A/N: And here it is, the final chapter of this story. This has been a whirlwind couple of months since I published this story, and I can't say I'm not happy with the result. Macy makes a wonderful Victor and addition to my universe, and all the characters I got to write were immensely fun. I want to say thanks to everyone who submitted to this story.

Anyway, enjoy the final chapter of the Youngest Among Us!

Chapter 35 – Twenty-Three Candles

"Acacia, stop running so fast!"

"No way! It's a race! I'm not slowing down 'til I win!"

"Sequoia, Acacia, Cerise, slow down!" The yells of Macy and Sprucen Magnolia-Barker's young daughters and the sound of three little sets of feet hitting the hardwood floors echo through the house in the Victors' Village. It's the night before the Reaping for the 178th Hunger Games.

Macy glances at the clock above the fireplace, seeing how late it is, and she glances at her husband. Sprucen nods and runs after his daughters, trying to rein them in. Macy crosses the living room and sits in the armchair that Etta Snow, now long dead, had occupied all those years ago. After that, Macy didn't sit in the chair for over ten years, but left it there nonetheless, as a reminder of her mistakes. There are living reminders, too. She sees his face, every time she goes to mentor in the Capitol. He's much older now, of course, but still an Avox. Still paying for what his brother did, twenty-six years ago.

Finally, Sequoia, Acacia and Cerise quiet down and stop their running about. Macy walks into the kitchen and grabs the lighter from a drawer, designated solely for that object. The house has too much storage, even after all these years. Macy still doesn't know what she's supposed to put in a lot of cabinets. Still, she returns to her family, leading them out onto the porch.

"I don't want to light the candles," Sequoia complains. "What's the point? They just burnout."

Acacia glares at her sister. "You know how important the candles are to Mommy."

Cerise, the youngest of the three at just four-years-old, pipes up and says, "Yeah. Mommy wikes the candles."

Macy kneels down in front of her three, beautiful daughters and looks at Sequoia, "Sequoia, you know how important it is the honor the children who lost their lives in the Games." All three of her daughters knows, to some degree, what the Games are. Sequoia, the same age Macy was when she won, has seen her mother's Games and understands why she wakes up screaming some nights. Acacia, at seven-years-old, knows that people die in the Games, and that Mommy was apart of them. Cerise just likes to light the candles for Mommy's favorite people.

"I do," Sequoia says eventually. "…can I light the first one?"

This has been Macy's tradition since the very first Games she mentored in. Every year, on the night before the Reaping, Macy sets twenty-three candles out on her porch and lights them, one by one. No matter who the tribute was or what they did, they get a candle. Joba has one, and so does Avia. Macy's philosophy is that no matter what they did, they still died, and they deserve to be honored.

Sequoia lights Cornell's candle first. Macy remembers when she gave his grain crown back to his sister during the Victory Tour. She remembers how much the girl cried, but how profusely she thanked Macy. Macy remembers every detail from her Victory Tour perfectly. She wishes that she would forget, but whenever she finds herself thinking that, she looks at her wedding ring.

Sprucen proposed to her when they were both twenty-one. They'd met two years after Macy's victory, and Sprucen raised her from a depression she thought she'd never get out of. When he proposed to her, he had a quote inscribed on the ring: It does no good to dwell on the past, but that does not give you the right to forget it. They'd been lighting candles together ever since.

"Ooh, ooh, can I do the next one, Mommy?" Acacia begs. With a look at her husband, Macy hands her middle daughter the lighter, and she chooses to light Liana's candle. Around and around they go, slowly working their way through each candle until they reach Echo's which they always light last. This candle has two wicks, one for each Shamir brother. While Shallow may be alive, Macy feels the need to mourn what could have been his life if not for the Games. She mourns for every life lost because of the Games.

She looks at her little family, and Macy knows what all those other tributes had to sacrifice for her to have met her husband and for her three daughters to exist. She worries they will be reaped for the Games, as the Capitol loves to see the Victors' children's attempts at Victory. But she knows that Daniella was wrong all those years ago: Macy didn't fix herself. She never would have gotten out of that rut if it wasn't for Sprucen, and her life would never be as wonderful as it is without Sequoia, Acacia and Cerise. No, she didn't fix herself. Everyone else did.

…

The Quinnetons worked past Cash and Coin's deaths. After all, they already had a Victor in the family. What's the point of having more? While they generally forgot their youngest children, the twins' friends made sure they lived on. Alexandra and Richie stopped training for the Games, when they realized how it split families apart. They refused to watch the Games for the rest of their lives.

Wonder Hammerfort was never saved. By the time the Victory Tour rolled around and Macy could have done something about it, he was already dead. Wonder had nothing to live for. He was traumatized from everything he'd seen and everything he'd experienced, and the boy committed suicide three months after the conclusion of the Games. Wake's biological mother simply scoffed at her daughter's death. In her eyes, she was only good for something if she won.

