Big hugs to all my faithful readers! But I have to tell you all something slightly upsetting, at least to me. After posting Chapter 25 I got a few mean reviews. As you all know (hopefully) I do not mind people telling me my stories suck if they tell me how and why and do it in a mostly civil fashion. The person I speak of did nothing of the sort. They were so mad that I took over 2 days (btw I do have a life outside of fanfiction) to post the next chapter that they called me mean names and told me that all of my time is "useless" to them if I didn't spend it writing the chapters of the story.

Another person (I'm assuming the same one) went to another of my stories called "Tributes Vs. Vampires" that is a silly one but also from the Hunger Games fandom and wrote a very offensive review. The person is anonymous (they do not have an account) and they were going by blahblah when they left these mean messages. I'm sorry if I'm coming off petty (I admit, I am being a little petty) but this coward really hurt my feelings. They are a coward because they don't have an account and they used that fact to yell at me, even saying they would hit me (admittedly, I laughed at that) if I didn't write more.

I love everyone who takes the time to review my stories and this one person is ruining the fun of writing for me, and now you readers because, I am sorry to inform you, but I waited longer to post this chapter because of blahblah. It was my form of punishment. It was very childish of me and the wrong thing to do but I couldn't help myself. If this blahblah thinks all of my time is useless when I'm not writing the story, then I thought I would spend some of my useless time doing whatever the heck I want as I didn't update it. I am very sorry, please forgive me. I will never bring up this coward again, because they might just be looking for attention. Happy reading!

Chapter 26

Gale, far away from me now, is fighting three Peacekeepers at once near the golden Cornucopia, leaving a disgruntled Madge with almost nothing to do as whenever anyone even tries to go near her he adds them to the his throng of opponents. Finnick is fighting too, and he even uses his good looks and charms to sway some of the audience members who still stare frightfully into the goings on the arena into joining our side. Haymitch is keeping President Snow at bay with the help of Mayor Wanthope (who must've appeared in the giant new helicopter I've noticed has just landed...wow, word must travel fast when fighting a battle) and little Bonnie. My eyes, however hard they try, cannot find Peeta's spot on the field, which gives me an uneasy feeling that I almost can't quell. But I do. I have to do my job, and my job doesn't involve cozy catch up time with the love of my life...or finding out if he's dead. That comes after, one or the other.

I walk through the mass of people, staying low to the ground with my face mostly concealed by my thick braid. I don't want all the Peacekeepers to realize I am the symbol of rebellion and not just a minor player in it and all come charging at me. Because most of them are pretty preoccupied already fighting my friends, no one immediately seeks me out. Cinna is sneaking behind me and, as a painful yell escapes someone's about-to-be-slit throat, he starts whispering.

"Katniss, I have a plan," he says and I turn back to him. We are now huddled in a tiny formation amidst a blood bath. Considering the circumstances, we are doing pretty well. No one really notices us. Sure, I had to shoot down a couple Peacekeepers, but who's counting?

"What is it?" I whisper back. I don't really have a plan so I'm glad someone does.

"Follow me," is Cinna's quiet, confusing answer. He gets up in a flash and starts sprinting towards the stands, in front of which Haymitch, Bonnie, and District 13's mayor are still battling the President. Because I am still without a plan and more so because I'm not letting Cinna get out of my sight again, I bolt up just as quickly and chase him towards the mystery destination.

Breathing heavy having just raced through a quarter length of the arena in about five minutes, I turn to Cinna. He's a lot faster than he looks, and he wasn't even chasing after designer clothes, which would be understandable giving his character. All jokes aside, without Cinna there would no rebellion. Or at least the rebellion would be really different. He played me up to the audience to keep me alive, and reinforced the mockingjay symbolism that has become so important throughout the past year. Cinna is just as revolutionary to the rebels as I am, probably more so.

