The Wrong Victor

Chapter fourteen: Prim

Katniss is back, but I don't think it's really Katniss. They had to restrain her to the bed and keep her heavily sedated constantly. There's not a moment I see her awake. There's not a moment Peeta gets to see her. Coin has him so busy with politics and training for the field. She never lets him see her. I stay with her. I take care of her. I just wish she would come back to us.

I start brushing her hair to continue working the knots out. She had so many and I had nothing to do. The medics talked about cutting her hair so I had to start to keep her hair. I work on a small strand with some water and a wide brush. I hum softly different songs Katniss would sing to me. She reacts differently to each one in her sleep. That's how I know my sister is still in there.

She likes it when I hum Hanging Tree, but she hates me humming The Meadow Song. Her face scrunched up as if she was in pain. She hadn't been restrained when I first hummed it and started scratching herself. I stopped humming it to her immediately. I hum Safe and Sound and she seems so relaxed to the song.

"I can't believe I started at the hospital full time. I'm supposed to be helping the others with minor daily injuries. Sometimes we get people in with cuts or bruises. Some with poison ivy. I had one come in with a broken arm and another with a broken nose. I was able to set them both and take care of them all by myself. With a supervisor to make sure I did it right." I whisper as I comb her hair. "I can tell you had to set your own nose. It's healed for the most part. Still tender after so long, but you did it well. You'll have a bump where it broke, but it shouldn't be too bad."

The door opens and I look to see Peeta. He looks exhausted. "How is she doing?" He asks walking in and sitting on the other side of Katniss. Her nose scrunches at his voice and her hand grips the bed tightly.

"She's sedated most of the time. They say the Capitol used Tracker Jacker venom on her. They think they made her watch doctored videos to make us look like mutts. That's what she called us. Mutts. They think she thinks we're dead and we're just mutts replacing our real selves. But she's never coherent enough to get information out of her." I say softly as I watch Peeta gently rub her hand. I watch as her hand slowly relaxes from the grip she had on the bed. I smile as Peeta holds her hand gently letting out a sigh of relief as if just holding her hand was like having fresh oxygen after being underwater for so long.

"What do you think?" Peeta asks his blue eyes dull but full of love for my sister. His eyes never leave her face just study it as he waits for my input.

"Well, her physical body has seen a lot of torture. She had a broken nose that she set herself. She's developing a small bump where the break was, but it's just small. She had a restraint on her ankle that she constantly pulled at so we have to keep tabs on that. It was infected with bits of rust in the wound. They clean it daily. I clean it daily as well. I don't want her to have to get it amputated." I say tucking the freshly brushed strand behind her ear. "She has multiple needle wounds to her neck and her arms. They most likely injected the venom in her neck first and then started giving her an IV of fluids and nutrients to keep her from dying. They probably never wanted her to die. They also wanted her to look at least less dead for the camera.

"She had a few fractures to her ribcage and arms. Either Snow constantly used her as a punching bag or someone did. She probably tried to deflect the blows with her arms only to get it worse. She was covered in bruises but I put a salve on them everyday and they continue to heal slowly." Peeta smiles and looks at me.

"You're a good medic, Prim. Don't you ever doubt that." His voice is heavy and I know he's going to start crying. "She would be proud of you. She really would. And I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"It should have been me in the Capitol. It should have been me getting beat. She didn't deserve this. All she was trying to do was keep you safe. All she was trying to do was to save you. She never intended for this to happen."

"You wouldn't have deserved it either. And she would be beating herself up if you were in her position. She would be beating herself up and she would probably break or she would try to work herself to death. Neither of you deserved this. None of Panem deserved the games." I say as I gently take Katniss' hand out of the restraint to put a salve on her wrist. "We can't live like this. We can't sit here and wonder what if's. Katniss would want this war over. She would want us to keep fighting no matter what. She would want Snow dead. If we blame ourselves then he wins. If we break down and stop fighting he wins. Then we don't get justice for what happened to her."

Peeta chuckles a little as I gently place Katniss' wrist back in the restraint making sure it's not too tight. "When did you get so wise? Hmm? I swear you're the only thing keeping my sane sometimes, Little duck." He says and I look up at him with a smile.

"I think I've always been wise. Katniss taught me a lot." I say as I look at her face. It's relaxed, but her hand is gripping the bed. I gently touch her hand and it quickly wraps around mine. Not tightly, but as if she were holding my hand. "Katniss, are you..." I don't know how to word the question. I don't even know what I am asking her.

"Katniss, stay with us." Peeta says moving to stand over her face brushing her hair behind her ear. "Katniss, fight it. Please. Please come back to us. To me. To Prim." I watch tears fall from his eyes as I feel my own tears sting. "Katniss, stay with me."

Her face keeps changing from a grimace to relaxed to worried to sad to angry to happy. I don't know what's going on. Her hand is gripping mine as if I'm her lifeline.

"Katniss, I love you." I whisper squeezing her hand. She tries to move her legs before pulling her hand away from mine and Peeta's. His hands go to her face as she tries to kick and pull from the restraints. She's waking up.

"Katniss, no, please. Stay with me. Please." Peeta begs as she tries to pull her face from his hands. He's gentle with her trying to keep her form hurting herself. "Please, Katniss. Please. Just stay with me. Just promise you'll stay with me. Like on the train. You asked me to stay. You asked me to stay with you through the night. You asked me to stay with you through the nightmares."

Medics come in because her heart rate went up. They quickly inject her with a sedative the moment her eyes open. She looks so scared. So broken. My big sister. The one I've always looked up to. The one who was always strong after dad died. She is broken.

Peeta runs his hand over her hair as she stares at him while the sedative starts to kick in. She's not pulling as she stares at him. "Peeta?" She asks her eyes wide. I gently grip her hand and she looks at me. She's tired. Her eyes are drooping closed as her grey eyes study me. "Prim?"

"We're here, Katniss." Peeta whispers his thumb gracing over her cheek. "We're here. Stay with me. Please. Just stay with me."

"Always." She breathes out before she falls asleep. I cover my mouth as I sob. She saw me. She recognized me. I feel my body sink to the ground as I hold her hand sobbing.

"Prim? Prim! Hey, it's okay." Peeta says quickly coming around the bed to hold me. I can't do anything but sob. My sister recognized me. She saw me and recognized me!

"She.... she recognized me." I sob out as Peeta gathers me in his arms. He rocks me back and forth shushing me like Katniss used to do.

"It's a good thing. She's getting better with you helping her like this. You're doing such a good job with her, Prim." Peeta continues to rock me as we sit on the floor of Katniss' room crying.