Author's Note: Sorry for the slight wait with this chapter. I got so involved in writing part 2 of this fic, that I forgot how little of part 1 I have actually posted up, so sorry about that.

So, ok, this chapter is all about the Opening Ceremony. So please enjoy!

Chapter Six

And I do.

I love my costume. It is so beautiful and light, made out of beautiful blue and green material that shimmers as I move.

I turn this way and that in the mirror that I'm standing in front of. The last alterations have just been made and it's only a matter of time before the Opening Ceremony begins.

My opening ceremony costume is really a long dress that has layer upon layers of different green and blue fabrics that make up the skirt, cut to different lengths so that when I move they move and I look like I am wearing the ocean or maybe a river. The point is when I move I feel like I'm in water again and being in water has always made me feel safe.

It's so strange that.

My parents died because of a boating accident, drowning in the ocean because no one got to them in time. So in a sense, I should really be terrified of water and of the ocean, but I'm not.

The ocean, being in water, is the only place I feel safe, like I belong. My father always called me his little fish and my mother and grandmother have said I should have been born a mermaid. When I was a child, I wished and wished that I was. A mermaid, that is.

If I were a mermaid then I could be free, I could swim away from District Four, away from the Capital, away into the ocean and be safe within its waters until the end of my days.

And then I met Finnick.

Finnick.

I ran my hand over my belly, not seeing whatever it was that had clued Eyria in about my condition.

"Oi, you done staring at yourself?" With an irritated sigh I turned to face Merle and his stylist, both of whom have just entered the room that I'm in.

I felt my lips quirk into a small smile at the sight of him, all of him. And there really was a lot of him to see.

What he was wearing was ridiculous. Well what little he was wearing which was basically some heavy gold netting, knot strategically around his waist, covering all that should be covered. He had a blue cloak thrown over his shoulders and he held a gold trident. And he didn't look happy.

His stylist however looks delighted and was babbling away happily. I hadn't thought I would meet anyone more ridiculous than Stansen Flickershade – yes, even after entering the Capital and after meeting my prep team – but this man really puts Stansen to shame.

He was old, fat and ugly but what made him even uglier was that he was a sickening yellow colour. His whole body was this gross yellow, with vibrant blood red hair and black eyes. He was so fat that he had to waddle and he spoke in this high-pitch voice that hurt my ears to listen to him. And when he finally saw me I felt sick to my core.

I've never been looked at the way he looked at me. I can't even think how to describe it, only that it made me want to run, run as fast and as far from him as I possibly could.

"Such a pretty thing." He cooed as he waddled over to me. "Such a pretty thing and Eyria has you all covered up." He shot Eyria an accusing look, which she ignored, but that might only be because she was watching him with a look that said volumes of how much she detested him.

"Now, if I had had you," I cringed away from him, a sick shiver running down my spine as he said that with his high-pitch voice, "I would…"

"Probably be having her wearing only seaweed and mud. Get away from her Janith." I jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of Finnick. And for the first time since I first met him, I actually felt scared of him.

He looked absolutely terrifying as he stormed over to where I was standing, putting himself between Janith and me.

He looked absolutely ready to murder the stylist with his bare hands. And I really doubt anyone in the room would be able to stop him.

"Finnick," Janith said looking up a Finnick with a disgustingly sweet smile, "How are you today? I was just commenting on what a pretty little thing this one is. Pity my design was altered or everyone would see just how pretty a thing she really is."

From where I now stood behind him I could see Finnick's shoulders tensing, his fists clenching at his sides, as if he was fighting back the desire to beat Janith senseless.

"Finnick." I say softly, gently touching his arm and drawing his attention away from the disgusting man and on to me. His eyes did soften some before turning hard once more and he put some distance between us.

I blinked at his back in confusion.

I want to reach out to him but I'm stopped by Eyria and Enyia, who have come over to put the final touches on me.

My hair is hanging down my back in great waves and on top of my head now sits a crown made of coral and shells.

"Beautiful." Eyria says looking pleased while Enyia simply grins and nods. I look over to where Finnick is but he seems to be refusing to look at me.

I feel a pang in my heart but I don't have time to dwell on it or him for we are being whisked down to the bottom level of the Remake Centre, essentially a gigantic stable.

