YOU WOULD NEVER GUESS IT, BUT LUNA GEYSER LOVED NATURE. There wasn't a lot of it in Five, so she was always grateful to travel to other Districts or to the Capitol and spend her time trying to find a nice clearing, or something.

She and Lennox were running around a field, and she was laughing loudly at his lopsided run. She was so incredibly happy to be back with her brother, even though she had no recollection of how it happened. She hadn't seen him since before the Quarter Quell, which felt like a lifetime ago.

She was just about to catch up to Lennox when she tripped on a tree root and went tumbling into the grass. He stopped and burst out laughing so hard that he collapsed next to her. The two siblings rolled around in the grass, their laughter loud and contagious.

But when another laugh joined them, Luna's eyes widened. She looked up to see Peeta standing a few yards away from her, a smile lighting up his face. At the sight of him, a soft smile settled onto her face.

He was in a white shirt and jeans, and he looked so pretty that it hurt. She tilted her head as he approached her, kneeling down in the grass next to her. He leaned down and pressed a kiss onto her cheek, which caused butterflies to erupt in her stomach.

Luna sat up in her cell, her eyes wide and her heart racing. What the hell was that dream? Peeta looked up from where he had been sitting against the wall, his eyebrows raised in concern at her sudden awakening. But she couldn't look at him.

"You okay?" he called, and her face immediately burned in embarrassment. She felt pathetic, reacting like this about a guy like a little girl after everything she had been through.

She nodded simply, still refusing to look at him because she was scared he would be able to tell that it had to do with him. "Yeah, all good. Just a weird dream."

"Wanna talk about it?" he questioned. She knew that he was being nice and perfect, but she genuinely wished he would just let it go. She felt terrible. She was supposed to be having fun with her brother, and it turned into her pretty much getting kissed by Peeta.

"No," she said quickly. "Definitely not."

He opened his mouth to say something else, but he was interrupted by a buzz, indicating that the door to the cell was opening. Both of their hearts dropped, knowing what time of day it was.

Peacekeepers flooded the room, but Luna was already climbing to her feet since it was her turn. Fighting only made the torture worse. She struggled to stand up because of her leg and absence of a brace. They had taken away the brace when she got there, and she was unable to walk without it. She cried out in pain, and two of the men stepped forward and grabbed her arms, dragging her roughly toward the hall.

"Luna!" Peeta called weakly, but there was no point. They both knew that. Nothing would stop the torture from happening, and him saying anything more would make it worse for her.

They dragged her toward the room, and she winced the entire time as her leg dragged along the floor. She couldn't feel her foot, but the point at which she regained feeling — about halfway up her calf — was killing her.

When they entered, her eyes immediately landed on the smug face of President Snow sitting in a chair off to the side. He sometimes did that, sat and watched while they endured the worst pain of their lives. And every time, when they first entered, he stood up and walked over to them, smiling and making sure they knew who was in control.

"Miss Geyser, lovely to see you again," he commented.

Luna was smart. She knew that the best thing for her to do was just stay still and do nothing. But he just made her so mad, and it was rare that she was this close to his face.

So, she spit at him.

She immediately regretted it as his foot made contact with her injured leg, and she screamed loudly in pain, her knees crumpling. She was held up by the Peacekeepers, but her leg was screaming at her.

The President walked back to his chair, wiping his face with a handkerchief as he leaned back. He watched while four men dragged Luna onto a table, lying her down and connecting a dozen wires to her.

Back in the cell, Peeta covered his ears with his hands, crumpled up in a ball with his face scrunched up at the Geyser girl's screams echoed down the hallway. He wished that he could take her place. He prayed that she would pass out and not feel it anymore.

He wanted to take all of her pain and suffering away, but he couldn't.

《 ✽ 》

LUNA WAS NEVER A CRIER. In fact, she hated crying. She felt so vulnerable and weak whenever she cried, so she tried to avoid it at all costs. However, all of that had gone out the window after her first session in the Capitol.

The torture was the worst thing she had ever endured. She thought that nothing would hurt more than her leg accident, but she was wrong. That was nothing compared to having electricity shot through you, being stabbed a dozen times, having razors dragged along your body, and more.

There were so many times when she genuinely thought she would die, had prayed for death, but they always stopped just before it got to that. And she was always sobbing by the end of it, and Johanna, Annie, and Peeta always were too.

When they threw her back in her cell afterward, her body was shaking as she cried on the ground. She was in so much pain, and she was just going to have to do it again in a few days. It was so mentally and physically draining that she wanted to die.

She felt an arm on her back, wrapping around her shoulder gently and helping her sit up so that she could catch her breath. Peeta leaned her against the wall, and she didn't even open her eyes until she felt his thumbs on her cheeks, wiping the tears off her face.

She was met with his soft features and sad eyes. He hated seeing her like that, all broken and upset. Every time she got taken away, he was sick with dread and fear. And the worst part was that there was no way that he could make it any better.

His fingers continued to slide across the soft skin of her cheeks as she stared up at him, scared and sad. He muttered softly, "It's okay. You're okay. It's over."

"It's not over. It's never going to be over," she responded, shaking her head and sobbing harder. It was never going to end. Never. She wanted to scream, but she was so weak. It was the worst thing she could imagine.

He shook his head, his heart breaking at her words and hopeless she sounded. His hands moved back to cup the back of her neck, making her look him in the eyes. He insisted, "Remember what you said. The others will come for us."

"That could take months. We could die in here before they come," she cried, but that honestly didn't sound too bad. Any break from the torture sounded amazing.

"No, I won't let that happen," he assured her, and he leaned even closer so that their faces were inches apart. He needed her to listen to him, to believe him. He needed her. "Luna, I promise that you will see your brother again."

But there wasn't even a promise that he was in 13 with the others. He could've been killed, or he could hate her. She didn't know anything. "What if he's not even there? What if he's dead in a ditch in Five, and I don't even know?"

"You have to have faith that he's not," he told her, his voice desperate. "You need to believe that he's waiting for you because it will keep you going."

"This would all be better if we were all just dead," she said defeatedly. She wished she and everyone she knew were dead so that none of them had to deal with anything.

He leaned even closer, and her breathing slowed for a second. He said determinedly, "You cannot let them break you." Both of them fell silent for a moment, the only sound being their heavy breathing.

Luna looked up at the boy in front of her, and she thought for a moment about everything he had done for her. As she looked into his eyes, she came to the conclusion that she would do anything for that boy, absolutely anything. She inhaled deeply and broke the silence by saying, "Don't take this the wrong way, but I'm glad that you're here, Peeta."

He knew what she meant. She meant that there was no way she would make it through all of that without him. And vice versa. She was the only thing keeping him afloat in that sea of pain, and if he was being honest, he wanted nothing more than to close the space between them.

But he didn't. He just nodded slowly before pulling away, his hand falling onto her shoulder to rub it gently. He licked his lips before saying, "Get some rest, all right?"

He sat down beside her, and she hesitantly allowed her head to rest on his shoulder. He tensed up for a moment, but after a second, he relaxed and wrapped an arm around her shoulder, kissing the top of her head lightly as she dozed off.