A/N: ok so this chapter is really long but I really hope you like it. Fore warning there is a scene that will make you think that I've changed the rating but I haven't this story is still rated t. And I want to thank IamCharliedaughterofPoseidon for the character Harlow and for all of her help and support.

"Maena, wake up it's going to be a very exciting day." Lania says as I blink awake.

"Ten more minutes, please?"

"No. Wake up Maena." She squeaks ripping the blankets away from my body.

"Ugh. Fine I'm up, I'm up."

"Good get cleaned up and come to breakfast." She says before her heels click out of my room.

My body aches restlessly as I stretch the stiffness away, I stand and slowly step to the bathroom, I brush my teeth, shower, and pull on my training clothes; black pants with a thick strip of light-grey outlined by a thin line of red racing down the side of each leg, the shirt matched except the fact that the red line was much thicker and my district number, four, was squared on each sleeve; they hugged me perfectly, rising and falling with every curve. The teeth of the zipper clench as I zip up the shiny black combat boots.

The second I open the door leading into the corridor, it hits me; the crisp pig's meat, the unfertilized chicken eggs cooking to a golden yellow, the buttery pancakes, and the sugary sweet syrup; the smells caress my nostrils. I am enchanted; I didn't even realize that I hadn't eaten since breakfast yesterday. Through the prepping, the parade, the pool, and the proclamation I didn't even care.

I reluctantly walk to breakfast dreading any talk about last night's conversation, but ecstatic to finally get some food in my stomach. I arrive and sit in the empty purple chair next to Jayson. As I sit he grabs hold of my chin and presses his lips against mine, my hand makes its way to the side of his training shirt and I latch onto it practically begging for more. The kiss would have continued if not for Lania, Annie, and Finnick watching us.

We break away and he whispers, "Good morning, Lovely."

"Good morning." I try to hide my smiling but it breaks free, as well as the millions of butterflies infesting my entire body.

"Do we not get good mornings?" Finnick interrupts.

"Good morning, Finnick." Jayson says sarcastically.

"That's better."

The entire table giggles, then we dig in, I take four pieces of bacon, three pancakes, two eggs and I sprinkle syrup over it all.

"So, let's talk about training first things first what weapons can you two handle? You have to be at least decent at some type of weapon; we are a career district aren't we?" Finnick asks.

"Spear and I'm almost as good as you with a trident. Oh and I'm not too shabby when it comes to swords." Jayson answers.

Annie flinches at the word sword, and then I remember.

The 67th Annual Hunger Games; Annie and her district partner, Gill, were working together they had made it to the last eight tributes along with both from 1, the boy from 2, the girl from 6, and both from 11. Gill and Annie had gone hunting in the mountainous arena once they were satisfied with their 3 rabbits; they cooked them and had begun talking about their lives back in District 4. Gill told about his mother and his little sister and brother, and about his best friend who was also his secret crush, he had kissed her and confessed his love once she came to say good bye to him. Annie told of her family as well and also of her boyfriend the Victor of the 62nd Hunger Games, Finnick Odair. But while they were conversing about happier times the tributes from 1 and the boy from 2 were tracking them by the huge plume of smoke that had risen from their fire. Once the others had tracked them Annie and Gill tried to put up a fight, but with a swift swing of District 2's sword, Gill's head was on the floor and his blood was showered onto Annie's face.

Annie had watched in horror but realizing that the fight was now 3 against one she ran, she ran as fast as her little legs could carry her, she ran for hours until she tripped over a rock, fell to the ground, and cried herself to sleep.

Annie had gone mad, experiencing that horrid death right before her eyes, who wouldn't. She survived alone until the final four, and then the Gamemakers wanted their big finale so they sent vigorous waves, knocking out everything in its path. Annie, being the only one who could swim, was crowned Victor soon after.

But even after her release from the arena she returned home, but her mind was still mad. The second the train stopped she leaped straight from the train and right into Finnick's longing arms. They held onto each other as if it was the last thing they would ever do, he stroked her hair again and again whispering something in her ear. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen happen during the games. Even at nine, I could tell, this was love; real, true, pure, undeniable love.

When she flinches, Finnick wraps his arm around her waist and stands, bringing her up along with him, "It's alright. It's over. No one will ever hurt you again, not while I'm here." He mouths, 'I'll be right back." Then he leads her into the bedroom that they share.

"What did I say?" Jayson asks with an adorably innocent look on his face.

I explain to him what happened to Annie and once I finish Finnick returns alone. "What happened to Annie?"

"She's sleeping. So, what about you Maena?" Finnick continues.

"What were we talking about?"

"What weapons are you good with?" he asks.

"Um spears, knives, and I was just starting to learn bows and arrows in training before the Reaping, but I needed more time to perfect my aim."

