-"In the games you were trying to seduce Katniss. Real or not real?" says Peeta.

-"Not real. Katniss has never meant to me more than a sister, and you know, I already have Annie."

He silences a bit.

-"I'm a mutt… like Katniss said yesterday."

I silence too. I was heavily disappointed in Katniss today when she yelled that. I was disappointed because I know she loves him, and because I know he would have never done the same to her. I thought she'd be better to him… more helpful. I gave him my rope and taught him some basic knots to get him entertained a bit.

-"Not real. And by the way, Katniss doesn't really think so, either."

-"You saved my life in the quarter quell."

-"Real."

-"How many times?"

-"I don't like venting." I say, smiling a bit.

-"I won't consider it so."

-"Well, three times. Once from the force field, the second time when I carried you away from the fog, the third when I blocked a spear Brutus shot at you."

-"Mags died because of me."

-"Not real. Mags was willing to sacrifice herself for us from the beginning."

-"In my first games, Katniss kissed me only to get sponsors."

-"Not real." I hesitate… I don't want to interfere in their relationship or make it even more complicated. In the end, I decide to be honest to him. "Katniss loves you."

-"In which way?"

-"I can't tell, but she does."

-"In my first games, Katniss drugged me and went to the feast to get me medicine."

-"Real."

-"She was almost killed by Clove there."

-"Real."

-"In the quarter quell…." He hesitates again.

-"In the quarter quell?"

-"You and I had a conversation."

-"Real."

-"I thanked you for saving our lives."

-"Real."

-"I said we were friends."

-"Real."

-"We are friends."

-"I'd say real, but that depends entirely on your decision."

He's silent again.

-"You love Annie."

-"Real. And I've been orbiting around that fact my whole life."

-"I'm sorry. Remember, that day in 13… at the table when I was rude to you."

I remember that day.

-"It's okay, Peeta, nothing is your fault."

My companion guarding Peeta, Homes, looks at Peeta politely as if he's apologizing he'll interfere.

-"Yes, Peeta, it's not your fault. We all know that."

-"Coin sent me here to kill Katniss."

Homes and I are silent.

-"Real or not real?" He insists.

-"Real." says Homes.

He thinks for a minute.

-"You guys are going to kill me if I try to attack Katniss."

-"Not real. We'll try to stop you, but we'll also try our best not to kill you in the process."

Gale and Leeg 1 get out of their tents; it's their turn to guard.

-"See you tomorrow, Peeta." says Homes.

-"Try not to unnerve Gale." I say, smiling to make it a joke, but I mean it.

-"Thank you Homes, Finnick."

-"No problem."

I enter my tent and try to sleep…. I think of home, of my people, safe in 13, I even try to figure out what Annie was trying to say before I leave… but no, I won't. Not because I can't, but because I don't want to regret this… it's the decision of my life. My whole life flashes by and it seems like my whole life has been meant for one thing: That I fight and bring peace to this country, or at least try.

If I die doing it… yes, I'll lose Annie and I'll never live to make things up for Johanna, I'll never be there to help Peeta and Katniss, or to see a child of mine… but at least my death will be noble. War is the one hunger games where those who die are the victors. As a matter of fact, those who'll live will be the ones grieving, crying, seeking consolidation about their loved ones.

The next day, we received news that Plutarch and Coin want our tapes to be more vivid. They've set up a new block for us with two actual pods. It's not that dangerous at all; we know the pods and how they're activated, so no one will fall for them, anyway.

How long will we be playing dolls? When is Katniss deciding to take off with Boggs' Holo already? I know once she will, Gale and I at least won't let her do it without us.

We were prepared. I held my gun and my trident. Peeta was given a gun too, but told by Boggs that it's blank. Peeta replied that he wasn't so skilled with them, anyway, but what we noticed is that he was staring at Pollux way too much.

"You're an Avox, aren't you?" He asks Pollux. "I can tell by the way you swallow. There were two Avoxes with me in prison. Darius and Lavinia, but the guards mostly called them the redheads. They'd been our servants in the Training Center, so they arrested them, too. I watched them being tortured to death. She was lucky. They used too much voltage and her heart stopped right off. It took days to finish him off. Beating, cutting off parts. They kept asking him questions, but he couldn't speak, he just made these horrible animal sounds. They didn't want information, you know? They wanted me to see it."

I didn't know those two personally, yet it was not hard to imagine and it silenced us all of shock. From the look of it, Katniss and Gale knew them; after Peeta turned around, Katniss laid her head on Gale's chest for reconsolidation.

