CHAPTER 1:
"All my friends tell me I should move on, I'm lying in the ocean, singing your song, Ahhh, that's how you sang it. Loving you forever, can't be wrong. Even though you're not here, won't move on. Ahhh, that's how we played it... And there's no remedy, For memory, Your face is like a melody, It won't leave my head, Your soul is haunting me, And telling me That everything is fine. But I wish I was dead (dead like you)... Every time I close my eyes, It's like a dark paradise, No one compares to you, I'm scared that you, Won't be waiting on the other side... All my friends ask me why I stay strong, Tell 'em when you find true love it lives on, Ahhh, that's why I stay here... No one compares to you, But there's no you, Except in my dreams tonight... There's no relief, I see you in my sleep. And everybody's rushing me, But I can feel you touching me, There's no release, I feel you in my dreams, Telling me I'm fine..." - Lana Del Rey.
"Ladies and gentleman, the winner of the 69th Hunger Games is Penelope Longshot!"
The voice rung throughout the now nearly empty arena. The only things that still lay in this terrible dome is a few bodies of the newly deceased teenagers and me. Penelope Longshot, the eighteen year old girl who volunteered so the young twelve-year-old girl who wasn't much more than skin and bones wouldn't have to die.
I, Penelope Longshot, am the newest victor of the annual Hunger Games and the third victor from District 4.
I feel the wind from a hovercraft on my face and I know that someone has come to either retrieve me or the bodies of Disctrict 3's male tribute, Isaak, or District 1's female tribute, Shimmer. I tilt my head to the side so the sticks that are flying around and the sand from the dry arena do not go into my eyes or mouth. I still cannot move, the toxin that Shimmer found and laced her knife with paralyze me from the neck down. I regret my action of moving my head as soon as I see the shocked, angry face of Isaak beside me. My last enemy, the one who was determined to kill me as soon as he got the chance. His face, still stuck in its shocked expression, stares at me with unseeing eyes, but I feel the guilt start to bubble up inside of me.
I did this, I killed him, I get to live for killing someone.
A set of arms carefully pick me up and I start to scream. I do not know these people, I see them as a threat. My screaming stops as I feel a pinch in my forearm as they inject me with something. I feel the world turn fuzzy, and black dots cloud my vision as the last strength I have left after six days in the arena fades away. I feel consciousness leaving me, and the tributes that were left intrude my dreams.
Twenty three tributes... Dead. Surviving... One. How many did I kill? Thirteen.
I wake to someone brushing my hair away from my face and a hand that grips mine so hard I'm surprised the pressure wasn't what woke me up. I do not open my light blue eyes, I fear what I will see. I fear I will see the angry, unseeing brown eyes that belong to Isaak beside me. I fear I'll see Shimmer on my right side, her eyes bloodshot and unseeing, with a knife plunged into her forehead and another in her chest.
"C'mon, honey, wake up... You can wake up now," it's Mags', my mentor's, soft and barely audible - due to her growing age - voice.
Feeling safer, my eyes flutter open and I see the kind, elder woman smiling sadly down at me. Her eyes slightly widen as she sees that I've woken, and she reaches over and pats the person who has their hand on mine with a vise like grip. I follow the elder victor's arm and see that she is patting Finnick Odair's shoulder. My other mentor, barely eighteen, wakes from his own sleep and I see it was not a peaceful sleep, but one filled with the nightmares from his Games four years ago. His hand crushes mine with so much force I clench my eyes shut, but then the pain caused by the weight of Finnick's hand disappears and is replaced with a smaller hand: Mags'.
"Hey, sweetheart, how're you feeling?" Finnick asks me as he kneels beside me and brushes a strand of my deep brown hair away from my eyes.
"Like I just spent six days in a death trap," I say weakly, trying to sound humorous but I fail terribly, that is no joking matter.
I spent three days with my District partner, Trae, until I watched him receive a sword to the back for me. When I'd asked him why, why he would sacrifice himself for me, why he wouldn't just let me die, he simply responded with his dying breath: 'They don't need me, nobody really does. But they need you... He needs you'.
