Peeta was able to leave after the bloodbath, both Sharlie and Evan were killed in it. Sharlie had jumped in front of a spear that was thrown at Evan. She died not a full minute after the start. Evan pulled the spear out of his sister and dropped it. He bent down and held his hands over her stomach where the spear had gone in. He was taken out by a sledgehammer to the head, he wasn't even paying attention to what was around him, just being there so his sister didn't die alone. Well, she didn't die alone because he died with her. During training he found out more about the two. They were orphans, their dad died in the mine accident just like Gale and Katniss's fathers. But unlike them, their mom had died a while before of blood poisoning. So, they were sent to the children's home. A whole family gone within ten years of each other.

Death was a way of life in 12, people starved, died of illnesses that would be treatable in the Capital, even people not being able to take it anymore and ending their lives.

When he was nine there was a shop owner in town, he sold fish that he ordered from 4. The prices went up in 4 and he couldn't afford the fish anymore. Lost his store and home, he and his family had to move to the Seam with a distant aunt of his wife. Six months later the Peacekeepers were called because of a smell from the aunt's house. They found the man, his wife, 3 kids and his aunt all dead. He had killed them all, then himself. No note was needed to be left; he was trying to save them from starving to death. He wasn't the first to do it and probably wouldn't be the last. Thankfully the Hob has been keeping some of the worse off families fed as long as they had something to trade.

"This is why everything is so fucked!" Haymitch shouted.

They were back on the top floor, District 12's floor. It didn't matter what they told them; the kids didn't listen to any of it. Haymitch told the two to just run as fast as they could away from the Cornucopia, they didn't and now they're dead.

"What are you going on about?" He was just done with Haymitch and his superior act since they got to the Capital. The first night Peeta was called to Julius's room. Haymitch had no idea. The Capital killed his family, they didn't have anything to use against him. Peeta wasn't extremely close to most of his family, but he didn't want them dead. It already took most of two months to get his father out of the Justice Building's jail because his father refused to admit to the crime of receiving contraband meat. It was worse because he refused to give up who he bought it from. Usually, he only bought from Katniss or Gale, his father would never give up children even to save his own neck. He finally convinced his father to just confess, which he did but without revealing his source of the contraband. His dad had to pay a large fine and was released. He noticed a while after that his parents and brothers were losing weight they really couldn't.

"What did you tell them?" Haymitch snapped.

"Huh?"

"They didn't listen to me, they both stayed. I want to know why?"

"I don't know, I told them to listen to your strategy, I thought it was sound."

"You thought my strategy was sound? What do you know, you're only a kid. You'd be dead now if it weren't for dumb luck. For twenty years I've been here alone, the guilt of losing them was my own but now you're here, acting like you know so much when you know nothing."

Just then an Avox got off the elevator, it was a different one from before, but he had a note for Peeta just like the one before that and the one before that.

My Room. Now.

There didn't need to be a signature, only one person ever sent for him. That was the plus of an exclusivity contract. Julius said that his father hadn't wanted to do it, he had many buyers for Peeta's "time", but Julius said something to convince him.

"I've got to go. The favorite is the boy from 1, but I think it will be the girl from 9," Peeta said.

"Why do you say that?"

Peeta smiled, one that he knew looked wrong on his face. "Lucky guess."

"We will see." Haymitch looked like he didn't believe Peeta. It wasn't like Peeta cared. He got up and left, going to his appointment.

In the lobby he was ready to head to the apartment Julius stays at, both his wife and him agree that he should live there. Wasn't Peeta's business.

"Hey, Peeta, stop for a minute," someone called to him. Looking over he saw Finnick, jogging towards him.

"What are you doing here?"

"My tribute died just a while after your two."

"Timber died just a while after Sharlie and Evan." The victors had distanced themselves so much from the tributes they had forgotten that they had been the tributes at one time. They referred to them as tributes, it was funny to Peeta when he realized Capital people called the tributes by their names while the mentors didn't mostly. It was like you don't have a name until you survive.

"I forgot what it was like to be so…so…innocent," Finnick said.

"What did you want, I've got somewhere to be."

Finnick eyes darkened some. "Where?"

"Julius Snow. After the Victory Tour he bought exclusive rights to me…like a piece of land."

Finnick looked at Peeta oddly for a moment before speaking again. "In all my years here and before, Julius Snow has bought time with several people. Most disappeared and were never seen again, bodies probably burned in some cremation before they were even missed…if they were at all. Mostly they were Avox or people from the districts brought in for that very reason. But I have never heard of him taking a Victor as his company and never has he bought exclusive rights. Even for the president's son that's a lot of money. I know Snow wouldn't give him any deal, not with as new and popular as you are."

"And your point is?"

"What does he see in you that he never saw in another Victor?"

Peeta stopped trying to leave and tried to figure out what Finnick meant. "I have no idea. Now can I leave?"

Haymitch was watching the Games in their suite. He hadn't watched after his tribute had died in a long time. Just it nagged at him a little. Peeta had been so sure that the girl from 9 would win. Why?

On the screen now they were showing the boy from 8 and the boy from 3 fighting in a lake, Haymitch was sure they both would probably be eaten if they didn't get out soon. Soon came faster than he anticipated. An alligator mutt grabbed the boy from 8's leg and pulled him under the water. The boy from 3 took that moment to escape, he didn't get far before the girl from 1 split his head open with an ax.

