Sequel to 'One More Cannon, One More Down, One Step Closer, To the Crown.'

Chapter One.

PART I: THE SPARK.

Living Nightmares.

I'm gagged, I'm tied and I cannot speak as my body is paralysed from the neck down, looking around I can see that I am being kept inside a shallow roofed cave, from the cracks in the stone hot steaming blood seeps into the naturally made formation. I break free of my restraints and dart from the hiding hole to sprint through the trees at a rapid pace. Hot acid leaks through my limbs as they are pushed to the limit but with the rustling of trees, bushes and undergrowth paired with the distant yells of other people, stopping is not an option now.

Suddenly, my body strikes a transparent wall knocking the air violently from my lungs, throwing me backwards into darkness. My clammy palms cling to the wall that stopped my body without any problem, I gather my wobbly limbed body to its useless feet. I am stood inside a dark room, similar to the cave but more earthy with roots poking out from the soil walls. Cautiously, I step forward clearly thinking I am no longer surrounded by the glass wall which becomes a tube, the same transparent tube every tribute is placed in before the games begin. Panic floods my body, leaking adrenaline into my veins which makes me shake but doesn't stop me from punching the tube until the skin breaks and bleeds.

The tube rises but doesn't stop when it reaches the open air of the arena, it remains strong whilst sealing me inside, preventing me from sprinting towards the survival pack during the bloodbath, everything is identical to my memory of the events: the placements of the tributes, my enemies and my allies, the survival goodies and the weapons spread out from the mouth of the Cornucopia, everything was the same – all except the tube keeping me incarcerated.

However the killings that happened during the bloodbath were considerably different. From inside my tube I watch Cassandra rocket towards the survival pack before scanning the field looking for me. Our eyes lock for several seconds and before I can warn her, a silver arrow enters the side of her neck, Cassandra coughs spluttering blood over her chin and down her front before collapsing. Bile climbs my throat but a sudden distant call echoes in the air, turning to try and find the source, I see Alden handling plenty of weapons to defend himself but upon seeing Cassandra's body, he crumples like a piece of paper in the space before the Cornucopia, letting his guard down allows the boy from District 1 to disarm him before Iris finishes him off but not without glancing my way. Closing my eyes, the sudden bang against the glass tube alerts me to open my eyes but the face that greets me is Waylon, the hand clutched onto his shoulder is Cherish who holds a knife but it's Cato who slices through the flesh of the twelve-year-old's throat, squirting blood over the tube. And as his body drops limply to the ground, a knife shatters the glass...

Needless to say, I was awoken by heavy hits on my bedroom door – no doubt my guest had heard my screams and thought to check on me – and the thud of my fishing knife burying itself into the wood of my door is the reason why I ask my visitors to knock and wait for me to reply before they take the risk of entering. Accidentally stabbing isn't on my list of important things to deal with at the moment but today does serves a dark, gloomy and special purpose as today is the day of my deceased district partner, Garrett Larkin's funeral.

Groaning heavily, there was another knock but this one was softer, more gentle and concerned. I rubbed my eyes as the realisation hit me, it had only been a dream however like everything else involving the Games, it felt real.

"Come in," I call once I'd pushed the fringe of my messy hair from my face and wiggled to sit up a little more comfortably moving the cushions to support my back but with a stomach slightly larger than a football, comfort isn't something that's easy to find. The bedroom door opens to reveal a red headed female wearing a floral dress, Annie Cresta. She eyes me up suspiciously before stepping in to close the door behind her, pulling free the knife from the back of the door which is riddled with holes from six months of nightmares, by the end of the year, I will have to replace it.

"Good morning Annie," I greet her nicely with a groggy morning smile, over the first two week period of me moving into my new home in Victor's Village, I had four new keys cut for my front door, one for Mags, my brother Michael and the love-birds of the village, Finnick and Annie. But I also gave one too the Head Peacekeeper, Embry, simply because in the case of an emergency.

For the first couple of months, Michael adventured over to my home before I had awoken for the day but as I grew larger with my pregnancy, Annie began to come instead of Michael which didn't faze me because its Annie, a girl who I have known for years, better than my own mother. Over the first month and a half, she waited patiently downstairs for me to wake up, slowly she got confident enough to come up to my bedroom and knock but the thuds made from the knife scared her however, now Annie has full confidence with being around me early in the morning.

"What brings you here?" I ask but truly I know why she is here. Its the same reason she truly comes to visit every morning. Annie Cresta blushes like a small child, she places the knife back onto my bedside table before pointing to my stomach with a sweet and innocent smile. For the past two months, Annie has been rubbing my stomach, talking to the baby and keeping me company but today wasn't an option, it's almost half seven, Garrett's funeral is at eight and I'm not ready, not that I was invited.

