A/N- Not too late, I don't think. It would've been up last night, but I had to take ACT's this morning, and figured that it'd be smart to go to bed at a decent time. I hope it doesn't seem to rushed, but there's not much that I can change POV wise, since it's just a bunch of action, and he's never separated from Katniss for very long, so, because of that, it's more or less what happened in the book, with as much Finnick as I could get in.

Don't worry, though. The Jabberjays are coming up next chapter, and that'll finally be another opportunity for Finnick to have some star-time. After that, I'm expecting it to go by a lot more easily, especially in Mockingjay, where I'll have so much more freedom. I love writing Finnick like I did at the start of this, where he has more opportunities to be Finnick, sense during this part, it's harder to put in his biting humor or flirtatiousness, and I can't make him the Finnick from Fishing for People either, since he has to protect Katniss and Peeta and that changes almost everything. I love the part that Katniss has during this period in the story, but even though Finnick is definitely there, I so would've put him more front and center J. Whatever. Like I said, it'll start flowing more easily again very soon.

Oh, and in regards to the typos and whatever in my last chapter, and maybe this one, if anyone gives me specific places that really bother you, I'll go and change it. Then, when I'm finished with the Catching Fire portion of this story, I'll proofread and correct the whole thing, which will take a couple weeks, before continuing onto the second part of the story, so all of that will eventually be fixed.

Lastly, since I'm usually really lazy with my thank-yous, I'm listing everyone who's ever reviewed the story. Oh, and in advance, an extra thanks to all the amazing, really nice people who review almost every chapter. So, thanks to-

brooke13243546, Hahukum Kahn, RueofDistrict11, GraceVictoria, Where the Story Ends, Daydreaming Viking Girl, EStrunk, Cat60041x3, Brooke, Peace-Love-Apples, Grace, KateTheFanFictionist, Sonofhell666, suicidalmickeymouse7, KaiteeBug, Dibbly88, eViLIsabelle, Anchors Away, writtenepiphany, TasAnshana, and Nobody in Particular.

Alright, now that my freakishly long Author's Note is done, please enjoy. Oh, and please point out typos or things that don't make sense, since I was kind of tired typing this, not to mention a little bit rushed. Thanks.

After that, it seems like a million things start happening at once, too fast to capture any specific images. Katniss is firing arrows, Wiress falls dead, and Johanna swings an ax at someone.

My instincts kicking in, wanting to fight, war with the knowledge that I have to protect Peeta and Katniss. I'm torn for just a second, and then I see Brutus throw a spear directly at Peeta's heart, at exactly the same time Enobaria lunges at me.

I bite back the instinct to save my self and stick out my trident, blocking the spear instead of shoving it through Enobaria's heart. I still have time to take a quick step back, but it's not far enough and I can feel the razor sharp knife cut through a layer of skin.

I jump backwards, landing awkwardly on my leg, as the cannon booms three times. Counting Wiress, that makes two dead Careers, and Enobaria and Brutus are still alive. So Gloss and Cashmere are dead. I feel a dull pang in my heart, just for a moment, thinking about the few times that we had talked, remembering that Snow used them exactly like he used me.

Then my sense of self-preservation takes over, and I can't give it anymore thought than that, because really, they were trying to kill me, trying to kill the Mockingjay, and it's better them than me, than Katniss or Peeta.

I watch for a moment, assessing the situation. Katniss is chasing Brutus and Enobaria, Peeta following close behind. Johanna is yanking her ax out of Cashmere's chest, no work to do.

I immediately set after Katniss and Peeta. The two tributes from District Two are sprinting ahead full speed, not looking back. They know Katniss has to stop and load, that Peeta isn't good with any distance weapons, but they aren't paying attention to me.

I automatically recognize Brutus as the bigger threat, and raise my trident to throw. It's just about out of my hands when the ground jerks out from beneath my feet and I'm flung forward into the sand, my trident slipping out of my fingers and onto the ground.

The circle of land around the Cornucopia is spinning, fast. The centrifugal force is pulling me towards the water, and there's nothing to grab on to, no way to stay on land. The forest and ocean are all just a blur, but I can feel the cold water spraying at my feet. The place where Enobaria slashed me in the leg is burning like hell, and my head feels like it's going to explode.

I'm seconds away from getting tossed into the water when the whole thing slams to a stop. My body jerks forward, and I get a nice mouthful of wet sand.

For a moment I just sit there, collect my bearings, then slowly sit up when the initial dizziness starts to fade.

My first thought is, sadly, my trident. I look out at the water, and that's when I see the three dead bodies floating around, and my priorities straighten out again. Immediately my eyes flash around the Cornucopia, looking for Katniss. She's fine. Peeta, too.

When they're located, I spare Johanna a glance, knowing that she'd be fine, anyway, probably more pissed off at the Gamemakers than anything.

Then, still wondering what in the hell is going to happen to me without a weapon, Johanna says, "Where's Volts?"

I leap to my feet, a little too quickly, cursing under my breath. He's just as important as Katniss at the moment, because without him, only one of us is getting out alive, and I'm not sure that she would do anything without Peeta.

Just as I finish praying to myself that he's not dead, I catch a glimpse of him about sixty feet out in the water, flailing around like a dying goldfish.

Really? He's probably fifty times as smart as I am, and he doesn't realize that flailing like that is just about the dumbest thing he can do.

Without a word, I jump into the cool water to haul him in, despite the protests from my leg.

