeper who asked me the question, but trying to turn my neck only leads to more pain. I cringe. ~

"He's agreeing with you." They all laugh at him.

"I'M NOT!" I plead. They can't do this to him. All they want is to make him wish more and more that he was already dead. Am I not yelling loud enough? Maybe my voice has gone shot from all the screaming. Maybe I'm not saying anything at all. "YOU'RE LYING!" ~

"T..that's a lie." I manage to get out in my pain. "He would never." I know Cato. And I know they've done something to me so I can't hear him. But having him near is enough. ~

"I think you know it's the truth. He didn't mean any of the nice things he said to you. We had a talk with his father." Great. "He can see right through any lie. And he kindly informed us of all the lies your love told you." ~

I shut my eyes as if it'll stop the sound as well. "I don't want to hear what you have to say!" I yell over them. "Set me on fire again! Just stop talking!" ~

"Oh, you don't like our little talk?" I hear one of them slap him across the side of the face with the burns on it. "He said he loved you. He said he'd protect you. He said he'd follow you. Where is he now? Only in your mind?"

Real tears start coming out now. "PEETA!" ~

I scream in pain as his hand hits my face. "STOP!" I shout. "I know you're lying!" I begin to cry, the salt in the tears burning my face. "Cato is here, and you're just messing with me! I don't want to hear your voice anymore! Just set me on fire again, I'm begging you! I'd rather it!" ~

"Believe me, we'd love to, but if you'd rather that than this, why on Earth would we listen?" One of the Peacekeepers opens up a white bag and searches for something. "I just thought you'd like to finally hear the truth before you die."

"JUST STOP IT!" I scream and begin to kick my feet as much as possible, which isn't very much.

"He says you're nothing to him." ~

"You have no proof!" I cry and scream at once. "He would never say that! He loves me!" ~

I see him get slapped again. "If he loved you, would he have lied to you all those times? And kept making you jealous on purpose? We know all about that." Finally, the man who was looking through the bag pulls out a giant syringe. "You have no proof." ~

I try to take deeper breaths but end up coughing really heavily, and I see that blood had made it through there. "Stop, stop, stop!" I beg. "Anything but this!" ~

"Anything?" I see Peeta nodding his head frantically. No! If they give in to your pleas, that just means they thought of worse shit to do to you. As I'm thinking about this, the Peacekeeper who was interrogating Peeta gives the other man a thumbs up. When that happens, he digs the needle into Peeta's arm. ~

At first, though the pain is sharp, I don't feel a thing. Then the room begins shifting in front of me. I'm standing and I don't have any of my injuries. "Wh...what's going on?" Then I see Cato and I shout out to him. "Cato! Cato, it's going to be okay love! I'm going to live!" I run after him, but all he does is walk away from me. "Cato, see? I'm cured!" I hold my arms out to him, showing him me, but he doesn't even react. ~

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?" I cry.

As if on cue, they pull the syringe out of his arm and ask him, "What about now? How does Cato make you feel?" ~

Everything hurts again. "W...why did he just walk away?" It takes times for me to register my surroundings. Cato is either too far away or completely gone again. I also realize that I am not cured, because the burning pain over my entire body had returned. "Why didn't he save me?" He was right there. We were alright. Why didn't we run together? He just...left. ~

"How does that make you feel, Lover Boy?" He asks him.

"SHUT UP!" I yell as loud as I possibly can, hoping Peeta will hear me this time. "DO NOT CALL HIM THAT!" ~

I looked for the Peacekeeper who said that. "I don't...I don't know. It doesn't seem like him." I start to cry again, confused. "Come back.." I call to no one. ~

"I'm here...I'M RIGHT HERE!" I really try hard to see what they're doing to him, but I know it has something to do with the needle they stuck him with. "PEETA, LISTEN TO ME!"

"He always thought about leaving you. Smart, that one is. He's saving his own ass." I see them walk to a table in the back to look for another form of torture. "And you thought he actually cared about you." ~

"C...Cato? No, there has to be some other explanation.." This can't be right. "You did something to make him go! One of you! His father!" I cry out. ~

"You saw it yourself. It was his own decision."

