A/N: I said this wouldn't be up for another day or two, but I managed to finish it early, so I wanted to post it for you. Thanks for the positive feedback, those of you who reviewed. I'm really enjoying writing this:) This was going to be one long chapter, but I ended up splitting it in half and making the second half chapter 4. I will have that one posted by Friday, if not sooner. Hope you guys like! Please review, it is great to read your input.


[3.] Ironically, my mother and I were assigned to stay in Snow's mansion, along with others who made it through the rebellion and are helping rebuild the Capitol. I am creeped out being in Snow's old home. It reminds me of him, and when I walk through the halls I swear I can smell that sickly sweet rose scent which had always meant Snow were nearby. I feel like he's here now, and I find myself constantly looking over my shoulder, even though I know he won't be there. Peeta told me he is locked up, awaiting the decision of his fate.

The mansion is impractically large and ornately decorated, reminding me too much of the first time I came to the Capitol, on my way into the 74th Hunger Games and my inevitable death. I never thought I'd be back here again, especially not in Snow's home. Everything is so surreal, I can't even think back to a time when I wasn't Mentally Disoriented, as my bracelet reads. Actually, yes, I do remember a time when I felt normal, but that time is long gone, never to return and it's better to not think back on it. It involved home, and my father, and innocent Prim, and Gale…who still hasn't come to visit me since that day in the hospital. I'm starting to think that was a hallucination and he was never there at all.

To calm my racing mind, I take a few deep breaths and repeat to myself the mantra Dr. Aurelius told me to use: My name is Katniss Everdeen. I'm seventeen years old. My home is District 12. There is no District 12. I am the Mockingjay. I brought down the Capitol. President Snow hates me. He tried to kill my sister. Now I will kill him. And then the Hunger Games will be over…It helps a little bit.

The next few days, I wander through the mansion, checking out many of the hundreds of rooms. There are so many frivolous and unnecessary things in each and every room, and I think of the Seam in District 12, and how they barely had enough to get from one day to the next. The people in the Seam barely had enough food to feed their family's once a day, and they slept in shared beds because they couldn't afford another, and worked twelve hour days in the coal mines for pennies, while our President and all the people of the Capitol lived in the lap of luxury, never once worrying about something to simple as food. At first, I am bitter, but then I remember: We won. We can make a new start now, fix things for good, and make sure no one has to suffer for someone else to live like a King.

"Hey, Stranger," A familiar female voice draws my attention. It's Johanna. I hadn't seen her sitting in a chair in the far corner of the library I had ducked into to avoid seeing some of District Thirteen's guards. I wasn't expecting anyone else to be in here, but I can see Johanna's brown eyes light up in a smile even though her whole face doesn't.

"Johanna," I try to smile, and it might not be the biggest smile, but it is sincere. "How are you?"

Her brownish-black hair has grown in more since I last saw her, just beginning to curl over the top over her forehead. She gestures for me to sit down next to her on the plush, red velvet couch, and I do. "How am I?" She rolls her eyes and cracks a sly grin. "I'm not the one who was in the hospital the past two weeks, so I have to say I'm doing better than you."

"You look really good," I compliment. Last time I saw Johanna was back in District Thirteen when we were both training to make it into the rebel army to go to battle in the Capitol. She had failed her test because the streets were flooded with water, which Johanna was tortured with at the Capitol, and she froze up, unable to prove herself capable of fighting with the army. She made me promise to kill Snow, on my family's life. I didn't, but since the rebels won the war, she doesn't seem mad at me for not yet fulfilling my promise. "I didn't even know you were here."

"Yeah, they let me come on the train when Snow surrendered. We left immediately." Johanna frowns, her face becoming serious. "Katniss, I'm glad you're okay. I visited you at the hospital, they wouldn't let me in the room, but I looked in through the window and…I don't know," She puts a hand to her face and presses her fingers into her eyelids, like she was preventing herself from crying. "Dammit, I have become such an emotional disaster ever since we won the war." It is odd to see Johanna, who is usually very hard and tough reduced to tears, especially since the tears seem to be for me. After composing herself, she says, "I'm just glad you're okay. And I'm sorry about your sister."

"Thanks. She's going to be okay though," I nod my head firmly, convincing Johanna and myself my words are true. "I know she is."

Shockingly, Johanna leans in and hugs me. "There's only one more thing to be done before we can leave this disgusting place forever." She looks at me, and I know what she means.

I nod, "Yes, and I'm keeping my promise. I'm going to kill him."

"Think Coin will keep her word on that?" Johanna voices what I've been thinking since discovering the rebels won the war.

"I hope so."

"Hey, so how's Gale doing? What are things like in 2?" Johanna's words are a shock to me.

"What do you mean? I didn't know he left."

Johanna's eyes widen and she carefully tells me, "I thought you knew. After they released him from the hospital he went to District 2 to help with rebuilding. I assumed he told you, or at least someone did by now."

"No." I am numb. "He didn't say goodbye. He didn't come to see me at all." I purse my lips together and lock my jaw to keep my chin from quivering. Behind my eyelids I feel a waterfall of tears building up. I don't want Johanna to see me like this. I don't even know why I'm so upset. "I…forgot I was supposed to meet my mom for lunch. I'll see you later."

"Katniss…" Johanna calls after me, but I'm already running out the door.

I can't believe what I just heard. Gale is in District 2 and he never even said goodbye. What did I do for him to stop caring about me at all? I know we've had a lot of disagreements the past few months, and ever since I returned from the Games the first time our relationship has been different, but I never thought he'd do something like this. I think back to what I overheard him say to Peeta when they thought I was sleeping, about how I'd choose the one of them that I can't survive without. Didn't he know how hard it was for me? How I loved them both and it was near impossible to choose. How I already had so many decisions in my life made for me and I don't know how to make one for myself anymore? He must hate me, that's the only reason why he'd do it. He must not care anymore.

I was so lost in my own thoughts I didn't realize that I've walked upon another section of the mansion I've yet to discover. The odor of roses is strong here, and though most would probably find the scent pleasant, to me it is nauseating. I'm curious enough to follow my nose down the long hallway, and then turn right, stopping directly in front of a set of double doors paned with frosted glass. Surprisingly, there are two guards, one male and one female, dressed in the gray uniform of District Thirteen's army. I wonder what they're guarding…