WHATEVER FINNICK THOUGHT about Aella's metal status when he'd seen her after her rescue was all one big lie.

The first hours after they'd been reunited she had wept and wept in his arms. She had sat still patiently for the doctors and nurses to assess her and dress all her wounds before she had passed out in his arms and slept for three solid days. They had taken that opportunity to re-hydrate her with IVs and load her full of whatever vitamins and nutrients they could.

She second she had woken up—with an almighty fright—and no idea where she was everything had gone to hell. Finnick had only been just outside her doors, talking with Gale about Katniss when they both heard her wild and fearful screaming. It had been nothing but pure chaos from there on.

Aella had come to hate every person who walked into her room wearing a white lab coat or a nurses uniform. It didn't matter if the hospital wing in District Thirteen was more comfortable and warmer than the hole she was locked up in, in the Capitol. Fear was her worst enemy. The way her mind stilled whenever she saw a nurse or a doctor left her sick to her stomach every single time.

She had become a shell of the woman she was—of the woman who had held on to her last thread of sanity and fought for her life. Now she was nothing more than the same frightened girl she had been the day she was reaped. A girl who attacked out of fear each and every time someone triggered her. The woman Finnick had reunited with that night had long since disappeared. The relief he'd felt knowing she was okay and still sane had slipped and had not returned. It had all been too good to be true.

Everyone who came near her walked on egg shells. Day by day the list of things that set her off, the list of her triggers grew longer and longer. Even simple things like water running from the tap in her hospital room made her flinch. The unannounced touch of her loved ones on her skin sent her flying into fight or flight mode. On three separate occasions she'd moved to attack Finnick simply because he'd touched her hand or her arm without warning her.

The night she woke up, pulling every IV out of her arms, pulling all the monitoring from her body had been difficult for them all—Aella included. It had taken hours to get her to settle, to somehow drill into her brain that she was okay and she was safe while she curled herself up into a ball in the far corner of her room and didn't move. She didn't speak, didn't say anything except stare at the ground underneath her as if imagining it was different. They didn't know how to help her and when she had fallen asleep on the floor Finnick had picked her up and put her back to bed.

Mercifully, he hadn't been holding her when she awoke that next morning. Sitting beside her, he had tried to talk to her but she had merely stared at him—through him—as if she couldn't even see him and didn't utter a single word. That had been two days ago and she still hadn't said anything. Only once in those days had she truly lost herself and it had frightened Finnick to see her eyes go so cold and distant. The male nurse who had tried to take her blood pressure stood no chance. She had jumped from her bed faster than he had ever seen her move and tackled the man to the ground in a choke hold.

Finnick had dived on her, using all his strength to pull her frail body from him but by that point the flurry of doctors and guards had already restrained her on the cold ground and sedated her.

It was all too much for her to deal with mentally. That was what Johanna had said to him when Finnick visited her. Aella had too many triggers, had suffered too greatly for them to truly understand what she was going through.

But they hadn't been able to get anywhere near her physical wounds in days. No one could do anything to help her. She'd shut down and it was evident in the way she sat up in her bed, legs curled to her chest with her chin resting atop her knees staring into space. She hadn't moved from that position in hours. She hadn't slept in days. It was like being back in the Capitol all over again except this time every time she closed her eyes she was forced to re-live everything that happened to her through nightmares.

In the room next door Johanna sat up in her bed, the morphling drip still running. Unlike Aella, she looked better, healthier. She was improving physically. She still had her own scars and trauma to deal with but she was managing. Her best friend was not, however, and she needed to change that. She had to help her. She'd fought tooth and nail to keep her sane in those cells. She'd be damned if she let her lose her mind now that they were safe and she was back with Finnick.

An intervention had been set up in her room. Johanna couldn't go up to command so they came down to her. It was all in Aella's aid and the small hospital room was crowded. Finnick occupied the chair next to Johanna, clear exhaustion evident in his face. His hair was dishevelled and messy, eyes tired. Dark circles stained his skin. He hadn't slept in days and the worry that circulated his body drained him twice as fast.

