**Alrighty folks… this is it. The end of the line for this story! Here is the last and final chapter for these youngsters… well, not so young anymore : ) Here is the Epilogue for New Generation**
As always, I do not own the Hunger Games or any of the original characters (Katniss, Peeta, Haymitch, Gale, Johanna, Finnick, Annie, Finn Jr., Posy, Rory, Vick, Hazelle and any others that were originally there). But I do own Jane, Peyton, Katrina, Maggie and all the others I made up. Enjoy!
***Twenty Years Later***
Janelle Hawthorne-Mellark POV
It's not a particularly happy day, and yet at the same time it is. Early summer, the tail end of spring. The breeze is warm, and the flowers are in full bloom. A time of rebirth, some call it.
Everyone is gathering at the train station to meet the Odair family coming in from their home in District 4. We all knew that they would move out there eventually. Little did we know that their little three person family would soon blossom into a six person family. Interesting bunch they are. I honestly don't know how Katrina managed four kids; I have trouble managing my two every now and then.
"Mom." I feel a tug on the skirt of my dress. That's another thing; I'm openly wearing dresses now, I know it's weird. I look down and see her smiling face at me.
"Yes baby?"
"When is everyone else going to be here?"
"They should be here any minute." I smile back at her. Her large dark brown eyes scan the road behind us that leads back to the heart of District 12, her golden hair shaking in the wind. She really is a gorgeous girl, and surprisingly good at archery. It runs in the family. We took her to a camp a couple of years ago, and she placed first in her age group, first in the age group above her, and first in the age group above that. Age ten and she's already one of the best in the district, giving her grandma Mellark a run for her money.
We named her Regan. Rae for short. Even though she has his hair and archery skills, she's got my everything else.
"Jane!"
I turn around to see Grayson walking up with Maysilee, each holding the hand of one of their two daughters. One platinum blonde, and one dark brown. The infamous Genevieve and Madison Hawthorne. One year apart, and always fighting about something. Grayson's hand was locked onto the older of the two, Genevieve who was glaring at her younger sister Madison, whose hand was gripped tightly my Maysilee. Madison is a year older than Rae, but the three of them have always gotten along.
"Where's Peyton?" Grayson asks me when they get closer.
"Closing up the bakery with Will."
"Ah, okay." Then a little quieter, for only me to hear he asks. "Is it a good day, or a bad day?"
"Good I think." Peyton has done so much better the last twenty years, but there are still days where he goes off on a rampage questioning everything in his life and blaming me and the kids for his stress and hardships. I've learned not to take it personally because he'll be fine the next day and will apologize for hours on end. I was worried at first about having kids because I wasn't sure if they'd be able to handle it, but they've done surprisingly well.
One of the most memorable incidences was when I was eight months pregnant with Rae. He was having a bad day, and accused me of adding stress to his life, but that was nothing new. When he accused me of having another man's baby, that was different. He pushed me down the stairs. I was okay, but I had gone into early labor. They rushed me to the hospital while Grayson basically beat Peyton to contain him to the house. Rae was born a month early, but she was perfectly healthy for a premee. She couldn't leave the hospital for another two weeks, but she did just fine. A very happy baby.
William on the other hand, was a little trouble maker. Kind of like me when I was younger. Our son Will, followed the family tradition of becoming a baker. He is fifteen this year, and already a heart throb in school, or so I hear. I make sure to tease him about it, to which he turns red and walks quietly out of the room. He never raises his voice when he gets mad, but his silver eyes become very dark. He's hiding them right now in his messy brown hair, but refuses to get it cut.
Suddenly Madison yells. "Stop touching me!"
"I'm not touching you!" Gen yells back.
"Girls!" Maysilee's voice is only ever stern with them. I've never heard her yell, or sound angry, but the girls know their mother well enough to behave.
A train whistles in the distance. This has got to be them. I haven't seen Finn or Katrina in almost a year.
"Did we miss them?" An older voice asks. We all turn to see Mr. and Mrs. Mellark making their way down the path. Mr. Mellark's hair had more white than blonde, and Mrs. Mellark had silver streaks in her dark hair. Mr. Mellark also carried a cane with him now, his prosthetic leg still worked; it was his real leg that was giving him problems now.
"Obviously not brainless." Mom. "Or else they wouldn't be standing here." She and dad come down the other path. Dad's hair was much like Mrs. Mellark's; gray throughout, but still fairly dark. Mom's hair looked the same; I think the gray hair is too scared to grow.
"Thank you Jo for that walk down memory lane." Mrs. Mellark scowls with sarcasm.
"Happy to help." Mom smirks. Dad doesn't say anything. I don't really expect him to say much whenever I see him now. He's become very reserved and withdrawn from everyone else. Mom does most of the talking for him.
It sounds like everyone was going to make it this year, except Greg and his wife Ena from District 7 where they now live. Ena is about to give birth to their first child, and the doctor ordered strict bed-rest. He called me a week ago to tell me, and I told everyone else. He said we're more than welcome to come visit them when the baby is born, but right now, Ena needs a stress free environment. He refuses to tell us what the gender is or what name they've already picked out. We all have a bed going.
I think it's going to be a girl. Peyton, Grayson, Katrina, mom and Mr. Mellark think it's a boy. Maysilee, Finn and Maggie have sided with me. Finn's parents and Mrs. Mellark have decided to stay out of the betting, seeing as they tend to lose whenever they do, especially Mrs. Mellark.
