Good day to you, readers of fairy tales and Annie/Finnick lovers.
Here is the next bit in my tale
Thanks for all of your reviews, I really appreciate getting feedback.
Disclaimer: I own my own twists but not the shout outs to HG.
The next morning dawned in a glorious array of colors but Annie saw none of the beauty. In the red of the sun's glow, she saw the blood on her hands and feet and the pain in Finnick's eyes as he suffered from the hallucinations.
She knew no one in the castle knew how to treat the stings since King Snow used the tracker jackers sparingly and mainly within his own domain.
She wondered around the edge of the castle court yard twisting her hands and biting her lip, near the gate, wondering how she could help Finnick when she couldn't leave the castle to search for the leaves when she heard a soft croon.
"Psst, my dear girl, come over here."
Annie hurried toward the kind, soft voice and to her surprise, she saw Mags, the kind woman who had helped her right after her brothers were cursed.
"I heard about the young king's affliction and suspected foul play." Mags whispered to her, eyes darting back and forth.
Annie nodded eagerly to tell Mags she was right. Then she raised her hands in question.
"Never you mind how I know, I make it my business to keep abreast and I took a special interest in you child, after your stay with me." Mags smiled kindly at Annie, though her eyes saddened at the scars on Annie's forearms and hands.
"I know about your muteness though it did surprise me but I figured it had to do with your brothers. You marrying the king did not, I knew you'd be perfect for each other." She smiled brightly.
That boy and I have had a few run ins when he was a much younger lad. He tried to prank me but I got the best of him. Since then, he checked in on me from time to time, and I knew something good entered his life when his trips the beach started ending in him smiling like he used to as a boy." Mags winked at Annie who blushed.
"Now what do you need, Annie? I have an assortment of herbs and plants and some of my remedies." Mags continued, rummaging through her basket to hide the tears in her eyes at what Annie had sacrificed for her brothers.
Annie's eyes filled with tears at hearing her true name for the first time in a long time from someone who wasn't family.
She also was touched by Mag's offer to help.
Annie made a look of fear on her face and then poked herself in the arm five times. She then stumbled around for a bit and looked around wildly before looking back at Mags.
"Oh, I see, tracker jackers." Mags sighed. "Five will be a doozy for sure, especially since they have gone untreated this long."
She pulled out the leaves and handed them through the bars on the castle gate. "Here are the leaves I used to help you. You need to put these on until all the venom leeches out. He should calm down then though he will probably sleep for a few days."
Annie chocked back tears as she took the leaves. She put her hand on her own heart and then reached out to Mags's heart.
Mags smiled back and then put her hand on Annie's stomach.
"Let's hope the father gets well before the little one comes, eh?"
Annie nodded her agreement and squeezed Mags hand through the bars.
Now that she had a way to treat him, she just had to find a way to see him and for that, she would need help.
After finding Peeta, Katniss, Rue and Prim, they had a plan to get Annie in to Finnick's room.
Prim knew how to make sleep syrup and brewed a batch for Queen Meri while Peeta helped to hide Annie in the stables and Katniss snuck her in some food, which she nibbled at to appease her.
Annie was too worried to relax or eat, and she could feel her upset state disturb the baby but neither one of them calmed down.
At last, she went to weave the nettle fibers into cloth for a few hours, determined to help someone that she loved.
Once nightfall came, Rue and Peeta offered goblets of wine spiked with sleep syrup to the guards outside Finnick's room and to the castle doctor, Peeta joking with them and Rue with a coy, flirtatious smile, holding the tray.
The castle physician managed to down his entire glass before falling asleep. He had been told by the former Queen not to seek outside help even though he had no idea what his majesty was suffering from.
His conscious had been squirming guilty all night and the wine was a relief when the king's fever continued to rise.
Normally, the ship doctor would handle anything above a minor cut or upset stomach but he had been banned by the Queen for she was hoping Finnick would die and she could blame Meri and go to war with King Snow at the same time.
Heavensbee had "prayed" over Finnick and then left to further spread the rumors of Finnick's visions of Annie dancing on flames, which Finnick had mumbled about in his tormented tossing and turning.
The Queen was sitting her room, preparing for a funeral for her nephew and a faked suicide for Queen Meri.
Katniss helped Annie to sneak through the castle and avoid Ruby and Heavensbee.
Once the guards were asleep, Annie crept into Finnick's room.
Her heart dropped when she was his feverish state and the look of fear and loneliness on his face.
His blonde hair drenched with sweat and mussed from his tossing and turning.
Annie immediately went to him and kissed his hand before pulling the bedcovers off of him and putting the leaves on his stings.
He winced and woke up from his nightmare state when the venom started to leave his system.
He saw Annie who smiled kindly at him and squeezed his hand. His eyes fluttered closed before he could do anything else.
Annie then wiped his head and face with a cool cloth and stroked his hair. She pulled out her recorder and played a lullaby too.
He calmed down under her ministrations and seemed to reach a peaceful state of dreams.
Annie changed his leaves three times during the night and each time he seemed to wake up and see her before falling back into a dream state.
She played on through the night and kept him cool with cloths when he grew too warm from his fever.
The morning sun shone on lovingly scene. Annie had her hands in Finnick's hair while his hand was on the baby bump.
She had fallen asleep stroking his hair and woke up when the castle guards burst into the room at the cries of joy from the physician who noticed that Finnick's fever had broken and he seemed to be sleeping peacefully.
The guards, whose ears had been filled with rumors of Queen Meri being a witch and shame at falling asleep at their post and failing to keep her out, roughly grabbed her off the bed and manhandled her out of the room.
