Chapter Text
74th Hunger Games Challenge: We Always Were
By: Jamie Sommers
Chapter Fifteen: Memories
74th Hunger Games Challenge!
There was snow on the ground and the giant oak tree was bare. All of its leaves were gone for the winter. Most of the students ate indoors during the winter months, but Peeta and Katniss braved the cold so they could get a few hours together each week. Unfortunately, that meant their friends Delly and Madge had to eat outside too. Katniss had brought an old sheet of plastic and fashioned a shelter in the surrounding trees for them so they could keep warm, but she and Peeta never worried about getting cold. They just worried about getting caught.
“It’s freezing out here today. Maybe we should just eat inside?” Peeta hoped she’d say no.
“I’m okay out here if you are. I’m sort of used to the cold. Gale and I sit for hours in it when we hunt.” Katniss’ head snapped towards Peeta. “But if you’re cold…we can go inside, Peeta.” She was up and gathering their lunch together before he even answered.
“No. No.” He put his hand on hers to stop her. “I don’t want to go anywhere.” He smiled up at her. The tip of her nose was red and her cheeks had taken on a rosy hue. “There’s no place on earth I’d rather be than here with you.”
Katniss sat back down on the blanket she kept stashed inside of Delly and Madge’s tent. “If anyone came out here right now, they’d probably think we were insane.”
“We are insane. It’s got to be about thirty five degrees out here.” Peeta laughed. “We’ll probably get frostbite,” he grinned.
“Or pneumonia,” she smiled as she moved closer to him.
“The flu.” He wrapped his arms around her as she pressed her back against his chest.
“We could freeze to death.” She rested her head against his shoulder and snuggled up against him.
“Mmmm…” He kissed her softly against the cheek and whispered in her ear. “Great way to die.”
Peeta began to blink. His eyelids were heavy, there was something weighing them down. He tried to adjust his focus on the things around him. He saw the tree. He wondered where the leaves came from. The tree had been bare just a minute ago. And where was Katniss? She was just in his arms, but now his arms were covered in mud. He attempted to lift his head, but his neck felt as though it were detached from his body so he let his head drop back down. Where are you? He asked himself. It became clear that he was not in District 12 having lunch with Katniss as he thought. The sound of the river below him brought him to his senses. He was in the arena. He was still alive, but if he stayed in the open he wouldn’t remain that way and he knew it. He tried to move once more, but a sharp pain shot through his leg and he couldn’t help the scream that escaped from his throat. It took his breath away.
The conversation he had in his mind helped him to regain his faculties. ‘You’re still alive, but barely. Is Katniss alive? I don’t know. You’ll have to wait until tonight and see if the Capitol projects her image in the sky. You won’t last until tonight if you just lie here. I can’t move. You have to hide. I can’t move. But you have to hide. So hide. In plain sight? Yes. In plain sight.’
Once again he tried to lift his head to see what was around him, this time he could make out a few things. There was some moss, sticks, leaves and flat stones. When his neck gave out he used his hands and began feeling around for items. When he got tired, he rested, but not for long, he knew he was a sitting duck. If he wanted to make it to nightfall he had to take cover.
The mud he had fallen into provided some natural cover for him, but there was still too much of his body showing. He forced himself into a sitting position, biting on a stick he had found to keep himself from screaming. When he was upright it took all of his strength not to fall face first into the mud. He sat for a minute and took some deep breaths then took some of the moss, rocks and mud and shielded his lower body. Though he didn’t know it, the moss and mud he had fallen into became a natural bandage for his wound. The second it was covered he fell backwards against the soft soil with exhaustion. He used anything he could reach to cover himself, but his face was the biggest problem. He needed to breathe. His fingers began to take little bits of earth and stone and mixed them with the mud underneath his body. He placed each piece against his skin, feeling for a bare patch and then pressing the molded earth onto himself. The hot sun dried it within minutes. He trailed his fingertips along his face. When it was completely covered he let his hand drop back down, closed his eyes and let sleep take him over.
His eyes opened when he heard the sound of their nation’s anthem. There was no one in the sky, only darkness. “Katniss,” he breathed her name and thought, you’re alive, but for how long? He’d have to survive at least until tomorrow night’s showing to make sure the Careers were dead and Katniss was still alive. He had to. He reached out to the patch of damp moss and ripped a piece from it then began suckling the moisture it held within. One more day, he told himself. Hang on for one more day.
…..
…..
