A/N: taking a page out of Gethsemane's book here... I made it my own, though. Please tell me what you think.


In the End

When the end came, I was afraid, but not terrified. There had been hints that something like this was coming, and the arrow through the force field just made it come faster. I'd like to say I was heroic and saved as many people as I could, but that would be lying. Not that I haven't lied before.

You have probably heard of me. A few times my face may have danced across your television screen. I've been in both of those interviews for both of those Games, the ones that went down in history. I wasn't a tribute – oh, no. Not me. I was one of the friends they interviewed when it was down to the final eight. One of the connections.

Some think I was lucky, being the mayor's daughter, with my blonde hair and blue eyes marking me for the privileged person I was. But you should know right now that there's always more to the story than what you see on the screen. Always.

"So, tell me," the interviewer cajoled. "Tell me what you know about Katniss Everdeen."

"Oh, she's a friend," I replied vaguely. "We sit together at lunch. I'm teaching her how to play the piano."

That was all I ever said. Simple lies that protected us from the fury that would be unleashed if the truth got out. In the end, of course, it didn't matter. But because I didn't know how things would turn out, I kept my secrets. I didn't reveal the hunting lessons or the strawberries. I never said a word.

But the hidden stories were always there, lurking beneath the surface. Ready to be exposed. Ready to condemn me and my family. In the end, things turned out the same. The cause was different, but the effect was unchanged. I think I expected it.

"Promise me you'll wear it in the arena."

She wore it, and she brought it back, only to wear it again, at my request. Twice she took that golden pin to what might have been her execution. The second time, she ended up wearing it to mine.

The girl on fire was a friend, my only real friend. It's ironic, though. She was my best friend and yet I barely knew her. Funny that I understood her most in the minutes before my death.

"Madge Undersee," the Capitol man said. "What do you like the most about Katniss Everdeen?"

I thought about it for a moment. This was my moment, when I decided who to support. Rebels, or the Capitol? "What I like most… she's just so much fun to be around. She always makes me laugh."

I lied again. Katniss has never made me laugh. Quite the contrary – she reminds me that there is really nothing funny about our situation. And I chose the Capitol side, too afraid to speak up. Too afraid to do anything that would brand me as a rebel.

I sat in my room that night, with District 12 growing hot and red around me, the screams of the citizens splitting the air. I stood at the window and watched my home die, and I realized that I had been so, so foolish at that last interview. I might have kept myself safe, but it didn't matter in the end.

I was going to die, and nothing I said could change that. What mattered was that I could have shot an arrow of my own at the Capitol with my thoughts of the girl on fire. But I'd been too scared, and the best I could do now was to remember who I wanted to fight for.

I knew in that moment, as the bomb began to fall. I think I smiled. I whispered her name.

"Katniss Everd—"