Because Cinna's always been the artist and I have been the modelling clay. Haymitch, and I now know Maysilee before him, have always been the puppet masters of the show that has lately been my life. They provided me a canvas and I smeared my paint thin and light over some spots and thick and dark over others, but I always stayed inside the lines they provided me. Whenever I came up with something I thought was original, it had really been an idea they so carefully planted in my head. Even President Snow had some pull on my decisions, if blackmail none the less. The truth is, I have been played with .I have been toyed with. I have been used as a chess piece in the match of the century, whether a sacrificial pawn or an all powerful queen I don't know. I've never been my own person because, despite the situations I've been thrust into, I've never truly known who I am. My father once told me that if I could find myself I would never starve. Roughly translated, if I know who I am others can never hurt me.

Where in the world is Katniss Everdeen and how can I find her? Who is she? I must know her, I must know her better than I know myself because she is me. I know who I was before, just some girl in the poorest district trying to get by and keep her family alive. Sometimes I feel like I'm becoming a bloodthirsty monster, like I have seen so much, felt so much, had to deal with so much that someday I'll wake up and snap and, not caring about anything, go out and murder everyone who has ever caused me pain or heartache. But who am I now?

I am the turning point, I answer myself, I am the unanswered enigma that is life. I may not know how this whole battle is going to play out, but I do know how I`m going to deal with it. I`ll do what I`ve always done, I`ll stick by my friends and family. I`ll be brave and sacrifice myself if it has to come to that. But if and when it does, I will be ready for it and I will take down as many people who are on the Presidents side with me. And in this oblique moment, I figure out who I am, and who I am needs to help Cinna in whatever his plan is and then obliterate Snow.

``So,`` I ask Cinna, still panting a little from the run, ``This plan doesn`t involve twirling, lipstick, and sparkly dresses does it?`` I try weakly.

``No, that was last year,`` Cinna smiles. ``This one`s a little more up your alley. In fact, I`m a little disappointed you didn`t come up with it yourself,``

I ponder this and say, ``By up my alley do you mean, sneakily defy the Capitol and successfully kill the President?``

Cinna`s lips twist up into a grin. ``Exactly`` he says.

Marginally more excited now, I follow him up to the stands, where he`s leading me. I catch a glimpse of Haymitch`s face when we`re getting close. It screams HIDE! and I know why. He knows that if Snow sees me his rampage will only increase. So I duck down beside Cinna and we speed around the battlers. We`re hidden behind an outcropping of stands where they can`t see us when I think the coast is clear.

``I don`t think they saw us,`` I murmur to Cinna as we stand squeezed together behind the wall so that we stay concealed. ``Care to tell me where you`re taking me?``

``Fine,`` Cinna sighs, as if letting me in on the plan is very taxing on him. ``You know how the Gamemakers control the arena?``

``Sure,`` I answer, not yet catching on. ``They can change the weather, make natural disasters, let out the muttations...``

``Exactly,`` says Cinna with a mischevious glint in his brown eyes that is not a benefit of the enhancing gold eyeliner. ``What if it wasn`t the Gamemakers who did that.``

I`m sure my eyes go big and round as I realize what Cinna`s saying and a smile decides to grace my lips, but Cinna has to clarify even farther to make sure I understand.

``What if that was us.`` he states simply.

I bolt. I run through the now topsy-turvy stands to where I know the control panel room is. It`s the place where Claudius Templesmith sat through these live Games and always delivered his heartbreaking or hope-waking news. It`s where the Head Gamemaker can manipulate the tributes every move. Cinna is running after me and we finally reach the door of the white hub.

I`ve never seen this place up close before and I don`t know what I was imagining, but it wasn`t this. It`s just a little white box, it can probably fit four people inside it, at most. The door has one window –frosted glass so I can`t see inside too well.

``Are there guards?`` I mouth over my shoulder to Cinna. If there are guards I don`t want them to hear me.

He shrugs –the universal I don`t know gesture- and puts a finger to his lips, telling me to be quiet, as he creeps up behind me. He stops beside me for a second, hovers there with an undecided expression, and then, out of nowhere, pounces on the doorknob and tries to wrestle it open. It`s not that surprising when it is locked. It is slightly more surprising when two armed guards, with different uniforms than Peacekeepers but the same Capitolian seal, pounce out from either sides of the hut and start to attack us.

