I sat at the long dining table and chewed on the corner of my nail instead of eating the dinner in front of me. I couldn't bring myself to eat any of it as I thought back to Peeta and Katniss.

And Gale.

I sighed and rubbed my forehead. It had been a few blissful days of ignoring that thought. Of the fact I promised to leave my best friend to die in the arena, to be able to return the woman who stole the heart of the man I loved.

God, how had everything gotten so messed up? Was it wrong of me to truly hate the Capitol just now? After all these years? All these kids?

Or had I really hated them all, deep down, but was able to ignore it until now?

Either way, I supposed it didn't matter anymore- at least one of them would die along with twenty-two other innocent kids.

Haymitch was down in the control center with the other mentors while I took my turn to "rest." Code for pushing food around your plate and then staring sleeplessly up at some perfect, white ceiling.

It could be worse.

GPOV

I frowned as I watched Katniss coddle the stupid Merchant boy. What was she doing? Who cares if they could both come back, she didn't even know this kid. He had worked with the Careers to try and kill her, and yet she just seemed to forget all of that.

And what had that stupid Smith girl been doing, sending her that hint? Hadn't we made a deal? This was only going to get Katniss killed.

I sucked in a painful breath. I don't even know what I would do if Katniss... If Katniss didn't come back.

I'd make that Townie pay for it, for one.

"Gale?"

I turned to see Posy there. Sighing, I reached over and picked her up, setting her on my lap.

"Yes?"

"Do you think they'll both come home?"

I frowned. "Katniss is strong. She'll come home."

"And what about the boy? He's Aces' friend, I want him to be ok, too."

His sister was too soft for this world.

"Posy, I don't... I don't think they're really going to let both of them win."

"But-!" She exclaimed, looking up at him with giant eyes. "They said-!"

"The Capitol says lots of things. But they don't care about the people from the districts. They won't let it happen."

Posy looked down at her clasped hands, her little eyes welling with worried tears for children she didn't even know.

APOV

"Aces! Aces!" Effie cried. I gasped and shot out of bed, running from my room.

"What? What's wrong?" My heart was thumping so loud in my chest I couldn't think. Please don't let anyone have died. Please, please-

"Haymitch said to send you done to the control room right now! It's urgent!"

I nodded and took off, not bothering to grab shoes. I smashed the elevator buttons and bounced anxiously as I waited for the doors to open again. Once they did I hauled ass down the halls, ignoring the stares I got.

"Haymitch!" I said as I finally made it to the room with all the mentors. And crashed to a stop.

They were on top of the cornucopia, a pack of giant, mutant dogs tearing at something beneath them. The screams filled the room, chilling my blood.

Slowly walking over to Haymitch's side, I asked, "What happened?

"They flushed them out to the center. Peeta's hurt; bad. It's a race now to see who dies first, him- or the poor kid being torn apart by those mutts."

I swallowed thickly. "For all their sakes, I hope it's the other one."

He nodded.

And we waited.

And waited.

And waited until Katniss leaned over the edge, and managed to put Cato out of his misery.

A breath of air whooshed out of me and I fell into a nearby chair.

"It's over. We did it. They won."

"Wait..." Haymitch said as the speakers in the arena crackled. "I don't have a good feeling about this."

"Attention. Attention, tributes. There has been a slight rule change. The previous revision allowing for two victors from the same district has been revoked. Only one victor may be crowned."

The room was silent.

"How did we not see this coming?" I whispered as Katniss and Peeta turned to each other. The look on his face shattered my heart. "And now they have to kill each other."

I watched, tears silently falling down my face, as they argued over who would do it. Or if Peeta would bleed out before they could make up their minds.

"Wha-What the hell is she doing?" Haymitch exclaimed as Katniss upturned her bag of berries into their hands.

I pushed myself out of the chair and walked closer to the screen with baited breath.

"They're both going to kill themselves." I whispered. "No, no, no..."

"Three..." Katniss said.

"Two... Peeta followed.

The berries had just barely brushed past their lips as Seneca broke over the intercom again and stopped them. Haymitch and I cried out in joy as they spewed the berries out and Katniss threw her arms around Peeta.

"Now we did it, Kid." Haymitch said proudly.

"Mhm." I whispered, the first smile in months stretching across my face. My eyes never left the screen, even as they disappeared into the hovercraft.

So sorry for the wait, I was VERY busy with a very important play. Anyways, I kind of rushed the end of it here because, let's be honest, this crap was dragging way too much. And now the 74th Hunger Games are over!

If you have any ideas or wants for the rest of the series, don't be afraid to comment them below! The sooner I figure out where I'm going with the 75th games, the sooner I can keep writing and finally finish this trash!