A/N- I actually made a nice long chapter this time. I hope you enjoy it. Thanks for reading, and please take the time to review. Thank you.

To say the next two weeks were torture is an understatement of the worst kind. Eliza regained her fever to the point that she barely ever woke up. When she did, her face contorted in pain, and her eyes were glazed over. She couldn't get names right at all, not even close. We became random people, probably friends from another life, or maybe the family that left her long before her Games. No one corrected her, though. Just speaking to her required everything you had. What do you say to someone who's dying?

No one slept more than a couple hours at a time, and then the slightest noise woke them up. Mags recovered quickly, but Annie's fever dragged out, not getting worse, but not improving, which terrified me. It was most likely because she wasn't sleeping, because she'd have one of her fits if anyone would try to make her. At the time, though, I wasn't thinking about that, so it just became something else to keep me awake. The hanging shadow of Borglum's death didn't help anyone either. Mags would just look off into space sometimes, and I knew what she was thinking about. Annie screamed bloody murder whenever she heard anything crash, and I'm pretty sure it's because she imagined a gun shot. I kept looking at his house, waiting for him to come help, then dying a little bit when I remembered he wouldn't.

The doctor came every other day, but she always said the same thing. There's nothing we can do. It's a surprise she's held on this long. Maybe it'll get better. But she doesn't think so.

I guess she didn't tell us she thought Eliza was going to die, not flat out like that. But it was clear enough. She wouldn't have had to even hint at it. Even Annie, who'd gone into some kind of zone where she wouldn't even speak to you, knew that.

Only Eliza kept holding on. She would scream whenever she woke up, and now that I think about it, I have to wonder if the disease wasn't eating her away from the inside. I don't know how else she could be in that much pain. Whatever it was, it got to the point where we drugged her whenever she seemed on the verge of waking up. Rafe or I would sit by her, wiping her sizzling forehead with a cool cloth, and Mags would tell her stories softly, like she could actually hear them.

Annie did more than anyone else, though. She'd sit there and hold Eliza's hand, sometimes singing under her breath. If we didn't get the drugs administered quickly enough, she'd stay there while she screamed, trying to sooth her, not losing her cool at all. She gave us breaks when we slept, she'd cook, clean. She went out to collect plants the doctor recommended, then prepared them, even though nothing was helping. She even went into town and bought everything she could, everything that was supposed to help. The shops still hadn't opened, but somehow she always came back with some kind of concoction that was supposed to help. It was impressive, since she totally broke down whenever she didn't have anything to do. She was both better and worse, and I wasn't sure if I should be encouraged or worried. I settled for worrying, though, because I wasn't in the mood to be encouraged about anything.

At the end of the second week, after sleepless nights and days spent doing everything possible to help her, Eliza slipped into a coma. I went to the Justice Building, then requested an audience with the mayor. People were still crowded in there. The poor, Rafe had told me. They were promised food, some kind of compensation for not being able to work. Whether they were getting it, I don't know. The rising death toll, which Mags now estimated to be six hundred, doesn't make me optimistic. I should come into town and go door to door with food and money. Yeah, then I'd either end up sick too, or mugged to death with nothing left. I have other things to worry about.

That becomes more obvious when an attendant comes and leads me to Mayor Winthrop's office. He's standing up, looking out his window at the streets that are now always barren. They expect the quarantine to be lifted next week. I don't know why they even have it. Basically everyone is sick. Except for me. I'm guessing that the initial spores are what really carried the disease, because I've been surrounded by sick people and haven't caught it at all. It's probably actually a type of poison or something. I don't know. Whatever it is, it's not contagious.

"Hello Mr. Odair," he says. I don't like it when people call me that, since it reminds me so much of my father, but I decide that it's better than him actually calling me Finnick. That would be creepy.

"Why would you want to kill off so many people from your District?" I ask him. He shrugs his wiry shoulders.

