"Come on man, we're going to be late," Gale shouts from beyond the kitchen door. I see him scuff his boots against the dry dust that lingers outside the shop. It used to be grass but ever since the drought that's rippled across Panem, everything seems to turn to dust.

And it's not just relegated to District 12. All over the country, Districts have been thrust into new levels of poverty and starvation. Those with industries that rely on crop production have suffered the most with the failing plant growth and the lack of fresh water for drinking. Even District 4, which lies near the ocean, has suffered the consequences.

Here at home, I've had to abandon running the bakery full time. There isn't enough product to purchase, and the Capitol has created a rationing program to stifle the requests. The program, designed to prioritize families and couples as 'essential' groups that receive more rations in turn for higher industry manufacturing, has basically stalled the production of any non-essential goods by limiting shipments to once a month. In the end, it all means that my family bakery, Mellarks, has turned solely into a bread production building and a stark reminder that the District is dying.

And sadly, you cannot support yourself with only bread whether it be through sustenance or cash flow or both.

That's why I've taken to the mines. That's why I spend countless hours working overtime in the underground, struggling alongside all of the long-time miners to produce the still-in-demand levels of coal.

I can't complain – I was lucky to get this job. So many other merchant families that I'd known over the past few years kept their noses in the air until all the jobs were gone. Now all I can do is watch as they struggle to make ends meet and beg for food. I'd give them some, if I had any myself to give. But I don't.

For the first time in District 12's history, the Merchant class has slipped into a poverty greater than ever imagined, even in comparison to the Seam. Some would say it's this poverty that drove so many of the able families off to other Districts with their last remaining funds – both mine and Delly's parents included. They'd run to places like One and Two, where money was still available for their non-essential trades. I'd stayed behind to keep the family bakery alive and with that choice, Delly had stayed as well.

I guess it's not surprising though, that the Seam has only gotten stronger with the ever draining resources. They've been struggling for years and surviving on less for their whole lives. Now, when it comes down to a tightening of the belt, they know how to play the game and keep their jobs. They know how to stretch the last dollar and especially how to haggle with the other non-traditional avenues of money.

I really was lucky to get this job.

"Peeta, don't forget to bring home that bolt of silk from the draper's!" Delly yells from the top of the stairs. I have to shake my head – she's one of the women who clearly don't understand the tightening of the belt, not even a little bit.

Sometimes I question why we're even engaged.

"I've already told you, we can't afford it right now!" I shout in reply, pulling my laces tighter until the left one snaps in my hand. "Shit," I grumble.

"Hey – The elevator drops in 15. We need to go or we'll get canned," Gale reminds as he pokes his head inside the door. Tossing him the snapped lace I rush to the cabinet and pull out a roll of tape. Quickly and with deft hands I fasten my boot to my foot with the silver material and grin sheepishly at Gale. I hear Delly on the steps behind me and I push the other man out the door, attempting to escape before she can regale me with another complaint about her lack of pretty things.

"Peeta!"

The door has already clapped shut behind me and I lift my hand in goodbye, rushing to catch up to Gale who's laughing heartily in front of me.

"Trouble with the missus?" He prompts as we climb over the hill through what remains of the forest. There was a fire here not a week ago which stripped the land of its nourishment. At least it opened up a shortcut to the mine.

"She's not a missus, yet," I reply and try to avoid his stare as we walk.

Though I'd never say it out loud, I'd settled for Delly long before the drought had struck. Our families had negotiated our relationship back when we were just kids – it had worked out that in the end, we would share equal family properties when our parents retired as long as we stayed together. The bakery would stay with me, as long as I stayed with Delly.

My mother had always been the main instigator in the arrangement, as she often liked to remind us. My father, on the other hand, had known me better. He'd known of my penchant for long dark hair and olive skin, the kind of infatuation that ten year olds excel at. He'd also taken notice of the fact that that infatuation didn't go away all through my childhood. In all honesty, I'd harboured it for years, until I'd noticed from afar that she'd already found her partner and married.

I asked Delly to marry me not a month later, settling my dreams in the dark back of my mind with the reminder that every kiss, every touch, was more of an arrangement than a desire. I hadn't thought it would be so bad, to be married to my lifelong friend. And so I'd agreed to my mother's arrangement and made a promise to Delly and my family in return for a decent life at the helm of Mellarks.

We'd initially planned to get hitched this summer, but when things took a turn for the worse with the drought and my family moved on to District 2, we postponed the ceremony in an effort to save money. As the months had passed though, it had become increasingly clear to me that the persistently positive woman I'd known since I was a child was no more than somewhat of a spoiled brat. The stress of the situation was quickly making me reconsider whether it was really worth all the hassle to keep my promises to my family and the Cartwrights.

Again, something I would never say out loud.

"Well, if you ever do need a break, Katniss and I just finished building the spare bedroom in the back. You're more than welcome to hide out whenever Prim's not in town visiting," He suggested as we crested the hill and the soot of the mine became tenfold over our boots.

