Chapter 25

WARNING: COMMENTS WILL MOST LIKELY CONTAIN SPOILERS

Jason's P.O.V.

Snow pressed the gun to her forehead, ready to do it, ready to kill herself with the weapon she had used to save my life.

I heard the bullet slide into the cold barrel of the gun.

I felt Thalia tense beside me and I could also sense a shift in Vena's position as well.

No one expected this.

We expected her to fight, to attack us, kill us even.

But not this.

And then there's what she said about Orchid.

She sounded like she was telling the truth.

But there was something else that bothered me.

What she had said about Orchid, about how I didn't try to save her, about how she loved Orchid more than I did.

It was all true.

Snow had tried to save her, or at the very least, she had been there. 

I had left Orchid behind without a second thought simply because I knew I stood no chance of winning with her as an ally.

"Snow." My own voice surprised me. I hadn't meant to speak. But now that I had begun, I couldn't stop. "S-Snow," I repeated. "Put the gun down."

She quickly shook her head. "It's the only way."

"No, it's not." Jerome cut in. "Snow, please, I'm begging you to put the gun down."

Snow didn't respond.

I raised my voice. "Orchid wouldn't want this."

"You don't know what Orchid would and wouldn't want!" Snow screamed. "You weren't there!"

"She wouldn't want you dead Snow! I know her! I knew her before you did! She wouldn't want you dead! Orchid saved her life and you're going to let it go to waste? You're going to let Kern and Orchid's sacrifice go to waste?"

Snow's hand with the gun in it faltered slightly. "You're right." her voice was quiet. "I owe it to them."

"That's right Snow." Thalia said soothingly. "Now put the gun down."

Vena was smart enough to not say anything but her face showed fury.

"Snow, put the gun down." Jerome repeated.

"No!" she snapped. "That's not what I meant!" Snow's eyes filled with fury. But it wasn't directed toward us. 

Every camera, every microphone, every T.V. in Panem, it was all looking right at her. District 2's Prodigy, the Capitol's Soldier. 

"People of Panem." Snow's voice rang loud and clear. Her hand shifted on the gun but she kept it pointed toward herself. "You sit in the supposed safety of your homes, watching me as I speak. But none of you are safe. Every year, your children get slaughtered, and for what? For fun? For entertainment?"

I didn't understand what she was doing.

"You saw what happened to Orchid, the little sister I never had, and Kern the boy who protected me. They died. But who killed them? What happened? Did you really see? Or did the Capitol change reality and show you lies?"

She took a deep breath. "I've been always viewed as the Capitol's precious child, the Soldier who is willing to fight for them. I volunteered in the Games knowing I would die, purposefully. I chose to save Orchid. I wanted to save her. But she was killed, Orchid along with Kern. And why? For knowing the truth. For knowing the reality that none of you could ever imagine."

Snow let out a sharp laugh. "And the best part is, they can't cut this from the feed. Someone's interfering with the signal."

Her words were confusing and unclear.

"I am not the Capitol's Soldier and I will never be the Capitol's Soldier ever again. I will never fight for the Capitol and I will never help them so long as I am who I am. They killed them. They controlled their minds and forced them to do things through the so called trackers. Would Kern really stab himself? Would he really try to kill two girls he had just made an effort in saving?"

She let out a bitter laugh. "They're controlling you. They're controlling us. Every single one of us. We're brainwashed. When they prick your finger for the blood during the reaping? They also drug you. They don't want rebellion, so they alter your brain so you won't want rebellion either!"

My eyes widened.

"Fight, people of Panem. This is not the life you deserve. You deserve better, your children deserve better. Fight them! Go against them! And I will be right there with you, even in death. My people of District 2, if I have betrayed you, so be it. But for those of you who believe in me, those of you who trust me, I want you to know that I believe in District 13."

I took a step backward.

District 13 was long gone, blown up, obliterated. Snow was insane.

"They've been hiding underground and the Capitol knows it. Find District 13, align with them, fight with them. Fight for Orchid, an innocent girl that was murdered by the 'beloved' Capitol. Fight for Kern, who fought until his very last breath. They were killed for knowing the truth. And now I speak it to you, to all of you."

"Rebel."

Snow's voice was filled with power, with force, and with a burning passion. I myself began to believe what she said and I suddenly had a strong urge to rebel. 

She could throw all of Panem into war. 

Snow could change everything.

"As for the Capitol," Snow wasn't finished. "I have one last message for you. One last message for President Snow."

This time, there was real hatred, real fury in her eyes.