"This should kill any thoughts of rebellion. We can't take chances with this stuff. You know how important that is. Besides, if a war starts, all of your darlings in the Capitol will go away. So see, this benefits us both."

He doesn't know exactly why I have all those "darlings". Well, of course not. That's a secret that no one but Snow and a few select victors know. So this little man thinks he has an argument. He thinks that if there was a war, there's a chance I'd side with the Capitol, because I wouldn't want to lose the girls. He actually probably assumes I'm a sex addict, like Rafe did. And the sad thing is, he's looking at me like he thinks I'm an immoral creep. Him! It's even worse because now I have to lie about it, play along with him. It doesn't matter that he's obviously one of Snow's pawns. No one can know my dirty little secret.

"There are plenty of hot chicks in the Districts," I say through gritted teeth. "What pisses me off is that you would go this far to keep the districts down. They aren't going to rebel, okay? They know they're too weak. You don't have to kill them all to prove your point. Besides, isn't that what the Games are for?" I imagine I'm talking to Snow, probably because I am. There's no way he isn't listening to this, and I want him to hear what I'm saying. I want to make him think. I almost laugh to myself. Yeah, right. Like he'd think about anything he's done.

"Sometimes, extra preventive measures are needed. Now, is that all? Did you come to simply tell me that you're mad? I know that."

"I want the antidote."

"That makes it sound an awful lot like you think people are being poisoned. Are you accusing us of something?" I close my eyes, trying to keep my head on my shoulders. I can't say anything stupid.

"Isn't there anything that you have that can help Eliza?" I basically beg. "She's a victor. You can't kill of two victors in a row like this, can you?"

"It won't hurt anything much. Your district has more victors than most. Killing off Haymitch Abernathy from Twelve, or Alexander Mason from Seven, now that would be a tragedy. Every District needs a victor. They're very important, but yours had enough to spare."

"You make it sound like you're giving dolls to the poor. They're people," I spit.

"They are now unnecessary people." He turns away from the window for the first time since I walked in. "Now go away. I have important matters to deal with."

"Please," I beg, one more time, even though I know it's useless.

"Do you want to be escorted out of here?" Winthrop asks in that horrible voice of his. I turn to leave.

"I'm good, thanks." Before I'm out the door, I give him a rather unfriendly single fingered gesture that makes his little rat eyes get rather big. Then I stomp out of there and slam the door, like a two year old after a tantrum.

"That wasn't nothing against you, Snow," I say out loud, pretty sure he'll have a way to hear this. "That was all for that little prick you put in office." Don't get the impression that I respect Snow or anything now. That's more the fact that I don't want him to come kill Annie or anything because he saw that little fit.

On my way home from the Justice Building, I kick over any trash can I see, throw anything sitting around, take out my knife and go crazy on an old oak tree. I destroy anything I can, mumbling to myself, then screaming when I feel like it. People who catch a glimpse of me probably think I'm crazy, but I don't care. It sinks in for the first time. Eliza is going to die. Now I feel bad. I feel horrible.

I hadn't spoken hardly a word to her since, well, since that awkward conversation after that night. Now, she's going to die, and she won't wake up, and I won't be able to tell her how sorry I am or anything. She's going to die. I keep stomping forward, angry and sad, every thought cutting through my brain like a razor, until I just feel numb. I stumble into Mags' house, into the cloud of death.

"What did he say?" Mags asks. Her voice is raspy and quiet. Annie's is too. Another symptom of the disease, effect of the poison, whatever it is.

"No. There's nothing we can do." That's when everyone in that room really understands what's going to happen. It gets silent, and tears fill Mags' and Annie's eyes. Rafe sinks into a chair, burying his head in his hands. I just stand there, still numb. You can feel the despair crawling out from underneath everyone's skin, clogging up the air. I imagine that I can feel it brushing against my face, grating across my skin. It burns. It hurts. I want to leave, to get away from the feeling, but I can feel its determination. It would follow me. It won't let me go, not until the last speck of hope is gone. Not until Eliza is dead.

