Paradise: The 72nd Hunger Games

Chapter Thirty-Five

Epilogue

A/N: Thirty-five chapters, and, not including this chapter, 116,223 words. Thank you guys for staying with me for all of this. Thanks for all your kind words and reviews. I hope to see you guys on my next story (yes, there's more :) ). But, for now…

Miria "Ria" Wallace –16- -D6V- POV

Every Victor gets one special request. Mine was simple: No family or friends of mine can be Reaped. I had to make a list, and I can't add anyone. Of course, Rose was on it, as was Sparky. Unfortunately, I didn't get to ask them if they would like anyone else, so they're it. Oh well. On the flight back and between promo pictures, I watched the recordings of the Games to get a better idea of what happened. My goodness, Dante was brave… and that poor Valencia girl… Everest… my goodness, that was a horrible fight. Then it was time for my victory tour. But, before I could leave for District One, Athena Feere and Kayne Lytch pulled me aside.

"Hey, Miria," Kayne says, walking next to me. "Welcome to the Victor's club. Hey, mind talking to me in private for a second?"
"Uh, sure," I say, confused. I follow him into a small closet, where Athena Feere waits. "What's going on?"

"We have something we need to tell you," Athena says. "I assume you harbor no love towards the Capitol?"

"No," I whisper. "I mean, no, of course not. They tried to kill Rose, they tried to kill me, they did kill so many. Did you see that big fight this year? That was all their fault."

"Good," Athena says. "Because knowing what we're going to tell you amounts to treason."

I nod, considering. It's not a long consideration. "Hit me."

Harriette Bisset –39- -D3R- POV

The doorbell rings. Odd. We don't have many visitors, and the one who does come over doesn't ring the bell, she doesn't need to. We gave her Valencia's key, after all. I open the door and am somewhat surprised by who I see.

"Miria Wallace?" I ask the girl in front of me.

"Yes, Ma'am. Missus Harriette Bisset?" She asks.

"Yes," I say, "why?"

"Can I come in?" She asks.

"Sure," I say, still confused. "Why are you here? You didn't even know Valencia."

"Yes, but…" she looks pained and saddened. "I'm still a good person, Missus Bisset. And I know that Dante would have wanted… she was an ally of his. You can be assured that I have many more stops."

"Oh," I nod. "Look, if you're here to give us money, we don't need any. We're just fine in that department. We only need healing. We need time. We need…" I force the anger away from my face. "You know." She nods. "Look, go to her… go to Eris. She'll need it, her family." I grab a pen and paper. "Here's her address." I hand her the paper, after scribbling Eris' address on it. She nods.

"I will. Thank you, Ma'am."

Eris Redfield –16- -D3R- POV

Knock. Knock.

"Yes? Oh. It's you. Mrs. Bisset gave me a call, please, come in, Miss Wallace," my father's voice says. I'm in my bedroom. I've been in here since… well, since… yeah. Since then. Miss Wallace though? Like Miria Wallace?

"Thank you, Mr. Redfield," yes, that's definitely Miria. "Is Eris here? Do you think I should –,"

"I'm here," I say, opening my door and poking my head out into the hallway. "You can talk to me."

"Eris, I'm assuming?" Miria asks, looking me over.

"Yeah," I say. "Miria Wallace, in the flesh. Congratulations."

"Thank you, but I don't want it," she says. "There is no honor from winning the Hunger Games."

I nod. "You're telling me. There's also no honor in losing."

She nods. "I can tell why she liked you, Eris."

I snort. "Yeah, well, I doubt she'd like me like this. No one would. Why'd you come?"

"I wanted… she was Dante's ally, not mine, I know, but… with what he did, and what she did… she was a good person. I wanted to… I have more than I could ever need financially. If your family could use some, I'd be happy to provide some."

My father quickly nods. "We certainly could. We are not poor, but we're not rich either."

She nods. "I thought you might say that." She hands a duffel bag to my father. "Here you go."

"Thank you," my father says. "I'm just going to go put this down," he gestures to the kitchen.