"Yeah because she is literally perfect with spears and knives, she hasn't missed a single shot since she was 8." Jayson injects.

"How did you know that? I didn't even know you until I was like 10."

"I had my eye on you for a long time."

A smile creeps over my face and the butterflies go insane.

Finnick continues, "Ok, those weapons stay away from them in training. Ok? Save them for the private meeting with the Gamemakers."

"Can I work with the bow? Please." I beg.

"Fine, but once your aim is up to par get away from it."

I kiss my index and middle finger then hold them into the air, "Fishes honor."

Once breakfast is done Lania escorts Jayson and I to the training room; Lania surprises me, I expected every Capitol citizen to be obnoxious, loud, talkative, and hyperactive, but Lania is the complete opposite she's to herself, quiet, and calm. And I like that about her; once the doors open my eyes immediately make their way to the wall of weapons; swords, bows and arrows, masses, spears, knives, slingshots, and more as far as the eye can see; all made of all different materials from wood to plastic to metal to silver.

A whistle is blown and my attention goes straight to the woman in the middle of the room wearing a replica of our training uniforms, the only difference being that there is no district number on her sleeve and INSTRUCTOR is written on the front and back of her shirt.

"In 2 weeks 23 of you will be dead. One of you will be alive, who that is depends on how well you pay attention over the next five days, particularly to what I'm about to say.

First, no fighting with the other tributes, you'll have plenty of time for that in the arena. There are four compulsory exercises. The rest will be individual training. My advice is don't ignore the survival skills. Everybody wants to grab a sword, but most of you will die from natural causes. 10% from infection, 20% from dehydration. Exposure can kill as easily as a knife." And with that, she sends us off to start our training.

I turn to Jayson, "So, where do you want to go first?" He suggests the bow and arrow station and we walk there hand in hand.

I lift the bow up with my left arm, align the bow straight forward with my right eye, correct my stance, place the arrow upon its rest, hold the string with the index, middle, and ring fingers of my right hand and pull back, I aim and release the string.

My aim is at first off by about 4 circles as I can see but with the next 3 arrows I inch closer and closer to the bull's eye until I hit it. Once the arrow punctures the bull's eye I shortly smile but I don't get too excited, I repeat this procedure with the next 2 arrows and hit the bull's eye with both.

"Good job babe." Jayson says from his target next to me.

"Thank you."

I walk over to him and he takes my hand, "I'm really proud of you."

I smile, "Thank you, I'm proud of you to."

"Wow, you're good." Katniss says as she and Peeta approach us.

"Thanks, I'm a fast learner."

"Hey, its Maena right?" Peeta asks.

I nod, "Yep, and this is Jayson." Katniss notices that our hands are still clasped together, "Are you two dating?" her face is suddenly drowned in sadness as she questions us.

Again I nod. Katniss smiles, "Aw you guys are so cute, it sucks that you have to go through this."

"Yea," I say changing the subject, "So, do you guys want to go check out the agility obstacle course?" they all nod in agreement and we make our way to the course in silence.

INSERT LINE HERE

I climb to the highest platform with ease, the first round of knives, arrows, and spears are thrown by Avoxes, Capitol servants/traitors with no tongue, and I lean back allowing them to fly past me again and again, then I front flip off of that platform. The next platform is a little harder an Avox tries to whack me off the platform with a pugil stick, but I divert every attack and kick the stick out of the Avox's arms then jump to the next level. The last platform the Avoxes throw plastic knives, spears, and arrows at me repeatedly, as well as attack me with more pugil sticks. I fight off as much as I can until I did a twisting somersault to the floor. I don't know when, most likely on the third platform, but I go nicked on my right cheek and left elbow; and I finished the course in 45.2 seconds RECORD TIME! Applause fills the air as I walk back towards Jayson, Katniss, and Peeta.

"Wow! That was amazing! How did you learn to do all that?" Peeta exclaims.

"Tricks off of diving boards, and we played dodge ball sometimes after school."

Now it's Jayson's turn, but before he goes to the platforms he sneaks a kiss on my scratched cheek and winks his beautiful green-hazel eye, I can feel my dark skin burning with excitement.

He does as well as me, but an Avox gets him on the third platform and he falls on his back but he finishes with a strong backflip. Katniss doesn't get touched and she is on and off every platform two tenths of a second before my time, NEW RECORD!

"Ah, you beat me." I squeal with every ounce of false jealousy I could put into my voice.

"I can't help it, I'm just awesome." Is her sarcastic reply.

After her tremendous applause, it's Peeta's turn, he is sent on his back a couple times and gets caught by multiple knives and arrows but he still did pretty well to me. But not to the District 1 and 2 tributes, The Careers, they snicker loud enough for the whole room to hear.

