Final chapter! I can't believe The Games That Play Us is over! :') Thank you all for standing by beside me for the duration of this month, you've all been amazing readers, and amazing reviewers. I can't express my appreciation enough. I think that you've all earned this!

PS: it changes POV's halfway.

So please, I hope you enjoy this last chapter :)

The ride to the train station was harrowing. The usual ten minute ride became thirty minutes. Reporters filled the window screens just begging and eager to get a glimpse of the star-crossed lovers.

This time though, Peeta didn't wave to them.

For most of the ride, I clung to his arm like a little girl, afraid that they might take him away from me again. I knew that I was acting like a child, but after being put through everything that has happened this month, I think that I'm the exception.

I haven't seen Johanna since the tribute interviews, I don't know where she has gone, it's like she disappeared off the face of the earth. Finnick never came back to visit me. I'm beginning to worry, I don't know if they're part of the rebellion or not, or if they're even aware of it, but they're my friends and President Snow knows that.

I know that he'll use them against me.

I'm aware that Peeta didn't sleep last night, or at least not much, because the dark circles seem to be everpresent. But I'm thankful that even though he doesn't get much sleep, he's there to help ward off the nightmares.

Once the car can no longer move any further, we take it upon ourselves to face the crowd lingering outside, and battle our way into the train. Because we all want to get out of this place. Except for Effie, Haymitch had to drag her inside the train car.

When we are in the sanctuary of the train, ghosts of the past seem to take on my mind.

I'm watching myself, Peeta, Haymitch and Vailea in the train on the way to the Capitol, before Peeta won, before I became the Mockingjay, before we even knew about the rebellion.

I badly want to shout at them, "Do you know what's coming? Do you?"

But then I'd look like a madman for hallucinating.

Haymitch steers clear of us and walks into his room, mumbling about something Effie had said about manners.

When I won, on the train ride back to District Twelve, Effie had pestered Haymitch about cleaning up to be presentable the day before we arrived, she had spent hours in his room and I could hear them arguing from the other side of the train.

This year though, she has nothing to do.

I don't worry about her though, she'll surely find something sooner or later, she can take care of herself, she can do whatever she wants since she's a Capitol citizen.

I grab Peeta's hand and lead him into my room, I just want to be alone with him, and anyway, I need to ask him something.

I shut the door behind me and turn around, and that's when I see Peeta's face drained of color.

I furrow my eyebrows, "Peeta, what's wrong?"

He gulps and takes something out from behind him, I can feel my face match his.

In his hand, lies a single rose.

I take big steps towards Peeta and grab his wrist, "What does it say?"

He whispers, "Nothing."

That's what scares me the most. There's nothing attached to the deadly flower, that is what's most dangerous. At least, if you have a note, you know what's coming, but that's President Snow, he has a heart made of ice and you don't know when you'll slip through the cracks.

I take his face in my hands, "It means nothing Peeta."

He pulls his face away from me and looks away, "I'm not stupid Katniss. I know what it means."

"Oh really? Tell me then."

He looks at me square in the eye, "It means he's watching."

I'm rendered speechless, he could not have this much hatred flaring in his eyes if President Snow didn't give him a visit.

"I told you that I'm not stupid Katniss."

My mouth gapes open, "I never said that you were!"

"Then stop hiding things from me!" Peeta shouts. It's the first time that he's ever raised his voice at me.

He sighs, sitting down and putting his head in his hands, "Just tell me, what really happened to you during the Games."

My eyes widen, so President Snow did have a talk with him, my voice is stern when I say, "How do you know that something happened? Peeta, who told you?"

I shakes his head and runs his hand through his hair, "President Snow. He said that I should know the truth about you. And that soon, I wouldn't be any better."

I sit down beside him and peel his hands off his face, "Peeta, do you really want to know?"

He nods, "Yeah, I do."

So I explain to him, everything that happened while he was away, the threats, the man who violated me, the rebellion. When I explain my encounter to the man, Peeta holds me against his chest as I sob, he tells me that I can stop but it is the only time that I can fully express myself, the only time when I can tell the story to someone who I know won't judge me. Because that's the kind of person that Peeta is.

"So, you're telling me that we sparked a rebellion?"

I nod my head slowly, "Yeah, we did. Peeta you're in so much danger, President Snow won't stop until he makes sure that you and I are dead," I bury my face into his chest, "I don't think I can do this without you."

"Katniss," he strokes my hair, "I'll do anything to keep you safe. I love you."

I whip my head up and look at him, "What?"

A blush creeps onto his cheeks and he looks away, "I said I love you."

My heart tightens, I don't know what I feel about him, I don't want to hurt him, "Peeta, I don't know what to say."

His face suddenly drops and he stands up, "No, i-it's okay, I get it."

I run after him and grab his wrist, "Peeta, I don't know what I feel about you, but I know that I need you, please, please don't leave me, not now."

He looks at me, with an unsure look on his face, but eventually he gives in and sits back down on the bed.

We lie in each other's arms until the evening creeps on us, eventually I find myself dozing off, but I come back alert once I hear an explosion from outside.

I jump off the bed and look out the window, the scenery has become a sea of fire, I can see Capitol symbol illuminated in the night sky by the hovercrafts in the sky dropping bombs.

We must be passing through District Eleven because of the vast fields that are now crumbling to the ground.

Peeta grabs my hand and stares outside of the window as well as distant screams of terror fill our ears.

I bring my hand to my face when I hear Haymitch and Effie scream from the other side of the train.

Before I can bring myself to run to the door, an explosion rocks me back into the depths of my room. I can feel the blast take its toll when I feel blood trickling down the back of my head.

We've been hit.

Then it dawns on me. This is an attack meant specifically for us, the symbols of the rebellion. The Capitol doesn't care about the innocent people that inhabit District Eleven, they'll do whatever they can and kill whoever's in their way if it means getting their hands on us.

Peeta screams out for me out of the corner of my eye, I see the glow of an unfamiliar symbol of a hovercraft and Peeta shielding me from the explosions using his body.

I can feel the train rattle as it finally succumbs to its damage, it slides down the hill and before blacking out, the last thing I see through the thick smoke is Peeta's bloody and lifeless body underneath the remnants of a shattered desk.

(Third person)

President Snow was certainly not oblivious to the fact that the girl on fire had something to do with the looming rebellion. He wondered how his people could have the audacity to betray him after he cared and treated them as if they were his own children. How dare they turn their backs on him? Especially because of two measly 'love-stricken' victors from District Twelve.

Maybe he should have paid more attention to that District. It was no secret that it was the least favoured out of all twelve.

He had known, and he certainly wouldn't go down without a fight.

He pondered in his office, what his plans were for when the revolution starts. How would he use the boy? He needed to break Ms. Everdeen, in fact, he was going to use her family and close friends, but then he got a note that they were no longer in District Twelve.

That was when he knew that Katniss Everdeen was a part of the rebellion.

So he decided to use his resources; and what better than Peeta Mellark himself?

And so he had ordered the attack, he didn't dwindle on the fact that innocent people will get killed, he just wanted the boy in his grasp.

When he got word that the offense team had arrived with his prisoner, President Snow was ecstatic. He could not wait to see the girl on fire drown in the flames that she had helped spark.

So his Peacekeepers lead him to the hospital ward, where his prisoner was going to be treated to look pristine for the cameras.

He smiled viciously at the white sheet that covered the boy's body.

He so desperately wanted to see the reaction of his recent victor when he discovered that he was in the custody of President Snow.

But when he lifted the sheet it wasn't Peeta Mellark.

It was Katniss Everdeen.

-END OF PART ONE-