Last chapter time!
Guys, I can't quite believe that I'm done (well, almost, because there'll be an epilogue tomorrow) - but I am. Feels good and bad at the same time. Tell me how you feel about this story ending in a review (let's not have only one, okay, this is the last chapter^^)

Oh, and thanks to pinkdoughnuts for reviewing the last chapter!


The Kiss


President Coin was pacing up and down in Snow's old office. She had left most of it exactly as I remembered it. Matter of fact, the resemblance to so many other times I had been here was chilling.

"You should renovate now," I told her. "It's more respectful than changing everything after his death."

She stopped in her pace and turned deadly cold eyes on me. I had not killed Snow, he was alive for now. I could have, of course, as he lay on the ground beneath me. But I would not give him the pleasure to become a martyr. It would have taken no time for people to pop up claiming he had sacrificed himself for the good of his country.
Now, Snow was confined to his quarters - no doubt Coin taking precautions in case she ever fell into disgrace - and awaited his execution.

"You acted against my specific orders," she bit out.

I raised an eyebrow at her. If I had been more shallow, I might have been disappointed that I never was congratulated on capturing Snow. Instead, I got Coin's wrath - but, if I was being honest, I would not have had it any other way. It was about time that she knew she could not count on my support.

"You never gave me any orders," I retorted.

"The order was to stay put and safe-"

"And we couldn't," I said pointedly.

"You should have returned to the camp," she told me with narrowed eyes. "You should have dragged Katniss kicking and screaming if need be."

I smiled slightly at that. I might have actually enjoyed it if I had gotten to do that. "Perhaps I'm not made for the military," I said lightly.

More importantly, I was not made for this regime. While I had been busy fighting my way to Snow, things had spiraled out of control in the city. Refugees had gathered in front of Snow's mansion, most of them children. The bombs had begun falling shortly after. When the rebel's medics had rushed to their help, another set of bombs had fallen. Hardly anyone had survived. Katniss' sister had gone up in flames, the girl herself had been burned so badly that the doctors needed to grow her some artificial skin.
The rebels all talked about how horrible this last of the Capitol's crimes was, but I had another theory. The Capitol had had only one hovercraft left and it had been ready for Snow, who had been much to preoccupied with his own escape to form any elaborate plans.
The whole thing screamed Coin. It kind of also screamed Gale Hawthorne. And what a wonderful thing, being able to blame it all on the now defeated Capitol.

"Obviously," Coin bit out as she picked up her pacing again.

The truth was, now that the war was over and I could not die a martyr anymore, she would have rather I was on her side. Maybe she should have thought about that before she had ordered Felix shot. I would never support her and most certainly would never let her hurt any of my loved ones again.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"I had hoped you would agree to a short interview on the efforts of war," she said through gritted teeth. "Plutarch thinks it would be marvelous."

I scoffed. The nerve of that woman was truly remarkable. Accusing me first and asking for favours right after. "No," I said.

"No?"

"No, definitely not," I said. "I'm done giving out favours without any gain. So there you go. Besides, my stylist got shot publicly by some of your rogue soldiers."

"Snow's peacekeepers," she hissed.

"There's footage!" I snapped back.
Victoria had never meant very much to me, but seeing her executed on the already bloodied street just for being a Capitolite was still something that made me incredibly angry. "You may fool everyone else, but not me. You can be rather glad I'm not planning another revolt right now."

She glared again, maybe she was even plotting my demise while I was staring back at her, but I was unimpressed. There was not much left in me besides anger and exhaustion. I had been fighting for years, I had lost so many people and now here we were, barely a step up from Snow's rule. Finnick was gone. Felix was gone. Half of my family was gone. Somehow, I had made it through, but for what price?

It took weeks before everything was set enough for Snow's execution. Besides, they had waited for Katniss' recovery since the girl was supposed to shoot Snow. I hoped she would go through with it properly - more than once had I already offered to do the deed myself, but apparently she had struck some kind of deal that Coin was willing to fulfill.