"Yeah, sounds likely," I mutter. In all honesty, though it was a nice gesture, I would never stay with the Hawthornes. Before I'd found out that they were together, I'd dreamed about Katniss like any teenage boy would. She was amazing – strong, smart, beautiful – I'd thought we were destined for each other. But then she'd been looped into marrying Gale when her mother moved south and I'd watched her slowly slip through my fingers.

It took less than a month for me to propose to Delly after that.

So I'm pretty sure what I did was settle.

"Ready for another day in the shaft?" The old man who operated the lift asked us wearily, knowing how miserable the underground was for the men who spent twelve hours below.

"Always, Smits," Gale boasted and shoved me in the elevator, pulling the gates closed behind us. We were the last ones to arrive and it didn't take long before the click of the gate locking and the gears rolling pushed us down below the surface.

I felt Gale shove my helmet onto my head with a heavy hand, and I had a moment where he reminded me of my oldest brother. I'd met Gale my first day in the mines – he'd been assigned to show me the ropes and operation of the machine. Though I'd known him in passing – and more obviously as Katniss' husband – I hadn't really had a clear picture of this man until the day I saw him underground.

He was a madman down under, constantly cursing the job and the government and everything he could rip to shreds with his words. There were two things in his life that he valued most over everything – Katniss and the forest. He'd never spoken ill of them, not once, and it showed with every conversation I had with him about Delly.

After that first day, he'd basically taken me under his wing. I'd been grateful, though a little confused, by his actions. I'd spent the better half of the last few years of my life thinking only jealous thoughts of this man and now here he was, counselling me on life and love and keeping everything in perspective. It had thrown me through a loop but I'd easily come around.

It wasn't hard, liking Gale Hawthorne. And though that sucked for me, I was glad that Katniss had him in her life. She needed something good in her life.

"Alright boys, today we're hitting the east wall. Secall, Morris – you're on lead. Grab the cage and remember if that little darling stops singing..." The shift leader called out and began heading down an alternative route. Gale and I stumble along after our team leads as we headed down into the tunnel systems.

I don't think I'll ever get used to the feeling of being down this deep. When you get down this far, the air is heavy, your ears pop, it feels like you're eating dirt, and you never get to enjoy a sunlit lunch. The tour I went on in the fifth grade had not even scratched the surface of what it would be like to work down here every day.

Or maybe I just hadn't taken it seriously because I hadn't thought I'd ever have to work down here.

When we were finally in place to start the day, neither of us spoke until lunch time. Within the first hour I was already coated in a thick layer of sweat and soot, my skin blackened and my eyes bleary from the dust.

By lunch time, I was nearly beat. Coughing heavily, I took a seat near the end of the row and pulled out my canteen of water, sucking the cool liquid back with a good helping of coal along with it. I was past the point of caring. I was past the point of giving a shit about much else.

"You look tired," Gale stated, sitting down heavily next to me as he pulled out a sandwich from his pack. If he wasn't the only six-foot-something guy down here, I'd barely be able to tell it was him for all the dust on his face. I probably looked like a zebra or something with my white skin below the streaks of black.

"I am tired," I replied, biting into my carefully portioned slice of cheese. "Delly had me up half the night showcasing her dresses for the winter gathering."

"You do know that that's not for like... A couple months, right?"

"I do – but whatever makes her happy. I mean, I love her, but Christ, sometimes I just want her to sit quietly with me and not hop around the house like she's five years old..." I can see Gale quirk an eyebrow at me, barely defined but for the hint of clean skin in the creases of his eyelids. "What?" I ask through a mouthful. He shakes his head and bites again into his lunch.

The hour passes in near silence as we take the time to rest and enjoy our meager lunches. When the bell rings out for us to get back to it, I stand and grip my pick, swinging it back and forth as Gale saunters ahead.

"What're you up to this weekend?" I ask after a while, pacing out my swings a little more slowly. I am tired, but I've got to keep working no matter what.

"Taking Catnip out on a hot date to the forest. I've got Saturday off so we're going to get some... Outdoors time together," He finishes with a little laugh. Most outsiders would think he was hinting at getting laid, but I've come to know him far better than that. They're going hunting – the one thing that's still forbidden in this country and the one thing that keeps them eating better than anyone else in the District.

"Sounds like a treat," I grumble and swing the pick harder, taking out my jealousy of his life on the rock face in front of me.

The rest of the shift passes in relative ease, considering the way my muscles begin to protest around hour ten and the difficult way my lungs start to heave around hour eleven. We're thirty minutes out of being called to board the lift when I feel the ground below me tremble slightly. I look around, judging the other men to see if they've felt it as well. Everyone continues to swing their picks or lift their shovels, unaware of what I've probably imagined.

I know I haven't when the ground shakes again and dust falls from the ceiling. It's eerily silent for a moment.

It's then that I realize, there's no more singing.

Gale already has me by the collar, hauling me towards the elevator shaft as the men behind us shout in panic and fear.

"Get on! Go!" He screams in my ear and I burst through the lift gate and into the back. The ground below vibrates again and Gale punches the lift button frantically. Another man jumps on just as we're about to close the gates and I see it, the collapsing rock, the flickering flames. I feel my body shoved into the corner of the cage, my face pressing against the hard metal mesh.

