On her second day 'under observation', Johanna had a visitor. It was Effie again. She was carrying something small and rectangular, covered with a cloth. "For you." Effie said. "Your Doctors say you're allowed personal effects."

"I am, but I don't really have any." Johanna grated. "I'm wearing everything I own, and even this came from my nurses."

"Well, now you have this." Effie said, and pulled the cloth back. It was a painting of Johanna's herb garden back in Twelve.

"...Peeta." Johanna sighed, gazing at the artwork. "Take it away." She said simply, waving it off. "I don't want it."

"Tough." Effie said shortly; and set it down against the wall, facing her cot.

"I don't want it." Johanna snapped.

"And I don't care." Effie nodded gamely. "You're obsessed with fighting back, and the one you need to kill is out of reach. It's not an original solution to take it out on someone who doesn't deserve it. This is Peeta's counter-move; and I'm happy to be on his side."

"Tell you what, Trinket. Take it away, or I might decide to take it out on you instead."

"You so much as try it, and they're gonna keep you strapped to that bed forever." Effie warned, already on her way out.

Effie came back the next day with another painting. This one was of Finnick and Annie's wedding. It gave Johanna a lump in her throat. "How is he getting these done so fast?"

"By doing nothing else, including eating or sleeping." Effie groused at her. "He didn't get this bad after the first Arena." She turned to go. "I'm quite sure there'll be another tomorrow."

Joanna slid down and rolled her head back against the bed. "This is not going to be easy."

Time passed, and the war marched towards the inevitable end. There was a certain grim math being done. With every street, the Rebels shut down the pods and advanced. But with every street, Capitol Gamemakers had come up with some surprise twist, some hidden pod; some secret means of killing. So it cost the invaders to advance.

Most of the Peacekeepers were based out of Two, and the Capitol Residents, even in the middle of this war, were not pleased to see armed guards patrolling the streets, so the human soldiers were mostly deployed across the Districts, where they were losing; thanks to the fall of Two. The Gamemakers were the only defensive power left of any substance.

But the Gamemakers had a talent for killing in a creative and cinematic fashion.

They'd clear a street and Rebels died. The Capitol would retreat back another street. The Rebels would advance further and more people died. But the Capitol was literally growing smaller every day, a street at a time.

"When they told me I was joining the 'All-Star' Squad, this was not what I expected." Katniss groused.

"I'm quite sure it's not what Coin expected either." Gale told her quietly. "If Johanna and Peeta had been here, we'd be-"

"We'd be getting the exact same orders. Johanna would just be ignoring them." Katniss cut him off. "Posing with kill-shots at shut down Pods is a waste of talent."

Cressida shouted over to them. "Guys, try to make it less obvious that the pod is harmless?"

Castor and Pollux chuckled as they set up the next shot. With the All Stars fewer in number than planned, they were improvising. Quick cuts of Katniss and Gale zapping a pod, diving around corners, shooting at windows...

Then the Pod woke up and melted Castor and Pollux with a spray of acid.

There was little more for Peeta to do. Coin was happy to pull the focus off him as plans for after the war became more important. Peeta still appeared on television, encouraging Capitol soldiers to surrender. Coin never let him leave to accept those surrenders in person, but the Peacekeeper forces knew they could not afford to be so choosy anymore.

Ceaser Flickerman kept putting a happy face on the 'spirit of the citizens', but his smile was getting more false and desperate with each passing hour.

"What the hell happened?!" Boggs roared once they managed to kill the Pod properly. Paylor kept pouring firepower into it once it was dead, making very sure it stayed dead.

Cressida was in shock, staring at the place where her team used to be, the camera in her hand forgotten.

Boggs crept up to the smoking Pod, rifle first. "We killed the weapon capacity on this thing three days ago. If the Pods can come somehow repair themselves..."

Katniss paled. "Gawd, we've got hundreds of dead Pods all over the place. Our teams are all over the Capitol..."

"No." Gale said, studying its innards. "We knew the Pod had surprise weaponry. it was how they were designed. Flamethrowers once minute, acid the next."

"So... what? We missed a system?" Boggs snarled. "We've been taking photos with this thing for three days. Why'd it wake up now?"

Gale pulled a long coil of wire out of the smoldering Pod. "Katniss, what do you make of this?"

She looked. "It looks like an antenna. Same kind you put in those Drone Weapons you were building in Thirteen."

Gale turned to Boggs. "Sir, the Pod was harmless because it had no way to recognize us. We pulled the targeting and friend/foe system completely. It was a brainless husk."

"I've got two dead civilian crew that say it still had enough automatic responses to be dangerous."

"That's what he's telling you, boss. It wasn't automatic at all." Katniss handed him the antenna wire. "Someone had direct control of this Pod. Something that they didn't have an hour ago."

"President Snow, in his usual generosity, wants to thank our Citizens for their selfless contributions by throwing a feast at the Presidential Manor. Attendance is mandatory-"

"We've heard back from command." Boggs said. "It looks like the last of the Peacekeepers have been pulled back to the Presidential Manor. But Beetee concurs with Gale: That antenna was short range. Someone had taken control of the Pod directly. Someone a hell of a lot closer than the Manor."