After we arrive to the block, we start shooting the propo: Boggs teaches us the exact positions of the pods. We're supposed to deactivate one with the guns, the other needs someone to activate a human censor. Jackson was chosen to.

We do real work for a while, then we try to act. Our acting turns out horrific. We kept laughing at Mitchell that Boggs ordered us to hold it together.

And because I was trying to hide my face from him while I'm still laughing, I wasn't looking when a bomb blew his lower body up.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

As I lie down before I sleep, I think of the events of the day.

Boggs is dead. Mitchell is dead. Katniss is our leader, now. Katniss claimed Coin commanded her to assassinate Snow, but I don't believe that and I know most of the others don't either, but isn't that what I came to do? Have my revenge on Snow?

We're no longer television dolls, now, we're really chased; we're really in battle.

Traces of old Peeta started to show today. I know if Snow has programmed somebody to kill, and he programmed them well enough, they won't regret it. But today Peeta seemed to hate himself for causing Mitchell's death by pushing him into a pod, and also he gave Katniss a can of lamb stew; I know from watching her first hunger games it's her favorite food. That didn't pass Katniss without notice, either.

We broke into an empty apartment and we got food. The capitol thinks we're dead, and so does 13. We figured out by tomorrow, once they'd start fetching the bodies and won't find them, they'd realize they were wrong. So we went for a safer place: Underground. The tunnels where Avoxes work. I don't know much about them but Pollux, the Avox from Cressida's team, seemed to know much. My claustrophobia starts to hit, but I'm alright, at least.

A part of me is scared for Annie. What if she was watching the television? What if she thinks I'm dead now? How would she act? I'm sure screaming is on top of the list, maybe also breaking some things and fainting. I only hope there was someone next to her trying to calm her down.

I finally fall asleep.

I have a dream. My usual one, but for some reason, it seems more realistic, this time; perhaps because it was really, really close before I come here.

I had a dream about Annie and me by the beach watching over our child…. the boy with the bronze hair and green eyes. I'm covering Annie's shoulder with my arms, but for some reason, we never talk or look at each other.

At the end of the dream, something strange happens… something that doesn't happen in it, usually.

The boy runs to us, but it seems he only sees Annie.

-"Look, mommy! I found a seashell!" He says.

Something about the seashell makes Annie shed tears.

-"You told me once I've gathered enough seashells, daddy will come home, mommy, right?"

What does he mean? Am I not home, already?

She only nods and smiles with tears in her eyes. But as he runs to the ocean again, to find more seashells, apparently, Annie whispers, "Daddy's never coming home, Anton. Daddy's never coming home."

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

I don't know if I woke up by the end of the dream already, or by Katniss' hands shaking me. All I know is that when I opened my eyes, something strange was happening. I heard distant voices… something hissing… vague words, in the beginning, but in the end, not really. In the end, it was only one word repeated.

"Katniss… Katniss… Katniss…" endlessly.

Mutts. Mutts programmed to track us and kill Katniss, in fact. They discovered our escape sooner than we expected, and the reaction was faster, for I don't feel like I slept for long.

"Katniss… Katniss…" I hear it from something closer.

Peeta in his sleep.

In the beginning, Katniss gets ready to kill him. Then, he wakes up.

"Katniss! Get out of here!"

-"Why? What's making that sound?"

-"I don't know. Only that it has to kill you. Run! Get out! Go!"

Of course, he's trying to protect her again.

-"Whatever it is, it's after me. It might be a good time to split up." says Katniss. Is she crazy? Does she think we'll really leave her to face those things alone?

-"But we're your guard."

-"And your crew."

-"I'm not leaving you."

She looks at us to see who's armed and ready and who's not. Of course we, the soldiers, are armed, while Cressida's men only have their cameras.

-"Finnick," she orders me, "Please take one of your guns off and give it to Castor. Peeta, hand me yours." Peeta and I follow. To me, it's fair enough because I have a trident, my own gun and I had also Boggs'. To Peeta, he has nothing else.

She places bullets in Peeta's gun and gives it to Pollux. She takes hers off, settling for her bow and arrows, and gives it to Cressida. Gale does the same for Messalla. It looks like she decided Peeta didn't need a weapon.

We leave the room. They're still far behind us, but we'll leave no place for later regrets. We just run as fast as we can. Suddenly we hear horrifying screams. Not fully screams… it's the voices of people unable to scream but under the effect of a terrible pain, they can only let out something as a loud moan. Avoxes.