This burns me inside, and not in a good way, "What are you laughing at? At least he has the balls to go up there and do something." I called back at them; that was dumb; with a sudden burst of courage.

The whole group looks to Cato from District 2, he must be this year's Career leader, he responds "Oh, is that supposed to hurt my feelings." he places his hand over his heart in fake pain, "Well I'm sorry, we didn't mean to laugh at your friend, ok?" his look turns serious as we walks closer to me, "Now, listen here 'Maena', you think you're so special because you made it through an obstacle course, well you're not, and if I were you I wouldn't want to piss off someone like me, ok?"

I glare back at him, "Is that supposed to scare me?"

In response he grabs a spear and throws it hitting the dummy on the complete opposite side of the room smack dab where its jugular would be, turns to me and growls, "Yes, yes it is."

I walk to the rack of spears, my fingers glide up the sleek silver frame and to the pointed tip. A barbarous smile makes its way onto my face, the same smile that appears on my face every time I caress a familiar weapon, a smile that comes with the feeling that the decision between someone's life and death is now in my hands. I've never killed anyone, but the power I feel knowing that I can overcomes me.

But before I can release the weapon from the rack a hand is gripping mine, Jayson.

"Don't, Finnick said to save it."

"Jays…"

"Maena, you heard what Finnick said. Save your anger for the arena."

Realizing he's right I let go of the spear, even though every fiber of my being is telling me to take it and plunge it right in Cato's pretty little face, but instead I walk back to face him again, fire incinerating in my eyes.

"Yeah, well it doesn't."

"It will."

DING! DONG! DING! DONG! A bell sounds, signaling the start of lunch. Jayson takes hold of my arm and begins dragging me away; my boiling chocolate eyes and his piercing turquoise eyes stay locked on each other until I am pulled through the door.

I angrily stab my chicken salad with my fork, my blood still pumping, my mind still fuming. I look over and see that the entire Career table is glaring at Katniss, Peeta, Jayson, and I.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." This time it is Katniss's fire that burns the Careers.

"Why take a picture? You'll break my camera." Is the reply of the feisty dark haired and brown eyed girl from 2, Clove.

"Great it'll thank me for taking it out of its misery I'm sure being in possession of someone so ugly will make anything want to break." Katniss spits back, I try my best to stifle back my laughter but it breaks free into cackles.

"Don't start something you can't finish 12."

"Never do."

"We'll see."

"Yes we will."

Katniss smiles victoriously and turns back to our group, but Peeta's face is immersed in confusion, "Why did you do that, they can slaughter us the second we get into the arena?"

"Peeta, just relax ok? Trust me."

He nods. There is something in the way he looks at Katniss, something I've seen before, but it's something I can't remember.

Lunchtime ends, we find Lania, walk to the elevator and go up to our floor; I am so happy that there are elevators; I don't think my aching muscles can handle four flights of stairs.

Once we get off of the elevator we see Finnick and Annie snoozing in each other's arms in the living room, I tip toe to my room trying not to wake them up, Jayson meets me at my door, "May, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, you can ask me anything."

"Why is it that you can't defend yourself against your dad but when you're against anyone else you're a shark?"

"Well, when I figure that out you'll be the first person to know." I kiss his cheek and go into my room. The second I step in the shower I am instantly pleased, the warm water relaxes my twinging muscles and the soap washes away the stinky sweat, grim, and dirt. When I step out of the shower I dry my dripping wet skin but instead of putting on underwear I place a tank top and dark jean shorts over a blue and black stripped swimsuit. I saunter into Jayson's room to find him lying on his bed.

"Hey."

"Hey, come lay down with me."

"Mmmmmm, ok." I slide underneath his sheets about two feet away from him; I look at him out of the corner of my eye and see him roll his gorgeous eyes just as he snakes his arm around my mid-section and pulls me into his arms. He chuckles as his lips make their way to my forehead. I can't help but smile every time he does this.

"Jayson, are you scared?" I turn to my side, facing him and he does the same.

"Scared of what, the Games?"

"Yeah."

"Well, yeah of course, but if I have to go through this with anyone, I'm glad I'm going through this with you."

"Aw, you're nice. But Jayson only one can walk out of the arena."

"I know, and it's going to be you."

"No! Jayson I already told you…"

"I don't give a damn about that promise you made my mom, you're going to walk out of that arena."

"It's not just about the promise; I made up my mind the second you volunteered. Before you volunteered I had something to come back to, something to live for, you. Without you I am nothing, have nothing."

"That's not true; you'll have Mom and Kylee. And you can get any guy to fall in love with you; you will move on, have babies and name them after me."

"Mmmm, Jayson Jr. I like that, but only if his father's name is Jayson Reynolds."

"Like you said, only one gets out."

