A/N: I'm back! Been a while, but hoping to get this story rolling again. Let me know what you think!
We slept in this morning, with no plans until tomorrow night. Our group seems in better spirits that morning, even Gale. He's trying to teach Posy how to cook an egg. Why a four year old would need to learn to cook eggs is beyond me, but it is cute to see Gale being the big brother he didn't get to be because of how hard he worked to feed his family.
He was too busy being the man of the house to be a child in the house, he didn't get to grow up with his siblings. He had to grow up too fast, just like me. I didn't get to be a sister to Prim, I had to be a provider. Winning the Games has allowed me and Prim to get close again though.
"I wish I had a little sister," Peeta says beside me. "Moments like these really show you what you fought for in those Games."
"And who you fought for," I say, looking in Prim's direction. "Want to show her the roof?" I ask him. I know he misses his family. He won't show it, but he does. Everyone is trying so hard to be strong for the people they lost.
"Yes," he says with a smile. "I'll bring some apples."
"Why?" I ask, confused. He smiles.
"You'll see," he replies. Peeta grabs the apples, while I get Prim.
"Prim, want to see the rooftop?" I ask her. "Peeta and I wanted to show you it."
"So let's go!" she says excitedly. "Race you!" She immediately starts running. Peeta's going to have to meet us up there, no way am I losing this race.
Prim didn't think too far ahead though. She's never been to the roof, she doesn't know how to get there. She ends up following me up the stairs.
"Wow," she says in amazement. "You can see all of the Capitol up here."
"Amazing, huh?" I ask her. "It's way different than the Seam."
"This is going to sound a little crazy but I miss the Seam. All of our friends were there," Prim says. "I know we had to leave, we couldn't stay, but I still miss everyone."
"I know. Maybe we'll see them again in the future," I reply back.
Peeta opens the door with a basket of apples and a couple of sandwiches for us. I'm still confused about the apples. "Watch this," he says as he tosses an apple off the edge of the Tribute Center. It bounces back up a second later.
"Wow, how'd you do that?" Prim asks.
Peeta hands her an apple before he explains. "There's a force field surrounding the Tribute Center. One year, a tribute tried to escape by jumping off the roof. Ever since, there's been a force field surrounding this building."
"Wow," Prim says in amazement.
"Did Katniss ever tell you how Haymitch won his Games? His Games are the reason I knew the apples would bounce back," Peeta tells Prim.
"I've never heard about Haymitch's Games," Prim tells Peeta. Peeta looks at me, asking with his eyes if he's allowed to tell her.
"Go for it," I say.
"Haymitch won the second Quarter Quell. Do you know what happens during a Quarter Quell?" Peeta asks Prim. She shakes her head no. "For a Quarter Quell, the rules of the Hunger Games change. For the first Quarter Quell, the district's citizens all voted on the boy and the girl who would be selected as tribute, instead of the Capitol randomly picking them."
"That sounds terrible," Prim says quietly.
"It is… For the second Quarter Quell, the amount of tributes doubled. It was supposed to be a reminder, that two rebels died for every one Capitol citizen. So instead of twenty four tributes, forty eight were selected," Peeta says. "The tributes for district twelve that year wore coal miner costumes during the parade."
"Like almost every other year," I mention. "Peeta and I got lucky with Cinna being our stylist last year."
"The arena was a trick in itself. Everything looked beautiful, the sky was an amazing blue with fluffy looking clouds… The meadow smelled sweet… To the left was a woody area, similar to our Games, and to the right, a snowy mountain," Peeta says. "While everything looked beautiful, it was all deadly. The flowers scent was poisonous, the food that grew in the arena would kill you, and the stream's water was deadly as well. It was all a trick."
"Haymitch actually had a good chance at winning from the beginning. The bloodbath broke the record for the most tributes dead during it, with eighteen of them dying. Haymitch wasn't apart of much action until the fourth day, when the snowy mountain turned into a volcano," Peeta continues.
"Twelve tributes died from the volcano. After the volcano, the career's were down to just a couple left. They ended up finding Haymitch and surrounding him. It was three versus one."
"Haymitch killed two of them before losing his knife to the third career. As the last one was about to kill Haymitch, he was saved by his district partner. She shot a poison dart into the career's back," Peeta says. "Do you know who it was that saved him?"
"No," she says. "No one's told me this before."
"Our mother's best friend," I say to Prim. "Maysilee Donner." Prim's eyes begin to water up as she realizes who we're talking about.
