SHOUT OUTS:

Special shout out for The Ice Within!

Special thanks also to God1801, Floracat, shieldmaiden19, and rainbowfreak37 for reviewing the previous chapter!

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DISCLAIMER:

There are several concepts, characters, and real life things that I use and/or mention in this chapter that I don't own. These include but are not limited to the Hunger Games, Finnick Odair, Mags, District Four, Victor's Village, and JetSki (which is apparently a registered trademark in the US).

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A/N: Happy New Years guys! Part 1 is a thing of 2011, I finished writing it in 2011 although it won't get posted until 2012. 20 chapters (and a prologue) for 20 days (again not including the prologue).

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IN THIS CHAPTER: Moderate adult language

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CHAPTER 20

Dinner that night is near painful without Korey there. I eat quickly and leave, hearing Elesah loudly whisper something to Mags on my way out. I disappear into my room and don't come out until the next day's breakfast.

"Ah, Finnick. I tried to call you when we stopped last night but I think you were asleep."

No I wasn't, but she doesn't need to know that.

"Sorry."

"No, it's fine, I just thought that you might've liked to get some fresh air. Anyway, we'll be back in Four in about an hour, I'm going to take you straight to Victor's Village and at least show you your house first and then you and your mom can move all your stuff over whenever you want. And I need to get you your jet ski too. Every victor gets one."

Jet ski? I vaguely remember us having one when I was really little, but it was one of the first things to go when dad died. It was about the same time we moved into a smaller house. Victor's Village is on an island about a kilometer from the mainland shore in District Four. The only other public island is Orsinia where the Training Center is located. The Training Center runs boats to and from the island based on class times, but kids have been known to swim it since it's actually closer then Victor's Village, about 800 meters[1] . I could easily swim to Victor's Village too, but it would take somewhere around ten minutes hence the jet skis I suppose.

"Did Jayde leave stuff for me to wear?"

She shakes her head. "No, just choose something from the wardrobe in your room. And make sure you don't leave anything on the train."

Leave anything? All I have is my token. And Korey's necklace. God, what am I going to do with that? Definitely not give it to her parents, but I don't know what else I'm supposed to do with a girl's necklace. Giving it to Irlissa just seems wrong.

"I'm going to go pack." I don't actually have anything to pack, but I need to plan what I'm going to say to people. So far this has been easy; random Capitol audiences. But now I need to take what I've done in there and apply it to people who knew me before, and therein lies the problem. Mom shouldn't be too hard. Unconditional love of a parent and all that junk. And I'll be living with her so I have plenty of time to fix that mess. Irlissa. I really have no clue what she's feeling or thinking about me right now. I'm sure she was watching it, but I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I managed to flirt with Capitol women, have a heated make out session with another girl, act like a psychopath, and then flirt with more women. This doesn't look too good for me. I guess I can tell her it was all for the Capitol, but that's not totally true, and she's pretty much the one person I can't lie to. Not because I haven't tried but because she can read me too well. I can't really do anything about her until I know where she is. Lance. I don't even want to think about that right now. Korey's parents…she made them seem like total b*tches, but at the same time they just lost their daughter…I guess I have to see how they're acting. If they feel any regret or loss at all.

Well this has been totally ineffective hasn't it?

Whatever. I can't be bothered to change so I busy myself by straightening up my room until Mags calls me saying we arrived in the station.

Here. Goes. Nothing.

The doors of the train open and I'm momentarily blinded by hundreds of flashes. Once the burst of light fades I can start searching for the people I care about.

Mom.

I can barely step off the train before she comes and sweeps me into a hug, which I eagerly accept.

Home. For real.

She finally lets go of me saying, "Go find Irlissa and Lance. I saw Lance earlier, not sure about Irlissa but I'm sure she's here somewhere. It was hard to even get into here honestly."

I eventually find Lance on the edge of the crowd looking generally p*ssed off at the world, although his expression neutralizes once he sees me.

"Congratulations man," he says with an awkward side hug. I nod, but I really want to know where Irlissa is, and apparently he can tell because he says, "Go ahead and ask."

I sigh. "Where's Irlissa?"

"No clue. I haven't seen her since you won actually, she even skipped training over the last couple days."

What?

"I know man, it's weird, even for her. But you have Capitol people to talk to and crap, so I'll talk to you at training tomor—I mean, some other time."

Dear God, this is weird. I nod and go to find Korey's parents.

They find me first, looking like they want to kill me. Her mom speaks first. "I don't know what my idiot daughter's problem was. You're just some petty whore making District 4 look bad."

Petty whore? Really? There's a difference between adapting to an audience and…being a whore, to put it simply.

Next her dad. "I can't believe you could actually guilt her into that."

"I didn't guilt her into anything! She insisted on doing it because she thought there was no point in coming back to you, so stop being a b*tch because you don't get the house in Victor's Village and get f—ing over yourselves!" I spit before storming away. Where's Mags, I want to get my stupid jet ski and go home.

"Finnick," I spin to find Mags behind me looking concerned. "You ready to go?"

"Yes. Where's my mom?"

"Right here," she says, coming up behind Mags.

Mags turns to see her and nods. "Let's go."

We all climb into a car taking us to the PWC[2] docks, where a shiny blue jet ski that seats three is waiting.

"At some point I"ll have Odalys teach you how to drive this thing, but in the mean time just hop on."

I do, and she speeds off toward the island. It's kind of funny seeing an almost seventy year old woman driving a jet ski.

We arrive at the island in about a minute and a half, and Mags leads us off the beach, which is beautiful, to the actual village part of the island. Twelve houses sit in a semi-circle with the backyards leading straight to the beach.

"You're in House 107," she says, leading me to the right side of the circle.

As I walk up to the house I'm amazed by the size. It's huge. Four floors, and the size of about three houses if not more in my old neighborhood.

We walk up onto the porch and I look to Mags for a key.

She shakes her head and says, "Put your finger on the pad by the door knob."

I do.

"State your name," the pad says.

"Finnick Odair."

"Finnick Odair, would you like to be the primary administrator of this security system?"

I look to Mags, and she nods.

"Yes?"

The door knob momentarily flashes green, and I turn the doorknob, stepping inside.

It's humongous, overly luxurious, and utterly Capitol.

It's home.

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FOOTNOTES

1. Just under half a mile

2. Personal Watercraft

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A/N: I'm going to stop the review count for the contest at 7:30AM on Wednesday in US Eastern (GMT -5) time. Part 2 will not be the victory tour, you'll see once I upload what it is :) Except a long-ish break because I want to edit Part 1 and I have to plan, especially since Part 2 is basically just building background for me to refer to in the sequel to this story.

Thanks for the support throughout this story, I couldn't have done it without you all!

Please review, I really appreciate the feedback!

-cindella204