Fire.

That was how Snow ended it.

How he ended Aeson's and June's lives.

It has been a week since she came back home and she had been living with them. Even though she had a house in the victor village, she didn't use it for those seven days. Nightmares plagued her. There were times where she could've masked her demons but when she couldn't, Aeson would immediately be by her side during the night.

When she wasn't having a nightmare or wandering the halls aimlessly, Heather was spending her time with Luke. She and a little bugger became very fast friends to the delight of June and Aeson. Heather would change his diapers, take naps with her, and they would cuddle together in her room.

Occasionally , when June and Aeson were out of the house, Heather would talk to Luke about her nightmares, how she missed Todd and Rust, and how sometimes she wished she would have died in the arena. Of course, provided that he's a baby, he didn't understand her but there was a point. And when she had the urge to cry, Heather would look at his face. Luke would just stare at her and give her a blank look. It was then that Heather realized that Luke didn't care and wouldn't care until he's old enough to understand that his aunt was a killer.

For some reason, Aeson and June won't allow her to go outside. At first, she couldn't see Ray and the rest of the Everdeens. But as the days went on, her will to go outside decreased. What really baffled her was why Katniss didn't come to visit her.

Another thing that kept her mind going was Snow's threat to her family. Every time June and Aeson would come back from work, she would go check up on them. However, the fact that he didn't hurt them didn't comfort her. She still had no idea whether his threats were real or not.

At least that's what she thought before their deaths, Heather knew his threat was real but she refused to believe it. Apparently, Heather's decision to go outside was the reason for her family's ultimate death.

Heather had had enough of staying inside. She tried to reason with them one day until they finally agreed. The only condition they bestowed upon her was that she had to take Luke along with her. At that time, he was only two weeks old. As it turns out, Luke was born when Todd died which was a bittersweet case for Heather.

Although she didn't understand their request, Heather obliged to it.

Taking the heavily clothed Luke in her arms, she promised his parents that they'd be back quick since night had already fallen. The wind breeze hit Heather as she emerged from the house. A few lights were open as everyone in town was either eating dinner or preparing to go to bed.

Luke was still asleep in her arms as she walked around. After strolling around the shops, Heather was about to head to the meadow but then Luke awoke. Low sound came from his mouth and she feared that he was going to cry but he just opened his eyes and stared at her. Then he started to cry.

These days, the only reason Luke ever cried was because he was hungry. So it was no brainer that he wanted June so she could breastfeed him.

Not wanting Luke's cries to disturb the people, Heather tried to walk fast to her house without dropping Luke. Then there it was.

Fire.

That was what consumed her house when she returned.

Fire.

It was the downfall of both June and Aeson. What burned them and destroyed them to the point they became nothing but ashes.


Not a single tear was shed.

Heather didn't cry, sob or show any signs of grief since the incident. At first, it was because she couldn't believe it. She thought that maybe they weren't inside the house, that they may still be alive. But soon realization hit her. Snow won't have burned her house if they weren't inside She just placed her hand on her heart and felt her beating heart.

I can't promise that I will always be with you, Heather. However, I promise you that I will always be here.

That night. The night she lost them, Peacekeepers marched towards her house to clear out the flames and people began to gather around to see what happened.

After seeing how much of a skilled fighter she was in the games, no one dared approach Heather for fear of her reaction since she wasn't displaying any.

Finally, Blaze, June's older brother, came and joined her. His eyes were already red from crying and he looked like he wanted to share his grief with her. However, before he could say anything to her, she handed him Luke.

"Take him," she told him. Heather wanted to tell him more, about how she was unworthy of holding him because she was the reason his parents were dead. Unfortunately, she couldn't bring herself to do so; she just repeated what she said earlier. "Take him."

Blaze seemed to want to say more to say but the defeated look she gave made him stop.

Slowly, Heather made her way over to the tree near her house and sat under it. She watched the Peacekeepers clear out everyone from the area.