Haymitch could already tell it was going to be a long game. Peeta's game was pretty short. Haymitch's had been extremely long but there were forty-eight of them, that slows people down. Sometimes he wondered about the 75th games, the third quarter quell. But then he would just think it was asking for trouble, with his luck it would be something even worse than his.

Something caught Haymitch's attention, it was the girl from 9. She was sitting almost peacefully in a cave. She had a small knife and was making something, not a weapon he didn't think. He walked closer to the screen and saw what it was…a crescent shape. How odd was that?

Seven days later Haymitch watched as the game ended. The girl from 9 had won…and she hadn't killed one person. Her actions reminded him of someone, the way she acted towards others and her surroundings. It finally hit him…she was acting just like Peeta had. She didn't go after anyone; she was much better at foraging for her food than Peeta had been. But for the second year in a row a Victor without a single kill won. Peeta's win wasn't the first to just be able to survive to win, in fact not long ago a girl from 4 won just because she could swim. Some from 6 were extremely good at hiding.

The difference between them and the girl from 9 and Peeta, the newest Victors seemed to have some sort of alternate reality going on in their heads during the games. He watched Peeta just move around, he should have died by the District 10 girl long before the end of the games. He smiled in the games and not the vicious or deceiving ones seen before, he was nice and when it was the last two he tried to save that same girl. And now another innocent Victor. She was eighteen, tall and strong but wafer thin. She could have taken others out, she could have ended the game days ago when she happened upon the two remaining tributes, but she didn't. She had the jump on them, they would have been dead before they knew it. But she didn't and for some reason, Haymitch felt like Peeta knew something he didn't and Haymitch didn't like that.

Peeta chose that moment to come stumbling in, Haymitch hadn't seen much of him since their tributes died. Haymitch could smell the very distinctive smell of the salve used to cover scars. If used right after the wound was made, no scar would appear. Peeta had a very small scar on his neck from his first night with Julius Snow. Now, every time he saw the boy, that smell followed. Haymitch wondered how many scars he would have without the medicine that cost the same amount for a small tube than what would feed a family of five for a year in 12.

"The girl from 9 won…how did you know she would?" Haymitch asked.

Peeta gave a very small smile. "She did it. I knew she could. She didn't hurt anyone did she?"

"What? Why would that matter?" Something was not right, and he was going to find out. "The whole purpose of the games are to kill."

"That's not the purpose and you know it."

"Last year, you were so fucking naïve that Ivo could trick you. But now you're secretive and gone all the time. Tell me…what are you up to?"

"Nothing," Peeta said before coming to a stop in front of Haymitch. Peeta had only been fourteen for a few months, he was still growing but Haymitch was still much taller than him. He expected the boy to cower like he did in the beginning when Haymitch was angry, now he just looked bored.

"I'm going to find out what you are up to?"

"You really are getting paranoid."

"I've been paranoid since the day I was thrown in the arena with forty-seven other people. Only one of us was coming out alive."

"And it was you." There was an accusation in his tone that Haymitch didn't like.

"Yes. It was me. I didn't just luck into coming out of there, kid. I fought to stay alive, and you have no idea what I've been through. I didn't just wander out of the games without a care in the world. You have no idea what it's like to live with knowing you've killed someone."

"Are you done now? I'd like to go back to my room. We're leaving soon after the crowning of the newest Victor," Peeta said, completely calm and had no reaction to Haymitch yelling at him.

"Yes, we're done. Just remember, if I can figure that you're up to something so can he."

Peeta woke up when there was a tap at his door. He was exhausted and just wanted to sleep, at least until a nightmare woke him up. Getting out of bed, he moved to the door. Opening he was greeted with the face of Haymitch, who had clearly been drinking.

"Why?" Peeta asked. "You've been doing so good. You're going to break Ivo's heart. Not only that, but Effie will also lose her mind if she finds out you're drinking again."

The older man winced at that. "Come with me," Haymitch said, his voice gravelly.

"Why?"

"You'll see."

Peeta followed Haymitch into the living room of the suite, Effie was on the couch, her feet tucked under her. She was wearing an orange silk set of pajamas. Peeta also noticed she had a glass in her hand and looked pretty drunk herself. She was crying and Peeta didn't understand why until he looked to where she was looking. The television on the wall was showing a live video from 12.

"This is just to us, kid," Haymitch said, his voice cracking.

The bakery was on fire, he saw people trying to put it out, but it was too far gone. The whole town was light because the fire was so big. What worried him the most was he didn't see his parents or brothers in with the townspeople. The scene then cut to the Seam. Another place was on fire, a house. It took him a minute to realize it was the Hawthorne place. Peeta turned and looked at Effie and Haymitch, now he saw what he had missed when he was woken up. It was despair on their faces, despair and anguish. Ivo was staying with the Hawthornes.

"Maybe they made it out alright," he said, not believing his own words.

"It's the middle of the night, they would have all been sleeping. He's dead," Haymitch choked out.

Effie burst into full blown hysterics now.

"I hope this is what you wanted because you did this," Haymitch said before picking up Effie and taking her back into her room.

It was impossible, there was no way that Snow knew what he was doing. There was no way he knew anything. It had to be a coincidence…it had to be…he couldn't have just gotten Ivo and his family murdered…could he have?