I immediately sling my bow and arrows off of my shoulder and get ready to shoot at the guard I face when I remember that Cinna has his back to me and faces another, for all I know meaner, guard virtually unarmed. I slide a long knife out of my belt and back pass it too Cinna. I feel him take it, giving my hand a little squeeze as well, and then focus on battling my guard.

The guard takes a jab at me with a small metal poll. It doesn`t look deadly at all but when it makes contact with the bare skin of my wrist I start to shake and jerk in pure agony. I`ve been tasered! The pain only lasts a moment though, and when it`s over I bounce back stronger. With no time for arrows and the menacing taser in my face, I punch the guard in the face. He wasn`t expecting that. When he`s blundering back from the hit, I strike again, this time with an already placed arrow. It`s a bull`s eye straight through the heart. He falls, splutters pitifully for a moment then dies. It was a good shot, he probably didn`t even feel much pain. Before I can think the better of it, I tuck his body onto a nearby bleacher. Then I turn back to Cinna.

He is looking down at a dead guard too, this one slightly more gruesome than mine. Since all Cinna had was a knife he had to use it to kill the guard. The corpse isn`t pretty. We move the body onto the bleacher beside the other guard and then look at each other. That`s when I notice Cinna is holding a hand on his lower back and wincing. Before he can stop me I turn him around and check what`s wrong with his back.

After lifting his shirt up a little, I see it. The guard managed to make a long, but thankfully shallow, gash along Cinna`s lower back. I can`t investigate further because Cinna briskly turns around.

``It`s nothing, Katniss,`` he says softly.

I scowl. It is not nothing. But there is nothing I can do now, so I let Cinna wave it away for the time being.

``Well, after that minor complication,`` he says, doing his best to keep the pain out of his voice. I can still detect it, for the record.

I nod though, brusquely. ``What are we going to do now?`` I ask him. ``We can`t get in there, it`s locked.``

``Is it?`` Cinna asks me, pulling something jangly out of his pocket. Keys! ``I took them out of that unfortunate fellow`s pocket before I killed him,``

I smile big and hug him, ``Cinna!`` I exclaim.

``Katniss,`` he responds. ``Now, should we shimmy on over to that control panel?``

I extract myself and nod. What would I do without Cinna.

The door of the white hut creaks open after we present it with the keys. I thought this place was little and shabby, pretty much a letdown, from the outside, but on the inside it has all the wonders, and horrors, that I imagined. The walls are lined with TV screens monitoring every inch of the arena and a huge panel of various buttons with tiny printed labels take up pretty much the whole room. Even more controls –ropes to pull- hang down from the ceiling and a big cushiony spinning chair is the centerpiece of this fine mastery. I can`t help saying ``whoa,``

Cinna pulls out the spinning chair for me but I say, ``No, you sit,`` and he can`t turn down the offer. His back must be killing him. I rest my arms on the back of Cinna`s seat and my chin on top of my arms as I try to look at all the TV screens at once. I can see everything! All of the fighters, all of the spectators, all of the bystanders, everything. But there's only one thing I`m looking for in particular. And I find him. Peeta is standing in a corner of the arena with a big group of spectators from the Capitol and I can tell by the way he is using his hands that he is giving them a speech. Whatever he`s saying it`s working because everyone he talks to goes off and joins our side on the battle field. But all I am thinking is, yes, Peeta is alive! Peeta is alive.

``So what should we do first?`` I ask Cinna, now that that is out of the way. He starts scanning the little buttons that litter the control panel as I wander around to see what else is in here. A filing cabinet in a corner catches my eye so I open the top drawer. It`s filled with tribute files.

