bigapplesauce | Wake-Up Call [Closed]

Daine wakes with a start, heart pounding and gasping for air. The first few breaths are difficult, and it takes her a moment to dispel the memory of that choking liquid mud and realize the real reason her lungs feel sluggish: Sarge's head is resting on her chest.

Daine? She can feel his worry as he lifts his head and steps back a pace to look at her and sniff at her face. You're awake?

Good. That's Shadow, and a moment later, a rough feline tongue scrapes against her forehead. He's crouched beside her on her pillow, and she can feel the familiar shift of Molly's body along her side. She's in her room. It was just a dream - a nightmare - but it's over.

One slow breath, then another. Molly shoves her head beneath Daine's hand, and she gives the dog a comforting scratch. Okay. She's okay. None of it was real, not the monkeys or the drowning, and Peeta--

Wait. Is Peeta awake, or is he still in that gods-cursed arena?

Daine sits up sharply, earning a soft meow of complaint from Shadow. I have to wake Peeta, she says, swinging her legs off the bed and lurching to her feet. Her head swims for a moment, then clears as Sarge leans against her left side and Molly hops off the bed to press against her right. We have to wake him up now.

She's at his door in less than a minute, not having bothered with shoes (or with anything else that would have slowed her down). Sarge and Molly are at her side, and Shadow is bringing up the rear as if he coincidentally felt like taking a stroll in the same general direction. "Peeta?" She raps her knuckles against the wood, then pauses to listen for a response. Nothing. "Peeta, are you up?" Another pause. She thinks she hears something this time, a quiet sound of distress.

No more knocking. Daine tries the doorknob, finds it locked, and lets out a frustrated huff. Fine. She'll do this the hard way.

She can't shift completely - not without wrecking her clothes - but she can still give herself the head and shoulders of a bighorn sheep. Her collar digs into her neck a little, but she doesn't care. Daine backs up a pace, then slams her newly fortified skull against the door. There's a crunch that masks the faint tearing sound of her collar giving way, then the lock splinters and the door swings open, juddering a little from the impact. Her head snaps back to normal as she stumbles inside and makes a beeline for his bed.

"Peeta!"

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Daine shakes her head as she shifts into a more comfortable position, giving Sarge a bit more room to work with. He stretches, yawns, and plunks his head into Daine's lap, tail wagging. "No," she says as she rubs Sarge's ears. "I don't really remember what I dreamed about, but I expect I'd remember if I ended up back there. What about you?"

"I dreamed about something," Peeta replies, frown deepening in thought, "but I can't remember what. It wasn't the Games, though. It was something" - the faintest feelings echo inside him - "happy. Or at least not unhappy."

"Good," Daine says, relaxing a little. It doesn't occur to her that her presence had anything to do with it; she's just glad he was spared any further time in the arena. "You earned something nice," she adds, the corners of her mouth turning upwards into a faint smile.

Molly, not wanting to be left out of the morning snuggles, rolls back onto her chest so she can wriggle up the bed and into Peeta's lap.

For what it's worth, Peeta doesn't think to attribute his peaceful sleep to Daine, or vice versa. He just assumes the rift was done with them for the night and let them be. "You deserved something nice after dying," he returns, tone both teasing and solemn.

He smiles when Molly all but flops into his lap. He's giving her back a good rub when a thought occurs to him.

"Do - do animals dream?" he asks Daine, concern shadowing his face. "Have any of your animals been dragged into the dreaming, too?"

She lifts a shoulder, not really wanting to think about it - or wanting Peeta to think about it, either. Bad enough that they both went through it once without dwelling on it now that it's over.

"They do," she says, but she's quick to add, "I've never seen them in the dreaming, though. I think maybe it only happens to those who came through the rift. I've seen Almondine in the dreaming before, but that's all." She dreams of the People fairly often, but those are just normal dreams, far as she can tell.

Peeta's brief moment of relief is spoiled by the thought of Almondine in his nightmares or, even worse, Edgar. The idea makes him feel slightly sick. There isn't anything he can do to stop it, though.

"Well, we made it through this one, at least," he says, trying not to think about how often he dreams of the Games. If anything, the fact that no one has turned up in those dreams before last night should be encouraging.

"They're not always bad," she says. He looks like he needs to hear it. "The big dreams, I mean. They can be nice. And if it's your dream, sometimes you can change it." Or someone else can. She hasn't had much luck with such things, herself - when she changed Andrew's dream, it was definitely for the worse - but at least she knows it's possible.

He's never been able to change his dreams before, no matter how hard he wished against (or for) something. But maybe that's different here, too. "I'll keep that in mind."

He'd be content to sit there the rest of the morning, petting Molly and avoiding all thoughts about dreams, but just then his stomach growls. Loudly.

That audible grumble earns him a grin. "I s'pose we should all get breakfast," Daine says. Sarge perks at the mention of food, and a moment later, he launches himself off the bed with graceless enthusiasm (Shadow stiffens and glares, but doesn't actually move) and goes to stand by the door, tail wagging.

"And change," Daine adds, fingering the tear in her collar. It's not big enough to be indecent, but she's still in the habit of putting real clothes on before heading to breakfast.

Molly hops down to join Sarge by the door, and Peeta stands, stretching out kinks in his shoulders and back. He glances down at his own attire.

"I probably should get ready and head to the kitchens. I promised I'd help with lunch today."

"Then I expect we'll see you there," Daine says with a smile as she gets off the bed and scoops up Shadow. The cat doesn't look impressed by the move, but he clambers up onto her shoulders without complaint.

Sarge spins in an excited circle, then paws open the door. Daine winces a little as the latch swings into view, bashed askew by her efforts. "Sorry about your door," she says again.

Peeta follows her over to the door, inspecting the damage himself for the first time. It isn't too bad, but is worse than what he pictured, and he whistles, impressed.

"You must've been a really big sheep," he teases.

"A big part of one," she admits, though his tone is reassuring enough that she manages a smile. "I'll have to show you sometime." Some other time, anyway. She can stitch up the shirt as it is, but a full shift would leave her pajamas beyond saving.

Peeta's smile softens toward something more serious. He lays a hand on Daine's arm, waiting until she meets his eyes. "Thank you, again. For waking me."

"You're welcome," she replies, sobering in kind. She hardly feels as if she had any choice in the matter. There was no question of letting Peeta remain in the arena when she could do something about it. She covers his hand with her own for a moment, and her smile takes on a bitter tinge as she adds, "I'm glad I could get you out."

Peeta almost laughs - he is always being saved by the people he is trying to protect. Instead, he smiles crookedly, shadows in his eyes. "Me, too."

Odd's bobs. Impulsively, she leans forward and wraps her arms around him in a hug. It just feels like the right thing to do. Maybe it'll cheer him up, chase some of those shadows out of his eyes. "And I'd do it again," she says firmly, though not without a hint of amusement.

Momentarily surprised, Peeta nonetheless quickly returns the embrace. "I'm sure you would," he laughs, the huff of his breath ruffling Daine's hair. If there's anything he's learned about her, it's that she can be very determined.

This is all very sweet, Shadow deadpans, having climbed halfway onto Daine's head just to keep from being unseated by the hug, but I'm hungry.

Yes! Sarge says, adding a little woof for good measure.

"Yes, yes," Daine sighs, releasing Peeta and stepping back. "Everyone's hungry," she explains with a lopsided smile as she starts to walk backwards in the direction of her room. "But we'll see you later!"

"Later," Peeta agrees, raising a hand in farewell. He watches until they all disappear around the corner before shutting his door.

Wake-Up Call [Closed]

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