A/N: Now that I look over this, I realize how much I dislike it. Nevertheless, it does move the story along, which is key. You'll see that in Annie's interview I give a little nudge at Finnick's Catching Fire interview, I thought it'd be like a little foreshadowing/reference. Anyway, next chapter will definitely be better.


"Your dress is awesome!" Gemma said in awe when she saw Annie in the interview queue. "I really like what the District four stylists have been doing so far."

"You should tell them," Annie said with a smile. "They'd probably propose to you."

Gemma laughed, it sounded like bells ringing, Annie decided. "Well me and Jac kinda look like trees." She held out the stiff fabric of her dress that restricted her arm movement, "District seven always get she short end of the stick anyway, doesn't it?" She said with a laugh.

Johanna Mason, district 7's mentor called Gemma over to where she was standing with Jac.

"I'd better go," Gemma motioned to her mentor.

"Yeah, go ahead. I should probably be finding my mentor anyway too." She gave Gemma a warm smile, "I'll see you later, okay?"

"Right," Gemma gave her a thumbs up.

"Gemma!" Johanna Mason yelled.

When the two girls looked over, she pointed her finger as if to say, HERE! NOW!

Gemma ran over as fast as she could on the heels and weirdly sewn dress.

Annie turned back and walked around back to the changing room from where she had exited. Bregje, Lais, and Iva were waiting there with Maxxie. "There you are!" Lais gasped. "We didn't know where you had run off to!"

"You look stupefying stunning," Bregje smirked, crossing his arms over his chest in admiration of his own work. Iva made a face of disgust when she heard his forced alliteration. "I thought things were going to get tough when Cintia came to me last night with that horrible scar, but I'm the best in the business. Of course, I was able to take care of it."

Lais agreed with him relentlessly. "Your modesty is appalling, Bregje." Iva deadpanned. "Please, don't hold it all in."

Of course Bregje, being from the Capitol, let her sarcastic remark fly right over his head. He began ranting on and on about his greatness, his triumphs, his peak, and the hardships he had come from. All the while still sounding as if he were narrating his own life.

Annie tried getting a look at herself in the mirror behind the stylists. The dress was long sleeved with a sweetheart neckline. Originally, it was supposed to have been a simple bandage wrap dress, but the stunt Annie pulled in the final assessment had left a still puckered scar that Cintia absolutely would not allow anyone to get an eye on.

The dress stopped at her upper thigh, something Annie was now coming to find conservative in the Capitol's eye. It was much more modest than other things they had dressed her in so far. And instead of having the neckline drop down and try to expose what nonexistent cleavage Annie possessed, it covered it up fairly well with a thin, sheer layer of very fine lace. It was probably the prettiest part of Annie's dress.

They had also paired her dress with lacy heels, only three inches, that was her limit.

The best part of the dress, though, was the color. It was a dark deep shade of green. It reminded Annie of seaweed that got caught in the big nets after a deep sea trip. The type of seaweed that grew to be as tall as a tree when it was submerged in water. The stylists had said it complimented the color of her hair and her eyes well, but Annie kept on pretending it would be her last token of home; her last way to remember the small details of District 4.

"It's almost time," Mags walked in through the door, followed by Finnick.

His eyes stopped at Annie and looked her over. His face went blank, and Annie worried that he was skeptical about how she looked again. "You… you look," his voice cracked a bit and he had to clear his throat. "You look really nice." He said quietly.

The stylists began crowding him and bombarding him with questions and comments. Cintia appeared in the doorway and got a good look at Annie in her dress and Maxxie in his suit with matching dark green tie. "Fabulous, you two are absolutely fabulous!"

And then the stylists moved on to gush about the fashion with her.

Finnick and Mags swooped in closer to Maxxie and Annie, now that they had the chance. "There isn't much to coach you on for the interview," Mags began. "Because you two are both pleasant kids to begin with."

Maxxie and Annie exchanged sincere smiles with the mentors.

"Seriously," Finnick reiterated. "More often than not our tributes are pretty arrogant, and sometimes that doesn't come off too well with the crowd. But being too humble is also off-putting for the crowd, so, just be yourselves."