As Cinna scans the tiny buttons, I skim through the files. Abernathy, Haymitch; Abraxus, Mallory; Angelwood, Joyce; Apples, Landon; are a few of the A names but I quickly pass the A section and skip to the Es. I want to see what they've got on me. I find my name quickly enough, right under Etiene, Lily and above Everdeen, Primrose:

Everdeen, Katniss

Games: 74th, 75th* Quarter Quell, 76th

District: 12

Gender: Female

Training Scores: 11, 12, 12

Skills: Hunting –bow and arrow, swimming

Status: Victor

Height: 5'5

Weight: 110 lb

Mentor: Abernathy, Haymitch

District Partner: Mellark, Peeta

Biological Parents: Everdeen, Kaul & Everdeen, Pricilla Glassy

Siblings: Primrose Everdeen

Other Family: Aunt Hawthorne, Hazelle Oaksin. Cousins Hawthorne, Gale; Hawthorne, Rory; Hawthorne, Vick; Hawthorne, Posy. [sic. This is not true; a lie formulated by Everdeen, Katniss to cover up a possible romance with Hawthorne, Gale, when she was already publicly engaged to Mellark, Peeta.]

Other Info: Everdeen, Katniss is the leading force in an anti-Capitol rebellion starting in District 12 which was reinforced by the victors in the 75th Quarter Quell interviews. Possible District 13 involvement [sic. District 13 involvement has been confirmed].

It went on for pages after that. They documented my entire life ever since Prim's name was drawn out of that Reaping ball. I am just reading about the finer points of my life when I hear Cinna say, "Katniss?" in a hurried tone and I say, "What?" and he just points at one of the many screens and says "Look."

I do, with my heart pounding in my throat as my stomach decides to drop a few inches farther down than normal. The concern in Cinna's voice….this is something bad. Is someone hurt? Is it Peeta?

It is Peeta, I see as I look at the screen. It is one of the bigger ones because it displays the Cornucopia in all its finery. A crowd of people surrounds the seen. In it's middle two Peacekeeper are holding him as he struggles. The President himself paces in front of the display holding, to my dismay, a sharp knife.

"Katniss Everdeen will come to me before I harm her precious Peeta Mellark," he says menacingly and even though he can't know exactly where my eyes are as I look at the screen, I swear he looks into them.

The spectators from the Capitol who bought tickets to come see the Hunger Games broadcasted live this year are huddling together with their pastel colored skin and weird tattoos and hairstyles. The Presidents original idea of appearing calm, cool, and collected in front off them seems to have gone out the window as he's acting quite deranged with his knife just inches from Peeta's throat. With his knife just inches from Peeta's throat? I suck in a breath. I feel physical pain when Peeta is in danger.

No one I recognize is at the scene, they must still be fighting Peacekeepers elsewhere.

"Come on Katniss. Just come talk to me. You might not even have to die, I'm sure we can work something out," the President taunts. "Or I might just have to…oops," he says softly.

He presses the knife against Peeta's throat hard enough for droplets of blood to spring from it.

"Don't do it, Katniss!" Peeta strains as his throat bleeds. "Please-"

President Snow cuts him off by digging the knife a little deeper. I see Peeta's eyes close, trying to portray no unnecessary pain so I won't come. But I'm coming. He must know that.

I shove the file that's still in my hands back into the drawer hap hazardously and shakily, but quickly, head towards the door.

"Katniss," Cinna begins, "You can't go."

I look back over my shoulder at him. "I have to." I say matter-of-factly. Because it's true.

Cinna looks like he's going to protest again, but then stops, looking understanding. "Okay, but come back." He says.

"I will," I say. I don't know if I'm lying or not. I will do anything to keep Peeta safe. Anything. "Stay here." I add to Cinna.

"I'll help out how I can from here," he says gesturing to the control panel.

Now I really have to go. Every second I delay is another second Snow and the Peacekeepers could be hurting Peeta.

"Katniss," says Cinna again as I'm about to cross the threshold to the outside world. I chance a glance back at him, wasting more of mine and Peeta's precious time. Cinna puts his chin up when he sees that I am looking and I mimic it. "Stay strong, girl on fire," he says finally.

I smile at him; even in dismay I listen to his advice. Chin up, smile proud.