On the day of his execution, Coin called me to another meeting, though she was not present when I got to the location. Instead, I saw several other people already sitting around a table. I gave an undignified shriek and threw myself at Johanna, whose hair had grown to about her chin. She laughed, a little uncomfortably and I pulled back grinning at her.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"As if I'd miss brainless shooting him in the head," she said vaguely. She looked across to the table to where Annie sat, watching us with wide eyes. "How's the baby?"

Annie shivered slightly and I turned to face her incredulously. "You're pregnant?" I asked, my throat constricting painfully at the thought.

"Yes," she breathed, her hands unconsciously rubbing over her stomach. What a horrible thing, I thought. A child that would never know its father. Finnick would never know his child.

"Johanna," Beetee chastised. "You upset her again."

Johanna shrugged lightly and I used the distraction to figure out what was going on. Haymitch was there as well, slouching in his chair, his greeting to me slurred horribly. He had done so much better, I thought, and now he was back to being a drunkard. Peeta sat next to him, his eyes as clear as ever. He, at least, seemed to do well.
The door opened again and Enobaria walked in, directly followed by Nero, who was limping slightly. His leg had been hit by one of the Peacekeeper's bullets, but - as he had already frequently said - it could have been worse. Enobaria, herself, had been saved by Katniss' mockingjay deal. Careers, apparently, were next worst thing after Capitolites and Peacekeepers and so the three of us had spent most of our time together.

"What's this?" Katniss had entered as well, watching us suspiciously. Trouble was, none of us knew what this was and we were left as out of the loop as she was. "We're all that's left?" she asked in a small voice

"The price of celebrity," Beetee answered, shrugging slightly.

Coin strut inside, closing the door forcefully behind her. Katniss' eyes narrowed at her, but she did comply and took a seat between Annie and Beetee. If there was one good thing about it Coin, it was that the woman did not beat around the bush.

"I called you here to settle a debate," she announced.
Apparently, she felt that the execution of Snow and his henchmen was not enough to make up for their crimes. She claimed that it was the district's wish to see more recompense, but I did not believe it for one second. In fact, she would have gladly slaughtered all Capitolites, but even she knew that we could not diminish our population further.
"What has been proposed is that in lieu of eliminating the entire Capitol population," she explained. "We have a final, symbolic Hunger Games, using the children directly related to those who held the most power."

For a moment, the room sunk into stunned silence. She truly had no morals left, I thought in wonder. I looked around to see Katniss, Johanna, Enobaria all debating internally. It might have been the thoughtful look on Nero's face that made me snap.

"No, no, no, no, no - did I mention? No!" All eyes in the room turned to me at my sudden outburst. "There is no way we're going to stoop that low," I announced harshly.

"I don't see why not," Enobaria said. "Let them have a taste of their own medicine."
I shook my head at her, my eyes frantically searching for the others who undoubtedly would be on my side, who would have to be on my side-

"I vote no!" Peeta burst out and I breathed a sigh of relief. "We can't have another Hunger Games!"

"Why not?" Johanna challenged, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "Snow even has a granddaughter. I vote yes."

"This is why we rebelled, remember?" Peeta shot back, clearly frantic with this development. "Annie?"

She smiled slightly at him, her hand again clutching at her belly. "I vote no," she said. "So would Finnick if he were here."

Johanna huffed in annoyance. "But he isn't, because Snow's mutts killed him," she bit out.

Annie paled slightly, and I jumped to her help. She was completely right, of course, at least that was what I liked to believe. That Finnick would have never agreed to this.
"He died fighting for what he believed was a good cause," I said, looking around again, pleading with Haymitch and Katniss to see reason. "Not this madness."

"I say no," Beetee said, nodding to me.

"Nero?" I asked.

He looked to me uncertainly, but somehow I knew before he answered. And I could not blame him, either. I could not blame anyone for wanting revenge after everything we had been put through. I could blame Coin, though, to put his very dangerous choice in our hands.

