My first THG story; I reread the entire series this week, after seeing the film for the first time, and I had to write this - I just finished rereading Mockingjay tonight! (Yes, I've read them many times before; I'm not a new reader!)

I don't own anything!

For my pairing!twinny, Maddie, and also for Elsie, since she's flawless.

They know she's gone; they know that the little duck, the shining gem of the entire resistance, will never see them again, because she's dead. She's been cruelly snatched from the world, never to see what her small – yet exquisitely important – acts of kindness have done for all those who fight now. They fight in her honour, partially, and there's no greater mark of respect than for this to happen.

There's no more contemplation that there's a chance that their children will be able to survive without qualm; she was only thirteen, and yet they – the rebels – decided that her death would be worthwhile, in the long run. The girl who everyone spoke about, continues to speak about, with the way that she had a kind word for everyone, the way that she was stronger than almost anyone, and that she was as pure as the snow in which she died.

Purer than snow, in fact, since snow has the chance to be melted, to be returned to a state of fluidity and move elsewhere, whereas Prim was never going to leave wherever she was needed, was she?

And yet they can all still hear her, hear the tinkling chimes of laughter when she played with Buttercup, the murmuring of her soothing voice as she tried to save someone in another futile attempt, and they all know that this girl will never leave their minds. Everyone who knew her cling to the waking memories of her, in the hope that she won't haunt their nightmares as the girl they couldn't save: not the girl on fire, no, because she's not Katniss. She's not her sister, the symbol of resistance who she was so proud of, but rather the girl who made them all sure why they were fighting.

She still does.

They all know her name: Primrose Everdeen, the one taken down by unknown forces (but they all know it was the rebels, and that they've only ever tried to cover it over) and nobody is in a hurry to forget it. They name everything they can after her, a reminder that the best of us all are often taken before their time, and yet it's not enough to staunch the feeling that there is so much more that they could have done, and yet nobody did.

There's a permanent flower fixture on the spot where she died, though it's meant to commemorate all of those who died at the time, because they all know – even people who only know of her by word of mouth – that she would never have wanted to be singled out; behind the scenes was Prim's style, the way to try and protect her family as best she could.

(It was all she wanted to ever do, after Katniss protected them all for so many years: it was her turn to look after them all, for a change.)

Even as time goes by, as Paylor rebuilds the country and decides that it's maybe time to start branching out, to see if they're as alone in this world as they've thought after their ancestors destroyed everything, they never forget Prim. Above all the others slain in their aim to make the country theirs, they remember the futility of her death, the way that she shaped everything (as Katniss only acted for Prim, didn't she, in those final moments of Coin's life?) and her name lingers in the minds of those who reside in the Capitol, in the districts, and anywhere her influence has touched.

People deal with her in different ways. There's the respectful, yet detached, manner of the majority of Panem, as they never experienced her kindness first hand – or knew her enough to feel as though they have the right to grieve her death as an individual.

.

Her mother throws herself into her work, decides that it's the best idea to stay as far away from District 12 as possible, and keep as busy as she can, because otherwise she'll remember. She'll remember what she was like before, when she had to look after her children and failed, and there'll be no going back. Only little Prim, through her coaxing and wheedling, managed to make her return before, after her husband died, so she can never let herself rest. Only as she slips into a slumber, entirely exhausted, is she able to dream of her daughters, remember how they used to be happy, carefree almost. Even with their state of oppression, they found a way to be happy.

.

Katniss buries herself in the book, knowing that she could never dream of returning to the Capitol, only for the memories of her little sister contained there. Tears drip down her cheeks every night for years, her nightmares plagued with the moment when she could have either saved Prim or died with her, and the knowledge that Prim was the better one of the two of them. She died to save others, though not intentionally, and there was never a bad bone in her body: she was just like Peeta was, and that's just how she's going to remember little Prim.

She uses her book, and, with Peeta and Haymitch's help, they recreate every possible memory about the girl who was universally loved, the girl with the goat and the cat, and every picture of her innocence is painted. It's the only way to keep her sane, to realise that this girl did exist, and that she had the greatest privilege of spending thirteen years with her.

.

On the far side of the country, about as far away from District 12 as he can manage, Gale continues to mourn the girl who he knows could have been his sister-in-law: hell, she could have even been his, if he hadn't have been so focused on Katniss! His fire would have contrasted with her gentleness, the way that he found her in District 13 before the bombs went off sticking in his head, even after all this time. He's become a success – or as much of one as he could become, given what he's been through – and yet all it does is give him something to take his mind off of everything that's happened in his life.

He's refused to work with bombs since Prim, since he knows that it was all his fault: even if they weren't the ones he initiated, he told Beetee about the secondary attack, the way that you give hope before you snatch it from them, and that's enough responsibility in his eyes. So he works and works, trying to make amends by being as peaceful as possible, because that's how Prim was, and this is the only way that he can get through the day: acting like Prim, because to act like himself is to be too much like Katniss, and that would destroy him. So he contains everything until he feels himself about to burst, when he runs out to the woods and allows himself to think of Katniss, just for a moment, to wonder whether or not she's happy, whether she'll ever get over what happened to her.

And then he's back to thinking of Prim, because that's the only alternative to being ripped apart – and he's trying to live up to her, after all.

.

Primrose Everdeen no longer exists in a physical form: she's buried in the ground – as much of her as they could, at least – and there are tears shed for her every day. Yet she lives on: even if the people alive forget to tell their children about her, she will exist: on the war memorial, in the book in District 12, in the gentleness of those treating patients – she may not be named everywhere, but she continues to exist in whatever she did.

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Thanks!

Vicky xx