A/N- Thank you for reading this, and I hope that you enjoy. As always, any feedback is welcome.

Finnick 16 Annie 14

I run through the empty streets, listening to the rhythmic pounding of my heart. The moon and the starts are the only things illuminating my path, the soft chirping of crickets the only real noise that I can hear. Everything is still and quiet, and I almost feel like I'm the only person alive. It's a good and bad feeling at the same time. Good because there would be no one to run from, and bad because there'd be no one to care about.

I start to wonder which is worse, people to fear or people to love, but the question isn't even worth my time. Rafe, Mags, my little sister that I never see anymore, Mr. and Mrs. Cresta, and, of course, Annie, flash through my head all at once. Without people to love, there is nothing to live for.

But now it's harder to see that than it should be. Harder because President Snow invited me to the Capitol for two weeks to visit the people of the Capitol. I guess they missed me, and apparently they weren't happy that I didn't visit them last year. I wanted to decline the invitation. I hate the Capitol, and leaving Annie for that long would be unbearable, but Mags almost started crying when I showed her the letter, and told me that there was no way I could decline an invitation to the Capitol. Borglum, who quit talking to me after I wouldn't accept an invitation to join some little rebel group, has suddenly started being nice to me again. I'd like to think that it's just because I'm leaving, but my gut tells me that it's more than that. I remember Borglum's words at the last reaping.

Give it a couple years and you'll feel the same way. And This is only the beginning. He said something else like that right after I came out of the Games too, but I can't quite remember what it was. I just know that it predicted something bad was going to happen, and by the way everyone is acting, I'm assuming that it has to do with this.

Now I'm wound up and nervous, and really a dick to be around. I haven't gotten any sleep since the letter came, and no one is helping me. Annie, who can see the best in everything, even admitted that she doesn't see any good coming out of this. Borglum got extremely pale when I asked him about it, and by the way Mags is acting, I know that she'd never tell me anything. Now, I'm heading to Rafe's house to see if he knows anything. I don't talk to him much anymore, but I need another opinion. I need someone to tell me that I'm being paranoid, that this is just a visit. I need him to say that.

When I get to his house, I tap his window twice, then wait anxiously for him to tap back. We made up a code a while ago. I tap it twice, and if I can come in, he'll hit it once. Ten seconds pass, and I'm sure that he either won't or can't answer, when he finally taps back. The window opens a second later, and I climb in.

"It's three in the morning," he says groggily. I sit down on the foot of his bed.

"I can't sleep."

"Do you ever sleep anymore?" No, not really. I've actually made a habit of running most of the night, and then getting a couple of hours of sleep while Annie is at school. It just feels safer that way.

"That's beside the point. I need you to look at something for me."

"Uh-huh." He yawns and runs a hand through his nest of sandy hair, trying to get it out of his eyes.

"Are you going to?" I ask him.

"I don't have a choice, do I?" I let myself smile a little bit, because even though I'm on edge, it's nice to hear one of his old sayings that says we are becoming friends again.

"Nope, not really."

"Okay, what is it?" he asks, then yawns again. I hand him the letter, then stare at him while he reads it. He looks up at me when he's done.

"Why am I looking at this?"

"I want to know if you think there's something weird about it."

"It's from the Capitol. There's always something weird about it." I cringe when he says that, just because I'm now aware that there are probably people listening to my every word. No one's going to care about that though. It isn't threatening at all.

"Well, I know. But Mags and Borglum are both acting strange around me too, and it started when I got that letter."

"Nah, victories are just like that," he jokes, but his eyes get serious as he rereads the letter.

"I think that's probably just the Capitol style of writing or something," he says when he's done.

"So you think it's normal?" He snorts.

"No, it's frickin creepy. But like it said, it's the Capitol." Great, that doesn't help much.

"I guess that makes sense."

"It does. I swear Finnick, those people like you too much to do anything bad to you. If I thought there was something really bad going on, I'd lock you in my basement so those freaks couldn't touch you." I smile even more now, starting to relax a little bit for the first time since I got the letter.

"It's nice to have my bodyguard back," I tell him, then slap him on the shoulder.

"Yeah, that's gonna be fifty dollars an hour," he says. I roll my eyes.

"As soon as you start protecting me, I'll start paying you," I tell him.

"Just tell me when you want me to begin," he says. Then he yawns again, even though he tries not to.

"Sorry, I should probably let you get back to sleep."