"I've heard Mom talk about her before," Prim says sadly.
"I know," I reply. "The mockingjay pin I wore in the Games belonged to Maysilee. I didn't realize it until Haymitch told me."
"You know kids, sometimes you don't want to relive something that's caused you so much pain," Haymitch says behind us. I didn't even notice he walked up here. "But at some point, you realize that you'll relive it every day of your life. It all comes full circle eventually."
"I'm sorry Haymitch," Peeta says sincerely.
"Maysilee was my best friend," Haymitch says as he sits down next to us. "You know, Sweetheart, she was a lot like you."
"How so?" I ask.
"Scared to fall in love because it can be taken away just like that," he replies. "I loved that girl. She loved me. But she wouldn't give in, because the Games could've taken any one of us at any time. And they did. We both got reaped, and the Games took her."
"I'm sorry," Prim says sadly.
"The reason I drink so much is because of her," Haymitch goes on. "It haunts me to this day that I couldn't keep her safe. I wish we didn't waste the time we had together. Where did you leave off?"
"She saved you, with the poison dart," Prim says.
"She did. We became allies. It didn't last long though, Once we reached the end of the arena, all that was left was a cliff. Maysilee wanted to turn back. I wanted to stay. So our alliance was officially over," Haymitch says. "Once she left, I was pissed at myself for letting her go. I think in reality, I was scared to see her die, or be the one that had to do it if it came down to it."
"So I began kicking rocks off the cliff, trying not to let my emotions get the best of me. Sponsors want a strong tribute, not one who's crying in the arena," Haymitch says. "The rocks I kicked off began coming back, bouncing off of a force field at the bottom of the cliff."
"Like the one up here," Prim says. "That's why you guys were telling me…"
"Yes, like this force field. As I noticed this, I heard screaming from a couple hundred feet away. I recognized her voice. It was Maysilee's screams," Haymitch says. "I ran to her, so damn fast, but not fast enough. She'd been stabbed through the neck by pink birds. I held her hand as she died. I know that her death would have been worse if I'd witnessed it, but either way, it haunts me. I might've been able to save her if I'd just followed her back."
"Kind of like Katniss with Rue," Prim mentions.
"I think that's why I wanted Katniss to win the Games so badly. She's so much like me, I saw myself in her and knew she could win it," Haymitch continues. "The rest of the Games, to be honest, I didn't care what happened. I wanted to win for Maysilee, but if I died, at least I didn't have to go through life without her."
"Like Peeta with Katniss," Prim says. "He said something similar in his interview."
"Exactly. I ended up fighting another tribute in the final four, and killing him, but not without injuries. He slashed me with a sword in my stomach," Haymitch goes on. "I was losing blood fast, but so was the last tribute I had to face. She was stabbed in her eye, and she knew it was a game of luck if we waited to see who would bleed out first. I think she would have won if she'd waited, but she charged at me with an axe in her hand."
"I'd lost so much blood, I collapsed as she threw it, dodging it. A lot of people like to think I did it on purpose. Snow thought so too. But I genuinely couldn't stand anymore," Haymitch says. "The axe flew off the cliff, and bounced back at her, nailing her in the head."
"Snow thought you used the force field as a weapon," Peeta says.
"And killed my whole family for it," Haymitch finishes.
I don't know how we even took this turn, talking about his Games. I'd never asked Haymitch about, but Peeta must have watched it after we won ours.
"I'm sorry," Prim says sadly.
"Something you kids don't fully understand yet is that the Games are never over," Haymitch says. "You may have won, but none of us are safe. Ever."
Haymitch gets up and walks away after that.
"Think he's mad we were talking about it?" I ask Peeta. He shrugs.
"Maybe. But I think he also is glad to finally talk to someone about it. Someone from his district who understands," Peeta says.
"Let's just enjoy the rest of the day," I say quietly. "We'll talk to him later. You guys want some sandwiches?"
We throw apples at the forcefield and eat our sandwiches before going back down to our district's floor. Haymitch is undoubtedly in his room, while the rest of our group is watching television in the living room. Posy's loving it.
Tomorrow is the party at President Snow's mansion. I'm nervous for it, but kind of excited. I mean, if Peeta and I didn't do a good job during our interview proving our love for one another, why would Snow be throwing a party? So we must have done well.
I've been nervous about Finnick, Annie, Johanna and Beetee. Haymitch has told us we can trust them, but how true is that? Clearly something bigger is going on, something Peeta and I don't know about.