Clio and Daniel weren't any better as they stood side by side against a wall. Heavensbee, Beetee, Haymitch and Sal were present also. All waiting for Johanna to talk. It wasn't what they wanted. It was their last option but they needed to know what she'd gone through in order to try and help her.

Johanna stared down at the white sheets underneath her. The dressing gown was loose on her body. She was malnourished and thin. All the muscle she'd acquired over the years had disappeared. Her body was frail from days of being starved and fed nothing but porridge and bread.

"She took the fall for us all, you know." Was the first thing she said and her voice was cold—distant. There wasn't even that hint of smug she usually had. Her eyes were bleak, haunted, as if she was forcing herself to relive everything that had happened to them over those painful weeks, "Whenever and wherever she could. Every time they even looked in Annie's direction she'd tell them to take her instead."

They'd all wondered how Annie had returned virtually unscathed. There wasn't any evidence of substantial weight loss like there was Johanna and Aella. Her body wasn't scarred or marked. Her skin was relatively clear. She hadn't had her memory twisted like Peeta had. She was fit for discharge from the hospital and it had only been six days since they were rescued.

"It was hard at first," She went on to say, "none of us wanted to talk about what torture we'd endured when they dragged us back to our cells but we realised if we were to make it through we needed each other...." She sighed heavily, "sometimes I wish Aella hadn't of told me what they'd done to her on those days."

"Why?" Heavensbee asked her, brow raised curiously.

Johanna merely met his gaze and said, "Because it was unthinkable."

Silence fell across the room. It was thick and heavy until she broke it again, "We didn't see her again after that interview, you know? They'd been trying to find a way to break her for weeks. They'd come for her when it was still dark on a morning, chain her up and drag her back by her arms when it was dark at night. Sometimes they'd come in the middle of the night, inject her with a paralytic and drag her out and we'd not see her for hours. They always had to drug and chain her before they took her out of the cells. She ended up killing loads of Peacekeepers, eleven or twelve that I know of..but there'll definitely be more. That's why she's so afraid of needles. She'll just think you're going to sedate her, tie her down to a table and torture her for hours on end."

"What did they do to her?" Heavensbee asked.

"They had a thing for each of us." Johanna said, "Peeta they were trying to break with the tracker jacker venom."

"And you?"

Johanna hesitated before she pressed her lips together and replied, "Waterboarding for the most of the time."

"Aella?" Finnick asked desperately, speaking for the first time, "What did they do to her?" His eyes pleaded for answers that his heart could not take.

Johanna met his gaze apologetically and said, "What didn't they do? Before that interview they were injecting her with something to keep her awake. She'd been awake three days. Two days before the interview they came for her in the night, drugged her, and dragged her out kicking and screaming. When they brought her back she was barely conscious. Dumped her on the far end of her cell away from Peeta—normally when either of them came back they'd crawl to the bars and hold each other through them and they'd talk. They created this thing, a way to keep them both grounded while knowing they weren't dreaming,"

"We couldn't get to her, she didn't crawl to Peeta... we were all shouting at her to respond. She had her back to us but we could see the blood splatters even in the dark, could see the black bruise on her back in the shape of a boot. They'd locked her to whipping post and beat the hell out of her as punishment for killing a Peacekeeper,"

"Broke her fingers, her ribs... and that bruising on her face," She winced, "If you think her eyes look bad now, she couldn't see out of it at first. Thought they'd blinded her but eventually her sight came back. I don't know how. She was just lucky, I guess. I thought she was going to die that night but like always they resurrected her and forced her into that interview. We didn't see her for the two days it took for you to rescue us. Thought they'd actually killed her."

"Why?" Clio croaked from against the wall. Everyone looked to see her eyes glossed over with tears, her lip trembling, "Why would they do this to her."

"Because of what she said and did in the lead up to the Games." Heavensbee sighed deeply, "Snow wanted her to suffer."

