Sometimes, the decisions you make in life affect everyone, even the people you don't know. Sometimes, they can pull away from people you were close to, but more often than not, they introduce you to someone you never thought you would get the chance to meet. Someone that you never even looked twice at, or even despise because of... rumours Life is made of them. Life is full of them, lies and stories and the exaggeration of people with nothing to lose and everything to gain. One choice is all that Katniss made, one single little detail that brought her close to someone she never thought to care about, nor think about. One choice created the rumours that, for her, ignited a spark. A spark which grew, forming into flames of passion. Flames for someone... invisible. Flames for the man behind the arena. Flames for Seneca Crane.

Katniss was by the lake, with Peeta in the arena. Arguing. He told her to kill him, and vice versa. The Capitol would drink this up, the star-crossed lovers of District 12 fighting over who should escape the arena. Fighting for death, in essence. Peeta was glaring now, telling her that he had nothing, his family wouldn't care, they wanted her to win. He didn't have anything to lose, and there was no chance of gaining anything from leaving that arena without her. Katniss know, that he was telling the truth. He wanted her to kill him, to end the limbo he was living in, the never-ending sadness.

Peeta didn't want the paranoia, the nightmares, the constant fight or flight instincts threatening to overwhelm him. Peeta wished he could die, and who was Katniss to deny that wish? She had already killed in the Games, she had murdered Marvel from 1. One more kill, someone who didn't want to live anyway, wouldn't hurt too much would it? It would make both of them happy. Peeta could escape from his depressing life, and Katniss could escape the arena and once more be a part of her family. Yes, she decided. I'll do it. For him. And then, on Peeta's count, she shot the arrow.

The cannon booms before Peeta's lifeless body even hit the ground. Two identical hover-crafts are seen on the horizon, one for the living tribute and one for the dead. One small tear trails down Katniss' cheek, and no more. She is the Victor. Victor of the 74th Annual Hunger Games, the Girl on Fire. Victor Everdeen sounds good, she decides. Better than Tribute Everdeen. Better than simply Katniss Everdeen, the Girl whose Fire was Snuffed Out. Katniss climbs onto the hovercraft with its ladder prepared for her, and by the time she reaches the Capitol, shock has taken over her system. Her responses shut down, people talk to her when they land, congratulate her, thrown flowers and gifts, but she can't do anything. She can't speak, she can barely move. She is frozen by the realisation that she just killed an innocent.

She is taken to a room, where she is told to shower and then to wait for someone to come for her. She does as she is told. It is Haymitch who collects her, and immediately offers her a drink which she readily accepts. The shock clears away, leaving just confusion in its wake. She has dinner in the room where all of the tributes dined together before the Games. Where the occasional laugh could be heard, and the room was filled with the buzz and chatter of teenagers chatting together. For Katniss, the room is filled with the ghosts of weeks ago, before survival took over her mind and her body, forcing her to conform to the evil nature of the Games. So what does Katniss do? She runs, as she always has done. Away from the ghosts of her past, as per usual.

As soon as Katniss is far enough away from the room, she slows to a walk. Her heart is pounding in her chest and her breathing is laboured. Her fitness should really be amazing, but emotional and mental exhaustion as well as physical mar her, slowing her down. She leans against a wall, taking in lungfuls of fresh, clean air before continuing to walk through the red carpeted halls. She walks for at least a quarter of an hour before she hears any signs of life in this hellhole they call a 'Justice Building'.

The footsteps don't come from behind her, but rather in front of her. She pauses, her feet poised to send her sprinting in the opposite direction. A man rounds the corner, before stopping with a small smile on his face. Katniss knows him, it is the Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane. The man who created her arena and ordered the fire which singed and burned her, and the dogs which almost killed her. This time Katniss doesn't run. She has no more speed left in her, and the small rational part of her brain tells her that he can't harm her outside of the arena. Seneca greets her, introducing herself and she nods. He tells her that her actions in the arena were brilliant, she disagrees. He smiles, they chat, he excuses himself and walks away. All of the elements of a polite conversation. But something felt off to Katniss, different. Her stomach gave a flutter and she realised, slowly but surely, that she had a small –okay, enormous- crush on Seneca Crane.