Hello there and thank you for reading! I've had some amazing comments from you lovely lot and I really do appreciate them all! I hope you enjoy.

I do not own the Hunger Games nor its characters.

Chapter Sixty-Five

I spend the night back in my quarters but I hardly sleep. It's been weeks since I drank any alcohol and I'm craving it on an hourly basis. When I think back to when I was a young child and saw my father stumbling home drunk, swearing that I would never be like that, it makes my blood run cold. My life with my mother and Layle feels so alien and distant to me now that it's as if another person was there in my place. I suppose they were.

I wake up early so that I can eat breakfast alone, seeing Peeta last night has made me want to be alone for a few hours, which is almost impossible in this place but I seem to slip by anyone who looks important. I just can't deal with strategy talk just yet.

Once I'm finished I head to the hospital wing to check in on Annie but she's fast asleep and Finnick is in the chair next to her, still holding her hand. Thankfully it looks like the Capitol didn't hurt her too much once they realised she didn't know anything. Maybe now they can begin to plan a life together, they've waited long enough for it.

I walk over to the next room and ask one of the nurses if it's okay to go in, which seems annoyed about but agrees nonetheless. I sometimes wonder if my disgruntled face scares people in to doing as I ask.

I open the door to find Johanna sitting up in bed, a look of disgust on her face as she slowly brings a spoon of brown mush to her mouth. She has bruises all over her body and there are so many things attached to her it's hard to keep track. Even so, the fact that she's awake and sitting up is amazing.

"Oh. It's you," she says as I enter.

"It's nice to see you, too," I reply and sit down in the chair next to her bed. "Can I ask you how you're feeling without making you angry?"

"No. But I'm always angry so it won't make much difference, anyway."

I smirk, "Okay then, how are you?"

"Shit. Everything hurts. I've got hardly any hair and they're feeding me this disgusting stuff! I just want to go home."

It's probably foolish of me to do it but I rest my hand on hers, anyway, and she doesn't immediately shake it away. "Trust me, District Seven is not safe for anyone right now, especially you."

"I'm sure it's better than the Capitol," she snaps and removes her hand from mine. "Did Plutarch tell you what they did to me there? They flooded my cell with water and sent an electric current through it, only they did it at random times so I never knew… I never…"

She can't finish her sentence because her eyes are filled with tears and she's shaking. I debate calling over a nurse but I doubt there's anything they can do, empathy isn't really their strong point in 13. Besides, I still don't really trust any of them.

"I just wish I had someone from home," she finally says before sniffing and wiping away her tears. "Thanks for visiting but I'm sure you'd be better off spending time with the Mockingjay. She is our priority, after all."

"Yes," I say, standing up. "But she can't win this war by herself. If you hadn't led Brutus and Enobaria away from her in the arena we would never have got her out. And who knows if the districts would be so willing to fight, then?"

I leave the room and spend the rest of the morning hiding out wherever I can. I debate going to see Peeta but the way he looked last night still hasn't left me and makes me feel weak every time I think about it. The boy that's in that room can't be Peeta, it's just a horrid impersonator.

He's one of only a handful of truly decent people that I know and he's been turned into something that even he would be sickened by, I'm sure. I hope there's a way to fix him but I doubt it's possible. This time we really have lost him.

When it's time for lunch I spot Vieve and the kids at the far end of the dining hall and place my tray down next to Rufus. I haven't seen them for days and, even though I don't like to be away from Vieve, I probably don't feel as guilty as I should.

"Hello, stranger," says Vieve as I sit down.

"Hi. Sorry, I've been indispensable lately, what with the rescue mission," I say.

"Of course. How are they all?"

All I can do is shake my head. I wouldn't even know how to describe the state that Peeta is in right now.

"And what about you two?" I say to Rufus and Melia. "How are you?"

"Fine," says Melia. "I'm starting to get fed up of never seeing the sun, though."

"You sound just like Katniss," I reply absent-mindedly but this seems to get a huge grin out of Melia so I return the smile.

"Do you know why they've asked friends of Peeta to come forward?" Rufus asks.

"What? Who's asked you that?" I say.

"The teachers in school. They didn't say much, just asked anyone who knows Peeta to make themselves known so that they could go to Command with Plutarch."

What is Plutarch doing?

I turn to Vieve and kiss her lightly on the cheek, surprising myself as much as her. "I'm sorry," I say. "I really have to go."

She just nods and says to come back as soon as I can, I don't mention that may be another few days or so, especially when I have no idea what Plutarch's latest plan is.

I virtually run up to Command and knock down the door as I enter to find Boggs, Coin and Plutarch sitting in front of a screen with a video of a blonde haired teenage girl talking about Peeta. She's smiling as she reminisces about a time when he taught her how to draw a duck.

"Hello, Haymitch," says Coin, pressing pause on the video. "It's nice of you to join us."

"Yeah, I needed the morning off," I reply, bluntly. "What's all this about recruiting Peeta's friends?"