She wasn’t sure how many times she had excused herself from the room over the past few days, but Portia knew she wasn’t the only one shedding tears in private over Katniss and Peeta. Effie’s eyes, though made pink with makeup, were burgeoning on red and Cinna’s concern seemed to be accentuated by the gold in his eyeliner. The one member of the team that hadn’t shed a tear, who was acting uncharacteristically quiet, was Haymitch. He had been talking to himself, murmuring quite a bit as if fighting inner demons.
Each day Peeta lay in the mud, hidden from view, sucking anything moist he could get his hands on, which he was quickly running out of, Haymitch seemed to get worse and worse. Katniss, on the other hand, had herself a little nurse in the arena. Rue, the young child from District 11, had rolled her into a shallow pit and covered her up with dried leaves. Each day she checked on her and changed her leaves. She opened Katniss’ mouth and squeezed in some drops of berry juice, and then Rue would take back up to her trees. Watching Katniss from above, but hiding out from those around her. The day after the tracker jacker attack, Rue went to check on the rest of the tributes.
The Careers made it back to their camp with the aid of a boy from District 3. He had found them not far away from the tracker jacker tree. Marvel and Clove were unconscious, but Cato was awake. Not as alert and fully functioning as normal, the venom from the tracker jackers had caused him to have some hallucinogenic side effects shortly after he began chasing Peeta into the woods. One minute Cato was running after him, determined to finish what he started and kill Lover Boy. The next he was waving his sword in the air, slashing at the snakes that were raining down on him from above. The boy from District 3 literally walked right into their group the next day. When he turned to run away, Cato grabbed at his leg and pulled him down to the ground. He was about to plunge one of Clove’s knives into his neck, until the boy said he could help Cato. Rue couldn’t make out what the boy was going to help Cato with. She could only assume it was getting the other two Careers back to camp.
Rue also tracked Peeta’s blood trail. The team from District 12 almost wished she could see him hidden away amongst the earth, so she could care for him the way she had cared for Katniss, but Peeta had hidden himself a little too well, which was actually a good thing.
“How is he,” Effie whispered to Portia over their untouched lunch plates.
“He’s dying.”
“I don’t understand this. We have sponsors. Why doesn’t he send in some medication?” Effie’s voice was quiet.
Portia shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know.” Portia had her suspicions, but she wasn’t about to voice them.
“Well I’m going to find out.”
“Effie. Don’t” Portia tried to stop the woman, but it was too late. Effie was standing in front of Haymitch with her hands on her hips.
“Would you like to tell me what you’re doing?” Effie accosted Haymitch.
Haymitch lifted his bloodshot eyes to Effie and said, “What?”
“That boy is practically dead and you’re just sitting there doing nothing about it.” Haymitch dropped his head and ignored her. “I’m talking to you, Haymitch!” She shouted. “Or are you too drunk to notice?!”
“Effie!” Cinna called out to her. “He hasn’t had a drink in two days.” Cinna couldn’t stand by and watch Effie attack Haymitch this time.
Effie turned her head to Cinna then back to Haymitch and said, “Is this true?” She shook her head and said, “No matter. That still doesn’t excuse your behavior.”
“And what behavior is that?” Haymitch asked her. “What have I done now?”
“It’s not what you’ve done; it’s what you haven’t done. That poor boy is on the brink of death and you could have saved him days ago, but no. Oh no. You just sat here and let him lay in that mud.” Haymitch stood up and walked to the bar and put his hands against the edge of the table. “He’s bleeding to death. Probably catching some type of deadly infection and all you had to do was send in some shot or cream or…or…something, but instead you…”
“I couldn’t.” Haymitch choked out.
“Oh, yes you could!” Effie screeched at him. “One push of the button and…”
Haymitch picked up a glass and flung it against the wall and said, “I couldn’t, Effie! I couldn’t! He made me swear it, okay?!” His hands were shaking. His whole body was shaking. He needed a drink. “He made me swear…”
Haymitch could see Peeta standing in front of him on the rooftop of the Tribute Center not too long ago. He could feel Peeta’s hand press against his chest.
“You and I are going to make a new deal.” Peeta told him.
“A new deal? I’ve already stayed fairly sober, boy.” Haymitch tried to intimidate Peeta with a look, but it wasn‘t working.
“Don’t try and compare your alcohol with Katniss, because that’s what I’ve given up. I gave her up and the little time I had with her, so yeah…you and me…we’ve got a new deal. And this is how it‘s going to go. Katniss and I will earn the sponsors. You go out and sign them up, but… when it comes to directing their gifts…they all go to her. All of them.”
