Here we are! I wanted to have this uploaded before the end of the year, and it looks like I'm just about going to make it. This part was so much easier to write since it's kind of like a new beginning, in a way. I hope you all like it.

More at the bottom. Enjoy!

Legacy (Epilogue)

There were more trees now than there ever had been since the rebuilding had started. All kinds of trees and in all stages of growth. They were all green and lush with summer surrounding them, and it also made animals to hunt even more bountiful.

They ran through the underbrush with weapons to hunt with like their parents had before they were born, one rushing ahead of another before another pulled out in front of them all, speeding toward their common destination. Every summer, they came together and celebrated the day their country had been freed from a tyrannical leader, even twenty years after that fateful day when Katniss Everdeen, the Mockingjay, had defied her oppressor and shot her last arrow to destroy the last arena.

Rowan Mellark gripped the bow in his hand as he ran behind his best friend Antonia Wilde through the woods from town to the destination they all hoped their parents wouldn't notice their absence from. She carried her axe with a more practiced grip than he did, but she was only a year older than he was. Her parents had gotten married before his, obviously, but sometimes, she acted like a young wolf pup jockeying for position among her siblings.

Just ahead of them, their two elder companions led the way over the rocks and large boulders that signaled they were close to the clearing they ran toward. Darrow Odair held his trident high as he ran, careful to not drop it since he'd made it with his own hands when he was just eleven years old. Beside him, Jaye Hawthorne did the same with her steel-tipped spear, glancing over her shoulder at Rowan and Antonia.

"Come on, you two," she shouted. "If we don't hurry, they'll send out a search party for us!"

"We weren't supposed to be in the old part of town anyway," Antonia yelled back. "If my mother asks where we were, I'm pointing at the two of you."

Darrow laughed as he ran. "And if my mother asks, I'll just blame Ro's little sister. She's the one who wanted the flowers."

Antonia glanced at Rowan, sharing his astonished expression before they both sped up to catch their older counterparts.

He didn't respond to Darrow's statement, mostly because it was true. His little sister Sage had asked them for the tiny blue flowers that had begun growing in the destroyed part of the valley. But he also knew it wouldn't be Antonia's mother to ask of their whereabouts. It would his own.

The smell of cooking food and busy work had all of them running faster until they emerged from the woods together. In just two strides, they each stepped onto the pristine white concrete that surrounded the hospital in all its four-level amazement. The red-brown bricks that made up the first level had been hewed from the scorched land just outside the old main square of town. Afterward, the entire area had been marked off and made into a memorial. The only people allowed in were the men and women who kept it clear and well-lit. Even in the heaviest rain or snow, the memorial was always visible.

The newest part of town had been built several miles to the west, away from the charred bodies and even the mass grave that had been dug and filled as soon as the first winter after the end of the war had passed. Rowan's parents always told him to respect the land that had essentially been immortalized when the old Capitol had bombed the entire area. Thousands of people had died. Only about a thousand had survived. Coming back to the area had been difficult for everyone. Cleanup had been nearly impossible but attempted. A year after the bombing, they had all decided just to move the town, in the hopes that new ground would make it easier to have a new beginning.

"Antonia Alder Wilde, you better not be getting into trouble! I told you not to wander off away from your sister."

They all slowed and then stopped at the sound of Antonia's father's voice, all following the sound until they were standing in front of not only the man calling them but also Rowan's mother who looked up at him with expectant grey eyes that mirrored his own.

"At least tell me you were careful," she said.

He bowed his head, gripping his bow tighter.

"Go and find your father," she urged, taking his arm and nudging him toward the front entrance of the hospital. "He's with your sister."

There was no arguing as he nodded back to Antonia, and they moved off together, leaving Jaye and Darrow to help with the food. Medical personnel entered and exited the hospital as Rowan and Antonia stepped inside, spotting his father immediately.

"Dad!"

The blond man closely shadowed by a dark-haired little girl glanced up from the table where he was organizing plates of pastry from the new bakery in town.

"Rowan, where have you been?" he nearly demanded. "You were supposed to help me get everything here from the bakery."

Rowan side-eyed Antonia before he spoke. "I'll make up for it," he promised. "Sage, go find Darrow. He'll look after you until we eat."

She looked up at her father who was already smiling. "Go on, baby. It'll probably be another half hour before we sit down."

She didn't pause, leaving them all there in a flash, her long braided hair bouncing behind her.

Rowan's father stepped closer to him, lowering his voice. "You know there's a reason no one's allowed in the ruins, don't you?"

He nodded.

"And you're not going back there, right?"

He shook his head.

"Good. Now help me get all of this outside. Finnick and Gale just came back with the meat, so we should be ready to start soon. Nia, you can help too. I'm sure Porter wouldn't like knowing where his oldest daughter has been all morning."

