This is the epilogue. Thank you all for reading! Please Review!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games or 'True Believers' by Darius Rucker.
Epilogue: True Believers & Better Dig Two
~I told you on the day we wed
I was gonna love you 'til I's dead
Made you wait 'til our wedding night
That's the first and the last time I'll wear white
So if the ties that bind ever do come loose
Tie 'em in a knot like a hangman's noose
Cause I'll go to heaven or I'll go to hell
Before I'll see you with someone else
Put me in the ground
Put me six foot down
And let the stone say:
"Here lies the girl whose only crutch
Was loving one man just a little too much"
If you go before I do
I'm gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig two
Well,
It won't be whiskey, won't be meth
It'll be your name on my last breath
If divorce or death ever do us part
The coroner will call it a broken heart
So put me in the ground
Put me six foot down
And let the stone say:
"Here lies the girl whose only crutch
Was loving one man just a little too much"
If you go before I do
I'm gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig two
Dig two
Ooh, ooh
I took your name when I took those vows
I meant 'em back then and I mean 'em right now,
Oh, right now
If the ties that bind ever do come loose
If "forever" ever ends for you
If that ring gets a little too tight
You might as well read me my last rites
And let the stone say:
"Here lies the girl whose only crutch
Was loving one man just a little too much"
If you go before I do
Gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig, uh!
Heavy stone right next to mine,
We'll be together 'til the end of time
Don't you go before I do,
I'm gonna tell the gravedigger that he better dig two
I told you on the day we wed
I was gonna love you 'til I's dead~
~Church bells ringing on our wedding day
Climbed in that limo and rode away
Guess you'll always hear some people say,
Man, they're never gonna make it.
We settled in and we settled down
In this quiet little seaside town
You are the rock I built my world around
And life will never break it
We are one heartbeat in the darkness
We are one lasting answered prayer
We are one unbroken promise
And we are two, true believers
It wasn't easy getting here today
Sometimes you stumbled or I lost my way
But every roadblock was a chance to say;
Take my hand I'm here beside you.
We worked and made it through the toughest parts
Now every day is another chance to start
To look around and see where we are
It's where we were trying to get to
We are one heartbeat in the darkness
We are one lasting answered prayer
We are one unbroken promise
And we are two, true believers
We are one before our God in Heaven
Oh, we are one road when the going gets rough
We are one now and forever
We are one name, one life, one flame
We are one heartbeat in the darkness
We are one lasting answered prayer
We are one unbroken promise
And we are two, true believers
We are two, true believers~
Modern Time (Katniss/ Peeta- Age 93)…
Katniss Mellark was always one to keep her promises. So when she vowed seventy years ago to stay with Peeta forever she meant it. That's why they lay beside each other in their bed, as they read through the book of their memories. They have spent the last few months retelling the tale of their love to their children. At the age of ninety-three some things are difficult to remember but the two could never forget the moments that they spent together. Both know that they don't have much time left on Earth, and they aren't willing to leave each other. On their twin bed side tables sit small purple capsules that are laced with a deadly dose of Nightlock poison. One capsule will cause your heart to stop instantly, a painless death. If one should die the other has promised to take their life right after; neither is willing to live without the other. Some might say it is irrational, others think the idea like a futuristic turn on Romeo and Juliet. Katniss and Peeta's children, Miceala and Asher support their parents decision. They have seen the unbreakable bond that their parents share. Miceala wrote down her mothers' stories word for word and made it into a book for her parents. Slowly Katniss turns the pages of the leather bound book until she finds the page recalling the birth of the twins…
May 2017…
"Peeta it's time to go." I yell to him, clutching my stomach.
"Okay, one second Kat. I have to finish this report for work." He replies calmly.
I raise my voice a little louder, "No Peeta it's time to go, the baby is coming."
He jumps up out of his desk chair and starts running around grabbing everything, "the baby is coming, the baby is coming."
Peeta practically carries me and all of the stuff out to the car. He uses the hands free device our new SUV came with to call his brother. "Pat, the baby is coming. Katniss is going to have the baby. Bring Kay and Brayden and meet us at the hospital."