And I still have to talk to Gale about everything that's been going on recently. I don't want to lose my best friend. We've looked out for each other's families for years. I can't lose that.
I decide to do that first. When Gale goes to the kitchen to get some food for everyone, I follow him.
"Ready to talk?" I ask. He gives a sarcastic laugh.
"I've said my side, you've said yours," Gale starts. "I see where you're coming from. I mean that. But sometimes, it feels like I've been thrown to the curb for him."
"I don't think you understand how the Hunger Games works," I say, a little frustrated. "Just because I've won, doesn't mean I'm done playing. I have to keep up the love story or else people I care about die, Gale. Prim dies, my mother dies, you die. I don't want that."
"Neither do I," Gale says.
"So do you understand why I need to keep this up?" I ask, almost desperate for him to see. He nods.
"Katniss, I don't think you've noticed it yourself, but it's not an act anymore…" Gale says. "I think that's why I'm so hurt by it. I wanted it to be me, and I know it can't be because he's here. I'm jealous, and it's hard to admit, but I am. But Katniss, one thing I hope you really know is that even though you may not love me how I wish you did, I still want you to be happy."
"And I want you to be happy too," I reply.
"I'll stop being so jealous, Catnip," Gale says. "He clearly makes you happy, and you clearly care about him a lot. And after talking to you yesterday, I understand now."
"Thank you Gale," I say gratefully. I needed my best friend here. I needed to hear that.
"Now go be with him," Gale says as he points at Peeta, who's talking to Prim. I smile and give Gale a hug before going to Peeta.
"I could teach you how to paint," I hear Peeta say to Prim on the couch as I walk over. Prim smiles. "And bake cookies and cakes!"
"Please?" She asks. "I've been wanting to for so long. Katniss used to take me to look at the cakes in the bakery window. I loved seeing the designs you made. I've always wanted to make them myself."
"I can teach you tonight," Peeta says. "After dinner, can we make some cookies for everyone." Prim nods. "Tomorrow's going to be a long day, with Snow's party."
"I know," I say. "Poor Prim has to get prepped tomorrow for the first time. Thankfully we probably just need to try on our clothes."
"It can't be that bad," Prim says. "You're overreacting."
"You'll see," Peeta says. "It is horrible. No matter how gentle they try to be, when they rip your hair out, it hurts. At least I only have one leg they have to do," Peeta laughs. I don't find that funny at all. But if that's how he has to cope, then I can't say anything.
"You wear pants anyway, why are they doing your legs," Prim questions.
"I do only wear pants!" Peeta says, as if Prim has changed his life with that one question. "I need to talk to Portia tomorrow, I shouldn't need any prep at all!"
I laugh. "Probably to make it fair, since I had to go through it as well."
"I thought you told me your hair hasn't grown back," Peeta says. "Mine did! They ripped all of my hair out again!"
I laugh a little harder now. I don't know why, but knowing I'm not the only one that hates it makes me feel better about it.
Gale has come back and sat down on the couch across from us, but not the same Gale he's been. For some reason, I can already tell he meant what he said. He isn't looking at Peeta or me, he's saying something to Posy and Rory. I think Gale knows that life is too short to want more when what we already have is enough.
"Peeta?" I ask more than say. He looks over at me. "I'm sorry for how I acted after the Games. For ignoring you. I just thought you were mad at me still, for lying to you. You had every right to be mad, and I should have done more to show you that not everything in that arena was an act."
"I shouldn't have reacted the way I did," Peeta says. "You were just trying to protect us. To save us. And I got angry over it, and made things awkward between us. I stopped being mad after maybe a week. I thought you were mad at me still."
"And I'm sorry too," Prim says, jokingly. "For having to hear this awkward conversation." Peeta laughs at her joke.
"Whatever," I say sarcastically.
"I'm glad you both made it out of the Games," Prim says.
"Us too," Peeta says jokingly.
We all hang out for a little bit talking about memories of our old district. We try not to mention what's happened to our homes. We just want to remember the good for now.
"Do you think we should talk to Haymitch?" I ask Peeta. It's been a while since he's gone to his room. He hasn't come out yet, and dinner is almost ready.
"Let's go," he says as he stands up, reaching an arm out for me. I gladly accept it and stand up. We knock on his door before walking into his room.
"Haymitch?" I ask. He's sitting on his bed with a box next to him. I figured he went to sleep.