The Cardiffs forgot about their son. He faded into nothingness, hardly even remembered by Macy. After all, who wants to say their son volunteered for the Games as a Career and died in the bloodbath, at the hands of a tribute from 12?

Alden Tammel spent the rest of his life in a depressive funk. He missed his daughter more than anything else in the world, and slowly turning to drinking to ease his pain. He became an alcoholic, just trying to forget. What he never realized is that he couldn't forget; the best he could do was remember Jaz when she was alive.

Freud Weiss never hired a new game tester. His company went bankrupt, as he simply stopped caring, stopped trying. He and his wife eventually got a divorce, as Violet Weiss wanted to live and Freud wanted to be with Bennett. He slowly wasted away until he died, while Violet remarried and had two more children, neither of which were taken by the Games.

Stella Winters volunteered for the Hunger Games at eighteen, determined to win for her sister. No matter how annoying Ariella was, the house was too empty without her presence in it, and Stella would do anything to get away, even if it meant joining her sister in death. Eventually, she did, dying the final two at the hands of the girl from 1.

Sereina Lepplings grows up with so many tales of her brother, it's like he never even died. She doesn't want her big brother Aqua to go into them either, but when the academy says you do something, you don't chicken out. Aqua brings honor back to the family when he returns from the Games as a Victor. In all the excitement surrounding him, Brookley sort of gets forgotten. Of course, Sereina never forgets the brother she knew for just ten months and can't even remember.

The Willodeans never got out of debt. Ant Willodean starved to death during the 151rd Hunger Games, quickly followed by his parents, leaving Corrin as the only remaining Willodean. He was reaped for the 152nd Hunger Games at sixteen-years-old and coming in ninth place. It's not like there was family left to interview, anyway.

Della Comaydos did her best to keep her brother's memory alive. But with the focus on her mother, who passed away a few years after Kiran's death and her father's rapidly declining health, Kiran got lost in the fray. Della remembered him in everything she did, trying to get Wyatt into the spirit, but he was too preoccupied. Still, Kiran Comaydos is never forgotten.

Ford Canters finds out six years after Tesla's death that his daughter died. All he can think is good riddance.

Nova marries another man, and has three children. The girl that Brandon Hughes spent so many years trying to impress, trying to get her to love him back, forgets about him. It was just one kiss, and he died. What's the point of remembering him? There are other people who can do that.

Shallow Shamir spent his entire life as an Avox. Usually, he served in the president's mansion, up until Snow's death and President Renius's ascension to office, simply so Etta could look at him and feel smug. Every year, when Macy would come to the Capitol to mentor her tributes, he would be assigned to serve on District 7's floor. He was a constant reminder of Macy's mistakes, and what could have been.

Once Bellow and Khalila Kasiani realized just how manipulated they had been by their daughter, she faded into obscurity, remembered by all but never missed.

Wade Thatcher starved to death a few weeks after Al's death. After all, what was the point of continuing? Al is gone. There's no point in existing anymore.

Nutmeg dies just a few months after Valentine's passing. Dasher finds no reason to keep feeding the cat of his dead sister, and Danner dies trying to protect her. Her mother runs until she can't anymore, and she too joins her daughter in death.

Rylina never gets over Cornell's death. While the rest of the Espenchs get on with their lives, Rylina lives in the past, wondering what she could have done to save her brother. Should she have made more grain crowns? She surrounded herself with them when he was alive. Should she have sent sponsor gifts? No, she didn't have the money for that. She never even realizes that there was nothing she could do.

Bull Phyronix moves on. He carries Lammy with him everywhere he goes, in the form of the little plush cow that she took into the arena, that he has washed hundreds, maybe thousands of times, and still can't get the bloodstains out of. He can't help but think about how close she was to coming home.

Rind and Sawyer eventually track down the laughing, rich man and kill him. They do it quick and in an alley in the middle of the night, and no one is the wiser. Still, they are convicted and sent prison for the rest of their lives. They may not be laughing, but at least that man isn't either.

Laiya Caffler figures it out. She knows where Nora went. She did join Lark and Camellia, but she also joined twenty-two other twelve-year-olds, none of which deserved to die. She gets reaped for the 157th Hunger Games, and she comes home. Not alive, mind you—in a box, of course. Cary Caffler is heartbroken. She saves all these peoples' lives, but she can't save her nieces'. What do their parents think, as Avoxes in the Capitol?

Mr. and Mrs. Kohan are furious. They went through all this trouble to raise three children, and none of them even make it through to adulthood? Unbelievable.

Ms. Arla starves the winter following her daughter's death. With no one left to care about, she simply stopped fighting.

No one misses Joba Hatch.

A/N: And… that's it. The end. Of course, the 151st Games are happening. I've got an SYOT for that. Still, are you satisfied with Macy's ending? Does it provide closure? I hope it does.

I can finally change this story's status to complete! Let's have a party.

-Amanda