Two more days. That's how long it takes for her to finally die. She never wakes up, not once. We do everything. No one sleeps a wink in those two days.

It doesn't hurt, not like I thought I would. I think it's because everyone already accepted she was dead. Or maybe it's because it took so long, that we were eased into it. But for whatever reason, I don't cry, don't sob. I don't even get pushed over the edge like I did after Annie's Games. This weird hollow feeling fills up my chest, but that's it. And it doesn't last much longer than the funeral. Well, the first funeral, I should say.

At the first funeral, the nice funeral, all the Victors give a speech. Anyone in the District who isn't sick enough to stay home attends. Most people are better. The quarantine ended the day after Eliza died. The entire town square is filled with people, and the crowds branch beyond that, stuffing the streets full.

Death, however, is the biggest guest. I heard that they started burying bodies just a few hundred meters away from the main square, and you can almost feel it. Then, there's Eliza. When she was alive, she was one of those people that seemed to fit in the background. That's probably how she won her Games. People didn't notice her. But now, now the hole that she left beyond is something that I think every person in the crowd can feel. She had so much life. There's no way that she can just be gone. But she is, and the sickly feeling of Death makes it even more obvious.

I can see Him, like he's pictured in old stories. He'd be sitting in the front row, wearing his flowing black cape with the hood, holding up his scythe and laughing. He'd be happy, he's had so much work lately. I have to look over at Annie, hold her hand a little tighter, to bring my mind back to normal, sane things. Or not. Because when my mind is back in reality, I think of Eliza, and how she's not there. And that is a really insane thing.

The other funeral I mentioned, the second funeral, is more like a party. The day after the actual funeral, a letter arrived at every Victor's house. By this time, we'd all returned to our respective homes, trying to live life normally again. Not like it worked, but it's just something you do.

Well, the day after the funeral, we all got this letter. Apparently Snow was "deeply disheartened" by young Eliza's untimely death. So he arranged a huge funeral in the Capitol, with all these people who didn't know Eliza there to "mourn" her. No one wanted to, but can you really ignore an invitation from the President? No, you can't.

So all the Victors load up on a train to head away to the Capitol. Terror has a nice tight grip on me the whole trip. Annie is going to the place where girls chase after me like they know they're going to get some, because they know they usually will. I know I won't be expected to work on this trip, but still. Annie may be a little off, but she isn't stupid. She'll figure something out, she'll hate me, she'll have a huge relapse.

I pace back and forth, wanting desperately to just go back to District 4. Of course, I can't.

"Are you okay?" Annie asks me.

"I don't like the Capitol," I say. She shakes her head.

"Neither do I. There are so many of them there. It's dangerous. They'll come for us." I smile and walk over to her, draping my arm around her shoulders.

"Well, then we'll just have to stick together, okay?" She leans her head back so it's resting on my chest.

"That's fine with me." We stand there like that, together, for a very long time before Alva calls us to supper.

No one talks. There isn't a single victor that wants to do this, and it's obvious. It's awkward. We eat, then leave as soon as possible, branching off to try and forget. Annie comes with me. I'm glad.

We sit together on a couch, watching a news thing on District 13. I search the picture, wondering how the district could possibly still be functioning. There isn't a single living thing in the picture. But I'm not going to doubt Plutarch. I keep looking, not letting myself get discouraged when all I see is ruins. When there are so many things to keep me down, you have to hold onto whatever little speck of hope is left, no matter how unlikely. Besides, he said they were underground. So then why would I see them anyway?

The train arrives at the Capitol right after the show gets done, and all the Victors are escorted off to our private rooms. Annie is the only one who hasn't been back yet, since her victory tour is still two months away, and that's the first time the Victors usually come to the Capitol after their Games. She gets a room, though, because of course everything is so perfectly organized in the Capitol.

