Author's Note: Hey everyone. Here's chapter four. It's a tad short but the chapters do get longer as this story progresses. I'm holidays now - three weeks YAY! - so I'll be spending a lot of these next couple of weeks writing up part 2 and hopefully starting on part three of this fic.
Since I'm up to writing up part 2, I was just wondering what kind of Arena you guys have in mind for Annie's games. Obviously there's some kind of dam or lake that will later flood the arena later on, but I was wondering what thoughts you guys had about her games. I have a few ideas for the arena but I'm curious to hear your thoughts as well.

Chapter Four

I woke up the next morning feeling completely safe. Like nothing in the world could ever possibly harm me because I was safe in his arms.

Wait…

I wiggled about in the bed.

Yes, I was trapped within warm, solid arms, being pressed into a muscular chest and am mere millimetres from falling off the bed. So really everything felt normal, exactly as it should be; only it wasn't.

I opened my eyes and couldn't help the little cry of dismay that escaped my lips when I took in the room that I was in. I was in my room, on the train that was speeding me towards the Capital, towards my death.

I didn't even bother trying to remind myself that I had decided last night that I was going to try and fight my inevitable death, for Grandma's sake and Finnick's. And alright, I guess my own.

"Annie?" My little dismayed cry had woken Finnick and his green eyes were searching my face worriedly. "Are you alright."

"Oh, I'm fine." I replied, my sarcasm biting. Only it didn't bite him, he simply snorted and pulled me closer to his chest once more.

"When did you get in here?" I demanded, trying to feel mad at him for invading my space after basically ignoring me all of last night.

"Last night."

"And who said you could come in?" I asked, trying to sound angry or at the very least annoyed. He cracked an eye open and looked me in the face to see whether or not I was truly mad with him for being here. He closed his eye again a moment later, obviously thinking I wasn't as mad as I was making myself out to be.

"Are you even…"

"Annie," he said, running his hand gently up and down my back, "go back to sleep, ok. When we get to the Capital, you'll be run off your feet by your prep team and stylist and then there's the Opening Ceremony tonight. Today is going to be exhausting, so sleep ok."

"But I'm angry." I whisper as I placed my head back down upon his chest. His fingers started playing with my hair.

"I know and you have every right to be, but right now you need to sleep, it's still early."

I sigh heavily, but in truth, I didn't really want to be awake and Finnick was warm and comfortable and he was softly humming an old tune that my Grandmother used to hum to us when we had bad dreams.

I squeezed my eyes shut and somehow fall back to sleep.

When I woke again, at a much more reasonable hour, I find that I am alone in bed and that Stansen Flickershade is banging on my door, crying in an overly excited voice that it was time for me to get up because today was a big, big day.

I rolled myself out of bed, not feeling overly refreshed even though I slept for basically a solid eight hours.

I pulled on a green shirt today, a green that compliments my own green eyes. It was soft to touch and shimmered slightly as I moved, reminding me of the ocean just after a spring storm. I pulled on the trousers that I wore yesterday, since they weren't really dirty, before yanking my hair into a high tail that fell from the crown of my head.

I looked in the mirror.

I looked like Annie today. Everyday Annie. I could be going to school or to the markets, absolutely anywhere within District Four, but instead I'm speeding my way to the Capital.

I swallowed thickly.

We can't be far from Capital now.

My stomach rumbles and I look away from the mirror, away from Everyday Annie, knowing that she would be disappearing again once I'm in the hands of my stylist and prep team.

I took a deep breath, bracing myself and left the safety, the solitude of my bedroom and walked down the corridor to the dining car, my bare feet once more sinking deeply into the soft, thick carpet.

I reach the dining car and find that I'm one of the last people to arrive.

"So Sleeping Beauty has finally decided to grace us with her presence." Boomed Trout Greenglass as I entered, his grin becoming a leer as I flushed red and I ducked my head as I padded quickly over to where my grandmother was sitting.

I heard a yelp of pain and I when I looked for the source I saw Trout wiping bits of boiled egg from his right eye. The chuckling around the table didn't given any clues as to who pegged the boiled egg at Trout, but Finnick was looking a little too innocent as he dug into his breakfast with great enthusiasm.