They weren't able to retrieve anything. She knew that before the Peacekeeper came to inform her about that. Snow didn't just take her family, he also took her home and she had no doubt he had done that on purpose. Obviously this was just an extra reprisal for the slap she gave him. Honestly, she was glad that she wore her mother's necklace with her.

Heather didn't move from where she sat until Haymitch came. She didn't show any emotion as he gently took her hand and made her stand. He led her to her house in the Victor Village. A limestone house that was and wasn't hers.

When they got inside, Haymitch pulled Heather down to sit with him. Holding her hand gently, he started to tell her something that he never told someone before, "Do you know how I won my games?"

Slowly, Heather answered his question in a soft voice, "You used the force field to kill the girl from District 1."

He nodded. "Well, apparently, the Capitol didn't like what I did. More specifically, Snow didn't like that I outsmarted the Capitol. So, after-"

"He killed your family," Heather finished for him.

Haymitch sighed and turned to her with pain and sorrow visible in his eyes. "And my girlfriend. Look, Heather, you might think that you're all alone in this world but you're not. Because I'm here and damn me if I'm going to leave you."

Heather wanted to cry and hold on to him but she couldn't. After she had used too much of her heart, her mind wouldn't let do it again after what had led her to doing so. Haymitch could say that he'd always be there for him but he has no way of guaranteeing that. At least, she discovered how he became like this.

"Do you want me to stay with you?" He asked. She shook her head.

That night, she dreamed of fire.

The next few days passed by a breeze. Those who could afford to, left stuff by her door. Several Peacekeepers came by to drop some things as well which confused her. However, when she came upon those gifts she saw that they were from the Capitol. There were all kinds of stuff her fans sent her. Dresses, jewelry, shoes, books, and many more. But the one that caught her attention was the trunk that Zedoary and her prep team sent her. It was filled with another pair of knitting needles and yarns, shampoo and hair condition, nail polishes, wax, planting seeds and gardening equipment and clothes (thankfully, that included trousers and simple shirts).

Cray, the Head Peacekeeper, dropped by to deliver her brother's ashes to her. June's ashes were with Blaze and his family.

Then the day that Heather waited for arrived. Snow had finally come to pay her a visit.

They'd sat at her kitchen table, across from each other. Two peacekeepers were outside of her door.

Heather sighed, "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

"We shall."

"Good, cause I have a favor to ask of you," she said.

Snow looked surprised. "You think that after what happened, I'll do what you want me to do?"

Heather's face was expressionless as she talked to him, "You would if you don't want the 69th victor dead."

His eyes turned malice towards her, "You wouldn't."

"I wouldn't? Then tell me, why do you think that? After all, this is my life and I can end it whenever I can," she mocked him.

"Your nephew is still alive," Snow pointed out.

"So, what?" Heather said in a sharp voice,

After a few moments of silence, Snow spoke, "What is it that you want?"

"If I ever do end up pregnant, you'll let me keep the baby."

"And if I don't?"

"Then I die with the fetus."

Snow's eyes search around her face to check for any kind of uncertainty, "Then you got yourself a deal, Ms. Mildbreeze."

The moment she made sure of Snow heading towards the train station, Heather got dressed and went to where Blaze lived. Before he could say anything to her, she cut him off by stating, "I'm taking Luke to live with me tomorrow."

Blaze looked a little startled at her declaration but he nodded his head anyways. Satisfied with his response, Heather then headed to the Seam. There were issues that she needed to solve. People's eyes seemed to be following her as she walked around the Seam. It was probably because she didn't come out of her house for days or because of the fancy dress she was wearing that she got from the Capitol since all her clothes were burned in the fire. Perhaps, it was both.

Standing outside of the Everdeens' residence, Heather took deep breaths then knocked on the door. Katniss was the one to open the door. Strangely, her eyes narrowed at Heather, but Prim came out of the house before she could say anything. Immediately, when the little girl caught sight of Heather, she jumped into her arms.

"Heather! I miss you so much!" Prim exclaimed.

Heather managed to smile and hugged her back. That's the least she could do, for Prim's sake. "I missed you too. How come you didn't come visit me though?"