Since Annie, me, and another girl named Aquaria all have Silvia as a stylist, we get different prep teams, then take turns getting ourselves redone by her.

Since I'm a guy, and they don't have to do as much with me, I get to see Silvia first. She gives me a quick hug, and she actually looks like she means it. She was Eliza's stylist too, so she knew her.

"You okay?" she asks me. I shrug.

"As good as I can be." Then she proceeds to adjust my makeup, adds some gel to my hair, and puts me in a black suit. I give her a wry smile when I see the suit.

"My fans aren't going to be happy," I tell her. " I actually have a shirt on." The corners of her lips turn up, but her eyes are sad. She isn't thrilled with the way victors are treated, either. I wonder if she isn't a rebel like Plutarch Heavensbee, but then I realize that she wouldn't have the backbone. She knows all of this is wrong, but she wouldn't stick up for the Districts if it meant hurting her. Really, when I think about it, I have to wonder if that isn't the problem with the entire Capitol.

"Maybe now they'll actually see your pretty face," is all she says. I smile at her.

"That's not necessary. There's only one girl who needs to be looking at me, and she doesn't care about a pretty face," I tell her. Silvia gives me another hug.

"You're such a sweetheart," she says. "Annie's a lucky girl."

"To be stuck with me?" I ask with a snort. "I kind of feel sorry for her." Silvia starts to protest, but I leave before I hear it. It's not like I'm going to leave Annie, anyway. I just don't like hearing words of reassurance from someone who doesn't really know me.

"I can't wait to see what she does with you," I tell Annie when I walk past her. She smiles at me and adjusts my tie.

"Your eyes are pretty," she says. I mess up her hair.

"Not compared to you," I say. Then Silvia calls her in.

All in all, the funeral is basically shit. Snow gives a speech, saying over and over again how bad he feels about everything. Then all the Victors from Four have to talk a little, so I just mention that she was a good friend, my cheeks heating when I think about what I did to that last month of our friendship.

The most beautiful is easily Mags'. She has a way with words that actually wipes the smirks off the crowd's faces. Only for a minute, but it brings everyone who actually knew Eliza to tears, including myself. Then, the speeches are done, and the funeral turns into something more like a wedding. Food is brought out everywhere, a band starts playing music, and everyone starts dancing. I am dead serious. At a funeral!

Most of the group of victors stick together, trying to ignore the utter mockery of Eliza's death. It's impossible to do for long, though. Snow looks at us, and in his snake-like eyes are the order to behave as victors should, and I know that it's especially directed at me. Annie, who Silvia had put in a beautiful silver dress that makes my heart stop, grabs onto my arm when I try to leave, but Mags pulls her off me and starts whispering gently. I hear her explaining that I have a job to do as I leave them behind. Every step away from them hurts more and more, but for their safety, I make myself continue. Once I'm as far away from Annie as the party will allow, I let myself transform into the Capitol's Finnick.

My body relaxes, even as my nerves tense up. A cocky smile stretches across my face, and I feel my features rearrange themselves into a look that I know makes me look like a total prick. But girls like it. At least the ones from the Capitol do. So I do it.

"Finnick," someone chimes. I turn around. A girl is looking up at me with wide brown eyes. I probably slept with her before. I have no idea who she is. I make my eyes light up with recognition, run my hand through my hair, like I'm all nervous about meeting this beautiful girl here.

"How are you doing?" I ask, seeing as I don't know her name. She latches onto my arm, and I get the impression of a leech. My skin crawls, and I almost gag on the cloud of perfume that follows her.

"I'm good. Isn't this food amazing? I swear, I'm going to eat all night." I work to keep my smile on. Because the thing is, she will eat all night. In the Capitol, if there's a party with food, the people eat. And when they get full, they throw up. I know that District Four has hundreds of people that are dying of hunger, and we're one of the wealthiest districts. Then, there's the Capitol, which does that. It's disgusting.

