A/N: Hey everybody! I don't usually do forewords, but this time I wanted to pop in before you got into the meat of the chapter and let you know what's up. I'm kind of struggling to write at the moment, though I am trying to do it quickly and fluidly for you all. Most importantly though, PLEASE R&R, I wanna know that I'm still doing this the way you like it! Who knows, a good suggestion might even change the course of events a little bit. :3

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I wake from my dreams, muddled and confused and out of focus, completely unable to think or even remember who I am or who is warming one side of my body. I don't know where I am, and at first it scares me and I reach for a weapon that I know should be just within my reach, but it isn't there. I gasp and sit upright, causing the girl at my side to stir, her dark chocolate waves falling into her face as she mumbles in her sleep, and I relax a little. She just seems so soft, so warm and inviting, and I think to myself, 'This girl would never hurt me, could never hurt me. She's just so... I don't know, just kinda... squiggly. She makes me feel all squiggly.' I smile and relax a little more, lean over her and brush some hair from her face, lower my face until I can smell the scent of pines blowing off of her skin with every breath, just brush my lips on her cheek, and a name comes to me. 'Katniss. Katniss Everdeen, the Girl on Fire. That's her name...' I realize that it suits her, that it becomes her entirely and no other name would ever be good enough for her, and I don't even know why. She mumbles louder with the touch of my lips and shimmies over more so that she can wrap strong arms that look too slender to have so much strength around me and hold me as if I am the teddy bear that she needs to keep the nightmares away. Maybe I am. I remember now that she has horrible dreams, though how I know that still eludes me, and that she seems to have fewer of them when I'm here. I remember being here for her a lot.

I lean away from her a little and huff in frustration, not understanding why I still don't remember my own name, but then something else floats up in my head. She's a Victor, a survivor of the Hunger Games, and that's why she has so many bad dreams. I know, because I have them too. Then it all comes flooding back. 'My name... My name is Johanna Mason. I am a Victor, a survivor of the 69th hunger games. I come from District Seven, home of the lumber industry. I was asked to be a prostitute when I won, a fucking prostitute. The man who had the nerve to ask was no other than President Corolianus Snow, and I should have cut his fucking balls off right then and there, but I never once believed that he'd actually do something to punish me for telling him no, I didn't want to whore myself out to the rich and the pompous here in tralala-land. I never once believed that he'd have such a power trip going that he would kill anyone who was important to me. I never though for a second that he would kill Lise...' A tear falls from my eye as that memory dredges itself up, and I can still feel the sticky warmth of her blood spraying over my face, I can still hear her gasping for breath in my arms as she choked on her own blood. I start to keen softly, but I try to keep it quiet enough that I won't wake up the lovely woman who is still gripping me tightly.

'I lost my family when I returned home from the Capitol. My brothers were the first to die, then my mother, and then my father in a moment where he believed he was protecting me but I knew better. I knew that they would never kill me, I was too valuable to them as a Victor, I could mentor for their sick Games and I could be held up as the example for why you don't defy them. "See Johanna Mason? She lost everyone she ever cared about because she told me no. Do you want to lose everybody too? I didn't think so. Go suck that purple guy's cock for me, make me money." I will make Snow pay for that, but I will also make him pay for what he did to her. My Katniss... thrown into the Games to protect her sister, and when she made them look like idiots she was punished by being forced to live a lie for the cameras so that they could play her rebellion against their rules off as being lovesick. They threatened everybody she loved so that she would play their game, even if it was a different one than the one they wanted me to play. Then when she didn't play the game well enough to quell the rebellion that she didn't mean to start, she was punished again by being thrown into the Arena again alongside the boy she "loved" and a bunch of us other Victors. I'm sure that snow just loved the idea of throwing me in there again, troublemaker that I am. What he never counted on was what really happened... I found redemption, and she actually found love.'

I brush the hair out of her face and slide back down so that I can lay with her and hold her as she holds me, an unfamiliar desire to be gentle and cuddly and sweet taking root in my chest. That Katniss can do this to me astounds me, makes me wonder where she's been all my life even though I know the answer to that question. The only thing that I really wonder with any honest verve is why I never introduced myself to her the first time she went into the arena. I know that I was busy trying to train my tributes, but since I was already sure that she was going to win why didn't I at least go say hi? I know Haymitch, I was even friends with him then, why couldn't I just drop by to visit him and oh so conveniently run into her? 'You know the reason why, coward. You were afraid. You were terrified that she would meet you and tell you that you are a monster. You were terrified that she would be scared to meet you, that she would look at you and not want to be near you, that she would only see what you show everyone else and that she wouldn't want to see who you could be. You were afraid that if she looked at you and didn't like what she saw, you would break. You were afraid that she would see your interest and be disgusted. You were afraid of being hurt, so you did your best to train your tributes to take out some of the competition for her because you knew that if she survived the bloodbath, she was going to beat any kid that came from your district. Even though you didn't know how you knew, you knew.'