Finnick stirred at the disturbance and frowned but did not awaken.
Queen Coin and Heavensbee soon arrived after Ruby reported that the guards caught Mer in the room.
The Queen sniffed at Meri and declared, "Lock her away in an empty servant's room. We will deal with her unwanted interference later."
The guards nodded and dragged Annie off, not giving her a chance to walk or explain her actions.
They figured if they blamed it on her being a witch, they wouldn't be punished for letting her through and Heavensbee was more than happy to have more fuel for the rumors.
Finnick slept on and off for five more days, slowly recovering. He only saw the castle doctor, Heavensbee and his aunt.
When he was awake for the first time, Finnick mentioned, "I thought Meri was here during the night, taking care of me, playing her songs..."
The castle physician looked to the Queen who smiled. "No, we have kept the witch away after finding you in this state in the graveyard with her.
Finnick frowned. "That feels like a dream or rather a nightmare."
Heavensbee said, "She may have spelled you to think that."
Finnick shook his head. "No, I don't think what I saw was real, after all, I saw things about you too."
The Queen and Heavensbee glanced nervously at each other. "Best you get your rest dear boy," his aunt tried to croon.
He frowned but was asleep in minutes, still worn out from the venom leaving his system.
"It's a miracle how he survived, my Queen." The castle physician exclaimed. "Queen Meri saved his life!"
"She endangered him in the first place." The Queen said in a seductive tone. "Remember?"
The castle physician fell silent at the threat in her eyes and averted his eyes while he nodded.
The Queen swept out of the room imperiously, enraged that the girl had averted her murder for Finnick.
Still, perhaps she could get rid of the girl first, after all, King Snow had his chance to get the girl and she knew better than him how to handle her kingdom's affairs.
Meanwhile, Annie had been locked up in an old servant's room while Finnick recovered.
Rue brought her in food while Prim kept her old rooms in order.
Katniss managed to get her cloth to finish her weaving, for which Annie was eternally grateful.
She knew Katniss hated her hurting herself but Katniss of all people understood the sacrifices made for a sibling.
Annie was able to finish weaving the cloth before Katniss smuggled it out of the room three days due to the increased guard presence.
Peeta had been trying to get in to see Finnick to no avail.
Annie was unable to rest or relax and kept pacing not that she didn't having her weaving to distract her.
She couldn't see her husband to know if he was truly better and the guards told her nothing and thus her anxiety increased.
Toward the end of the fourth day of her imprisonment, Annie felt a sharp muscle cramp. They steadily got worse until she realized she was in labor.
She collapsed on her way to the door and pounded on the floor till at last of the kindhearted guards opened up to see what was the matter.
At seeing her majesty clasping her stomach and her face white with pain, he ran to Peeta.
Peeta upon getting the information immediately exclaimed. "The queen's gone into labor early!"
He ran to get Prim and Rue who he knew had some knowledge of healing and they went to Annie as quickly as they could.
Katniss had turned grey at the news and Peeta told her to stand guard outside the door with her bow to protect Meri from anyone who thought she was a witch and would want to harm her.
He ran to Finnick's room to try to get Finnick and court physician.
However, the guards refused to allow Peeta access to the room, out of fear from the Queen.
Peeta kept pleading with the guards until the court physician emerged to see what all the ruckus was about.
"Who is disturbing the king's recovery?" He demanded, trying to sound authoritative.
"Sir," Peeta panted. "The queen's gone into early labor."
"What?" The court physician gaped stupidly.
"Yes, and I need you to come and help. We have some girls with a bit of midwife training but she could use a physician." Peeta finished explaining.
The physician shifted from foot to foot and refused to meet his eyes. "Well...you see...I am not supposed to leave the king-"
His hemming and hawing was cut off as Peeta stepped into his personal space and said in a low, calm voice.
"Listen here, either you come and help Queen Meri and the future heir to the throne or I will continue to make enough noise to wake the king, our most deadly warrior who sleeps with a trident next to his bed and who loves his dear wife and their future baby very much."
Peeta's face was perfectly calm, pleasant even but his eyes were full of cold blue fire.
The physician swallowed hard at the threat of an enraged king and decided he feared King Finnick more than the former Queen.
"I...will come with you to help." He stammered.
Peeta immediately started walking and the court physician ran to keep up.
The guards eyed each other and decided not to inform the former Queen about this turn of events, for Peeta's words had convinced them too that it was better to help Queen Meri, if only to avoid Finnick's anger.
Annie was in worst pain of her life, even worse than the nettles.
Her face was taut and her lips were white with her silent screams.
Prim and Rue were sweating but were helping Annie along.
The court physician stood in the far corner of the room, and did what they told him to do, red faced and shaking at the sight of Annie's pain.
As the hours passed, Annie heard voices as if from tunnel telling her to push and she did.
She then heard Mags' voice in her head, saying what she had said to Annie during their first meeting. "Even a spark of hope can keep the darkness of fear at bay. And remember, even though pain and death are real, so is love. As long as you keep love in your heart, you will know it is more real than any threat or any danger."
Annie thought of her love for Finnick and for her baby and pushed again with all her might to overcome this darkness she was in and her fear of the pain.
Just as the first rays of sun entered the room, Annie pushed out the baby.
But room was filled with silence.
Somehow, Annie knew this was wrong but she was too exhausted to do more than wave her hand weakly as Peeta rushed to get Finnick while Katniss threatened the court physician to "Do something you worthless coward or I'll shoot you." and Rue and Prim looked at the baby.
Cliff hanger! Sorry, please don't hate since I will update as soon as life lets me.