"Well she did." Johanna responded flatly, "In all manner of ways."

"Is there anything in particular that triggers her?" Beetee asked Johanna, "Anything at all you can remember her telling you about?"

And it pained her to say, "Drew." Utter silence fell across the room. No one breathed, no one moved. Johanna could hear her heart pounding in her chest as she looked to her fingernails and said, "They used tracker jacker on her as well, just in a different way."

"What did they do?" Heavensbee asked.

Johanna shrugged before she shook her head, "I'm all for helping you but there are things she didn't tell me." Finnick sighed and dropped his head hearing her words as she continued, "The ones that truly affected her she wouldn't talk about. One word answers only. Drew, pods, the Games, her family ... you." She said, looking at her best friend, "She'd come back with a faint grip on reality and it would take us hours to get through to her."

They all listened to her carefully as she spoke.

"I grasped enough from what she did talk about. Instead of using the tracker jacker to twist someone like you—" She glanced at Finnick, "into being a mutt who wanted to kill her, they used it to force her into simulations. To find a way to survive only for her to fall back into another. The ones she did talk about were horrific enough. Mutants chasing her through the Games and killing everyone she loved and then her before she woke up in bed and found Finnick lying dead next to her... things like that."

"Did she mention anything about Drew?" Daniel dared to ask, "Other than his name."

The way Johanna swallowed thickly was an answer in itself. She cleared the lump in her throat and said, "I—I can't bring myself to even talk about it, to think about it is bad enough. She only told me because they made it so real to her. They'd altered her memory enough to make her believe she didn't kill him in the Games and that he was visiting her when they were, well, torturing her, I guess. She thought he was real. Probably still does."

"Oh, my, god." Clio murmured under her breath, "This is—it's far worse than we thought."

Indeed it was. Finnick was trembling with anger beside her. He clenched his jaw so tightly he thought his teeth would shatter. The fact that they'd used her past trauma to exploit her like that... no wonder she flinched every time someone touched her without asking. His rage was white hot and blinding.

"Bastards." He swore under his breath, "Fucking bastards."

Johanna nodded in agreement, eyes hollow and pained, "Those were my exact words."

"So she still thinks Drew is alive." Beetee said before he looked to Heavensbee, "We'll have to find a way to convince her he isn't. To re-train her brain to decipher what is real and what is not."

"How will you do that?" Sal dared to ask. She had been as quiet as a mouse the entire time, "Please not with th-that venom."

Heavensbee shook his head softly, "We have footage of the Quell." He answered, "We could start there, by showing her that she did kill him."

"It could work." Beetee nodded.

"And it could also backfire." Daniel argued, "Could blow up in our faces and re-open all her trauma again."

Clio curled her hand into his and squeezed gently while looking up to him and saying softly, "It already has."

But Finnick couldn't listen to them talk about him anymore. He was seconds away from losing everything and Johanna sensed it. She pushed on, wracking her brain for anything and everything she had to offer to help guide them.

"She mentioned something about a hood." She said, "Became really claustrophobic at times. Sometimes she woke up clawing at her face and throat in complete hysterics. Woke up not being able to breathe. Again, she didn't talk much about it. The ones that really got to her she wouldn't talk about. Neither would Peeta. But if they'd just chained her to a whipping post and beat her up her it didn't bother her that much. It's all psychological. Nothing really physical bothered her."

Heavensbee was the only one who made any type of noise and he hummed in understanding, rubbing his chin before he looked at Johanna and said, "She has these lashings on her back. She won't let anyone in a white coat anywhere near her. They were able to do a patch job the night you were rescued but they weren't able to get a good look at them."

"And they're causing her pain." Finnick added, eyes staring at his hands.

"The doctors just need to assess them."

Johanna shook her head, "She hates doctors and she hates needles even more."

"We gathered as much." Heavensbee responded, "Is there any way at all you can help us help her? You were there with her. A familiar face might help."

"I can try." Johanna nodded, "She took the brunt of it all for us. The least I can do is try."