"I vote yes," he said.

"Me, too," Katniss announced. "For Prim."

My eyes darted to Haymitch, who was the only one left while he looked from Katniss to Peeta and back. "I'm with the Mockingjay," he said.

I groaned - we were at a draw now and considering who initiated this, I had no doubt about the outcome. It was not even a little bit surprising when Coin said that she would decide since we were at a draw - and she voted with yes. Of course she did.
I got up, pushing my chair back forcefully. I had been right about this new regime, had been right from the very beginning. I was suddenly glad that I would not execute Snow. I did not want to be a part of this.

"Think of all the things they've forced you to do," Johanna urged, her eyes shining with renewed anger. "Think of you and Finnick-"

I had not forgotten. I would never ever forget what had happened to me. And I would not forgive - but I wanted to see the people punished who were actually at fault and not innocent children who just had the misfortune of being related to the wrong men.

"I remember all the things that have been done to me, thank you very much," I said. "I remember everything bright and clear and I don't want that to happen to anyone else ever again. But just because bad things have been done to me doesn't mean I can do bad things to other people! If this is our new world, I don't want any part in it."

I stomped out of the room, uncaring what other arrangements would be made or what the others had to say about me. Let Coin have her victory for now, I thought grimly. Beetee had spoken of the price of celebrity before. There was also an advantage. When I stepped forward to speak against Coin, people would undoubtedly listen.

The crowd that assembled to see Snow executed was the largest gathering I had seen in a long while, and I had eaten in Thirteen's cafeteria. I spotted a few familiar faces throughout and my heart lurched with the knowledge that I would never have to socialize with these people again without my consent.
But there were also many whom the war had visibly taken toll on. I spotted an old man who was - due to his tattoos - certainly a Capitolite, but dressed in rags, his bony granddaughter clinging to his arm.

"Are you angry with me?"

Nero had followed me to the special pedestal from which we would watch the execution. He was watching me worriedly and I shook my head slightly.
"No," I told him.

"I just," he said, fighting with his words. "I just need them to suffer."

I pressed my lips together. "I know," I said. "But it won't change the past."

He sighed heavily, but remained silent while the stands filled up with more and more people. It was a little morbid, to come see this as if it was some kind of theatre play. I could not exactly complain, though - after all, I was here as well.
Katniss appeared first, her bow ready but her hands shaking. Snow was dragged onto the terrace next and he looked as serene as ever. Perhaps he had made his peace. Or perhaps he was just an extraordinary actor.

Katniss aimed her arrow, still shaking. All eyes were on her as the crowd fell silent in excited tension. She would shoot, in just a second, and the nightmare would finally be over. I saw as she took a deep breath and the shaking suddenly stopped.
Her eyes snapped up along with her bow, the arrow sailed through the air and a row before me, President Coin collapsed into a lifeless heap.

The uproar was tremendous - the stands erupted in utter chaos. People were shouting, running to Coin's help, screaming to grab Katniss. In the shaft of my boot, my trusted knife was suddenly even more poignant.
Nero called after me when I dashed forward and took an easy leap over the low railing to the terrace. There were already guards pushing people away, but Snow was left unprotected.

His eyes widened when he spotted me and for the first time ever, I saw a hint of fear in them. There was no need for words - we both knew what was going to happen.
My knife lay heavy but perfect in my hand and I took a short glance down on the blade. One more thing, I reminded myself, before I could do this.
Never taking my eyes off Snow, I raised the blade up and pressed it to my lips. He yelped when I put the tip on his chest, right over his heart. This was what I had promised him. An intimate, painful death, one that would satisfy me and punish him at the same time.

I rammed the knife down in one swift movement. He spluttered, the blood ran out of his mouth - and then it was over. His eyes froze on my face.
I stood up, taking in my work. Then, I turned around and walked away, leaving my knife securely lodged in my tormentor's heart.


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