Redemption

Summary: Five women that Haymitch couldn't save. And one women who saved herself.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Effie

It was hard not to think of her life in terms of Before the Rebellion and After the Rebellion.

Before the Rebellion her life had been nothing but beautiful wigs and fabulous parties. And at the time that was all she wanted. Her life was shallow and empty, but she was content with that.

After the Rebellion, things were almost exactly the same. Perhaps the parties weren't so opulent and the fashions so garishly extravagant, but her life hadn't changed.

Her friends were still the same friends she had Before the Rebellion. Her apartment was the same apartment she had Before the Rebellion. Her job was more or less the same job she had Before the Rebellion.

Her life was as shallow and empty as it had been Before the Rebellion.

But she had changed. Had been changing even Before the Rebellion. The veil was slowly lifting. Until it was snatched away all at once leaving her no time to adapt and find a place for the new her in a world that hadn't really changed at all.

She'd been beaten and broken in a Capitol prison until the Rebels broke her out. And just like that she was expected to fall back into the life she left. A life that didn't seem to fit her the way that it used to before the regime change.

What followed was a spur of the moment decision. She packed up her plainest clothes in a small suitcase and bought a ticket for the first train out of the Capitol. It didn't matter where the train was going, only that it was a way for her to leave her old life behind. To get away.

Her first stop had been District Two. She didn't stay long. There were too many reminders of the Capitol. A life too similar to the one she was trying to leave behind.

So she went to District Seven. She sat in the forest and breathed in the scent of fresh pine. And she thought, I could stay here.

But there was nothing for her to do in Seven. They didn't need some Capitol woman with no discernable skills trying to poke her nose in their business. There was no life for her in Seven.

As soon as she could, she took the train to District Four, doubling back on her previous journey. There she found Annie Cresta and little Finn. They played on the beach and built sandcastles and Annie was grateful to have an extra adult around to help her with Finn.

But Effie couldn't stay near the water for long. Not after what they'd done to her. There were too many bad memories for her to fend off and eventually she had to leave Four as well.

She tried District Six and District Ten. She even spent a brief period of time in District Eleven. But none of them seemed to stick. None of them seemed to have a place for her.

That left District Twelve. Her last resort.

She phoned ahead, informing Peeta and Katniss that she'd be visiting. For a moment she considered calling Haymitch, but thought better of it. It would only spoil things.

Peeta met her at the station in a beaten old truck that he'd acquired second-hand from an apple farm in District Eleven. Effie Before the Rebellion would have curled her lip in disgust and demanded a more suitable form of transportation. Effie After the Rebellion was just grateful that she wouldn't have to walk all the way to the Victors Village in the midday sun.

"It's good to see you, Effie," Peeta said warmly, embracing her in a firm hug. At the village she was greeted similarly by Katniss. The young woman embraced her in a hug and didn't let go until a familiar snicker made them both pull away.

She turned her head to find Haymitch standing on the edge of the porch looking almost tidy and put together in a clean white shirt and slacks. He didn't say a word. Just smirked at her and opened his arms. She moved to him as if drawn by an invisible thread, wrapping her arms around his torso and burying her head in his chest.

None of them had ever really embraced like that before – not even with Peeta and Katniss – but it felt right somehow after everything they'd been through. Theirs were bonds forged in war that superseded her usual sense of propriety. They were a team.

A family.

It was only then that she realized that she'd been looking in all the wrong places. She didn't need to 'fit'. She just needed to find the place where she belonged.

"May I stay?" she asked quietly, her head still ducked against his chest. "I don't really fit anywhere else."

Haymitch nodded, his arms tightening around her for a moment before he pulled away.

"You fit here," he told her firmly.

So she stayed. She found a place for herself in Twelve.

And although it took longer than she would have liked -

Eventually they saved each other.

~FIN~