"What is humble?" Maxxie asked quickly. He was focused and serious, it almost seemed fake.

Annie smiled and giggled at his conviction. "It's the opposite of being full of yourself. So, the opposite of Finnick."

"Hey!" Finnick grinned. "That reminds me, Annie, be your cockier self, alright? Talk yourself up at least a little."

"And don't forget to sell the image the Capitol already perceives of you. For you, Maxxie, that shouldn't be difficult, but Annie, they seem to believe your some sort of mysterious and sultry… person." Mags coached. She, like Maxxie, also seemed to be in this uncharacteristic game mode. "I mean, it's not that you're not these things it's just-"

Annie laughed. "You don't have to defend your accusation; I couldn't be sultry if my life depended on it."

"Your life does depend on it," Finnick deadpanned. "But don't look at it that way. Pretend you're a celebrity."

Annie narrowed her eyes at him, such an inappropriate time to be bringing that up. "Do you mind? It's gonna be kinda hard to keep the conversation light with that in mind."

"Tributes! Annie, Maxwell, it's time for your interview!" Cintia chirped. "Come come, let's have a lot of fun now, Caesar is such a pleasant conversation partner, I'm sure you'll be a delight in his company."

Cintia's sing song voice continued like that until they were pushed into line with the other tributes. Annie would interview seventh. She hadn't even gotten a chance to see her mentors before she was escorted (rather forcefully) from the room.

Gleam looked over his shoulder and caught her eye. He winked and made kissing face, and Annie felt her face flush. She stared down at the floor. It was so embarrassing once she realized what real harassment looked like. It was different when Finnick did those things because she knew he was joking, he wouldn't ever harass her like that… he would also never kiss a girl like her…

Annie felt a bit upset after that. She watched the girl from District 1's interview with Caesar - her name was Caramel- with a frown.

"That's the stupidest goddamn name I've ever heard," whispered Photus to Dani.

District 2's male whirled around and shot them one of the scariest glares Annie had ever seen.

Annie tapped Photus' shoulder softly, "I don't mean to sound mean, but aren't you named after a reactant in photosynthesis?"

He nodded. "Your point?"

Well, when you put it that way… Annie thought. Instead she shrugged, "I was just wondering."

Later into the interview, the viewers learned that she liked to be called Cara, much more tasteful. Cara seemed to have a rather unpleasant personality; she was rather vulgar without trying to be. And no matter how beautiful her face was, her eyes seemed to freeze Flickerman in his tracks.

Gleam was up next, he blew the crowd away, as expected. It took Annie a while to figure out what his mannerisms were reminding her of. And then she had it, he was Capitol Finnick.

His winks and kisses, his flirtatious manner, and all for what? Something greater, of course. He was going to manipulate everyone, the crowd, maybe even Annie… but what did he want from Annie? Never mind that… she was almost positive he was stealing Finnick's strategy from five years ago. Some giant sponsor gift would swoop in and save him in the last moment, and he would scoop up his victory with his good looks and charming smile. Caesar even seemed to pick up on this, and reminded the crowd of how much Gleam reminded him of young Finnick.

Annie was openly irritated about the comparison.

"How come you can bite your nails and I can't?"

Annie took the fingernail she had subconsciously chewing on out of her mouth and looked down. Maxxie was staring at her with an eyebrow raised, angry and expectant. He looked like a mother that had just caught her teenager sneaking out.

"Neither of us can," Annie wiped her finger on her dress. "It's a bad habit. I'm just nervous."

"Why are you nervous?" he implored. "It's not like anything is gonna go wrong, did you see that first girl? She looked like a tuna and the audience still was yelling and clapping at the end… maybe it was to get her off the stage… but it still sounded like she did well!"

Annie laughed; she wished she could have Maxxie's optimism. "I guess you're right," she admitted.

"Of course I am," Maxxie said proudly, puffing out his chest the way Finnick sometimes did when he subconsciously sized someone up. It was rather funny, actually. The more Maxxie and she and the mentors spent time together, the more they picked up each other's habits and mannerisms, Finnick had taken to speaking with his hands in the same childlike way Maxxie did, Maxxie played with his hair the same way Mags did when she lost focus in a conversation, Annie sometimes tucked in her chin when she smiled in a way that was distinctly Odair. There were just small things that were reminders of how close they had all gotten. It almost felt like a family.