"I'm sorry Annie, but I've Garrett's funeral today." I apologise quickly whilst removing myself from the bed, completely forgetting that I was only wearing underwear and no pyjama's but Annie doesn't seem embarrassed by my partial nakedness and truthfully, after my games knowing that the entire nation has probably seen me go to the toilet, I am not overly bothered anymore by showing a little skin but Annie I have known for years and being more comfortable around her than my brother adds to my confidence. I continue to apologise as I attempt to dart quickly to and from different draws selecting the clothing I had long before picked out for this occasion, Annie watches me with curious eyes as my movement is limited at this stage to both quickness and agility so I am dreading to even think about how I am going to be in a couple of months when I reach the end the growing, preparing myself to be the size of a beach ball.

Splashing my face with cold water, I have no time to apply make-up to my bloodshot and darkened eyes but I am not really bothered because the idea of sneaking into this event wasn't to rub into the morning family's face that I am completely airbrushed and perfect knowing that Garrett wasn't in the best shape when he was shipped back only adds to the horror of me wanting to be there. Annie helps me securely zip the black dress I had purchased into place and I slip on the black pumps and woolly black cardigan to complete the gloomy look. My short hair has grown since the Games but that's only because I am too terrified to both leave or allow anyone inside my house and so I push my fringe away from my face pinning either side behind my ears, away from my face. With my breath hovering on the surface of the mirror, I leave.

Downstairs, a bright red rose sits lonely in a vase of water, the only time I had adventured out of my home was yesterday to buy a flower ready for today, hearing about Garrett's funeral from Leila hurts but I'm unsure why I would expect to be informed. He saved my life more than once and I couldn't return the favour, not once.

"Do you want me to come?" Annie asks watching me remove the rose from the water, swipe my bag from the table and snatch the key from the front door which must be hers because mine is inside my bag.

"No, some things you have to do alone." I tell her.

xxx

The service was beautiful, not that I got to see much of it because I was hiding beneath the trees at the side, far too afraid to show my face to the sobbing woman, man and young boy that stood at the front of the small crowd around a beautiful oak coffin. Placed on top is a large arrangement of flowers – white lilies, I think. Amongst the crowd I can spot people Garrett used to hang around with at school, I suppose you could call them friends. Leila is not there, thankfully. After the punching in the face incident which she remember faintly, we haven't really spoke but logically that's probably a mixture between me being scared to leave the safety of my house and Leila being scared of me, however slowly we are filling in the cracks of our friendship.

"Thank you all for coming." Garrett's mother smiled, the crowd smiles back – some even reply – before funnelling out of the graveyard, flooding into the streets of District 4. I wait patiently in the tree line which brings me back to the arena for a brief moment but as the sea of black disappears from the green grass land, I can almost feel like someone is pushing me forwards towards the coffin.

He is unrecognisable, the photo placed on top of the coffin simply radiates with beauty. Garrett Larkin in smiling happily surrounded by his family. Held firmly in his hands is a silver trophy, he won it swimming based on the engraved symbol on the base of the prize. Garrett's smile was filled with happiness, not like the grins he gave the audience in the Capitol, those were fake, I realise that now.

"You told once that you were going to protect me. Admittedly, there were times that I didn't believe you and I made sure to prepare myself for you to break and rat me out to the Careers but..." Pause. "You didn't, no once did you bend, or even flicker." my voice breaks into a sob, "I owe you so much, but, please, there's just one more thing, one more thing, one more miracle, Garrett, for me. Don't... be... dead."

Buried deep in the center of my chest, a flicker ignites as the raw hope that Garrett Larkin will leap from the coffin before me, laughing and engulf me in a hug whilst people emerge from the trees with cameras, filming the entire thing like a television programme. Not that I would find that situation funny or comforting, I just want him to be alive. He made me feel safe.

"What the hell are you doing here!" the high-pitched voice of a very angry female ripped through the silent air like a knife through butter. Turning swiftly, I am greeted by the red face of Garrett's mother who storms towards me so quickly her child and husband need to jog to keep up with her. Stumbling backwards, convinced she was going to hit me, the women's anger remains level as she bark's the question at me, again and again.

Stunned with her approach, I cannot speak, it's almost like I have forgotten how to string a sentence together so I remain frozen in terror and speechless. Obviously angered by my no response, the woman rips the rose from my hand.

"YOU TOOK MY SON!" she bellows, "HE'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" then she removes the head of the flower from the stem before stepping on it, driving it into the ground using the toe of her right foot before throwing the stem back at me. This is when her husband steps in, he whispers soothing words that I cannot hear but whatever he says calms her down therefore I am incredibly grateful.

Up close, the young sibling who is now an only child, looks older than I imagined with gentle creases around his eyes, no doubt from crying. His bronze skin matched his gentle blonde hair with eyes like his elder brother. He cannot be any older than ten and already, he despises me with the same hell-fire as he mother but in some way I'm thankful for him keeping silent about he. Our eyes are connected in a deadly battle of me attempting to be emotionless and him attempting to kill me using his mind.