"Yeah well, if you don't get out then neither do I, how's that?"

"Yeah, we'll see."

"I guess we will. Dude, all joking aside this sucks. Why did you have to volunteer?"

"I know it was stupid my mom already kicked my butt for volunteering when she came to say goodbye."

"Haha, that sounds like Celia."

"Yeah, just know whatever happens I'll never stop loving you."

"I love you too."

He kisses my forehead once more, but before he can completely lay his head back on his pillow I hook my fingers behind his neck and my thumb in front of his ear and pull him to my lips. I pull him even closer, deepening the kiss. He grabs my waist and hauls me even closer. We are so close; air cannot breeze through us; water cannot trickle between us; nothing can end this perfect moment. My tank top is being tugged and inched up closer to being released from my torso. Inch, inch, inch. I grind my hips against his and he flips, lying on top of me, I grind my hips again latching onto his t-shirt, lifting it up. Without taking his lips off of mine he sits up dragging me with him, I raise his shirt up more until it is off of his chiseled body, and he does the same to me, and he lies back down on top of me, his hands leisurely gliding up and down my sides. We have been kissing for what feels like forever; a magnificent, glorious, heavenly forever; I want this to last beyond forever I want this to last for all eternity.

"Jayson, have you seen…Really?! You guys are doing this AGAIN? I'm going to have to get you two neutered. Maena, get up and get cleaned up for dinner. Right now." Lania bursts into the room interrupting my personal heaven, our lips separate and he reluctantly gets off of me, I shoot the covers over my head, failing in my attempt to hide from Lania.

"Maena, GET UP!"

I slide out of Jayson's bed and begin walking to my sun touched room.

"May." Jayson catches my attention.

"Yeah?"

He throws my shirt at me and I catch it, but not before it hits me in the face.

"You forgot this." He smiles and I return it with a blush.

I stay in my room, on my bed, reminiscing back to the superb event that just happened. The sun's brilliance has faded; I must have been in my room for a couple hours. Soon there is a knock at my door, "Maena come to dinner." Jayson says behind the door. My stomach rumbles loudly in response, I hear him chuckle as I hop up and open the door.

"Hey maybe later we can continue our little chat after dinner." Jayson says before he pecks his lips against my nose.

"I'd like that." I reply kissing his cheek.

Considering the earlier event of today it is very ironic that the only seats available once Jayson and I arrive is the two to the right of Lania, across the table are Finnick and Annie. "So, how was training?" Finnick starts the conversation as I take in the hair-like strands of yellow pasta covered in slippery red sauce.

"It was fine I got my bow and arrow aim down, but I'm still going to work on it some more tomorrow. And I kicked butt on the agility obstacle course."

"Good and how'd it go for you Jayson?"

"I did ok on the bow as well, I didn't do too bad on the course, and I broke up a fight. Well an almost fight."

I stare at him and mouth 'REALLY.'

"Who almost got into a fight?" Annie questions.

Jayson looks my way and Finnick, Annie, and Lania's eyes do the same. I look behind me, trying to figure out what they're staring at until I realize, OOOOO they're staring at me. I gradually turn my head, meet their gazes, and smile sheepishly.

"Maena, what happened?" Finnick basically growls.

"Um, see what had happened was…"

"Maena. Tell me what happened, RIGHT NOW!" Finnick blurts.

I sigh, "Ok. So Peeta, the boy from 12, was on the agility course and he fell and got hit a couple times. And a couple of tributes were laughing at him and it pissed me off so I told off one of the guys then he threw a spear and said I should be scared then I was going to throw a spear to shut him up, but Jayson stopped me. Wow this pasta is AMAZING!" I say in one breath before taking in a mouthful of the noodles.

"What district was the boy from?"

I scratch the back of my neck look around the room and whisper, "2."

"What! Maena, picking a fight with Cato was the dumbest thing you could have done, if he's anything like his mentors, Brutus and Enobaria, he'll kill you before you can cry out for your mommy."

With that I loose me appetite and storm off into my room; before I close the door to my room I hear Finnick ask, "What did I say?" and Jayson's response, "Her mom died the day she was born, so that's kind of a touchy topic for her." I gently close the door and go under my covers.

I hear the door hinges creak; I turn to see Finnick standing in the door frame gazing towards me with a sympathetic expression written on his face.

"Maena, I'm sorry I didn't know about your mom, I'm sorry."

"Stop apologizing, there's nothing you can or could have done."

"I know, but I shouldn't have said what I said."

"But you were right, Cato could kill me in a second, I just got mad."

"Yeah, can I sit?"

I rise, now sitting up with my back on the headboard and I criss-cross my legs in front of me, making room for Finnick on the side of my bed.

"Maena, I honestly didn't mean to hurt you, and I'm so sorry that I did."