Cressida had wiped her eyes and gotten back under control. "Well, we knew the All Stars would be special targets."

Katniss shook her head. "Snow gave full control of Capitol defence to the Gamemakers. You don't control your 'Last Stand' defences from just anywhere. The Capitol is too centralized."

"The Brass agrees." Boggs told her. "They've been looking at the Map of all identified and located Pods; and they think the centre of the map is somewhere five or six streets east of us."

Silence as everyone turned that over in their heads. "Gamemaker Central." Paylor said finally. "The Pods are being controlled from somewhere in the middle of their influence."

Gale nodded. "That would make sense. Johanna and Peeta both agreed that they'd turned the Capitol into an Arena. There has to be a control room somewhere. Come to think of it, that explains a lot of things, like why we can't figure out the Pods. They keep shifting targets unpredictably, changing up their Offensive options? It's because they aren't machines, responding to a program."

"Five or six streets?" Katniss jumped up. "That means we're closest!"

"Hold on, Soldier Everdeen." Boggs countered. "We've got our orders, and they say to go the other direction."

"We can't just let-"

Gale cleared his throat loudly.

Katniss reined herself in and tried again. "Sir, with all due respect; if the Pods can surprise you after they've been disarmed from Automatic Fire, then it means we haven't gained nearly as much ground as we think we have. If the Pods are under human control, it means they're also monitoring posts. There has to be a 'disarm' command, and where do you think it'll be coming from?"

"Soldier Everdeen, we just lost half our squad. We have no backup coming, and as you have correctly pointed out; even the disarmed Pods have just become dangerous again. Five or six streets may as well be five or six miles."

As if to answer him, Paylor pulled up a manhole cover. "They couldn't have Pods in the Sewers. No way to run that kind of remote control underground."

Cressida picked up a rifle. "I'm going with you. Consider me a soldier now." She said harshly. "For Pollux and Castor."

Everyone looked at Boggs, who sighed. "Fine. I'll inform command. Soldiers Hawthorne and Everdeen... take point. Don't go too far."

Katniss gave a dangerous grin and almost dove into the sewer tunnels.

The war was about attrition. The goal was to bleed the other to the point of collapse, one drop at a time. Inch by inch, both armies ground each other to death.

And then, quite suddenly, the Victor's Circle in Thirteen had other things on their mind.

"I can't believe how easy this is." Katniss whispered.

"You wanna go tell Pollux and Castor that?" Gale whispered back as they both ran on quiet feet.

"No, I mean… The sewer lines run the whole length of the Capitol. How do they not have defences down here?"

"They had patrols of Mutts, from what I hear." Gale told her. "But we hit Mutt-Central with bombers during our raid to rescue the Victors. Captiol hasn't been able to control their Muttations since we got 'em back. They're just roaming around now, snapping at things when they're hungry. Hell, they've probably eaten each other by now."

Katniss was trying to hold her breath and keep sprinting at the same time. "Good thing. I'd hate to think what this trip would be like if we were fighting our way through a nest of alligator-mutts."

Gale swung his laser sight around the next turn and clicked his radio, summoning the rest of their unit to follow. "The mutts are neutralized… With luck, we'll shut down the pods soon too."

Katniss felt her heart hammering. "We pull this off, and we've won the war!"

Johanna looked up as Effie came into her padded cell. It was not uncommon. Effie delivered the paintings. "Just leave it." She told the older woman automatically, when she suddenly saw Effie's face. This wasn't a delivery. "What happened?"

"I'm still your Escort. I got you special dispensation to leave the Medbay." Effie whispered. "Johanna, I am so sorry."

"Don't die." Gale whispered to Katniss.

"I'll zip. You zap." Katniss returned. It was almost tradition at this point.

Gale set the charge, and they both took opposite sides of the door.

With a hiss, then an explosion, the shaped charge blew an entrance for them at Gamemaker Headquarters. Katniss flew in, rifle first; Gale right behind her…

The place was empty.

"Can't be." Katniss breathed. "Gotta be a trap."

"Or lucky." Gale offered as the rest of the team came pouring in to search the place. "There have been defections all over the place. Capitol soldiers break ranks and run for their lives… It makes sense if they abandoned it. They had to know it was our primary target."

"This is Gamemaker Central." Katniss argued. "The heart of every defence they have left. They wouldn't let anyone defect; surely? Snow would put his fanatics in this room and have them shoot anyone who tried to sneak away."

Gale shrugged. "Then where is everyone?"

Katniss frowned. "I don't know." She admitted, pacing the room. "Would you look at these screens? They've got the whole District wired."

Paylor snapped her fingers. "Hey! Mission Clock is still running, here!" She barked at them. "Our orders are to destroy the whole thing; and if possible, take a full inventory of the Capitol's offensive capabilities."

"Already on it." Gale reported from the nearest workstation. "I think their offensive capabilities are a lot fewer than we thought."

Katniss came over. "Why do you say that?"

"Because it looks like they're trying to build a defensive line around the Presidential Manor... out of their own children."

It was hard to equate Mags with the coffin in front of them. Plutarch was making the announcement outside. A special memorial propo was being prepared for the country.

