Epilogue: Cruel

She's so close.

To fame, fortune, everything she's ever wanted. Everything I've ever wanted for her. They're down to the final six already, and now that two tributes from the same district can win, there's no way she won't come home.

Just thinking about it, a rush of pride surges through me for my daughter.

"I don't know about this," Jabez whispers. "I'm worried about her, Lorcae."

"Don't be a fool," I scoff. "What are you afraid of?"

My husband closes his eyes and says, "Losing her."

I roll my eyes. As if. I turn back to the screen, which is focusing on Clove. She's hiding behind a tree, clutching a couple of knives, waiting for her feast to appear. The camera zooms out and finds Cato, her ally, creeping through the trees on the opposite side of the clearing.

I truly can't believe how far my daughter has come – she's proven herself to be everything I've always hoped for. Her kills have been marvelous, she's so smart and brave, and I don't think she's ever missed a shot with those knives of hers.

"I'll kill myself if she dies," Jabez says quietly. "I really will."

He's been saying things like this ever since the reaping. "I don't want to live without my daughter." "If someone kills her, I'm going to find a shotgun and shoot myself through the heart." "What will we do without her, Lorcae? I'd rather be dead!"

Why did I marry him? He's weak.

I turn my full attention back to the screen, watching as the table rises from the ground, watching the small redheaded girl run from the Cornucopia and snatch her backpack, disappearing quickly. I watch Clove's face carefully, and irritation is plain to see in her sharp features. I know my daughter, and the stupid girl from Five has already escaped her once. Clove is furious that it's happening again. But there are more important things to attend to now.

I watch the irritation turn to vicious pleasure as the one she's nicknamed Fire Girl appears. "Good girl," I mutter to myself as she tosses a knife in Fire Girl's direction, and then I sniff in annoyance when it's blocked.

"This is shameful," I say to Jabez. "She's from District Twelve, dammit. Why is she so hard to kill?"

He just shakes his head. "She'll kill her," he insists, sounding as though he's trying to convince himself more so than me. "She has to." And then he screams when the arrow pierces Clove's arm.

"No!" he wails. "She's hurt, she's going to die, no no no no no…"

"Shup up," I snarl. What's the matter with him? "It's just a stupid arrow! She'll be fine!"

I squint at the screen, and Clove's knife slices Fire Girl's forehead open. "Yes!" I crow, thrusting my fist in the air. This is as good as over. Clove slams into her opponent, and I turn to Jabez. "Told you," I gloat.

He groans. "This isn't over yet…"

"Oh, go to hell, why don't you?" I snap. "What could go wrong at this point?" He just shakes his head fearfully.

Fuming, I turn back to the screen, determined to give my daughter my full attention. She's the one who deserves it right now. "Where's your boyfriend, District Twelve?" I hear her ask. "Still hanging on?"

The cameras flash over to a shot of Lover Boy, as Clove and Cato have taken to calling him. He's asleep, having been drugged by his pathetic girlfriend a few hours ago.

"He's out there now," Fire Girl spits, the cameras returning to the action. "Hunting Cato. Peeta!"

Nice punch, I think as Clove cuts off her victim's scream with her fist. Strange… she looks amused by all this. Atta girl. No one will dare mess with her after she's finished here.

I ignore what they're saying for a few moments and just watch. Clove has an almost manic look in her eyes, and I know what she must be feeling. I remember it well. The arena changes you… but in both our cases, mine and my daughter's, I believe it's for the better.

Clove's hair is wild – it's a strange sight, since she always kept it so well tamed back home. Her eyes are bright with the thrill of finally having her biggest opponent at her mercy. She smiles tightly, drawing a knife and displaying it to the so-called Girl on Fire, as the Capitol people have named her.

Well, that flame will soon be extinguished.

Clove. I'm awestruck by how brilliantly she plays this. Taunting Fire Girl about her ally, the little girl that boy killed, reminding her subtly that her boyfriend will die shortly after she does… my daughter's a genius in the making.

And then Fire Girl spits in Clove's face.

"Shit," Jabez mutters. I'm surprised, as he almost never uses profanity. But I can understand it. Our Clove has… quite the temper. She's easily provoked. So I'm surprised when she lets it pass after anger flashes across her face after only a second.

"All right then. Let's get started."

"Finally," I grin. Jabez suddenly looks horrified.

"No!" he gasps.

"What is it?" I ask in annoyance. Jabez's eyes are widening in terror and he points wordlessly at the screen. The camera has zoomed out to capture the whole clearing – before, it was focusing on Clove and Fire Girl, but now –

"It's Thresh," I gasp, suddenly terrified.

The huge tribute apparently managed to lumber over to the table with the backpacks without Clove or Cato noticing – but instead of leaving, he's turning to Clove and plucking her off Fire Girl, and throwing her, and shouting –

"What'd you do to that little girl? You kill her?"