"Of course," she says. My father leaves the room and I come out, appraising Miria.

"You're a better person than I thought," I tell her. I go over to her and give her a hug, which she returns. "Thank you," I whisper to her. Then my father comes back out, they shake hands, and she leaves.

Miria "Ria" Wallace –16- -D6V- POV

By far, the hardest of all the stops (every Outlier, plus Freya and Rudolf's families), either before or after it, was the one in my own District. But I certainly got the most out of it.

Layna Paris –13- -D6R- POV

I answer the door, already about to leave anyway, to find Miria Wallace standing there.

"Oh, you're here," I say. "Good. I was going to track you down, but this will make it much easier. I need to ask you a favor."

"Uh, okay," she says, backing away as I step out of my house and close the door behind me. "What?"

"I need to get on to that train," I say. "Just for a few minutes."

"Why?" She asks.

"You probably don't want to know," I say.

"Are you planning to do something illegal, Layna?" Miria asks.

"Uh, maybe," I say.

"Is this illegal thing for personal benefit or to hurt the Capitol?" Miria asks.

I pause. Can I trust this girl? I guess I don't really have another option, and I doubt that she harbors any love for the Capitol. "Well, let's, uh, say it's not for personal benefit," I say eventually.

"Then I can certainly help you," she says. "Let's go."

A few minutes later, on board her train, she asks me, "So, why did you need to be here?"

"You see," I say, plugging my tablet into a universal port on one of the train's tablets, "this train here has a connection to the Capitol network. The way their Peacekeepers communicate instantly between Districts and the Capitol electronically. They can send data, video, and voice instantly to anywhere in Panem with a receiver through that network. Us normal civilians can't access it, they don't trust it. If I can connect my tablet to it, I should be able to use my tablet to send a signal across the network, because every device has a built-in receiver, in case a soldier finds themselves disconnected from the network, and in theory, I can connect any other tablet, enabling inter-District communication between me and anyone I want to talk to."

"Okay," Miria says as I tap quickly on the side of the tablet, hoping my program that I've designed to crack the network's passcode will work. "First question: how do you know all of this stuff?"

"My dad works in a factory," I say. "And recently, I've been developing quite a talent for getting into systems and data I shouldn't, including getting people who shouldn't tell me stuff to tell me stuff because," I pout, "I'm just a curious little girl."

"Makes sense," Miria says. "Second question: why do you want to gain access to the network?"

"Why doesn't the Capitol allow us to access it?" I ask her.

"Because they fear a Rebellion," she says.

"Exactly," I say. "Now, do you want to stop the Hunger Games?" The program is nearing completion, and then I'll know if it worked or not.

"Yes, of course," Miria says.

"Do you think that the Capitol will just stop them after a strongly-worded letter?" I ask.

"Uh, no," Miria says.

"Right. Now, what's our other option?" I ask.

"I guess… armed revolt," she says quietly. "Treason."

"Exactly," I say. "Now, could one District working alone accomplish that? Overthrow the Capitol?"

"No," she says.

"Right. But, do people in other Districts likely share our feelings?" I ask.

"Yes," she says. "I see. You want to be able to communicate with them to… to plot a Rebellion."

"Exactly," I say. My tablet vibrates.

Program complete. Execution successful. Network connected.

"Yes!" I say. "Okay, now the first thing is just to look through their database… do I have access to the database? … Yes, I do. Awesome. The database of every person, per District, and figure out who you," I point at Miria, "might want to make contact with. Let's see… searching for treasonous activity… okay, here's who you want to talk to: Emma O'Neill, District Eight, Kayne Lytch and Kylie Mino, District Ten, and Athena Feere, District Eleven."
"Well, that's easy," she says. "Okay. Thank you, Layna."

"One more thing," I say. "You have a tablet?"

"Yes, I do," she says.

