oOo

Effie Trinket didn't know when her soulmate had died.

Oh, she knew it had happened sometime after the Quell. But the exact date was a mystery.

The grandiose bronze handwriting reading *Miss Trinket* had turned gray sometime after she'd fled to Thirteen but before she'd returned to the Capitol. She still didn't know who it had been. She wasn't sure she would ever know.

But even without ever meeting them, it still felt like something was missing.

She'd gone back to the Capitol, hoping things would be the same. But they weren't.

Her apartment was ransacked, her mother was in jail, and when she finally took a look the words on the back of her thigh had turned gray.

All of it just felt wrong.

The Capitol no longer felt quite like home, but she had commitments, and she was going to keep them. Haymitch had returned to Twelve along with Katniss, but Peeta was here. And Peeta had no one. Which meant he needed her. So she packed up her bags, moved back into the Training Center, and helped him with whatever she could - hospital visits, healing, just making sure he was doing okay.

She didn't go up to the roof.

Without Finnick, she didn't want to be up there.

Her Victors had survived - Katniss and Peeta would be okay with time. Haymitch would live as much as he ever did. But most of the other Victors were gone. Finnick was gone.

She hadn't realized how much she would miss their conversations until there was no chance of them happening ever again. She was glad she'd told him all of her secrets. That he'd known it all. It felt like things might have been left incomplete without that.

Once Peeta finally healed enough that he could return to Twelve, Effie packed up her things and returned with him. It wasn't her home. But at this point, neither was the Capitol. And maybe it was time to try something new.

She brought some of her clothing, but not her highest heels. And she left every single one of her wigs in the Capitol. It was time for a new Effie.

The houses in Victor's Village were mostly empty, with only Haymitch, Katniss, and Peeta living there. And watching Katniss and Peeta, Effie had a feeling they would only need one house sometime soon. But for now, she moved into the house next to Peeta's and started helping the survivors to rebuild the town.

Somehow, Twelve became a focus for the rebuilding. What had been Panem's smallest and least important district was now becoming a central location. And Effie was right in the thick of it.

Slowly the survivors refilled the district. There wasn't much left, so the houses in Victor's Village acquired occupants. Johanna and Enobaria and Beetee all left their home districts and joined the rest of them. Some of the people from Thirteen moved in. Thom and Delly got married and took a house. Sae and her granddaughter moved closer to the center of town.

Effie found she liked these people and this life.

When Annie and her son finally came to Twelve - almost a full year after the revolution, once Annie and Charley were both healthy enough to travel - there were no houses left for them in the old Victor's Village. They could have moved into one of the newer buildings, but it wasn't quite right.

Effie looked at this woman who Finnick had loved. She looked at his son.

And she found herself offering her home. After all, she only used one bedroom - she didn't need all the empty ones. It was a lot of space for one person.

Annie looked at her, her gaze surprisingly piercing for a woman who was commonly known as mad. Then she nodded. "All right," she said. "We'll move in with you."

That night, after Charley was in bed, Effie found herself sitting with Annie at the kitchen table, a cup of tea cradled in her hands.

"He looks like his father," she said.

Annie smiled. "He does." She took a sip then wrapped her hands around the mug. "When Finnick left for the Capitol, he gave me a stack of letters and asked me to distribute them. I… wasn't able to handle it right after we found out about his death."

Effie nodded. She wasn't quite sure what to say.

Annie pulled something out. A letter. "I'm going to give most of them out tomorrow. But this one is for you." She held it out.

Effie took it.

And then she almost dropped it.

There, on the front, the envelope read "Miss Trinket" in very familiar handwriting: handwriting she'd known since she was five. Her hand shook as she put it on the table and ran her fingers over the words. She stared at Annie, wondering if Annie had known. "He was…"

Annie's smile was sad. "Yes."

With shaking fingers she opened the letter and took it out.

Effie,

I'm not sure how to start this letter or how to say what I need to say. For a long time, I wasn't going to tell you. If I'm lucky and live, you'll never see this letter, and I'll be able to tell you in person. But if I die… if I die, I want you to know the truth.

Do you remember when we first met? It was after the Sixty-Seventh Hunger Games. I don't know if you remember what you said, but I always will. "Oh my, it's such an honor to meet you! It's not every day one gets to meet the youngest Victor in the history of the Games - winning at fourteen is simply amazing! I'm ever so pleased to meet you!" I knew immediately that you were my soulmate.

I've always known I would win the Games. I've always known when. You gave me that.

I can't apologize for hiding it, because that apology would be a lie. After everything the Capitol did to me, I didn't want a soulmate from the Capitol. And then I fell in love with Annie.

But even so, you wormed your way into my heart. You made me feel better whenever we talked. You're one of my best friends. If you died, I would miss you. And if I die in this war, I know you'll miss me.

Finnick

Effie carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. Her eyes prickled with unshed tears.

Annie watched her, her face carefully calm.

Swiping at her eyes, Effie rested her face in her hands. "I didn't know."

"He didn't want you to."

She took a deep breath. "I'm glad he had you."

"I'm glad he had you too." Annie wrapped her hands around her mug. "He knew you were his soulmate, and you helped. Believe in that."

Effie nodded slowly as she looked at Annie. At her soulmate's wife. "We'll get through this," she said firmly. "He would want us to."

"Yes. Yes he would." Annie held out a hand. "And thank you. For letting us move in here."

Effie took her hand. "Always."

oOo

Notes: This fic didn't quite write itself, but it definitely was in my head for a long time and I've finally gotten it to come out. I've had this idea for a while - and when I thought about giving FanficAllergy a birthday present, this is what wanted to be written.

I started off thinking this would be a relatively short fic. When I hit 2k, I knew it would be at least 5k. When I hit 4k, I realized I'd hit 10k. When I hit 7k, I went "oh shit." And then it hit 13k. Oops?

In case you're wondering, Effie told me she was asexual when I was writing that scene with her mother. Finnick told me he was demisexual when Effie was telling him about her asexuality. Annie, in case you're wondering, is heterosexual.

I could see Finnick and Effie working in another universe, but not in Panem as it stands. The world is too damaging. And while this story doesn't really have a happy ending, I do think it has the right one.

Thanks for reading!