"Fin, stop apologizing, I forgave you before you opened the door."

He smiles, mischief replacing his sympathy. "Hey Maena, did you know that a blue fish's scales reflect sunlight north?"

"Huh?"

"And a red fish, there scales reflect west."

"What are you talking about?"

"The green fish, they reflect east."

I begin to realize that he's speaking in code; blue for north, red for west, green for east.

"And let me guess, the purple fish reflect south?" I ask.

"No, yellow fish reflect south, a purple fish's scales reflection turns."

"Oh."

"Yeah, ok well I guess I should let you get some sleep, it looks like you've had a hard day."

He stands, and saunters out of my room.

I lay in the deafening silence awaiting a sleep that hopefully is either filled with peaceful dreams or no dreams at all.

But boy am I wrong. I am revisited by my nightmares, but this is different, this is more than a nightmare, this is a memory.

"Hey dad, can I go hang out with Kylee?"

"Who the hell is Kylee?"

"Jayson's little sister, she asked me if I could spend the night with her, you know hang out and stuff. So can I go?" hope gleaming in my eyes.

"No."

"Please."

And that's when I notice the empty bottle of Whisky in his hand, and I know this whole conversation is a mistake, I back up to the stairs as he gets out of his chair. I try to run upstairs but he catches up with me very quickly, he pushes me down, my forehead bouncing off of the edge of a step. I instantly feel the blood cascading down my forehead. He spins me around and starts beating me, now my back is ricocheting against the stairs with each blow.

He gets off of me but I am in too much pain to move. But this time he grabs a rope and starts choking me with it, then with the rope still wrapped around my collar he lets me breathe and he begins walking up to the top of stairs and to the miniature wall that overlooks the staircase and pulls the rope with all his might, nearly choking me to death.

I awake with a gasp tears racing down my face. My hands drift to the invisible marks on my neck left by my memories, "It's over. He's gone. He can't hurt you anymore." I cry to myself. My brain touches my skull every couple seconds, my blood is pounding in my veins, my skin is burning, and every inch of being is aching.

I walk to the kitchen and drink a glass of icy water, and with my glass I walk to the living room and my eye catches a dark umber book underneath the coffee table, DISTRICT FOUR VICTORS is printed on the front. On the front of each page is a single picture and on the back is a disc, I flip page after page and I am shell-shocked once I come to the Victor of the 49th Hunger Games. Upon the picture I am thrown back to my first nightmare. 'I get up and see that there is another pair of eyes, those big, brown, comatose eyes struck the most fear in my heart.'

Alexis Maena Ludwig

Brown eyes that could easily be mistaken for mine, a smile that can brighten even the darkest of days; I stare at the picture, completely still; tears that I thought had dried drift down my face and into my lap. I stay like this for hours, until the sun starts peek into the horizon.

I am silent. I can say nothing, do nothing, but stare at the picture; I begin to piece together the puzzle.

"Maena? Maena? Maena!" Finnick yells catching my attention.

"Yea?"

"What are you looking at?" I inch the book closer to him, not taking my eyes off of Alexa, "Wow she's really pretty. And she looks a lot like… oh Maena, is this you're..."

"Yea, that's my mother. I never knew she was in the Games let alone Victor." I cut him off.

I didn't notice Annie behind us until she spoke, "You look just like her. Same eyes, hair, nose, you two even have the same smile."

Salty tears dance down my face, followed by a bright, rejuvenating smile. I stare at the photo more and notice something around my mother's neck that I had missed, a shell swirled again and again to form a perfect circle, its color bright red in the center and fading to a pale pink with every swirl. I take off my necklace and place it next to the picture.

"That's your mom's necklace, who gave that to you, your dad?" Annie asked.

I shake my head, "He didn't even realize I had it, if he did he probably would have taken it. Jayson's mom, Celia, she gave it to me. Her and my mom were best friends. Why did she never tell me that my mom was a Victor?"

I can hear Lania's heels click in with Jayson tailing her, "Oh, Maena, that's where you were, I was beginning to get worried." I wipe my face and put the book back on under the table and head to the table for breakfast. I put my necklace back on and begin to eat. I stare at the table cloth while nibbling at my french toast, sausage, bacon, and eggs. Thinking of nothing but the picture, the first picture I had ever seen of my mother.

"What about you Maena?" Lania says.

"What?" I reply snapping my neck to face her.

"Are you excited for training today?"

"Yea, I guess."

Jayson injects, "Are you ok? You seem distracted."

"No, I'm fine; can I go get dressed now? Excuse me." and with that I go to my room, get dressed, and meet Lania and Jayson at the elevator, and we walk to training in silence.

