Renata's eyes opened and she immediately closed them again, the spinning of the room making her want to vomit. What the hell had happened to her? She could remember flashes. Finnick yelling, her being carried…Dr. Kaznik? Had that happened too? When she thought about the swingers and what they had been forced to do, what Finnick had done-

She swallowed and curled into a ball, trying to make herself as small as possible. It was bound to happen, right? She had gotten too comfortable and this had been the repercussions. Where was Finnick now? Come to think of it- where was she, exactly?

"Rini," A familiar voice came to her ears. There was the answer to one question. When she opened her eyes again she found Finnick standing by the side of the bed she was lying in, and then she realized that she recognized where she was.

"Your apartment?" She asked, starting to sit up. Another attack of dizziness hit her and she moaned, lying back down.

Finnick had started to move to help her, but stopped himself. "Are you hungry? You've been asleep for a while."

"What happened?" Rini furrowed her brow, patting the spot beside her for him to sit.

After what looked like a serious debate, he sat down and sighed, wiping his hands on his pants. "You um…you had a seizure," he mumbled, not looking at her. "I took you to Dr. Kaznik, and he said that he'd seen a lot of the victors that were on this circuit." He cleared his throat before continuing. "We were all given a bad batch of the birth control. The others had reactions ranging from dizziness to seizures."

She furrowed her ginger brows, reaching out to set her hand on his knee. "Is that all it did? There aren't any lasting effects?

"As far as he knows," he murmured, gently taking her hand from his knee and setting it on top of the blanket. "He's going to run some tests on it and let us know. He gave us both another shot that should remove the medicine from our systems within a couple days."

Renata swallowed, balling her hand into a fist and bringing it to her chest. Why was he acting so strange? "So then did you come back here with me, I guess?"

He nodded, his eyes glancing at her before moving away quickly. "Then I went back."

"Back? To the swingers?"

"Mmhmm."

"Why?" She asked in bewilderment.

"Had to satisfy the customer," he said shortly, his voice having finality to it. "I'll get you something to eat." He got up and left her alone without another word.

She had thought he would go back to normal on the train ride home. Usually when they had the countryside behind them and home ahead, they would both feel a weight lifted from their chests. But Renata found herself awake in the middle of the night alone in bed. She sighed, trying not to feel angry, but she couldn't help it. Not when Finnick had checked to see if she were sleeping before slipping out of bed.

With a sigh, she sat up and got out of bed, leaving her room. Finnick looked up from his spot on the couch when she entered the next car, a lone table lamp lighting the interior.

"Are you okay?" He asked, his eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"How about I ask you that?" She murmured, sitting down on the coffee table in front of him. She reached out a hand and put it to his cheek, sighing heavily when he turned away. "Tell me what your deal is."

"There's nothing wrong.

"Then kiss me," She kept her eyes trained on his, unblinking like the way Seneca used to stare at her and bend her to his will.

Finnick was silent for a moment before he sighed and shook his head. "No."

"Why-"

"You had a seizure, Rini! When I…when we…" He sounded exasperated and it was that moment that she saw how frazzled he looked. He ran a hair through his knotted hair and picked at the small hole on the arm of the couch, his lower lip slightly swollen from being chewed on.

She was at a loss for words. "Finnick," She whispered, shaking her head. "It wasn't your fault, it was-"

"Yeah, I know what it was," He snapped, wincing at how harsh he sounded. "Sorry. I know it was the birth control, I just…I can't stop seeing it. Every time I look at you," he trailed off and looked at the stuffing he'd been absentmindedly pulling out. He closed his eyes when she touched his chin and tilted his head so he could look at her.

"I'm okay," Rini whispered. "I promise I'm fine. It won't happen again."

He swallowed hard, blinking quickly to banish the tears that were forming in his eyes. He stayed completely still as she crawled onto the couch beside him and cuddled against his side, the barrier he had been trying to put between them failing.

"Okay," Finnick finally whispered, daring to rest his cheek on top of her head. He closed his eyes and sat with her in the dimly lit train car for a few quiet moments, matching his breaths with hers.

"Finnick?" Rini broke the silence; her head nestled on his shoulder. "What was that pill you took?"

His cheeks turned red and he cleared his throat quietly. "It's what I take when I'm with a client, it's an…enhancer. For…performance…"

"Oh."

"I just didn't want it to come naturally, I mean," He cleared his throat again. He hadn't actually struggled much with that part. "I wanted control, I-"

"I understand," She stopped him with a hand on his chest. They were silent again for a while, and Finnick had wondered if she drifted off until she spoke again. "I haven't forgotten about what we talked about. I'm capable, Finn. With your help."

"Not here," He muttered, shaking his head. "I'm not your mentor anymore, remember? I won't train you."

Rini was quiet, but he sighed heavily. He knew he didn't have a say in it. This was entirely her choice, and she had been right. She deserved a chance to rebel.

"But I know someone who will."

"She's going to kill me," Rini murmured as she walked with Finnick into District Four's training academy. She had never been inside before, aside from the tours that her classes would take every year. Her father hadn't been interested in sending her, and Cecil hadn't pressed her on the issue when he'd taken her in either.

"Complaining?" Finnick asked without looking behind him, leading her down a staircase to what the signs had deemed as private training areas. "You can still just stay put, you know."

She pressed her lips into a hard line. No, she was determined to go into the arena. She was no longer the submissive Rini that sat around while others around her saved her.

"There are going to be people actually trying to kill you. So this can just be practice," Finnick spoke with a bit of acid in his voice; he was obviously still not pleased with her insistence on doing this. The door opened for him when he approached it and Rini found herself in a room that reminded her of the training center in the Capitol, complete with racks of different weapons and stations for survival skills. In the middle of the room stood a small woman with a slightly maniacal look on her face.

"You're late, sweetheart," Johanna called, her eyes gleaming. "Ready to get started?"

Hello everyone! Sorry I've been away for so long, school is really kicking my ass! Here's a shorter chapter, but it's being set up for future happenings...hehehe :) Things are going to get very interesting soon...Hopefully Finnick gets over his and Rini's incident and they can reconcile! That is, if she survives training with Johanna!

I keep getting email alerts for people favoriting and following my stories, starting with Disarm! I can't believe you're reading all three of them, you get 1000 gold stars and pats on the back! All you newcomers, Breanna and Lottie and you others, welcome! Thank you so much for reading! Thank you to all of you who've stuck around for so long, I hope to keep pleasing you! I'll try to get the next chapter up ASAP, reviews are very much appreciated :D

-Kelsey xx