There are five stages of grieving. The second being anger.

Ever since the 74rd games had ended the way they had, talks of the rebellion had been growing. Planning, scheming in secret to rise up and overthrow the tyrannous Capitol was behind almost every closed door in not only District Four, but most of the other districts as well.

Everyone's door except Finnick's. He took to going to speak of the rebellion behind other people's doors. It would look suspicious if he held meetings every weekend. He would definitely draw too much of the wrong attention. And maybe he didn't want to bring Rini in on any of it.

She had eventually come out of her room. She didn't have to take so much of Mags' tea for sleep to find her. But where the desire to be alone had been, a deep, unpredictable anger had replaced it. It had taken over her as the previous stage had done, festering inside her and always present. Anger over Cecil and what had been done to her as well. She was angry and thirsty for revenge of any kind.

The thought of bringing her up to speed at what was brewing in the districts made his stomach turn. She'd jump at the chance to be involved and either end up getting herself hurt, or blowing the whole thing.

But it was too late now.

She had found out in passing, when he'd finally gotten her to get out of the house and into civilization again. A bloke had come up to him and asked about a get-together and he had tried to twist out of it, but not before Rini had heard. She knew he was hiding something from her and that was all it took to set her off in a fit of fury.

"Rini?" he asked, knocking at her locked door.

"Go away," her voice came from inside.

"Come on, I want to talk to you. Please?" He waited a few moments before the door opened and the young girl stood in the doorway, her eyebrows furrowed. "Can I come in?"

She jutted her chin out and turned, going inside but not slamming the door in his face. "That's close enough," she pointed at him when he closed the door. "Now then, what is it?"

Finnick took a breath and he stuck his hands in his pockets. "About the other day in the market. I didn't mean to act like what I was doing was a secret from you-"

"What was it, then? Something you just happened to completely forget to tell me?"

"No, just listen-"

"Listen?!" Her voice slipped up to a shrill tone. "You had the nerve to keep something like this from me? For fuck's sake, Finnick, you aren't my mentor anymore! I'm going to be nineteen this year! I have a right to know things for myself!" Her hands clenched into fists at her sides and they trembled slightly, her knuckles turning white. "If I was attending secret meetings about an uprising, I wouldn't have to even think about telling you. After everything they've done to you, it'd be unfair not to. Don't you think so? After what they've done to me?"

"I'm sorry!" he yelled, banging his fist on the door. "I was going to tell you, I just… can't you understand that I was trying to protect you?"

"I need you to be honest with me," she said in a much softer voice. When he looked at her, he saw that she had her eyes closed and her hands were relaxed. "You're the only person I can trust to be honest with me, and when you keep secrets…" She opened her eyes and swallowed, licking her lips. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Finn."

Finnick softened considerably and he risked a step towards her. "I'm sorry," he said again, his voice a soft burr. "I was wrong to keep it from you, you're right. It wasn't my decision to make."

Renata nodded in agreement. "Will you tell me about it, now?" She sat down on the bed and motioned for him to have a seat.

"Not here," he shook his head. "Come with me and I'll tell you whatever you want to know."

"Now everything that I've told you hasn't been set in concrete. These meetings that I have gone to, its mostly just angry people throwing around their two bits. Nothing has been planned officially. People want to riot in the streets and cut off the Capitol's supply, but could you really see any of that making a difference?" Finnick asked, tugging on the end of a rope to tighten a knot in place.

"It never has before," Renata murmured, her feet dangling over the side of Finnick's boat. She could feel them moving up and down, the waves gently lolling them like they were in a cradle. The hair on her arms stood on end when she thought of the riot that had nearly claimed Cecil's life. They had bombed the cannery without a moment's hesitation and the message had been received. She raised her head and looked back at the shore, trying to spot the building. He had just barely escaped death at that time. She swallowed and looked back at the net Finnick was mending, trying to keep her thoughts away from Cecil. "So it's nothing serious, whatever these meetings are about?"

"No, it's serious," He shook his head and looked up, the corners of his mouth twitching up. "Everyone is very serious. Even meeting and whispering about it is dangerous. You understand," He nodded, also thinking about the cannery incident.

"Thank you for telling me," Renata said after a quiet moment. "I'm sorry I overreacted like I did, I can't help but get angry. It's scary," she swallowed and fidgeted with her hands, the stone on her finger glinting in the afternoon sun. "I can feel it build up in my chest and all through my body, I hate it."

"It'll get better with more time, I promise," He gave her a reassuring smile and looked at her hand. "Is that your wedding ring?"

She furrowed her brows in confusion and looked at her hand, "Oh. Yeah, it was."

"Any reason you're keeping it?" He tried to sound casual, inspecting his handiwork.

"It was my mother's before Seneca and I were married," She gently ran her finger along the silver band, smiling. "It's one of the only things I have of hers; I didn't want to just throw it away because of him. And maybe I want to keep it for him a little. I can't explain it," she blushed, biting her lower lip. "He hurt me, and humiliated me, but…I can't help but think that he really did care for me. That sounds crazy, doesn't it?"

"Kind of, yeah," Finnick murmured, not looking up.

"I didn't love him. I…I feel sorrow for him, that's all, I guess."

He looked up and he reached out to pat her on her shoulder. "You have your reasons. You don't have to try and explain to me why," He spoke softly.

She nodded and looked back out at the gentle waves, sighing. "I keep wondering when I'll get called back." The thought made her stomach turn and she shivered. "Soon, I expect."

Finnick sighed and he tossed the net behind him, scooting closer to Rini. "At least you can come home after," He offered with a shrug. There wasn't really anything he could say that would make it any more bearable. "It's hardest the first time. Then you can just…go through the motions. It gets easier. It becomes routine."

She pursed her lips and nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder and automatically adjusting herself against his side when he wrapped his arm around her shoulders. "Is it always a routine? Do you ever catch yourself enjoying it?"

"No, not really. Like I said, it's bearable. I have a couple regulars that I don't mind as much. But then again, they still bought me. It's still embarrassing. We don't have to talk about this, Rini."

She nodded, breathing a sigh of relief.

"But if it would help, I could arrange my next trip to be the same time that you go. If you like," He offered, rubbing her arm. "I could offer myself in place of you."

"No!" She gasped. "I don't want you to do that!"

"I'm used to it. It wouldn't be a big deal, honestly. Then you wouldn't have to worry about dealing with that too." He let go of her when she scooted back to look at him with furrowed brows.

"I don't mean to put you through my hell when you're already in it. I can…I can do it. I don't need you to protect me, Finn."

"You're right," he shrugged, making a move to stand up. "You said it yourself; I'm not your mentor anymore. What am I then?"

She was quiet as they held one another's gaze for a few moments, his question hanging in the air between them. Finally, she spoke.

"You're home."

Hello friends! Happy New Year! I hope you all are pleased to see an update at last! And such a...relatively nice one, aww :')

Thank you to everyone who has followed and favorited, and especially reviewed! Nothing makes me more happy than to hear what you like or didn't like about the chapter :') can this get 20 reviews before chapter 3? Bwahaha just kidding! Hehe..

I wanted to expand a little on Renata's complicated relationship with Seneca, so I hope that if you were wondering why she was the way she was with him in Undertow, I hope that helped a little. If not, feel free to shoot me a PM, I'd love to talk about anything!

Thanks for reading, and stay warm, you diamonds!

-Kelsey x