A/N: First of all, I just want to warn you, this may not be considered a 'happy ending', but to me, this is where I felt the book was leading up to, especially with the song being referenced over and over again. I loved the book, but of course there are parts I wish Collins hadn't put in, but I feel the ending was rushed and the characters changed too quickly. It was like there wasn't enough towards the end. I'm also REALLY BAD at writing in the present tense, so PLEASE if you notice that I move in and out of tenses, send me a message and let me know! I don't have a BETA and I just wrote this today after I finished the book last night. I love comments, so feel free to leave them. You may HATE this ending, but this is how I saw it in my head... Thanks for reading.

*Suzanne Collins owns The Hunger Games Trilogy and all it's characters and references.*

The Hanging Tree – (Mockingjay Alternate Ending) by Jess Russell

I run down the hall, out the front door, and around the side of the house, because now I'm pretty sure I can scream at the dead. When I see him, I pull up short. His face is flushed from digging up the ground under the windows. In a wheelbarrow are five scraggly bushes.

"You're back," I say.

"Dr. Aurelius wouldn't let me leave the Capitol until yesterday," Peeta says as he looks at me. He's frowning slightly, though, as he takes me in.

I make a half-hearted effort to push my hair out of my eyes and realize it's matted into clumps. I feel defensive. "What are you doing?"

"I went to the woods this morning and dug these up. For her," he says. I thought we could plant them along the side of the house."

I look at the bushes, the clods of dirt hanging from their roots, and catch my breath as the word rose registers. I'm about to to yell vicious things at Peeta when the full name comes to me. Not plain rose but evening Primrose. The flower my sister was named for...

I stand there in silence as I watch him pick up one of the bushels and stick it into the hole he dug in the ground next to my house. I don't say anything as I observe him do this for my sister; a small memorial for everyone in district 12 to see as they pass by. They will know what these flowers symbolize, just as they know what the mockingjay stands for.

When he finishes, Peeta stands up and claps his hands together to remove any excess dirt as we both admire his work. After a moment he turns and looks at me, "You look like a mess."

I keep my eyes fixed on the bushes, "So do you."

And it's true. We both look like we've been run over a hundred times by a car, thrown into a brick wall over and over again, pulled apart piece by piece and someone made the sad attempt to put us back together. But it's useless, because Peeta and I are far too broken to ever be whole again. The Capitol ruined Peeta, just like they ruined me. Neither of us are how we were back before the games started. Back when we lived on the train on the way to the Capitol and in the training center. We've become something neither of us want to be. Something neither of us deserve.

Staring at the bushes, my sisters face pops into my head and tears swell into my eyes. I remember the day of the reaping when Effie Trinket called out her name for the whole nation of Panem to hear, Primrose Everdeen. And faster than I could grasp, I found myself screaming to volunteer to save her. And yet, she's still dead. Everything started that day. Everything that happened was all because I wanted to keep her safe, keep her alive, and I couldn't. I feel my hand reach for Peeta's as a single tear rolls down my cheek.

I look away from the bushes and turn to Peeta. The boy with the bread. Only he wasn't that boy anymore. He had been stripped away of that title the day the Capitol captured him from the second arena in the Quarter Quell. The person standing before me now looks like an old man trapped in the broken body of a child. The blue eyes that once looked at me with love and urgency, now look at me with fear and uneasiness. It's too much for us to handle. We may have saved the fate of the human race, but no one could save us anymore. We were too far gone, and we both knew it.

Suddenly, the song my father sang to me in the woods rang through my ears and my lips started to move. I wasn't sure what was going through my head at first, but when Peeta listened to the words I sang, his eyes grew wide as if he just had an epiphany. His shoulders relaxed as he took hold of my other hand and sang the last verse with me:

Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Wear a necklace of rope side by side with me.
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be,
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Peeta and I stand in silence for a moment longer, gazing into each others eyes, before I pull him back into my house. He follows me up the stairs and into my bedroom where I spend so many nights dreaming about all the people I killed. All the people who are gone because I volunteered to save my sister. Looking back, it feels as though that was the most selfish thing I ever did.

I lead him into the bathroom and I strip myself of the clothes I've been wearing for months and step inside the shower. I turn the water on and let it wash the matted mess out of my hair. I peer through the glass at Peeta, looking at him expectantly. His eyes are filled with confusion as he stares at my naked body. I reach my hand out to him, inviting him to join me.

He gives a small nod before he too strips himself, and steps inside the shower with me.

I wonder whether or not this was a good idea. Every few seconds, I can see that confused look appear on his face and think he's about to have a breakdown, but instead, he closes his eyes and takes a few deep breaths. I pull him close to me and wrap my arms around his neck. I lift my lips up to his ear and whisper, "Real," and I can feel him relax in my arms.

We stay under the hot water together until it runs cold. When we step out, he wraps us together in the same white towel. He picks up another one and rubs it through what's left of my hair. He sets it on the counter of the sink and takes hold of my hand as we make our way back into my bedroom.

I know this would have happened anyway. Out of all the misery and sadness that overwhelms me on a daily basis, it's so nice to finally feel something good, even if it is only temporary. But the hunger I felt take over me on the beach is eating away at me again. I pull Peeta to my bed and lie down with him, hoping that he's feeling the same.. I rest my hand on his cheek and kiss his lips softly, waiting for him to pull away at any second, but he doesn't.

He simply looks into my eyes questioningly and whispers, "You love me. Real or not real?"