"That would be nice," he says. "I guess I'll talk to you later." I crouch on the windowsill.

"Yeah, talk to you later. Thanks for putting up with me."

"No problem. If President Snow wrote to me, I'd be freaked out too."

"Thanks. That makes me feel better," I say.

"Good night."

"Good night." Then I hop out the window and Rafe closes it behind me. I take the long way home, running around the housing part of the district, about ten miles, and pretend that I'm outrunning President Snow himself.

I'm all set to leave the next week. Alva comes to town to escort me and show me around, and Sylvia and my prep team join her to get me ready for public appearances, because apparently she isn't thrilled with the way I've been presenting myself in public. I wouldn't dare tell her this, but in my district, guys don't wear makeup, they don't spend twenty minutes making their nails into perfect shapes, and they don't wear clothes that cost as much as most houses. Really, most girls don't either. But I'm going to the Capitol, and things are very different there.

When my prep team is done with me, and Sylvia has me in clothes that are considered nice enough for the Capitol, I invite Annie over to spend my last few hours with her. I'm also planning on spilling my guts. I have no idea what's going to happen during this trip, but I have to tell her what I've thought about her for most of the last year. I have to say something. Just incase. Because I'm paranoid, and nothing that Rafe says is going to cancel that out completely.

As soon as she rings the doorbell, I tell my prep team to get lost, send them over to talk with Borglum, then lead Annie into the library.

"Are you going to be okay?" Annie asks me after she takes a seat. I start bouncing up and down on the balls of my feet. I'm nervous, and now it's not just because I'm leaving.

"I don't know. I hope so, but I have no idea." My words pour out so quickly that I'm surprised she understands them.

"You will be. They wouldn't hurt you. And it's just two weeks. Nothing can happen in two weeks." I take a shaky breath.

"Right. Nothing. But you aren't going to be there. I have no idea what I'm going to do without you for that long. God I'm going to miss you Annie." She doesn't know what to say. All I do is say that I'm going to miss her, and she doesn't know what to say. Suddenly I'm not so sure about saying anything else.

"You'll be fine without me," she says finally. "Really." I take her hand and stare at it. I can feel her looking at me, but I refuse to look into her eyes.

"I don't think that I will be, not really. I can feel something terribly wrong with this, and I'm scared that I'm going to fall apart again." My grip on her hand gets even tighter. "Annie, you're the only thing that I know can keep me together."

"You aren't going to fall apart. You're the strongest person that I know." I smile at her sadly.

"How am I strong? I allowed myself to become a monster during the Games, then cried for myself afterwards. I'm still so scared that people are after me that I have to carry a knife everywhere I go. Now, I'm going crazy enough to worry if I'm every going to come back from the Capitol in one piece, just because I'm stupid enough to think that nothing good can ever happen in my life when I know that it isn't true at all."

"All of those things are justified," she says.

"How? How is it right that I was the one crying when I was the only tribute still alive? How can you justify the fact that people everywhere look up to me, yet I can't trust them enough not to carry a weapon around? And why do you think that it's okay for me to think that I'm cursed when I've been blessed with so much. I've always had enough to eat, my family was rich, I won the damn Hunger Games, and now I have you, which is more than anyone could ever dare ask for. But it isn't enough for me. How can you stand me Annie?"

This isn't turning out like I wanted it to. Almost as if to prove my point, I'm on the brink of tears again, like I'm a two year old girl. Annie doesn't blink though, which makes me love her even more.

"I stand you because you at least try to do the right thing, because you hate yourself for what you did when you weren't in control, and because I really do know you. You put people at ease, you make them smile, and you never accept defeat."

"That's not-"

"The entire nation believes it, and so do I. You are the only person in Panem that would think for one second that you are weak." She's so fired up that's she's panting, and her green eyes are fierce. She truly believes that I'm a good person.

"I can't say that I agree with you." She shakes her head, a small smile playing at the corners of her lips.

"They had your Games on a couple nights ago, and I watched the first part again. It's unbelievable how cocky you were then, as a fourteen year old that had seemingly no chance of winning. I can't believe that you've lost all that confidence. You have to know that people actually like you better now, that you should be more full of yourself."

"Don't you think that I was annoying?"

"No. I think you're being annoying now." I sigh, knowing that she's probably right. I've been whining all morning, which I really shouldn't have wasted so much time on. Maybe it's time to bring the old Finnick back.

"So you insist that I act like that old Finnick?"