"Avoxes," says Peeta, echoing my thoughts. "That's what Darius sounded like when they tortured him."

-"The mutts must have found them."

-"So they're not just after Katniss."

-"They'll probably kill anyone. It's just that they won't stop until they get to her."

Gale's words terrified me not because they mean we're all in danger, but because they mean those monsters will care for no obstacle, no obstacle at all, until they get to Katniss. Nothing will stop them, and nobody's death will satisfy their hunger.

"Let me go on alone. Lead them off. I'll transfer the Holo to Jackson. The rest of you can finish the mission." That was Katniss. But again, I personally don't intend to leave her, and I know Gale and Peeta, at least, don't, either.

-"No one's going to agree to that!" says Jackson. Her dedication to Katniss, or more to the mission, surprises me. That was the woman who didn't believe Katniss and wanted to stop her, if I'm recalling correctly. Katniss does have a compelling effect, indeed.

-"We're wasting time!" I say. It's the truth. Those things might be far, but we're not going to stand here arguing until they're at our throats, already.

-"Listen." Said Peeta. The Avoxes' cries stopped, but now the voices repeating Katniss' name seem to come from the lower levels, also. From Katniss' face I know her plan was to go down, and now it's not functional.

We go on running, now that our only choice is aboveground, when suddenly Katniss starts choking. Jackson requests us to put our masks on, but there's no need. I know exactly what triggered Katniss… Snow's roses. The smell surrounds us.

The smell seems to drive Katniss crazy that she's running into the transfer now. The transfer is the same as the streets, except for walls, not buildings. In the transfer, there's a scary pod called the meat grinder. Katniss targets a flesh eating rat nest with one of her explosive arrows and destroys it. Suddenly I see one most scary thing.

Messalla is under the spot of some sort of golden light… but from the way he's frozen, I can't say this is just a normal golden light. It has to be some sort of special rays.

"Katniss!" I yell. She turns around to see it. As we're looking, Messalla's flesh starts to melt.

-"Can't help him! Can't!" That's Peeta. Is it a flash of hope for us in those circumstances that Peeta is returning, gradually but effectively, to his old self? Peeta pushes us forward to get us out of there.

And when gunfire starts from behind us, I realize it's the meat grinder next to us and the peacekeepers behind. We start to shoot back, all of us with guns and Katniss and Gale with their arrows, but as we do, something strange happens.

The mutts… the creatures hissing Katniss' name, advance. And as they advance, the peacekeepers are decapitated in a matter of seconds. So now we're surrounded by creatures which kill their own allies too to get to their target. Great.

I look at their tight white skins and their heads and their tails… lizards. Lizard mutts the size of a grown human.

Those poisonous reptiles start crawling to us. Katniss immediately chooses the direction of the meat grinder. "This way!" she yells at us. We stick to the wall to avoid the pod. Only after we've passed, Katniss shoots the pod and activates it. I realize she wants to block the way for the mutts, but who knows what those creatures are able to do, really? The metal teeth rise up and the street becomes a mess.

Katniss, it seems, decided our lives are more important than the mission, even if only temporarily. What would my own decision be? I don't know. I surely want to get out of here… I don't want to die here. Underground… by the teeth of those creatures… I want to see the sun one last time.

"Forget the mission. What's the quickest way aboveground?"She asks Pollux.

We follow him. We arrive to some pipe with an unbearable smell, but that was no time for the luxury of disgust. We run in that pipe for a while until we arrive to a yard and we see under it a scary fire burning some chemical substances, above it there was a bridge. Some of us found it easy to cross, some did it slowly. We finally arrived to a ladder which leads to aboveground. We lost no one to that yard, but Katniss realized we lost Leeg 1 and Jackson to the mutts. They stopped at the meat grinder to block their way, but the mutts got them. We realized they did because they were crawling right after us. Their smell of Snow's roses mixed with the disgusting smell of the pipe that Katniss seemed unable to bear it, but I held on.

I remember Leeg 1 and Jackson… how helpful and supportive, and even protective of Katniss they were. We lost them now. Next? Probably not someone that distant… probably me.

Gale exploded the bridge to block the mutts.

Those creatures were probably the worst mutts I've ever seen, and I've seen many, I've been a mentor for 9 years. But Snow's desire to kill 23 children doesn't equal his desire to kill us, apparently. The numbers of those creatures were unbelievable. We shot all we got at them, but still, they were crawling to us. They were tearing each other apart with their teeth; their hunger to us blinded them. I don't want to imagine what happens to us once they get to us.