"Eat some breakfast little one." Grandma said as she took my plate from in front of me and started loading it with varies things.

"I'm not…" I tried to start but the sharp look she gave me stopped me short.

"But you're going to eat anyway, aren't you?" I nodded somewhat mutely as I took my fully loaded plate of food from her and started eating, tasting more of the flavours this morning than I had last night.

I was half way through my plate – I had suddenly found my appetite – when Marlin suddenly turned his attention on to me and asked me what my talent was.

I looked at him blankly.

"Talent?"

"Yes, talent. What are you good at? Using a sword, bow and arrow? A trident." He shot a smirk in Finnick's direction.

I noticed the tiny flinch in Finnck's shoulders at the smirk, but he gave no response, simply downing his cup of coffee before pouring himself another.

"I'm not." I said, feeling my face heat up.

"Not what?" Marlin asked, he was starting to look impatient now. Beside him I saw Merle start to grin into his plate and I felt a stab of anger shoot through me, but I forced myself to remain calm.

"I'm not good at any of those things. I've never touched a sword or bow and arrow in my life. And the only trident I have ever thrown was at fish." And I missed… completely. But I wasn't about to tell them that, I could already see that most of them were putting me down as a lost cause.

A few were looking between me and Grandma in disbelief; a few were even looking in Finnick's direction. I felt my face grow all the more hotter.

"You weren't trained? At all?" Marlin asked in disbelief.

"No. Besides it's against the rules to be trained before the Games." Though, of course, that doesn't stop our district, or Districts One and Two from training most of our tributes.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Finnick shake his head ever so slightly.

"So you can do nothing? No skills that you can use to defend yourself or win the Games with?" Marlin said sounding thoroughly exasperated.

"I had no skills or training and I still won my Games." Grandma said sounding a tad icy. Marlin scowled at her and she scowled right on back.

"She's the best Swimmer of her age." Finnick said suddenly, "and she's a fast runner too." As he spoke he gave me look clearly telling me to stop being silly and start helping myself.

"Swimming and Running won't help her much." One of our other Victor's sighed.

"But they can possibly help her enough." Finnick said with a shrug.

Merle snorted and I glared at him, suddenly fed up with him and everyone else in the room.

"I can run faster than you." I snapped at him. Merle looked up from his plate, startled.

"So?" he replied, looking amused by my sudden flash of anger.

"So, you came first in your year this year. You were the fastest runner in the school… until I beat you."

"So?"

"Well, if it comes down to running away from something or towards something, I'll win… and you'll lose. And if I'm faster than you, I'll probably be faster than everybody else in the Arena, both on land," I stood up then from the table, my appetite once more gone, "and in the water."

I looked down at my grandmother, who had ever so slight smirk gracing her lips. "Can I be excused?"

She nodded and I stalked out of the oppressive room.

I made it all the way back to my room before the tears started to fall. They were right of course. What help would being a fast runner or good swimmer do me in the arena? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Running would only get me so far. At some point I'm going to have to fight someone and when that happens, I'll most likely lose.

You can hide and hope for the best, a voice in my head said but I shook it away. Nowadays, the Gamemarkers made it near impossible for someone who simply hides to win. If they don't fight, they are usually taken down by something Capital made. No one who simply spends the whole game hiding wins anymore.

I felt a wave of nausea hit me and I stumbled for my bathroom, throwing up most of my breakfast. Damn rich Capital food!

When I'm done being sick, I lie back down on my bed, not doing anything, simply staring at the ceiling of the room.

I stay like this until Finnick comes into my room. He looks tired and worried, not a usual look for him.

"I'm not making this easy for you… or Grandma, am I?" I ask as he comes to sit by my feet, lifting them up and setting them back down on his lap, his hands gently massaging them.

"No, you're not. Most of them back there want to put all our effort behind Merle," he pulled a slight face as he said Merle's name.

"Then let them then." I replied though I feel sick in my gut again.

"Annie." I look at him and I see so much pain in his eyes, "I thought you said you were going to try."

"How can I try when I can do nothing?" I demanded and he rolled his eyes.

"But you can. As you said, you'll probably be the fastest person in there. And you won't be the only one who has never held a weapon before in their life. Except that you have," I give him a questioning look, "you can fish. You've speared fished since you were a small child. You know how to throw a spear."

