A/N: So, this is very AU-ish. Everything up until Mockingjay has happened. There have NOT been any of the interviews between Peeta and Caesar Flickerman (while he was in the Capitol). Also, Gale didn't go on the mission to find Peeta. Obviously, as you'll see.
"Katniss! Katniss, Haymitch wants to see you!" I jerk around to see Prim standing near the door of my Nuclear History class. Her face is flushed with excitement and Gale, by my side, seems just as confused as I am.
"Excuse me, but this class is in session. Soldier Everdeen must stay for the remainder of the lesson. You are…?" The instructor pauses inquisitively.
"Primrose Everdeen, sir, in Medical Training. President's orders, sir." I'm shocked at how formal and grown-up my sister sounds. There's no trace of the timid girl I volunteered for a year and a half ago.
"Ah. In that case, Soldier Everdeen, you may go. Be sure to make up the missed work." I nod and rise. As I walk out, I hear the instructor say, "No, Soldier Hawthorne. You stay here."
In the hall, I turn to Prim. "What's going on?"
"You'll see," she says happily. She takes my hand and drags me through the maze of District 13. But I can see that she's bursting to tell me, and I'm not at all surprised when she squeaks, "Okay, I have to say it now!"
"Yeah?" I laugh.
"Peeta's back!"
Now I'm surprised. I have to put one hand on the wall to keep the world from spinning. But it's not enough and soon I'm sitting on the floor with my back against the wall.
"Katniss? Are you all right?"
I open my eyes to see Prim's blue ones inches from my own. The color brings back the memories of rain and hunger and bread – and the boy whom I thought was dead, gone forever. Except he's not.
It's a shock at how thoroughly I've accustomed myself to thinking I would never see Peeta again. It's like a punch in the gut, over and over again. But I can't hate the feeling because Peeta is back. He's alive. The boy with the bread has not left me.
"I'm great," I tell her, and get to my feet. Prim leads me to the medical area, the hospital, and I'm engulfed in a haze of fear. What if he's hurt beyond repair? What if he can't speak or walk?
What if he blames me?
"He'll be okay, Katniss," Plutarch assures me. He's standing with Haymitch, Boggs, and Coin. Seeing the president of Thirteen brings me back to myself.
"Why didn't you tell me?" I demand. "You send soldiers on a mission to bring Peeta back and you don't let me know? I have a right to hear about this!" A new thought strikes me. "I should have gone!"
"The possibility of your death on a Capitol mission was too great. As the Mockingjay, you must be kept safe."
"Safe? Safe?" I'm screaming now. "My life has never been safe! I've got experience with danger and if you think I care about being safe when Peeta's in danger, then—" I stop explaining myself and simply shriek every foul name I can think of. A small voice in the back of my mind wonders why I suddenly care so much. I don't love Peeta. But I don't listen to that voice.
"Peeta is coming round," a nurse says as she pokes her head into the hall. I see it's my mother clad in the medic uniform and move towards her. Boggs bars my way.
"Control yourself, Soldier," he orders. I take a deep breath and look the man in the eyes. He moves aside.
I enter the hospital room and there he is, just sitting up in his bed. My feet carry me forward without conscious thought because nothing can keep me from Peeta, nothing. If he's alive and at all reachable, I will find him. And here he is, barely two yards away. I close the distance rapidly.
"Peeta," I gasp, pushing the doctors aside. I caress his face. Smooth back his ashy blonde hair. He makes no move towards me. I'm worried, but tell myself that it's simply the aftereffects of the gas.
"Did they hurt you?" I murmur as I notice that there is not a single mark on his body. He seems to glow in that full-body-polish way.
But the words that come from his lips make me wish that he had been beaten black and blue, tortured to the brink of death, maybe even killed, if it meant he would say differently.
"Who are you?"
A/N: What do you think? Good or bad? Real or not real? Should I continue it?
You know what to do!
(review, you clueless readers. please.)