Soooo sorry about the wait! What is this, a month? Mid-year exams are on the way so I'm a little bit stretched right now... They'll be gone the three weeks... -shudder- but sorry again! Believe me, I know how annoying it is waiting for updates. But this is nearly finished now, so bare with me... just a couple more chapters to go!

Disclaimer: I. Do. Not. Own. The. Hunger. Games. Just. The. Stuff. You. Don't. Recognize. Don't you hate it when your brain stops at every period? I do. =P

Chapter 25

No

What on earth did she mean we'd 'acted irresponsibly'? We'd gotten them out, hadn't we? We'd stopped the Capitol winning this war once and for all, hadn't we? And this was the thanks we got? I told the woman standing in front of me just that.

President Alma Coin's eyes narrowed.

"You risked the life of every single person you brought here. Everyone could have died! They are untrained and have no experience with weapons and war what so ever. If you had had the slightest bit more resistance, all of them would have been killed. Then where would we be? Almost every male from every district was out there – the human population would be decimated! You would have sentenced our race to extinction. Not to mention how many lives would be lost…"

"If we hadn't helped, we would have lost the entire-" I stopped when Peeta glared at me, but Coin knew what I had been about to say.

"It doesn't matter what could have happened, only what did." I was about to call her a hypocrite and remind her that I had said 'would' and she had said 'could', but she kept talking. "You will no longer participate in any military action. Consider the deal off. You are no longer our Mockingjay."

"What?" I exclaimed. I almost expected Peeta to glare at me again, but his eyes were fixed on Coin.

"You can't take the Mockingjay away from her," he snarled.

"I think you'll find I can."

"No, you can't. The Mockingjay isn't just a title, it's a place. And I don't mean a place in an army; I mean a place in a person's heart. The Mockingjay has buried into the heart and soul of every person in Panem, and it doesn't matter if the person is a child from a poor district or a peacekeeper, or if it brings them fear, joy or hope, it is there, and a simple command from you will not remove it. It doesn't matter what you do, Katniss will always be the Mockingjay."

"That may be so," said Coin, "But I can now claim that you disobeyed my orders to remain in District 13 and that means that the deal is off. You two, Gale Hawthorne, Finnick Odair and all the other Victors no longer have our protection."

"No," I whispered, an image of Annie and Finnick blazing into my mind, "No, you can't."

"Once again, Katniss, I think you'll find I can."

"And how do you think the populace will react," spat Peeta in a last ditch attempt. "How much support do you think you'll have after you've called off the treaty and killed off not only all the remaining Victors, but the Mockingjay? It doesn't matter how many 'accidents' you arrange, all the Victors dying is a bit of a coincidence, don't you think?"

"The people won't mind," she hissed, although I could hear a little defeat in her voice. "The Victors are a liability. Anyone can see that."

"I think that is what the Capitol believes, as there seems to be much fewer Victors now than there was even at the end of the Quell. We're being killed off. You're fighting to end the Hunger Games, right? How will it look if you kill the people that had to live through them?"

Coin's face glowed bright red, then, with a glare at us, told us that she would not call the deal off if we behaved, but that if we made one tiny little mistake, that was it. She couldn't afford to give us any more chances.

"You will stay in the food tent until you are told otherwise by me or a message from me. You will not leave the tent. You will not talk to anyone outside the tent unless they are myself or a messenger from me. You will not touch the food unless it is given to you. You will sit still. You will keep quiet. Do you understand?"

We nodded, defeated yet happy at the same time. We had escaped severe punishment, but we were going to miss out on the main action.

But that would have happened anyway if we hadn't come.

I breathed a sigh of relief as we walked away from her, back towards the gates of the Capitol. I felt destroyed. What could we do? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I was the Mockingjay, shouldn't I have a job to do?

Oh yes, of course. My job was to sit tight in the food tent. How enjoyable.

When we got to the tent, I found my self grateful - for the first time ever - that the food during a war isn't brilliant. It's not disgusting, so the smell wafting from the cooking tent next door didn't smell bad, but it wasn't nice enough to make me hungry.

"Well, this is great," Peeta said after five minutes of silence.

"Just how I imagined myself spending the war," I muttered. "Sitting on a can of tinned beef. Kind of ironic, don't you think? This time two years ago I would have given anything to be sitting on this thing, but now…"

"Shhh!" hushed a young boy as he grabbed a cabbage from next to me. "No talking."

"Sure takes his job seriously," I muttered as he ran back to the other side of the tent.

"If we can't talk, do you think we could yell?" asked Peeta.