She is everything I have ever wanted, and I'm just floored that I suddenly have her when I was sure a year ago that she would never see me. I was sure that she would be too busy being perfect and never even once look down to see the broken mess that I was, and I was so wrapped up in that idea that I never even considered the fact that she would be just as broken and even less able to deal with it because she still had people to protect. It doesn't seem like much at first, but after a while you realize that having people to protect means that you have people you need to lie to as well because you can't let them know how much you hurt. You never let them see the damage, and you never let them see you age, because then everything gets harder. I didn't realize back then that she had to hide from everyone, that she could never show her beloved sister how much she had changed, that she could never let her mother understand that the daughter who left was not the one that came back. I should have known that the girl who was on screen playing the romance as hard as she could was not the real Katniss Everdeen, that she would never look at the baker's son with real love in her eyes. I didn't see it though, I didn't see that she would be hiding the nightmares and the memories and the flashbacks and the horror, because I never had to. Everyone that I loved was dead, so I never bothered to hide a damn thing, and I forgot that other people didn't have that luxury. For the hundredth time since she became a victim of Snow's Quell, I vow to myself that I will hurt him and anyone that he holds dear for what he has done to us, to her.

I kiss her eyelids because I need to, I kiss her nose because I want to, and I snuggle her a little closer because I want to never let her go. I thank whatever gods exist for bringing her to me, for showing me that I was wrong, and for allowing me to be the one that would help her to heal the damage that she was left with. When her eyes, beautiful liquid gray, flutter open, I curse softly to myself. "Fuck. Oh shit baby, I'm sorry I didn't mean to wake you up, go back to sleep." She smiles that smile she has only for me and I feel my heart stutter and then gallop away. She wiggles her hips a little and I feel her legs wrap around my thigh, a damp heat pressing against bare flesh that spikes a desire in me that I ruthlessly push down again because I know she's only trying to be as close to me as she can. "Why... are you awake, Jojo?" she mumbles, her voice soft and breathy in a way that makes that squiggly feeling come back into my chest. I wrap my fingers into hers and give a little squeeze when I reply, "Because I woke up not knowing who I am and I needed to remember. You make me who I am, so I looked at you and couldn't stop." I know how corny and sappy I sound, but I don't care because it's only her and I here and it's going to make her happy. She giggles and gives me a warm grin that is so full of love that I swear I can feel my heart melt, and I can't think anymore so I just turn my face down to her and press our lips together and kiss her until I fall asleep with her head on my shoulder and my hand over her heart.

I'm nervous and twitchy and wishing that I had a heavy weapon in my hand and a target to slam it into, but there is no way that I can escape today so easily. Today there is a wedding, and I can't get my thoughts to stop racing. I can't let go of this apprehension, this unreasoning fear that the Peacekeepers are going to swoop in and shoot everybody, because that's what always happens when something good happens to me, that or I get thrown into an arena and told to kill until I'm the only one left. I don't think it helps that Katniss has been gone since nine o'clock this morning and the wedding is at four, and it's almost three now. The last time I saw her, she was going with Annie to get a wedding dress from her house in the Victor's Village in the ruins of District Twelve, and she said that she also had a surprise she wanted to get. I don't know what it is, I can't think of what it could possibly be, and I can't help worrying about her being gone so long, so when I hear a knock at the door of our compartment I jump and grab for a knife I do not have. Then the door opens and I see the shoulder-length tresses of my sweetheart as she backs into the room with two garment bags and almost falls over trying to spin in and close the door at the same time. I see the grin on her face though and it sets my world back into balance, and she holds out one of the bags to me, her face innocent and guileless, so sugary and sweet that I'm afraid to open the damn thing and see what she brought me. When I take the bag though, she bounces forward and kisses my cheek, and suddenly I don't care about anything but that kiss and the happy girl that gave it to me and I turn to open the bag.