But here in the room where her coffin lay; there was just the Victors.

"Heck of a way to end a honeymoon." Peeta said quietly to Finnick and Annie.

Finnick, looking almost like his old self, nodded in agreement. "It does not come as a surprise." He admitted. "She was in her eighties. The Capitol could force more years into her; but they demand their due for such care. She would have chosen this over whatever Snow does to keep that black heart of his beating."

"And she got to attend the wedding." Annie added. "She'd consider that a fair way to close her story." She nudged Peeta. "I never thanked you for the cake."

Johanna came into the room, creating a loud silence. She and Peeta hadn't been in the same room once since her attempted escape. Her anklet showed blinking lights, making sure she didn't go too far. Wiress came with her, both of them from the psychiatric wing.

"Someone should say a few words." Beetee offered. "Finnick? You knew her longer than all of us put together."

Finnick shook his head, just a hint of the haunted victim on his features. "No. No, I can't. I can't… reduce our lives with her to words."

And Peeta realized everyone was looking at him. He took a breath. "Everyone seems to think that I always know what to say. But, as Finnick correctly points out, some things you can't find words for. Mags was a Victor, so everyone in the Country knew the most exciting parts of her life. But the most important parts are what happened when she was alone with the kids she loved unconditionally." He nodded to Finnick and Annie, who were standing so close it was hard to tell where one of them started and the other ended. "I won't ask anyone to share that either." He licked his lips. "Mags was the only one of us who was alive before the Hunger Games. She may not have remembered back that far. But she was proof positive that fear and evil are not a permanent state of being. Not for us, and not for the world."

"Amen." Annie and Finnick said softly.

Peeta sniffed. "I told Tigirs that age is a privilege denied to many. Of all the Victors that are no longer with us, Mags is the only one I know who actually died of old age."

At that moment, Effie came running in. "Peeta!" She bleated, and almost curtseyed to the coffin. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but this can't wait. Something's happened at the Capitol!"

"What is it?"

Effie's face was so ashen that Johanna wondered if she had painted it up again. "I don't know, but they're… There's a lot of people hurt. Peeta, they say that Capitol has surrendered!"

A guttural cry came from Johanna, and she went running out of the funeral, looking for the nearest screen. Peeta and Effie did the same; so did Beetee.

Finnick stayed behind with the coffin, and rested a hand on it. "You almost made it, Mags. Mentor. Keeper. Mother. Savior. You almost saw both the rise and fall of the whole thing." Letting that be the last word, he turned to follow the others slowly.

Annie stayed behind, waited until he was out of earshot, and rested one hand over her stomach. "I haven't told him yet. In fact, it's too soon to be sure. But boy or girl, I'll name our first for you, Mags."

Johanna went to the screens, which were no help. Her guards were breathing down her neck every second. Peeta went to the War Room. Almost twenty minutes later, he came back to his room and found Johanna waiting with the guards. The first time she'd been in his room for weeks. Peeta waved for them to leave, and with some reluctance, they did. Johanna barely noticed them."So? What happened?"

Peeta looked sick. "The last shot was the worst one after all." He said quietly. "It took a while to sort through the reports, but it looks like friendly fire. Snow had ordered that the citizens should surround the Presidential Manor. He called it 'The Feast' but it was a human wall." Peeta scrubbed his face. "Our forces were close enough to be there. Our Non-Combat units have been in the crowds with the civilians since the Rout started. Every time we close down an intersection, there were more homeless. Coin ordered humanitarian aid; to try and pull people away from the Manor."

"Sure. Open up a few gaps in that human wall." Johanna nodded.

"This is where the story gets a little hard to follow." Peeta groaned, falling onto the bed, exhausted by the story alone. "Our medics were at the edge of the crowd; when a Capitol Hovercraft went overhead… and dropped Sponsor Parachutes."

"Probably the only way Snow had left to deliver the advertised 'feast' to his people." She nodded. Then it hit her. "They weren't delivering food."

"The first blast tore apart the civilians." Peeta sniffed. "But only about a third of the Parachutes went off. Our Medics summoned all hands to the one spot to try and save the… the kids." He covered his eyes. "Then the second blast. Twice the power of the first. None of our people survived."

"Which was the point." Johanna snarled. Hot, angry tears on her face. "He blew up his own kids to keep our people away for another ten minutes. They weren't even soldiers."

Peeta was silent a long moment, before he sat up. "Does that seem odd to you?"

"Odd?" Johanna sniffed, stalking towards the door. "It sounds exactly in character for Snow." She didn't look back. "I have to be back in my cell in another five minutes or they're going to keep me restrained. If I can make it the whole day without attacking someone, they might let me walk around my padded cell at night."

"The surrender was official within minutes." Coin addressed the whole District. "Reports say that Snow's own personal guards were trying to lynch him. He gave the surrender order from his locked bathroom. Snow is now our prisoner." She actually smiled. The first smile Peeta could remember seeing on her face. "The War is Over!"

There was a roar of approval, to which Peeta did not contribute. He was saying less and less since the funeral. It doesn't make sense. The thought wouldn't leave him. It doesn't make sense. It doesn't make sense.