However, that is all the time I can afford to waste, so I bolt out the door. No one is sitting in the stands anymore so I am only accompanied by the dead who line the bleachers. It's an unsettling sight and feeling which motivates me to run down into the actual arena extremely quickly. I don't know if Snow can see me. If he can't see me, is he still hurting Peeta? I can't have that, so I start making noise.

"PEETA!" I call out loudly. Far ahead of me I can see the Cornucopia and I notice the President's head whip around. He can definitely see me now and I can hear his faint laughter.

I speed up my running; I'm going faster than I ever could have with my injuries. I'm thankful to my mother for bringing the medicine but then I remember that she is gone and fear I'm about to break down again. I shove the unwelcome feelings to the back of my mind. I have to make sure Peeta's okay first.

Finally I reach the scene of the struggle. I run straight up to Peeta before anyone can stop me and wipe the streak of blood off his neck with my thumb. He shivers.

"I told you not to come," he whispers to me, with distressed blue eyes.

"Since when have I listened to you?"

I am so unbelievably happy at this moment because I have lived through everything so far and Peeta has lived through everything too and somehow we're together now that I forget everything else and bring my lips to his, despite the Peacekeepers holding him back and the President pacing in front of us. I snap out of it quickly because of the situation at hand, but for a moment there I really do forget everything.

President Snow is addressing me now. "You really care about him don't you," he whispers eerily. "You would do anything to keep him safe. You would make any deal."

His voice is hypnotic, lulling me into a false sense of security and a real sense of insecurity. I imagine a world without Peeta. A world where it's my fault he died. Where he died because of me. I imagine living with that on my conscious. It would be impossible. It wouldn't be living.

Then, just as quickly as it came, I snap out of it. I don't have to live in a world with Peeta because I have fists, and better yet, weapons, but first of all I'm going to try out the fists. I punch Snow in the face. Then, before he can recover, I turn on the Peacekeepers, hitting them and brandishing my own knife until they let go of Peeta. Eventually they do and we stand huddled together, so stunned at the easy escape that we don't know what to do next. Unfortunately, President Snow does.

"Get up you imbeciles!" he screams at the fallen Peacekeepers and they scramble to their feet. Then the President grabs a fistful of my shirt, holding me inches from his face. Peeta frantically tries to free me but I hear a Peacekeeper punch him. I wince. It sounded like it hurt. "Now, Katniss," the President says through gritted teeth. I can smell his bloody rose breath. It's nauseating. "You don't have to be difficult. Or you can be difficult." He pulls out his knife again. "I don't really care either way. I won't have to clean up the mess."

"You can't hurt her!" Peeta shouts from behind me.

"Oh can't I?" Snow asks, followed by some cynical laughter. "You'll find there's few things I can't do, Peeta, being the President and all."

I close my eyes. I can't struggle anymore, Peacekeepers are closing in from every direction and Snow is brandishing a knife in my face. I'm thinking this is it, we are done for until I hear a voice that gives me hope.

"Oh yeah?"

Finnick Odair comes charging through the sea of Peacekeepers and even with a venomous snake bite he manages to be cool. Taking Snow by surprise he takes a swipe at him and catches him in the shoulder. It's not a deep cut but Finnick doesn't pay attention to that, he just moves on to the Peacekeepers who are holding Peeta hostage. Peeta escapes them and only then do I pay attention to other things enough to notice that there is a sickly sweet blue liquid dripping onto my arm.

I look up to see where it's coming from and gasp. The puncture mark is bleeding the same blue blood that he bled that day Finnick, Gale, and I rescued Peeta, Madge, and Johanna. Snow is still holding the fistful of my shirt but his grip is limp. I shake him off easily and run to join Peeta and Finnick. Snow is walking slowly, but apparently with much effort, towards us and yelling at his Peacekeepers.

"Must…have…medicine…" And then when they don't move, "GET IT FOR ME!" The Peacekeepers scurry off to get his "medicine" which I know is real blood. During the 74th Games' Victory Tour I heard horror stories about some of the enhancements you can get in the Capitol. I heard one about people who were old, but didn't want to die, getting a surgery where they can stay young but have to drink others' blood to do so. One side effect was that their real blood would turn blue. Back then I thought it was a rumor, but it all makes sense now. "SOME OF YOU STAY TO TAKE CARE OF THEM!" Snow screams at the mob of Peacekeepers who all left once he told them to.