"I am sickened to be named after you. I am sickened to have ever fought for you. You murdered the first spark of the flame, Katniss Everdeen and her ally Peeta Mellark. Well, I am your newest spark, and you have already failed to get rid of the fire I have started. I am the girl on fire. I am the Mockingjay. And I will force you to burn, I will bring you to your knees. And I will soar high above you as you become ashes in the flame. If we burn, you burn with us."

Snow smiled slightly, and for a second, I saw the spark. I saw the dancing flame in her eyes. 

She pulled the trigger.

But the gun flew out of her hand.

Thalia had shot an arrow that had hit the gun sending it spiraling off.

"No!" Snow screamed. I immediately blocked her from the knives that lay on the ground. Her eyes locked with me for a split second.

"Can't you see Jason?" she whispered. "I want this. You owe this to me."

And then she ran. 

All of us, even Vena, chased after her. But she had the upper hand. Besides getting a head start, having nothing to slow her down, and being faster and more athletic than us to begin with, she also could kill us if needed. The reason we were trying to stop her was because we didn't want her to die, so killing her so she wouldn't kill herself wasn't an option.

I could see the gun laying in the distance. 

We were running out of options.

As if by silent agreement, we all suddenly stopped.

There was no point. We had no chance.

Thalia nocked another arrow but her hand was shaking so badly, she couldn't aim. There was no way she would get as lucky as she did before and Snow was bound to be more cautious.

We watched, helpless, as Snow reached the gun and bent over to pick it up.

Just as her fingers brushed the handle, a huge crash sounded.

One second, there was nothing next to her, the next second there was a huge hovercraft a foot away from her.

The door of the hovercraft opened and Peacekeepers poured out. They grabbed Snow's arms and legs. She fought them. At first she was successful. Snow managed to hit quite a few of the Peacekeepers hard enough in the neck for them to crumple.

But they just kept pouring out. For every one that fell, three replaced them.

She was just outnumbered. Even Snow, the best fighter in Panem, didn't stand a chance.

They grabbed her, this time more forcefully. One Peacekeeper had their arm around her neck and was choking her. She elbowed them hard, right in the ribs, enough to cause them to wince. She then managed to kick them right in the gut. 

But three more got a hold of her.

Only then did I realize, that all of us, every single one of us, had been standing still, watching as Snow was hit and choked.

But it was already to late for us to help.

"This is what happens to flames, to sparks." a voice boomed throughout the arena. 

The Peacekeeper who seemed to be the leader signaled to the other's. They nodded in reply and grabbed Snow in a way so she couldn't move.

It happened in an instant.

The gun was pulled out. It was pointed straight at Snow's head.

And then it went to slow motion.

Snow's head snapped back and her body crumpled to the ground as the Peacekeepers let go of her arms. She fell, lifelessly, and hit the hard dirt. Crimson colored blood poured out of her. 

Snow was no longer fighting.

Snow was no one's soldier.

I choked.

Thalia had tears pouring down her face but they were silent.

The thunderous voice spoke again.

"Sparks die."

The Peacekeepers dragged her dead body into the hovercraft. Even from across the center of the arena, I saw her coal, midnight-black eyes staring at me. The fire that had played through them was gone. Instead, they were lifeless. Her eyes weren't cold, they weren't loving, they weren't sharp or calculating.

They were dead.

And she was gone.

The hovercraft disappeared.

"Jason! Move now!" Mitch yelled.

I stumbled forward and whipped my head around to see a second hovercraft land.

But it wasn't Peacekeepers that stumbled out.

It was people dressed in clothes that looked...normal. Like District clothes. Except, they didn't look like any District's that I had seen.

"District 13." Jerome whispered.

They came running toward us, guns in hands.

"Come with us! We can save you!"

I couldn't move. None of us could. We were frozen.

"You'll be dead or tortured if you don't leave with us now!" the man in the front demanded. His eyes pleaded with us but we didn't respond.

"Don't let Snow's sacrifice go to waste." the woman said quietly.

That got us moving. We hurried into the hovercraft. The man had an arm placed on my back and was pushing me across the dirt as fast as he could. 

We were hustled into a small area inside the hovercraft where we all collapsed against the benches.

"Let's go! Now! Before they block it off!" the woman shouted. I felt the ground shake underneath me, then a huge pressure on my body, and then we were flying.

It was a while before anyone spoke.

"I know this is hard to understand." the man began. "But-"

"She's gone." Thalia's voice was hard but sad. Empty and hollow. "Snow's dead."

The man winced at her words. 

"She was the spark." the woman said comfortingly. "The fire hasn't died yet."

"On the contrary." the man crossed his arms. "It's just getting started. Snow started a rebellion. She could quite possibly be the reason why Panem has a chance."

"But she's dead." Mitch sounded just like Thalia. "They killed her."

"She would've killed herself anyway." Vena said quietly. "Why? Why would she do that?"