The Opening Ceremony is about to begin.

My stomach churns as I look around at the other tributes who are being loaded into the chariots pulled by teams of four horses. Some tributes are weary of the beautiful creatures while all I want is to give them a pat.

There are very few horses in District Four and they are only own by the very wealthy and most of the time they are kept in their stables, so they are rarely ever seen.

I start to move towards the one closest to me, one of the beautiful pearl grey ones that are attached to our shell and coral decorated chariot. But before I can touch his pearly white mane, I am being pushed back and into the chariot.

"Annie." I look down at Eyria, where she is standing beside our chariot, "I want you to smile and wave to the crowd, ok. Be the complete opposite of Merle. He's going to be silent and looking to the front at all times, a cold man of the ocean, but you. You are the Ocean, beautiful and breathtaking, but completely deadly. Any and all who fall into your waves are doomed. You are the unforgiving Sea beckoning to all to come and meet their doom with your beauty and mystery. Do you understand?"

No, of course I didn't but I force myself to nod.

Eyria gave me a warm smile, wishing me luck before she moved away from the chariot.

I swallow thickly as the opening music starts to play. It's so loud! It probably can be heard all the way to the very edge of the Capital.

Massive doors in front of us slide open, revealing the crowd-lined streets, all screaming and cheering, all making me feel sick again.

The chariots start moving and we all fall into line, District One in the lead and District Twelve bringing up the rear.

"District Four!"

I feel immediately ill as our chariot starts moving. This is nothing like being on a boat… or maybe it's the baby. I briefly touch my belly before remembering what Eyria said about being beautiful but deadly.

I wasn't exactly sure how I was suppose to do that, but I forced myself to smile, almost impishly at the screaming crowd, a smile that I wear when I'm being cheeky or have done something mischievous.

I wave to them and blow a couple of kisses at them which only causes the crowd to scream even more loudly. The noise was almost deafening.

I don't pay any attention to anything else but them, the crowd. I smile and wave to them, blow them kisses and in return they're screaming my name and throwing me flowers.

I catch one, a beautiful white rose and clutch it tightly in my hand and blow a kiss in the general direction that it has been thrown from.

We enter the City Circle and the twelve chariots circle around it once before filling the loop of the circle. Surrounding the circle are buildings and every one of those buildings windows are packed with the most prestigious citizens of the Capital.

The chariots do another loop of the City Circle before we all come to a halt out front of Presidents Snow's mansion.

The President, I was surprised to see, was in fact a rather small, thin man with hair as white as the pearls that we harvest back in District Four.

I had always imagined him, from what I've heard and seen of him to be quite a large and imposing man, but he wasn't. He looked more like a kindly grandfather than someone who reigned so much pain and terror over a country.

He smiles warmly at all of us before giving the official welcoming speech from the balcony that he is standing on above us.

I don't pay much attention to his speech; instead I watch the huge screens that are set up on either side of the balcony, watching as the pictures on the screens cut away from Snow to each of the Tributes Chariot. I see myself and can't help but think that I really do look like some Ocean Goddess or Sprite.

Beautiful but terrible, all should worship me while always fearing my uncontrollable wrath. It's an impressive image, but it isn't me, but then, I suppose that is the point.

Once the cameras stop focusing on me and Merle and move on to the other tributes, I lightly touch my belly again. The nausea has gone now that we've stopped moving.

I press lightly against my belly and noticed that yes, there is a slight lump forming between my hips. I jerk my hand away and I feel panic start to form in my chest but I force it back for we are moving again and the nausea has returned.

We parade around the circle one last time before disappearing in the Training Centre. As soon as the doors are closed behind us, I'm all but jumping from the chariot.

"What are you? Motion sick or something?" Merle asked with a snort as he watched me lean heavily against our chariot, trying to control my urge to be sick.

I don't have much to time to gain control over my nausea for I'm engulfed by my prep team who are babbling incoherent praises.

I look around and see that many tributes are staring at us, or rather at me. Some look thoughtful while most look at me like I'm some shiny object that needs to be smashed. I got that very distinct impression from the girl from District One who was all but glaring knives at me.

I'm saved by the arrival of Eyria who starts moving us towards the elevators that will take us to any floor in the Training Centre Tower. Of course, we'll only ever be going to one floor, our floor during our stay here.

