Disclaimer: I do not, and never will, own the Hunger Games. Oh, but how I wish I did. How I wish.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyes flutter open, blinking uncertainly in the harsh light overhead. A hand softly smoothes my hair back and I can feel the nimble fingers shaping it into the second of two braids. She sings softly as she works, a tune I recognize from all the times I would wake up shaking in the night, plagued by nightmares. But it is not Katniss who sings it now. It is my mother.

She stares down at me with soft, teary eyes, though they hold a rarely expressed love in them. Her eyes, the same as mine, right down to the flecks of gold crowning the pupil. "Prim," She whispers gently, tying off the braid quickly and leaning down to kiss my forehead. "Sweet little Primrose."

"Mom?" I whisper, struggling to sit up. "Where are we?"

A lone tears trails down her cheek at that, and she hastily wipes it away. I can tell she is debating something in her head, choosing her next words carefully. Looking around the room, I find it unfamiliar. It's sterile and white, with rows of medical equipment lining the shelves. Curtains barricade either side of the small space, and I'm situated in a stiff hospital bed. A heart monitor ticks dutifully beside me, and oxygen is pumped to my lungs through clips in my nose.

"We are in District Thirteen, dear." My eyes snap to hers and see no hint of misgiving, she's telling the truth. I'm almost afraid to as my next question, something tells me the answer is not one I truly want, but I have to know.

"What happened to District Twelve?" My mother stares at me with calm, collected eyes, but I see right through her. Something terrible has happened.

"The Capital…" She grows far away as she begins to speak, as though retracting into the moment it occurred, reliving it all in her head. "After you were trapped in the forest with the Jabberjays they dropped firebombs. First on the Seam, then on the town. I could… I could see it from our house. It all went up in flames… all those houses and people covered in coal dust- they never had a chance. The Hawthornes were at our house, thank God. The minute the first explosion went off Gale and Katniss were flying out the door, going to round up survivors. Vick, Hazelle, and I managed to tear down a loose part of the fence once the electricity went out.

They came back thirty minutes later with almost a thousand people. We managed to get out. Then, the hovercrafts came. Katniss and Gale were out hunting, by the time we found out… it was too late. All I saw was the claw, bringing them up towards the hovercraft. She was screaming my name… desperately. I'd never heard her like that. Prim… Prim I'm so sorry. Gale was yelling for Hazelle, telling her frantically about how much he loved her… we couldn't do anything. The next hovercraft that came had us so scared. But once Haymitch and Cinna stepped out and explained everything we knew it was okay.

But I still couldn't get my mind off Gale and Katniss… you arrived yesterday along with some other survivors. Rory, Finnick, Cato, Beetee, Thresh and some other mentoring Victors."

I dread what comes next. "What's become of the others? Of Rue, and Clove, and Johanna?"

My mother stares at me for a long moment, before she picks up the tune again. Suddenly, the name returns to me. The Hanging Tree. "Mom." My voice quivers, but the persistence I had before is still there. Her song eerily climaxes as she redoes the first braid, before finally giving in.

"Cashmere and the girl from District Three are dead. But the rest… Prim, the rest were taken by the Capital."

And my whole world falls apart.

The End.

A/N: That's it! We're done. It's been a year and half since I began and I'm finally done. For my final Author's Note on this story: Thanks to all my faithful readers and reviewers, you have given me so much inspiration and joy.

Also, thanks to therealslimshady12345 for my hundredth review! Anyways, this has been a really long… journey (for lack of a better word) and I couldn't thank you all enough. I don't know when I will begin the final part, but I do know that I will get around to it eventually. I really need to distance myself from this story for a while.

Thanks again, have a wonderful day, and remember to smile! -Knifethrower