The next hour was a blur. We were transported back to the Capitol, with me clutching Hero's hand tightly throughout the entire journey, still in fear of losing him. It was a fear that would probably never go away.
Hero didn't seem right. He was as silent as the grave, even when the medical staff tended to his injured thigh, which required stitches. I suppose it was because we were both still processing the shock. I couldn't remember much of what happened next because my mind was completely reeling. The Games had left their mark, as I thought they would. Hero and I were the walking wounded now. Survivors, but eternally scarred.
I was broke from my stupor when Tiara emerged from the sea of faces and pulled me into her arms. I felt grounded, as if the world was again spinning at it's normal pace.
"Shine!" Tiara sobbed, her voice muffled by my tangled mass of hair. "You did it. You won. I am so, so proud of you. You're going home."
Her voice was a stream of emotion, which caused me to return her embrace and fight tears of my own. "Thank you."
Tiara, someone who I had initially detested, had become the closest thing to a mother that I'd ever had.
A jolt of terror struck me when I realised that I couldn't see Hero anymore in the ectstatic mob of Capitolites and the harsh pounding of too many voices against my eardrums.
"Hero!" I exclaimed, struggling out of Tiara's arms.
"He's fine," Tiara replied uncertainly, her frown revealing her confusion. "He's with Dragon." She didn't understand. After weeks of looking out for the boy I loved and keeping him safe, to not be with him sent tremors of anxiety straight through me. It was worse than I thought. These Games would never leave me, for certain, no matter how much I willed them to.

Despite the colossal skyscraper's obscuring the view, the Capitol sunrise was beautiful. I watched as it brightened the entire city in its radiance from my suite. I had an interview today, some time in the evening. I was going to be interrogated by Magnus Flickerman, with Hero at my side. It wouldn't be so bad with him there with me. We'd both be reliving the horrors together, after all.
A tentative tap at the door. "Shine? It's me, Tiara."
"Come in," I attempted to say clearly, but my voice didn't sound like my own.
I heard her enter and pause by the door. I didn't move from my position by the window.
"No one blames you, you know."
I tensed. "For what?"
"Dazzle."
She had to go and say it, didn't she? The grief I'd been fighting, holding off since I'd lost my best friend, came coursing through my veins and straight into my heart.
A strangled sob escaped me, and I heard Tiara rushing to comfort me.
"Don't!" I snapped. Tiara halted. "No one blame you, Shine," she repeated. "I would've done the same. I would've chosen the one I loved the most."
"At the time, I refused to believe that I loved him," I whispered, picking at a fray in my t-shirt. "I was just so damaged. I knew that I'd change in there, but guess what? I've come out even worse."
"That's not true," Tiara growled with such passion that it made me turn to face her in surprise. "When I met you, Shine, you were a selfish, stuck-up child with an oversized ego and far too much self-confidence. Since then, since you arrived here, you've slowly evolved into a loving, spirited and beautiful young woman. It's time to wake up and smell the coffee. You're not in the Arena anymore. You survived, Shine. You'll learn how to live again. I believe in you."
I stared at her blankly. "I'm not going back to District One."
Tiara blinked. "What do you mean?"
"I'll be alone there," I murmured. "My father... he raised me to go into the Arena. He knew how traumatic it was, and he understood that he was risking my sanity or even my life by doing what he did. He doesn't love me. I'm his trophy, but I could've been his greatest shame. Bred to kill, born to die. That's what us Careers are. That's what I am."
"But you didn't die," Tiara argued gently.
"It feels like I did," I whispered. "The Games murdered a part of me that I'll never get back."

"So, Shine, tell us," Magnus continued, while I wore a smile that practically screamed how much I wanted this to be over. "When you were forced to end the life of your district partner, did you feel any remorse?"
I stared at him with such hatred, he flinched, but I hurriedly covered it up with a sigh. "Yes. Dazzle meant a lot to me. Watching him die... it killed me inside."
I wasn't exaggerating for the audience's sake. Every word was sincere.
The crowd moaned sorrowfully in unison. I clenched the fist that was hidden by my side.
"And Hero, is there anything that you've learnt from the Games? As in, do you feel differently than you did about them at the start?" Magnus questioned.
I held my breath, waiting for a flow of abuse to be hurled in Magnus's direction, but Hero fixed his gaze onto me.
"I realised that I loved her," he said softly. "It was the hardest thing I've ever had to admit to myself. I denied it at first. I blamed it on the lust. But it was never that. I'd loved her from the start, and refused to accept it."
The audience moaned again, this time with delight.
I gave Hero a smile that was reserved only for him. Magnus placed a hand over his heart, seemingly thrilled. "Well, isn't that something? I'm beyond glad that you two made it out alive. You truly were memorable contestants. Everybody, Hero Travertine and Shine Onyx-Platinum!"
The applause was deafening, but I didn't acknowledge it. Instead, Hero and I joined hands, raised them to the sky, and then left the stage for, hopefully, the last time.