I look back at Clove, who's now lying helplessly on the ground. "No! No, it wasn't me!"

Jabez is sobbing! "No! It wasn't her, why are you hurting her?"

"Shut up," I hiss. I need to focus.

"You said her name. I heard you." A strange expression crosses Clove's face. "You kill her? You cut her up like you were going to cut up this girl here?"

"Don't you dare kill my daughter, you bastard," I growl at the television. She didn't killed Rue, dammit! That killer is dead already!

I see the stone, then. Right there, in his hand. It's huge, and there's no way Clove's going to be able to escape. I shake my head slowly. How could this have happened so quickly?

I watch the screen dully as Clove sees the stone too, and screams for her ally, who doesn't appear. He yells back, yes, but he's too slow.

Thresh bashes my daughter's head in.

Jabez jumps up from the couch we've been sitting on. "Where are you going?" I ask sharply.

"To find a shotgun," he whispers brokenly. Tears are pouring down his face.

My husband is weak. And now it turns out that my daughter is, too.

I force myself to look back at the screen. I don't listen to Fire Girl and Thresh talking, or Cato running towards the whole scene. I just look at Clove, lying there.

I just… don't understand. How could she… lose? Because there's no way she can recover from this. She told me she would win. She promised. This has been her dream since she learned what the Hunger Games were, and now… it's all over. She's dying. She'll never come home. And my husband is off trying to kill himself… Clove and Jabez are lost.

I shake my head again, to clear the bad thoughts. But I know they'll never really go away. Not after this.

Cato has arrived, and Fire Girl and Thresh have disappeared. But I can't make myself watch my daughter's last moments. I just can't.

She failed me. She lost to a rock.

I rise and turn away from the screen, walking away.

Pain will come later.

But for now, there is only disappointment.

Well... there it is, people! We're all done! I'm going to warn you in advance... this is going to be a pretty long author's note. There's a lot to say... ;)

First off, I'll explain the epilogue. Obviously, it was Clove's parents watching her die on television, from her mother's POV... neelyn8r came up with the idea and I thought it was genius, so here it is. :) Clove's parents' names actually MEAN something, can you believe it? I actually bothered to find names that fit. Anyway, Jabez (her father) means sorrow and regret, and Lorcae (her mother) is based off the name Lorcan, which means cruel and fierce. The epilogue was harder to write than I thought... but really fun anyway. I'd been planning out the last few lines for about a month. xD

Next, something I forgot to mention in the last author's note (yes, yes, I'm terrible). I'm surprised no one seemed to notice, actually, but when Clove was dying and Cato was with her, they exchanged a few lines that were exactly what Katniss and Rue said when Rue was dying. Because I am a twisted person like that, I decided it would be interesting to write it that way... ;)

Now, I have to give credit to all the wonderful people out there who have reviewed, favorited, and/or subscribed to Winning is Everything. Okay, here comes the list: neelyn8r, DiceAndBishop, turboaddict, Ellfoy-Malana, The Plaid Pen, Sassyswimchick, chillyM, lacrossefreak100, InkConquerer, ForeverFoxface, Turq8, CH, RemiccoLim, EStrunk, XxThresh-HungerGamesxX, RedRubyStorm, IHaveMattTheDoctor, Webby955, powapuffer, UnofficiallyClove, Dogs1954, Mpham6, Squirrel, Kgirl235, ShanDaMan, Call Me Bitter, D, Well, Foxxface, sugarcoated, FloridaGirl11, TheHungerGamesbeast, clove and cato 101, Starsmith, Seulement Moi CL, jennh07, Century Archive, AshmarieMockingjay, SilvertongueCain, Twenty-two Doves, Fangalicious, squirrelflightbc, Anonymous Reviewer, StoriesOfAnotherNight, allyssa, Janie Black, Hawttcakeyz, WickedGleek96, thebookreader, Anonymous Reviewer, Jill Slinkard, and TheEditor.

Wow. Long list!

The last thing I have to do is thank a couple people especially. First is my awesome editor who has edited this entire story for me. She's on the list as both Sassyswimchick and TheEditor. :) Also, neelyn8r has given me a ton of ideas for this story, and she's done some editing on the last few chapters as well. So thanks so much to them! :D Thanks also to turboaddict and Squirrel... I know it's a pain to be around a writer all the time. Also, they've reviewed! xD

Well... I guess that's it. I've had a great time writing Winning is Everything and getting feedback... one more time, THANK YOU! :D

And I'd love to hear what you thought about the epilogue, of course, so if you'd like to review one more time... that would be awesome. :) The reviews for the last chapter made starting school again MUCH more bearable!

If you're interested in reading the Marvel fic I've mentioned, start looking for it in about a month... hopefully I'll have it posted. :D Thanks again, everybody! :)

~What the Quell