Almost Three Years Later…
Binah
Today was Reaping Day.
Reaping Day has changed a lot. It's still a big day on the calendar but, instead of celebrating a new Hunger Games, it's celebrating that there'll never be another Hunger Games. There are parties on the streets, particularly among teenagers and their families. It's a big day for me because it's the anniversary to a lot of things.
Six years ago, I was reaped. I met Fawkes for the first time. I shook his hand on the reaping stage and thought he was really annoying. My life changed that day although I had no idea how much until years later.
Three years ago, the Quell brought him back to me. That was the day I realised we cared about each other. That was the day I got him to trust me. I held him and I promised he'd be safe.
Today, I got married. Fawkes and I exchanged our vows on the reaping stage, where we'd first met. It made sense that we'd get married where we became district partners. We've been dancing all night long in District 3's town square.
I stretch out on the bed of my hotel room, exhausted. I'm still wearing my dress, a gown that fades from flame-coloured to white. I remember putting it on hours ago and looking at myself in the mirror. They'd been calling me the Bride for years. I remember when I was first given the nickname, after my games, I didn't believe I'd ever get married.
But now I am.
Fawkes curls up next to me, like he does every night. I brace myself for Zephyrus to start crying from the other room and then I remember Annie and Finnick took him home so Fawkes and I weren't distracted by childcare on our wedding night.
"Do you know what I liked most about today?" He asks. "We went back to the very start. It brought back a lot of memories, standing on the reaping stage with you."
"Were they good memories?" I ask.
"No," Fawkes says. "But I'm glad I have them. If I forgot about every mistake I made, I'd never learn anything. All the bad memories made me realise how happy I am now. I feel like a completely different person to the kid who got reaped six years ago. And that's a good thing."
I smile. "I remember the day we met as well. It was also the day we met Ramona… It's funny. I missed both her weddings and now she's missing mine. I always thought she'd be here."
"I'm sure she's happy," Fawkes says. "Wherever she is. Everyone seems to be happy where they are, these days. I know I am right now. I'm always happy when I'm close to you."
He kisses me. I wrap my arms around him and pull him closer. I think of all the nights I spent with Fawkes. In the beginning, he was searching for solace. There were so many nightmares that made him tremble and sob. The nightmares are so rare now. When they do come, it only takes a few minutes before he recovers. Fawkes is one of the living now. He isn't as haunted by the memories of his death anymore. He belongs more in our world than his own head.
Still, both of us made a silent agreement that there would be no octopus on our wedding menu. It's best not to tempt fate.
"Let me tell you something," I say. "After I saved you on the train, I made myself a promise. I promised I'd protect you in the Quell and help you get better so, in three years, you'd still be alive and you'd feel safe being yourself."
"Why three years?" Fawkes asks.
"That was how long I'd had to recover."
"Thank you. Thanks for all the times you saved me. Thanks for the last three years. Thanks for being my district partner."
I know why our love brought us back to the reaping stage where it all began. Because that was the moment where Fawkes and I became district partners. From that moment onwards, we were destined to protect each other. If anyone else had been reaped alongside me, I have no idea whether I would've survived.
"Thanks for being my district partner," I say. "I'm glad we can be partners for life."
There's a series of explosions above us. Fawkes starts but recovers quickly.
"They're just Reaping Day fireworks," he says. "Want to watch them with me?"
I nod. I know our wedding day will always be tied to Reaping Day. We're part of the celebration. We're two people who survived the games, getting married. We're living proof that life can move on.
Fawkes takes my hand and leads me to the balcony, where we can watch the sky light up.
Ramona
Lumas presses a hand to my belly.
"Do you feel it?" I ask.
I watch his eyes light up with joy.
"I feel it," he says. "That's our baby."
It took a few months to really settle in. We found an abandoned cabin in a pine forest and made it our home. That first winter, I spent so many nights in Lumas' arms, trying to help him stay warm. We almost starved because it was too cold to leave the cabin and search for more food. But, slowly, we developed a system for foraging for supplies. Lumas became incredibly good at catching fish in the nearby river. I collected a store of firewood and found some edible plants in the forest.
Now we're ready for our next challenge. We can survive, just the two of us. But, when my baby's born, there'll be a third person, one who'll need a lot more support.
Lumas realises this could be an issue and looks up at me, worry in his eyes.
"Will we need to go back?" He asks.
"No," I say. "There won't be any going back."
"What if you get sick?" He asks. "What if you need to go to a hospital?"
I sigh. "I don't know. If I get really ill, we can think about going back. I don't know how safe Panem is now. I don't really want to think about it. I just hope everything goes well. I want my baby to survive this time."
Lumas pulls me into an embrace. I can feel tears in my eyes. It's scary, being pregnant again. I'm totally sure I want to keep the baby, which makes things even scarier. I'm responsible for keeping the baby inside me alive. And if I fail, if I lose another child, I'll be devastated.
"Okay," Lumas whispers in my ear. "Let's not think about it. Let me worry about everything. It'll all be okay."
I can feel the warmth of Lumas' arms. That's what matters the most in such a cold place - warmth. I probably would've been able to wrap myself in furs and survive the winter without Lumas but it would've been so crushingly lonely and empty. I'm so glad I brought him with me. We could've run away at any time. We could've escaped the day Alexander died, during Binah's victory tour or the night we shared our first kiss.
Lumas will always be the calm at the eye of the storm. I can step into his arms and all my worries will go away.
"You are going to be such a good father," I say.
"You're going to be such a good mother," he replies. He kisses me like I'm the only woman who exists, like we're the only people left in the world.
We could be. This icy wasteland belongs to us. We rule it.
"Do you think our child will ever want something more?" I ask. "Will they ever want to go south, see where we came from?"
"Maybe they will," Lumas says.
"Are we going to stop them?"
"We can warn them. I doubt they'll listen. We were reckless once. You volunteered. I… basically everything I did was reckless. There'll come a point where we'll just have to let them go and make their own way."
"It'll be hard," I say. "Letting them go knowing they'll do something they'll regret."
"Do you regret everything?"
I look into Lumas' beautiful blue eyes and shake my head.
"I don't regret volunteering. It was a stupid decision that almost got me killed but… if I hadn't done that, I never would've met you."
Lumas smiles. It feels like my entire world is lighting up. I take his face in my hands and kiss him.
Whatever happens, I'll always have Lumas. He'll always be there to give me all the love I need. We both made it out of Panem. Now we have a new life ahead of us.
It's going to be better than the last one.
I thought I'd end this story exactly six years after it first begun, with the two characters who started it all. Binah and Ramona have both come a very long way since The Bride and The Widow. It's a shame they're separated now but they're both very happy.
So this is the end of another story. Thanks to everyone who's been reading. Writing this got me through a really tough time. I appreciate everyone who's followed it and I hope you all liked it. Since the Hunger Games are over in this AU, I'll probably move on to a new one. I don't know when I'll have the free time to write another story but I'll probably get around to it at some point.