"Sometimes, you wonder if it was all worth it," he says. Peeta and I close the door and sit in the chair across from him. "If all of the pain, the suffering, the nightmares… You wonder if it was ever really worth it."
Peeta and I know to let him talk. He's finally opening up about it. I wonder if he ever has before.
"All of the blood, the screams, the cries… I still smell that arena, to this day, I can still smell the flowers and see the clouds…" he continues. "I can still see her in my arms."
"We're sorry for bringing it up," Peeta says quietly.
"You wonder if it was all worth it," Haymitch ignores him. "Forty six dead kids, the blood on your hands, because you couldn't save any of them. Twenty three years of families blaming you for not bringing their children back… Like I chose for them to go in…"
"It isn't your fault," I say quietly.
"It is though, Sweetheart," Haymitch says. "Killing my family wasn't the only thing Snow did. He made sure our district didn't win another Games for a long time. I was expecting it to be until the next Quarter Quell, but somehow, he allowed you guys to win. And that's the thing. You wonder if any of it was ever worth it, if I did any good by winning those Games, and you guys being here today tells me I did," he says. "I used to wonder if any of it was worth it. I know it is now. I was finally able to bring a tribute home."
"You brought us both home," I say.
"No," he says. "I brought you home. Peeta… He brought himself home. I put all of my cards on the table for you. Peeta made me promise I'd do everything to bring you home. And I did. But somehow, Peeta brought himself home with the love story he created. I've lived half of my life wishing I'd have just died in that arena. Things would be a lot easier," he says. "But looking at you guys right now, I can finally say that it was all worth it. Seeing you guys get a chance at what Maysilee and I never did… I need to clean up my act."
"What do you mean?" Peeta asks.
Haymitch pulls from the box a piece of paper with words written on it. He hands it to Peeta.
"They won't let me see you before the Games start. But I couldn't enter that arena without getting to say goodbye. I wish things could be different. I wish I would have allowed myself to love you the way I should've before we were reaped. You meant everything to me, and I couldn't leave without telling you. I love you Haymitch, and no matter what happens in that arena, I always will. Love, Maysilee Donner," Peeta reads. Tears are attempting to escape from both of our eyes now.
"She slipped that under the door, the night before our Games began," Haymitch says quietly. "She wouldn't want me to be like this. I'm not the man she fell in love with. I need to get my act together, for her, and for you kids."
"I'm sorry," I say quietly.
"Don't be. You kids are the reason I opened this box," he says. "I haven't touched it in twenty three years. The dress she wore for the interviews… The hat she wore on the chariot… It's all in here, and has been since she died. I haven't touched it since. I was hiding from it. I couldn't face it."
"Let's go eat," Peeta says as he stands up. "The only thing we can do for her, is to live for her."
"From this day forward, I plan on doing that," Haymitch says quietly. He puts the letter in the box, closes it, and slides it back under his bed.
"And we'll be there to help," I say. "You're like family to us now Haymitch."
We follow Haymitch to the dining car, where the rest of our group is, and eat a nice meal. It's the small things like this that make me happy.
Haymitch isn't wrong. You wonder if it was worth it, but moments like these show you it was. When I look at Peeta, I see that it was worth it. When I look at Prim too.
After dinner, Peeta wants to teach Prim how to bake a cake. I love watching Peeta transform a bowl of powders and eggs into a fluffy, beautiful cake. It's amazing how quickly he can teach Prim, considering any attempt he made to instruct me ended with me getting frustrated and ruining the cake even more.
Prim gets the hang of it quickly, and in no time at all, the cake is in the oven. I can see the excitement written on Prim's face.
I used to take Prim to the bakery sometimes after school to look at the cakes in the window. We never had enough money to buy one, and even if we did, that money wouldn't have gone towards something like that. We weren't even allowed inside the bakery to begin with. Peeta's mother would have gone crazy if she ever saw two Seam girls in her bakery.
The elevator dings shortly after the cake is put into the oven. Beetee walks through with a large box in his hands.
"Sorry to intrude," he says as he comes over to us in the kitchen. "I have a gift for you, Peeta."
Peeta smiles and opens the box. Inside is a new prosthetic leg. His smile gets a little wider.
"It's been pretty hard to walk on this one," Peeta says, laughing. "Thank you."
"I figured, after seeing your interview with Caesar, you might need a new one," Beetee says. Peeta nods. "I'll see you guys soon. Good luck at Snow's party," he says as he leaves. Something about the way he says good luck scares me.
