Hey everyone! I'm exhausted so i'm hoping this chapter isn't completely blah. I've been writing it on and off the past week when I've found time. please remember to review, follow, and favorite. You're feedback means a lot to me!

Disclaimer: I do not own the hunger games trilogy

"Because that's what we do, we protect each other."

-Katniss to Peeta

Time ticked away slowly for me. I didn't know how long I'd been in this room.

Days? Weeks? Months, maybe?

I had accepted the fact long ago that this was it, these four walls and the Capitol was where I'd meet my fate.

Snow had the Avox send in three meals a day for the past two days. They weren't just meals, they were feasts.

My guess was that he wanted me to stuff myself to the point of gluttony.

I was going to be on Television, couldn't have me looking weak and starved…what would the people of the Capitol think of that?

I didn't realize how hungry I actually was until all of the food was placed in front of me. I did as I was told and ate every last bite.

I heard the faintest tap, and the door opened a crack.

"Come in." I said, now sitting on my cot playing solitaire.

She tip toed in as quiet as a mouse. I turned my head slightly, looking up at the Avox who delivered me the letter from snow, along with my meals.

"Hi, hope you're days going better than mine." I didn't look up at her, just continued with my game.

She placed something in front of me, laying it over my card game.

"I was right in the middle-"I crinkled my brow, looking down at the items she placed before me.

It was a small canvas, a set of paint brushes, and an easel full of various colors of paint.

I ran my hand over the smooth canvas, a faint smile forming on my lips.

The expression felt alien because it had been so long since I'd smiled.

"How did you manage to get this?" I asked the girl, a one-sided question since she couldn't speak to respond to me.

She shrugged gently and when I looked into her eyes I saw a small smile reach them.

"Thank you…" I said to her, still admiring the canvas and easel.

She tapped me on the shoulder, and pointed underneath my cot.

"Hide it under there when I'm finished?" I wanted to make sure that I'd hide this, because it was sure to be destroyed if found by Snow.

I loved painting, and now I could have some sort of happiness in this place.

She nodded at my question before turning and marching out of the room. I didn't hesitate; as soon as the door closed I began my work.

Most of my paintings were of Katniss…I found comfort in painting her. This way, the image I had of her would never fade from my mind.

I painted many different things….including the horrible things I had seen in the Games that couldn't be unseen.

They haunted me.

I painted Katniss in the woods that she spoke of that she loved so dearly, I painted her smiling….a smile that was carefree rather than one that had been through so much suffering….lastly, I painted her in the wedding dress…as she shed her feathers and became the mockingjay.

I think back to that last night all of us victors spent together holding hands, and wishing that we'd wake up from this reoccurring nightmare.

I heard the distant sound of footsteps coming from outside of my room. I slid my supplies underneath my cot, grabbing the playing cards and setting myself up a game of Solitaire.

The door to my room swung open, I didn't even both to look up to see who had decided to grace me with their presence.

The perfume of the rose he wore in his suit pocket was conformation enough."It is time for us to talk about your interview."

I began my game, not bothering to look at him. "What is there to talk about? I thought I was reading off of the cards you provided for me? Should be simple enough." My voice was cold, the longer I was stuck in here the more the numbness consumed me.

"You will call for a cease fire, I'm sure the rebels will tune in, see what we're up to." I didn't respond to him, only gave him a slight nod.

"You don't understand Peeta…if you don't call for that cease fire….I will eliminate her…" He grinned at me…a nasty look in his eye. "I'll kill the only thing you love right in front of your eyes…how would you feel about that?"

I held my tongue, trying my best to keep my composure. "I'll do it." I said through clenched teeth.

"Good…I'll have your Avox bring in your outfit. Be ready in an hour." I exhaled, shutting my eyes tightly.

The second Snow exited the room I threw myself back on the uncomfortable cot and did my best to hold myself to better, I couldn't fall apart…it wasn't an option for me, not if I wanted to keep Katniss alive.

The crowd roared when I walked onto the stage. I smiled brightly, trying my best to put on a good act.

I took a seat next to Caesar Flickerman a decent man, but completely oblivious and ignorant to the entire truth behind the Games that President Snow so convincingly turns into entertainment.

