Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark were reluctantly pulled from the arena due to the berry incident, but this caused more problems to arise. Snow threatened Katniss, but it was too late. There was already a plan in place.
On Snow's return trip to the Capitol he was in a 'car accident' that was more like a cover up. The rebels had stepped in early, changing the outcome and saving many lives in the process.
The evil President was gone and with his fall the Peacekeepers were eliminated too. There was very little evil left after this and the people of Panem were better off than they had ever been.
Under the new rule of Plutarch Heavensbee, Panem had changed a lot. District 13 had risen from their ashes and the other Districts were reformed and no longer a piece of the Capitol's games.
The Quarter Quell never occurred and the Hunger Games were over for good. No longer would there be innocent children dying for the Capitol's entertainment.
Katniss and Peeta became the last victors the Hunger Games would ever produce and this led to instant fame. They became the biggest celebrities in the Capitol.
They continued to go along with the star-crossed lovers routine during the Victory Tour, but that soon feel apart. No one but Katniss and Peeta knew what happened that night, but it was the end to their staged love.
They moved on and avoided each other most of the time, but that night still plays over in their minds.
Will things ever be the same again?
"I am not going!" I exclaimed. Haymitch had just told me about the trip to the Capitol I was about to take. Apparently I have to attend the ceremony to swear in the new president. This is the last thing I want right now. I thought after the Games were over and things settled down I'd be able to go back to my old life, but obviously that was never going to happen.
"Katniss, you don't have a choice," Haymitch informed. "Both Peeta and you have to attend and so do I. I don't want to go as much as you don't, but we don't have a choice. When you pulled those berries out and won the Games you signed yourself up for a never ending chain of social events you will have to attend."
Maybe Haymitch thought he was making things better, but he really wasn't. There was no chance I would ever want to go to this thing and bringing Peeta into the mix didn't help. Didn't he know how much I didn't want to see him?
"We will leave day after tomorrow. Effie will be here to make sure we are ready. Don't give her too much trouble," Haymitch said as he headed towards the door. There was no use arguing, I could tell that would do no good. Before disappearing through the door Haymitch said, "Oh, by the way since the whole star crossed lovers thing is history, you can bring a plus one," and with that he disappeared.
"Wait what?" I yelled after him.
"You heard me," he yelled back.
I could bring someone? Who would I even think about bringing? Well, there was always one person, but I didn't want to subject him to the Capitol. I resolved to go on my own.
I needed to clear my head, so I decided it was time to go hunting. I walked the normal path from the Victors Village to my old home and then went through the gate. Since Plutarch had taken over the fence had been fixed so that it would stand up on its own, but the electric was permanently turned off and there were gates that one could go through to reach the meadows. The only reason the fence still stood was to keep the predators out.
I grabbed my bow from the hollowed tree and made my way to the small lake that I had always gone to with my father. It was peaceful here and the perfect place to clear my mind. Hours passed as I stared at the sparkling water, watching it ripple in the breeze.
So much had happened over the last year and it was still hard to take it all in. I had been thrown into the Games with Peeta, the boy who had kept me alive when I was younger. We were connected the whole time by the whole act that we put on, but at some points it was hard to tell if it was an act or real. I had been forced to fight for my life and his, but somehow we had made it.
Then I was threatened by Snow, but that didn't matter because he was dead now and his whole regime was gone. This was the first time in my life that I was free of the Capitol, or at least I thought, but now I was being forced into visiting again.
There was nothing wrong with the Capitol itself, I just never liked their need to have everything. The problem with the Capitol was that it holds so many memories that I don't want to rehash. That is where I went before the Games and it is the place that dictated all of Panem for centuries, but the worst was that this was the place where I was forced to connect with Peeta and also the place where everything went wrong. Too much had happened there.
I shook my head and rose into a standing position; it was time to head home. I had nothing to show for my day in the woods, but today that was okay. I just needed time to think about everything.
Walking back past the rock that was our normal meeting spot, I saw Gale. He was sitting there staring off into the distance. I slowly walked up and took a seat beside him on the rock, pulling him out of his thoughts. "Hey Catnip, what's up?" Gale asked.
"I have to go back to the Capitol," I sighed.
"Why?" he asked, giving me his undivided attention.
"For the swearing in of the new president," I whined.
"Sorry," Gale said.
I didn't say anything, just sat there in silence.
"It won't be that bad," Gale assured. "It's not like you have to go back into the Games or anything."
"Yeah I guess not, but every time I'm in the Capitol everything comes back to me," I lied. Yes, everything does come back to me, but the reason I want to avoid the Capitol is because of Peeta not the Games.
"Does it have anything to do with Peeta?" Gale asked.
"No," I lied. I didn't want to think about that night.
"Katniss don't lie to me," Gale warned.
"I don't want to talk about it," I tried to avoid the question.
"What happened on that trip?" Gale wondered. I had never told him anything, just that it had all been an act, but I don't think he believed me.
"Nothing happened," I lied again. I didn't want to talk about it.
"Fine, do you two have to act all in love again?" Gale asked, disgusted by the idea.
"No," I simply answered.
"Good," Gale said relieved. It was obvious he was at least a little bit jealous.
"I can bring someone with me," I informed, not sure why I was telling him. After all I had decided I wasn't going to bring anyone.
"Are you going to?" he asked, suspiciously.
"Only if you want to go," I said without thinking.
"Of course I'll go," Gale promised.
"We leave day after tomorrow," I said as I stood up and fled.
What had I just done? Hadn't I promised that I wouldn't bring anyone? Now Gale was going to be with me. Well, I guess I could have asked worse people. Maybe this would be fun, but I doubt it.