Peeta goes to our room to put the new prosthetic leg on. When he comes back out, I can see how much easier it is to stand and walk on it.
"Perfect," he says with a smile.
Prim and Peeta grab the cake from the oven and set it on the counter. Peeta shows Prim how to remove the cake from the pan, and ice it. He lets her do the icing, however she wants to.
When she's done, it looks great. White with yellow and pink flowers. It's simple, yet very pretty. It almost makes me feel bad that we'll be eating this.
It tastes amazing though. I don't feel as bad anymore.
Sleep finds Peeta and I quickly. Today was a great day in my opinion. Gale and I cleared things up, Haymitch seems to want better for himself, and our group had a peaceful day yesterday.
Tomorrow is a new day though, and I get the feeling this party is more than a party.
The next morning, I don't want to get out of bed. From my understanding, there is no prep for tonight for anyone but Prim, so Peeta and I are excused from that, other than Cinna and Portia dressing us.
I feel bad for Prim. Soon, she will be going through her prep session. She has no idea what she's getting into. All of the ripping and pulling and plucking…
"Breakfast children! Wake up!" Effie says through the door. "We have a big, big, big day ahead of us!"
I guess that killed any hopes I had at staying in bed for the day.
Peeta and I get dressed and head to the dining car for breakfast with the rest of our group. Everyone looks more refreshed since we've been here. This scares me. One thing Peeta and I are still learning from Haymitch is to never let your guard down in the Capitol.
After breakfast, my prep team is here for Prim. They have a couple hours to fully prepare her before we leave for the party at Snow's mansion.
Peeta and I take this time to reflect on the Games. Neither of us have done this much since, but I think we both need to. We both saw the recap of the Games after we won, but we couldn't ask each other questions or explain ourselves when certain things happened. I never even asked him why he teamed up with the Careers in the first place.
We go to my room and lock the door.
"Are you sure this is something you want to do?" Peeta asks me as he hands me the tape. I nod and put it into the television.
It will be hard to relive something that has affected us so much, but I need to do it. Haymitch was our mentor in the Games, but he's still mentoring us now, and him facing his Games and coming to terms with how things happened with Maysilee have taught me that sometimes, looking back at the past can show you why the future is important.
"I'm ready," I say quietly.
The tapes are based around the Victor of each Games, or in our case, Victors. It's almost as if the rest of the tributes are forgotten. The tapes always start with the reaping from that year. Only the Victor's reaping is shown.
Peeta and I watch as Prim's name is called. I can still feel the fear I felt in that moment, screaming Prim's name. Life would be so different if her name was never called. My family would still be in the Seam, struggling to feed ourselves. I'd still be risking my life in the woods hunting. And the thing that actually scares me the most is that I wouldn't have met Peeta.
I watch as I walk up to the stage, shoulders back and face blank. I tried my best to not look scared when I was finally next to Effie. The reality set in that I was the tribute from District Twelve at that time.
I watch as Peeta's name is drawn from the bowl. He looks scared and confused, yet strong at the same time. It's an odd mixture.
"I was a little bit happy to be going in," Peeta says quietly. I give him a confused look. "Okay, maybe not happy. It's hard to describe what I was feeling. I was scared, of course, but in a way, I was glad to be going in with you."
"You're just saying that," I say sarcastically. He smiles and shakes his head.
"No, I'm serious. All I could think in my head when my name was reaped was that at least I still have a chance to tell you how I feel," he says. "I was extremely sad. The odds were that I'd be dying in that arena. But in a way, I was glad I'd finally man up and confess my love for you, Katniss."
"I'm sorry for the way I treated you when we got back," I whisper when he finishes speaking.
"We don't have to go through that again," he says with a smile. "We're here now. You learn from the past, you don't live in it."
He's right. I mean, that's the reason we're going through this again, watching our Games. To learn from what we went through. To teach us why the future is the most important thing, other than the present.
When Peeta and I shake hands on that stage, I realize how powerful that moment in itself was. I mean, at that time, we didn't even know each other truly. I can't be too sure, but in other districts, I don't believe they ever shake hands with their district partners. Once you're a tribute, every other tribute is your enemy. Peeta and I shaking hands showed that was never the case for us, whether we meant it that way or not.
The star crossed lovers act was so easy to pull off for us because we showed unity before we even came up with that act. It was so believable because all it did was create a story for what the Capitol was already seeing.
The next part the tapes show is Peeta and my interview. I can tell how nervous I was for my interview, even though I tried my best to not look it. Caesar did his best to calm me down though, and I do appreciate that from him.