Perhaps two hours later, we could hear a commotion going on outside the tent. We both tried to move to the door, but were stopped by the boy as he came to get some salt. So, we sat back down on the ground – the cans of beef had been taken out to the kitchens a while before – and strained our ears to their limits, trying to hear what was going on. We didn't have to wait long though, as we soon heard Coin's voice right outside our tent.

"I don't care what you think, we don't need them!"

"So you don't think the people will wonder what happened to their Mockingjay? What happened to Peeta? They know they got out of the square alive, because people saw them coming here." I shuddered, thinking Paylor and Coin were arguing about whether or not Coin should do what she threatened and kill us, but then Paylor's next words silenced that fear. "They need to be there."

"No, they don't. For all we know, they could ruin the whole thing! What if the Capitol citizens that are there start to whimper, and those two get all sympathetic? What then? Who do you think the people will listen to? Me or them? The president of the rebels or the two people that survived the Hunger Games not once, but twice? I think we both know the answer to that."

"They have to be there! Katniss and Peeta have been the face of the rebellion! Wouldn't just be fitting to have them end the war?"

I was confused, and one glance at Peeta showed me that he was too. What were they talking about? Was the war over? It couldn't be… the rebels were all trapped in a force field less than three hours ago... how could they have bounced back so quickly? And why was Paylor arguing with Coin? The only other person I had ever seen arguing with her was Boggs, when Gale was put into our training group. He was really angry then too, and had lost control of his better judgement. Yet Paylor sounded in control, like she knew what she was doing, like she knew she would win the argument…

Something must have changed, and I had to know what.

"Fine. Let them be there. But if they mess this up, I will destroy them all."

"I'd watch it if I were you," said Paylor. "That's the sort of thing that got you into this mess in the first place."

"No," said Coin. "It wasn't my threat; it was my inability to carry it out."

I glanced at Peeta to see him looking at me questioningly. What had happened? I no longer thought that Paylor had the upper hand; I knew. Coin was in trouble, and Paylor knew it. But what sort of trouble? It sounded like she'd been having problems with her authority or something, but that couldn't be right, could it?

"Whatever you say," muttered Paylor, "But I suggest you tell them first."

"I don't think that's a good idea. I'll tell them when I see fit."

I turned my attention back to the outside of the tent, trying to figure out what Coin was - or was not – going to tell us, but a few moments later, the flap was pushed aside and in walked Alma Coin herself.

"You two, out."

"What's going on?" I asked.

"Quiet! You'll find out in good time. Now follow me, stay silent and don't try anything."

We followed Coin out of the camp, through the Capitol and back to the square. We then entered a large house that I had a feeling I had been inside of before. Then I recognised it. President Snow's house.

Maybe the war really was over.

I forced myself not to believe it. No need to give me any false hope. Maybe Snow had fled somewhere else…

We kept on walking and Coin led us through several vast hallways and rooms before stopping in a small sitting room and motioning for us to sit down.

We did as we were told.

When we were seated, Coin began to speak.

"Now. As I am sure you have began to realize, the Capitol is defeated, the rebels have won, and the war is over."

I stared at her.

I didn't move.

I didn't speak.

How could this have happened? It was a full out battle just an hour or so ago, and now…

I know I had been thinking it not minutes before, but just the way she told us… just throwing it into casual conversation…

I was just waiting for her to say "just kidding!" and then tell us we had to film some more propos.

But Coin never joked.

"It's… it's over?" asked Peeta, finding his voice before I did. "It's finished."

"I believe I just said that. Now then, to business. President Snow is going to give a formal surrender tonight, and we will announce the end of the war and rebel victory. Then, he will be executed at dawn, to symbolize the rising of a new nation. You will be the one to silence him Katniss, with a bow and arrow of course. More symbolism. The more we throw out there, the more the people will eat it up, make them readier to follow us…"

She kept talking, but, although she was talking about the future of Panem, I didn't listen. The way she spoke about the future was unsettling. She spoke in a matter-of-fact tone, like this is how it was going to be and no-one could change it or take it away from her. I shook my head, trying to listen again. A lifetime of listening to Snow, and after two years of knowing what was really going through his mind, my brain had started to look for things in the words of a President that I thought should be there, but weren't. Not all Presidents were like Snow, and Coin was as different from Snow as you could get.

Or at least, that's what I told myself.

~~0~~

"People of Panem! Rebels, Districts and Citizens! I come before you today to share wonderful news! The war between the Capitol and the rest of this nation is over!" Coins words were met with a thunderous round of applause that seemed to go on forever.