"A light weight one. Not one that can piece human flesh."

"Yes, and I always used a trident that could do that from the start. I learnt Annie, and it wasn't hard. Just takes a little more strength behind it, that's all."

He said it all so calmly, like it was nothing, like it meant nothing to him that he had taken the lives of others by using the skills that we had learnt from childhood.

"Come on, we're almost there. If you can't impress the others, you can at least try and impress the Capital. Despite what you might think, you need them on your side just as much, if not more than your mentors." He let go of my feet and stood up, heading for my closet. A moment later he came out with some silver sandals that had a tiny heel on them, which he strapped to my feet. He then placed my Medal around my neck, tucking it beneath my shirt where it hid with my seashell necklace.

He pulled me to my feet and looked me up and down, accessing me.

"Is Everyday Annie presentable enough for the Capital's standards?" I asked dryly and Finnick's lips quirked into a smile.

"I think so. Just don't forget to smile, alright?" He ran his hand over my cheek. I forced my lips into a smile and he lightly bumped his forehead against mine.

"Come on, let's go." He kissed the tip of my nose fondly before stepping back and gesturing for me to leave my room first.

Together we walk back to the dining car where everyone else was assembled. They barely glanced in our direction as we entered, all of them simply staring out the window at the Capital that was coming into view as our train exited one of the tunnels that passes through the mountains that completely surround the Capital.

I dashed for a window, feeling my mouth drop at the splendour that is Panem ruling city. The cameras weren't lying about it being grand. If anything, they hadn't done it justice at all.

I looked at all the buildings, built so high they look like they are touching the sky, glistening all colours of the rainbow in the mid-morning sunlight, at the shiny cars that are so fast and bight they are hard to look at for too long, making your head ache when your eyes try to keep up with their speed. But the strangest things of all were by far the people.

They were all so odd. Dressed in odd clothes, with bizarre hair and painted faces. Everything about them and their fantastic city was superficial; there was no depth to them or to their buildings, to anything really. Nothing looked real, everything was artificial.

"It's too bright." I whisper to Finnick who is leaning on the carriage wall beside me. "Nothing looks real. The people, the buildings, nothing. Even that park," I point to a park that we are passing, filled with trees and flowers, but have all been grown in an orderly fashion. Not a weed in sight, not a single tree out of line, every flower in every flower bed matching, "looks fake."

"That's the Capital for you. Wait til you meet the people." Finnick said with a smirk that held little humour.

I've never seen him like this. His whole body is stiff and he looks like he's carry a huge weight on his shoulders. And his eyes.

His eyes are the worst.

His face is blank except for the smirk, but his eyes are desperate, like he would give anything to be anywhere else other than here. So would I for that matter, but his desperation to escape this place seems to be even greater than my own.

I touch his hand gently.

"It'll be ok." I whispered and he gives me a tight smile. I feel the train start to slow as we enter another tunnel.

"Listen, we'll be at the station any moment now and you'll be handed over to your prep team. You're not going to like what they're going to do to you. But that doesn't matter because they don't care, so save yourself the grief and don't fight them. Just let them do their job and try not to feel embarrassed or self-conscious or anything like that. If it helps, don't think of them as people, you won't feel so violated then." I stare at him wide eyed and he shrugged, then he stepped away me.

"Wha…" sarcasm

"Wave." He tells me and I look out the window and I see a whole crowd of weirdly dressed people standing at the station, waving and pointing excitedly at the train.

I gulp and start to wave.

"Smile." Finnick said and I force myself to smile and the crowd seems to become even crazier.

This is insane, I thought miserably, but I keep it up until the train completely stops and we a being herded out of the train by Peacekeepers and Stansen Flickershade, whose babbling excitedly.

"Good luck." Grandma says as I pass her, her smile is sympathetic.

"Bye." And I'm back to being surrounded by deafening yelling and screaming, flashing lights everywhere and cameras sticking themselves into my face.

But somehow I keep up my smiling/waving act and before I know it I'm being herded off the station towards a car and everything is quiet again.

But apparently not for long.

Author's Note: Chapter five will be up soon. Thanks for reading and let me know your thoughts for Annie's games/arena.

Bye for now.