Peeta's interview is a different story. He looks as if he were made for this. And you can tell how effortlessly he wins the crowd over with his chat with Caesar. You can see the second he starts putting his plan into effect when Caesar asks him if he has a girlfriend. He had the whole Capitol on the edge of their seats, waiting to hear who the special girl he wanted to win for was.
And when he said that he couldn't go home to her because she was here with him… Even my heart dropped. It was the best interview we could have asked for, looking back.
"Why did you guys not tell me about the plan before you said that about me?" I ask him.
"Your reaction needed to be genuine. It couldn't be acting, it had to be real," he says. "Plus, would you have gone through with it if you'd known?"
"Probably not…" I say quietly. It's amazing how well they both could read me based on just a few days of being in the Capitol. They knew I was too stubborn to allow him to say that about me. "I'm sorry for how I reacted after the interviews."
"It's okay," Peeta says. "Another one of those things that you can't live in the past for."
The bloodbath scene still scares me. The way Peeta tells me not to run into the cornucopia, only to do so himself makes me feel horrible. He knew I was thinking about going in to get my bow. I had no idea he was thinking about going in at all though. He spent so much time creating this plan to save me, while I did nothing to help him until they announced a rule change. Peeta was always the more selfless one.
We watch him run into the bloodbath full sprint, likely eying my bow up. Cato tackles to the ground, stopping him from making it.
Peeta rolls away from Cato and gets back up, running towards the cornucopia once more. Clove gets done throwing her throwing knife into my bag while Peeta runs, but since I'm now in the forest at this point, Cloves attention is focused on Peeta now. She throws a knife at him, hitting him in the arm slightly. Not enough to cause permanent damage, but it is a deep cut from the looks of it.
Peeta falls seconds after he's cut, feet from the cornucopia. I don't really know what his plan was anyway, to be honest. How was he going to get away from the Careers if he made it?
"You don't want me, you want Katniss," Peeta says as Cato reaches him. He knees Peeta in the thigh as he punches him in the face.
"Where is she?" Cato asks as he punches Peeta again.
"I don't know," Peeta yells as Cato punches again. "I can help you find her though."
Cato is about to punch Peeta again, but holds his punch and looks around. No other tributes around besides the Career, the district three boy, and Peeta.
"Why should we trust you?" Cato asks loudly.
"I want her dead as much as you do," Peeta says. "She embarrassed you all with her training score. But she embarrassed me by rejecting me on national television. I want her dead."
"What makes you think we can't find her ourselves, Lover Boy?" Marvel says from behind Cato. The other two Careers are searching the cornucopia while they talk.
"I'm sure you could find her," Peeta says. "But she's a lot smarter than you think. And she'll have sponsors with that 11 she got. It'd be a lot quicker if you let me join you. You can do what you want with me when she's dead."
Cato thinks for a second before getting off of him and saying, "Fine. But you're a dead man if you think about betraying us. None of us will hurt you until after we kill Katniss."
"What?" Clove says from the cornucopia. "We can kill Katniss easily. We don't need him!"
"I said nobody hurts him until after get her," Cato says loudly. "Clean that cut up, then help us sort through the cornucopia."
Peeta gets up and grabs some bandages from the cornucopia, and fixes up his cut. I feel like now might be a good time to ask him about why he did that.
"Why did you run into the cornucopia after telling me no?" I ask him. He smiles a little.
"I was trying to get your bow and slip out of there before they saw me. They wouldn't expect a tribute to run straight into the cornucopia, the rest of the tributes get their supplies from the ring around it if they're brave enough to stay for the bloodbath," Peeta says. "So I thought I'd be able to make it in time. I was wrong."
"Yeah, very wrong," I say quietly.
"Haymitch told me it was a bad plan," he says. "Told me I wouldn't get a chance to reason with the Careers if they caught me. I might end up with a knife in the back before I even knew who threw it. But I took time during the training days to watch them closely. They were all arrogant. Not the smartest group, but deadly for sure. If I could mention your name before they killed me, they'd let me speak, and then I could convince them to let me join them."
"It worked," I say. "But Haymitch was right, that was a terrible plan. I can't believe you'd try to get my bow for me."
"They were going to be watching you the whole time," Peeta says. "If you ran in, you'd be dead. Someone had to try to get your bow. And I knew that it I got you your bow, you wouldn't lose."