In my hands the zipper falls open, and I can't help but gasp when I see the treat that she has brought me. It's the dress, and I don't mean just a dress, not even a pretty one, but the dress, the blue velvet dress that I wanted so very badly when she wore it in District Two. She brought me the blue dress from her house in Twelve, she went all the way back to District Twelve to grab a specific dress for me, and she picked the exact one that would make me the happiest, that would make my pulse race the most. I can't believe that she remembered it, or that she would actually bring it back for me, or that I get to wear one of the dresses that Cinna made for her, that she wore... I get to wear my girlfriend's clothes. That thought makes me giggle, and then she hugs me from behind and I can feel her lips press into my neck and I just know that she was waiting for that response. I'm so eager to get into the dress so that she can see what it looks like on me that I wriggle away from her and toss my shirt aside, shucking my pants and almost dancing on the spot as I grab for the shimmering fall of blue that is my armor for tonight. I can't help but moan as the soft fabric slides over my skin, as I glory in the way it hugs my curves, as I marvel at how closely her body mirrors mine. Aside from a few inches of height difference, it seems that we have the exact same measurements, and because of that little miracle the very fitted bodice settles snugly and comfortably over my frame. I turn to her with the words "Zip me?" falling from my lips, but then I see what she is wearing and all words fail me.

It's a dress I've never seen before, a creation of silk and lace and chiffon and some cotton weave that I've never seen but is almost as soft as the velvet I'm wearing. I can see every shade of green in the forest wrapped around her, the layers and the patterns of the lace making an effect of sunlight through the trees painted on her body, a fall of emerald gathered just at her feet so that creamy skin yet bare can still be seen underneath. The sleeves run all the way to her wrists, and more lace drips away in a ruffled cuff that hangs a few inches past the ends of her fingers. Her modest assets are presented enticingly in a cleverly boned corset, the neckline a sheer chiffon piece that only just obscures what is beneath and gives an air of misty mystery. I can see her still fidgeting with the ribbon that ties her in, tying it at the bottom of the corseting even as she smiles at me with mischief written through her grin. When she steps forward, the sound she makes is the wind in the trees and I know that if I just bury my head in her shoulder I could smell home again like I always do, and there is nothing and nowhere more important than this woman who is my home now. I lose myself in the moment as her fingers twitch and adjust the dress I wear until it fits just right and the zipper glides smoothly and without catching. I lose myself when I feel her nails drag up the back of my neck and through the short fuzz of my hair to tangle in the mess that is all I have left. I lose myself when I can taste her on my lips, her tongue gently flicking against my lips and teasing its way into my mouth to dance with mine, the warm caress of her mouth stealing my breath as she presses herself against me with all the love and passion that we can allow ourselves for now. When she pulls away, I think I hear her whisper, "I love you, Johanna. My strong love, my beloved Fury." I am giddy to hear her say those words, to hear her tell me that she loves me, and though I know she does I never tire of being reminded. "I love you too, Katniss. My beautiful girl, my lovely siren."

The actual wedding goes without a hitch, with Annie being calm and collected for the first time in years, her face radiant with a happiness that we could all use. I don't think that I've ever seen a wedding dress that I would want to wear, other than what was left of the one that my Girl on Fire wore at our last tribute interview, though I'm not sure that could be called a wedding dress at that point as it was charcoal with only a little white. But tonight, Annie is wearing a simple white dress that hangs to her knees and covers her from the neck to just past her elbows, and I can't help but imagine myself in it with Katniss at my side wearing a longer but still very simple white gown, both of us with veils over our faces and smiles on our lips as we kneel in front of a fire and toast bread just as she would want to. I know that after the ceremony, we would do what the people of my district did and make the first cuts on the log that a carpenter would then fashion into the crib for any children we would have. Katniss asked me once what we did in District Seven, and when I told her about that little tradition her eyes lit up with a dancing fire that made my head swim and my lungs struggle to pull in the air I needed.

Finnick on the other hand is wearing a suit that I recognize well, a slim steel ensemble with an emerald tie providing the only color in the entire outfit. He has worn it many times in ten years since he won, or has had several versions of it made, but he wears it tonight because it is almost as much his signature as the bronzed skin and blonde hair and green eyes, and also because it is the only suit he has left. My friend looks at peace for once, anchored and settled as he holds Annie's hand. No matter how hard his life has been recently, she seems to be what kept him alive and kept him going, and she seems to be fixing a little piece of him that Katniss and I feared might be gone forever. It does us well to see him happy again, to see just a little of the man that kept me strong and helped show her a new way to live even in the midst of hell. The mental and emotional scars are still obvious, but he is better and he is happy for tonight, with his new wife holding onto his arm and looking at him as if the sun and moon and stars hold no more light than a candle and he is the brightest spot in her universe. Who knows, maybe to the woman who was Annie Cresta and is now Annie Odair, he is the brightest spot.