Katniss looked crazy. She was unable to bear the smell of blood and roses. We tried to shake her, yell at her, as the mutts were getting closer. She explodes the head of one of them with one of her arrows. But Pollux has already started climbing. If Pollux is the guide, then who's the most important one of us, the one who should be following him? Katniss.

Katniss is currently paralyzed, she won't move on her own. I lift her and place her on the ladder. I yell at her to climb; we don't have much time. Gale follows her, then Peeta and Cressida. Homes, Castor and I are last.

The others start climbing a second ladder, and I only guess it's finally over when the mutts get to Homes and Castor and there's only me, a few steps away.

"Katniss!" I yell. Not that I want her to risk her life to save me, but only that I want to take a look at someone I know and love before I'm gone.

I know it's over, but I won't die surrendering. I try and push them off with my trident, but even if I succeed to push three or four, the others are coming.

My last wish is granted. Katniss is safe; she seems to be arguing with Gale about something; then she lights Cressida's gun to look at me as I'm dying.

No, this wasn't my story, after all. This wasn't the story about me ending up happy with the ones I love… this was a story about me, dying as part of a whole, for other people to be happy.

But I don't regret it. I don't regret being a soldier at war. I don't regret dying for the people I love. And as I think about it now, I believe I couldn't wish for a better death. Men like me were not born to die from their hearts on their beds… men like me are born to fight till their last minute.

Annie's safe. Katniss is safe. Prim is safe. Johanna's safe. Peeta… Mrs. Everdeen… Haymitch… Beetee… my family and friends are safe. This is what I'm fighting for... or what I was fighting for, anyway. I'm dying now… happy that they'll be okay. That Annie will be alive and will have someone to help her… that Katniss will achieve what she's here for and will save this country and have a family with Peeta or Gale one day… that Prim will live a long life and be happy with Rory… that Mrs. Everdeen will live to see her two daughters happy… that Haymitch will probably stop drinking and start facing life… that Johanna will find a better man than me one day, one who'll love her… this is all enough to make me happy. I don't have to live and see it… it's enough for me to know it'll happen.

And all those thoughts cross my head before a mutt finally gets its teeth to it and separates it from my throat.

.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.*.

No, the way to heaven is not a stairway. It's a road… a long road.

I'm surprisingly happy… my body feels surprisingly comfortable and light. I'm wearing a white shirt and white pants. The road is surrounded by darkness, but the end of it seems like the source of the light of the whole world.

I walk… and as I arrive, I'm stunned by the light which surrounds everything: My vision… the people standing there to welcome me… everything.

First, a girl. A beautiful young girl with light brown hair, shades lighter than Annie's and blue eyes. I start, slowly, to recognize her, although I never saw her that age.

Mags.

She hugs me and whispers, "You were brave, my boy. The perfect man I raised you to be."

Raised you to be? When she looks like that it's hard to believe she died any older than 20.

"Mags! What's the story? Why do you look like you took a time machine?"

Cinna laughs. I recognize him more easily because he died young.

-"Everybody is in their early 20s here, Finnick. Forever."

Anton's next to her. She was right, he looked like me. He smiled at me as I greeted him.

-"You know son…" whispers Mags. "I fought for the day you'd be happy. And looking down from here, I saw you… the most beautiful groom I've ever seen… with Annie. At least you had some happiness. And I'm relieved now you're here. No one will be ever able to hurt you here. There are others I want you to meet."

She leads me further.

I see a man with green eyes and brown hair. Although he didn't die young, he, too, was easier to recognize than Mags.

"Father!" Not really father, but he was indeed, my father by all means.

-"Ah, we're the same age here, Finn. Call me Frederick."

-"Frederick… I missed you."

-"We all missed you, too, son. And… don't call me father anymore. See, your real father might get angry."

My real father.

There he is… bronze hair… golden skin… green eyes… even more stunning than I am… and he's standing with my mother. She had hay colored hair and hazel eyes. I inherited all from him.

"Ah… now I know like whom I look, huh?"

We all laugh. They hug me.

-"We're very, very proud of you son. We're sorry we left you. If only we knew we could see you grow to be so brave and good… we would have never left."

I smile at them.

-"It's okay."

I meet a second mother figure… Senthia.

We hug each other. "Senthia! You look good, you know."

-"I always did, fisherman." We all laugh.

Then, comes a young man who also died older, but was not hard to recognize.

"Boggs!" He hugs me.

-"You offered Katniss the protection I failed to. Thank you, son."

