Katniss followed the road leading from the Merchants Quarters toward her former home in the Seam. She walked as long as she could, but found that the adrenaline from the evening had worn off, leaving her utterly exhausted after only a couple of miles. She considered climbing one of the trees that lined the road, but knew the fabric of the dress would restrict her movements. Instead, she found a soft patch of grass under a bush. It would be comfortable enough and the foliage would provide her warmth and protection from the cool night.

She dreamt of Peeta. Of his eyes and his lips. Of his hair and his arms. Of his smile. His body. His soul. His spirit. She woke crying, knowing it was her own weakness and selfishness that ripped the lovers apart. Forever, it seemed.

She wiped her eyes, cleaned off her dress, and began the long walk back into the Seam. All morning, in every house she passed, she saw eyes peeking out, mouths whispering, fingers pointing her direction. It wasn't until nearly noon that she saw any of them stand out in the open air. By that point, she was beginning to recognize the outskirts of Gale's neighborhood. Apparently, the neighborhood recognized her as well.

"Look who has come crawling back home!" They would taunt as she passed by.

"That's a pretty little Merchant dress," one spit out with poison on her lips.

"Done being a Merchant whore?"

"How many did you screw?"

"You must not be any good if you're back."

They sneered and snarled and turned against her at every pass. She was not welcome here. They wanted to break her. But she was already broken; they couldn't hurt her anymore than she hurt herself. Her wounds ran deep, their plunging knifes only tearing her already battered soul further apart. At some point, she could no longer feel the hatred except for what she felt toward herself.

"He won't take you back, you know," a smug Leevy called from her yard, only a house away from Gale's. "We all know you chose that Merchant over Gale, you traitorous bitch. What makes you think he'd sully his name by taking damaged goods?"

Damaged goods.

"Katniss?" Gale's voice floated out, quieting the neighbors. "Is that...is it you?"

She turned to face him, barely recognizing the man she left behind. Her partner. Her brother. He had always been taller than her but he seemed to have gotten even bigger. His arms were more defined, his chest broader, legs stronger. His once clean-shaven face was now filled with dark stubble. His skin looked rough to touch and Katniss could swear he'd aged twenty years.

"Yes," she answered quietly, wishing the audience would disappear so the two could talk in peace.

"You're back?" He asked in disbelief.

"I'm...I'm back." She swallowed hard and cast her eyes to the ground. "For good, it would seem."

Gale nodded, his eyes focused on her, taking in her attire. Despite having slept on the ground the night before, her hair was still in it's updo from the party and her makeup was still lightly applied to her face. Her flaming dress stood out in the grey, lifeless Seam, like the beacon of light in Peeta's painting. "And you came...you came back here? Why?"

She glanced up into his eyes, grey as coal like hers. The only one who really understood her, the only one who knew why she had to go when she did. "You're my family, Gale."

The muscles around his lips twitched. Those who didn't know him or his mannerisms would never have caught it. But Katniss did. And to her, it meant one thing: hope.

That hope was shattered when Hazelle stepped out of the house behind her son. "Family?" She asked in an accusatory voice. She had been listening in on the pair's short exchange, growing more and more angry at the girl who ran off. "Family? You walked out on your so-called family for a complete stranger!"

Katniss hung her head, playing with the edges of her dress as Hazelle continued to yell at her like a street dog.

"You're so damn stubborn, girl! We finally were getting back to normal and you come strolling back here like you did nothing wrong? You're preying upon my son because you realize the spell you've cast over him. You know he can never turn you down and you're using him just like you always did. Well not this time." Waiting until Katniss raised her eyes, Hazelle continued. "We are not your family. You are not welcome here. Go back to the life you chose, you selfish brat."

"Told you, Merchant whore," Leevy started up again, renewing the rumble of insults and angry words from the others, all who were gathered outside their homes to watch the show. "Damaged goods."

Katniss pleaded silently with Gale, knowing he was the only one who could talk to Hazelle, who could convince her of the truth. To her dismay, Gale remained stoic and turned to follow his mother back into the house. "Your silence speaks louder than any insult Hazelle threw at me," Katniss called after him. He glanced over his shoulder and she held her head high, refusing to let him see her cry.