The crowd that once watched Snow torture Peeta has dissipated rapidly and now it is replaced by an angry horde of Peacekeepers. Peeta, Finnick, and I stand in the middle of it with our backs to each other in a sort of triangle formation as we battle them, trying against all odds to cling to life.

"Thank you so much," Peeta yells to Finnick as we fight.

"You're welcome but we need to get out of here!" he yells back.

"Affirmative!" I agree.

"What should we do?" Finnick wonders aloud as he bludgeons a Peacekeeper to death.

As if answering our prayers, a ten feet high wall of fire is conjured up behind the Peacekeepers and starts advancing on them. Cinna must've done this to help us catch a break! I mentally thank him. Then I realize the downside of this. The fire is going to attack the Peacekeepers and we're situated directly in the middle of them. I look at the others.

"RUN!" I yell and our little trio makes its way away from the fire, through the Peacekeepers and to safety behind a rather large rock. The flames haven't even reached her yet and I can hear the Peacekeepers stampeding to get away from the still advancing fire. Then the flames arrive. I feel their extreme heat even through the boulder that shields us from them and I see their orange edges on either side of it.

We sit tight for a couple of minutes, listening to the roaring fire and the screaming people. I hope with all my heart that none of ours where harmed by the fire but don't let myself think about it for too long. It scares me too much. It seems like we could just wait out the firestorm here until we see yet another group of Peacekeepers. These ones are entering the arena through the stands we face –Snow must've brought in backup. But they aren't charging right at us. They are forming a line that cancels out all possible exits and just standing there. We are literally between a rock and a hard place.

"What are we going to do?" I ask the boys frantically.

Neither says anything at first but eventually Finnick speaks. "I'll go distract them," he says suddenly. "I'll go distract them and then you two can escape!"

What he is saying sinks in. If he "goes and distracts them," he's going to get himself killed.

"I can't let you do that, Finnick," Peeta says. "You've saved my life. I'm not going to let you throw away yours."

Finnick answers with a half smile. "If I die, it's a good way to go. Doing the heroic thing."

We all no that there is no if involved in this decision. There are at least fifty Peacekeeper. Finnick will die.

"You can't do it, Finnick!" I cry. "Let me, and you two can escape,"

"No," Finnick and Peeta say together, and then Finnick continues, "I'm a heartthrob Katniss, this is what I do. Besides, we can't have you sacrificing yourself, either of you really. You're the main players in this Game. I've really just been along for the ride."

I sit dejectedly. There's really nothing I can say to that, partly because I know that it's true. I am the main player in this Game and if there's any hope of the rebellion succeeding I have to be around when it happens. Sacrifices have to be made. But I can't sacrifice Finnick, I just can't.

"Please don't," I say hollowly, knowing there is no real hope for him now.

"I have to, Katniss. If this is going to help create a better world for my son when he is born, I've gotta do it." Suddenly he becomes very serious and says, "Help Annie take care of him will you?" he bites down on his bottom lip. "I don't know if she can do it alone."

"We will," is my tear soaked reply as Peeta, his mouth in a hard line, nods once.

"Which reminds me," Finnick continues to me, "I still haven't gotten my sugar from you, sugar,"

I'm trying to figure how that reminded him of this when Finnick asks Peeta very bluntly and politely, "May I kiss your girlfriend?"

Peeta looks at me bemusedly and I nod, even scowling a little, despite my sadness.

Finnick leans in and presses his lips to mine, hard but warm, for a second and then stands up.

"Please don't go!" I try one final time.

Finnick just looks down at me sadly and says, "You guys sure as hell better win."