Pat chuckles on the other side, "Calm down, we'll be there. Good luck bro."
"Damn it Peeta! This is all your fault! You are never getting near me again." I scream, holding Peeta's hand in a death grip.
"Mrs. Mellark, I'm going to need you to calm down. On the next contraction, you need to push." The doctor tells me. The next contraction comes and I do as the doctor says.I repeat this cycle a few times before the pain ripples through my body.
"Holy fuck, this hurts! Is the baby out yet?" I scream.
"One of them is." The doctor says, and I see a nurse from the corner of my eye cleaning out the baby's nose and mouth and the baby starts to wail.
"One of them? How many is there? I thought I was having one kid." I say through clenched teeth. The next contraction comes and goes.
"Mrs. Mellark, you're having twins. Chances are, this baby was hiding behind the other, its happened before. This hospital's equipment isn't as high tech as the stuff they have at that new hospital in La Jolla I'm going to need you to push one more time."
On the next contraction, I push again and more cries are heard. Another nurse comes and cleans off the baby. Both of the nurses come up and ask if I want to hold my children. I smile and nod holding out my arms. Two beautiful babies are set carefully in my arms, one wrapped in pink and the other in blue. The doctor stands and smiles at me, "Congratulations Mrs. Mellark."
Peeta looks at me, his eyes glittering with happiness, "we finally have our family."
I smile, "Yes we do and I think I have found prefect names for our two little angels."
"What did you have in mind?" He asks as he holds our son in his arms.
I look at him, "For our son, I was thinking Asher, it means blessing and for our little girl, I was thinking Micaela, it means gift from God. We still need middle names though."
"The names are perfect. What about for middle names we use my father's first name, Benjamin and if you're okay with it I think we should make Micaela's middle name, Primrose in honor of your sister." He says quietly.
A lone tear escapes my eye, "I love it Peeta and I love you." He kisses my forehead and takes Micaela from my arms so I can sleep. A few days later we leave the hospital, Peeta was able to get another crib and more supplies.
We walk through the door holding hands, each of us with a child in our other arm. Peeta looks at me and then looks down at our babies, "Welcome home."
Modern Time (Katniss/ Peeta- Age 93)…
To Katniss and Peeta, it seemed like their kids were growing up way too fast. Five years had flown by in a flurry of memories. First steps, first words, potty training, terrible twos, and preschool kept the couple busy. Looking back now, they thank God they took the time to watch their children grow up. Katniss flips through a few pages, careful not to rip them until she comes to the page dedicated to the kids' first day of Kindergarten…
5 Years Later (from the last flashback)…
"Peeta, can you believe it? Our babies are starting kindergarten today." I say with tears in my eyes. I was never an overly emotional person until I had the twins. Now I am an emotional mess a lot of the time. Last year I got a job as an elementary teacher, and little Brayden who was then 10 and in the fifth grade was in my class. I watched him grow up and when I look at him I think about my own children growing up.
Johanna, Gale, and Rose just moved out here last year as well and Rose is turning into a beautiful young lady. She has finally realized that she has a crush on Brayden, when she told Peeta and I we laughed. It was like the two of us as children. Its weird how fast those years went by. One minute you are a kid and the next you have your own.
"I know sweetheart, its amazing how fast time flies." Peeta says as he leads me out of our children's' classroom, "We're going to blink and they will be teenagers."
Modern Time (Katniss/ Peeta- Age 93)…
Katniss chuckles quietly when she reaches the page Micaela had a hard time writing. She remembers her daughter begging her not to retell the story. She looks over at her husband who stares at her silently, the only sound in the room is the labored breathing. Katniss knows her husband doesn't have much longer so she looks back down at the book and begins to read out loud again…
10 Years Later (from the last flashback)…
"Mom, can I go to the- oh my god, what the hell!" Micaela yells as she walks into our bedroom. Peeta and I are in a position that we cannot lie to our fifteen year old daughter about. She continues on cussing and pulling at her hair, "Eww, parents don't do that. They don't, Parents do not have sex."
