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EPILOGUE
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THE AIR WAS crispy cold in the mountains. They were getting close to National Heroes Day and Aurora Crane had just dropped out of university.

She stood there on the balcony of the freshly finished newest luxury hotel, being there to make sure that everything was as it was supposed to be before the first tourists would arrive.

Medicine had been a tough subject to study and she had enjoyed every second of it. It had taken her mind off things, especially during her first semester. Between all the studying hadn't been room for the grief that she was still carrying with her now, two years later.

But it had caught up on her during the birthday dinner that the Plinths now held yearly in memory of Sejanus. The moment in which she had realized once again that he would never come back to her.

She breathed in deeply. The air in the Capitol would certainly never be as fresh as the air here in Two.

Snow was falling slowly, but it was only the first snow of a long, long winter, she could feel it.

Lysistrata had been sad when Aurora had broken the news about her giving up a career in the medical field, they had studied together for two years after all, but she had understood.

Of course she had, Lyssie was understanding by nature.

The snowflakes tickled her nose, but she kept her eyes closed to enjoy the silence. Sejanus had been right about District Two being a beautiful place, which made it even sadder that he hadn't gotten to see it one last time.

Aurora was now twenty-one and he should be too, but he was stuck to forever being eighteen, stuck to being a memory, stuck to being a story.

At least he didn't see what they had done with the Games. What Coriolanus had done with the Games.

The first cracks in their friendship had occurred once university had begun. Maybe it had been because of his affiliation with Dr. Gaul and his internship as a Gamemaker and the fact that Aurora secretly accused him of not looking out enough for Sejanus, but whatever reason lay behind it, the fact was that she didn't count him as her friend anymore.

Especially now since he was on his way, his direct way, of becoming a Gamemaker. The Games were now bigger than ever, a rising interest in them by the Capitol residents had been detected and they were planning on making them even more huge.

A festivity, a holiday, the best part of the year.

She felt sick even thinking about that. She felt sick thinking about Coriolanus, the boy she had known all her life, who was now nothing more than an inconvenience she tried to avoid, but failed.

She couldn't believe that her intuition had failed her that deeply. How could she ever trust it again?

But hadn't it been clear from the start? When he'd suggested the bettings?

In her first ever week at the University, she had run into Dr. Gaul on her way between classes. It had been indescribable awful, of course, but the woman actually talking to her had been the cherry on top of that horrendous situation.

"I'm surprised to see you here, Miss Crane," she had told her with a glance at the anatomy textbooks that hadn't fit properly in her bag and had been sticking out slightly.

"Figured you needed some time for yourself after the summer events." If someone had told her right then that the Head Gamemaker had been the one who'd personally executed Sejanus, she would have believed them. The way she had looked deep into the girl's soul hadn't only painted goosebumps on her skin, they had exploded due to creepiness.

She hadn't replied anything, she hadn't gotten her voice back at that time, so the woman had continued.

"Have you learned anything in the last months?" Her eyes had had that piercing look, like Aurora had been just another experiment in one of her labs.

Of course she had, she had learned a lot actually. That the Games were the root of all evil in Panem and that maybe Dr. Gaul was the personification of that evilness. But she hadn't said anything.

"Whatever you might think now," she had continued, "continue thinking before you do something. We all know what happened to your little boyfriend."

Had it been a threat? Aurora still didn't know to this day, but that last sentence had haunted her for the following weeks.

Nobody had told her what exactly the reason had been for them to declare Sejanus a traitor and therefore execute him, but surprisingly, she had somehow found peace in the unknown.

It was a mystery to her, but that was fine.

She sighed loudly, it was getting too chilly outside, she needed to go back inside or otherwise she would catch a cold.

Achilles would probably not forgive her if she was sick on his twenty-second birthday. Like the hero he thought himself to be, of course had he been born on National Heroes Day.

They planned on celebrating big. Coriolanus was invited as a gesture of her aunt that she should finally consider dating a proper Capitol boy.

But her opinion on that arrangement hadn't changed a bit. She was certainly thinking less of him now, considering that he was practically the heir of the Plinth family.

The Plinths had even moved in the apartment below that of the Snows. That was fine with her, she got to see Mrs. Plinth now everyday.

She kept avoiding to look at Sejanus's photos, though. Although she risked a look sometimes, when her memories of his face were fading.

But something that would never fade was the promise of restoring the Golden Age, of making a difference.

He hadn't been able to in his lifetime, but Aurora swore herself that him losing his life hadn't been for nothing. She would make him and her mother proud, even if it would take her entire life.

Her mother had told her all those years ago that restoring something wasn't possible by destroying something else, but maybe that was what she had to do.

Dr. Gaul had said that wars were won with heads and not with hearts, so she needed a plan to make some actual change.

You couldn't overthrow the government by standing at its sidelines. You had to be right where everything happened.

What would the Cranes think about having a rebel amongst them? They would be appalled, flabbergasted even. But Vesta Crane, she would certainly be proud.

Aurora opened her eyes again and squinted against the bluest sky. Two clouds were hanging above her, carelessly being pushed away by the wind, free.

She looked down at her hands that rested on the railing, firmly gripping the photo so it wouldn't fly away. It was usually in its frame on her desk, but she couldn't leave it behind this time. And really, this was the only photo of him that she could look at without bursting into tears at once.

How she missed that smile, his smile. There hadn't been enough happy moments in his life, he had smiled far too rarely.

And her own smile had decreased to being a rare occasion itself. Only Clemmie, Lyssie, and Festus were able to bring out that carefree smile that he had loved so much.

But she had learned to live with the grief, her best friend. There was nothing that could change that, but the hope of living in a better world someday made it easier.

She mustn't forget her job interview a week from today, that was really important.

But for now, she kept looking at the photo in her hands. The wind blew through her hair and the sky was infinite.

She'd like to think that he was with her in this moment, an arm wrapped around her, pointing at the sky, whispering, "let me take you to infinity."

mickey here (please read)

I can't believe it's really over ahh. Thank you all so, so, so much for reading, voting, and commenting this little story.

I've definitely planned Aurora's future, so she'll get mentioned in one of my other Hunger Games stories (once I get around to writing them, hopefully during my next annual Hunger Games reread).

Anyways, thank you all so much (again lol) and I hope you have the BEST day!!