An explosion rocks out behind us as the lift rises up into the air. We're thrown forcefully around as the vibrations ring out. I can't tell whether my ears are ringing from the blast or from the screams or from the changing pressure of the depth. My brain struggles to keep up as my heart beats.

"We're almost to the top," I yell wildly, gripping Gale's uniform sleeve. We've almost made it out. We're almost there.

We breach the surface and the gates are pulled open as men from the next shift change come rushing at us. They're yelling commands and barking orders as we're pulled from the cage and dragged away from the shaft. I still can feel the heat of the flames sparking up at us as my body shakes from the adrenaline.

"Are you alright?" A man is barking into my face as he crouches over me. I nod and he taps my shoulder. "We've got a live one over here!" He calls out and steps away. The guy next to me isn't so lucky. In another moment a woman is at my side, her hands running over my limbs as she tells me calmly what she's doing. Checking for blood. Checking my bones. Checking sensory points.

"Looks like you got lucky," She states and then gasps. I feel her hands on my wrists and I struggle to look up. She's got my hands in hers though they don't look like my hands. One arm is charred up the side, the other's palm is criss-crossed with black burns from where I'd gripped the metal cage. I feel the scream building in my throat as the shock kicks in.

There was an explosion. In the mine. Fire. People are dead. I can hear them confirming deaths all around me. More dead than alive.

"Gale!" I shout inside of the fearful scream that's still building inside. I make to move but the woman pushes me back down, pouring water onto my hand and arm and making it sear in pain. "Where is he?" I yell and try to sit up again.

"Calm down, we'll find your friend," She says again and pulls a tin can from her pack. The salve she rubs onto my skin burns like a thousand suns and I nearly pass out from the pain that licks at my nerve endings. My skin is on fire. I was on fire.

"I need to know if he's alive!" I scream. The panic really sets in then. I don't remember the next while, the screaming and shouting that surrounds me. I feel the woman wrapping my arms in gauze and humming to me quietly as everyone else around us walks with a purpose.

The controlled chaos only seems to last a little while before people from the town begin to show up. Husbands and wives and children and lovers are all at the gates, screaming for their loved ones. They must have felt the ground shake, a tell-tale sign that something has gone extremely wrong down below.

"Gale!" I hear it then – Katniss is yelling. Somehow she's gotten past the guards that block the gate. She's somewhere above my head and I hone in on her voice. "Gale!" She screams again and I hear feet whip past me. There's a stumble of a body next to me and the woman wrapping my arms startles.

"Miss, you can't be in here!" She shouts but stays put. I say a small thanks that she didn't intervene. But then I realize that she didn't have to.

The heart wrenching sob that cracks next to me brings a chill to my spine. Katniss isn't yelling anymore. Turning my head to the side I see her out of the corner of my eye, leaning over the body that lies next to me. I remember then what the man had said.

"Blunt trauma from the explosion. Third degree burns. No chance."

"Gale!" I shout then again and the woman ties off my gauze and leans back, silently giving me permission to move. I crawl over next to Katniss and look at my best friend. His eyes are wide and grey and dead. "No, no!" I reach over and shake him but he doesn't awaken – the light doesn't come back and his body remains still. "Fucking wake up!" Screaming, I pull at his shoulders trying desperately to get any reaction from him.

Nothing.

He's gone.

He's dead.

"Like my father," Katniss whispers next to me. I notice her then, her tear streaked face silently dripping tears as she holds Gale's hand tightly in hers.

"Katniss," I say her name and it burns on my lips. When she looks up at me, our eyes lock for just a moment before they fall back to Gale's body below us.

"You're bleeding."

I look down at her words and notice the blood seeping through my gauze.

"Oh."

It takes me a moment to realize that she's pulled my hands in her lap and that she's ripping the edging of her shirt into bits. Grabbing the gauze that the woman had abandoned, she stuffs the fabric into my palm and closes my hand over it. I can't subdue the yelp of pain or the curse that slips from my lips as she wraps the gauze more securely around my hand.

"Peeta!" I hear women's screams pouring into the loading area and realize that they've finally let the families through. Delly is right along with them, screaming and crying until she finds me kneeling next to Gale and Katniss. Falling into me she knocks me backwards and I cry out.

"Dammit, fuck!" I scream and Delly hustles off of me, apologizing as her hands flutter around my face. I groan into the sand as my back stings from the impact.

"Oh I didn't know what I'd do! Oh!" She sobs next to me, wailing in between every breath. I spare a look over to where Katniss is leaning over Gale and brushing his forehead with the heel of her shirt, slowly removing the coal dust from his face. It kicks me then that Gale is gone and I nearly lose it. "Peeta!" Delly cries again and I look at her, tears blurring my vision as I say goodbye to my best friend.

AN: An amazingly huge thanks to both PenelopeWeaving and Wildharp who were amazing as my sounding boards to this story in the midst of my brain trying to wrap up my other stories - I couldn't have done it without them.