Present time

I open the door to our home and I see Finnick Odair at the front door, smiling at me. It's winter now in District 8, and there harsh winds and snow have been coming through the District, especially through Victor Village as I let Finnick come in and close the door behind him. He was wearing a warm coat with pants and boots, looking already handsome for a interview. Finnick comes to visit once a month for dinner, wanting to check on both myself and Samson. Even though he hasn't competed in the games in over a decade, Finnnick understood the nightmares and the visions we would have from our time in the games. Some days were better than others, but most of the time the nightmares were getting worse for me. Samson on the other hand has been getting better and better as the nights go on.

"How was the trip here?" I asked him as I hugged him in the hallway. Finnick hugged me back fully, almost lifting me up from the ground. After placing me on the ground, he smiled and shrugged.

"Not bad really. I'm used to the cold now since there's a current coming in at home." Finnick replied as we both walked over to the living room, "Where's Samson?"

"He went to the market to get some firewood and check on our dad in the factory." I explained to him as we sat in the couches of the living room. SInce my mansion of Victor's Village was the theme of a cabin, the room was tinted in brown and gold from the wood on the walls and ceilings, making it more cozy of us to sit in, "How's Annie?"

"She's doing fine." He replied to me, having me look at him with a raised eyebrow. I knew he was hiding something from me, and from the look in his eye it was something rather important. I eyed him, seeing him look back at me with the same look of shadiness.

"You're hiding something." I said to him a confident tone. He looked at me with a hard long stare, as if trying to read my mind. He then sighed and looked down at his spot at his folded hands.

"There's a uprising happening at my District." He said to me, having me look at him with confusion and shock in my eyes. It doesn't sound right to me, it sounded like it wouldn't come from 4 but from a poor district, my own District. Was that even allowed, could they do that in 4?

"How did it start?" I asked him, trying to remain calm from the news that I heard from him.

"I don't know precisely, but I think I have a hunch. The two victors from District 12." He explained to me, having me sit back in my spot and rubbed my eyes in confusion. I watched the 74th Hunger Games, seeing two kids from District 12 come out and defy the Capitol by proclaiming their love for one another and wish to die together than to loose each other. It worked for the rest of Panem, but I knew there was a catch to it.

"The lovers? Are you serious?" I asked him aloud, seeing him nod his head.

"And it's not just my District that's in revolt, well, that's what I heard." Finnick said aloud to me as I looked back at him from my spot on the couch. I could see his face being painted in the orange glow of the fire in the fireplace.

"Whatever they did in the arena a year ago, people are talking about it. Both good and bad, but I wanted you and your brother to know." Finnick said aloud to me in almost a warning tone. It was as if he was trying to prevent something from happening to us. I raised my eyebrow at him once more. What was he implying, that we were in trouble?

"What do you mean Finnick." I asked him in a serious tone. Before he could even answer the questions, I heard something popping outside of Victor's Village. It was loud, and it was violent. I knew what that was: gunshots.

Something big happened.

I got up from the couch and walked over to the window, peering out into the courtyard that was beyond Victor's Village. I could see people running around screaming and fires starting in the middle of the square. I panicked, knowing my brother and father were somewhere in there and I had to go find them.

"Willow, don't think about it." Finnick started with me, but I ran for my jacket in the hallway and opened the front door. I opened it, feeling the chill of the night hit me hard as I looked behind me at Finnick.

"I need to find Samson and my dad." I said to him in a stern tone. He looked like he was about argue with me, but he knew that arguing with me was the last thing he wanted to do. He sighed and we both bolted out of the house and towards the square of District 8. All around me was mass chaos, Peacekeepers were throwing people around and the people were fighting against them, and I saw a few of them falling to the floor from the blow of the Peacekeepers.

"Where would your dad and brother be?" Finnick asked over the noise of the crowd. I felt him grab my arm in case we were going to get lost in the crowd.

"The factory, it's back here." I said to him in reply. The factory that my dad and brother used to work was at the back end of the courtyard, a large brick building with pipes and chimneys poking out of the ceiling and plenty of glass to see inside. From what I saw, no one was inside. Everyone moved outside of the factory into the streets for the riot that was starting. Finnick and I bolted to the factory, dodging people left and right as I reach the front door. I threw it open, the both of us going in and closing the door behind us.

"Sam!" I yelled, hearing my echo in the room and the factory being bounced all around the walls. I knew this factory, since I would come and help my father from time to time when I was younger. I went over to the first set of stairs, which lead to the second story and the boss's office. I ran up two steps at a time and when I reached the second story, I saw the two people I needed to see: Samson and my dad. They were the only ones there, everyone else gone and in the streets. They both were looking out at the crowd with solum looks on their faces and I could tell they were affected by this. I walked over with Finnick slowly, not saying a word at first but watching them both. Their faces, though at first showed nothing, said everything about their pain.

"All this over the kids from District 12." My father said aloud as I silently took my brother's hand in his. I felt him squeeze his hand in mine as I watched the crowd as well. We were silent for a moment or two.