"Yes, Mr. Mellark. It won't happen again."

Peeta smiled and handed each of them plates of food. "I'm sure it won't. Today. Let's go then."

Rowan and Antonia both fell silent, following him out of the hospital doors to where everything was set up.

Being only sixteen, Rowan didn't know details about the years it had taken for his parents to grow together before they were married, but he knew that his Uncle Finnick and Uncle Gale were two people who'd been with them since the beginning. Even Antonia's mother, Johanna, had been a part of their family since before Rowan had been born. They were all a close-knit core unit of people, and with new family members on the way, it would only continue growing.

Barely half an hour later, the food was ready, the long table at the edge of the clearing beside the hospital had been set, and everyone in attendance was seated where they usually sat despite there being no assigned seats.

Peeta sat next to his son and, of course, his wife Katniss, and his daughter Sage happily took her seat next to Darrow who secretly passed little blue flowers to her under the table. The adults and children at this table were accustomed to doing this even while the hospital operated like it was any other day. But this day was a very special one, as it had been for the last twenty years, marking the same day that Katniss had shot her arrow and blown out the arena.

The way the story was told, she had done it so she and her companions, Peeta, Finnick and Johanna could escape and make their way across the country to safety. But whenever Rowan asked his mother why she'd really done it, she always told him the same thing.

"Because no one had expected me to do it. And it was the only thing I could do to prove I wasn't part of the game."

His mother, who had taught him to shoot his bow and skin a squirrel. His mother, who still sang him to sleep when he found her wandering the house in the middle of the night. His mother, who insisted he learn to cook and take care of his little sister if anything happened to her and his father.

His mother. Katniss Everdeen.

Her grey eyes found his across Peeta, and when she nodded, he nodded. They had always had an understanding between the two of them, both being older siblings and having little sisters to look out for. Rowan looked down the table to see his Aunt Prim with her own daughter, as well as all his Uncle Gale's brothers and sister. Pretty soon, they would have to add another table to accommodate the newer additions.

At the end of the table, a paunchy figure stood up with his cup in his hand. His thinning hair and growing beard only obscured his face a little, but his identity would always be plain everyone around him.

"All right, everybody," Haymitch said. "Quiet down. I know we have some younger ones who are hungrier than us grown-ups, so I'll make this a quick speech." He paused, put his head down and then lifted his cup. "Twenty years ago, we dared to have freedom and to have our lives be our own. It's been a long road, and we somehow managed to go the long way around. But we're doing it. We're living our lives our way. For as long as that continues, may we all continue to hold favor in freedom and hope. To the long journey."

Everyone raised their cups in succession, a few of them mirroring his words.

"Now let's eat!"

With that, dishes were passed from one person to the next until all the plates were full and the eating began.

It got quiet as the birds sang above them, as the wind whistled through the trees around them, and a litter of orange puff ball kittens mingled under the tables for anything and everything that may fall from the table.

A stray hovercraft jet engine filled the air, but it was just an emergency transport arriving at the hospital with another patient from one of the surrounding districts.

There hadn't been a hostile hovercraft in the air in twenty years, and though it always seemed like fortune tipped one way or another over the years, that day would not be today. Or any day that followed while they all remembered how they'd gotten where they were and what steps not to repeat in the future.

"Play games with your friends," Katniss always told her son and her daughter. "But play. Be children until it's time for you to grow up. Even tedious games can be a good thing. And besides, there are worse games to play."

Well, what did we think? I changed a few things, obviously since this ending isn't anything like the ending in the book. I still wanted to have some of the same words and feelings, since at least part of Katniss is the same from the books.

You have no idea how much I've loved writing this! I started out with just an idea, and I never imagined it would grow to be like this. And I can't say how happy I am that I'm finished. I haven't finished a proper story in a while, so this feels very good. And I'm happy with the way it's ended.

Just in case everybody missed it - Rowan and Sage are Katniss and Peeta's son and daughter. I changed the order around just for this. Finnick and Annie's son is named Darrow. It means spear. I tried to find a name that was related to water, but good lord there are so many. Gale and Madge's daughter is named Jaye (yes, they got married!). I think it would be a name Madge would give a child of hers. I ended up pairing Johanna with an original character, Porter, from earlier in the story, and their daughter is named Antonia. This is a variation on Anthony, which is thought to be connected to the ancient Greek Anthos, which actually means flower. And yes, there are other younger children, like Sage, but this really focuses on the four oldest.

I have notes for one-shots, and I might write them. We'll see.

For now, this is it! I want to thank each and every one of my readers. I hope I've been able to entertain you just a little bit. You're all amazing. Also, I have to thank everyone who has favorited, followed and reviewed this story. They've been mostly positive, and I couldn't have asked for more than that.

Also, thank you to everyone who offered a little bit of constructive criticism. Every little bit helps.

Bye for now!