The Wrong Victor

Chapter five: Peeta

President Coin and I had come to an agreement the day after I had left the meeting. She promised that the victors would be rescued at the soonest possible time as long as I do their dirty work. Later that day I was taken to District Twelve to see the ruins. It hurt. To see the bodies of my parents buried under the rubble of the bakery. My brothers. My house still stood as did the rest of the victor village. I was allowed in and I only grabbed a few things before heading to Katniss' house to grab things for her family.

I look up at someone sitting next to me and see Prim smiling at me. She always has a smile on her face even if the situation is horrible. She always has a smile on her face.

"Well, hey there little duck." I say having picked up Katniss' nickname for her.

"Hey there big duck." She jokes back before her smile falls. "You need to eat, Peeta. I know you're worried. I am too, but we're no help if we don't eat." I look down to see I haven't even touched my food. How long have I been sitting here?

"Sorry, little duck. Just got lost in thought. I'm eating. I promise. Just not completely focused. Worried about Katniss. We haven't heard anything about her. You would think Snow would at least use her for something." I say sadly before taking a bite of a roll. "Also, whoever their baker is needs to learn a thing or two about bread. I wouldn't even call this bread." I say in a Capitol accent just to get Prim to laugh.

"I guess they need a master baker. You could ask to bake." She says and goes to speak more when a familiar sound rings through the cafeteria. The Capitol music.

I look up at the televisions posted and see the symbol before Caesar Flickerman appears.

"Hello," his voice isn't his usual peppy happy voice. "And a big welcome to all in Panem. I'm Caesar Flickerman. And whoever you are whatever it is you're doing, if you're working put down your work. If you are having dinner put down your dinner. Because you are going to want to witness this tonight. There has been ramped speculation as to what really happened in the Quarter Quell. And here to shed a little light on the subject for us is a very special guest. Please welcome, Miss Katniss Everdeen." The camera changes and there she is. Katniss. She's alive. She looks different. She doesn't look well. "Katniss, a lot of people feel as though they are in the dark."

Katniss shifts a little in her seat and nods. "I... uh.. know how they feel." She wouldn't say that. I stand up and walk closer to the monitors. Katniss wouldn't say that.

Caesar chuckles, "Set the stage for us. Talk us through what really happened that final and controversial night." The camera switches back to Katniss. She shifts again. She was never one for cameras or public speaking. By now I'm standing right in front of the screen staring at her. Tell me anything Katniss anything that might help me. Please.

"Well first of all, you have to understand that when you're in the games you only get one wish. It's very costly." Katniss, talk. Please. Don't read off of a monitor. Talk to me. Please.

"It cost your life." Caesar buts in.

"I think it costs more than your life."

"What do you mean? What's more than your life?"

"To murder innocent people, children. That costs everything that you are." There she is. That's her opinion. Keep it. Please. Please Katniss. Don't let them take you.

"Yes."

"So, you hold on to that one wish. And that night. My one wish was to save Peeta. We should have just run off. Like I said. But he didn't want to."

"He didn't. Why?"

"He wanted to play allies. He was always good at that. They blind sided him and separated us. That's when I lost him. Then the lightning hit and I had one shot. The force field blew out."

"Yes but you are the one who shot the arrow."

"I didn't know what I was doing. Neither of us knew there was a bigger plan. My focus was on saving Peeta and that was my only option."

"Well people find it suspicious. They think that you are part of some rebel plan."

"Was it my plan to be held down and cut by Johanna? Or was it part of my plan to be paralyzed by lightning? We weren't part of any rebel plan. We had no idea. I had no idea what was going on. I just had to save Peeta."

"Alright. I believe you Katniss Everdeen. I was going to ask you to talk about the unrest but I think you might be too upset."

"No. I can."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." She shifts in her chair her white dress moving with her. I get a glimpse of her legs for just a split second. They're bruised and cut. Katniss, what are they doing to you? The camera zooms to her face to keep us from accidentally seeing more and I see tears in her eyes. "I want everyone who is watching to stop and to think about what a civil war could mean. We almost went extinct once before and our numbers are even lower." My attention is pulled from her when I hear commotion going on. The others of Thirteen are upset. Mad.

"Katniss are you calling for a cease fire?" This sends them into an uproar.

"Enough!" I shout over them I glare at all of them. "You don't understand the amount of control the Capitol has on their captures. You don't understand what kind of torture she could be going through. I know Katniss and I know she would never say something like that. She isn't a public speaker. She isn't one to be like this. She is trying to survive." I speak to them as I glare at them. Even Gale is angry at what Katniss has said.

"She could be being beaten every day. She could be being drugged every day. You don't know what is going on inside the Capitol. None of us do. So think for yourselves and think about what you would do if you were held by the Capitol. You would do everything to save yourself. To stay alive. You would say anything they would want you to. Even if you didn't want to." I storm out of the room and run a hand through my hair. It's worse than I thought. Oh god. I bump into someone in the hall and I look up to see Haymitch. I know I have tears in my eyes.

"Oh, kid." He says giving me a pitiful look. I probably look like a lost puppy right now looking for its master.

"She's being tortured Haymitch. I don't know what they're doing but they're hurting her. I just know they are. We need to save her."

"And we will, kid. We just have to get our ducks in a row. The Capitol has heavy security. We don't even know where she's being held. For us to get information their security needs to crack. They're Districts need to stop trusting them. And you're the only one people trust right now."

"I need to make sure Coin won't treat them like they're traitors. She's just trying to survive, Haymitch."

"And we will make sure Coin understands that. She called for a meeting. Let's go."

I nod before looking back to see Prim crying. Prim, I promise I'll get her back.