I burst through the surface of the water. Mi vision opens up to an air pocket with leads to a small shelf of rock above the water. I crawl into the shallows, and my ears start to ring. It must be from swimming so hard. I collapse onto the floor of the cave, clutching a bag and a sword I managed to grab. My chest burns and I can see by a pressure meter that my first oxygen tank is a fourth of the way depleted.

Damn, I didn't get an extra tank! I tear off my mask quickly and breathe the free air. It takes a while to pull myself up and sit against the wall of the cave. Scanning my surroundings, I can see the water lap of against the shallows of the floor like the waves of a beach. The walls are made of dark brown stone, but there are weird little teal gems scattered all along the stone, emitting a soft green light.

"Cool," I whisper, running my finger along the wall. I then take my oxygen tank off and pull my bag up to see what I have. It is medium sized with a dark blue exterior. When I unzip the large pocket I have to squint to see inside. Though a little bit helpful, the light of the gems is not very bright, so I decide to feel through the bag. I almost laugh out loud when I feel, tucked in a smaller pocket, a flashlight. However, it won't work when I flip the switch. When I hit it a few times it glows dimly, but not even as bright as the gem lights. I turn it off and shake it for about a minute and then turn it back on to see it shines properly. The rest of my backpack contains a pack of dry beef, a towel, and a rod with a forked end with a button on the handle.

"What the-?" I mumble, trying to figure out what the contraption is. It looks so familiar but I can't put my finger on it.

The bloodbath must be over by now. It's a good thing I got to the Cornucopia before anyone else. I think I saw Ariel right before I got into the cave. It's not surprising though; she doesn't need the propellers to swim quickly.

The first of the cannons from the bloodbath goes off. Then another, and another... I wait for them to stop.

Nine. Nine people are dead now. I panic a little. I didn't see anyone die, so who did? Could Ariel already be gone?

I lean forward, placing my head between my knees. My heart is still pounding nearly out of my chest. A million thoughts run through my head, though I can only comprehend a few, most of them about Ariel. If she isn't dead, then she probably has plenty of food and supplies to last her with the careers. If she's dead... I don't know, but there is no use sitting around worrying.

It turns out, the flashlight is waterproof. I put my mask on to stick my head in the dark waters and flip on the flashlight to look around. The tunnel leads away to a few others I had passed. The floor of the tunnels is lined with seaweed, and crustaceans crawl through the mossy ground. I've found one source of food. That's one good thing.

I decide to stay in my air pocket...cave... it's my camp. I flash my light around to get a better look of my domain. Nothing out of the usual, except for a large hole in the ceiling. What could that be for? Sponsors? Breathing? Maybe both.

I lay my towel underneath the hold and use my backpack for a pillow and then lay down, staring up the hole. There isn't any light, just darkness. Unfortunately, there's no telling what time is, so I just relax and keep an eye open for anything or anyone that might come through the tunnels.

Time passes slowly as I wait out the rest of the day. The soft glow from the gem lights is making me drowsy.

"Stay awake," I tell myself. "Just stay awake."

The previous night floods through my head. I think I'm asleep because I see it as a dream, as real as it is. Ariel's words still ring in my head.

"I really want you to kiss me again."

I don't normally blush but I think I did that time when she said that. I tried to memorize everything I could about her: Her hazel eyes that always reminded me or fire because of the golden flare that shot out from the pupil. Her soft short hair; just looking at it made me want to run my fingers through it. I know she always loved that. Her skin was always so soft despite her constant swimming in the chlorinated pools and salty ocean. The contors and curves of her body under mine were tiny and nearly fragile. I've always seen her as fragile. She's absolutely stunning int he water, but on land, she's almost quite literally a fish out of water.

There is a spark of hope in me for her now. This arena is filled with water, so maybe she'll do alright. She could win, go home, and be with her family...and maybe mine. The spark of hope is gone. What if somehow I won? Would I be able to live with that? I can't imagine losing her, especially in this way. The pain of this reality is almost too hard to think about, much less dream about.