"It doesn't make sense." Peeta said to Beetee. "Why was he using up his firepower on his own people?"

"Snow's defensive policy was to make us bleed our forces." Beetee gestured at the screens. "I've been running the numbers, and the truth is, we were close to a catastrophic population limit." He wheeled back to face Peeta. "Put simply, burning down the world seems perfectly in character for him."

"Then why not use the nuclear arsenal? If Snow was that determined, why limit yourself? Snow's sadistic; and lives without limit; but he's practical." Peeta argued. "He had to know it was over. I don't see the upside for him with that bombing run. He had to know he'd be the one person in the Capitol that the Rebels would want to take alive."

"He'd also know why." Beetee said. "I can't imagine he'd be eager to stand trial. Especially with Coin controlling his court."

"There are higher courts than Coin's Tribunals; and Snow is surely wondering about them now." Peeta said quietly. "Aren't we all, now that the killing is over?"

"You think Snow was concerned for his soul?" Beetee laughed for the first time in Peeta's memory. "He gave up any right to having one a long time ago."

Two days after the Capitol Surrender, Johanna was released from her padded cell; as long as she made regular check-ins, and was back in her 'room' by a specific curfew. Her Doctor had ruled that she was a threat until the war ended; and with the fighting done, Johanna had no reason to attack anybody. Maybe never again in her life.

But she had no duties of any kind, and no friends to spend time with. Peeta was looking for her, but she avoided him. The same went for Effie and Cinna. Katniss and Gale were still in the Capitol, though what she'd say to them when they got back, Johanna had no idea. She was reduced to wandering around Thirteen like she was looking for something and forgotten what it was. She spent her time trying to avoid everyone she knew, feeling every bit the brain-damaged war refugee she seemed to be.

Then Beetee found her. "We gotta talk." He whispered to her in the elevators. "And we need to keep Peeta out of the conversation. Who, in the military structure, can we trust?"

"Boggs." Johanna barely cared to know what had gotten Beetee in a twist. "Peeta trusts Boggs. Why? What's going on?"

"How do we keep Peeta distracted?"

Johanna yawned, suddenly exhausted again. "Katniss. She gets back in an hour."

"Good. We need Gale too."

Johanna was trying to figure out what was going on. The Mess Hall was almost empty at this time of day, between Meal Shifts. Beetee had pulled together himself, Cinna, Johanna, Boggs, and Gale. When Beetee pulled out the jammer, Johanna finally realized what was going on. There was a secret meeting, happening in plain sight.

Beetee quickly filled the others in on his conversation with Peeta. "He's convinced that the final blast makes no sense, and I'm not so sure he's wrong; because I recognized a few things that aren't… general knowledge." He looked to Gale, asking the question with a look.

Nobody knew what that meant until Gale nodded slowly. "Yeah. I saw it too." He admitted. "During the last stage of the war, right before that final blast?" Gale told the rest of them quietly. "Katniss and I were assigned to hit Gamemaker HQ with our team. Our mission was to shut down the defense grid. We did, and found most of it abandoned. The Pods were running on automatic. The staff, including the Gamemakers, had all run for it."

Johanna didn't get it. Then she did. "So… so who ran the bombing run?"

"That's what I'm telling you, Jo. There wasn't anyone left in Gamemaker HQ to give the order." Gale said seriously.

Boggs didn't like the implication. "So where did the Hovercraft come from?"

"So Snow gave the order personally. Or one crew decided to make an attack." Johanna shrugged. "If they did it without orders, it makes even more sense that they'd do something so… wrong."

Beetee looked at Gale. Gale sighed. "Look, keep quiet about this, but… The bomb? The parachutes on a delay? I… I designed it."

Dead silence.

"It was your bomb?" Johanna said to Beetee, suddenly making connections to old conversations.

"I don't know. But we made something just like it." Beetee admitted. "One hit to draw the enemy to their wounded, another hit to deliver maximum damage. Made to look like Sponsor Gifts so that Capitol troops wouldn't take cover from them."

"I don't like where this conversation is going." Boggs said seriously.

"Are we actually talking about this now?" Johanna asked fiercely. "For crying out loud, it's the Capitol! They're monsters! They kill kids all the time!"

"For now, we're just talking." Cinna said quietly. "I think Peeta's right. Snow's a pragmatist. Why would he hold out that long?"

They quietened down as Effie came up to them. "Johanna, they're asking for you. Apparently, all the Victors are being called in."

Johanna walked in just in time to hear Peeta roar. "Another Hunger Games?!"

The rest of the surviving Tributes were around the table, with Coin at the head of the table. "We've just won a Revolution, Peeta. We have to take steps to protect it from the next one."

"You could make an effort to be the first government in history that gives no reason for its people to start an Uprising." Peeta returned. "But that's just me."

"And not for nothing, but the Hunger Games was how we rallied the Districts against The Capitol." Beetee put in as he wheeled over to a position besides Peeta.

"I'm not suggesting we take the Capitol's Place and keep going. But the Hunger Games was a weapon. It was a way to punish the community, and keep the bodycount low. We need that now." Coin made her case. "We could spend the next fifty years sorting out who did what and who to. We could spend the rest of our lives unravelling the sins of every Capitol Citizen, and by the time we're done, the executions could last for weeks. Population is a very real concern."