I frowned, and tuned everything out, instead gazing around at the crowd. Panem. Almost every person from every District had come out from their homes – or from the large tent that many were still living in – to watch the surrender, and would be staying through the night so they witness the long awaited and much deserved death of President Coriolanus Snow by the hands of their Mockingjay. Me.

Yes, I was the one to kill Snow. I had gotten my final demand after all.

I sighed and looked away from the crowd, instead turning my gaze onto Peeta, the boy with the bread, and the person that I loved the most in this world. Yes, I love Peeta Mellark. I had said it before, but I had never felt it a strongly as I had in that moment. Seeing Peeta standing there, looking just as lost as I felt, made my heart freeze for a moment. Snow could never hurt Peeta again because of me.

Feeling my gaze on him, Peeta turned to me and smiled. Then he looked back at Coin.

I figured I should probably be watching her as well – she and Snow had just finished the surrender, and she was now talking about the future of the new Panem – but I couldn't bring myself to listen. The way spoke still sent shivers down my spine. I had seen Coin do some pretty terrible things, after all…

But I also knew something else. Nothing that Coin had ever done, nothing that she would do in the future could possibly make her as bad as Snow.

Then, she said the words that would change my view of her forever.

"… a new Hunger Games! It will be with Capitol children, so they can understand the pain they put us through all these years. They will be reaped, they will be made to fight, and they will suffer for what they have done."

I heard it. Peeta heard it. Finnick, Johanna, Beetee, Annie and Haymitch, standing off to the side a little heard it. The whole nation heard it.

Some cheered, those people that wanted the Capitol to pay at any cost. But they were few, and they soon realized the magnitude of what was happening.

Because it wasn't just the Hunger Games Coin had threatened - no, promised - to bring back with those words. It was the entire Capitol mindset.

The whole nation heard it, and they all understood.

They also hear my protest, as quiet as it was. They all heard it, because they knew that it was coming.

"No." My voice reverberated through the silence, uttering the one word that everyone in Panem was thinking at the same time.

"Excuse me?" asked Coin. Her voice was cheerful, but I heard the strain underneath, and I saw her eyes narrow dangerously.

"I said no."

"No what? No, they won't suffer enough, I need to make the Hunger Games even worse than they were for us?" She glanced back at the crowd as if she expected a response, but everyone was holding their breaths.

"I mean no. There will not be another Hunger Games."

"Well, why ever not? These people-" Coin gestured to the Capitol citizens huddled slightly away from the main crowd "- need to understand the pain that they have made us suffer. They need to realize what they have done before they can become a part of our society again!"

"What do you even mean?" I asked. "Do you even know what you are saying? And what do you mean, us?"

"Us, the people the Capitol forced to endure the Hunger Games while-"

"You never had to endure the Hunger Games," I said, my voice deadly. "Never. You may have watched them, you may have felt a little sad when a twelve year old girl was run through with a sword, or when a fourteen year old boy a ripped apart by mutts. You may have said 'what a pity,' and thought of how their life had been so cruelly cut short, but just for a moment. Then, you would mark them down as another death cause by the Capitol, another thing you could use to get the people of the Districts to fight by your side. You never once understood what it was like for the people waiting at home, watching their child either be ripped to shreds or turn into a monster and kill innocent children. You don't know how horrifying it is to hope that your children or family or friends turn into monsters, or to want another person's child or sister or brother dead. You may have lost friends to war, but you could get revenge You could plan something. But you don't know what it's like to be forced to sit there and do nothing, and then, in six months time, congratulate the person who survived the thing that killed your child. You don't know what that is like, and I don't think I would wish it on anyone. Not even President Snow. Because that would make me a monster like him, and that is something that will never come to pass. So when I say no, I mean no. I mean there will be no more Hunger Games. Not a single one. So what if these people don't understand? They understand loss. Many of them lost family in this fight. And it wasn't them that invented the Games, so why should they pay for it? If we were brought up in the same environment that they were, we would feel the same way they do. I say no, and I mean no."

I hadn't realized I had moved, but at the end of my little rant I found myself standing towards the front of the stage glaring a Coin as if she were Snow. And she very nearly was.

It took me a moment to realize Peeta was at my side. Then he grabbed my hand. Then someone grabbed my other hand. I turned around and saw Haymitch. In his other hand he was hanging onto Beetee. All of us were connected, all the remaining Victors. Even Enobaria, who had been one of the ones that had cheered at Coins suggestion, was holding onto Beetee's right hand, glaring at Snow. I was instantly reminded of the begining of the Quell, when all the Victors presented a unified front for the first time.

Coin took a step back from us. Then what could only be described as a growl rose in her throat and she turned back to the people.