We begin the discussion first topic had everything to do with Katniss and I, naturally. The unborn baby, how devastated I was about losing Katniss…and everything else the Capitol could suck out of me to use for public amusement.

Caesar and the people of the Capitol were not too happy with the destruction of the arena; they were shocked by Katniss's actions.

I was ready for this interview to be over.

Most of Caesar's questions I answered on the defense. "We saw her shoot the arrow; we saw her blow up the arena."

"She didn't know what she was doing! Neither of us knew anything except that we were trying to keep each other alive!" I shouted out to the crowd, trying my best to convince the people of the Capitol, hell the people of Panem.

I didn't need any more enemies on Katniss's back.

I let out deep sigh, averting my eyes from the Capitols people, these naïve fools were almost as disgusting to me as President Snow himself.

I decided to do one last thing, I just hoped Katniss could trust me enough to understand why I chose to say what I was about to say. "Rebels and the people of the Capitol, listen to what I'm saying…Is this really what we want to do? Kill ourselves off completely? In the hopes that–what? Some decent species will inherit the smoking remains of the earth?"

Caesar leaned into me, invading my personal space. "What are you saying Peeta?" He said, eagerly putting the microphone up to my lips.

"I call for a cease-fire." I spoke loud and clear, looking into the camera hoping Katniss was looking at me from the other side.

"It's not over."

Those three words were my silent warning to her, I only hoped she would see it.

My expression held the words….an expression that Haymitch, President Snow, or the people of the Capitol couldn't read…the only person who I believed would understand was Katniss.

That expression was meant for her, she knew me. She would decipher it.

I was trying to save her, to protect her...all the while I laid my own plot out in my mind.

I was going to keep her alive; because that's what I did…I protected her.

I was exhausted now, as far as I was concerned this talk was over. " Now, why don't we ask the guards to take me back to my quarters so I can build another hundred card houses?"

I was escorted back to my quarters. We walked in silence...I had nothing to say to these people anyway.

When I reached the room…I headed straight to my raggedy old cot.

The door shut behind me. "What's another hundred days in here?" I muttered to myself.

I plopped down on the cot, burying my face in my pillow, both mentally and physically sick of this world.

I heard my door open once more, assuming it was the avox girl, I didn't think to look up.

"I will not have another outburst like that, boy. That was not a part of the plan!" his voice was full of vile. I smelt the perfume of roses mixed with blood in the air.

I pushed myself up, wanting so badly to hurt him like he's hurt me...to throw him into an arena and force him to kill.

But that's not how this works.

That was when I felt it, the stab of a needle being jammed into my neck.

I felt the cold liquid enter my bloodstream. "Katniss Everdeen is the enemy. She nearly killed you in the first games…you almost died from trackerjacker stings…she is the enemy…a mutt as well. Something we created. She needs to die." He spoke quickly, hissing those words into my ear.

Pain shot through my head as I clutched my skull hoping to keep it from exploding.

That's when it happened, the one thing I never thought could happen. He was right, death would have been better than this.

Her face grew distorted and ugly…the face of a mutt.

"No!" I shouted, grabbing for President Snow so I could break his neck.

This wasn't Katniss this wasn't real.

"Come on Peeta...it's Katniss...the same girl you fed...the girl you loved before you even understood such a feeling." I spoke to myself in my head, trying my best to overcome these horrible images and this excruciating pain.

I whipped my hand around frantically, trying to capture the poisonous snake.

He was out of a reach, and my mind couldn't focus any longer.

"What have you done...to-" My mouth could no longer form words, I heard the words blend together...becoming distorted, just like her face.

The enemy, the mutt...

The battle inside of my mind was impossible to beat.

That was when I could no longer subdue the thoughts and images.

I fell forward, completely succumbed by the despair inside of me.

The darkness engulfed me pulling me deep into the trenches of nothingness.

Before I was consumed by the void, a thought and a flashback appeared. I saw it, hidden far away in the back of my mind the image of Katniss Everdeen…trying to kill me.

A/N: Hope you all enjoyed! please review, follow, and favorite! I apologize for grammar or spelling errors. I'm tired. :)