She waited until most of the neighbors re-entered their own homes to decide where to go. The forest was her only sanctuary, but even that was too full of memories to bring her any semblance of peace. Perhaps there was an empty home in the Seam she could take refuge in, somewhere in the more deserted neighborhoods further down the road.

"Katniss!"

Katniss turned and saw Gale coming toward her with a small satchel over his shoulder. When he caught up to her, he handed the bag to her. "What is this?" She asked.

"Your clothes," he answered. "Ones you left at the house. Hazelle wanted to burn them."

"Oh. Well, thank you for saving them for-"

"But I told her we may be able to sell them," Gale finished. "I can't have anything that reminds me of you in my life. You chose to be a lapdog to the enemy rather than stay with your kind. Maybe you should do what she said and go back to that life."

Katniss opened the satchel and sobbed when she pulled what few possessions she had left from it. A pair of trousers and an old shirt. A few hair ties. It was all she owned now, but at least she could be comfortable for what was left of her pathetic life. She slipped behind a building, hidden from any prying eyes, and changed into her pants. She let down her hair and quickly rebraided it before rubbing the remaining makeup off her face. As she stuffed the dress – her last physical memory of her mistakes – into her bag, she caught sight of her reflection in one of the dirty windows.

Looking back at her wasn't the seventeen year old she was, but the innocent eyes of the four-year-old who lived in a tree. The girl who was saved by the Victors. That girl was just as broken, just as alone, just as full of despair. But there was something in that Katniss' face that was missing from this Katniss'. Hope. The little boy and his loaf of bread gave her hope back then. It was that hope that kept him in her mind all those years. That gave her the strength to leave behind the comfort of knowing what her future would hold with Gale and seeking the unknown with Peeta.

"Where did you go?" She asked the reflection, reaching toward the glass. "What happened to you?"

Love.

Katniss heard the child's voice in her mind. She could hear the birds chirping their mating songs all around her.

Down in the valley. The valley so low. Hang your head over, hear the wind blow.

The birds ceased. The wind calmed. She was, once more, filled with hope. She wiped the tears that fell from her eyes and stood up straight. She knew what she needed. Hope. And there was only one boy who could give her that, even still. She didn't believe that all the love he felt for her was gone, not if she still felt that love in her heart. She would go to Peeta, she would wait for him. They protected each other.

"It's what we do."

She settled the satchel on her back and proudly walked back down the road, away from the Seam, and toward her Hope.

My goodness that girl is stubborn, Finnick said to the group. He, Johanna, and Annie had been watching over the girl ever since Haymitch declared himself victorious and starting his most recent drinking binge. He was always a sore winner. She's going back to him. After everything.

She's resilient, Annie answered with a sad smile.

Johanna snorted. I hate to admit that LoveyDovey has a point. That girl knows what she wants. There was absolutely no doubt in her when I visited her. Fear, maybe, but never doubt.

How is anyone so sure about anything? Finnick asked, blowing away a storm cloud that was brewing ahead of Katniss on the road. Are they all like this?

No, Annie said, I told you there was something special about her. She's a fighter. She'll keep fighting until the bitter end. The other Victors gathered around Annie, all silently keeping vigil over the Seam girl who was willing to wait outside the Merchant gates for just the chance of seeing her love again.

And Katniss did wait. She huddled just on her side of the gates, watching, waiting, for any sign of Peeta. She never saw him, but she did watch as the grounds of the Mellark mansion were transformed and decorated with extravagant white tents camped throughout the yard. A stark white carpet led from the stairs, between the tents, to a intricately carved gazebo that was covered with flowers, set to bloom any day.

"The wedding," Katniss would hear whispers of. "Finally that boy is getting tied down."

It was the event of the year, from what she gathered. Everyone in the Merchants Quarters was invited, including some esteemed guests from the Capitol itself. It seemed everyone wanted to see the youngest Mellark heir marry the equally-matched Undersee daughter. Together they could purify the Merchant line back to it's former glory.