•    •    •

The following days consisted of Dr. Vann slowly pushing Aella's very limited boundaries. The woman already had a relationship with her—they'd built some kind of functioning rapport when she'd cared for Aella following the Games.

The first day consisted of the woman simply walking into Aella's room in normal clothing. No presence of a white coat had her opening up minutely. She didn't say anything but she didn't tense up significantly and jump into fight or flight mode either. Instead, she laid against Finnick's chest calmly—which had been a battle in itself—while she spoke to her about the wounds on her back. Yes or no questions, nod or shake your head but they didn't work.

Dr. Steven started visiting that day. She was of similar age to Dr. Vann, or Aella thought she was, and had dull blonde hair that scraped into a tight bun at the crown of her head. A therapist she had called herself. She looked the part, small wrinkles on her face and pale skin that obviously hadn't seen sunlight in years. Beady blue eyes that looked at her through a pair of thin glasses. Her pointed nose and thinned lips made her appear like a strict school teacher but her voice was sometimes soothing. Still, Aella liked it when she didn't talk at all. She tried to coax her out of her shell and when Aella didn't respond to her efforts she spoke about her like she wasn't in the room.

Emotional withdrawal, Steven had called it, 'It happens in patients with post traumatic stress disorder. They shut down to prevent themselves from re-living the traumatic experiences or the guilt, shame, or anxiety associated with them. It usually comes hand in hand with mutism. There's no saying how long it will last, unfortunately.'

Aella remembered feeling Finnick's arms tighten around her body when Steven spoke. How Finnick had dipped his head to her ear and begged her to come back to him. How he'd told her he couldn't live without hearing her voice again. He had gone on but she couldn't remember much else.

The next day Vann had sat down next to her bed and talked to Aella about trivial things. Steven had suggested becoming a friend rather than a doctor. They'd been willing to try anything. Annie had even visited and told her about how she was settling into District Thirteen, how Sam had been elected to be her tour guide. Annie had been assigned the room next to his, across from Aella's and Finnick's. Aella had stared at the blanket covering her scarred legs the entire time, missing the way Annie had blushed when she spoke about Sam.

The day following, Vann had finally gotten Aella to meet her gaze. It was the most she'd given anyone in five days and Finnick even felt her fingers respond to his hold as he held her hand. They curled inward ever so gently and tears had rose to his eyes from the simple action alone. It was a response, a step in the right direction and later in the day Johanna had visited and spoke about their days mentoring in the Capitol when the three of them would get black out drunk and forget about their responsibilities. She lightened the mood before she asked Aella if she could see the whip marks on her back.

Two blinks was all she had given her. One for no, two for yes. She remembered Peeta setting up that signal when she had returned too exhausted to even speak. The second Johanna had disappeared behind her the switch had flipped in Aella's mind. She'd picked fight. Dr. Steven had walked into three guards restraining Aella against the wall while Johanna laid over the bed with her hand cupping her broken and bleeding nose.

One step forward and five back...

Peeta was lashing out because the Capitol had re-wired his brain to assume everyone was a threat—that Katniss was trying to kill him and by affiliation they were trying to kill him too. Aella was lashing out because of fear. One thing Steven had said however had been promising—even in the height of a rubbish situation. Aella responding to Johanna like that was an improvement. It meant she wasn't as withdrawn anymore, that her brain was finally registering her surroundings. They'd just pushed her too far too quickly.

The next day Aella couldn't stand Finnick's touch, another improving sign even if he did hate the way she flinched away from him. Vann had come and gone and Johanna had been back with a black eye and slightly crooked nose completely undeterred by Aella's assault.

When she spoke Aella had burst into tears. It had been the most emotion she'd shown in over a week. Sobs had wracked her body so hard she fought for breath and her two best friends sat there and consoled her the whole way until finally she had fallen asleep against Finnick's chest, one hand fisting his shirt while the other wrapped around his body tightly.