We watch as Peeta and the Careers go hunting that night, and run into the girl who starts a fire close by to the tree I'm secured to. The Careers play with the girl, taunting her to hear the screams before Cato finally stabs her. They walk away, making fun of the girl until they are yards from the tree I was in.
"Why isn't the cannon going off?" Marvel asks.
"She's dead," Cato says loudly.
"The cannon would've gone off if she were dead," Marvel says loudly.
"I said she's dead," Cato says. "I know where I cut her."
"You're wasting time," Peeta says. "I'll go finish her off."
He walks towards the girl who started the fire. She's bleeding out, but still alive when Peeta gets there.
"It's okay," he whispers. "I'm going to stop the pain, is that fine?"
The girl nods with tears in her eyes.
"I'm so sorry," he whispers as he grabs her hand and holds it. He cuts her throat, killing her in a few seconds. He wipes his own tears, cleans his blade off, and walks back to the Careers. "There, now let's go."
I can tell Peeta feels sorry for having to do that. He has tears in his eyes right now. I grab his hand and hold it. "You did what you had to."
"It still hurts, knowing you ended someone's life. I know she was dying either way, but it feels like I'm the one that did it," he says.
Peeta and I watch as the Gamemaker's fire begins to chase us all towards each other. We watch as I get burned. We watch as they find me, and chase me to the tree I climbed.
I feel horrible for dropping the tracker jacker nest on Peeta, but at the time, I didn't know he was helping me. This part was fuzzy for me during the Games, with all of the tracker jacker stings, I was hallucinating at this point. I wasn't even sure if Peeta telling me to run was real. But it was.
Cato sees Peeta telling me to run and charges at him for betraying the Careers. Peeta fights off Cato as much as he can, but Cato gets him deep in the leg with his sword midway through the fight. Peeta shoves Cato and limps away, towards the stream. Cato tries to chase him, but the tracker jacker stings start making him hallucinate as well.
Peeta collapses by the stream and begins his hallucination process as well, before going unconscious. It's a miracle nobody found him while he was there. The Careers had each other to protect one another, and I had Rue to hide me and help with my stings. Peeta had nobody at this point, and sponsors surely wouldn't send a wounded tribute anything if they thought he was dying.
The days that follow the tracker jacker nest are mainly shown by Rue helping me recover from my stings until I wake up.
We watch as Rue and I start making a plan to blow the Careers supplies up. Rue gets ready to light three fires apart from one another to lure the Careers away from the supplies long enough for me to get to work.
We watch as I blow the Career's supplies up with the apples. I still remember not being able to hear after this. We watch as I hide in the bushes on the outskirts of the cornucopia, unable to move.
"You were deaf at this point, from the explosion?" Peeta asks. I nod and continue watching.
The next day, I went to the spot Rue and I picked to meet at after the plan was executed, but after a couple of hours, I realized something went wrong. We watch as I go look for Rue, and find her trapped under a net set by Marvel. Not surprising at all, but as we watch Rue get killed by Marvel, and me kill Marvel, it skips to Peeta waking up from being unconscious.
"I set flowers around her after she died, and sang to her before," I say quietly, with tears in my eyes. "They removed that from the tapes, apparently. I guess it would have appeared rebellious."
"I'm sorry," he says as we watch. We watch as Peeta drinks water, then camouflages himself into the rocks by the stream. He clearly is having difficulty moving around at that moment. I can't imagine the pain he went through during these Games.
The trumpets play hours later in the arena, and the rule change is announced. "Peeta," I say when the announcer finishes his speech.
We watch as I go search for Peeta and eventually find him in the stream. We watch as I care for him, trying to nurture him back to life in the cave. We watch as the feast is announced.
We watch as I trick Peeta into eating the cough syrup, and go to the feast to get his medicine to save his life. We watch as Clove attacks me at the cornucopia, and Thresh kills Clove to repay me for allying with Rue. We watch as I help Peeta heal from his blood poisoning.
"A lot of stuff from the cave… A lot of it was real," I say to Peeta. "I didn't have to go to the feast. You told me not to. I had higher odds to die there than to make it out. But I did go because a lot of what I said and did in there was true. I just didn't realize it.
We continue to watch as Foxface steals berries from Peeta and I, and ultimately dies because of it. The moment I heard her cannon, and thought it was Peeta's, I genuinely was heartbroken.