The music starts and the gathered instruments from several districts struggle at first to come together to create a harmonious sound, but after a few strained bars everything smooths out and the newlyweds take to the floor for their first dance, the world around them fading out and their bliss making even me smile contentedly. I watch as my best friend pours out his love wordlessly to the woman who no one would have ever guessed a man like him would fall in love with. Quiet, unassuming Annie, a woman of simple beauty and soft words who was unfortunate enough to be caught in the Games and come out the other side without being whole. Somehow she wormed her way into the heart of a man who had hardened his emotions to use them as weapons and never let anyone close, made her way inside his defenses until the man who uses secrets to lay waste to the Capitol had a secret of his own. Likewise, Finnick became such an important part of her life and her world that she clings to him for balance in a world where she can never catch her feet, and now she has managed to secure herself to him so she will never be adrift again. She is serene now, and he is at peace in a crowd of people who have heard his screams and sobs and fears, the kinds of secrets he would have once guarded so jealously. I cannot express how happy it makes me to see him free of Snow, at least for now.

The music changes and it's obvious that other couples are allowed to go out on the floor now, but for while no one does. Then there's a slight commotion as a voice I've become familiar with hisses, "No Pollux! I don't wanna go out there, fucking stop it!" Several people chuckle and a red-faced Cressida is almost bodily thrown out onto the floor by her grinning cameramen, just barely managing to stay on her feet. I have to say, she looks good in a slim black cocktail dress, her hair cleaned of all the ash and crap that we always manage to pick up when filming, and obviously someone else agrees.

Cashmere strides out into the open space, a definite limp in her stride but so much pride holding her up that it doesn't seem out of place. She is a warrior and she has survived this far, why shouldn't she be able to bear the scars? And bear them she does, the left side of her face adorned by the scar her brother gave her, his last gift to his more talented sister. On her it isn't ugly, it doesn't detract from her beauty, and it makes her more distinguished. She regally takes Cressida's hands to dance, but that's about as far as her confidence gets her, because right about then I see it fade and she's just staring at her with uncertainty and affection. At first they don't mesh very well, six years of time apart and several injuries causing a few issues, but soon Cash is pressed against Cressida and they appear to be dancing so naturally that everything from before just doesn't matter anymore.

I hear the music change again, I see other couples drift out into the open space to dance, but I don't have the desire to join them until I feel a gentle touch on my shoulder and hear smoky, raspy tones in my ear. "Are you really going to miss out on this chance to let Snow see you be happy?" I turn to look behind me and there she is, Katniss Everdeen all dressed in green, with a wicked grin on a face that is lightly touched by makeup to accentuate the cheekbones, the eyes, and the heart bow of her soft lips. "Are you really going to miss out on the chance to claim the Girl on Fire, the Mockingjay, as yours when everyone in Panem is watching?"

That smile sets a heat to racing through my body and what I want to do more than anything is strip her naked and take her on the floor until the sounds of her orgasms echo from the roof of the chamber, but I cannot do that with so many people around so I shelve that option for later tonight and take her hand with a smile of my own. I know that I have made the right choice when she molds herself to the front of my body and stares into my eyes from inches away, the dark green around her eyes making the gray of her irises seem almost silver and mesmerizing in its intensity. She moves when I move, and it is an echo of a different kind of dance that we know very well, the synchronicity of our thoughts matching the graceful motion of our feet. I cannot look away from her eyes, I cannot breathe but to smell her scent all around me, and I do not notice that the floor is vacant but for us and the newlyweds until she spins away from me and takes Annie in my place, leaving me with Finnick's merry-eyed approval. I see then that we four are alone, and the cameras are fixed on us as we dance in a pattern that we never rehearsed but that is still somehow natural to us.

