I still remember the world

From the eyes of a child

Slowly those feelings

Were clouded by what I know now

Evanescence - Field of Innocence

Birth:

Primrose Everdeen was, even more than her older sister Katniss, a symbol of love that transcended boundaries. Born with her mother's soft features of a Merchant - blonde hair, blue eyes, pale skin – but undoubtedly a part of the Seam – coal sticking to every pore of her body, always more hungry than full – she had always been the thinnest thread that connected those two otherwise completely separated parts of the poor District she lived in. Always cheerful, smiling and full of love, she was impossible to hate. Seamers looked past her different looks, and Merchants looked past her complicated origin, and they all smiled when this little sunshine girl smiled. She was a favorite among the entire District, and her mother, father and sister all adored her.

She was compassionate to her very core, and it was clear as a day that she had inherited her mother's gift for healing - and then transcended it. She loved animals, and animals loved her. She nursed them back to health, shared with them what little she had, and never looked away from a creature in need. She acted the same towards humans (even if they sometimes – rarely but still sometimes – paid her back with hurtful words and looks full of hate), and she always knew that when she grew up, she would become a healer, someone who would always try their best to help the others, no matter who they were.

Initiation:

After her father's – her sweet, kind father who always sang her lullabies – death, Prim, not even eight at the time, was faced with more misfortune that she could, in her young, sweet mind, ever imagine was possible. Her family was starving, her mother gone to the world and her sister forced to become the head of the house, even if she herself was barely four years older than Prim. She watched her sister struggle, trying very hard (but failing, failing, failing) not to become an even bigger burden than she already felt she was, to help in any way she could, so that her broken family (two people she loved more than anyone and anything else in the world) could learn not only to live again, but to love again as well.

Eventually, her sister came home with a bread, and later a dandelion, and somehow those two things, that she never dared ask her sister where they came from, became the beacon of hope, and Katniss started hunting, and Prim started gathering edible plants, and little by little, they recovered, though Prim's sensitive heart noticed a rift between her mother and her sister that neither of them seemed to be able to overcome.

They survived that way for years (didn't remember how to live, didn't remember how to love), until another tragedy knocked on their doors and threatened to ruin them for good this time. Katniss never let her take a tessarae, saying it was too risky - the less slips she had, the better her chances - but the odds apparently weren't in Prim's favor; so of course, after her name had been pulled out of that dreadful bowl (and her heart stopped), her courageous, selfless sister had to volunteer for her (and her heart stopped for the second time), and no matter how hard she struggled, no matter how loudly she screamed, Katniss was ripped apart from Prim, and the only hope the younger girl had left was that her sister would make good on the promise she gave to her before she left to suffer through the worst games humanity had ever invented.

She, her mother, Gale, and thousands of others watched the Games with bated breaths, wondering what the fate held for the "star-crossed lovers" of District 12. Prim knew her sister better than Katniss believed she did, and she didn't, for a second, believe that Katniss was in love with Peeta - though it was more than obvious that the poor boy (the one who gave them hope and the strength to survive all those years ago, she'd learned) was blindly infatuated with her. However, Prim also knew that Katniss cared for him, deeply, the way she cared for her, for their mother, for Gale, and she wondered did her stubborn sister realize it, or was she still trying to deny it and mask it under the pretense that she was paying back the debt from so long ago.

When her sister returned from the Games, alive but changed, something in Prim had started to change too, and she wondered, briefly and without much grief, where did the little girl who let her older sister volunteer for her disappear.

Consummation:

The air around Katniss was now constantly stiff, she was always looking behind her shoulders, and the quietest of sounds could make her flinch. Prim hated to see her this way, but she knew that there was nothing much she could do – only offer her undying love and support and hope that it would be enough. However, the damage was done, and now everyone was different, and the tension was ever-present in the air, and they all waited to see who would snap first and let the fire consume them all.

When Katniss was sent to the Games for the second time, Prim actually believed it would be her, because she felt an emotion she'd never felt before – rage – engulf her.

Her mother was in denial, Gale was cursing and blaming himself, and Peeta, of course, was already working on sacrificing himself and saving Katniss, so none of them seemed to be able to focus on that one emotion each of them felt. Prim, however, had nothing to stop her, and the rage burned and boiled inside of her until the moment when her sister blew up the arena, and the Capitol blew up their home, and these helpless people needed a healer, someone to put out the fires, rather than feed them.

Prim locked her rage away, somewhere deep inside of her, and gladly accepted the calling she believed she was meant for since she had been nothing more than a naïve child.