Finnick didn't know why she had suddenly allowed him to be so close to her but Dr. Steven had suggested it had something to do with his scent. That even though they'd spent weeks apart and she had been through hell and back her subconscious recognised his scent and associated it with safety. Even if she stared through him and into his very soul with her lifeless eyes, deep down where she was hiding she knew it was him. That was why she'd allowed him in, allowed him near, and no one else. He'd cried when he heard her theory.

On the morning of the fifth day of trying Aella agreed for Dr. Vann to take a look at her back. Johanna and Finnick had both been sitting with her and Aella had simply glanced at her best friend. The unspoken words she couldn't ask echoed through the room. Johanna, she wanted Johanna with her when she did it and not Finnick. It pained him that she didn't want him in with her but when Clio suggested that maybe she didn't want him to see the wounds his heart broke.

They were ready by lunchtime and both Johanna and Aella frowned when Dr. Vann walked in with two guards carrying mirrors in for her. They didn't understand it at first, not until they had been positioned and the guards—one of them still with a black eye from Aella three days prior—left. She relaxed watching them leave without as much as a glance in her direction. Dr. Vann was the only other in the room, along with a young nurse—both of them dressed in District Thirteen's casual uniform, no presence of white coats anywhere. She walked behind Aella and called her name softly.

She used the mirrors to look at her. The way they were angled let her see both her back and the doctor behind her. Dr. Vann merely smiled and said, "This way you can see exactly what I'm doing. I'll explain everything every step of the way, okay? If at any point you feel uncomfortable, you feel like you want me to stop, squeeze Johanna's hand three times. Yes?"

Aella blinked twice before she looked down again. It was a code they'd all grown to figure out.

Johanna eyed Aella's trembling fingers as the woman sat at the edge of the bed. Cascades of black wavy hair hung over her shoulders and covered her features but Johanna didn't need to see her face, she knew. She didn't say anything as she placed her cool hands over Aella's trembling fingers, forcing her friend to still.

"It's fine," Johanna said nonchalantly to her though her voice was low, "I'm here. We're gonna get through this together like we always do."

Aella looked up to meet her gaze and found solitude in her casual expression. She hadn't changed anything for her sake like everyone else had. She regarded her with the same nonchalant, almost bored, expression on her face and a smirk on her lips. It was the most comfort anyone had ever provided her with since she'd returned to Thirteen. It was what she needed. She needed people to be themselves, to carry on as they were like nothing had happened to her. That way, she would be able to move on. She wouldn't feel like a wounded, fragile, girl anymore.

She nodded slowly, fingers slipping into Johanna's as she looked at Dr. Vann through the mirror and gave two blinks of confirmation to start.

Johanna talked about whimsical things, mainly rubbish, while Dr. Vann worked, explaining every step no matter how small or insignificant. The physician untied her gown and peeled it back to reveal her back but Aella kept her eyes on Johanna the entire time. She didn't need to see what the Capitol had done to her. It would only drag her down further.

Dr. Vann was admittedly surprised though. She'd prepared herself for the worst of the worst but what she found wasn't half as bad. The pink scarring from the healed wounds hurt her heart but she hoped Aella would carry those scars with pride. They'd fade eventually into white but the pale colour of her skin from weeks on weeks of no sunlight did it no favours. She could see the raised marks but more importantly she could tell they were healing properly. She never expected that.

The few remaining wounds she did have needed stitching. What they'd done the night she'd been rescued was only a quick fix. She had been on the verge of passing out and they had moved fast with the intention of examining them properly the next day. It obviously hadn't gone to plan but Dr. Vann knew if they hadn't of started healing naturally themselves they wouldn't start now, however many days down the line.

There were four open wounds all together. One particular one was long and deep, not from a whip or chain but from a knife or scalpel. It ran from the centre of her back between her shoulder blades and right over the back of her scapula down to her side. The other few were small but still evidently made with a sharp object. It looked like what had been done with a whip had already healed.