This was the last thing I wanted. He was finally starting to trust me again, and that's how he'll remember me? The one who left when he needed me most? "PEETA, TRY REALLY HARD TO LISTEN TO ME!" No one's slapping me anymore, so I assume they like to hear my anguished screams against his muffled, sobbing pleas. "I'M IN THE ROOM, PEETA!"

"He left on his own terms." ~

"No he didn't!" I shout, but it hurts to even speak from screaming and the smoke. "He wouldn't!" I try to see in the bright room, looking for Cato, but it's all too bright. I look in the direction I remember him to be. ~

"Stick him again," the main Peacekeeper orders. The one who first pulled the syringe out of the bag walks over to Peeta and sticks his other arm.

"NO!" I start sobbing. My head hurts from all the screaming and watching Peeta being destroyed like this. I don't care what he said. I don't care if he was tired of running. Staying was just a terrible idea. ~

I look over to the area where Cato was earlier as soon as the pain hits... But the chair is empty. "No!" I shout. "Bring him back!" He was there moments ago. I swear he was. "Bring Cato back!" I sob, hanging my head in defeat. ~

"He doesn't want to come back." The man says over my screams while the other is still injecting the mysterious liquid into Peeta's arm.

This is when I start thrashing in my chair, held back only by the metal braces on my ankles and wrists. "Please stop...PEETA! I NEVER LEFT YOU! I said I'd follow you here! I'm here for the long run! STOP!" ~

"Please..." I whisper, broken. "Just bring him back, please... I'll do anything... You can do anything to me.. Please, stop..." The Peacekeepers that were here have multiplied. There must be something wrong with me. "I'm begging you!" I look back to the empty chair, not knowing I'm staring right into my lover's eyes. ~

This goes on for what I'm guessing to be the next half an hour. He continues to deny everything they're saying and repeatedly shakes his head in an attempt to erase bad images from his mind. When they finally finish emptying the contents of the syringe into his bloodstream, the Peacekeeper says, "He's laughing at you, Mellark. He's glad he left."

"No I'm not." There's no point in yelling anymore. He can't hear me and he can't see me. ~

"I don't believe you." I cry, staring at my lap. "...I know you're here, love..." I whimper. "Don't worry." And through all this, I manage a smile. ~

"No he isn't!" Through my tired eyes, I can see them strike his arm with a white-hot strip of metal. ~

I think it hurt so much because I wasn't expecting it. Whatever hit me felt like it ripped the skin off of my body.. It was as hot as the fire, but in one concentrated dose. I let out a strangled shout, not even recognizing the horrific sound of my own voice. ~

His shouting just gets worse and worse with every passing minute. "Please stop..." I wipe my face on the front of my shirt and think about what he's done to deserve this. Accidentally fell in love with me. Accidentally outsmarted the Capitol by not dying in the Games. So now, they're fucking with us as much as possible. "PEETA!" This must've been the loudest of all my screams. I could tell.

The Peacekeepers laugh more and whack Peeta again on the other arm. Then, they lift the front of his shirt and brand him on the chest. ~

I feel the heat on my chest, and everything goes black for a few minutes. It spread across my body, making me feel like a heart attack and like I wanted to throw up simultaneously. The darkness was terrifying..but even worse because I knew I wasn't dead. My body just couldn't handle that more. Not now. So I blacked out. But what felt like an eternity later, I'd wake up to hell again, wishing I hadn't opened my eyes ever again. ~

"PEETA! WAKE UP!" It's like he gave up. "YOU ASSHOLES KILLED HIM! YOU'VE KILLED HIM!"

When the Peacekeeper next to me goes to slap me, I lunge forward and bite his fingers.

"I swear to god, if you try to hit me again, I will fucking kill you!"

