CATO POV

A week and a half had gone by. Snow thought we'd surrendered. He'd even sent a messenger asking for Coin to sign papers saying that we'd given up which, of course, was a lie. It didn't matter whether the messenger had come or not, we were still going to destroy Snow regardless.

Phase Three was to begin tomorrow night. It was early evening and everyone was beginning to prepare. The hovercrafts and helicopters were being loaded with supplies. Coin gave everyone their earpieces, including me.

I was ecstatic when Coin told me that I was going to be an asset to the Phase. I thought I might be excluded forever, but I was going to be the one to deliver the final blow. I was the one who would choose how he would die. Glimmer had suggested that I force a nightlock muffin down his throat, but I disagreed. I wanted his death to be slow and painful. I wanted him to suffer for hours so that every single memory he'd ever had would flash right before his eyes, slowly and painfully.

I wanted to make him feel everything that anyone had ever felt in the Games. Whether it be by nightmares or extreme hunger, I wanted him to experience it all. Sure, it was cruel, but he deserved it. He'd killed a countless number of people for no reason. And he would pay for it all. I'd killed people before, but it was only for my own survival. Snow had never had to fight for his survival. He never had to watch family and friends die by his own hand.

"Cato," called Glimmer. I snapped out of it. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," I said. I was. If anything, I was excited. I knew deep down that our plan would work and that everything would be fine. "Are you okay? How's the baby?"

She smiled and ran her hand across her stomach. She was beginning to get big. "I'm okay. I just want this to be over as soon as possible so that you can come back to me… and Lace."

I shook my head. I hoped that it was a boy. I had no idea what I'd name him, but it certainly wouldn't be Lace. "Don't worry," I said. "Everything will go as planned. I'll be back before you know it."

We were interrupted by an announcement. The voice said, "Our allies will be arriving over the next several hours. Please welcome them into our community."

I wondered who had shown up from my district. I knew that it was the center of Peacekeeper activity. Surely they'd be on the Capitol's side, but they were on ours. Glimmer and I went into the hallway, past people still working on the rebuilding of our district. "Cato!" shrieked a girl. I turned to find Thalia, Leo, and Katri running toward me.

I hugged each of them. "I didn't know you were coming," I said, genuinely surprised.

Leo smiled. "Of course we'd come," he said. "We knew you were here. And when we left, the district was in chaos. There have been riots. Some people have gotten pretty messed up, others died. One night, I got a bad feeling that something terrible was going to happen, so Katri and I grabbed Thalia and we ran away. We had heard that people were being welcomed here to help with the Rebellion."

"Of course, we were up for some kick-ass action," said Thalia, with a wink. I felt tension rising in the air. I wasn't sure if anyone else felt it, but I did. At this point, Glimmer knew that the girl was Thalia. She was squeezing my hand, unconsciously. It wasn't like she'd lose me. We were married now. I was hers and she was mine.

"But if we die, I'm going to kill you," said Katri, looking at me. I chuckled.

"At least it will be for a good cause," said Leo. "Besides, it's about time for revenge."

I took Glimmer's hand and raised it, showing my friends the diamond ring. Leo's eyes glittered with surprise. "Whoa!" he said dramatically. "When did that happen?"

"I should be asking you the same thing," I said, smirking. "I had to find out at the Victory Tour."

"It was sort of last minute," he replied. "I figured that with all of this crazy stuff going on with the Games and Snow, that we should just do it. And we did. It was a small ceremony. Nothing huge."

"So no more breakups?" I asked. Leo and Katri both blushed.

Leo shook his head. "No," he replied. "I won't let her leave me. I can't live without her."

"Clearly," I said, laughing. "Did I mention that I'll be a father in six months?"

"Really?" piped up Thalia. "That's amazing!"

Glimmer smiled from next to me. "I just hope that all of this is over by the time our baby is born."

"It will!" said Katri. She turned to Leo. "We want to start a family too, but it just hasn't happened yet. The odds haven't exactly been in our favor."

"Come on," said I, gesturing to my friends. "I'll show you around."

Glimmer turned to me. "I'm going to go and find Annie," she said.