Haymitch and the rest had agreed that they’d save Katniss in the arena, but if they were going to get as many sponsors as Haymitch thought they would by this whole Star Crossed Lovers thing, there was no reason they couldn’t make the arena a little easier on Peeta too. “Look, kid. The arenas no joke. If I can make things better for both of you…”
“No, Haymitch! No. I don’t care if you see me lying face down in a pool of my own blood. I swear to God, if you send me anything, I’ll throw it away. Got it? So everything goes to Katniss. Everything. Now swear it.”
“I swear on my life, kid.”
“Sorry, that’s not good enough. You don’t hold yourself in very high regards. Swear on hers. Swear on Katniss’ life.”
Effie placed a full glass of whiskey in Haymitch’s trembling hands as he finished regaling the story to them and lifted it up to his lips. “Drink this.”
Cinna, Portia and Effie just exchanged heartbroken glances with one another.
“There’s nothing you could’ve done, Haymitch. He wouldn’t have used the medicine even if you had sent it in,” Cinna tried to help ease the man’s pain.
“Cinna’s right,” Effie agreed. “And…” She cleared her throat. “I was…wrong. I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
Portia and Cinna’s eyebrows shot up at the escort’s apology.
There was a moment of silence in the room until Haymitch said, “Did anybody get that?” Haymitch lifted his head and gave Effie a discerning grin. “Effie apologized to me.”
She shoved the drink into his hand, stood up from her perched position and said, “This still doesn’t mean that I like you.”
Things were slowly getting back to normal for the team from District 12.
…..
…..
“You’re freezing.” Peeta unzipped his coat. “Come here.” He pulled Katniss into his jacket and wrapped it around her. She curled into him, but the pressure from her shoulder caused him to suck a breath in between his teeth.
“What’s wrong?” She turned around to face him. “Did I hurt you?”
“It’s nothing.”
“It’s not nothing.” Her eyes were filled with worry.
“It’s just a burn.” He pulled her back into his arms, but she pulled away.
“On your chest?”
“Katniss, I work around hot ovens all day. I’m bound to get an occasional burn.”
“On your hands…arms maybe, but your chest?” Her fingers started fumbling at his shirt buttons. “Let me see.”
“No.” His hands stopped hers. “Knock it off,” he chuckled.
“I want to see.” She tried to get to his buttons again.
“If you want to undress me, then we should go someplace warmer,” he joked. “Stop it.” His fingers were fighting with hers, but his were cold and she was quicker than he was. “Seriously, Katniss.” He flattened her hands against his chest as his voice got stern. “Stop.” His eyes met hers. “Please?”
“No,” she leaned in and kissed his cheek. “Let me see it, Peeta,” she whispered into his ear. “Just show it to me.” His hands released hers and she undid the middle two buttons of his shirt to reveal a two inch burn mark going vertically up his chest. “My God, Peeta! How did that happen? And don’t say the oven because an oven doesn’t make that kind of mark.”
Peeta wanted to tell her the truth. He wanted to tell her that his mother got mad at him and his brothers for a bag of flour that split open while they were unloading the deliveries. He wanted to say that when he was cleaning it up, by himself, his mother was yelling at him and lifted up the spoon that had been inside of the hot candied syrup she was making for an icing and flung it at him. To let her know that he clawed at his skin trying to pull at the chunk of hot sugar, which had congealed onto his shirt, off of him, but instead he said, “Do you mind if we don’t talk about it, Katniss?” He could tell that granting his request was hard for her.
She buttoned his shirt back up and placed a kiss next to the spot where his mother had burned him, she turned around and rested against his chest making sure not to press up against his injury. “Peeta, if you ever want to talk about it…I’m here.”
“I know you are.” He wrapped his coat around her and leaned his head against her shoulder. “Maybe…one day…”
“I’ll be here then too.” She kissed his cheek. “I’ll always be here for you.”
The sound of the cannon caused his eyes to fly open. “Katniss!” He tried to scream out her name, but it barely came out. Was the cannon fire signaling her death? He didn’t know. He had to find out, but in order to do that he had to survive.
He needed water. There was no more moss within his reach. You have to sit up, he told himself. You have to make it through the night to see who was killed. It took him over an hour, but he finally made it onto his elbows and lifted his upper body off of the ground. The water was so close to him, but he couldn’t reach it. In one swift move he threw his arm out and grabbed a handful of the moss that had been his life’s nectar and lay back down. He began sucking at it and let his mind drift back to District 12. Back to the oak tree. Back to Katniss.