"Ah, okay," I say. "Just a second…" I skim through the names of the people in District Six, quickly finding her name. I see the device she owns listed, along with options to access the camera and microphone, although those are grayed out. Presumably, I need a higher clearance lever to access those functions. I can, however, give her access to the network with only the tapping of a button, which I do. "Done," I say. "You now have access to the network. I should be leaving, but call me from District Eight to see if it works, okay?" I unplug my tablet from the train's and sling it under my arm.

"Uh, okay," Miria says. "Wait, I was here to –,"

"Offer us money, I know," I say. "I don't need it, we're fine, thank you though. Besides, the Capitol money might not be worth much soon." With that, I walk off the train. It feels good to be doing something to get back at the people who killed Dante. I just wish it was more. But sooner or later, it will be. Still, when I get home, a replay of the Games is on, and the footage of Dante dying is hot. I cry again that night before I console myself by planning the strategic takeover of District Six. Just rough plans, but something to help me sleep.

Ria Wallace POV

"Are you Emma O'Neill?" I ask the girl who's only cracking the door to her home open, her hand behind her back.

"Yes. Why?" Emma asks.

"Emma, I'm no friend of the Capitol's," I say. "I'm here because I thought you weren't either."

"So what if I wasn't?" She asks. "How do I know you're not a Capitol spy?"

"I saw two boys give their lives for me, because of what the Capitol forced us to do. I killed a girl I could have been friends with because I was forced to do it or die. I've been giving money to the families of the Outliers and Rudolf and Freya. Please, believe me, Emma, I'm not a spy," I say.

"Uh-huh," Emma says, unconvinced.

"Look, if I tell you something no one in the Districts is allowed to know, that knowing amounts to treason, would you trust me?" I ask.

"Maybe," she says. "Spill."

"The President has a teenage daughter," I say. "And he got her through stealing a Victor's eggs, artificially inseminating them, and then implanting them into a surrogate, who he had killed after she delivered the baby. Her name is Lucy Snow, and both she and her father are evil."

Emma considers me for a second. "Fine. Come on in." She opens the door, and I step in. She closes it behind me and motions for me to follow her. I do, noticing that she has a gun tucked in the back waistband of her pants. Oh. "Why are you here?" She asks.

"There are some of us, in other Districts," I say. "A couple of other Victors. Kayne Lytch from Ten, Athena Feere from Eleven, me, and another girl in District Six. This other girl, she was a friend of Dante's. She figured out a way to access the Capitol's wireless network or something. She can let us communicate between Districts."

"Show me," Emma says, sitting rigidly on her bed.

"Luckily," I say, smiling, "I brought my tablet for just such an occasion."

The meeting with Emma goes well. Layna hooks her tablet up to the Capitol's network, and once that's done, Emma seems to trust me and warms up a lot. It turns out that she's actually a really nice person. We discussed in brief what her resistance had been doing, which seems like a whole lot more than the rest of us, but then I had to catch the train to Nine and bid her a good day before leaving. It seems like this is really coming together. Let's hope so.

A/N: So, that's the Epilogue for Paradise. What did you guys all think of this story? I hope everyone enjoyed it, from beginning to end. :) But, the story does not end here. I probably won't get the next story up for a little bit, because I have to go to bed soon and I have a flight to catch way too early in the morning, but…

The End

Of Paradise: The 72nd Hunger Games

The Story Continues In:

Breaking Point Sextet IV

Tempest: The 73rd Hunger Games

Tempest will be another SYOT, with another… interesting twist, and, in addition, will continue the stories of Lucy Snow, Emma O'Neill, Miria Wallace, Kayne Lytch, Athena Feere, Layna Paris, and many, many others… I hope to see all of you (and your wonderful Tributes) there! Available soon in the freezer aisle of and wherever you buy your fanfiction (I never got those commercials :) )

Thank you all for reading, and I hope to see you all at Tempest as soon as I'm able to post it! :) –JStar14H

P.S. Also, thank you all again for staying with me and for your wonderful reviews in every part of the story. They were wonderful and so great motivation. Thanks to all of you, so much, but especially audreyoctopus, Persephone Fae, Hawkmaid, LeafVines, PimasMcKnight, and RakTurtle.