That happened on the third day of the Games, and I spent the next three avenging my friend that had sacrificed himself for me, and I did avenge him. I hunted down the career pack which held both tributes from Districts 1, 2, 3, and the male tribute from 5. When it was just down to me, Isaak, and Shimmer, it was more of a challenge to finish the damn Games. They were both much more skilled than I, and they were still in an alliance. I won the 69th Hunger Games out of luck and a bit of hope to get back to District 4 where my family and someone else were.
"Penelope?" it's Finnick again and I snap out of my thoughts and look at him, but something blocks my vision... Tears.
"I-I'm fine," I mutter as I quickly wipe away the tears from my eyes and cheeks.
"Are you?" Finnick asks and I avert my eyes, not letting myself look him in the eyes. I know if I look at him I'll just burst into tears again, I'm not okay. I'm not. I killed thirteen people, thirteen children, in a span of six days. I'm a monster.
"Trae," is all I say, I want to know if either Mags or Finnick have spoken to his parents or if they received his body.
"They're sending him back home, honey," Mags says in her quiet voice and I nod, "Where are we?"
"Capitol," Finnick explains, "Doctor's patched you up, fixed your wrist, and filled your chipped tooth. We're in your room of the Capitol's version of the Victor's Village, but it's not really a village... More of an apartment complex like at the training center."
I nod, taking in his words, I run my tongue over my front tooth and find that it doesn't have the chip in it from the rock District 2's female tribute, Cara, threw at me. My wrist no longer holds the searing pain it did hours, or maybe it was days, ago from Isaak's attempt at getting a knife to my throat.
"So what next?" I whisper, fearing the answer I'm going to receive.
"An interview with Ceaser, again, and then the Victory Tour," Mags tells me and I frown, "Do I have to?"
"Yes, it's what President Snow's ordered," Finnick says, almost bitterly, "We tried to get him to allow an exception, just take you home, but he wouldn't agree."
"Thanks for trying, Finnick," I say with a small smile and he returns it with one of his own, "It'll be over soon enough, don't worry all you've got to do is put on a smile and be thankful to everyone."
"Sounds easier said than done. What, am I supposed to be thankful that the Capitol sent me to my death? Or thank the Districts for sending in kids for me to kill?" I ask bitterly, anger bubbling up inside of me.
"No, but when Ceaser interviews you, thank the sponsors that sent you the bread and water, the ointment to fight off the mutts' venom, thank the Districts for their support when you saved the girl from 9 so she wouldn't become the mutt's dinner," Mags tells me and I sigh.
"Thanks for clarifying that."
"That's what mentors do for their victors," Mags says with a small smile.
(2 weeks later)
I sit in front of President Snow with Mags on my left and Finnick on my right. The President sent for us to come meet him at his mansion, well... He asked that I come to his mansion and I told him I would as long as Mags and Finnick could come with me.
The President accepted that and so here we were, sitting in front of the most powerful man in the Capitol.
"Ms. Longshot, your interviews and your Victory Tour have concluded, and you'll be leaving for District 4 tonight," President Snow starts, "Now, I would like for you to become a mentor, along with Finnick and Mags, here."
"Sure," I tell him with a frown, that's why he ordered me here?
"I'd also like to give you an offer."
Ah, I knew that there'd be something else.
"Yes?" I ask and Snow sits up straight in his large chair.
"You are seventeen, yes? I'd like to give you the offer to be bought while in the Capitol," President Snow says and my eyes widened, "Excuse me?"
"No," Finnick snaps for me and I nod, "Yeah, no!"
"Understood. However, if you do not agree, there'd be some... Consequences, if you will," Snow says and I scowl at the man, "Like what? You'll kill me? Stage an accident?"
"No, Ms. Longshot, I will not have you killed," he pauses a moment as I meet his cold eyes, "I will kill your family."
"He's bluffing," Finnick says after a moment of silence, then repeats, "He's bluffing, Penelope."