"Katniss makes a fair point. We are not the Capitol. But that is exactly why I have made my decision. These people, these Capitol citizens, they can't fit in with the rest of us. If I were Snow, I would kill them all right now. But I am not Snow, and I will not kill them. We have to make them like us."

I rose my eyebrow at her continued use of the word 'us', but Coin ignored me. Her audience, however, did not. They were beginning to grow restless; they knew that what I had said was a very good point, and they believed that what Coin was saying was not enough to dispute it.

"We have been oppressed for decades. If they are to understand, they must be too. They will have their Hunger Games for as long as I see fit, and then they will be given equal rights and be just like the rest of us!"

"I've always wondered," I said, "What the original president of Panem said right after the Dark Days. I don't have to anymore, though. I reckon it would have been pretty similar to what you said just now."

"How dare you!"

"It's true," said Finnick, speaking up for the first time. "Hunger Games, 'till I see fit, then they can have 'equal' rights… Yeah, I think I see the similarities."

"You see," I continued, "You're becoming the new Snow. This is still the old Panem. The only thing that has changed is that you've swapped the people around. The situation is still the same, only now, the Capitol citizens have become the people of the Districts and the people of the Districts have become Capitol citizens. Look at it from outside the box. You know that it is true."

Coin's eyes widened for a moment, then she shook her head.

"I knew it would come to this," she growled, too low for the microphones to pick up. "You want to be in control. Well, to bad, Katniss Everdeen. You'll never win."

"Oh no," I laughed once without humor. "You've got that bit wrong. I don't want to be President. I just want some-one in charge that will run this country fairly."

The whole city seemed to gasp at the same time. It was the first time I had disputed Coin's authority with words; I had done it before subtly, but this was the first time in front of so many people and so directly.

"I'm not saying I don't want you to be in charge," I quickly covered, "Just that I think you need to work on your plans a little."

Coin seemed to be at breaking point, so I quickly moved away from her and turned towards the crowd again.

"People," I called. "You have all seen what Snow's government, as well as the governments before it, have done to our home. You have seen the horrors, the misery. I want you to ask yourself. Do you really want this to happen again?"

I didn't really expect a response, but they answered me.

"No!"

"Do you want another dictatorship, like Snows, to rule Panem, even if you are on the better end of the stick this time?"

"No!"

"Then let me ask you one more thing. Do you want another Hunger Games?"

There was a collective pause, and then;

"NO!"

"Then let that be on your mind, President, when you remake your decision," I spat. "It may have been lost in time, but I thought the word President meant democracy. The Capitol hid that word from us, but I learnt it back in those real history classes in Thirteen. Do you want to be a President, or a Dictator? If it is the former, I would listen to their decision."

Then, I turned my back on President Coin, and walked away from the stage, wondering what would happen in the morning. It was to be Snow's execution, but had what I said changed anything? I liked to think that it had, but there was that nagging doubt in the back of my mind…

I still wanted him to die, definitely. It was because of him that I no longer had a sister. Because of him that Gale was a wreck, and would never go back to his former self. It was because of him that my mother was all but dead to the world. Because of him that Rue's life had been cut so short. Because of him that hundreds of families still mourned their lost children…

He definitely deserved to die. But did that make me like him? No, I wouldn't be killing a human being. He was about as far from humanity as a person could get.

But after what I had seen today, with the leader of the rebels wanting to follow in Snow's footsteps, I wondered if evil really was human nature. Maybe all that stuff about compassion and kindness was all just a story made up so that people could sleep at ease.

I thought about all the things I had done. All the people I had killed. Glimmer, Marvel, Cato, Gloss… even Peeta had killed…

But Peeta only ever killed when he couldn't help it. He killed in the first Games to protect me. He killed Foxface by accident, and I could tell he was sad about it afterward. He only ever killed on purpose when he was saving some-one's life…

The thought of Peeta soothed my mind. He was good. There was no other word for it. He was kind, even to those who didn't deserve it. He was thoughtful and compassionate. Just as a person should be.

It's people like President Snow that have stained the rest of us. I wouldn't have killed if he hadn't forced me to. The war wouldn't have happened if he hadn't provoked the rebels. And this would never have happened in the first place if the black person that thought up the Hunger Games had kept his ideas and darkness to himself.

It was Snow that started all this, and he definitely deserves to die, if only to stop his infection from spreading across the world like a cancer.

But if that is the case, then why do I still have a nagging doubt at the back of my head?

Okay, once again, didn't mean for it to be a cliffhanger, only noticed when I reread it... But you guys can probably guess anyway. It wasn't that long ago that I could swear you reviewers could read my mind...