The Peacekeepers throw her roughly to the floor of the cell. The door slams hard.
"They'll kill me soon." He's across the cell, head in his hands and elbows on his knees. She doesn't crawl across to him because it hurts too much to move.
"Take it." The nightlock pill is still tucked away on the shoulder of her uniform.
"I'm not leaving you alone." He glares at her; not in anger, but in frustration and protectiveness.
"They'll torture you."
"You'll have it worse." She pulls herself to her knees and kneels in front of him. Everything is bruised or bleeding. Everything but her face.
"I know that, Gale! I will take the torture. If it weren't for me, none of this would be happening. If I had just died in the arena, or starved before, everything would be normal." He stares at her with disdain before springing to his feet and taking three quick strides to the other side of the cell. She remains on the ground, turned away.
"Don't you dare say that, Katniss."
She never imagined his voice could ever sound so toxic.
"Don't you dare make this all in vain."
She never thought he would point out her selfishness with a dare.
"You never meant to hurt anyone."
She never thought he would be the one to admit it.
The lock clicks and the door slides open. President snow stands before them. Two burly Peacekeepers flank him.
"In one hour, we will broadcast the execution of the Girl on Fire."
Snow's eyes are on her, cold and stony and empty.
"Afterwards, others convicted of treason will follow."
His eyes are on Gale.
"You will be presentable."
He leaves the room and is replaced by a team of stylists. She doesn't recognize them.
The two of them don't fight. Gale is left mostly untouched; they scrub the dirt off of his visible skin and comb his hair into order. Katniss is stripped and scrubbed raw. Wax pulls at her skin. Her hair is pulled into a tight braid and her eyes are painted with flames.
They have made this routine.
She is returned to her uniform, still enclosing the nightlock in its thick material.
A glint of golden eyeliner drawn over swollen, bruised flesh is the only thing to mark the leave of the stylists.
Peacekeepers retrieve them. Gale is brought onstage first; they stand him in a line with people she wishes she didn't know. Minutes pass before Katniss is brought out into the center of the stage; she finds her best friend on her right and a stranger on her left.
She is told to sing.
"Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Where they strung up a man they say murdered three.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."
"It's no one's fault. It's just the way it is."
"Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Where the dead man called out for his love to flee.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."
"We could do it, you know."
"Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."
"I'm not going anywhere."
"Are you, are you
Coming to the tree
Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me.
Strange things did happen here
No stranger would it be
If we met up at midnight in the hanging tree."
"Shoot me."
Katniss holds out the pill for the cameras to see. Their hands latch together. She gets a misplaced sense of deja vu.
Their lips meet and nightlock slips down both of their throats and the sky is set on fire.