The mother of the Larkin family drapes her arm around her youngest son before turning to face her back to me, but not before I hear her mumble, unworthy slut, to either herself or her son, I cannot be sure but I heard it and so did her husband so gives an uneasy glance in his wife's direction before turning to face me, his body is angled but not fully facing me, suggesting that he has feeling of dislike towards me however not as strong as his spouse and child.

"I'm sorry." I tell him, despite the wholesome feel to my voice, the middle-aged man chuckles bitterly but not in a harmful way as you would of imagined.

Then he turns to face me, completely. First he eyes my face, gently taking in every detail from my reformed nose to the scar-less skin. Then his gaze falls upon my stomach, and it's almost like her inside of me can feel the man's gaze because she kicks – I say she, I don't know if the baby is going to be a she, it could be a he.

The man doesn't smile at the state of my stomach, in fact he looks a little disgusted but nevertheless, he steps forwards towards me with no threatening aura about his approach, "Just remember who the real enemy is." he mumbles so quiet even I struggle to hear, he is probably scared someone will hear him and report him to a Peacekeeper but there is no one around. Wanting to ask him what he means seems stupid because it's obvious, the morning people of the surrounding districts are not my enemy, even the children in the arena with me, are not my enemy. It's the Capitol, President Snow, Seneca Crane and the rest of the Gamemakers, they are the enemy of every living and breathing person inside this nation.

Mr Larkin leaves after his simply words, not wanting to further our conversation anymore. I walk home in silence however at some stages I do find myself in a conversation with myself, in fact some of the best conversation I have are with myself. My baby must think I'm nuts, she can hear, Doctor Galloway gave a handful of leaflets to read about pregnancy and one of them states that talking to your child will help them form a bond with you before he, or she, is born because they recognise you by your voice. Fascinating isn't it?

Winter has rolled in and the temperature has dropped dramatically helping to create snow which sticks to the ground allowing me to leave a nice trail of footprints behind me. At my front door, I stamp my feet so the wet stuff knocks off from my shoes before I enter. Seeing as the front door is unlocked, I guess Annie never left this morning or more people have gathered around my house, no doubt Mags cleaning up the odd piece of paper or glass I have left laying around, I'm not dirty but neither am I compulsory clean.

I've barely stepped inside when a arm appears before me at chest level to avoid contact with my poking out stomach. Following the masculine hand up the arm to the shoulder connected to the neck which holds the face, I see Michael. His face is hardened with discomfort but he makes an effort to smile, that's when I know something is wrong.

"Don't worry, I'll take them off here." I say slipping off my flat shoes to leave them on the matt.

Michael lets out a odd, breathy laugh and touches my arm gentle, "How are you feeling? How was your walk?" he asks me with a odd look glistening in his eyes. And when I see the man standing behind him in the kitchen doorway, one look at his tailored suit and surgically perfected features and I know he's from the Capitol. Something is terribly wrong.

"I feel much better now, fresh air was what I needed." I bluff.

Michaels eyes sparkle with happiness at my lie, "Someone is here to see you." he says, his face is too pale and I can gently hear the anxiety he is trying to hid in his voice.

I look at his with shock, "I thought they weren't due until noon," I bluff again before checking the platinum watch around my wrist, "Has Vibia came early to help me get ready?" I ask.

"No, Anastasia, It's –" my brother begins.

"This way, please, Miss Hollern." says the man, rudely interrupted my sibling. The man gestures to upstairs, it's strange to be ushered around your own home but I know better than to comment on it.

As I pass, I give Michael a reassuring smile over my shoulder. "Probably more instructions for the tour." They've been sending me all kinds of stuff about my journey and what protocol will be observed in each district, plus stacks of information about each hospital in the districts I will be assigned too in the case of a baby related emergency. But as I walk towards the door of the study, a door I have never seen closed until now, I can feel my heart begin to palpitate and my mind begin to race.

Who is here?

What do they want?

Am I in trouble?

Why is my brother, a Hunger Games victor, so pale and terrified?

"Go right in." says the Capitol man who has just followed me up my own stairs and corridor, I twist the polished brass knob and step inside. My nose registers the conflicting scents of roses and blood. A funny little white-haired man who seems familiar is reading a book from my shelf. He holds up his index finger over the top of the book as if to say, "Give me a moment." Then he marks the page before putting it down and my heart skips a beat, literally.

Because then, I'm staring into the snakelike eyes of President Snow.

A/N: I've missed you! How have you all been? I hope everything has been going great. Well, here it is, the first chapter to the second part of Anastasia's story and already It hasn't been as bright as she hoped. Garrett's mother and President Snow have taken shots at her but it's people like Mr Larkin who still give her hope that a normal life is possible. I'm placing bets, who thinks Anastasia's baby will be a girl and who thinks it'll be a boy? Review and tell me, but also review to tell me what you thought on this first chapter :)