"Population control was hunger, because all the goods and services and food and resources kept flowing to one spot." Peeta made the counter argument. "If we avoid the… depravity of the Capitol, the numbers are not so scary. And besides, we have to unravel those sins. If we just round up two dozen Capitol kids and have them killed; everyone who actually did wrong during the Capitol Rule will get away with it. What if the worst of them doesn't have kids?"

"Peeta, I agree; but we've got one chance to avoid civil war between the Districts. The Capitol did its work well, keeping them at each other's throats. If we're going to have any chance at Government, we have to…" Coin waved her hands. "I'm trying to think of a better way to say 'purge the rage'."

Silence.

"So, who goes into the Arena?" Johanna asked. "Snow has a granddaughter."

"Right now, the question is whether or not to hold a final, symbolic Games. The determination has been made that the Victors should made this call." Coin said. "And you should know, the vote will be made public."

"I vote Yes." Finnick said roughly.

Nobody was more surprised than Annie. "Finnick!?"

"You heard her. The vote is public. So if we vote 'no', all those angry people who want revenge will know it. Nobody will look twice at a torture victim wanting revenge." He took Annie's hands. "I'm not doing anything that make the next angry resistance cell so much as look in your direction, love."

Annie stared into his eyes, distressed. "I… I vote no. I'm sorry, Finnick; but I just can't say yes to this."

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear it." Finnick brought her hands to his lips and kissed them tenderly.

"I vote yes." Johanna said right behind him. "Let them feel the knife on their throat for once. It'll be nice to see them feel what we do."

"Johanna…" Peeta begged.

"I voted yes, Loverboy. Deal with it." She said fiercely at him. You could have just let me go.

Peeta never took his eyes of Johanna. "I vote no. This has gotta stop, and if it means I miss out on 'my turn' to watch the children of my 'enemies' suffer, I can live with it."

"I agree." Beetee said. "I vote no."

"The vote is deadlocked." Coin declared.

"Mags would vote no too." Finnick put in.

"Mags… is not here. Neither is Wiress."

"Why is Wiress not here for this?" Beetee asked swiftly.

"Wiress has been ruled unstable." Coin reported. "She's currently under the care of our best doctors. If they feel she is of sound mind to make this choice; her opinion will be added."

"Unstable?" Johanna repeated. "But me and Annie and Finnick still get a vote? I'd put her sanity up against mine any day."

"You want to abstain from the vote, go right ahead." Coin said roughly. "With the votes deadlocked, I break the tie. The Final Games are the least damaging solution to a complicated problem."

Peeta looked ready to vomit. "What was any of it for?" He growled to the room and stalked out.

Coin made some speech that Johanna didn't hear. Her eyes locked on Finnick. The meeting broke up after Coin left, and she went to him. "You voted Yes?"

"So did you." Finnick reminded her.

"Yeah, but that's me." Johanna countered. She also brought a hand up to tap just under her eye. It was an old signal code they used back when they were operative in the Capitol; and she wasn't sure he had any memory of it left in his battered brain. Just blink if there's danger.

Finnick saw the signal and froze. He remembered. A tiny glance at the door, and a longer one at Annie; before he turned back to Johanna and blinked deliberately.

Johanna said nothing, turning to leave quickly. She had her answer.

Offhand, she wasn't sure what Finnick was being pressured with. Coin controlled his medication, his food supply… A word from Coin could have Annie locked up as 'unstable'. Or Finnick himself. If Finnick ticked her off, he and his bride would never see daylight again.

Coin had forced his vote.

Johanna left the room as soon as the meeting broke up, and nearly ran to Gale. Cinna and Beetee were still there, apparently still discussing their conspiracy theories. "Stop talking about this." She told them immediately. "Your little theory? Never say any of those words out loud again. She could have her cameras anywhere. Believe me, I know."

"What happened?" Cinna was surprised.

"You're right. Coin did it." Johanna said seriously. "I'm certain of it."

"Why? What changed?"

"She kept Wiress out, but kept me in the room. Because she knew which way I'd vote. She knew which way we'd all vote." Johanna said seriously. "She's restarting the Games. She says it's just this once, but I don't believe her."

"If it was Coin's order, you can find the pilots-" Cinna began.

"You'll find the pilots, Cinna. But they'll be dead by the time you do." Beetee said quickly. "This kind of mission, you don't leave loose ends."

"And war does have a way of covering those tracks." Johanna agreed. "We need to find the hovercraft." She suddenly smiled. "In fact, I know who to talk to about it!"

Peeta wandered slowly up to his room. The rest of the District was throwing a party, and he was trying desperately to avoid it.

When he got to his quarters, he found a familiar face. Katniss was sitting on the floor outside his room, arms wrapped around her knees. She looked shaken. Katniss looked up at him. "When did we become so bloodthirsty?"

Peeta sighed hard and sat down next to her; far enough that they weren't within reach. The spoke, not looking at each other, sitting side by side.

"Back in Two, I told you that anytime I wondered if we were going too far, I thought of Prim. If she'd lived… If she'd come to Thirteen with us, odds are she'd be trained as a medic. She could have gone to the Capitol. Been caught in that blast."

