Here's the next chapter! Enjoy! I do not own Mockingjay, any direct quotes will be in italics.


Ch. 50

The air is tense. The breaths short and quick. A release of air and a short inhale. No one was really comfortable. No one really happy. After so much pain, how could we ever be happy? It was a question that haunted me all through out the day. I hadn't been really, truly happy in ages. I think the last time I was really joyful was back in the first Games, tucked inside of our own cave. Safe from the dangers, not yet feeling the repercussions of being a murderer. I wish I could go back. I wish I could do something differently.

I think of my family and how scared they must have been. My father so kind hearted, so gentle in his words. He was quiet and he spoke rarely, but I knew he loved us so much. There was never a day I doubted that. My mom was harsh, but I wouldn't be the person I am today without her. And my brothers, there isn't a day that goes by that I don't miss them. Why did I have to be the one to live?

I think of Finnick, how if he were still here I probably wouldn't be this sad. Annie stands next to me and her lips quiver, one of her hands placed on her stomach, the other at her side searching for a hand that will never come. Finnick, who stayed strong though he had every reason to break. I half expect him to walk through the doors behind us, but I know this is foolish.

I think of Prim and how wise she had become. A little girl that couldn't weigh more than a feather, had much more behind her eyes than I did. I realize now how much pain Katniss must be going through at the loss of her. I now understand why she had voted to be another Games. The Capitol took everything from her.

The crowd goes insane as Katniss walks out. No more oppression! No more pain! No more suffering! I can hear the thoughts inside of their heads. My mind goes back to those berries, all of this because of those berries. Nightlock. Nightlock caused all of this. I remember Katniss' family's medicine book and the small drawing her father had left her. Her words when she showed me were something along the lines of, "It's as if he was warning us." Only now do I not see it as a warning, but a beacon of hope.

I still don't hope much, but I actually can now. Seeing the crowd go wild, no Peacekeepers pushing them closer together with guns held against their chests. I wonder if Katniss' dad had ever dreamed of this. If he had ever thought his daughter, with her knowledge that he had given her, would bring us to freedom. We had done it. We had overcome everything that held us down. I forget about the monster inside of me and let it resonate that we were free. After all these years of children killing children and a cold-blooded murderer laughing in the background. It was over. All over. We had made it.

I want to cheer with the crowd, but I'm reminded all to suddenly about the widow beside me. I grab her empty hand. Her grasp tightens around my fingers. Finally she stops shaking.

"We made it." I whisper in her ear. "Finnick is somewhere celebrating, Annie, because we made it. It's over. No more pain, Annie. We made it."

Her eyes lift up into mine. She doesn't smile, but it's almost there. I see the corners of her mouth lift up just a little.

"We did." She answers back. I watch a tear run down her face.

Snow is brought out. No longer powerful, old and broken. Death had already taken him.

A roar of the people. The sound of freedom, so sweet in my once oppressed ears.

Katniss takes aim. The victory hasn't reached her and I doubt it ever will. Her suffering started when she was eleven and it still hasn't ended. Maybe we had made it, and the victory was pulsing through my veins, but thousands of others had not. I am reminded of the monster inside of me and how Katniss must have one now too. She looks shattered, a million pieces broken onto the ground only held together by Cinna's handy work. She shakes. I see a look I hadn't seen forever.

The same look she had given me as she surrendered to me. As she dropped her bow and pulled out the berries. I realize all too late that the arrow was not pointed at the ghost of a man, but instead at the powerful woman who was just as bad.

No one has time to react as Coin drops to the ground.

I don't care, I do believe she made the right choice. But I know—knew—Katniss better than I knew myself. She would realize what this meant. People were loyal to Coin, she was our new leader. Katniss had in some ways just committed treason and in others done our country a favor. I know what Katniss will do next. I know she will go for the Nightlock pill.

She'd be dead in seconds.

I run. I push. I yell. I holler. She can't die. I won't let her. She can't die. She doesn't deserve this. She doesn't deserve to make it this far only to die. Katniss was supposed to live. Time after time after time she was supposed to live. She is going to live.

Just before her mouth reaches the pocket that holds the pill my hand closes over it. Her teeth dig in, but I am more thankful than ever that they only find my skin.

"Let me go!" she screams, fighting my grasp. But from months in the hospital, I had become stronger. She was helpless.

"I can't." I grasp the small pocket and tear it from her uniform. She's dragged away, the pill is smothered.

We had finally made it.


Wow, I actually really liked this chapter. I liked having this conflict in Peeta if he should be happy or not, it actually made me tear up a bit when I wrote the part with Annie.

So yeah, some of you don't want me to be done with writing after I do the five chapter thing, but I probably will be. You can PM if you want to talk and if you want to follow me on twitter you can PM for my username. And hey, we still aren't done yet!

I really really really want your opinion on this one. So PLEASE REVIEW on the way out! Thanks! ~boywithbreadlover