Background
On the outskirt of the city, I can see the Capitol headquarters. Its bright lights illuminate the city's center. I want to get there. I need to get there. President Coin promised me that I would kill Snow. I intend to carry out that promise.
Chapter 20
The ringing in my ears blocks out any sound before I hear the blood curdling screams. It's as if the whole block shatters around me. The street crumbles, the street lamp shatters and Boggs is replaced by a pool of blood. He must have triggered a land bomb by stepping on it. There is no time for mourning. Someone has to take charge.
"I'll do it. We have to keep moving forward," I hear myself say. Everyone seems surprised. It's as if the Mockingjay replaced me and they think that I’m only here for the propaganda. It's true that our group was for the propo, but we aren't just going to sit back and let the other units do the grunt work. Especially not now. We are going to be in the action. We are going to fight.
Leeg 1 confirms, "Katniss is right, Plutarch put her second in command."
The holo. I must reach the holographic map of the block. I have to complete my mission. There's nobody else to do it. We move forward.
There is no communication between us and District 13. All radios were silenced during the explosion. All we have is the holo to guide us and some of its reliability is gone. We reach an apartment complex on the greater reaches of the Northwest side. Its alleyways are a perfect hideout.  They’re surrounded by darkness; we will never be noticed by a Capitol citizen. We fall asleep.
I dream of screams. The screams of Peeta while he's being tortured at the Capitol. The screams of Boggs when he realizes his fatal step. The screams of Prim in the games. The screams of Gale as he's whipped at the post by a peacekeeper. I wake up in a puddle of sweat. There is no escape until it's over.
Chapter 21
I awaken to find that we are four blocks away from the headquarters. We eat our breakfast as we run forward.  The rest of the troops have the building surrounded and are waiting for an order from District 13. The order is dispatched from another troop's radio, "Group Five-Four-One, proceed into the building." Our group was primarily for the propo, so they want us to be the ones into the building first. Helicopter spotlights shine as we march through the Capitol headquarters, heads held tall. Maybe because we know an end is finally about to come to this disgrace.
The other troops come in after we enter. Each official we capture knows that he is trapped. I love the agony in their faces as they turn around and let us capture them. Snow is at the top of the building.  I sneak in alone before anyone else reaches the top. It's my duty.
He is dressed in a sharp, black suit like he's attending a ball. His pinstripe suit contrasts his stark white hair and the faint sickening smell of roses fills the air. He half smiles and addresses me, "I knew you would find me. But I never thought it would be like this. Come on, Katniss, this isn’t how its supposed to end. We're one and the same, you and me. Both symbols. We both fought fiercely. We both made mistakes. This will never be over, you know." I know that he's right, but he knows that it's his time.  He sits down submissively.
He murdered District 13. He killed my father. He murdered every child in the games for the past seventy-five years. I reach for my arrows and don’t remember what happens between then and when I watch his body slump over on his wooden desk.
No more mutiny. No more lies. No more snow.
***
A clamor comes from the right side of the room.  I see a glimpse of white and it takes me two seconds to realize that a peacekeeper has wandered upstairs before being captured.  He utters the words, “Long live the Capitol,” as he raises his gun.
Before I can open my mouth, a figure tackles the peacekeeper to the ground.  It’s Peeta.  He must have followed me to the top of the building.  I can’t even think.  I run over to try to help, but the gun has already fired.  I shoot the peacekeeper through the heart and rush to Peeta.  The peacekeeper had shot him through the chest.
He has a moment of lucidity for the first time since the games and asks me, “You love me: real or not real?”
“Real,” I confess.
“I knew that part wasn’t shiny,” he struggles out with the best half-smile he can muster.
Three deaths occur in the room before the rest of the troops even reach the floor.
Chapter 22
I can’t tell the difference between what’s real and not real anymore. Everything feels like a dream. A wonderful yet terrible dream. I need to keep reminding myself of the facts. It’s like playing a game of real and not real with Peeta after his time at the Capitol.
My name is Katniss Everdeen. I am Seventeen years old. I am the Mockingjay. The Mockingjay killed Snow. Peeta is dead. We destroyed the Capitol. The war is over.
I am forever indebted to the boy with the bread.  We grew up together, went to school together.  We survived together.  Now it’s all gone.
I feel like I’ll never be whole again.  At least not fully.  Gale tells me that these things take time.  At least I know that he’ll be here for me.  “Always,” he tells me.  I’m not sure if he’s calmed down because Peeta is gone or because the war is over.  I like it either way.
***
After the war, the officials and all the peacekeepers left were charged for war crimes and most pleaded guilty. Gale murdered President coin. He found out that Coin had wanted to kill me after the war. I was an enemy to her because I had too much influence on the public.
Plutarch is now the next in command and the board is filled with familiar faces: myself, Gale, Finnick, Annie, and my sister. We need to forge a better future for Panem.  Our first goal is to unite the districts. Our next step?  Look forward.  We have heard of a government called democracy.
Epilogue
Panem’s tenth annual election is tomorrow.  We succeeded at uniting the districts just two years after the war.  Prim says that the cases of depression have dropped, but PTSD is still on the rise.  Life is only looking up for our country.  Gale and I are happy every day for the new prosperity because our children will be growing up in it.  I look at their untainted happiness and am reminded of how pure their generation will be in this world.  A world without the games.