…..
…..
Katniss had been aware of her surroundings for some time, but what she wasn’t aware of was how she got there. Had Peeta been the one that applied the leaves to her skin and if he was, then where had he gone? He would never leave her unattended and alone unless the Careers found him. She began taking inventory of her last memories, attempting to decipher what was real and what may have been caused by the tracker jacker’s poisonous venom. ‘Peeta saved my life. He told me to run. Did he follow me? I don’t know. Glimmer was covered in green slime. So were my arrows. No. The arrows were covered in some dried blood, so chances are that Glimmer wasn’t covered in slime. I guess the ants that bored through my eyes weren’t real either. What about the leaves? Those are real. They’re on your body right now. Did you put them on there? I don’t think so. Where’s Peeta? I don’t know! Well find him!’
She didn’t find Peeta, but she did find someone else, or someone else found her. “They’re not the only ones that can form alliances you know?”
Sweet little Rue had been taking care of Katniss’ stings and hidden her away from the other tributes. It seemed only fair to Katniss that she do the same for Rue. “You have good sponsors,” said Rue as Katniss applied some burn ointment onto her skin.
“Haven’t you gotten anything yet?”
“No,” Rue shook her head.
“You will, though. Watch. The closer we get to the end, the more people will realize how clever you are.”
“You weren’t joking about wanting me for an ally?” The little girl’s eyes lit up.
“No. I meant it.” I’m sure Peeta would love having you as an ally instead of the Careers, she thought. “Rue?” Katniss wasn’t sure if she should ask, but she needed to know. “How long was I asleep?”
“A couple of days. I changed your leaves twice.”
“So…what happened while I was out?” It was a nice way of asking the child who died.
“The girl from One and the boy from Ten.”
“And…the boy from my district?” Katniss had been out cold for days. Who knows what could’ve happened to Peeta during that time.
“He’s alive,” Rue gave her a little smile. “He’s down by the river…I think.” Katniss turned away from Rue and said a silent thank you. “Is all that true?”
“Is all what true?” Katniss asked.
“About you and him? Being in love?” Rue made a silly face and dragged out the word love.
“Stop it, Rue.” Katniss tried not to let her emotions show, but she couldn‘t help the smile that lifted up the corners of her mouth or the glow that radiated from her eyes..
“Is it?” Rue’s question was one Katniss had been asking herself for quite sometime. She knew Peeta had been in love with her, but was she in love with him. “Katniss?” Rue’s voice was just as soft as the hand she placed on Katniss’ knee.
When Katniss looked down at Rue, she knew the answer to the question that had been plaguing her for months, but she couldn’t seem to voice it.
“Oh, Katniss.” There was pity in Rue’s voice. Somehow this small child knew the answer without Katniss having to answer. “Does he love you too?” Katniss nodded her head. “Then we have to find him.”
“I can’t ask you to do that, Rue.”
“You didn’t ask me, Katniss.”
“It’s too dangerous.”
“Look around, Katniss.” Rue made a sweeping motion with her hand. “I wouldn’t exactly call this the safest place on earth.”
Find Peeta. Was Rue really willing to help her find Peeta? Katniss couldn’t believe it. “The river?” She turned her head to Rue. “How do you know?”
Rue’s face went soft. “I followed his trail of blood.”
“Blood?”
“He’s hurt. I don’t know how badly, but it can’t be too bad. I mean…I lost his trail and the Careers don’t have him.”
“How do you know who the Careers have?” Katniss wondered about Rue’s knowledge of what had been going on in the Games.
“Oh, I know a lot about the Careers,” Rue smiled.
Katniss’ smile matched Rue’s as she said, “You’re going to have to fill me in, Rue.”
She listened and caught up on what the Careers had been up to since the tracker jacker attack. The boy from District 3 stumbled upon them in the woods. Instead of killing him, they let him join their group and now they had all of their supplies in a large pile by the Cornucopia. The boy was so afraid of them, instead of killing them while they were recovering from their injuries he just stood guard. There were nine of them left in the Games. Katniss tried to go through them in her head. The pair from District 2, Rue and the boy from her district, the boy from District 1, the boy from District 3, her and Peeta and…she couldn’t remember who the other one was.