"I think the odds on that are pretty long." Peeta offered. "But yeah, one way or another; they're all Prim to somebody."

"Priya was there." Katniss said quietly.

Peeta squeezed his eyes shut. Just one more horror after another. "You're sure?"

"I kept an eye on her, here and there." Katniss admitted. "She wasn't on the front. She was in training with a MASH unit. Not close enough to get hit; but close enough to… to have to deal with the wounded. She was Prim's age, and those kids were younger than her." Katniss uncoiled a bit. "I heard about what happened with Johanna."

"When?"

"The second I got in the door. You set off a fire alarm in the hangar, did you think it would go unnoticed?"

Peeta winced. "She'll never forgive me."

"That's what I thought when you stopped me shooting Snow with an arrow on your doorstep. I got over it."

Peeta gave the most bitter laugh she'd ever heard. "God forgive me, I really thought I was saving lives when I stopped you."

"You saved mine." Katniss shook her head. "Even if I succeeded, the Capitol would have gone on without him."

Peeta was too sick of the topic to unpack that. "And Gale? You two make peace yet?"

Katniss winced. "We are… trying to decide if the argument is over, now that the war is too."

"Yeah. I can relate." Peeta sighed hard. He'd been doing that a lot. "The war is over and all four of us are alive. Tell you the truth, I didn't expect it to turn out that way." He sighed again. "I feel like we should celebrate somehow, but I don't know what to do. Can I buy you a cup of fake-coffee?"

"No." Katniss said quietly. "But ask me again when we've squared things with Johanna and Gale?"

Peeta gave her a watery, wretched smile, and stalked off to his room.

Julle was trying to choke down her plain radish slices, when the next chair over slid right up against hers. She looked, and coughed. "Johanna."

"Julle. Let's talk about those AA Defences." Johanna said quietly. "And if you try to stand up, I have a knife pointed at your ribs. Tell me the truth, if you can remember how. But don't draw attention."

Julle looked down, subtly. Johanna did indeed have her a knifepoint. "What do you want to know?"

"If Snow had a working hovercraft, why didn't he use it to escape?"

Julle paled.

"You were head of the Air Defence network. Any private hovercraft, you'd need to know the transponder, in case he took a secret flight somewhere." Johanna said seriously. "Otherwise, your auto-guns would have shot Snow down. What was the transponder code?"

"THX-4242." Julle said quietly. "I'm cooperating; please pull the knife back a little."

Johanna dug the knife a little deeper. "And where was that hovercraft when the war ended?"

"His granddaughter!" Julle hissed. "He sent his granddaughter away when Two fell. He had a bunker somewhere, outside Panem. Equipped. Supplied. Luxury. Agh! Easy!" Julle was twisting in her seat, knowing that if she drew attention Johanna would kill her. "The-the craft went to the Bunker with Snow's granddaughter and never made it back!"

"Why not?"

"I don't know! That was when I surrendered! It was ruled shot down by enemy fire, but-"

The knife twitched. "But?"

"Well, if Snow used his last hovercraft for that bombing, then it must have survived, right?"

Johanna nodded agreeably. Nobody watching would know she was mid-interrogation. "Then where was it for the rest of the war?"

"I dunno, I was here by then!" Julle hissed frantically. "So were you! Agh! Stop it! I already told Peeta all this!"

Johanna froze. "Say that again?"

Julle shook. "Peeta. He asked me about all this yesterday." She spared a glance down. "Without the knife."

Johanna withdrew the blade instantly and walked away like nothing had happened.

Not enough. Johanna told herself. If the hovercraft went missing on the way back, it was either taken by the Rebels, or kept in reserve by the Captiol for a final line of defence.

"What did she say?" Gale asked quietly as she returned.

"Leave it with me." Johanna told Gale, walking right past him without slowing down. "Don't say a word about this again." She looked around quickly. "And if Peeta comes to you with this, do what you can to put him off."

She went to the elevators. The war's over; but the duration is longer than the fighting. That's how war works. It's time I added something to the good fight. If it's not going to be Snow, it might as well be this.

Johanna had been declared 'not dangerous'. Johanna had been given liberty, under guard, but those in charge were feeling generous with the war ended. With the war over, her rage had nowhere left to go, and her Doctors knew she knew it. Convinced she wouldn't go on a random killing spree, they let her 'escort herself', still under a careful timetable. If she checked in on time, she could move about the complex. So she was unescorted as she went to Wiress' cell. Wiress looked up as Johanna let herself in. Johanna had been restrained to a bed, but Wiress was kept in a straightjacket. Her confinement did not agree with her. Wiress' razor-sharp eyes were always seeing things that the rest of the room did not. Locked up for so long, it was hard to tell if Wiress knew what planet she was on anymore.

Those eyes locked on Johanna as she came in.

Johanna came over to talk to her, slow and calming. "They tied you up because Thirteen couldn't make a lock that could keep you in. Even from the inside, you could walk through the walls. So they did what they do with wildcards in Thirteen. Out of sight, out of mind."

Wiress nodded, exactly once.

