She has a heart of stone, hardened by everything that happened to her in the past. The only hope of survival is the love she rejected. But will that love find her in time.
Katniss Everdeen is preparing for the Victory Tour, the two week long celebra...
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(This what I imagine Katniss wearing on the beaches in District Four. Just a visual aid)
"It's so warm here," I say as Peeta and I walk down the beach in 4. He nods and stops. I look at him, puzzled. "Is something wrong?"
"I think we should tell Haymitch," he says. "About the wedding."
"Peeta, we weren't going to tell anyone because of Snow," I say. "No one other than us can know."
"I know," he says. "But if we tell him, maybe he'd actually help us. He's an official of Twelve." He looks down for a moment. "If we told him, we could be legally married Katniss. A marriage license and everything."
"Peeta, it's not going to be that easy," I say. "He thinks we're just a couple of dumbass kids. He won't let us. He'll tell our parents or something."
"He's the only one we can trust with this," he says softly. "He will help us. I know you're scared, but it will be okay." I look at him for a moment and then look out at the clear blue waters.
"I know," I say. "I, I just, I want a normal life and we can never have that. We can never just live in peace. We will never not have our nightmares. We have to get married in secret for it to mean anything to us. We can never have kids like you want because I don't want to have to watch them die in the arena. And-" Peeta turns me around and pulls me to him.
"Hey, it's okay," he says, "It was just a suggestion. We don't have to do anything. You need to calm down before someone sees you." I nod and take a deep breath.
"I'm sorry," I say. "I'm just, I'm scared Peeta." He nods.
"I know, but it's going to all work out somehow," he says.
"I want to run," I say.
"What?" He asks.
"When we go home," I say. "I want to run away." He looks at me for a moment and then laughs. I frown at him. "Peeta, I'm serious."
"Katniss, haven't you seen anything on the television?" He says. I roll my eyes.
"I'm not really that interested in what the Capital finds entertaining," I say. "I usually just write down songs and stuff while you watch. It's boring."
"Well, if you did, you'd know how bad it's gotten at home," he says. "There's a new head peacekeeper who's flogging people and setting out curfews. You can't go anywhere without someone getting arrested." I start crying again.
"It's all my fault," I sob.
"It's both of our faults Katniss," he says. I tried to give them money and you said out loud what everyone was thinking. This is on both our heads. So just calm down and take a breath. Snow's the one hurting those people. Not you."
"But we started it Peeta," I say.
"I know," he says. "And maybe someday we can change it. But for now, we need to just accept it and keep our heads down. "
"Exactly why we shouldn't tell Haymitch about us," I say. "I'm not even telling Prim and you know I tell her everything. We can't risk it."
"Just think about it Katniss," he says and he starts to walk away.
I try to follow him but I trip on the long skirt Cinna put me in and twist my ankle. I try to stand back up, but without a leg of flesh and blood leading, I just end up scrambling on the ground like a newborn fawn. Peeta turns around when her hears me drop the second time and grabs my arm to try to help me up. I gasp as I try to put weight on my injured leg.
"I think I sprained it," I say.
"Yeah," he says. "At the very least, we should go back to the train and ice it." He places my arm over his shoulder and picks me up as though I weigh no more than a feather or two. He starts walking towards the boardwalk and I sigh.
"I could have walked," I say. "I would have been slow, but I would have gotten there on my feet."
"You'd of just made it worse," he says. "Besides, you aren't heavy." I lay my head on his shoulder and he kisses my temple."
"I'm sorry," I say.
"For what?" He asks.
"I can't dance with you now," I say. "And I know how much you love to dance."
"That's alright," he says. "Other girls always step on my toes and I get stuck with them when other guys dance with you." I laugh.
"I don't know why they do," I say. "I'm a terrible dancer with one leg." He smiles and shakes it head.
"You aren't that bad," he says. "Besides, it's not because of your style on the dance floor."
"Then why?" I ask.
"Because you're beautiful, Katniss," he says. "Anyone around feels special. I know I always do."
"You do?" I ask. He nods.
"Of course I do," he says. "You're my girl. You know that." I look at him and smile as he carries me up into the train and sets me down on the couch in the parlor.
I carefully remove my prosthetic and lean forward to rub my sore ankle while Peeta gets a towel and some ice. He sits beside me and takes my foot from me and places the ice on it. I prop myself on my elbow against the back of the sofa and sigh.
"It's kinda swollen, but it should be okay if you stay off of it for the most part tonight," he says. I nod.
"I know," I say. "I've hurt it a lot since last year and it's probably not the last time I'll hurt it."
"I wish we could have had more times like this," he says and I raise my eyebrow.
"What? With me hurt?" I ask and he shakes his head.
"No," he says. "Just us, being us. No mentors or schedules. Just the two of us."
"We will," I say. "After this trip and the cameras go home. We can have a nice life. Not the peaceful, quiet life we want, but a nice life."
"I wish you would at least consider children though," he says and I look down.
"I know that they wouldn't be safe," I say. "And I don't want to have to not only watch, but also train a piece of my to fight in the arena. You know that. It's too risky. I'm not strong enough to do that, Peeta. Neither of us are after what we saw in there." I sit up now and stare at him. "You already have nightmares about it all the time. Why are you so insistent that we talk about it?"
"Because I always wanted them Katniss," he says. "And I'm not willing to let nightmares and fear ruin that for me." He stands up and looks at me. "Haven't you ever felt like that about something before?" I nod.
"Yes," I say. "And I ended up slowly dying of blood poisoning in a tree because I did take that chance. I lost my leg because I took that chance."
"And I fell in love with you because you took that chance," he says kneeling in front of me. "There's always a silver lining. We just need to look for it sometimes." I purse my lips and nod.
"I know," I say. "But the silver lining isn't always worth it " he frowns and I lightly touch his shoulder. "I'm tired. Can we go to my room so I can lay down until I need to get ready for dinner?" He nods and carefully picks me up so we can go back and rest, our disagreement still not resolved.