-"You're welcome!"

He's followed by another man… this time I'm sure I never knew him.

I never knew him… but those features are impossible not to recognize. The grey eyes… the black soft hair… the olive skin…

-"Mr. Everdeen!"

-"I'm very, very grateful, Finnick. For everything you did for my family. Thank you."

A beautiful girl, 13, 12 years old max comes. She has beautiful wide eyes with feathery lashes and a beautiful rich skin color. In the beginning I don't recognize her, but then it seems easy.

-"Rue!"

-"Finnick!" She runs at me and holds my hand.

-"I looked down on you. I'm sorry for how much you suffered and thank you for protecting Katniss… thank you so much for doing what I was not able to do. And when you talked about me in that TV propo…"

I only smiled at her. I realize now why she reminded Katniss of Prim. The only difference between the two girls was their appearance.

-"Why are you still l2?"

-"If you die younger than twenty, you come here the same age and you grow up, year by year, until you reach it. Then you remain 20 forever."

-"Because nobody's childhood should be taken away." I say, and she nods.

I got welcomed, then, by the children I mentored. The place was more than I ever imagined that I find it hard to describe it with words. A terrific meadow… woods, safe woods, not like those in the hunger games… an ocean.

My own castle, of course, was by the ocean. The people I love lead me there.

-"Is everything so perfect here?"

-"Of course." Replies Mags, smiling.

-"Well then if that is the case… we are the real winners while those who lived are the fallen."

I guess I'll know.

Only a few days later, Prim came. It was the first time since I came here that I felt angry… terrified. I started yelling once she arrived. Her father, too, seemed pretty irritated.

-"What is she doing here? She's not supposed to be here!"

-"Finnick!" Says Mags. "Remember that you said! We are the winners! Do you want her to be a winner or not?"

-"She was too young, Mags! Way too young!"

-"I guess she'll be the last one too young to come here, right?"

Yes.

Rue comes to welcome Prim and the two girls are friends immediately. My two young sisters I never had.

Prim confessed to me, once I became calmer, that Annie was pregnant. In the beginning I was heartbroken, but then I realized he or she, Annie, Katniss, Johanna, Peeta, and everyone I love who's still living and struggling in that lethal world is to follow us one day. And then, they'll be happy.

The next few days, watching down, we knew the capitol fell. Katniss was in very, very bad condition, Prim and Rue cried over her… her father kept whispering to her to be strong… and all the others kept wishing the best for her.

Katniss killed Coin and Snow choked on his own blood, as I wished, one day. Seems only fair, now that I know Coin is the one who sent Prim here. They didn't come here, though, they fell from the road to the darkness of hell and for eternity, they'll burn in agony.

Months after, Annie gave birth to my child. She named him Anton like I dreamt… the last dream before my death. He looked everything like me… but he was more beautiful.

And more months after, Peeta and Katniss married. They were each other's relief… shelter. He lost his entire family and so has she. They only had each other.

Sometimes, we, the fallen… or more correctly, the real victors, gathered to talk about them. I talked about Annie and the moments she saw things which were not there and I succeeded to calm her down by telling her they're not real. About Johanna, and how she pretended to be fine when in reality, her whole world was collapsing. About Katniss, and the spark I caught from her.

Mags remembers Annie and all the children that she mentored.

Anton thinks about his family more than anything. Cinna and Portia talk about Katniss and Peeta and how much they missed them, and sometimes laugh at the things Effie and Haymitch did.

Rue remembers her family and Katniss… and speaks of how grateful she was for Peeta's gift to them. Prim speaks of her mother, Katniss, Gale and her pets, Lady and Buttercup.

My parents and Mr. Everdeen talk about the childhood of their children, grieving how they missed it.

Boggs talked about his little boy, his wife, and Katniss.

The fallen tributes speak of their parents… their friends… siblings… boyfriends and girlfriends… the lives they missed.

In the end, we were all happy. Not only we're happy and safe here, but also our beloved ones are still alive, and now their world is better. Yes we miss them, but we're relieved by their happiness.

They remember us, too. With tears in their eyes, Katniss and Peeta drew a book about us. They remembered me… Prim… Rue… Boggs… Mr. Everdeen… Peeta's family… everyone they loved.

I once heard the things you whisper to your loved ones transmit from here to their souls. Ever since, every night, I sing a lullaby for Annie and my child. I also try my best to guide Johanna's soul. She's been living with them… helping Annie with everything. For that I'll be forever grateful.

Now I dare say I'm a victor.

The End.