Broken Pawns

s e v e n

I look up at the other figure, it was him the mutt alright. He must not have left. He was looking down at me with a stone-cold face, one I had only seen once in my life. I let out a shaky breath not wanting to fight, it has been a hard enough day and I didn't want to look at him. I didn't want to look into his grey eyes and know it wasn't him. I close my eyes and take deep breaths as my world slowly fades.

"Tie her up, then we will go finish off the rest."

------------------------------Gale's POV.---------------------------

(This is a dream/memory)

"Why did you agree." She hisses at me. "Why the hell did you agree to this if you knew it would do nothing!"

"Why did you agree." I can't help but snap at her. 

"Because I want to keep my family alive! I want to keep you alive!" She couldn't scream and for once I was thankful for that. There were peacekeepers on the other side of that door, if she was to scream at me we would both be dead. We already are, we aren't following orders.

"I agreed because I want snow dead," I answer, it wasn't fully a lie. I hated that man. He took my life away, he took her life away. He used us as pawns in a game.

"You agreed to fight for your life just so he is killed?" Her voice is slightly raised and there was nothing nice about it. It wasn't hard to tell that she was mad.

"I agreed Katniss because I am not going to let you be a piece in his game, I am not going to lose you again. I'm not going to lose my self to his games, lose you from his games." 

"I can protect myself, Gale." She glares at me. 

"Can you?" I question, it was a question I wanted an answer for. "Because you told me that in the games and you almost died. You told me that and you were kidnapped."

She doesn't say anything for a second. She knows what I am telling her, she knows what I am trying to say. Her face flashes pure anger. 

"I hate you Hawthorne and you know damn well I don't need you." 

I load my gun in a quick swift motion, not letting my gaze slips from hers, the words that come fall from my tongue I regret them as soon as I hear them, "You don't need me and I don't need you."

With those hateful words, I walk past her, letting my hand brush hers. It was the last time I would see her and I knew that. This was going to be my last conversation with Katniss Everdeen. Her hands enclose over my wrists, holding me in my place. I look down at her hand. She was gripping my wrist so hard that her knuckles were white.

"Don't...." She starts but stops to swallow. "Don't do anything stupid."

"Its war Katniss, everyone does something stupid at one point," I say harshly and slip my wrist quickly from her hand and slip out the door before I can see her face before I can hear her voice again. 

  I slip away from Katniss as I know if I didn't I would have not only broken myself even more than I already am but Katniss. I force myself to put my pointer finger over the trigger as I walk into the square. I force myself to push all my emotions deep down as I walk with the crowd. I force myself to be ready when the first bullet is shot.

"Rebels! They're here!" I close my eyes taking a deep breath as my grip on my gun tightens. I'm sorry Catnip. I hear the first gun go off as I pull my hood down.

  I wake with a gasp as I fling into a sitting position. Two thousand and twenty-four. Two thousand and twenty-three nightmares, this was the twenty-fourth. I swing my legs over the side of my bunk and take a deep breath. It had been what, two years since the war ended? You'd think with the pills, the late nights, the hijacking, that they would go away.  Not once have I been able to sleep peacefully, not once. It was always a memory, always a memory or altered memory from the hijacking. Always. Always. 

"Gale will you stay with me." Her voice is tired and shaky. "Yeah," I whisper as I lay down next to Katniss. Her body tangles in with mine. "Always." I close my eyes and take a deep breath. 

I shake my head and get to my feet. I grab one of the three pill bottles off of my nightstand and open it, throwing the small blue pill into my mouth. I set down the bottle after screwing on the top and pick up the next.

"Damn nightmares," I mutter as I put the next pill in my mouth. I force myself to swallow the pills and almost gag in the process. I grab my jacket from the chair and slip it over my arms. I look down my watch. 18:00. Two hours? I only slept for two hours? 

"How long this time?" Matt grumbles. 

"Two hours," I say as I open the door.

"You're a fucked-up man you know that right?"

"I was in the hunger games then the quarter quell. I fought in a civil war," I say standing in the doorway facing Matt who is laying in his bunk with his eyes closed. "Of course I'm fucked-up."

"Yeah, yeah," Matt waves me off, causing me to smirk. I close the door and walk down the hall. My mind starts to wander. Mellark and I brought Mara the mutt not even six hours ago. We sent soldiers to get the rest of the mutts who should be here in minutes. 

I almost smile when my com vibrates on my wrist. A new assignment. I walk quickly through the halls to command. Some men shake their heads as I pass them. People here thought I was crazy, literally. They thought it was crazy that a twenty-year-old man who had been through the hunger games twice, hijacked, and thrown into a civil war could still be standing and wanting to fight. I didn't blame them, I myself thought I was crazy.

"I was hoping you were asleep," Mellark mumbles as I walk into command.

I give him a frown, "I was hoping you'd pulled the trigger to the gun to your head. Guess not."

   Peeta scowls at me and I give him a sympathetic smile. He has never liked me, I have never liked him. He was a rival, tho I have to admit he isn't as bad as some of the tributes in the arena.

"We need rival's," Katniss says. "The more allies the more pain." 

"Shut up both of you." Mara snaps. I flip to the sound of her voice. Mara Snow, she was a twenty-nine-year-old woman wanting nothing more than to "help" the world.

"He started it." I shrug.

"Don't start Hawthorne, I am not in the mood today." Her glare forces me to shut my mouth. 

"What is this new assignment," Peeta asks.

"You are going back to twelve. Two of the mutts are on the run." Mara sighs, pinching the bridge of her nose. "It's the two teens, so it's going to be tricky."

"Sounds fun," I say.

"You are not going." Mara shakes her head.

"Then why am I here?" I cross my arms over my chest raising an eyebrow.

She looks at me for a second and gives me a small smile, "You will be trying to get information from the mutts."

   My arms drop to my sides, my blood runs cold, I feel as if I was drowning. She giggles quietly and waves Peeta off. I can see a smug smile on his face. My eyes don't leave Mara. The mutts. I was going to be working with the mutts. The mutts who looked so much like my family. The mutts who were altered to act like my loved ones, think like them, speak, act, hell smile like them.

"Why," I ask, my mouth dry.

"The first mutt you and Mellark captured recognized you, seamed to trust you before it knew you where a threat."

"I don't understand," I say.

"I need information Hawthorne and you are going to get it for me." Kara grins at me before walking over to a computer. 

  The words echo in my brain, are a knife in my heart, in my chest. I walk from command down to the prison trying to figure how the hell I was going to do this without destroying the small dose of sanity I have left.