I knew that it was because she felt awkward. After all, she and my friends didn't know each other. I let her go, no questions asked. I hadn't seen my friends in months, so I supposed that I wasn't necessarily being particularly selfish.

GLIMMER POV

I had pictured Thalia differently in my mind. I expected her to be ugly, actually. But she was just as pretty as I was. Her tan skin went perfectly with her dark eyes. And her glossy black mane of hair hung halfway down her back.

I continued toward Annie's room. My comparisons of myself to Thalia were cut short as I ran into someone I didn't expect to see. "Glimmer?"

I froze, in surprise. I hadn't expected to see Gleam here. Why would he come? He wasn't particularly courageous. He was strong and had good aim, but he wasn't one to pick a fight or do anything drastic. He was chosen for the Seventy Third Hunger Games, but someone volunteered for him instead. He'd been so relieved. He even told her so.

I supposed that I would've seen him at some point in my life, provided that I didn't die, but I wasn't expecting to see him during the Rebellion. "What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I came because I wanted to see you," he replied. "I knew that you'd be here. I heard about the bombings, so I wanted to make sure you were okay. And I want to fight too."

I shrugged my shoulders and switched the foot I was leaning on. "I'm fine. Everyone's fine."

"That's good," he said. There was an awkward silence, being that there was no one else in this hallway. "Look… I'm sorry for how I acted the last time you saw me. I shouldn't have. I was—"

"A jealous asshole?"

"Yes. I also wanted to know if you'd give me another chance."

"Another chance? I'm with Cato. Nothing has changed."

"But I know that I can treat you better than him. I know you better than he does, maybe better than anyone. I'm still in love with you," he said, leaning in closer to me. It made me very uncomfortable. I felt his warm breath against my cheeks. I could hear his breathing.

I raised my finger, the one with the ring on it, putting it between us. "I'm married now. I'm going to have a baby in a few months. I'm happy now."

He stepped back, staring at the ring in horror. He looked as if he was ready to cry, but I didn't feel sorry for him. It was too late now, far too late. He shook his head, unable to believe anything I'd just said to him. "That was supposed to be me!"

"You've had your chance, Gleam. It didn't work," I said. Then I glared at him. "Have you really come back to fight? Or was it just to try to win me back?"

He said nothing. His face turned red and he stormed away before I could stop him. Not that I would.

RORY POV

Prim and I walked past lots of people, some new, some old. There were people from other districts coming in. They were our allies, according to Peeta. I liked him.

Cato had told me almost two weeks ago that I should tell Prim how I feel about her. Peeta agreed. He told me that he had liked Katniss for years and that even though she felt nothing toward him at first, the odds ended up being in his favor after all.

If Prim didn't like me, she probably wouldn't have let me kiss her. She even smiled after I did it. That had to mean something.

We ended up going into the library. There was never anyone in there. And it was one of the places that hadn't been destroyed in the bombings. Prim went to look in the medical section. She said that she wanted to be a medic someday. I supported her. She knew more about herbs and plants than I ever would.

I sat down in a chair, flipping aimlessly through a book. I wasn't sure what I wanted to be when I became an adult. I had five more years to go until that happened. I wasn't sure what I was good at. I was a pretty good writer, according to my teachers. But where would writing take me. Maybe I'd publish a book or write poetry and short stories. "What are you thinking about?" said Prim smiling at me. I hadn't noticed that she'd sat in the chair next to mine.

"About what I want to be when I grow up," I said.

"What do you want to be?"

"A writer, maybe."

"Really? Maybe you can help me write a book about medicine."

"You'll make a really good doctor."

I saw the happiness in her eyes. "Thanks."

I decided to get to the point. "I wanted to tell you something."

"What do you want to tell me?"

"I wanted to say," I said, "that I really like you. I have for a while."

She smiled a toothy smile this time. "I like you too."

I kissed her again, just a peck. "I wanted to do that for a while too."

I know I took forever to update, I've been really busy lately with school. Six more months or so until graduation! Then I'm free! At least for three months until college. But Christmas is coming up soon! I should probably go shopping. I haven't started... But I hope that you've enjoyed this chapter. It's sort of a filler until I decide how I want the next chapter to go.