"Elysia?" Bart echoed down the dim corridor.

"Yes sergeant?" I replied, locking up Amy's confinement room.

"Go to the main room and see how our guests are doing."

"Okay, be there in a minute!"

I jogged into the room, catching my breath to greet the refugees. They all sat by each other around the conference table, discussing their experiences with the Gamemakers. I took a bowl of fruit from one of the nearby shelves, and set it in the center of the table before taking a seat.

"So Mai, Neha, how was your experience with the almighty Amy March?" I asked, trying to lighten the mood. "I bet she's an odd one."

Mai glared at me as if I had offended her entire bloodline, but Neha lightly smiled and took an orange from the bowl. "It was really scary and exciting at the same time. It was like encountering your biggest phobia, but at the same time, you felt like you were in control of the phobia. You know? Anyway, calling her odd is definitely an understatement."

I smiled and nodded. Ever since the games, I always favored Neha. Her eyes always sparkled with curiosity and innocence, yet she was capable of taking care of herself. Mai was also a favorite of mine. Even now I still think there is a soft side deep inside her despite her hard, disciplined exterior.

"What about you Berenice?" I looked farther down the table. "How was your time with Kateryna?"

Berenice stopped nibbling on her apple and faced me. Her face implied she was alert, but her eyes seemed like she was somewhere else. "It was, it was um, interesting."

"That's all?" I asked hopefully. "She's like a celebrity! Surely something happened in there!"

She lightly shrugged, yet her face remained blank. "I don't know, I'd rather not talk about it."

"That's fine, I was just wondering." I replied with a warm expression. Berenice had always been the shy one, even in the job interview.

As I was about to ask Luna, she left to isolate herself in her chamber... again. I told Bart that we shouldn't have put a bookshelf in there, that's like putting a notebook in a room for an author; they're never going to leave the alternate realities they create.

Bart finally decided to join us, entering the room in his casual clothes. Which by the way, still makes him look like a secret agent. He took a seat in the chair next to Neha, and took a banana from the fruit bowl.

"So!" Bart announced cheerfully. "How is everyone doing he-"

His voice was cut off by the sudden appearance of the hologram. On the screen was the face of our patroller, Dimitri. Luna and Berenice weren't phased by his presence, but Mai and Neha were practically mesmerized by the hologram's presence.

"What's your report lieutenant?" I asked the projection. It felt so official talking this way in front of the tributes.

"Sir, Madam" Dimitri addressed accordingly to Bart and I. "We have successfully captured the president."

"The president?!" We all exclaimed in sync.

"The president as in President Uriel Snow?!" Neha chimed.

"Indeed." He boasted.

"Well why are we wasting time?" Bart's tone was strict and then casual again. "Bring him in!"

The large metal doors slid open, causing a gust of wind to flow through the base. Before us were three silhouettes, the one in the middle being restrained with shackles and burly guards. Once they stepped in the light, the president could be seen very clearly.

"Let him sit." Bart demanded. He was very strict now.

One of the guards spun a chair from the end of the table, while the other one spun him around and shoved him in. The force made the president's chair spin towards us, like he had joined us for a normal chat.

It was strange how much he looked like his father. He was in his thirties, but you could see streaks of white in his brown hair, which was styled exquisitely. Some bruises and cuts seemed to flaw his perfect and disciplined features, it was obvious that he tried to resist.

Mai got up from her seat, making her way to the president furiously. Once she was at his side, he spun the chair to face her directly.

"Hello there pretty lady." He smirked.

"Shut up" She slapped him square across the face, then pulled him closer with the collar of his bloodstained suit. "You're just a soulless monster."

Snow shook his head to regain his senses. "You certainly were a good one in the games. It was a shame they were cut so short, I would have loved to see you take on that girl...what was her name? Oh yes, Skye Finley. I heard she escaped too, but I don't see her with you."

"Only because she's dead." Mai sounded like something you would fear when you walk in the dark alone. "She's dead because of you."

"That's part of what I do." He chuckled. "My gamemakers and I kill people for a living."

Bart got up and left the room. Soon he returned with the three gamemakers, who were set beside the president in restrained wheelchairs. He motioned Mai to leave, who spat at the president before exiting the base.

"Shouldn't we go get her?" I asked nervously.

"Don't worry about it" He replied, keeping his glance on the president. "There's no one she needs to hide from at the moment."

Bart motioned one of his men forward. He whispered in his ear, causing him to leave the room and return with a small briefcase.

"Give them to Berenice."

The man walked up to her, putting the case in her small pale hands.

"Stand by the Gamemakers ViPointe."

She shakily stood up, walking towards the three before setting the case on the edge of the table. She opened it with a small key, revealing three syringes neatly arranged with a foam mold. Each one containing a vibrant green, pink, or purple liquid.

Bart looked at her, then back at the president. "We're going to ask you a question. Each time you choose not to give us an answer, a poison will be injected into one of your gamemakers. The three poisons are equally lethal, but every one is more painful than the last."