District 2's tributes interviewed at a gruelingly boring pace. They were both extremely banal, but Caesar didn't dare interrupt or try to digress their responses in fear of getting his neck snapped. The boy's name was Titus, Annie remembered a boy from six with the same name who had resulted to cannibalism in a past game, she hoped there wasn't some strange curse on the name. She could really imagine him eating her, though. As for the girl, Isobel, the way she spoke just seemed outright angry. Not at being in the games, but just at the world in general. She spit a lot when she spoke too. The Capitol still roared when they took a bow and exited the stage.

District 3's kids were up next. Dani's contemplative and quixotic behavior served to be quite entertaining.

"What are your favorite things to do back home in District three?" Caesar asked as if he was genuinely interested.

"Well, producing the Capitol's technology, of course!" she grinned at the camera. Caesar Flickerman remarked what a sweet girl she was, the crowd cheered her on.

Annie smirked. Photus, standing in front of her, shook his shoulders.

"What's so funny?" Maxxie asked. "That seemed like a stupid answer."

"She's kidding," Annie said quietly, out of earshot of the stylists and Peacekeepers. "But they don't know she is."

Maxxie laughed heartily way too late to fully enjoy the humor of it.

Photus soon was being escorted to the stage, and then it would be Annie's turn. She gulped nervously.

Photus seemed to be doing alright, he exhibited sure signs of strange behavior right at the beginning of the interview, and Annie finally realized he had a slight twitch in his left shoulder.

"Electrocution." He answered simply when Caesar Flickerman asked him the cause of such a flaw. "That, and poor working co- I mean judgment. Poor judgment. You see, I'm often rather clumsy. When I was young, I stuck a fork into an outlet in the wall. Poor decision." His arm twitched. "What's done is done now, I suppose."

"Hmm…" Caesar Flickerman seemed to gloss over his falter, and his fib. "Well it was great to meet you, Photus. It'll be a pleasure to watch you in action! Hopefully your poor judgment doesn't still take precedence!" And then he bellowed a vacuous, plastic laugh that the audience soon joined in on.

Seconds afterwards, Annie was being grabbed by the arm and walked towards where the other tributes had disappeared to.

"Good luck!" she heard Maxxie call out to her.

She wished she had been able to tell him the same, but Caesar Flickerman's booming voice that only got louder and louder flushed out all other noise.


"So tell me, Miss Annie Cresta," Caesar Flickerman laid back in his chair as the crowd died down.

Finnick was sitting on the couch in the mentors lounge. He leaned forward and his ears seemed to perk when her name was mentioned. He couldn't hear what the tv was saying because of the other mentor's loud and obnoxious behavior, but there was captioning anyway. Capitol television always had captioning, no one really knew why.

"How is the Capitol treating you?" Caesar asked.

Annie was sitting up with her hands planted firmly in her lap, she didn't look too stiff though, and her legs were crossed, showing the skin of her upper thigh. Her pretty chocolate hair fell down her shoulders in the same natural ocean waves Finnick had first seen her with. She looked breathtaking.

"Well…" Annie was looking at her lap, petting the edge of her dress. "I'm having some of the most fun I've ever had." She said with a smirk.

"Was that suggestive?" A mentor asked Finnick. "Is she insinuating something we're supposed to catch up on?"

Finnick wanted to kick himself, Cintia had probably gotten to her, and Annie felt like she had to sell the whole sexy-mysterious-yet-innocent thing. "No." he grumbled, sinking back into his seat.

Johanna made a smart remark teasing Finnick, but he didn't hear it. Raucous laughter followed.

"Oh?" Caesar raised his eyebrows and looked at the audience in a sort of 'in on it' way. "How so?"

"I've made a lot of friends," Annie looked at the camera, doing what Finnick guessed was her attempt at a sultry gaze. Instead, the audience got a clear shot at just how beautiful her sea green eyes really were. It sure took Finnick by surprise every time their eyes met.

"I heard," Caesar sat forward in excitement. "That you blew a couple people out of the water at the sponsors' ball the other night? Hmm?"

