To Meddle With Fate

by hgwriter123

Katniss Everdeen is safe at last. But she has lost so much, and her losses can never be undone. Through the eyes of a fortune teller, she witnesses the beginning of what would have been if a major event had never happened - and how it would have changed the lives of 24 children... T for language.

1. Remembrance Can Be a Dangerous Thing

Chapter 1

Remembrance Can Be a Dangerous Thing

KATNISS

I'm alone in the house, with just my thoughts to keep me company. Peeta has gone to collect Rose and Jay from school, which is a few minutes away from here. They rebuilt the school (as well as most of the other shops and buildings in District 12, including the Hob) not long after it was blown to pieces by the firebombs. That was a long time ago, though. Another place, a place for the worst.

No, Katniss, you must stop thinking about that time. And you must stop thinking about the time before that time. A time where you and Gale went hunting in the woods for food to keep your families alive. Where the Hunger Games was blossoming like never before, seventy-four years of children's gruesome deaths having passed-

"No!" I shout, my voice vibrating off the walls. No. Hold it together, Katniss. You must stay strong.

I haven't spoken to Gale in over twenty years. Last I heard, he was happily married with kids in District 2. I don't want to speak to him - he, whose firebomb killed Prim, my sister-

No. It wasn't Gale. They never found out whose firebomb killed her. Prim. It could have been any of the blasted District 13 soldiers. But they didn't care. It could have been Coin who killed my sister, and they still didn't care.

I want to hurt them, angers rises up my throat like bile. Hurt them like they hurt my sister. I want to hurt Coin beyond belief. But no - Coin is dead. Snow is dead. They're all dead!

Hold it together, Katniss. Stay strong. Remember the song, the song your children love so deeply.

Deep in the meadow, under the willow,

That's right Katniss. Remember the song.

A bed of grass, a soft green pillow,

My eyes begin to drift. I can see the Meadow, the one outside District 12, in my mind.

Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes-

"No, Katniss! No! You can't go!"

"Prim, let go!"

My eyes fly open, and the memories flood my mind. Effie Trinket calling out Prim's name at the Reaping. Glimmer's bloated flesh disintegrating in my hand. Holding Rue in my arms as she dies. Clove cutting my forehead with her knife. Cato getting torn to pieces by the wolf mutts. Snow annoucing the rules for the Quarter Quell. Gale's whipped back. Beetee showing me the force field. Mags running into the death-fog. Wiress' slit throat. The arena exploding. Coin's face at the many meetings. Annie and Finnick holding hands. Johanna screaming. Boggs' final message. Finnick getting torn to pieces by the reptile mutts. Prim on fire...

I can remember everything.

However, I can also remember the good things. The moment where I won my first Hunger Games, with Peeta at my side. Twill and Bonnie's faces when I gave them all that food in the woods. My mother singing. Prim giggling. Gale and I hunting. The picture of Annie and Finnick's baby. The kiss with Gale. The kisses with Peeta. Peeta baking. Peeta painting. Peeta laughing.

And I smile. Because it's these memories, these wonderful memories, that keep me going. And the life of my children. Rose and Jay. And Peeta. Without them, my life would not be complete.

And I can now understand the last few lines of the first verse of that song. The song that Prim loved. The song that my children love.

And when again they open, the sun will rise.