Katniss was frozen. It felt as if the floor had been dropped from beneath her, and she was left hovering in an endless space of nothing. Gone. Everything was gone. Her hope for escape, her desire to see Prim, her determination to end this war. But she would never get the chance, because she was stuck in a prison in an undisclosed location that she herself had agreed to. If she could return to the past to confront past-Katniss about this decision, she would punch her former self in the face.

And yet, this house had brought her truth. This house had brought her self-acceptance. This house had brought Peeta back to her.

Truly, it was just a shelter. Just a pile of materials, but it had been the catalyst for their recoveries. It was almost comical how this material object had done that. It was just stone and wood and-

"Get me the matches." Her voice alarmed even her own ears. It was deep and steady and she hadn't even known it was her own.

"W-what?" Peeta stammered, finally looking to her through his own disbelief.

"We're burning the house down."

"How do you know this will work?" Peeta yelled, as he continued to pour gasoline, soaking the floorboards beneath his feet.

"I don't!" She shouted back, and let loose a hysterical giggle.

There was no evidence that this would work, just an urge, a whim, to destroy. And maybe, when District Thirteen would see that the whole island was on fire, they would be forced to take them back. They had all the materials. Matches for the fireplace, even gasoline for the stove and oven.

She was reminded of the nightlock that she had convinced Peeta to eat in order to manipulate a double-victor win from the Capitol. Wasn't this just the same? And of course, Peeta was going along with it, just as he always had. Reliable, trusting Peeta. Setting their temporary home on fire, just because she told him to. Again, a hysterical giggle bubbled up. She was officially losing it.

When Peeta finished coating the house, she took the remaining liquid and coated the grass around the house, leading a trail out to the woods. If this worked, if they pulled it off, the whole island would be set aflame.

When she returned from the forest to the home, the air hung heavy with fumes, giving her vertigo. Katniss tossed the empty container on the grass carelessly, and shook her head vigorously to clear it. She needed to have a sharp mind.

Peeta watched her from the shore of the beach, the only place that they had spared.

"Ready?" He asked nervously as she approached.

No, she was not ready.

If this didn't work...they were left without food, without shelter... without mercy.

"Yes." She willed herself to believe, and watched in slow motion as Peeta struck the match against the side of the cardboard box, and stared at her for a moment before tossing it onto a designated gas trail in the grass.

Immediately, the ground lit up like the floor of hell, and the house was quickly swallowed. They both watched with a frightened excitement as the fire continued to swallow the home, and race to the treeline that would soon light up as well. Black smoke clouded the clear blue sky like a dark omen, and Katniss silently let out a prayer that this would work.

If it didn't….if it didn't work…

Peeta reached out his hand to take her own.

If it didn't work, they would meet it when the time came.

Gray eyes met blue, just like smoke met sky.

When the hovercraft came, she was not happy. How could she be happy about being rescued by her oppressors? But they were offering escape, and she took it.

They silently led Katniss and Peeta to their seats, where they were restrained before taking off once more. Katniss didn't know if they would be returning her to the district, or directly back to war. But she was going somewhere. Moving forward somehow, and Peeta was here. And that was all she could ask for at the moment.

She turned to look at him, and he was already gazing back at her. Wherever she would go, he would be there. She wanted to thank him for finding the courage to live. She wanted to thank him for finding the kindness to accept who she was, flaws and all. She wanted to tell him that being alone in that house would have been a slow suicide. That she was a better person because of him. She wanted to tell him all these things and more, but it all the words in her vocabulary, all the words in different languages, books and books and millenniums of words, could not express the way she was feeling right now.

Loving Peeta was had not been easy. The Capitol had not made him easy to love, and she knew the same truth could be applied to herself. Their love, their relationship was not black and white. It was not this or that. It was shades of gray. It was shadows and light and movement. And though she did not know where they were going, where she was heading in life, he was there. He was with her, and they would face the future, finally side by side, as equals.

A/N: WOW. Three years of writing this very slowly evolving story, now concluded. Just like Katniss, words seem to fail me right now. Thank you all so much for writing your reviews and sending me messages, and following and believing in my story. It took me a very long time to summon the strength to finish it, but it was a privilege. THANK YOU!