Epilogue
I watched as the two children ran around the meadow, oblivious as to what happened once in their play spot. They didn't know that it used to be a graveyard. Still is. The girl with her dark hair and blue eyes ran gracefully around the meadow, smiling while the light haired boy with gray eyes chased after her on her chubby legs.
I leaned against Peeta, his arms wrapped around me.
"I love you." He whispered in my ear. We had been through a lot but it was worth it. I felt his lips press against my cheek.
"Stop kissing." Johanna said as she came up behind us. I sighed.
"Finally." I said. "You're late." She lifted her hand to wipe away hair from her face and gave a clear view of the long scar that started from her hand and went all the way up to her shoulder. I could still remember exactly how she got that scar.
As soon as Dahlia saw Johanna she ran toward her aunt. Johanna picked her up in a giant hug. Liam, on the other hand, stayed back. He had only seen Johanna a few times before while Dahlia, being the oldest, had seen her numerous times. In fact, Dahlia actually liked Johanna believe it or not.
"I missed you." Dahlia said.
"Right." Johanna said. "Nice to see you, Liam." Liam hid behind Peeta.
"Don't be shy." I whispered to him. Johanna walked closer to us, still carrying Dahlia.
"It's fine, he isn't used to me." Johanna said. She put Dahlia down and whispered to us. "I talked to him." Peeta and I froze. We knew exactly who he was. Gale.
"What did he say?" I asked through my teeth. It came out as some type of hiss.
"He's sorry, it wasn't his fault, etc." she said. "He misses you." I swallowed back my insult. I had never talked to Gale after what he did to Prim. Prim . . . I sighed. Liam looked too much like Prim.
When I first saw him, I burst into tears. He was too much like Prim was. It was only when he opened his eyes for the first time that I knew he wasn't an exact replica of Prim. But he was close. If he didn't have those gray eyes I would have begun to think that Prim had somehow come back. It would eventually drive me insane.
Dahlia wasn't like Prim. She was more like me but also like Peeta. Stubborn, kind, carefree, what a kid should be. She knows about the rebellion. She just doesn't know how her mommy and daddy played a part in it.
"He doesn't dare come back, though." Johanna said. I shook my head as if to clear it.
"It doesn't matter, anyway." I said. "Let's go home." Dahlia and Liam followed us back home. Johanna was silent.
"When is Annie coming?" Peeta asked as he unlocked the door to our house. Dahlia and Liam went off somewhere to play.
"Right now." Annie answered. She had her son with her. Daren. He was as handsome as his father. Daren was thirteen now, the resemblance between him and Finnick was striking.
"Hi." Daren said.
"Hello, Daren, Annie." Peeta said. Dahlia ran toward Daren. It was clear to see she had a little crush on Daren even though he was eight years older.
"Hi, Daren." Dahlia said shyly.
"Hello, Dahlia." Daren said. "Want a candy bar?" Peeta and I smiled. He was like his father. Finnick had died during the rebellion, along with others.
I had meet Finnick, Johanna and some other victors during the Quell. Most of them are dead now.
"Sure." Dahlia said. Liam walked up behind his sister. Liam didn't like Daren. He was close to Dahlia, like Prim and I had been. Liam thought Daren stole Dahlias attention from him.
I looked at Annie and saw she was staring off into space. Annie had gotten somewhat better since the rebellion. She was still distant but for the sake of her son she had tried to fix that. Right now her eyes drifted off into space again.
"Come inside and sit." I said. She looked like she was going to fall down. Annie nodded. Johanna and Annie went inside to the living room. Annie sat down. She looked at her feet, not blinking. I sighed. We had all been scared in some way during the rebellion.
"It's been fourteen years. . ." Annie whispered. "Finnick." Daren stopped playing with Dahlia. He stared fiercely at his mother.
"Dad's dead." Daren said. "Remember?" Annie didn't answer. Sometimes she would get caught in the past during one of her episodes. Daren would always bring her back.
Peeta went to get some snacks. I sat down on the opposite side of Annie.
I hadn't been reaped like Peeta assumed, I still went into the games though. Prim was the name that was pulled out of the ball. I had volunteered. I guess the Capitol wanted to see a little girl close to Peeta go, sick isn't it?
That had immediately drawn attention to me and Peeta. The star crossed lovers was what they called Peeta and me.
During the games we had teamed up with some other victors only to have them betray us, or so it thought, in reality they were part of the rebels.
It turns out that the rebellion was planned beforehand.
When Peeta and I refused to kill each other in the games, that had started a chain reaction. Most of the district realized that they no longer wanted to work for the capitol. People from District 13 were sent to the District to gather recruits. Everyone wanted to be part of the rebellion and take the capitol down. When Beete, a victor, accidentally made the arena explode District 13 rebels picked me and some other people up from the arena. Peeta was taken to the capitol. He was hijacked and the next time he saw me, he tried to kill me. But he's back to normal. Sort of. Johanna was taken to the capitol too so she could be interrogated.
Cinna died after the Quell during Capitol interrogation.
One by one, all my friends died. Everyone died in a horrific ways. Ways that left the survivors scarred. Mentally and physically. I was one of them. Everything had been so great between Peeta and I before the Quell. I even thought we would live happily ever after. But no, we can't. Not in this world.
After the Quell I had been in the hospital for weeks, trying to get over several injuries. Somehow everything Peeta and I did had started the rebellion. Our love started a war, I find that disgusting.