He captures my attention when he asks a soft question, a gentleness in his eyes I haven't seen from him except when Annie is involved. "Are you going to marry her? Are you going to make you both the happiest women in Panem and ask that girl to marry you, or are you going to make her beg outright?" I am confounded as to what he means by that second question, by what he means when he asks if I'm going to make her beg outright, and then he holds up a hand and begins to count off a list that seems to be in his head. "One, she gave you her purity. Two, she fought to get you both out alive, and smiled when she saw you right there with her. Three, she has dragged you everywhere with her and forced everyone to see you as part of a package deal. Four, I have heard stories of the things she has done to one particular man every time he says something horrid about you. Five, she forced them to move you two in together when you got out of the hospital. The doctors told me that one. Six, she went all the way back to District Twelve to get you one specific dress that you liked. You look great, by the way. Seven, she as much as begged you to let her claim you on national broadcast. Are you going to make her ask you, or are you going to ask her and let her be the princess in your relationship for once? I know you're all about equality, but still... just once?" The look he gives me is the brother pushing his sister to do something she knows she needs to but is dragging her feet on, and then I understand what he's saying: I should ask her now, tonight, when everyone can see. Especially Snow. I grin and nod at him, and then he is Finnick Odair, Capitol heartthrob, again. For just a few moments, the radiant smile that stole so many hearts shines throughout the room and he gives me a fierce but short hug, then spins me back into the arms of my beloved for the final notes of the music. I can't help myself, I just have to show off now that I have made up my mind, so I bend her over backwards and kiss her with as much heat and passion as I can muster.

When I stand her up again, she is dazed and staring into space, the fingers of one hand touching her lips as she tries to steady herself, and I use that moment to slip away. I hunt down Haymitch and pull him into a hug that he returns though he is obviously confused, but this way only he can hear me when I whisper to him, "I know a use for the ring you wear on that chain around your neck." He pulls back but keeps his hands on my shoulders, an appraising look in his eye as he considers what I said and what I could mean, then his gaze flicks to where Katniss is still standing and staring into space. A few minutes and a couple glances more and he figures it out. "You gonna pop the question Johanna? You sure about this?" I take a deep breath and shake my hands, then nod and whisper with all of the fierceness I can conjure up, "Yes Haymitch, I'm sure. I want to spend the rest of my life with her, and I want Snow to see it. I want to show that fucking white-haired bastard that though he has taken my family and her home away, he can never stop us from being happy. Finnick and Annie got to show him that too, I just want him to see the women he tried so hard to break stand tall." Haymitch doesn't smile, but he does pull a chain out of his shirt and unhook it, the ring that hangs there sliding until it falls into the palm of his hand. He stares at it a moment more, then hands it to me. "I never did understand why I couldn't get rid of this damned thing, but maybe this is why. Maybe I just knew I had to hold it until the right person came along. Never thought it would be you asking to give it to someone else though."

I give him another hug, this one blessedly silent, and almost skip back to the side of the woman I love. Katniss is just now managing to gather her wits, so when I skid to a stop right in front of her, she startles a bit and I can see a sweet little smile light her face.

I can't take another second to think or else I might lose my nerve, so I look around and wave at Cressida to get her attention. With a deep breath, I drop to one knee in front of her and hold up my hands, the ring that Haymitch just gave me sitting in my palms. I hear my voice, though it doesn't sound like mine, say the words, "Katniss Everdeen, will you marry me?" Her hands are covering her mouth and she isn't moving, so for a moment I worry that she stopped breathing too, and then the loudest and most ear-splitting squeal erupts from her mouth and her hands are on my cheeks and her lips are mashed against mine and then gone and then there again, and before I can catch my breath from the sudden onslaught I hear her cry out, "Yes, yes! A thousand times, a thousand times yes!"

She snatches the ring and slips it onto her finger and then her arms are around my neck and she is kissing me again and I can taste tears though I do not know whose, they might belong to us both. Long minutes pass and everyone is cheering and whistling and the crowd moves in to share in the joy. Finnick and Annie are the first to hug us and they stay there, refusing to move away from us so that others can join, and so our small group is surrounded by reaching hands and happy thoughts. A grin full of mischief in her eyes, my brand new fiancée turns to Cressida's cameras and purrs, "Sorry to break all those hearts out there, but only Johanna Mason can satisfy this woman." This time, it's her that kisses me into stupidity, and I don't mind at all.

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A/N: Ok, so there we go! The wedding of Annie and Finnick, something that I wanted to do SO BAD but I had to wait until I had him back and stuff. Also, this is their moment to clear up what is really going on for the rest of Panem, and to make their little family whole and stuff, and to be just adorable and mischievous and sweet and sexy and scandalous and try their very hardest to not steal the spotlight from the happy couple. I couldn't resist giving Johanna the blue dress she liked so much, and I like how the whole chapter came out. Much love to you all, I am tired and I've been writing since I got home from work, it is late, tell me what you think and please oh please enjoy!

Peace out, peeps. X

P.S. Almost forgot to mention! I know it should be obvious, but since most of my chapters are either straight Katniss or have notations for who is talking, this is a full chapter of Johanna Mason. :3 I was going to do this eventually, I just hadn't done it yet, and this was the perfect time to do it. Can you guess all the reasons why this was the best time? :P