Johanna glanced back at the door. "I've got to be back in my own room in an hour, or they sic the guards on me." She said quietly. "I need a wildcard, Wiress. One more time."

Wiress, still saying nothing, stood up easily, and her straightjacket fell to the floor like a magic trick.

Peeta hadn't slept more than a few hours since pulling the fire alarm. It was an hour before midnight when Peeta felt someone enter his room. He sat upright and turned the light on quickly. "Johanna?" He couldn't believe it. "I thought you had a curfew."

She said nothing. She wasn't coming over to him. She went to his clothes. If she even knew he was in the room, it didn't show. She picked up his shirt, pulled it to her face, and breathed deep; drawing in his scent.

He just watched her, as her fingers seemed to explore the cloth, as though memorizing it. "They don't know you're out of your room, do they?" He guessed. "If they catch you sneaking out, you'll never leave that cell."

She set his shirt down, and spoke finally without looking at him. "I think the moment you started to fall in love with me was when I went to the Bakery and called out your mom for the way she was trying to use you to her advantage. And then I went and did the same thing, only worse."

"Debatable." Peeta said quietly. "You refused to let the Capitol have power over you; at least where others could see it. You let me in enough to know your weakness. And then I showed it to everyone in the District. I'm not sure which one of us should be madder at the other."

"With the war over, I'm not sure it matters either way." Johanna set his clothes down carefully and walked out of the room without looking back at him. She made it as far as the door before she paused, still not facing him. "I'm not used to being happy. Even before the Quarter Quell. Not made for it." Her breath caught. "But thanks for trying."

She was gone immediately. Peeta lay back, miserable. So much for sleeping tonight.

The next morning, Peeta was in the kitchens. The staff was all out, in the sweet spot between one meal being finished and the next one not up for preparation yet. Having lost his schedule with the War over, Peeta had missed breakfast, and he was cooking for himself. Spoils of War had come pouring into Thirteen with their location finally revealed. For the first time in decades, there was no need for rationing.

Coin came in without knocking, but came no further than the door. "There's a rumor you're leaving?"

"The second condition of our deal. I go home when the war's over." Peeta said shortly. "I'm going home. I'm getting as far away from this circus as I can get, and pretending that life can still make sense."

Coin came over. "That smells amazing."

Peeta chopped shallots and added them to the pan. "We got some actual meat sent in this morning. I haven't seen bacon in almost a year." He looked around. "I think this is the first time we've ever spoken privately."

"Mm." Coin returned to the point. "Peeta, I once told you that the war would look better to you once we won it. Maybe that turned out to be false, but this is your time to shine. You're all about building, rather than destroying. We need that now, maybe more than ever before."

Peeta looked at her. "...what?"

"I know we don't agree on much. But the war is over, so we don't have to agree anymore. This is the time when we need leaders. Ones that care about the people who survived. Ones that can rally people. Someone that they will respect… Who else is there?"

Peeta winced. That was true enough. He scrambled some eggs, glad for the chance not to answer her.

"Peeta, what comes next is going to decide if we've got a Government, or just another war between the Districts. It's not an easy thing. If a little bloodletting saves the patient…" Coin shook her head. "There'd be a place for you in the provisional government."

Peeta scoffed. "I was in that room, listening to you propose the Hunger Games. And it was suddenly so obvious, how it played out seventy-six years ago. Half a dozen commanders in a room, voting how to break the spirit of an entire nation."

"It worked for more than half a century." Coin offered.

"It never worked!" Peeta snapped, almost throwing the eggs into the pan. "How do you, of all people, not see the trap? The War never ended, it just took seventy years for people to get shooting back again."

Silence.

"Change one thing for me, and I'll take any job you think I should have, under your rulership." Peeta said finally.

"The Games will go ahead." Coin shut that down right away. "One last time. Never again, afterward; I promise… Well, unless it becomes necessary to keep the peace, of course."

Peeta winced. "Not that." He said darkly. "The barriers, between the Districts. Bring them down. Snow's policy, dividing the Districts, playing them against each other? That's what kept us enslaved for so long."

Coin looked at him. "No. The barriers stay where they are."

"WHY?!" Peeta was floored.

"Because you're exactly right. The day the Resistance started getting somewhere was the day the the Districts managed to organize."

"The war is over!"

"And what's left is a lot of people who are eager for more, and trained in how to fight." Coin told him. "For all your effort, the Districts don't trust Thirteen. No reason they should. They don't know us. The War was based around a hate of the Capitol. Until they get comfortable with the idea of the Provisional Government, or at least until the elections start; we're going to keep the defences in place."

"And those elections start when?"

"When the current crisis is over."

"They Surrendered."

"You, of all people, know that Snow is spiteful and patient." Coin said evenly. "You saw the Pods. You've seen the Mutts. You telling me he doesn't have some little surprise for us?"

"I admit, it would be in character for him." Peeta conceded. "But how long are you going to wait for that? A month? A year? A decade?" He let out a hard breath. "Look, President Snow came to my house once, and he said we should speak plainly to each other. Can you and I have the same deal?"

Coin glanced around, as though looking for spies in the room. "Go ahead."

"I'm seeing a lot of parallels to the way the Capitol used to run the show." Peeta said. "The Districts kept apart, another Hunger Games; and throwing away human lives to rile up a response in your favor."

"You're talking about when you went to start an uprising in Nine. How many times do we have to have that argument, Peeta?"

"No. Well, yes; but actually I was talking about the kids at the Capitol." Peeta told her. "I can't prove it, but someone told me that Snow didn't have a working Hovercraft left after Two, and I believe them. That was why Two was such a big victory."

Coin went very still. "You think I ordered the bombing?"

"It worked. Twenty kids for an unconditional surrender?" Peeta led her to it. "Sacrifice a little to win a lot? I could see you making that calculation. You've done it before."

"So have you." Coin shot back.

"I know." Peeta said heavily. "And we both know I can't prove it, so it hardly matters. I couldn't prove anything with the Rescue Mission either, but I'm positive you meant for that to fail."

Coin scoffed. "It turned out for the best, even if not to my plan. Sending a bow and arrow against body armor and machine guns. Who would expect that to turn into a hero story?"

"I thought the hero story was what you were after." Peeta turned away from the stovetop and put the omelette down. "Here." He said. "I'm suddenly not hungry. Don't waste the bacon."

Coin picked up a fork and ate. "This is good." She admitted. "Gotta admit, I could see you working in a kitchen more than I can see you raising an army. But war doesn't let us choose what would make us happier. I'm not the first President of Thirteen since the Dark Days. And if I'd followed the policy of my predecessors, you'd spend the rest of your life hauling kids to the Arena, two at a time. The rule in Thirteen was to be invisible forever. But I decided not to do that. Manipulating the Games? It got you out of Mentoring kids for the rest of your life. Naming the people you spoke to at Nine? It turned a riot into a full scale uprising that the Capitol couldn't put down. Sabotaging the Rescue Mission? Yeah, I wanted you heartbroken enough to call for war. You managed to move whole Districts with a few speeches. If you'd actually been able to turn loose a little genuine heartbroken rage? The war could have been over months sooner."

"Yeah, blowing up the kids might not have been necessary." Peeta sneered.

"We'll never know now, will we?" Coin ate. "Fine. Our Hovercraft are spread out a lot further than they were when the War started, and we've taken some losses, obviously. We'll return the District Twelve refugees back home as soon as we can arrange transport. I assume you'll want to go with them?"

Peeta nodded. "Thank you."

"Will Johanna Mason be joining you?"

"She hasn't spoken to me since the Funeral."

Coin sighed. "Look, straight up… You think you've knocked one Monster off the throne and replaced him with something worse. But the Games will be over by this time next year. The rationing, the whippings, starvation of whole communities to keep them working? Lopping off fingers for feeding your kids? Renting out minors under threat of death? We don't do any of that here."

Unless it becomes necessary to keep the peace. Peeta put in for her grimly, but didn't let it show on his face.

Coin was still going. "It cost a lot, but it was worth it. Even worth those kids. Snow had a thousand people surrounding his Palace. He built a human wall. Fighting our way in? A lot more than thirty casualties."

"So it was worth it."

"It was." Coin confirmed.

Peeta was already washing the dishes. "Yeah, well… It's easier to hate the Capitol for doing evil things to us than it is to hate ourselves for doing evil things right back."

"Go ask Johanna if the Capitol's continued rule is worse than anything we could come up with. I'm betting she's glad to see Snow executed. I'm betting when Twelve is rebuilt and life starts returning to those streets, your people will say the same." Coin nodded, and handed back the plate. "Or you could stay and be my personal chef."

Peeta actually laughed.

Coin turned to go. "I have a meeting. I'll have you sent home with the first lot of Refugees." She gave him a look. "Unless you wanted to stay for the Jubilee?"

Peeta shook his head. "Everything my War Record was needed for, I used it for. I've got some goodbyes to make."

Johanna played the recording back.

"It cost a lot, but it was worth it. Even worth those kids. Snow had a thousand people surrounding his Palace. He built a human wall. Fighting our way in? A lot more than thirty casualties."

"So it was worth it." Peeta's voice said, sounding exhausted.

"It was." Coin's voice confirmed.

Johanna checked her jammer was still working, and turned to Beetee. "I think that's the closest you're going to get to a confession.

"It won't be enough." Beetee countered, turning pale at the revelation.

"To bring her down? No." Johanna agreed. "But I'm not sure it has to be."

AN: Reasoning For This Chapter:

I set up the change to the sewers several chapters ago. Peeta's involvement in the Rescue made it possible to take out the Mutts. Peeta was completely out of it when the Final Blast happened, and so was Katniss, laid up in a hospital bed. The source of that Final Blast was never made completely clear. But I have spent the entire third part of this story setting up the battle of wills between Coin and Peeta. He's not going to accept the party line; but the war has taken it's toll on him. He's exhausted, mentally, emotionally; and physically, because he's not sleeping in the wake of his feud with Jo. He's not in a position to do anything but care about the victims, and feel powerless to help. Caring doesn't take much energy for Peeta.

So it's time for a wildcard to do something.

Next chapter will be longer than this one, because it is also the finale. I want to thank everyone who stuck with it this far.

Read and Review!