Finally, once they stop ironing his skin, he opens his eyes and looks for me. I say, "I'm right here!" ~

"You're here!" I cry, finally seeing him. I knew Cato was here. I knew he didn't leave. "It hurts, Cato..!" I pant, looking down at the stripe on my chest. "God, it hurts..." ~

"I'm always going to be here." I remind him. "Neither of us can go anywhere."

Then, I realize the worst is yet to come. Two Peacekeepers pull out sharp objects that look similar to potato peelers and slowly carve the skin off his arms. ~

The beginning is the hardest. The blades digging into the burns on my skin is horrific. At this, I try to pull away and fail. Tears are involuntarily falling down my face as I try not to scream, because I know that's what they want. But I can't help it. This is one of the worst feelings I've ever had in my life, feeling pieces of me get shaved off, piece by piece. I try to form words to plead for them to stop, but all I can do is let out pained cries, and try to keep my eyes on Cato or my lap, not wanting the cameras to catch the horror in my face. ~

I watch as they slowly rip his skin off in small strips. "Stop doing that to him! Do it to me instead!" Of course, they won't, but I'd still rather it be done to me. It's my fault, after all. They don't do it a lot because then he'd bleed out and die, but they make sure to prolong it for about thirty minutes as I scream for him. ~

When I think they're finally finished, I turn my head to Cato and give him a weak smile and a nod... That I was still sane. Could still see him there. That even though I was hurting, I could still manage the smile he loved so. ~

No Peeta, don't smile. I know you don't want to. "I love you." I mouth to him.

And when they finally relent with the skinning, they bring in another large bucket of water. ~

"I love you, always." I mouth back. "Thank you." The pain has stopped now, but I brace myself for what's to come. I wonder how much longer I have here till I can drink something.. Or if I'll even be capable of getting out of this chair. ~

My first thought is more boiling water, but I realize that it isn't streaming like before. When I'm able to get a closer look, I see that it's ice water. I shake my head and close my eyes when they start pouring. ~

For a moment, it feels good. Then I realize how cold it is, without relieving my burns. In fact, it starts to burn. I can't feel my hands, and my eyes begin burning because I wasn't expecting a face of frozen water. When it spots pouring, I begin shivering intensely. They probably lowered the temperature in the room. Some of the water makes it down my throat and I start choking. My whole body remains completely numb, and I'm shivering more than I had been staying in fear before. ~

I want to scream but I can't. He's just sitting there, helpless and half-naked, having cold water being poured on him and his shredded skin. I don't even want to know what he looks like right now.

"Get the wires." One of them says.

I know what comes next. ~

"W-wires?" I stammer out. "W-what?" I notice the announcer has stopped talking to the cameras, and I'm terrified to know why. At least they're done tormenting me with their words. It was starting to drive me insane. I have a feeling about what the wires are for, but I hope for the best, taking a deep breath. ~

A Peacekeeper starts connecting long, thick wires to his legs, arms, and chest. I give Peeta an empty look because that's how I'll feel without him. Then, I see them give him a light shock. It's only light because they don't want him dead yet. Otherwise, I'm sure it would've been way worse. ~

I look at Cato, worried that he looks so out of it. I want to die. This is torture for us both. My heart skips a beat as a small shock makes its way through my body, and I bite my bottom lip hard enough for it to bleed. I'm shaking, but I'll be okay for now if this is all they do...which I'm sure it's not. ~

They continue to dump water on him and shock him in two minute intervals for the next hour or so. There was a part of it where I think I screamed for fifteen minutes straight but I can't remember. He just looks exhausted beyond belief and he looks like he's dead already. He might as well be. When they finish with the electric shocks, I call over to him to make sure he's still with us. There are no cannons here. "Peeta!" ~

I can't move. My entire body hurts too much. I want to close my eyes and just sleep... But I hear Cato talk to me. One moment, love. I'm exhausted. I say to him with my eyes before I allow them to shut and allow myself to drift into sleep. ~

A/N: Please review with honest thoughts. I promise, you'll be rewarded for sticking around and reviewing. PLEASE. xx