"Where are you going?" Haymitch asked Peeta as the boy went to the elevator.

"I've got to see someone."

Haymitch could tell the boy was only holding on by a thread but right now all he could think about was Ivo. When he found out about his son he was shocked and didn't want anything to do with him. But over the last year, he had become attached to him. It had been a long time since he had a family and Ivo was his family and Peeta too. Peeta may not be his, but he was closer to Haymitch than he was his own family. Now they both lost their families and Haymitch had no clue why.

It had something to do with whatever Peeta was doing but he wouldn't tell him. Whatever it was, Peeta was keeping it to himself and now it seemed the girl from 9 was in on it. The newest Victor, Rinna, was a part of this. But right now, all he could think of was Ivo, peacefully sleeping before everything went bad. An Avox gave Haymitch some medicine to give to Effie to make her sleep, he couldn't help her if he was falling apart too. Twenty years of not caring about anyone only to have a child, then him being taken from him after a year. He had to give it to Snow, he didn't even think he had it in him.

The train neared 12, leaving Peeta more upset than when they left the Capital. Until they got to 12, his parents weren't dead, they could be alive. But once he was there, there was no way he could stay in denial. Effie and Haymitch didn't look to be fairing any better. The medicine that Effie was on had her looking out of it, which was better than the screaming she had done in the Capital. Haymitch had to get her calmed before she ended up getting herself killed.

Peeta didn't think there would be anyone at the station when they got there but as he looked out the window two small figures appeared, as they got closer they got bigger, but one figure was noticeably smaller than the other.

"HAYMITCH! EFFIE!" he called out to them. "LOOK!"

Effie moved slowly like she was being held back but nothing was holding her. Both adults looked to where he was pointing.

"IVO!" Effie yelled.

On the train platform was Gale and Ivo. Gale was holding the little boy's hand while Ivo was jumping up and down as the train came to a stop.

Effie was at the doors before the train completely stopped. As soon as the doors opened she rushed out and picked Ivo up in her arms, hugging him tightly. Haymitch followed quickly after and joined Effie and Ivo. The little boy was squished in between his parents.

Peeta got off the train and stood next to Gale. "How are you alive?" Peeta couldn't help but ask.

"I was out late hunting, the Peacekeepers are getting stricter, so we have to be more careful. When I came back I saw some Peacekeepers setting fire to my house. They quickly left and I was able to wake my mom up and get the kids outside before it was fully ingulfed. Right now, we have nowhere to go, no one wants to let us stay because they think they'll be attacked too."

"Do you know about my parents and brothers? Did they get out?"

Gale looked down at his hands, they shook some, Peeta knew his answer. "They hit the bakery first, they found your parents bodies along with Clay's, Morse's body has yet to be found." The last part came out strained.

Morse and Gale were in the same grade at school, but Peeta knew they weren't friends. Morse had lots of friends but mostly Town kids, just like Gale stuck to being friends with kids from the Seam.

"Was there no warning?" Peeta asked, already knowing there wasn't.

"Nope. I think this was the warning. Look, I got to go, I was just dropping Ivo off. I've got to find a place for us to live."

"Bring your family to my place."

"Are you crazy? I have no idea what happened or why we were attacked but I know it has something to do with you. Why would I do that?"

"Because there is no place safer than Victor's Village. Snow wouldn't dare attack it; he's got to keep everything in order. Burning down a bakery and a house in the Seam won't cause questions, a house of a Victor, there will be questions."

"Why now? You haven't done anything for anyone since you won. You've helped no one but yourself."

"Things might not be as straightforward as you think. Just think about it. I can't give you money to get a new house, I'm not allowed, but I can let anyone move in."

"We don't need your charity." Gale turned and left, leaving Peeta standing there alone. Which he was, before he knew where his family was, maybe they weren't talking to him anymore because he had put distance between them so they wouldn't be hurt for anything he did. But they were hurt and killed anyway, nothing he did made a difference.

Peeta left Haymitch, Effie and Ivo alone. Effie would have to leave soon so he didn't want to interfere with their time together. Not wanting to go home he went to the fence by the meadow and looked towards the woods. That was where Katniss found him.

"I'm sorry about your family," she said. He hadn't noticed or heard her coming up behind him, she was the picture of stealth.

"Thanks." What else could he say?

"What happened?"

Two places going up in the night, being set on fire by Peacekeepers, it didn't happen for no reason. "I guess I angered President Snow."

"How?"

Peeta shrugged. "By not dying I guess." Not entirely a lie. He knew why his family had been targeted but unsure about why Ivo and the Hawthorne's had been. The Hawthorne's probably just because they were simply nice and were helping Haymitch out by taking care of Ivo. Haymitch was probably targeted because he was seen as being responsible for Peeta.

When Haymitch won he didn't have a mentor, he had to do everything himself. Against all odds he won, and his reward was his family being killed and twenty years of taking kids to their death every year. It must have been so hard. Just losing Sharlie and Evan was hard enough, twenty years of tributes, he didn't think he'd be able to cope with that.