"Because she knew." the man said simply. "We've been watching this particular Games. After she left her second alliance and hid toward the center of the arena, she began figuring things out. She is...was brilliant. It was amazing. Even some of the things she said to herself were things we didn't know. She put up a good fight. And by no means will her sacrifice be forgotten."

"She's dead!" I screamed. "Don't talk about sacrifice! It wasn't a sacrifice! It was a murder! They killed her because she knew the truth!"

"Exactly." the man said calmly. "They killed Orchid and Kern because they knew the truth too. But Snow was willing to die for this. She was willing to kill herself after she said the truth and you know it. She had the gun pointed at her head and everything."

"But why?" Vena asked quietly. "Why die when she could've lived? She could've easily lived."

"Because Snow knew how bad it was." the woman said softly. "She had suffered too much, she couldn't take it anymore. Her whole life she had been set apart, hated, despised. And on top of that...heartbreak. She lost Orchid and Kern, and she couldn't take it anymore. She did her job and she knew she could help no further."

"But..." I didn't even know what to say. "She could've still fought." I protested weakly.

"True." the woman said. "But she didn't want to live. Respect her sacrifice. She is the girl on fire. Snow is the spark that has started a fire of rebellion. Already people listen to her, in the past thirty minutes people in every district have been rebelling. She is the Mockingjay."

Before we could respond, the woman continued.

"Go to sleep, it's a long flight. You've been through a lot."

I couldn't even possibly fathom the thought of sleeping after everything. 

But within minutes, I was drifting away from my world of pain.

***

"There's something you should know before you go in." the man said as he led our group of tributes into the building. 

"One, you're not the only tributes we saved. All the remaining tributes in the arena were rescued by different hovercrafts, it was difficult but we all agreed it was worth it."

We continued walking.

"Your families..."

I hadn't even thought about family. A wave of guilt washed over me.

"Some of them are alright. Some of them are dead. I'll be more specific about who belongs where later. The most important thing right now-"

"Where is she?" a voice demanded. It sounded female. "Where is she?" the voice was powerful. It was strong. And it was filled with pain.

"Answer her!" another voice yelled. This one was male. "We asked you a question and we want answers Soldier!"

"Sir...I don't know...I haven't received-"

The woman and man who had been speaking turned around.

Immediately, all five of us stumbled. The man who had been leading us paled and he stepped aside.

"You." the woman pointed her finger at me, then Vena, then Jerome. "You." she hissed.

An instant later I felt my body slam against the floor and then I heard two similar body-against-floor sounds from my right.

The woman and man had me, Vena, and Jerome pinned against the ground all at once. 

I wondered why no one was helping us.

But it was obvious, these two people were very high up in the ranks here in District 13. No one dared disobey them or step in.

I looked up and saw myself staring at a pair of coal, midnight-black eyes.

Something just broke inside of me and I choked again.

The woman slammed me against the ground again. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT! THIS IS ALL OF YOUR FAULT!" she screamed. 

The man glared at us. 

He had a sharp calculating look and an expressionless face. 

"She's gone isn't she?" his voice was softer but it was filled with the same amount of fury. It was like steel. "SHE'S GONE ISN'T SHE?" he repeated but in a yell this time.

Vena managed a nod. 

"I HATE YOU!" the woman screamed. Her eyes were filled with hatred. 

Snow had the same look when she was screaming at me with her own gun against her forehead.

"We both hate you." the man said harshly. 

Cold calculating look, the sharpness. Just like Snow. His tone, his way of talking, like steel.

Just like Snow.

"Our daughter is dead." the man murmured. He burst out in anger. "SHE'S DEAD! OUR ONLY DAUGHTER IS DEAD THANKS TO YOU! YOU DIDN'T HELP! YOU WATCHED! YOU BROKE HER! YOU HURT HER!" he looked like he was about to punch me.

"It can't be..." I heard Thalia say.

The woman and man looked up and I was relieved. They stared at Thalia.

"You were reluctant." the woman said with a slightly, though not by much, softer tone. "You were probably the best out of all of them. Still..."

"I know." Thalia whispered. "I know, I hate myself for it."

Something changed in their faces. They looked...forgiving.

The woman and man slowly got off of the three of us and stared at each other for a moment before the woman began sobbing into the man's arms. He was crying too.

We all stared. We all just stared.

At the two crying parents.

Snow's parents.

A/N

WOAH. WOAH. DID YOU SEE THAT COMING?

CAUSE I HOPE I DID A GOOD JOB OF TWISTING THE STORY.

JUST THE EPILOGUE IS LEFT GUYS!!!!

Can you believe it?

I hope you thought the finale was awesome! I spent a really long time on it! 

There will be a sequel.

-Lucy