"Just like I was bluffing about your family, Finnick Odair?" President Snow challenges as my mind flows with thoughts.
Finnick grips the edge of the seat to keep from doing something he'll probably regret later, and I feel a hand rest on my shoulder. I look to my left and see Mags giving me a sad small smile as she shakes her head, silently telling me not to give President Snow what he wants.
I look the President in the eyes while standing up, "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm going to have to reject your offer. Are we done here?"
The President smiled as he stood and gestured to the door, "Yes, we're done here, I'll be seeing you all next year."
I feel a hand on the small of my back as the three of us walk towards the eating area of the train to District 4, and I tilt my headblue ones. His eyes show concern and something else I can't place, and I stop walking to look at him. It's the emotion I've always seen my father show after my mother died: Sorrow.
"Finnick?" I ask as he stops walking too and turns to me.
He doesn't meet my gaze as he grabs my hands and I intertwine our fingers. Mags walks ahead of us and steps through the door to the eating room, leaving Finnick and I in the compartment before it.
"I hate that man," was all Finnick said and I let go of one of his hands and tilted his head upwards.
Finnick Odair looked utterly broken as his eyes met mine and I rubbed a thumb across his cheek, "Hey, hey, it's okay."
"It's not! Penelope, it's not okay, nothing is. That sick man wanted you to agree to prostitution in the Capitol, it's sick! He wanted to make you an item, something someone could buy and it's disgusting," Finnick said through gritted teeth, "He wanted to make you like every other Victor, he wanted to make you like me."
I'm taken aback by this, I didn't know that Finnick had to go through something so terrible.
"Finnick, oh God, Finnick," I whisper as I pull him into a hug and rub his back as I feel him shudder with silent sobs, "They won't touch you, not again."
"I can't," his voice breaks, "It's what gets sponsors for the tributes, it's what I signed for this year when Snow promised not to hurt anyone else I care about."
I pull away from the hug and wipe a few tears from Finnick's face as he tries to pull himself together, "Finnick, why would you sign up for that? Who else could he possibly hurt? Your family-" he cuts me off.
"You."
"What?" I whisper and Finnick looks down at me as I look up slightly so I can meet his eyes.
"You're the one I don't want him hurting, Penny," he whispered back and I felt blood rise in my cheeks, he couldn't mean that could he? Finnick was amazing beyond words and he'd been there for me since I volunteered for the little girl back home, I knew he'd had deep feelings for me but I always thought he thought of me like a sister. But now, I see a look in his eyes: Longing. It's something that seems to connect the dots as a series of memories quickly flow through my mind.
Finnick's face falling as I walked onto the stage during the Reaping, and Finnick staying with me the night before the Games and telling me comforting words while he brushed my hair from my face, Finnick telling me that he'd do everything in his power to bring me home from the Games, Finnick running into my compartment on the train for three nights in a row while on the Victory Tour when I woke from my nightmares screaming until he just ended up staying beside me in my compartment to comfort me when I woke, and finally: The other night when I sat with Ceaser in front of the huge crowd of people from the Capitol and him saying that while he was watching the Games with the rest of the V.I.P people (Victors and extremely rich sponsors) he had never seen Finnick Odair look so worried and stressed as he watched the final showdown between Isaak, Shimmer, and I.
Without another thought, I crash my lips against Finnick's and he eagerly responds as he cups my cheeks and kisses me back. When we break apart, our foreheads leaning against one another, both of us smiling.
"I've wanted to do that for a while now, Odair," I say with a smile and he lets out a breath as I wipe another tear from his cheek away, "Not as long as I have, Penny."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Hello all! This is my first Hunger Games fan fic so please be kind? I wanted to throw it out there that I ship Finnick and Annie a lot but I watched Catching Fire for the first time last week and I had a lot of feels and so this fan fic was created. Well, I'd appreciate feedback and you'd make my day by leaving a review or following/favoriting this story. Until I post again (which might be until next weekend), goodbye! :3