"Who knew the Hunger Games would do something like this." I said aloud without even thinking. My father looked over at me, and I could see the pain in his eyes. Sometimes I took for granted what he went through as a parent, seeing not only a child go through the reaping and risk dying, but two children. His only children, both were reaped and going to the games. He almost lost the both of us, his only family and only sense of joy. There was the risk of leaving him alone for the rest of his life. I never realized the pain my father had to endure when he would watch either Samson or myself being an inch away from death. What that must of been like for him, I could't imagine.

"I knew, since I watched you both leave me and risk never seeing you alive again. And for this to happen….it took one moment of realization." My father said aloud, looking from me to the crowd once more. It look one person to defy the capitol and their way of life, their rules, and their justice, and this begins. District 12 realized who they were as pawns in the game of life, and they changed the rules. We were silent then, watching the riot go on for what seemed like hours. it was the start of something, something big.

"Ash! No Ash no, please don't leave me! NO ASH NO!"

I shot up from the bed screaming Ash's name that night, for the first time in what seem like days. Not that I didn't have nightmares, I did. But this was worst, the nightmare of Ash and his death. I could see the axe slamming into his chest and his face going white from the draining of his own blood on the axe. I remember holding his head in my hands as killing the Girl from 1 who killed him, seeing him gasp for air in my embrace and his eyes going still. I held him for awhile until the hovercraft took him away.

I grasped my chest violently as I heard the door opening and someone rushing in. I didn't now I was sobbing until Sampson was rocking me back and forth in his embrace. I clutched onto him, feeling his strong chest against my skin and breathing him in. He smelled like the factory and a hint of fire from the fireplace. I breathed him in over and over, the only way I knew this was reality and not a dream. That I was awake and I was no longer in the arena.

"You're okay now." Sampson said aloud, stroking my hair and having me sob turn into subtle cries. I still saw Ash in my head, cold and dead. I need knew him well, but I knew he helped me and wanted to stay alive with me as long as he could. I looked past Sampson and saw Finnick at the doorway of the room, his silhouette form the glow of the hallway was seen. I knew he nodded his head as me as Sampson calmed me down.

"Breathe Willow. You're here now, you're not back there." He said to me over and over as I tried to breathe once more, but somehow I was still hyperventilating. It was his turn now to comfort me and to protect me from the horrid memories and nightmares. No matter how hard he tried, he could never take that from me. I knew it was the same for him, that he would never be the same.

I was in my own living nightmare, never to wake up.

~*72nd Hunger Games*~

I walked from my own apartment at the Capitol to the Mentor Room, meeting with Mags and Finnick for our usual get together with lunch and to talk with the other mentors before we met with our tributes. I had two new tributes who were reaped and like other years, I knew they had no chance from the moment I met them. Now it sounded harsh, but it was pretty much true since I could tell from one look or from one small conversation. My two, they weren't going to survive.

I walked down the lit hallway, seeing the people passing me by and not giving me the light of day, but seeing one familiar face from the year before coming my way. I knew his face, since I remembered the interaction we had one year prior. His jawline, the ears poking out slightly from the brown swept sided hair, those warm eyes.

Oliver

"Well look who's back to mentoring, Willow the Deceiver." He said to me in his warm tone. Somehow, when he first spoke that moment in the hallway when we met there, it made me miss his voice from the year before. His voice reminded my of home, safety and protection. And he looked a bit older, although it has been a year since we last saw each other. I smiled at him a warm grin, knowing that it would be nice to be proper to the guy.

"And Oliver from District 5." I replied back to him, seeing him give me a small laugh.

"Oh and I don't get a fancy nickname? That hurts." he said in playful banter as we both smiled in the hallway.

"I never remembered you for anything extraordinary when you fought in the games." I replied back to him in either playful tone or in banter. He smirked at me as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"So, since we are mentors again, what is it going to take for me to have a drink with you?" He asked me, having me take a step back with a grin on my face. I never took him for being consistent or forward with women, and Finnick is the only friend I knew who would do that. And since I just the guy, this was a bit usual for him. Not only that, I was never a girl who got hit on constantly, not being the pretty one in the bunch.

"Someone's confident in himself." I replied back to him as we both walked together to the mentor meeting room. Oliver laughed next to me and shrugged

"What can I say, I wanna get to know you. You seem like someone who is interesting." He replied back to me in a casual light tone. I never saw myself like that, only damaged and broken. The games left me damaged, unable to be fixed. Who was this guy trying to fix me, or was he even trying to fix me?

"I'm not that interesting." I said to him in a honest time. He shook his head.

"I doubt that." He said to me in a smirk as we turned the corner towards the mentor room.

"What makes me interesting?" I asked him in a curious tone. We both stopped in front of the mentor room, hang me face him with him raising a eyebrow at me. I could see that he was also interesting. I wanted to know him too, since for some reason I was drawn to him.

"The fact you used your head in the arena more than your power. That's interesting." he said to me as he walked away from me into the mentor room. I watched him with my eyes, thinking of how he wanted to know me for my brain. He looked at the one strength people saw as weak, and he saw it as interesting. So that was it.

I needed to get to know Oliver Watson from District 5.