Claudius Templesmith's voice boomed out across the arena.
"Stop!"
Katniss Everdeen spat the nightlock berry in her mouth onto the ground, and fell to her knees at the lakeside, rinsing her mouth of all traces of the deadly fruit with the crystal clear water. She knew that everyone across Panem was probably glued to their screens, watching her, and she was vaguely aware of the voice of the Hunger Games announcer saying something else, but she didn't listen.
It was over. Or so she thought.
She looked to her left, expecting to see her district partner and ally, Peeta Mellark, beside her doing the same. But instead, he lay on the ground a few feet away from the lakeside.
"Peeta!" Katniss gasped, moving to his side. He was shaking, his eyes wide in fear and pain, his lips turning slightly blue. "Peeta, no. You didn't..." She couldn't say it.
"Yeah." He struggled to get the single word out. "I'm sorry, Katniss. I... I love you."
He couldn't speak any more.
She took his trembling form in her arms, holding him close to her as what was left of his life drained away.
"Peeta..." she choked out. "Peeta, please, don't go."
He didn't reply. And then it was over.
The voice of Claudius Templesmith once again met her ears, this time sounding solemn and full of regret.
"Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the victor of the Seventy-Fourth Annual Hunger Games. Katniss Everdeen."
A hovercraft materialised, dropping both a ladder and a metal claw to the ground. The dark-haired girl with her grey Seam eyes laid the body of the blonde boy on the grass, and gently closed his eyes before turning away and stepping onto the awaiting ladder, where the strange current froze her in place as she was lifted into the craft.
She never saw her 'star-crossed lover' again.
And the next day, Katniss Everdeen returned to District 12. Dressed in a simple black dress, with her golden pin attached to the fabric and a black ribbon tied at the end of her trademark side braid, her tear-stained face devoid of makeup, my sister stood looking out at the assembled crowd, proud and defiant and exhausted and defeated all at the same time.
Her voice cracked as she tried to speak to the people from her district. She barely managed more than a few sentences before dissolving into tears and falling to her knees, unable to appear strong any more.
And the person who pushed to the front of the crowd, climbed up to the stage in front of the Justice Building, knelt beside her and held her as she sobbed?
Gale Hawthorne.