We meet up with Katniss and Peeta at the knot tying station the instructor shows us a couple basic snares and traps after about half an hour and 15 traps, we split up, I go with Katniss to show her the ways of the spear and Jayson goes with Peeta to help him learn some basic sword forms.

"Ok, so here's what you're going to want to do, hold the spear as if it's a giant pencil, but hold it loosely. Slightly face sideways from the target with your spear hand farthest back." I pause, checking if she is following correctly. But she isn't the only one following my instructions.

Curly scarlet hair flowing past her shoulder blades, emerald-green eyes trying to hide their curiosity, 8 squared on her sleeves.

Katniss notices my overdue pause and looks at me; I turn her attention to the District 8 girl,"Hey, who's the ginger?" she nearly yells. The District 8 girl quickly turns her head as we snicker, she drops the spear with tears in her eyes and begins to walk off.

"Hey, I was just kidding. I'm sorry." Katniss apologizes.

"It's ok, sorry for crying I've just been really emotional lately." District 8 replies.

"Who could blame you, what's your name?" I ask.

"Harlow. Harlow Flynn, from District 8."

"Well, nice to meet you Harlow, I'm Maena St. Clair from District 4."

"Katniss Everdeen from 12."

"So Harlow, would you like to train with us?" I ask.

"Sure."

"Ok, from the top hold it loosely like a huge pencil, face sideways from the target with spear hand farthest back, that's as far as we got right?"

They nod.

"Kay so now put the opposing foot of your spear hand in front of the other, but keep both feet a shoulder's length apart. Bend your knees a little, side-step forward a couple times, but keep your knees bent. Then unbend your knees, with your hips you're going to twist forward and throw the spear at the same time, then do this until you're comfortable with the spear and you have a decent aim ratio."

After what feels like 15 minutes Katniss and Harlow are happy with their spearing they decide they've had enough, "So what now?" Harlow questions.

I feel strong arms coil around me, "Now it's time for you to hang out with your favorite male tributes." Jayson says.

I gasp, "Finnick is here?"

"Ah, funny." He reaches down and kisses my cheek.

"Aw, how cute." Katniss mocks.

"Whatever, hey I wanna go shoot some arrows before lunch."

"Sure let's go. Hey Harlow do you want to come with us?"

"Um, thanks but I think I'll go to one of the survival stations."

"Ok, but you should eat lunch with us."

"Yeah. Sure. Definitely."

"Mmk, later." I implant.

After Katniss and I shoot a couple arrows it's lunch time, and we learn more about each other. We whisper to each other what we are best at; Jayson and I go first then Peeta reveals that Katniss is a master with a bow (as if I didn't already know), then Katniss retorts saying Peeta is the strongest person she'd ever met, and Harlow finished saying she is an ace throwing knives and daggers; then we tell stories.

Lunch ends and so do our stories, Finnick makes his way towards the doors of the cafeteria, "Where's Lania?" I ask.

"Am I not good enough to escort two children back to their rooms?"

"No." Jayson and I say simultaneously.

Finnick gets behind us, wraps his arms around each of our necks and begins walking us of to our floor. I turn my head back to Katniss, Peeta, and Harlow, "See you guys tomorrow."

That night Jayson, Finnick, Annie, Lania, Alexander, and Jayson's stylist Isabelle just relax in the pool for the rest of the day until it's time for dinner, then we all go to bed awaiting the next day of training.

The next day, Jayson and I meet up with Harlow, Katniss, and Peeta, we go to a couple survival stations, practice with any weapon that isn't our specialty, (Katniss stays away from the bow, Peeta keeps away from anything heavy, Jayson avoids spears, tridents, and swords, I avert spears and knives and I limit my bow time, and Harlow steers-clear of daggers and knives) and if we have extra time we rock climb, swim, or run the obstacle course. It is the same routine for two days, Career- drama non-existent we steer clear of them and they do the same. But things change on the last day of training.

Once we arrive we are told that instead of going to the different stations we are to meet the instructor on a huge mat. Jayson and I find our way to the mat and are met by Harlow, Katniss, and Peeta.

"Welcome tributes, today you will be participating in hand to hand combat. I will choose one person to walk onto the mat and any tribute can challenge them to a match, but they cannot be challenged by their district partner, and once you have fought you may not volunteer until everyone has fought. And keep in mind that winning will reflect well on your total training score which could help you in the arena. Ok, so the first tribute will be... Ashleigh Crump, District 7."

Ashleigh steps onto the mat. Without hesitation the girl from District 1, Glimmer, steps up, but before she reaches the mat she looks back at Cato with a flirtatious smile and he returns it with an annoyed and uninterested expression. Ashleigh grabs Glimmer's hair and begins dragging her to the center of the mat saying, "Come on Glimmer, let's just get this over with." Glimmer strived to fight but, Ashleigh swiftly sent her leg to Glimmer's temple rending her momentarily unconscious and places her boot on top of her mid-section while the instructor counts to three.