I kind of feel like his babysitter.

Beetee is silent, and not really that conscious, when I get out to him. I can see it in his eyes, though, that he knows Wiress is dead. With a sigh, I throw him onto my shoulder and take off back towards the shore.

After watching Beetee spurt out water for a while, Katniss steps forward and sets the reel of wire the Wiress had been cleaning in his lip. At first I wonder where she got it from, but then I see that her hair is dripping wet, so I figure that she swam after it.

That little fact gets me worked up and then relaxed again in about a five second span. I hadn't even remembered that Wiress had it, that it would've been taken out into the water with her body, and that stupid wire has to be as important as Beetee, at least. I'm sure that's how he is going to get us out of the arena, and I completely forgot about it.

What a great protector I've been. I let four Careers sneak up on us while we were doodling on a leaf, I let the only person other than Beetee who could possibly help us get her throat slit, thought about my trident before helping out the people I was supposed to protect, and I almost saved myself rather than help Peeta.

I can't help but shake my head. Mags died for the rebellion, died to save Peeta, and now I'm acting foolish and selfish and complacent when I absolutely cannot afford to do so. Wiress is dead because I wasn't paying attention, and it could have been so much worse.

While I'm thinking all of those things over, everyone else is silent, too. Probably about Wiress. That's another testament to how pathetic I am. They're actually mourning. I'm wallowing in self-pity.

The silence stretches on for another minute, and I just stand there, trying not to think, ignoring the stinging were the knife got me, not paying attention to the blood trickling down my leg and pooling in the sand by my feet.

Then Johanna finally speaks. "Let's get off this stinking island."

And since it's not like there's anything else we can do, we listen. I look around and eventually find two of my tridents and a few knives scattered around.

Then, while the others finish getting our stuff together, I take off my undershirt and tie it around my leg, which at least stops the bleeding, even if my undershirt is sweaty and filthy and probably not too healthy to have on an open wound. That also leaves me with nothing to protect me from the sun, since my wetsuit was completely ruined by the fog. The green ointment does help with that a little, though, so I don't try to find anything else.

After everything is ready, we discuss everything for a moment, eventually deciding to head to twelve o'clock. That'd give us hours with nothing to worry about, other than tributes, and keep us far away from the fog.

Only when we set off for that wedge, I head one way, Peeta and Johanna branch off in two separate directions, and Katniss and Beetee hesitate in the middle.

I groan and turn around.

"Twelve o'clock, right?" Peeta asks. "The tail points to twelve."

"Before they spun us," I argue. "I was judging by the sun."

"The sun only tells you it's going on four, Finnick," Katniss says. I start to ask why that matters, but Beetee adds on to her explanation.

"I think Katniss's point it, knowing the time doesn't mean you necessarily know where four is on the clock. You might have a general idea of the direction. Unless you consider that they may have shifted the outer ring of jungle as well," Beetee says.

That, I understand. Katniss nods with him.

"Yes, so any one of these paths could lead to twelve o'clock," she says, which if those two had actually known that, I don't know why they let us plan everything out and agree to go to twelve when they don't know where in the hell it is.

The five of us circle around the Cornucopia, basically staring down the jungle, looking for any signs of something going on, so we can figure out where we're at. It all looks the same, though.

When we pause to suggest what to do next, Katniss remembers that every day and night at twelve, a tall tree gets hit by lightning, but every sector has a tree just like that, and we'd have to wait another eight hours to know which one is right, which we can't exactly afford to do.

Then Johanna suggests following Enobaria and Brutus's tracks, but they're already washed away. That leaves us nothing to go on at all.

"I should have never mentioned the clock," Katniss says bitterly. "Now they're taken that advantage away as well."

"Only temporarily. At ten, we'll see the wave again and be back on track," says Beetee.

"Yes, they can't redesign the whole arena," Peeta adds.

"It doesn't matter," Johanna says, her voice growing impatient. "You had to tell us or we never would have moved our camp in the first place, brainless." Then, with one more glare at Katniss, she addressed everyone. "Come on, I need water. Anyone have a good gut feeling?"

With that, we randomly chose a path and take it, completely blind as to where we're going to end up. When we reach the jungle, we all look inside, searching for some clue as to where we're at.

This whole thing, not knowing everything about my surroundings, drives me crazy with worrying. Any second, the fog could start, or the wave, and everything that we've been working for would have been useless, and the rebellion would be as dead as us.

Apparently no one else is worrying about that, though, because they don't seem terribly worried.

"Well, it must be monkey hour. And I don't see any of them in there," Peeta says after a moment. "I'm going to try to tap a tree."

After realizing how bad I've been doing at protecting them, not to mention just knowing that Peeta kind of has a thing for attracting trouble, I put a hand on his arm.

"No, it's my turn."

"I'll at least watch your back," he argues.

"Katniss can do that," says Johanna. "We need you to make another map. The other washed away."

I'm kind of impressed, that she managed to think of something to keep him out of the forest like that. I'm still not thrilled with Katniss coming, but Peeta is the main one who needs protecting, and besides, if Katniss stayed with Johanna, she'd most likely end up with an ax in her head, anyway. At least Johanna doesn't seem to hurt Peeta.

"Well, okay," Peeta says, but I don't miss the look he gives Katniss, and I definitely don't miss the suspicion in her eyes. Before she can think about it more, though, I hurry forward, and she follows after me.