The morning of the blessed event, servants were scrambling about the yard to make sure everything was in just the right place. Katniss could see on their faces that despite being stressed by having Mrs. Mellark right over their shoulders, there was general happiness to see the young Mellark being married, even if it was to a woman who was too much like his mother for their liking.

The servants halted their work as Peeta and his mother walked through the gardens. Katniss couldn't tear her eyes off of him, thinking he looked especially handsome in his suit, even though it was traditional Merchant wedding attire. He smiled stiffly as his mother explained everything, oblivious to his disinterest in the entire show. She didn't care to notice that Peeta had simply been going through the motions since the night of the party. He spent more time with Madge but was always checked out of her shallow conversations, wishing instead to be outside with Katniss. To be kissing Katniss. To be loving Katniss.

He thought of her always. When he'd sleep at night, he'd feel her ghost in his arms. When he would run errands in town, he'd be flooded with her scent of trees and lavender. Even now, when he was tuning his mother out as she droned on and on about who would be sitting where and with whom, he could swear he saw Katniss watching him from the other side of the gate.

Grey locked on blue.

It was her. He watched her from the corner of his eye until his mother was finished explaining all the details and went back inside the mansion to begin getting ready. Only then did he slip off the grounds and to the gate. "Katniss."

She looked so weak, so pale, so near death. But hearing her name from his lips gave her new life. She smiled back at him, clutching the bars of the gate tightly.

He rushed to her and fell to his knees right across from her, wrapping his hands around hers. "My Katniss."

"Peeta," she croaked. "I've been waiting for you." She was dehydrated and emaciated from her time waiting for him. She hadn't left that spot by the gate to find food or water, too afraid to miss seeing him.

He reached through the bars and cradled her face. Up close, she could see the bruises well-hidden under a fine layer of makeup, and she guessed from the coloring that he received them the night of the party. "Shh," he hushed her, holding her as close as he could with the barrier still between them. He wanted nothing more than to open the gate and take care of her the way she had cared for him.

Neither paid any attention to how much time was passing; they savored these final touches, knowing that they would never be able to have more than this. Peeta gave her tiny sips of water from a bottle he had with him, trying to restore any strength back into her weakened body.

"Peeta!"

Peeta sighed. "That's Madge."

"Peeta, where are you?"

Katniss and Peeta looked over to where Madge stood in the doorway of the mansion, hair in curls and wearing a robe.

"Do you have to go?" Katniss asked, barely able to keep her eyes open.

Peeta grimaced. He glanced back to the house, set for the future he never wanted, then at Katniss, the future he never knew he needed.

"Peeta Mellark!" It was his mother this time, standing next to Madge, staring at the pair at the gate.

He swallowed hard and didn't bother to hide the tears that were now streaming down his cheeks. He brought his face right against the gate and kissed her chapped lips. It was not needy or hungry, like his past kisses. It was soft and light. It was a last kiss.

Katniss watched through blurry eyes as Peeta retreated back to the mansion, where his mother and future bride waited. She rested her head against the bars and knew. It didn't matter that they loved each other, they came from different worlds. They could never actually be together the way she wanted. The way she needed him to be. Their love wasn't enough.

She welcomed death.

His hand on her shoulder was light, like a long lost friend. She didn't need to look to know it was Haymitch, here to collect what he had been waiting for. Her broken heart was loud enough for everyone around to hear, so she knew it was only a matter of time before Death appeared.

"Ready?" He asked, in a voice she barely registered. She was used to hearing his snarky tone cutting through her, not this apprehensive and...despondent voice. He won, didn't he? Through me, he proved that death was stronger than love. Wasn't that why he was here?

The questions exited her brain almost as soon as they entered. She couldn't speak, her throat too parched and cracked to form words. She nodded. Using the last bit of strength, she rose to her feet. Haymitch wrapped his arm around her waist, allowing her to lean against him as he walked her down the road in silence, away from the gates.