"I've had the idea of sending in someone from Twelve that Peeta has very few bad memories of to see just how much damage has been done to his memories," says Plutarch.

"That's not an awful idea."

"Thank you, Haymitch," he says, sarcastically. "Seeing as you've finally reappeared would you mind collecting Katniss from Special Defence and meeting us in the observation room?"

I do as instructed, explaining Plutarch's plan to Katniss as we walk, which she seems somewhat dubious about. When we arrive I can see the blonde haired girl from the video who Katniss instantly recognises as someone called Delly and isn't her usual cold self as she talks to her. Maybe this girl can work miracles.

"What do you think?" I ask Katniss. "Anything that might trigger memories of you?"

"We were all in the same class. But we never overlapped much," she says.

"Katniss was always so amazing, I never dreamed she would notice me," says Delly. "The way she could hunt and go in the Hob and everything. Everyone admired her."

I exchange a surprised look with Katniss, the way Delly is talking it sounds like no one was friends with Katniss because they thought she was too cool for them. Somehow, I very much doubt that was the case.

"Delly always thinks the best of everyone," says Katniss, "I don't think Peeta could have bad memories associated with her. Wait. In the Capitol. When I lied about recognizing the Avox girl. Peeta covered for me and said she looked like Delly."

"I remember," I say, suddenly realising that I'd heard her name before. "But I don't know. It wasn't true. Delly wasn't actually there. I don't think it can compete with years of childhood memories."

"Especially with such a pleasant companion as Delly," says Plutarch. "Let's give it a shot."

Plutarch, Katniss and I watch as Delly slowly enters the room. We're surrounded by about ten people all with notepads and pens to see what happens to Peeta, which isn't helping my nerves at all. I already feel hot and sweaty and treating Peeta as if he's some sort of experiment is only making it worse. I'm not sure if it's guilt or protectiveness that's making me feel this way. As always, I have about fifty different emotions running through my head.

Peeta looks at Delly in confusion and there's something telling me straight away that this is a bad idea. We should get her out.

"Peeta? It's Delly. From home."

"Delly?" Says Peeta. "Delly. It's you."

"Yes! How do you feel?"

"Awful. Where are we? What's happened?" asks Peeta.

"Here we go," I say, taking a huge breath in.

"I told her to steer clear of any mention of Katniss or the Capitol," says Plutarch. "Just see how much of home she could conjure up."

"Well…we're in District Thirteen. We live here now," says Delly.

"That's what those people have been saying. But it makes no sense. Why aren't we home?" asks Peeta.

"There was…an accident. I miss home badly, too. I was only just thinking about those chalk drawings we used to do on the paving stones. Yours were so wonderful. Remember when you made each one a different animal?"

This is what we need, nice memories of 12. I hope she can keep it up. She can't lose her nerve now.

"Yeah. Pigs and cats and things," says Peeta. "You said…about an accident?"

"It was bad. No one…could stay," she says and it's clear that she's starting to panic. Her smile is starting to fade and she's wiping her sweaty hands on her clothes.

"Hang in there, girl," I say under my breath.

"But I know you're going to like it here, Peeta. The people have been really nice to us. There's always food and clean clothes, and school's much more interesting," says Delly.

"Why hasn't my family come to see me?" Peeta asks and my heart starts to pound against my chest. We can't break the news to him like this, surely?

"They can't. A lot of people didn't get out of Twelve. So we'll need to make a new life here. I'm sure they could use a good baker. Do you remember when your father used to let us make dough girls and boys?"

"There was a fire," Peeta says, coldly.

"Yes."

"Twelve burned down, didn't it? Because of her," says Peeta with a sudden flare of anger. "Because of Katniss!"

"Oh, no, Peeta. It wasn't her fault," says Delly.

"Did she tell you that?"

"Get her out of there," says Plutarch. The door opens and Delly slowly walks back towards it.

"She didn't have to. I was—" says Delly.

"Because she's lying! She's a liar! You can't believe anything she says! She's some kind of mutt the Capitol created to use against the rest of us!" Peeta shouts.

"No, Peeta. She's not a—"

"Don't trust her, Delly. I did, and she tried to kill me. She killed my friends. My family. Don't even go near her! She's a mutt!"

Someone is by the door and pulls Delly through but Peeta is still screaming and shouting that Katniss is a mutt. I look at our Mockingjay and I can see her resolve crumbling. I nod towards Plutarch and we both pull her outside in to the corridor but Peeta's screams are still audible.

"I can't stay here anymore," she says, "If you want me to be the Mockingjay, you'll have to send me away."

"Where do you want to go?" I ask.

"The Capitol."

"Can't do it," Plutarch says. "Not until all the districts are secure. Good news is, the fighting's almost over in all of them but Two. It's a tough nut to crack, though."

"Fine," says Katniss. "Send me to Two."

I don't like the idea of sending her away, I suggest that I go with her but she's adamant that I stay in 13. Before I can say anything else she's running back to her room and packing her bag for 2. I just want this to end, I don't know how much longer I can fight for.