I wrap the sheet around my body and approach my daughter, "Honey I hate to break it to you but they do, that's how you and your brother were made." She knows all of this but she still looks completely horrified. So I find my wallet and pull out the debit card handing it to her, "Here, you can go out with your friends and try and forget what you just saw. Just make sure your back before your curfew." She smiles and walks out swinging the credit card happily in her fingers. I turn to Peeta with a smirk, "That was embarrassing."
Peeta chuckles, "Katniss she is fifteen she is going to have to face the fact that sex is a natural occurrence. At least she doesn't have a boyfriend we have to worry about catching her with. I still feel bad for what your cousin saw." About a year ago, Gale walked into Rose's room to say goodnight and instead of finding her snuggled up in her blankets he found her and Brayden in a very compromising position. For about a month after that, Gale wouldn't come to any events that he knew Brayden was going to be at. Gale got over it when Brayden asked for his permission to propose to his daughter. At the time Rose was 19 and Bray was 20, so Gale agreed on one condition, that he wait until both of his siblings were at least fifteen. He had readily agreed, his sister was almost 15 and his little brother just turned 14.
"That reminds me Peeta, today is Cade's fifteenth birthday. You think Gale locked Rose in her room?" I ask with a laugh. Just then I hear the phone downstairs ring, followed by our son's voice.
"What's up Bray? …No, I'm not busy…Sneak her out?! ...No way dude, Uncle Gale will kick my ass… Yea, I'll talk to my mom and dad about it… Okay, bye." Brayden hangs up the phone and I chuckle at my mind reading powers. I hear my son's heavy footsteps coming up the stairs.
Peeta whispers in my ear, "Son alert in 5… 4… 3… 2..." Just then the bedroom door swings open and our fifteen almost sixteen year old son walks in.
He sits down on the end of our bed completely oblivious to our state of undress, "Brayden wants us to help convince Gale to let Rose out of the house. Apparently he has waited way too long already and wants to propose today. Why is Uncle Gale so over protective of her?"
"Sweetheart, your Aunt Johanna had Rose right after she turned nineteen. Gale just doesn't want his daughter to end up not getting the chance to go to college because she has to stay home and raise a kid. But don't worry about it, I'll call your Uncle and remind him that is daughter is 20 years old now and plenty old enough to make her own decisions."
"Thanks mom! I'll be in my room, I think today is a perfectly good day to stay in and sleep. That's not going to be a problem right?" He asks with a smirk.
Peeta and I glance at each other and wink then look back towards our son, "No problem at all."
2 Hours Later…
We hear a knock at the door, followed by a muffled screaming match. I open the door slowly , and my eyes lock with a pair of bright yellow irises. I knew immediately that it was Volt. I look at the man standing next to him, his mint green eyes stare back at me, his lips are pressed in a thin line. I know for a fact its Ravius but the last time I saw him he was much happier. I invite the two in, as I yell up to Peeta that we have visitors. As soon as Peeta gets downstairs, Volt launches into a story…
"Damn it Volt! You gave them all the money?" Ravius yells at me as we drive down the crowded freeway. I had just informed Ravius that we could not run off and live in some foreign country because I had emptied almost all the cash out of both of our bank accounts and gave it to Katniss and Peeta.
"What else was I supposed to do Ravi? The rebels were coming after us, they would have taken it all anyway. They're good people, they gave the money to their family to help them out." I tell him calmly.
He takes a few deep breaths and massages his temples, "Okay, fine. Just promise me you're going to tell them the reason."
I grab his hand that rests on the center console, "that was the plan. Don't worry Ravi, we'll be fine."
"And that is why we're here." Volt says with a smile. Me and Peeta look at each other and back at Volt and Ravius. We motion for them to join us on the couch.
"So what's the story? Why did you need to get rid of the money?" I ask.