Then he is gone, running towards the Peacekeepers to distract them from getting to us. Suddenly the fire wall disappears and the other Peacekeepers are starting to get up and run towards us. Not wanting to leave the moment Finnick bought us in vain, I grab Peeta's hand and we run towards the stands. No Peacekeepers disturb us thanks to fire and Finnick. Fighting tears I sit down on the bleachers when we get there and Peeta sits beside me. At least we're at a spot with no bodies.

I bury my face in Peeta's chest, not wanting to watch Finnick fight the many Peacekeepers. His steady breaths soothe me so I stop hyperventilating but can do nothing to end my distress. Five minutes pass. I can't take this anymore. I get up and head toward the white hut, to see how Cinna is doing. Peeta follows me.

When I open the door I only start crying harder. Peeta races up behind me but before the "What's wrong?" even leaves his lips he swallows it because he knows full well what's wrong? What's wrong is lying dead before us.

Cinna, with his arms and legs struck out at awkward angles, is taking up most of the available floor space on the control panel room's floor. Whoever did him in didn't stick around for me to pummel them, they just left like the evil coward they are. Cinna. I remember the last words he said to me 'Stay strong, girl on fire," I am completely bawling my eyes out. He is my Cinna, strong and steady until the end. He never fell apart when I had to go into the Games again and again, he was always my hand to hold when I waited to set foot in the arena. Now he's nothing and his hands are getting colder every second.

"Cinna!" I am screaming. "Cinna!" I am screaming like if I scream hard enough he will wake up or I will wake up and this will all have been a bad dream. "Cinna!"

Peeta just cradles me in his arms and I can feel one of his own tears drop onto my head. I keep on screaming Cinna's name until Peeta walks/forces me out of the room. It's probably a good thing. He probably thinks that me seeing the body is making me more depressed. Peeta sits me down on the bleachers and then carries Cinna's body out of the hut, placing it ever so gently and kindly on one of the highest bleachers where no one can get it and it will be safe until it's buried. I'm glad it's safe, but there's no Cinna in there. I walk over to the body and Peeta and look down at Cinna's face, at his gold eyeliner. I notice that his tie is askew. Cinna managed to wear a tie to the last battle of his life, there's something to be admired in that. I reach down and straighten the tie. He would want to look his best. Then I can't stare at him any longer and Peeta must be able to tell because he scoops me up before the tears even start falling again and carries me to a place away from there.

We're sitting on the stands again now, my face buried in his chest and I'm crying for Cinna and for Finnick who's probably gone by now too. Peeta is watching him fight the Peacekeepers because I can't. I keep asking, "Is he dead?" or "is it over?" and he keeps telling me to "Shhh," until the final time I ask.

"Is he dead yet?" I lift my face off him a little, chancing a glance at the battle field.

"Yes, Katniss," Peeta says in a soft, sad voice. He kisses my temple. "Yes, Katniss, he's gone."

I feel the greatest sadness but then I push it to the back of my mind, for now, like I've been doing all day. I dry my tears and put on my game face. "There's something I have to do." I say in a business-like tone.

"Okay," says Peeta. "Do you want me to come with you?"

"No." I say to him, he looks a little hurt so I add in a softer tone, "I have to do this alone."

He nods uncertainly. "Okay," he says. "But be careful, where are you going?"

"Just to the control panel room," I tell him. "I'll be fine."

"Well I'm going to get…Finnick," a choked sound echoes from Peeta's throat. "His…body…I mean,"

I try to nod briskly. "Okay," I say, "You be careful."

"I will," Peeta tells me. "Always."

Then he is taking me in his arms and kissing me. The kiss is salty because I can taste his tears and mine.

"I love you," he says, brushing a strand of hair off my neck before he leaves. I don't even say it back, but I think he knows. I hope he knows.

Now I am all alone. I walk into the control panel room and sit down in the big, cushiony spinning chair. I survey the all of the little buttons until I find the one that I'm looking for. I look at the options it comes with, I'm going to have to do a little programming and personalizing, but I know this will do exactly what I want. It's a good thing that the machine has a picture of President Snow programmed into it with the tributes and other important figures, because they're going to have to recognize him if they're going to get the job done.

MOCKINGJAY IS SO SOON! REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!