Tortured but Together (A Hunger Games Fanfiction) [UNDER EDITING]

Chapter Thirty-Three

A/N: Usual PSA that the Hunger Games characters belong to Suzanne Collins and not to me. Also, I'm happy to announce that I think I've decided on a title for the sequel!! More info about that in a couple chapters, but for now, enjoy!!

(Peeta POV)
The sun shines in through the curtains like usual, but it feels different this morning. So much has changed; we have Annie staying with us, Katniss and I are engaged to be married, and Panem is now in a civil war.

Katniss still sleeps peacefully next to me, and I wish I had the ability to sleep peacefully still. Although I doubt that will come back for a long time. Getting up carefully, so as not to wake Katniss up, I make my way over to the wardrobe and slide a shirt over my head before heading out of the room.

Hopefully Haymitch left another note for me, explaining the events of last night. Was it really them trying to rescue us, or was it just a setup to force President Snow to start a war? I wish I knew.

Making my way over to the bathroom, I can see that the door is already open. Annie stands in front of the sink, looking at a note. The tile on the wall is pushed even farther aside than usual, and I freeze mid-step. Apparently I'm not quiet enough though, as Annie whips her head around to face me.

"What's this note? Who's it from? It says something about a district 13 but district 13 got destroyed a long time ago....is there something going on?" Her face looks concerned, but also hopeful. It takes me a few seconds to remember that she hates President Snow as much as we do, or at least, she has every reason to.

"Can I see the note? It might be important," I say quietly. Turning to look outside the door, I can see that it looks like Katniss is still asleep. Good, I don't want to involve her in this if I don't have to, she's already gone through so much, and the less she knows about the rebellion, the safer she'll be.

Hesitantly, Annie hands me the note, and I take it from her outstretched hand.

"Peeta, I hope you're getting this note alright,
Hopefully both you and Katniss are safe, or at least as safe as you can be in the Capitol. I'm pretty sure you have a lot of questions about the power outage last night. That was our attempt to rescue you and Katniss but apparently the Capitol is even more determined to "protect" you than we thought. We managed to execute plan B though, which was to kidnap President Snow's granddaughter and try to use her as a bargaining chip. I personally thought it was a stupid plan, all that would probably come of it would be a full fledged attack by the Capitol where President Snow would get his granddaughter out and then wipe us off the map. I was outvoted 5 to 1 though. F. and G. are safe, so is Prim and Katniss' mom. Write back so we know you're alive there.
Free Panem and long live the Mockingjay,
-H."

I let out a long, slow sigh. They really did try to rescue us, but they failed. Katniss and I could have gotten out of this nightmare, we could have gotten away from the Capitol and President Snow. It takes all my willpower to keep from letting out an angry scream, and my knuckles go white from the strain of holding my hands into fists but not punching anything.

After a minute, Annie speaks. "I'm sorry Peeta, it would have been good for you and Katniss to get out. Nobody deserves to be manipulated like this," she says softly. A few tears start to slide down her face, "But at least you and Katniss have each other, at least you're together. I wish that I was with Finnick somewhere far away from this place, but I don't even know where he is or if he's hurt. At least you and Katniss have each other right now..."

Her voice trails off, and I can hear the sadness in it, but also the jealousy. She does have a point though, at least Katniss and I are together, at least we aren't facing this alone.

"Last I heard, Finnick was in district 13...would you like to write to him on the back of this note? Hopefully they'd pass it along to him there when they get it."

Her face lights up almost instantly, "You..you really think he might get it..and he'd maybe write back?" She darts her eyes around nervously, as if she's waiting for something awful to happen. Again, I can't blame her. If I was in her shoes, it would feel too good to believe too.

I nod, writing a quick message to Haymitch on the back first.

"Haymitch,
We're alive, by some miracle President Snow hasn't hurt us as a result of last night. He declared war on district 13 though, so be careful. He's probably planning something big. Also, Annie Cresta is with Katniss and I right now. She's going to put a note to Finnick below my response so please see that this is passed along to him too.
-P."

Satisfied that I've said all I need to say, I hand the piece of paper to Annie. There's still about two thirds of it left to write on, hopefully that's enough. She picks it up, and grabs a pen out of her pocket, quickly scribbling down a note. I don't look though, it's not for me after all. Hopefully, Annie is able to say what she needs to say. When she finishes, she puts the note back between the tile and the wall.

Quietly, I leave the bathroom and head back to bed, wrapping an arm around Katniss and pulling her close. I'm determined to protect her, no matter what it takes.

A while later, there's a knock on the door, which causes Katniss to wake up, yawning and stretching. "Peeta, why did you leave earlier," she mumbles quietly.

"I just had to use the bathroom, Kat. You were sleeping so peacefully that I figured it wouldn't be right to wake you up. I'm sorry if I scared you."

She nods, wrapping her arms around me in a hug. "It's alright Peeta, you don't need to apologize." After giving me a quick kiss, she gets up out of bed. "Come on, let's go get the door, it's probably breakfast."

Taking her hand, we head to the doors of our rooms. Sure enough, it's breakfast, and it smells amazing.

Katniss smells the food, and her eyes light up. "What's that smell Peeta? I mean, I know it's the food, but I feel like I recognize it from somewhere..." she trails off.

Taking another whiff, I'm able to place it. "Cinnamon rolls...it's cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven," I tell her, smiling. She grins back at me.

Just like yesterday morning, she refuses to let the avoxes serve us, instead insisting on doing it herself. She grabs out five plates, placing a giant mouthwateringly steamy cinnamon roll on each one. We take our seats at the table, and a few minutes later, Annie comes out and joins us.

The avoxes still look a bit skeptical about joining us, and I wonder if President Snow punished them yesterday, even though Katniss and I told him not to.

"It's alright, you can come sit with us. You can have some food too, you won't get in trouble for it, we promise. We explained to President Snow that we were going to make sure you two can get enough food and he agreed we could share."

Hearing that they won't get punished is all the encouragement they need, as they take seats at the table and eagerly start eating. After a few minutes, the girl avox, who's name I still don't know, slides over a napkin that she's written on. All it says is, "we're not the only ones here who need more food."