Dr. Vann could still make out the fading bruise of the combat boot across the lower portion of her back and over her lower spine. The colouring had started to fade to a grey colour, no longer red and purple, and the surrounding areas were yellow. From what she could see of her protruding ribs were the same. The small cuts from her beatings were healing well, if not already scarred over, and the bruising was fading. Ten ribs in total had been broken, all her fingers on her right hand and the hand itself. Her dislocated shoulder.. it all added up.

Vann cleared her throat and looked through the mirror to Aella seeing her blink twice to Johanna's conversation. It was the only indication she was actually listening to whatever she was saying to her.

"Aella, I have to stitch these wounds, dear." Vann said softly, "And I know you really hate needles but I'm going to have to give you one or two to numb the pain."

The widening of Aella's eyes pulled at the woman's heart. She could see the fear sitting there and it pained her on so many levels. Her eyes slipped from her hold and ran over her back as she looked through the mirrors. She saw the wounds for the first and last time and swallowed thickly before screwing her eyes shut as if the memory was too painful to relive.

She clutched to Johanna's hands tightly as her body began to shake. They didn't know what she was remembering—just how those scars had came about—but seeing his limp body hanging in those chains while she screamed for him... it tore her apart. She had put her shoulder out trying to break free of the chains to get to him.

It all whizzed through the forefront of her mind. She couldn't turn it off.

"It's not so much the fear of needles." Johanna rushed out before Aella slipped too far, "Right, Aella? It's more the fear of what's being injected. I think if she sees what's been drawn up and knows what it's for she'll be okay. Won't you?"

Aella slowly lifted her head hearing her words and exhaled deeply. Her silver lined and red eyes met Johanna's. She repeated her words in her hazy mind. She was entirely right. Her fear was more of a fear of the unknown.

They'd injected her to make her powerless, defenceless, and she had no control over that. She didn't know if it was going to be muscle relaxants so strong they'd disable her body and prevent her from even lifting a finger or if it was something that was going to keep her awake for days on end. It was the not knowing that scared her so much. That, and she'd come to associate it with another round of being dragged down to that awful doctor's lab and being thrown on to the table and strapped down.

This way gave her control. She had the option to say no.

Slowly she blinked twice and Dr. Vann nodded in relief. It was a good idea. Anything to administer the medication Aella needed was a good idea. All she wanted was to give her the best care.

Vann grabbed a tray and equipped it with everything she needed herself. She didn't ask the supporting nurse to do it. Aella trusted her to do it, no one else. She wasn't about to break that trust.

Once she had everything she walked over to Aella and Johanna and pulled a chair over, sitting down she placed the tray on the small trolly she dragged over.

"So obviously you know what a needle is." Dr. Vann said, starting at the very beginning as she picked it up and showed her, "An empty syringe and separate needle to attach. Both are pre-sealed and unopened. Yeah?"

Aella looked at both items in the woman's hand before she blinked twice in agreement. Yes. Dr. Vann placed them both back down in the tray and reached for a small glass vial next, "This is local anaesthetic. Once injected into the skin it numbs the surrounding area only, nothing else." She said before looking to Aella's arm and asking, "May I?"

Again, she blinked twice, eyes twisted in mild confusion. She didn't let go of Johanna's hands.

"Say I inject here," Dr. Vann said, using her finger to point to a spot on Aella's forearm, "This is the area that will numb." She traced a circle around Aella's arm to give her a rough indication, "Obviously for the larger wound over your scapula I'll probably have to inject two or three times. I don't want you to feel the pain of being stitched."

Again, another two blinks indicated Aella still followed and agreed. Vann reached for the vial again and showed it to Aella while saying, "Again, sealed completely. It's glass to there's no way of inserting anything inside. It's called lidocaine, as you can see here."

She watched as Dr. Vann drew everything up in front of her before returning to her back and readying herself for the procedure. She double checked Aella was ready, that she would be okay and Johanna re-adjusted her hands in hers—partially for comfort and partially for restraint. Aella's two blinks was all Vann had and not a second later she began.