Ideas started forming in Katniss’ head. She needed to find Peeta, but first there were things that had to be done. It was time, Katniss realized, time to get into the Games for real. She had her bow and arrows now, so food wouldn’t be a problem. She had water. She had an ally, who was quite resourceful, but there were the Careers to consider. In order for Katniss to find Peeta, and she would find him, she had to cripple the Careers. She knew Peeta might be injured so it was imperative that she try to give them an edge in the Games, before finding him. It was time to turn the tables around on the Careers and let them be hunted down for a change, but first she needed a plan.
As she and Rue settled into a tree for the night Rue asked her, “What’s it like, Katniss?”
“What’s what like, Rue?”
“Being in love with someone?”
What’s it like? Katniss asked herself. Right now, it’s horrible. I’m sick to my stomach knowing he’s out there. Knowing he’s probably hurt and that he’s going to die just so I can go home to my family, but Katniss would never tell that to Rue. So she leaned down and said, “It’s the most wonderful feeling in the world.” This, she knew, was also the truth.
The sky was void of images, but Katniss mind was full of vivid ones. Peeta smiling at her across the hallway at school. Peeta sitting across from her with his legs crossed after they shared their lunch, drawing a picture on a piece of scrap paper of someone named Mona Lisa. And Peeta’s eyes when he told her he loved her. Katniss slipped her face out from behind the sleeping bag and looked at the moon. There was no smile on her face tonight as she whispered, “Goodnight, Peeta.” Behind the confines of her bag, she found comfort in the warmth of Rue’s tiny body.
On this night when Katniss spoke to Peeta in her mind, it was with a fiery passion. ‘I know what you did for me with the Careers and I want you to know I have the bow and arrows now, so don’t worry. If Cato comes for me…I can take him. In fact…I can’t wait for him to come. I’ve got a plan Peeta. A good one. So you just stay safe and I’ll see you as soon as I‘m done with the Careers.’
She whispered to him, “Stay alive. I’m coming, Peeta.”
…..
…..
The first thing Haymitch noticed when he entered the party was Carter Darlington raising his glass to him and giving him a little nod of approval. Haymitch sent him a wink and walked towards Cinna and Portia who were in the middle of a conversation.
“…won’t matter at all.”
“Of course it will.” Cinna said.
“What won’t matter?” Haymitch asked, and then stopped a waitress. “Glass of whiskey, sweetheart.”
“Portia thinks that it won’t make a difference if people find out about Katniss and Peeta’s…friendship, prior to the Games.”
Haymitch turned to Portia and said, “Why would that even be an issue?”
“I take it you didn’t see what happened earlier?” Cinna asked.
“No,” Haymitch’s face went sour. “What’d she do?”
“Nothing.” Cinna assured him. “Nothing…really.”
Haymitch started pushing the buttons on the television set that was built into their tabletop. “How the hell does this thing work?”
“What are you trying to do?” Portia asked him.
“Rewind the damn thing?”
“Why?” Portia asked cautiously.
“I want to see how badly she screwed up, that’s why.”
“Maybe we should go back to the suite?” Cinna suggested.
“Oh Geez!” Haymitch started letting out a slew of profanities. He knew if Cinna and Portia wanted him to watch Katniss’ display in private, she must’ve done something wrong.
“Come on, Haymitch.” Portia guided him to the exit. “No, whiskey!” She laughed to several guests that were giving him a strange look on the way out the door.
Cinna just shrugged and smiled. Saying, “What can you do?”
“Effie!” Haymitch called to her the moment they stepped into their suite, as though whatever happened in the arena was her fault.
“What?”
“I thought I told you to get me if something happened?!”
“Did something happen?” Effie looked at Cinna and Portia. “What happened?” She was just as confused as Haymitch.
“Effie just got here, Haymitch. Don’t blame her.” Cinna explained.
“Somebody better tell me what the hell is going on! What did that girl do?”
“Who? Katniss?” Effie was completely lost.
“Yes! Katniss! Who else would I be talking about?!” Haymitch walked over to one of the smaller viewing screens and started pushing buttons. “How the hell does this thing….Jesus! Will somebody please….”
Effie huffed out a breath and said, “What do you want it to do?”
“Rewind.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know!” Haymitch made a face at her and turned to Cinna. “Where am I rewinding to?”
Cinna took the remote from Effie and rewound the television feed so they could watch Katniss telling Rue that being in love was the most wonderful feeling in the world.
“Jesus Christ!” Haymitch blurted out.
“What’s the problem?” Effie asked. “I think it’s sweet.”