Maggie currently lives in District 1, but is staying with her parents for the time being. There are rumors that she has a girlfriend back in District 1. I've called aunt Posy to see if she knows anything, seeing as she helped Maggie get a job, but she doesn't give anything away.
Maggie revealed to everyone that she liked girls and boys about five years ago. She seemed worried when she told us, like we wouldn't accept her for it, but we were all fine with it. It's her life, who are we to say how she should live it?
She walks up with Mr. and Mrs. Odair just as the next whistle on the train blows. It should be here any moment. Finnick Sr. smiles kindly at everyone with Annie close by his side, she looks a little nervous, but I know she's just anxious to see her son.
The train finally does roll in and passengers begin to pile off. Ember and Erik run out first, tumbling as they do. The twins are the ones who give Katrina and Finnick the most grief. Dark messy hair with sea green eyes, just like their older brother Roark. They're a year younger than Will but act like six year olds.
Roark is the next one off. Twenty years old and a chick magnet in District 4 I hear. He's a swim instructor at the high school there, just like Finn was here. But he's much quieter than the twins, except when he sings and plays guitar. The Capitol wants to sign a record deal with him, just like they did with Katrina two years after he was born. He and Will have been best friends since Will was born, even though there's a five year difference.
Finn comes just after, but stops to help Katrina off. Katrina, comes out with their youngest on her hip. Little Daron Odair. The only one with Finn's bronze hair and Katrina's blue eyes. He's just four years old, but really doesn't like trains, and is allergic to shell fish. However, he's a swimming protégé. Katrina called us about six months ago saying that he was in his first official swim lesson, and was able to hold his breath under water for thirty seconds. She was worried that he had drowned when the other kids came up after ten. Finn was a little worried, but Finnick Sr. was proud. I knew rumors of when Finnick Sr. was a teenager, he could hold his breath under water for three minutes.
"Hey everyone." Katrina said once she set Daron down on the ground. "The train was on time for once."
"Technically you're ten minutes late." Says a deeper voice behind us. I know who it is, so does everyone else. Peyton walks up, hands in his pockets with Will. "Punctuality was never your best suite." He jokes.
Everyone laughs lightly. "Nice to see you too little bro." Katrina smiles.
There's a moment of silence before Mrs. Mellark speaks up. "Why don't we go get you settled in and then we'll head out?"
"Okay mom." Katrina says. "Want to hold Daron? He missed you." Daron is already running towards his grandmother.
"Nana." He smiles.
"Look at how big you're getting." Mrs. Mellark picks him up and carries him on her hip exactly like Katrina. "How old are you now? 2? 3?"
"4!" He says excitedly.
Everyone helps grab a bag. I glance over at Mrs. Mellark one more time, and see her tearing up just looking into Daron's eyes. The same eyes her daughter was born with. The same eyes that her husband has. So many years are held in those eyes. So many hardships and adventures.
"Jane?" Peyton touches my arm and Rae tugs on my skirt. "You alright?"
"Hmm? Yeah I am. Totally." I smile. "Let's go."
We follow everyone up the main path to the center of the District and walk towards the old Victor's Village. Mr. and Mrs. Mellark have tried to get other people to move in over the years, saying that it doesn't just belong to those who survived the games anymore. But people respectfully declined and said that they know that anyone can live there now, but it doesn't feel right. Not yet anyway. Maybe in another generation or two.
Peyton and I currently reside in the house two down from his parent's, three down from mine.
We get the large Odair family settled into the house on the opposite side of the street, right next to Finn's parents' house. This one is reserved especially for them, because it has an added master bedroom on the ground floor; originally for the twins to share, but now that they're older, it's shared between Erik and Daron.
Once we've all had a chance to relax, we all gather outside and walk towards the opposite end of the village. Towards the meadow. It takes us twenty minutes to cross the length of the district. And an extra ten to reach the secluded area that was put aside for this. We have an official graveyard, but we all prefer this area, it's peaceful, and it means something special to our parents.
A small tombstone that reads "Rye Mellark" is the first one we pass. Peyton's grandfather. The next is "Primrose Everdeen". Then "Hazelle Hawthorne"; "Vick Hawthorne" died of a brain tumor five years ago; "Lilia Everdeen" Katniss's mother; "Effie Trinket" even though she died in the Capitol and her body was never recovered, they set aside a place for her; "Madge Undersee" who passed away almost ten years ago, her body just shut down from the trauma she went through during the war; and at the very edge of the row, the newest grave site "Haymitch Abernathy" who died one year ago today.
"I miss great grandpa Haymitch." Rae says quietly beside me. Everyone bows their heads. Even though he had a life filled with alcohol, he managed to stay alive until the age of 84.
Everyone says something simple; a memory, a joke, or something Haymitch used to say. Mrs. Mellark was the most memorable though, since she had come to know Haymitch as a second father. She said: "When we were in the games, we would ask him if he had any advice for us. He would always say, Stay Alive. I guess Haymitch stayed alive as long as he could, I'm glad he's at rest."
Stay alive. Advice all of us have come to know. As the last of the winners of the games are dying out, the Capitol put up memorials for all of them, and made them national holidays even though they don't take off work. I hear for Holiday Haymitch, they're having 75% off all liquor.
Mom, Finnick Sr., Annie, Peeta and Katniss are some of the last survivors of the games. Everyone will grow up knowing their names because it's now in our history books. They'll all have their own biographies, even though mom and Katniss stuck their nose up at the idea. And they'll always be remembered.
So as I lay in bed that night next to my husband, with both our kids asleep in their own rooms, I can't help but wonder: who will remember the next generation?
And there it is.