You guys are all awesome and I hope you know that. Have some snacks to eat while you're reading this epilogue. Strawberries, cookies, chocolate bars, and blueberries for you all. :)

C3{ C3{ C3{ Strawberries

(::) (::) (::) (::) (::) Cookies

[][][][] [][][][] [][][][] [][][][] Chocolate bars

(*) (*) (*) (*) Blueberries!

Me: Any objections, guys...?

Caius and Petronius: *exchange glances* Nope.

Artemis: You owe me four chocolate bars...

Me: Meh. Enjoy the epilogue.

Epilogue

Time passed.

But of course, time did not heal everything.

Peeta had been right. Time in the arena could batter minds and consciences until they broke. They might not have broken yet, but all feared that with the wrong move, they might.

Countless nights of terror passed.

No one could count the times Marius had held Iris in his warm embrace as both of them wept uncontrollably.

No one could count the times Julius cried out incoherently, howling as the faces of the dead haunted him.

No one could count the times Juno had awoken to hear Petronius screaming for a boy and a girl he had murdered.

No one could count the times Caius had refused to go to bed, fearing what or who he would meet in his sleep.

No one could count the times Artemis caught herself repeating the names of children she couldn't save, as if calling their names for a reaping.

The Games might have been declared as over, but they never really ended. They all knew that now. No amount of medicine, literal or metaphorical, could heal these kinds of scars.

Time didn't heal everything.

Some things just couldn't be healed.

But some things didn't have to be.

Time passed.

Caius eventually summoned up the courage to ask Apollo's permission, then Artemis's once her father approved. They made a nice pair, the two did, she, the greatest computer technician/hacker of the nation, he, the greatest detective that Liber would never know –– because after all, some games were too dangerous to play while wearing your real identity.

Iris and Marius found love with each other. The second the girl turned sixteen, the proper age of betrothal for Capitolian young women, they became engaged.

Juno had been the first to make a move, inviting Petronius out on a date. After three years of making the first moves, Petronius stepped up and did it for her, giving her the ring before she even knew what he was doing.

Julius never married. His friends often found him in his little house in District 12, where he had found a job in construction.

Cynthia and Lucius broke up. She met a former soldier by the name of Gale Hawthorne and found a home in District 2. Lucius spent many of his years in the Capitol, undergoing therapy and working off the side effects of the naevlynd.

Cornelius went on to become a chef, and a rather talented yet quite frankly rotund one at that. Oftentimes he and Peeta Mellark would do dinner collaborations, him making the main course, Peeta making the desserts, and Cornelius's girlfriend Juliana making the appetizers. He reached out to the hungry and donated much of his money to help the recovering citizens of the new nation, as many of the better-off survivors also did.

A new generation came along, bringing joy and innocence and laughter and light along with them. And piece by piece, the broken tributes and the broken country began to be put back together. They would never be entirely whole again –– the scars reminded them that once they had been shattered –– but at least they would be able to stand, look up, and smile again.

Some things can't be healed.

But getting through them, getting through the pain, is easier when there is someone by your side.

Even if that person is as broken as you are.

The End

Yes! Yes! Yes I did it! You like that ending? That's good, right? I love it! If a book is ever published with that same ending, know who did it. ^_^

I want to give a big thank you to everyone out there who followed, favorited, and reviewed. Thanks to krikanalo, chocykitty, CR3ATIV3, ExplodingAaron, TributeAndProud, CatInTheHat57, Dracones, Hello-yello, Chloe BHAFC, SilverLightningDemigod, Adamine Beifong, JBlockman1, A Stargazer's Lullaby, Amially, lovewar66, Seraband, dannnnzzzz, missbookworm13, , Fire Kitty 12, RueThisDay, Harvey Johanson (guest), Hayley Chan (guest), U (guest), Idk (guest), aoife123 (guest), ImmaGuest (I think you can guess), SeekerDraconis23 (guest as far as I can tell), and all those wonderful reviewers under the obviously anonymous name of Guest, who all reviewed at least once. Thanks, guys, I really, really appreciate these. You're all awesome.

Now, I have heard your requests regarding a sequel and can truthfully say that I have extensively considered it. Some of you I have spoken directly to as to why, exactly, I am unsure of a sequel's probability of future existence. You know who you are. Basically, I will say that I am out of ideas. I know what the public thinks: that it should have Caiamis, tribute descendants, Caiamis, genius talk, Caiamis, some weddings, Caiamis, lots of action and angst, and Caiamis. But really, what else? What plot? Hunger Games is not really a fandom where you can throw in a random antagonist during a declared state of peace, especially when there is a canon epilogue set 20 years after the end of the book clearly stating that there has been peace ever since. See, maybe if the characters and the setting had not been so infernally human, so realistic, then maybe I could throw in some immortality-obsessed alchemist or a dark lord with plans of world domination, but you can't do that in Hunger Games fandom, can you? Sadly, no. *sigh*

However, I am not done with this fic. I have spent altogether too many of my pathetic socially-lifeless hours slaving over it and I am not ready to let it go yet. Maybe I'll do a few oneshots, maybe a mini story about the kids, maybe even a chapter or two in Night Whispers (which I am so sorry to have put on hiatus; I just got lazy, okay?). Maybe someday I'll come back and rewrite this whole stupid thing. I just don't know. You guys have some really awesome ideas and I want to use them, just to see where they'll take me. If you have any more, I'm open.

I can't believe I'm here, I really can't. Two stinking years of compiling all of this into this grand masterpiece and what do I have to show for it? A freaking 136 reviews, that's what! Sooooooooo awesome...thank you guys so so so so so so so so so so so so so much! XD

Commence in shutting up and ending my infernally long author's note.