Haymitch's hold on Katniss forced him to remain in his human form as they crossed through the Seam. She stumbled once, twice, three times, but always he was there with a sturdy grasp to keep her from falling. "Not here," he told her. "Not in front of them."

Them? She looked up, finally noticing the crowd around her. These same people who taunted and hated her only a few weeks ago now watched her with pity, with sympathy.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree?" A soft voice began to sing. Slowly, the others joined in, singing the traditional funeral song to Katniss as she passed by. "Where they strung up a man they say murdered three? Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be. If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."

Birds perched on rooftops and whistled the tune along with the crowd. Singing for the girl who was being escorted, still alive, by Haymitch himself, to her death. The girl who had been protected by the Victors, not hunted by them. For the girl they finally understood was not being selfish, but fulfilling her destiny.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Where the dead man called out for his love to flee? Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be. If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."

Katniss caught sight of Gale among the crowd, his eyes red and face stained from crying. He held Posy on his hip, her head resting against his shoulder, eyes just as full of tears. Vick, too, didn't try to hold in the sadness he felt toward his adoptive sister being led to her death. He clutched tightly to Hazelle's dress, so reminiscent of the first time they met. She met Hazelle's gaze and held it as long as she could, needing the woman to see the truth.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Where I told you to run so we'd both be free? Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be. If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."

A shift occurred and she is now someone precious to these people. Gale begins it, followed by Posy and Vick, then Hazelle, until almost every member of the crowd touches the three middle fingers of their left hand to their lips and hold them out for her in salute. They are saying thank you. They are showing their admiration. They are saying goodbye.

"Are you, are you coming to the tree? Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me. Strange things did happen here no stranger would it be. If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."

The song resonated until Katniss and Haymitch reached the forest. They were met there by the other Victors, each displaying heartbreak for the Seam girl. Johanna pulled Annie next to her, covering her ears with thick plants to drown out the pain in Katniss' soul. Finnick assisted Haymitch by picking up Katniss and carrying her in his strong, bronzed arms. They walked in quiet, only the occasional sob from Annie cutting through, until they reached their destination.

Katniss knew where they were, even with her eyes closed. This was her tree. The tree that saved her life would now be the one that took it. It was fitting, symbolic, perfect. Haymitch strung a rope around a tall, sturdy branch and created a noose.

"I'll make it painless," he promised. It was meant for Katniss, yet all the others found comfort in his compassion. He and Finnick propped her up and slipped the noose around her neck. They held her tightly as all four said their goodbyes, each finding it more difficult than they originally anticipated.

She accepted their goodbyes but had only one thought flashing through her thoughts. As Haymitch and Finnick lessened their hold on her body and she felt the first plunge toward death, she called out his name with her last breath. "Peeta."

Her body jolted down but stopped before the rope was pulled taut. She opened her eyes and was met with the most pained blue eyes she had ever seen. "Peeta?"

He nodded, never letting his eyes drift from hers. He stretched up and slipped the noose from around her neck, holding her weakened body in his arms. He set her on the ground and pulled out a bottle of water and a loaf of bread from the bag he carried over his shoulder. He gave her sips of water and fed her chunks of bread, wiping her face and cradling her head the entire time.

"Why?"

He smiled down at her. "Because we protect each other. And because I love you."

"But...your...family? Madge?"

Peeta shook his head. "They...they never wanted what was best for me, only what was best for them. You're the only one who ever cared about me. I love you, Katniss."

She reached up for him and he brought his lips down to hers in a gentle kiss.

"I love you. And I could never live without you. I couldn't live with someone else knowing it was always meant to be you. I'd rather be poor and struggling with you than rich and comfortable with anyone else."

"You want me?" She furrowed her eyebrows, still in a haze of near-death adrenaline.

"As long as you'll still have me." He used his thumb to wipe away the tears she wept. "Oh, love, why are you crying?"

She smiled up at him. "Of course I'll still have you. You'll stay with me?"

"Always."

AN: That's it, my friends. I've got an epilogue that I'll post Monday :) Thanks always go to Sunfish for being an amazing beta