"Well, that was fast, so up next... Katniss Everdeen, District 12." I take one step towards the mat but Clove runs onto the mat before I have the chance. "Get her Clove!" her district partner yells, she turns and sends him a smirk in response. As she turns back Katniss sends her combat boot into Clove's abdomen, Clove returns with a punch in her face. Katniss tackles her to the ground punching her and pulling her hair; I can't help but smile at the Career getting hammered. But my smile deteriorates as Clove takes dominance of the brawl. After going back and forth, the instructor declares the match a draw. Katniss comes back to us with unbraided and tangled hair and scratches and bruises on her face and arms. "You did really good." I say giving her a high five.

The next few matches fly by the District 5 boy pins the District 3 boy in a matter of minutes, the District 3 girl attempts to avenge her partner's loss with the District 5 girl, Janely, but fails in a couple seconds.

The boy from District 7 destroys the little pinprick from 6.

"Up next is Marvel Richards." the instructor reads. The boy from one walks to the mat with no fear, until he sees the second biggest tribute, Thresh from 11, walks up with no emotion on his face. Marvel's face then only occupies one emotion, fear. Their fight, much like Clove and Katniss's, is a series of punches, kicks, and battles for dominance, but eventually Thresh holds Marvel down for the 1...2...3.

The Harlow defeats the girl from 6 in less than two minutes.

The boy from 9 creams the boy from 10, but the girls were the opposite.

Jayson massacres the frail boy from 8 in a matter of seconds.

"Rue Stenberg, your next." the little girl from 11 walked to the mat. I begin to make my way, but Peeta holds me back.

"Let me." He walks up to Rue, her beautiful auburn eyes fill with a terror that soon fades as Peeta says, "It's ok, you're going to be fine." Peeta gets down on his back allowing Rue to reluctantly get the win.

"Why did you do that?" Katniss asks the second Peeta rejoins us.

"For one she needs as much credit for her training score as she can get and Haymitch told us not to reveal our strengths."

"That was stupid, now the Gamemakers are going to look at you like the 16 year old boy that got beat by little 12 year old girl."

"Would you not do the same? If it were Prim instead of her wouldn't you want someone to help her as much as they could? She's just a little girl she doesn't deserve to be here, she needs all the help she can get."

"I didn't think of it that way, I'm sorry. That was a really sweet thing for you to do."

"I know."

That earns a chuckle out of Katniss; Peeta's look is back, the one I've seen before. Where have I seen that look?

The instructor announces the final match, "Ok, Maena and Cato, since you two are the only two who haven't fought you will battle each other."

Out of the corner of my eye I see Peeta's face flush with guilt, "Maena, I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry about."

I turn and grab Jayson's face, "You have to promise not to interfere, ok? Promise me, right now."

"I promise." I kissed him gently, and then I gingerly tread towards the mat.

"Aw, you got to kiss your boyfriend for good luck." Cato mocks.

"Jealous?"

"You wish."

"Yea, sure I do."

We circle around each other for a few seconds, waiting for the other to make the first move, I guess Cato got impatient. Making our way into our 3rd circle he swings, aiming for my face, I drift my entire torso down and hit his side with side of my hand, but I step back trying to hide my pain, his body must be made of metal or stone because I think I may have broken my pinkie. He chuckles swinging again and this time he indeed impacted his target, and I am sent to the floor.

I taste the salty, coppery blood dripping into my mouth; I writhe around in pain gasping, wheezing, and coughing. He grabs my shirt and lifts me with no effort and drops me down just as fast, his boot collides with my ribcage and I feel every breath of air escape my entire body. When he's done kicking me he lifts me up again by my hair and drags me to a wall where I am again lifted, by my neck and any air that returned to my bruised body is leaving again. I try to kick him but every attempt is thwarted by his rock-hard bod.

"Are you scared now?!" then he notices my necklace, "Nice necklace I think I'll give it to my mother when I get home."

He coils his hand around my necklace, the only thing I have of my mother's, and I go demented. My saliva connects with his face and as he goes to wipe it off he foolishly loosens his grip around my neck, I force his hand away and kick his foot out from under him, and he lands on his face with a thud. I get on top of him and punch him again and again and again, "Don't EVER touch my necklace you arrogant piece of crap."

He flips our positions, and with him being on top he begins pummeling me again. I block attacks as best as I can, but I can already feel my eye swelling. His punches make my father's feel like mosquito bites, each impact bringing what feels like either bruised skin or bruised bone. I have no idea how, but I regain control, I stand and begin kicking him repetitively.