Peeta constantly had nightmares from being hijacked. He forgot several things about me. Most of his memory's were altered and changed by the capitol just so he would be turned against me. He still woke up sometimes scared of me, calling me a mutt. We always brought him back, though. Yes, Dahlia and Liam knew about Peeta's bad days.
They actually made a scrap book full of pictures of our family in case Peeta should forget. It was a little like a diary.
Every day at the end of the day they would take a picture of us, paste it in the book, and write about everything that happened.
I had a hard time remembering things too. It was because of all the medicine I had been given during my stay at the hospital.
"You're not going to talk to him?" Johanna asked. She didn't need to say who.
"No." I said.
"What if he really never hurt Prim?" Annie whispered. I heard Daren gasp quietly. It was unusual that she would remember something about the rebellion.
"The trap resembled his too much. I can't talk to him. Not now." I whispered.
"Don't talk about that." Peeta said. His tone was firm and final. I wrapped my arms around him. Peeta had changed a little. He wasn't as kind or carefree as he used to be. Peeta was more like me. Which was bad. The hijacking made him like this. Sometimes there would be more of the old Peeta but not for long. He told me that he was afraid to be the same. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to protect us if he was the same. He though he was stronger this way. I understood.
"Prim?" Dahlia whispered. Everyone's eyes turned to the five year old. "Buttercup loved her." She stood up and walked gracefully to her room upstairs.
Like Prim, buttercup had attached to Dahlia. He passed away a few months ago. I was surprised he lasted as long as he did, but we missed the old cat. I did, if you can believe it. I cried when he died. I felt like Buttercup was the last thing that reminded me of Prim. Now he was gone too.
"Adele?" Liam said. Adele was Liam's nickname for her. He has called her that since he was little since he couldn't pronounce her name. Daren had also taken to calling Dahlia that sometimes.
"She's fine, Liam." Daren said. "Let's get you a snack." Liam was nice to Daren when Dahlia wasn't there, weird isn't it? Liam took hold of Daren's hand as he took him to the kitchen.
We heard another knock on the door. That could be Effie.
"It's strange to be here without Haymitch." Effie whispered as she joined us. Haymitch had passed away a while ago. We all missed him. Effie the most.
"Welcome," I said. She nodded and sat down. Effie no longer had her pink hair. Instead she had a normal hair color, brown. The capitol fashions were no more. They were more like us now. Sort of. Beete walked in behind her. He didn't say a word.
"I guess that's all of us." I whisper. What a group, huh? The remaining victors. Enobaria had been killed by who knows who after the rebellion. We were all that's left. "Shall we go?"
Everyone stood up.
"Liam, Daren, Dahlia, let's go!" I yelled. They ran down the stairs. Daren trailing behind. This would be their first time going. Peeta and I never let them go with us. We thought they were too young to know, we were wrong. They are strong kids, they should be since they are Peeta and my kids.
Daren is used to going to the memorial. It would be his twelfth one this year.
An hour later we arrived at the memorial. Peeta and I got out of the car. Dahlia helped her brother out.
The memorial was a large clearing where everyone in District 12 ever died in the games or the rebellion was buried. Each District had one. I passed by all the stones with the names of all the children until I got to where the crowd was gathered. Dahlia and Liam clung to Peeta and me.
There was a crowd gathered on an empty part of the clearing. I bit my lip to keep myself from crying when I passed by Haymitch's stone. I passed Prim's soon after. Dahlia stooped and stared at the stone. She knew we had come up of her name from Prim. Dahlia, Prim. Both beautiful flowers. Her fingers bushed up against the stone. She took in a shaky breath.
A while ago Liam and Dahlia had found the book that had the names of all the children that died. She asked about Prim. We told her. After that Dahlia seemed to want to know more about Prim. She had begun to love her.
I held back tears. I felt Peeta squeeze my hand gently. Stay strong, it says.
Even now, years later, I could see the flash that ignites her. I can feel the heat of the flames. Her screams. I closed my eyes as the image engulfed my mind.
"Come on, Dahlia." Peeta whispers. She tears her gaze from the stone and took my hand.
We sit in front of all the people and listened to the speech. The speech about how years ago there were games in which children would be sent into games to kill one another. Dahlia, Daron, and Liam are one of the only children here.
After events like these I fell myself start to fade. Another cause of all the medicine. At times like these I began to recount all the things happening.
I am Katniss Mellark, married to Peeta Mellark, a Hunger Games Survivor. We have two Children, Dahlia and Liam Mellark. Dahlia is the oldest.
Peeta and I helped lead the rebellion along with others. . .
I do this again and again. It's like a game but as we all know, there are worse games to play.
That's then end. While writing this I was listening to Demi Lovato song skyscraper. Does anyone else think that that song goes completely with Katniss and Peeta's life in Mockingjay? How they managed to pick up the pieces after all that happened? I do.
I've read a lot of fanfics that name Katniss's son as Orion since it means fire when in truth I don't think Katniss would ever name her son that. I think she would have wanted to forget that time of her life and move on so she would never name her son Orion that.
Everything that happened in Mockinjay happened to them here. Only difference is that Katniss and Peeta's love started the rebellion since they refused to kill each other. I hope that the explanation I put makes sense. I wasn't sure if it did.
Thanks for reading. (: