A/N: This feels strange. Like, really strange. I haven't written an author's note in about five years… So here goes nothing. If you couldn't tell, I want to finish my story. Don't count on my writing being the same! I've changed a lot over the past five years and I'd like to finish this story before the summer of 2017.

I'm really upset at the fact that I never pushed through and finished this. I can't believe I just gave up! I'm really sorry to anyone I let down. Hopefully I'm able to capture the characters better from here on out, but forgive me if I don't… I'm not going to follow the plot as closely as I have been from now on.

Once more, I don't and never will own The Hunger Games.

Let's cut my rambling and get on with the story!

Chapter 12

Am I dead?

The world swirled around me. Everything was strange – one moment, Prim was holding my hand and asking me to come back and the next, she would melt into the sea, a beautiful body of water that is something I've only ever seen a handful of times through old postcards in District 12 or occasionally on television if a special about 4 was on.

I couldn't move. I was stuck, paralyzed, floating away in shimmering waters. I couldn't do anything but stare at the sky; the beautiful, haunting sky. Mostly it would sparkle in varying shades of pink and orange and purple, but occasionally it would flash into my favorite shade of blue. I swear, I could almost see eyes in this sky.

I don't know how long I was like this. If I had died, surely eternity cannot be this?

Maybe if Peeta were with me, this could be a bearable way to spend forever.

Occasionally voices would ring out, I was sure I could hear Peeta, but they would stop after a while. Perhaps the wind was speaking to me. I tried to respond, but I lost the ability. I know I could hear someone saying my name, pushing hair out of my face, pressing on my wounds.

I've decided that I'm not dead.

I know now that Peeta is with me, but he's also with someone else. Are we back home? No, we can't be… But who is he having these conversations with?

"I think she'll wake up soon. But for now, let's just keep putting the treatment on her bites." Who is that voice? A young girl? Is it Prim? Oh, Primrose, go back home… You can't be here.

"Her eyelids keep twitching. I wonder what she's seeing…" Peeta! I know that voice! I could never forget that voice, no matter how hard I tried.

"Back in 11, I got stung once." 11? District 11? So, Peeta is with Rue. "Tracker jacker nests are all over the place. The Capitol never sent anyone to get them out of the trees in the orchards. It was one of the weirdest feelings I've ever had. I hallucinated for a day. I can still remember all the colors and animals I saw. Of course, I only got stung by one, so my injuries weren't as bad as Katniss', but it was still terrifying. But I have the feeling she'll pull through."

"So is that how you know how to make this paste? I've never seen leaves like these used back home before."

"Oh, yes, we use these all the time. Tracker jacker stings aren't uncommon. How is your leg feeling?"

"Pretty awful, but I think the leaves are helping. You know, one time, I fell while carrying Katniss' arrows at home and I accidentally stabbed myself. I was in so much pain," he paused and laughed. My favorite sound in the world. "But it doesn't compare at all to this. Her mom stitched me up well and it was completely healed within a month." I felt him grab my hand and hold it with both of his hands. He played with my fingers for a couple moments. "Do you remember that, Katniss? You were so angry with me. You told me that I broke one of your best arrows," he chuckled again. "I need you to hurry up and wake up and yell at me again so I know that you're alright and that you're you."

Rue responded, but I couldn't quite make out what she said. I fell completely unconscious once again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Suddenly, the world came back to me. I peeled my eyes open and tried to adjust myself to light again. The first thing that registered was that we were in some sort of cave. There was some daylight out, but it looked as if the sun was setting. I noticed a dull throbbing in my cheek, neck, and arm. Must have been where I was stung.

Rue was curled up on my left, asleep, and Peeta was sitting on my right, keeping watch. Absentmindedly playing with my hand, he looked out into the horizon. I tried to lift my hand to his face and he immediately whipped his head around to look at me. The look of relief on his face was astounding. "Katniss?" he said, turning his body completely towards me. The smile on his face went from ear to ear.

I couldn't help it, his grin was contagious. I smiled as big as I could and winced when the muscles in my cheek moved. "Hey, I'm not dead yet."

A sound escaped his throat, something caught between a laugh and a sob. As gently as he could, he kissed me. God, I missed the feel of his lips on mine. That was a feeling I thought I'd never get back. He helped me sit up and kissed me again. He pulled away slightly and rested his forehead on mine. "Hi."

Again, I couldn't help it, I had to laugh at how ridiculous it all seemed. Here we were, in The Hunger Games together, and he's saying "hi". Oh, how ridiculous life can be sometimes.

I grinned and kissed the tip of his nose. "Hi, yourself."

Rue stirred on the other side of me. I untangled myself from Peeta's embrace and she gasped. "Katniss! You're awake!" I grinned at her and she launched herself into my arms. Stunned, my arms hung at my side for a second. Then, after a moment, I reached up and hugged her back.

I barely knew this girl, and she barely knew me. I cannot afford to get attached to her, especially if she had to die at some point so I could keep Peeta alive. But, then again, she was only 12; I knew she was not planning on sticking a knife in my back when I wasn't looking. The three of us couldn't win, she had to know that. Not even both me and Peeta. I figured I could hug her back for her sake, so she didn't feel too lonely. And maybe it made me feel like I was hugging Prim one last time. But I didn't need to let that get to my head.

She pulled away and had a sheepish grin. "Sorry, I know that must have seemed weird, but I can't help but feel like I know you so well. Peeta kept telling me all these stories about you guys at home. I feel like we're all friends now."

"Oh, did he? And what exactly did he say?" I turned to him and he shrugged his shoulders with a big smile on his face.

"Oh, come on, I just told her the truth about how you're the most beautiful girl in District 12. Nothing too crazy," he said as he reached for me again. I smiled and settled down into his side when he winced.

I didn't notice that he had a jacket thrown over his legs before. With my eyebrows knitted together, I looked at him more closely. "Peeta, are you hurt?" I reached for the jacket to pull it away when his hand caught mine. "What are you—"

He cut me off. "Katniss, it's not a big deal. I think you should get some more rest. We'll catch you up on everything that happened after you get some sleep."

I pulled my hand out of his grip and rolled my eyes. "I don't need some sleep, I've been sleeping for the past – well, I don't really… Actually, how long have I been out?" I looked back and forth between Peeta and Rue, who was currently rummaging through a pack. She pulled out a canteen and some crackers.

Rue and Peeta exchanged looks. Rue spoke up, "well, you've been out for three days. I found Peeta trying to carry you but he was making so much noise I had to warn him to be quiet. And… That's when he asked if I wanted to stay with you guys. We didn't know how you'd feel about it but we've been trying to heal your wounds a bit ever since. The tracker jacker venom knocked you out for a good while." She hesitated before saying the next part. Her gaze slipped from me back to Peeta and an apologetic expression flitted across her face. "And Peeta got hurt pretty bad."

Peeta started. "Rue!"

I leaned over and ripped the jacket off, revealing a big slit in pants. It looked like Peeta and Rue ripped it even further to get a better look at it. There was some sort of green paste on his thigh, covering what looked like a pretty deep wound. "Why didn't you say anything when I asked?"

He sighed. "I didn't want you to worry. I have it all under control, I think it'll heal up pretty fast… We're just trying to keep it clean from infection."

I gulped. Infection in the games was a death sentence. If Peeta's leg became infected I just don't know what I'll do. And if he died from the infection… I would lose my mind.

"I wish you would have told me when I woke up."

Peeta looked apologetic. "I know, but I just didn't think that it was something we needed to worry you with right now. After all, you just woke up. I was trying to give you a couple minutes to come back to the real world." He leaned in and kissed my cheek and rested his head on my shoulder for a couple minutes when Rue spoke up.

"I'm sorry Peeta, I know you didn't want her to know, but she was going to find out when we changed your paste anyway. I figured, why wait?" she said as she reached into a small pack. She pulled out some funny looking leaves and handed some to Peeta. They both put them in their mouths and began chewing. They don't look like mint leaves… Are they eating them…?

As if they could read my mind, they spit out the chewed-up wad of leaves and began putting them on my tracker jacker stings (which I noticed looked a lot better than they probably should). Oh. So that's what the green paste is for.

Rue noticed my expression and began to explain. "We have these leaves back home."

I nodded. "Yeah, I think I heard you two talking about that while I was unconscious." Suddenly, my stomach growled, cutting me off from what I was about to say. I grimaced while Peeta and Rue laughed.

Peeta reached for something on the other side of him. "I probably should have said something earlier but… are you, by any chance, hungry?" We laughed again as I nodded.

"I thought you'd never ask. Speaking of… What have I missed?"

A/N: There we have it! I'm back in the game. I really hope you guys enjoyed this, because I had a lot of fun writing it. Let me know how you liked it! Thanks for reading!