Annie nodded. "I wouldn't say I blew them out of the water, that seems a little extensive." Finnick wanted to reach into the screen and shake her, she was reverting back to humble Annie.

"Oh please, darling, don't try that. Trinka Lavender went on a tangent about you for what seemed like an hour!" Caesar laughed, and so did the audience. "And everyone knows how Trinka gets when she finds something she likes!" More laughter.

Finnick did know, he was one of those things.

"I told a couple of people about my parents," She was looking at her lap again, Finnick couldn't read her expression, but it seemed as if the Trinka comment had rubbed her the wrong way. "Just this silly thing we'd do on summer nights."

Caesar leaned in, so did the whole Capitol, it seemed like, as Annie retold the story from the party. It was equally beautiful, equally sweet. Finnick was amazed she could recall everything in such great detail, then again, Finnick did remember quite a few things from his past he'd like to forget.

"I guess you need to get home, then, to see your parents?" That was always Caesar's way of closing interviews; he always gave the tributes a reason to win, the audience a reason to root for them.

Annie shook her head. "My parents… well, they're not around anymore. It wasn't anything that could be helped."

Finnick's heart clenched at the thought of how hurt Annie was by her mother's death.

Caesar Flickerman's face took on a mournful expression, "Well, I'm sorry to hear about that, dear. Who's waiting for you back in District four, then?"

Annie's eyes flickered to the camera, this time, fulfilling their purpose. "There is someone…" she said in a slightly husky voice. Her eyes looked hungry and powerful. Finnick tried rubbing the goosebumps off his skin.

"Do you have anything you'd like to say to this person before you go?" Caesar was biting his lip in suspense. This was always the most entertaining part for the viewers, the drama.

Annie looked Caesar's apprehensive expression, and then Finnick realized, she was playing them all.

"Darling," Annie stared directly into the camera; her eyes were soft and delicate, loving. Her lips perfectly pink and full. Finnick felt his mouth go dry. "I only just realized it… but I'm in love with you. I always will be… and if I die, know that I would have rather not have lived at all than lived a life without you."

The audience was silent. The mentors were silent. Caesar was silent. Each person watching hung onto her words carefully and waited until they fully set in.

Finnick's heart was pounding, and he had no idea why. Something about the way she said those words, they seemed too real to be faked. The emotion in her eyes, her pauses between words, as if she were looking for what to say that could even begin to explain her love, it couldn't have been scripted.

"Wow," Caesar exhaled deeply, filling the silence. "It sounds like you really need to get back home, Annie."

The crowd went wild, the camera panned over people with their makeup running all down their face, who knew if it were from her story or her goodbye. Annie and Caesar said their goodbyes, Annie curtsied, and she exited the stage. The camera panned over people beginning to stand, still clapping, like an ovation.

Out of the corner of his eye, Finnick saw Mags look at him. He looked over, and she shot him a thumbs up. She knew Annie had played the audience too.

The mentors shoved him and teased him for having such a soppy tribute. But as long as Finnick knew the truth, it was good enough for him. Annie almost felt like a well-kept secret. He wasn't about to go an ruin it for himself.

Maxxie's interview was on next. Immediately he won the audience over with his boyish charm and naivety. There were obvious signs that he was putting on a bit of an over exaggerated act too, and Finnick immediately remembered when Annie had told him Maxxie was a lot more perceptive than he gave him credit for.

At the end of Maxxie's interview, he received roars of applause, not as much as Annie had, but a large amount. He would be remembered, which was the most important part of these interviews.

The television took a close up of Maxxie stumbling in his oversized loafers on his way to exit the stage, and the audience cooed 'awws' simultaneously. Mags and Finnick took this as their sign to exit. They had to go congratulate Annie and Maxxie for such a good job, more often than not those interviews were catastrophic.

Finnick felt himself rushing to meet them, Mags would sometimes ask him to wait for her, and only then would he notice he had sped up ten paces ahead of her. It wasn't before they appeared at the door of the district 4 suite that Finnick realized why he was in such a rush to see them.

Tonight was their last night.


Hope you liked it! So far, next update should either be tomorrow or the next day. Thanks for reading!