Volt takes a deep breath, " Ravius, my sister, and I are not from your country. We all come from a very small town in Russia. Ravius' father holds a very prestigious position there, he has a great amount of political pull. My parents work right below him. A group of rebels, from the Mafia were unhappy with the decisions they made and so they started to target our families. Our parents sent us off to live in America, with a friend of theirs. The day before we left both of my parents were killed, as was Ravius' mother. His father surrendered to the rebels, and was taken prisoner. This means that we inherited all the money in their wills. The money was wired to an American bank account. Not too long before you received the money, the rebels located our whereabouts. We had to continue to move around, until we could find a way to defeat them and return to our country or move to another country. The rebels were trying to tap into our bank account to see where purchases were made and to empty the account so that we would be stranded. Luckily, I thought to remove all the money. I kept about half of the money, to ensure we could run, and sent the rest to someone I knew was reliable. This way if we were captured and taken prisoner, I would know I did something good for someone."
Peeta and I can't do anything but stare at him. Then Peeta gets up and pulls Volt and Ravius into a hug. I join in, and the four us just stand there and hold each other for a few minutes. Looking back on the drama we have all endured in our lives. They stay for about an hour and then tell us they have to get going. As they walk out the door, Volt hands me a slip of paper, that simply says, Thank you. I smile at him and tuck the note into the plant book, I have from my mother that sits on top off the bookshelf in the living room.
Modern Time (Katniss/ Peeta- Age 93)…
Katniss remembers the way the old leather cover of the plant book had felt against her fingertips. She thinks back to the memories she shared with her mother and sister, before they were tragically taken from her. She remembers how hard it was for her to say goodbye to them. She thinks back to the day her step- father gave her mother that book and remembers how hard it was to say good bye to him when he passed. Despite him not being her biological father, she always thought of him as her father. He was there when she needed him most, and he loved her , her mother and sister unconditionally. A tear rolls down Katniss' cheek as she realizes that her husband is not far from joining them. She quickly flips to the end of the book. The page where she knows her daughter wrote a letter to her…
Dear Mom,
I know that Dad doesn't have much longer. I know that it's not his fault that he doesn't remember who Asher or I are. I know how hard it is on you that most of the time he doesn't even remember who you are anymore. I can only hope that my marriage with Kurt is as strong as yours' and dad's. His parents told me when they first met me that my parents were always in love with each other. Turns out Cato and Clove were right, and I'm glad they were. I remember you telling me at my wedding, that when you love someone you never want to let them go. I remember you saying that you promised dad, you would stay with him always. That's why I understand why you don't want him to pass on without you. Of course it's hard, to know that in a matter of days both of my parents will be gone. Asher told me to remind you that he loves you and dad more than the world. He wanted to be here, but Ashlynn needs him right now. I know he wishes that you could see the birth of your great- grand children. He understands though mom, don't worry. I'm crying writing this now, I'm going to miss you so much. Tell daddy that Asher and I love him. I love you so much mommy.
Love Always,
Micaela
As Katniss reads the last line, tears stream down her face. She takes the pen of her night stand and with a shaky hand writes the words she lived by, Find that person who picks up the broken pieces. Give them all of your love. Keep them… always. She sets down the pen and kisses the tear stained page of the book before closing it and setting it down on the nightstand. She sinks down in the bed, letting the soft comforter envelope her fragile body. She looks over at Peeta, his eyes are open and she sees the recognition in them. He uses all his strength to grab her hand and entwine their fingers.
As she grabs the Nightlock capsules, for the first time in a month he remembers exactly who she is. His voice is hoarse and quiet, but she knows what he is saying. "Katniss… stay with me."
She pops the pills into her mouth and swallows them. She holds her husband in her arms and whispers the one thing they promised to each other, "Always." In that moment, Peeta squeezed Katniss' hand one last time before his body went limp. They both drew in their last breaths, and passed away together. Their souls leaving their bodies at the exact same time, together for eternity.
So, that was the end. If anyone didn't catch on to it, all the other chapters were what Katniss was reading in the book. I honestly started crying writing the end. Im so sorry for how long it took me to update and how rushed the end of the story came. Real life got in the way and I needed to finish this. I will be working on some one-shots and posting them on here soon.
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