"Real," I say, and pull him into me.

Everyone I love is gone, except for Peeta. He's the only one who came back for me. The only one who truly understands what I'm going through, because he's going through it too. Haymitch has chosen to live the rest of his life in a drunken stupor so he doesn't have to feel the pain and sadness, to relive the nightmarish memories of the hunger games and the war we all fought to save Panem. My mother stayed in the Capitol to help the sick and wounded in the hospital, because it's easier for her to help complete strangers than her own daughter. Gale is living in District 2 with his family, and from what Greasy Sae told me, he met a girl there whose family works with gems, making jewelry and other accessories to sell. She says he seems happy. And I'm glad for him. It's good that someone is able to move on from the wreckage this war and the hunger games created. I know Gale will live a long, happy life and for some reason, knowing this puts me at ease.

I look behind me and see Peeta sitting on the bed, wearing fresh clothes and holding my game bag in his hand. He looks at me, "Are you ready?" I nod my head and he stands up slowly, sliding his fingers into mine. We make our way downstairs and take one last look at my house before we step outside.

The night air is cool and feels good on my face. We walk hand in hand through what remains of District 12, past the place where the meadow was, past the rubble that is left of the justice building and poor Madge's house, crunching stones and bones under our feet as we walk. As I look around in the dark, I can't help but wonder what will happen to this place. Will it be repaired? Will anyone come back besides those who have been exiled? Peeta and I walk to the seam and I stop for a second and stare at the wreckage that was once my house. In the distance, a soft noise catches my attention and it takes me a second to believe that it's real. The hiss gets louder as I watch Buttercup prance closer to me, coming out of the remains of our old home. His fur is ragged and matted against his skin. He is skinner than I've ever seen him, but he's alive, and he made it out of district 13 on foot.

"It was a waste of a trip. She's not here," I say. Buttercup hisses at me one last time and I pull Peeta away, heading for the woods. The memory of Prim and that stupid cat jab hard at my insides. The way they loved each other so much. How loyal he was to her, always protecting her, always coming back for her. A cat was better at keeping my sister alive than I was.

I feel a pang in my heart as we climb under the opening in the fence. It doesn't surprise me that it isn't charged with electricity anymore, and we enter the woods at my usual place. Peeta opens the game sack and pulls out two flash lights, handing one of them to me. I lead the way into the forest to the spot Gale and I used to meet to go hunting. As we walk, I can't help but start to hum my fathers song. His voice echos in my head as the memory of him singing to me comes back so clear, it's as though I'm watching it on television, and I can see his face light up with a bright smile. Peeta doesn't sing or hum. He stays silent as we walk, listening to my humming and the sounds of the woods around us.

I hold my flash light up and I see we've made it to our destination. Next to the place where Gale and I spend so much time, is a tree with a long, thick branch hanging over the rock. I look back to Peeta questioningly, making sure he wants this too. He squeezes my hand reassuringly and nods. It's become too much for him, too. We climb up the rock and make our way to the branch. Peeta pushes on it hard, putting all of his weight on it to make sure it's strong enough for the both of us, and it is. The branch barely moves when he leans on it.

He hands me his flashlight and pulls out two long ropes from the game sack and hands me one. I can't help but think of Finnick as we both tie a noose into our rope. Finnick's skills with knots was extraordinary, as I remember him in the hospital after the Quarter Quell, making knot after knot to help calm himself from the panic of the flashbacks he suffered from. His death was the most horrible I think, being ripped apart by the Capitols mutts. But now that I think about it, I almost feel he got lucky. Finnick is now pain free. He has no more nightmares, no more flashbacks, no more worry about Annie being taken away from him. Annie is safe now, with their son, the only piece she has left of him, to keep her together. I always wondered how Annie would survive without Finnick, but I believe the birth of their son helped her come back to life. It was like Finnick had come back to her in a way. A living breathing replica of him, always there to keep her from losing control.

Peeta's movement next to me made me snap out of my trance. He's standing now, tying the other end of the rope to the branch, securing it tightly. I stand up and he takes hold of my rope. Our hands touch and our eyes meet. This is it, I think to myself. No more nightmares. No more flashbacks. No more living in a world that's made of nothing but pain and sadness. Finally, we'll both be at peace. And we'll be together.

We lift the ropes and place the nooses around our necks and Peeta takes my hand. His mouth opens for the first time since we got here as the words from my fathers song escape his lips and tears roll down my face. I join him in the second verse:

Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Where the dead men called out for his love to flee.
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be,
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Are you, are you coming to the tree?
Wear a necklace of rope side by side with me.
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be,
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree.

Before we take our final step off the rock, my mind races through a million memories. Sitting on these rocks with Gale; bringing our game to the Hob for Greasy Sae; Waiting at the mines for my father to come out after the explosion, only to find out he had been killed; my mother huddled on the bed in our house, unable to move after my fathers death; Peeta tossing me the burnt bread after his mother beat him for burning it; standing on the stage at the reaping next to Peeta so my sister didn't have to die in the hunger games; Watching the tracker jackers fall from the tree onto the ground in the first arena; Rue laying on the ground with a stake in her chest, calling my name; Mags running into the poison fog to save Finnick, Beetee, Johanna and I; Peeta attacking me at the hospital after the Capitol tortured him with the venom from the mutt insects; Boggs death; Finnicks death; Prims death; and now, my own.

Peeta and I squeeze our hands together one last time as we step off the ledge of the rock, and the last sound I hear is the snapping of our necks.