We watch as the mutts chase Cato towards us, and I shoot him with an arrow until it bounces off of him. We watch as we all get on top of the cornucopia, but not before a mutt bites a chunk of Peeta's leg off. We watch as Cato grabs Peeta in a headlock, and Peeta draws an "X" in blood on Cato's hand, letting me know where to shoot him.
We watch as I pull my arrow back and fire it into Cato's hand, releasing Peeta so he could throw Cato off of the cornucopia. We watch as I finish Cato off the next morning, to put him out of his misery. The tape cuts off after, not showing the berries Peeta and I almost ate.
"Every nightmare I have, because of these Games, was to save Prim, so in the end, it was worth it," I say quietly.
"And every nightmare I have, because of these Games, was to save you," Peeta says quietly. "It was worth it."
"Are you ready for tonight?" I ask him. He nods.
"We made it through all of that," Peeta says. "A party at Snow's mansion isn't the end of the world. Come on, let's see if Prim's done prepping yet."
I wipe my eyes, trying to hide the fact I'd been crying, and follow Peeta to the living room. Prim has apparently been done prepping for almost thirty minutes. She looks annoyed.
"Oh, you guys finally decided to join us?" Prim asks sarcastically. Peeta and I laugh when she says this.
"How was your prep session?" I ask in reply. She gives me a look that tells me it was horrible.
"Cinna's been waiting for you guys on the rooftop," she says. We smile and tell her we'll be back soon. We go up to the rooftop and walk over to Cinna.
"You guys know something is about to happen, right?" Cinna says quietly. I can barely hear him with the wind chimes next to us. "Snow knows it too. That's why he's using you guys."
"Can you tell us?" Peeta asks quietly. Cinna shakes his head.
"The less you both know, the better," Cinna says quietly. "Just know that, one way or another, these Games are over. Rebellion is brewing, and we'll need your help soon. Just play along for now, but trust that Haymitch and I know what we're doing."
"We trust you," I say. "We just wish you'd tell us what we're getting into."
"And we will. When the time comes, you'll both know," Cinna says. "Now, it's time to party. Let's go get your clothes ready."
Cinna leads us downstairs, where Peeta and I split off and follow our stylists to our rooms. Cinna shows me the dress I'll be wearing, black with yellow accents at the bottom of it. Peeta is, of course, going to be wearing a matching suit. It doesn't take either of us long to get ready, which is disappointing because I am really not looking forward to this party.
Effie leads us all outside to the car that's waiting for us. Capitolites surround the area, but are careful not to touch any of us, remembering how Peeta reacted to the last time. The cheering doesn't stop though. We're still their Victors.
The car ride to the mansion is short. All too soon, Peeta's holding my door and offering a hand to help me out of the car.
"Thank you," I say quietly.
Haymitch appears on the other side of us and gives us an odd look. "Remember, we're still playing the Games. You guys can't mess this up, or people get hurt," he says.
With that in mind, we follow Effie towards the president's mansion. To say we aren't the stars of the show would be a complete lie. The second they see us, all eyes are on us. My hand in Peeta's becomes sweaty and shaky, while his remain strong. Good. At least one of us is holding it together.
Prim walks beside me, in her beautiful yellow dress. The president's granddaughter is at the door, waiting for Prim with two guards. She sees Prim and waves for her to come. Prim looks at me, asking if she should. I nod. She splits from us and walks towards Snow's granddaughter.
I'm nervous for Prim, Snow made it clear that she was going to be with his granddaughter tonight, meaning him as well.
Oh no.
"Haymitch," I say as we continue following Effie.
"Yes, Sweetheart?" He answers.
"This is a trap," I say quietly. "Snow made us bring Prim for a reason."
"He won't kill her," Haymitch says, guessing that was what I was worried about. I shake my head.
"No, but he will ask her questions. Questions about rebellion," I say. "He's going to try to trick Prim into telling him information."
"She doesn't have any information," Haymitch says.
"She does," I reply quickly. "You talked about it, on our way here. Not a lot, but enough."
"Shit," he says quietly. We're about to reach the dining hall. "Where is she?"
"Probably on her way to Snow's office by now," I say quietly.
"Then we better hope Prim knows better than to tell him anything," Haymitch says. "This is going to be a long night."
A long night indeed.
A/N: Longer chapter, not much action, but I do think this was necessary to portray the characters the way I want them to be seen in my story. I like the idea of Katniss facing her fears, and Peeta being there along the way to help her. I also wanted to see Haymitch grow as a character, and see him mentally try to push through his past trauma. Hope you enjoyed :)
-JayOnFF