"Yes. I do." I smirk at her, then think of everything that she'd just said about me. About how she thinks that I'm strong and have an amazing personality, and how the entire nation thinks so too. There's no way that she can not like me. No way that she'd care if I kissed her right now. She probably feels the same way.

"Then you asked for it," I say as soon as I have myself convinced. Then I lean in, before my brain starts working again.

I'd imagined kissing Annie so many times before, but there are dozens of little things that I never expected. How soft her hair feels while I run my fingers through it. The way that she tastes like mint and strawberries. That warmth that spreads through my entire body when she starts kissing me back. And the way that it seems like the entire world stops for us because absolutely nothing else could possibly be important enough to keep going while her lips are touching mine.

But like everything good in life, the kiss ends way too quickly. Annie pulls away first, like I knew she would. And she has questions, because there's no way she could've expected this.

"What was that for?" she asks breathlessly.

"I was tired of just thinking about it, so I did it," I say casually, even though now I'm worried that she's going to regret kissing me back, that she's not going to believe me, that something is going to ruin this.

"Did it mean anything?" She almost sounds embarrassed to ask, but I'm glad she did. It means that she isn't stupid. Anyone who'd seen my Hunger Games interviews knows the way I play, or at least used to play, with girls. Even before the Games, I always flirted and kissed girls just to make them giggle and swoon. I'm over that now, but why would Annie think that?

"It meant everything to me," I tell her. "But what did it mean to you?" She kisses me again in response.

After that, I was so sure that everything was going to go well, that everything was going to be fine. On the first day, it was. I got to go on a tour around the Capitol, look around in amazing shops, and eat at a gourmet restaurant. I missed Annie, sure, but I was actually complacent enough to assume that the President really just wanted me there to sign autographs and get to know the people of the Capitol. I'm actually think that these two weeks won't be too bad when the attendant comes into my room and notifies me that President Snow would like to speak to me in private.

I get up and follow him through a maze of elaborate hallways with a cloud of dread hanging over me. I've never liked the president. He's the one who keeps the Hunger Games going, so there's really no way that I could like I'm. Then everything he does seems designed to make the people of the districts pay for things they didn't do. He's cruel, and ruthless, and now I'm going to be alone with him in his office. I realize that I had a right to be terrified for this trip. Something awful is going to happen. Something horribly awful.

"Finnick." He says my name like I'm an old friend. "It's good to see you after so long."

"Nice to see you too," I tell him with as little sarcasm as I can manage. I know it's stupid, but I can't help it. Fear does that to me. In situations that make most people cower in fear, I almost always manage to get myself into a worse spot than when I started."

"Please, have a seat. I'd like to speak to you about important business matters." I sit down in a hard wooden chair across his desk from him. Even though he's a couple feet away, I still can't stand his closeness. It's like sitting down to have a chat with a rattlesnake.

"What do you want to talk about?"

"Well, Finnick, it seems that you are in very high demand in the Capitol. Most everyone expected this. Really, how could they not, you're such an amazing physical specimen." I stare at him, not comprehending what he's telling me.

"What?"

"You know how much the Capitol has done for you, why, they gave you victory in the Hunger Games wrapped up in a shiny silver parachute. Don't you think that it's only right to repay them?" I ignore his friendly tone of voice.

"How?" I ask icily.

"Oh, it's very simple. You'll actually get presents from it. All that you have to do is give yourself to the beautiful women here. Do your part to show the districts how nice everyone here is." As his words slowly sink in, I feel icy fear chilling my blood stream. The dread that's been bothering me since I got the letter now develops into very real terror.

"I won't," I whisper. But I know that there's no way that I'm going to be able to defy the wishes of President Snow.

"I guess that your dead Annie will be sorry to hear that." My heart stops then, and I swear that I'm going to drop dead in that second. He knows what can hurt me more than anything.

"If I don't agree-"

"I will kill her, and your entire family," he finishes for me in a sing-song voice, like he's having fun ruining my life. Rage bubbles up inside me, but I force it to stay down. One wrong move, and everything that matters to me is gone.

"What exactly is it that you want me to do?" I ask through gritted teeth, my hands clenched into fists to keep myself from punching his face in. All of the raw desire to kill that I felt in the Games is back now, even stronger. If I could, I wouldn't just kill Snow. I would cut his limbs off one by one and laugh at his pain, just like Titus does in the nightmares that still won't leave me alone. Only I would enjoy it so much more.