“It’s sweet…” Haymitch mocked Effie’s voice. “Yes it is sweet. If she was in love with him, but she just found out about it, sweetheart!”
“Oh,” Effie’s face perked up. “That could be a problem.”
“I don’t think it is,” Portia folded her arms and stood back on her heels. “Katniss knows that Peeta saved her life. She even pointed it out to Rue when they were talking.”
“When was that?” Haymitch asked.
“Right after she asked Rue about becoming allies.” Cinna answered.
“Allies?!” Haymitch’s hands flew up in the air. “With the kid?! Oh for God’s sake,” He moaned. “What else did I miss? Is she in with the Careers now too?”
“No, that about covers it,” Portia told him.
“But she mentioned that Peeta’s been covering for her in the arena? That she knew about it?”
“Yes,” Cinna assured him. “So there’s nothing to worry about. In fact… I’m pretty sure her little confession made her seem a bit more…”
“Human,” Effie answered without thinking. Her fingers flew to her lips as if she couldn’t believe what she had said. “Excuse me. I shouldn’t have said that.”
“No…no…Effie. You’re right. This is good. I’m not crazy about her new alliance, but…the kid saved her life. Can’t blame the girl for feeling some type of responsibility to her.” Haymitch looked around at the rest of his group and said, “Now you’re sure I didn’t miss anything else?”
“Not really. Rue suggested they go find Peeta, but Katniss wanted to find out about the Careers first so Rue filled Katniss in on the Careers…” Portia told him.
“Katniss seemed to be very interested in that.” Cinna interrupted her.
“How do you mean?” Haymitch asked.
“She kept asking all types of questions about their supplies. Where they were. Who was guarding them. How badly were they injured… Things like that.” Portia answered.
“Cinna, rewind that video.” Haymitch told him.
“Why?” He asked.
“I’m not sure, but there‘s only one reason Katniss wouldn‘t go looking for Peeta right away.” Haymitch was scratching at his chin. “I think our girl might be up to something.” Haymitch lifted his fingers and started snapping, “And somebody get me a damn drink already!”
…..
…..
“How long until you have to be back?” Katniss asked him.
“I’ve got about ten minutes. How long until you have to meet Gale?” Peeta asked her.
“I was supposed to be there about ten minutes ago,” they both laughed.
He leaned his back against the cold stones of the decrepit cottage they had met up in on the occasional early Sunday morning. “I wish I could make a delivery every single Sunday.” He kissed her head.
“Me too.” She nuzzled her head under his chin.
“I get it now,” Peeta said dreamily.
“Get what now?”
“Why your mom left town to be with your dad.” Katniss lifted her face to his. “I’d do it. I’d leave. I’d work in the mines to be with you.”
Her fingers covered his lips. “Don’t say that, Peeta.”
He placed a kiss against her fingers and spoke against them. “I would.”
She shook her head no and said, “That would break my heart.”
He smiled at her and asked, “Being with me all the time would break your heart?”
“No. Having you trapped inside of those mines would break my heart.” She laid her head upon his chest. “You don’t belong there, Peeta. You don’t belong anywhere near those mines.”
“But, Katniss…What if that’s the only way we can be together?”
“Then we’ll figure out another way.”
“What if there is no other way?”
“There has to be, Peeta.” She lifted her face to his. “There has to be another way. You can’t go into those mines. If you do, I’d leave you, Peeta. I swear it. I would.”
“Hey now!” He cradled her face in his hands. “You’d break up with me if I went to work in the mines?”
“Yes. If you went to work in the mines to be with me, I would.”
“I thought you said you’d always be here for me.”
She let her eyes drop down and said, “Just because I would leave you doesn’t mean I’d stop caring about you.” Her eyes picked back up to his. “But I would, Peeta. I’d end it,” he knew her threat was empty.
“Well, I can’t have that, now can I?” He smiled down at her and placed a kiss on the tip of her nose. She shook her head no. “Okay, Katniss. We’ll find another way. We will, Katniss.”
His eyelids fluttered open when the start of the anthem began to play. “Katniss,” his voice was weak. He forced himself to stay conscious for the images that would be appearing any minute before him, but he was too tired. He didn’t see any faces in the sky that night. The only face he saw was Katniss’ in his dreams as she walked to him surround by a silver mist. She was calling to him. She was saying something to him…telling him something. He struggled to hear her words. He saw her lips moving, but the sound was muffled and then it came to him like she was calling to him on a breeze. “Stay alive. I’m coming, Peeta.”