I'm More Than Just A Piece In

Do I Really Want Him Dead? What I Want... What I Want Is To Have Him Back.

Aren't They The Very Reason I Have To Try To Fight? Because What Has Been Done To Them Is So Wrong, So Beyond Justification, So Evil That There Is No Choice? Because No One Has The Right To Treat Them As They Have Been Treated?

Finally, Peeta Turns To Pollux. "well, Then You Just Became Our Most Valuable Asset." Castor Laughs And Pollux Manages A Smile. We're Halfway Down The First Tunnel When I Realize What Was So Remarkable About That Exchange. Peeta Sounded Like His Old Self, The One Who Could Always Think Of The Right Thing To Say When Nobody Else Could... I Glance Back At Him As He Trudges Along Under His Guards, Gale And Jackson, His Eyes Fixed On The Ground, His Shoulders Hunched Forward. So Dispirited. But For A Moment, He Was Really Here.

There's No Point In Comforting Words, In Telling Her She'll Be All Right. She's No Fool. Her Hand Reaches Out And I Clutch It Like A Lifeline. As If It's Me Who's Dying Instead Of Rue.

As We Trudge Back Through The Woods, We Reach A Boulder, And Both Gale And I Turn Our Heads In The Same Direction, Like A Pair Of Dogs Catching A Scent On The Wind. Cressida Notices And Asks What Lies That Way. We Admit, Without Acknowledging Each Other, It's Our Old Hunting Rendez-vous Place. She Wants To See It, Even After We Tell Her It's Nothing Really. Nothing But A Place Where I Was Happy, I Think.