Seeing her sister so out of it, when for so long she was the rock-solid person Prim could always lean on, urged her to become what Katniss had once been - the head of their family - and the seemingly constant stream of patients forced Prim to once and for all shed the skin of an innocent little girl she had been (it felt like) centuries ago. But it wasn't just Katniss that was suffering. The younger Hawthorne brothers struggled to be of any kind of help. Their older brother sprouted gray hair at twenty years old. Haymitch fought against the overwhelming need to drown himself in the sweet oblivion of alcohol. And Peeta, sweet, kind Peeta who would bake them warm and delicious bread, lost his mind (no, they took it), and was now fighting against himself and the urge to kill who he once desperately tried to save.

Still, the only thing that Prim could do was let them fight their battles, encourage them, and wait for their return so she could heal them once they came back.

Repose:

Fate, however, had other plans. President Coin had apparently been so impressed with Prim, she decided to send her to the front lines, to the heart of the Capitol, to Snow's mansion, so she could use her talents and save those poor people, battered, bruised and broken in the cold winter. It would also boost the morale of the soldiers, she had said. Because Prim was the Mockingjay's sister, and anything to do with the Mockingjay was needed now, more than ever. People didn't know whether she was alive or dead (but of course she was alive), and they were losing hope, but "we are so close to victory", and we couldn't allow anyone to lose hope. So Prim agreed, against her better judgment, against her mother's wishes, and, most importantly, against that gut feeling telling her that what she was doing was bad and stupid.

They gave her a day off, and she spent it with her mother. They braided each other's hair, and they talked about happy memories, and the people they loved, about Katniss, and how, when they both came home, the three of them would finally work out their problems, and they would be a real family again. They'd help Katniss heal, and they'd thank Gale for everything he had done for them, and they'd save Peeta from the darkness of his own mind and Haymitch from the temptation of alcohol, and everything, everything would be okay.

When the time for goodbyes came, her mother started crying, and hugged Prim tightly. Prim hugged back with just as much strength, while a little voice inside her head, which she tried hard to ignore, told her that this would be the last time she would see her. She kissed her friends, ruffled Haymitch's unruly hair (an action that ruffled his feathers as well), and left to help the victims of this war they fought so they could finally achieve peace.

Death:

She boarded the hovercraft with dozens of other healers, and already she had felt tricked somehow – why, she couldn't quite pinpoint, but she also couldn't shake the feeling, so she spent the rest of the trip in silence. The other medics all seemed much older than her, and much more experienced, and a few even cast curious or disbelieving glances her way, so she kept her head hung low, and in her mind sang all of the lullabies she could remember her father and her sister sing.

They all looked so proud, knowing what they were doing was right, knowing they were saving lives, rather than taking them, but Prim felt there was something sinister hiding in this group of people, something wicked that would befall them all, and once again she heard that horrible voice in her head that told her she was heading straight to her demise.

Seconds, minutes, hours had passed, until finally, they could see the outskirts of the Capitol, once a lavish city, now a grey ruin, and Prim knew that a part of it was caused by them, by the rebels, and for a millisecond the thought that they weren't that much better than their enemy passed through her head, before she shook herself out of her reverie and reminded herself that they were fighting for good. The people, who had been chattering mindlessly until now fell silent, and a look of pure determination settled on everyone's faces. Prim closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and fell into her healer mode, forgetting about everything else.

As they were nearing the mansion, the first thing they noticed were scared children, huddled together - out of cold, or fear, or probably both. Then, the second thing they noticed was a Capitol hovercraft sending small silver parachutes containing what was probably food, and the children raised their tiny palms to grab a package for themselves. Prim's heart sank as she realized that the sight, the look on their faces was too familiar - it reminded her of the starved children in Twelve, reminded her of herself - but before she could think of anything else, the parachutes exploded, stunning everyone around her and pulling the breath out of their lungs.

The cruel world seemed to have slowed down while Prim and all the other stunned medics processed what had just happened right before their eyes.

What they did next was only logical – they climbed down the ladders, into the pile of dead, screaming, wailing children – and did what was their job. They searched for survivors, they bandaged them, cleaned their wounds. Prim put her jacket over a shaking little boy's shoulders. When she heard the all too familiar voice calling her, Prim's heart started beating wildly in pure joy, and she turned her head, and she called for her sister, and-

…

The last thought that had passed through Prim's head, milliseconds before her death, was that she would be the only one to find peace.

A/N: I love Primrose, especially the fact that she matured so fast so she could help her sister. Maybe her being the casualty made more sense (you know, because she died and all), but I have other plans for the casualty, and her being the healer fits, in any case.

The five stages (birth, initiation, consummation, repose, death) were taken from the meaning of the flower primrose - the five petals represented five stages of life. Also, the primary meaning of the flower is youth, hence the song chosen - we are all innocent during our childhood, but some, like Prim, lose their innocence sooner.

Yes, there will be a song at the beginning of every chapter.