My mind suddenly flashes to the morning when the stylists came in and practically drug Ariel out of my room.

Their conversation is all about hair and nails and how excited they are about the Games.

It makes me sick. Nonetheless, I am forced out of bed by one of the stylists, I can't even remember their names anymore. I'm given a simple pear of pants to wear, which is a relief that they didn't give me a hospital shift or something. They shove me down the hall, push me onto a ladder, and then some sort of current sticks me to the rungs as someone sticks me with a syringe, saying it's may tracking device.

"Cause it would be so tragic if you lost one of us, right?" I retort to the nurse. She narrows her eyes at me and shoots back a sickly sweet and fake smile.

On the way to the arena, I am dressed and prepared because apparently Angel and my stylist, Cozmic, both slept in late. idiots.

They dress me in a scuba suit, with two oxygen tanks and a mask with a communication system in it. There are also two propellars on the bottoms of the tanks.

"For people who can't swim, and to increase speed" says one of the stylists.

"Cause it would be so tragic if they drowned," I say sarcastically. "Wouldn't that be deja vu? A bloodless game, full of quiet drownings. How uneventful for you people."

The stylist scowls at me, probably mentally putting down my name for the first-to-die poll. I shrug it off. I don't care if I'm rude to people right now. I'm pissed. I didn't get to say goodbye to Ariel or anything and she's in the Careers. I'm not. Nothing would stop Garnet from sticking me with a sword, or Aid slashing me to pieces with her knife skills.

We finally get to the arena and I am put in the loading area. There's food, but I am only able to grab a bite of a roll before they shove me into the room with the tube that will take me up into the arena. Annie is there waiting for me. Guess I know where Finnick is.

"I'm going to ask you again," she says, approaching me, twitching occasionally. "Why did you want me as a mentor?"

"For a couple of reasons," I say impatiently; this is not really the time to be asking this. "One, because it would have been better for Ariel to learn offense from the mentor who actually fought in the Games." Annie looks down. "And two, because you figured out how to survive without the careers, like I'm going to have to do."

Ariel looks up and give me one of her rare lopsided smiles, which disappears when she twitches.

"I almost forgot," she continues. "Here. I got this from Ariel's room."

"You got-"

At first I wonder why the heck she was in Ariel's room but then I see her pull a small necklace out of her pocket. It's a shark tooth necklace with my name engraved on the back of the tooth. I almost laugh out loud at this. Is this what she wanted to give me for our Anniversary. I used to have a necklace like this as a child, but it broke and I never had one again. I'd told her numerous times how I love sharks, and how I missed having such a cool necklace.

She remembered.

"This can be your district token," says Annie, clipping it around my neck. "It took a while to pass through the examination, but it passed. One male from 3 had a necklace too. It lit up when you twisted the bulb at the end, but with further examimation, and a few tests, it was discovered that when you took the bulb off that the outlet it was attached too could deliver a very harmful shock if put in the right area of the body."

A taser. Smart kid, but too bad it got taken away.

"Good luck, Mako," Annie says. "It looks like the odds are already in your favor."

The tube closes around me and I am taken out sideways to the vast watery arena

The Capitol Anthem blares through the opening in the ceiling, causing me to jump and hit my head against it.

I'm awake now.

The gem lights start to glow more and then shoot out light into the middle of the cave. They all meet to form a holographic image a few feet away. I see both tributes from 3, and then the girl from 6.

Thank goodness. Ariel's alive!

The old man from 8 shows up, then both from 9, the girl from 10, and the boy from 11.

The anthem plays again, and the gem lights deplete and dim back down to their dull glow.

I can't stop smiling. She's alive, alive, alive.

However, all the careers are alive as well.

That kind of puts a damper on my day.

A/N: Haha, to think I started out with about 800 words and I maxed up to nearly 2000! I promised myself I wouldn't make you guys read another short boring chapter that seems like a filler. I also wanted to focus more on Mako since I haven't been giving him very large chapters. I wanna know, which do you guys like? Ariel, or Mako? You choose? I might make a poll about it with the other characters. Look for it on my profile! I love you guys!