miss americana and the heartbreak prince | katniss everdeen

the vote.

THE ENDGAME
Twenty-Three | The Vote
•••

KATNISS SPENDS DAYS IN THE HOSPITAL GETTING TREATED. SHE HAS VISITORS, HER MOTHER, EFFIE, AND HAYMITCH. She had not seen Gale. She did not ask for him either. She had nothing to say to him or any of her other visitors. There was only one person that Katniss needed at this moment and that was her sister.

Prim being alive meant that all of this had not been for naught. Everything she had suffered through had meaning because she'd saved what mattered most. She saved Prim. She may have failed everyone else, Fleur, Peeta, Finnick, and Rue, but she had been able to save Prim. She would be able to grow up in a world where kids didn't have to fear for their lives.

While in the hospital, Katniss had one visit from President Coin. If there was one person Katniss didn't want to see, it was Coin. She was tired of playing roles. She was tired of being Coin's pawn. Tired of Coin's fake smiles and lies.

"How are you?" Coin asks, but Katniss knows she doesn't care. Katniss has served her purpose. She could die and Coin wouldn't care.

"Fine," Katniss answers shortly.

"Good," Coin says as she turns to leave. Katniss finds that she's something Coin checked off on her itinerary. As though she's scheduled an appearance with Katniss. She pauses at the door and Katniss looks at her wearily, "And don't worry. I've saved him for you."

She knows she's talking about Snow, but it doesn't feel good. It doesn't make Katniss's pain go away knowing that she'll get to kill him. Snow had already dealt his damage.

Once Katniss's burns were healed, she spent her days at her sister's bedside. Occasionally she'd visit Cashmere who was in a medically induced coma, but other than that she'd spend time with Prim.

"You don't have to sit here," Prim told her, "I'm fine."

"I don't have anywhere else to go," Katniss mutters.

Prim looks at her with furrowed brows, "You haven't seen Fleur?"

"No," Katniss answers honestly.

"Why not?" Prim asks.

"Because I'd only make things worse," Katniss mutters, shaking her head as she looks down at her lap. She wasn't sure how many days had passed since she last saw Fleur, but she knew that the answer was too many and it pained her to be so close and yet so far from her.

"Maybe it isn't as bad as you think," Prim says, "You guys were in love. There's no way they can completely erase that."

"I think you underestimate Snow," Katniss tells her sister.

Prim's eyes dance over Katniss's face, "Have you seen him?"

"Who?" Katniss asks.

"Snow."

The truth was that Katniss did want to face him. She wanted to see him once more before he was put to death. She wanted to ask him how he could bomb Capitol children. She understood that the kids in the Districts were fair game, but the Capitol children were there to keep the illusion that the Capitol was in the right. They represented Snow's false innocence.

"No," Katniss answers.

"Are you going to?" Prim asks.

Katniss sighs, "What's with all the questions?"

"It's just everything has been leading to something," Prim tells her sister, "I feel like it's been leading to this. The moment where you confront Snow, or you get your happy ending with Fleur and yet you sit in here with me."