Johanna held her breath as she watched her friend. Aella was lethally still and her eyes were unpredictable—blank but... she seemed to be tolerating it, especially as that first pinch of that needle pierced her skin. Johanna half expected her to flip out, was waiting for Aella to go absolutely crazy but she didn't. Her best friend sat there with her eyes closed, exhaling in calming breaths, and continued to hold Johanna's hands.

With each minute that passed the tension loosened from Johanna's shoulders. To her great relief and surprise the small procedure went down without a single hitch. Aella tolerated it well and when Vann announced she had finished the young woman loosed a heavy, heavy, sigh of relief and relaxed greatly. Neither Vann or Johanna had realised just how tense she had been until her shoulders curved slightly and her body leaned towards Johanna.

Her friend steadied her with supportive hands and in the silence they heard her hoarse mumbles as she breathed, "District Two is weapons. District One is jewellery. My name is Aella Barnes. I survived the Hunger Games twice. My name is Aella Barnes, I live in District Five. My name is Aella Barnes, I won't let him break me. My name is Aella Barnes, I like sunrises in the summer. My name is Aella Barnes, I like to read, my favourite colour is sea-foam green. My name is Aella Barnes and I am a survivor...He's dead, I am safe... I am safe."

Without even knowing she was crying, a single tear slipped down Johanna's cheek upon hearing her voice for the first time in so long... hearing her recite her mantra she had heard her and Peeta create one cold and dark night locked in those cells. She was so proud of her best friend. So, unbelievably, proud.

A second tear slipped and Johanna leashed any further tears while wrapping her arms around Aella's shoulders loosely. Aella didn't stiffen, she didn't fight. Instead she wrapped her arms around Johanna and exploded into a sea of sobs. Like the haze had finally lifted she came back to reality in full force and Johanna held her like the friend she was and allowed her to cry for as long as she needed.

It could've been minutes, it could've been hours, Johanna didn't care. All that mattered was that Aella unleashed whatever she had to in order to make herself feel better. So she wasn't entirely sure how much time had passed when Aella pulled back but if the large tear strains on her shirt were anything to go by she'd hazard a loose guess at ten or so minutes.

The broken warrior ran her hands over her face. The first real movements she had actively made in days. She rubbed her eyes free of tears before she met Johanna's gaze—really looked into her eyes. Tears welled at Johanna's eyes again seeing Aella. In those days previous it had been Aella's subconscious driving her. Her body had lived on autopilot while she recovered and just when they were starting to think the damage had been irreversible she came back. She would always come back to her family, she just needed time.

Aella's brows pulled into a light furrow as she beheld her best friend, "Are you... crying?"

"No." Johanna denied immediately and Aella's brow arched suspiciously, "No," She bit, "just got dust in my eyes or something."

Her bloodshot eyes rolled as she replied with a sarky tone, "Right."

"Shut up." Johanna responded, "If you ever tell anyone I'll kill you."

Aella's lips curved lightly into a soft smile when she nodded and said, "I'd like to see you try."

Johanna loosed another sigh of relief, placing her hand on her best friends shoulder, "You had us for a minute there, Aella." She told her honestly, "I didn't think you were gonna come back to us."

"Can't get rid of me that easily." She quipped and though the cheeky, mischievous smile she usually wore wasn't yet present, the small one she gave her would suffice for now. She was still recovering and it was still better than the vacant expression she'd faced for the last week.

A comfortable silence dropped between them for a few moments until Aella's brows curved and confusion pulled at her features. As if she was trying to figure something out—like she was searching her hazy memories of the last few days.

"I want to see him." She mumbled.

"He's just outside," Johanna said, gesturing to the door, "hasn't left since you were brought in. He'll be happy to see you. He's been worried out his mind."

Aella shook her head softly, interrupting Johanna before she could even turn to the door, "No," she said, "Peeta. I want to see Peeta."

•    •    •

A/N; Girl's really got some trauma... I know we hate President Snow but we can't deny Donald Sutherland portrayed him brilliantly. His death is so sad & unfortunate.

The next update will be Monday.