He makes a sound between a cough and a whistle and before I even realize what's going on I am being thrown to the mat and jumped by Clove, Ashleigh, and Glimmer. Jayson pulls Ashleigh away; Peeta claws Glimmer off of me; and Katniss seizes Clove and they continue their battle. Once I regain my composure I charge for Cato, who has recovered to his feet, and punch him once, "Really you need your little groupies to take me out, looks like you're the one that's scared Cato."

It is total mayhem, Katniss is fighting Clove, Jayson is trying to control Ashleigh, Peeta lost Glimmer and now she is attacking me. I push Glimmer off just in time to see Ashleigh slap Jayson. Every fiber of my being is set to flames; I take her to the floor I smack and punch her again and again. Cato pulls me off of Ashleigh and to the floor. Jayson storms Cato, and they get into it a couple feet away from Ashleigh and I's restarting battle.

Soon Peacekeepers are lifting me up, they break away every fight, and they take me, Katniss, Clove, Ashleigh, Glimmer, Jayson, Peeta, and Cato away, before we are completely out of the room I look back towards the circle of tributes, everyone is standing in the same position as before, I see Harlow's face flabbergasted with tears cascading down her right eye. The Peacekeepers take us to a white and glass room with a crystal clear glass desk is at the head of the room and three rows with 4 rows of white chairs in each row, Katniss, Peeta, Jayson and I take the 1st row while Cato, Clove, Ashleigh, and Glimmer take the 3rd row.

My left eye is swelling, and bruises and blood cover me body; Katniss has a bruise on her forehead and her lip is bleeding; Jayson has a red mark on his right cheek; and Peeta has a scratch from his far corner of his right eye all the way down to his lip.

The Head Gamemaker, Seneca Crane, enters the room followed by two Peacekeepers. He sits at the desk with a Peacekeeper on either side. "I don't care what happened; all I care about is the fact that the eight of you broke the only rule of training. And as for your punishment…five lashes. Who wants to go first?"

This is so stupid! If the dip-wad hadn't called his little hookers we wouldn't be in this mess, now I'm going to get whipped because he can't accept that a girl half his size was beating him up.

I stand. "What are you doing?" Jayson whispers.

"I might as well just get it over with."

The two Peacekeepers each grab hold of one of my arms, before the pain comes I glare at Cato this is all your fault is written across my forehead as the seven of them watch Seneca take a whip out of his desk drawer; my body tenses and my breath quickens.

I hear the air separate, making room for the weapon; I am forced to hold back a scream as the whip makes contact with my back, I am grateful that my shirt is still on, even though it doesn't mask the pain fully it holds some of the impact, the wounds aren't as deep as they would be without it. But with each crack of Seneca's whip it tears away the protecting fabric; I feel the wounds getting deeper, I wouldn't be surprised if I had lacerations on my bones.

I look away not wanting to show my tears, I bite my lip to muffle my screams; I look out of the corner of my eye and see that Jayson has a single solitary tear running down his face. When my punishment is over the Peacekeepers release my hands and that very second I collapse to the floor. My back feels as if it has been set on fire, I close my eyes hoping this is a nightmare a very painful nightmare that Jayson will wake me up from, I want him to hold me in his lap while calming my tears, I want him to whisper to me that he loves me, I just want this to be over.

"Take her to the infirmary and call all of their mentors to come when they are ready to go back to their floors." Seneca says to the Peacekeepers. The Peacekeeper that held my right arm hoists me over his shoulder, I catch a blurry glimpse a pool of red on the white floors.

Is that my blood? I touch my hand to my scorching back and wince at the contact, as I bring my hand to my face I inspect the blood covering every spot of my palm along with a few pieces of meat. The blur in my eyes turns to darkness, and it envelopes the entire room.

I wake up in another white room on a hospital bed, my the flames on my back have been extinguished; I look around and see him, next to me those green-hazel eyes stare at me with joy, worry, and pain. "Jayson, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, are you alright?"

"Yeah, what happened?"

"You blacked out; you saw your blood and passed out. I stood as the Peacekeeper took you away then I got my lashes."

"I'm sorry. This is my fault; I just lost control when he said he would take my necklace."

"This is nowhere near your fault; if anyone is to blame it's that punk Cato."

The door swings open; Finnick and Annie run to our bedsides, "Oh my gosh are you two alright?" Annie cries. We both nod.

"Would you mind telling me what happened?" Finnick says looking directly at me.

"I was fighting Cato in hand in hand combat then…"

"Oh I know what happened!"

"Then why did you ask?"

"Don't get snippy with me young lady!"

"I'm…sorry?"

"Do you guys realize what this means, now you have to go to the private lessons tomorrow injured, that can really damage your scores and sponsors only sponsor generously to high scores."

Well, tomorrow will be interesting.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed I told you I keep my promises and I promise that it will get even better. ttyl