Berenice looked at him, it was evident that she was nervous. "With all due respect sir, the last few weeks have made me very effected by-"

"Follow your orders ViPointe." He demanded. "You have been taught to put others' health in front of yours, I suggest you keep it that way."

She nodded and looked down. Neha stared at him, but broke the glance after a few seconds.

"Now." He said, putting his arm on the table. "Surely you have a relationship of some kind. Where is your family?"

Snow smiled. "I see you're smart enough to know they weren't in the mansion. But, you can't get me that easily."

Bart laughed. "Okay. Your call." Without looking up, he simply said "Get Monterrae first."

Berenice picked up the pink syringe, and stood toweringly behind Dionysus. The gamemaker immediately began to tremble in fear, and tears began to stream down her face.

"Uriel please, you can't let them hurt us! Just tell the man, and we can all go home!"

Snow turned his head to see her fully. A menacing look formed across his lips, as if he was a snake watching his prey. "Oh my dear Ms. Monterrae, it's a shame you had to go without getting married."

As if she was in a trance, Berenice stuck the syringe into her neck without any sense of remorse whatsoever. The Gamemaker's tears began to cause blisters on her face and neck, and her eyes had turned completely black. Within seconds, she slumped over in her seat.

Unaffected, Snow rolled his eyes. "How creative."

Bart shoved him against the seat, startling him slightly. "I'm going to ask you again, where is your family?"

"Why, so you can kill them? So you can end all of this suffering? It's not that simple."

Again, Berenice took another syringe and stood behind Kat. She was a lot more quiet compared to Dionysus, and most of her emotion was hidden behind pre-existent bruises.

"Mr. Uriel Snow... I can't believe you're just letting us go, after the empire we formed with you!"

The president gave her a look of concern. "Hmm, yes. Except that very empire has fallen beneath our feet, hasn't it?"

Before she could answer, the syringe had already injected its poison. It started with her hair, how it went from light blonde to black and white. Them her skin became a sickly gray color, and her nails formed a yellow film. The wrinkles in her skin formed rapidly, as if she was aging instantly. Soon enough, any presence of life faded away.

Snow began to speak before Bart could ask the question again. "You know about what I said when it wouldn't be simple to just get the answer you want out of me so badly?"

Berenice readied the third syringe, yet Bart became concerned, almost anxious. "Yeah, why?"

"Because you won't be able to tell anyone once you know."

"What do you mean?" Berenice asked frightfully.

He smiled the most villainous smile I have ever imagined. It felt like it was burning a pit in my soul, I couldn't possibly explain it any other way. "You see Bartholomew, one can't expect to be safe from me when you're in my kingdom. I knew about the rebels, I knew who was alive and who wasn't when you just guessed. Those tributes, those traitors...I watched their struggle every step of the way. That was them, but here's where you come in. You see this building? There is an arrangement of bombs beneath these floors, they have been waiting patiently to explode for three weeks. Their countdown is almost over too. In a matter of ten minutes, this place will be nothing, and you are all locked inside."

"Berenice the syringe!" Neha suddenly shouted.

Rather than using it on Amy, Berenice threw the syringe with all she could, letting it soar through the air towards the president's skull. It was the green one, the deadliest one of all. Once it hits the president, there is no use for him to try and escape it.

But the needle... it missed.

It did not hit the president.

It hit Bart.

Berenice, Neha, and I screamed. The needle had entered his chest, right in his heart. He pulled it out slowly, soon being brought to his knees.

"Neha." He said quietly. "Go in your room."

Now crying, she stumbled into her chambers, closing the door behind her.

Bart trembled, the effects were only internal. He looked at the restrained president with an expression of pure sorrow, hoping for some sort of mercy.

"Please, at least tell me if I've won."

The president sighed, and looked down at the rebel before him. "I have a son, but he's still unborn. He has the president blood flowing through his veins, and his mother will certainly raise him well. Once he is of age, he will continue the tradition that even the Girl on Fire could not stop. I'm sorry, but even with your dying breath, you have not won."

I called out as Bart lay lifeless. Everything felt like a blur, the only clear noise being the president's vengeful laugh. It sunk into my insides, plaguing my body with defeat and hopelessness. The booms, the cracks, they occurred over and over until the ground fell under me. I could see sparks, I could see smoke, I could see my life's work crumbling into nothing. Everything I did, everything I fought for was erased.

Then, I saw nothing.

~~~~~~

(Mai Li)

I was a few blocks away when I heard the explosion.

It was the base, it seemed burst open like a balloon.

People were screaming, children were crying because they knew the president was inside.

I ran, faster than I thought I could ever run. But I was already too late.

When I got to the base, there was nothing. All the rooms, all the memories.

All the people.

I searched. I searched through the remains, hoping someone, anyone would be okay.

But no, that's not a villain's ending.

I cried, each tear combining with the ash and irritating my cheeks.

There was no one left.

I thought about all the people, the ones I left because I was frustrated.

But most of all, I thought of Berenice.

Before it happened we had talked for a little while. She had told me something that haunted my being.

"Berenice?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever think that life is only a dream we are living, and that we are all truly nothing?"

"Yes. Isn't it pretty to think so?"