I let her lead me to it, feeling relieved once I'm inside, to be away from all the other tributes, well almost all.

Merle is loudly congratulating himself with his prep team as we speed through the levels to the fourth floor.

I wished the ride was longer. The elevators walls are made out of crystal, meaning that you can watch people on the ground floor shrink to size of mud crabs as you shoot through the air. It was breathtaking and exhilarating and oddly enough didn't make me feel nauseous at all.

I wanted to ask if we could ride it again, but I didn't want to tempt fate and bring back my nausea. Also I don't think I could stand Merle's teasing.

We reached our floor and if I thought that the train was extravagant, it was nothing compared the room that I had just stepped into.

Merle whistled behind me as he took in the space that was meant to be a living room – which was the size of at least three classrooms back home.

"Nice." He said and he looked truly impressed.

I nodded my head slowly before moving cautiously further into the room.

"Nothing's going to bite you." I jump before turning around to meet Finnick – who had come up behind me - with a grin, which he didn't return.

Fine then, be like that, I thought before stalking further into the room only to be swept into the arms of Grandma, who was beside herself with glee.

"You were beautiful." She whispered as she hugged me close.

"Thanks, Grandma." I said with a tired smile and she pattered my shoulder gently.

"Come, let's get you into a nice warm bath before dinner time." She said as she took hold of my hand and started leading me down a corridor, opening a door and showing me inside.

My room, or quarters, were also huge, like the living room. They had all the trimming that my room back in the train had, plus more.

Grandma showed me how to work the automatic gadgets that I know I won't have the time to test them all. The shower and bath alone have whole panels of more than a hundred options for you to choose from, water temperature, water pressure, all different smelling soaps, shampoos, scents and oils and massaging sponges.

My grandmother ran me a nice warm bath, setting the pressure so that the water bubbles up and when I slide into it; it feels like the water is simply bubbling all the tension out of my body.

"Wow." I whisper, closing my eyes as Grandma sits on the edge of the bath tub –which is huge, like everything else in this place – and rubbing shampoo into my hair and helping to rub off all the blue, green and sliver paint off my body.

"The Capital does have some perks. Their baths are one of them." Grandma said and I laughed softly.

"Grandma," I said after a couple of moments of silence.

"Hmmm?"

"Um, I have to tell you something." I notice her eyes widen slightly but she said nothing while I informed her that I was apparently pregnant.

She sighed heavily once I was done.

"I feared as much." She said softly as she stroked my face gently.

"You did?"

"Dear one, you may not have noticed, but I have. Your change in appetite, you're sudden obsession with oysters, being ill in the morning. I've suspected for a few weeks now, but," she shook her head.

"I was hoping that I was wrong, but clearly…"

"You're not." I finished for her and slid further down into the bubbling bath.

"What do I do?" I whispered.

"Win."

"Grandma, I…" she cut me off with a wave of her hand.

"Win and come home. Win for your baby."

"But…"

"Annie."

I close my eyes and nod.

"I want to win." I whisper. "I want to win and have this baby. I want to come home and…" I lightly touch the lump between my hips. How did I miss it before now?

"I know."

"I don't know how though." I whisper desperately.

"We'll figure something out. I promise you Annie, you and your baby will come home." I nod before sighing.

"How am I going to tell F…" my grandmother's hand suddenly came to be pressing against my lips, her eyes wide and she shook her head.

"Wha…?" but she simply shook her head again and I fell silent. Though I'm fairly certain that the bathroom isn't bugged, you still have no idea who might be listening in.

"Come on, up you get." Grandma said as she held out a towel for me and I hopped out of the bath.

"Do you think the room is…" I started to whispered but Grandma shrugged.

"No way to tell for sure."

"But if it is, then they'll know…"

"They probably know already," she whispered back into my ear as we walked back into my room and she moves for my huge wardrobe, "but what's important now, is to keep them from knowing who the father is. If they were to find out, then you're life and the baby's life will be in even greater danger than they are already."

"Ok." I mutter hugging the towel close to me while my Grandmother picked out an outfit for me. She selected a soft green dress that hung loosely to my form, while the sleeves hugged my arms closely. It fell just below my knees.

