Mockingjay: Peeta's Story

Two

"Hello Peeta. I suspect you have been informed of your, interview?" I nod. "Good. Because I have things you need to say to him, to Flickerman." I look up at him confused.

"And why would I do that?" I growl up at him.

"Because I have the ability to kill everyone in this country. Do you want me to do that?" I don't respond. "Then you will say everything I tell you to, do you understand?" I nod slowly. 

"You will tell him about the last night in the arena, giving brooding details about what happened and your unsuccess in saving the girl you are so madly in love with. After that, you will tell him everything else he asks of you, answer every question carefully Mr. Mellark. When he asks about the war, you tell him for a cease-fire. Use your own words, but let that help you through. You are to make this ridiculous revolution come to a well-needed close. Do you understand all of this Mr. Mellark?"

I try to process everything Snow says, about the arena, and the cease-fire, not knowing if I will be able to make the districts understand the magnitude of Snow's capabilities. But I do know that I have to try. I have to keep her alive. My body fills with adreniline and my blood starts to boil at that last thought, when I nod my head sternly.

"Yes President. I will make them listen. Convince them." 

"Good." He growls, turning and following a few Peacekeepers out of the white room. I turn my attention to my prep team, giving them a weak smile and let them begin.

~~~~~~~

I take in a deep breath as I walk out on the all-too-familiar stage, waving and smiling to the crowd and shaking hands with Caesar before taking my seat next to him.

"So....Peeta....welcome back." He says slowly and I give him a small smile.

"I'll bet you thought you'd done your last interview with me huh?" 

"I admit, I did," He says, giving me a long look. "The night before the Quarter Quell, well, who thought we'd ever see you again?"

"Well trust me when I say, it was most definitely not part of my plan, Caesar." I say, my smile disappearing, being replaced by a small frown.

"I bet it was clear to all of us what your true plan was Peeta: to sacrifice yourself so Katniss and your child would live."

I shrug, "That's it. Simple right? But I guess other people weren't okay with my plan, they had some of their own." I feel my fingers begin to twitch on the arm of the chair nervously. 

Caesar starts to ask me about the last night there, in the arena. I told him how it felt to be there, with a different horror awaiting each hour, the complications of having allies this time around. 

"And at the rate things are going, the final eight will be dead by morning, except one. And your plan is that the victor won't be you." I finish, looking out into the crowd and reading their expressions. I continue with the way it feels to be there, with all of the nightmares finally a reality.

"It costs your life." Caesar says. I shake my head at his words.

"No Caesar, it costs more than your life, to murder innocent people? It costs everything you are." He echoed my words and the room goes into a silent state, drinking in my words. 

"So you hold on to your last vow. My last vow to save her, to save Katniss. But something still didn't feel right and I felt myself beginning to regret not running off with her earlier. Too busy playing allies  with the others to see what was happening. Then I lost her."

"When you stayed with Finnick at the tree, and Katniss went with Johanna with the coil," he clarifies my words and I feel my body tremble in agitation.

"I didn't want to! I didn't want to stay at the tree. But I couldn't argue with Beetee without signaling our attempt to break away from them. When the wire flew back up at us, it all went crazy. Only pieces here and there stand out, running towards her yelling for what seemed like hours, the cannons going off around me, then the bolt hit the tree and the arena... it exploded."

"Katniss blew it up Peeta... You've seen the footage?" He says. My body shakes with anger.

"She didn't know what she was doing! None of us knew what to do." He tells me that she looks suspicious and such and I feel my body raise out of my chair beginning to yell louder.

"She didn't know Caesar! Neither of us knew anything but that we were trying to keep each other alive!" I feel his hand on my chest, gesturing for me to sit back down. I pull in a deep breath, trying to keep myself calm. 

Caesar asks some dumb question about Haymitch and whether or not I knew if he knew about it all. He tells me that we can stop now, noticing my incoming rage. 

"Was there more to talk about?" I ask.

"I was going to ask you about your thoughts on the war, but if you're too upset, we can stop...." He says. Here we go.

"No, I want everyone to listen to me, Capitol or Rebellion, to think about what this could do to us. We almost killed our entire species off before. And now our numbers are even smaller. Is that what our plan is? To kill off our entire race? In hopes of what? Some decent species will inherit our smoking remains of the planet?" I stop, looking at Caesar and seeing his confused expression.

"We can't fight each other Caesar. Not anymore. If everyone doesn't lay down their weapons - and I mean soon-  there won't be anything left. It will be over."

"So... You're calling for a cease-fire?" He says. I register his words, hearing Snow's voice in my head and nodding my head.

"Yes. I'm calling for a cease-fire." I say my voice sounding tired. I shake Caesars' hand as he wraps up the interview and I'm led back to the white room by Peacekeepers. 

"You did very good Peeta!" I half-smile at Portia as she pulls me into a hug. My blood is still boiling with anger and frustration. I didn't know I could feel this much anger or anything... How can they have already done this to me? Now that the interview is over, I suspect Snow will have me killed soon. I mean, I don't have another purpose here. 

I turn my attention to the door as it opens, four Peacekeepers are revealed and are coming towards me. I flinch as they clip my wrists in cuffs and blind me with the blindfold. I feel their arms wrap around mine, leading me out of the room. We don't descend the stairs and I become confused.

"Where are we going?" I ask.

"Your new cell." One of the Peacekeepers says. We enter an elevator and descend below the ground, I know this due to the painful popping in my ears. We get off of the elevator and the Peacekeepers lead me through a hallway. We stop and I hear a door open in front of me. Two of the Peacekeepers lead me into the room, making me sit down on an uncomfortable bed or chair or something. I feel my cuffs come off, only to be replaced on my sides, hooked to the rails of the bed thing, and my ankles are chained as well. 

"What's going on? Take this blindfold off of me!" I snap. The blindfold is removed, and I'm able to see the room around me. 

It's empty except the uncomfortable chair I sit in and a projector behind me, plus the monitor machine and some weird vile things that contain a cloudy liquid. I see the wires and needles all hanging from the vials, set neatly on a table in front of them. I feel my pulse start to pick up as the Peacekeepers lift my shirt, placing wires on my chest. One of the Peacekeepers opens the door, and a doctor enters the room.

"Hello Peeta. I'm Doctor Killian. I'm going to put these nice needles in your arms for a while. They'll help you- sleep." His voice cuts off when he says sleep. What the hell is going on?

I flinch as Killian injects the needles in my arm, feeling myself become weak. "Wait- what- are you- what's- happening-" I stutter sleepily.

"You're going to feel very weak for the next few days Peeta." He says. I feel my eyelids drooping and my muscles relaxing. I try to pry my eyes open but they remain glued shut. What's happening? Are they going to kill me?

All of a sudden, I begin to experience the worst pain I never thought was possible.