Out Of The Dark

A Single Year

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14th March

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Chapter 14

Haymitch's POV

His face was so precious. So full of wonder. Something about it made me feel fuller and happier inside, that boy holding his child. Peeta with Willow. His blue eyes staring up directly into hers, small tufts of black brown hair grasping to her head.

I've spent so long comforting people that they're all going to be okay, and this is what it was for. The moments that light up your heart. A boy, really, with his childhood stolen away from him in so many ways, just holding the child, his child.

"How long ago was it?" I ask him now, sitting on the roof of the hospital. In the distance I think I catch a glimpse of the training tower's roof the direction he's staring. "That all this really started? Not the Games obviously, but... this storyline? The one with Willow?"

He shrugs. "I don't know. Pretty close to a year. I don't completely remember. The day they read the card out, just before that, I think. I'm pretty sure."

My stare sets onto a spot on the ground. "That was... I think it was the fourteenth."

"Its the fourteenth today," he says, squinting off into he sunset. "That's exactly a year."

I laugh, "Not exactly the best one. But a lot has come out of this."

"How does a single year change... everything?"

"I don't know, but it's pretty damned impressive," I reply, taking a swig of spirit. 

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Peeta's POV

I go back to her room. She hasn't changed. Stupid, I tell myself. Why should I think she's going to wake up? Everything else has been taken away, except Willow. Why not Katniss?

The chair has a cushion on it now, and the nurse gives me a smile as I see it. 

"Hey," I say. "I still don't know if you can hear me, but there's no point giving up. Johanna knows about Hazel now. And what happened with the bomb. And I'm sorry I didn't help you more. I'm so sorry. But I was talking with Haymitch as well, and it's been a year. A whole year."

The only response I'm met with is the consistent beeping of the heart monitor.

"How did so much happen? I mean, we have Willow now, but we've lost people too. Too many people lost. But I'm so glad that I know you. And I've got a surprise for you. So just..." I take a sharp breath in, nervous, "stay alive. Stay. Please. Stay with me."

I am silent for a minute, then reach my hand forward and close it around hers. Somehow it gives me hope, holding her hand; it's not cold, like the dead. It's warm. Normal.

I shed a silent tear. "I'll stay with you. No matter what. Always. That's a promise, Katniss."

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I hold Willow tightly, close to my chest, as she waves a small hand around. "You ready?" I say to her, and she smiles back at me with an odd noise. Part of me doesn't know why I asked her that, she probably won't understand it. Definitely.

Maybe I should be asking myself that.

The nurse comes up from behind me, and opens the door. "This is a good plan," he says, "I think it could work."

"Thanks," I nod, walking through the doorway.

The burn wounds and new skin have started to heal up, and though they still look like a patchwork skin, it looks a little more normal. And still nothing changes how beautiful she is.

"It's mommy," I say to Willow, lowering her a little so she can see Katniss. "Katniss, it's Willow. Katniss? Please. Willow wants to see you."

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Katniss's POV

I can feel her small fingers brushing across my arm, sending small shoots of pain up my arm where the burns are. Somehow, I don't care. I just want to see Willow.

I can feel my eyelids flutter a little, and the heart monitor starts speeding up, becoming a more rapid beeping. A finger twitches, and my eyes open hazily. The room all seems a little blurred, especially in my left eye, but it's there.

Some random nurse rushes to the heart monitor, I think, but all I see are Peeta and Willow, who's hair is in small black tufts on her head, her little mouth turned up into a smile. I try to speak, but all that comes out of my mouth is a croak; it's something though. My movements, though jerky and stiff, are no longer non-existent. I can move my arm to the right a bit.

And all of a sudden, Peeta's arms wrap around me, holing me in their soft, strong warmth. I can feel them tremble against my skin.

"I'm okay," I try saying, but it still sounds more like a croak. "Are you? Is everyone else okay?" It feels less like I'm speaking and more like I'm coughing up words, my throat burning dry. Nothing is a thought anymore, it's just senses. I can smell the bleach, like before, and feel sensations across my skin. I can hear all the sounds, still. But now there's so much to see again, and I can breathe on my own again. Maybe it's shaky, but that's okay.

"They're okay," Peeta says. It feels nice to have proper human touch again, to be able too hug Peeta back.

And now my walls are ready to come down, ready to embrace the life. I'm never passing up people's love again. There's still something that nags at the back of my mind about Gale, something hard to ignore, but I try to push it away.

And who cares if it never really goes? It probably won't.

But cells are replaced all the time, and one day I'll have a new body he never touched, one he'll never touch again.