"Pretty." I comment softly before I looked out the window, playing with the remote that will zoom in and out on different parts of the city.

"Dinner Time!" Stansen sings out from behind my closed door.

Good. I was starving.

Grandma quickly braids my hair down my back before we both head back to the living room, where all the other Victors are assembled. They seem to be much more enthusiastic towards me than they previously had, maybe not seeing me as such a failure and waste of their time. They all greeted me warmly, telling me that I was marvellous and so on.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Merle shooting me dirty looks. I wanted to shoot him back a triumphant grin, like all the ones that he's been shooting at me for the past day – has it really been only a day? – but I can't find the energy or the malice to do so.

Instead I quietly accept their praise before moving for the table. It's only when I'm sitting down do I notice that Finnick isn't present.

I open my mouth to ask where he is, when I'm lightly but firmly elbowed in the side by one of our female victors.

She shakes her head as she sits down beside me. I don't know how she knew or suspected that I was going to ask about Finnick – maybe she saw me looking around and since Finnick is the only person missing from our group, she simply guessed it was him.

We all sit down for dinner – all except Finnick, though at the moment I'm not sure if I really want to see him, what with the way he's been treating me today and because of the baby – and I quickly find out that dinner time isn't really about food. Rather it about planning out our strategies and since now I've made such a splash with the Capital, everyone is determined that I have one, while before they had been happy enough to just forget me in the shadows.

I listen in on all the advice that is thrown my way, though I don't absorb even half of it, being too busy eating and at the same time trying not to look at or think about the Avoxs who are serving us.

I've never met an Avox before, for obvious reasons, but I've heard about them often enough from Grandma and Finnick. They don't go into too much detail about them, only that they are people who committed a crime; a terrible, traitorous crime against the Capital and in punishment for their crime, they have their tongue cut out so that they can no longer speak and are forced to serve others.

The one who is refilling my glass with an orange coloured drink – known as orange juice. Original I know, but apparently there is a fruit called Orange, though I've never seen it before – is a young man of maybe twenty years. He looks completely harmless and even gives me a small smile when I mouth thank you at him – you're not allowed to speak to Avox unless you are giving them an order – and I can't help but wonder what terrible thing he did against the Capital for him to be in this situation. I'll probably never know.

I eat until I'm basically fit to burst. Everyone wants to watch the recap of the Opening Ceremony that will start showing any moment, but I am too exhausted to sit through the two hour long event – even though the Opening Ceremony itself was only something like half an hour all up, the recap are two due to the commentators talking about each of the districts different costumes and clips of reporters talking to different stylists and Mentors about different tributes, generally the more popular tributes, are shown – so I simply wished everyone goodnight, informing them that I was heading for bed, since I wanted to wake up somewhat refreshed for Training tomorrow.

My grandmother gave me a quick hug and I was patted on the back by several of the Victors before I head off to my room.

I changed into a pair of loose pants and shirt, brushed my teeth before sitting down on my bed. I picked up the white rose that had been thrown to me during the Opening Ceremony, turning it slowly over in my hands.

It really was beautiful. I had only ever seen a couple of roses in my life but this one far surpassed them in beauty.

"So bea… ouch." My finger was pricked on one of the few thrones that stuck out from the rose's stork.

"Ow," I waved my fingers about for a moment, before bringing it to my mouth to suck on, rolling my eyes at my own weakness. Unbelievable. How was I going to cope with the Games when I was wincing over a prick to my finger from a simple flower.

I looked back down at the rose and feel immediately ill.

Drops of my blood have fallen onto the white petals, staining them red. A pure white rose, stained with my blood.

I clamped a hand to my mouth and bolted to the bathroom, for the toilet, letting the rose fall to the floor without a thought about it.

Even though every instinct was telling me to be sick, I forced the desire back. I couldn't throw up every time I saw blood, because I'll be seeing a lot of it during the games, and I can't throw up because of it. I will appear weak and other tributes will use it as an advantage over me. I have to be stronger than this or I really will lose.

Once I'm sure that I'm not going to be sick, I stand up and wash my mouth out at the sink, gulping down water to hopefully settle down my stomach.

I walk back into my room, gingerly picking up the tarnished rose as I do so, dumping it into the disposal unit in the bathroom before crawling into the large, warm bed.

I'm asleep in moments.