Hiya! How is everyone? I hope your life is made slightly better by this chapter which I hope you like!

Thanks always to my wonderful beta Windsongspringheart!

Friends

FPOV

Everything had gone to hell. Annie knew and she hated me for it. Who could blame her? People don't usually like their murders, even if the deed hasn't been done yet. Why did things have to go wrong now? Just as I thought we were finally in a good place, where I stupidly thought we could actually get on and have the kind of relationship I had always wanted with her, of course fate had reared its ugly head and shattered that momentary happiness.

"Finn?" Katniss whispered, being the only other person in the room with me. Peeta had gone off to find Annie, to try and salvage some of her sanity before it all disappeared down the deep hole of darkness that had formed. Jo had gone to see her sister after hearing of her capture. But she was still here, her hair still held tightly in her braid, a few rebellious strands escaping but still there, just like her.

"What have I done?" I mumbled, my body wanting to crumble under me, to give up.

"Nothing Finn, you have done nothing wrong," she reasoned, her logic washing over me but having no effect. She was wrong, though. I had. This was all my fault. I was the villain in this story and it would have no happy ending.

"You're lying! This is all my fault!" I screamed at her, my last strand of self control breaking under the weight of my guilt. No words were uttered by her in response, instead she only took slow steps towards me and brought her hand up as if to caress my face instead. However, the palm connected with my check at a high speed, sending pain across my check. "What the f*** what that for?!" I yelled, holding my face in agony.

"You know full well" she replied, turning away beginning to walk away again.

"You know full well I don't. I'm not psychic Kat," I said, grabbing her arms and spinning her back around so she was facing me. Flames danced in her eyes as she stared at me.

"I don't want this Finn! I want my friend back, not this weak outer shell of him. I want the guy who would have floored that red haired b*** for what she said to you. Not the guy who is sidelined by those very words. You are better than this and I know it hurts being around her but you have to go on. I know you don't want to hear it but she will be dead soon, and I know you hate that, but it's the truth. Please come back to us and help us fight," she sounded like she was one thin strand away from yelling but she had yet to allow that strand to break.

While I knew what she wanted from me, it pained me that I couldn't give it to her. I couldn't just move on. Not with Annie still here. I couldn't regain my life.

"I can't Kat. I don't know where that guy is any more," I explained, looking to the celling and not her fire filled face.

"Finn, he's still there, you just need to let him out, let him fight. Please come back to all of us," she pleaded, her voice softened. I shook my head, still looking at the cold grey ceiling. "Finn, please, don't let her take your life with hers," she added, her tone desperate, the emotion seeping into her voice to calm the anger that had been there before.

"You don't get it. I have to try and save her," I explained, my voice breaking.

"No you don't Finn. You have to try and live. Her fate is confirmed, yours isn't. So don't make it so," she begged again. Again, I shook my head. "Finn, look at me," she demanded in a tone so ferocious it seemed unlikely to have really come from her mouth. When I didn't follow her instructions, she locked her hands around my head and pulled my line of sight down to face her so our eyes were locked. Even when we had eye contact she didn't let go.

"Please Finn, your mum and dad wouldn't want this for you. They wouldn't want to know they gave their lives to save their son if he was just going to throw his life away after some girl," she had tried everything now to break through to me. She would only play the orphan card if she had to.

"That girl is my sister," a cold voice echoed behind us. Katniss sighed and backed away, turning her back on me and the man behind me, running her hand over the back of her neck.

"How long have you been there, Peeta?" I asked, not turning to face him, not wanting to know what he thought of me for even engaging in the conversation.

"Long enough to know you want Annie dead, Katniss," he replied, walking up to her as he said those words.

"I don't, Peeta. I just want my friend back," she explained, turning to face Peeta, her hands constantly moving as if if they kept still their holder would explode.

"Your friends are right here. You just don't want to see them. You want her dead so this war will be over and you can endanger your remaining family again," he seethed in a tone that made me wonder where the real Peeta was.

"You can't know that. They will be safer with me once this pointless war is over," she argued.

Wait. Katniss wanted to endanger Prim? I thought they had been sent away to the safe house in Canada by her. Why would she want to remove them from there?

"It will never be over. As long as our kind exists, the war will exist. You need to stop living in the past. Your family is safe where they are and we aren't," he told her, the volume of the statement rising with every cold, bitter word that fell from his mouth.

"You don't know that. One day it will all be safe. That journey just starts with her death," she replied. Blood boiled in my veins at her words. How dare she think that Annie should die when we had spent our entire lives protecting her.

"How can you even think that?" I asked, desperate to know the answer.

"Family comes first, Finn," she replied, turning her head to look me in the eyes.

"Not always, Katniss. And if you can't see that, then you are the one who is really gone," I told her before walking away.

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