"The real question is why YOU didn't come?" Katniss asked

"What do you mean?"

"You mean… you don't know?" Her voice softened but she still appeared guarded.

"Know what? Katniss, what happened?" Now she was getting worried. What occurred that got Katniss to act like this way?

"Prim, get inside," said Katniss in an authoritative voice. Prim looked like she wanted to protest but nonetheless she followed her sister's order.

Katniss took Heather's hand and led her somewhere. It was then Heather noticed how different Katniss looked. She didn't change physically but she seemed more... mature. Especially with the look in her eye that Heather couldn't identify.

Walking through the seam, Heather began to note how things were worse than the last time she came there. Things in the Seam are always bad but they were never this terrible. Finally, they stopped at the border between the Seam and the town.

"Kat? What happened? Where is your dad?" Heather asked.

Katniss explained everything to her. How in the second day of the hunger games there was an explosion in the mines that no coal miner survived. Not only that but some of the coal that was supposed to go to the capital was destroyed as well. Which caused the coal to be delivered late to the capital. Because of this, the capital minimized the food supplies it would regularly send to District 12. Then Katniss went on about how she, Prim, and their mother almost died of hunger.

"And when you came back. I thought that you were going to come and help us like you always do, but you never came-"

"Katniss. I-I didn't know," Heather frantically said.

"Well, it's too late now. We don't need you anymore. I don't need you," and she left.

Heather wanted nothing more than to follow after her but it was as if her feet were glued to the ground. "But I do," she whispered to herself.

Realization hit Heather. Katniss didn't only need her, she needed Heather to be strong so she could rely on her. There was nothing wrong with that. Katniss was still a child and it was expected of her to feel that way, but the problem was, Heather wasn't strong as she was before.

That was two weeks ago.

Two weeks ago, Heather was weak, grieving, and empty. Now, she was a crumbling tower waiting to fall down and perish.

The only thing that kept her from falling was Luke. Sure, he also had Blaze, but Luke was the closest thing she had to Aeson. The little guy depended on her. Cyan, Blaze's wife, would come a few times a day to breast-feed Luke since she had a one year old.

Haymitch would also visit to check on her. He wouldn't talk to her most of the time. Normally, he would enter the house like he owns it and sit in the living room. He would be drinking and watching her as she would knit. Strangely, that was Heather's favourite time of the day.

A month has passed since she won the games, and somehow things were worse than before.

After waking up from another nightmare, Heather wanted to head downstairs for a cup of water, but stopped after hearing Luke's cries. She went back to her room and picked him up from the bed. She walked downstairs with him screaming his head off.

"Shhh," Heather began to rock the baby in her arms. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you what you want now. You have to wait until Cyan comes tomorrow."

Finally, after many attempts at getting him back to sleep, Heather sighed and began to sing one of her mother's lullabies that Aeson always sang to her when she was little.

If I had to let you go
I would be no more
And if it made you happy
Then nothing would stop me

Oh my dear

Your smile if of gold

Your laughter is music to my ears

My world revolves around you

And you mean everything to me

I don't need to stand next to you

You always had me along the way

Just think of me and I'll be here

And know that I've always loved you

Luke's cries started to quiet down and it wasn't long before he fell back asleep. Sighing in relief, Heather put him back to bed and came back to drink water. While rinsing her cup, Heather noticed her necklace beside the telephone. The necklace that held Finnick's phone number.

After gathering her courage, Heather called him and waited through the ringing for someone to pick up on the other side. Anxious thoughts filled Heather's mind. What if he didn't want to talk to her? What if he couldn't understand her? What would she sa-

"Hello?" Came a groggily voice.

"Finnick?"

THE END OF BOOK ONE

A/N: Just like I said in the last author's note, I'll be updating a final author's note to mention the changes that I will make when I edit this book, and announce the publication of the second book, Mother, which will be exploring the main events that happened in Heather's life between the 69th Hunger games and the 74th Hunger games. In the second book, you'll see more of Finnick, Haymitch, Gale, and Katniss.