"I know. You have the most amazing chefs here. The food from District 4 just does not compare to here." I lean in close, like I have a secret for her. "The women don't either." She giggles, then turns and kisses me on the lips. They all do that. I sleep with a girl once, she remembers, I don't, then she sees me again and it's like we've been going out for months. I don't get it. They can't be that stupid, can they?

"You don't mean that," she says. I run a hand through her hair.

"Of course I do." I never do get that chick's name. A couple minutes later, she tries to take me to her place, but I politely tell her that I'm not allowed to leave the funeral since this isn't a trip for my personal enjoyment. She pouts, makes me promise to notify her the next time I'm in the I Capitol, then runs off to some other guy. What a succubus.

I don't have too much time to be thankful, though. Another girl finds me, then another. I'm kept busy all night, until Mags finds me and tells me that the train is leaving in a half hour. I join the rest of the victors, finding Annie immediately. Mags tried to keep her away from me all night, but I know that she saw me more than once. I can tell. She doesn't say anything, but she doesn't relax against me when I put my arm around her waist. I figure it doesn't matter if people see. They've seen me with a dozen other girls, too. They'll just figure I'm a player, and hell, I am.

Almost everyone goes to their rooms once we get on the train, dying to sleep, I'm guessing. Annie tries to, but I grab her arm.

"Can we talk?" I ask her. She bites her lip, obviously not wanting to. She's mad. She's hurt. And of course, like always, she's a little bit scared.

"I don't think-"

"Annie." She bows her head.

"Fine." I lead her to my room, and have her sit on my bed. She puts her feet up and wraps her arms around her legs, then rests her head on her knees, her big green eyes looking up at me like a puppy that I just yelled at. It takes everything I have not to look away.

"Do you remember anything?" I ask. "Anything before your Games?"

"I've started to," she says quietly. "I'm not blocking it anymore. I remember my sister. I remember when I was poor."

"Anything about me?" I urge softly. She swallows and nods.

"I remember you leaving. Going to the Capitol for weeks at a time, and wishing that you'd come back. I remember seeing you with other girls, and crying. But I didn't think it was true." She says everything so softly that I can hardly hear it.

"Do you remember why I did that?" I breathe in her ear. She closes her eyes, shakes her head.

"No."

"I like you, Annie."

"But not like you like them."

"No, not like I like them," I say. She buries her head a little more, but I grab her chin, make her look at me. "I don't know them. I hate them. I love you."

She tries to jerk her head away from my touch.

"No."

"You know that. You just need to remember."

"I don't want to remember," she says, on the verge of tears. "Don't you get that? It hurts too much. Everything hurts to much." I kiss her lips, just for a second, but it's long enough to send shivers through my entire body. This time, it's in a good way.

"Did that hurt?" I ask her.

"Sometimes poison tastes good," is her answer.

"I love you."

"Then why?"

"Just remember that there's a reason. You know me, right?" She nods, her eyes brimming with tears. "And you don't think I'd really do those things, do you?"

"No."

"Then just remember that."

"Finnick?" she asks.

"Yeah?"

"Are you my boyfriend?" That question is just so cute, so perfectly Annie, that I have to kiss her right there.

"I'm so much more than that," I whisper to her. "Well, if you don't mind."

"I wouldn't if you-"

"Annie?"

"Yeah."

"If I told you that sometimes you have no choice, you'd know what I was talking about, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, this is one of those things." She starts tracing my features with her finger, a trail of heat seeming to follow her soft touch.

"I don't like it."

"Neither do I."

"But you'll still promise to never leave me?" she asks softly. I grab her hand, then put my forehead to hers.

"I promise, Annie." Then I kiss her, one more time, before she leaves.

I go to sleep with a smile. Sure, I dream about cannibals, and Arowana getting a knife through her back, and succubeses chasing after me, but just going to sleep with happy thoughts is good enough for me. It gives me a little more hope that there's a good reason to wake up the next day.