"Prim says she's found you out here a few times just looking into the woods. Why?"

"Do you ever wonder what's beyond the forest?"

He could feel her looking at him. "More forest, I guess. Why do you care?"

"One day we'll have to find out."

"What are you talking about?"

Peeta shook his head, he wasn't in a good way right now. "I'm just talking stupid. I have to contact Mr. Dyer today." Mr. Dyer was the local crematorium owner; they didn't have anything like funerals like the Capital did when someone died but they did have entering of the bodies into the ground. All bodies were cremated, had been for the last twenty years or so. Snow didn't want the districts to grieve their dead, it would make the Capital think of them as people, not toys for their own amusement. But now that Peeta was the only one left, he would have to take care of it. The only good thing is being a Victor he was considered an adult according to the laws of Panem. That meant he wouldn't be sent to the Children's home.

As he made his way back to his house, he purposely made sure not to pass the bakery. He would have to face it soon but not now. A quick stop by Mr. Dyer's had everything set up. The man would tell him when the urns were ready. Some kept them but Peeta didn't think he could do that. Maybe he would just scatter them over flowers that Haymitch and Ivo had started to grow.

When he entered the house he heard someone moving around upstairs. No one should be there. Grabbing the closest thing, an umbrella, he slowly crept up stairs. He followed the noise to one of the many rooms he didn't use. Right now, the only rooms on the second floor he used were his bedroom and another for his studio. Art was just something he liked when he was younger, now he did it a lot, it made the nightmares hurt less.

The door to the room the noise was coming from was cracked open, he pushed it open slowly. Someone was pacing in front of the window, a very familiar someone.

"MORSE!" he shouted before throwing himself at his older brother who just had time to turn to him and open his arms. Morse was two years older than him, turning sixteen a few months before Peeta turned fourteen.

"Peeta. Peeta. Peeta," his brother chanted as he held him. "I thought you were dead."

Peeta pulled away from Morse and looked at him. "I thought you were dead. The bakery. How did you survive?"

Morse looked uneasy for a moment before he answered. "I was out just walking around."

"After curfew? That's not like you."

"Nevermind me, what happened? Why were we attacked?"

"I think it was a message to me. I'm so sorry, it's my fault they're dead."

Morse grabbed his face with his hands, forcing him to look at him. "I don't blame you and you shouldn't either. The only people that should be blamed is the Peacekeepers who set the bakery on fire."

"That doesn't really sound like Cray." Peeta had never even seen the man lash anyone.

"I don't think it was his orders. Cray died trying to get the Hawthorne family out after his own Peacekeepers disobeyed him. He had been trying to get in when his own men shot him. They carried him away before the house started really burning."

"How do you know if you were in town?"

Morse shifted awkwardly. "I just heard it."

It had been hard for Effie to get back on the train and leave but she was better. Finding out that the Hawthorne boy had saved Ivo meant a lot. Haymitch did find it strange that Gale said that he had been out hunting, hunting in the dead of night wasn't a thing. Dawn was the best time to hunt, it was much too dark to hunt when he said he was. It wasn't Haymitch's business, the only thing that mattered was that Ivo and the Hawthorne family was safe.

For the next few days Haymitch wasn't letting go of Ivo. He also was going to make sure whatever Peeta was doing was stopped. Snow knew whatever it was and it almost cost Haymitch the most important person in his life and did cause Peeta to lose his whole family.

"This is becoming a habit," Katniss said, coming up behind Peeta yet again. Peeta was in the very spot he had been for the last four days since he got back. He would come out by the fence near the meadow and just stare for hours out into the woods. "What are you doing out here every day?"

"Trying to find a solution."

"A solution for what?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Okay. I heard about Morse, I'm glad he survived."

"Me too."

"It's also really nice to let the Hawthorne's move in. I'm glad Gale changed his mind."

It had been weird, at first Gale was all livid about Peeta offering to let them stay, like he was buying them off. But then the next day his whole demeanor and mind changed.

"Me too. It's strange though," Peeta said, still just looking into the woods.

"What is?"

"There are enough rooms for them all to have their own, but Rory and Vic are sleeping in one, Mrs. Hawthorne and Posey are sharing too."

"It's a big house and they are used to sleeping so close together."

"But that doesn't explain why Morse and Gale are sharing."

That gave Katniss pause, that was strange. Gale wasn't close to anyone but his family and Katniss. He was too paranoid to sleep in the same room with someone he didn't trust. She would have to ask him about that.

"Can you take me into the woods tomorrow?" Peeta suddenly asked.

"What?"

"Knowing my luck, I'd get electrocuted or eaten by a bear if I went alone."

"Why do you want to go into the woods?"

Peeta just shrugged. Katniss didn't know what to think about this less chatty Peeta. In school even though they weren't friends he was always laughing and joking around, never had she seem him alone or not talking to friends. Now he was alone all the time, and she hadn't seen him laugh in forever.